Senseless Violence Against Central American Unaccompanied Minors: Historical Background and Call for Help.

The southwestern U.S. border has recently seen a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States. Many of these children leave home to flee violence, starvation, impoverished living conditions, or other life-threatening situations. The treatment of acute stress, anxiety, and depression associated with traumatic events is crucial in helping these children address these negative psychological events they have experienced so that they can move forward with their lives. Untreated, traumatic events experienced by this population can develop into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a potentially life-changing and physically threatening psychological and medical issue. The United States needs to effectively address the serious matter of responding to mental health issues facing refugees from war-torn or impoverished nations so as to help them to successfully adjust to American systems. There is a need for researchers in the mental health field to focus efforts in designing, implementing, and evaluating methodologies that can help these children develop healthy strategies for living with a very difficult and complex past.

Proline-rich cell wall proteins accumulate in growing regions and phloem tissue in response to water deficit in common bean seedlings.

Plant cell walls undergo dynamic changes in response to different environmental stress conditions. In response to water deficit, two related proline-rich glycoproteins, called p33 and p36, accumulate in the soluble fraction of the cell walls in Phaseolus vulgaris (Covarrubias et al. in Plant Physiol 107:1119-1128, 1995). In this work, we show that p33 and p36 are able to form a 240 kDa oligomer, which is found in the cell wall soluble fraction. We present evidence indicating that the highest accumulation of these proteins in response to water deficit occurs in the growing regions of common bean seedlings, particularly in the phloem tissues. These proteins were detected in P. vulgaris cell suspension cultures, where the p33/p36 ratio was higher under hyperosmotic conditions than in bean seedlings subjected to the same treatment. The results support a role for these proteins during the plant cell response to changes in its water status, and suggest that cell wall modifications are induced in active growing cells of common bean in response to water limitation.

Overexpression of alfalfa cytosolic glutamine synthetase in nodules and flowers of transgenic Lotus japonicus plants.

Legumes can obtain nitrogen from symbiotic nitrogen fixation in root nodules. The glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase cycle is responsible for the initial nitrogen assimilation. This work reports the analysis of transgenic Lotus japonicus plants with the chimeric gene containing the alfalfa cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS1) (EC 6.3.1.2) gene controlled by the Sesbania rostrata leghemoglobin gene promoter (Srglb3p). Surprisingly, all of the transgenic primary transformants analysed were sterile. Two transformants designated GS39 and GS44 were further analysed. GS in nodules of GS39 and GS44 plants was upregulated, at the level of transcript and protein. The transgenic plants had 2-fold higher nodule GS activity and similar root GS activity compared to control plants. The GS39 and GS44 sterile plants showed morphological alterations in pollen grains and in ovules. An increase in GS transcript abundance and enzyme activity was measured during early and late stages of flower development of GS plants. Flowers of GS plants showed higher glutamine content, resulting in an increased glutamine/glutamate ratio. The GS transcript and protein were detected in ovules. These data indicate that overexpression of GS1 in reproductive organs critically affects their development and might be a reason for sterility of L. japonicus plants.

Comparative study of differentiation levels and valepotriate content of in vitro cultures and regenerated and wild plants of Valeriana edulis ssp.procera.

Valepotriate content levels in samples of in vitro cultures of Valeriana edulis ssp. procera were compared with those of roots and rhizomes of wild plants in the reproductive stage. Rhizomes and roots of regenerated and wild plants showed a similar valepotriate content. The data obtained support the hypothesis that valepotriate production in V. edulis spp. procera is closely related to rhizome and root differentiation. The large-scale propagation of this endangered plant may offer an attractive alternative for its production for medicinal purposes.