Identification of crude-oil components and microorganisms that cause souring under anaerobic conditions.

Oil souring has important implications with respect to energy resources. Understanding the physiology of the microorganisms that play a role and the biological mechanisms are both important for the maintenance of infrastructure and mitigation of corrosion processes. The objective of this study was to identify crude-oil components and microorganisms in oil-field water that contribute to crude-oil souring. To identify the crude-oil components and microorganisms that are responsible for anaerobic souring in oil reservoirs, biological conversion of crude-oil components under anaerobic conditions was investigated. Microorganisms in oil field water in Akita, Japan degraded alkanes and aromatics to volatile fatty acids (VFAs) under anaerobic conditions, and fermenting bacteria such as Fusibacter sp. were involved in VFA production. Aromatics such as toluene and ethylbenzene were degraded by sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfotignum sp.) via the fumarate-addition pathway and not only degradation of VFA but also degradation of aromatics by sulfate-reducing bacteria was the cause of souring. Naphthenic acid and 2,4-xylenol were not converted.

Fusion of the nucleoporin gene NUP98 to HOXA9 by the chromosome translocation t(7;11)(p15;p15) in human myeloid leukaemia.

Expression of Hoxa7 and Hoxa9 is activated by proviral integration in BXH2 murine myeloid leukaemias. This result, combined with the mapping of the HOXA locus to human chromosome 7p15, suggested that one of the HOXA genes might be involved in the t(7;11)(p15;p15) translocation found in some human myeloid leukaemia patients. Here we show that in three patients with t(7;11), the chromosome rearrangement creates a genomic fusion between the HOXA9 gene and the nucleoporin gene NUP98 on chromosome 11p15. The translocation produces an invariant chimaeric NUP98/HOXA9 transcript containing the amino terminal half of NUP98 fused in frame to HOXA9. These studies identify HOXA9 as an important human myeloid leukaemia gene and suggest an important role for nucleoporins in human myeloid leukaemia given that a second nucleoporin, NUP214, has also been implicated in human myeloid leukaemia.

The t(7;11)(p15;p15) translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia fuses the genes for nucleoporin NUP98 and class I homeoprotein HOXA9.

The t(7;11)(p15;p15) translocation is a recurrent chromosomal abnormality associated primarily with acute myeloid leukaemia (FAB M2 and M4). We present here the molecular definition of this translocation. On chromosome 7 positional cloning revealed the consistent rearrangement of the HOXA9 gene, which encodes a class I homeodomain protein potentially involved in myeloid differentiation. On chromosome 11 the translocation targets the human homologue of NUP98, a member of the GLFG nucleoporin family. Chimaeric messages spliced over the breakpoint fuse the GLFG repeat domains of NUP98 in-frame to the HOXA9 homeobox. The predicted NUP98-HOXA9 fusion protein may promote leukaemogenesis through inhibition of HOXA9-mediated terminal differentiation and/or aberrant nucleocytoplasmic transport.

[Important factors surrounding chest surgery for the patients complicated with digestive disease].

OBJECTIVE: Important factors surrounding chest surgery for the patients complicated with digestive disease were discussed according to the experiences of clinical settings. METHODS: Check points regarding each context, preoperative, perioperative, postoperative, and outpatient care were considered independently. RESULTS: If digestive diseases are uncontrolled, the operation should be postponed until they are appropriately cared. Dental problems such as teeth caries or denture insufficiency should be cleared preoperatively. Dysphagia after the head and neck surgery must be evaluated and alternative feeding methods should be established. The patients with digestive tract disorder have malabsorption and are prone to malnutrition. According to the appropriate assessments of digestion and absorption, an enteral nutrition or a total parenteral nutrition should be considered before and after operation, to improve nutrition status. Immunonutrition is particularly beneficial to reduce the postoperative infection or various stresses of invasive operations in the chest surgery. Chronic pancreatitis is characterized by absorption impairment and pancreatic diabetes. They should also be controlled before the operation using digestive enzymes and an exogenous insulin. CONCLUSION: Teeth problems, dysphagia, malabsorption, malnutrition and pancreatic diabetes should be assessed and cared appropriately before and after the chest surgery using compensative therapy.

Neural connections between the lateral geniculate nucleus and visual cortex in vitro.

Neural connections were established in cocultures of rat visual cortex (VC) and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), which were isolated in early infancy. Morphological and electrophysiological studies showed that the cortical laminar organization of afferent and efferent connections in the coculture preparations was similar to that in the adult VC. The results indicate the existence of intrinsic mechanisms in VC and LGN that guide the formation of synaptic connections with the appropriate targets.

Rapid colorectal adenoma formation initiated by conditional targeting of the Apc gene.

Familial adenomatous polyposis coli (FAP) is a disease characterized by the development of multiple colorectal adenomas, and affected individuals carry germline mutations in the APC gene. With the use of a conditional gene targeting system, a mouse model of FAP was created that circumvents the embryonic lethality of Apc deficiency and directs Apc inactivation specifically to the colorectal epithelium. loxP sites were inserted into the introns around Apc exon 14, and the resultant mutant allele (Apc580S) was introduced into the mouse germline. Mice homozygous for Apc580S were normal; however, upon infection of the colorectal region with an adenovirus encoding the Cre recombinase, the mice developed adenomas within 4 weeks. The adenomas showed deletion of Apc exon 14, indicating that the loss of Apc function was caused by Cre-loxP-mediated recombination.

Laminar specificity of extrinsic cortical connections studied in coculture preparations.

The formation of specific neural connections in the cerebral cortex was studied using organotypic coculture preparations composed of subcortical and cortical regions. Morphological and electrophysiological analysis indicated that several cortical efferent and afferent connections, such as the corticothalamic, thalamocortical, corticocortical, and corticotectal connections, were established in the cocultures with essentially the same laminar specificity as that found in the adult cerebral cortex, but without specificity of sensory modality. This suggests the existence of a cell-cell recognition system between cortical or subcortical neurons and their final targets. This interaction produces lamina-specific connections, but is probably insufficient for the formation of the modality-specific connections.

Telomerase activity in lung cancer cells obtained from bronchial washings.

BACKGROUND: Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that functions in the maintenance of telomeres (specialized structures at the ends of chromosomes), has been reported to be a novel diagnostic marker for malignant diseases. We sought to determine whether measurement of telomerase activity in bronchial washings is of value in the diagnosis of lung cancer. METHODS: Extracts of cells in bronchial washings were analyzed for telomerase activity by use of a telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay. Telomerase activity inside cells was evaluated by use of an in situ TRAP assay. The results of both TRAP assays were compared with those obtained from cytologic examination, which employed standard Papanicolaou staining. RESULTS: When results from the two TRAP assays were combined, telomerase activity was detected in bronchial washings from 18 (82%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 60%-95%) of 22 patients with lung cancer. In contrast, cancer cells were detected by cytologic examination in the bronchial washings of nine (41%; 95% CI = 21%-64%) of the same 22 patients, a statistically significant difference (two-sided P = .0061). In patients with lung cancer, telomerase-positive cells could be detected in bronchial washings irrespective of tumor location--11 of 14 (79%; 95% CI = 49%-95%) peripheral cancerous lesions and seven of eight (88%; 95% CI = 47%-100%) central cancerous lesions were detected by use of TRAP assays (for comparison, two-sided P = .5349). CONCLUSIONS: A high percentage of patients with lung cancers had detectable telomerase activity in bronchial washings. Thus, the use of a cell extract-based or an in situ TRAP assay in addition to cytologic examination may make the diagnosis of lung cancer more reliable.

Effects of 2,4-dinitrophenol and other metabolic inhibitors on the thermograms of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells registered with a microcalorimeter.

The heat produced by Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells was measured microcalorimetrically to investigate the characteristics of the energetics of these cells. 2,4-Dinitrophenol and other inhibitors were used to obtain the standard thermograms. The heat level of starved Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells (endogenous) was almost constant and linear and depended on the cell number used in the experiments (about 1 cal/1 X 10(8) cells/hr). The endogenous heat generation was suppressed strongly by potassium cyanide but not by iodoacetic acid or 2,4-dinitrophenol. On the other hand, heat evolution was directly related to the amount of glucose added to the medium but not to the number of cells (19 cal/mmol of glucose). The addition of iodoacetic acid markedly suppressed heat generation, but potassium cyanide did not. In contrast, glucose with dinitrophenol increased heat production markedly to about 10% higher than that of the control, possibly due to the uncoupled energy from oxidative phosphorylation. Malonic acid (1 mM) suppressed slightly the endogenous heat but caused a 15% reduction in exogenous heat. The amount of heat produced by the addition of glucose (19 cal/mmol) was equivalent to 40% of the theoretical value of energy released through glycolysis (47 cal/mmol). Thus, the heat produced by exogenous glucose appears to be mainly dependent on glycolysis.

Combinations of stem cell factor with other hematopoietic growth factors enhance growth and sensitivity to cytosine arabinoside of blast progenitors in acute myelogenous leukemia.

The blast progenitors in acute myelogenous leukemia grow in response to hematopoietic growth factors (HGFs), and their sensitivity to antileukemic drugs is influenced by HGFs. We report the effects of stem cell factor (SCF) on the growth and sensitivity to 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) of blast progenitors in acute myelogenous leukemia. SCF stimulated both colony formation and self-renewal of blast progenitors and, when used in combination with other HGFs, synergistic enhancement of colony formation was noted in 8 of the 15 patients examined. Cell fractionation studies demonstrated no unique growth dependency on SCF in either CD34+ or CD34- populations. Blast cells of patients that displayed synergistic growth enhancement with SCF displayed the highest Ara-C sensitivity when HGFs were used in combination with SCF. The tritiated thymidine suicide test (20-min exposure) revealed that the proportion of blast progenitors in the S phase of the cell cycle was highest when SCF and another HGF were simultaneously present, although 24-h exposure killed most or all of the blast progenitors. These data indicate that SCF enhances growth and sensitivity to Ara-C of acute myelogenous leukemia blast progenitors in a closely correlated fashion and that the cell cycle changes as well as other mechanisms are involved in the Ara-C sensitivity modulation by SCF.

Methylation status of T-cell receptor beta-chain gene in B precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: correlation with hypomethylation and gene rearrangement.

Epigenetic changes may play a role in genetic alterations in cancer cells, but little is known about this phenomenon. In this study we examined the correlation between rearrangement and methylation status of the T-cell receptor (TCR) beta-chain gene in 23 patients with B precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In B precursor ALL, all patients had a CCmeGG sequence in the C beta 2 region, a pattern similar to that observed in normal mature B-cells. Approximately 55% of patients with B precursor ALL exhibiting a hypomethylated CCGG sequence at the J beta 1 region showed rearrangement of this region. Furthermore, the same allele of rearranged J beta 1 always contained an unmethylated sequence in the region, although another allele without rearrangement contained methylated J beta 1. By contrast, none of the patients had a rearrangement in the J beta 1 region without hypomethylation. Therefore, rearrangement of the J beta 1 region may link to the hypomethylation status of this region. A close association between hypomethylation of the J beta 1 region may promote accessibility to a putative common recombinase to produce TCR J beta 1 rearrangement. In contrast, about 45% of patients with a hypomethylated J beta 1 did not show rearrangement in this region, thus allowing categorization of B precursor ALL patients into subtypes, according to the combination of TCR beta-chain gene rearrangement and hypomethylation status, especially in the J beta 1 region.

T-cell receptor beta chain gene rearrangement in acute myeloid leukemia always occurs at the allele that contains the undermethylated J beta 1 region.

The epigenetic phenomenon could play a role in the interaction between chromatin and DNA-binding enzymes, allowing us to consider an association between the phenomenon and gene rearrangement. The correlation between methylation status and rearrangement of the T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chain gene in leukemia cells obtained from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was examined. All of the AML patients with a TCR-beta rearrangement had hypomethylated CCGG sequences within the J beta 1 region on the rearranged allele, while the germline allele had completely methylated CCmeGG sequence in this region, indicating a strong association between hypomethylation status and rearrangement of the TCR beta chain gene. In the DNA from AML patients with or without a TCR-beta rearrangement, the C beta 2 region contained completely methylated CCmeGG sequences, even though they express T-cell-associated antigens, including CD7; this pattern is quite different from that observed in T-cell neoplasias. Moreover, some AML patients showed a TCR-beta rearrangement without the presence of immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangement, suggesting that TCR beta chain gene involvement in AML is required for unknown factors other than common recombinase activity.

Telomere shortening associated with disease evolution patterns in myelodysplastic syndromes.

We identified the telomere length at different hematological phases in 16 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), showing disease evolution with a conventional Southern blot hybridization using the (TTAGGG)4 probe. The MDS patients studied were classified into three groups according to the pattern of telomere length reduction. The first group had telomere shortening at the time of disease diagnosis. In four of the six MDS patients in this group, the disease progressed within 6 months postdiagnosis and each of them survived for less than 1 year. Moreover, in this group four patients showed a 5q anomaly with or without additional changes, and 50% of patients in this group had complex chromosome abnormalities. The patients in the second group showed reductions in telomere length after disease progression; two of these three patients showed gradual disease progression and had one or two chromosome abnormalities. The third group comprised the remaining seven MDS patients; they showed no telomere reduction by disease evolution. Two patients in this group experienced rapid disease progression. These results may indicate that telomere reduction is linked to disease evolution in some MDS patients, perhaps as a result of genomic instability because patients with complex chromosome abnormalities were clustered in the first group. However, because some MDS patients show disease progression without telomere reduction, genetic changes, including point mutations of certain gene(s), may also contribute to disease progression. We further noted that telomere shortening at the time of MDS diagnosis might indicate a poor MDS prognosis.

Cytological detection of telomerase activity using an in situ telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay.

A previously reported highly sensitive assay for measuring telomerase activity on cell and tissue extracts indicates that most human tumor tissues, but not cells adjacent to tumors, have detectable telomerase activity. Although this assay has provided a significant amount of information about the presence or absence of telomerase activity, it does not indicate whether all cells within a tumor have telomerase activity or whether only a subset does. The present report demonstrates the ability to advance this technology to an in situ assay. Using fluorescent telomerase primers and in situ PCR, we show that telomerase activity can be detected at the cellular level. This study demonstrates that telomerase activity is not detected in normal cells but is detected in tumor cells of clinical specimens and in tumor-derived cell lines.

A Ki-1 (CD30)-positive T (E+, CD4+, Ia+)-cell line, DL-40, established from aggressive large cell lymphoma.

A new human lymphoma cell line, designated DL-40, was established from the peripheral blood of a 64-year-old woman with leukemic conversion of aggressive large cell lymphoma. The cell line grew in suspension with or without forming clumps of cells and exhibited large, round, or multiple nuclei in the relatively abundant cytoplasm that was positive for acid phosphatase. The cells expressed a Ki-1 antigen (CD30), E+, CD2+, CD4+, CD45+, Ia+ phenotype and had rearranged T-cell receptor beta chain but were negative for CD15, HTLV-I, and Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen. Chromosome analysis of this cell line showed a human female karyotype with complex hyperdiploid abnormalities. DL-40 cells produced tumors histologically similar to the original lymphoma when transplanted into nude mice and immunosuppressed hamsters. The DL-40 cell line could provide a useful tool for the understanding of biology of the Ki-1-positive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Mechanisms of anion and cation permeations in the resting membrane of a barnacle muscle fiber.

The resting membrane of a barnacle muscle fiber is mostly permeable to cations in a solution of pH 7.7 whereas it becomes primarily permeable to anions if the pH is below 4.0. Mechanisms of ion permeation for various monovalent cations and anions were investigated at pH 7.7 and 3.9, respectively. Permeability ratios were obtained from the relationship between the membrane potential and the concentration of the test ions, and ionic conductances from current-voltage relations of the membrane. The permeability sequence for anions (SCN > I > NO(3) > Br > ClO(3) > Cl > BrO(3) > IO(3)) was different from the conductance sequence for anions (Br, Cl > ClO(3), NO(3) > SCN). In contrast, the permeability and conductance sequences were identical for cations (K > Rb > Cs > Na > Li). The results suggest that anion permeation is governed by membrane charges while cation permeation is via some electrically neutral mechanism.

Effects of blood pressure changes on development and regression of electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy: a 26 year longitudinal study.

At the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, medical examinations have been conducted biennially since 1958 on a fixed population of approximately 20,000 individuals. Blood pressure measurements and electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings are available for 6,569 individuals who were monitored for at least 11 of the 13 2 year intervals between 1958 and 1984. Data from 601 individuals who had satisfied the Foundation's ECG diagnostic criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy ("Kagan-Yano code") on at least one occasion were reviewed. Both the development and the regression of ECG left ventricular hypertrophy were ascertained in 61 subjects (17 men and 44 women). During the course of development of ECG left ventricular hypertrophy, hypertension (including borderline cases) was noted in 83.3% of the subjects. The most common pattern of ECG left ventricular hypertrophy development was high voltage, followed by ST-T changes. In about half of these cases, the condition of hypertrophy regression was associated with lowering of blood pressure, marked by the disappearance of high voltage ECG readings.

Potential molecules implicated in downstream signaling pathways of p185BCR-ABL in Ph+ ALL involve GTPase-activating protein, phospholipase C-gamma 1, and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase.

Constitutive activation of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase fusion protein has been shown to be an essential step in the pathogenesis of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive leukemias. We studied the tyrosine phosphorylated proteins which might be involved in the signaling pathway p185BCR-ABL using a Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line. p185BCR-ABL but not p145c-abl was constitutively phosphorylated on tyrosine in this cell line. p21ras GTPase-activating protein (GAP) was physically associated with p185BCR-ABL, but not with p145c-abl, and GAP-associated proteins p62/p190 were found to be tyrosine-phosphorylated. Furthermore, p185BCR-ABL was also physically associated with phospholipase C-gamma 1 (PLC-gamma) and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (P13-kinase). Concomitantly, both PLC-gamma and p85 subunit of P13-kinase are tyrosine-phosphorylated in the cells with p185BCR-ABL. These data suggest that GAP, GAP-associated proteins, PLC-gamma, and P13-kinase may participate in downstream signaling for p185BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase.

Chromosome change at 16q22 in nonlymphocytic leukemia: clinical implication on leukemia patients with inv(16) versus del(16).

Nineteen patients with inv(16)(p13q22) or del(16) in myeloid leukemia are described. Eight showed inv(16)(p13q22), including one with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML-M2) and seven with de novo acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML-M4). Additional chromosome changes were detected in five of the cases; the most common change was trisomy 22. All but one of the de novo M2 and M4 leukemia patients with inv(16)(p13q22) showed initial bone marrow eosinophilia (greater than 5%) with basophilic granules. The remaining 11 showed deletion of the long arm of a chromosome no. 16 [del(16)(q22 or q23)]. Eight of the 11 were diagnosed as having chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, three transformed into an acute phase with M4 morphology; none of them gained complete remission. Two of the remaining three patients with del(16) were diagnosed as having M4 leukemia without marrow eosinophilia. The remaining one was a case of M4 leukemia following a myelodysplastic syndrome. The findings indicate that del(16) might be related to chronic myelomonocytic leukemia or leukemia with a prior history of myelodysplastic syndrome without evidence of marrow eosinophilia. On the other hand, inv(16)(p13q22) is highly associated with de novo AML especially AMML-M4 with bone marrow eosinophilia and a favorable prognosis.