Open Biomedical Ontologies Applied to Prostate Cancer

In this presentation we survey preliminary results from the Interdisciplinary Prostate Ontology Project (IPOP), in which ontologies from the Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) library have been used to annotate clinical reports about prostate cancer. First we discuss why we rejected several controlled vocabularies, including SNOMED, DICOM, and RadLex, preferring instead to use the OBO library. We then briefly describe the database-backed website we have created around the relevant OBO ontologies, and provide excerpts of reports from radiology, surgery, and pathology which we have hyperlinked to the ontology terms. This method allows us to discover which relevant terms exist in the OBO library, and which do not. The final section of this paper discusses these gaps in the OBO library and considers methods of filling them

Ethanolamine phosphokinase: Activity and properties during liver development

The conditions for maximal activity of ethanolamine phosphokinase from rat liver were determined. All of the activity was located in the supernatant fraction after centrifugation at 100 000 x g for 60 min. The enzyme activity had a pH optimum at 8.5 and an apparent Km for ethanolamine of 1[middle dot]10-4 M at an ATP and Mg2+ concentration of 3.0 mM. The enzyme uses the Mg-ATP complex as substrate and is inhibited by free ATP. Choline inhibits ethanolamine phosphokinase. Maximal inhibition is obtained at choline concentrations of 0.4 mM. Treatment of the supernatant with Sephadex G-25 or by dialysis causes an increase in the maximal amount of inhibition obtained with choline. The inhibition by choline is non-competitive with ethanolamine and competitive with ATP. Ethanolamine phosphokinase is inhibited by N,N-dimethylethanolamine and N-methylethanolamine but not by betaine, phosphoryl choline, CDP-choline or phosphorylethanolamine.The activity of ethanolamine phosphokinase is low in -5-day fetal liver. The activity increases from -5 days to -2 days and drops at 1 day after birth. An endogenous inhibitor of ethanolamine phosphokinase is present in all preparations but at different levels. The drop in activity in 1-day-old animals is due to the presence of higher amounts of inhibition by the endogenous inhibitor within the preparation. Evidence indicates that the endogenous inhibitor is choline.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34067/1/0000345.pd

Use of Infant Vitamin D Supplementation among Women Attending a Local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

Purpose: Breastfeeding without adequate vitamin D supplementation may predispose infants to vitamin D deficiency and rickets. The aim of this report was to determine the percent of women attending a local WIC program who met the infant vitamin D recommendation and to explore determinants of supplementation. Methods: A cross-sectional de-identified survey was completed, via an online platform, by a sample of women attending two district clinics. The survey collected information concerning the respondent\u27s youngest child on infant feeding at 3 months, vitamin D supplementation and knowledge. Meeting the vitamin D recommendation was defined as either receiving 400 IU daily through supplementation, consuming 32 oz. of infant formula or a combination of both. Results: Among a sample of 163 women (72% Hispanic), 28% reported giving their infant a vitamin D supplement and 31% met the recommendation. Mothers who reported receiving recommendations from a health care professional were 26-times more likely to provide vitamin D supplementation (95 % CI: 5, 135, p\u3c0.01). Conclusions: Use of infant vitamin D supplementation was low in this predominately Hispanic sample of mothers. Counseling greatly affected vitamin D supplementation yet; most reported not receiving education from health care providers. Further research is warranted among a larger sample

Changes in locomotor activity and naloxone-induced jumping in mice produced by WIN 35,197-2 (Ethylketazocine) and morphine

Acute i.p. administration of morphine or cocaine produced increase in locomotor activity in Swiss-Webster female mice that were maximal at 32–100 mg/kg for morphine and at 32 mg/kg for cocaine. WIN 35,197-2 produced dose-dependent decreases in locomotor activity from 3.2–32 mg/kg. Chronic administration of WIN 35,197-2 led to a 6–10 fold shift to the right in the locomotor activity decreasing effect of the drug, but WIN 35,197-2-tolerant mice retained their sensitivity to the locomotor stimulant effects of morphine and cocaine. Acute administration of WIN 35,197-2 failed to sensitize mice to naloxone-induced jumping, although morphine did so. Chronic administration of WIN 35,197-2 did lead to sensitization to naloxone, but WIN 35,197-2 was much less efficacious in this regard than morphine. These behavioral effects of WIN 35,197-2 may be helpful in the classification of modes of action of different narcotic agonists.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46405/1/213_2004_Article_BF00426894.pd

Arabidopsis rbcS genes are differentially regulated by light.

Individual members of the Arabidopsis thaliana ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit (rbcS) gene family are differentially regulated by light of different qualities. In 10-d-old etiolated seedlings, the expression of only three of the four genes is under inductive phytochrome control. rbcS mRNA levels reach a maximum (3- to 5-fold higher than the dark level) about 6 h after a red light pulse, but the rate of decay differs among the genes. Moreover, rbcS 2B requires a higher fluence for induction. At early stages of development, rbcS 1A, 2B, and 3B are highly expressed in the dark and cannot be further induced by red light, indicating a developmental component in the overall regulatory mechanism. Continuous light experiments indicate that high-irradiance responses may play a role in the induction of at least three of the four rbcS genes. Under conditions of phytochrome saturation, rbcS 1A is insensitive to blue light pulses, whereas among the three B locus genes, at least rbcS 3B appears to respond to a blue-light photoreceptor. These results add to the data suggesting that individual members of rbcS gene families in higher plants may be subject to a variety of differing regulatory mechanisms

Status and potential of wild edible plants of Arunachal Pradesh

541-550The consumption of wild plants is one of the strategies, adopted by the local people for sustenance, is intrinsically linked to their strong traditional & cultural system and is inseparable. The indigenous communities continuously include wild edibles to their daily food intake and sales from the surplus add to their income. Simultaneously, an emphasis on the sustainable harvesting of wild edible plants will help enhance and maintain the region’s biodiversity. As the local people are endowed with a vast knowledge concerning the utilization of wild plants, the paper focuses on their knowledge and illustrates the need to select local priority plant species with potential to become valuable staple foods and important alternatives to the usual cultivated agricultural crops