Determination of an optimal dosing regimen for aspirin chemoprevention of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon tumours in rats

In order to establish an optimal timing and duration of aspirin treatment in the chemoprevention of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in rats, colon tumours were induced using an established protocol and aspirin was given in the diet at 500 p.p.m. during various stages of colon carcinogenesis. Results indicate that only aspirin treatment throughout the entire carcinogenic period significantly reduced tumour incidence and volume whereas intermittent aspirin dosing increased tumour number and/or volume, suggesting that aspirin must be used for an extended period in order to gain any chemopreventive benefit. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Health Journalism Internships: A Social Marketing Strategy to Address Health Disparities

The USA seeks to eliminate health disparities by stimulating the rapid uptake of health-promoting behaviors within disadvantaged communities. A health journalism internship incorporates social marketing strategies to increase communities' access to cancer information, while helping the interns who are recruited from underrepresented communities gain admission to top graduate schools. Interns are taught basic health journalism skills that enable them to create immediate streams of cancer-related press releases for submission to community newspapers. Interns are charged with the social responsibility of continuing this dissemination process throughout their careers. Intermediate outcomes are measured as mediators of distal behavioral change goals

A Gammaherpesvirus Cooperates with Interferon-alpha/beta-Induced IRF2 to Halt Viral Replication, Control Reactivation, and Minimize Host Lethality

The gammaherpesviruses, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), establish latency in memory B lymphocytes and promote lymphoproliferative disease in immunocompromised individuals. The precise immune mechanisms that prevent gammaherpesvirus reactivation and tumorigenesis are poorly defined. Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68) is closely related to EBV and KSHV, and type I (alpha/beta) interferons (IFNαβ) regulate MHV68 reactivation from both B cells and macrophages by unknown mechanisms. Here we demonstrate that IFNβ is highly upregulated during latent infection, in the absence of detectable MHV68 replication. We identify an interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) in the MHV68 M2 gene promoter that is bound by the IFNαβ-induced transcriptional repressor IRF2 during latency in vivo. The M2 protein regulates B cell signaling to promote establishment of latency and reactivation. Virus lacking the M2 ISRE (ISREΔ) overexpresses M2 mRNA and displays uncontrolled acute replication in vivo, higher latent viral load, and aberrantly high reactivation from latency. These phenotypes of the ISREΔ mutant are B-cell-specific, require IRF2, and correlate with a significant increase in virulence in a model of acute viral pneumonia. We therefore identify a mechanism by which a gammaherpesvirus subverts host IFNαβ signaling in a surprisingly cooperative manner, to directly repress viral replication and reactivation and enforce latency, thereby minimizing acute host disease. Since we find ISREs 5′ to the major lymphocyte latency genes of multiple rodent, primate, and human gammaherpesviruses, we propose that cooperative subversion of IFNαβ-induced IRFs to promote latent infection is an ancient strategy that ensures a stable, minimally-pathogenic virus-host relationship

Adult-Age Inflammatory Pain Experience Enhances Long-Term Pain Vigilance in Rats

Background: Previous animal studies have illustrated a modulatory effect of neonatal pain experience on subsequent painrelated behaviors. However, the relationship between chronic pain status in adulthood and future pain perception remains unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the current study, we investigated the effects of inflammatory pain experience on subsequent formalin-evoked pain behaviors and fear conditioning induced by noxious stimulation in adult rats. Our results demonstrated an increase of the second but not the first phase of formalin-induced pain behaviors in animals with a history of inflammatory pain that have recovered. Similarly, rats with persistent pain experience displayed facilitated acquisition and prolonged retention of pain-related conditioning. These effects of prior pain experience on subsequent behavior were prevented by repeated morphine administration at an early stage of inflammatory pain. Conclusions/Significance: These results suggest that chronic pain diseases, if not properly and promptly treated, may have a long-lasting impact on processing and perception of environmental threats. This may increase the susceptibility of patients to subsequent pain-related disorders, even when chronic pain develops in adulthood. These data highlight th

Nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of proteins and RNA in plants

Merkle T. Nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of proteins and RNA in plants. Plant Cell Reports. 2011;30(2):153-176.Transport of macromolecules between the nucleus and the cytoplasm is an essential necessity in eukaryotic cells, since the nuclear envelope separates transcription from translation. In the past few years, an increasing number of components of the plant nuclear transport machinery have been characterised. This progress, although far from being completed, confirmed that the general characteristics of nuclear transport are conserved between plants and other organisms. However, plant-specific components were also identified. Interestingly, several mutants in genes encoding components of the plant nuclear transport machinery were investigated, revealing differential sensitivity of plant-specific pathways to impaired nuclear transport. These findings attracted attention towards plant-specific cargoes that are transported over the nuclear envelope, unravelling connections between nuclear transport and components of signalling and developmental pathways. The current state of research in plants is summarised in comparison to yeast and vertebrate systems, and special emphasis is given to plant nuclear transport mutants

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-

Vampires in the village Žrnovo on the island of Korčula: following an archival document from the 18th century

Središnja tema rada usmjerena je na raščlambu spisa pohranjenog u Državnom arhivu u Mlecima (fond: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) koji se odnosi na događaj iz 1748. godine u korčulanskom selu Žrnovo, kada su mještani – vjerujući da su se pojavili vampiri – oskvrnuli nekoliko mjesnih grobova. U radu se podrobno iznose osnovni podaci iz spisa te rečeni događaj analizira u širem društvenom kontekstu i prate se lokalna vjerovanja.The main interest of this essay is the analysis of the document from the State Archive in Venice (file: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) which is connected with the episode from 1748 when the inhabitants of the village Žrnove on the island of Korčula in Croatia opened tombs on the local cemetery in the fear of the vampires treating. This essay try to show some social circumstances connected with this event as well as a local vernacular tradition concerning superstitions