123 research outputs found
The combinatorics of the Baer-Specker group
Denote the integers by Z and the positive integers by N.
The groups Z^k (k a natural number) are discrete, and the classification up
to isomorphism of their (topological) subgroups is trivial. But already for the
countably infinite power Z^N of Z, the situation is different. Here the product
topology is nontrivial, and the subgroups of Z^N make a rich source of examples
of non-isomorphic topological groups. Z^N is the Baer-Specker group.
We study subgroups of the Baer-Specker group which possess group theoretic
properties analogous to properties introduced by Menger (1924), Hurewicz
(1925), Rothberger (1938), and Scheepers (1996). The studied properties were
introduced independently by Ko\v{c}inac and Okunev. We obtain purely
combinatorial characterizations of these properties, and combine them with
other techniques to solve several questions of Babinkostova, Ko\v{c}inac, and
Scheepers.Comment: To appear in IJ
Identification of new participants in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) oocyte maturation and ovulation processes using cDNA microarrays
BACKGROUND: The hormonal control of oocyte maturation and ovulation as well as the molecular mechanisms of nuclear maturation have been thoroughly studied in fish. In contrast, the other molecular events occurring in the ovary during post-vitellogenesis have received far less attention. METHODS: Nylon microarrays displaying 9152 rainbow trout cDNAs were hybridized using RNA samples originating from ovarian tissue collected during late vitellogenesis, post-vitellogenesis and oocyte maturation. Differentially expressed genes were identified using a statistical analysis. A supervised clustering analysis was performed using only differentially expressed genes in order to identify gene clusters exhibiting similar expression profiles. In addition, specific genes were selected and their preovulatory ovarian expression was analyzed using real-time PCR. RESULTS: From the statistical analysis, 310 differentially expressed genes were identified. Among those genes, 90 were up-regulated at the time of oocyte maturation while 220 exhibited an opposite pattern. After clustering analysis, 90 clones belonging to 3 gene clusters exhibiting the most remarkable expression patterns were kept for further analysis. Using real-time PCR analysis, we observed a strong up-regulation of ion and water transport genes such as aquaporin 4 (aqp4) and pendrin (slc26). In addition, a dramatic up-regulation of vasotocin (avt) gene was observed. Furthermore, angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 (ace2), coagulation factor V (cf5), adam 22, and the chemokine cxcl14 genes exhibited a sharp up-regulation at the time of oocyte maturation. Finally, ovarian aromatase (cyp19a1) exhibited a dramatic down-regulation over the post-vitellogenic period while a down-regulation of Cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (cmah) was observed at the time of oocyte maturation. CONCLUSION: We showed the over or under expression of more that 300 genes, most of them being previously unstudied or unknown in the fish preovulatory ovary. Our data confirmed the down-regulation of estrogen synthesis genes during the preovulatory period. In addition, the strong up-regulation of aqp4 and slc26 genes prior to ovulation suggests their participation in the oocyte hydration process occurring at that time. Furthermore, among the most up-regulated clones, several genes such as cxcl14, ace2, adam22, cf5 have pro-inflammatory, vasodilatory, proteolytics and coagulatory functions. The identity and expression patterns of those genes support the theory comparing ovulation to an inflammatory-like reaction
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