Correlations of f10.7-cm flux and temperature with male traffic-accident mortality for the years 1980-1999

Significant positive correlation was found between f10.7-cm flux and male traffic-accident mortality for the years 1980-1999 in Japan. On the other hand, significant negative correlation was found between annual mean temperature and male traffic-accident mortality on the same period

Differences in properties between human alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin proteins expressed in Escherichia coli cells in response to cold and extreme pH.

It has been reported that alphaA-crystallin has greater protective effects against apoptosis in lens epithelial cells than alphaB-crystallin [Andley, Song, Wawrousek, Fleming and Bassnett (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 36823-36831]. Because the alphaA-crystallin proteins are specifically expressed in the vertebrate lens, we examine the non-specific properties of both alphaA- and alphaB-crystallins in an Escherichia coli system. E. coli cells were transformed with the inducible protein expression vector pET-11a, harbouring the gene for either human alphaA- or alphaB-crystallin, and two other control plasmids, pET-1la vector alone or pGEX-2T vector encoding GST (glutathione S-transferase). These cells were exposed to various stress conditions, such as cold-shock at 4 degrees C or extremely low or high pH environments (pH 4.7 or pH 8.0) for 6 h, and survival of the host cells and the solubility of the expressed target proteins in the cytosol were examined. Under these stress conditions, the cells expressing alphaB-crystallin protein demonstrated significantly improved survival when compared with the other cells, and the expressed protein in the cytosol was almost soluble, in contrast with the alphaA-crystallin protein. Differences in the amino acid sequence between the proteins in a phenylalanine-rich region next to the N-terminal consensus alpha-crystallin domain was considered to be responsible for chaperone activity and cell survival

Allergic disorders: A model for establishing how to prevent commondisease

Allergy to common agents, such as plant pollens, dust mites and foods, is termed atopy. Atopy is the principal cause of the chronic inflammatory diseases of eczema (the skin), hayfever (the nose) and asthma (the lungs) in children and young adults. Atopy affects millions of individuals in Japan and other developed countries and is a major source of chronic ill health in childhood and of major health expenditure. Current treatments only control symptoms and there is an urgent need for a more fundamental understanding of the origins of atopy in order to plan more effective treatment and prevention. This may become a useful model for other common multifactorial disease