Elongated Microcapsules and Their Formation

Elongated microcapsules, such as elongated hydrophobic-core and hydrophilic-core microcapsules, may be formed by pulse stirring an emulsion or shearing an emulsion between two surfaces moving at different velocities. The elongated microcapsules may be dispersed in a coating formulation, such as paint

Ethacrynic Acid Exhibits Selective Toxicity to Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Cells by Inhibition of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway

Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes the development of several cancers. It has been demonstrated that the Wnt signaling pathway is activated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, and that uncontrolled Wnt/β-catenin signaling may contribute to the defect in apoptosis that characterizes this malignancy. Thus, the Wnt signaling pathway is an attractive candidate for developing targeted therapies for CLL. assays further confirmed the inhibitory effect of EA on Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Cell viability assays showed that EA selectively induced cell death in primary CLL cells. Exposure of CLL cells to EA decreased the expression of Wnt/β-catenin target genes, including LEF-1, cyclin D1 and fibronectin. Immune co-precipitation experiments demonstrated that EA could directly bind to LEF-1 protein and destabilize the LEF-1/β-catenin complex. N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), which can react with the α, β-unsaturated ketone in EA, but not other anti-oxidants, prevented the drug's inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin activation and its ability to induce apoptosis in CLL cells.Our studies indicate that EA selectively suppresses CLL survival due to inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Antagonizing Wnt signaling in CLL with EA or related drugs may represent an effective treatment of this disease

1981: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text

Our Uncommon Commitment Being the Abilene Christian University Annual Bible Lectures 1981 Published by Abilene Christian University Book Store ACU Station Abilene, Texas 7969

Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC): a randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children

Objective Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC) was a three-year cluster randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish increases in overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Methods Twenty-four elementary schools were cluster randomized to the PAAC intervention or served as control. All children in grades two and three were followed to grades four and five. PAAC promoted 90 minutes/wk of moderate to vigorous intensity physically active academic lessons delivered by classroom teachers. BMI was the primary outcome, daily PA and academic achievement were secondary outcomes. Results The three-year change in BMI for PAAC was 2.0 ± 1.9 and control 1.9 ± 1.9, respectively (NS). However, change in BMI from baseline to three years was significantly influenced by exposure to PAAC. Schools with ≥75 minutes of PAAC/wk showed significantly less increase in BMI at three years compared to schools that had <75 minutes of PAAC (1.8 ± 1.8 vs. 2.4 ± 2.0, p=0.02). PAAC schools had significantly greater changes in daily PA and academic achievement scores. Conclusions The PAAC approach may promote daily PA and academic achievement in elementary school children. Additionally, 75 minutes of PAAC activities may attenuate increases in BMI

The Tetraspanin Protein Peripherin-2 Forms a Complex with Melanoregulin, a Putative Membrane Fusion Regulator

Peripherin-2, the product of the rds gene, is a tetraspanin protein. In this study, we show that peripherin-2 forms a complex with melanoregulin (MREG), the product of the Mreg locus. Genetic studies suggest that MREG is involved in organelle biogenesis. In this study, we explore the role of this protein in processes associated with the formation of disk membranes, specialized organelles of photoreceptor rod cells. MREG antibodies were generated and found to be immunoreactive with a 28 kDa protein in retinal extracts, bovine OS, ARPE-19 cells, and rat RPE. MREG colocalized with peripherin-2 in WT (CB6F1/J) and in rds+/- retinas. Western blots of serial tangential sections confirmed the close association of these two proteins within the IS and basal outer segment of rods. Immunoprecipitation (IP) of OS extracts showed formation of a complex between MREG and peripherin-2-ROM-1 hetero-oligomers. This interaction was confirmed with pulldown analyses in which the GST-PerCter protein selectively pulled down His-MREG and His-MREG selectively pulled down PerCter. Biacore analysis using peptide inhibitors and per-2 truncation mutant studies allowed us to map the MREG binding site on per-2 to the last five residues of the C-terminus (Gln341-Gly346), and kinetic data predicted a KD of 80 nM for PerCter-MREG binding. Finally, the effect of MREG on photoreceptor specific membrane fusion was assayed using a disk-plasma membrane cell free assay. Preincubation of target membranes with MREG resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of fusion with an IC50 in the submicromolar range. Collectively, these results suggest that this newly identified protein regulates peripherin-2 function. © 2007 American Chemical Society

IUCN Conservation Status Does Not Predict Glucocortoid Concentrations in Reptiles and Birds

Circulating glucocorticoids (GCs) are the most commonly used biomarkers of stress in wildlife. However, their utility as a tool for identifying and/or managing at-risk species has varied. Here, we took a very broad approach to conservation physiology, asking whether International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing status (concern versus no obvious concern) and/or location within a geographic range (edge versus non-edge) predicted baseline and post-restraint concentrations of corticosterone (CORT) among many species of birds and reptiles. Even though such an approach can be viewed as coarse, we asked in this analysis whether CORT concentrations might be useful to implicate species at risk. Indeed, our effort, relying on HormoneBase, a repository of data on wildlife steroids, complements several other large-scale efforts in this issue to describe and understand GC variation. Using a phylogenetically informed Bayesian approach, we found little evidence that either IUCN status or edge/non-edge location in a geographic distribution were related to GC levels. However, we did confirm patterns described in previous studies, namely that breeding condition and evolutionary relatedness among species predicted some GC variation. Given the broad scope of our work, we are reluctant to conclude that IUCN status and location within a range are unrelated to GC regulation. We encourage future more targeted efforts on GCs in at-risk populations to reveal how factors leading to IUCN listing or the environmental conditions at range edges impact individual performance and fitness, particularly in the mammals, amphibians, and fish species we could not study here because data are currently unavailable

Metabolic Scaling of Stress Hormones in Vertebrates

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are stress hormones that can strongly influence physiology, behavior, and an organism’s ability to cope with environmental change. Despite their importance, and the wealth of studies that have sought to understand how and why GC concentrations vary within species, we do not have a clear understanding of how circulating GC levels vary within and across the major vertebrate clades. New research has proposed that much interspecific variation in GC concentrations can be explained by variation in metabolism and body mass. Specifically, GC concentrations should vary proportionally with mass-specific metabolic rates and, given known scaling relationships between body mass and metabolic rate, GC concentrations should scale to the -1/4 power of body mass and to the power of 1 with mass-specific metabolic rate. Here, we use HormoneBase, the newly compiled database that includes plasma GC concentrations from free-living and unmanipulated vertebrates, to evaluate this hypothesis. Specifically, we explored the relationships between body mass or mass-specific metabolic rate and either baseline or stress-induced GC (cortisol or corticosterone) concentrations in tetrapods. Our phylogenetically-informed models suggest that, whereas the relationship between GC concentrations and body mass across tetrapods and among mammals is close to -1/4 power, this relationship does not exist in amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Moreover, with the exception of a positive association between stress-induced GC concentrations and mass-specific metabolic rate in birds, we found little evidence that GC concentrations are linked to metabolic rate, although the number of species sampled was quite limited for amphibians and somewhat so for reptiles and mammals. Nevertheless, these results stand in contrast to the generally accepted association between the two and suggest that our observed positive association between body mass and GC concentrations may not be due to the well-established link between mass and metabolism. Large-scale comparative approaches can come with drawbacks, such as pooling and pairing observations from separate sources. However, these broad analyses provide an important counterbalance to the majority of studies examining variation in GC concentrations at the population or species level, and can be a powerful approach to testing both long-standing and new questions in biology

HormoneBase, a Population-Level Database of Steroid Hormone Levels Across Vertebrates

Hormones are central regulators of organismal function and flexibility that mediate a diversity of phenotypic traits from early development through senescence. Yet despite these important roles, basic questions about how and why hormone systems vary within and across species remain unanswered. Here we describe HormoneBase, a database of circulating steroid hormone levels and their variation across vertebrates. This database aims to provide all available data on the mean, variation, and range of plasma glucocorticoids (both baseline and stress-induced) and androgens in free-living and un-manipulated adult vertebrates. HormoneBase (www.HormoneBase.org) currently includes \u3e6,580 entries from 476 species, reported in 648 publications from 1967 to 2015, and unpublished datasets. Entries are associated with data on the species and population, sex, year and month of study, geographic coordinates, life history stage, method and latency of hormone sampling, and analysis technique. This novel resource could be used for analyses of the function and evolution of hormone systems, and the relationships between hormonal variation and a variety of processes including phenotypic variation, fitness, and species distributions

Macroevolutionary Patterning in Glucocorticoids Suggests Different Selective Pressures Shape Baseline and Stress-Induced Levels

Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones are important phenotypic mediators across vertebrates, but their circulating concentrations can vary markedly. Here we investigate macroevolutionary patterning in GC levels across tetrapods by testing seven specific hypotheses about GC variation and evaluating whether the supported hypotheses reveal consistent patterns in GC evolution. If selection generally favors the “supportive” role of GCs in responding effectively to challenges, then baseline and/or stress-induced GCs may be higher in challenging contexts. Alternatively, if selection generally favors “protection” from GC-induced costs, GCs may be lower in environments where challenges are more common or severe. The predictors of baseline GCs were all consistent with supportive effects: levels were higher in smaller organisms and in those inhabiting more energetically demanding environments. During breeding, baseline GCs were also higher in populations and species with fewer lifetime opportunities to reproduce. The predictors of stress-induced GCs were instead more consistent with the protection hypothesis: during breeding, levels were lower in organisms with fewer lifetime reproductive opportunities. Overall, these patterns indicate a surprising degree of consistency in how some selective pressures shape GCs across broad taxonomic scales; at the same time, in challenging environments selection appears to operate on baseline and stress-induced GCs in distinct ways

Baseline and Stress-Induced Corticosterone Levels Across Birds and Reptiles Do Not Reflect Urbanication Levels

Rates of human-induced environmental change continue increasing with human population size, potentially altering animal physiology and negatively affecting wildlife. Researchers often use glucocorticoid concentrations (hormones that can be associated with stressors) to gauge the impact of anthropogenic factors (e.g. urbanization, noise and light pollution). Yet, no general relationships between human-induced environmental change and glucocorticoids have emerged. Given the number of recent studies reporting baseline and stress-induced corticosterone (the primary glucocorticoid in birds and reptiles) concentrations worldwide, it is now possible to conduct large-scale comparative analyses to test for general associations between disturbance and baseline and stress-induced corticosterone across species. Additionally, we can control for factors that may influence context, such as life history stage, environmental conditions and urban adaptability of a species. Here, we take a phylogenetically informed approach and use data from HormoneBase to test if baseline and stress-induced corticosterone are valid indicators of exposure to human footprint index, human population density, anthropogenic noise and artificial light at night in birds and reptiles. Our results show a negative relationship between anthropogenic noise and baseline corticosterone for birds characterized as urban avoiders. While our results potentially indicate that urban avoiders are more sensitive to noise than other species, overall our study suggests that the relationship between human-induced environmental change and corticosterone varies across species and contexts; we found no general relationship between human impacts and baseline and stress-induced corticosterone in birds, nor baseline corticosterone in reptiles. Therefore, it should not be assumed that high or low levels of exposure to human-induced environmental change are associated with high or low corticosterone levels, respectively, or that closely related species, or even individuals, will respond similarly. Moving forward, measuring alternative physiological traits alongside reproductive success, health and survival may provide context to better understand the potential negative effects of human-induced environmental change