The response of Kentucky bluegrass turf to insecticidal treatments

The most common insect pests of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) in Tennessee are sod webworms and white grubs. Attempts to control these insects with insecticides has, at times, resulted in the entire destruction of the lawn by sod webworms. Pass (1965) has shown that applications of aldrin, chlordane, and dieldrin increased the webworm population 2-3 fold. Streu and Vasvary (1966) found the same phenomenon in chinch bug control. Both Pass and Streu believed that this population increase of the target pest may have been related to an interference in some population-limiting mechanism, such as the natural enemies, but neither investigator definitely proved this. In view of the problem that home owners have had after applying insecticides for webworm and grub control, it was decided to conduct a study to determine the overall effects of insecticides on bluegrass. The research reported herein covers only a preliminary phase of that study: the effect of insecticides on botanical composition of a bluegrass turf

CpG-Methylation Regulates a Class of Epstein-Barr Virus Promoters

DNA methylation is the major modification of eukaryotic genomes and plays an essential role in mammalian gene regulation. In general, cytosine-phosphatidyl-guanosine (CpG)-methylated promoters are transcriptionally repressed and nuclear proteins such as MECP2, MBD1, MBD2, and MBD4 bind CpG-methylated DNA and contribute to epigenetic silencing. Methylation of viral DNA also regulates gene expression of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a model of herpes virus latency. In latently infected human B cells, the viral DNA is CpG-methylated, the majority of viral genes is repressed and virus synthesis is therefore abrogated. EBV's BZLF1 encodes a transcription factor of the AP-1 family (Zta) and is the master gene to overcome viral gene repression. In a genome-wide screen, we now identify and characterize those viral genes, which Zta regulates. Among them are genes essential for EBV's lytic phase, which paradoxically depend on strictly CpG-methylated promoters for their Zta-induced expression. We identified novel DNA recognition motifs, termed meZRE (methyl-Zta-responsive element), which Zta selectively binds in order to ‘read’ DNA in a methylation- and sequence-dependent manner unlike any other known protein. Zta is a homodimer but its binding characteristics to meZREs suggest a sequential, non-palindromic and bipartite DNA recognition element, which confers superior DNA binding compared to CpG-free ZREs. Our findings indicate that Zta has evolved to transactivate cytosine-methylated, hence repressed, silent promoters as a rule to overcome epigenetic silencing

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The response of Kentucky bluegrass turf to insecticidal treatments

The most common insect pests of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) in Tennessee are sod webworms and white grubs. Attempts to control these insects with insecticides has, at times, resulted in the entire destruction of the lawn by sod webworms. Pass (1965) has shown that applications of aldrin, chlordane, and dieldrin increased the webworm population 2-3 fold. Streu and Vasvary (1966) found the same phenomenon in chinch bug control. Both Pass and Streu believed that this population increase of the target pest may have been related to an interference in some population-limiting mechanism, such as the natural enemies, but neither investigator definitely proved this. In view of the problem that home owners have had after applying insecticides for webworm and grub control, it was decided to conduct a study to determine the overall effects of insecticides on bluegrass. The research reported herein covers only a preliminary phase of that study: the effect of insecticides on botanical composition of a bluegrass turf

Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI): A review of available techniques

Breast conservation therapy (BCT) is the procedure of choice for the management of the early stage breast cancer. However, its utilization has not been maximized because of logistics issues associated with the protracted treatment involved with the radiation treatment. Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) is an approach that treats only the lumpectomy bed plus a 1-2 cm margin, rather than the whole breast. Hence because of the small volume of irradiation a higher dose can be delivered in a shorter period of time. There has been growing interest for APBI and various approaches have been developed under phase I-III clinical studies; these include multicatheter interstitial brachytherapy, balloon catheter brachytherapy, conformal external beam radiation therapy and intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT). Balloon-based brachytherapy approaches include Mammosite, Axxent electronic brachytherapy and Contura, Hybrid brachytherapy devices include SAVI and ClearPath. This paper reviews the different techniques, identifying the weaknesses and strength of each approach and proposes a direction for future research and development. It is evident that APBI will play a role in the management of a selected group of early breast cancer. However, the relative role of the different techniques is yet to be clearly identified