Inner centromere formation requires hMis14, a trident kinetochore protein that specifically recruits HP1 to human chromosomes

hMis14 and HP1 depend on each other to localize to the kinetochore and inner centromere, respectively

Mis16 and Mis18 Are Required for CENP-A Loading and Histone Deacetylation at Centromeres

AbstractCentromeres contain specialized chromatin that includes the centromere-specific histone H3 variant, spCENP-A/Cnp1. Here we report identification of five fission yeast centromere proteins, Mis14–18. Mis14 is recruited to kinetochores independently of CENP-A, and, conversely, CENP-A does not require Mis14 to associate with centromeres. In contrast, Mis15, Mis16 (strong similarity with human RbAp48 and RbAp46), Mis17, and Mis18 are all part of the CENP-A recruitment pathway. Mis15 and Mis17 form an evolutionarily conserved complex that also includes Mis6. Mis16 and Mis18 form a complex and maintain the deacetylated state of histones specifically in the central core of centromeres. Mis16 and Mis18 are the most upstream factors in kinetochore assembly as they can associate with kinetochores in all kinetochore mutants except for mis18 and mis16, respectively. RNAi knockdown in human cells shows that Mis16 function is conserved as RbAp48 and RbAp46 are both required for localization of human CENP-A

Lattice Parameter of Titanium Monoxides under High Pressure

The effect of pressure on the crystal structure and the lattice parameter of vacancy rich titanium monoxides has been studied using a high pressure apparatus of the tetrahedral anvil type combined with an X-ray diffraction equipment. Two kinds of specimens, TiO_ and TiO_, have been used, the former containing most of vacancies in the oxygen sublattice and the latter in the titanium sublattice. Up to the pressure of 60 kbar, no significant change in the crystal structure has been observed. The change in the lattice parameter with increasing pressure is unexpectedly small for both the specimens, but a minor difference between them has been observed. An initial change is larger in TiO_ than in TiO_, while in the pressure range between 10 and 60 kbar the latter shows faster decrease. The experimental results are discussed in relation to the behavior of the vacancies under high pressure

Neurobiology of Depression and Anxiety in Parkinson's Disease

Depression and anxiety are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and have important consequences on quality of life. These have long been recognized as frequent accompanying syndromes of PD, and several reports suggest that these are the causative process or risk factors that are present many years before the appearance of motor symptoms. The neurochemical changes in PD involving dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin might be related to the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety, but this is still not clear. Several studies showed that anxiety in PD patients occurs earlier than depression, during premotor phase, suggesting that there may be a link between the mechanisms that cause anxiety and PD. Whereas a recent study reported that PD patients with depression and anxiety were associated with different demographic and clinical features

New organic activators for the enantioselective reduction of aromatic imines with trichlorosilane

N-Picolinoyl-(2S)-(diphenylhydroxymethyl)pyrrolidine was found to work as an organic activator in the reduction of aromatic imines to the corresponding amines by Cl3SiH. The highest selectivity was 80% ee. These are the first data showing that N-formyl group is not always essential as N-protecting group of pyrrolidine derivatives for the reduction of imines by Cl3SiH

Efficient Oxidation of Adamantanes by Sodium Nitrite with Molecular Oxygen in Trifluoroacetic Acid

Oxidation of adamantanes by oxygen was effectively achieved by use of sodium nitrite as a catalyst in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to give 1-adamantyl trifluoroacetates, from which adamantanols were obtained in good yields. A catalytic amount of sodium nitrite was essential and TFA was the best solvent among solvents examined for this oxidation

Evidence for the Involvement of a Src-Related Tyrosine Kinase inXenopusEgg Activation

AbstractRecently, we have purified a Src-related tyrosine kinase, namedXenopustyrosine kinase (Xyk), from oocytes ofXenopus laevisand found that the enzyme is activated within 1 min following fertilization [Satoet al.(1996)J. Biol. Chem.271, 13250–13257]. A concomitant translocation of a part of the activated enzyme from the membrane fraction to the cytosolic fraction was also observed. In the present study, we show that parthenogenetic egg activation by a synthetic RGDS peptide [Y. Iwao and T. Fujimura, T. (1996)Dev. Biol.177, 558–567], an integrin-interacting peptide, but not by electrical shock or the calcium ionophore A23187 causes the kinase activation, tyrosine phosphorylation, and translocation of Xyk. A synthetic tyrosine kinase-specific inhibitor peptide was employed to analyze the importance of the Xyk activity in egg activation. We found that the peptide inhibits the kinase activity of purified Xyk at IC50of 8 μM. Further, egg activation induced by sperm or RGDS peptide but not by A23187 was inhibited by microinjection of the peptide. In the peptide-microinjected eggs, penetration of the sperm nucleus into the egg cytoplasm and meiotic resumption in the egg were blocked. Indirect immunofluorescence study demonstrates that Xyk is exclusively localized to the cortex ofXenopuseggs, indicating that Xyk can function in close proximity to the sperm–egg or RGDS peptide–egg interaction site. Taken together, these data suggest that the tyrosine kinase Xyk plays an important role in the early events ofXenopusegg activation in a manner independent or upstream of calcium signaling

Fluctuation modes in color-superconductors

We investigate fluctuation effects of a gap parameter in color-superconductors. The fluctuation modes in the super phase are described by two scalar fields of diquarks. One of them is a Nambu-Goldstone boson and the other is a diquark boson whose mass is about twice of the gap energy (an extended quasi-supersymmetry). In the normal phase the fluctuation becomes a precursory (soft) mode whose amplitude increases near the critical temperature.Comment: 6 page

A comparison between the adductor pollicis muscle and the abductor digiti minimi muscle using electromyography AF-201P in rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block: a prospective comparative study

Background: The AF-201P, a new electromyography (EMG)-based neuromuscular monitor has been developed recently. The aim of this clinical study was to compare two ulnar nerve innervated muscles: the adductor pollicis (AP) muscle and the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscle during the recovery from rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block by using EMG AF-201P. Methods: Twenty patients undergoing surgery with general anesthesia were enrolled in the study. During total intravenous general anesthesia, train-of-four (TOF) and post-tetanic counts (PTC) responses following 0.9 mg/kg rocuronium administration were concurrently monitored at the AP and the ADM muscles with EMG AF-201P on the opposite arms. At the end of the surgery, sugammadex 2 mg/kg was administered when TOF counts of 2 (TOFC2) was observed at both muscles. The primary outcome of the study was time from administration of rocuronium to first appearance of PTC response (first PTC). The secondary outcomes of the study were time from administration of rocuronium to TOF count of 1 (TOFC1), time from first PTC to TOFC1 (PTC-TOF time), time to TOFC2, and time from administration of sugammadex to TOF ratio ≥ 0.9. Agreement between the two muscles was assessed using the Bland-Altman analysis. Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Results: Nineteen patients were included in the analysis. Time to first PTC was significantly faster at the ADM muscle than the AP muscle (24.4 ± 11.4 min vs 32.4 ± 13.1 min, p = 0.006). PTC-TOF time was significantly longer with the ADM muscle than the AP muscle (19.4 ± 7.3 min vs 12.4 ± 10.6 min, p = 0.019). There were no significant differences in time to TOFC2 and sugammadex-facilitated recovery between the two muscles. Bland-Altman analyses showed acceptable ranges of bias and limits of agreement of the two muscles. Conclusions: The ADM muscle showed a good agreement with the AP muscle during rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block but faster recovery of PTC response when using EMG