27 research outputs found

    Cisplatin and Doxorubicin Induce Distinct Mechanisms of Ovarian Follicle Loss; Imatinib Provides Selective Protection Only against Cisplatin

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    Chemotherapy treatment in premenopausal women has been linked to ovarian follicle loss and premature ovarian failure; the exact mechanism by which this occurs is uncertain. Here, two commonly used chemotherapeutic agents (cisplatin and doxorubicin) were added to a mouse ovary culture system, to compare the sequence of events that leads to germ cell loss. The ability of imatinib mesylate to protect the ovary against cisplatin or doxorubicin-induced ovarian damage was also examined.Newborn mouse ovaries were cultured for a total of six days, exposed to a chemotherapeutic agent on the second day: this allowed for the examination of the earliest stages of follicle development. Cleaved PARP and TUNEL were used to assess apoptosis following drug treatment. Imatinib was added to cultures with cisplatin and doxorubicin to determine any protective effect.Histological analysis of ovaries treated with cisplatin showed oocyte-specific damage; in comparison doxorubicin preferentially caused damage to the granulosa cells. Cleaved PARP expression significantly increased for cisplatin (16 fold, p<0.001) and doxorubicin (3 fold, p<0.01). TUNEL staining gave little evidence of primordial follicle damage with either drug. Imatinib had a significant protective effect against cisplatin-induced follicle damage (p<0.01) but not against doxorubicin treatment.Cisplatin and doxorubicin both induced ovarian damage, but in a markedly different pattern, with imatinib protecting the ovary against damage by cisplatin but not doxorubicin. Any treatment designed to block the effects of chemotherapeutic agents on the ovary may need to be specific to the drug(s) the patient is exposed to

    Use of Motor Abundance in Young and Older Adults during Dual-Task Treadmill Walking

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    Contains fulltext : 110120.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Motor abundance allows individuals to perform any task reliably while being variable in movement's particulars. The study investigated age-related differences in this feature when young adults (YA) and older adults (OA) performed challenging tasks, namely treadmill walking alone and while performing a cognitive task. A goal function for treadmill walking was first defined, i.e., maintain constant speed at each step, which led to a goal equivalent manifold (GEM) containing all combinations of step time and step length that equally satisfied the function. Given the GEM, amounts of goal-equivalent and non-goal-equivalent variability were afterwards determined and used to define an index providing information about the set of effective motor solutions relative to the GEM. The set was limited in OA compared to YA in treadmill walking alone, indicating that OA made less flexible use of motor abundance than YA. However, this differentiation between YA and OA disappeared when concurrently performing the cognitive task. It is proposed that OA might have benefited from cognitive compensation

    Detailed Analysis of a Contiguous 22-Mb Region of the Maize Genome

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    Most of our understanding of plant genome structure and evolution has come from the careful annotation of small (e.g., 100 kb) sequenced genomic regions or from automated annotation of complete genome sequences. Here, we sequenced and carefully annotated a contiguous 22 Mb region of maize chromosome 4 using an improved pseudomolecule for annotation. The sequence segment was comprehensively ordered, oriented, and confirmed using the maize optical map. Nearly 84% of the sequence is composed of transposable elements (TEs) that are mostly nested within each other, of which most families are low-copy. We identified 544 gene models using multiple levels of evidence, as well as five miRNA genes. Gene fragments, many captured by TEs, are prevalent within this region. Elimination of gene redundancy from a tetraploid maize ancestor that originated a few million years ago is responsible in this region for most disruptions of synteny with sorghum and rice. Consistent with other sub-genomic analyses in maize, small RNA mapping showed that many small RNAs match TEs and that most TEs match small RNAs. These results, performed on ∼1% of the maize genome, demonstrate the feasibility of refining the B73 RefGen_v1 genome assembly by incorporating optical map, high-resolution genetic map, and comparative genomic data sets. Such improvements, along with those of gene and repeat annotation, will serve to promote future functional genomic and phylogenomic research in maize and other grasses

    Gastroenteritis Outbreak Associated with Unpasteurized Tempeh, North Carolina, USA

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    During an investigation of an outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+), we identified unpasteurized tempeh as a novel food vehicle and Rhizopus spp. starter culture as the source of the contamination. Safe handling of uncooked, unpasteurized tempeh should be emphasized for prevention of foodborne illnesses
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