CHANGING FOOD PRODUCTION STRATEGIES AMONG GARHWALI RESETTLERS IN THE HIMALAYAS

This article discusses the changing systems of food production among Garhwali resettlers who were forcibly displaced due to the construction of the Tehri Dam in North India. Resettling to a drastically new environment affected their traditional food production strategies and rendered them vulnerable to the vagaries of transition, including the forced adaptation to new cash crop-based farming systems, restricted hunting and fishing areas, and limited access to dairy products. These changes led to an inadequate supply of food and nutrients, especially protein, for these resettlers. Using ethnographic methods, this study illustrates that resettling an agrarian community to a new ecological area significantly changes their food production practices in ways that leave them vulnerable to the potential risk of an impoverished diet.     

SET在不同发育阶段小鼠睾丸的表达及其功能

SET蛋白是一个多功能蛋白，在调节包括DNA复制、核小体装配、染色体修饰、DNA转录、细胞周期、细胞凋亡等细胞生物学过程中起重要作用。前期研究发现，SET在卵巢中调节雄激素合成。然而，SET在睾丸组织中的表达及其功能仍然不明确。在此，我们检测不同年龄段小鼠睾丸组织中SET表达，探讨其在精子发生及睾酮生成方面的潜在功能。48只不同年龄段的雄性小鼠（1周龄的ICR雄性小鼠作为幼年期组，4周龄小鼠作为性发育前组，12周龄小鼠作为性成熟期组，12月龄作为老年组）。免疫组织化学方法观察SET各年龄段小鼠的定位表达；qRT-PCR和Western Blot分别检测睾丸中SET mRNA和蛋白水平表达。SET表达定位于生精小管中的精原细胞、精母细胞，在青春期前及成熟期的单倍体和四倍体生殖细胞中高表达；成熟期及老年期的睾丸间质细胞中也有SET的表达；支持细胞中很少量表达。青春期前SET的mRNA与成熟期相比表达量最高（P〈0．05），而SET蛋白在性成熟期小鼠睾丸中表达最高（P〈O．05）。SET主要表达于精原细胞和精母细胞，少量表达于支持细胞，表明SET可能与精子发生有关。SET还表达于睾丸间质细胞，则与睾酮生成有关。     

Retrospective Assessment of Exposure to Chemicals for a Microelectronics and Business Machine Manufacturing Facility

A retrospective exposure assessment was performed for use in a health outcomes study of a facility manufacturing circuit boards, business machines, and other equipment during the years 1969–2002. A matrix was developed identifying chemical use by department-year based on company-provided information. Use of six chemical agents (fiberglass, lead, methylene chloride, methyl chloroform, perchloroethylene, and trichloroethylene) and six chemical classes (acid-base, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, other hydrocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, and metals), and general (including unspecified) chemicals was identified. The matrix also contained an assignment for each department-year categorizing the potential for use of chemicals as negligible, intermittent/incidental, or routine. These department-based exposure matrix data were combined with work history data to provide duration of potential chemical use for workers. Negligible, intermittent/incidental or routine extent-of-chemical-use categories comprised 42.6%, 39.4%, and 17.9%, respectively, of total person-years of employment. Cumulative exposure scores were also developed, representing a relative measure of the cumulative extent of potential exposure to the six chemical agents, six chemical classes, and general (including unspecified) chemicals. Additionally, the study period was divided into manufacturing eras showing trends in chemical use, and showing that process use of trichloroethylene and methylene chloride ended in the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, respectively. This approach may be useful in other assessments addressing a variety of chemicals, and with data constraints common to retrospective chemical exposure studies.     

2种不同微创手术方法治疗良性前列腺增生症的临床观察

目的:观察经尿道前列腺等离子双极电切(TUPKP)与经尿道前列腺单极电切术(TURP)治疗良性前列腺增生症患者的临床效果。方法:回顾性分析我院自2009年10月～2011年10月住院的130例良性前列腺增生症患者,随机分为实验组和对照组,每组各65例。实验组采用TUPKP,对照组采用TURP。结果:实验组和对照组术中、术后手术时间、术中出血量、术后平均住院天数、膀胱冲洗时间以及留置尿管时间,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);实验组和对照组术后半年IPSS评分、QOL评分、残余尿和并发症等指标,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:TUPKP与TURP治疗良性前列腺增生症患者的临床效果相当,经尿道前列腺等离子双极电切术相对更安全,值得临床推广应用。     

New developments in lentiviral vector design,production and purification

Introduction: Lentiviruses are a very potent class of viral vectors for which there is presently a rapidly growing interest for a number of gene therapy. However, their construction, production and purification need to be performed according to state-of-the-art techniques in order to obtain sufficient quantities of high purity material of any usefulness and safety.

Areas covered: The recent advances in the field of recombinant lentivirus vector design, production and purification will be reviewed with an eye toward its utilization for gene therapy. Such a review should be helpful for the potential user of this technology.

Expert opinion: The principal hurdles toward the use of recombinant lentivirus as a gene therapy vector are the low titer at which it is produced as well as the difficulty to purify it at an acceptable level without degrading it. The recent advances in the bioproduction of this vector suggest these issues are about to be resolved, making the retrovirus gene therapy a mature technology.     

Role of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in glutathione catabolism

Introduction:  Our previous studies demonstrated that three enzymes, γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), cysteinylglycinase (CGase) and cystalysin, are required for the catabolism of glutathione to produce hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in Treponema denticola . In this study, we examined glutathione catabolism in Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans .
Methods:  The GGT and CGase of A. actinomycetemcomitans were determined by biological methods and GGT was characterized using a molecular biological approach.
Results:  A. actinomycetemcomitans showed GGT and CGase activity, but could not produce H₂S from glutathione. The addition of recombinant T. denticola cystalysin, an l -cysteine desulfhydrase, to whole cells of A. actinomycetemcomitans resulted in the production of H₂S from glutathione. Subsequently, we cloned A. actinomycetemcomitans GGT gene ( ggt ) and overexpressed the 63 kDa GGT protein. The recombinant A. actinomycetemcomitans GGT was purified and identified. The K _cat/ K _m of the recombinant GGT from N -γ- l -glutamyl-4-nitroaniline as substrate was 31/μ m /min. The activity of GGT was optimum at pH 6.9–7.1 and enhanced by thiol-containing compounds.
Conclusion:  The results demonstrated that A. actinomycetemcomitans had GGT and CGase activities and that the GGT was characterized. The possible role of A. actinomycetemcomitans in glutathione metabolism and H₂S production from oral bacteria was discussed.     

Spontaneous and induced immunoglobulin synthesis and anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies in Wegener's granulomatosis: relation to leukocyte subpopulations in blood and active lesions

Summary Using a reverse plaque forming cell (PFC) assay the production of immunoglobulin (Ig) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) in vitro was studied in 12 patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). Spontaneous IgG production was increased in two of six untreated patients. The IgG response of MNCs from eight untreated patients to pokeweed mitogen (PWM) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) stimulation was significantly depressed. The IgM and IgA production followed the individual pattern of IgG. Blood B-cell and T-cell subset concentrations were normal before therapy, whereas the monocyte concentration was increased in four of six patients. Titers of anti-neutrophil cytoplasm autoantibodies (ANCAs) did not correlate with spontaneous or induced Ig production nor with blood leukocyte subset concentrations. Biopsy specimens from upper respiratory tract lesions in seven untreated patients showed numerous macrophages, activated T lymphocytes, and plasma cells, suggesting a pathogenetic role of these cells in the development of lesions and local production of ANCAs.     

Triclosan exhibits a tendency to accumulate in the epididymis and shows sperm toxicity in male sprague‐dawley rats

Triclosan (TCS) is considered a potent endocrine disruptor that causes reproductive toxicity in non‐mammals, but it is still unclear exactly whether TCS has adverse effects on the sperm or reproductive organs in mammals. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the distribution status of TCS in male reproductive organs of rats, and seek the correlation with the TCS‐induced sperm toxicity or reproductive organ damage. Male rats were intragastrically administered with TCS at a dose of 50 mg/kg, the kinetics of TCS in the plasma and reproductive organs were investigated. TCS in testes and prostates both showed a lower‐level distritbution compared to that in the plasma, which indicates it has no tendency to accumulate in those organs. However, TCS in the epididymides showed a longer elimination half‐life (t_1/2z), a longer the mean retention time (MRT), and a lower clearance (CL_Z/F) compared with those in the plasma. Besides, the ratios of mean area under the concentration‐time curve (AUC)_{0–96h(epididymides/plasma)} and AUC_{0–∞(epididymides/plasma)} were 1.13 and 1.51, respectively. These kinetic parameters suggest TCS has an accumulation tendency in the epididymides. Based on this, we investigated the TCS‐induced sperm toxicity and histopathological changes of reproductive organs in rats. TCS was given intragastrically at doses of 10, 50, and 200 mg/kg for 8 weeks. Rats treated with the high dose (200 mg/kg) of TCS showed a significant decrease in daily sperm production (DSP), changes in sperm morphology and epididymal histopathology. Considering the histopathological change in the epididymides, TCS may induce the epididymal damage due to the epididymal accumulation of that. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 30: 83–91, 2015.