Tobacco withdrawal in women and menstrual cycle phase

Because negative mood is a characteristic of both tobacco withdrawal and menstrual discomfort, withdrawal may vary by menstrual cycle phase. Tobacco withdrawal, mood, and menstrual discomfort were assessed in premenopausal women who quit smoking during either the follicular (Days 1-14 postmenstrual onset; n = 41) or luteal (Day 15 or longer postmenstrual onset; n = 37) phase of the menstrual cycle and maintained biochemically verified smoking abstinence during the postquit week. Women quitting during the luteal phase reported significantly greater increases in tobacco withdrawal and self-reported depressive symptoms than women quitting during the follicular phase. These results indicate that selecting a quit-smoking day early in the follicular phase may attenuate withdrawal and negative affect in premenopausal female smokers.     

Comparison of lymphocyte populations bearing surface immunoglobulins in avian bone marrow, bursa, spleen and thymus.

Rabbit anti-chicken gamma-globulin was labeled with 125I and then incubated with cells from the bursa, thymus, spleen, and bone marrow of 4- and 8-week old birds. The same procedure was carried out on 11-week-old agammaglobulinemic chickens. Autoradiography revealed that the majority of large, medium, and small bursal lymphocytes bind the antibodies while labeled lymphocytes of each type in the spleen and thymus never exceeded 11 or 4 percent, respectively. Labeled medium and small lymphocytes in the bone marrow increased from 4.2 and 1.7%, respectively, at 4 weeks of age, to 9.5 and 8.8%, respectively, at 8 weeks of age. Labeled lymphocytes of all sizes were completely absent in all tissues of agammaglobulinemic chicks, including the marrow. Therefore, the increase in frequency of labeled lymphocytes in the bone marrow with age may be a result of recruitment of cells from the bursa of Fabricius. The majority of lymphocytes in the bone marrow do not label. Therefore, lymphocytes from the bone marrow may be T cells, subsets of B cells, or neither T or B cells.     

A 50-kDa membrane protein mediates sialic acid-independent binding and infection of conjunctival cells by adenovirus type 37

The ocular tropism of adenovirus type 37 (Ad37) does not correlate with the wide distribution of the 46-kDa coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR), the major receptor for most adenovirus serotypes. We previously found that Ad37 infects and binds well to conjunctival cells (Chang C), but poorly to lung epithelial (A549) cells that express CAR and hypothesized that this serotype uses a distinct receptor that is selectively expressed on conjunctival cells. To test this, we produced particles of a fiber-deleted Ad5 vector containing the Ad37 fiber protein. The "pseudotyped" vector infected Chang C cells better than A549 cells using a CAR-independent pathway. Ad37 binding was calcium-dependent and was abolished by protease digestion of cell surface proteins. Using a virus overlay protein blot assay (VOPBA), we detected calcium-dependent Ad37 binding to 50- and 60-kDa membrane proteins on permissive Chang C cells. In contrast, calcium-dependent binding was detected with only the 60-kDa protein on nonpermissive A549 cells. Ad19p, a closely related serotype that failed to bind to conjunctival cells, recognized the 60-kDa, but not the 50-kDa, protein. Ad37 has been reported to use sialic acid instead of CAR as a cell receptor on A549 cells. Pretreatment of Chang C cells with neuraminidase abolished Ad37 binding to only the 60-kDa protein, suggesting that sialic acid mediates Ad37 binding to the 60-kDa protein. The pseudotyped Ad37 vector was also able to infect neuraminidase-treated Chang C cells. Thus, subgroup D adenoviral binding to the 50-kDa protein is calcium-dependent and cell type- and serotype-specific, whereas binding to the 60-kDa protein is not necessary for infection of conjunctival cells. Together, these data suggest that the 50-kDa protein is the major receptor for Ad37 on conjunctival cells.     

A critical evaluation of current views regarding eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): clarifying points of confusion.

EMDR is an active psychological treatment for PTSD that has received widely divergent reactions from the scientific and professional community. This article examines points of confusion in the published literature on EMDR, including the theoretical, empirical, and historical issues around EMDR and placebo effects, exposure procedures, the eye movement component, treatment fidelity issues, and outcome studies. It also examines historical information relevant to the scientific process and charges of "pseudoscience" regarding EMDR. We conclude that the confusion in the literature is due to (a) the lack of an empirically validated model capable of convincingly explaining the effects of the EMDR method, (b) inaccurate and selective reporting of research, (c) some poorly designed empirical studies, (d) inadequate treatment fidelity in some outcome research, and (e) multiple biased or inaccurate reviews by a relatively small group of authors. Reading the original research articles frequently helps to reduce the confusion arising from the research review literature.     

Mouse homologues of the human AZF candidate gene RBM are expressed in spermatogonia and spermatids, and map to a Y chromosome deletion interval associated with a high incidence of sperm abnormalities

An RNA-binding motif (RBM) gene family has been identified on the human Y chromosome that maps to the same deletion interval as the 'azoospermia factor' (AZF). We have identified the homologous gene family (Rbm) on the mouse Y with a view to investigating the proposal that this gene family plays a role in spermatogenesis. At least 25 and probably >50 copies of Rbm are present on the mouse Y chromosome short arm located between Sry and the centromere. As in the human, a role in spermatogenesis is indicated by a germ cell-specific pattern of expression in the testis, but there are distinct differences in the pattern of expression between the two species. Mice carrying the deletion Yd1, that maps to the proximal Y short arm, are female due to a position effect resulting in non-expression of Sry ; sex-reversing such mice with an Sry transgene produces males with a high incidence of abnormal sperm, making this the third deletion interval on the mouse Y that affects some aspect of spermatogenesis. Most of the copies of Rbm map to this deletion interval, and the Yd1males have markedly reduced Rbm expression, suggesting that RBM deficiency may be responsible for, or contribute to, the abnormal sperm development. In man, deletion of the functional copies of RBM is associated with meiotic arrest rather than sperm anomalies; however, the different effects of deletion are consistent with the differences in expression between the two species.      

In vivo molecular targeted radiotherapy

Unsealed radionuclides have been in clinical therapeutic use for well over half a century. Following the early inappropriate clinical administrations of radium salts in the early 20th century, the first real clinical benefits became evident with the use of (131)I-sodium iodide for the treatment of hypothyroidism and differentiated thyroid carcinoma and (32)P-sodium phosphate for the treatment of polycythaemia vera. In recent years the use of bone seeking agents (89)Sr, (153)Sm and (186)Re for the palliation of bone pain have become widespread and considerable progress has been evident with the use of (131)I-MIBG and (90)Y-somatostatin receptor binding agents. Although the use of monoclonal antibody based therapeutic products has been slow to evolve, the start of the 21st century has witnessed the first licensed therapeutic antibody conjugates based on (90)Y and (131)I for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The future clinical utility of this form of therapy will depend upon the development of radiopharmaceutical conjugates capable of selective binding to molecular targets. The availability of some therapeutic radionuclides such as (188)Re produced from the tungsten generator system which can produce activity as required over many months, may make this type of therapy more widely available in some remote and developing countries.Future products will involve cytotoxic radionuclides with appropriate potency, but with physical characteristics that will enable the administration of therapeutic doses with the minimal need for patient isolation. Further developments are likely to involve molecular constructs such as aptamers arising from new developments in biotechnology.Patient trials are still underway and are now examining new methods of administration, dose fractionation and the clinical introduction of alpha emitting radiopharmaceutical conjugates. This review outlines the history, development and future potential of these forms of therapy.