Vitiligo surgery: A journey from tissues via cells to the stems!

Depigmented patches in vitiligo, a common dermatosis, cause a great psychological distress to the patients. Hence, apart from halting the disease process, the strategies to impart normal skin colour to these white patches carry an important role in the management of vitiligo. Surgical procedures are often required for stable vitiligo lesions not responding to medical therapies. It involves “shuffling” of melanocytes from the pigmented skin to the depigmented areas. During the last fifty years, the vitiligo surgery has evolved from tissue transplantation via cellular transplantation to reach a stage where the use of stem cells or immunomodulatory cells is contemplating. We would like to depict this wonderful journey of vitiligo surgery through this viewpoint.     

HIV-1 B-subtype capsid protein: a characterization of amino acid’s conservation and its significant association with integrase signatures

The HIV-1 pre-integration phase and the subsequent integration of viral genome to the host of nuclear chromosomes are not well analyzed so far. Many studies are discussing the question of pre- and post-nuclear viral entry which is to support the assumption that HIV-1 integrase (IN) is maintained in the volume of intact conical structure’s capsids through HIV entry. The aim of the current study is to identify the prevalence of capsid’s (CA) signatures among drug-naïve and antiretroviral (ARV)-treated patients in a cohort of 827 HIV-1 B-subtype-infected individuals, and subsequently the relationship between IN and CA amino acid’s changes was evaluated. These analyses suggest a conceivable co-evolution of IN–CA sequences, especially in relation to steps of nuclear viral entry. The frequency of mutations was calculated, and statistically has been compared between treatment-naïve and ARV-treated patients. The binomial correlation coefficient was used to assess covariation among CA and IN mutations; then, the average linkage hierarchical agglomerative clustering was performed. The results show a detailed conservation of HIV-1 CA protein both in drug-naïve and in ARV-treated patients. Moreover, the specific CA substitutions are significantly associated with different IN signatures at the amino acid level and the topology of the dendrogram has revealed the existence of two strong sub-clusters associated with hypothetical different mutational pathways. The in vitro and in vivo studies are necessary to exclude the hypothetical statistical false positive results and in order to confirm that some CA amino acid signatures are going to establish specific and precise implication in the HIV life cycle.     

The amino terminus of the salmonid alphavirus capsid protein determines subcellular localization and inhibits cellular proliferation

Salmonid alphavirus (SAV) is the most divergent member of the family Togaviridae and constitutes a threat to farming of salmonid fish in Europe. Here, we report cloning, expression and preliminary functional analysis of the capsid protein of SAV, confirming it to be expressed as an approximately 31-kDa protein in infected cells. The protein localizes strictly to the cytoplasm in Chinook salmon embryo cells, and either to the nucleus or cytoplasm in bluegill fry cells. An expression study of full-length and different truncated versions of the SAV capsid fused to the enhanced green fluorescent protein demonstrated that the localization is independent of other viral components in both cell lines, and controlled by the N-terminal 82 aa, which include a conserved, predicted helix and a downstream positively charged region. Thus, the results suggest that the SAV capsid possesses a cell-type-dependent potential for nuclear import and export. Moreover, the SAV capsid and its N-terminal 82 aa were shown to be associated with inhibition of cellular proliferation, a hallmark of the cytopathic effect caused by SAV. These results highlight that the SAV capsid is a multifunctional protein with possible importance for pathogenesis.     

Volumetric Analysis of the African Elephant Ventricular System

This study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the volume of the ventricular system in the brain of three adult male African elephants (Loxodonta africana). The ventricular system of the elephant has a volume of ～240 mL, an order of magnitude larger than that seen in the adult human. Despite this large size, allometric analysis indicates that the volume of the ventricles in the elephant is what one would expect for a mammal with an ～5 kg brain. Interestingly, our comparison with other mammals revealed that primates appear to have small relative ventricular volumes, and that megachiropterans and microchiropterans follow different scaling rules when comparing ventricular volume to brain mass indicating separate phylogenetic histories. The current study provides context for one aspect of the elephant brain in the broader picture of mammalian brain evolution. Anat Rec, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.