Increase of nucleoid size with increasing age of hyphal region in vegetative mycelia of Streptomyces granaticolor

In mycelia of Streptomyces granaticolor grown in liquid cultures the distribution of DNA was surveyed by staining and autoradiographic methods. The frequency of stained nucleoids was rather similar in young and old hyphal regions. However, the size of the nucleoids increased with the age of a hyphal region. The degree of heterogeneity in nucleoid size was particularly high during slow growth. In the autoradiograms silver grains (³H-thymidine label) were also heterogeneously distributed along the hyphae. Calculation of the average number of silver grains per nucleoid revealed that the amount of DNA per nucleoid was 1.6 times higher in the more distant subapical regions than within the 35 μm long apical region. From a chase experiment it became obvious that the DNA segregated in a normal manner only within the apical region. When the chase lasted for one doubling time, the frequency of silver grains was reduced to 50% only within the about 30 μm long apical region. The label incorporated subapieally remained almost constant, therefore, indicating a lack of normal segregation. Only about 10% of the label was lost by branching. The lack of segregation of sister nucleoids after repeated rounds of replication was found to be responsible for the increase of nucleoid size within subapieal hyphal regions.     

Influence of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms

BACKGROUND: Our aims in the present study were to estimate the influences of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life, and to determine which of these two variables has the most predictive power with respect to quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. METHODS: Chronic prostatitis-like symptoms were measured by the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index. Of the 28,841 men aged 20 years who lived in the study community, 18,495 men (a response rate 64.1%) agreed to participate in the study. A total of 1057 men who complained of symptoms indicative of chronic prostatitis were included in the study. The influences of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life were determined using logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to estimate the predictive ability of each of these variables with respect to quality of life. RESULTS: Results from multivariate analysis showed that both pain and urinary symptoms were associated with an increased likelihood of impaired quality of life, although pain contributed more to a reduced quality of life than urinary symptoms. Relative to men who experienced mild pain, men who experienced moderate pain had a 3.9-fold risk of poor quality of life (odds ratio [OR], 3.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.86-5.23; P < 0.001) and those who experienced severe pain had a 15.7-fold risk of reduced quality of life (OR, 15.68; 95% CI, 6.59-37.35; P < 0.001). Moderate urinary symptoms were associated with a 1.4-fold risk of bother (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.01-1.99; P < 0.001) and severe urinary symptoms were associated with 2.4-fold risk (OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.37-4.12; P < 0.001), relative to mild urinary symptoms. Comparison of the effects of pain and urinary symptoms showed that pain severity had the most predictive power for bother, quality of life, and quality-of-life impact. The areas under the ROC curves for bother, quality of life, and quality-of-life impact were 71.3%, 69.3% and 72.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Urinary symptoms and pain might be associated with an increased likelihood of impaired quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. In addition, our findings suggest that pain severity is the most influential variable for determining quality of life in this population.     

Antilymphocytic antibodies and bone marrow transplantation. XI. Evidence that reduced Thy-1 expression in Thy-1.1 mice prevents suppression of graft-versus-host disease with anti-Thy-1 monoclonal antibodies

Considerable variations in the suppression of graft-versus-host disease with monoclonal anti-Thy-1 antibodies were found to relate to substantial differences noted in the expression of mouse Thy-1 marker on lymph node and spleen cells of Thy-1.1 (AKR/J, C57BL/6.Thy-1.1) and Thy 1.2 (AKR/Cu, C57BL/6) mice. Thy-1.1 mice showed a population of 22% (AKR/J) or 13% (C57BL/6-Thy-1.1) of Thy-1 negative cells among peripheral T cells carrying Ly-1 marker. This was in sharp contrast with Thy-1.2 mice, where as expected practically all peripheral T cells expressed both Thy-1 and Ly-1. Double-marker analysis on FACScan revealed that the Thy-1-/Ly-1+ cell population identified in Thy-1.1 but not in Thy-1.2 mice doubtless represents T cells because they express CD3 and either the L3T4 (CD4) or Lyt2 (CD8) phenotype. Using quantitative fluorescence-measurement techniques, it was found in addition that the Thy-1 antigen-binding sites on Thy-1+ cells from Thy-1.1 mice are considerably fewer than those present in Thy-1.2 mice. In fact, the Thy-1 antigen-binding sites approximate the level of Ly-1 density. Consequences of the reduced expression of Thy-1 became apparent in vivo: (1) lymphnode and splenic T cell areas in Thy-1.1 mice were clearly less depleted when Thy-1.1 and Thy-1.2 mice had been injected with rat IgG2b anti-Thy-1 mAb; and (2) GvHD was prevented completely in fully mismatched mice by anti-Thy-1 mAb if the donor mice expressed Thy-1.2 but was barely delayed if the donors expressed Thy-1.1. Thus the present study provides a transplantation model for comparing differences in T antigen density and their consequences for antibody-induced immunosuppression.     

Nonfluent aphasia in a patient with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia.

Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) is an uncommon low-grade lymphoma. Cognitive impairment due to central nervous system infiltration by lymphoplasmocytoid cells (Bing-Neel syndrome) has been rarely reported. We describe a 54-year-old man who was referred to a memory disorder clinic with a 9-month history of clinically obvious nonfluent aphasia and WM. He underwent extensive neuropsychological testing, clinical examination and structural and functional brain imaging. The diagnosis of the diffuse form of the Bing-Neel syndrome was supported by abnormal lymphoid cells found in the cerebrospinal fluid. Structural and functional brain imaging revealed impairment of brain areas due to white matter changes and subsequent functional deficits mimicking the neuropsychological syndrome encountered in progressive nonfluent aphasia. The diffuse form of Bing-Neel syndrome and neurological deficits are assumed to be the result of leptomeningeal infiltration by malignant cells and/or neoplastic vascular obstruction.     

Prefrontal cortex dysfunction and depression in atypical parkinsonian syndromes.

Depressive symptoms are common in patients with neurodegenerative disorders. Imaging studies suggest that a disruption of frontal-subcortical pathways may underlie depression associated with basal ganglia disease. This pilot study tested the hypothesis that frontal dysfunction contributes to depression associated with multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Depressed patients with MSA (n = 11), PSP (n = 9), and age-matched controls (n = 25) underwent measures of cerebral glucose metabolism applying positron emission tomography with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Regional metabolism in the patient groups was compared to the normal subjects using the voxel-based statistical parametric mapping. Depressive symptom severity (Hamilton Depression Rating) and degree of locomotor disability (Hoehn & Yahr) were assessed in the patient groups. The association between prefrontal metabolism and the occurrence of depressive symptoms and the degree of locomotor disability was investigated. When compared to controls, MSA patients revealed significant metabolic decreases in bilateral frontal, parietal, and cerebellar cortex and in the left putamen. In PSP patients, significant hypometabolism was demonstrated in bilateral frontal cortex, right thalamus, and midbrain. Depression severity but not the patients' functional condition was significantly associated with dorsolateral prefrontal glucose metabolism in both patient groups. The findings of this pilot study support the hypothesis that depressive symptoms in MSA and PSP are associated with prefrontal dysfunction.