Zbtb16 has a role in brown adipocyte bioenergetics.

OBJECTIVE: A better understanding of the processes influencing energy expenditure could provide new therapeutic strategies for reducing obesity. As the metabolic activity of the brown adipose tissue (BAT) and skeletal muscle is an important determinant of overall energy expenditure and adiposity, we investigated the role of genes that could influence cellular bioenergetics in these two tissues. DESIGN: We screened for genes that are induced in both the BAT and skeletal muscle during acute adaptive thermogenesis in the mouse by microarray. We used C57BL/6J mice as well as the primary and immortalized brown adipocytes and C2C12 myocytes to validate the microarray data. Further characterization included gene expression, mitochondrial density, cellular respiration and substrate utilization. We also used a Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel to assess in vivo effects on obesity and body fat content. RESULTS: We identified the transcription factor Zbtb16 (also known as Plzf and Zfp14) as being induced in both the BAT and skeletal muscle during acute adaptive thermogenesis. Zbtb16 overexpression in brown adipocytes led to the induction of components of the thermogenic program, including genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, glycolysis and mitochondrial function. Enhanced Zbtb16 expression also increased mitochondrial number, as well as the respiratory capacity and uncoupling. These effects were accompanied by decreased triglyceride content and increased carbohydrate utilization in brown adipocytes. Natural variation in Zbtb16 mRNA levels in multiple tissues across a panel of >100 mouse strains was inversely correlated with body weight and body fat content. CONCLUSION: Our results implicate Zbtb16 as a novel determinant of substrate utilization in brown adipocytes and of adiposity in vivo.

Beneficial effect of selenium supplementation during murine infection with Trypanosoma cruzi.

Selenium (Se) has been shown to function as an antioxidant that may enhance immunity during microbial infection. To investigate the effect of elevated levels of Se on the course of experimental Chagas' disease, 5 groups of C3HeB/FeJ mice were infected with 10(3) bloodform trypomastigotes of a Brazil strain of Trypanosoma cruzi while receiving supplements of 0 ppm, 2 ppm, 4 ppm, 8 ppm, or 16 ppm Se as sodium selenate in drinking water. After 64 days of infection, survival ranged from 0 to 60%, with groups receiving 4 ppm and 8 ppm Se exhibiting 60% survival and the group without Se exhibiting 0% survival. In addition, parasitemia levels of mice supplemented with Se were significantly lower (P<0.01) than in nonsupplemented mice. The results of the present study suggest that Se supplementation does have a beneficial effect during murine infection with T. cruzi, resulting in decreased parasitemias and increased longevity.

Psychiatric mental health nursing: thriving in a changing environment through outcomes-based measurements.

This article focuses on the necessity of outcomes-based measurements in the behavioral health care field. The authors describe the reasons why outcomes research is essential to the survival of behavioral services and, even more specifically, psychiatric mental health nursing. An actual outcome study process using psychiatric patients treated by a clinical nurse specialist is described in detail. The authors reflect their orientation to outcomes-based measurements through their perspectives as a manager and an outpatient therapist.

Defining the minimal domain of the Plasmodium falciparum protein MESA involved in the interaction with the red cell membrane skeletal protein 4.1.

During part of its life cycle, the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum lives within the human red blood cell and modifies both the structural and functional properties of the red cell. It does this by synthesizing a number of polypeptides that it transports into the red cell cytoplasm and to the red cell membrane. One of these transported proteins, MESA (mature parasite-infected erythrocyte surface antigen), is anchored to the red cell membrane by noncovalent interaction with erythrocyte protein 4.1. We have utilized a combination of in vitro transcription and translation and a membrane binding assay to identify the protein sequence involved in anchoring MESA to the membrane. Labeled fragments of different regions of the MESA protein were evaluated for their ability to bind to inside-out vesicle membrane preparations of human red cells. Binding was dependent on the presence of red cell membrane proteins and was abolished either by trypsin treatment or by selective depletion of membrane proteins. Binding was specific and could be inhibited by the addition of competing protein, with an IC50 of (6.3 +/- 1.2) x 10(-7) M, indicative of a moderate affinity interaction. Fractionation studies demonstrated that binding fragments interacted most efficiently with membrane protein fractions that had been enriched in protein 4.1. Binding inhibition experiments using synthetic peptides identified the binding domain of MESA for protein 4.1 as a 19-residue sequence near the amino terminus of MESA, a region capable of forming an amphipathic helix.

Cloning and sequencing of the group 6 allergen of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus.

BACKGROUND: The allergen Der p 6 from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus has been described by substrate affinity as mite chymotrypsin. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to describe a cDNA clone encoding the allergen. METHODS: cDNA was cloned from a lambda library using oligonucleotides published for Der p 6. RESULTS: The clone P6.1.1 had the N-terminal amino acid residues as reported for Der p 6, and at position 189 the Ser was conserved in chymotrypsin for substrate specificity as well as the catalytic triad of His57, Asp102 and Ser195 for serine proteases. The estimated M(r) was 24.9K and it was 37% identical to the trypsin allergen Der p 3. CONCLUSION: cDNA encoding Der p 6 has been described.

Topographic and quantitative description of rat dorsal column fibres arising from the lumbar dorsal roots.

The number and topographic distribution of the profiles of degenerating primary afferent fibres were determined within the rat dorsal column 3-4 weeks after division of the lumbar and S2 dorsal roots. The degenerating fibres were identified in toluidine blue-stained 1 micron transverse sections taken at different spinal levels, and their positions were marked with the aid of a drawing tube. Fibres entered the dorsal column at its lateral margin and sent projections rostrally and caudally. Fibres ascending the column were displaced medially in an orderly progression as the fibres of more rostral roots entered the cord. Most ascending fibres were lost from the dorsal columns within 2-3 segments of their site of entry, with only 15%, on average, reaching cervical levels. The descending fibres maintained a less organised topographic distribution, and typically only 3% of fibres entering the dorsal column descended two segments from their site of entry.