[Treatment of bone metastases with bisphosphonates]. / Traitement des métastases osseuses par les bisphosphonates.

Bone metastasis are very common in many cancers; metastatic bone disease is the most common cause of cancer pain and also of serious complications, which reduce the quality of life of these patients. Management of skeletal cancer involves a multimodality approach who include bisphosphonates, which in association with anti-tumour treatments reduce the apparition of new skeletal-related events (SRE) and prolong the delay to first SRE. They although reduce the pain of bone metastasis. All this facts do the quality of life better.

Anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia gene region cloned in yeast artificial chromosomes.

Anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (EDA), an X-chromosomal recessive disorder, is expressed in a few females with chromosomal translocations involving bands Xq12-q13. Using available DNA markers from the region and somatic cell hybrids we mapped the X-chromosomal breakpoints in two such translocations. The breakpoints were further mapped within a yeast artificial chromosome contig constructed by chromosome walking techniques. Genomic DNA markers that map between the two translocation breakpoints were recovered representing putative portions of the EDA gene.

Automatable screening of yeast artificial-chromosome libraries based on the oligonucleotide-ligation assay.

The systematic screening of yeast artificial-chromosome (YAC) libraries is the limiting step in many physical mapping projects. To improve the screening throughput for a human YAC library, we designed an automatable strategy to identify YAC clones containing a specific segment of DNA. Our approach combines amplification of the target sequence from pooled YAC DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with detection of the sequence by an ELISA-based oligonucleotide-ligation assay (OLA). The PCR-OLA approach eliminates the use of radioactive isotopes and gel electrophoresis, two of the major obstacles to automated YAC screening. Furthermore, the use of the OLA to test for the presence of sequences internal to PCR primers provides an additional level of sensitivity and specificity in comparison to methods that rely solely on the PCR.

Selection and initial characterization of partially nitrate tolerant nodulation mutants of soybean.

Since NO(3) (-) availability in the rooting medium seriously limits symbiotic N(2) fixation by soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.), studies were initiated to select nodulation mutants which were more tolerant to NO(3) (-) and were adapted to the Midwest area of the United States. Three independent mutants were selected in the M(2) generation from ethyl methanesulfonate or N-nitroso-N-methylurea mutagenized Williams seed. All three mutants (designated NOD1-3, NOD2-4, and NOD3-7) were more extensively nodulated (427 to 770 nodules plant(-1)) than the Williams parent (187 nodules plant(-1)) under zero-N growth conditions. This provided evidence that the mutational event(s) affected autoregulatory control of nodulation. Moreover, all three mutants were partially tolerant to NO(3) (-); each retained greater acetylene reduction activity when grown hydroponically with 15 millimolar NO(3) (-) than did Williams at 1.5 millimolar NO(3) (-). The NO(3) (-) tolerance did not appear to be related to an altered ability to take up or metabolize NO(3) (-), based on solution NO(3) (-) depletion and on in vivo nitrate reductase assays. Enhanced nodulation appeared to be controlled by the host plant, being consistent across four Bradyrhizobium japonicum strains tested. In general, the mutant lines produced less dry weight than the control, with root dry weights being more affected than shoot dry weights. The nodulation trait has been stable through the M(5) generation in all three mutants.