Sexually transmitted disease/HIV health-care policy and service provision in Britain.

The objective of this paper was to discusses historical developments of sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV sexual health policies in Britain, principally from the 19th to the 21st century. Repeating trends were identified and a consideration of how history addresses today's urgent need for better management of sexual health is discussed. In January 1747, the first venereal disease (VD) treatment was established at Lock Hospital, London. As the 19th century passed, sexuality emerged from a conspiracy of silence and became part of social consciousness. In Victorian times, prostitution was regarded with revulsion. Renewed medical interest in VD was brought about by improvements in medical knowledge from 1900-10. In the period 1913-17, there was a significant change in sexual health policy. From 1918, treatment centres increasingly recognized the difficulties in persuading attendees to return for a complete course of treatment. AIDS in Britain wrecked havoc in the period 1981-86 with incidences of infection in several widely differing groups and public alarm fuelled by the media. In conclusion, education, advertising and public health counselling need to be moulded effectively so that the public recognize the real risks associated with unprotected sexual intercourse.

Identification of senescence-associated genes from daylily petals.

The petals of daylily (Hemerocallis hybrid) have a genetically based program that leads to senescence and cell death ca. 24 h after the flower opens. In order to determine the components of this program, six cDNAs, whose levels increase during petal senescence, were isolated and sequenced and designated DSA3, 4, 5, 6, 12 and 15. All six DSAs are members of gene families and all but DSA5 and DSA6 have one to three other very similar genes. GenBank database homology searches indicate that DSA3 is most similar at the amino acid level to an in-chain fatty acid hydroxylase which is bound to cytochrome P450, DSA4 may be an aspartic proteinase, DSA5 is as yet unidentified, DSA6 is a putative S1-type nuclease, DSA12 is very similar to a cytochrome P450-containing allene oxide synthase, and DSA15 may be a fatty acid elongase. Except for DSA12, the genes are expressed at low levels in daylily roots. Levels of the DSA mRNAs in leaves are less than 4% of the maximum detected in petals, and there are no clear differences between younger and older leaves. With the exception of DSA4, accumulation of the DSA mRNAs is increased 3.2 to 43 times by a concentration of abscisic acid that causes premature senescence of the petals. The relationship of the putative DSA gene products to senescence and cell death of daylily petals is discussed.

Dexamethasone suppression test reversal in rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation-treated depression.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to report the effect of rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on the mood and dexamethasone suppression test (DST) of a patient with major depressive disorder (DSM-IV). CLINICAL PICTURE: A 36-year-old woman with a past history of prolactinoma and recurrent major depressive disorder presented with major depression on three separate occasions over a 3-month period. DST was positive on each occasion. TREATMENT: During each episode, a course of rTMS was given. Courses varied from seven to 13 once-daily treatment sessions depending on clinical response. These treatment sessions were 20 trains of 10 Hz for 5 s at 100% of motor threshold. OUTCOME: Remission was achieved, psychiatric rating scales improved and the DST status converted from positive to negative. There were no side effects. CONCLUSION: DST status in major depressive disorder can be converted from positive to negative by rTMS. This so far unreported observation increases our knowledge of rTMS.

A high-affinity protein stain for western blots, tissue prints, and electrophoretic gels.

A method for protein staining using copper phthalocyanine 3,4',4'',4'''-tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt is described. The procedure is applicable to protein blots and tissue prints, as well as to polyacrylamide and agarose gels. It is also simple, involving only application of the stain and rinsing. For protein blots and tissue prints the staining is rapid, taking less than 1 min to completion, and more sensitive than any previously described dye-based nonspecific protein staining system. The staining is easily reversible, requiring only a change in pH to remove the dye.

Anatomical Changes and Immunolocalization of Cellulase during Abscission as Observed on Nitrocellulose Tissue Prints.

A fundamental event in abscission is the breakdown of cell wall material in a discrete zone of cells known as the separation layer. Three dimensional images produced by viewing tissue prints of abscission zones on nitrocellulose (NC) membranes with incident illumination showed changes in the tissue integrity taking place in the separation layer as the process of abscission proceeded. The cell softening which occurs due to the dissolution of the cell wall appeared in the tissue prints as a diffuse line at the anatomical transition between the pulvinus and petiole and was easily observed on NC tissue prints of either longitudinal or serial cross-sections through abscission zones. In bean leaf abscission the dissolution of cell walls has been correlated with the appearance of a form of cellulase with an isoelectric point of pH 9.5. Antibodies specific for this enzyme were used to study the localization of 9.5 cellulase in the distal abscission zone of Phaseolus vulgaris L., cv Red Kidney after tissue printing on NC. It was found that 9.5 cellulase was localized in the separation layer but also occurred in the vascular tissue of the adjacent pulvinus. No antibody binding was observed in nonabscising tissue or preimmune controls. These results confirm previous biochemical studies and demonstrate that immunostaining of nitrocellulose tissue prints is a fast and reliable method to localize proteins or enzymes in plant tissue.

Occurrence and Localization of 9.5 Cellulase in Abscising and Nonabscising Tissues.

Nitrocellulose tissue prints immunoblotted with 9.5 cellulase antibody were used to demonstrate areas of cellulase localization within Phaseolus vulgaris explants on exposure to ethylene. The 9.5 cellulase was induced in the distal and proximal abscission zone and in the stem. In both abscission zones, the 9.5 cellulase was found in the cortical cells of the separation layer, which develops as a narrow band of cells at the place where fracture occurs. The enzyme was also found associated with the vascular traces of the tissues adjacent to the separation layer extending through the first few millimeters at each side of the separation layer. The two abscission zones differed in the way that cellulase distributed through the separation layer as abscission proceeded. In the distal zone, cellulase appeared first in the cells of the separation layer adjacent to vascular traces and extended toward the periphery. In the proximal zone, 9.5 cellulase accumulated first in the cortical cells that lie in the adaxial side and then extended to the abaxial side. In response to ethylene, 9.5 cellulase was also induced in the vascular traces of the stem and the pulvinus without developing a separation layer. The role of 9.5 cellulase in the vascular traces is unknown. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting with 9.5 cellulase antibody identified the same 51-kilodalton protein in both abscising and nonabscising tissues. Therefore, the determinant characteristic of the abscission process is the induction of 9.5 cellulase by cortical cells in the separation layer, and this implies that these cells have a unique mechanism for initiating 9.5 cellulase synthesis.

Role of polygalacturonase in bean leaf abscission.

The role of polygalacturonase in leaf abscission was studied in explants of Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Red Kidney. Bean polygalacturonase was partially characterized and comparisons were made between the bean enzyme and previously reported higher plant polygalacturonases. Polygalacturonase isolated from bean leaf abscission zones has a pH optimum between 4.5 and 5.0 and hydrolyzed polygalacturonides in an exo-fashion. Activity was found to be higher with a deesterified substrate than with an esterified pectin. No correlation between polygalacturonase activity and abscission was observed. Activity remained virtually constant over the course of abscission in explants aged either in air or in ethylene. The enzyme was primarily localized in the abscission zone, however, indicating a possible involvement in the abscission process. A theoretical model which could explain the relationship between polygalacturonase and bean leaf abscission is discussed.

Cellulase and Abscission in the Red Kidney Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).

Cellulase (beta-1, 4-glucan-glucanohydrolase EC 3.2.1.4) activity in the abscission zone of red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) was previously shown to exist in at least two different molecular forms. The form of the enzyme which has an isoelectric point of 4.5 is present in both abscising and nonabscising tissue and requires grinding for extraction. Another form of the enzyme which has an isoelectric point of 9.5 is present only in tissue in which the abscission process has been induced. Further, much of this form of cellulase can be removed from the tissue by vacuum infiltration with buffer. Time course studies indicate that while the increase in measurable cellulase activity in tissue which is actively undergoing abscission was due primarily to the appearance of cellulase 9.5, this form of the enzyme cannot be removed by vacuum infiltration until after the breakstrength of the abscission zone has decreased nearly to zero. The intracellular localization of these two forms of cellulase is discussed.

l-Phenylalanine Ammonia-lyase (Maize): Partial Purification and Response to Gibberellic Acid and Cycloheximide of l-Phenylalanine and l-Tyrosine Ammonia-lyase Activities.

Extracts of maize leaf sheath tissue deaminate both l-phenylalanine and l-tyrosine. The activities with both substrates are enhanced by treating the plant with gibberellic acid. Both activities decrease rapidly at the same rate when tissue is incubated in a moist atmosphere, and this decrease can be slowed by treatment with cycloheximide. The ratio of the activities was constant throughout a series of purification steps which included acetone and ammonium sulfate precipitation, and passage through an agarose column. The two activities could not be separated by isoelectric focusing. These results support our earlier conclusion that both activities occur at the same catalytic site.