Excess nitrogen and bacteria concentrations in coastal waters of North Carolina have led to eutrophic conditions, fish kills, and the closure of shellfish waters. Regulatory efforts by the state to reduce nitrogen and ...

Several lines of research have revealed a relationship between reading disorders (RD) and auditory temporal processing deficits. That is, subtle, yet rapid changes within an acoustic message are more difficult for individuals ...

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a lung disease characterized by surfactant accumulation in the alveolar spaces and alveolar macrophages. Although PAP is rare, surfactant abnormalities occur in many lung diseases ...

Within two hydrodynamically different inundation regimes in North Carolina, the growth response and interactions of two dominant marsh macrophytes were evaluated over a range of inundation periods to understand better how ...

HoxA9 is frequently overexpressed in acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and a subset of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In mouse models, HoxA9 has been shown to promote leukemogenesis. In spite of a seemingly ...

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists have been reported to  decrease ethanol consumption in rodents, but these drugs often produce adverse side  effects. Memantine is a neuroprotective and low-affinity, ...

Fertility and embryonic viability are measures of efficient germ cell growth and differentiation. During oogenesis, spermatogenesis and embryogenesis cells initially proliferate then differentiate into specific tissues. New proteins are required for both cell growth and differentiation, requiring qualitative and quantitative changes in protein synthesis. During late gametogenesis and early embryogenesis the expression of the appropriate proteins is a primarily due to translational control. Translational control of mRNAs is mediated in part by eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E). eIF4E binds the methylated 5' cap of mRNA and recruits it to the ribosome. The nematode worm C.elegans expresses five isoforms of eIF4E (termed IFE-1 through 5). IFE-1 is expressed primarily in the germline and is the only isoform that associates with P granules by binding directly to PGL-1. P granules are ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) that contain stored mRNAs and proteins needed for oogenesis and early embryogenesis. Using a strain that lacks IFE-1, I assessed the translational efficiency of maternal mRNAs bound and not bound to P granules by polysome fractionation. Translation of pos-1, pal-1, mex-1, oma-1, ced-4 and glp-1 mRNAs was inefficient in the ife-1 strain relative to wild type worms. GAPDH (gpd-3) mRNA translation was not affected. We also observed differences in the pattern of expression of the MEX-1 protein during oogenesis. In males, secondary spermatocytes failed to complete cytokinesis at 25°C in absence of IFE-1. Males deficient of IFE-1 therefore lacked mature sperm. In addition, ife-1 spermatocytes prematurely accumulated pro-apoptotic CED-4, homolog to mammalian Apaf-1, during spermatogenesis. In ife-1 worms fertility was decreased by 80% due to decreased viability of both oocytes and spermatocytes. Our data indicate two unique roles for eIF4E (IFE-1 isoform) in late oogenesis and spermatogenesis. We suggest that IFE-1 preferentially recruits regulated mRNAs at critical times during germ cell development.  ...

The Kv3 and Kv1 subfamilies of voltage–gated K+ channels are critical components which contribute to action potential repolarization throughout the central nervous system. Here, it was shown that both absolutely conserved ...

Mice lacking the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and its family members exhibit detrimental effects on their reproductive ability. AXL is localized to Sertoli cells, which are the major nurturing cells in the seminiferous ...

Hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathies are congenital cardiac diseases that have an incidence of over one in five hundred and may lead to sudden cardiac death. One of the main impediments to directed treatment is ...