Background: Biologists are becoming increasingly aware that the interaction of animals, including humans, with their coevolved bacterial partners is essential for health. This growing awareness has been a driving force for the development of models for the study of beneficial animal-bacterial interactions. In the squid-vibrio model, symbiotic Vibrio fischeri induce dramatic developmental changes in the light organ of host Euprymna scolopes over the first hours to days of their partnership. We report here the creation of a juvenile light-organ specific EST database.

Low HDL-C level is a risk factor for CVD mortality in elderly Japanese-American men. High HDL-C and the Int 14A variant of the CETP gene may increase odds for healthy aging.

The largest private hospital in Hawaii was recently awarded Magnet Recognition, partly due to its exemplary nursing research culture. The hospital fostered and sustained a strong research environment through the establishment of a nursing institute, nursing research council, and, most recently, a nursing research fellowship. The authors describe the fellowship that was designed to educate nurses on the research process and enable nurses to lead research projects.

Aims-Although the function of resistin in human biology is unclear, some evidence suggests resistin gene variants influence insulin resistance, and insulin resistance-related hypertension. We searched for associations between common resistin gene variants and factors related to insulin resistance in Asian individuals with high or low blood pressure.Methods-Non-diabetic Chinese or Japanese sibling pairs were included if one had extreme hypertension and the other was either hypertensive or hypotensive. Four common, non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified by sequencing the resistin gene in 24 hypertensive probands. Generalized estimating equations-based regressions were then performed to test for SNP associations using the entire study population (n=1556).Results-Of 72 tests, only one was significant at the 0.05 level; 3.5 significant tests were expected by chance alone. High variability in insulin and triglyceride levels created wide confidence intervals, thus the negative results are not conclusive for these phenotypes. However, the large sample size resulted in narrow confidence intervals for BMI, fasting and 120 minute post-load glucose, and high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Conflict of interest statementThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest NIH Public Access Conclusion-Factors associated with insulin resistance are not likely influenced by the resistin gene in non-diabetic Asian individuals with high and low blood pressure.