Atopic dermatitis (AD) is considered to be Th2 cell-mediated disorder. In most infants with AD, AD may be induced by food allergy. In the early stage of infantile AD, it is unclear whether there are changes in serum Th2 chemokines or in Th2 chemokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Thirty-four patients with AD were examined (mean age, 4.5 months; female:male, 18:16). Ten age-matched infants with no history of allergic disease were used as controls. Thirty of these 34 patients were sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA; radioallergrosolvent score of >2). Serum levels of CCL17, CCL22, and CCL27 were measured with enzyme-linked immunosolvent assay (ELISA) kits and their correlation with the severity of skin lesions, defined by the scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) index, was analyzed. The amounts of TNF-alpha, CCL17, CCL22, and CCL27 in the culture supernatants of PBMC from OVA-sensitized AD infants after stimulation with OVA were estimated with ELISA kits. Elevated serum CCL17, CCL22, and CCL27 levels significantly correlated with SCORAD index (r = 0.7181, p < 0.001; r = 0.5354, p < 0.005; r = 0.8312, p < 0.0001, respectively). CCL22 levels produced by PBMC from OVA-sensitized infants with AD reflected serum CCL22 levels. Only six of 30 OVA-sensitized patients in whom the skin signs increased immediately after OVA intake showed markedly high titers of TNF-alpha produced by PBMC after stimulation with OVA. These high TNF-alpha titers correlated significantly with serum CCL27 levels (r = 0.7181, p < 0.001). Serum concentrations of CCL17, CCL22, and CCL27 correlate well with the extent and intensity of AD in infants. Of the three Th2 chemokines examined, serum CCL27 correlated most significantly with the severity of AD. Thus, the peripheral immune responses of infantile AD patients are skewed to a Th2 dominant bias.

No abstract

Background: Sporulation of the ®ssion yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a cell differentiation process which accompanies meiosis. The spo6 gene was identi®ed as a sporulation-speci®c gene, whose transcription was regulated by the forkhead family transcription factor Mei4.

Sporulation-deficient mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe were isolated from a homothallic strain mutagenized with ethyl methanesulfonate. Complementation tests defined two new genetic loci (spo19 and spo20) essential for ascospore formation, in addition to the 18 known spo loci (Bresch et al. 1968). A novel mapping procedure using random spore analysis prior to tetrad analysis allowed us to map 11 spo genes. Four genes (spo3, spo15, spo19 and spo20) were mapped on chromosome I, 6 genes (spo2, spo4, spo5, spo6, spo14 and spo18) on chromosome III and 1 gene (spo13) on chromosome III. Although there was no noticeable clustering of spo genes on the chromosomes, three pairs of linked genes (spo15-spo20, spo3-spo19 and spo2-spo18) were found.

The mes1+ gene of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is essential for the second meiotic division. We have cloned a 1.1-kb HindIII fragment containing mes1+ by complementation from an S. pombe genomic library. Sequencing of the genomic and cDNA fragments indicates the existence of one small intron of 75 nucleotides, although both the 5'(G/GTTAGT) and 3'(CAG/T) intron-exon junctions deviate from the consensus sequences proposed for S. pombe. The putative translation product of the mature mes1+ mRNA is a 11-kDa protein of 101 amino acids which has no significant homology to any previously-reported proteins. Disruption of mes1 has no effect on cell growth but causes an arrest of meiosis before the second meiotic division. Northern-blot analysis revealed that mes1+ was preferentially transcribed under conditions of nitrogen starvation. When a h90 homothallic strain was shifted to a nitrogen-deficient medium, a pre-mRNA accumulated and then was gradually processed to generate a mature mRNA. This splicing did not occur in either a heterothallic haploid strain or in a homothallic mei2 mutant strain which was defective in the initiation of meiosis. Expression of the first exon alone was not able to suppress the mes1 null allele. These results indicate that mes1+ is required for the completion of meiosis, that splicing is required for the function of the mes1+ gene, and that this splicing requires the function of the mei2+ product.

Meiosis-deficient mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe carrying mei1, mei2, mei3, mei4 and mes1 mutant alleles were characterized by electron microscopy and staining of the nucleus with 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole. Zygotes of either mei1, mei2 or mei3 mutants contained one round nucleus with a single spindle pole body (SPB). These mutants were arrested before premeiotic DNA synthesis. Zygotes of mei4 mutants had one elongated nucleus containing thick electron-dense filaments (linear elements). In the mes1 mutant, the first meiotic division was completed but the SBPs did not duplicate. Modification of the SPB (outer plaque formation) was also blocked and the forespore membrane was not assembled. By haploidization, random spore and tetrad analyses, four essential genes for meiosis (mei2, mei3, mei4 and mes1) were mapped. Gene mei2 was located on chromosome I 14.2 cM distant from ura2. Gene mei3 was linked to ade7 (45.4 cM) on chromosome II. Gene mei4 was linked to cdc2 (0.6 cM) on chromosome II. Gene mes1 was linked to ura3 (25.3 cM) on chromosome I.

Eight wine yeast strains of Saccharomyces sp. were tested for polygalacturonase (PGase) activity, after cultivation on various carbon sources. No strain showed any activity when grown on glucose, while five strains produced PGase in the presence of galactose and polygalacturonate. These data suggest that the PGase of wine strains is repressed by glucose and induced by galactose and polygalacturonate. The existence of the PGase gene in the wine strains and its similarity with that of the laboratory strains was proved by Southern hybridization and PCR amplification. The promoter region of the PGase gene in the wine strains was slightly different from that of the laboratory strains. This possibly explains the different pattern of gene expression in wine and laboratory strains. The PGase of wine strains produced di- or tri-galacturonic acid from polygalacturonic acid, different from the fungal PGase.

We analyzed the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in both particulate matter (PM) and the gaseous phase at 10 roadside sites in Hanoi, Vietnam. The average concentrations of 47 PAHs ( summation 47PAHs) were 63 +/- 82 ng m(-3) in PM and 480 +/- 300 ng m(-3) in the gaseous phase. The PAHs mainly originated from motorcycles without catalytic converters. The highest concentrations of summation 47PAHs in both PM and the gaseous phase were observed at a terminal for buses and trucks. The operation of large commercial vehicles led to increased PAH pollution at the terminal site.