Vitamin A levels during pregnancy have important influences on the health of pregnant women and the growing fetus. Therefore, plasma vitamin A and β-carotene concentrations during pregnancy in Turkish women living in Gaziantep city were investigated in a prevalence study. Optimum sample size was determined as 252 for vitamin A deficiency and vitamin A and β-carotene levels were examined in 427 pregnant women aged 14–44 years. Vitamin A and β-carotene concentrations were measured spectrophotometrically by Neeld Pearson method. Vitamin A and β-carotene concentrations in pregnant women were found as 1.14 ± 0.44 μmol/L, and 1.80 ± 0.66 μmol/L, respectively. Plasma vitamin A concentrations were found in low levels (<1.05 μmol/L) in 45.5 % of pregnant women. Vitamin A deficiency (<0.7 μmol/L) was determined in 16.9% of pregnant women. A mild negative correlation was obtained between the vitamin A concentration and pregnancy period. Vitamin A levels of pregnant women were decreased significantly in the third trimester (p<0.05). The findings of present study suggest that vitamin A levels of pregnant women were poor in the region. Therefore, the intake of vitamin A with foods should be improved. Supplementation of vitamin A might benefit at improving maternal and child health especially in high-risk groups especially in developing countries. Monitoring vitamin A levels in pregnant women is very important for also determining low and high levels.

A novel protein with an molecular weight of 51.7 kDa was isolated from the late growth phase of Streptomyces griseus 13189. The protein, named P52, was identified as a product of an ORF of S. griseus B2682, which had been designated as sporulation specific p3 gene. We performed the gene disruption of P52 and found that the p52 disruptant failed to produce enough aerial mycerium and spores, while it grew as well as the parental strain. Moreover, the disruptant lacked the ability to produce a blue pigment antibiotic, actinorohdin. When the wild-type p52 gene was propagated on a low-copynumber vector in the disruptant, P52 protein was expressed, accompanied by restoration of ability to produce aerial mycerium and actinorhodin. These results clearly indicate that p52 protein plays an essential role in initiating secondary metabolism in Streptomyces, possibly as a modulator of cell physiology and morphological differentiation. Biological characterization of P52 protein will also be reported.cell physiology GaziantepIn this study, plasma vitamin A and beta caroten concentrations of 355 pregnants in their different part of pregnancy, of 14 to 44 years of age living in central Gaziantep, Turkey, were evaluated. Additionally the plasma vitamin A and beta caroten concentrations of 71 pregnants who were under observation from the beginning of pregnancy till birth. Moreover; the plasma vitamin A and beta caroten concentrations of the latter group in their I. and 111. trimesters were investigated. Subjects who had an important illness and/or were under medication were exempt from the study. Average plasma vitamin A and beta caroten concentrations in pregnants were found to be 32.80 microgr/dl(SD=12.80), 96.52 mg/dl(SD=35.64), respectively. A negative correlation was found between the vitamin A concentration of pregnants and pregnancy period. It was found that the level of vitamin A decreased in the first and the second group of pregnants.But the same decreasing was not observed in beta caroten concentrations of pregnants. The reason of this case was the poor nutrition uptake during pregnancy.infected bovine lymphoblastoid cells Protozoan intracellular parasite Theileria parva reversibly transforms bovine lymphocytes such that they undergo rapid clonal expansion. Glutamine is a key amino acid required for energy and nucleic acid synthesis in rapidly dividing cells. The activities of enzymes of glutamine catabolism i.e. phosphate dependent glutaminase (PDG), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST and ALT) have been determined in in vivo isolated lymphocytes (uninfected), in vitro cultured lymphoblasts (infected) and in vitro cultured lymphoblasts (infected then treated with buparvaquone) The activities of the enzymes, in nmoles substrate transformed/min/mg protein, in each of the respective celltypes were as follows:-PDG:2.08, 10.71,2.41; AST 20.05, 104.02, 29.57; GDH: 15.15, 36.54, 22.5 and ALT: 12.91, 12.69, 6.36. The results show that when infected cultured cells are treated for the par...