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The article offers information on the 4th Asian Society for Pigment Cell Research (ASPCR) Meeting to be held in Guangzhou, China from June 12 to 14, 2010.

The article lists the principal government officials of Taiwan including Vincent Siew, Jiang Yi-huah and Kao Hua-chu.

B cells have been shown to function as tolerogenic antigen presenting cells (APCs) both in vivo and in vitro. We have taken advantage of this property, as well as the ability of IgG carriers to be potent ‘schleppers’ for tolerogenic entities, to develop a gene therapy approach to induce unresponsiveness in a number of systems, including the elimination of haemophilia inhibitors. Thus, peptide-IgG constructs have been engineered into retroviral vectors to create ‘transgenic’ B cells for tolerance applications. In this paper, we discuss our gene therapy approach mediated by B cells (as well as bone marrow cells) for tolerance acquisition in various mouse models for autoimmune disease and haemophilia A. The mechanisms that are the underpinning of this effort and role of regulatory T cells are discussed herein. Our results indicate that gene therapy strategies can successfully reduce the incidence and or onset of autoimmune diseases and prevent/reverse inhibitor formation in haemophilia A mice. Based on recent success with a model for tolerance with human T cell clones in vitro, plans for future application in patients are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the exhibition "The Ataraxic of Zhuang Zi," by Qiu Zhijie, at the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art from July 8 to August 24, 2008.

This section presents abstracts of studies related to melanoma including "Control of epidermal human melanocyte survival and function by the cutaneous microenvironment," by Zalfa Abdel-Malek et al, "Malignant melanoma, the sentinel lymp node and the metastatic phenomenon," by Martin Mihm, and "PL-1 What's the role of melanin pigmentation in visual and auditory senses?," by Hiroaki Yamamoto.

The article presents abstracts of pigment cell research. They include "Experience With 633 nm Light Emitting Diodes and Pseudocatalase Cream as Adjuvant Therapy for Punch Grafting in Vitiligo," "Progressive, Guttate and Confluent Leucoderma of the Limbs: A Distinct Pigmentary Disorder?" and "Waardenburg Syndrome in Indians."

The article offers information on the 2nd Conference of the Asian Society for Pigment Cell Research, which will be held at the Raffles City Convention Center in Singapore, from July 6 to 8, 2007.

It is known that the migration of melanocyte precursors (melanoblasts) from the outer root sheath of hair follicles into clinically depigmented epidermis is crucial to the repigmentation of vitiliginous skin treated with photochemotherapy (PUVA), but such migratory cells must penetrate extracellular matrix tissue barriers in vivo. To test the hypothesis that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are required for this process, we determined whether cultured melb-a cells, an immortal line of melanoblasts isolated from neonatal mouse epidermis, express and secrete MMPs and whether a synthetic metalloproteinase inhibitor, GM6001 (Galardin), inhibits their migratory behavior in vitro. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to determine the patterns of MMP expression by melanoblasts at the mRNA and protein levels, respectively. The proteolytic activities of MMPs secreted into the culture medium were assessed by gelatin zymography. The capacity of melanoblasts to migrate on fibronectin, laminin or laminin-5 substrates was estimated using Transwell migration assays. The results show that MMP2, MMP9 and MT1-MMP transcripts are expressed by these melanoblasts, but only MMP2 is secreted and activated in the extracellular environment. Although the therapeutic efficacy of PUVA in stimulating repigmentation of vitiliginous skin might derive from direct effects of UVA and/or 8-methoxypsoralen (8MOP), recent studies have shown that keratinocyte-derived factors induced by ultraviolet radiation, especially α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (αMSH), play a major role in regulating melanocyte function. Therefore, we also examined whether 8MOP and/or αMSH are involved in the up-regulation of MMP2 expression in melanoblasts. Western blotting and zymographic analyses revealed that MMP2 synthesis and secretion were induced by 8MOP and/or by αMSH. This induction of MMP2 resulted in significant increases of migration by melanoblasts on... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Gamasid mites are a large group of arthropods and some of them are ectoparasites on the body surface of rodents and some other small mammals. Some species of ectoparasitic gamasid mites are associated with the transmission of some zoonotic diseases such as rickettsialpox and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Based on a 12-month consecutive investigation at Jingha village in southern Yunnan of China from April 2016 to March 2017, the present paper studied the infestation and seasonal fluctuation of gamasid mites on the Indochinese forest rat, Rattus andamanensis, the most dominant species of rodent at the investigated site. The temperature and rainfall are two key factors that influence the seasonal fluctuation of the mites. A 12-month consecutive investigation was made at Jingha village in southern Yunnan of southwest China from April 2016 to March 2017. A total of 2053 Indochinese forest rats (Rattus andamanensis Blyth, 1860) were captured and examined, which account for 84.69% (2053/2424) of all the animal hosts (rodents and other small mammals) at the investigation site. And 39.82% (13,531/33,980) of gamasid mites were identified from the body surface of R. andamanensis and they belong to 41 species, 10 genera, 3 subfamilies and 2 families. Of the 41 species of gamasid mites identified from R. andamanensis, Laelaps nuttalli Hirst, 1915 and Laelaps echidninus Berlese, 1887 were the most dominant with 70.63% and 20.67% of constituent ratios respectively. In monthly fluctuations of all the gamasid mites on R. andamanensis, the constituent ratio (Cr) and overall infestation mean abundance (MA) of the mites in 12 months showed two obvious peaks in January (winter season) and June (summer season). However, the two dominant mite species, L. nuttalli and L. echidninus, showed different patterns of seasonal fluctuations. Laelaps nuttalli occurred throughout the year, and its Cr and MA showed two prominent peaks in winter season (December and January) and summer season (June), which belongs to the summer-winter type of seasonal fluctuation. Laelaps echidninus also occurred on R. andamanensis throughout the year, but its Cr and MA showed only one peak in winter season (December and January), which belongs to the winter type of seasonal fluctuation. A negative correlation existed between two climatic factors (temperature and rainfall) and the infestations (Cr, prevalence PM and MA) of two dominant mite species (L. nuttalli and L. echidninus) on R. andamanensis (p < 0.05). Temperature and rainfall are considered to be two key factors that influence the seasonal fluctuations of the mites on the studied rat species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical zeolites attract people's attention due to their enhanced mass transfer properties in catalytic reactions. The research over obtaining these zeolites in green and efficient methods is of great significance for the current post-treatments and templating strategies tend to be costly for hierarchical zeolite synthesis. In this research, nanosized mesoporous ZSM-5 (SN-ZSM-5) zeolites have been synthesized without the addition of mesoscale templates under highly concentrated conditions. The physicochemical characteristics were systematically investigated by XRD, SEM, N2 sorption, TEM, and NMR. The SEM images showed ZSM-5 crystals with sizes between 50–110 nm were obtained. N2 sorption and high-resolution TEM images gave direct evidence for the hierarchical structure of SN-ZSM-5. The forming mechanism for the hierarchical structure was proposed that the etching effect of the highly alkaline environment for the starting gels played a critical role in the formation of hierarchical structure. Catalytic tests in methanol-to-olefins (MTO) showed the SN-ZSM-5 performed a longer catalyst lifetime and higher propylene selectivity than the conventional ZSM-5 zeolites (C-ZSM-5) obtained from a traditional hydrothermal method. The features of hierarchical structure in the SN-ZSM-5 crystals and the sustainability for synthesis method could show a promising choice for wide applications of these SN-ZSM-5 zeolites in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activation of the α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α MSH)/melanocortin-1 receptor ( MC1 R) signalling pathway exerts antagonistic actions on cutaneous inflammatory and fibrogenic responses in addition to promoting pigment production. Herein, the expression of MC1 R by keloid-derived fibroblasts and keloid scar tissue was investigated using a range of techniques. MC1 R m RNA expression levels in five different keloid fibroblast cell lines were significantly reduced to less than half compared with five normal fibroblast cell lines ( P < 0.05). Immunohistological analysis of tissue samples indicated that MCR1 immunoreactivity in both epidermal and dermal compartments of five keloid tissue samples was dramatically decreased compared with normal skin ( P < 0.05). Insufficient expression of MC1 R on human dermal fibroblasts might abolish the αMSH-mediated suppression of collagen production and myofibroblast transformation elicited by the profibrotic cytokine-transforming growth factor-β1. Restoration of reduced MC1 R by dermal fibroblasts may lead to novel scar-reducing therapeutic approaches for treating this refractory fibrotic disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article recognizes the efforts of reviewers of manuscripts submitted for publication consideration in "Information Systems Research." Some of those reviewers on the list are as follows: Eric Abrahamson, John Aloysius, Deb Armstrong, Dinesh Batra, Mary Bitner, Amar Cheema, Christy Cheung, Jason Dedrick, J. Alberto Espinosa, Chiara Francalanci.

As highly efficient and clean electrochemical energy storage devices, supercapacitors (SCs) have drawn widespread attention as promising alternatives to batteries in recent years. Among various electrode materials, iron oxide materials have been widely studied as negative SC electrode materials due to their broad working window in negative potential, ideal theoretical specific capacitance, good redox activity, abundant availability, and eco-friendliness. However, iron oxides still suffer from the problems of low stability and poor conductivity. In this review, recent progress in iron oxide-based nanomaterials, including Fe2O3, Fe3O4, FexOy, and FeOOH, as electrode materials of SCs, is discussed. The nanostructure design and various synergistic effects of nanocomposites for improving the electrochemical performance of iron oxides are emphasized. Research on iron oxide-based symmetric/asymmetric SCs is also discussed. Future outlooks regarding iron oxides for SCs are likewise proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 45-year-old man who reported a 4-year history of dark purple livedo reticularis on the torso and limbs along with local pain. The patient was diagnosed with systemic polyarteritis nodosa after undergoing Doppler examinations. Topics include symptoms of the disease such as fatigue, myalgia and renal disease; and diagnosis of the disease on basis of several factors such as tests for antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody and renal daamge.

Several variants of CTLA-4 have been reported to be associated with susceptibility systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); however, findings have been inconsistent across different populations. Using a case-control study design, we have investigated the role of CTLA-4 polymorphism at positions -1661 and -1722 on SLE susceptibility in our Chinese SLE population in central China's Hubei province. Samples were collected from 148 SLE patients and 170 healthy controls. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotypes of the two sites. Statistically significant difference was observed in genotypes for -1722, but not for -1661. The frequency of the T allele on the -1722 SNP was significantly increased in SLE patients: 57.8% versus 40.6% in controls (P < 0.001, OR = 2.002). While the detected C allele frequency in the controls was significantly elevated in comparison to that in the SLE patients (59.4% versus 42.2%). On the contrary, no association was found between SLE and CTLA-4 polymorphism at position -1661. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yiding [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]: Metamorphically Empowered Tetrapod Ding in Shang and Western Zhou Inscriptions Shang period oracle bone inscriptions often describe ding with the binome yiding [TEXT NOT [...]

Abstract: Drawn in 1892, the Charles Richards' maps locate 208 Aboriginal linguistic groups in south-eastern Australia. In 2009 the maps were rediscovered in the departmental archives of Museum Victoria. The [...]

We would like to acknowledge the many reviewers who devoted their time, energy, and expertise to Information Systems Research. The service these dedicated volunteers perform plays a key role in [...]