Search

Background Cardiovascular rehabilitation has been shown to improve morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiac illnesses; however, the referral rate for eligible patients at Tulane Medical Center has remained below best practice standards. Methods This is a single-center, quality improvement study conducted from January 2020 through December 2020 with historical controls from 2019. Using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle methodology, interventions were designed to improve referrals rates for cardiac rehabilitation eligible patients. Interventions included a presentation about the importance of cardiac rehabilitation and the current state of referrals, weekly reminders to residents and fellows on inpatient services with eligible patients, and an admission order set that included a default order for cardiac rehabilitation. Results The primary outcome was referral rate which was measured by the total number of referrals compared to the total number of patients eligible for cardiac rehabilitation. In this quality improvement study of 770 patients, there was a significant increase in the referral rate for cardiac rehabilitation eligible patients. When comparing the referral rate in 2020 following institution of quality improvement interventions, to that from 2019, there was an increase from 27% to 70%. Conclusions This quality improvement study found that various interventions significantly increased the cardiac rehabilitation referral rate through an straightforward and simple strategy. Further efforts are underway to promote additional referrals, in order to meet or exceed the >90% best practice standard.

Background: Pitx3 plays a well understood role in directing development of lens, muscle fiber, and dopaminergic neurons, however in Xenopus laevis, it may also play a role in early gastrulation and somitogenesis. Potential downstream targets of pitx3 possess multiple binding motifs that would not be readily accessible by conventional promoter analysis. Results: We isolated and characterized pitx3 target genes lhx1 and xnr5 using a novel three-fluor flow cytometry tool that was designed to dissect promoters with multiple binding sites for the same transcription factor. This approach was calibrated using a known pitx3 target gene, tyrosine hydroxylase. Conclusions: We demonstrate how flow cytometry can be used to detect gene regulatory changes with exquisite precision on a cell-by-cell basis, and establish that in HEK293 cells, pitx3 directly activates lhx1 and represses xnr5. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The traditional narrative goes like this: on 5 August 1781, Rear-Admiral Count Francois Paul de Grasse sailed from Cap Francois, St Domingue, in command of the French West Indies squadron of 28 shi...

With the growth of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in countries around the world, L2 learners face many challenges, one of which is lecture notetaking. Researchers in the field of L2 listening have sought ways to improve learners’ notetaking skills, but one potentially useful tool, the smartpen, has received little attention. With smartpens, learners can take notes on paper, digitize them, then synchronize them with an audio recording of the lecture. They can then tap anywhere in their digitized notes and hear the corresponding audio for that section, greatly facilitating review. With this functionality in mind, this paper examines the potential benefits of smartpens for notetaking. It first provides an overview of the skill of notetaking and a description of smartpens, and then examines research on their use in L1 and L2 contexts. The paper concludes with a call for more research into this potentially productive area. 世界各国では、授業言語としての英語(EMI: English as a Medium of Instruction)の普及に伴い、EFL学習者は様々な課題に直面しており、その一つが講義を聞きながらノートをとるノートテーキングである。これまでもL2リスニング研究者は学習者のノートテーキング・スキルの向上方法を探ってきたが、一つのツール、すなわちスマートペンはあまり注目されてこなかった。スマートペンを利用すると、学習者が手書きでノートを取り、それをデジタル化し、講義の音声と同期させることができる。そうすれば、デジタル化したノートのどこにでも触れられその部分の音声を聞くことができるため、講義の復習を促進する。これを踏まえ、本論では、講義ノートテーキングにおけるスマートペンの潜在的な利点を考察する。講義ノートテーキング・スキルを概観した後、スマートペンの特徴を説明し、L1及びL2環境における研究について述べる。最後に、この潜在的に有益な研究分野において、さらなる研究の必要性を示唆する。

With the growth of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in many contexts around the world, instructors of English for academic purposes (EAP) are tasked with preparing their learners to succeed in English-speaking academic environments. As the lecture continues to be a core component of academic learning, effective notetaking is critical to success. Although there is a growing body of research regarding notetaking skills in second language (L2) contexts, little of this research focuses on note quality. This situation is problematic for teachers, as there is no consensus on what constitutes “good” notes, making evaluation difficult. The purpose of the current study is to take a first step towards exploring this problem by examining the feasibility of using information units (IUs) as a measurement of note quality. Five teacher-researchers (TRs) rated IUs in two TED Talk transcripts using a three-point scale, based on perceived importance of information. The ratings were compared, and the TRs’ accounts of how they approached and completed the task were compiled. The results revealed a number of issues, in particular the lack of consistency in ratings among the TRs. Potential reasons for these inconsistencies are examined, and possible avenues for future research are outlined.

Notetaking is an important skill in academic listening. In second language (L2) contexts, research on this topic remains relatively limited, but is gradually increasing. However, there are still a number of gaps to be filled, one of which is collaboration. Notetaking is generally seen as a solitary activity, but having students collaborate with classmates and share their notes with one another may be beneficial. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this possibility. Learners in an intact academic listening class shared notes with each other six times over the course of one semester and answered questions about the experience. Most participants responded that they were open to sharing notes with classmates and that they found the activity useful, suggesting that it may be beneficial for the development of notetaking skills. ノートテイキング（講義を要約しノートに書き取ること）はアカデミック・リスニングにおいて重要な学習技術である。第2言語（L2）において講義ノートをとることに関する研究は比較的少ないが、ここ数年少しずつ増えてきている。しかし、まだ取り上げられていない研究テーマがいくつかあり、その中の一つは協働学習である。講義ノートをとる事は一人で行う作業と思われがちだが、学生が自分で取った講義内容を同級生と共有することは効果的であると考えられる。本論の目的はこの可能性を探ることである。アカデミック・リスニングの授業を受講している学習者たちは1学期中６回同級生と講義内容を互いに共有し、その経験についてアンケートに答えた。その結果、学習者はノートを共有することに対しておおむね肯定的で、また効果的であると答えた。これは、同級生とノートを共有することがノートテイキング・スキルの発達につながることを示唆している。

*Michael J. Crawford holds the doctorate in history from Boston University and is the author or editor of fourteen books, including The Having of Negroes Is Become a Burden: The Quaker Struggle to Free Slaves in Revolutionary North Carolina, and Seasons of Grace: Colonial New England’s Revival Tradition in Its British Context. He is the senior historian of the U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C. The Pace of Manumission among Quakers in Revolutionary-Era North Carolina

Pitx3 plays a well understood role in directing development of lens, muscle fiber, and dopaminergic neurons; however, in Xenopus laevis, it may also play a role in early gastrulation and somitogenesis. Potential downstream targets of pitx3 possess multiple binding motifs that would not be readily accessible by conventional promoter analysis.We isolated and characterized pitx3 target genes lhx1 and xnr5 using a novel three-fluor flow cytometry tool that was designed to dissect promoters with multiple binding sites for the same transcription factor. This approach was calibrated using a known pitx3 target gene, Tyrosine hydroxylase.We demonstrate how flow cytometry can be used to detect gene regulatory changes with exquisite precision on a cell-by-cell basis, and establish that in HEK293 cells, pitx3 directly activates lhx1 and represses xnr5. Developmental Dynamics 246:657-669, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Objectives To audit patient hospital records to evaluate the performance of acute general and mental health services in delivering inpatient care to people with learning disability and explore the influence of organisational factors on the quality of care they deliver. Setting Nine acute general hospital Trusts and six mental health services. Participants Adults with learning disability who received inpatient hospital care between May 2013 and April 2014. Primary and secondary outcome measures Data on seven key indicators of high-quality care were collected from 176 patients. These covered physical health/monitoring, communication and meeting needs, capacity and decision-making, discharge planning and carer involvement. The impact of services having an electronic system for flagging patients with learning disability and employing a learning disability liaison nurse was assessed. Results Indicators of physical healthcare (body mass index, swallowing assessment, epilepsy risk assessment) were poorly recorded in acute general and mental health inpatient settings. Overall, only 34 (19.3%) patients received any assessment of swallowing and 12 of the 57 with epilepsy (21.1%) had an epilepsy risk assessment. For most quality indicators, there was a non-statistically significant trend for improved performance in services with a learning disability liaison nurse. The presence of an electronic flagging system showed less evidence of benefit. Conclusions Inpatient care for people with learning disability needs to be improved. The work gives tentative support to the role of a learning disability liaison nurse in acute general and mental health services, but further work is needed to confirm these benefits and to trial other interventions that might improve the quality and safety of care for this high-need group.

The modern obsession with methodological reductionism in some areas of biology is arguably a product of the exquisitely precise tools now available to dissect problems. Reductionist approaches assume that an understanding of atomized parts will be sufficient to approximate an understanding of the whole. Ironically, the sheer success of this approach and the consequent volume of data generated, particularly as a result of the genome projects, has made comprehension of the larger picture problematic. Consequently, historical patterns of more phenomenologically oriented analyses are re-emerging. This impulse is not new: Gould and Lewontin (1979) argued for a less reductionist view of evolution. They argue that an intense focus upon individual traits risks confusing evolutionary selection with the indirect consequences of other architectural decisions. They also argued that the “baggage” of ancestral traits constrains future possibilities for profound change. The “New Synthesis”, a more recent convergence of paleontology, evolutionary biology, genome science, and embryology provides fertile ground for their critique. New approaches to genome analysis and gene categorization have shown that profound inter-species similarities underlie a generic and robust body plan upon which variant morphologies are built. Moreover, phenomenologically oriented approaches have recently revealed functional and organizational similarities among diverse genomes that are indicative of large and preserved gene regulatory behaviours: genomes appear to be organized into similar regulatory blocks irrespective of species. The implications of these recent discoveries suggest that emergent organizational and functional properties of genomes could impose big constraints upon morphological innovation. They might also explain some of the curious and profound examples of convergent evolution that puzzled Darwin.

This article examines the seemingly opposing actions of Castile's late medieval monarchs, who both authorized the noble status of hidalgo for supporters and developed rules and legal procedures to limit the proliferation of this status. Addressing both royal policy and disputes over status in the territory of Seville during the second half of the fifteenth century, it demonstrates how local authorities strategically employed laws and appeals to royal courts to resist the recognition of those who claimed hidalgo status and to deny them related privileges. The actions of these monarchs and their subjects reveal the nature and limits of royal absolutism in matters of social status in the late fifteenth century and the degree to which the development of state judicial apparatus affected the local recognition of status and the growth of state power.

The purpose of this study was to gain a thorough understanding of the high school sport captaincy experience. Thirteen university freshmen (7 males, 6 females) who were high school sport captains the previous year participated in 60—90 min semistructured interviews. Hierarchical content analysis of the data revealed that the majority of participants believed that their captainship experience was positive, but also cited difficult aspects such as having responsibility/being held accountable, being scrutinized/meeting expectations, and staying neutral in conflict situations. The majority of captains also reported receiving little to no training from coaches for their captaincy role and indicated that they learned to lead largely from previous life experiences, such as by observing significant others and learning through trial and error. Results on perceived roles and duties, perceived effectiveness, attitudes toward formal leadership training, and recommendations for future captains are also provided. Implications for designing youth sport leadership development interventions and advancing research on youth leadership are discussed.

The aristaless-related gene, Arx, plays a fundamental role in patterning the brain in humans and mice. Arx mutants exhibit lissencephaly among other anomalies. We have cloned a Xenopus aristaless homolog that appears to define specific regions of the developing forebrain. xArx2 is transcribed in blastula through neurula stages, and comes to be restricted to the ventra and lateral telencephalon, lateral diencephalon, neural floor plate of the anterior spinal cord, and somites. In this respect, Arx2 expresses in regions similar to Arx with the exception of the somites. Overexpression enlarges the telencephalon, and interference by means of antisense morpholino-mediated translation knockdown reduces growth of this area. Overexpression and inhibition studies demonstrate that misregulation of xArx2 imposes dire consequences upon patterns of differentiation not only in the forebrain where the gene normally expresses, but also in more caudal brain territories and derivatives as well. This suggests that evolutionary changes that expanded Arx-expression from ventral to dorsal prosencephalon might be one of the determinants that marked development and expansion of the telencephalon. genesis 47:19-31, 2009. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The polo-like kinases are a family of conserved serine/threonine kinases that play multiple roles in regulation of the cell cycle. Unlike its four other family members, the role of Plk4 in embryonic development has not been well characterized. In mice, Plk4−/−embryos arrest at E7.5, just prior to the initiation of somitogenesis. This has led to the hypothesis that Plk4 expression may be essential to somitogenesis. Recently characterized human mutations lead to Seckel Syndrome. Riboprobe in situ hybridization revealed that plk4 is ubiquitously expressed during early stages of development of Xenopus and Danio; in later stages, expression in frogs restricts to somites as well as eye, otic vesicle, and branchial arch, and brain. Expression patterns in fish remain ubiquitous. Both somite and eye development require planar cell polarity, and disruption of plk4 function in frog by means of morpholino-mediated translational knockdown yields orientational disorganization of both these structures. These results provide the first steps in defining a new role for plk4 in organogenesis and implies a role in planar cell polarity, segmentation, and in recently described PLK4 mutations in human.

Vitamin A, Regeneration and Homeotic Transformation in Anurans

The first full single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imager to exploit eight compact high-intrinsic-resolution cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors, called SemiSPECT, has been completed. Each detector consists of a CZT crystal and a customized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The CZT crystal is a 2.7 cmx2.7 cmx{approx}0.2 cm slab with a continuous top electrode and a bottom electrode patterned into a 64x64 pixel array by photolithography. The ASIC is attached to the bottom of the CZT crystal by indium-bump bonding. A bias voltage of -180 V is applied to the continuous electrode. The eight detectors are arranged in an octagonal lead-shielded ring. Each pinhole in the eight-pinhole aperture placed at the center of the ring is matched to each individual detector array. An object is imaged onto each detector through a pinhole, and each detector is operated independently with list-mode acquisition. The imaging subject can be rotated about a vertical axis to obtain additional angular projections. The performance of SemiSPECT was characterized using {sup 99m}Tc. When a 0.5 mm diameter pinhole is used, the spatial resolution on each axis is about 1.4 mm as estimated by the Fourier crosstalk matrix, which provides an algorithm-independent average resolution over the field of view.more » The energy resolution achieved by summing neighboring pixel signals in a 3x3 window is about 10% full-width-at-half-maximum of the photopeak. The overall system sensitivity is about 0.5x10{sup -4} with the energy window of {+-}10% from the photopeak. Line-phantom images are presented to visualize the spatial resolution provided by SemiSPECT, and images of bone, myocardium, and human tumor xenografts in mice demonstrate the feasibility of preclinical small-animal studies with SemiSPECT.« less

We report the isolation and characterization of the Xenopus homolog to human T1 ANT (adenine nucleotide translocase). The 1290-nucleotide sequence contains initiation and termination signals, and encodes a conceptual protein of 298 amino acids. The sequence shares high amino acid identity with the mammalian adenine translocases. The transcript is present in unfertilized eggs, and it is expressed at higher levels during formation of the antero-posterior dorsal axis in embryos. Although low levels are expressed constitutively except in endodermal cells, adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) expression is dynamically regulated during neurulation. At this stage, expression in ectoderm rapidly diminishes as the neural folds form, and then ANT expression increases slightly in mesoderm. At the culmination of neurulation, the neural tube briefly expresses ANT, and thereafter its expression predominates in the somitic mesoderm and also the chordoneural hinge. In addition, ANT expression is particularly high in the prosencephalon, the mesencephalon, the branchial arches, eye, and the otic vesicle. Treatment of embryos with retinoic acid has the effect of diminishing constitutive expression of ANT, but microinjection studies demonstrate that immediate and local repression cannot be induced in dorsal structures.Key words: adenine nucleotide translocase, Xenopus, retinoic acid, pattern formation, gastrulation.

Summary: Xenopus Pitx1 is a homeobox gene whose family members are structurally and functionally conserved in organisms as diverse as Drosophila, chick, mouse, human, and frog. Present as a maternal transcript, the gene is zygotically expressed during gastrulation in a dorsal streak of cells. This streak restricts to a small circular domain underlying the center of presumptive neural plate. Shortly thereafter, a crescent of expression develops at the border of anterior neural ectoderm, and as the central plate domain diminishes, the crescent coalesces to define the presumptive cement gland. Expression remains high throughout cement gland development, and subsequently expands to include ectodermal cells involved in stomodeal invagination. During early organogenesis, expression ensues in developing eye, posterior lateral mesoderm, and first branchial arch derivatives. Ectopic expression of xPitx1 causes head deformities including enlarged cement gland, ectopic cement glands, and posterior deformities or, in extreme cases, inhibition of recognizable structures posterior to the cement gland. Expression of markers such as XCG-1, xOtx2, xPax6, neuralβ tubulin, and xTwist suggest that increases in cement gland and lower mandibular size are likely at the expense of other head tissues. Paradoxically, overexpression is sufficient to partially rescue embryos that are axially perturbed by ultraviolet irradiation or retinoic acid administration. Ectopic expression of xPitx1 in ectodermal explants directly promotes cement gland development as there was no evidence that mesodermal or neural tissue was present in explants. genesis 29:78–90, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The aim of this study was to identify those kinematic characteristics that are most closely related to an athlete's medical classification and measured distance of a put. Two S-VHS camcorders (60 fields per second) were used to record the performance of 17 males of different classes. Each participant performed six trials and the best trial for each was selected for analysis. Three-dimensional kinematics of the shot and upper body segments at the instant of release and during the forward thrust (delivery) were determined. The average speeds and angles of the shot at release for different classes (5.3-7.8 m x s(-1) and 21.2 to 34.4 degrees, respectively) were smaller than those exhibited by elite male able-bodied throwers. The height of the shot at release, the angular speed of the upper arm at release, the range of motion of the shoulder girdle during the delivery, and the average angular speeds of the trunk, shoulder girdle and upper arm during the delivery, were all significantly correlated with both the classification and measured distance (P0.05). The results indicate the importance of achieving a high average angular speed for each upper body segment during the delivery.

Flavohemoglobins, a family of two-domain proteins with homology to vertebrate hemoglobins, are found in a variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Recent studies suggest a role for these proteins in nitrogen oxide metabolism. We now show that nitric oxide donors positively regulate a chromosomal flavohemoglobin (hmp)/lacZ operon fusion in Salmonella typhimurium. hmp gene expression in the presence of NO⋅ is independent of the SoxS, OxyR, and FNR transcription factors and instead relies on inactivation of the iron-dependent Fur repressor. Other Fur-repressed promoters in S. typhimuriumare also activated by an NO⋅ donor. In contrast to the wild-type strain, an hmp − mutant requires markedly lower concentrations of NO to induce the hmp/lacZ fusion, whereas its response to iron chelation is equivalent to wild type. These data unveil a new pathway for NO-dependent gene expression inS. typhimurium.

Hemoglobin homologs are being identified in an expanding number of unicellular prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Many of these hemoglobins are twodomain proteins that possess a flavin-containing reductase in their C terminus. Determination of a function for these flavohemoglobins has been elusive. ASalmonella typhimurium strain harboring a deletion in the flavohemoglobin gene shows no difference in growth under oxidative stress conditions but displays an increased sensitivity to acidified nitrite and S-nitrosothiols, both of which produce nitric oxide. The effect is seen aerobically or anaerobically, indicating that oxygen is not required for flavohemoglobin function. These results suggest a role for the bacterial flavohemoglobins that is independent of oxygen metabolism and provide evidence for a bacterial route of protection from nitric oxide that is distinct from oxidative stress responses.

Microinjection has a long and distinguished history in Xenopus and has been used to introduce a surprisingly diverse array of agents into embryos by both intra- and intercellular means. In addition to nuclei, investigators have variously injected peptides, antibodies, biologically active chemicals, lineage markers, mRNA, DNA, morpholinos, and enzymes. While enumerating many of the different microinjection approaches that can be taken, we will focus upon the mechanical operations and options available to introduce mRNA, DNA, and morpholinos intracellularly into early stage embryos for the study of neurogenesis.

Microinjection has a long and distinguished history in Xenopus and has been used to introduce a surprisingly diverse array of agents into embryos by both intra- and intercellular means. In addition to nuclei, investigators have variously injected peptides, antibodies, biologically active chemicals, lineage markers, mRNA, DNA, morpholinos, and enzymes. While enumerating many of the different microinjection approaches that can be taken, we will focus upon the mechanical operations and options available to introduce mRNA, DNA, and morpholinos intracellularly into early stage embryos for the study of neurogenesis.

In this chapter, the author outlines how an established undertaking, the Human Genome Project, was originally pitched to spotlight future applicability, and how it ultimately came to focus upon origins and evolution. The chapter then shows how a recently developing subsidiary consortium, the Human Epigenome Project, contains similar seeds of retrospection even as it develops an explicitly forward-oriented agenda. Finally, it illustrates how a likely future (and futuristic) "Big Science" project, Exobiology, is actually starting off by looking at the evolutionary origins of life on Earth. Keywords:Big Science project; exobiology; human genome project; retrospection

Pitx3 has been identified as the causative locus in a developmental eye mutation associated with mammalian anterior segment dysgenesis, congenital cataracts, and aphakia. In recent studies of frog eye development we discovered that pitx3 expresses symmetrically in the somites and lateral plate mesoderm and asymmetrically during cardiac and gut looping. We report that disruption of pitx3 activity on one side of an embryo relative to the other, either by over- or underexpression of pitx3, elicits a crooked dorsal axis in embryos that is a consequence of a retarded progression through somitogenesis. Unlike in amniotes, Xenopus somites form as cohorts of presomitic cells that rotate perpendicular to the dorsal axis. Since no vertebral anomalies have been reported in mouse and human Pitx3 mutants, we attempt to distinguish whether the segmentation clock is uniquely affected in frog or if the pitx3 perturbation inhibits the cellular changes that are necessary to rotation of presomitic cells. In Xenopus, pitx3 appears to inhibit the rotation of presomitic cell cohorts and to be necessary to the bilaterally symmetric expression of pitx2 in somites.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae hemoglobin is a flavoprotein of unknown function. It shares extensive sequence homology with the globin of Candida as well as those of several bacterial species. We have studied its gene regulation in order to better understand its purpose in the cell. Transcriptional analyses indicate that, in sharp contrast to the bacterial globins of Vitreoscilla and Alcaligenes eutrophus, the S. cerevisiae globin message is induced during logarithmic growth and under oxygen-replete conditions. Transcription of the S. cerevisiae hemoglobin gene is positively regulated by the transcription factors heme-activated protein (HAP) 1 and HAP2/3/4, which respond to intracellular heme levels. Anaerobically, there is a low level, HAP-independent induction of hemoglobin mRNA. Unlike other systems influenced by the HAP2/3/4 transcription factor complex, no activation of hemoglobin expression by growth in non-fermentable carbon sources is observed. Flavohemoglobin gene disruption does not alter cell viability or growth in a variety of oxygen conditions and carbon sources. Physical and genetic mapping of the S. cerevisiae flavohemoglobin gene places it on chromosome seven near the formyltetrahydrofolate synthase (ADE3) locus. These data indicate that, despite the high degree of homology, the S. cerevisiae globin may have a function distinct from those proposed for bacterial globins.

This paper provides an overview of research on lecture notetaking. Despite the importance of this academic skill, to date it has not received much attention from researchers working in L2 contexts. As the Japanese Ministry of Education moves towards encouraging universities to offer more lecture courses in English, it is important for teachers to gain a better understanding of the processes involved in notetaking, and how to help learners to develop their skills. To this end, the paper poses 8 questions that teachers may have about notetaking and provides answers from the research that has been done to date in both L2 and L1 contexts. Because the amount of research in L2 contexts is still small, the answers given are not meant to be definitive. However, it is hoped that they will provide some preliminary answers to questions that teachers may have. 本論はノートテイキング(講義をノートに書き写す)に関する研究を概観する。ノートテイキングは重要なアカデミックスキルであるにも関わらず、L2環境における研究はこれまであまり注目を浴びてこなかった。文部科学省が英語による大学講義科目の拡大を推進している昨今、教員がノートテイキングの過程及びその指導方法に関する知識を得る重要性が益々高まっている。この現状を受け、本論では、ノートテイキングに関して、教える側が持つ可能性のある８つの質問を提起し、これまでのL2及びL1環境で行われた研究の中から答えを導き出す。L2環境における研究が未だ少ないことから、導き出した答えは決定的とは言えないが、ノートテイキングに関する教師の疑問に少しでも答えられたことを願う。

Background: Unexpected phenotypes resulting from morpholino-mediated translational knockdown of Pitx3 in Xenopus laevis required further investigation regarding the genetic networks in which the gene might play a role. Microarray analysis was, therefore, used to assess global transcriptional changes downstream of Pitx3. Results: From the large data set generated, selected candidate genes were confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and in situ hybridization. Conclusions: We have identified four genes as likely direct targets of Pitx3 action: Pax6, β Crystallin-b1 (Crybb1), Hes7.1, and Hes4. Four others show equivocal promise worthy of consideration: Vent2, and Ripply2 (aka Ledgerline or Stripy), eFGF and RXRα. We also describe the expression pattern of additional and novel genes that are Pitx3-sensitive but that are unlikely to be direct targets. Developmental Dynamics 241:1487–1505, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cardiac troponin I (troponin Ic) expression is restricted to the heart at all stages of Xenopus development. Whole-mount in situ hybridization and Northern blot analysis indicates that troponin Ic is first expressed in tailbud embryos (stage 28) about the time of the first cytological heart differentiation and about 24 hr before beating tissue is observed. We have used this marker to examine abnormal heart morphogenesis in embryos treated with retinoic acid and lithium. When retinoic acid is administered to embryos prior to heart specification, heart tissue is reduced and often completely ablated. When embryos are treated after heart specification, but before the heart primordium migrates to the ventral midline, the migration is unaffected but smaller, abnormal hearts result. Lithium treatment of cleavage stage embryos causes an increase in heart tissue. In severely dorsalized embryos, heart tissue can be found around the entire embryo with the exception of a small gap at the most dorsal point. This gap indicates that migration of the heart to the ventral midline does not occur in these embryos. Later in development, a centrally located, beating heart is observed in dorsalized embryos. The timing of its appearance suggests that it is formed by movements normally associated with heart morphogenesis rather than migration.

SummaryA central hypothesis for the limited capacity for adult central nervous system (CNS) axons to regenerate is the presence of myelin-derived axon growth inhibitors, the role of which, however, remains poorly understood. We have conducted a comprehensive genetic analysis of the three major myelin inhibitors, Nogo, MAG, and OMgp, in injury-induced axonal growth, including compensatory sprouting of uninjured axons and regeneration of injured axons. While deleting any one inhibitor in mice enhanced sprouting of corticospinal or raphespinal serotonergic axons, there was neither associated behavioral improvement nor a synergistic effect of deleting all three inhibitors. Furthermore, triple-mutant mice failed to exhibit enhanced regeneration of either axonal tract after spinal cord injury. Our data indicate that while Nogo, MAG, and OMgp may modulate axon sprouting, they do not play a central role in CNS axon regeneration failure.

We have cloned and characterized a second member of the Xenopus CAP (cyclase associated protein) gene family. xCAP2 demonstrates greater restriction of expression than its homolog, xCAP1, and is differentially expressed throughout early embryogenesis. Although present as a maternal transcript, CAP2 comes to be expressed in the anterior-most mesoderm/endoderm during late gastrulation, in paraxial mesoderm during late neurula stages, and later expresses in lens, cardiac primordia, somites, otic vesicles, retina, and in the optic and craniofacial musculature. The gene is also expressed in the leading edge of myotome.

In contrast to the pattern of limb emergence in mammals, chicks, and the newt N. viridescens, embryos such as Xenopus laevis and Eleutherodactylus coqui initiate pelvic limb buds before they develop pectoral ones. We studied the expression of Pitx1 in X. laevis and E. coqui to determine if this paired-like homeodomain transcription factor directs differentiation specifically of the hindlimb, or if it directs the second pair of limbs to form, namely the forelimbs. We also undertook to determine if embryonic expression patterns were recapitulated during the regeneration of an amputated limb bud. Pitx1 is expressed in hindlimbs in both X. laevis and E. coqui, and expression is similar in both developing and regenerating limb buds. Expression in hindlimbs is restricted to regions of proliferating mesenchyme.Key words: regeneration, Xenopus laevis, limb bud, Pitx1 protein, specification.

The first full single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imager to exploit eight compact high-intrinsic-resolution cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors, called SemiSPECT, has been completed. Each detector consists of a CZT crystal and a customized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The CZT crystal is a 2.7 cm x 2.7 cm x -0.2 cm slab with a continuous top electrode and a bottom electrode patterned into a 64 x 64 pixel array by photolithography. The ASIC is attached to the bottom of the CZT crystal by indium-bump bonding. A bias voltage of -180 V is applied to the continuous electrode. The eight detectors are arranged in an octagonal lead-shielded ring. Each pinhole in the eight-pinhole aperture placed at the center of the ring is matched to each individual detector array. An object is imaged onto each detector through a pinhole, and each detector is operated independently with list-mode acquisition. The imaging subject can be rotated about a vertical axis to obtain additional angular projections. The performance of SemiSPECT was characterized using 99mTc. When a 0.5 mm diameter pinhole is used, the spatial resolution on each axis is about 1.4 mm as estimated by the Fourier crosstalk matrix, which provides an algorithm-independent average resolution over the field of view. The energy resolution achieved by summing neighboring pixel signals in a 3 x 3 window is about 10% full-width-at-half-maximum of the photopeak. The overall system sensitivity is about 0.5 x 10(-4) with the energy window of +/-10% from the photopeak. Line-phantom images are presented to visualize the spatial resolution provided by SemiSPECT, and images of bone, myocardium, and human tumor xenografts in mice demonstrate the feasibility of preclinical small-animal studies with SemiSPECT.