Estriol accounts for an average of 74% of the principal Kober-positive steroids in the urine of 13 women during uncomplicated pregnancies. This proportion is independent of the stage of pregnancy, from 20 weeks until term. The average ratio of estriol to ring-D a#{149}ketols (mainly 16ahydroxyestrone and 16-ketoestradiol-17) is about 5:1 over the same period. In 17 pregnant women with diabetes,...

In the past fifteen years, the United States Supreme Court has decided three cases in which it tentatively began to explore what the United States Constitution has to say about issues that are popularly described as the "right to die." In this article, I suggest that the current state of constitutional analysis does not provide for an effective mechanism for securing an individual's "right to d...

Microspore-derived embryos of Brassica napus cv Reston were used to examine the effects of exogenous (+)-abscisic acid (ABA) and related compounds on the accumulation of very-long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids (VLCMFAs), VLCMFA elongase complex activity, and induction of the 3-ketoacyl-coenzyme A synthase (KCS) gene encoding the condensing enzyme of the VLCMFA elongation system. Of the conc...

The change in developmental fate of microspores reprogrammed toward embryogenesis is a complex but fascinating experimental system where microspores undergo dramatic changes derived from the developmental switch. After 40 years of study of the ultrastructural changes undergone by the induced microspores, many questions are still open. In this work, we analyzed the architecture of DNA-containing...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In temperate woody perennials, flower bud development is halted during the winter, when the buds enter dormancy. This dormant period is a prerequisite for adequate flowering, is genetically regulated, and plays a clear role in possibly adapting species and cultivars to climatic areas. However, information on the biological events underpinning dormancy is lacking. Stamen deve...

background: flow cytometry is a rapid, sensitive, and reliable method for determination of bacterial viability. here we assayed the capability of flow cytometry to detect helicobacter pylori viable cells in both forms of spiral and coccoid. methods: viable bacteria stained with rhodamin 123 and fluoresced with laser beam of 488nm. the rate of rh123 absorption was determined in both forms of bac...

In vegetative leaf tissues, cuticles including cuticular waxes are important for protection against nonstomatal water loss and pathogen infection as well as for adaptations to environmental stress. However, their roles in the anther wall are rarely studied. The innermost layer of the anther wall (the tapetum) is essential for generating male gametes. Here, we report the characterization of a T-...

This study characterizes the phosphorylated pathway of Ser biosynthesis (PPSB) in Arabidopsis thaliana by targeting phosphoserine phosphatase (PSP1), the last enzyme of the pathway. Lack of PSP1 activity delayed embryo development, leading to aborted embryos that could be classified as early curled cotyledons. The embryo-lethal phenotype of psp1 mutants could be complemented with PSP1 cDNA unde...

In Arabidopsis thaliana, zygotic embryo divisions are highly regular, but it is not clear how embryo patterning is established in species or culture systems with irregular cell divisions. We investigated this using the Brassica napus microspore embryogenesis system, where the male gametophyte is reprogrammed in vitro to form haploid embryos in the absence of exogenous growth regulators. Microsp...

We have cloned a new member of the RAD2/XPG nuclease family, OsGEN-L (OsGEN-like), from rice (Oryza sativa L.). OsGEN-L possesses two domains, the N- and I-regions, that are conserved in the RAD2/XPG nuclease family. Database searches and phylogenetic analyses revealed that OsGEN-L belongs to class 4 of the RAD2/XPG nuclease family, and OsGEN-L homologs were found in animals and higher plants. ...