Stem cells can be controlled by their local microenvironment, known as the stem cell niche. The Drosophila testes contain a morphologically distinct niche called the hub, composed of a cluster of between 8 and 20 cells known as hub cells, which contact and regulate germline stem cells (GSCs) and somatic cyst stem cells (CySCs). Both hub cells and CySCs originate from somatic gonadal precursor c...

Somatic growth patterns represent a major component of organismal fitness and may vary among sexes and populations due to genetic and environmental processes leading to profound differences in life-history and demography. This study considered the ontogenic, sex-specific and spatial dynamics of somatic growth patterns in ten populations of the world's largest lizard the Komodo dragon (Varanus k...

PURPOSE Somatic growth is an important indicator of health in children. Adequate organ growth is essential in growth and directly related to body growth. We consider renal length as a surrogate of organ growth in growing children. Measurement of weight, height, and many anthropometric indices, such as body surface area (BSA), body mass index (BMI), and Rohrer and Kaup indices, are used to evalu...

Environmental conditions experienced in early life affect growth and influence life history strategies, especially in seasonal environments. We studied the seasonal and sexual variation in resource allocation in juvenile southern elephant seals to investigate whether they show a seasonal decline in growth. We also examined whether sexual differences in growth may lead to separate growth strateg...

SUMMARY Burkitt somatic cell hybrids (D98/HR-l) synthesize both the A and B forms of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which were originally derived from the two fused human cells. The A form is from D98 cells and the B form was supplied by the P3J-HR-l cells. The formation of a heteropolymer of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the hybrid proves that a hybrid was obtained. Selection of hyb...

A family of p160 coactivators was initially identified based on ligand-dependent interactions with nuclear receptors and thought to function, in part, by recruiting CREB-binding protein/p300 to several classes of transcription factors. One of the p160 factors, p/CIP/AIB1, often amplified and overexpressed in breast cancer, also exhibits particularly strong interaction with CREB-binding protein/...

Growth factors are thought to play a decisive role in the course of inflammatory processes. The aim of the present study was to characterize a potential interrelationship between the concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and somatic cell count (SCC) in normal milk, and to investigate the presence of these growth factors in mammary secretio...

Somatic and visceral growth profiles of midgestation human fetuses with trisomy 21, 18, or 13 demonstrate that each disorder has a characteristic pattern of growth aberration. The most striking deviations are short limbs in trisomy 21, subnormal adrenal and lung weights in trisomy 18, and supranormal spleen and kidney weights in trisomy 13.

BACKGROUND Species' life-history and population dynamics are strongly shaped by the longevity of individuals, but life span is one of the least accessible demographic traits, particularly in clonal plants. Continuous vegetative reproduction of genets enables persistence despite low or no sexual reproduction, affecting genet turnover rates and population stability. Therefore, the longevity of cl...