Molecular evolutionary rate variation in Gossypium (cotton) was characterized using sequence data for 48 nuclear genes from both genomes of allotetraploid cotton, models of its diploid progenitors, and an outgroup. Substitution rates varied widely among the 48 genes, with silent and replacement substitution levels varying from 0.018 to 0.162 and from 0.000 to 0.073, respectively, in comparisons between orthologous Gossypium and outgroup sequences. However, about 90% of the genes had silent substitution rates spanning a more narrow threefold range. Because there was no evidence of rate heterogeneity among lineages for any gene and because rates were highly correlated in independent tests, evolutionary rate is inferred to be a property of each gene or its genetic milieu rather than the clade to which it belongs. Evidence from approximately 200,000 nucleotides (40,000 per genome) suggests that polyploidy in Gossypium led to a modest enhancement in rates of nucleotide substitution. Phylogenetic analysis for each gene yielded the topology expected from organismal history, indicating an absence of gene conversion or recombination among homoeologs subsequent to allopolyploid formation. Using the mean synonymous substitution rate calculated across the 48 genes, allopolyploid cotton is estimated to have formed circa 1.5 million years ago (MYA), after divergence of the diploid progenitors about 6.7 MYA.

Echinacea preparations are commonly used as nonspecific immunomodulatory agents. Alcohol extracts from three widely used Echinacea species, Echinacea angustifolia , Echinacea pallida , and Echinacea purpurea , were investigated for immunomodulating properties. The three Echinacea species demonstrated a broad difference in concentrations of individual lipophilic amides and hydrophilic caffeic acid derivatives. Mice were gavaged once a day (for 7 days) with one of the Echinacea extracts (130 mg/kg) or vehicle and immunized with sheep red blood cells (sRBC) 4 days prior to collection of immune cells for multiple immunological assays. The three herb extracts induced similar, but differential, changes in the percentage of immune cell populations and their biological functions, including increased percentages of CD49+ and CD19+ lymphocytes in spleen and natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Antibody response to sRBC was significantly increased equally by extracts of all three Echinacea species. Concanavalin A-stimulated splenocytes from E. angustifolia - and E. pallida -treated mice demonstrated significantly higher T cell proliferation. In addition, the Echinacea treatment significantly altered the cytokine production by mitogen-stimulated splenic cells. The three herbal extracts significantly increased interferon- α production, but inhibited the release of tumor necrosis factor- γ and interleukin (IL)-1 β . Only E. angustifolia - and E. pallida -treated mice demonstrated significantly higher production of IL-4 and increased IL-10 production. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that Echinacea is a wide-spectrum immunomodulator that modulates both innate and adaptive immune responses. In particular, E. angustifolia or E. pallida may have more anti-inflammatory potential.

Objectives. Roma health issues are under-studied from a comprehensive, epidemiological perspective. The Roma peoples (including ‘Travellers’) have been living in and around Central and Eastern Europe for centuries, and may be one of the oldest systematically oppressed minority groups in Europe. This review examines the research literature in regard to the health and epidemiology of this group with the aim of examining the breadth and depth of the literature and reflecting on the primary and applied research needed to address the health needs of Roma groups. Design. Internet, database and ancestral searches were conducted via such electronic databases as Medline and PubMed. Ancestral searches involved consulting previous literature reviews in select topical areas and obtaining all appropriate, primary literature. The time parameters of the search began with the year 1990 to current but was later expanded to 1985–2003 in order to capture slightly older published work. Results. This paper describes what is known concerning Roma health via a review of the published studies, with special emphasis on population health and epidemiological studies. One hundred and twenty-nine articles are reviewed and discussed. The majority of research (50%) examines the genetic characteristics of this group. Conclusions. Surveillance and population health indices for this international minority population is scarce to lacking in the published literature. Concluding comments focus on the unique character of the study population and the need for scientific studies of Roma health issues and the cultural concerns which might affect them.

It has long been known that genomes vary over a remarkable range of sizes in both plants (Bennett, Cox, and Leitch 1997 ) and animals (Gregory 2001 ). It also has become evident that across the broad phylogenetic sweep, genome size may be correlated with intron size (Deutsch and Long 1999 ; Vinogradov 1999 ; McLysaght et al. 2000 ), suggesting that some component of genome size evolution takes place within genes. Examples include humans and pufferfish (Fugu), where comparisons of 199 introns in 22 orthologous genes showed that introns in Fugu were on average eight times as small as those in humans, consistent with their ratio of genome sizes (McLysaght et al. 2000 ). Similarly, Deutsch and Long (1999) tabulated intron sizes across a broad phylogenetic spectrum of eukaryotes and noted a general but weak correlation with genome size, with humans having the most and longest introns (mean of 3.4 kbp) among the 10 taxa studied. Intron size is also correlated with genome size in Drosophila (Moriyama, Petrov, and Hartl 1998 ), showing that the correlation may extend to more recent divergences.

Aging is associated with a dysregulation of the immune system known as immunosenescence. Immunosenescence involves cellular and molecular alterations that impact both innate and adaptive immunity, leading to increased incidences of infectious disease morbidity and mortality as well as heightened rates of other immune disorders such as autoimmunity, cancer, and inflammatory conditions. While current data suggests physical activity may be an effective and logistically easy strategy for counteracting immunosenescence, it is currently underutilized in clinical settings. Long-term, moderate physical activity interventions in geriatric populations appear to be associated with several benefits including reduction in infectious disease risk, increased rates of vaccine efficacy, and improvements in both physical and psychosocial aspects of daily living. Exercise may also represent a viable therapy in patients for whom pharmacological treatment is unavailable, ineffective, or inappropriate. The effects of exercise impact multiple aspects of immune response including T cell phenotype and proliferation, antibody response to vaccination, and cytokine production. However, an underlying mechanism by which exercise affects numerous cell types and responses remains to be identified. Given this evidence, an increase in the use of physical activity programs by the healthcare community may result in improved health of geriatric populations.