Adipogenesis plays a critical role in energy metabolism and is a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic. This study examined the proteome of primary cultures of human adipose-derived adult stem (ADAS) cells as an in vitro model of adipogenesis. Protein lysates obtained from four individual donors were compared before and after adipocyte differentiation by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and tandem mass spectroscopy. Over 170 individual protein features in the undifferentiated adipose-derived adult stem cells were identified. Following adipogenesis, over 40 proteins were up-regulated by >2-fold, whereas 13 showed a >3-fold reduction. The majority of the modulated proteins belonged to the following functional categories: cytoskeleton, metabolic, redox, protein degradation, and heat shock protein/chaperones. Additional immunoblot analysis documented the induction of four individual heat shock proteins and confirmed the presence of the heat shock protein 27 phosphoserine 82 isoform, as predicted by the proteomic analysis, as well as the crystallin ␣ phosphorylated isoforms. These findings suggest that the heat shock protein family proteome warrants further investigation with respect to the etiology of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 4:731-740, 2005.Obesity is a health problem of epidemic proportions. It is estimated that in 2000 over 60% of adults are overweight (BMI 1 Ͼ 25) and that 30% are obese (BMI Ͼ 30); this compares to levels of 46 and 14%, respectively, in 1980. Obesity and increased adiposity are associated clinically with the onset of insulin resistance, dysfunctional glucose sensing and utilization, hypertension, and hypertriglyceridemia, all contributing to the pathologic sequelae of type 2 diabetes. Paradoxically type 2 diabetes also occurs in patients with inherited or acquired forms of lipodystrophy or loss of adipose tissue depots (1, 2). Lipodystrophy occurs through defects in genes associated with triglyceride metabolism or as a consequence of antiretroviral therapy in human immunodeficiency viruspositive patients (1, 2). Animal models confirm these clinical observations; multiple strains of transgenic mice with a lipodystrophic phenotype exhibit type 2 diabetes (3-5). Diabetes in these animals responds not to insulin therapy but to transplantation of subcutaneous adipose tissue or to leptin treatment (3-5). These clinical and experimental observations have led to the hypothesis that a failure in adipocyte differentiation is a critical etiologic factor leading to type 2 diabetes (6 -8). Danforth (6) and others postulate that in obese individuals adipose tissue depots have already committed all of their stem cell reserves to the adipocyte lineage and have lost their capacity to create new adipocytic cells (6 -8). In the face of excess energy balance, both obese and lipodystrophic individuals deposit triglycerides in ectopic sites, such as muscle and liver, thereby contributing to the metabolic dysfunction associated with type 2 diabetes (increased hepatic glucon...

This study addressed the potential impact of serial migration for parent-children relationships and for children's psychological well-being. The experience of being separated from their parents during childhood and reunited with them at a later time was retrospectively examined for 48 individuals. A series of measures (e.g., self-esteem, parental identification) associated with appraisals at critical time periods during serial migration (separation, reunion, current) revealed that serial migration can potentially disrupt parent-child bonding and unfavorably affect children's self-esteem and behavior. Time did not appear to be wholly effective in repairing rifts in the parent-child relationship. Risk factors for less successful reunions included lengthy separations and the addition of new members to the family unit in the child's absence.

African trypanosomes cause disease in humans and animals. Trypanosoma brucei brucei affects cattle but not humans because of its sensitivity to a subclass of human high density lipoproteins (HDLs) called trypanosome lytic factor (TLF). TLF contains two apolipoproteins that are sufficient to cause lysis of T. b. brucei in vitro. These proteins were identified as the human haptoglobin-related protein and paraoxonase-arylesterase. An antibody to haptoglobin inhibited TLF activity. TLF was shown to exhibit peroxidase activity and to be inhibited by catalase. These results suggest that TLF kills trypanosomes by oxidative damage initiated by its peroxidase activity.

Scenario ffl A group of women of color come together to organize. An argument ensues about whether or not Arab women should be included. Some argue that Arab women are "white" since they have been classified as such in the US census. Another argument erupts over whether or not Latinas qualify as "women of color," since some may be classified as "white" in their Latin American countries of origin and/or "pass" as white in the United States.

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