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Differentiation Levels (differentiation + level)
Selected AbstractsSEQUENTIAL MERGERS WITH DIFFERING DIFFERENTIATION LEVELS,AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2009TAKESHI EBINA We study sequential merger incentives under presence of product differentiation. Two sets of firms produce closely related goods, whereas each set produces more differentiated goods. Merger incentives under product differentiation are found to be stronger for two firms producing closely related goods than more differentiated goods. Also, after one merger, other firms are willing to follow with their own merger, resulting in sequential mergers. This result is consistent with the recent mergers in the video game software industry in Japan. [source] PLC-,2 monitors the drug-induced release of differentiation blockade in tumoral myeloid precursorsJOURNAL OF CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2006Federica Brugnoli Abstract The differentiation therapy in treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), based on the administration of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), is currently flanked with the use of As2O3, a safe and effective agent for patients showing a resistance to ATRA treatment. A synergy between ATRA and As2O3 was also reported in inducing granulocytic differentiation of APL-derived cells. We have demonstrated that phospholipase C-,2 (PLC-,2), highly expressed in neutrophils and nearly absent in tumoral promyelocytes, largely increases during ATRA treatment of APL-derived cells and strongly correlates with the responsiveness of APL patients to ATRA-based differentiating therapies. Here we report that, in APL-derived cells, low doses of As2O3 induce a slight increase of PLC-,2 together with a moderate maturation, and cooperate with ATRA to provoke a significant increase of PLC-,2 expression. Remarkably, the amounts of PLC-,2 draw a parallel with the differentiation levels reached by both ATRA-responsive and -resistant cells treated with ATRA/As2O3 combinations. PLC-,2 is not necessary for the progression of tumoral promyelocytes along the granulocytic lineage and is unable to overcome the differentiation block or to potentiate the agonist-induced maturation. On the other hand, since its expression closely correlates with the differentiation level reached by APL-derived cells induced to maturate by drugs presently employed in APL therapies, PLC-,2 represents indeed a specific marker to test the ability of differentiation agents to induce the release of the maturation blockade of tumoral myeloid precursors. J. Cell. Biochem. 98: 160,173, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] High mitochondrial differentiation levels between wild and domestic Bactrian camels: a basis for rapid detection of maternal hybridizationANIMAL GENETICS, Issue 3 2010K. Silbermayr Summary Hybridization between wild species and their domestic congeners often threatens the gene pool of the wild species. The last wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) populations in Mongolia and China are examples of populations facing such a hybridization threat. To address this key issue in the conservation of wild camels, we analysed wild, hybrid and domestic Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) originating from Mongolia, China and Austria. Through screening of an 804-base-pair mitochondrial fragment, we identified eight mitochondrial haplotypes and found high sequence divergence (1.9%) between C. ferus and C. bactrianus. On the basis of a mitochondrial DNA sequence fixed difference, we developed a diagnostic PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay to differentiate between wild and domestic camel samples. We applied the assay to 81 individuals and confirmed the origin of all samples including five hybrids with known maternal ancestry. The PCR-RFLP system was effective for both traditional (blood, skin) and non-invasive samples (faeces, hair), as well as for museum specimens. Our results demonstrate high levels of mitochondrial differentiation between wild and domestic Bactrian camels and that maternal hybridization can be detected by a rapid and reliable PCR-RFLP system. [source] | ||||||||||