Comparative Investigation of the Action of Several Chlorosis-inducing Herbicides on the Biogenesis of Chloroplasts and Leaf Microbodies.
Seedlings of Triticum aestivum L. and Secale cereale L. were grown in the presence of six different (five having different chemical structures) chlorosis-inducing herbicides: aminotriazole and its derivative SDR 5175, haloxidine, Sandoz 6706, fluometuron, and EMD-IT 5914. Concentrations were applied which allowed the leaves to grow normally and to reach normal total amino nitrogen contents but evoked a complete chlorosis (less than 6% chlorophyll). The effects of the herbicides on the accumulation of several chloroplast constituents and on peroxisomal and mitochondrial marker enzyme activities were compared. Wheat and rye, in general, gave very similar results, wheat being more sensitive to unspecific inhibitory effects.In dark-grown plants, the herbicides had no or only minor effects on the rRNA pattern and on enzyme activities of the leaves. In the light, all herbicides applied prevented the accumulation of carotenoids and of chloroplastic rRNA. Consequently, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase activity was virtually absent. After all herbicide treatments in light, the leaves contained only rather low catalase activity. In the presence of aminotriazole and haloxidine, the chloroplast-specific NADP-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and the peroxisomal enzymes glycolate oxidase and hydroxypyruvate reductase had high or even normal activities, as in untreated leaves. In leaves treated with Sandoz 6706, fluometuron, or EMDIT 5914, the activities of the latter three enzymes were, in parallel, only very low. Some herbicides interfered with enzyme activities in vitro, particularly with those of catalase and of glycolate oxidase. Among mitochondrial enzymes, cytochrome c oxidase activity was either unaffected or lower, while fumarase had considerably higher activities in the herbicide-treated, as compared to untreated leaves. The specific effects on peroxisomal enzymes cannot be explained by the hypothesis of herbicide-induced photodestructions in carotene-deficient plastids. Alternative explanations for the genesis of the chlorosis are discussed.


Role of CD36 in Palmitic Acid Lipotoxicity in Neuro-2a Neuroblastoma Cells.
Elevated level of palmitic acid (PA), a long-chain saturated fatty acid (SFA), is lipotoxic to many different types of cells including Neuro-2a (N2a) neuroblastoma cells. CD36 is a multifunctional membrane glycoprotein that acts as a fatty acid translocase (FAT) facilitating the transport of long-chain free fatty acids (FFAs) into cells, serves a fatty acid (FA) sensing function in areas including taste buds and the proximal gut, and acts as a scavenger receptor that binds to many ligands, including FAs, collagen, oxidized low-density lipoproteins, and anionic phospholipids. However, the involvement of CD36 in FA uptake and PA lipotoxicity in N2a cells remains unclear. In this study, we examined FA uptake in BSA- and PA-treated N2a cells and investigated the involvement of CD36 in FA uptake and PA lipotoxicity in N2a cells. Our data showed that PA treatment promoted FA uptake in N2a cells, and that treatment with sulfo-N-succinimidyl oleate (SSO), a CD36 inhibitor, significantly decreased FA uptake in BSA- and PA-treated N2a cells, and ameliorated PA-induced decrease of cell viability, decrease of diploid cells, and increase of tetraploid cells. We also found that CD36 knockdown significantly decreased FA uptake in both BSA- and PA-treated cells as compared to their corresponding wild-type controls, and dramatically attenuated PA-induced cell cycle defects in N2a cells. Our data suggest that CD36 may play a critical role in FA uptake and PA lipotoxicity in N2a cells. CD36 may therefore represent a regulatory target against pathologies caused by excess FAs.


[The demographic impact of famines].
"Demographic research into famine has long been dominated by studies of its impact on mortality. Only recently some attempts have been made to relate famine to the other demographic processes of fertility, marriage and migration. Based on five case-studies, this article tries to identify the often complex interrelationships between famine and the major demographic processes. At the same time, attention is paid to the interactions between the demographic processes themselves. Furthermore, two conceptual frameworks examining these relationships are discussed. Finally, the importance of this subject both for the study of demographic behaviour and for famine relief programmes is stressed." (SUMMARY IN ENG)


[Faunistics--the science of XIX or XXI age?].
Rapid development of modern research techniques which has exploded in the second half of 20th century supressed interest in faunistic research. On the other hand the negative impact of human activity on the biosphere caused the need of intensification of the biodiversity studies. Several international and regional programs were founded to gather data about all species living in Europe and other continents. They also emphasize the importance of the faunistic researches that comprise studies on nature of parasite fauna (description of species, their morphology, variability, life cycles). Since faunistics and systematics are regain their weight, they are becoming the important area of twenty first century research.


Platanetin: A Potent Natural Uncoupler and Inhibitor of the Exogenous NADH Dehydrogenase in Intact Plant Mitochondria.
Platanetin is a 3,5,7,8-tetrahydroxy, 6-isoprenyl flavone isolated from the bud scales of the plane tree (Platanus acerifolia Willd.). Its effects on the oxidative activities of isolated potato and mung bean mitochondria have been studied. The most noticeable effect is the selective inhibitory effect of this compound on the activity of the external NADH dehydrogenase of the inner membrane. A 50% inhibition of the NADH oxidation rate is obtained at a 2 micromolar concentration. This activity is probably due to the flavonoid structure and the high lipophilicity of platanetin associated with the presence of the isoprenyl chain. Another important effect of platanetin is its uncoupling activity on oxidative phosphorylation. The presence of easily dissociable hydroxyl groups and the high lipophilicity of platanetin allow a potent H(+) transfer through the mitochondrial inner membrane. This uncoupling activity is comparable to that of carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone. Platanetin is therefore the most active natural uncoupler known at the present time (full uncoupling at 2 micromolar with succinate as substrate). At higher concentrations (10 micromolar and more), platanetin can transfer electrons from the mitochondrial inner membrane to O(2); the branching point of this KCN-salicylhydroxamic acid insensitive platanetin dependent oxidative pathway is located at the level of flavoproteins, no transfer occurring when succinate is the substrate. The redox properties of platanetin are in accord with such an activity.


Functional analysis of FT and TFL1 orthologs from orchid (Oncidium Gower Ramsey) that regulate the vegetative to reproductive transition.
The FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) genes play crucial roles in regulating the vegetative to reproductive phase transition. Orthologs of FT/TFL1 (OnFT and OnTFL1) were isolated and characterized from Oncidium Gower Ramsey. OnFT mRNA was detected in axillary buds, leaves, pseudobulb and flowers. In flowers, OnFT was expressed more in young flower buds than in mature flowers and was predominantly expressed in sepals and petals. The expression of OnFT was regulated by photoperiod, with the highest expression from the 8th to 12th hour of the light period and the lowest expression at dawn. In contrast, the expression of OnTFL1 was only detected in axillary bud and pseudobulb, and was not influenced by light. Ectopic expression of OnFT in transgenic Arabidopsis plants showed novel phenotypes by flowering early and losing inflorescence indeterminacy. In addition, ectopic expression of OnFT was able to partially complement the late flowering defect in transgenic Arabidopsis ft-1 mutants. In transgenic tfl1-11 mutant plants, 35S::OnTFL1 delayed flowering and rescued the phenotype of terminal flowers. Furthermore, substitution of the key single amino acid His85 by Tyr was able to convert the OnTFL1 function to OnFT by promoting flowering in 35S::OnTFL1-H85Y transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Further analysis indicated that the expression of APETALA1 (AP1) was significantly up-regulated in 35S::OnFT and 35S::OnTFL1-H85Y plants, and was down-regulated in 35S::OnTFL1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Our data indicated that OnFT and OnTFL1 are putative phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein genes in orchids that regulate flower transition similar to their orthologs in Arabidopsis.


[Diagnostic methods and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in Spain: NACE study].
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most frequent infectious disease conditions. With the aim of knowing the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of CAP in Spanish hospitals we performed a prospective, observational and multicenter study. Observational study of 468 patients with CAP consecutively evaluated in 21 Spanish hospitals. Clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic and evolutive variables were recorded. We included 468 patients with a mean age of 63 (18) years; 75% of them had some comorbidity. 380 (81%) patients required hospitalization in a conventional ward while 19 (4%) were admitted in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 69 patients (15%) required ICU admission. During the first 24 h of admission, biochemical determinations were performed in 98% of cases, blood gas measurements in 88%, blood cultures in 265 (58%), sputum cultures in 149 (41%) and an invasive diagnostic technique was carried out in 17 cases. In 62 cases (14%), a microbiological diagnosis was achieved. Streptococcus pneumoniae (28 cases) was the most frequent isolate followed by Legionella pneumophila (6 cases). Clarithromycin was the most frequent antibiotic prescribed (38%), either as monotherapy (28) or in combination (148), followed by amoxicillin-clavulanate (124 cases). Nine percent of patients were considered non-responders to initial empirical antibiotic tretament. Overall mortality was 6% (25%) and it was significanty higher in non-responders. In most patients with CAP admitted in Spanish hospitals, a systematic diagnostic approach is lacking. There is an important variability in the administration of antimicrobials, the association of a betalactam plus clarithromycin being the most frequent strategy. Overall mortality is low and significantly higher in those patients with a lack of response to initial antibiotic treatment.


Physiological roles of taurine in heart and muscle.
Taurine (aminoethane sulfonic acid) is an ubiquitous compound, found in very high concentrations in heart and muscle. Although taurine is classified as an amino acid, it does not participate in peptide bond formation. Nonetheless, the amino group of taurine is involved in a number of important conjugation reactions as well as in the scavenging of hypochlorous acid. Because taurine is a fairly inert compound, it is an ideal modulator of basic processes, such as osmotic pressure, cation homeostasis, enzyme activity, receptor regulation, cell development and cell signalling. The present review discusses several physiological functions of taurine. First, the observation that taurine depletion leads to the development of a cardiomyopathy indicates a role for taurine in the maintenance of normal contractile function. Evidence is provided that this function of taurine is mediated by changes in the activity of key Ca2+ transporters and the modulation Ca2+ sensitivity of the myofibrils. Second, in some species, taurine is an established osmoregulator, however, in mammalian heart the osmoregulatory function of taurine has recently been questioned. Third, taurine functions as an indirect regulator of oxidative stress. Although this action of taurine has been widely discussed, its mechanism of action is unclear. A potential mechanism for the antioxidant activity of taurine is discussed. Fourth, taurine stabilizes membranes through direct interactions with phospholipids. However, its inhibition of the enzyme, phospholipid N-methyltransferase, alters the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine content of membranes, which in turn affects the function of key proteins within the membrane. Finally, taurine serves as a modulator of protein kinases and phosphatases within the cardiomyocyte. The mechanism of this action has not been studied. Taurine is a chemically simple compound, but it has profound effects on cells. This has led to the suggestion that taurine is an essential or semi-essential nutrient for many mammals.


Dental technician pneumoconiosis mimicking pulmonary tuberculosis: a case report.
Dental laboratory technicians are at risk of developing occupational respiratory diseases due to exposure to various potentially toxic substances in their working environment. Since 1939, few cases of silicosis among dental technician have been reported. We illustrate a 38 year-old female, who worked in a dental laboratory for 20 years, initially treated as pulmonary tuberculosis and chronic necrotising aspergillosis without much improvement. Computed tomography guided lung biopsy and bronchoscopic transbronchial lung biopsy were performed. Lung tissue biopsies showed presence of refractile dental materials within the areas of histiocyte proliferation. The diagnosis of dental technician pneumoconiosis was obtained and our patient underwent pulmonary rehabilitation. This case highlights the importance of obtaining a detailed occupational history in tuberculosis endemic area, as pulmonary tuberculosis is a great mimicker of other respiratory diseases.


The chaotic morphology of the left superior temporal sulcus is genetically constrained.
The asymmetry of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) has been identified as a species-specific feature of the human brain. The so-called superior temporal asymmetrical pit (STAP) area is observed from the last trimester of gestation onwards and is far less pronounced in the chimpanzee brain. This asymmetry is associated with more frequent sulcal interruptions, named plis de passage (PPs), leading to the irregular morphology of the left sulcus. In this paper, we aimed to characterize the variability, asymmetry, and heritability of these interruptions in the STS in comparison with the other main sulci. We developed an automated method to extract PPs across the cortex based on a highly reproducible grid of sulcal pits across individuals, which we applied to a subset of Human Connectome Project (HCP) subjects (N = 820). We report that only a few PPs across the cortex are genetically constrained, namely in the collateral, postcentral and superior temporal sulci and the calcarine fissure. Moreover, some PPs occur more often in one hemisphere than the other, namely in the precentral, postcentral, intraparietal sulci, as well as in both inferior and superior temporal sulci. Most importantly, we found that only the interruptions within the STAP region are both asymmetric and genetically constrained. Because this morphological pattern is located in an area of the left hemisphere related to speech, our results suggest structural constraints on the architecture of the linguistic network.


Instrument for measuring the roughness of supersmooth surfaces.
An instrument, based upon a measurement of the relative magnitudes of scattered light from a standard and the test mirror, was built and tested. Although the theory of the data reduction depends upon Gaussian statistics, we have obtained good results even with non-Gaussian surfaces. This paper describes the instrument, its theory, and experimental results.


A molecular dynamics-based algorithm for evaluating the glycosaminoglycan mimicking potential of synthetic, homogenous, sulfated small molecules.
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are key natural biopolymers that exhibit a range of biological functions including growth and differentiation. Despite this multiplicity of function, natural GAG sequences have not yielded drugs because of problems of heterogeneity and synthesis. Recently, several homogenous non-saccharide glycosaminoglycan mimetics (NSGMs) have been reported as agents displaying major therapeutic promise. Yet, it remains unclear whether sulfated NSGMs structurally mimic sulfated GAGs. To address this, we developed a three-step molecular dynamics (MD)-based algorithm to compare sulfated NSGMs with GAGs. In the first step of this algorithm, parameters related to the range of conformations sampled by the two highly sulfated molecules as free entities in water were compared. The second step compared identity of binding site geometries and the final step evaluated comparable dynamics and interactions in the protein-bound state. Using a test case of interactions with fibroblast growth factor-related proteins, we show that this three-step algorithm effectively predicts the GAG structure mimicking property of NSGMs. Specifically, we show that two unique dimeric NSGMs mimic hexameric GAG sequences in the protein-bound state. In contrast, closely related monomeric and trimeric NSGMs do not mimic GAG in either the free or bound states. These results correspond well with the functional properties of NSGMs. The results show for the first time that appropriately designed sulfated NSGMs can be good structural mimetics of GAGs and the incorporation of a MD-based strategy at the NSGM library screening stage can identify promising mimetics of targeted GAG sequences.


Update on development of interleukin-11.
This paper reviews the recent studies of interleukin-11 gene expression and regulation, receptor and signal transduction, pharmacologic effects, and preclinical and clinical studies. Interleukin-11 is expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin and gene expression can be modulated by several inflammatory cytokines and agonists. The signaling pathways involved in cytokine induction of interleukin-11 gene expression vary between cell types. In vitro and in vivo studies reveal that interleukin-11 displays a wide spectrum of bioactivities including responses in hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells. Preclinical studies in animal models suggest that interleukin-11 may be useful in acceleration of the recoveries of both hematopoietic cells and gastrointestinal mucosal cells after cytoablative therapies. Several clinical studies have demonstrated interleukin-11 to be well tolerated and suggest interleukin-11 is a promising cytokine to prevent both neutropenia and thrombocytopenia in patients with cancer who are receiving chemotherapy.


Increasing nurse first-line leader (manager) positions to improve nurse retention and quality of patient care.
Nurses' job action during the spring and summer 2001 taught us much in British Columbia. Post job action de-briefing with non-contract staff confirmed for the Capital Health Region in Victoria that the workload of patient care managers, along with their scope of responsibility was contributing to dissatisfaction, both on the part of patient care managers as well as nursing staff who they are intended to serve. Further, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the success of most of the organizational initiatives depended greatly on the presence, availability and support of patient care managers. Supported by the senior leadership team, the Chief Nursing Officer for the Capital Health Region agreed to have a look at unit based leadership--see what was being discussed across the country and in the literature and draw on her own experience in three provinces. The result would be a discussion paper that would circulate broadly throughout the organization and would provide the organization with broad input to help it decide collectively "What do we need to do? Where do we need to go from here? And how will we get there?" This article is an adaptation of that discussion paper.


Superantigen-mediated proliferation and cytotoxicity of T cells isolated from the inflammatory tissues and peripheral blood of arthritis patients.
Superantigens are thought to play a role in acute infections and in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases that are believed to have an infectious etiology. The effect of the superantigens staphylococcal enterotoxin A, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, and streptococcal M type 5 protein on T cells derived from inflammatory tissues and peripheral blood (PB) of arthritis patients was studied in seven rheumatoid arthritis (RA), two psoriatic arthritis, two reactive arthritis, and one ankylosing spondylitis patient. Superantigen-reactive T cells and T cell lines derived from the PB, synovial fluid (SF), and synovial membrane (SM) of all 12 arthritis tissues recognized the superantigens in an MHC-unrestricted manner. Heterogeneities in proliferation and superantigen-directed T cell cytotoxicity were observed in E+ T cells and the T cell lines. Four SF-CD4+ mycobacteria heat-shock protein 65-kDa specific T cell clones generated from an RA patient could recognize and lyse each other when pulsed with staphylococcal enterotoxin A and used as targets. From another RA patient, four SF-CD4+ T cell clones that specifically recognize autoantigens were generated with human IgG fragments or collagen type II fragments. Heterogeneities of such superantigen-mediated specific lysis were also demonstrated. The data presented by us suggest a model in which superantigens do not have to be involved in triggering the initial disease because autoreactive T cells elicited by antigen can, in the presence of superantigen, lyse cells that express MHC class II molecules, including activated T cells.


Quantifying the Gurken morphogen gradient in Drosophila oogenesis.
Quantitative information about the distribution of morphogens is crucial for understanding their effects on cell-fate determination, yet it is difficult to obtain through direct measurements. We have developed a parameter estimation approach for quantifying the spatial distribution of Gurken, a TGFalpha-like EGFR ligand that acts as a morphogen in Drosophila oogenesis. Modeling of Gurken/EGFR system shows that the shape of the Gurken gradient is controlled by a single dimensionless parameter, the Thiele modulus, which reflects the relative importance of ligand diffusion and degradation. By combining the model with genetic alterations of EGFR levels, we have estimated the value of the Thiele modulus in the wild-type egg chamber. This provides a direct characterization of the shape of the Gurken gradient and demonstrates how parameter estimation techniques can be used to quantify morphogen gradients in development.


Rabies in the insectivorous bat Tadarida brasiliensis in southeastern Brazil.
This is the first recorded case of rabies in the insectivorous bat Tadarida brasiliensis in the State of S. Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. The infected bat was found in the afternoon while hanging on the internal wall of an urban building. This observation reinforces the notion as to the caution one must exercise regarding bats found in unusual situations.


Changes in O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression during immortalization of cloned human fibroblasts.
Suppressed expression of the DNA repair enzyme O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), characterized as the Mer- phenotype, occurs only in malignant or transformed cell lines. To investigate the relationship between the transformation process and loss of MGMT expression, we derived 20 cloned lines of IMR90 normal fibroblasts transfected with the plasmid pSV3neo expressing the SV40 large-T antigen. Of the five lines that were grown until crisis phase, four emerged as continuously proliferating immortal lines. Of these, only one retained MGMT, the other three having become Mer-. In every case the loss of MGMT coincided with the final phase of immortalization following crisis. Because these were cloned cell lines it is clear that the phenotypic change to Mer- is not merely due to selection of a Mer- cell from the initial population, but must involve a cellular change in MGMT regulation. It is not clear if increased mutation rate associated with loss of MGMT results in increased frequency of an immortalization event or if an immortalization event, such as telomere disruption, results in MGMT suppression. In addition, we have shown that, consistent with previous observations, both hypermethylation in promoter sequences and hypomethylation of downstream sequences in the body of the gene were closely associated with loss of MGMT expression. These studies also illustrate the utility of these new cloned cell lines for characterizing molecular events associated with transformation and immortalization.


Axially Substituted Silicon Phthalocyanine as Electron Donor in a Dyad and Triad with Azafullerene as Electron Acceptor for Photoinduced Charge Separation.
The synthesis of a donor-acceptor silicon phthalocyanine (SiPc)-azafullerene (C59 N) dyad 1 and of the first acceptor-donor-acceptor C59 N-SiPc-C59 N dumbbell triad 2 was accomplished. The two C59 N-based materials were comprehensively characterized with the aid of NMR spectroscopy, MALDI-MS as well as DFT calculations and their redox and photophysical properties were evaluated with CV and steady-state and time-resolved absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements. Notably, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy assays revealed that both dyad 1 and triad 2 undergo, after selective photoexcitation of the SiPc moiety, photoinduced electron transfer from the singlet excited state of the SiPc moiety to the azafullerene counterpart to produce the charge-separated state, with lifetimes of 660 ps, in the case of dyad 1, and 810 ps, in the case of triad 2. The current results are expected to have significant implications en route to the design of advanced C59 N-based donor-acceptor systems targeting energy conversion applications.


The Mobile story: data-driven community efforts to raise graduation rates.
Through sustained community organizing and strategic partnerships, the Mobile (Alabama) County Public School System is improving achievement and creating beat-the-odds schools that set and achieve high academic expectations despite the challenges of poverty and racial disparity. The authors chart how Mobile's Research Alliance for Multiple Pathways, funded through the U.S. Department of Labor's Multiple Pathways Blueprint Initiative, is identifying gaps in services throughout the community, analyzing the data about dropouts, benchmarking other communities, studying best practices, and mobilizing the community to expect and demand higher graduation rates. These activities are resulting in early identification of off-track students and coordination of school- and community-based reforms.


Mortality from carcinoma after partial gastrectomy.
The mortality from cancer, excluding gastric stump cancer, was examined in 3,827 Japanese patients who had undergone partial gastrectomy for benign gastroduodenal diseases. Although no increase in gastric stump cancer had been found in a previous analysis, the number of deaths from liver, lung and colorectal cancer was significantly greater than expected. The mortality rate was also significantly increased in patients with cirrhosis of the liver. Postoperative hepatitis, intestinal stasis and/or increased bacterial growth after Billroth II gastrectomy were considered as possible causes of the high mortality.


Involvement of functional protein kinase C in the mitogenic response to the H-ras oncogene product.
Microinjection of purified protein kinase C (PKC) into Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts pretreated with the phorbol ester phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate restores the mitogenic response of the cells to phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (G. Pasti, J.C. Lacal, B.S. Warren, S.A. Aaronson, and P.M. Blumberg, Nature [London] 324:375-377, 1986). Our present studies demonstrate that the mitogenic activity of the H-ras oncogene in H-ras p21-microinjected quiescent cells is markedly reduced under conditions in which PKC is downregulated by chronic phorbol ester treatment. The ability to reconstitute the mitogenic response upon microinjection of both H-ras p21 and PKC implies involvement of functional PKC in the mitogenic activity of the H-ras oncogene product.


Study on LT Accuracy Improvement by Calibration Based on Network Measurements.
Laser trackers (LT) are widely used to calibrate other machines. Nevertheless, very little is known about calibrating an LT. There are some standards that allow us to evaluate the LT performance. However, they require specialized equipment. A calibration procedure to improve the LT accuracy in an easy and fast way is presented in this paper. This method is based on network measurements where a set of reflectors were measured from different LT positions in a working environment. The methodology proposed deal with the lack of nominal data of the reflector mesh. A measurement scenario was defined, based on error parameter dependence on distances and angles, thus, obtaining those positions more sensitive to errors. The influence of the incidence angle of the laser beam on the reflector was characterized, revealing that its contribution to the LT measurement error can be up to 13 µm. Error kinematic parameters were identified to provide the optimum value of an objective function, where the reflector mesh nominal data were unknown. The calibration procedure was validated with nominal data, by measuring a set of reflectors located on a coordinate measuring machine. The findings of this study suggested that the LT accuracy can be improved up to 25%. Moreover, the method can be carried out by the LT user without requiring specialized equipment.


Vitamin D and pregnancy outcomes.
This article presents an overview of the most recent scientific evidence of the role of maternal vitamin D on pregnancy outcomes, with a particular emphasis on those articles in the English-language literature published between 1 January 2013 and 1 July 2014 in PubMed. Low levels of vitamin D status, as measured by 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], are common in pregnant women. Meta-analysis of observational studies has demonstrated positive associations between vitamin D status and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, preterm birth and small-for-gestational age. There was heterogeneity among studies in terms of design, population, geographic location, definitions of exposure and outcome, gestational age at sampling, confounding factors and approach to analyses. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy optimizes maternal and neonatal vitamin D status. Recent evidence supports that low maternal vitamin D status is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Interventional studies demonstrate that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy optimizes maternal and neonatal vitamin D status. Large, well designed, multicentre RCTs are required to determine whether vitamin D supplementation in pregnant women with low vitamin D status reduces the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.


[Mass screening of gastric cancer--limits and prospects].
Now we have two methods for gastric cancer screening. One is radiological study and another is pepsinogen test. The efficacy of radiological study has been established by the curve of mortality rate of gastric cancer through these four decades. But it is problem for this study that the number of the participants has reduced and the patients who take the examination have been fixed. On the other hand, pepsinogen test is very easy and cheap to take the results. But the efficacy of this is not established, because this test started only twelve years before. According to our research, both tests have the pros and cons. So it is necessary to use both methods to do mass screening of gastric cancer. The capsule endoscopy, which was developed in these years, has held great possibility. It will be used practically near future.


A comparison of non-endoscopic and endoscopic adhesiolysis of epidural fibrosis.
Low back and leg pain may be due to many causes, one of which is scarring in the epidural space. Epidural scarring may provoke this pain for many reasons: nerves may be trapped by scars, while veins in the epidural space press down upon the nerves and become enlarged, putting pressure on the nerves. Endoscopic and percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis allows one to eliminate the deleterious effects of scar formation, which can both physically prevent the direct application of drugs to nerve and provide relief in patients who have not responded to epidurals, physical therapy or medication. A search of the MEDLINE and Embase databases was conducted for the period between 1970 and 2014 using the search terms "adhesiolysis", "lysis of adhesions", "epiduroscopy", "epidural neuroplasty", "epidural adhesions", "radiofrequency lysis adhesion" and "epidural scar tissue" in order to identify articles relevant for this review. The purpose of this review is to describe the effectiveness and complications present in a comparison of non-endoscopic, endoscopic and pulsed radiofrequency endoscopic procedures in lysis of adhesions in epidural fibrosis.


Effects of flexoelectricity and weak anchoring on a Freedericksz transition cell.
We consider a mathematical model that consists of a nematic liquid crystal layer sandwiched between two parallel bounding plates, across which an external field is applied. We investigate how the number and type of solutions for the director orientation within the layer change as the field strength, anchoring conditions, and material properties of the nematic liquid crystal layer vary. In particular, we focus on how the inclusion of flexoelectric effects alters the Freedericksz and saturation thresholds.


[Postoperative induced astigmatism].
Is to evaluate the astigmatism induced by cataract surgery, ethiological factors and ways of prophilaxies and treatment. We followed a number of 211 eyes operated for cataract by planned extracapsular extraction with intraocular lens implantation, in Ophthalmological Clinic from Cluj-Napoca. All the pacients had limbal incision and the suture was performed with 9.0 suture, after the operation the treatment consisted in local drops with steroids. REZULTS: The astigmatism induced by the surgery was direct in 53.08% of cases and indirect in 46.92%. The position of the axes was 0-900 in 72.51% and oblique in 27.48%. The optical correction of astigmatism was with combined spherocylinder glases in 57.34% and only with cilinder in 42.65% of cases. 1. The induced astigmatism by cataract surgery is in relation with the incision, suture and IOL. 2. Correction of astigmatism is possible with optical correction, repearing the suture or with refractive surgery. 3. The prevention of astigmatism over 1.5 D is by using Troutmann keratometer and to evidence the congenital astigmatism.


The effect of otolith and semicircular canal convergence on the VOR during eccentric rotation.
VOR gain modulation was systematically investigated in the Rhesus monkey (M. mulatta) during centric and variable eccentric (up to 50 cm) sinusoidal rotation (4 Hz, 0.75 degree) with the nose facing in- or outward to test convergence of otolith and semicircular canal afferences. Earth-stationary lit LED-targets were placed at different distances (12-180 cm) from the monkey. Results were compared to biological demands. During centric rotation at 4 Hz when smooth pursuit mechanisms do not play a role, VOR gain--as expected--was approximately 1 without dependence on target distance. Phase of VOR and centrifuge were shifted by about 180 degrees as was predicted. If the monkey was rotated eccentrically with the nose facing outward the expected gain enhancement for close targets was obtained. Maximal experimental VOR gain during 4 Hz rotation was 4.4 which was close to demand at 50 cm eccentricity and 15 cm target distance (predicted gain: 4.6). If the nose points inward three situations have to be distinguished from simulation: (1) target behind the axis of rotation--VOR gain decrement should occur; (2) target on the axis of rotation--"inverse VOR suppression"; (3) target between monkey and axis of rotation--phase reversal. Experimentally, VOR gain decrement was obtained (situation 1). VOR gain was minimal (but not zero) for targets around the axis of rotation (situation 2). Situation 3 has not been investigated in detail so far.


Validation of a diagnostic algorithm for the discrimination of actinic keratosis from normal skin and squamous cell carcinoma by means of high-definition optical coherence tomography.
Actinic keratoses (AKs) commonly arise on sun-damaged skin. Visible lesions are often associated with subclinical lesions on surrounding skin, giving rise to field cancerization. To avoid multiple biopsies to diagnose subclinical/early invasive lesions, there is an increasing interest in non-invasive diagnostic tools, such as high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT). We previously developed a HD-OCT-based diagnostic algorithm for the discrimination of AK from squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and normal skin. The aim of this study was to test the applicability of HD-OCT for non-invasive discrimination of AK from SCC and normal skin using this algorithm. Three-dimensional (3D) HD-OCT images of histopathologically proven AKs and SCCs and images of normal skin were collected. All images were shown in a random sequence to three independent observers with different experience in HD-OCT, blinded to the clinical and histopathological data and with different experience with HD-OCT. Observers classified each image as AK, SCC or normal skin based on the diagnostic algorithm. A total of 106 (38 AKs, 16 SCCs and 52 normal skin sites) HD-OCT images from 71 patients were included. Sensitivity and specificity for the most experienced observer were 81.6% and 92.6% for AK diagnosis and 93.8% and 98.9% for SCC diagnosis. A moderate interobserver agreement was demonstrated. HD-OCT represents a promising technology for the non-invasive diagnosis of AKs. Thanks to its high potential in discriminating SCC from AK, HD-OCT could be used as a relevant tool for second-level examination, increasing diagnostic confidence and sparing patients unnecessary excisions.


Transparency and disclosure, neutrality and balance: shared values or just shared words?
Values influence choice of methodology and thus influence every risk assessment and inference. To deal with this inescapable reality, we need to replace vague and unattainable calls for objectivity with more precise operational qualities. Among qualities that seem widely valued are transparency (openness) and neutrality (balance, fairness). Conformity of researchers to these qualities may be evaluated by considering whether their reports disclose key information desired by readers and whether their methodology encourages initial neutrality among hypotheses of concern. A case study is given in which two authors appearing to share these values and writing on ostensibly the same issues (disclosure and methodology) nonetheless appear to have very different concepts of what the values entail in practice. Thus, more precision is needed in explicating and implementing such values.


Spectral Changes in Anacystis nidulans Induced by Chilling.
When Anacystis nidulans, strain TX 20 was grown at 39 C, then rapidly chilled to 0 C, a pigment with a carotenoid-like spectrum was bleached. This effect was not seen when cells which had been grown at 25 C were chilled. The effect seen in 39 C-grown cells was not reversible except under extreme conditions such as heating to near boiling for several minutes. Bleaching could be prevented by prior exposure of cells to glutaraldehyde, but could not be reversed by glutaraldehyde treatment following chilling. The effect occurred upon chilling 39 C-grown cells even after extensive heating at 85 C, a treatment which destroys phycocyanin and metabolic activities. 25 C-grown cells were induced to bleach by chilling when suspended in 50% glycerol. The results are interpreted as indicating a chill-induced change in aggregation state of a carotenoid, which changes its specific absorbance.


Studies of cuticle drugs from natural sources. IV. Inhibitory effects of some Arctostaphylos plants on melanin biosynthesis.
The inhibitory effect of 50% ethanol extracts obtained from the leaves of six Arctostaphylos plants (A. patula, A. viscida, A. canescens, A. columbiana, A. nevadensis and A. uva-ursi) (Ericaceae) was tested on melanin biosynthesis. Among them, the extracts of A. patula and A. viscida showed potent inhibition against tyrosinase. The two extracts not only inhibited the production of melanin from dopachrome by autoxidation, but exhibited SOD (superoxide dismutase)-like activity and had a moderate absorbance in the UV-B area. These results suggest that the leaves of Arctostaphylos plants, especially A. patula and A. viscida can be applied to a whitening agent for the skin.


Factors associated with child custody evaluators' recommendations in cases of intimate partner violence.
Although child custody evaluations can lead to unsafe outcomes in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV), little is known about factors associated with evaluators' recommendations. In this study of 465 child custody evaluators, we investigated the association between evaluators' beliefs, background, and knowledge and their custody and visitation recommendations in cases involving IPV. We hypothesized that evaluators' belief in false allegations by the mother and their recommendations that perpetrators have custody or unsupervised visits would be positively associated with (a) being a male evaluator, (b) patriarchal norms, (c) not knowing a survivor of IPV, and (d) less knowledge of IPV. In addition, we hypothesized that evaluators' belief in false allegations by mothers would be related to their recommendation that perpetrators have custody or unsupervised visits. Results supported most of the hypothesized relationships. Multivariate analysis revealed that belief variables explained more of the variance in custody-visitation outcomes than demographic and knowledge variables. Implications of the findings for IPV training, evaluator selection, and evaluation guidelines are provided.


A minimal transcriptional controlling network of regulatory T cell development.
Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a subpopulation of T cells that are central to immune homeostasis and develop under the control of a complex regulatory network consisting of FoxP3 and its partner factors. A central question about this network is how does it enable T cells to robustly specify and stably maintain their states despite intrinsic and environmental fluctuations. Inspired by recent experimental advances, we propose here a minimal transcriptional controlling network and use it to illustrate the robustness and dynamic features of Treg development. Our study shows that the controlling network may exhibit distinct dynamics depending on its parameter regimes and that the maintenance of multistability requires the orchestration of both its positive and negative feedback loops. In addition, system volume contributes monotonically to the increase in the network's robustness. We further show that the dynamics of our model varies with the alteration of FoxP3-DNA binding affinity, consistent with recent experimental findings. This minimal model thereby offers new insights into the dynamics and robustness of Treg development and may serve as a platform for future exploration toward a more quantitative and systematic understanding of the immune system.


Research progress of omics technology in the field of tumor resistance: From single-omics to multi-omics combination application.
Drug resistance is the main obstacle in the treatment of many cancers. It is of great clinical significance to study the mechanism of drug resistance and find new targets. Multi-omics mainly includes genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and radiomics. In recent years, the research of tumor resistance has made rapid development, which has significantly accelerated the discovery of new targets.


Acceleration of Lateral Equilibration in Mixed Lipid Bilayers Using Replica Exchange with Solute Tempering.
The lateral heterogeneity of cellular membranes plays an important role in many biological functions such as signaling and regulating membrane proteins. This heterogeneity can result from preferential interactions between membrane components or interactions with membrane proteins. One major difficulty in molecular dynamics simulations aimed at studying the membrane heterogeneity is that lipids diffuse slowly and collectively in bilayers, and therefore, it is difficult to reach equilibrium in lateral organization in bilayer mixtures. Here, we propose the use of the replica exchange with solute tempering (REST) approach to accelerate lateral relaxation in heterogeneous bilayers. REST is based on the replica exchange method but tempers only the solute, leaving the temperature of the solvent fixed. Since the number of replicas in REST scales approximately only with the degrees of freedom in the solute, REST enables us to enhance the configuration sampling of lipid bilayers with fewer replicas, in comparison with the temperature replica exchange molecular dynamics simulation (T-REMD) where the number of replicas scales with the degrees of freedom of the entire system. We apply the REST method to a cholesterol and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) bilayer mixture and find that the lateral distribution functions of all molecular pair types converge much faster than in the standard MD simulation. The relative diffusion rate between molecules in REST is, on average, an order of magnitude faster than in the standard MD simulation. Although REST was initially proposed to study protein folding and its efficiency in protein folding is still under debate, we find a unique application of REST to accelerate lateral equilibration in mixed lipid membranes and suggest a promising way to probe membrane lateral heterogeneity through molecular dynamics simulation.


Nocardia nova causing empyema necessitatis afterlung re-transplantation: a case report.
We report herein a case of thoracic infection due to Nocardia nova following lung re-transplantation performed for emphysema related to alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. The infection extended from the lung into the pleural space, thoracic wall, and mediastinum, presenting as pericarditis and empyema necessitatis. Nocardia nova was identified by 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. According to a literature search of PubMed, LILACS and MEDLINE databases, we describe herein the first case of empyema necessitatis caused by N. nova species in a transplanted patient.


Coronary-Cameral Fistula, Thebesian Veins, and Anomalous Coronary Vein on Cardiac Computed Tomography.
A 63-year-old female with a history of hypertension presented with progressively worsening shortness of breath. She underwent a cardiac catheterization and was found to have prominent Thebesian veins as well as anomalous connections between the proximal right coronary artery and the right ventricle. Cardiac computed tomography was ordered for further evaluation and showed a coronary fistula to the right ventricular outflow tract confirming the diagnosis of a coronary-cameral fistula (CCF). CCF are rare congenital anomalous communications that occur between coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber. They are usually an incidental finding and patients are rarely symptomatic. As the use of coronary computed tomography angiography is rapidly expanding, the detection of CCF will likely increase in the general population.


Polyoxometalate ionic liquids as self-repairing acid-resistant corrosion protection.
Corrosion is a global problem for any metallic structure or material. Herein we show how metals can easily be protected against acid corrosion using hydrophobic polyoxometalate-based ionic liquids (POM-ILs). Copper metal disks were coated with room-temperature POM-ILs composed of transition-metal functionalized Keggin anions [SiW11 O39 TM(H2 O)](n-) (TM=Cu(II) , Fe(III) ) and quaternary alkylammonium cations (Cn H2 n+1 )4 N(+) (n=7-8). The corrosion resistance against acetic acid vapors and simulated "acid rain" was significantly improved compared with commercial ionic liquids or solid polyoxometalate coatings. Mechanical damage to the POM-IL coating is self-repaired in less than one minute with full retention of the acid protection properties. The coating can easily be removed and recovered by rinsing with organic solvents.


Mitral balloon valvotomy using the Inoue balloon technique for selected patients with severe pliable rheumatic mitral valve stenosis: immediate and short-term results.
We selected 40 patients with severe symptomatic rheumatic mitral stenosis for balloon valvotomy using the Inoue balloon technique. The patients' mean age was 31 +/- 14 years and there were 24 females and 16 males. The patients were selected according to the following echo/Doppler criteria; 1. Severe mitral stenosis, i. e. mitral valve area (MVA) less than 1.1 cm2; 2. pliable anterior mitral valve leaflet; 3. absence of calcification of the mitral commissures and 4. absence of significant subvalvular mitral valve disease (Block echo score less than 8). We failed to cross the mitral valve in three cases and repeat attempts in two patients with higher transeptal puncture was successful. Thirty-nine procedures were technically successful (98%). There were no complications. We used an Inoue balloon size 24-30 mm using echo/Doppler guided stepwise mitral dilatation. After mitral balloon valvotomy, the MVA increased from 0.8 +/- 0.2 to 1.7 +/- 0.5 cm2 (p less than 0.001). Five patients developed mild mitral regurgitation and in one patient the degree of mitral regurgitation increased from mild to moderate. The mean mitral valve area 48 hours after the procedure measured 1.9 +/- 0.4 cm2 (echo/Doppler); one patient (2.5%) had residual mitral stenosis (MVA less than 1.5 cm2). At six weeks follow-up study the mean mitral valve area was 1.9 +/- 0.5 cm2 (Echo/Doppler), with no restenosis. We conclude that in selected cases of severe pliable mitral stenosis, the Inoue balloon technique achieves a greater than 100% increase of the MVA, without inducing significant iatrogenic mitral regurgitation or residual stenosis.


Using aided AAC models, recasts, and contrastive targets to teach grammatical morphemes to children who use AAC.
The purpose of the investigation was to evaluate the effects of using aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modeling and recasting on the expression of grammatical morphemes with children who used AAC. A single-subject, multiple-probe, across-targets design was used for the study. Three participants were each taught to use 3 grammatical structures. Intervention consisted of aided AAC models and recasts during storybook reading tasks. All three children readily began using the targeted grammatical morphemes. However, none of the participants maintained use of the first morpheme. Error analyses revealed that the children either omitted the targeted morpheme or replaced it with another morpheme. To address this issue, a second intervention phase was implemented for the targets that were not maintained. During this phase, various grammatical morphemes were contrasted with each other (e.g., past tense -ed vs. possessive 's). Following the second intervention phase, participants maintained all targets. Aided AAC models and recasts may be used as part of intervention packages designed to help children acquire production of grammatical morphemes; however, it is important to provide contrasts of grammatical forms to ensure acquisition. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.


Relationships of Telomere Homeostasis with Oxidative Stress and Cardiac Dysfunction in Human Ischaemic Hearts.
Although the roles of telomeres and oxidative stress in ischaemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) are known, mechanisms of telomere homeostasis and their relationship with oxidative stress are incompletely understood. We performed two RNA-seq analyses (mRNA n = 23; ncRNA n = 30) and protein validation on left ventricles of explanted hearts from ICM and control subjects. We observed dysregulation of the shelterin and cohesin complexes, which was related to an increase in the response to cellular oxidative stress. Moreover, we found alterations at mRNA level in the mechanisms of telomeric DNA repair. Specifically, increased RAD51D mRNA levels were correlated with left ventricular diameters. RAD51D protein levels were unaltered, however, and were inversely corelated with the miR-103a-3p upregulation. We also observed the overexpression of lncRNAs (TERRA and GUARDIN) involved in telomere protection in response to stress and alterations in their regulatory molecules. Expression of the TERRA transcription factor ATF7 was correlated with superoxide dismutase 1 expression and left ventricular diameters. The levels of GUARDIN and its transcription factor FOSL2 were correlated with those of catalase. Therefore, we showed specific alterations in the mechanisms of telomeric DNA repair and protection, and these alterations are related to an increase in the response mechanisms to oxidative stress and cardiac dysfunction in ICM.


Tenascin-C Function in Glioma: Immunomodulation and Beyond.
First identified in the 1980s, tenascin-C (TNC) is a multi-domain extracellular matrix glycoprotein abundantly expressed during the development of multicellular organisms. TNC level is undetectable in most adult tissues but rapidly and transiently induced by a handful of pro-inflammatory cytokines in a variety of pathological conditions including infection, inflammation, fibrosis, and wound healing. Persistent TNC expression is associated with chronic inflammation and many malignancies, including glioma. By interacting with its receptor integrin and a myriad of other binding partners, TNC elicits context- and cell type-dependent function to regulate cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and angiogenesis. TNC operates as an endogenous activator of toll-like receptor 4 and promotes inflammatory response by inducing the expression of multiple pro-inflammatory factors in innate immune cells such as microglia and macrophages. In addition, TNC drives macrophage differentiation and polarization predominantly towards an M1-like phenotype. In contrast, TNC shows immunosuppressive function in T cells. In glioma, TNC is expressed by tumor cells and stromal cells; high expression of TNC is correlated with tumor progression and poor prognosis. Besides promoting glioma invasion and angiogenesis, TNC has been found to affect the morphology and function of tumor-associated microglia/macrophages in glioma. Clinically, TNC can serve as a biomarker for tumor progression; and TNC antibodies have been utilized as an adjuvant agent to deliver anti-tumor drugs to target glioma. A better mechanistic understanding of how TNC impacts innate and adaptive immunity during tumorigenesis and tumor progression will open new therapeutic avenues to treat brain tumors and other malignancies.


Diagnosis of a rare double heterozygous Hb D Punjab/Hb Q India hemoglobinopathy using Sebia capillary zone electrophoresis.
In India, hemoglobinopathies constitute a major genetic disorder and hemoglobin variants such as Hb S, Hb D Punjab, and Hb E are the most common ones. Other variants include Hb Q India, Hb Lepore, Hb J Meerut, Hb D Iran, etc. These variants show heterozygous state along with beta thalassemia. However, compound heterozygosities among these variants are very rare. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid whole blood sample received for routine thalassemia screening was subjected to alkaline electrophoresis using automated capillary zone electrophoresis. Suspecting the presence of rare variants, further analysis was carried out using Bio-Rad D10 and Tosoh G8 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems. Capillary zone electrophoretograms showed the presence of peaks in zone Hb A, Hb D, a fused peak in Hb A2, and a small peak in Z1 zone. Bio-Rad and Tosoh chromatograms also indicated the presence of four peaks which are identified as Hb A, Hb D Punjab, Hb Q India, and hybrid of Hb D Punjab/Hb Q India. A peak in Hb D zone of capillary was due to co-migration of Hb D Punjab and Hb Q India variants. Small peak in Z1 zone indicated the presence of alpha chain variant Hb Q India. The findings were further confirmed by HPLC results and molecular genetic studies. The present study reports for the 1st time a rare hemoglobinopathy of double heterozygosity for Hb D Punjab, Hb Q India on Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing analyzer and is forth reported case for this rare hemoglobinopathy.


The Effect of Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy on Trichomonas Tenax and Entamoeba Gingivalis in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis.
Trichomonas tenax and Entamoeba gingivalis are commensal protozoa which inhabit the human oral cavity. These parasites are found in patients with poor oral hygiene and might be a reason for progressive periodontal diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nonsurgical periodontal treatment on the frequency of these protozoa in saliva and plaque samples. In this clinical trial, samples of saliva and dental plaque were collected from 46 patients with moderate to severe chronic periodontitis before and after periodontal therapy. The samples were assessed for the frequency of parasites. The frequency of Entamoeba gingivalis was reduced in saliva (p= 0.007) and plaque (p= 0.027) three weeks after the treatment. Likewise, the frequency of Trichomonas tenax reduced in saliva (p= 0.030); however, the decrease was not significant in plaque (p= 0.913). Trichomonas tenax frequency in dental plaque directly related to the severity of periodontitis (r= 0.565, p≤ 0.000). In contrast, the number of Entamoeba gingivalis in both saliva (r= -0.405, p≤ 0.005) and plaque (r= -0.304, p= 0.040) was inversely related with the severity of the periodontal disease. Nonsurgical periodontal treatment could reduce the number of Trichomonas Tenax and Entamoeba gingivalis in the oral environment of patients with chronic periodontitis.


The quasi-integrated porous polyethylene orbital implant.
To describe a new quasi-integrated porous polyethylene orbital implant that combines the advantages of host tissue incorporation and improved motility with a single-stage surgery. Twenty-four consecutive patients undergoing primary or secondary orbital implantation received the quasi-integrated porous polyethylene implant. Approximately 6 weeks after implantation, a custom-fitted prosthesis was made by an impression technique to provide a "lock-and-key" fit with the orbital implant. Postoperative complications and motility of the prosthetic shell were evaluated. During the 27-month period between December 1998 and March 2001, 24 patients received the quasi-integrated porous polyethylene implant as a buried orbital implant. Thirteen patients received the implant as a primary orbital implant after either evisceration or enucleation and 11 patients received the implant as a secondary orbital implant. Follow-up ranged from 3 months to 30 months, with an average of 16.9 months. All patients were considered to have good motility of their prosthetic shell at their final follow-up visit. No cases of implant extrusion or migration were noted. Two patients required deepening of their inferior fornix to accommodate the increased motility of their prosthesis. The new quasi-integrated porous polyethylene orbital implant provides improved motility without the need for secondary placement of pegs or screws. It has the advantage of biocompatibility, allowing host tissue incorporation to resist implant migration and extrusion. The implant is available in three sizes: small, medium, and large, approximating the volume of a 16-, 18-, and 20-millimeter sphere, respectively.


Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.
Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer is based on sound pharmacological principles and is technically feasible. There is mounting evidence, bolstered by a recent randomized trial, that in certain patients, this route of delivery may be superior to traditional intravenous chemotherapy. This review explores the background and pharmacokinetic principles of intraperitoneal chemotherapy, the recent evidence supporting an intraperitoneal approach, and some of the logistical and technical challenges involved. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy has been evaluated in several settings. Most phase I and II data came from second-line treatment of ovarian cancer, and there have been a few series, including one recent phase III trial, exploring intraperitoneal consolidation. The greatest impact among recent studies will be from a large, intergroup phase III trial evaluating intraperitoneal therapy in the front-line setting. This study will probably change the dialogue of standard treatment for optimally cytoreduced, advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Based on recent findings, intraperitoneal chemotherapy should be considered for the front-line treatment of women with minimal residual advanced ovarian cancer. Efforts should continue to facilitate the integration of intraperitoneal treatment into mainstream practice, and future trials should be designed to address lingering controversy surrounding this route of treatment.


[The effects of sevoflurane on the coronary circulation in the instrumented dog with or without coronary stenosis].
The effects of sevoflurane on the coronary circulation were investigated in the instrumented dogs with or without coronary stenosis. A-V block was produced by injection of formalin into A-V node to control heart rate at 120 beats.min-1 by pacing and mean systemic blood pressure was held constant at 65 mmHg with the pressurized blood reservoir. Left anterior descending coronary artery was cannulated with stainless steel tube supplied from the femoral artery. Total coronary flow was measured with an electromagnetic flow probe and the regional myocardial blood flow was calculated using color microsphere technique. Coronary resistance was reduced with the increasing end-tidal concentrations of sevoflurane up to 1.2 MAC. An adjustable screw clamp was used to reduce the coronary flow down to 50% of control value. Inner/outer ratio of regional myocardial blood flow decreased with stenosis, but was unaffected with 1.2 MAC of sevoflurane. We concluded that 1.2 MAC of sevoflurane was not strong enough to dilate the coronary artery to produce the transmural steal phenomenon in the dog with coronary stenosis. Further investigations are needed to clarify how hemodynamic factors influence the transmural steal phenomenon in myocardium.


Ultrafast spectroscopy reveals subnanosecond peptide conformational dynamics and validates molecular dynamics simulation.
Femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy on model peptides with built-in light switches combined with computer simulation of light-triggered motions offers an attractive integrated approach toward the understanding of peptide conformational dynamics. It was applied to monitor the light-induced relaxation dynamics occurring on subnanosecond time scales in a peptide that was backbone-cyclized with an azobenzene derivative as optical switch and spectroscopic probe. The femtosecond spectra permit the clear distinguishing and characterization of the subpicosecond photoisomerization of the chromophore, the subsequent dissipation of vibrational energy, and the subnanosecond conformational relaxation of the peptide. The photochemical cis/trans-isomerization of the chromophore and the resulting peptide relaxations have been simulated with molecular dynamics calculations. The calculated reaction kinetics, as monitored by the energy content of the peptide, were found to match the spectroscopic data. Thus we verify that all-atom molecular dynamics simulations can quantitatively describe the subnanosecond conformational dynamics of peptides, strengthening confidence in corresponding predictions for longer time scales.


The mental capacity act and dementia research.
For research to have an impact on people with dementia, they need to be involved in studies. However, undertaking research with participants who may lack capacity to consent poses many challenges for researchers. This article explores the practical application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in the process and provides realistic advice on implementing its principles in research. The Integrated Research Application System, NHS research ethics committees and NHS research and development departments can provide additional guidance. Knowledge of the practicalities of implementing aspects of the act that relate to research will ensure that researchers who wish to involve people with dementia can do so with ethical expertise.


Molecular architectures of multi-anthracene assemblies.
Anthracene, with its molecular panel-like shape and robust photophysical behaviour, is a versatile building block that is widely used to construct attractive and functional molecules and molecular assemblies through covalent and non-covalent linkages. The intrinsic photophysical, photochemical and chemical properties of the embedded anthracenes often interact to engender desirable chemical behaviours and properties in multi-anthracene assemblies. This review article focuses on molecular architectures with linear, cyclic, cage, and capsule shapes, each containing three or more anthracene subunits.


The UV-B-Induced Transcription Factor HY5 Regulated Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Zanthoxylum bungeanum.
Pericarp color is an important economic characteristic of Zanthoxylum bungeanum. Anthocyanins are the main reason for the pericarp's red appearance in Z. bungeanum. In this study, through the combined analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome, HY5, whose expression is highly correlated to changes in the anthocyanin content, was screened and identified. Under natural ripening conditions, the Z. bungeanum fruit gradually changed in color from green to red, while bagging resulted in the fruit maintaining its green color. After unbagging, the fruit gradually turned red, and the ZbHY5 expression and anthocyanin content increased. In addition, the leaves changed from green to red after exposure to UV-B radiation, and the ZbHY5 expression and anthocyanin content increased. The transient overexpression of ZbHY5 deepened the redness of the Z. bungeanum leaves and promoted the expression of ZbHY5 and ZbMYB113 as well as anthocyanin accumulation. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BIFC) showed that there was an interaction between ZbHY5 and ZbMYB113. These results revealed that under UV-B irradiation, ZbHY5 might regulate the expression levels of the structural genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis through combination with ZbMYB113, thereby affecting anthocyanin accumulation. This finding provides useful insights for further studies focusing on UV-B-induced anthocyanin accumulation in Z. bungeanum.


The herpes simplex virus 1 U(L)34 protein interacts with a cytoplasmic dynein intermediate chain and targets nuclear membrane.
To express the function encoded in its genome, the herpes simplex virus 1 capsid-tegument structure released by deenvelopment during entry into cells must be transported retrograde to the nuclear pore where viral DNA is released into the nucleus. This path is essential in the case of virus entering axons of dorsal root ganglia. The objective of the study was to identify the viral proteins that may be involved in the transport. We report the following findings. (i) The neuronal isoform of the intermediate chain (IC-1a) of the dynein complex pulled down, from lysates of [(35)S]methionine-labeled infected cells, two viral proteins identified as the products of U(L)34 and U(L)31 open reading frames, respectively. U(L)34 protein is a virion protein associated with cellular membranes and phosphorylated by the viral kinase U(S)3. U(L)31 protein is a largely insoluble, evenly dispersed nuclear phosphoprotein required for optimal processing and packaging of viral DNA into preformed capsids. Reciprocal pulldown experiments verified the interaction of IC-1a and U(L)34 protein. In similar experiments, U(L)34 protein was found to interact with U(L)31 protein and the major capsid protein ICP5. (ii) To determine whether U(L)34 protein is transported to the nuclear membrane, a requirement if it is involved in transport, the U(L)34 protein was inserted into a baculovirus vector under the cytomegalovirus major early promoter. Cells infected with the recombinant baculovirus expressed U(L)34 protein in a dose-dependent manner, and the U(L)34 protein localized primarily in the nuclear membrane. An unexpected finding was that U(L)34-expressing cells showed a dissociation of the inner and outer nuclear membranes reminiscent of the morphologic changes seen in cells productively infected with herpes simplex virus 1. U(L)34, like many other viral proteins, may have multiple functions expressed both early and late in infection.


Altered serotonergic and cholinergic synaptic markers in Pick's disease.
Choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase activities as well as serotonin and imipramine binding were determined in the hypothalamus, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and frontal and temporal poles of subjects with Pick's disease. Choline acetyltransferase activity was decreased in the hypothalamus and nucleus basalis of Meynert, and acetylcholinesterase activity was decreased in the nucleus basalis of Meynert only. Serotonin binding was decreased in all sites but the nucleus basalis of Meynert, and imipramine binding was altered only in the frontal pole. Comparison with previous reports of Alzheimer's disease indicates that with respect to these synaptic markers, Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease are not similar.


The monoamine oxidase A inhibitor clorgyline is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of fungal ABC and MFS transporter efflux pump activities which reverses the azole resistance of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata clinical isolates.
Resistance to the commonly used azole antifungal fluconazole (FLC) can develop due to overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and major facilitator superfamily (MFS) plasma membrane transporters. An approach to overcoming this resistance is to identify inhibitors of these efflux pumps. We have developed a pump assay suitable for high-throughput screening (HTS) that uses recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains hyperexpressing individual transporters from the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. The recombinant strains possess greater resistance to azoles and other pump substrates than the parental host strain. A flow cytometry-based HTS, which measured increased intracellular retention of the fluorescent pump substrate rhodamine 6G (R6G) within yeast cells, was used to screen the Prestwick Chemical Library (PCL) of 1,200 marketed drugs. Nine compounds were identified as hits, and the monoamine oxidase A inhibitor (MAOI) clorgyline was identified as an inhibitor of two C. albicans ABC efflux pumps, CaCdr1p and CaCdr2p. Secondary in vitro assays confirmed inhibition of pump-mediated efflux by clorgyline. Clorgyline also reversed the FLC resistance of S. cerevisiae strains expressing other individual fungal ABC transporters (Candida glabrata Cdr1p or Candida krusei Abc1p) or the C. albicans MFS transporter Mdr1p. Recombinant strains were also chemosensitized by clorgyline to other azoles (itraconazole and miconazole). Importantly, clorgyline showed synergy with FLC against FLC-resistant C. albicans clinical isolates and a C. glabrata strain and inhibited R6G efflux from a FLC-resistant C. albicans clinical isolate. Clorgyline is a novel broad-spectrum inhibitor of two classes of fungal efflux pumps that acts synergistically with azoles against azole-resistant C. albicans and C. glabrata strains.


Treating peri-implantitis using a combined regenerative/resective procedure: a case report.
The aim of this article is to describe a combined regenerative/resective procedure used in the treatment of peri-implantitis. The following case presented with excess-cement-induced peri-implantitis and the resulting combined circumferential and buccal dehiscence defect. Surgical therapy consisted of minimal resection of interproximal peaks of bone and subsequent guided bone regeneration. The 12-month clinical result was resolution of peri-implantitis (no pathologic probing depths, bleeding on probing, suppuration), radiographic evidence of bone fill of the defect, and some recession that was clinically acceptable to the patient.


Broad-spectrum sunscreens prevent the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines in human keratinocytes exposed to ultraviolet A and phototoxic lomefloxacin.
The combination of phototoxic drugs and ultraviolet (UV) radiation can trigger the release of proinflammatory cytokines. The present study measured the ability of sunscreens to prevent cytokine secretion in human keratinocytes following cotreatment of these cells with a known photoreactive drug and UVA. Keratinocytes were treated for 1 h with increasing concentrations of lomefloxacin (LOM) or norfloxacin (NOR), exposed to 15 J/cm2 UVA, and incubated for 24 h. NOR, owing to the absence of a fluorine atom in position 8, was non-phototoxic and used as a negative control. Cell viability and the release of 3 cytokines were assessed, namely interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). The measurement of these cytokines may be a useful tool for detecting photoreactive compounds. To measure their ability to prevent cytokine secretion, various sunscreens were inserted between the UVA source and the cells. Treatment with NOR, NOR plus UVA, or LOM had no effect on the cells. LOM plus UVA, however, had an effect on cell viability and on cytokine secretion. IL-1alpha levels increased with LOM concentration. The release of TNF-alpha and IL-6 followed the same pattern at lower concentrations of LOM but peaked at 15 micromol/L and decreased at higher concentrations. Sunscreens protected the cells from the effects of LOM plus UVA, as cell viability and levels of cytokines remained the same as in the control cells. In conclusion, the application of broad-spectrum sunscreen by individuals exposed to UVA radiation may prevent phototoxic reactions initiated by drugs such as LOM.


Casimir Funk: his discovery of the vitamins and their deficiency disorders.
The history of the discovery of vitamins is the history of their deficiency disorders. Their discoverer was Casimir Funk, who is considered the 'father of vitamin therapy'. In his experimental research, Funk studied the interrelationships in the human body of those elements that Eijkman had demonstrated in animals, particularly in birds. In his experimental research, Funk identified the dietetic factors whose lack caused the 'deficiency disorders', as he called human beri-beri, scurvy, rickets and pellagra. In 1911, he designated these factors 'vitamins' ('vita' = life, and 'amine' = a nitrogenous substance essential for life); this name was accepted by the scientific community in 1912.


Cardiovascular disease and the kidney: an epidemiologic overview.
Essential hypertension and congestive heart failure (CHF) are examples of cardiovascular disorders that may cause renal failure, although sometimes a primary kidney defect may lead to hypertension. Renal damage in malignant and severe hypertension is dramatic, extensive, and rapidly progressive, although nephrosclerotic damage, which develops slowly and appears late in hypertension, is a rare cause of morbidity because mild to moderate hypertension is now the most common form. However, the incidence of end-stage renal failure associated with hypertension is markedly increasing, perhaps because of underdiagnosis of renal damage in hypertension, insufficient lowering of blood pressure in clinical practice, or inability of antihypertensive drugs to lower blood pressure sufficiently to preserve the kidney, a goal that may need specific drugs that act, for example, on the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Renal vasoconstriction and reduction of renal blood flow are early companions of cardiac insufficiency and may be involved in the development of sodium and water retention. Profound reduction of cardiac output and arterial hypotension in severe CHF may lead to acute renal failure. Chronic renal insufficiency is associated with elevated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Renal impairment is often caused by a disease process, such as diabetes mellitus, that involves both the cardiovascular system and the kidney. When the primary disease is renal, possible reasons for an association include renal-dependent increase in blood pressure, activation of the RAS, overproduction of other vasoactive substances of renal origin, and electrolyte imbalances leading to fatal arrhythmias.


Stress management in dermatology patients.
The association of skin disorder with emotion has been recognised for some time. Maureen Marshall explores the use of stress management techniques such as relaxation, aromatherapy and therapeutic massage as a means of helping patients with dermatological conditions to cope with the pressures which may exacerbate their skin problems. Nurses, working in tandem with psychologists, have a key role to play in patients' emotional care, but greater commitment in terms of training and funding are required to prepare properly them for this function.


[Treatment of ureaplasma urealyticum infection patients of Qi deficiency blood stasis syndrome by pengyan pill: a clinical observation].
To observe the clinical efficacy of penyan pill (PP) in treating ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) infection patients of qi deficiency blood stasis syndrome (QDBSS). Totally 188 UU infection patients of QDBSS were randomly assigned to two groups, the treatment group and the control group. Patients in the treatment group were treated with PP (10 g each time, thrice daily, 14 consecutive days as one therapeutic course), while those in the control group took azithromycin (10 g each day, 7 consecutive days as one therapeutic course). They were continually treated for 3 therapeutic courses. The clinical symptom integrals were observed in the two groups before and after treatment. The short-term efficacy was judged. Their recurrence rates were followed-up to assess their long-term efficacies. The total effective rate of the comprehensive efficacy in the treatment group was 91.4%, while it was 79. 3%in the control group, showing no statistical difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Better effects were obtained in improving Chinese medical clinical symptoms in the treatment group (P <0.01). There was no statistical difference in the negative conversion rate between the two groups after treatment (P >0. 05). There was statistical difference in the recurrence rate between the two groups (12. 82% vs 54.76%,P <0. 05). PP showed equivalent effects in treating UU infection patients of QDBSS to those of azithromycin. But PP showed obvious advantages over azithromycin in improving Chinese medical syndromes.


Synthesis and calcium channel antagonist activity of nifedipine analogues containing 1,2-dihydropyridyl in place of the 1,4-dihydropyridyl moiety.
Calcium channel antagonist activities of the 1,2-dihydropyridines (9) were determined using the muscarinic-receptor mediated Ca2+ dependent contraction of guinea pig ileal longitudinal smooth muscle. The relative potency order for 4-substituted analogs 9 was phenyl greater than 3-trifluoromethyl(nitro)phenyl greater than 4- and 2-trifluoromethyl(nitro)phenyl. Increasing the size of the alkyl ester substituents (9h) enhanced activity. The test results indicate that the 1,2-dihydropyridyl ring system (9) is partially bioisosteric with the 1,4-dihydropyridyl ring system (10). Competitive [3H]-nitrendipine binding studies indicated that the affinities of the 1,2-dihydropyridine analogues were much lower than expected from their ID50 activities, suggesting that these analogues inhibit calcium channels by a different receptor mechanism. In the synthetic work, Hantzsch condensation of aldehydes (3) with alkyl acetoacetates (4) afforded 3,5-dialkyl 2,6-dimethyl-4-(substituted-phenyl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylat es (5). Oxidation of 5 gave the aromatic pyridines (6) which were elaborated to the l-methylpyridinium methyl sulphates (7) and then to the perchlorates (8). Sodium borohydride reduction of 8 in aqueous ethanol gave 3,5-dialkyl 1,2,6-trimethyl-4-(substituted-phenyl)-1,2-dihydropyridine-3, 5-dicarboxylates (9).


A new species of Opilioacarus With, 1902 (Acari: Opilioacaridae) from Italy, and a new diagnosis of the genus.
No living Opilioacarus species have been described from Europe for more than a century since the first finding and species description in the early twentieth century. Using the material deposited in Museo Civico di Storia Naturale of Verona, Italy, it was possible to identify and describe a new Opilioacarus species and review the genus diagnosis, using the shape of setae d and setation of the preanal segment. The new species is also briefly compared with the other Opilioacarus species; Opilioacarus italicus (With, 1904) is considered a nomen dubium.


Large-scale ATP-independent nucleosome unfolding by a histone chaperone.
DNA accessibility to regulatory proteins is substantially influenced by nucleosome structure and dynamics. The facilitates chromatin transcription (FACT) complex increases the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA, but the mechanism and extent of its nucleosome reorganization activity are unknown. Here we determined the effects of FACT from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on single nucleosomes by using single-particle Förster resonance energy transfer (spFRET) microscopy. FACT binding results in dramatic ATP-independent, symmetrical and reversible DNA uncoiling that affects at least 70% of the DNA within a nucleosome, occurs without apparent loss of histones and proceeds via an 'all-or-none' mechanism. A mutated version of FACT is defective in uncoiling, and a histone mutation that suppresses phenotypes caused by this FACT mutation in vivo restores the uncoiling activity in vitro. Thus, FACT-dependent nucleosome unfolding modulates the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA, and this activity is an important function of FACT in vivo.


Quasi-Simultaneous Sensitive Detection of Two Gas Species by Cavity-Ringdown Spectroscopy with Two Lasers.
We developed a cavity ringdown spectrometer by utilizing a step-scanning and dithering method for matching laser wavelengths to optical resonances of an optical cavity. Our approach is capable of working with two and more lasers for quasi-simultaneous measurements of multiple gas species. The developed system was tested with two lasers operating around 1654 nm and 1658 nm for spectral detections of 12CH4 and its isotope 13CH4 in air, respectively. The ringdown time of the empty cavity was about 340 µs. The achieved high detection sensitivity of a noise-equivalent absorption coefficient was 2.8 × 10-11 cm-1 Hz-1/2 or 1 × 10-11 cm-1 by averaging for 30 s. The uncertainty of the high precision determination of δ13CH4 in air is about 1.3‰. Such a system will be useful for future applications such as environmental monitoring.


[Epidemiologic and experimental studies on epidemic haemorrhagic fever virus in pigs].
In order to study the roles of pigs with epidemic haemorrhagic fever virus, epidemiologic and experimental studies were carried out in pigs. Aetiological, serological and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques were performed. Results showed that not only pigs could be infected with EHFV under natural or experimental conditions but susceptible to EHFV as well. Virus may disseminate to many organs of the animals through blood and cause transient pathologic changes. EHFV duplicates inside the animal bodies and be excreted to cause pollution of environment. It is possible that pigs serve as sources of EHF infection. Our research data also showed for the first time that EHEV were vertically transmitted through the placenta of pigs. There was no evidence showing that people raising pigs were symptomatically sick due to EHF infection.


Forced selection of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variant that uses a non-self tRNA primer for reverse transcription: involvement of viral RNA sequences and the reverse transcriptase enzyme.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 uses the tRNA(3)(Lys) molecule as a selective primer for reverse transcription. This primer specificity is imposed by sequence complementarity between the tRNA primer and two motifs in the viral RNA genome: the primer-binding site (PBS) and the primer activation signal (PAS). In addition, there may be specific interactions between the tRNA primer and viral proteins, such as the reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme. We constructed viruses with mutations in the PAS and PBS that were designed to employ the nonself primer tRNA(Pro) or tRNA(1,2)(Lys). These mutants exhibited a severe replication defect, indicating that additional adaptation of the mutant virus is required to accommodate the new tRNA primer. Multiple independent virus evolution experiments were performed to select for fast-replicating variants. Reversion to the wild-type PBS-lys3 sequence was the most frequent escape route. However, we identified one culture in which the virus gained replication capacity without reversion of the PBS. This revertant virus eventually optimized the PAS motif for interaction with the nonself primer. Interestingly, earlier evolution samples revealed a single amino acid change of an otherwise well-conserved residue in the RNase H domain of the RT enzyme, implicating this domain in selective primer usage. We demonstrate that both the PAS and RT mutations improve the replication capacity of the tRNA(1,2)(Lys)-using virus.


Virus survival in slurry: analysis of the stability of foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, bovine viral diarrhoea and swine influenza viruses.
Farm slurry can be highly contaminated with viral pathogens. The survival of these pathogens within slurry is important since this material is often distributed onto farm land either directly or after heat treatment. There is clearly some risk of spreading pathogens in the early stages of an outbreak of disease before it has been recognized. The survival of foot-and-mouth disease virus, classical swine fever virus, bovine viral diarrhoea virus and swine influenza virus, which belong to three different RNA virus families plus porcine parvovirus (a DNA virus) was examined under controlled conditions. For each RNA virus, the virus survival in farm slurry under anaerobic conditions was short (generally ≤ 1 h) when heated (to 55°C) but each of these viruses could retain infectivity at cool temperatures (5°C) for many weeks. The porcine parvovirus survived considerably longer than each of the RNA viruses under all conditions tested. The implications for disease spread are discussed.


Investigating the thermal stability of metallic and non-metallic nanoparticles using a novel graphene oxide-based transmission electron microscopy heating-membrane.
In recent years, graphene has been explored as a heating membrane for studying high-temperature dynamics inside the transmission electron microscope (TEM) due to several limitations with the existing silicon nitride-based membrane. However, the transfer of monolayer graphene films for TEM experiments is challenging and requires many complicated steps with a minimum success rate. This work developed a novelin situheating platform by combining the graphene oxide (GO) flakes in the pre-patterned chips. The isolated GO flake was self-suspended between the metal electrodes by a simple drop-casting process. The GO was reduced and characterized using Raman and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Furthermore, a GO-based heater was used to investigate the thermal stability of gold and silica nanoparticles. The gold nanoparticles evaporated non-uniformly and left an empty carbon shell, while silica disappeared uniformly by etching carbon support. We successfully demonstrated a GO flake as a heating membrane to study high temperature thermal dynamic reactions: melting/evaporation, agglomeration, Rayleigh instability, and formation/or removal of carbon in the nanoparticles.


Characterization of Recurrent Relevant Genes Reveals a Novel Role of RPL36A in Radioresistant Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Radioresistance is one of the major factors that contributes to radiotherapy failure in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). By comparing the prognostic values of 20,502 genes expressed in patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-OSCC cohort with (n = 162) and without radiotherapy (n = 118), herein identified 297 genes positively correlated with poor disease-free survival in OSCC patients with radiotherapy as the potential radioresistance-associated genes. Among the potential radioresistance-associated genes, 36 genes were upregulated in cancerous tissues relative to normal tissues. The bioinformatics analysis revealed that 60S ribosomal protein L36a (RPL36A) was the most frequently detected gene involved in radioresistance-associated gene-mediated biological pathways. Then, two independent cohorts (n = 162 and n = 136) were assessed to confirm that higher RPL36A transcript levels were significantly associated with a poor prognosis only in OSCC patients with radiotherapy. Mechanistically, we found that knockdown of RPL36A increased radiosensitivity via sensitizing cells to DNA damage and promoted G2/M cell cycle arrest followed by augmenting the irradiation-induced apoptosis pathway in OSCC cells. Taken together, our study supports the use of large-scale genomic data for identifying specific radioresistance-associated genes and suggests a regulatory role for RPL36A in the development of radioresistance in OSCC.


Near-Complete Genome Sequence of a Potential Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype A Vaccine Strain Isolated from Bangladesh.
The near-complete genome sequence of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype A potential vaccine strain BAN/CH/Sa-304/2016 is reported here. Its genome revealed antigenic heterogeneity with the current Indian vaccine strain IND40/00, with four amino acid substitutions in antigenically critical sites of the VP1 protein.


CD-sensitive Zn-porphyrin tweezer host-guest complexes, part 1: MC/OPLS-2005 computational approach for predicting preferred interporphyrin helicity.
This article describes a computational study on dimeric zinc porphyrin tweezer complexes with primary/secondary amines and secondary alcohols that validates the use of Optimized Potential for Liquid Simulations (OPLS-2005) as the lead computational choice for assisting the tweezer methodology in the absolute configurational assignment of organic compounds. A supramolecular, microscale approach known as the tweezer method has been widely applied in the past decade for determining the absolute configuration of chiral substrates that are difficult to study by other readily available methods. The method relies on a host/guest complexation mechanism between a porphyrin tweezer moiety and a substrate, after its conversion into a bidentate conjugate. The formation of 1:1 complexes is a stereodifferentiating process: upon complexation, the originally achiral tweezer adopts a preferential interporphyrin helicity, dictated by the absolute configuration of the chiral substrate. By correctly predicting the sign of the interporphyrin helicity in the complex, OPLS-2005 provides a correlation between the observed circular dichroism (CD) signal and the absolute configuration of the substrate. It also offers a great degree of insight into the structural factors responsible for chiral recognition and the amplitude of exciton couplets. Moreover, the preferential binding sites between the Zn-tweezer and secondary amine conjugates were revealed by using the new computational approach.


Variation of bacterial communities along the vertical gradient in Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan.
We explored the diversity and community composition of bacteria along a vertical gradient in Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan, one of the world's largest and deepest brackish lakes. We identified 4904 bacterial amplicon sequence variants based on the 16S rRNA gene analysis and determined significant changes in the composition, responding mainly to depth and salinity. A higher abundance of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes was observed in the surface waters and lake tributaries. Cyanobacteria were more abundant in the deep chlorophyll maximum from 28.5 to 128 m, while Planctomycetes and Chloroflexi were dominant in the deepest layers, from 128 to 600 m. According to our machine learning analyses, depth and temperature were the most critical environmental factors, with strong effects on Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes and Chloroflexi, while oxygen was associated with the variations in Cyanobacteria. We also observed that with increasing depth, the alpha diversity values increased. The dominance of Planctomycetes and Chloroflexi in the deepest layers can only be seen in a few lakes of the world. However, the lake is facing increasing anthropogenic and climatic pressure. There is an urgent need to understand better the ecological role and function of these unique deep-water microbial communities.


[Chronic recurrent pulmonary thromboembolism associated with sedentary work].
A 32-year-old woman was hospitalized with recurrent left-sided chest pain and dyspnea on exertion, which had progressed for approximately 10 years. Since age 18 she had been spending more than twelve hours per day in a predominantly seated position on a floor mat, engaged in Japanese dressmaking. A chest roentgenogram showed marked dilation of the main pulmonary arteries, bilateral oligemia in the upper lung fields and a peripheral infiltration in the middle field of the left lung. The (99m)Tc-MAA perfusion lung scan showed multiple defects in both lungs, but no abnormal findings were detected on a 133Xe ventilation scan. A pulmonary angiogram showed multiple occlusions of pulmonary arteries in both lungs. Because recurrent chest pain and dyspnea had been present for a long time, and because ultrasonic cardiography revealed pulmonary hypertension repeatedly for several years, pulmonary thromboembolism was considered to be chronic and recurrent. The patient had none of the following risk factors for pulmonary emboli: malignancy, neurological disease, heart disease, obesity, pregnancy, or a congenital coagulative abnormality such as deficiency of AT-III, protein C, protein S, or plasminogen. Because no other cause could be found, the chronic recurrent pulmonary thromboembolism most likely resulted from extensive sedentary work that caused stagnation of venous return and deep vein thrombosis.


Investigation of Different Time-Frequency Representations for Intelligibility Assessment of Dysarthric Speech.
Speech disorders linked to neurological problems affect person's ability to communicate through speech. Dysarthria is one of the speech disorders caused due to muscle weakness producing slow, slurred and less intelligible speech. Automatic intelligibility assessment of dysarthria from speech can be used as a promising clinical tool in treatment. This paper explores the use of perceptually enhanced Fourier transform spectrograms and Constant-Q transform spectrograms with CNN to assess word level and sentence level intelligibility of dysarthric speech from UA and TORGO databases. Constant-Q transform and perceptually enhanced mel warped STFT spectrograms performed better in the classification task.


Effect of peroxisome proliferators on Leydig cell peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor gene expression, hormone-stimulated cholesterol transport, and steroidogenesis: role of the peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor alpha.
In this study, we hypothesized that many of the reported effects of phthalate esters and other peroxisome proliferators (PPs) in the testis are mediated by members of the PP- activated receptor (PPAR) family of transcription factors through alterations in proteins involved in steroidogenesis. Exposure of Leydig cells to PPs prevented cholesterol transport into the mitochondria after hormonal stimulation and inhibited steroid synthesis, without altering total cell protein synthesis or mitochondrial and DNA integrity. PPs also reduced the levels of the cholesterol-binding protein peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) because of a direct transcriptional inhibition of PBR gene expression in MA-10 Leydig cells. MA-10 cells contain mRNAs for PPARalpha and PPARbeta/delta, but not for PPARgamma. In vivo treatment of mice with PPs resulted in the reduction of both testis PBR mRNA and circulating testosterone levels, in agreement with the proposed role of PBR in steroidogenesis. By contrast, liver PBR mRNA levels were increased, in agreement with the proposed role of PBR in cell growth/tumor formation in nonsteroidogenic tissues. However, PPs did not inhibit testosterone production and testis PBR expression in PPARalpha-null mice. These results suggest that the antiandrogenic effect of PPs is mediated by a PPARalpha-dependent inhibition of Leydig cell PBR gene expression.


Hierarchical Porous Polyamide 6 by Solution Foaming: Synthesis, Characterization and Properties.
Porous polym er materials have received great interest in both academic and industrial fields due to their wide range of applications. In this work, a porous polyamide 6 (PA6) material was prepared by a facile solution foaming strategy. In this approach, a sodium carbonate (SC) aqueous solution acted as the foaming agent that reacted with formic acid (FA), generating CO₂ and causing phase separation of polyamide (PA). The influence of the PA/FA solution concentration and Na₂CO₃ concentration on the microstructures and physical properties of prepared PA foams were investigated, respectively. PA foams showed a hierarchical porous structure along the foaming direction. The mean pore dimension ranged from hundreds of nanometers to several microns. Low amounts of sodium salt generated from a neutralization reaction played an important role of heterogeneous nucleation, which increased the crystalline degree of PA foams. The porous PA materials exhibited low thermal conductivity, high crystallinity and good mechanical properties. The novel strategy in this work could produce PA foams on a large scale for potential engineering applications.