BackgroundDysregulation of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system, a common consequence of adiposity-induced insulin resistance, may be a key underlying mechanism...Full Text Available
Insulin resistance in skeletal muscle is a key phenotype associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) for which the molecular mediators remain unclear. We therefore conducted an expression analysis of human...Full Text Available
BackgroundAdipose tissue lipid storage and processing capacity can be a key factor for obesity-related metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and diabetes. Lipid uptake is...Full Text Available
The insulin signaling pathway, involving protein kinase B (PKB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), mediates the biological response to insulin and several growth factors and cytokines. To investigate the correlation between glucose transporter (Glut) biosynthesis and the insulin signaling pathway activated by novel compounds of Liriope platyphylla (LP9M80-H), alterations in Glut and key protein expression in the insulin signaling pathway were analyzed in the liver and brain of ICR mice treated with LP9M80-H. An in vitro assay showed that the highest level of insulin concentration was observed in the LP9M80-H-treated group, followed by the LP-H, LP-M, LP-E, and LP9M80-C-treated groups. Therefore, LP9M80-H was selected for use in studying the detailed mechanism of the insulin signaling pathway in animal systems. In an in vivo ...
Sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1 is a key transcription factor for the regulation of lipogenic enzyme genes in the liver. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) selectively suppress hepatic...Full Text Available
In August 1995, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a policy statement proposing improved regulatory decisionmaking by increasing the use of PRA [probabilistic risk assessment] in all regulatory matters to the extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods and data. A key aspect in using PRA in risk-informed regulatory activities is establishing the appropriate scope and attributes of the PRA. In this regard, ASME decided to develop a consensus PRA Standard. The objective is to develop a PRA Standard such that the technical quality of nuclear plant PRAs will be sufficient to support risk-informed regulatory applications. This paper presents examples recommendations for the systems analysis element of a PRA for incorporation into the ASME PRA Standard.
In August 1995, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a policy statement proposing improved regulatory decision making by increasing the use of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) in all regulatory matters to the extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods and data. A key aspect in using PRA in risk-informed regulatory activities is establishing the appropriate scope and attributes of the PRA. In this regard, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) decided to develop a consensus PRA standard. The objective is to develop a PRA standard such that the technical quality of nuclear plant PRAs will be sufficient to support risk-informed regulatory applications. The authors present example recommendations for the systems analysis element of a PRA for incorporation into the ASME PRA standard.
Bolus infusion of insulin along with a meal is a standard procedure with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion. Modern insulin pumps allow applying this bolus in four different ways: infusion of...Full Text Available
Most genetic changes that promote tumorigenesis involve dysregulation of G1 cell cycle progression. A keyregulatory site in G1 is a growth factor–dependent restriction point (R) where cells...Full Text Available
BackgroundNeuropeptide Y is a key neurotransmitter of the central nervous system which plays a vital role in the feed energy homeostasis in mammals. Mutations in the regulatory and...Full Text Available
BackgroundGene regulation is a key mechanism in higher eukaryotic cellular processes. One of the major challenges in gene regulation studies is to identify regulators affecting the...Full Text Available
From Toki-shakuyaku-san, an herbal formulation for “cleansing stagnated blood,” a key gene regulatory compound was purified and identified through a screening based on DNA microarray...Full Text Available
Abstract: The Hanford Tanks Initiative (HTI) is a five-year project resulting from the technical and financial partnership of the U.S. Department of Energy`s Office of Waste Management (EM-30) and Office of Science and Technology Development (EM-50). The HTI project accelerates activities to gain key technical, cost performance, and regulatory information on two high-level waste tanks. The HTI will provide a basis for design and regulatory decisions affecting the remainder of the Tank Waste Remediation System`s tank waste retrieval Program.
Hsp20, referred to as HspB6, is constitutively expressed in various tissues. Specifically, HspB6 is most highly expressed in different types of muscle including vascular, airway, colonic, bladder, and uterine smooth muscle; cardiac muscle; and skeletal muscle. It can be phosphorylated at Ser-16 by both cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKA/PKG). Recently, Hsp20 and its phosphorylation have been implicated in multiple physiological and pathophysiological processes including smooth muscle relaxation, platelet aggregation, exercise training, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease. In the heart, key advances have been made in elucidating the significance of Hsp20 in contractile function and cardioprotection over the last decade. This mini-rev...
The FFTF is an ERDA facility which does not require licensing, but a technical review by NRC is required by ERDA policy. Safety issues which were not fully resolved in the course of the review for construction authorization have been the subject of continuing review since mid-1973. These issues included HCDA energetics, design fallback provisions for additional safety margins, piping integrity, and natural circulation core cooling.
This CD-Rom edited by the French scientific and technical committee of the space heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry (CoSTIC) presents a series of technical files about ventilation and space heating systems with several references to the current regulatory texts. Modifications of the original legislative texts have been integrated to the original texts for a more comfortable reading. Search is performed using diagrams and key-words. (J.S.)
Objective:To estimate the prevalence of insulin resistant syndrome (IRS) among newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes and to test their validity against two indices...Full Text Available
Albumin is a multifunctional transport protein that binds a wide variety of endogenous substances and drugs. Insulins with affinity for albumin were engineered by acylation of the epsilon-amino group...Full Text Available
Introduction: Haploidentical transplantation, with extensive T cell depletion to prevent GvHD, is associated with a high incidence of infection-related deaths. The key challenge is to improve immune recovery with allogeneic donor T cells without triggering GvHD. As T regulatory cells (Tregs) controlled GvHD in pre-clinical studies, the present study evaluated the impact of an infusion of donor CD4/CD25 + Tregs, followed by an inoculum of donor mature T cells (Tcons) and positively immunoselected CD34 + cells in the setting of haploidentical stem cell transplantation. Patients and methods: Twenty-eight patients were enrolled in this study (22 AML; 5 ALL; 1 NHL). All received immunoselected Tregs (CliniMACS, Miltenyi Biotec) followed by positively immunoselected CD34 + cells together with Tc...
Various initiatives have been undertaken by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deregulate wholesale electric energy markets. These initiatives have focused on restructuring the transmission systems in the US and recently have culminated in a proposal requiring formation of and participation in regional transmission organizations. The overall form of regulation selected to determine rates for transmission entities as well as underlying regulatory decisions reached on key issues will have profound implications for transmission entities. For example, traditional cost-based regulation would require one set of accounting and reporting rules, while incentive-based regulation may not be subject to those same rules. An overview of some of the major accounting and financial reporting issues that will need to be considered is presented.
The metabolic actions of GH can be divided into acute (insulin-like) and chronic (lipolytic/anti-insulin). The insulin-like actions of GH are most readily elicited in GH-deficient animals as GH induces resistance to its own insulin-like action. Like GH, PGF stimulates growth and cross-reacts with anti-hGH antibodies. Independent experiments were conducted comparing the direct actions of PGF to insulin or hGH in vitro. Insulin-like effects were determined by the ability of PGF, insulin or hGH to stimulate (U-/sup 14/C)glucose metabolism in epidydimal fat pads from normal rats and by inhibition of epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis. Direct stimulation of lipolysis was used as anti-insulin activity. To determine if PGF competes for insulin or GH receptors, adipocytes (3 x 10/sup 5/ cells/ml) were ...
The metabolic actions of GH can be divided into acute (insulin-like) and chronic (lipolytic/anti-insulin). The insulin-like actions of GH are most readily elicited in GH-deficient animals as GH induces resistance to its own insulin-like action. Like GH, PGF stimulates growth and cross-reacts with anti-hGH antibodies. Independent experiments were conducted comparing the direct actions of PGF to insulin or hGH in vitro. Insulin-like effects were determined by the ability of PGF, insulin or hGH to stimulate [U-"1"4C]glucose metabolism in epidydimal fat pads from normal rats and by inhibition of epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis. Direct stimulation of lipolysis was used as anti-insulin activity. To determine if PGF competes for insulin or GH receptors, adipocytes (3 x 10"5 cells/ml) were incubated with ...
Insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) degrades insulin and other peptides, including the Aβ peptide of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the mechanism by which IDE acts on its substrates...Full Text Available
To determine if the enhanced glycemic response to epinephrine in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is the result of increased adrenergic sensitivity per se, increased glucagon...Full Text Available
The key to the future for electric utilities will not be found in legislation or regulation. Title VII of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 will prove to be just as ineffectual in improving the industry's position as was the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. These legislative palliatives, which produced so much commotion and so many reams of heated commentary, are largely irrelevant to a successful future for electric utilities. The key will be found in economics, not in law, and the future will lie in completing Thomas A. Edison's century-old vision for the industry, half of which the industry has heretofore ignored. The industry must embrace the complete vision and evolve from electric utilities into [open quotes]end-use energy utilities.[close quotes
This report presents the results of a systems failure analysis study of the CANDU 3 reactor design; the study was performed for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As part of the study a review of the CANDU 3 design documentation was performed, a plant assessment methodology was developed, representative plant initiating events were identified for detailed analysis, and a plant assessment was performed. The results of the plant assessment included classification of the CANDU 3 event sequences that were analyzed, determination of CANDU 3 systems that are ''significant to safety,'' and identification of key operator actions for the analyzed events.
A ground-breaking study was recently completed as part of the Seabrook Level 2 PRA update. This study updates the post-core damage phenomena to be consistent with the most recent information and includes accident management activities that should be modeled in the Level 2 PRA. Overall, the result is a Level 2 PRA that fully meets the requirements of the ASME PRA Standard with respect to modeling accident management in the LERF assessment and NRC requirements in Regulatory Guide 1.174 for considering late containment failures. This technical paper deals only with the incorporation of operator actions into the Level 2 PRA based on a comprehensive study of the Seabrook Station accident response procedures and guidance. The paper describes the process used to identify the key operator actions that can influence the Level 2 PRA results and the development of success criteria for these key operator actions. This addresses a ...
A ground-breaking study was recently completed as part of the Seabrook Level 2 PRA update. This study updates the post-core damage phenomena to be consistent with the most recent information and includes accident management activities that should be modeled in the Level 2 PRA. Overall, the result is a Level 2 PRA that fully meets the requirements of the ASME PRA Standard with respect to modeling accident management in the LERF assessment and NRC requirements in Regulatory Guide 1.174 for considering late containment failures. This technical paper deals only with the incorporation of operator actions into the Level 2 PRA based on a comprehensive study of the Seabrook Station accident response procedures and guidance. The paper describes the process used to identify the key operator actions that can influence the Level 2 PRA results and the development of success criteria for these key operator actions. This addresses a ...
Characteristics of basal and insulin-stimulated glucose utilization by perifused adipocytes have been investigated by measuring the formation of "3HOH from D-(5-"3H) glucose. At a glucose concentration of 0.55 mmol/L, basal glucose utilization ranged from 0.5 to 1.0 nmol/min/10(6) cells. Perifused adipocytes showed a maximal response to insulin of a threefold to fourfold increase in the conversion of (5-"3H) glucose to "3HOH with a half-maximal response at an insulin concentration of 20 microU/mL. The response to insulin was blocked by phlorizin and cytochalasin B, competitive inhibitors of glucose transport, consistent with an effect of insulin on glucose transport. Insulin increased the Vmax for glucose metabolism but had no effect on the apparent affinity for glucose utilization. The characteristics of glucose utilization and the stimulation of glucose ...
The authors have investigated insulin receptor phosphorylation in differentiated cultured BC3H-1 myocytes. As for other insulin-responsive cell systems in partially purified wheat germ agglutinin receptor preparations, insulin stimulates the phosphorylation of its own receptor (95K ..beta..-subunits) in a dose dependent manner (0-400 nM), as identified by immunoprecipitation with antiinsulin receptor antibodies and SDS-PAGE. In the same preparations they show that 12-0-tetradecanyl phorbol acetate (TPA), which in many respect ..beta..-subunits in the same dose dependent manner (0-5 ..mu..M). In addition, antiinsulin receptor antibodies (B-10) also induced phosphorylation of mimics insulin action, also induced phosphorylation of the insulin receptor and HPLC tryptic maps of the /sup 32/P-labeled ..beta..-subunit were identical to those for insulin-induced ...
In the decade before the discovery of insulin, the prominent American physicians Frederick Allen and Elliott Joslin advocated severe fasting and undernutrition to prolong the lives of diabetic patients....Full Text Available
Exercise promotes weight loss and improves insulin sensitivity. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating its beneficial effects are not fully understood. Obesity correlates with increased production...Full Text Available
Inhibiting insulin/IGF-1 signalling extends lifespan and delays age-related disease in species throughout the animal kingdom. This life-extension pathway, the first to be defined, was discovered through...Full Text Available
Many growth factors and hormones modulate the reproductive status in mammals. Among these, insulin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) regulate the development of gonadal tissues. SH2-B has been...Full Text Available
We previously reported that global deletion of insulin receptor substrate protein 1 (Irs1) extends lifespan and increases resistance to several age-related pathologies in female mice....Full Text Available
Abnormal fat metabolism plays an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity-related type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study examined whether free fatty acid levels (FFAs), like insulin levels, oscillate...Full Text Available
The insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway is a conserved regulator of longevity, development, and metabolism. In Caenorhabditis elegans IIS involves activation of DAF-2 (insulin/IGF-1...Full Text Available
Gestational exposure to maternal overweight (OW) influences the risk of obesity in adult life. Male offspring from OW dams gain greater body weight and fat mass and develop insulin resistance when fed...Full Text Available
Obesity and metabolic syndrome result from excess calorie intake and genetic predisposition and are mechanistically linked to type II diabetes and accelerated body aging; abnormal nutrient and insulin...Full Text Available
Mammals possess multiple insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding proteins (IGFBPs), and related proteins, that modulate the activity of insulin/IGF signalling (IIS), a conserved neuroendocrine signalling...Full Text Available
In isolated rat adipocytes, insulin inhibits lipolysis to a greater extent than would be predicted by the decrease in (-/+)cAMP activity ratio of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase), from which it was speculated that insulin promotes the dephosphorylation of hormone-sensitive lipase. They have examined the phosphorylation state of cellular proteins under conditions of varying A-kinase activities in the presence and absence of insulin. Protein phosphorylation was determined by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of extracts from /sup 32/P-loaded cells; glycerol and A-kinase activity ratios were measured in the cytosolic extracts from control, non-radioactive cells. Increased protein phosphorylation in general occurred over the same range of A-kinase activity ratios, 0.1-0.3, associated with increased glycerol release. The insulin-induced decrease in lipolysis was associated with a decrease in the /sup 32/P ...
The receptors for IGF-I (IGF-IR) and insulin (IR) have been implicated in physiological cardiac growth, but it is unknown whether IGF-IR or IR signaling are critically required. We generated mice with...Full Text Available
The influence of insulin on unidirectional flux of glucose across the blood-brain barrier and on net uptake of glucose by the brain was investigated in seven fasting patients. The unidirectional extraction,...Full Text Available
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) results from insulin resistance and β-cell dysfunction, in the setting of hyperglucagonemia. Glucagon is a 29 amino acid peptide hormone, which is secreted from...Full Text Available
Fasting plasma concentrations of magnesium were measured by neutron activation analysis in 30 non-diabetics and 87 diabetics (55 non-insulin-treated, 32 insulin treated). Plasma concentrations of magnesium...Full Text Available
No-carrier-added astatine radionuclides produced in the {sup 7}Li-irradiated lead matrix were separated from bulk lead nitrate target by complexing At with insulin, followed by dialysis. The method offers simultaneous separation of At from lead as well as its complexation with insulin. The At-insulin complex might be a potential radiopharmaceutical in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The stability of At-insulin complex was checked by dialysis against deionized water and Ringer lactate (RL) solution. It has been found that the half-life of At-insulin complex is about {approx}12 h, when dialyzed against deionized water and is only 6 h, when dialyzed against RL solution having the same composition as blood serum. The 6 h half-life of this Insulin-At complex is perfect for killing cancer cells from external cell surfaces as the half-life of internalization ...
No-carrier-added astatine radionuclides produced in the "7Li-irradiated lead matrix were separated from bulk lead nitrate target by complexing At with insulin, followed by dialysis. The method offers simultaneous separation of At from lead as well as its complexation with insulin. The At-insulin complex might be a potential radiopharmaceutical in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The stability of At-insulin complex was checked by dialysis against deionized water and Ringer lactate (RL) solution. It has been found that the half-life of At-insulin complex is about #approx#12 h, when dialyzed against deionized water and is only 6 h, when dialyzed against RL solution having the same composition as blood serum. The 6 h half-life of this Insulin-At complex is perfect for killing cancer cells from external cell surfaces as the half-life of internalization of ...
Acquired resistance to the action of insulin to stimulate glucose transport in skeletal muscle is associated with obesity and promotes the development of type 2 diabetes. In skeletal muscle,...Full Text Available
Adipocyte death has been reported in both obese humans and rodents. However, its role in metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, and inflammation associated with obesity...Full Text Available
In 1982 the semi-submersible drilling unit Ocean Ranger capsized and sank off the Grand Banks, resulting in the loss of the entire 84-man crew. A Royal Commission was set up to conduct an enquiry into the incident, and to carry out a process of research and opinion-gathering towards providing recommendations to both federal and Newfoundland governments. The primary purpose of the Commission was to determine why the Ocean Ranger sank, why none of the crew were saved, and how to avoid similar disasters. A number of studies and seminars were held to focus expert knowledge and opinion in several key fields and to update studies and fill gaps in the data base. Summaries of selected study reports and the seminar proceedings are presented in the following areas: the environment, including ice, marine climatology, weather forecasting services, wave climatology, oceanographic information, and seabed information; design, including mobile offshore drilling rig design ...
Understanding of the thermal hydraulic phenomena is now the key issue in solving the severe accident problems of light water reactors. The Atomic Energy Society of Japan has organized a special committee on the evaluation of the thermal hydraulic phenomena in severe accident. The committee has continued the investigation of present status of thermal hydraulics in severe accident. Industries have completed the detailed implementation of the accident management measures, and industries have established also a self-regulatory document mainly on phase II accident management for the containment design of the future reactors. Present paper reviews the current status of evaluation activity referring to severe accident research in Japan. The phenomena included in this paper are (1) molten core behavior in lower plenum of pressure vessel, (2) fuel-coolant interaction, (3) molten core-concrete interaction, (4) direct containment heating, (5) hydrogen ...
This report presents a view of and commentary on the current status of equipment qualification (EQ) in nuclear industries of the major western nations. The introductory chapters discuss the concepts of EQ, the elements of EQ process and highlight some of the key issues in EQ. A brief review of industry practices and some of the prevalent industrial standards is presented, followed by an overview of current regulatory positions in the USA, France, Germany and Sweden. A summary and commentary on the latest research findings on issues relating to accident simulation, to aging simulation and some special topics related to EQ, has been contributed by Franklin Research Centre of Philadelphia. The last part of the report deals with equipment qualification in Canada and gives recommendations on EQ for new plants as well as currently operational CANDU nuclear power plants.
Over the decades, basic research in life sciences has profited greatly from the study of the small unicellular fungal species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This yeast turned out to be key for the identification and understanding of molecular mechanisms that underlay the basic functions of all eukaryotic cells. These include, but are not limited to, the regulatory mechanisms behind cellular reproduction (cell cycle control), cellular morphogenesis (cell polarity, cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking) and the management of cellular information (chromosome biology, transcription and translation). Rapid access to genomic information of many yeast species, combined with bioinformatics analyses, provide information on the evolutionary history of yeasts and the molecular ancestry of their constituen...
This paper has two key objectives. Firstly, using the findings from case study research undertaken in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Faisalabad (Pakistan) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of an appropriate regulatory framework and effective mechanisms of enforcement for sustainable urban transport systems in developing countries. Secondly, the paper highlights the critical importance of communication and co-ordination between stakeholders (defined here as transport users, providers and regulators) if regulation is to be effective. The views of poor and disadvantaged passenger groups-women, children, the elderly and disabled-are used in the paper to illustrate the importance of transport systems to their livelihoods, such as work, education, health and socia...
The paper presents some aspects relating to the importance of a good communication and cooperation between all factors involved in procurement process at Societatea Nationala 'Nuclearelectrica', SNN. In order to comply with the internal and international rules related to safety in nuclear field and public procurement requirements and for maintaining a high standard of operational performance of Cernavoda NPP, adequate procurement systems were developed by SNN SA. The importance of human factor and the training activities for all personnel from this chain of procurement process is the main key issue to maintain high quality of their activities considering that procurement documents are reviewed and approved before to be issued by all departments involved in procurement process. The specialized department for public acquisition is supervising that the procurement processes initiated at the level of branches, in accordance with their needs and with respect to the ...
Bioethics--the study of ethical issues in science and medicine--has grown to become a significant academic and service-oriented discipline with its own research centers, conferences, journals, and degree programs. As these issues have moved to the center of public debate, the law has assumed an increasingly important place in the discipline of bioethics. Today, embryonic stem cell research stands out as a critically important issue about which the U.S. has neither ethical consensus nor clear, comprehensive regulation. The ethical debate centers on the fact that stem cell research involves the destruction of very early human embryos. This article provides a brief scientific background followed by a discussion of key ethical and legal/regulatory issues that surround embryonic stem cell research.
The hypothesis that intracellular Ca/sup 2 +/ is an essential component of the intracellular mechanism of insulin action in the adipocyte was evaluated. Cells were loaded with the Ca/sup 2 +/ chelator quin-2, by preincubating them with quin-2 AM, the tetrakis(acetoxymethyl) ester of quin-2. Quin-2 loading inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose transport without affecting basal activity. The ability of insulin to stimulate glucose uptake in quin-2-loaded cells could be partially restored by preincubating cells with buffer supplemented with 1.2 mM CaCl/sub 2/ and the Ca/sup 2 +/ ionophore A23187. These conditions had no effect on basal activity and omission of CaCl/sub 2/ from the buffer prevented the restoration of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake by A23187. Quin-2 loading also inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose oxidation and the ability of insulin to inhibit ...
The hypothesis that intracellular Ca"2"+ is an essential component of the intracellular mechanism of insulin action in the adipocyte was evaluated. Cells were loaded with the Ca"2"+ chelator quin-2, by preincubating them with quin-2 AM, the tetrakis(acetoxymethyl) ester of quin-2. Quin-2 loading inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose transport without affecting basal activity. The ability of insulin to stimulate glucose uptake in quin-2-loaded cells could be partially restored by preincubating cells with buffer supplemented with 1.2 mM CaCl_2 and the Ca"2"+ ionophore A23187. These conditions had no effect on basal activity and omission of CaCl_2 from the buffer prevented the restoration of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake by A23187. Quin-2 loading also inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose oxidation and the ability of insulin to inhibit cAMP-stimulated lipolysis ...
High salinity is one of the main factors limiting cotton growth and productivity. The genes that regulate salt stress in TM-1 upland cotton were monitored using microarray and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) with samples taken from roots. Microarray analysis showed that 1503 probe sets were up-regulated and 1490 probe sets were down-regulated in plants exposed for 3h to 100mM NaCl, and RT-PCR analysis validated 42 relevant/related genes. The distribution of enriched gene ontology terms showed such important processes as the response to water stress and pathways of hormone metabolism and signal transduction were induced by the NaCl treatment. Some keyregulatory gene families involved in abiotic and biotic sources of stress such as WRKY, ERF, and JAZ were differentially expressed. Our transcriptome analysis might provide some useful insights into salt-mediated signal transduction pathways in cotton and offer a number of candidate genes as potential ...
North Carolina is in the process of siting a LLRW disposal facility as the next host state for the Southwest Compact. After two years of site characterization studies at two technically challenging sites, the LLRW Management Authority (the Authority), will submit a license application for the preferred site. One potential site is in unconsolidated Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits of the inner Coastal Plain, the other in fractured sedimentary rocks of the Triassic Deep River Basin. Involved since 1986, the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) provides technical advice to the Division of radiation Protection, the state regulatory agency authorized to approve or deny a license. With the multi-million dollar project behind schedule, and millions of dollars over budget, in February 1992 the Southeast Compact Commission established three project milestones (1) submit license application by December 31, 1993; (2) approve license by March 15, 1994; (3) open facility by ...
A tertiary structure of recombinant A22^G-B31^K-B32^R-human insulin monomer (insulin GKR) has been characterized by ^1H, ^1^3C NMR at natural isotopic abundance using NOESY, TOCSY, ^1H/^1^3C-GHSQC, and ^1H/^1^3C-GHSQC-TOCSY spectra. Translational diffusion studies indicate the monomer structure in water/acetonitrile (65/35vol.%). CSI analysis confirms existence of secondary structure motifs present in human insulin standard (HIS). Both techniques allow to establish that in this solvent recombinant insulin GKR exists as a monomer. Starting from structures calculated by the program CYANA, two different refinement protocols used molecular dynamics simulated annealing with the program AMBER; in vacuum (AMBER_VC), and including a generalized Born solvent model (AMBER_GB). From these calculation...
The acute effects of injections of the human growth hormone-like factor purified from plerocercoids of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides on carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolisms were determined in intact rats. Male rats were injected ip with saline, insulin, or various doses of partially purified PGF. The rats injected with insulin had significantly reduced serum glucose concentrations but no dose of PGF caused a change in serum glucose levels. Insulin and PGF stimulated [14C]glucose and [14C]leucine oxidation to 14CO2 in adipose tissue and muscle and increased incorporation of both [14C]glucose carbons into lipids and [14C]leucine into protein in fat and muscle. The responses to PGF were dose-dependent and persisted after 3 hr of incubation in vitro. Injections of naloxone prior to injecting PGF to block the stress response did not prevent the stimulation of insulin-like responses by PGF. ...
Objective: To study the changes of serum leptin, insulin and adiponectin levels and their relationship with BMI in females with simple obesity. Methods: Serum leptin, adiponectin and insulin levels were measured with RIA in 48 pre-obese females (BMI=23-24.9 kg/m"2), 40 females with simple obesity, (BMI#>=#25 kg/m"2) and 42 female controls (BMI 18-22.9 kg/m"2). Correlations among these variables were studied. Results: Serum leptin, insulin levels were significantly higher and serum adiponectin levels were significantly lower in both the pre-obese and obese females than those in controls. Serum leptin, insulin levels were positively correlated to BMI; Serum adiponectin levels were negatively correlated to BMI. Conclusion: Within normal range of BMI, the leptin-insulin feedback mechanism provided satisfactory self-regulation. However, with excessive BMI, this dynamic equilibrium ...
Autoreactive cytotoxic CD8 T-cells (CTLs) play a key pathogenic role in the destruction of insulin-producing beta-cells resulting in type 1 diabetes. However, knowledge regarding their targets is limited, restricting the ability to monitor the course of the disease and immune interventions. In a multi-step discovery process to identify novel CTL epitopes in human preproinsulin (PPI), PPI was digested with purified human proteasomes, and resulting COOH-fragments aligned with algorithm-predicted HLA-binding peptides to yield nine potential HLA-A1, -A2, -A3 or -B7-restricted candidates. An UV-exchange method allowed the generation of a repertoire of multimers including low-affinity HLA-binding peptides. These were labeled with quantum dot-fluorochromes and encoded in a combinatorial fashion, allowing parallel and sensitive detection of specific, low-avidity T-cells. Significantly increased frequencies of T-cells against four novel PPI epitopes ...
Hyperglycemia frequently occurs with acute medical illness, especially among patients with cardiovascular disease, and has been linked to increased morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients....Full Text Available
Context. Cardiovascular medication overdoses can be difficult to treat. Various treatment modalities are currently recommended. Objective. To describe patient outcomes and adverse events of high-dose insulin therapy in consecutive overdose patients in cardiogenic shock after implementation of a high-dose insulin protocol (1-10 U/kg/h, while avoiding or tapering off vasopressors). Methods. This is an observational consecutive case series of patients identified from a registry. Data were collected by retrospective chart review of patients treated by our toxicology service with this protocol from February 2007 until March 2010. Results. Twelve patients were treated with high-dose insulin. The mean age was 36.5 years (SD 11.7). Seven patients had pre-existing vasopressor therapy, and all were ...
In animal models, single-gene mutations in genes involved in insulin/IGF and target of rapamycin signalling pathways extend lifespan to a considerable extent. The genetic, genomic and epigenetic influences...Full Text Available
diet and genetic obesity metabolic defects and inflammation. To determine the role of adipocyte death in promoting adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance in animal...
... is reduced: 1) by lack of oxygen, 2) in hypercapnia associated with closed rooms or tents, 3) by use of sleeping drugs, antipyretics, insulin, and 4 ...
The object of this paper is to identify the key elements that impact a radiation dose at EAB (Exclusion Area Boundary). This study is based on the AST (Alternative Source Terms) as defined in Regulatory Guide 1.183. The LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident) and the LRA (Locked Rotor Accident) are selected as limiting cases. A sensitivity analysis of accidental behavior with respect to various parameters during LOCA and LRA at Kori Unit 1 is also undertaken for the following objectives: to determine the limiting parameters, to find the impact trend of the radiation dose, and to find the safety margin between AST and TID (Technical Information Document) methodologies. This work confirms that key parameters are particulate removal rate, decontamination factor, iodine chemical form, gap fraction, partitioning factor, and the impact of isotopes group. Comparing TID with AST, the radiation dose of TID is about 80% greater than that of ...
The Atomic Energy commission of Syria (AECS) is nominated by Syrian legislation as the regulatory authority in respect of radiation protection and safety and security of radioactive sources. In addition AECS is providing a wide range of Technical Services (TS) through its various departments. In this paper, the cooperation and coordination between the regulatory authority and the providers of technical services in Syria are described. The adjustment of the regulatory programme as to make maximal use of the available technical resources is presented. It was shown that this relationship does not jeopardize the effective independency of the regulatory authority which is maintained by keeping the regulatory decisions based on pure regulatory considerations. (author)
BackgroundAdipokines, e.g. TNFα, IL-6 and leptin increase insulin resistance, and consequent hyperinsulinaemia influences breast cancer progression. Beside its mitogenic...Full Text Available
The effect of insulin on protein biosynthesis was examined in differentiated 3T3-L1 and 3T3-F442A adipocytes. Insulin altered the relative rate of synthesis of specific proteins independent of its ability to hasten conversion of the fibroblast (preadipocyte) phenotype to the adipocyte phenotype. Although more than one pattern of response to insulin was observed, the authors focused on the induction of a Mr 33,000 protein which was identified as the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Exposure of 3T3 adipocytes to insulin throughout differentiation specifically increased GAPDH activity and protein content by 2- to 3-fold as compared to 3T3 adipocytes differentiated in the absence of insulin. These changes in enzyme activity and content could be accounted for by a 4-fold increase in the relative rate of synthesis of GAPDH and a 9-fold increase in ...
The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are inversely associated with inflammatory processes in an elderly background population.
No prospective studies have evaluated the effects of correction of iron deficiency anemia on insulin resistance in non-diabetic premenopausal women with iron deficiency anemia. All patients were treated with oral iron preparations. Insulin resistance was calculated with the Homeostasis Model Assessment formula. All patients were dichotomized by the median for age and BMI to assess how the relationship between iron deficiency anemia and insulin resistance was affected by the age and BMI. Although the fasting glucose levels did not change meaningfully, statistically significant decreases were found in fasting insulin levels following anemia treatment both in the younger age (<40 years) (P=0.40) women and in the low BMI (27 kg/m) (P=0.22) subgroups but not in the older age (>= 40 years) and the high BMI (>-27Kg/m) subgroups. Post-treatment fasting insulin levels were ...
The Thai-Canadian Nuclear Human Resources Development Linkage Project (the ''Project'') was initiated in 1994 in order to develop the engineering and scientific expertise needed for Thailand to decide whether and how the country can best benefit from the establishment of a nuclear power program. The Project was designed to upgrade current academics and people in industry, and to develop an adequate supply of new technical personnel for academic, industry, utility, regulatory and other government institutions. The key Project objectives included the establishment of a Chair in Nuclear Engineering at Chulalongkorn University, the upgrading of the current Masters level curriculum, the establishment of undergraduate and doctorate level curricula, development and delivery of an industrial training program for people in industry and government, exchanges of Thai and Canadian academics and industry experts to ...
Abstract in english The tegument surface of the adult schistosome, bounded by a normal plasma membrane overlain by a secreted membranocalyx, holds the key to understanding how schistosomes evade host immune responses. Recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS), and the sequencing of the Schistosoma mansoni transcriptome/genome, have facilitated schistosome proteomics. We detached the tegument from the worm body and enriched its surface membranes by differential extraction, before subjecting t (more) he preparation to liquid chromatography-based proteomics to identify its constituents. The most exposed proteins on live worms were labelled with impearmeant biotinylation reagents, and we also developed methods to isolate the membranocalyx for analysis. We identified transporters for sugars, amino acids, inorganic ions and water, which confirm the importance of the tegument plasma membrane in nutrient acquisition and solute balance. Enzymes, including phosphohydrolases, ...
This conference and trade show provided a forum to present new, emerging and existing technologies that will play a key role in ensuring that hydrocarbon exploitation occurs in a sustainable manner, where costs and resource recovery are optimized while minimizing environmental impacts. The challenge of developing maturing basins, frontier lands and unconventional resources was discussed. In particular, the application of thermal recovery methods such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for the in-situ recovery of heavy oils and bitumens was reviewed and compared with the performance of alternative enhanced energy recovery technologies such as vapor extraction (VAPEX). The conference was attended by local and international participants in the petroleum sector, including managers, engineers, technologists, geologists, and other petroleum industry specialists. The conference featured 132 presentations addressing topics such as improved recovery of conventional ...
Over the past few years, NPCIL has performed comprehensive Level-1 Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) for a 220 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) and for the first 540 MWe PHWR at Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP- 3 and 4). The major objective of these PSAs was to present an integrated picture of the safety of the plant to identify and understand key plant vulnerabilities. As a result of the availability of these PSAs, there is a desire to use them to operate the plants in the most efficient manner practicable. In recent years, the operation of Indian Nuclear Power Plants has been characterized by improved availability/capacity factors and reduced forced outages. Frequency of planned outages is also being reduced. In order to achieve this, the PSAs are now being used as an engineering tool for optimization of Technical Specifications with regard to Allowed Outage Time (AOT) and Surveillance Test Intervals ...
Over the past few years, the development of domestic oil shale resources has regained significant attention. High oil prices, emerging recovery technologies, increasing world demand for liquid hydrocarbons, and the continued decline in United States conventional oil production has contributed to this interest. Several initiatives have been undertaken by the United States federal government and the private sector to encourage the development of a domestic oil shale industry. The United States has nearly 2.0 trillion barrels of oil shale resources across the eastern and western states. However, the development of this massive resource is constrained by a number of key factors, such as resource access, technology, economics, infrastructure and environmental and regulatory issues. In order to review emerging oil shale technologies from 23 companies and identify options to accelerate the development of this resource, a comprehensive analysis has ...
BackgroundInferring regulatory interactions between genes from transcriptomics time-resolved data, yielding reverse engineered gene regulatory networks, is of paramount importance...Full Text Available
During 1994 and the early part of 1995, the US Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (YMSCO) and its parent organization, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) underwent a significant restructuring. Senior Department officials provided the leadership to reorient the management, technical, programmatic, and public interaction approach to the US High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Program. The restructuring involved reorganizing the federal staff, conducting meaningful strategic planning, improving the management system, rationalizing contractor responsibilities, focusing upon major products, and increasing stakeholder involvement. The restructured program has prioritized technical and scientific activities toward meeting major regulatory milestones in a timely and cost-effective manner. This approach has raised concern among elements of technical, scientific, and oversight bodies that suitability and licensing ...
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a complete set of environmental pathways for disposal options and conditions that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) may analyze for a low-level radioactive waste (LLW) license application. The regulations pertaining In the past, shallow-land burial has been used for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste. However, with the advent of the State Compact system of LLW disposal, many alternative technologies may be used. The alternative LLW disposal facilities include below- ground vault, tumulus, above-ground vault, shaft, and mine disposal This paper will form the foundation of an update of the previously developed Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)/NRC LLW performance assessment methodology. Based on the pathway assessment for alternative disposal methods, a determination will be made about whether the current methodology can satisfactorily analyze the pathways and phenomena likely to be important for the full range ...
To study the regulation of adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in human adipocytes, omental adipose tissue was obtained from healthy subjects and digested in collagenase. The isolated adipocytes thus obtained were suspended in Medium 199 and cultured at 37 degrees C. Cell viability was demonstrated in adipocytes cultured for up to 72 h by constancy of cell number, cell size, trypan-blue exclusion, and specific /sup 125/I-insulin binding. In addition, chloroquine induced an increase in cell-associated /sup 125/I-insulin at 24, 48, and 72 h after preparation. Thus, isolated adipocytes retained their ability to bind, internalize, and degrade insulin. LPL was measured as activity secreted into the culture medium (CM), released from cells by heparin (HR), and extracted from cell digests. A broad range of heparin concentrations produced a prompt release of LPL from a rapidly replenishable pool of cellular activity. When cells ...
Insulin receptors on the surface of isolated rat adipocytes were photoaffinity labeled at 12 degrees C with the iodinated photoreactive insulin analogue, 125I-B2 (2-nitro-4-azidophenylacetyl)-des-PheB1-insulin, and the pathways in the intracellular processing of the labeled receptors were studied at 37 degrees C. During 37 degrees C incubations, the labeled 440-kDa insulin receptors were continuously internalized (as assessed by trypsin inaccessibility) and degraded such that up to 50% of the initially labeled receptors were lost by 120 min. Metabolic poisons (0.125-0.75 mM 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and 1-10 mM NaF), which led to dose-dependent depletion of adipocyte ATP pools, inhibited receptor loss, and caused up to 3-fold increase in intracellular receptor accumulation. This effect was due to inhibition of intracellular receptor degradation, and there was no apparent effect of the metabolic poisons on ...
As the new entrants in the global nuclear construction market are increasing and the establishment of an effective and sustainable regulatory infrastructure becomes more important, they have requested international assistance from the international nuclear communities with mature nuclear regulatory programmes. It needs to optimize the use of limited resources from regulatory organization providing support to regulatory infrastructure of new comers. This paper suggests the resource portfolio concept like a GE/Mckinsey Matrix used in business management and tries to apply it to the current needs considered in the regulatory support program in Korea as the case study
Regulatory T cells are proposed to play a central role in the maintenance of immunological tolerance in the periphery, and studies in many animal models demonstrate their capacity to inhibit inflammatory...Full Text Available
Cis-acting regulatory sequences are required for the proper temporal and spatial control of gene expression. Variation in gene expression is highly heritable and a significant determinant...Full Text Available
Patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and diabetes mellitus, as well as patients admitted with elevated blood glucose without known diabetes, have impaired outcome. Therefore intensive glucose-lowering therapy with insulin (IGL) has been proposed in diabetic or hyperglycaemic patients and has been shown to improve survival and reduce incidence of adverse events. The current manuscript provides an overview of randomised controlled trials investigating the effect of IGL. Furthermore, systematic glucose?insulin?potassium infusion (GIK) has been studied to improve outcome after AMI. In spite of positive findings in some early studies, GIK did not show any beneficial effects in recent clinical trials and thus this concept has been abandoned. While IGL targeted to achieve normoglycaemi...
The degradation of irradiated human insulin in aqueous solutions was investigated in order to protect the protein against ionizing radiation. The influence of the drug concentration, excipients and irradiation temperature were studied.Aqueous solutions at pH 2 were irradiated by gamma rays or by accelerated electrons. Two different high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods were used: reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC)/UV and size exclusion liquid chromatography (SEC/UV) to investigate both the fragmentation and the formation of higher molecular weight proteins.In solution without excipients irradiated at ambient temperature at 10kGy, the loss of human insulin is almost complete. Addition of radio-protecting excipients (free radicals scavengers) and c...
Glucagon plays critical roles in regulating glucose homeostasis, mainly by counteracting the effects of insulin. Consequently, the dysregulated glucagon secretion that is evident in type 2 diabetes has significant implications in the pathophysiology of the disease. Glucagon secretion from pancreatic -cells has been suggested to be modulated by blood glucose, signals from the nervous system and endocrine components. In addition to these regulators, intraislet factors acting in a paracrine manner from neighbouring -cells are emerging as central modulator(s) of -cell biology. One of the most important of these paracrine factors, insulin, modulates glucagon secretion. Indeed, the -cell-specific insulin receptor knockout (IRKO) mouse manifests hypersecretion of glucagon in the postprandial stag...
Purpose To study the chemical modifications induced upon irradiation of solid human insulin at radiosterilization doses and investigate the influence of the absorbed dose on radiolysis. Materials and Methods Volatile radiolytic products were monitored by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and non-volatile products by two different high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods: the formation of higher molecular weight proteins was assessed by size exclusion liquid chromatography whereas assays for related compounds and chemical potency tests were carried out using reverse-phase HPLC-UV. Conformational changes were investigated by measurements of circular dichroism. Results After gamma irradiation at 10?kGy, the recovery of insulin was 96.8%; higher molecular w...
Two large, prospective, randomized, controlled trials have shown a beneficial effect of intensive insulin therapy (IIT) on the kidney function of critically ill patients. The data from these trials...Full Text Available
Syndrome X is a combination or co-occurrence of several known cardiovascular risk factors (including central obesity, dyslipidemias, fatty liver disease, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance,...Full Text Available
The role of IGF-I in the negative regulation of GH expression and release is demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo models; however, the targets and mechanisms of IGF-I...Full Text Available
Growth hormone (GH) has an important role in the regulation of hepatic LDL receptor expression and plasma lipoprotein levels. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate if these effects of GH on...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe lactogenic hormones prolactin (PRL) and placental lactogens (PL) play central roles in reproduction and mammary development. Their actions are mediated via binding...Full Text Available
Human longevity is in part genetically determined, and the insulin/IGF-1 signal transduction (IIS) pathway has consistently been implicated. In humans, type 2 diabetes is a frequent disease that results...Full Text Available
Insulin resistance plays a central role in type 2 diabetes and obesity, which develop as a consequence of genetic and environmental factors. Dietary changes including high fat diet (HFD) feeding promotes...Full Text Available
BackgroundWe investigated the influence of parenteral glucose infusion on insulin-driven tight glucose control (4.4–6.1 mmol/liter) in the critically ill by appraising kinetic...Full Text Available
While specific signalling cascades involved in aging, such as the insulin/IGF-1 pathway, are well-described, the actual metabolic changes they elicit to prolong lifespan remain obscure. Nevertheless,...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVEThis randomized, four-arm, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging phase 2 trial was conducted to determine whether repeated subcutaneous injections of the altered peptide ligand,...Full Text Available
The main function of white adipose tissue is to store nutrient energy in the form of triglycerides. The mechanism by which free fatty acids (FFA) move into and out of the adipocyte has not been resolved....Full Text Available
Sensory experience plays a crucial role in regulating neuronal shape and in developing synaptic contacts during brain formation. These features are required for a neuron to receive, integrate, and transmit...Full Text Available
Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia accelerate both aging and cancer. Antidiabetic biguanides such as metformin decrease glucose, insulin and IGF-1 level. Metformin increases lifespan and prevents cancer...Full Text Available
Microalbuminuria (26-250 mg/d) is considered to be an indicator of incipient diabetic nephropathy in humans in insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD). However, before microalbuminuria is observed, glomerular...Full Text Available
Obesity is a risk factor for stroke and neurodegenerative disease. Excess body fat has been linked to impaired glucose metabolism, insulin resistance, and impulsivity and may be a precursor to decline...Full Text Available
BackgroundThiazolidinediones (TZDs) activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and are used clinically to help restore peripheral insulin sensitivity...Full Text Available
Mice lacking acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), an enzyme that catalyzes the terminal step in triacylglycerol synthesis, have enhanced insulin sensitivity and are protected from...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVEPhosphoinositide 3-kinase enhancer A (PIKE-A) is a proto-oncogene that promotes tumor growth and transformation by enhancing Akt activity. However, the physiological functions...Full Text Available
Lymphocytes from patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), a chronic autoimmune disease, have recently been shown to have decreased surface expression of MHC class I antigens. Since...Full Text Available
Wistar rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes (STZ-diabetic rats), which is similar to human insulin-dependent diabetic mellitus (IDDM), were employed to investigate...Full Text Available
A remarkable discovery of recent years is that, despite the complexity of ageing, simple genetic interventions can increase lifespan and improve health during ageing in laboratory animals. The pathways...Full Text Available
The present Annual Report of Activities of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN), prepared regularly from the creation as independent institution, describes across tree parts and seven annexes the activities developed by the organism during 2007. The main topic are: the organization and the activity of the ARN; the regulatory standards; the licensing and inspection of nuclear power plants and critical facilities; the emergency systems; the occupational surveillance; the environmental monitoring; improved organizational. Also, this publication have annexes with the following content: regulatory documents; inspections to medical, industrial and training installations; regulatory guides; measurement and evaluation of the drinking water of Ezeiza.
The world's fleet of nuclear power plants is, on average, more than 20 years old. Even though the design life of a nuclear power plant is typically 30-40 years, it is quite feasible that many plants will be able to operate in excess of their design lives, provided that nuclear power plant engineers demonstrate by analysis, trending, equipment and system upgrades, increased vigilance, testing and ageing management that the plant will operate safely. In the operation of nuclear power plants, safety should be always the prime consideration. Plant operators and regulators must always ensure that plant safety is maintained, and where possible enhanced, during a plant's operating lifetime. Nuclear power plant life management (PLiM) has gained increased attention over the past decade, and effective ageing management of systems, structures and components (SSCs) is a key element in PLiM for the safe and reliable long term operation of nuclear power plants. A PLiM programme ...
The murine 3T3-L1 fibroblast under appropriate incubation conditions differentiates into an adipocyte phenotype. This 3T3-L1 adipocyte exhibits many of the morphologic, biochemical, and insulin-responsive features of the normal rodent adipocyte. Using quantitative electron microscopic (EM) autoradiography we find that, when /sup 125/I-insulin is incubated with 3T3-L1 adipocytes, the ligand at early times of incubation localizes to the plasma membrane of the cell preferentially to microvilli and coated pits. When the incubation is continued at 37 degrees C, /sup 125/I-insulin is internalized by the cells and preferential binding to the villous surface is lost. With the internalization of the ligand, two intracellular structures become labeled, as determined by the method of hypothetical grain analysis. These include large clear, presumably endocytotic, vesicles and multivesicular bodies. Over the first hour of incubation the ...
The Eiric Raude offshore drilling rig is a powerful machine that is suitable for drilling in harsh environments in ultra deep water. It has a total drilling depth of 8,200 to 10,000 metres and an operational displacement of 53,400 mt. The rig complies with the regulatory regimes of Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada. The Eiric Raude has drilled 5 deepwater wells offshore eastern Canada, 1 well offshore Cuba, 1 well west of Shetland, and 3 offshore Norway. The environmental criteria for extreme weather conditions consider wave, current and wind forces. The general operational guidelines were discussed along with key areas for prevention of environmental impact, including emissions from well testing, air emissions from diesel engines, cooling water, bunkering operations, discharges from drilling, accidental discharges, drain water, and domestic sewage. It was noted that the zero discharge philosophy is the basis for all activities. The ...
The US Department of Energy (DOE) Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP) has as one of its tasks the identification of a decision methodology and key decision criteria for the selection methodology. The aim of a multicriteria analysis is to provide an instrument for a systematic evaluation of distinct alternative projects. Determination of this methodology will clarify (1) the factors used to evaluate these alternatives, (2) the evaluator`s view of the importance of the factors, and (3) the relative value of each alternative. The selected methodology must consider the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) decision-making criteria for application to the analysis technology subsystems developed by the DOE Office of Technology Development. This report contains a compilation of several decision methodologies developed in various national laboratories, institutions, and universities. The purpose of these methodologies may vary, but ...
This report presents findings from the first year of a two-year study of interactive efforts involving utilities and non-utility parties (NUPS) working together to prepare plans, develop Demand-Side Management (DSM) programs, or otherwise promote integrated planning and the use of cost-effective DSM measures. Of the ten cases covered in the current study, seven involved the collaborative approach to NUP involvement, which generally is marked by intensive utility-NUP interactions designed to reach consensus on a broad range of important issues; in collaboratives, outside consultants often are provided to enhance the technical capabilities of the NUPS. Another of the cases in this study involved a cooperative arrangement,'' whereby a utility and a NLT worked together in a focused short-term effort to develop a single DSM program. The intense interaction involved in this approach makes it very similar to a collaborative, except that both the scope and the duration of the ...
This report presents findings from the first year of a two-year study of interactive efforts involving utilities and non-utility parties (NUPS) working together to prepare plans, develop Demand-Side Management (DSM) programs, or otherwise promote integrated planning and the use of cost-effective DSM measures. Of the ten cases covered in the current study, seven involved the collaborative approach to NUP involvement, which generally is marked by intensive utility-NUP interactions designed to reach consensus on a broad range of important issues; in collaboratives, outside consultants often are provided to enhance the technical capabilities of the NUPS. Another of the cases in this study involved a ``cooperative arrangement,`` whereby a utility and a NLT worked together in a focused short-term effort to develop a single DSM program. The intense interaction involved in this approach makes it very similar to a collaborative, except that both the scope and the duration of the effort were ...
The kinetics of benzoate degradation by the anaerobic syntrophic bacterium, Syntrophus buswellii, was studied in coculture with Desulfovibrio strain G11. The threshold value for benzoate degradation was dependent on the acetate concentration with benzoate threshold values ranging from 2.4 [mu]M at 20 mM acetate to 30.0 [mu]M at 65 mM acetate. Increasing acetate concentrations also inhibited the rate of benzoate degradation with a apparent K[sub i] for acetate inhibition of 7.0 mM. Lower threshold values were obtained when nitrate rather than sulfate was the terminal electron acceptor. These data are consistent with a thermodynamic explanation for the threshold, and suggest that there is a minimum Gibbs free energy value required for the degradation of benzoate. An acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase has been isolated from Syntrophomonas wolfei; it is apparently a key enzyme controlling the synthesis of poly-B-hydroxyalkanoate from acetyl-CoA in this organism. Kinetic ...
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council and the Cook Inlet Regional Citizen's Advisory Council are independent, non profit organizations formed in 1989 following the Exxon Valdez oil spill to promote the concept of community-based oil spill response (COSR) in their respective regions. COSR involves local citizens in responding to oil spilled in waters they rely upon for income, recreation and subsistence. The 2 advisory councils recently held a Community Oil Spill Response Forum to review the status of existing COSR teams and to share information about past and future COSR-related efforts. The meeting served as an information exchange process about regulatory programs, COSR variations in communities and harbors, training, and personnel issues. Key groups attending the forum were harbor masters, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, United States Coast Guard, existing COSR teams, oil response ...
BackgroundThe presence of regulatory T (Treg) cells in human endometrium is crucial for maintaining immunological homeostasis within the uterus. For this study we decided to evaluate...Full Text Available
Main results of 15-year SSTC NRS activity in the field of technical support of regulatory authority are presented. The article also described management policy, quality assurance system, personnel training system and international co-operation of SSTC. (author)
Reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks has been an intensively studied topic in bioinformatics since it constitutes an intermediate step from explorative to causative gene expression...Full Text Available
That regulatory T cells (Tregs) have a crucial role in controlling allergic diseases such as asthma is now undisputed. The cytokines most commonly implicated in Treg-mediated suppression of...Full Text Available
How transcription factors interpret the cis-regulatory logic encoded within enhancers to mediate quantitative changes in spatiotemporally restricted expression patterns during animal...Full Text Available
Motivation: The identification of gene regulatory modules is an important yet challenging problem in computational biology. While many computational methods have been proposed to identify...Full Text Available
Our inability to associate distant regulatory elements with the genes that they regulate has largely precluded their examination for sequence alterations contributing to human disease. One major obstacle is the large genomic space surrounding targeted genes in which such elements could potentially reside. In order to delineate gene regulatory boundaries we used whole-genome human-mouse-chicken (HMC) and human-mouse-frog (HMF) multiple alignments to compile conserved blocks of synteny (CBS), under the hypothesis that these blocks have been kept intact throughout evolution at least in part by the requirement of regulatory elements to stay linked to the genes that they regulate. A total of 2,116 and 1,942 CBS>200 kb were assembled for HMC and HMF respectively, encompassing 1.53 and 0.86 Gb of human sequence. To support the existence of complex long-range regulatory domains within these CBS we ...
BackgroundA wide range of techniques is now available for analyzing regulatory networks. Nonetheless, most of these techniques fail to interpret large-scale transcriptional data...Full Text Available
Zebrafish transgenesis is a powerful and increasingly common strategy to assay vertebrate transcriptional regulatory control. Several challenges remain, however, to the broader application of...Full Text Available
The report analyzes the cost-effectiveness of two alternative regulatory options: A Treated Discharge Option and a Zero Discharge Option. The report compares the total annualized cost incurred for each of the two regulatory options to the corresponding ef...
Cellular cholesterol homeostasis is controlled by sterol-regulated proteolysis of membrane-bound transcription factors called sterol-regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs). CPP32, a cysteine protease,...Full Text Available
Sewage waste disposal facilities in the Florida Keys include septic tanks and individual package plants in place of municipal collection facilities in most locations. In Key Largo, both facilities discharge...Full Text Available
Elevated fatty acid levels have been thought to contribute to insulin resistance. Repression of the glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) gene as well as impaired GLUT4 translocation may be a mediator for fatty acid-induced insulin resistance. This study was initiated to determine whether palmitate treatment repressed GLUT4 expression, whether glucose/fatty acid metabolism influenced palmitate-induced GLUT4 gene repression (PIGR), and whether attempts to prevent PIGR restored palmitate-induced impairment of glucose uptake (PIIGU) in C2 myotubes. Not only stimulators of fatty acid oxidation, such as bezafibrate, AICAR, and TOFA, but also TCA cycle substrates, such as pyruvate, leucine/glutamine, and ?-ketoisocaproate/monomethyl succinate, significantly prevented PIGR. In particular, supplementing with pyruvate through methyl pyruvate resulted in nearly complete prevention of PIIGU, whereas palmitate treatment reduced the intracellular pyruvate level. ...
3T3 - L1 cells can be induced to differentiate by exposing cell culture to a medium containing 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine together with insulin and dexamethasone. They have observed that oxalomalate (OMA) which inhibits aconitase thus blocking the citric cycle, also favours differentiation to adipocytes leading to fatty acids accumulation and increased synthesis of specific proteins. They compared the effects of 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine-insulin-dexamethasone and OMA on the steady-state levels of mRNA of c / EBP, H-ferritin and aconitase / IRE-BP. OMA does not affect the steady-state mRNA amount of C / EBP, H-ferritin and aconitase / IRE-BP but the 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine-insulin-dexamethasone mixture is able to induce a five-fold increase of mRNA levels for aconitase / IRE-BP. This is the first finding correlating iron metabolism to adipocyte differentiation. Further studies will clarify a possible role for the ...
The K0.5 for intracellular sodium of the two forms of (Na ,K )-ATPase which exist in rat adipocytes has been determined by incubating the cells in the absence of potassium in buffers of varying sodium concentration; these conditions shut off the Na pump and allow sodium to equilibrate into the cell. The activity of (Na ,K )-ATPase was then monitored with YWRb /K pumping which was initiated by adding isotope and KCl to 5 mM, followed by a 3-min uptake period. Atomic absorption and SSNa tracer equilibration were used to determine the actual intracellular (Na ) under the different conditions. The K0.5 values thus obtained were 17 mM for alpha and 52 mM for alpha(+). Insulin treatment of rat adipocytes had no effect on the intracellular (Na+) nor on the Vmax of YWRb /K pumping, but did produce a shift in the sodium ion K0.5 values to 14 mM for alpha and 33 mM for alpha(+). This change in affinity can explain the selective stimulation of alpha(+) by ...
In key management schemes that realize secure multicast communications encrypted by group keys on a public network, tree structures are often used to update the group keys efficiently. Selcuk and Sidhu have proposed an efficient scheme which updates dynamically the tree structures based on the withdrawal probabilities of members. In this paper, it is shown that Selcuk-Sidhu scheme is asymptotically optimal for the cost of withdrawal. Furthermore, a new key management scheme, which takes account of key update costs of joining in addition to withdrawal, is proposed. It is proved that the proposed scheme is also asymptotically optimal, and it is shown by simulation that it can attain good performance for nonasymptotic cases.
Loss-of-function mutations in the regulatory gene areA of Aspergillus nidulans prevent the utilization of a wide variety of nitrogen sources. The phenotypes of nit-2 mutants of Neurospora crassa suggest...Full Text Available
Proteins aggregated into spherulite structures of amyloid fibrils have been observed in patients with certain brain diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. The conditions under which these protein spherulites form and grow are not currently known. In order to illuminate the role of environmental factors on protein spherulites, this research aims to explore the kinetics and mechanisms of spherulite formation and growth, as monitored by optical microscopy, in a range of salt concentrations, and initial protein concentrations for two model proteins: bovine b-lactoglobulin and insulin. These two proteins are significantly different in their size and fibril growth rate, but both of these proteins have been shown previously to form amyloid fibrils and spherulites under low pH conditions. The...
A comparative study on the interaction of (PEG-co-P(FA/SC)-co-PEG) triblock copolymer with bovine and human insulins was carried out using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence spectroscopy. ITC data show that the copolymer has a low affinity for both proteins, with an association constant of about 7?9?103?M ?1. Results also show that binding is enthalpically driven, and disfavored by conformational entropy. CD spectroscopy studies reveal a small increase in the helical content and a decrease in ?-structure as well as random coil in both proteins. Acrylamide quenching experiments display reduced accessibility of tyrosines, while intrinsic fluorescence spectra show lower tyrosine emission. Furthermore, thermal unfolding experiments, studied by far...
Adipose tissue plays an essential role in energy homeostasis as a metabolic and endocrine organ. Accordingly, adipocytes are emerging as a major drug target for obesity and obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Dysfunction of enlarged adipocytes in obesity is involved in obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin released from small adipocytes, are able to prevent these disorders. In this study, we found that honokiol, an ingredient of Magnolia officinalis used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines, enhanced adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Oil Red O staining showed that treatment with honokiol in the presence of insulin dose-dependently increased lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipoyctes although its activity was weak compared with r...
Glucose homeostasis requires the tight regulation of glucose utilization by liver, muscle and white or brown fat, and glucose production and release in the blood by liver. The major goal of maintaining glycemia at -5 mM is to ensure a sufficient flux of glucose to the brain, which depends mostly on this nutrient as a source of metabolic energy. This homeostatic process is controlled by hormones, mainly glucagon and insulin, and by autonomic nervous activities that control the metabolic state of liver, muscle and fat tissue but also the secretory activity of the endocrine pancreas. Activation or inhibition of the sympathetic or parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous systems are controlled by glucose-excited or glucose-inhibited neurons located at different anatomical sites, mainl...
This report, the eighth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1992. A special emphasis on accomplishments in nuclear power plant aging research reflects recognition that a number of plants are entering the final portion of their original 40-year operating licenses and that, in addition to current aging effects, a focus on safety considerations for license renewal becomes timely. The primary purpose of performing regulatory research is to develop and provide the Commission and its staff with the technical bases for regulatory decisions on the safe operation of licensed nuclear reactors and facilities, to find unknown or unexpected safety problems, and to develop data and related information for the purpose of revising the ...
This report, the eighth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1992. A special emphasis on accomplishments in nuclear power plant aging research reflects recognition that a number of plants are entering the final portion of their original 40-year operating licenses and that, in addition to current aging effects, a focus on safety considerations for license renewal becomes timely. The primary purpose of performing regulatory research is to develop and provide the Commission and its staff with the technical bases for regulatory decisions on the safe operation of licensed nuclear reactors and facilities, to find unknown or unexpected safety problems, and to develop data and related information for the purpose of revising the ...
Since its creation the nuclear industry has been struggling with the question of how safe is safe enough. Safety is a common goal to all involved in the design, operation and regulation of a nuclear installation. As a concept safety is not easy to define. However, there is a general understanding of what attributes a nuclear power plant should have in order to operate safely. The challenge lies in measuring the attributes. The new competitive open electricity market, in many countries throughout the world, is increasing the economic pressure on operators to lower operating costs without jeopardizing safety. Challenges are occurring at a rate that is unprecedented in the nuclear industry: competitiveness; downsizing; ageing; policy changes; reorganization; restructuring; mergers; globalization; and takeovers demand increasing attention to the management of safety. There are various means to measure safety performance, some of which are more qualitative in nature and others which through ...
The presence of an amino acid other than aspartic acid at position 57 of the HLA-DQ beta chain (non-Asp-57) is highly associated with susceptibility to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), whereas...Full Text Available
AimsRosiglitazone and fenofibrate, specific agonists of the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors-γ (PPARγ) and -α (PPARα),...Full Text Available
In situ assembly states of rat adipocyte glucose transport protein in plasma membrane (PM) and in microsomal pool (MM) were assessed by measuring target size (TS) of D glucose-sensitive, cytochalasin B binding activity. High energy radiation inactivated the binding in both PM and MM by reducing the total capacity of the binding (B/sub T/) without affecting the dissociation constant (K/sub D/). The reduction in B/sub T/ as a function of radiation dose was analyzed based on classical target theory, from which TS was calculated. TS in the PM of insulin-treated adipocytes was 58 KDa. TS in the MM of noninsulin-treated and insulin-treated adipocytes were 112 and 109 KDa, respectively. With MM, however, inactivation data showed anomalously low radiation sensitivities at low radiation doses showing a shoulder in the semilog plots, which may be due to an interaction with a radiation sensitive inhibitor. With these results, they propose the following ...
The capacity of bones to adjust their mass and architecture to withstand the loads of everyday activity derives from the ability of their resident cells to respond appropriately to the strains engendered....Full Text Available
Endocrine disrupting chemicals can induce malformations and impairment of reproductive function in experimental animals and may have similar effects in humans. Recently, the environmental obesogen hypothesis was proposed, suggesting that environmental chemicals contribute to the development of obesity and insulin resistance. These effects could be related to chemical interaction with nuclear receptors such as the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs). As several testosterone-reducing drugs are PPAR activators, we aimed to examine whether four PPAR agonists were able to affect fetal testosterone production and masculinization of rats. Additionally, we wished to examine whether these chemicals affected fetal plasma levels of insulin and leptin, which play important roles in the developmental programming of the metabolic system. Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed from gestation day (GD) 7-21 to diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), ...
Whether the lusitropic potential of short-term exercise in aged rats is linked to an augmentation in the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-1) axis and an alteration in the...Full Text Available
The investigations were conducted at the Center of Biotechnology and Molecular Diagnostics of the All-Russian Animal Husbandry Research Institute, where a number of valuable transgenic animals (rabbits, sheep, and pigs) have been produced over the course of 20 years. The article presents the blood indices of control and transgenic rabbits with an integrated insulin gene.
The current investigation attempted to confirm the beneficial actions of a chemically characterized Radix Astragali decoction (AM-W) against type 2 diabetic (T2D) Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Using a case/control...Full Text Available
Extracellular ATP has been proposed as a paracrine signal in rodent islets, but it is unclear what role ATP plays in human islets. We now show the presence of an ATP signaling pathway that enhances...Full Text Available
Tea catechin is one of the compounds that are closely related to obesity and insulin sensitivity. In order to determine the effect of catechin on adipocyte differentiation, we treated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes...Full Text Available
Strategic management of key accounts has become an important component of many companies' sales efforts. This research introduces a strategic framework of key account performance that integrates theory from relationship marketing, key account management, and customer equity. Using the three drivers of customer equity - value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity - the framework captures both the relational outcomes (relationship commitment and trust) and financial performance outcomes (profitability and share of spend) of strategic decisions made in key account programs. Implications and future research are then discussed.
The White Rose Oil Project, located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 km east of St. John's, is reported to continue paying benefits for the oil and gas industry in eastern Canada. The operator, Husky Energy, is said to be on target and expects first oil from the project in late 2005 or early 2006. Peak production for the White Rose Field is projected at 100,000 bbl/d. The project has a total capital cost of $2.35 billion. The first phase of the project, comprised of four wells, including an oil producer, was completed in July. The estimated productive capacity of this well is between 25,000 and 35,000 bbl/d. Other major milestones achieved at the White Rose project include movement of the topside modules onto the Sea Rose floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, consisting of 17 lifts during the seven-week program. Individual lifts up to 1,250 tons were carried by the Lampson 2600 Trans-lift crane at the Cow Head Fabrication Facility in Marystown. ...
Mercury has had various uses in nuclear fuel reprocessing and other nuclear processes, and so is often present in radioactive and mixed (both radioactive and hazardous according to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) wastes. Depending on regulatory requirements, the mercury in the off-gas must be controlled with sometimes very high efficiencies. Compliance to the Hazardous Waste Combustor (HWC) Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards can require off-gas mercury removal efficiencies up to 99.999% for thermally treating some mixed waste streams. Several test programs have demonstrated this level of off-gas mercury control using fixed beds of granular sulfur-impregnated activated carbon. Other results of these tests include: (a) The depth of the mercury control mass transfer zone was less than 15-30 cm for the operating conditions of these tests, (b) MERSORB(reg_sign) carbon can sorb Hg up to 19 wt% of the carbon mass, and (c) the spent carbon ...
This report, the fifth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1989. The goal of this office is to ensure that safety-related research provides the technical bases for rulemaking and for related decisions in support of NRC licensing and inspection activities. This research is necessary to make certain that the regulations that are imposed on licensees provide an adequate margin of safety so as to protect the health and safety of the public. This report describes both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge with regard to nuclear safety and their regulatory applications.
This report, the seventh in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1991. The goal of this office is to ensure that safety-related research provides the technical bases for rulemaking and for related decisions in support of NRC licensing and inspection activities. This research is necessary to make certain that the regulations that are imposed on licensees provide an adequate margin of safety so as to protect the health and safety of the public. This report describes both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge with regard to nuclear safety and their regulatory applications.
This report, the seventh in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1991. The goal of this office is to ensure that safety-related research provides the technical bases for rulemaking and for related decisions in support of NRC licensing and inspection activities. This research is necessary to make certain that the regulations that are imposed on licensees provide an adequate margin of safety so as to protect the health and safety of the public. This report describes both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge with regard to nuclear safety and their regulatory applications.
This report, the sixth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1990. The goal of this office is to ensure that safety-related research provides the technical bases for rulemaking and for related decisions in support of NRC licensing and inspection activities. This research is necessary to make certain that the regulations that are imposed on licensees provide an adequate margin of safety so as to protect the health and safety of the public. This report describes both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge with regard to nuclear safety and their regulatory applications.
This report, the fourth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to Congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during 1988. The goal of this office is to ensure that safety-related research provides the technical bases for rulemaking and for related decisions in support of NRC licensing and inspection activities. This research is necessary to make certain that the regulations that are imposed on licensees provide an adequate margin of safety so as to protect the health and safety of the public. This report describes both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge with regard to nuclear safety and their regulatory applications.
This report is the second in a series of annual reports responding to congressional inquiries as to the utilization of nuclear regulatory research. NUREG-1175, ''NRC Safety Research in Support of Regulation,'' published in May 1986, reported major research accomplishments between about FY 1980 and FY 1985. This report narrates the accomplishments of FY 1986 and does not restate earlier accomplishments. Earlier research results are mentioned in the context of current results in the interest of continuity. Both the direct contributions to scientific and technical knowledge and their regulatory applications, when there has been a definite regulatory outcome during FY 1986, have been described.
The authors trace the early history of nuclear power regulation in the US. Focusing on the Atomic Energy Commission, they describe the role of other groups that figured in the development of regulatory policies, including the Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, other federal agencies, state governments, the nuclear industry, and scientific organizations. They consider changes in public perceptions of and attitudes toward atomic energy and the dangers of radiation exposure. The basic purpose of the book is to provide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the general public with information on the historical antecedents and background of regulatory issues so that there will be continuity in policy decisions. The book concludes with an annotated bibliography of selected references. 19 figures.
Legionella pneumophila is a gram-negative bacterial species that is ubiquitous in almost any aqueous environment. It is the agent of Legionnaires’ disease, an acute and often...Full Text Available
Within the cardiac cell, the movements of calcium ions are tightly regulated by a number of regulatory proteins including pumps, and channels. The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is in large part...Full Text Available
and used to reduce or replace petroleum-based transportation fuel, heating oil or jet fuel). In addition, this rule includes a new regulatory provision establishing a...
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, there was heightened interest worldwide in protecting nuclear power plants against intentional aircraft attack by terrorists. This paper presents our perspective into regulatory requirements for intentional aircraft crash that were set forth in foreign countries, including the latest rulemaking by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), i.e., 10 CFR 50.54(hh) and 10 CFR 50.150 that have been made effective in May and July of 2009, respectively. In light of these international efforts to further enhance safety of NPPs, a study is also underway at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) to establish an effective and efficient regulatory approach in consideration of the state of the art in this area
For companies, relationships with external actors may constitute intangible assets. Many firms have put in place key account management programs in order to pay sufficient attention to strategically important customers and the marketing literature has studied such programs. However, a company's relationship portfolio also comprises relationships with other types of actors. The objective of this paper is to show that ? across the different types of external relationships a company may develop ? some relationships have more importance than others and, hence, are key. The authors argue that, as a consequence, the keyness of certain relationships has led to the emergence of approaches which can be referred to as key relationship management. For this purpose, the authors first present empirical...
AbstractIndividual informed consent is a key ethical obligation for clinical studies, but empirical studies show that key requirements are often not met. Common recommendations to strengthen...Full Text Available
AMP-activated-protein-kinase (AMPK) is a key sensor and regulator of cellular and whole-body energy metabolism and plays a key role in regulation of lipid metabolism. Since lipid metabolism...Full Text Available
Food-deprived pigeons were presented with a row of four response keys situated above a grain hopper aperture. At the start of a trial, three of four keys were randomly selected and illuminated white...Full Text Available
The aim of this study was to determine the relationships of bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC) with insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and estradiol in pubertal female athletes. The participants were 170 healthy adolescent girls (13?15?years) who participated in competitive extramural athletic programs, i.e., sports games (n?=?49), track sprinting (n?=?24), rhythmic gymnastics (n?=?23), swimming (n?=?24) and cross-country skiing (n?=?17). The control group (n?=?33) consisted of girls who took part only in compulsory physical education classes at school. The whole-body BMD and femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD and BMC were measured using DXA, and the volumetric BMD was calculated. Venous blood samples to determine the concentration of IGF-1, IGFB...
Active oxygens produced by low-dose irradiation can induce the synthesis of proteins involved in the active oxygen reduction path and can activate the chemical self-defense mechanisms in vivo, which can alleviate the injuries caused by active oxygens themselves. The following findings suggests that it is not only by low-dose irradiation that can induce the responses described above but also by any physical and/or chemical stresses which can produce small amount of active oxygens in vivo. 1. X-irradiation with 0.5 Gy and/or water immersion and restraint induced heat shock protein (HSP)70 in rat stomach cells. HSP70 was also induced in adrenal cells by paraquat administration. 2. The SOD activity in pancreas of rat significantly increased by #gamma#-irradiation with 0.5 Gy. 0.5 Gy irradiation preceeding the alloxan administration significantly suppressed the increase in pancreatic lipid peroxides and in blood glucose levels, degranulation in #beta# cells, and decrease in blood ...
Here we present evidence that in water/acetonitrile solvent detailed structural and dynamic information can be obtained for important proteins that are naturally present as oligomers under native conditions. An NMR-derived human insulin monomer structure in H{sub 2}O/CD{sub 3}CN, 65/35 vol%, pH 3.6 is presented and compared with the available X-ray structure of a monomer that forms part of a hexamer (Acta Crystallogr. 2003 Sec. D59, 474) and with NMR structures in water and organic cosolvent. Detailed analysis using PFGSE NMR, temperature-dependent NMR, dilution experiments and CSI proves that the structure is monomeric in the concentration and temperature ranges 0.1-3 mM and 10-30 deg. C, respectively. The presence of long-range interstrand NOEs, as found in the crystal structure of the monomer, provides the evidence for conservation of the tertiary structure. Starting from structures calculated by the program CYANA, two different molecular dynamics simulated ...
A simple, short and sensitive direct radio-immunoassay technique for the determination of salivary cortisol concentration was employed to assess saliva as a medium for evaluating cortisol response during endocrine testing in 9 controls and 40 patients. Results in controls suggested that an adequate salivary cortisol response to insulin hypoglycaemia was an increase of 150% above the basal value with a minimum peak of 15 nmol/l. Thirty-three patients were classified as being either good or poor responders to insulin hypoglycaemia on the basis of criteria for plasma cortisol levels. When the defined salivary cortisol response was used for assessment, all 33 patients were correctly categorized into the same response groups. The salivary cortisol response to intramuscular tetracosactin in 3 patients and an intravenous dexamethasone infusion in 4 patients confirmed the value of saliva as an assay medium. These studies show that the salivary cortisol ...
The in situ assembly states of the glucose transport carrier protein in the plasma membrane and in the intracellular (microsomal) storage pool of rat adipocytes were assessed by studying radiation-induced inactivation of the D-glucose-sensitive cytochalasin B binding activities. High energy radiation inactivated the glucose-sensitive cytochalasin B binding of each of these membrane preparations by reducing the total number of the binding sites without affecting the dissociation constant. The reduction in total number of binding sites was analyzed as a function of radiation dose based on target theory, from which a radiation-sensitive mass (target size) was calculated. When the plasma membranes of insulin-treated adipocytes were used, a target size of approximately 58,000 daltons was obtained. For adipocyte microsomal membranes, we obtained target sizes of approximately 112,000 and 109,000 daltons prior to and after insulin treatment, ...
A multifunctional protein kinase, purified from rat liver as ATP-citrate lyase kinase, has been identified as a glycogen synthase kinase. This kinase catalyzed incorporation of up to 1.5 mol of and)2numberSPO4/mol of synthase subunit associated with a decrease in the glycogen synthase activity ratio from 0.85 to a value of 0.15. Approximately 65-70% of the TUPO4 was incorporated into site 3 and 30-35% into site 2 as determined by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. This multifunctional kinase was distinguished from glycogen synthase kinase-3 on the basis of nucleotide and protein substrate specificities. Since the phosphate contents in glycogen synthase of sites 3 and 2 are altered in diabetes and by insulin administration, the possible involvement of the multifunctional kinase was explored. Glycogen synthase purified from diabetic rabbits was phosphorylated in vitro by this multifunctional kinase at only 10% of the rate compared to synthase ...
Abstract Aims: This study performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on glycemic control and pregnancy outcomes in women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) treated with lispro (LP) versus regular insulin (RI) since before pregnancy. Methods: We performed a MEDLINE and EMBASE search. Abstracts (and full articles when appropriate) were reviewed by two independent researchers. Inclusion criteria were patients with T1DM, data on women treated with RI and LP since before pregnancy until delivery in the same article, at least five pregnancies in each group, and information on at least one pregnancy outcome. Quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle?Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for cohort studies. Results: Outcome data were summarized with Revman version 5.0 (ims.cochrane.org...
OBJECTIVE To identify patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who will need antenatal insulin treatment (AIT) by using a risk-prediction tool based on maternal clinical and biochemical characteristics at diagnosis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data from 3,009 women attending the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital GDM Clinic, Australia, between 1995 and 2010 were studied. A risk engine was developed from significant factors identified for AIT using a logistic regression model. RESULTS A total of 51% of GDM patients required AIT. Ethnicity, gestation at diagnosis, HbA(1c), fasting and 60-min glucose oral glucose tolerance test, BMI, and diabetes family history were significant independent determinants of AIT. Notably, only 9% of the attributable risk for AIT can be explained by the clinical factors studied. A modeled risk-scoring system was therefore a poor predictor of AIT. CONCLUSIONS Baseline maternal characteristics including HbA(1c) alone cannot predict the ...
Abstract Aims To determine the long-term health economic benefits associated with lispro vs. regular human insulin (RHI) in UK Type 1 diabetic (T1DM) patients using the previously published and validated CORE Diabetes Model. Methods A literature review designed to capture clinical benefits associated with lispro and T1DM cohort characteristics specific to UK was undertaken. Clinical benefits were derived from a Cochrane meta-analysis. The estimated difference (weighted mean) in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was -0.1% (95% confidence interval -0.2 to 0.0%) for lispro vs. RHI. Severe hypoglycaemia rates for lispro and RHI were 21.8 and 46.1 events per 100 patient years, respectively. Costs and disutilities were accounted for severe hypoglycaemia rates. All costs were accounted in 2007 UK from...
... Uninterrupted access to and use of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf region are key to the successful prosecution of the Global War on Terror ...
We present a protocol for quantum key distribution using discrete modulation of coherent states of light. Information is encoded in the variable phase of coherent states which can be chosen from a regular discrete set ranging from binary to continuous modulation similar to phase-shift keying in classical communication. Information is decoded by simultaneous homodyne measurement of both quadratures and requires no active choice of basis. The protocol utilizes either direct or reverse reconciliation both with and without postselection. We analyze the security of the protocol and show how to enhance it by the optimal choice of all variable parameters of the quantum signal.
We have studied the impact of overexpression of an intracellular signaling protein, integrin-linked kinase (ILK), on the survival and function of encapsulated islet tissue used for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. The dimensions of the encapsulated tissue can impact the stresses placed on the tissue and ILK overexpression shows the ability to extend function of dissociated cells as well as intact islets. These results suggest that lost cell-extracellular matrix interactions in cell encapsulation systems can lead to decreased insulin secretion and ILK signaling is a target to overcome this phenomenon. (communication)
ABSTRACT: Metabolomic analysis will provide the next large set of clues to further our understanding of human health and disease. A recent study has elucidated the significant differences in the metabolomes of adipocytes, serum and an adipocyte cell line after activation of two nuclear receptors, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor ?/? (PPAR?/?) and PPAR?. These findings hold great promise for explaining fundamental differences in the mechanisms of PPAR agonists and for identifying targets for the treatment of diabetes.See related research article: http://genomebiology.com/2011/12/8/R75. PMID:21861850
In the early 1970s a spate of papers by research groups around the world provided evidence for a negative regulatory role of thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells). In 1971, Gershon and Kondo published...Full Text Available
The rates of synthesis of a class of both secreted and intracellular degradative enzymes in Bacillus subtilis are controlled by a signal transduction pathway defined by at least four regulatory genes:...Full Text Available
Public Law 95-209 includes a requirement that the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards submit an annual report to Congress on the safety research program of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This report presents the results of the ACRS review and evaluation of the NRC safety research program for Fiscal Year 1983. The report contains a number of comments and recommendations.
Public Law 95-209 includes a requirement that the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards submit an annual report to Congress on the safety research program of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This report presents the results of the ACRS review and evaluation of the NRC safety research program for Fiscal Year 1982. The report contains a number of comments and recommendations.
This report presents information and analysis to assist BLM in clarifying oil shale research needs. It provides technical guidance on research needs in support of their regulatory responsibilities for onshore mineral activities involving oil shale. It provides an assessment of research needed to support the regulatory and managerial role of the BLM as well as others involved in the development of oil shale resources on public and Indian lands in the western United States.
Regulatory T (T reg) cells exert powerful down-modulatory effects on immune responses, but it is not known how they act in vivo. Using intravital two-photon laser scanning microscopy we determined that,...Full Text Available
This document contains eleven papers on various aspects of low-level radioactive waste regulation. Topics include: EPA environmental standards; international exemption principles; the concept of below regulatory concern; envirocare activities in Utah; mixed waste; FUSRAP and the Superfund; and a review of various incentive programs. Individual papers are processed separately for the data base. (TEM)
To be able to carry out review functions regulatory authorities must be able to make critical evaluations of proponent's safety cases. In Sweden the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority aims to have in place its own suite of performance assessment tools. This paper looks at the role and application of a regulator's models to important features of current modelling in a proponent's performance assessment. (authors)
The study concludes that while the diversification into nonutility activities by the Rural Electric Cooperatives and the Rural Telephone Cooperatives has been expanding, the regulatory activities by the Rural Electrification Administration and the state public utility commissions have been inadequate to guard against cross-subsidization. In fact, there generally exist no data to identify and investigate illegal cross-subsidization activities of cooperatives. Increasing the regulatory functions of state public utility commissions and the REA was recommended.
BackgroundATRX is a tightly-regulated multifunctional protein with crucial roles in mammalian development. Mutations in the ATRX gene cause ATR-X syndrome, an X-linked...Full Text Available
Background: Hypertriglyceridemia is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Variation in the apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5) and glucokinase regulatory protein (GCKR)...Full Text Available
Objectives: We have previously shown that chronic exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (less than 2.5 ?m in aerodynamic diameter, PM(2.5)) pollution in conjunction with high-fat diet induces insulin resistance through alterations in inflammatory pathways. In this study we evaluated the effects of PM(2.5) exposure over a substantive duration of a rodent's lifespan and focused on the impact of long-term exposure on adipose structure and function.Methods and Results: C57BL/6 mice were exposed to PM(2.5) or filtered air (FA) (6 hours/day, 5 days/week) for duration of 10 months in Columbus, OH. At the end of the exposure, PM(2.5)-exposed mice demonstrated insulin resistance (IR) and a decrease in glucose tolerance compared with the FA-exposed group. Although there were no significant differences in circulating cytokines between PM(2.5)- and FA-exposed groups, circulating adiponectin and leptin were significantly decreased in PM(2.5)-exposed ...
The effect of 10 wk endurance swim training on 3-O-methylglucose (3-MG) uptake (at 40 mM 3-MG) in skeletal muscle was studied in the perfused rat hindquarter. Training resulted in an increase of approximately 33% for maximum insulin-stimulated 3-MG transport in fast-twitch red fibers and an increase of approximately 33% for contraction-stimulated transport in slow-twitch red fibers compared with nonexercised sedentary muscle. A fully additive effect of insulin and contractions was observed both in trained and untrained muscle. Compared with transport in control rats subjected to an almost exhaustive single exercise session the day before experiment both maximum insulin- and contraction-stimulated transport rates were increased in all muscle types in trained rats. Accordingly, the increased glucose transport capacity in trained muscle was not due to a residual effect of the last training session. Half-times for reversal of ...
The fourth in a series of international Leak-Before-Break (LBB) Seminars supported in part by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission was held at the National Central Library in Taipei, Taiwan on May 11 and 12, 1989. The seminar updated the international polices and supporting research on LBB. Attendees included representatives from regulatory agencies, electric utilities, nuclear power plant fabricators, research organizations, and academic institutions. Regulatory policy was the subject of presentations by Mr. G. Arlotto (US NRC, USA) Dr. B. Jarman (AECB, Canada), Dr.P. Milella (ENEA-DISP, Italy), Dr. C. Faidy (EDF/Septen, France ), and Dr. K. Takumi (NUPEC, Japan). A paper by Mr. K. Wichman and Mr. A. Lee of the US NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation is included as background material to these proceedings; it discusses the history and status of LBB applications in US nuclear power plants. In addition, several papers on ...
The goal of this study is to estimate the relevance and Influence of the Existing Regulation and the RI-PBR to the institutionalization of the regulatory system. This study reviews the current regulatory system and the status of the RI-PBR implementation of the US NRC and Korea based upon SECY Papers, Risk Informed Regulation Implementation Plan (RIRIP) of the US NRC and other domestic studies. In order to investigate the perceptions, knowledge level, ground for the regulatory change, a survey was performed to Korean nuclear utilities, researchers and regulators on the perception on the RIR. The questionnaire was composed of 50 questions regarding personal details on work experience, level of education and specific field of work ; level of knowledge on the risk informed performance based regulation (RI-PBR); the perception of the current regulation, the effectiveness, level of procedure, flexibility, dependency on the ...
As a condition of accession into the European Union (EU), Lithuania is committed to the closure and decommissioning of Ignalina NPP comprising two RBMK-1500 reactor units (Fig. 1). It was agreed in a special protocol to the Accession Treaty that, in return for adequate EU financial assistance, Unit 1 would be closed before 2005 and Unit 2 by the end of 2009. The first unit was duly shut down on December 31, 2004. Lithuania, which has borders with Russia (Kaliningrad territory), Poland, Latvia and Belarus, spent fifty years as part of the Soviet Union and was deeply integrated into its economy and electrical infrastructure. At the break-up of the USSR, Lithuania inherited electricity generating capacity designed to supply the north-west region including ownership of Ignalina NPP located in the north-east of the country. Ignalina NPP Unit 1 was commissioned in 1983, Unit 2 in 1987; the planned lifespan of each unit was 30 years. Construction of a third unit was started but never ...
Immune function is critical in health and disease. The control and regulation of immune reactions is an area of intense investigation that has important implications for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Immune reactions are regulated in a number of important ways. Compartmentalization of immune responses and the production of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines play a major role. More recently several populations of T cells that regulate immune responses termed regulatory T cells have been identified. This manuscript will focus on CD4^+CD25^+FoxP3^+ natural regulatory T cells (T"r"e"g) and @a@bTCR^+CD4^+NK1.1^+ natural killer T (NK-T) cells which both suppress graft vs host disease but appear to function by distinct mechanisms.
Industrial radiography accounts for approximately half of all the reported accidents for the nuclear related industry, in both developed and developing countries. This Safety Report is the result of a review made of a large selection of accidents in industrial radiography reported by regulatory authorities, professional associations and scientific journals. A small, representative selection of 43 accident descriptions has been used to illustrate the primary causes of radiography accidents, and a set of measures provided to prevent the recurrence of such accidents or to mitigate the consequences of those that do occur. These accident descriptions were categorized by primary causes as follows: inadequate regulatory control; failure to follow operational procedures; inadequate training; inadequate maintenance; human error; equipment malfunction or defect; design flaws; and wilful violation. The information in this Safety report is intended for use ...
With the introduction of competition and diversification into retail utility services, rate-making methods are being rethought. Rates that are strictly cost-based may be too slow in responding to changes within the utility industry. And the advent of independent power production as a significant source of energy calls for greater flexibility in pricing of wholesale utility services as well. Various deregulation or reregulation plans have been formulated, including both price cap and price floor proposals. Some regulatory authorities have embraced market-based pricing over cost-based methods as the best solution to pricing problems. This article addresses Federal Energy Regulatory Commission response to market-based rates.
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) is essential for optimal T cell activation. Patients with WAS exhibit both immunodeficiency and a marked susceptibility to systemic autoimmunity. We investigated...Full Text Available
Extending genome wide association analysis by the inclusion of gene expression data may assist in the dissection of complex traits. We examined piebald, a pigmentation phenotype in both human and Merino...Full Text Available
In addition to the well documented role of cytokines in mediating tissue-level interactions, it is now clear that matrix macromolecules fulfil a complementary regulatory function. Data highlighted in...Full Text Available
DNA transposons are efficient tools in transgenesis and have therefore become popular in the analysis of the regulatory genome in vertebrates via enhancer trap screens. Here, I discuss recent progress...Full Text Available
Memory consolidation requires transcription and translation of new protein. Arc, an effector immediate early gene, and zif268, a regulatory transcription factor, have been implicated in synaptic plasticity...Full Text Available
Rhizobium leguminosarum, biovar viceae, strain RCC1001 contains two glutamine synthetase activities, GSI and GSII. We report here the identification of glnA, the structural gene for GSI. A 2 kb fragment...Full Text Available
The RNA-binding protein Hfq is recognized as an important regulatory factor in a variety of cellular processes, including stress resistance and pathogenesis. Hfq has been shown in several bacteria to...Full Text Available
SUMMARYThe biologic and clinical significance of KIT overexpression that associates with KIT gain-of- function mutations occurring in subsets...Full Text Available
Background/AimsHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection appears to subvert the human iron regulatory mechanism and thus upregulates hepcidin, resulting...Full Text Available
Promoters are important regulatory elements that contain the necessary sequence features for cells to initiate transcription. To functionally characterize a large set of human promoters, we measured...Full Text Available
A regulatory locus on the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome, designated sar, is involved in the expression of cell wall proteins, some of which are potentially important in the pathogenesis of endocarditis....Full Text Available
A positive, genetic selection against the activity of the nitrogen regulatory (NTR) system was used to isolate insertion mutations affecting nitrogen regulation in Klebsiella aerogenes. Two classes...Full Text Available
The level of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) profoundly influences essential cell behaviors such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and migration. The spatial and temporal pattern...Full Text Available
...broad range of experience in designing and building research and development laboratories for products such as vaccines, blood and sera, biological products, medical devices, solid dosage forms , highly potent products and cytotoxic material. We also have experience in a range of modular laboratories for TSE research, ...
Phospho-beta-galactosidase (P-beta-gal), the enzyme which catalyzes the first step in the metabolism of intracellular lactose phosphate, occurred at high specific activity in the cytoplasm in 12 of...Full Text Available
Regulatory agencies currently rely on rodent carcinogenicity bioassay data to predict whether or not a given chemical poses a carcinogenic threat to humans. We argue that it is always more useful to...Full Text Available
Protein post-translational modifications are an important biological regulatory mechanism, and the rate of their discovery using high throughput techniques is rapidly increasingly. To make use of this...Full Text Available
Medical treatment of heroin addiction with methadone and other pharmacotherapies has important benefits for individuals and society. However, regulatory policies have separated this treatment from the...Full Text Available
We examine how the structure and function of indirect flight muscle (IFM) and the entire flight system of Drosophila melanogaster are affected by phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain...Full Text Available
Government agencies responsible for protecting the public from the adverse effects of toxic chemicals must set priorities for research, regulatory action, protocol testing, and monitoring due to the...Full Text Available
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judges (AU), the Directors` Decisions (DD), and the Decisions on Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards, the Administrative Law Judge, the Directors' Decisions, and the Denials of Petitions for Rulemaking.
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLl), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), The Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions For Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ), the Directors Decisions (DD), and the Decisions on Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
The Regulatory Agenda is a semiannual compilation of all rules on which the NRC has recently completed action, or has proposed action, or is considering action, and of all petitions for rulemaking that the NRC has received that are pending disposition.
The Far UpStream Element (FUSE) regulatory system promotes a peak in the concentration of c-Myc during cell cycle. First, the FBP transcriptional activator binds to the FUSE DNA element upstream...Full Text Available
Choline (Cho)-containing phospholipids are the most abundant phospholipids in cellular membranes and play fundamental structural as well as regulatory roles in cell metabolism and signaling. Although...Full Text Available
Although the heart rapidly adapts cardiac output to match the body’s circulatory demands, the regulatory mechanisms ensuring that sufficient ATP is available to perform the required...Full Text Available
Electricity markets in the United States are undergoing unprecedented structural changes as a result of the confluence of regulatory, competitive, and technological forces. This paper introduces these structural changes and forces and discuss the implications, markets and commercialization scenarios for emerging fuel cells in evolving US electricity markets.
This manual provides information to assist in selection and designing control measures for reducing pollutant discharges from combined sewer overflows (CSOs). he manual will be useful for municipal public works staff, design engineers, and regulatory agency staff tasked with the ...
BackgroundRecent data show aberrant and altered expression of regulatory noncoding micro (mi) RNAs in prostate cancer (PCa). A large number of miRNAs are encoded in organized intronic...Full Text Available
BackgroundModern approaches to treating genetic disorders, cancers and even epidemics rely on a detailed understanding of the underlying gene signaling network. Previous work has...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe immunoregulatory enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, which catalyzes the conversion of tryptophan into kynurenine, is expressed in a significant subset of patients...Full Text Available
Myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) is the regulatory subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP). It plays a critical role in vasodilatation induced by cGMP-elevating agents such as nitric...Full Text Available
Skeletal formation is an essential and intricately regulated part of vertebrate development. Humans and mice deficient in Growth and Differentiation Factor 6 (Gdf6) have numerous...Full Text Available
The genetic systems of bacteria that have the ability to use organic pollutants as carbon and energy sources can be adapted to create bacterial biosensors for the detection of industrial pollution....Full Text Available
Progress is reported in the following subject areas: (1) chemistry of the arogenate molecule; (2) plant enzymology at the organismal level; (3) isolation of regulatory mutants in tobacco; and (4) stability of the haploid state in Nicotiana sylvestris.
The development of chromatin immunoprecipitation methods coupled with DNA microarray (ChIP-chip) technology has enabled genome-wide identification of cis-DNA regulatory elements to which transcription...Full Text Available
The programming of cellular networks to achieve new biological functions depends on the development of genetic tools that link the presence of a molecular signal to gene-regulatory activity. Recently,...Full Text Available
Bistability plays a central role in the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) controlling many essential biological functions, including cellular differentiation and cell cycle control. However, establishing...Full Text Available
FXYD1 (phospholemman) is a member of an evolutionarily conserved family of membrane proteins that regulate the function of the Na,K-ATPase enzyme complex in specific tissues and specific physiological...Full Text Available
The report details the economic impact of two alternative regulatory options; a Treated Discharge Option and a Zero Discharge Option on facilities that would have to comply with the regulations as part of the reproposal of effluent limitations and standar...
The report presents detailed technical information concerning application of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems to industrial boilers. The information was obtained by a survey of plant personnel, control system vendors, regulatory agencies, and consulting engineering firms. T...
The ability to adapt to adverse environmental conditions encountered in food and during host infection is a sine qua non for a successful Listeria monocytogenes infection. This ability...Full Text Available
This cost-effectiveness analysis supports the proposed effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Metal Products and Machinery Industry (MP and M) Phase I Industry. The report assesses the cost-effectiveness of five regulatory options for indir...
This analysis, submitted in support of proposed effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the centralized waste treatment (CWT) industry, investigates the cost-effectiveness of 24 regulatory options, representing all possible combinations of nine ...
BackgroundSteroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein related lipid transfer (START) domains are small globular modules that form a cavity where lipids and lipid hormones bind....Full Text Available
Phosphorus is an essential mineral that maintains cellular energy and mineralizes the skeleton. Because complex actions of ion transporters and regulatory hormones regulate serum phosphorus concentrations,...Full Text Available
BackgroundAs the first pathway-specific enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, phytoene synthase (PSY) is a prime regulatory target. This includes a number of biotechnological approaches...Full Text Available
Zipper-interacting protein kinase (ZIPK) is a member of the death-associated protein kinase family associated with apoptosis in nonmuscle cells where it phosphorylates myosin regulatory light chain...Full Text Available
The licensing status and procedures, regulatory framework, and current safety issues of CANDU type reactors, Wolsong units 2, 3 and 4 are examined. Licensing difficulties and lessons learned during the safety review of Wolsong 2, 3 and 4 and future requirements are also summarized. The review was conducted, not only to confirm the design adequacy with respect to the domestic atomic laws and regulatory requirements of the vendor country, Canada, but also to reflect into the design the lessons learned from the regulatory experiences of operating Wolsong I to enhance the safety as high as practically possible. Safety issues observed during the licensing review, such as containment integrity, fuel channel integrity, etc., are summarized. Several efforts have been conducted to harmonize the Canadian regulations with the Korean ones by establishing domestic regulatory positions and guidelines. For example, ...
Biosynthesis and uptake of siderophores in Aspergillus nidulans are regulated not only by iron availability but also by ambient pH: expression of this high-affinity iron uptake system...Full Text Available
The carboxyl-terminal region of tubulin alpha and beta subunits plays a major role in regulating its assembly into microtubules and constitutes an essential domain for the selective interaction of microtubule-associated...Full Text Available
Oncolytic viruses (OVs) represent a relatively novel anti-cancer modality. Like other new cancer treatments, effective OV therapy will likely require combination with conventional treatments. In order...Full Text Available
The report gives an initial assessment of the feasibility of disposing of flue gas desulfurization wastes in mines and in the ocean. The purpose of the assessment was to evaluate environmental, technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of the use of such disposal sites. Availab...
The accumulation of α-1,4-polyglucans is an important strategy to cope with transient starvation conditions in the environment. In bacteria and plants, the synthesis of glycogen and starch occurs...Full Text Available
BackgroundSearching for approximate patterns in large promoter sequences frequently produces an exceedingly high numbers of results. Our aim was to exploit biological knowledge for...Full Text Available
BackgroundGATA-2 is a transcription factor required for hematopoietic stem cell survival as well as for neuronal development in vertebrates. It has been shown that specific expression...Full Text Available
KLF1 regulates a diverse suite of genes to direct erythroid cell differentiation from bipotent progenitors. To determine the local cis-regulatory contexts and transcription factor networks...Full Text Available
BackgroundWe have recently introduced a predictive framework for studying gene transcriptional regulation in simpler organisms using a novel supervised learning algorithm called...Full Text Available
Leaf senescence is a developmentally programmed degeneration process, which is fine tuned by a complex regulatory network for plant fitness. However, molecular regulation of leaf senescence is poorly...Full Text Available
This document defines the services the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility (WSCF) shall provide Effluent Monitoring (EM) throughout the calendar year for analysis. The internal memo contained in Appendix A identifies the samples Em plans to submit for analysis in CY-1995. Analysis of effluent (liquid and air discharges) and environmental (air, liquid, animal, and vegetative) samples is required using standard laboratory procedures, in accordance with regulatory and control requirements. This report describes regulatory reporting requirements and WSCF services and data quality objectives.
Oil and gas industry is the largest user of radioactive materials in Nigeria. They make use of radiation generators, sealed and unsealed radioactive sources.Some of these are potentially dangerous to human health and environment if not properly controlled. here is also the need to maintain control over occupational exposures to radiation, as well as to protect the public and the environment through proper management of wastes that may be radiologically hazardous. To minimize these, effective regulatory infrastructure is being put in place.For a smooth take-off of the nuclear power program, the National Nuclear Regulatory Authority and other stake holders in the nuclear industry need to start to put together licensing procedure for these.
In this study, the state-of-the art for estimating LERF is considered for the regulatory risk-informed decisions. The consideration is mainly focused on (1) the relationship between Level 2 PSA and LERF evaluation methodology, (2) the standard requirements in terms of modeling preparation and the acceptance criteria based on the application capability II of ASME PRA standard, and (3) some pending issues for developing and proposing a simplified LERF model. This study is preliminarily presented and will be updated for establishing detailed evaluation scheme of extended MPAS (multi-purpose probabilistic analysis of safety) model and preparing the technical basis.
We prove that the 1984 protocol of Bennett and Brassard (BB84) for quantum key distribution is secure. We first give a key distribution protocol based on entanglement purification, which can be proven secure using methods from Lo and Chau's proof of security for a similar protocol. We then show that the security of this protocol implies the security of BB84. The entanglement purification based protocol uses Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes, and properties of these codes are used to remove the use of quantum computation from the Lo-Chau protocol. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.
Customer knowledge has become an important topic for both academicians and practitioners in recent years. However, there has been little academic research on the utilization of customer-specific knowledge. This study adds to our understanding in focusing on the relationships between various intra-organizational factors and customer knowledge utilization in the context of key account management. The results of the study show, that the use of teams, top management involvement, KAM formalization and CRM technology enhance the utilization of customer knowledge in the management of large industrial key account customers.
This paper discusses key methods for sustaining quality engineering data, the fundamental principles that these methods are based on, and the methods for supporting the performance of nuclear power plants by the provision of quality engineering data at all times. The concept of an 'engineering data foundation', and a Configuration Management data model are developed. The concepts and methods for managing the integrity of engineering data across many different databases and document systems are developed, including the key concepts of data-positions and data-values, Master Data and Copy Data, and the concept of a 'partnership between people and technology'. (author). 7 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs.
A key comparison has been made between the air-kerma standards of the ARPANSA and the BIPM in the low-energy X-ray range. The results show the standards to be in agreement at the level of the combined standard uncertainty of 7.0 parts in 10"3 for the 10 kV radiation quality and 3.7 parts in 10"3 for all other beam qualities. The results are analysed and presented in terms of degrees of equivalence, suitable for entry in the BIPM key comparison database. (authors)
This work describes the development of a synchronous key based on micro controller to the switching of three-phase power transformers, which makes possible the achievement of tests to register the inrush current, and the previous establishment of the instantaneous values of the voltage firstly applied to different phases of the energy process. This key is a value tool to the development electric power system projects and to the teaching and researching activities at the laboratory related to transitory phenomena and electric system protection.
Different cases exist in various countries regarding the institutional status, the organization and the technical resources of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA): there are NRAs having extended internal technical capability and others relying mostly on external technical support. Considering the research and development activities and the very broad range of technical matters on which the regulatory and licensing activity are based, the NRA can not rely only on internal resources, and generally there is the need of technical and scientific support together with enhanced international cooperation. The international cooperation and networking among NRAs, and their Technical Support Organizations (TSO), represents a fundamental way to maintain competence, capability and knowledge. Within the EU member states this is becoming more and more an institutional duty. In providing technical support for regulatory activity, the ...
although additional research is needed to corroborate such findings. Key words: Avicennia germinans; disturbance; downed wood; Everglades National Park; Hurricane Andrew;...
Background and PurposeHemodynamic insults at arterial bifurcations are hypothesized to play a key role in intracranial aneurysm formation. This study investigates...Full Text Available
Medical Science Liaison (MSL) teams are a well-recognized function within the pharmaceutical and medical products industries. While in most organizations, MSLs have focused on the development of relationships with individual Key Opinion Leaders, progressive companies have realized the value that MSLs can also bring to Key Account Management (KAM). This article discusses the five steps that should be followed in order to successfully integrate the support of Key Accounts into an MSL function. These include understanding the business approach to KAM, identifying what MSL resources are available, developing a comprehensive strategic plan, implementing the plan, and evaluating and making any necessary adjustments. Finally, a case example outlining the experience of a small pharmaceutical compa...
... elevated blood sugar levels, but not full-blown diabetes. What are the keys to preventing the disease? ... been well studied, in a study called The Diabetes Prevention Program, in several thousand people with this ...
Summary brochure of GeoPowering the West (GPW) activities, and areas of technology transfer and market transformation. It also provides current contact information for key DOE and national laboratory staff representing the GPW program.
The purpose of this report is to provide management with performance data on key performance indicators selected from the FFTF Early Warning System performance indicators.
... Uninterrupted access to and use of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Gulf region are key to the successful prosecution of the Global War on Terror ...
Citrate and lactose fermentation are subject to the same metabolic regulation. In both processes, pyruvate is the key intermediate. Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis...Full Text Available
... very difficult to help get better and to rehabilitate and sometimes even need surgery. 00:04:21 ... step of treatment, from our standpoint, is to rehabilitate, to strengthen the shoulder. And the real key ...
The existence of thresholds for toxicants is a matter of debate in chemical risk assessment and regulation. Current risk assessment methods are based on the assumption that, in the absence of sufficient...Full Text Available
BackgroundFunction exertion of specific proteins are key factors in disease progression, thus the systematical identification of those specific proteins is a prerequisite to understand...Full Text Available
The growing epidemic of juvenile obesity has prompted pediatricians to investigate obesity-related conditions in obese teenagers. We report a clinical case of severe hepatic fibrosis in an adolescent with severe and recent obesity. Because of elevated serum aminotransferase levels, abnormal hepatic ultrasonography and insulin resistance (impaired glucose tolerance), we suspected nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Disease activity and fibrosis were confirmed on liver biopsy. Considering the risk of progression toward cirrhosis and its complications, and the pathological liver lesions, we started long-term medical monitoring and drug therapy to control weight loss. At present, although biopsy is the only validated way to establish the diagnosis of NASH, there is no consensus on its indicat...
Summary The aim of this cross-sectional study was to find possible relationships between insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), adipocytokines (leptin and adiponectin) and twitch contraction (TC) characteristics of the knee extensor (KE) muscles in healthy physically active postmenopausal women (n = 28, 64-78 years old). We hypothesized that IGF-1 is related at least to isometric TC peak torque (Pt) as the highest value of isometric torque production and maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque, and there will not be any relationships between TC characteristics and leptin and adiponectin. During the measurement of MVC torque and twitch contractile properties of KE muscles, the subjects sat in a custom-made dynamometric chair with the knee and hip angles equal to 90degree and 100degree, re...
Obesity is associated with increased susceptibility to dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and hypertension, a combination of traits that comprise the traditional definition of the metabolic syndrome. Recent evidence suggests that obesity is also associated with the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Despite the high prevalence of obesity and its related conditions, their etiologies and pathophysiology remains unknown. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of obesity and NAFLD. Previous genetic analysis of high-fat, diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6J (B6) and A/J male mice using a panel of B6-ChrA/J/NaJ chromosome substitution strains (CSSs) demonstrated that 17 CSSs conferred resistance to high-fat, diet-induced obesity. One of these CSS st...
This paper demonstrates a proof-of-concept approach for encapsulating the insulin and Fe3O4 nanoparticles into size-controllable alginate microcapsules utilizing the electrostatic droplets (ESD) technique. We have established that the combination of ESD and external gelation is quite effective in producing uniform-sized polymer particles. In addition, using the external gelation technique, the droplets containing a sodium-alginate were gelled in situ by immersion in Ca2+, Ba2+, or Cu2+ ions for a few minutes. The results show that different-type divalent cations caused various surface features to appear on the microcapsules (e.g., cracking, orange peel, pitting, splitting, wrinkling, etc.). The particle size can be adjusted from a few micrometers to ca. 1,000??m by electrostatic force. The...
Objective: Sarcopenia of legs is an important cause of physical dysfunctions, frailty and dependence. Many predisposing and underlying mechanisms of sarcopenia, including age, sedentary life style, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and low testosterone levels, are also known to be related to atherosclerosis, which is another leading cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly subjects. In this study, we investigated our hypothesis that sarcopenia and atherosclerosis are associated with each other to facilitate mutual abnormalities. Methods: Study was performed in apparently healthy 496 middle-aged to elderly persons recruited consecutively among the visitors to the medical check-up program, Anti-Aging Doc, in a University hospital, from March 2006 to December 2007. Mid-thigh muscle cro...
A measuring-basis encrypted quantum key distribution scheme is proposed by using twelve nonorthogonal states in a four-state system and the measuring-basis encryption technique. In this scheme, two bits of classical information can be encoded on one four-state particle and the transmitted particles can be fully used.
...Keeping chickens: a beginner's guide : Directgov - Environment and greener living chickens, feeding chickens, egg marking, registering a ...flock, battery hens Chickens; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Registrations; Animals; Livestock; Local government; Local ...authorities A guide for people keeping chickens on the laws for registering and feeding them, and how to spot key diseases. A ...guide for people keeping chickens on the laws for registering and feeding them, and how to spot key diseases. Keeping chickens: ...
PURPOSE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly virulent malignancy with no effective treatment thus requiring innovative and effective targeted therapies. The oncogene Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) plays a seminal role in hepatocarcinogenesis and profoundly downregulates insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 (IGFBP7). The present study focuses on analyzing potential tumor suppressor functions of IGFBP7 in HCC and the relevance of IGFBP7 downregulation in mediating AEG-1 function.EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: IGFBP7 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in HCC tissue microarray and real-time PCR and ELISA in human HCC cell lines. Dual Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed to detect loss of heterozygosity at IGFBP7 locus. Stable IGFBP7-overexpressing clones were established in the background of AEG-1-overexpressing human HCC cells and were analyzed for in vitro proliferation and senescence and in vivo tumorigenesis and ...
Incorporation of /sup 32/P from (gamma-32P)ATP into tyrosine residues of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-II receptor was observed in a Triton X-100-insoluble fraction of rat adipocyte plasma membranes. IGF-II receptor phosphorylation proceeded to a stoichiometry of approximately 0.5 mol of phosphate/IGF-II binding site after 10 min of incubation at 4 degrees C. A Km for ATP of 6 microM was calculated for this phosphorylation reaction. Addition of IGF-II caused an approximately 2-fold increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of the IGF-II receptor in this preparation. In contrast, phosphorylation of angiotensin II by the Triton X-100 washed membranes was not stimulated by IGF-II. Incubation of purified receptor immobilized on IGF-II agarose or of receptor-enriched low density microsomal membranes with (gamma-32P)ATP did not result in appreciable incorporation of (/sup 32/P)phosphate into the IGF-II receptor nor into exogenous substrates. These data suggest that the ...
Expression of IGF-2 and changes in its expression in response to systemic endocrine alterations have not been demonstrated for adipocytes. Adipocytes were induced to develop within cultures of 3T3-L1 cells using a medium containing 0.5mM isobutylmethylxanthine, 1uM insulin and 100ng hydrocortisone/ml for 48 hours of exposure. Cultures containing developing adipocytes were incubated with 10% pig serum and 1 uM insulin for several days. The resultant adipocyte cultures were then treated with either 10% pig serum, diabetic pig serum or hypophysectomized pig serum in DMEM for 48 hours. Adipocytes within the cultures were separated from undifferentiated cells using percoll density gradient centrifugation. Total RNA was isolated from adipocytes and dot blotted. Blots were probed with a {sup 32}P-cDNA probe for rat IGF-2. IGF-2 was expressed by the adipocytes and the pattern of expression showed specific differences between serum treatments; IGF-2 ...
The hypothesis that accumulation against sizable chemical gradients of free (non-phosphorylated) 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2dGlc) in isolated rat adipocytes results from an intracellular compartmentation of free hexose was investigated. Cells exposed to 20 ..mu..g/ml digitonin for 10' demonstrated an increased plasma membrane permeability indexed by increased L-glucose entry rates and cellular (presumably cytosolic) protein and K/sup +/ loss. Functional integrity of intracellular organelles was indicated by the ability of the cells to support ATP-driven /sup 45/Ca/sup 2 +/-uptake. Equilibrium 3-O-methylglucose (3-O-MG, a non-accumulated hexose) levels were unaffected. These data suggest a specific permeabilizing action of digitonin at the plasma membrane having no effect on intracellular organelles or passively distributed solutes. Upon addition of digitonin, free 2dGlc fell from 66.5 +/- 8.9 to 7.4 +/- 2.3 pmol/10/sup 5/ cells, a value not significantly different from 3-O-MG levels. ...
Full text: Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has many R and D facilities in operation. including HANARO research reactor, radioactive waste treatment facility (RWTF), post-irradiation examination facility (PIEF) and irradiated material test facility (IMEF). Recently. nation-wide interest is focused on the safety and security of major industrial facilities. Safe operation of nuclear facilities is imperative because of the consequence of public disaster by radiological release/contamination, in case of an accident. Recently, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the Korean government announced amendments of Atomic Energy laws to enforce requirements of the physical protection and radiological emergency. All provisions on nuclear safety regulation and radiation protection are entrusted to the Atomic Energy Act(AEA). The Act is enacted as the main law concerning the safety regulation of nuclear installations, and is supplemented by the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement ...
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system caused by the JC virus (JCV), a human papovavirus. PML is a relatively rare disease seen predominantly in immunocompromised individuals and is a frequent complication observed in AIDS patients. The significantly higher incidence of PML in AIDS patients than in other immunosuppressive disorders has suggested that the presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in the brain may directly or indirectly contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease. In the present study the authors have examined the expression of the JCV genome in both glial and non-glial cells in the presence of HIV-1 regulatory proteins. They find that the HIV-1-encoded trans-regulatory protein tat increases the basal activity of the JCV late promoter, JCV{sub L}, in glial cells. They conclude that the presence of the HIV-1-encoded tat protein may positively ...
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board carries out the regulatory review of the reactor physics design, commissioning and operational aspects through Project Design Safety Committee and Specialist Group of reactor physicists with wide experience in the design, commissioning and operational safety review of NPPs. TAPP-3 and 4 PHWRs, being the first indigenous design of 540 MWe Units, are quite different than the standard 220 MWe PHWRs. The safety review of reactor physics design was quite complex, as majority of the systems were new. The Reactor Physics Specialist Group carried out extensive safety review of 540 MWe PHWR reactor physics design and made significant contributions of design modifications and improvements in the operational procedures. Some salient contributions include: Monitoring the core during bulk addition of moderator without the availability of shutdown systems. Logics for providing safety cover in case of malfunction of SDS-1, Use ...
Regulatory genes called small RNAs (sRNAs) are known to play critical roles in cellular responses to changing environments. For several sRNAs, regulation is effected by coupled stoichiometric degradation with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The nonlinearity inherent in this regulatory scheme indicates that exact analytical solutions for the corresponding stochastic models are intractable. Here, we present a variational approach to analyze a well-studied stochastic model for regulation by sRNAs via coupled degradation. The proposed approach is efficient and provides accurate estimates of mean mRNA levels as well as higher order terms. Results from the variational ansatz are in excellent agreement with data from stochastic simulations for a wide range of parameters, including regions of parameter space where mean-field approaches break down. The proposed approach can be applied to quantitatively model stochastic gene expression in complex ...
The Regulatory Agenda is a semiannual compilation of all rules on which the NRC has recently completed action, or has proposed action, or is considering action, and of all petitions for rulemaking that the NRC has received that are pending disposition. The agenda consists of two sections that have been updated through June 30, 1997. Section 1, ``Rules,`` includes (A) rules on which final action has been taken since December 31, 1996, the closing date of the last NRC Regulatory Agenda; (B) rules published previously as proposed rules on which the Commission has not taken final action; (C) rules published as advance notices of proposed rulemaking for which neither a proposed nor final rule has been issued; and (D) unpublished rules on which the NRC expects to take action. Section 2, ``Petitions for Rulemaking,`` includes (A) petitions denied or incorporated into final rules since December 31, 1996; (B) petitions incorporated into proposed rules; ...
The role of law in a federal regulatory agency is examined from an organizational perspective. While law is usually viewed in terms of its legal, political, and social value consequences, it is postulated that it also has significant organizational consequences. The impact of those consequences is examined in the case of a single agency, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The legal process is shown to be a powerful organizational characteristic of the government administrative agency, beginning with statuatory definition of organization goals, structure, and procedures and ending with judicial review of actions. Agency lawyers are shown to represent a distinct professional subculture within this agency. Their values and orientations toward business, the role of regulation, and the role of nuclear utilities are different from the 95% of agency employees subculture based on a physical science/engineering background. It is concluded that agency ...
The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) engaged in numerous projects outlined under the scope of work discussed in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) grant number DE-FG26-01BC15336 awarded to the IOGCC. Numerous projects were completed that were extremely valuable to state oil and gas agencies as a result of work performed utilizing resources provided by the grant. There are numerous areas in which state agencies still need assistance. This additional assistance will need to be addressed under another grant because funding resources have been exhausted under The scope of work objectives for the eight projects covered under this grant is as follows: (1) Improve uniformity within state oil and gas data management efforts. (2) Conduct environmental compliance workshops and related educational projects on natural gas and oil exploration and production. (3) Improve regulatory efficiency through partnering opportunities provided by the Appalachian ...
In 1993 the Government of Armenia made a decision to restart Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) which was shutdown in 1989. Shortly after that decision Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) was established. Absence of local technical support and limited international support created difficulties for new established ANAR during its activities on regulating ANPP modernization process and issuing authorization for restart. Necessity to establish TSO occurred at this stage. By initiative of ANRA a small TSO was established in 2002 with limited staff called Nuclear and Radiation Safety Centre (NRSC). This paper briefly describes the establishment, development and the current activities and problems of NRSC. (author)
This report summarizes a public workshop that was held on April 27, 1999, in Rockville, Maryland. The workshop was conducted as part of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) efforts to further develop its understanding of the risks associated with low power and shutdown operations at US nuclear power plants. A sufficient understanding of such risks is required to support decision-making for risk-informed regulation, in particular Regulatory Guide 1.174, and the development of a consensus standard. During the workshop the NRC staff discussed and requested feedback from the public (including representatives of the nuclear industry, state governments, consultants, private industry, and the media) on the risk associated with low-power and shutdown operations.
This is the seventh report by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) in response to the Congressional requirement for an annual report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Reactor Safety Research Program. As previously requested by the Congress, the timing of this report has been adjusted to enable the ACRS to address the proposed budget for FY 1985 that has been submitted to the Congress by the President. Part I is a compilation of our comments and recommendations regarding the NRC Safety Research Program budget for FY 1985. It is intended to serve as an Executive Summary. Part II is divided into eight chapters, each of which represents a Decision Unit of the NRC research program. In each chapter, specific comments are included on the research involved in the Decision Unit, an assessment of priorities, and recommendations regarding new directions and levels of funding.
This is the sixth report by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) that has been prepared in response to the Congressional requirement for an annual report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Reactor Safety Research Program. Part I is a compilation of our general comments and recommendations regarding the NRC Safety Research Program, and includes budget recommendations and an identification of matters of special importance that deserve increased emphasis. It is intended to serve as an Executive Summary. Part II is divided into ten chapters, each of which represents a Decision Unit of the NRC research program. In each chapter, specific comments are included on the research involved in the Decision Unit, an assessment of priorities, and recommendations regarding new directions and levels of funding.
The author investigates whether the international law regime so far has developed any legal principles dealing with the problem of the dumping of radioactive waste in the sub-seabed, and whether any of such provisions available adequately tackle the problem in the light of the gravity of danger emanating from radioactive waste. The study covers over 30 different texts of international treaties and protocols. Points of main interest are the London Dumping Convention and the Montego Bay Convention on the Law of the Sea. The author concludes that the disposal of radioactive waste into the seabed belongs to the permissible, although not specially allowed activities within the framework of the freedom of the high seas, and therefore urgently calls for establishing an international regulatory system pertaining to the planning and accomplishment of such activities. An outline legal concept of a regulatory system is explained. (orig./HSCH).
Radioactive waste for legal and regulatory purposes may be defined as material that contains or is contaminated with radio-nuclides at concentrations or activities greater than clearance levels as established by the regulatory body, and for which no use is foreseen. Safe management of radioactive waste is essential to ensure protection of humans and environment. Radioactive waste management policy is a guideline for the safe management of radioactive waste. It expresses the commitment of the country towards the goal. Government should initiate investigation into best long-term option for management of spent nuclear fuels. Process of selecting option and eventual site should involve comprehensive public participation within set time frames (with deep geological disposal as preferred management option).
This paper reviews the molecular biology of the renin-angiotensin system. The renin gene structure is analyzed in detail, including an examination of the putative regulatory regions. The combined action of these regulatory sequences would result in the complex, tissue-specific expression and regulation observed in vivo. The expression of the tissue renin-angiotensin systems, which may have important physiological functions, is also described. In addition, the pathway of renin biosynthesis and secretion is reviewed. This includes speculation on the fate of circulating prorenin and the physiological role of multiple renin forms and secretory pathways. The molecular approaches described in this paper have greatly advanced our knowledge of the biology of the renin-angiotensin system. Future studies using these and other approaches should provide further insight into this complex system.
The Seabed Disposal Project (SDP) was evaluating the technical feasibility of high-level nuclear waste disposal in deep ocean sediments. Working standards were needed for risk assessments, evaluation of alternative designs, sensitivity studies, and conceptual design guidelines. This report completes a three part program to develop radiological standards for the feasibility phase of the SDP. The characteristics of subseabed disposal and how they affect the selection of standards are discussed. General radiological protection standards are reviewed, along with some new methods, and a systematic approach to developing standards is presented. The selected interim radiological standards for the SDP and the reasons for their selection are given. These standards have no legal or regulatory status and will be replaced or modified by regulatory agencies if subseabed disposal is implemented. 56 refs., 29 figs., 15 tabs.
SMART (System-Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor) is a first-of-the-kind integral reactor with 330 MW thermal power under active development by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) for power generation and seawater desalination. SMART employs various design features that are not typically found in other nuclear power plants. Examples include a unique passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS), and enclosure of a pressurizer, eight helical steam generators, and eight canned reactor coolant pumps inside the reactor pressure vessel. This paper presents risk insights on the SMART reactor gained during the development of a regulatory PSA model by Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS)
Internationally, on-line maintenance (OLM) of nuclear power plants under the operation is prevailed to enhance nuclear safety and economics. In recent years, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) is eager to apply OLM. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) has established the related technology development program as an item of 'Overall Planning on Nuclear Safety(2010-2014)' through acceptance to the request of KHNP in 2009. OLM is defined as maintenance that is performed with the main generator connected to the grid. In other words, it means a preventive maintenance to be implemented during the allowable outage time (AOT) with ignoring inoperability of safety-related equipment listed in the technical specifications. The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) is developing the assessment technology of safety concerns for OLM under the auspices of MEST. Draft regulatory rule-making for OLM is devised as a part of the development of the ...
The need for efficient management of industrial chemical wastes, especially those considered hazardous or radioactive, is receiving increased attention in the United States. During the past five years, several federal laws have addressed the establishment of stronger programs for the control of hazardous and residual wastes. At a facility such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), an efficient waste management program is an absolute necessity to ensure protection of human health and compliance with regulatory requirements addressing the treatment and disposal of hazardous, nonhazardous, and radioactive wastes. This report highlights the major regulatory requirements under which the Laboratory must operate and their impact on ORNL facilities. Individual waste streams, estimates of quantities of waste, and current waste management operations are discussed.
The analysis is submitted in support of the effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Coastal Oil and Gas Industry. The report analyzes the cost-effectiveness of 10 regulatory options organized by three wastestreams. The document compares the total annualized cost incurred for each of the regulatory options within each wastestream to the corresponding effectiveness of that option in reducing the discharge of pollutants. Section Two discusses the cost-effectiveness methodology used and identifies the pollutants included in the analysis, presenting their toxic weighting factors and removal efficiencies. Section Three presents the results of the analysis. In Section Four, the cost-effectiveness values are compared to cost-effectiveness values for other promulgated rules. Appendix A presents data on pollutants, pollutant removals, annualized costs, and other, more detailed information.
Research and bioethical policies are increasingly seen to facilitate, rather than to impede, scientific progress. Bioethical structures, nonetheless, often fail to account for or to shape the specific social surrounds in which scientific research is conducted. In Taiwan, a perceived shortage in human biological donations threatens to hamper stem cell research progress. This paper considers the stalled national biobank project and the lack of a reliable embryo supply for stem cell research, and suggests that one must look beyond regulatory structures in seeking explanations for such shortages. Specific aspects of Taiwan's democratization and social changes combine with problematic relations between patients and physicians to shape the terrain upon which human biologicals are given or withhe...
The authors have identified a protein present only in erythroid cells that binds to two adjacent sites within an enhancer region of the chicken {beta}-globin locus. Mutation of the sites, so that binding by the factor can no longer be detected in vitro, leads to a loss of enhancing ability, assayed by transient expression in primary erythrocytes. Binding sites for the erythroid-specific factor (Eryf1) are found within regulatory regions for all chicken globin genes. A strong Eryf1 binding site is also present within the enhancer of at least one human globin gene, and proteins from human erythroid cells (but not HeLa cells) bind to both the chicken and the human sites.
Abstract Objective. Anti-TNF-a antibodies has been suggested to modulate regulatory T cell (Treg) percentages in rheumatoid arthritis, but results from studies of Crohn's disease (CD) are conflicting. We investigated dynamic changes of circulating Tregs in CD during treatment with the anti-TNF-a-antibody adalimumab (Humira, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Emdrupvej 28C, DK-2100 Copenhagen). Material and methods. Blood samples from 26 CD patients were analysed using flow cytometry before and 1 and 26 weeks after initiation of adalimumab treatment to determine the percentage of Tregs among CD4++ T cells. Results. In spite of a significant decline in disease activity scores and biochemical markers of inflammation, during the first week of treatment, we did not observe early modulating effects of ada...
Objective: Given the increasing popularity of motorcycle riding and heightened risk of injury or death associated with being a rider, this study explored rider behavior as a determinant of rider safety and, in particular, key beliefs and motivations that influence such behavior. To enhance the effectiveness of future education and training interventions, it is important to understand riders' own views about what influences how they ride. Specifically, this study sought to identify key determinants of riders' behaviors in relation to the social context of riding, including social and identity-related influences relating to the group (group norms and group identity) as well as the self (moral/personal norm and self-identity). Method: Qualitative research was undertaken via group discussions ...
Purpose - This paper aims to explore the links between revenue management and business-to-business (B2B) relationships and explains how revenue management can both support and damage B2B relationships. Design/methodology/approach - A single case study method was employed to conduct qualitative research into a company and its key accounts. In-depth data were collected from three divergent sources (company revenue managers, company account managers and nine of the company's key accounts) through semi-structured interviews, observations and document studies. Findings - The research findings reveal that from the company's perspective, managers acknowledge that revenue management has positively influenced the process of identifying and analysing key account activities and conducting contractual...
Purpose - Key account management (KAM) programmes are a way for companies to develop existing relationships and increase sales, thus being proactive and searching for opportunities (which is often expected of KAM). It is also a way to meet changing customer demands arising from changes in purchasing strategy, buyers' mergers and acquisitions and the search for synergies in order to reduce costs. The purpose of this article is to analyse different key account management programmes on how they manage the sales process complexity and customer expectations. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on qualitative data collected during a field study of ABB and six of their major customers, based on annual or biannual interviews with 50 individuals within ABB from 1996 to 2006 and three to t...
Customer relationships, product development, data integration and demand-driven supply chains are key concepts for companies that wish to remain competitive in today?s global economy. To address this important information management issue, the present study examines how, within a demand-driven network context, an eCRM can influence the interorganizational product development process between a manufacturer and its key customers. The theoretical model, built on research related to a technology assimilation model based on Fichman?s (2000) work, was tested on data from 104 manufacturers in the wireless equipment sector. The results show that the adoption of an eCRM does not moderate the relationship between collaborative e-product development involving a manufacturer and its key customers and ...
The phenomenon of key supply management (KSM) in business companies is far less investigated than the phenomenon of key account management (KAM) which beneficiates, both in practice and in an academic context, from a growing interest. This article is based on the empirical analysis of a sample of 10 international companies which have recently launched KSM programmes or are currently working on launching such programs. It examines the difficulties these companies come up against when implementing such programmes and proposes to organize these difficulties around three dimensions: 1) the difficulties in implementing real supplier portfolio approaches; 2) the narrow view of value co-creation with suppliers, and 3) the persistent lack of integration of the purchasing function with other intern...
OmpU porins are increasingly recognized as key determinants of pathogenic host Vibrio interactions. Although mechanisms remain incompletely understood, various species, including the...Full Text Available
The UK government's economy-wide 60% carbon dioxide reduction target by 2050 requires a paradigm shift in the whole energy system. Numerous analytical studies have concluded that the power sector is a critical contributor to a low carbon energy system, and electricity generation has dominated the policy discussion on UK decarbonisation scenarios. However, range of technical, social and market challenges, combined with alternate market investment strategies mean that large scale deployment of key classes of low carbon electricity technologies is fraught with uncertainty. The UK MARKAL energy systems model has been used to investigate these long-term uncertainties in key electricity generation options. A range of power sector specific parametric sensitivities have been performed under a 'what-if' framework to provide a systematic exploration of least-cost energy system configurations under a broad, integrated set of ...
The UK government's economy-wide 60% carbon dioxide reduction target by 2050 requires a paradigm shift in the whole energy system. Numerous analytical studies have concluded that the power sector is a critical contributor to a low carbon energy system, and electricity generation has dominated the policy discussion on UK decarbonisation scenarios. However, range of technical, social and market challenges, combined with alternate market investment strategies mean that large scale deployment of key classes of low carbon electricity technologies is fraught with uncertainty. The UK MARKAL energy systems model has been used to investigate these long-term uncertainties in key electricity generation options. A range of power sector specific parametric sensitivities have been performed under a 'what-if' framework to provide a systematic exploration of least-cost energy system configurations under a broad, integrated set of input assumptions. In this ...
While it has been established that microRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles throughout development and are dysregulated in many human pathologies, the specific processes and pathways regulated by individual...Full Text Available
PurposeHeavy metals and other forms of oxidative stress have been implicated as key factors in the formation of age-related cataract in humans. Metallothioneins are...Full Text Available
The astronomical number of letters handled by the Post Office makes automatic sorting technology essential. Key roles are played by the postcode system and an ink-jet printer that has been developed to use phosphorescent inks.
An overall hypothesis for benzene-induced leukemia is proposed. Key components of the hypothesis include a) activation of benzene in the liver to phenolic metabolites; b) transport of these metabolites...Full Text Available
SummaryIn vivo tumor cell migration through integrin-dependent pathways is key to the metastatic behavior of malignant cells. Using quantitative in vivo...Full Text Available
BackgroundA key feature of a good general practice consultation is that it is patient-centred. A number of verbal and non-verbal behaviours have been identified as important to establish...Full Text Available
By analysis of crossovers in key recombinant families and by homozygosity analysis of inbred families, the Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) locus was localized in a 300-kb interval between the X104 gene and...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe link between maternal factors and birth outcomes is well established. Substantial changes in society and medical care over time have influenced women's reproductive...Full Text Available
SYNOPSISRhomboid proteases are a fascinating class of enzymes that combine a serine protease active site within the core of an integral membrane protein. Despite having key roles...Full Text Available
This paper describes the deliverables framework developed by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in its IAIMS planning process. The key deliverables include: visions for the future; mission,...Full Text Available
Although deep-sea cephalopods are key marine organims, their feeding ecology remains essentially unknown. Here, we report for the first time the trophic structure of an assemblage of these animals (19...Full Text Available
BackgroundHyaluronic acid capsule plays a key role in Streptococcus pyogenes virulence. Circulation of mucoid or highly encapsulated strains has been related to...Full Text Available
SummarySoluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is a key enzyme in the metabolic conversion and degradation of P450 eicosanoids called epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs). Genetic variations...Full Text Available
...A directory of University social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube facebook, twitter, blog Social media - Social media, The ... Key: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blog, LinkedIn, Flickr Missed you out? If you'd like to be included on this ...
It has become increasing clear that alterations in cellular metabolism have a key role in the generation and maintenance of cancer. Some of the metabolic changes can be attributed to the activation...Full Text Available
BackgroundMicrovascular injury plays a key role in normal tissue radiation responses. Statins, in addition to their lipid-lowering effects, have vasculoprotective...Full Text Available
BackgroundCurrently used indicators of iron status have limitations. Hepcidin, a key regulator of iron metabolism, is reduced in iron deficiency. We sought to determine the properties...Full Text Available
Receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) play key roles in the pathogenesis of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO). The aim of our study was to determine whether the...Full Text Available
Bacteria expressing type III secretion systems (T3SS) have been responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide, acting as key virulence elements in diseases ranging from plague to typhoid...Full Text Available
French scientists think they have discovered one of the key steps in the methanol-to-gasoline reaction pathway and their British counterparts have learned a new way of converting methanol into acetic acid without carbon monoxide.
The establishment of the primary meristems through proliferation after germination is essential for plant post-embryonic development. Cytokinins have long been considered a key regulator of...Full Text Available
BackgroundRifampin is a key drug in antituberculosis chemotherapy because it rapidly kills the majority of bacilli in tuberculosis lesions, prevents relapse and thus enables 6-month...Full Text Available
... presumed first instar Geocharidius. Anillines occur in deep forest litters, beneath rocks and in soil (endogean), or as ... their small size and cryptic mode of life. Forest litter inhabiting anillines ma...
A structurally conserved element, the trigger loop, has been suggested to play a key role in substrate selection and catalysis of RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription elongation. Recently resolved...Full Text Available
Science and technology could be revolutionized by quantum computers, but building them from solid-state devices will not be easy. Robert W Keyes of IBM's research division outlines the challenges in scaling up the technology from lab experiments to practical devices. (U.K.)
Four-dimensional (4D) radiotherapy is the explicit inclusion of the temporal changes in anatomy during the imaging, planning, and delivery of radiotherapy. One key component of 4D radiotherapy planning...Full Text Available
Breast cancer is a progressive and potentially fatal disease that affects women of all ages. Like all progressive diseases, early and reliable diagnosis is the key for successful treatment and annihilation....Full Text Available
Stem cells are expected to play a key role in the development and maintenance of organisms, and hold great therapeutic promises. However, a number of questions must be answered to achieve an...Full Text Available
Eukaryotic cells can massively transport their own cytoplasmic contents into a lytic compartment, the vacuole/lysosome, for recycling through a conserved system called autophagy. The key process in...Full Text Available
Mycolic acids are key cell wall components for the survival, pathogenicity, and antibiotic resistance of the human tubercle bacillus. Although it was thought that Mycobacterium tuberculosis...Full Text Available
Mice and rats are important mammalian models in biomedical research. In contrast to other biomedical fields, work on sexual differentiation of brain and behavior has traditionally utilized comparative...Full Text Available
For aerodynamic force measurement in the ISL shock tunnel, the authors have developed a novel measurement technique. Its key feature is a mounting support, which releases the test model and tightens it again after a free flight duration of 10 to 15 millis...
Objective: To highlight the key differences in history, examination, and management of pyoderma gangrenosum and necrotizing fasciitis and to outline the importance of distinguishing these...Full Text Available
Combined QM(PM3)/MM molecular dynamics simulations together with QM(DFT)/MM optimizations for key configurations have been performed to elucidate the enzymatic catalysis mechanism on the detoxification...Full Text Available
AbstractIntrathymic expression of tissue-restricted antigens (TRAs) has been viewed as the key element in the induction of central tolerance and recently, a central role for the autoimmune...Full Text Available
In the present study, models of key chemical processes governing the compositions of the tapped metal from the cupola on the basis of physico-chemical fundamentals have been developed. As evident from the literature survey, the investigations conducted in the past have focused their attention on one phenomenon at a time; for example, a particular chemical reaction, measurement of gas composition or the temperature distribution inside a cupola. Notwithstanding the importance of these studies and their contribution toward the understanding of cupola operation, mathematical models of key chemical processes and their interdependence must be investigated to obtain a complete insight into the various interlinked phenomena occurring inside a cupola. For example, the oxidation of the metallic charge leads to the formation of iron oxide which influences the final content of elements such as silicon, manganese and carbon. The processes considered in this ...
Background Little is known about how migrants adapt to first-world public health systems. In Norway, patients are assigned a registered general practitioner (RGP) to provide basic care...Full Text Available
... We also toured a Trident submarine at Kings Bay, Ga. "During the weekend at the Joint Interagency Task Force Headquarters in Key West, Fla., we ...
Background/Objective:To determine the utility of certain instruments to assess sexuality and fertility after SCI, an expert panel identified key areas to study and evaluated...Full Text Available
Species that depend on ephemeral habitat often evolve distinct dispersal strategies in which the propensity to disperse is closely integrated with a suite of morphological, behavioural and physiological...Full Text Available
Despite the availability of dozens of animal genome sequences, two key questions remain unanswered: First, what fraction of any species' genome confers biological function, and second, are apparent...Full Text Available
BackgroundA key question in the risk assessment of exposures to multiple chemicals is whether mixture effects may occur when chemicals are combined at low doses which individually...Full Text Available
Blunt chest-wall trauma is common; however, resultant tricuspid valve rupture is rare and can be subtle in its presentation. Transthoracic echocardiography plays a key role in diagnosis.Herein,...Full Text Available
BackgroundLarviciding is a key strategy used in many vector control programmes around the world. Costs could be reduced if larvicides could be manufactured locally. The potential...Full Text Available
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a switch of polarized epithelial cells to a migratory, fibroblastoid phenotype, is considered a key process driving tumor cell invasiveness and metastasis....Full Text Available
Given the high prevalence of overweight and low levels of physical activity among children, a better understanding of physical activity behaviour is an important step in intervention planning. This...Full Text Available
KOREA-JAPAN NUCLEAR WEAPON FREE ZONE (KJNWFZ) CONCEPT PAPER ...A Korea-Japan2 Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (hereafter KJNWFZ) is a new concept.Once realized, ...Finally, we outline the key elements of the Korea-Japan NWFZ proposed in this paper, noting
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are highly polymorphic components of the vertebrate immune system, which play a key role in pathogen resistance. MHC genes may also function as odour-related...Full Text Available
Mouse models have dramatically improved our understanding of cancer development and tumor biology. However, these models have shown limited efficacy as tractable systems for unbiased genetic...Full Text Available
The spliced alignment of expressed sequence data to genomic sequence has proven a key tool in the comprehensive annotation of genes in eukaryotic genomes. A novel algorithm was developed to assemble...Full Text Available
Background:The cardiac sodium–calcium exchanger (NCX1) is a key sarcolemmal protein for the maintenance of calcium homeostasis in the heart. Since heart failure...Full Text Available
Recently, we demonstrated that the central ghrelin signalling system, involving the ghrelin receptor (GHS-R1A), is important for alcohol reinforcement. Ghrelin targets a key mesolimbic circuit involved...Full Text Available
BackgroundDue to the high morbidity and mortality of fulminant hepatitis, early diagnosis followed by early effective treatment is the key for prognosis improvement. So far, little...Full Text Available
Moenomycin A (MmA) belongs to a family of natural products that inhibit peptidoglycan biosynthesis by binding to the peptidoglycan glycosyltransferases (PGTs), the enzymes that make the glycan...Full Text Available
Rapid place encoding by hippocampal neurons, as reflected by place-related firing, has been intensely studied, whereas the substrates that translate hippocampal place codes into behavior have received...Full Text Available
Summarizing the three main reasons why customized programs are commissioned, this book explains and explores the key aspects of successful development programs, with views from corporate sponsors, participants, faculty contributors and case studies of customised programs commissioned by 6 organizations
Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) constitute a key antibiotic-resistance mechanism affecting Gram-negative bacteria, and also an excellent model for studying evolution in real time. A shift in...Full Text Available
Trypanothione reductase (TryR) is a key enzyme involved in the oxidative stress management of the Trypanosoma and Leishmania parasites, which helps to maintain an intracellular reducing environment...Full Text Available
Chemoprevention strategies to prevent the development of lung cancer in at-risk individuals are a key component in disease management. In addition to being highly effective, an ideal chemopreventive...Full Text Available
Reversible protein glutathionylation plays a key role in cellular regulation and cell signaling and protects protein thiols from hyperoxidation. Sulfiredoxin (Srx), an enzyme that catalyzes the reduction...Full Text Available
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated to play key roles in normal physiological functions, and altered expression of specific miRNAs has been associated with a number of diseases. It is of great interest...Full Text Available
The mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) pathway plays a key role in mediating estrogen actions in the brain and neuronal sensitization during inflammation....Full Text Available
Detecting plant health conditions plays a key role in farm pest management and crop protection. In this study, measurement of hyperspectral leaf reflectance in rice crop (Oryzasativa...Full Text Available
Under anaerobic conditions, several species of green algae perform a light-dependent hydrogen production catalyzed by a special group of [FeFe] hydrogenases termed HydA. Although highly interesting...Full Text Available
We review the application of C. elegans as a model system to understand key aspects of stem cell biology. The only bona fide stem cells in C. elegans...Full Text Available
BackgroundBiomarkers play a key role in risk assessment, assessing treatment response, and detecting recurrence and the investigation of multiple biomarkers may also prove useful...Full Text Available
To establish secure (point-to-point and/or broadcast) communication channels among the nodes of a wireless sensor network is a fundamental task. To this end, a plethora of (socalled) key pre-distribution schemes have been proposed in the past. All these schemes, however, rely on shared secret(s), which are assumed to be somehow pre-loaded onto the sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel method for secure initialization of sensor nodes based on a visual out-of-band channel. Using the proposed method, the administrator of a sensor network can distribute keys onto the sensor nodes, necessary to bootstrap key pre-distribution. Our secure initialization method requires only a little extra cost, is efficient and scalable with respect to the number of sensor nodes. Moreover, based on a usability study that we conducted, the method turns out to be quite user-friendly and easy to use by naive human users.
Hundreds of genomes have been successfully sequenced to date, and the data are publicly available. At the same time, the advances in large-scale expression and purification of recombinant proteins have...Full Text Available
The aim of the overview is to give a perspective of global biobank development is given in a view of positioning biobanking as a key resource for healthcare to identify new potential markers that can...Full Text Available
Tyrosinase or polyphenol oxidase (EC 1.14.18.1) is the key enzyme in melanin biosynthesis and in the enzymatic browning of fruits and vegetables. The role of tyrosinase in the secondary metabolism of...Full Text Available
Background and aims: Serotonin (5-hydroxtryptamine, 5-HT) is an important factor in gut function, playing key roles in intestinal peristalsis and secretion, and in sensory...Full Text Available
Sep 9, 2009 ... You are here: GES DISC Home Geomorphology from Space By Location Landforms by Location: Asia. Info. Landforms by Location: Asia. KEY, ASIA ...
The cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) has emerged as a key regulator of metabolism, stress resistance and longevity. Apart from its role as ...Full Text Available
AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a key regulator of energy metabolism; its activity is regulated by a plethora of physiological conditions, exercises and many anti-diabetic drugs. Recent...Full Text Available
BackgroundStable transgenesis is an undeniable key to understanding any genetic system. Retrovirus-based insertional strategies, which feature several technical challenges when they...Full Text Available
Background and AimsSecondary growth via successive cambia has been intriguing researchers for decades. Insight into the mechanism of growth layer formation is, however, limited to...Full Text Available
The vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1, or transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 receptor, TRPV1) is activated by capsaicin, the key ingredient of hot peppers. TRPV1 was originally described on sensory neurons...Full Text Available
How learning and memory is achieved in the brain is a central question in neuroscience. Key to today’s research into information storage in the brain is the concept of synaptic plasticity, a...Full Text Available
It is now known that various growth factors may also act in the central nervous system. Among them, it has recently been shown that epidermal growth factor (EGF) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) may possess trophic effects in the mammalian brain. We report here on the respective autoradiographic distribution of ["1"2"5I]EGF and ["1"2"5I]IGF-I receptor binding sites in the rat brain, both during ontogeny and in adulthood. It appears that ["1"2"5I]EGF sites are mostly found in the rat forebrain during brain development. On the other hand, ["1"2"5I]IGF-I sites are more widely distributed both during ontogeny and in adulthood. These results reveal the plasticity of the expression of EGF and IGF-I receptor sites in the mammalian brain. This could be relevant for the respective role of these two growth factors in the development and maintenance of neuronal function.
We examined whether or not BMD or bone markers were useful for assessing the risk of vertebral fractures in 248 Japanese men with type 2 diabetes. We analyzed the relationships between bone markers (osteocalcin [OC], bone-specific alkaline phosphatase [BAP], urinary N-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type-I collagen) or BMD and HbA1c, urinary C-peptide, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), parathyroid hormone, 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D, and the presence of prevalent vertebral fractures. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for age, body height, weight, duration of diabetes, and serum creatinine showed that serum OC and OC/BAP ratio were correlated negatively with HbA1c (P?P?P?0.05). This association was still significant after additional adjustment for lumbar or femoral neck BMD. Our res...
Therapeutic hypothermia is a promising method for controlling intracranial pressure (ICP) in severely brain-injured patients. However, clinical data regarding the effect of brain hypothermia on overall outcome of these patients is limited. This may be because there are specific pitfalls associated with the clinical management of induced hypothermia in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These pitfalls may be avoided by preventing specific risk factors when cooling is induced and with rewarming. However, these risk factors have not been well systematically discussed in the literature. In this paper, three categories of clinical issues regarding the management of brain hypothermia are discussed: (1) stress-induced secondary brain injury mechanisms; (2) technical aspects of intensive care unit (ICU) cooling management; and (3) rewarming rates and methods. For patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of less than 8, management of stress-induced ...
The thiazolidinedione (TZD) or glitazone class of peroxisome proliferator-activated-#gamma# (PPAR-#gamma#) ligands not only induce adipocyte differentiation and increase insulin sensitivity, but also exert growth inhibitory effects on several carcinoma cell lines in vitro as well as in vivo. In the current study the in vitro effect of four PPAR-#gamma# agonists (ciglitazone, pioglitazone, troglitazone, rosiglitazone) on the cell growth of seven human neuroblastoma cell lines (Kelly, LAN-1, LAN-5, LS, IMR-32, SK-N-SH, SH-SY5Y) was investigated. Growth rates were assessed by a colorimetric XTT-based assay kit. Expression of PPAR-#gamma# protein was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. All glitazones inhibited in vitro growth and viability of the human neuroblastoma cell lines in a dose-dependent manner showing considerable effects only at high concentrations (10 #mu#M and 100 #mu#M). Effectiveness of the glitazones on neuroblastoma cell growth ...
Eight patients, one male and seven females, with no pre-existing hypothalamic-pituitary disease, who developed symptoms of hypopituitarism following cranial irradiation for nasopharyngeal carcinoma were studied 5 years or more after radiotherapy. All were GH deficient. Four of the patients with no GH response during insulin tolerance tests (ITT) showed increased GH in response to synthetic human growth hormone releasing factor (GRF-44). Four patients had impaired cortisol responses to ITT, and gradual but diminished cortisol responses to ovine corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF-41). There was no significant difference between mean peak increments in response to ITT and those in response to CRF-41. TSH responses to TRH were delayed in five and absent in two patients; four of these had low free T4 index. Prolactin was raised in all seven women and increased further in response to TRH. Two patients had impaired gonadotrophin responses to LHRH. None of the patients ...
Trace elemental analysis was carried out in various parts of some anti-diabetic medicinal plants using PIXE technique. A 3 MeV proton beam was used to excite the samples. The elements Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb and Sr were identified and their concentrations were estimated. The results of the present study provide justification for the usage of these medicinal plants in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) since they are found to contain appreciable amounts of the elements K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Cu, and Zn, which are responsible for potentiating insulin action. Our results show that the analyzed medicinal plants can be considered as potential sources for providing a reasonable amount of the required elements other than diet to the patients of DM. Moreover, these results can be used to set new standards for prescribing the dosage of the herbal drugs prepared from these plant materials.
We found that the androgenic gland (AG) of Macrobrachium rosenbergii possesses three cell types. Type I cells are small polygonal shaped-cells (13.4 mu m in diameter), stain strongly with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E), have abundant multilayered rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER), and nuclei containing mostly heterochromatin. Type II cells are slightly larger (18.6 mu m in diameter), stain lightly with H&E, have rER with dilated cisternae, and nuclei containing mostly euchromatin. Type III cells (previously undescribed) are similar in size and shape to type I cells, but the cytoplasm is unstained and they have a high amount of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (sER) and mitochondria with tubular cristae. Bilateral eyestalk-ablation resulted in AG hypertrophy with a proliferation and predominance of ty...
Lethal yellow (A{sup y}) is a mutation at the mouse agouti locus in chromosome 2 that causes a number of dominant pleiotropic effects, including a completely yellow coat color, obesity, an insulin-resistant type II diabetic condition, and an increased propensity to develop a variety of spontaneous and induced tumors. Additionally, homozygosity for A{sup y} results in preimplantation lethality, which terminates development by the blastocyst stage. The A{sup y} mutation is the result of a 170-kb deletion that removes all but the promoter and noncoding first exon of another gene called Raly, which lies in the same transcriptional orientation as agouti and maps 280 kb proximal to the 3{prime} end of the agouti gene. The authors present a model for the structure of the A{sub y} allele that can explain the dominant pleiotropic effects associated with this mutation, as well as the recessive lethality, which is unrelated to the agouti gene.
The aim of the present study was to test a mathematical model of the biochemical processes in the parathyroid glands responsible for the secretion of parathyroid hormone resulting from extracellular calcium reduction. A double exponential curve described the parathyroid hormone secretion induced by rapid lowering of blood-ionized calcium in humans with normal as well as abnormal parathyroid tissue. Our data show that it was possible to establish a simple mathematical model of the parathyroid hormone response to blood-ionized calcium lowering, sufficient to fit experimental data obtained from patients with abnormal and normal parathyroid tissue. The fitted parameters showed no significant differences between patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and controls. In primary hyperparathyroidism, the parathyroid hormone production and steady-state transport across the cell membrane were increased, probably due to the larger amount of parathyroid tissue in ...
Two avowable quantum communication schemes are proposed. One is an avowable teleportation protocol based on the quantum cryptography. In this protocol one teleports a set of one-particle states based on the availability of an honest arbitrator, the keys and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs shared by the communication parties and the arbitrator. The key point is that the fact of the teleportation can neither be disavowed by the sender nor be denied by the receiver. Another is an avowable quantum secure direct communication scheme. A one-way Hash function chosen by the communication parties helps the receiver to validate the truth of the information and to avoid disavowing for the sender.
Two avowable quantum communication schemes are proposed. One is an avowable teleportation protocol based on the quantum cryptography. In this protocol one teleports a set of one-particle states based on the availability of an honest arbitrator, the keys and the Einstein Podolsky Rosen pairs shared by the communication parties and the arbitrator. The key point is that the fact of the teleportation can neither be disavowed by the sender nor be denied by the receiver. Another is an avowable quantum secure direct communication scheme. A one-way Hash function chosen by the communication parties helps the receiver to validate the truth of the information and to avoid disavowing for the sender.
This paper summarizes the establishment and current development of space activities in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Space activities in Venezuela are focused on the areas of telecommunications, Earth observation and research on the physical properties of the Earth, and have as a primary goal the satisfaction of social needs. Current development of space activities started in 1999 when the new National Constitution recognized the value of outer space as the common heritage of mankind, and the key role of science and technology in promoting human welfare. The Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities (ABAE) was created in 2007. Its legal framework recognizes three key elements that drive its policy: the participation of society, capacity building and human training, and international c...
Trapped ions are a near ideal system to study quantum information processing due to the high degree of control over the ion's external confinement and internal degrees of freedom. We demonstrate the key steps necessary for trapped ion quantum computing and focus on phonon-mediated entangling gates. We highlight several key algorithms implemented over the last decade with these gates and give a detailed description of Grover's quantum database search implemented with two trapped ion qubits.
To assist the Department of Energy (DOE) in fulfilling its responsibilities under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, the National Low-Level Waste Management Program (NLLWMP) outlines the key activities tat the NLLWMP will accomplish in the following fiscal year. Additional activities are added during the fiscal year as necessary to accomplish programmatic goals. This report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the NLLWMP during Fiscal Year 1996.
With increasing liberalization of the energy sector, German suppliers of line-transmitted energy find themselves in an utterly changed sales environment, forcing companies and utilities to elaborate for the first time management policies and strategies that will ensure loyalty of their present customers, and help to solicit new customers. The article here explains some major terms and instruments used in designing key-account management strategies, as well as general procedures for suitability assessment. (orig/CB)
Five nomographs have been prepared that facilitate the estimation of cover thickness and cover material volume for the Uranium Mill Tailing Remedial Action Program. Key parameters determined include the cover thickness with either a surface radon flux or a boundary radon air concentration criterion and the total volume of cover material required for two different treatments of the edge slopes. Also included in the engineering guide are descriptions and representative values for the radon source term, the diffusion coefficients and the key meteorological parameters. 16 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.
A complete guide to 7000 key decision makers and 2800 organizations actively involved in energy today, the 1983 Directory updates the changes in state and Congressional energy offices that resulted from the 1982 elections, the reshuffling at DOE, the shifts of jurisdiction at the Department of the Interior, and the increasing role of the private sector in funding energy research and development. New features include the addition of nearly 100 major venture-capital firms and key public-affairs contacts. The Directory also features an Annual Energy Review highlighting development that will have international effects in the coming year.
In this paper, we proposed a novel quantum secure direct communication scheme with one-time pad in stabilizer formalism. Based on the reuse of qubit sequence, an efficient secure communication of secret messages without first producing a shared secret key can be achieved. One hence may find that the amount of private key needed for quantum communication is smaller than that in the general case. Therefore, the present protocol which is feasible with the present-day techniques may be applied to quantum communication with short-length encoding.
This article presents a linear-analytical case study on the development of ICT within the educational systems of Chile and South Korea. Through a comprehensive meta-data analysis and bibliographic review, we collected information on both educational systems and their ICT adoption policies. Key differences necessary to understand how both countries have developed their educational systems by integrating ICT were analyzed, including the educational system structure, the organization of state entities responsible for educational ICT, cultural characteristics, the creation of policies regarding ICT in education, and the effectiveness of such policies for the expansion of infrastructure and the ICT curriculum integration. We analyze these key differences in order to understand two cases of ICT ...
There is increasing pressure to operate laboratory facilities in environmentally and financially sustainable ways. A key factor in achieving this goal is careful consideration of how energy is used by the buildings' ventilation system, both for conditioning air supplied to the laboratories and the energy used moving air through the building. Traditionally, laboratory energy use is treated as an engineering concern within the scope of the building's overall design and operation. However, this approach limits the involvement of key stakeholders in many important decisions and can lead to unexpected safety concerns for the laboratory's users. We believe that a broad view of the parties affected by a laboratory building's operations is necessary to avoid having the various stakeholders working...
Protection of wetlands became a national issue in 1988 when President George Bush pledged no net loss of wetlands in the US under his [open quotes]environmental presidency.[close quotes] As wetlands became a national issue, the job of protecting them became an obligation for many groups, including hydro-power developers. Now, when a site selected for development includes an area that may be classified as a wetland, the developer quickly discovers the importance of recognizing and protecting these natural habitats. Federal legislation severely limits development of wetland, and most states increase the restrictions with their own wetlands regulations. The difficulty of defining wetlands complicates federal and state enforcement. Land that appears to be dry may in fact be classified as a wetland. So, even if a site appears dry, potential hydro developers must confirm whether or not any jurisdictional wetlands are present. Regulated lands include much more than marshes and swamps. Further ...
Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta isoforms (TGF-beta 1, -beta 2, and -beta 3) regulate cell growth and differentiation and have critical regulatory roles in the process of tissue repair and remodeling....Full Text Available
The cell cycle-regulatory transcription factor E2F-1 is regulated by interactions with proteins such as the retinoblastoma gene product and by cell cycle-dependent alterations in E2F-1 mRNA abundance....Full Text Available
The products of trithorax group (trxG) genes maintain active transcription of many important developmental regulatory genes, including homeotic genes. Several trxG proteins have been shown to act in...Full Text Available
This report presents criteria for the identification and evaluation of fire hazards in nuclear power stations. The report presents criteria that are consistent with the existing regulatory approach in Canada, and outlines engineering tools and analytical techniques currently available to deterministically analyse fire. The criteria presented cover the topics which should be included in a fire hazard analysis and provide details of each topic so that the accuracy of an analysis may be evaluated.
A series of questions and answers addresses issues related to developing synthetic fuels, including the potential supplies, regulatory road blocks, and development incentives to promote the role of the private sector. Chevron's efforts in the area of synfuels are aimed at shale oil tar sands and coal conversion. The status of these research and development projects and the projected recoverable reserves from each are summarized. (DCK)
In this study, for the institutionalization of risk informed and performance based regulation in Korea, the latest technical movements of overseas countries are examined and reviewed. And the issues that was found when license change petition using risk information was submitted in Korean regulatory body are reviewed. Based on these review, the applicable areas to domestic situation will be found and proposed. This study can contribute to setting up the proper direction for the institutionalization of risk informed and performance based regulation
In this study, for the institutionalization of risk informed and performance based regulation in Korea, the latest technical movements of overseas countries are examined and reviewed. And the issues that was found when license change petition using risk information was submitted in Korean regulatory body are reviewed. Based on these review, the applicable areas to domestic situation will be found and proposed. This study can contribute to setting up the proper direction for the institutionalization of risk informed and performance based regulation.
In 1991 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) continued it efforts to restructure the electric utility industry, emphasizing market-based pricing of wholesale power transactions and transmission access and pricing. Other issues covered in this report include pricing and policy initiatives, filing procedures, the generic rate of return on common equity, the price squeeze, contract interpretation, and legislative developments.
We demonstrate that expression of the UGA1, CAN1, GAP1, PUT1, PUT2, PUT4, and DAL4 genes is sensitive to nitrogen catabolite repression. The expression of all these genes, with the exception of UGA1...Full Text Available
This journal includes all formal reports in the NUREG series prepared by the NRC staff and contractors, as well as proceedings of conferences and workshops. The entries in the compilation are indexed for access by title and abstract, contractor report number, personal author, subject, NRC organization, contractor, and licensed facility.
This journal includes all formal reports in the NUREG series prepared by the NRC staff and contractors, as well as proceedings of conferences and workshops. The entries in the compilation are indexed for access by title and abstract, contractor report number, personal author, subject, NRC organization, contractor, and licensed facility.
This Radioactive and Mixed Waste Management Plan for the Hazardous Waste Handling Facility at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is written to meet the requirements for an annual report of radioactive and mixed waste management activities outlined in DOE Order 5820.2A. Radioactive and mixed waste management activities during FY 1994 listed here include principal regulatory and environmental issues and the degree to which planned activities were accomplished.
The Sodium Storage Facility Project Quality Assurance Plan delineates the quality assurance requirements for construction of a new facility, modifications to the sodium storage tanks, and tie-ins to the FFTF Plant. This plan provides direction for the types of verifications necessary to satisfy the functional requirements within the project scope and applicable regulatory requirements determined in the Project Functional Design Criteria (FDC), WHC-SD-FF-FDC-009.
DescriptionThe recent sequencing of the complete genomes of several streptomycete species revealed the presence of a large number of cryptic' secondary metabolic gene clusters, and led to the realisation that these organisms have the ability to produce many more natural products than had previously been recognised. One of the aims of our work is to identify the physiological signals and regulatory mechanisms responsible for the activation of these 'cryptic' pathways, thus unleashing the full biosynthetic p [continued...
This report includes the issuances received during April 1984 from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions For Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during the specified period from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Director's Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions For Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during November, 1983, from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
This report includes the issuances received during January 1984 from the Commission (CLI), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Boards (ALAB), the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (LBP), the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Directors' Decisions (DD), and the Denials of Petitions for Rulemaking (DPRM).
The report presents selected highlights of how research has contributed to the regulatory effort. It explains the research role of the NRC and nuclear safety research contributions in the areas of: pressure vessel integrity, piping, small- and large-break loss-of-coolant accidents, hydrogen and containment, source term analysis, seismic hazards and high-level waste management. The report also provides a summary of current and future research directions in support of regulation.
The positive control function of the bacterial enhancer-binding protein NtrC resides in its central domain, which is highly conserved among activators of ς54 holoenzyme. Previous...Full Text Available
The yeast phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (Sec14p) is required for biogenesis of Golgi-derived transport vesicles and cell viability, and this essential Sec14p requirement is abrogated by inactivation...Full Text Available
We have isolated a human thrombomodulin cDNA, and a human genomic clone containing the putative promoter domain, as well as the translated and untranslated regions of the endothelial cell receptor....Full Text Available
Hox genes encode a family of transcriptional regulators that operate differential developmental programs along the anteroposterior axis of bilateral animals. Regulatory changes affecting Hox gene expression are believed to have been crucial for the evolution of animal body plans. In Drosophila melanogaster, Hox expression is post-transcriptionally regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs) acting on target sites located in the 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs) of Hox mRNAs. Notably, recent work has shown that during D. melanogaster development Hox genes produce mRNAs with variable 3'UTRs (short and long forms) in different sets of tissues as a result of alternative polyadenylation; importantly, Hox short and long 3'UTRs contain very different target sites for miRNAs. Here, we use a computational approach to explore the evolution of Hox 3'UTRs treated with especial regard to miRNA regulation. Our work is focused on the 12 Drosophila species for which genomic sequences are ...
Backgroundβ2-Adrenergic receptors (β2AR) play important regulatory roles in a variety of cells and organ systems and are important therapeutic...Full Text Available
The Economic Analysis (EA) report is written to address the impacts of this proposed Effluent Limitation Guidelines and Standards for Synthetic-Based and Other Non-Aqueous Drilling Fluids. Currently, effluent guidelines pertaining to the discharge of drilling fluids address two specific types of fluids: Oil-based drilling fluids (OBFs) that use diesel and mineral oil, which are prohibited from being discharged; and Water-based drilling Fluids (WBFs), which can be discharged subject to meeting certain discharge requirements, including a sheen test and an aqueous toxicity test, in certain limited offshore regions. Section Two presents sources of data, Section Three presents the industry profile, Section Four discusses the regulatory costs of options under consideration for the proposed rulemaking, and Section Five discusses the impacts of the proposed rule on firms, well drilling, and production, and also briefly discusses secondary impacts such as those on ...
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is developing a number of demonstration projects using geothermal heat pumps. This paper discusses some of the barriers and issues that have emerged over the past two years. The most important barriers are: regulatory impediments; high first cost; and a lack of local design and installation infrastructure.
The UK Pipelines Safety Regulations require the pipeline operator to ensure that a pipeline, once decommissioned, does not become a source of danger. Elsewhere, Regulatory Authorities require consideration of the possible issues which pipeline decommissioning may raise. This paper considers current practice with respect to pipeline decommissioning and abandonment, and sets out the range of factors which the operator must take into account. (author)
The Department of Energy has used its seldom-used statutory authority and filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging support for Public Service Company of Indiana's request that the FERC allow it to sell up to 450 megawatts of firm power to eligible wholesale purchasers at negotiated or market-based rates in exchange for open transmission access for other generators.
Environmental regulatory requirements at both the state and federal level are constantly changing, making it difficult for industry and R ampersand D program managers to project future compliance requirements and costs. Even if a company is trying to keep abreast of various proposed regulatory initiatives, the number of possible combinations of initiatives that could occur in the future seems virtually limitless. Uncertainty associated with potential future environmental compliance requirements makes the identification and evaluation of future investment and R ampersand D opportunities exceedingly difficult, and makes the process of systematic strategic planning increasingly complex. This paper describes a methodology for accounting for uncertain future environmental compliance costs in a systematic, comprehensive manner. Through analysis of proposed initiatives for making future environmental requirements more stringent, forecasting the ...
In Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the Lyme disease spirochete, the alternative σ factor σ54 (RpoN) directly activates transcription of another alternative σ...Full Text Available
Personal monitoring and dose assessment of all radiation workers is an essential regulatory requirement as per radiation safety procedures of AERB and operating stations. The occupational workers of TAPS 1 and 2 and TAPS 3 and 4 are monitored for internal contamination due to high energy gamma emitters by whole body counting
BackgroundAberrant CD40 ligand (CD154) expression occurs on both T cells and B cells in human lupus patients, which is suggested to enhance B cell CD40 signaling and play a role...Full Text Available
Ammonia is a common and highly toxic pollutant which, in sufficient quantities, will adversely affect aquatic organisms. This ammonia criteria document for salt water will allow establishment of regulatory standards for ammonia discharge into estuaries, near coastal zones and oceans. Possible adverse impacts in highly sensitive and abundant ecosystems such as estuaries make regulation particularly important.
This Pollution Prevention Design Assessment (PPDA) provides data for cost-benefit analysis of the potential environmental impact of the APT, is an integral part of pollution prevention/waste minimization, and is required by DOE for any activity generating radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes. It will also better position the APT to meet future requirements, since it is anticipated that regulatory and other requirements will continue to become more restrictive and demanding.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulates adenylyl cyclase in the heart via activation of the stimulatory GTP-binding protein Gs. Therefore, employing peptides corresponding to regions in the cytosolic...Full Text Available
Significant environmental issues and regulatory proceedings in Alberta were discussed. The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Project was reviewed in relation to the Deh Cho First Nation's advanced actions in the federal court to enjoin the review panel from proceeding with the review process. The Deh Cho First Nation is seeking a declaration that the plan violates their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution Act. Various regulatory and government agencies have now developed a plan to coordinate their different regulatory processes and approvals in the Cooperation Plan for the Environmental Impact Assessment and Regulatory Review of the Northern Gas Pipeline project. The Deh Cho allege that they were not afforded the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of the plan. A review panel plans to proceed once the environmental and social ...
The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses organized and hosted a workshop on ``Rock Mechanics Issues in Repository Design and Performance Assessment`` on behalf its sponsor the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This workshop was held on September 19- 20, 1994 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Rockville, Maryland. The objectives of the workshop were to stimulate exchange of technical information among parties actively investigating rock mechanics issues relevant to the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and identify/confirm rock mechanics issues important to repository design and performance assessment The workshop contained three technical sessions and two panel discussions. The participants included technical and research staffs representing the NRC and the Department of Energy and their contractors, as well as researchers from the academic, commercial, and international technical communities. These ...
The staff of the Spent Fuel Project Office at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission undertook the investigation and thermal analysis of the Baltimore tunnel fire event. This event occurred in the Howard Street tunnel, in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 18, 2001. The staff was tasked with assessing the consequences of this event on the transportation of spent nuclear fuel. This paper describes the staff's coordination with the following government and laboratory organizations: the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), to determine the details of the train derailment and fire; the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to quantify the thermal conditions within the tunnel; the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis (CNWRA), to validate the NIST evaluations, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), to assist in the thermal analysis. The results of the staff's review and analysis efforts are ...
Computer based control systems for safety related applications in nuclear power plants have to meet not only the functional, performance and interface requirements, they in addition, have to meet regulatory requirements like enhanced reliability, safety and security and should provide fault tolerance, diagnostics and self-supervision. The control system architecture, hardware design and software design should meet requirements as specified in design code and guides of AERB. The Dual Processor Hot Standby Process Control System (DPHS-PCS) for TAPP-3 and 4 is a safety related (Class- IB) system. DPHS-PCS regulates PHT pressure, Pressuriser pressure, Pressuriser level, Bleed condenser pressure, Bleed condenser level and Steam generator pressure. The performance, reliability and safety requirements of this control system are met by employing a fault tolerant computer configuration developed for this purpose using hardware designed with facility for on-line diagnostics ...
The movement from traditional regulatory hearings to negotiated settlements represents both a departure from cost of service regulation and a relaxation of regulatory oversight. Under negotiation parties are able to renegotiate inclusions in their cost of service while simultaneously creating a profit margin for the regulated firm where none existed under the cost of service outcome of a traditional hearing. This paper constructs a model to illustrate the existence of positive gains to pipeline and shipper from the re-allocation of expenses through time in the regulated pipeline services market in Canada. Behaviour consistent with the model is observable in anecdotal and econometric evidence gathered from the library of the National Energy Board of Canada, responsible for pipeline toll regulation in Canada. Empirical investigation by into settlement procedures in the Florida electricity market reveals similar findings; however, this analysis ...
This study examines, in general, the transformation of the role of the Brazilian state to intervener in supervisory of the services, through the delegation of responsibility for the exploitation of public services to private enterprise, and the creation of regulatory agencies. The study pointing to the necessity of a legal and regulatory stable scenario in the regulation of these services, as enables of private investment mechanisms and, as a consequence of sustainable economic development. The success of the neo liberal state model is examined, specifically in relation to the market of pipeline gas distribution, showing the environmental, economic and social benefits that brought in this sector, the private investment and stability so far reasonably observed in this segment. The work also indicating, in general, the risks and issues most relevant, from the investor and markets point of view, to attract and maintain investment and to reduce the ...
In the RIR (Risk-informed Regulation), PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment) plays a major role because it provides overall risk insights for the regulatory body and utility. Therefore, the scope, the level of details and the technical adequacy of PSA, i.e. the quality of PSA is to be ensured for the successful RIR. To improve the quality of Korean PSA, we evaluate the quality of the KSNP (Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant) internal full-power PSA model based on the 'ASME PRA Standard' and the 'NEI PRA Peer Review Process Guidance.' As a working group, PSA experts of the regulatory body and industry also participated in the evaluation process. It is finally judged that the overall quality of the KSNP PSA is between the ASME Standard Capability Category I and II. We also derive some items to be improved for upgrading the quality of the PSA up to the ASME Standard Capability Category II. In this paper, we ...
Gas Supplies of Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Companies 1987 was prepared by the Reserves and Natural Gas Division, Office of Oil and Gas, Energy Information Administration (EIA). The publication provides information on the total reserves, production, and deliverability capabilities of the 87 interstate pipeline companies required to file the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Form 15, ''Interstate Pipeline's Annual Report of Gas Supply.'' This publication is the 25th in a series of annual reports on the total gas supplies of interstate pipeline companies since the inception of individual company reports to the Federal Power Commission (FPC) in 1964 for report year 1963. This publication provides information on the interstate pipeline companies' supply of natural gas during calendar year 1987, for use by the FERC for regulatory purposes. It also provides information to other ...
We report here a study of the mechanisms leading to loss of growth control in chicken embryo fibroblasts transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (RSV). We have been particularly concerned with the role of the src gene in this process, and have used RSV mutants temperature sensitive (ts) for transformation to investigate the nature of the growth regulatory lesion. The two principal findings were (1) the stationary phase of the cell cycle (G{sub 1}) in chick embryo fibroblasts seems to have two distinct regulatory compartments (using the terminology of Brooks et al. we refer to these as 'Q' and 'A' states). When rendered stationary at 41.5 C by serum deprivation, normal cells enter a Q state, but cells infected with the ts-mutant occupy an A state. (2) Whereas normal cells can occupy either state depending on culture conditions, the ts-infected cells, at 41.5 C, do not seem to enter Q even though a known src gene ...
This report describes the fiscal 1998 result on development of genome informatics technology. As comparative analysis technique of genes, the combination of electrophoresis and PCR was used. For improvement of the throughput and reproducibility of the technique, module- shuffling primers were used, and the multi(96)-arrayed capillary fragment analyzer was devised. The system detecting SNPs rapidly was also developed successfully. As analysis technology of DNA sequence by use of triple- stranded DNA formation, study was made on construction of long cDNA libraries, selective subtraction of specific sequences from libraries, and the basic technology of homologous cloning. Study was also made on each reaction step of IGCR technique for fast analysis, and specifications of a fluorescence transfer monitor. As modeling technique of genetic sequence information, the simulation model was developed for gene expression regulatory networks during muscle differentiation, and ...
This regulatory guide describes methods acceptable to the NRC staff for calculating radon fluxes through earthen covers and for calculating the resulting minimum cover thickness needed to meet NRC and EPA standards. The guide also suggests methods for obtaining the various parameters used in calculating the radon fluxes and earthen cover thicknesses and suggests default values for certain parameters. This regulatory guide is applicable to active uranium tailings sites. The NRC staff is using the methods stated in this guide as a basis for review and concurrence of DOE remedial action plans for inactive sites. The guidance is intended to be used for calculating radon flux attenuation by earthen uranium mill tailings covers. The parameter values and examples presented are limited to earthen cover materials, but the diffusion theory and the methods presented are also applicable to man-made materials. Detailed supporting information for calculating ...
This regulatory guide describes methods acceptable to the NRC staff for calculating radon fluxes through earthen covers and for calculating the resulting minimum cover thickness needed to meet NRC and EPA standards. The guide also suggests methods for obtaining the various parameters used in calculating the radon fluxes and earthen cover thicknesses and suggests default values for certain parameters. This regulatory guide is applicable to active uranium tailings sites. The NRC staff is using the methods stated in this guide as a basis for review and concurrence of DOE remedial action plans for inactive sites. The guidance is intended to be used for calculating radon flux attenuation by earthen uranium mill tailings covers. The parameter values and examples presented are limited to earthen cover materials, but the diffusion theory and the methods presented are also applicable to man-made materials. Detailed supporting information for calculating ...
Following the unexpected, but safely terminated, power and flow oscillations in the LaSalle-2 Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) on March 9, 1988, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and of Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD) requested that the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) carry out BWR stability analyses, centered around fourteen specific questions. Ten of the fourteen questions address BWR stability issues in general and are dealt with in this paper. The other four questions address local, out-of-phase oscillations and matters of instrumentation; they fall outside the scope of the work reported here. It was the purpose of the work documented in this report to answer ten of the fourteen NRC-stipulated questions. Nine questions are answered by analyzing the LaSalle-2 instability and related BWR transients with the BNL Engineering Plant Analyzer (EPA) and by performing an ...