The genomic viral RNA (vRNA) segments of influenza A virus contain specific packaging signals at their termini that overlap the coding regions. To further characterize cis-acting signals...Full Text Available
A 7-kb genomicsegment containing the coding sequence for the Drosophila melanogaster Formosa variant of salivary gland secretion protein 3 (sgs3) has been inserted into the snw y, bw, st strain of...Full Text Available
Mycoreovirus 1 (MyRV1), a member of the Reoviridae family possessing a genome consisting of 11 dsRNA segments (S1–S11), and the prototype hypovirus (CHV1-EP713)...Full Text Available
The Drosophila hairy gene encodes a basic helix- loop-helix protein that functions in at least two steps during Drosophila development: (1) during embryogenesis, when it partakes in the establishment of segments, and (2) during the larval stage, when it functions negatively in determining the pattern of sensory bristles on the adult fly. In the rat, a structurally homologous gene (RHL) behaves as an immediate-early gene in its response to growth factors and can, like that in Drosophila, suppress neuronal differentiation events. Here, the authors report the genomic cloning of the human hairy gene homolog (HRY). The coding region of the gene is contained within four exons. The predicted amino acid sequence reveals only four amino acid differences between the human and rat genes. Analysis of the DNA sequence 5[prime] to the coding region reveals a putatitve untranslated exon. To increase the value of the HRY gene as a genetic marker and to assess ...
A statistical method is presented for detecting quantitative trait loci (QTLs), based on the linear model. Unlike methods able to detect a few well separated QTLs and to estimate their effects and positions, this method considers the genome as a whole and enables the detection of chromosomal segments involved in the differences between two homozygous lines, and their backcross, doubled haploid, or F[sub 2] progenies, for a quantitative trait. Genetic markers must be codominant, but missing markers are accepted, provided they are missing independently from the experiment. Asymptotic properties, which are of practical use, are developed. This method does not rely on strong genetic hypotheses, and thus does not permit any precise genetic analysis of the trait under study, but it does assess which regions of the genome are involved, whatever the complexity of the genetic determinism (number, effects and interactions among ...
Prokaryotic genomes can be annotated based on their structural, operational, and functional properties. These annotations provide the pivotal scaffold for understanding cellular functions on a genome-scale,...Full Text Available
Background and AimsIt is well known that genome size differs among species. However, information on the variation and dynamics of genome size in wild populations and on the early...Full Text Available
The PMS2 gene encodes a protein that is involved in DNA mismatch repair and is mutated in a subset of patients with hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC). The previously published PMS2 cDNA sequence lack an upstream in-frame stop codon preceding the presumptive initiating methionine. To evaluate the 5` terminus of the PMS2 coding region further, we isolated additional cDNA clones, RT-PCR products, and the corresponding 5` genomicsegment of the PMS2 locus. The PMS2 gene transcripts were found to have heterogeneous but colinear 5` termini, one of which contained an in-frame termination codon preceding the initiating methionine. In addition, a novel gene encoding a 34.5-kDa polypeptide was found to initiate transcriptionally within PMS2 from the opposite strand. 23 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.
We report a whole-genome shotgun assembly (called WGSA) of the human genome generated at Celera in 2001. The Celera-generated shotgun data set consisted of 27 million sequencing reads organized in pairs...Full Text Available
BackgroundAnimal mitochondrial genomes are physically separate from the much larger nuclear genomes and have proven useful both for phylogenetic studies and for understanding genome...Full Text Available
IntroductionBreast cancer is the most diagnosed and second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. female population. An estimated 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers are inherited, caused by mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility genes (BRCA1/2). As many as 90% of all mutations are nonsense mutations, causing a truncated polypeptide product. A popular and low cost method of mutation detection has been the protein truncation test (PTT), where target regions of BRCA1/2 are PCR amplified, transcribed/translated in a cell-free protein synthesis system and analyzed for truncated polypeptides by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and autoradiography. We previously reported a novel High Throughput Solid-Phase PTT (HTS-PTT) based on an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format that eliminates the need for radioactivity, SDS-PAGE and subjective interpretation of the results. Here, we report the next generation HTS-PTT using ...
Longitudinal electrical resistances have been measured on 2-centimeter segments of corn (Zea mays L.) roots, cut at varying distances from the root apex. The segment resistances vary...Full Text Available
In this survey paper, we present open problems and conjectures on visibility graphs of points, segments and polygons along with necessary backgrounds for understanding them.
Eukaryotic genome size varies over five orders of magnitude; however, the distribution is strongly skewed toward small values. Genome size is highly correlated to a number of phenotypic traits, suggesting...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenomes store information for building and maintaining organisms. Complete sequencing of many genomes provides the opportunity to study and compare global information properties...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
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
The genome sequence of the solvent-producing bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 has been determined by the shotgun approach. The genome consists of a 3.94-Mb chromosome and...Full Text Available
The availability of full genome sequences has allowed the construction of microarrays, with which screening of the full genome for changes in gene expression is possible. This method can provide a wealth...Full Text Available
The recent assembly of the silkworm Bombyx mori genome with 432 Mb on 28 holocentric chromosomes has become a reference in the genomic analysis of the very diverse Order of Lepidoptera....Full Text Available
Large-scale cancer genome projects will soon be able to sequence many cancer genomes to comprehensively identify genetic changes in human cancer. Genome-wide association studies have also identified...Full Text Available
Structural variants which cause changes in copy numbers constitute an important component of genomic variability. They account for 0.7% of genomic differences in two individual genomes, of which...Full Text Available
BackgroundDuplications of stretches of the genome are an important source of individual genetic variation, but their unrecognized presence in laboratory organisms would be a confounding...Full Text Available
BackgroundOver the past decade, many investigators have used sophisticated time series tools for the analysis of genomic sequences. Specifically, the correlation of the nucleotide...Full Text Available
Metastable and somatically heritable patterns of DNA methylation provide an important level of genomic regulation. In this article, we review methods for analyzing these genome-wide epigenetic...Full Text Available
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
The recent accumulation of genomic information of many representative animals has made it possible to trace the evolution of the complement system based on the presence or absence of each complement...Full Text Available
Genomic imprinting refers to the parent-of-origin-specific epigenetic marking of a number of genes. This epigenetic mark leads to a bias in expression between maternally and paternally inherited imprinted...Full Text Available
Genetics, Genomics, and Molecular Biology USGS scientists develop and integrate new genetic and molecular techniques into systematic analyses to describe individuals and populations of fish .....
BackgroundSwine is an important agricultural commodity and biomedical model. Manipulation of the pig genome provides opportunity to improve production efficiency, enhance disease...Full Text Available
BackgroundNucleotide sequences and the gene arrangements of mitochondrial genomes are effective tools for resolving phylogenetic problems. Hemipteroid insects are known to possess...Full Text Available
AbstractThe elucidation of the human and mouse genome sequence and developments in high-throughput genome analysis, and in computational tools, have made it possible to profile entire...Full Text Available
Most of the essays gathered in this volume were first presented at a conference, Justice and the Human Genome, in Chicago in early November, 1991. The goal of the, conference was to consider questions of justice as they are and will be raised by the Human Genome Project. To achieve its goal of identifying and elucidating the challenges of justice inherent in genomic research and its social applications the conference drew together in one forum members from academia, medicine, and industry with interests divergent as rate-setting for insurance, the care of newborns, and the history of ethics. The essays in this volume address a number of theoretical and practical concerns relative to the meaning of genomic research.
Comparative sequence analysis of the human and the pufferfish Fugu rubripes (fugu) genomes has revealed several novel functional coding and noncoding regions in the human genome. In particular, the fugu genome has been extremely valuable for identifying transcriptional regulatory elements in human loci harboring unusually high levels of evolutionary conservation to rodent genomes. In such regions, the large evolutionary distance between human and fishes provides an additional filter through which functional noncoding elements can be detected with high efficiency.
This paper presents a new deformable model using both population and patient-specific statistics to segment the prostate from CT images. There are two novelties in the proposed method. First,...Full Text Available
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was investigated as a means of diagnosing Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. The target DNA sequence was a 375-bp segment of the P1 virulence protein. This DNA segment...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe lack of adequate randomized clinical trials (RCT) has hindered identification of new therapies that are safe and effective for patients with primary focal segmental...Full Text Available
Middle segment pancreatectomy (MSP) is a new operation where the advantages of parenchymal preservation are counterbalanced by a high postoperative complication rate and unease among surgeons with adopting...Full Text Available
Accurate segmentation of tissue microarrays is a challenging topic because of some of the similarities exhibited by normal tissue and tumor regions. Processing speed is another consideration...Full Text Available
Evolutionary conservation of DNA sequences provides a tool for the identification of functional elements in genomes. We have created a database of evolutionary conserved regions (ECRs) in vertebrate genomes entitled ECRbase that is constructed from a collection of pairwise vertebrate genome alignments produced by the ECR Browser database. ECRbase features a database of syntenic blocks that recapitulate the evolution of rearrangements in vertebrates and a collection of promoters in all vertebrate genomes presented in the database. The database also contains a collection of annotated transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) in all ECRs and promoter elements. ECRbase currently includes human, rhesus macaque, dog, opossum, rat, mouse, chicken, frog, zebrafish, and two pufferfish genomes. It is freely accessible at http://ECRbase.dcode.org.
Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology are providing unprecedented opportunities for comprehensive analysis of cancer genomes, exomes, transcriptomes, as well as epigenomic components. The integration...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
The bovine syncytial virus, a member of the retroviral subfamily Spumavirinae, causes a persistent, asymptomatic infection in cattle. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the viral genome revealed two overlapping...Full Text Available
BackgroundFood supply from the ocean is constrained by the shortage of domesticated and selected fish. Development of genomic models of economically important fishes should assist...Full Text Available
The development of new methods for gene addition to mammalian genomes is necessary to overcome the limitations of conventional genetic engineering strategies. Although a variety of DNA-modifying enzymes...Full Text Available
In many dinoflagellate species, the plastid genome has been proposed to exist as a limited number of single-gene minicircles, and many genes normally found in the plastid genome are nuclear-encoded....Full Text Available
Copy number variants (CNVs) are an important component of genomic variation in humans and other mammals. Similar de novo deletions and duplications, or copy number changes (CNCs), are now known to be...Full Text Available
Polyploidy is an important force in the evolution of flowering plants. Genomic merger and doubling induce an extensive array of genomic effects, including immediate and long-term alterations in the...Full Text Available
Genomic disorders are conditions that result from DNA rearrangements, such as deletions or duplications. The identification of the dosage-sensitive gene(s) within the rearranged genomic interval is...Full Text Available
Spectacular increases in the quantity of sequence data genome have facilitated major advances in eukaryotic comparative genomics. By exploiting homology with classical model organisms, this makes possible...Full Text Available
Mapping the restriction fragments of the Brucella melitensis 16M genome with a new restriction endonuclease, PacI, which cut the DNA into only eight fragments, indicated that this species contains two...Full Text Available
Plastid genome content and arrangement are highly conserved across most land plants and their closest relatives, streptophyte algae, with nearly all plastid introns having invaded the genome in their...Full Text Available
The nucleocapsid protein (NC) of retroviruses plays a major role in genomic RNA packaging, and some evidence has implicated the matrix protein (MA) of certain retroviruses in viral RNA binding. To further...Full Text Available
SUMMARYTwo abundant classes of mobile elements, namely Alu and L1 elements, continue to generate new retrotransposon insertions in human genomes. Estimates suggest that these...Full Text Available
The entire genome of rabies virus vaccine strain Flury-LEP-C, a Chinese variant of the rabies virus vaccine strain Flury-LEP, was sequenced. The overall length of the genome of Flury-LEP-C strain was...Full Text Available
Transposable elements (TEs) comprise a large fraction of mammalian genomes. A number of these elements are actively jumping in our genomes today. As a consequence, these insertions provide a source...Full Text Available
While genomic alterations identified in human tumors using techniques such as comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) may be recurrent, they frequently encompass large regions, in some cases...Full Text Available
Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, is the second largest animal order and includes numerous agricultural pests. To facilitate comparative genomics in Lepidoptera, we isolated BAC clones containing...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenome-scale metabolic reconstructions have been recognised as a valuable tool for a variety of applications ranging from metabolic engineering to evolutionary studies....Full Text Available
The gram-negative plant-pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria is the causative agent of bacterial spot disease in pepper and tomato plants, which leads to economically...Full Text Available
The cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV)/rabbit model has been used to study oncogenicity and immunogenicity of different antigens from the papillomavirus genome and has therefore served...Full Text Available
BackgroundA large fraction of the human genome is attributable to L1 retrotransposon sequences. Not only do L1s themselves make up a significant portion of the genome, but L1-encoded...Full Text Available
A genomic clone that specifies a single polypeptide precursor for ricin, a toxic lectin of Ricinus communis (castor bean), was isolated, sequenced and Sl mapped. The gene encodes a 64 kDa precursor...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe genomes of prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes display a very strong 11 bp periodic bias in the distribution of their nucleotides. This bias is present throughout a given...Full Text Available
With the advent of dense maps of human genetic variation, it is now possible to detect positive natural selection across the human genome. Here we report an analysis of over 3 million polymorphisms...Full Text Available
BackgroundCucumber, Cucumis sativus L. is an important vegetable crop worldwide. Until very recently, cucumber genetic and genomic resources, especially molecular...Full Text Available
The ETS proteins are a family of transcription factors (TFs) that regulate a variety of biological processes. We made genome-wide analyses to explore the classification of the ETS gene family. We identified...Full Text Available
Despite their status as the most speciose group of terrestrial vertebrates, birds exhibit the smallest and least variable genome sizes among tetrapods. It has been suggested that this is because powered...Full Text Available
Our understanding of the genetic basis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been rapidly advanced using large-scale, case–control, candidate gene studies as well as genome-wide...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies are designed to discover SNPs that are associated with a complex trait. Employing strict significance thresholds when testing individual SNPs avoids false positives at...Full Text Available
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
Soybean (Glycine max) is a paleopolyploid whose genome has gone through at least two rounds of polyploidy and subsequent diploidization events. Several studies have investigated the...Full Text Available
The two haploid genome sequences that a person inherits from the two parents represent the most fundamentally useful type of genetic information for the study of heritable diseases and the development...Full Text Available
BackgroundPlastid genome content and protein sequence are highly conserved across land plants and their closest algal relatives. Parasitic plants, which obtain some or all of their...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe bacterial genus Listeria contains pathogenic and non-pathogenic species, including the pathogens L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii,...Full Text Available
The genomic termini of RNA viruses contain essential cis-acting signals for such diverse functions as packaging, genome translation, mRNA transcription, and RNA replication, and thus...Full Text Available
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 honeybee has been the most important insect species for study of social behavior. The recently released draft genomic sequence for the bee will accelerate honeybee behavioral genetics. Although...Full Text Available
The complete RNA genome of the avian nephritis virus (ANV) associated with acute nephritis in chickens has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. Excluding the poly(A) tail, the genome comprises 6,927...Full Text Available
BackgroundFormation of site specific genomic double strand breaks (DSBs), induced by the expression of a pair of engineered zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), dramatically increases the...Full Text Available
Here we develop an argument in support of sequencing a garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) genome, and outline a plan to accomplish this. This snake is a common, widespread, nonvenomous...Full Text Available
Inherited genetic variation has a critical but as yet largely uncharacterized role in human disease. Here we report a public database of common variation in the human genome: more than one million...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe genomic organisation of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) varies greatly between different vertebrates. In mammals, the classical MHC consists of a large number...Full Text Available
Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones are effective mapping and sequencing reagents for use with a wide variety of small and large genomes. This report describes the development of a physical...Full Text Available
This book presents in simple terms the basis of molecular genetics and how it is used to obtain an understanding of the human genome. The author's central focus is the transistion of genetics from statistics to experimental manipulations, and he offers analogies that help readers visualize the genome, thereby avoiding conventional scientific presentations. He illustrates how genetics is used in scientific laboratories, in courtrooms, and in hospitals. Little is presented about the complex social and ethical issues raised by the Human Genome project.
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 2,000 trait-SNP associations, and the number continues to increase. GWAS have focused on traits with potential consequences for human...Full Text Available
BackgroundCotton, with a large genome, is an important crop throughout the world. A high-density genetic linkage map is the prerequisite for cotton genetics and breeding. A genetic...Full Text Available
It is becoming clear that simple sequence repeats (SSRs) play a significant role in fungal genome organization, and they are a large source of genetic markers for population genetics and meiotic maps. We identified SSRs in the Laccaria bicolor genome by in silico survey and analyzed their distribution in the different genomic regions. We also compared the abundance and distribution of SSRs in L. bicolor with those of the following fungal genomes: Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Coprinopsis cinerea, Ustilago maydis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus nidulans, Magnaporthe grisea, Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using the MISA computer program, we detected 277,062 SSRs in the L. bicolor genome representing 8% of the assembled genomic sequence. Among the analyzed basidiomycetes, L. bicolor exhibited the highest SSR density although no correlation ...
We used the tissue distribution of ({sup 14}C)butanol to quantitate regional blood flow in the spinal cord (RSCBF) of pentobarbital-anesthetized, normothermic rats in which segmental local cooling pentobarbital-anesthetized, normothermic rats in which segmental local cooling of the spinal cord (to 25-28{degrees}C) at vertebral levels C4-C6 (n = 6) or T13-L1 (n = 6) was induced. Thirty minutes later, blood flow measurements were made at seven levels of the spinal cord and in the sciatic nerve trunks and biceps femoris muscles. Sham-cooled rats served as controls (n = 12). In control rats, RSCBF varied between 41.5 +/- 2.4 and 65.1 +/- 3.2 ml.min-1.100 g-1. Local cooling of the C4-C6 cord segment reduced RSCBF by 32%, from 65.1 +/- 3.2 to 44.4 +/- 3.5 ml.min-1.100 g-1 (P less than 0.01). Tissue vascular resistance (R) in the cooled C4-C6 segment was elevated versus control. There were no other changes in ...
With accurate calculation algorithms in inverse planning for beamlet-based intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), it takes time to calculate the dose matrix, which represents the dose distribution of each beamlet element to each voxel for unit fluence. To reduce the calculation time, coarse or approximate algorithms are often a choice, but this results in a final dose distribution that cannot reflect the real value. In addition, it is necessary to test if a coarse algorithm is capable of calculating the dose matrix of beamlets. In this work, simulated dynamics optimization algorithm was applied to optimize the segment weight to minish the dose error from the dose matrix calculation. After calculating the dose matrix by ray-tracing algorithm which takes into account just the primary component of absorbed dose, the original beam profile intensity distribution was optimized by using the simulated dynamics algorithm. Before segmentation, the ...
For the step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique, the combination of high dose rate, multiple beam segments and low dose per segment can lead to significant differences between the planned dose and the dose delivered to the patient. In this technique, a dose delivery inaccuracy known as the 'overshoot' effect is caused by the dose servo control system. This typically occurs in the first and last beam segments and causes an over- and underdose, respectively. Some dose positional error in the segment sequence is also possible there. Commercial ionization chambers (RK-type) and radiographic Kodak films were used for the measurements. The reported results were obtained using the Pinnacle{sup 3}-V6.2 treatment planning system and a Varian Clinac 21 EX linear accelerator equipped with a 120-leaf Millennium MLC. The dose inaccuracy measurements were based on the ...
A solar energy receiver is described including a separable endless wall formed of a ceramic material having defined therein a cavity of a substantially cylindrical configuration for entrapping solar flux, and an acceptance aperture adapted to admit to the cavity a concentrated beam of solar energy, said wall being characterized by at least a pair of contiguously related segments separated by lines of cleavage intercepting said aperture, at least one of the segments being supported for pivotal displacement, and a thermal responsive actuator adapted to respond to excessive temperatures within the cavity for initiating pivotal displacement of said one segment, whereby thermal flux is permitted to escape from the cavity.
Purpose Degeneration of the gingival margin and periodontal bone loss between segments can occur in various segmental osteotomies. However, treatment and management of these problems have not yet been resolved; improvement of the conventional method is necessary. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the usefulness and advantage of orthodontic devices in osteotomies. Patients and Methods Forty Japanese adults presented with jaw deformities diagnosed as mandibular prognathism with maxillary protrusion, bimaxillary protrusion, and anterior crowding. Of these 40 patients, 20 (group 1) underwent anterior segmental osteotomy or dento-osseous osteotomy along with our original orthodontic periodontal management. The remaining 20 (group 2) patients underwent conventional procedure...
Motivation: Automatic recognition of cell identities is critical for quantitative measurement, targeting and manipulation of cells of model animals at single-cell resolution. It has been...Full Text Available
A segmented focal plane detector for an Enge split-pole spectrograph has been developed for the study of breakup reactions at very low relative energies. It consists of a 61 cm long segmented position-sensitive parallel plate avalanche counter backed by a large Bragg curve detector. A segmented plastic scintillator is mounted behind the anode of the Bragg curve detector and is used for particle identification of low-ionizing particles. The dead space between the two sections of the focal plane detector is 2.5 mm. The intrinsic position resolution of the detector is 1 mm. The intrinsic energy resolution depends on the energy of the incident ion and can be as good as 0.55%. The nuclear charge and mass resolutions are 0.3 e and 0.3 u, respectively. (orig.).
... flex to LCCK components, to even a rotating hinge knee arthroplasty, and finally, to the segmental system. ... it also allows you to convert to the hinge immediately too, you know, especially in these bigger ...
This case report presents a case that underwent orthognathic treatment with anterior segmental osteotomies on both jaws. The patient was a 26-year-old female with maxillary protrusion, lip incompetence with an everted vermilion border. The overbite was +1.0mm, overjet +1.0mm. The pre-surgical orthodontic treatment included the extraction of the four first premolars and a multi-bracket treatment was started. After 12 months of pre-surgical orthodontic treatment, both the anterior maxillary and the anterior mandibular segments were retracted surgically by 5.5mm. The total treatment period was 18 months. An anterior segmental osteotomy can induce the remarkable structural changes for bimaxillary lip protrusion patients.
Level set method based segmentation provides an efficient tool for topological and geometrical shape handling. Conventional level set surfaces are only $C^0$ continuous since the level set evolution involves linear interpolation to compute derivatives. Bajaj et al. present a higher order method to evaluate level set surfaces that are $C^2$ continuous, but are slow due to high computational burden. In this paper, we provide a higher order GPU based solver for fast and efficient segmentation of large volumetric images. We also extend the higher order method to multi-domain segmentation. Our streaming solver is efficient in memory usage.
A chicken model was prepared that provides a simple and economical method of evaluating the use of fibrin-specific monoclonal antibody 64C5 in the detection of peripheral vascular thrombi. Human fibrin was clotted in segments of a chicken's femoral artery and vein prior to intravenous injection of radioiodinated antibody 64C5. After a 3-hr perfusion time, the thrombosed and contralateral control segments of the vessels were excised and counted for radioactivity. The radiolabeled 64C5 uptake ratio of the thrombosed segment to the control segment was 5.4 +/- 1.2 (p less than 0.007) in the femoral artery, and 3.8 +/- 1.1 (p less than 0.02) in the femoral vein. This in vivo chicken model may also find application in studies of targeting agents for human fibrin.
Technology progress in DNA sequencing boosts the genomic database growth at faster and faster rate. Compression, accompanied with random access capabilities, is the key to maintain those huge amounts of data. In this paper we present an LZ77-style compression scheme for relative compression of multiple genomes of the same species. While the solution bears similarity to known algorithms, it offers significantly higher compression ratios at compression speed over a order of magnitude greater. One of the new successful ideas is augmenting the reference sequence with phrases from the other sequences, making more LZ-matches available.
Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) are sequences that are identical between reference genomes of distantly related species. As they are under negative selection and enriched near or in specific classes...Full Text Available
Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in premature aging, age-related diseases, and tumor initiation and progression. Alterations of the mitochondrial genome accumulate both in aging tissue...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe availability of multiple, essentially complete genome sequences of prokaryotes and eukaryotes spurred both the demand and the opportunity for the construction of an...Full Text Available
High-throughput technologies for DNA sequencing and for analyses of transcriptomes, proteomes and metabolomes have provided the foundations for deciphering the structure, variation and function of the...Full Text Available
BackgroundOrthology analysis is an important part of data analysis in many areas of bioinformatics such as comparative genomics and molecular phylogenetics. The ever-increasing flood...Full Text Available
Synthetic polymers and nanomaterials display selective phenotypic effects in cells and in the body that affect signal transduction mechanisms involved in inflammation, differentiation, proliferation,...Full Text Available
Eukaryotic genomes are packaged in two basic forms, euchromatin and heterochromatin. We have examined the composition and organization of Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin in...Full Text Available
ABSTRACT. Chlorarachniophytes are enigmatic marine unicellular algae that acquired photosynthesis by secondary endosymbiosis. Chlorarachniophytes are unusual in that the nucleus of the engulfed algal cell (a green alga) persists in a miniaturized form, termed a nucleomorph. The nucleomorph genome of the model chlorarachniophyte, Bigelowiella natans CCMP621, is 373 kilobase pairs (kbp) in size, the smallest nuclear genome characterized to date. The B. natans nucleomorph genome is composed of three chromosomes, each with canonical eukaryotic telomeres and sub telomeric ribosomal DNA (rDNA) operons transcribed away from the chromosome end. Here we present the complete rDNA operon and telomeric region from the nucleomorph genome of Lotharella oceanica CCMP622, a newly characterized chlorarachn...
The study of amphibian embryogenesis has provided important insight into the mechanisms of vertebrate development. The frog Xenopus laevis has been an important model of vertebrate...Full Text Available
Pork identification in four types of food products, which are sausages and the casings, bread and biscuits, using species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of a conserved region in the mitochondrial (mt) 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was developed. Genomic DNA of the food products were successfully extracted except for the casing samples, where no genomic DNA was detected. The extracted genomic DNA was then subjected to PCR amplification targeting the specific regions of the 12S rRNA gene. The genomic DNA from the food products were found to be of good quality and produced clear PCR products on the amplification of 12S rRNA gene of 387 base pairs (bp) from pork species. The species-specific PCR identification yielded excellent results for identification of pork derivatives...
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are a significant component of a wider family of retroelements that constitute part of the human genome. These viruses, perhaps representative of previous exogenous...Full Text Available
The ultimate goal of this research is to generate and apply novel technologies to speed completion and integration of the human genome map and sequence with biomedical problems. To do this, techniques were developed and genome-wide resources generated. This includes a genome-wide Mapped and Integrated BAC/PAC Resource that has been used for gene finding, map completion and anchoring, breakpoint definition and sequencing. In the last period of the grant, the Human Mapped BAC/PAC Resource was also applied to determine regions of human variation and to develop a novel paradigm of primate evolution through to humans. Further, in order to more rapidly evaluate animal models of human disease, a BAC Map of the mouse was generated in collaboration with the MTI Genome Center, Dr. Bruce Birren.
Motivation: DNA sequences can be represented by sequences of four symbols, but it is often useful to convert the symbols into real or complex numbers for further analysis. Several mapping...Full Text Available
... Extracellular Signaling through the Microenvironment: A Hypothesis Relating Carcinogenesis, Bystander Effects, and Genomic InstabilityMary Helen Barcellos-Hoff1a ... ...
Congruence is a broadly applied notion in evolutionary biology used to justify multigene phylogeny or phylogenomics, as well as in studies of coevolution, lateral gene transfer, and as evidence for...Full Text Available
Development of a fertilized egg into an adult human requires trillions of cell divisions, the vast majority of which duplicate their genome once and only once. Nevertheless, trophoblast giant...Full Text Available
High-throughput genomic and proteomic technologies have generated a wealth of publicly available data on ageing. Easy access to these data, and their computational analysis, is of great importance in...Full Text Available
The study of genetic variability within natural populations of pathogens may provide insight into their evolution and pathogenesis. We used a Mycobacterium tuberculosis high-density...Full Text Available
The biosynthesis of insect juvenile hormone (JH) and its neuroendocrine control are attractive targets for chemical control of insect pests and vectors of disease. To facilitate the molecular...Full Text Available
Acquisition of detailed knowledge of the structure and evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi populations is essential for control of Chagas disease....Full Text Available
BackgroundMany difficult problems in evolutionary genomics are related to mutations that have weak effects on fitness, as the consequences of mutations with large effects are often...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe most recent ESC guidelines for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) recommend the use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI) in high risk patients with non-ST-segment...Full Text Available
ObjectiveWe wanted to evaluate the status of self-expandable nitinol stents implanted in the P2 and P3 segments of the popliteal artery in Korean patients.Materials...Full Text Available
For the first time a segmented n-type HPGe detector was operated directly submerged in liquid nitrogen over a long period. As this kind of detector is envisioned to be used in GERDA phase II, it was operated with a low mass signal cable with snap-contacts and mounted in a low-mass copper holder. The detector performance was stable over 146 days, indicating that neither detector nor contacts deteriorated.
This paper presents the results obtained in the gamma scanning of two fuel pins from the bent subassembly of the fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) using a segmented gamma scanning system employing segment correlation developed for the assay of glove box solid waste. In addition to the actinide profiles, the paper also discusses the fission products and clad activation product profiles and tries to correlate the experimental values of the latter with computed values. (author). 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.
A large-acceptance Bragg curve spectrometer with a longitudinal electron collection field and a segmented anode has been constructed and tested. The effects on the charge resolution of the entrance angle and entrance position of the incident particle have been studied. Simulations have been done in order to isolate the contribution to the overall detector performance of the signal-shaping electronics from that of the intrinsic design of the detector. ((orig.))
One of the keystones of the canceled BTeV experiment (proposed at Fermilab's Tevatron) was its sophisticated three-level trigger. The trigger was designed to reject 99.9% of light-quark background events and retain a large number of B decays. The BTeV Pixel Detector provided a 3-dimensional, high resolution tracking system to detect B signatures. The Level 1 pixel detector trigger was proposed as a two stage process, a track-segment finder and a vertex finder which analyzed every accelerator crossing. In simulations the track-segment finder stage outputs an average of 200 track-segments per accelerator crossing (2.5MHz). The vertexing stage finds vertices and associates track-segments with the vertices found. This paper proposes a novel adaptive pattern recognition model to find the number and the estimated location of vertices, and to cluster track-segments around those ...
Targeted genome capture combined with next-generation sequencing was used to analyze 2.9 Mb of the DFNB79 interval on chromosome 9q34.3, which includes 108 candidate genes. Genomic...Full Text Available
We conducted a genome-wide association study of gastric cancer (GC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in ethnic Chinese subjects in which we genotyped 551,152 single nucleotide polymorphisms...Full Text Available
The dissimilatory metal reducing bacterium Shewanella sp. strain HN-41 was first reported to produce novel photoactive As-S nanotubes via reduction of As(V) and S(2)O(3)(2-) under anaerobic conditions. Here we report the draft genome sequence and annotation of strain HN-41. PMID:21868804
BackgroundThe mitochondrial genome of the Octocorallia has several characteristics atypical for metazoans, including a novel gene suggested to function in DNA repair. This mtMutS...Full Text Available
Case-parent trios were used in a genome wide association study of cleft lip with/without cleft palate (CL/P). SNPs near two genes not previously associated with CL/P [MAFB:...Full Text Available
Actinosynnema mirum Hasegawa et al. 1978 is the type species of the genus, and is of phylogenetic interest because of its central phylogenetic location in the Actino-synnemataceae, a rapidly growing family within the actinobacterial suborder Pseudo-nocardineae. A. mirum is characterized by its motile spores borne on synnemata and as a producer of nocardicin antibiotics. It is capable of growing aerobically and under a moderate CO2 atmosphere. The strain is a Gram-positive, aerial and substrate mycelium producing bacterium, originally isolated from a grass blade collected from the Raritan River, New Jersey. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence and annotation. This is the first complete genome sequence of a member of the family Actinosynnemataceae, and only the second sequence from the actinobacterial suborder Pseudonocardineae. The 8,248,144 bp long single replicon genome ...
DNA methylation is an important event in epigenetic changes in cells, and a fundamental regulator of gene transcription. Bisulfite genomic sequencing is a powerful technique used in studies of DNA methylation. However, the established procedures often require relatively large amounts of DNA. In everyday practice, samples submitted for analysis might contain very small amounts of poor quality material, as is often the case with forensic stain samples. In this study, we assess a modified, more efficient method of bisulfite genomic sequencing. Genomic DNA extracted from 3-mm dried blood spots using QIAamp micro kit was treated with sodium bisulfite (using EpiTect kit). Subsequent methylation-specific PCR (MSP) followed by DNA sequencing displayed the differentially methylated region of imprinted gene SNRPN. Our results show that this new combination of efficient DNA extraction and bisulfite treatment provides high quality ...
Alluvial fans along the east side of central Death Valley are being actively back-tilted along the Death Valley fault zone. Initial modelling of the Copper Canyon and Furnace Creek fans led to recognition of distinct segments. Field reconnaissance and aerial photo mapping were conducted to check model results and improve segment discrimination. Surface roughness, relative position, vegetation distribution, and drainage patterns provided independent evidence for segment discrimination. Subsequent modelling of individual segments produced a range of tilt values from 0.275[degree] to 0.559[degree] down to the northeast. Continued analysis of these fan segments is concentrated on: (1) assigning confidence and error values to the tilt values; and (2) dating individual segments. Further work will compare the tilt rates of east-side fans with those from the west. The ...
The perturbations of the L.R.S. class A spatially homogeneous spacetimes are treated using Hamiltonian methods in conjunction with techniques from the theory of Lie group harmonic analysis. These latter techniques lead to a simple way of handling any set of tensor equations on these background spacetimes which has the same symmetry group as the space-time metric. Once this approach is developed, the Hamiltonian formulation is used to recover in a clean way the Bonanos equations for the perturbations of the perfect fluid models of the class of spacetimes under consideration. The conserved quantities associated with the four-dimensional symmetry group are evaluated and their role in the linearized Hamiltonian dynamics is discussed. The time-dependent linear canonical transformation of the linearized vacuum gravitational phase space adapted to Moncrief's gauge invariant decomposition is described in general for these models and evaluated ...
The auroras on Jupiter and Saturn can be studied with a high sensitivity and resolution by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ultraviolet (UV) and far-ultraviolet (FUV) Space Telescope spectrograph (STIS) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments. We present results of automatic detection and segmentation of Jupiter's auroral emissions as observed by HST ACS instrument with VOronoi Image SEgmentation (VOISE). VOISE is a dynamic algorithm for partitioning the underlying pixel grid of an image into regions according to a prescribed homogeneity criterion. The algorithm consists of an iterative procedure that dynamically constructs a tessellation of the image plane based on a Voronoi Diagram, until the intensity of the underlying image within each region is classified as homogeneous. The computed tessellations allow the extraction of quantitative information about the auroral features such as mean intensity, latitudinal and longitudinal ...
Background: Incidence, characteristics and predictive factors of transient ST-segment changes after DC shock are poorly known. Methods: 91 consecutive pts referred for external cardioversion of atrial fibrillation (AF) (61 men, 69+/-10yo) were prospectively included. The presence of ST elevation or depression was assessed on 12 lead-ECG immediately after the first DC shock. Correlations with DC shock characteristics (monophasic/biphasic and energy), clinical variables, echocardiographic parameters, biological parameters, medications, anesthesic drugs as well with morphological features were made. Results: 18 and 20 pts underwent 200J or 300J monophasic and 53 pts 200J biphasic DC shocks. We found an incidence of 48% for ST-segment changes: 35% for ST elevation and 13% for ST depression. ST...
A method for range-resolved gas sensing using path-integrated optical systems is presented. The method involves dividing an absorption path into several measurement segments and extracting the gas concentration in each segment from two path-integrated measurements. We implemented the method with tunable lasers (a 1389-nm VCSEL and a 10.9-?m pulsed quantum cascade laser) and a group of retro reflectors (RRs) distributed along absorption paths. Using a rotating mirror with the VCSEL configuration, we could scan a group of seven tape RRs spaced by 10?cm in ??9?ms to extract an H2O concentration profile. Reduced H2O concentrations were recorded in the segments purged with dry air. Hollow corner cube RRs were used in the quantum cascade laser configuration at distances up to 1.1?km from the las...
Ichnogenera belonging to cleft-foot and wedge-foot bivalves can in most cases be distinguished. This paper addresses the taxonomy of locomotion traces made by wedge-foot bivalves. Ichnogenera Ptychoplasma Fenton and Fenton and Oravaichnium Plicka and Uhrova are reviewed together with related ichnotaxa. Both are interpreted as the locomotion traces of non-cleft, wedge-foot bivalves. Both are usually preserved as hypichnial ridges that include a distinctive bioprint of amygdaloid segments. Ptychoplasma is dominated by amygdaloid segments whereas Oravaichnium is wall-like with only sporadic amygdaloid segments. Ichnospecies of Ptychoplasma are distinguished on the basis of their continuity: P. excelsum Fenton and Fenton (the type) is a relatively continuous trace fossil consisting largely of ...
Bimaxillary protrusion is prevalent among Asians and anterior segmental osteotomies are commonly used for its surgical correction. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soft tissue changes resulting from anterior segmental osteotomies. The electronic databases PubMed, Scopus and ISI Web of knowledge were searched for potentially eligible studies using a set of predetermined keywords. Full texts meeting the inclusion criteria were retrieved and their references were manually searched for additional relevant articles. The study details and outcome data of these reports were extracted using spreadsheets for comparison. The methodological quality of each study was assessed. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Lateral cephalometry was used in all studies. A reduction of the lab...
PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the changes of soft and hard tissues after modified anterior segmental osteotomy on the maxilla and mandible and to evaluate unintended facial changes using cephalometric and photometric analyses.Materials and MethodsThe subjects included 29 women and 1 man (22 to 50 years of age) who were diagnosed as bialveolar or bimaxillary protrusion and underwent modified anterior segmental osteotomy on the maxilla and mandible. Lateral cephalograms and lateral and frontal photographs taken preoperatively and postoperatively were analyzed.ResultsThere was a significant change in all soft and hard tissue parameters except the labiomental angle. The ratio of upper lip to maxillary incisor retraction was 0.67:1 and the ratio of l...
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides mechanisms for reliable data communications. Although it works well in wired networks, it fails to offer satisfactory performance in lossy and wireless environments. And in the multi-hop wireless infrastructure, packet delivery suffers high cumulative loss rate if traveling over multiple wireless hops. The Selective acknowledgment (SACK) is one header option that might be used to combat segment corruptions in air channels. In this paper, an alternative set of flow control mechanisms is proposed to handle high packet loss rate in a wireless medium. Using a measurement-based mechanism, sustainable segment delivery is achievable through a novel size-reduction method. Multiple segment retransmission mechanisms are introduced to reduce successive tim...
Digital libraries need more than just a retrieval based on keywords, which can be inefficient for some applications. Thus, a document retrieval based on content of the digitized image version of the document can be a more appropriated approach. This paper discusses the retrieval of document images by means of identifying a variety of elements present in the document's image body. We propose a new strategy to identify and combine features extracted from a document image. We also consider the task of constructing an optimized feature set to improve the retrieval performance and to validate our experiments on an assorted database. Experimental results show that the proposed segmentation together with a wisely feature combination increase the overall retrieval performance. Moreover the retrieved images demonstrate the generality and effectiveness of our approach for an efficient segmentation and classification of document images.
Genomic instability can be produced by ionising radiation, so-called radiation-induced genomic instability, and chemical mutagens. Radiation-induced genomic instability occurs in both germinal and somatic cells and also in the offspring of irradiated individuals, and it is characterised by genetic changes including chromosomal rearrangements. The majority of studies of trans-generational, radiation-induced genomic instability have been described in the male germ line, whereas the authors who have chosen the female as a model are scarce. The aim of this work is to find out the radiation-induced effects in the foetal offspring of X-ray-treated female rats and, at the same time, the possible impact of this radiation-induced genomic instability on the action of a chemical mutagen. In order to achieve both goals, the quantity and quality of chromosomal damage were analysed. In order to ...
The sequencing and detailed comparative functional analysis of genomes of a number of select botanical models open new doors into comparative genomics among the angiosperms, with potential benefits for improvement of many orphan crops that feed large populations. In this study, a set of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was developed by mining the expressed sequence tag (EST) database of sorghum. Among the SSR-containing sequences, only those sharing considerable homology with rice genomic sequences across the lengths of the 12 rice chromosomes were selected. Thus, 600 SSR-containing sorghum EST sequences (50 homologous sequences on each of the 12 rice chromosomes) were selected, with the intention of providing coverage for corresponding homologous regions of the sorghum genome. Primer pairs were designed and polymorphism detection ability was assessed using parental pairs of two existing sorghum ...
Somite boundary formation is crucial for segmentation of vertebrate somites and vertebrae and skeletal muscle morphogenesis. Previously, we developed a Tol2 transposon-mediated...Full Text Available
Water relations of growing segments of maize (Zea mays L.) coleoptiles were investigated with osmotic methods using either mannitol (MAN) or polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG) as external...Full Text Available
Twenty-four patients were studied with both /sup 201/Tl-thallus chloride and /sup 99m/Tc-TBI scintigraphy following exercise. Comparison of the two agents in detecting segmental myocardial ischemia and scar was made in 18 patients with evidence of coronary artery disease on /sup 201/Tl-thallous chloride scintigraphy. Agreement between the two studies was observed in 77% (125 of 162) of left ventricular segments, suggesting that /sup 99m/Tc-TBI can be used as a myocardial perfusion agent. Limitations were related to early high background activity from lungs and liver. The high lung activity and early myocardial redistribution within the 1st hour contributed to the failure of /sup 99m/Tc-TBI to detect 16 segmental defects seen in the immediate post-exercise thallous chloride scan. Persistently high liver activity additionally affected accurate interpretation in the left ventricular segments close to the ...
Responsive biomaterials play important roles in imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) containing hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments are one class of biomaterial...Full Text Available
A final step in the influenza virus replication cycle is the assembly of the viral structural proteins and the packaging of the eight segments of viral RNA (vRNA) into a fully infectious virion. The...Full Text Available
The development of central neuropathic pain varies among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The factors contributing to the development and perpetuation of segmental pain (at-level allodynia)...Full Text Available
The noninvasive assessment of cardiac function is of first importance for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Among all medical scanners only a few enables radiologists to evaluate the local cardiac...Full Text Available
In order to clarify a mechanism of melt-jet breakup and fragmentation entirely different from the mechanism of stripping, a series of experiments were carried out by using molten tin jets of 100 grams with initial temperatures from 250degC to 900degC. Molten tin jets with a small kinematic viscosity and a large thermal diffusivity were used to observe breakup and fragmentation of melt jets enhanced thermally and hydrodynamically. We observed jet columns with second-stage large-scale structures generated by the coalescence of large-scale structures recognized in the field of fluid mechanics. At a greater depth, the segmentation of jet columns between second-stage large-scale structures and the fragmentation of the segmented jet columns were observed. It is reasonable to consider that the segmentation and the fragmentation of jet columns are caused by the boiling of water hydrodynamically entrained within second-stage ...
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
Moderate doses of red (660 nanometer) irradiation cause a rapid increase in the translocation of fluorescein in dark-grown mung bean hypocotyl (Vigna radiata L.) segments. The increase...Full Text Available
A red light-induced, far red reversible stimulation of proton efflux from apical segments of etiolated Avena sativa L. cv. Victory coleoptiles was observed. The acidification...Full Text Available
The sequence in the first hypervariable segment (HVS-I) of the control region has been used as a source of evolutionary information in most phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA. Population genetic inference...Full Text Available
1. Radioactive products in detached leaf segments were examined after periods of steady-state photosynthesis in 14CO2. 2. After exposure to 14CO2 for approx....Full Text Available
PurposeAuto-propagation of anatomical region-of-interests (ROIs) from the planning CT to daily CT is an essential step in image-guided adaptive radiotherapy. The...Full Text Available
Basal segments taken from Old Home and Bartlett pear hardwood cuttings collected at intervals during the rooting period in September were extracted with ethanol and fractionated by paper chromatography...Full Text Available
Segments of the chick basilar papilla were isolated and maintained in culture medium. The sensory hair bundle of individual hair cells was observed with light microscopy and stimulated with a water...Full Text Available
The structural features required for xyloglucan oligosaccharides to inhibit 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid-stimulated elongation of pea stem segments have been investigated. A nonasaccharide (XG9)...Full Text Available
Epicuticular wax production was evaluated along the length of expanding leek (Allium porrum L.) leaves to gain insight into the regulation of wax production. Leaf segments from the...Full Text Available
IntroductionChest pain with ST-segment elevation is a rare clinical problem during dobutamine stress testing. Although beta-agonists treatment prior to dobutamine stress testing...Full Text Available
It has previously been established that muscles become active in response to deviations from a threshold (referent) position of the body or its segments, and that intentional motor actions result from...Full Text Available
The incidence of arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction of the inferior wall varies with the affected segment and increases when there is right ventricular involvement. This paper provides a...Full Text Available
Adaptive image processing is one of the most important techniques in visual information processing, especially in early vision such as image restoration, filtering, enhancement, and segmentation. This work focuses on applications of advanced CI techniques in image processing applications
Learning curve models have gained widespread acceptance as a technique for analyzing and ...... flight segment in F4 pilots p 163 A91-30966. WILSON, JOHN W . ...
The existence and importance of an accelerated adjacent segment disc degeneration (ASD) after lumbar fusion have previously not been demonstrated by RCTs. The objectives of this study were, to determine...Full Text Available
During sexual development, Neurospora crassa inactivates genes in duplicated DNA segments by a hypermutation process, repeat-induced point mutation (RIP). RIP introduces C:G to T:A...Full Text Available
Automatic segmentation of anatomical structures in medical images is a valuable tool for efficient computer-aided radiotherapy and surgery planning and an enabling technology for dynamic adaptive radiotherapy. This paper presents the design, algorithms and validation of new software for the automatic segmentation of CT images used for radiotherapy treatment planning. A coarse to fine approach is followed that consists of presegmentation, anatomic orientation and structure segmentation. No user input or a priori information about the image content is required. In presegmentation, the body outline, the bones and lung equivalent tissue are detected. Anatomic orientation recognizes the patient's position, orientation and gender and creates an elastic mapping of the slice positions to a reference scale. Structure segmentation is divided into localization, outlining and refinement, performed by ...
Abstract Septins are highly conserved cytoskeletal GTP-binding proteins implicated in numerous cellular processes from apoptosis to vesicle trafficking. Septins have been associated with leukemia and solid tumor malignancies, including breast, ovarian, and prostate. We previously reported that high SEPT9_i1 expression in human mammary epithelial cell lines (HMECs) led to malignant cellular phenotypes such as increased cell proliferation, invasiveness, motility, and genomic instability. Our goal here was to better understand how SEPT9_i1 expression might contribute to genomic instability and malignant progression. First, we confirmed that even transient expression of SEPT9_i1 was sufficient to increase aneuploidy in HMECs. We then analyzed SEPT9_i1 by immunoprecipitation and immunofluoresce...
As with other areas of biomedical research, the expectation is that the results of genome research will yield commercially valuable products of benefits to human health. The report, analyzes universities`, companies`, and researchers` experiences and perspectives since enactment of federal laws to enhance technology transfer--especially as it pertains to research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, the agencies funding U.S. efforts in the Human Genome Project. OTA prepared this background paper with the assistance of a panel of advisors and reviewers selected for their expertise and diverse points of view. Additionally, hundreds of individuals cooperated with OTA staff through interviews or by providing written material. These authorities were drawn from government, academia, industry, and professional societies worldwide.
Evidence suggests that insertion of the IS6110 element is not without consequence to the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains. Thus, mapping of multiple IS6110 insertion sites in the genome of biomedically relevant clinical isolates would result in a better understanding of the role of this mobile element, particularly with regard to transmission, adaptability and virulence. In the present paper, we describe a versatile strategy, referred to as GL-PCR, that amplifies IS6110-flanking sequences based on the construction of a genomic library. M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA is fully digested with HincII and then ligated into a plasmid vector between T7 and T3 promoter sequences. The ligation reaction product is transformed into Escherichia coli and selective PCR amplification...
The Systems Design Study (SDS) identified technologies available for the remediation of low-level and transuranic waste stored at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex's Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The SDS study intentionally omitted the costs of transportation and disposal of the processed waste and the cost of decommissioning the processing facility. This report provides a follow-on analysis of the SDS to explore the basis for life-cycle cost segments of transportation, disposal, and facility decommissioning; to determine the sensitivity of the cost segments; and to quantify the life-cycle costs of the 10 ex situ concepts of the Systems Design Study.
The Systems Design Study (SDS) identified technologies available for the remediation of low-level and transuranic waste stored at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex`s Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The SDS study intentionally omitted the costs of transportation and disposal of the processed waste and the cost of decommissioning the processing facility. This report provides a follow-on analysis of the SDS to explore the basis for life-cycle cost segments of transportation, disposal, and facility decommissioning; to determine the sensitivity of the cost segments; and to quantify the life-cycle costs of the 10 ex situ concepts of the Systems Design Study.
With the development of an array of highly-segmented germanium detectors, it now becomes possible to perform in-flight #gamma#-ray spectroscopy experiments on intermediate energy beams with unprecedented #gamma#-ray energy resolution. Presented in this report are examples of two techniques in which SeGA, the most highly-segmented operational germanium array for in-flight spectroscopy with fast beams, was used for the detection of #gamma# rays. SeGA used in conjunction with a high-resolution magnetic spectrograph (S800) to detect the reaction residues in coincidence represents a powerful combination for in-beam #gamma#-ray studies.
Dilatation of the azygos vein is usually due to increased pressure or flow, rarely is it diopathic. Another cause is so-called continuation of the azygos in cases of absence of the hepatic segment of the inferior vena cava. The method of choice for the investigation of azygos dilatation nowadays is computer tomotgraphy. Anomalies of the inferior vena cava can be recognised in this way unequivocally by a non-invasive method. Computer tomography frequently shows important additional abnormalities (e.g. situs inversus, polysplenia), since it demonstrates all organs situated in the plane of section. (orig.).
A fast and accurate segmentation of organs at risk, such as the healthy colon, would be of benefit for planning of radiotherapy, in particular in an adaptive scenario. For the treatment of pelvic tumours, a great challenge is the segmentation of the most adjacent and sensitive parts of the gastrointestinal tract, the sigmoid and descending colon. We propose a semi-automated method to segment these bowel parts using the fast marching (FM) method. Standard 3D computed tomography (CT) image data obtained from routine radiotherapy planning were used. Our pre-processing steps distinguish the intestine, muscles and air from connective tissue. The core part of our method separates the sigmoid and descending colon from the muscles and other segments of the intestine. This is done by utilizing the ability of the FM method to compute a specified minimal energy functional integrated along a path, and thereby ...
BackgroundA common approach to understanding the genetic basis of complex traits is through identification of associated quantitative trait loci (QTL). Fine mapping QTLs requires...Full Text Available
A nonviral vector for highly efficient site-specific integration would be desirable for many applications in transgenesis, including gene therapy. In this study we directly compared the genomic integration...Full Text Available
chipD is a web server that facilitates design of DNA oligonucleotide probes for high-density tiling arrays, which can be used in a number of genomic applications such as ChIP-chip or gene-expression...Full Text Available
The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, a neglected tropical infection that affects millions of people in the Americas. Current chemotherapy...Full Text Available
The genome sequence of the Mamavirus, a new Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus strain, is reported. With 1,191,693 nt in length and 1,023 predicted protein-coding genes, the Mamavirus...Full Text Available
Molecular Misreading (MM) is the inaccurate conversion of genomic information into aberrant proteins. For example, when RNA polymerase II transcribes a GAGAG motif it synthesizes at low frequency RNA...Full Text Available
The structural phosphoprotein NS of vesicular stomatitis virus, in association with the virion-associated RNA polymerase L protein, transcribes the genome ribonucleoprotein template in vitro. It contains...Full Text Available
The lesion bypass pathway, which is regulated by monoubiquitination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), is essential for resolving replication stalling due to DNA lesions. This process is...Full Text Available
Materials and MethodsThe genomic effects of tumor-endothelial interactions in cancer are not yet well characterized. To study this interaction in breast...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
Significant emphasis has recently been placed on the characterization of the human cancer genome. This effort has been assisted by the development of new DNA sequencing technologies that allow...Full Text Available
The recent introduction of several transposable elements in zebrafish opens new frontiers for genetic manipulation in this important vertebrate model. This review discusses transposable elements as...Full Text Available
BackgroundTransposons, i.e. transposable elements (TEs), are the major internal spontaneous mutation agents for the variability of eukaryotic genomes. To address the general issue...Full Text Available
A detailed map of the transcriptional organization of the CELO virus genome was produced. Recent computer analysis of CELO virus has indicated the presence of 38 putative open reading frames (ORFs)....Full Text Available
Current genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are moving towards the use of large cohorts of primary cell lines to study a disease of interest and to assign biological relevance to the genetic signals...Full Text Available
Transposable elements (TEs) were first discovered more than 50 years ago, but were totally ignored for a long time. Over the last few decades they have gradually attracted increasing interest from research...Full Text Available
Mouse genetic resources include inbred strains, recombinant inbred lines, chromosome substitution strains, heterogeneous stocks, and the Collaborative Cross (CC). These resources were generated through...Full Text Available
AbstractThe Galaxy package empowers regular users to perform rich DNA sequence analysis through a much-needed and user-friendly graphical web interface.See research article...Full Text Available
In this study, the complete sequence of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Atelura formicaria (Hexapoda: Zygentoma) is described. The molecule is 15.205 bp in length and it is the third complete mt genome sequenced from the Zygentoma. The genome organization conforms with the putative ancestral insect gene arrangement. All protein coding genes use standard initiation codons (methionine and isoleucine). The exception is nad4 that starts with GTG, a codon used for this purpose in other insect species. A peculiar strand skew bias is observed, given that the PCGs encoded on the J-strand contain more thymines than adenines and more cytosines than guanines. This trend in nucleotide composition has been observed also in the "firebrat" Thermobia domestica (Zygentoma, Lepismatidae), but differs from that of the majority of hexapod species, including Tricholepidion gertschi (Zygentoma, Lepidotrichidae), where adenines and cytosines outnumber thymines and ...
BackgroundChromatin insulators or boundary elements are a class of functional elements in the eukaryotic genome. They regulate gene transcription by interfering with promoter-enhancer...Full Text Available
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common inhabitant of soil and water, is an opportunistic pathogen of growing clinical relevance. Its genome, one of the largest among bacteria [5570 open reading...Full Text Available
SummaryAgeing is a complex, challenging phenomenon that will require multiple, interdisciplinary approaches to unravel its puzzles. To assist basic research on ageing, we developed...Full Text Available
An outbreak of acute respiratory disease in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia, in September 1994 resulted in the deaths of 14 racing horses and a horse trainer. The causative agent was a new member...Full Text Available
BackgroundTwenty-eight genes putatively encoding cytosolic glutathione transferases have been identified in the Anopheles gambiae genome. We manually annotated these...Full Text Available
Assembly of infectious adenovirus particles requires seven functionally redundant elements at the left end of the genome, termed A repeats, that direct packaging of the DNA. Previous studies revealed...Full Text Available
Genome-wide studies of bacterial gene expression are shifting from microarray technology to second generation sequencing platforms. RNA-seq has a number of advantages over hybridization-based techniques,...Full Text Available
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is clearly a factor in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, but its mechanism of action remains obscure. One possibility is that the HBV integration event alters the...Full Text Available
Recognition of acetylated chromatin by the bromodomains and extra-terminal domain (BET) family proteins is a hallmark for transcriptional activation and anchoring viral genomes to mitotic chromosomes...Full Text Available
Using the complete genome of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 which has 14 chromosomes as an example, we have examined the distribution functions for the amount of C or G and A or T consecutively...Full Text Available
BackgroundRNA turnover plays an important role in the gene regulation of microorganisms and influences their speed of acclimation to environmental changes. We investigated whole-genome...Full Text Available
BackgroundFertilization, cell division and embryo development depend on genomic contributions from male and female gametes. We hypothesize that teratozoospermic sperm influences...Full Text Available
We have used restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) of genomic DNA to classify porcine Pasteurella multocida isolates with similar capsular and somatic serotypes, and to monitor the distribution of...Full Text Available
We use high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping microarrays to demonstrate the ability to accurately and robustly determine whether individuals are in a complex genomic DNA mixture....Full Text Available
BackgroundEukaryotic DNA replication is regulated at the level of large chromosomal domains (0.5–5 megabases in mammals) within which replicons are activated relatively synchronously....Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Class II DNA transposons are mobile genetic elements that move DNA sequence from one position in the genome to another. We have previously demonstrated that the naturally...Full Text Available
The evolution of the human mitochondrial genome is characterized by the emergence of ethnically distinct lineages or haplogroups. Nine European, seven Asian (including Native American), and three African...Full Text Available
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in clinical material cannot replicate efficiently in vitro until it has adapted by mutation. Consequently, wild-type HCMV differ fundamentally from the passaged strains...Full Text Available
Orthologous positions of 55 genes associated with height in four human populations were located on the bovine genome. Single nucleotide polymorphisms close to eight of these genes were significantly...Full Text Available
The retroviral RNA genome is dimeric, consisting of two identical strands of RNA linked near their 5′ ends by a dimer linkage structure. Previously it was shown that human foamy virus (HFV)...Full Text Available
Normal cells, both in vivo and in vitro, become quiescent after serial cell proliferation. During this process, cells can develop immortality with genomic instability,...Full Text Available
In a follow-up to our previously reported genome-wide association study of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC)1, we describe here several new susceptibility...Full Text Available
Comparison of gastric carcinoma and gastritis isolates showed the presence of genes, probably carcinoma associated (JHP947 and JHP940), that are situated in a Helicobacter...Full Text Available
We performed genome-wide homozygosity mapping in a large consanguineous family from Morocco and mapped the autosomal-recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) in this family to the DFNB79...Full Text Available
BackgroundFor more than a decade there has been increasing interest in the use of nanotechnology and microarray platforms for diagnostic applications. In this report, we describe...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 analyzed the prevalence and distribution of ...
Purpose: Small animal micro-CT imaging is being used increasingly in preclinical biomedical research to provide phenotypic descriptions of genomic models. Most of this imaging is coincident...Full Text Available
We have characterized the kinetic response of gene targets throughout the murine genome to transcriptional modulation by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In contrast to a model in which multiple genes...Full Text Available
The RNA packaging process for retroviruses involves a recognition event of the genome-length viral RNA by the viral Gag polyprotein precursor (PrGag), an important step in particle morphogenesis. The...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenetic interactions within hybrids influence their overall fitness. Understanding the details of these interactions can improve our understanding of speciation. One experimental...Full Text Available
Large population sizes, rapid growth and 3.8 billion years of evolution firmly establish microorganisms as a major source of the planet's biological and genetic diversity. However, up to 99% of the...Full Text Available
Marine sediments are frequently covered by mats of the filamentous Beggiatoa and other large nitrate-storing bacteria that oxidize hydrogen sulfide using either oxygen or nitrate, which...Full Text Available
Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) allows researchers to determine the genome-wide binding locations of individual transcription factors (TFs) at high resolution....Full Text Available
The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) packages its genomic RNA as a dimer of homologous RNA molecules that has to be selected among a multitude of cellular and viral RNAs. Interestingly, spliced...Full Text Available
Chromosomal common fragile sites (CFSs) are genetically unstable regions of the genome that are induced by conditions that impair DNA replication. In this report, we show that treatment with the DNA...Full Text Available
The plasmid pE194 (3.7 kilobases) is capable of integrating into the genome of the bacterial host Bacillus subtilis in the absence of the major homology-dependent RecE recombination system. Multiple...Full Text Available
BackgroundRecently, the discovery of copy number variation (CNV) led researchers to think that there are more variations of genomic DNA than initially believed. Moreover, a certain...Full Text Available
A duplication of the polypurine tract (PPT) at the center of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genome (the cPPT) has been shown to prime a separate plus-strand initiation and to result...Full Text Available
Bortezomib/PS-341/Velcade, a proteasome inhibitor, is widely used to treat multiple myeloma. While several mechanisms of the cytotoxicity of the drug were proposed, the actual mechanism remains elusive....Full Text Available
BackgroundIn recent years, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has emerged as a critical model organism for comparative genomics and developmental biology. Although...Full Text Available
BackgroundHIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) is a heterodimer composed of p66 and p51 subunits and is responsible for reverse transcription of the viral RNA genome into DNA. RT can...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp) is the causative agent of the human disease melioidosis. To understand the evolutionary mechanisms...Full Text Available
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) contains a viroid-like circular RNA that replicates via a double rolling circle replication mechanism. It is generally assumed that HDV RNA is synthesized and remains exclusively...Full Text Available
Harmful algal blooms, caused by rapid growth and accumulation of certain microalgae in the ocean, pose considerable impacts on marine environments, aquatic industries and even public health. Here, we...Full Text Available
Increasing numbers of human cowpox virus infections that are being observed and that particularly affect young non-vaccinated persons have renewed interest in this zoonotic disease. Usually causing...Full Text Available
The continued evolution of bacterial pathogens has major implications for both human and animal disease, but the exchange of genetic material between host-restricted pathogens is rarely considered....Full Text Available
Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, the third most common mycobacterial disease after tuberculosis and leprosy. It is an emerging infectious disease that...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe objective of the study was to analyse the evolution of Bordetella pertussis population and the influence of herd immunity in different areas of the...Full Text Available
Forum domains are stretches of chromosomal DNA that are excised from eukaryotic chromosomes during their spontaneous non-random fragmentation. Most forum domains are 50–200 kb in length....Full Text Available
The torque-velocity relationship is known to be affected by ageing, decreasing its protective role in the prevention of falls. Interindividual variability in this torque-velocity relationship is partly...Full Text Available
Bovine embryos can be generated by in vitro fertilization or somatic nuclear transfer; however, these differ from their in vivo counterparts in many aspects and exhibit a higher proportion of developmental...Full Text Available
Neurons in the hippocampal CA1 region are particularly sensitive to oxidative stress (OS), whereas those in CA3 are resistant. To uncover mechanisms for selective CA1 vulnerability to OS, we...Full Text Available
Zinc is an essential trace metal ion for growth, but an excess of Zn is toxic and microorganisms express diverse resistance mechanisms. To understand global bacterial responses to excess Zn, we conducted...Full Text Available
Transcription factors drive organogenesis, from the initiation of cell fate decisions to the maintenance and implementation of these decisions. The Drosophila embryonic salivary gland...Full Text Available
Campylobacter is one of the leading causes of food-borne gastroenteritis and has a high prevalence in poultry. Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni 327 is a subspecies...Full Text Available
The accelerating development of biochemical and DNA-based diagnostic tests for human genetic conditions in the last decade has engendered a revolution in genetic diagnosis. Both genetic testing and...Full Text Available
Over the past two decades, combined advances in genetics, developmental biology and biochemistry have transformed the study of human birth defects. This review describes the importance of genome architecture,...Full Text Available
BackgroundDeveloping lepidopteran microsatellite DNA markers can be problematical, as markers often exhibit multiple banding patterns and high frequencies of non-amplifying "null"...Full Text Available
BackgroundCucumis melo (melon) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, whose economic importance among horticulture crops is second only to Solanaceae. Melon has high...Full Text Available
Despite the recent success of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in identifying loci consistently associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), a large proportion of the genetic components of...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe decline noticed in several fertility traits of dairy cattle over the past few decades is of major concern. Understanding of the genomic factors underlying fertility,...Full Text Available
Werner Syndrome (WS) is an inherited disease characterized by premature onset of aging, increased cancer incidence, and genomic instability. The WS gene encodes a 1,432-amino acid polypeptide (WRN)...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe western African clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis is an anuran amphibian species now used as model in vertebrate comparative genomics. It provides the...Full Text Available
In Staphylococcus aureus, a pronounced shift in position of the acriflavin resistance locus was observed when gene order was determined by marker frequency analysis of cells of various ages. In young cells (2-hour culture), acriflavin resistance was mappe...
Many pathogens colonize different anatomical sites, but the selective pressures contributing to survival in the diverse niches are poorly understood. Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is...Full Text Available
Genome endoreduplication during mammalian development is a rare event for which the mechanism is unknown. It first appears when fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) deprivation induces differentiation...Full Text Available
The objectives of this study were to examine the association between dietary factors and underweight and overweight adult Vietnamese living in the rural areas of Vietnam. A cross-sectional study of...Full Text Available
Caries is a multifactorial disease, and studies aiming to unravel the factors modulating its etiology must consider all known predisposing factors. One major factor is bacterial colonization,...Full Text Available
DNA damage is a threat to genomic integrity in all living organisms. Plants and green algae are particularly susceptible to DNA damage especially that caused by UV light, due to their light dependency...Full Text Available
Cyteogenetic maps of sorghum chromosomes 3-7, 9, and 10 were constructed on the basis of the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of ~ ... regions of heterchromatin were delimited for all 10 sorghum chrom...
BackgroundOncidium spp. produce commercially important orchid cut flowers. However, they are amenable to intergeneric and inter-specific crossing making phylogenetic...Full Text Available
RNAs transcribed from the mitochondrial genome of Physarum polycephalum are heavily edited. The most prevalent editing event is the insertion of single Cs, with Us and dinucleotides...Full Text Available
BackgroundStructured noncoding RNAs perform many functions that are essential for protein synthesis, RNA processing, and gene regulation. Structured RNAs can be detected by comparative...Full Text Available
Mechanisms for differential regulation of gene expression may underlie much of the phenotypic variation and adaptability of malaria parasites. Here we describe transcriptional variation among culture-adapted...Full Text Available
Partial epilepsies have a substantial heritability. However, the actual genetic causes are largely unknown. In contrast to many other common diseases for which genetic association-studies have successfully...Full Text Available
Present investigations suggest that approximately 30% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases arise on the basis of inherited factors. We hypothesize that the majority of inherited factors are moderately...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe rate of emergence of human pathogens is steadily increasing; most of these novel agents originate in wildlife. Bats, remarkably, are the natural reservoirs of many...Full Text Available
It is well known that DNA strands bind to silica surfaces in the presence of high concentrations of chaotropic salts. We developed simple methods to evaluate binding and recovery of DNA on flat...Full Text Available
BackgroundMimivirus, a giant dsDNA virus infecting Acanthamoeba, is the prototype of the mimiviridae family, the latest addition to the family of the nucleocytoplasmic...Full Text Available
Global hypomethylation has been shown to increase genome instability potentially leading to increased cancer risk. We determined whether global methylation in blood leukocyte DNA was associated...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Gram-negative, xylem-limited phytopathogenic bacterium Xylella fastidiosa is responsible for causing economically important diseases in grapevine,...Full Text Available
BackgroundType A1 Clostridium botulinum strains are a group of Gram-positive, spore-forming anaerobic bacteria that produce a genetically, biochemically, and biophysically...Full Text Available
The standard paradigm postulates that the human mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is strictly maternally inherited and that, consequently, mtDNA lineages are clonal. As a result of mtDNA clonality, phylogenetic...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenomics has substantially changed our approach to cancer research. Gene expression profiling, for example, has been utilized to delineate subtypes of cancer, and facilitated...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe goat (Capra hircus) represents one of the most important farm animal species. It is reared in all continents with an estimated world population of...Full Text Available
Signatures of natural selection occur throughout the human genome and can be detected at the sequence level. We have re-sequenced ABCE1, a host candidate gene essential for...Full Text Available
Rhodococcus fascians is a Gram-positive phytopathogen that induces shooty hyperplasia on its hosts through the secretion of cytokinins. Global transcriptomics using microarrays combined...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe production of high yields of recombinant proteins is an enduring bottleneck in the post-genomic sciences that has yet to be addressed in a truly rational manner. Typically...Full Text Available
The human genome contains greater than 20 actin-related sequences, six of which at least are expressed as protein. We have shown by blot hybridization the presence of actin-like sequences on both the...Full Text Available
Rapid development in genomics in recent years has allowed the simultaneous measurement of the expression levels of thousands of genes using DNA microarrays. This has offered tremendous potential...Full Text Available
Cultured mouse or human embryonic stem (ES) cells provide access to all of the genes required to elaborate the fundamental components and physiological systems of a mammalian cell. Chemical or insertional...Full Text Available
BackgroundCentrosome aberrations can cause genomic instability and correlate with malignant progression in common human malignancies such as breast and prostate cancer. Deregulation...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe commonest pathogenic DMD changes are intragenic deletions/duplications which make up to 78% of all cases and point mutations (roughly 20%) detectable...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe order Tetraodontiformes consists of approximately 429 species of fishes in nine families. Members of the order exhibit striking morphological diversity and radiated...Full Text Available
The distribution of 20 variable regions resulting from insertion-deletion events in the genomes of the tubercle bacilli has been evaluated in a total of 100 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,...Full Text Available
Arabidopsis and rice are the only two model plants whose finished phase genome sequence has been completed. Here we report the construction of an oligomer microarray based on the presently...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVEPreimplantation factor (PIF) is a novel, 15 amino acid peptide, secreted by viable embryos. This study aims to elucidate PIF’s effects in human endometrial...Full Text Available
BackgroundProteins may evolve through the recruitment and modification of discrete domains, and in many cases, protein action can be dissected at the domain level. PDZ domains are...Full Text Available
A search for homologs of the Bacillus subtilis PhoP response regulator in the group A streptococcus (GAS) genome revealed three good candidates. Inactivation of one of these, recently...Full Text Available
In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is critical, however, for both basic and clinical research into brain function....Full Text Available
A DNA fragment located on the 3' side of the Coxiella burnetii htpAB operon was determined by Southern blotting to exist in approximately 19 copies in the Nine Mile I genome. The DNA sequences of this...Full Text Available
The origin of life is a long-standing mystery puzzling many people. This mystery possesses not only philosophical but also important biological significance. To unveil this mystery, the searches for the root of life, or the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), based on comparative-genomic analysis have been intensively performed on rRNAs, tRNAs and proteins sequences. The current search pointed to a Methanopyrus-proximal LUCA, which opens up the reconstruction of Lucan biology and helps to delineate the evolutionary pathways.
Outbreaks of disease attributable to human error or natural causes can provide unique opportunities to gain new information about host-pathogen interactions and new leads for pathogenesis research. Poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (PSGN), a sequela of infection with pathogenic streptococci, is a common cause of preventable kidney disease worldwide. Although PSGN usually occurs after infection with group A streptococci, organisms of Lancefield group C and G also can be responsible. Despite decades of study, the molecular pathogenesis of PSGN is poorly understood. As a first step toward gaining new information about PSGN pathogenesis, we sequenced the genome of Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus strain MGCS10565, a group C organism that caused a very large and unusually severe epidemic of nephritis in Brazil. The genome is a circular chromosome of 2,024,171 bp. The genome shares extensive gene content, including many ...
AIM: To compare the adequacy and acceptability of Picolax and Citramag bowel cleansing agents for CT colonography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Multidetector row CT colonography was performed in 124 subjects; 43 had been prepared with Picolax and 81 with Citramag. Datasets were assessed for retained fluid and solid residue, and overall adequacy of segmental visualization. Preparation acceptability was also assessed. RESULTS: There was significantly less retained fluid with Picolax. The odds of being in the next higher category for retained fluid when using Picolax were 0.33 (CI: 0.22-0.50, p<0.0001) when compared with Citramag, for all segments combined. However there was significantly more retained solid residue with Picolax. The odds of being in the next higher category for retained residue when using Picolax were 2.44 (CI: 1.41-4.24, p=0.002) when compared with Citramag, for all segments combined. There was no ...
The convolution/superposition calculations for radiotherapy dose distributions are traditionally performed by convolving polyenergetic energy deposition kernels with TERMA (total energy released per unit mass) precomputed in each voxel of the irradiated phantom. We propose an alternative method in which the TERMA calculation is replaced by random sampling of photon energy, direction and interaction point. Then, a direction is randomly sampled from the angular distribution of the monoenergetic kernel corresponding to the photon energy. The kernel ray is propagated across the phantom, and energy is deposited in each voxel traversed. An important advantage of the explicit sampling of energy is that spectral changes with depth are automatically accounted for. No spectral or kernel hardening corrections are needed. Furthermore, the continuous sampling of photon direction allows us to model sharp changes in fluence, such as those due to collimator tongue-and-groove. The use of explicit ...
The high incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer have stimulated research for prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. DNA ploidy status of tumour cells is an important parameter with diagnostic and prognostic significance. In the current study, DNA ploidy analysis was performed using image cytometry technique and digital image processing and analysis. Tissue samples from prostate patients were stained using the Feulgen method. Images were acquired using a digital imaging microscopy system consisting of an Olympus BX-50 microscope equipped with a color CCD camera. Segmentation of such images is not a trivial problem because of the uneven background, intensity variations within the nuclei and cell clustering. In this study specific algorithms were developed in Matlab based on the most prominent image segmentation approaches that emanate from the field of Mathematical Morphology, focusing on region-based watershed ...
Pinta is a system for segmentation and visualization of anatomical structures obtained from serial sections reconstructed from magnetic resonance imaging. The system approaches the segmentation problem by assigning each volumetric region to an anatomical structure. This is accomplished by satisfying constraints at the pixel level, slice level, and volumetric level. Each slice is represented by an attributed graph, where nodes correspond to regions and links correspond to the relations between regions. These regions are obtained by grouping pixels based on similarity and proximity. The slice level attributed graphs are then coerced to form a volumetric attributed graph, where volumetric consistency can be verified. The main novelty of our approach is in the use of the volumetric graph to ensure consistency from symbolic representations obtained from individual slices. In this fashion, the system allows errors to be made at the slice level, yet ...
Up to this time the sigmoid colostomy has been widely accepted and conventional treatment for radiation-injured rectum, but patients without residual malignancy strongly desire to live without colostomy. We have tried to remove the involved rectal segments by sphincter-saving procedures. Four patients underwent these procedures, pull-through procedure in three and low anterior resection in one. Among sphincter-saving procedures, pull-through procedure was most adequate. Provided the following five conditions are fulfilled, pull-through procedure should be considered for severe radiation-injured rectum. (1) No recurrence of initial malignancy in the pelvis. (2) More than 2 cm intact rectal segment above dentate line may be preserved. (3) No radiation-injured segment in upper sigmoid. (4) No severe radiation damage in small intestine. (5) Patients under 70 year-old, with normal tonus of anal sphincter.
Data that arises from computer vision and image processing is often characterized by a mixture of multiple linear (or affine) subspaces, leading to the challenging problem of subspace segmentation. We observe that the heart of segmentation is to deal with the data that may not strictly follow subspace structures, i.e., to handle the data corrupted by noise. In this work we therefore address the subspace recovery problem. Given a set of data samples approximately drawn from a union of multiple subspaces, our goal is to segment the samples into their respective subspaces and correct the possible noise as well, i.e., our goal is to recover the subspace structures from corrupted data. To this end, we propose low-rank representation (LRR) for recovering a low-rank data matrix from corrupted observations. The recovery is performed by seeking the lowest-rank representation among all the candidates that can represent the data ...
Uncertainty in computer vision can arise at various levels. It can occur in the low level in the raw sensor input, and extends all the way through intermediate and higher levels. Ideally, at any level where decisions are being made on the basis of previous processing steps, a computer vision system must have sufficient flexibility for representation of uncertainty in any of these levels. The input cue representation portion of a computer vision system should maintain the information content of the original input images, while at the same time allowing for uncertainty in the identification of attributes required by other parts of the system for decision making. Processes such as edge detection, segmentation, and shape matching yield results which could bias higher level decision making, unless some framework is defined for the representation of uncertainty in the context of fuzzy set theory where membership values associated with the fuzzy sets contain a consistent ...
A new class of hybrid organic-inorganic materials, and methods of synthesis, that can be used as a proton exchange membrane in a direct methanol fuel cell. In contrast with Nafion.RTM. PEM materials, which have random sulfonation, the new class of materials have ordered sulfonation achieved through self-assembly of alternating polyimide segments of different molecular weights comprising, for example, highly sulfonated hydrophilic PDA-DASA polyimide segment alternating with an unsulfonated hydrophobic 6FDA-DAS polyimide segment. An inorganic phase, e.g., 0.5 5 wt % TEOS, can be incorporated in the sulfonated polyimide copolymer to further improve its properties. The new materials exhibit reduced swelling when exposed to water, increased thermal stability, and decreased O.sub.2 and H.sub.2 gas permeability, while retaining proton conductivities similar to Nafion.RTM.. These improved properties may allow direct methanol fuel ...
Obtaining precise values of the undulator parameter, K, is critical for producing high-gain FEL radiation. At the LCLS [1], where the FEL wavelength reaches down to 1.5 {angstrom}, the relative precision of K must satisfy ({Delta}K/K){sub rms} {approx}< 0.015% over the full length of the undulator. Transverse misalignments, construction errors, radiation damage, and temperature variations all contribute to errors in the mean K values among the undulator segments. It is therefore important to develop some means to measure relative K values, after installation and alignment. We propose a method using the angle-integrated spontaneous radiation spectrum of two nearby undulator segments, and the natural shot-to-shot energy jitter of the electron beam. Simulation of this scheme is presented using both ideal and measured undulator fields. By ''leap-frogging'' to different pairs of ...
Numerous transmethylation reactions are required for normal plant growth and development. S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH) and adenosine kinase (ADK) act coordinately to recycle the by-product of these reactions, S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) that would otherwise competitively inhibit methyltransferase (MT) activities. Here, we report on investigations to understand how the SAH produced in the nucleus is metabolized by SAHH and ADK. Localization analyses using green fluorescent fusion proteins demonstrated that both enzymes are capable of localizing to the cytoplasm and the nucleus, although no obvious nuclear localization signal was found in their sequences. Deletion analysis revealed that a 41-amino-acid segment of SAHH (Gly(150)-Lys(190)) is required for nuclear targeting of this enzyme. This segment is surface exposed, shows unique sequence conservation patterns in plant SAHHs, and possesses additional features of protein-protein ...
Bit Plane Complexity Segmentation (BPCS) digital picture steganography is a technique to hide data inside an image file. BPCS achieves high embedding rates with low distortion based on the theory that noise-like regions in an image's bit-planes can be replaced with noise-like secret data without significant loss in image quality. . In this framework we will propose a collaborate approach for select frame for Hiding Data within MPEG Video Using Bit Plane Complexity Segmentation. This approach will invent high secure data hidden using select frame form MPEG Video and furthermore we will assign the well-built of the approach; during this review the author will answer the question why they used select frame steganography. In additional to the security issues we will use the digital video as a cover to the data hidden. The reason behind opt the video cover in this approach is the huge amount of single frames image per sec which in turn overcome the ...
The objective of this study was to develop a method for 3D subtraction CT angiography and to optimize the visualization after semiautomatic segmentation. Ten patients with aneurysms of the abdominal aorta were examined using spiral CT. To reconstruct the vessels, as well as adjacent organs such as the liver and kidneys, one image data volume was acquired before and after injection of the contrast agent. The CT scans were obtained with a Siemens Somatom Plus 4. To improve the results of automatic segmentation, as well as visualization by maximum intensity projection (i.e. removal of bony structures), subtraction of both image volumes is necessary. However, small translation shifts disturb the subtraction process and produce artificial contours. To calculate the disparities along the three coordinate axes of two corresponding image volumes, a cepstrum filter is applied to a pair of image volumes. After detection of the disparities, which manifest ...
Purpose: The lifelong persistence of foreign bodies within the arteries may contribute to restenosis. Thus,biodegradable devices might decrease recurrence rates. Methods: Eleven polyhydroxybutyrate biodegradable stents and 13 tantalum stents were implanted into the iliac arteries of New Zealand white rabbits for up to 30 weeks. After killing the animals,the specimens were harvested, fixed in formalin, processed in paraffin,and stained. Results: Polyhydroxybutyrate instigated intense inflammatory and proliferative reactions with an increase in collagen (2.4- to 8-fold vs native segments), thrombosis and in-stentlumen narrowing (375.5-606.6 mm vs 655.6 #+-# 268.8 mm in native segments). The elastic membranes were destroyed in all specimens. The tantalum stents increased the in-stent lumen progressively (769.7 #+-# 366.6 mm vs 1309.9 #+-# 695.3 mm),penetrated the external elastic membrane, and increased mural collagen content (6- to 8.6-fold vs ...
Although low-energy ion radiation has been proven to have a wide range of biological effects and led to fruitful achievements as a new mutagenic source for genetic modification, there still exist some disputes about its mutagenic mechanisms because of its short-penetrating property. In present research, Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic for GUS recombination substrate was used to evaluate the genomic instability induced by irradiations of alpha particle (3.3MeV) and Low-energy-Argon ion (30 KeV). A pronounced effects of alpha particle irradiation to Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and Argon ion irradiation to seeds on the somatic homologous recombination frequency (sHRF) were reported. The sHRFs increased 1.88-fold and 2.42-fold, respectively, which indicated that the short-penetrating radiation could effectively induce the plant genomic instability in either dry seeds or seedlings with active metabolism. The local alpha particle irradiation of ...
Crenarchaea are ubiquitous and abundant microbial constituents of soils, sediments, lakes and ocean waters, yet relatively little is known about their fundamental evolutionary, ecological, and physiological properties. To better describe the ubiquitous nonthermophilic Crenarchaea, we analyzed the genome sequence of one representative, the uncultivated sponge symbiont, Cenarchaeum symbiosum. C. symbiosum genotypes coinhabiting the same host partitioned into two dominant populations, corresponding to previously described a- and b-type ribosomal RNA variants. Although synthetic, overlapping a- and b-type ribotypes harbored significant genetic variability. A single tiling path comprising the dominant a-type genotype was assembled, and used to explore the biological properties of C. symbiosum and its planktonic relatives. Out of a total of 2,066 predicted open reading frames, 36% were more highly conserved with other Archaea. The remainder partitioned between bacteria ...
In this article, self-organizing-map-based video object segmentation is proposed, assuming that either Y-quantification or HSV-quantification can be systematically selected. Given a video sequence, the value of the probability density function for each component value is calculated according to a kernel estimation at the first frame. Some areas randomly chosen from the background are then examined, using each component value, to judge whether or not they include the target object. The quantification is determined so that the frequency of occurrence of false extractions can be reduced. The data presented to the maps are generated based on the selected quantification. Experimental results show that the proposed method recognizes the target object well.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of splitting each head of the gastrocnemius muscle into two segments. This prospective study was conducted on 35 fresh cadavers with injection of radio-opaque contrast material in the popliteal artery. Seventy medial gastrocnemius and 70 lateral gastrocnemius muscle specimens were obtained. Gastrocnemius intramuscular arterial anatomy was analysed by using the digital X-ray technique. The most common vascular pattern found in this study was both bellies supplied by individual sural arteries, which shows distal bifurcation. The medial sural artery always showed bifurcation in the medial gastrocnemius muscle in both lower limbs, whereas this bifurcation of the lateral sural artery was present in only 87% cases and 13% of cases showed a si...
Limited space permits description of only two examples of Kevlar applications research. There are numerous others. In the eraly product development there were some indications that Kevlar would go mainly into tire reinforcement. This has turned out not to be true. In the mid-seventies Kevlar was participating in only ten market segments and less than fifty specific applications, but today, it is in more than twenty market segments, serving more than two hundred applications, and continued growth is anticipated. Kevlar is produced in a 45 million pound plant in Richmond, VA, USA. In 1988, a second plant was started up in Northern Ireland and plans for a third plant in Japan were announced. The Kevlar innovation story exemplifies the kind of obstacles, interdisciplinary skills and systems approach involved in bringing a laboratory discovery to commercial reality. The story is still unfolding and applications currently not envisioned will ...
Introduction Postoperative alopecia is a relatively rare event, and therefore both patients and surgeons are puzzled once it develops even though it is said to improve spontaneously with time in most cases. We report a parieto-occipital pressure-induced alopecia firstly developed in a patient who had undergone repeated surgery for 10?years after a traffic accident. Case report A 29-year-old male underwent segmental osteotomy at the upper and lower frontal edentulous areas for distraction osteogenesis. Throughout the operation, he was in the supine position with the hair covered with a paper cap and the head on a plastic vinyl chloride-covered soft foam horseshoe-shaped urethane sponge placed on the horseshoe-shaped headrest. About 2?weeks after the surgery, two patches of parieto-occipital...
PurposeTo evaluate pathologic features of the photoreceptors in myopic foveoschisis with the Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT).DesignObservational case series.MethodsSeventeen eyes of 15 patients with myopic foveoschisis (foveal detachment type, six eyes; foveoschisis type, 11 eyes) were included. We observed the photoreceptor inner and outer segments (IS/OS) and evaluated the morphologic status using FD-OCT. Fundus photographs and time-domain OCT (TD-OCT) images also were obtained.ResultsIS/OS defects, which are uncommon in retinal detachments in eyes with myopia, were seen clearly in five eyes (three eyes [50%] with the foveal detachment type; two eyes [18%] with the foveal schisis type). Fundus photographs showed myopic chorioretinal atrophy in eight study eyes (47%),...
This article presents an orthognathic treatment case after severe apical root resorption of maxillary anterior teeth using anterior segmental osteotomy. This case involved a 20-year-old female with the chief complaint of maxillary protruding and irregularly aligned mandibular anterior teeth. Her medical history showed no allergies or medical problems. The overbite was +3.0mm, and the overjet +3.0mm. After extraction of the four first premolars, a multi-bracket treatment was started. A severe root resorption of the maxillary anterior teeth was found 12 months after active treatment. The maxillary anterior segmental osteotomy was chosen as the compensatory treatment. The total treatment period was 2 years and 7 months. The post-retention panoramic radiograph showed no developmental root reso...
Noninvasive prediction of vertebral body strength under compressive loading condition is a valuable tool for the assessment of clinical fractures. This paper presents an effective specimen-specific approach for noninvasive prediction of human vertebral strength using a nonlinear finite element (FE) model and an image based parameter based on the quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Nine thoracolumbar vertebrae excised from three cadavers with an average age of 42 years old were used as the samples. The samples were scanned using the QCT. Then, a segmentation technique was performed on each QCT sectional image. The segmented images were then converted into three-dimensional FE models for linear and nonlinear analyses. A new material model was implemented in our nonlinear model being more...
This paper provides an overview of a multi-year research project being conducted at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The objective of the research is to evaluate the role of financial structure in promoting the development of innovative and sustainable energy technologies and its current relationship to innovation and entrepreneurial activity in this important economic sector. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the venture capital segment of the capital market and the electricity segment of the energy industry. We first provide a short overview of the electricity sector. We then briefly discuss the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship and its relationship to our research effort. Finally, the bulk of the paper outlines the conceptual framework for the venture capital element of the research project. We conclude the paper with a summary of our preliminary observations. (Author)
The ability to cope with environmental stress may be expensive in terms of energy and this cost of tolerance is suspected to have negative counterparts such as reduced growth and fecundity. To date, condition indices based on biometric measurements are currently used in bivalves or fish but do not exist in endobenthic worms, despite their interest as bioindicators for the sedimentary compartment in which the major part of pollutants is stored in aquatic environments. In the present work, several biometric variables (jaw and total body length, number of segments, the length of the first three segments L3, wet or dry weight) were measured in the ragworm Nereis diversicolor originating from clean (Authie) and polluted (Seine) estuaries (France) to study size-weight relationships. The producti...
Development testing has been conducted by Rockwell Hanford Operations (Rockwell) with simulated Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) Reactor fuel and unirradiated N-Reactor fuel, to identify the various problems associated with rotary shearing these fuels. This report discusses the results of tests segmenting FFTF and N-Reactor fuels using electrically driven slow-speed rotary shredders. From these tests, it has been determined that slow-speed rotary shredding of both fuels can be accomplished. Final equipment arrangements and operating parameters have been established for definitive design of the FFTF Rotary Shear. Development testing is continuing on the N-fuel rotary shear. However, it has been established that two-stage shearing is necessary and the outer N-fuel elements pose few problems, while the smaller inner elements have created numerous problems, which are being addressed.
The economy of medicinal plant production is burdened considerably by the energy costs of drying. To substitute fossil energy, a solar heated dryer was developed, taking a plastic film greenhouse as superstructure to lower the initial costs. The solar air heaters, being incorporated into the roof, consist of a black absorber tissue, which is placed between the transparent cover of the greenhouse and an insulating air-bubble foil. To obtain a modular design, the system is structured along the ridge into segments of 2 m width. Each segment forms an independent solar air heater/batch dryer unit and is operated by a fan with a power consumption of 500 W. A prototype was tested in Yugoslavia, drying mint, sage and hops. (author).
The objective of this study was to develop full body CAD geometry of a seated 50th percentile male. Model development was based on medical image data acquired for this study, in conjunction with extensive data from the open literature. An individual (height, 174.9?cm, weight, 78.6???0.77?kg, and age 26?years) was enrolled in the study for a period of 4?months. 72 scans across three imaging modalities (CT, MRI, and upright MRI) were collected. The whole-body dataset contains 15,622 images. Over 300 individual components representing human anatomy were generated through segmentation. While the enrolled individual served as a template, segmented data were verified against, or augmented with, data from over 75 literature sources on the average morphology of the human body. Non-Uniform Rational...
The rapid pace of competitive change in the generation sector has pushed electric utilities to rethink the concept of being obligated to serve all customers and with this change, the notion of measuring customer profitability is also being redefined. Traditionally, uniform services were provided to all customers. Rates were based on each customer classes` contribution to average costs, and consequently return was equally allocated across all customer segments. Profitability was defined strictly on an aggregate basis. The increasing demand for choice by electric customers will require electricity providers to redefine if not who they serve, than certainly how they provide differentiated services tailored to specific customer segments. Utilities are beginning to analyze the value, or profitability, of offering these services. Aggregate data no longer provides an accurate assessment of how resources should be allocated most efficiently. As ...
Mutations in the mouse formin (Fmn) gene, formerly known as the limb deformity (ld) gene, give rise to recessively inherited limb deformities and renal malformations or aplasia. The Fmn gene encodes many differentially processed transcripts that are expressed in both adult and embryonic tissues. To study the genomic organization of the Fmn locus, we have used Fmn probes to isolate and characterize genomic clones spanning 500 kb. Our analysis of these clones shows that the Fmn gene is composed of at least 24 exons and spans 400 kb. We have identified two novel exons that are expressed in the developing embryonic limb bud as well as adult tissues such as brain and kidney. We have also used a microsatellite polymorphism from within the Fmn gene to map it genetically to a 2.2-cM interval between D2Mit58 and D2Mit103. 36 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.
The germplasm with exotic genomic components especially from Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense L. Gb) is the dominant genetic resources to enhance fiber quality of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L., Gh). Due to low efficiency of phenotypic evaluation and selection on fiber quality, genetic dissection of favorable alleles using molecular markers is essential. Genetic dissection on putative Gb introgressions related to fiber traits were conducted by SSR markers with mapping populations derived from a cross between Luyuan343 (LY343), a superior fiber quality introgression line (IL) with genomic components from Gb, and an elite Upland cotton cv. Lumianyan#22 (LMY22). Among 82 polymorphic loci screened out from 4050 SSRs, 42 were identified as putative introgression alleles. A total of 29 fib...
Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba found in soil, freshwater, and marine environments and an important predator of bacteria. Acanthamoeba castellanii is also an opportunistic pathogen of clinical interest, responsible for several distinct diseases in humans. In order to provide a genomic platform for the study of this ubiquitous and important protist, we generated a sequence survey of approximately 0.5 x coverage of the genome. The data predict that A. castellanii exhibits a greater biosynthetic capacity than the free-living Dictyostelium discoideum and the parasite Entamoeba histolytica, providing an explanation for the ability of A. castellanii to inhabit adversity of environments. Alginate lyase may provide access to bacteria within biofilms by breaking down the biofilm matrix, and polyhydroxybutyrate depolymerase may facilitate utilization of the bacterial storage compound polyhydroxybutyrate as a food source. Enzymes for the ...
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 ...
A comprehensive dataset of NDV genome sequences was evaluated using bioinformatics to characterize the evolutionary forces affecting NDV genomes. Despite evidence of recombination in most genes, only one event in the fusion gene of genotype V viruses produced evolutionarily viable progenies. The codon-associated rate of change for the six NDV proteins revealed that the highest rate of change occurred at the fusion protein. All proteins were under strong purifying (negative) selection; the fusion protein displayed the highest number of amino acids under positive selection. Regardless of the phylogenetic grouping or the level of virulence, the cleavage site motif was highly conserved implying that mutations at this site that result in changes of virulence may not be favored. The coding sequence of the fusion gene and the genomes of viruses from wild birds displayed higher yearly rates of change in virulent viruses than in ...
The genus Conexibacter (Monciardini et al. 2003) represents the type genus of the family Conexibacteraceae (Stackebrandt 2005, emend. Zhi et al. 2009) with Conexibacter woesei as the type species of the genus. C. woesei is a representative of a deep evolutionary line of des-cent within the class Actinobacteria. Strain ID131577T was originally isolated from temperate forest soil in Gerenzano (Italy). Cells are small, short rods that are motile by peritrichous fla-gella. They may form aggregates after a longer period of growth and, then as a typical charac-teristic, an undulate structure is formed by self-aggregation of flagella with entangled bacteri-al cells. Here we describe the features of the organism, together with the complete sequence and annotation. The 6,359,369 bp long genome of C. woesei contains 5,950 protein-coding and 48 RNA genes and is part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project.
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The capacity to maintain internal ion homeostasis amidst changing conditions is particularly important for teleost fishes whose reproductive cycle is dependent upon movement from freshwater to seawater. Although the physiology of seawater osmoregulation in mitochondria-rich cells of fish gill epithelium is well understood, less is known about the underlying causes of inter- and intraspecific variation in salinity tolerance. We used a genome-scan approach in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) correlated with variation in four salinity tolerance performance traits and six body size traits. Comparative genomics approaches allowed us to infer whether allelic variation at candidate gene loci (e.g., ATP1alpha1b, NKCC1, CFTR, and cldn10e) could have underlain observed variation. RESULTS: Combined parental analyses yielded genome-wide significant QTL on linkage groups 8, 14 ...
We survey a new area of parameter-free similarity distance measures useful in data-mining, pattern recognition, learning and automatic semantics extraction. Given a family of distances on a set of objects, a distance is universal up to a certain precision for that family if it minorizes every distance in the family between every two objects in the set, up to the stated precision (we do not require the universal distance to be an element of the family). We consider similarity distances for two types of objects: literal objects that as such contain all of their meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. The latter may have literal embodyments like the first type, but may also be abstract like ``red'' or ``christianity.'' For the first type we consider a family of computable distance measures corresponding to parameters expressing similarity according to particular features between ...
On November fourth and fifth 2010 a group of more than 100 international investigators gathered in Atlanta for the second Osteoarthritis (OA) Biomarkers Global Initiative workshop titled ''Genetics and Genomics: New Targets in OA''. The first workshop took place in April 2009 and focused on in vitro (soluble) biomarkers whilst the third and final workshop will take place in 2012 and will focus on imaging biomarkers. The OA Research Society International (OARSI) has organized the workshops. In addition to OARSI, the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the Arthritis Foundation, Amgen, Genzyme, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and Pfizer sponsored the second meeting. It was clear from this meeting that experiments in the genetics, epigenetic...
Retroelements constitute a large part of the human genome. These sequences are mostly silenced in normal cells, but genome-wide DNA hypomethylation in cancers might lead to their re-expression. Whether this re-expression really occurs in human cancers is largely unkown. We therefore investigated expression and DNA methylation of several classes of retroelements in human prostate cancer tissues and cell lines by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and pyrosequencing, respectively. The most striking finding was strong and generalized increased expression of the HERV-K_22q11.23 provirus in cancers, including de novo expression of a spliced accessory Np9 transcript in some tumors. In parallel, DNA methylation in the long terminal repeat (LTR) decreased. Conversely, HER...
In the post Genome era, the aim of behavior genetics has shifted from estimating the relative contributions of genes and environmental factors to (co-)variation in human complex traits, to localization of genes and identification of functional genetic variants. This special issue reflects this transition and presents fifteen papers that report on genome-wide linkage scans for complex traits in humans and on methodological tools and innovations. Six papers focus on cognition and report overlapping linkage peaks on chromosomes 6p and 14p. Papers on addictive behavior, i.e. smoking and alcohol dependence and its endophenotypes, find moderate LOD scores on chromosomes 6p, 5q, 4p and 7q, respectively. Three papers concentrate on emotionality, depression and loneliness and examine chromosomes 2q...
Abstract Copy number variants (CNVs) are known to be associated with complex neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and autism) but have not been explored in the isolated features of aggressive behaviors such as intermittent explosive disorder (IED). IED is characterized by recurrent episodes of aggression in which individuals act impulsively and grossly out of proportion from the involved stressors. Previous studies have identified genetic variants in the serotonergic pathway that play a role in susceptibility to this behavior, but additional contributors have not been identified. Therefore, to further delineate possible genetic influences, we investigated CNVs in individuals diagnosed with IED and/or personality disorder (PD). We carried out array comparative genomic hybridizati...
Meningococcal disease is an infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Genetic factors contribute to host susceptibility and progression to disease, but the genes responsible for disease development are largely unknown. We report here a genome-wide association study for host susceptibility to meningococcal disease using 475 individuals with meningococcal disease (cases) and 4,703 population controls from the UK. We performed, in Western European and South European cohorts (consisting of 968 cases and 1,376 controls), two replication studies for the most significant SNPs. A cluster of complement factor SNPs replicated independently in both cohorts, including SNPs within complement factor H (CFH) (rs1065489 (p.936D
Brucella melitensis is a Gram-negative coccobacillus bacteria belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria subclass. It is an important zoonotic pathogen that causes brucellosis, a disease affecting sheep, cattle, and sometimes humans. The B. melitensis strain M5-90, a live attenuated vaccine cultured from the B. melitensis virulent strain M28, has been an effective tool to control brucellosis in goats and sheep in China. Here we report the complete genome sequences of B. melitensis M28 and M5-90, strains with different virulence backgrounds, which will serve as a valuable reference for future studies. PMID:21478357
Abstract Alcohol drinking is highly prevalent in many cultures and contributes to the global burden of disease. In fact, it was shown that alcohol constitutes 3.2% of all worldwide deaths in the year 2006 and is linked to more than 60 diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis, neuropsychiatric disorders, injuries and foetal alcohol syndrome. Alcoholism, which has been proven to have a high genetic load, is one potentially fatal consequence of chronic heavy alcohol consumption, and may be regarded as one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric diseases afflicting our society today. The aim of the integrated genome research network -Genetics of Alcohol Addiction--which is a German inter-/trans-disciplinary life science consortium consisting of molecular biologists,...
Gone are the days when utilities would boast how many new customers were being added to their system annually-regardless of whether they were in fact profitable to serve or not-as if bigger was always better. In a not too distant future, and with the liberalization of the business environment, some utilities may no longer wish to serve certain customers on their systems, while at the same time aggressively wooing other customers. With the anticipated arrival of competition and erosion of utility franchise service areas, the electric power industry will gradually evolve into a mode where customers will be segmented into finer groups and evaluated based on their expected profit margins-theoretically the difference between the revenues expected from them and the cost of serving them. Understanding this basic concept, and the mastery of the art of arriving at the correct profit margin for each market segment, will be essential to overall business ...
We wanted to evaluate the status of self-expandable nitinol stents implanted in the P2 and P3 segments of the popliteal artery in Korean patients. We retrospectively analyzed 189 consecutive patients who underwent endovascular treatment for steno occlusive lesions in the femoropopliteal artery from July 2003 to March 2009, and 18 patients who underwent stent placement in popliteal arterial P2 and P3 segments were finally enrolled. Lesion patency was evaluated by ultrasound or CT angiography, and stent fracture was assessed by plain X-rays at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months and annually thereafter. At the 1-month follow-up, stent fracture (Type 2) was seen in one limb (up to P3, 1 of 18, 6%) and it was identified in seven limbs at the 3-month follow-up (Type 2, Type 3, Type 4) (n = 1: up to P2: n = 6: P3). At the 6-month follow-up, one more fracture (Type 1) (up to P3) was noted. At the 1-year follow-up, there were no additional stent fractures. Just four ...
The second in a series of flights to assemble the Japanese segment of the International Space Station saw the mammoth Kibo module delivered to the complex complements of Discovery and its crew on the STS-124 mission. Kibo, the Japanese word for u201chopeu201d would house dozens of experiments and serve as a platform for external payloads brought to the complex on subsequent Shuttle flights and the Japanese u201cKounotoriu201d H-2 Transfer Vehicle cargo ship.
AbstractIn a previous study using male rats, a correlation was found between the development of “at-level” allodynia in T6-7 dermatomes following severe T8 spinal contusion...Full Text Available
The Segmented Rail Phased Induction Motor (SERAPHIM) is a compact, pulsed linear induction motor (LIM) offering a unique capability for very high speed train propulsion. It uses technology developed for the Sandia coilgun, an electromagnetic launcher designed to accelerate projectiles to several kilometers per second. Both aluminum cylinders and plates were accelerated to a kilometer per second (Mach 3) by passing through a sequence of coils which were energized at the appropriate time. Although this technology was developed for ultra-high velocity, it can be readily adapted to train propulsion for which, at sea level, the power required to overcome air resistance limits the operational speed to a more modest 300 mph. Here, the geometry is reversed. The coils are on the vehicle and the ``projectiles`` are fixed along the roadbed. SERAPHIM operates not by embedding flux in a conductor, but by excluding it. In this propulsion scheme, pairs of closely spaced coils on ...
Nuclear Act of Korea requires the manifest of low and intermediate level radioactive waste generated from nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities prior to deliver to a disposal sites. Individual history records of the radioactive waste should be described the information about the activity of nuclides in the drum, total activity, weight, the type of waste. So a fully automated nuclide analysis assay system(non-destructive) of a radwaste drum was developed. For the nuclides that could not be analysed directly by MCA, the activities of the representative {gamma}-emitters(Cs-137, Co-60) contained in the drum were measured by using that system. Then the scaling factors were used to calculate the activities of {alpha} - and {beta}-emitters. This assay system divided a drum into 8 segments, a segment into 8 sectors to minimize analysis error, and used several methods(transmission ratio, differential peak absorption, mean density ...
Klippel-Feil Syndrome (KFS) is a congenital anomaly characterized by a defect in the formation or segmentation of the cervical vertebrae. The clinical triad consists of short neck, low posterior hairline and limited neck movement. Multiple congenital anomalies have been associated with this disease. This is a case of KFS in a young girl along with situs inversus, which is an extremely rare association. Various systemic associations occurring in this multi-system disorder are also discussed. (author)
The retina-specific ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, ABCA4, is essential for transport of all-trans-retinal from the rod outer segment discs in the retina and is associated with...Full Text Available
Conversion electron studies of medium-heavy to heavy nuclear mass systems are important where the internal conversion process begins to dominate over gamma-ray emission. The use of a segmented detector array sensitive to conversion electrons has been used to study multiple conversion electron cascades from nuclear transitions. The application of the silicon array for conversion electron detection (SACRED) for in-beam measurements has successfully been implemented. (orig.). With 2 figs.
We present a case of an acute psoas muscle hematoma following percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy. A 60-year-old female who presented with far lateral lumbar disc herniation underwent endoscopic...Full Text Available
Over the past ten years face segmentation has developed rapidly and various algorithms have been proposed. In this paper we will demonstrate a face detection system based on skin color and the spaces RGB, normalized RGB, HSV and YCbCr are concentrated here. Through combing them the more accurate face region will be detected.
Short term (10 min) influx of 86Rb-labeled potassium into corn (Zea mays L. WF9 × M14) root segments was inhibited by La (NO3)3 or LaCl3....Full Text Available
BackgroundTroponin is the preferred biomarker for risk stratification in non-ST-elevation ACS. The incremental prognostic utility of the initial magnitude of troponin...Full Text Available
Pregnant rats were exposed to "8"5Kr for 4-6 hr and sacrificed immediately thereafter. The "8"5Kr concentration in the fetoplacental unit (FPU) was approximately the same at all gestation stages for intact FPU, isolated fetuses or fetal segments, as well as placentas and associated membranes. Maternal tissue concentrations varied over a wide range and only liver and intestine concentrations were relatively similar in both 20-day-gestation (dg) fetuses and adults.
A study was made of the timber products processing point source category, for the purpose of developing information to assist the EPA in establishing effluent limitations guidelines and standards to implement sections 301, 304, 306, and 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The document is the result of that study.
High molecular weight glycopeptides and glycosaminoglycans were isolated from the human uterine cervix. The major part of the material (82%) was derived from cervical mucins. The remainder contained hyaluronic acid (3%), heparan sulphate (2%) and dermatan sulphate (13%). Chondroitin sulphate and keratan sulphate were not present, but chondroitin sulphate-like segments were included in the dermatan sulphate. The composition of the cervix apart from the mucus-filled crypts is similar to that of other fibrous connective tissues.
The 1993-1995 period represents a time of significant transition for workers engages in nuclear-related activities. Total nuclear-related employment fell markedly from about 300,000 workers in 1993 to 265, 000 in 1995, a 12% decline. This is the lowest level since the 1970s. In 1995, a third of all nuclear-related employment was in the reactor operation and maintenance segment. 6 figs, 1 table.
The EPA proposed effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the offshore segment of the oil and gas industry on August 26, 1985. On November 26, 1990, and March 13, 1991, the Agency reproposed effluent limitations guidelines and standards for both drilling and production wastes. The report is primarily concerned with the total annualized cost incurred by the offshore oil and gas industry in complying with the regulations.
A new leaf-sequencing approach has been developed that is designed to reduce the number of required beam segments for step-and-shoot intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This approach to leaf sequencing is called continuous-intensity-map-optimization (CIMO). Using a simulated annealing algorithm, CIMO seeks to minimize differences between the optimized and sequenced intensity maps. Two distinguishing features of the CIMO algorithm are (1) CIMO does not require that each optimized intensity map be clustered into discrete levels and (2) CIMO is not rule-based but rather simultaneously optimizes both the aperture shapes and weights. To test the CIMO algorithm, ten IMRT patient cases were selected (four head-and-neck, two pancreas, two prostate, one brain, and one pelvis). For each case, the optimized intensity maps were extracted from the Pinnacle"3 treatment planning system. The CIMO algorithm was applied, and the optimized aperture shapes and weights were ...
A 21-year-old male patient was transferred to the emergency room of our hospital after suffering seat belt abdominal injury in a traffic accident. Abdominal computed tomography revealed a massive hematoma...Full Text Available
We have studied the application of direct aperture optimization (DAO) as an inverse planning tool for breast IMRT. Additionally, we have analysed the impact of respiratory motion on the quality of the delivered dose distribution. From this analysis, we have developed guidelines for balancing the desire for a high-quality optimized plan with the need to create a plan that will not degrade significantly in the presence of respiratory motion. For a DAO optimized breast IMRT plan, the tangential fields incorporate a flash field to cover the range of respiratory motion. The inverse planning algorithm then optimizes the shapes and weights of additional segments that are delivered in combination with the open fields. IMRT plans were generated using DAO with the relative weights of the open segments varied from 0% to 95%. To assess the impact of breathing motion, the dose distribution for the optimized IMRT plan was recalculated with the isocentre ...
The first reported Far East scarlet-like fever (FESLF) epidemic swept the Pacific coastal region of Russia in the late 1950s. Symptoms of the severe infection included erythematous skin rash and desquamation,...Full Text Available
Hepatitis C virus NS3-4A is a membrane-bound enzyme complex that exhibits serine protease, RNA helicase, and RNA-stimulated ATPase activities. This enzyme complex is essential for viral genome replication...Full Text Available
There are about fifty SET domain protein methyltransferases (PMTs) in the human genome, that transfer a methyl group from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to substrate lysines on histone tails or other peptides. A number of structures in complex with cofactor, substrate, or inhibitors revealed the mechanisms of substrate recognition, methylation state specificity, and chemical inhibition. Based on these structures, we review the structural chemistry of SET domain PMTs, and propose general concepts towards the development of selective inhibitors.
A 269-kilobase conjugative plasmid, pK29, from a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain was sequenced. The plasmid harbors multiple antimicrobial resistance genes, including those encoding CMY-8...Full Text Available
BackgroundLand plant genomes contain multiple members of a eukaryote-specific gene family encoding proteins with pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) motifs. Some PPR proteins were shown...Full Text Available
With the advent of subgenomic hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicons, studies of the intracellular steps of the viral replication cycle became possible. These RNAs are capable of self-amplification in cultured human hepatoma cells, but save for the genotype 2a isolate JFH-1, efficient replication of these HCV RNAs requires replication enhancing mutations (REMs), previously also called cell culture adaptive mutations. These mutations cluster primarily in the central region of non-structural protein 5A (NS5A), but may also reside in the NS3 helicase domain or at a distinct position in NS4B. Most efficient replication has been achieved by combining REMs residing in NS3 with distinct REMs located in NS4B or NS5A. However, in spite of efficient replication of HCV genomes containing such mutations, they do not support production of infectious virus particles. By using the genotype 1b isolate Con1, in this study we show that REMs interfere with HCV assembly. Strongest ...
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...
By using a low-resolution macrorestriction map as the foundation (R. Majumder et al., J. Bacteriol. 176:1105–1112, 1996), an ordered cloned DNA map of the 3.2-Mb chromosome of the hypertoxinogenic...Full Text Available
Recent GWAS studies focused on uncovering novel genetic loci related to AD have revealed associations with variants near CLU, CR1, PICALM and BIN1....Full Text Available
Two sequences with homology to a thioredoxin oligonucleotide probe were detected by Southern blot analysis of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 genomic DNA. One of the sequences was shown to code for a protein...Full Text Available
By polymerase chain reaction with arbitrary primer (AP-PCR), the possibility of transmission of genome instability to somatic cells of the offspring (F_1 generation) from male parents of mice exposed to chronic low-dose #gamma#-radiation was studied. Male mice 15 days after exposure to 10-50 cGy were mated with unirradiated females. Biopsies were taken from tale tips of two month-old mice progeny for DNA separation. Primer in the AP-PCR was 20-mer oligonucleotide flanking the micro-satellite locus Atplb2 on chromosome 11 of the mouse. Comparative analysis of individual fingerprints of AP-PCR products on DNA-templates from the offspring of irradiated and unirradiated male mice revealed an increased variability of micro-satellite-associated sequences in the genome of the offspring of males exposed to 25 and 50 cGy. DNA-fingerprints of the offspring of male mice exposed to chronic irradiation doses 10 and 25 cGy. 15 days before fertilization (at ...
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
BackgroundThe beta-defensin gene cluster (DEFB) at chromosome 8p23.1 is one of the most copy number (CN) variable regions of the human genome. Whereas individual DEFB CNs have been...Full Text Available
BackgroundEstrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) are transcription factors (TFs) that mediate estrogen signaling and define the hormone-responsive phenotype...Full Text Available
We have isolated the human prointerleukin 1 (proIL-1) beta gene from leukocyte and fetal liver libraries. The nucleotide sequence and its gene organization reveals that the proIL-1 beta gene is composed...Full Text Available
BackgroundCotton fiber development undergoes rapid and dynamic changes in a single cell type, from fiber initiation, elongation, primary and secondary wall biosynthesis, to fiber...Full Text Available
The N1-methyl-Adenosine (m1A58) modification at the conserved nucleotide 58 in the TΨC loop is present in most eukaryotic tRNAs. In yeast, m1A58 modification...Full Text Available
We present the draft genome sequence and its analysis for Fusobacterium nucleatum sub spp. vincentii (FNV), and compare that genome with F. nucleatum ATCC 25586 (FN). A total of 441 FNV open reading frames (ORFs) with no orthologs in FN have been identified. Of these, 118 ORFs have no known function and are unique to FNV, whereas 323 ORFs have functional orthologs in other organisms. In addition to the excretion of butyrate, H2S and ammonia-like FN, FNV has the additional capability to excrete lactate and aminobutyrate. Unlike FN, FNV is likely to incorporate galactopyranose, galacturonate, and sialic acid into its O-antigen. It appears to transport ferrous iron by an anaerobic ferrous transporter. Genes for eukaryotic type serine/threonine kinase and phosphatase, transpeptidase E-transglycosylase Pbp1A are found in FNV but not in FN. Unique ABC transporters, cryptic phages, and three types of restriction-modification systems have been ...
Outbreaks of disease attributable to human error or natural causes can provide unique opportunities to gain new information about host-pathogen interactions and new leads for pathogenesis research....Full Text Available
...Explore - The Lab - Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gateway to Science Radio TV Shop News Sport Local Children Science Environment more Topics help Science Home News in Science Features Explore TV & Radio Dr Karl Play Podcasts DNA - The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA completely changed biology and opened up the new field of genetics. The 'backbone of life' has given us the human genome, stem cell research, ...
BackgroundAvian β-defensins (AvBDs) represent a group of innate immune genes with broad antimicrobial activity. Within the chicken genome, previous work identified 14 AvBDs...Full Text Available
Occupational and environmental exposure to organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls are linked with increased risk of hematologic malignancies. DOE facilities and waste sites in the U.S. are contaminated with mixtures of potentially hazardous chemicals such as metals, organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive isotopes. A major goal of this project was to establish linkage between chemical/radiation exposure and induction of genomic damage in target populations with the capability to undergo transformation.
The halogenated benzimidazoles BDCRB (2-bromo-5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-riborfuranosyl benzimidazole riboside) and TCRB (2,5,6-trichloro-1-β-d-riborfuranosyl benzimidazole...Full Text Available
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a monogenic disease characterized by a high variability of disease severity and outcome that points to the role of environmental factors and modulating genes that shape the course...Full Text Available
Genome sequences are essential tools for comparative and mutational analyses. Here we present the short read sequence of mouse chromosome 17 from the Mus musculus domesticus derived...Full Text Available
Full text: DNA rearrangement events leading to chromosomal aberrations are central to ionizing radiation-induced cell death. Although DNA double-strand breaks are probably the lesion that initiates formation of chromosomal aberrations, little is understood about the molecular mechanisms that generate and modulate DNA rearrangement. Examination of the sequences that flank sites of DNA rearrangement may provide information regarding the processes and enzymes involved in rearrangement events. Accordingly, we developed a method using inverse PCR that allows the detection and sequencing of putative radiation-induced DNA rearrangements in defined regions of the human genome. The method can detect single copies of a rearrangement event that has occurred in a particular region of the genome and, therefore, DNA rearrangement detection does not require survival and continued multiplication of the affected cell. Ionizing radiation-induced DNA ...
Background The identification of sequences that control transcription in metazoans is a major goal of genome analysis. In a previous study, we demonstrated that searching for clusters of predicted transcription factor binding sites could discover active regulatory sequences, and identified 37 regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome with high densities of predicted binding sites for five transcription factors involved in anterior-posterior embryonic patterning. Nine of these clusters overlapped known enhancers. Here, we report the results of in vivo functional analysis of 27 remaining clusters. Results We generated transgenic flies carrying each cluster attached to a basal promoter and reporter gene, and assayed embryos for reporter gene expression. Six clusters are enhancers of adjacent genes: giant, fushi tarazu, odd-skipped, nubbin, squeeze and pdm2; three drive expression in patterns unrelated to those of neighboring genes; the ...
A multiple comparison approach using whole genome transcriptional arrays was used to identify genes and pathways involved in calorie restriction/dietary restriction (DR) life span extension in Drosophila....Full Text Available
The state of chromatin during the cell cycle was examined using synchronized cultures of CHO hamster cells. Results support Mazia's dynamic chromosome cycle model and indicate that DNA-interactive chemotherapeutic agents elicit different types of kinetic responses in treated cells, suggesting a degree of specificity of interaction between various alkylating and intercalating agents and the genome. Effects of sarkosyl crystals, heparin, and chemotherapeutic agents, neocarzinostatin and adriamycin, on chromation are discussed. (HLW)
The gene Rv1885c from the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv encodes a monofunctional and secreted chorismate mutase (*MtCM) with a 33-amino-acid...Full Text Available
The Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA I) present in latently infected cells is encoded in a 2-kilobase exon contained in the BamHI K viral genomic fragment. This exon is, however, found within...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have established a variant, rs10993994, on chromosome 10q11 as being associated with prostate cancer risk. Since the variant is located outside of a protein-coding...Full Text Available
Microarray is a powerful tool for genome-wide gene expression analysis. In microarray expression data, often mean and variance have certain relationships. We present a non-parametric mean-variance smoothing...Full Text Available
Heterochromatin constitutes a significant portion of the genome in higher eukaryotes; approximately 30% in Drosophila and human. Heterochromatin contains a high repeat DNA content and a low density of protein-encoding genes. In contrast, euchromatin is composed mostly of unique sequences and contains the majority of single-copy genes. Genetic and cytological studies demonstrated that heterochromatin exhibits regulatory roles in chromosome organization, centromere function and telomere protection. As an epigenetically regulated structure, heterochromatin formation is not defined by any DNA sequence consensus. Heterochromatin is characterized by its association with nucleosomes containing methylated-lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me), heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) that binds H3K9me, and Su(var)3-9, which methylates H3K9 and binds HP1. Heterochromatin formation and functions are influenced by HP1, Su(var)3-9, and the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. My thesis project ...
In two pilot projects Maingas AG has complemented an existing marketing mix with a telephone marketing segment. One of these telephone marketing campaigns was conducted for the purpose of `Intensification`, the other for `Activation of Unused Mains Connections`. The aim was to provide professional support to canvassing campaigns in their various phases in order to minimise diffusion losses and increase the probability of winning new customers. The slogan chosen for the drive was therefore: `Its no good being present unless one`s efficient in the preparation, execution, and revision of a campaign`. (orig.) [Deutsch] Die Maingas AG hat in zwei Pilotprojekten das bestehende Marketing-Mix durch das Segment Telefonmarketing ergaenzt. Es wurde eine Telefonmarketing-Aktion im Bereich `Verdichtung` und eine Telefonmarketing-Aktion im Bereich `Aktivierung Inaktive Hausanschluesse` durchgefuehrt. Ziel war es, durch einen professionellen flankierenden ...
This work improves the reliability and accuracy in the reconstruction of the total isotope activity content in heterogeneous nuclear waste drums containing point sources. The method is based on #chi#"2-fits of the angular dependent count rate distribution measured during a drum rotation in segmented gamma scanning. A new description of the analytical calculation of the angular count rate distribution is introduced based on a more precise model of the collimated detector. The new description is validated and compared to the old description using MCNP5 simulations of angular dependent count rate distributions of Co-60 and Cs-137 point sources. It is shown that the new model describes the angular dependent count rate distribution significantly more accurate compared to the old model. Hence, the reconstruction of the activity is more accurate and the errors are considerably reduced that lead to more reliable results. Furthermore, the results are compared to the ...
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a common feature of AIDS. Approximately 30-40% of these tumors exhibit clinical features suggestive of endemic Burkitt lymphoma: they are aggressive malignancies that occur in association with Epstein-Barr virus infection, they arise in the setting of immunosuppression, and they carry t(8;14) translocations without detectable rearrangement of the MYC oncogene. To understand the molecular basis of these parallels, the authors analyzed a case of Epstein-Barr-positive AIDS-associated undifferentiated lymphoma. Southern blots show that the tumor exhibits immunoglobulin joining segment rearrangement but no rearrangement of the MYC oncogene. Cloning of the rearranged joining segment allowed the isolation of recombinant clones encompassing the translocation breakpoint, and sequencing of the translocation junction disclosed that the breakpoint is situated 7 base pairs from the chromosome 14 site involved in a previously ...
Bone metastases at the thoracic and lumbar segment of the spine are usually presented with painful sensation and medullar compression. The treatment is based on the clinical and neurological conditions of the patient and the degree of tumor invasion. In the present study, 32 patients with spinal metastasis of thoracic and lumbar segment were prospectively analyzed. These patients were treated by decompression and internal stabilization followed by radiotherapy or irradiation with external immobilization. The election of the groups was in accordance with the tumor radiotherapy sensitivity, clinical conditions, spinal stability, medullar or nerve compression and patient's decision. The Frankel scale and pain visual test were applied at the moment of diagnosis and after 1 and 6 months. The surgical group had better results with preserving the ambulation longer and significant reduction of pain.(author)
This section contains the detailed measured impact results and market segment data for each DSM case examined for this building type. A complete index of all base and measure cases defined for this building type is shown first. This index represents an expansion of the base and measure matrix presented in Table 1 (residential) or Table 2 (commercial) for the applicable sector. Following this index, a summary report sheet is provided for each DSM measure case in the order shown in the index. The summary report sheet contains a host of information and selected graphs which define and depict the measure impacts and outline the market segment data assumptions utilized for each case in the DBEDT DSM Forecasting models. The variables and figures included in the summary report sheet are described. Numerous tables and figures are included.
This section contains the detailed measured impact results and market segment data for each DSM case examined for this building type. A complete index of all base and measure cases defined for this building type is shown first. This index represents an expansion of the base and measure matrix presented in Table 1 (residential) or Table 2 (commercial) for the applicable sector. Following this index, a summary report sheet is provided for each DSM measure case in the order shown in the index. The summary report sheet contains a host of information and selected graphs which define and depict the measure impacts and outline the market segment data assumptions utilized for each case in the DBEDT DSM Forecasting models. The variables and figures included in the summary report sheet are described. Numerous tables and figures are included.
An algorithm is presented which describes an application independent method for reducing the number of polygonal primitives required to faithfully represent an object. Reducing polygon count without a corresponding reduction in object detail is important for: achieving interactive frame rates in scientific visualization, reducing mass storage requirements, and facilitating the transmission of large, multi-timestep geometric data sets. This paper shows how coplanar and nearly coplanar polygons can be merged into larger complex polygons and re-triangulated into fewer simple polygons than originally required. The notable contributions of this paper are: (1) a method for quickly grouping polygons into nearly coplanar sets, (2) a fast approach for merging coplanar polygon sets and, (3) a simple, robust triangulation method for polygons created by 1 and 2. The central idea of the algorithm is the notion of treating polygonal data as a collection of segments and removing ...
This patent describes a display unit of a speedometer for an automobile, comprising: a constant speed running circuit capable of producing output signals indicative of a desired car speed; an actual car speed operational circuit capable of producing output signals indicative of actual car speed; a comparing circuit for comparing the amplitudes of the output signals of the constant speed running operational circuit and the actual car speed operational circuit; bar graph decoders receiving the output signals from the constant speed running operational circuit and the actual car speed operational circuit; an EX-OR circuit having inputs coupled to respective bar graph decoders and having an output; and OR circuit having inputs coupled to respective bar graph decoders and having an output; selector means coupled to the output of the EX-OR circuit and the output of the OR circuit and controlled by an output of the comparing means for connecting a selected of the outputs of the EX-OR and OR ...
Using electromatic field theory, a new method is developed for calculating alternating current in power cables installed in pipes of carbon steel (magnetic pipes). The technique for evaluating these losses is based on the method of images which replaces complicated distribution of currents in the system with a sequence of thin conductors. The method not only gives a mathematical framework for the solution of alternating current losses, but it also gives the underlying physical picture of effects contributing to these losses. Skin effect, proximity effect and losses due to the pipe are calculated separately. For the first time, the increase of losses in the conductors, when the cables are placed in a magetic pipe, are analyzed mathematically. Good agreement is obtained between the result of calculations and the experimentally determined ac-dc resistance ratios for pipe-type cables with concentric stranded copper conductors and also for cables with aluminum or copper ...
Mammography has emerged as a reliable non-invasive technique for the early detection of breast cancer--the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality among American women. The radiographic appearance of the female breast consists of radiolucent (dark) regions due to fat and radiodense (light) regions due to connective and epithelial tissue. The amount of radiodense tissue can be used as a marker for predicting breast cancer risk. This paper presents the development of an algorithm for estimating the percentage of radiodense tissue in a digitized mammogram. The technique involves determining a dynamic threshold for segmenting radiodense indications in mammograms. Both the mammographic image and the threshold are modeled as Gaussian random variables. This work is intended to support a concurrent study at the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) exploring the association between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk. Mammograms have been obtained from an existing ...
A method of the correction for sample self attenuation used in segmented gamma scanner (SGS) is described. The method of calibration for assaying the uranium and plutonium contents of each category of heterogeneous process residues and wastes in nuclear facilities is studied. The effect of variable measurement parameter on measurement results is also studied. The measurement results of SGS assay is compared with that of the destructive assay (DA), which is aimed at evaluating SGS method for assaying uranium and plutonium content in process residues and wastes. The deviation of two assay results is 3.6%. The SGS assay results and DA assay results both are coincided well in error limits. Four category of heterogeneous process residues and wastes in nuclear facilities have assayed successfully in physical inventory. The uncertainty of measurement results for uranium and plutonium content in process residues and wastes is 5% with 68.3% of confidence level
Objective: To investigate the feasibility of low-dose single-slice helical CT in pulmonary CT scan and evaluate the clinical application. Methods: Thirteen cases were selected out of 132 cases, in which low-dose (50mAs) single-slice helical CT scan of chest was performed. This set of cases included 7 cases of multiple metastatic nodules; 3 of solitary pulmonary, nodule; and 3 of pulmonary patchy lesions. Regular dose (170mAs) CT scan was also performed on all those patients. The regular dose and low dose CT scan were compared on sensitivity of detecting the lesions; the performance in demonstrating the details of the abnormalities; and the capability of revealing the segmental bronchi as well. Results: The same number and size of the pulmonary nodules were revealed with scan modalities loaded with different doses. No significant difference in demonstrating the details of the nodules and the segmental bronchi was found between both modalities ...
A simple formulation is presented for torsion analysis of hollow tubes with polygonal shapes. Thicknesses of segments of cross section can be different. Governing equations in term of Prandtl's stress function are used to derive the formulas. The derived formulas are so simple that computations can be carried out with a pocket calculator. Several examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of the formulation. The obtained results are verified by accurate finite element solutions. It will be seen that the derived formulas can be useful for analysis of thin-walled and moderately thick-walled hollow tubes.
Two new surfactant molecules are reported which contain thermally labile Diels-Alder adducts connecting the polar and non-polar sections of each molecule. The two surfactants possess identical non-polar dodecyl tail segments but exhibit different polar headgroups. The surfactants become soluble in water when anionic salts are formed through the deprotonation of the surfactant headgroups by the addition of potassium hydroxide. When either surfactant is exposed to temperature above about 60.degree. C., the retro Diels-Alder reaction occurs, yielding hydrophilic and hydrophobic fragments or the aqueous solutions of the surfactants subsequently exhibit loss of all surface-active behavior.
Two new surfactant molecules are reported which contain thermally labile Diels-Alder adducts connecting the polar and non-polar sections of each molecule. The two surfactants possess identical non-polar dodecyl tail segments but exhibit different polar headgroups. The surfactants become soluble in water when anionic salts are formed through the deprotonation of the surfactant headgroups by the addition of potassium hydroxide. When either surfactant is exposed to temperature above about 60.degree. C., the retro Diels-Alder reaction occurs, yielding hydrophilic and hydrophobic fragments or the aqueous solutions of the surfactants subsequently exhibit loss of all surface-active behavior.
Two new surfactant molecules are reported which contain thermally labile Diels-Alder adducts connecting the polar and non-polar sections of each molecule. The two surfactants possess identical non-polar dodecyl tail segments but exhibit different polar headgroups. The surfactants become soluble in water when anionic salts are formed through the deprotonation of the surfactant headgroups by the addition of potassium hydroxide. When either surfactant is exposed to temperature above about 60.degree. C., the retro Diels-Alder reaction occurs, yielding hydrophilic and hydrophobic fragments and the aqueous solutions of the surfactants subsequently exhibit loss of all surface-active behavior.
This study examines the degree of price-integration of equity indices between the major markets of Africa, namely Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa with the European markets of London and Paris. Vector Autoregressive and Autoregressive Distributed Lag methods reveal that African markets are largely price-segmented. The only markets that are price-integrated have shared economic and financial institutions, such as Namibia and South Africa, and Egypt, Tunisia and France. The evidence suggests that development policy should be focussed on enhancing existing institutions rather than embarking prematurely on regional integration.
The problems in computer vision range from edge detection and segmentation at the lowest level to the problem of cognition at the highest level. This correspondence describes the organization and operation of a semantic network array processor (SNAP) as applicable to high level computer vision problems. The architecture consists of an array of identical cells each containing a content addressable memory, microprogram control, and a communication unit. The applications discussed in this paper are the two general techniques, discrete relaxation and dynamic programming. While the discrete relaxation is discussed with reference to scene labeling and edge interpretation, the dynamic programming is tuned for stereo.
The activities and results of a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project entitled ''Rapid Tools for Joint Inversion and Imaging'' are presented. Research and development on three-dimensional methods to recover distributions of material property values from sparse data are reported. Innovations using artificial neural networks and extended Kalman filtering are described. The report also covers investigations on upscaling and downscaling, segmentation for data processing, and applications to ground penetrating radar and geohydraulic tomography.
A technique for quantitative analysis of growth plates in varus or valgus deformity about the knee has been developed. Computer-generated regions of interest are placed on magnification scintigraphs to divide distal femoral and proximal tibial physes into four equal segments. The ratio of counts in the medial half to counts in the lateral half was studied in 31 children (22 normal, 9 with angular deformity). Normal ratios were 0.74 to 0.98 for femora and 0.98 to 1.20 for tibias. In eight of nine patients with deformity, the ratio was abnormal; in two patients the ratio returned to normal when the deformity ceased to progress.
We study suspensions of semi-flexible colloidal rods and biopolymers using an Onsager-type second-virial functional for a segmented-chain model. For suspensions of thin and thick fd virus particles we calculate phase diagrams in quantitative agreement with experimental observations, and we find their effective state-point dependent shape to be much shorter and thicker than the actual shape. We also calculate the stretching of worm-like micelles in a host fd virus solution, again finding agreement with experiments. For both systems, our results show that the fd virus stiffness can play a key role in system behavior.
A focal plane detector system consisting of a vertical drift chamber, parallel plate avalanche counters, and an ionization chamber with segmented anodes has been installed in the Broad Range Spectrometer at the Holifield Facility at Oak Ridge. The system, which has been designed for use with light-heavy ions with energies ranging from 10 to 25 MeV/amu, has a position resolution of approx. 0.1 mm, a scattering angle resolution of approx. 3 mrad, and a mass resolution of approx. 1/60.
The method is used for repairing armored logging cables. It consists of preparing armor, subsequent connection of current-conducting strands and wires of the armor, and laying of the armor. Sections of connecting the wires of the armor of the lower and upper layers are scattered over the length of the fused section of the cable. In order to improve the fault strength of the cable, the junctions of connection of the armor wires are scattered among themselves at a distance determined by the Euler formula, and thermal tempering of the wire sections is carried out near these junctions, and then the fused section of the cable is reinforced.
Voestalpine AG (Linz, Austria) produces heavy steel for steam turbines, compressors for the promotion of oil and gas as well as for the chemical industry, mechanical engineering and for the offshore technology. A weight range between 1 and 200 tons can be covered. The author of the contribution under consideration is limited to characteristics which have to be managed by a large steel foundry within the range of the steam power plants. This is described on the basis of produced steam turbines for power stations in the highest performance segment (1,600 MW).
While there is growing interest in Real Time Pricing as a competitive tool, its adoption to date has been constrained by wariness on the part of many utilities and many of their customers. That wariness is not misplaced, for Real Time Pricing is not for everyone. In order for both utilities and their customers to benefit, the pricing system must be properly tailored for, and offered to, the appropriate audience. This paper discusses needs for identifying targets, implications of targeting of Real Time Pricing to various types of customers, and implications for design and marketing of such pricing systems. Examples from utility experiences are provided, and recommendations are offered for development of improved targeting of Real Time Pricing.
The chemistries of reactants, plasticizers, solvents and additives in an epoxy paint are discussed. Polyamide additives may play an important role in the absorption of molecular iodine by epoxy paints. It is recommended that the unsaturation of the polyamide additive in the epoxy cure be determined. Experimental studies of water absorption by epoxy resins are discussed. These studies show that absorption can disrupt hydrogen bonds among segments of the polymers and cause swelling of the polymer. The water absorption increases the diffusion coefficient of water within the polymer. Permanent damage to the polymer can result if water causes hydrolysis of ether linkages. Water desorption studies are recommended to ascertain how water absorption affects epoxy paint.
The in vivo toxic effects of hexavalent chromium (20 mg/liter) on hemolymph glucose, tissue glycogen, total free sugars, and active and total phosphorylases of an edible, freshwater crab Barytelphusa guerini were studied. In a 15-day exposure span followed by a 15-day postexposure recovery, the time-course alterations in these constituent segments of the glycogen metabolism indicate an inconsistent depletion in metabolite levels and elevated enzyme activities during exposure period as well as hyperglycemia. An insignificant recovery was observed in these parameters on the 15th day of the postexposure phase.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is frequently used for relief of chronic benign pain resistant to conservative therapies. Clinical practice suggests, at least in patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), the possibility that SCS significantly improves motor performances. We present here the case of a 41-years-old female patient with FBSS, who showed a clear improvement in muscle strength after SCS, persisting at 6-months follow-up. We speculate that the electrical stimulation of posterior columns could potentiate the caudal, segmental spinal reflexes resulting in a facilitation of motoneurons activation. PMID:16175150
The fabrication of the ZT-40 torus, a large complex all-ceramic toroidal plasma containment vessel, is described. Several glass sealants covering the temperature range of 500 to 1300"0C, were developed and used to ''braze'' segments of the torus together, sapphire windows to the torus and the required pump-out and diagnostic parts to the ceramic vacuum vessel. Designs of window seals were developed that allowed sealing of the sapphire windows in a vertical position with minimum sealing glass flow.
Optimization is a powerful paradigm for expressing and solving problems in a wide range of areas, and has been successfully applied to many vision problems. Discrete optimization techniques are especially interesting since, by carefully exploiting problem structure, they often provide nontrivial guarantees concerning solution quality. In this paper, we review dynamic programming and graph algorithms, and discuss representative examples of how these discrete optimization techniques have been applied to some classical vision problems. We focus on the low-level vision problem of stereo, the mid-level problem of interactive object segmentation, and the high-level problem of model-based recognition. PMID:20660950
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post proceedings of the international workshop Computer Vision Approaches to Medical Image Analysis, CVAMIA 2006, held in Graz, Austria in May 2006 as a satellite event of the 9th European Conference on Computer Vision, EECV 2006. The 10 revised full papers and 11 revised poster papers presented together with 1 invited talk were carefully reviewed and selected from 38 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on clinical applications, image registration, image segmentation and analysis, and the poster session. (orig.)
In recent years, several groups, including the physician assistant, health information management, ophthalmic medical technician/technologist, and athletic training review committees, have left the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) system to form their own, profession-specific accrediting bodies. Their motivation was typically a desire for greater professional visibility and autonomy. Combined, these professions represented one third of the CAAHEP's programs. This article reviews the history of allied health and examines current attempts to bring cohesion and identity to this increasingly fractured segment of the U.S. health care system. PMID:18444439
Use of a broadband Local Area Network (LAN) for transmission of classified and secure unclassified information requires monitoring capabilities which are sensitive to discrete segments of the network frequency spectrum. A viable monitoring system must be capable of detecting possible intrusion attempts or network malfunctions and alerting operating and security personnel. This report documents the results of an evaluation of the Magnavox CATV Systems Inc. Digital System Sentry software for network monitoring. Recommendations are made on its possible future role in broadband LAN security monitoring throughout the Nuclear Weapons Complex.
Two patients with femoral neck fractures, one displaced and one undisplaced, are presented. Preoperative intravital staining with tetracycline and Tc-MDP scintimetry both showed intact femoral head circulation while Tc-MDP-scintimetry 1 week after operation showed pronounced circulatory deficiency. Sr/sup 85/-scintimetry performed at the same time was inconclusive. Segmental collapse was observed radiographically, 8 and 12 months postoperatively. The major vascular injury resulting in avascularity most probably occured during the procedure of osteosynthesis, and Tc-MDP-scintimetry was found suitable for early postoperative recognition of avascular necrosis in both fractures.
Two patients with femoral neck fractures, one displaced and one undisplaced, are presented. Preoperative intravital staining with tetracycline and Tc-MDP scintimetry both showed intact femoral head circulation while Tc-MDP-scintimetry 1 week after operation showed pronounced circulatory deficiency. SR"8"5-scintimetry performed at the same time was inconclusive. Segmental collapse was observed radiographically, 8 and 12 months postoperatively. The major vascular injury resulting in avascularity most probably occured during the procedure of osteosynthesis, and Tc-MDP-scintimetry was found suitable for early postoperative recognition of avascular necrosis in both fractures. (author).
The sequence segment 181-200 of the Torpedo nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) #alpha#subunit forms a binding site for #alpha#-bungarotoxin (#alpha#-BTX). Synthetic peptides corresponding to the homologous sequences of human, calf, mouse, chicken, frog, and cobra muscle nAChR #alpha#1 subunits were tested for their ability to bind "1"2"5I-#alpha#-BTX, and differences in #alpha#-BTX affinity were determined by using solution (IC_5_0s) and solid-phase (K_ds) assays. Panels of overlapping peptides corresponding to the complete #alpha#1 subunit of mouse and human were also tested for #alpha#-BTX binding, but other sequence segments forming the #alpha#-BTX site were not consistently detectable. The role of a putative vicinal disulfide bound between Cys-192 and -193, relative to the Torpedo sequence, was determined by modifying the peptides with sulfhydryl reagents. Reduction and alkylation of the peptides decreased #alpha#-BTX binding, whereas ...
Structural complexities reduce the homogeneity necessary for a site characterization model to an unacceptable level for performance assessment for radioactive waste disposal sites. The proposed site lies between the northern, stable Diablo platform and the southern, mobile Mesozoic Chihuahua tectonic belt. Structural movement along this interface has been active for the past 14,000 years. In addition, the area lies along the northern margin of the Permian Marfa basin and the northeastern margin of the deeply faulted Hueco bolson segment of the late Cenozoic Rio Grande rift system. Recent seismic activity with extensive surface rupture in Quitman Canyon (30 mi southeast of the site) is also documented from the 1931 Valentine, Texas, earthquake (6.4 Richter scale). The site is underlain by either a thrust fault or the complex terminus of a Mesozoic thrust fault. This fault is a segment of the continuous thrust sheet extending from exposures in ...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Defense (DoD), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation weather and environmental satellite system; the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). NPOESS replaces the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) managed by the DoD. The NPOESS satellites carry a suite of sensors that collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological, and solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere, and space. The NPOESS design allows centralized mission management and delivers high quality environmental products to military, civil and scientific users. The ground data processing segment for NPOESS is the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS), developed by Raytheon Intelligence and ...
The Sperchios Basin is an active asymmetric graben, bounded to the south by a major border fault system with major fault segments typically 20-30 km long. The basin is dominated by a major axial fluvio-deltaic system which enters the partially enclosed Maliakos Gulf to the east. Lateral sourced depositional systems within the basin comprise hanging-wall and footwall-derived alluvial fans and a narrow coastal plain along the footwall scarp bordering the Maliakos Gulf. High resolution seismic data from the Maliakos Gulf reveals three late Quaternary progradational parasequences sourced from axial and lateral depositional systems, with a regional late-Pleistocene transgressive surface dated at circa. 10 ka BP within the Maliakos Gulf. Differential subsidence of the late Pleistocene transgressive surface indicates marked variation in subsidence from 2.4 m ka[sup -1] at fault segment centers to 0.8 m ka[sup -1] at segment ...
The Sperchios Basin is an active asymmetric graben, bounded to the south by a major border fault system with major fault segments typically 20-30 km long. The basin is dominated by a major axial fluvio-deltaic system which enters the partially enclosed Maliakos Gulf to the east. Lateral sourced depositional systems within the basin comprise hanging-wall and footwall-derived alluvial fans and a narrow coastal plain along the footwall scarp bordering the Maliakos Gulf. High resolution seismic data from the Maliakos Gulf reveals three late Quaternary progradational parasequences sourced from axial and lateral depositional systems, with a regional late-Pleistocene transgressive surface dated at circa. 10 ka BP within the Maliakos Gulf. Differential subsidence of the late Pleistocene transgressive surface indicates marked variation in subsidence from 2.4 m ka{sup -1} at fault segment centers to 0.8 m ka{sup -1} at segment ...
This study was designed to evaluate the influence of inhalational agents on the intestinal circulation in an isolated loop preparation. Sixty dogs were studied, using three intestinal segments from each dog. Selected intestinal segments were pumped with aortic blood at a constant pressure of 100 mmHg. A mixture of /sub 86/Rb and 9-microns spheres labeled with /sup 141/Ce was injected into the arterial cannula supplying the intestinal loop, while mesenteric venous blood was collected for activity counting. A very strong and significant correlation was found between rubidium clearance and microsphere entrapment (r = 0.97, P less than 0.0001). Nitrous oxide anesthesia was accompanied by a higher vascular resistance (VR), lower flow (F), rubidium clearance (Cl-Rb), and microspheres entrapment (Cl-Sph) than pentobarbital anesthesia, indicating that the vascular bed in the intestinal segment was constricted and flow (total and ...
This study was designed to evaluate the influence of inhalational agents on the intestinal circulation in an isolated loop preparation. Sixty dogs were studied, using three intestinal segments from each dog. Selected intestinal segments were pumped with aortic blood at a constant pressure of 100 mmHg. A mixture of _8_6Rb and 9-microns spheres labeled with "1"4"1Ce was injected into the arterial cannula supplying the intestinal loop, while mesenteric venous blood was collected for activity counting. A very strong and significant correlation was found between rubidium clearance and microsphere entrapment (r = 0.97, P less than 0.0001). Nitrous oxide anesthesia was accompanied by a higher vascular resistance (VR), lower flow (F), rubidium clearance (Cl-Rb), and microspheres entrapment (Cl-Sph) than pentobarbital anesthesia, indicating that the vascular bed in the intestinal segment was constricted and flow (total and ...
Qualitative interpretation of data of different nature and sources, based on segmentation techniques such as discriminant analysis, is useful to characterize and monitor hydrocarbon reservoirs. In order to make this interpretation more reliable, it is necessary to characterize uncertainties attached to data and then, to propagate them in the interpretation work-flow. In this thesis, uncertainties are represented by intervals, because usually, little is known about input data errors. The uncertainty characterization issue is dealt with specifically for each case study. The uncertainty propagation issue is treated by a new technique, based on interval analysis, which consists in extending to intervals various popular approaches (non parametric, quadratic and linear) to discriminant analysis: Firstly, a learning phase allows calibrating an imprecise classifying model on the basis of pre-interpreted data. If the quality of this model is good enough, it is used to ...
The aim of this study was to compare a 1-day with a 2-day iodine bowel preparation for CT colonography in a positive faecal occult blood test (FOBT) screening population. One hundred consecutive patients underwent CT colonography and colonoscopy with segmental unblinding. The first 50 patients (group 1) ingested 7*50 ml iodinated contrast starting 2 days before CT colonography. The latter 50 patients (group 2) ingested 4*50 ml iodinated contrast starting 1 day before CT colonography. Per colonic segment measurements of residual stool attenuation and homogeneity were performed, and a subjective evaluation of tagging quality (grade 1-5) was done. Independently, two reviewers performed polyp and carcinoma detection. The tagging density was 638 and 618 HU (p = 0.458) and homogeneity 91 and 86 HU for groups 1 and 2, respectively (p = 0.145). The tagging quality was graded 5 (excellent) in 90% of all segments in group 1 and 91% ...
Optional multiple long-axial gated blood pool SPECT images were prepared for the purpose of stereoscopic and quantitative imaging of left ventricular wall motion (LVWM). Sixteen patients with ischemic heart disease and 8 healthy subjects were imaged in 32 views in the 360 degrees position after iv injection of 740 MBq of Tc-99m-labeled human serum albumin D. The R-R interval was divided into 16. After preparing conventional oblique images, long-axial images were prepared. Shortening rate of left ventricular wall was calculated in 5 segments of the apex and base of the left ventricle. An average shortening rate in each segment was graded with a score from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 40% or more. In the normal group, shortening rate in each segment, except for the base of the septal region, exceeded 40%. In the group of ischemic heart disease, radial shortening was capable of visualizing the degree and extent of the whole ...
Supercritical fluid extraction from dried banana peel (Musa spp., subgroup Prata, genomic group AAB, popularly known in Brazil as Enxerto) was studied. The aspects investigated were: overall extraction curve (OEC), mass transfer modeling of the yield curves, economical analysis of the process and phase equilibrium data for the pseudo-ternary system of banana peel extract, carbon dioxide and ethanol. The extraction operating conditions evaluated were: pressure ranging from 100bar to 300bar, temperature from 40 to 50^oC and constant solvent flow rate of 5.0gCO2/min. Experimental extraction data were correlated using three kinetic models based on mass transfer equations (logistic, diffusion and Esquivel models). Phase equilibrium measurements were performed using pressure from 64.9bar to 239....
Pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) is a secretory pancreatic protein present in small amounts in normal pancreas and overexpressed during the acute phase of pancreatitis. In this paper, the authors describe the cloning, characterization, and chromosomal mapping of the human PAP gene. The gene spans 2748 bp and contains six exons interrupted by five introns. The gene has a typical promoter containing the sequences TATAAA and CCAAT 28 and 52 bp upstream of the cap site, respectively. They found striking similarities in genomic organization as well as in the promoter sequences between the human and rat PAP genes. The human PAP gene was mapped to chromosome 2p12 using rodent-human hybrid cells and in situ chromosomal hybridization. This localization coincides with that of the reg/lithostathine gene, which encodes a pancreatic secretory protein structurally related to PAP, suggesting that both genes derived from the same ancestral gene by duplication. 35 refs., 4 ...
Goosecoid is a homeobox gene first isolated from a Xenopus dorsal lip cDNA library. Homologous genes have been isolated from mouse, zebrafish, and chick. In all species examined, the gene is expressed and plays an important role during the process of gastrulation in early embryonic development. The authors report here the cloning of the human goosecoid (GSC) from a genomic library and the sequence of its encoded protein. The genomic organization and protein sequence of the human gene are highly conserved with respect to those of its Xenopus and mouse counterparts: all three genes consist of three exons, with conserved exon-intron boundaries. The sequence of the homeo-domain is 100% conserved in most vertebrates. Using somatic cell hybrid and chromosomal in situ hybridization, the gene was mapped to chromosome 14q32.1. 30 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.
The product of the human GRO gene is a cytokine with inflammatory and growth-regulatory properties; GRO is also called MGSA for melanoma growth-stimulatory activity. The authors have identified two additional genes, GRO#beta# and GRO#gamma#, that share 90% and 86% identity at the deduced amino acid level with the original GRO#alpha# isolate. One amino acid substitution of proline in GRO#alpha# by leucine in GRO#beta# and GRO#gamma# leads to a large predicted change in protein conformation. Significant differences also exist in the 3' untranslated region, including different numbers of ATTTA repeats associated with mRNA instability. A 122-base-pair region in the 3' region is conserved among the three GRO genes, and a part of it is also conserved in the Chinese hamster genome, suggesting a role in regulation. DNA hybridization with oligonucleotide probes and partial sequence analysis of the genomic clones confirm that the three forms are derived ...
Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), a protease inhibitor that circulates in association with plasma lipoproteins (VLDL, LDL and HDL), helps to regulate the extrinsic blood coagulation cascade. The authors have cloned a 125-kb genomic region containing the entire human TFPI gene on six overlapping cosmids and prepared a restriction map of this contig to clarify gene structure. More than half (45 kb) of the 85-kb gene is occupied with 5[prime] noncoding elements: coding begins at exon 3. A HindIII RFLP identified with one cosmid was genotyped in the CEPH panel of 559 reference families. Linkage analysis using markers on human chromosome 2 located the TFPI gene on 2q, 36 cM proximal to D2S43(pYNZ15) and 13 cM distal to the crystalline [gamma]-polypeptide locus CRYGP1(p5G1). 31 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.
We have been investigating radiation-induced neoplastic transformants of C3H 10T1/2 mouse fibroblasts for evidence of heritable changes. C3H 10T1/2 cells were treated with 8 Gy X rays. After approximately 8 weeks of culture, type II/III foci were isolated from the monolayer using cloning rings. Cell lines developed from these foci, and clones established from these cell lines, were examined for DNA content. The isolated focus-derived populations and derived clones often display aneuploidy and/or polyploidization. In one instance a clone (derived from a single cell) displayed multiple polyploidies. During passage the ploidy of many of the anomalous populations gradually reverted to the ploidy of the non-neoplastically transformed state. The morphological features associated with the neoplastic transformation event were nevertheless retained. The results demonstrate that exposure to radiation can induce, in association with morphological neoplastic transformation, a heritable, ...
The authors describe a cloning strategy for the construction of a human genomic library in yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) based on complete digestion of high-molecular-weight DNA with the infrequently cutting restriction enzyme MluI. Cloning of MluI fragments in the vector pYAC-RC and one subsequent size fractionation by preparative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis yielded a library with average insert sizes of 600 kb. Ninety-seven percent of the colonies were recombinant. An additional size fractionation of MluI fragments prior to ligation had no significant influence on the size of the YACs. The library currently consists of 5000 clones, which is the equivalent of one human genome. Nineteen percent of the YACs were larger than 1.2 Mb. Since smaller MluI fragments are lost during sizing, they also performed cloning without size fractionation. Only 20% of the colonies were recombinant, probably due to unligated vector fragments that were ...
We have isolated a genomic clone containing 'Lupinus luteus' 5S ribosomal RNA genes by screening with 5S rDNA probe clones that were hybridized previously with the initiator methionine tRNA preparation (contaminated) with traces of rRNA or its degradation products). The clone isolated contains ten repeat units of 342 bp with 119 bp fragment showing 100% homology to the 5S rRNA from yellow lupine. Sequence analysis indicates only point heterogeneities among the flanking regions of the genes. (author). 6 refs, 3 figs.
Several enzymes of the metabolic pathways responsible for metabolism of cytosolic ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides are located in mitochondria. Studies described in this paper suggest dysfunction of the mitochondria to affect these metabolic pathways and limit the available levels of cytosolic ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides, which in turn can result in aberrant RNA and DNA synthesis. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to genomic instability, and it is possible that the limiting effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on the levels of nucleotides and resulting aberrant RNA and DNA synthesis in part can be responsible for this link. This paper summarizes the parts of the metabolic pathways responsible for nucleotide metabolism that can be affected by mitochondrial dysfunction.
pD10 is a 0.85 kb fragment with BamHI ends cloned in pSP64. It was sub-cloned from {lambda}D10 which was isolated from a genomic library constructed in {lambda}EMBL3 from a rodent human somatic cell hybrid. The probe was localized to 19q13.2-19qter on a panel of rodent human somatic cell hybrids. Co-dominant segregation was shown in 32 families of 280 individuals.
This article reviews antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and violence and develops a three factor model of personality traits. Then a discussion of related personality disorders precedes the development of a categorical two factor model of impulsive versus remorseless violence. A paradigm of proactive, medical, and school based early intervention and prevention is advocated as a useful addition to the reactive detention of criminal justice. Integration of psychological tests, neuroimaging, and genomic data in early childhood and school based intervention strategies to prevent the development of conduct disorder and attenuate criminal propensity inform this approach. PMID:20422651
A plethora of experimental studies use mtDNA as a marker of demographic processes without questioning the possibility that selection may bias their interpretations. We studied four lines of Drosophila melanogaster that have a standardized nuclear DNA but variable mtDNA. We completed the sequencing of the mitochondrial genomes (excluding the A+T rich region) and compiled the differences. We then assayed male influence on oviposition, starvation resistance, lipid proportion and physical activity. We discuss these results in terms of the known differences between the lines and conclude that naturally occurring mtDNA variants in D. melanogaster are expressed at the level of the organismal phenotype. PMID:21757031
Abstract The white sea bream, Diplodus sargus (Teleostei, Sparidae), is a species with a high commercial importance in Mediterranean aquaculture. There is currently little information available about the genetic characteristics of cultured populations. In this survey, we have developed eight polymorphic microsatellites for the white sea bream using an enriched genome library protocol. All of them were polymorphic in the 67 individuals tested, 32 of which were wild specimens, and 35 were individuals from a captive F1 broodstock. These markers can potentially be useful tools for use in population genetic studies.
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato genospecies were differentiated by PCR-based sequencing of the borrelial flagellin gene. To evaluate the usefulness of KingFisher"T"M magnetic particle processor in PCR product purification, borrelia PCR products were purified with KingFisher"T"M magnetic particle processor prior to cycle sequencing and the quality of the sequence data received was analyzed. KingFisher was found to offer a rapid and reliable alternative for borrelial PCR product purification.
A colony PCR technique was applied for both genomic and chloroplast DNA in the green microalgae Chlorella. Of five different lysis buffers, Chelex-100 was superior for DNA extraction, PCR and DNA storage. It also was insensitive to variations in cell density. The conditions established for an improved PCR formulation are applicable for screening of genetically-engineered transformants as well as bioprospecting of natural microalgal isolates. Besides multiple Chlorella species, we also demonstrate the efficacy of Chelex-100 for colony PCR with a number of other microalgal strains, including Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Dunaliella salina, Nannochloropsis sp., Coccomyxa sp., and Thalassiosira pseudonana. PMID:21431847
The emergence of bacterial antibiotic resistance is a growing problem, yet the variables that influence the rate of emergence of resistance are not well understood. In a microfluidic device designed to mimic naturally occurring bacterial niches, resistance of Escherichia coli to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin developed within 10 hours. Resistance emerged with as few as 100 bacteria in the initial inoculation. Whole-genome sequencing of the resistant organisms revealed that four functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms attained fixation. Knowledge about the rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance in the heterogeneous conditions within the mammalian body may be helpful in understanding the emergence of drug resistance during cancer chemotherapy. PMID:21940899
BackgroundBiodiesel or ethanol derived from lipids or starch produced by microalgae may overcome many of the sustainability challenges previously ascribed to petroleum-based fuels and first generation plant-based biofuels. The paucity of microalgae genome sequences, however, limits gene-based biofuel feedstock optimization studies. Here we describe the sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly for the non-model microalgae species, Dunaliella tertiolecta, and identify pathways and genes of importance related to biofuel production.ResultsNext generation DNA pyrosequencing technology applied to D. tertiolecta transcripts produced 1,363,336 high quality reads with an average length of 400 bases. Following quality and size trimming, ~ 45% of the high quality reads were assembled into 33,307 isotigs with a 31-fold coverage and 376,482 singletons. Assembled sequences and singletons were subjected to BLAST similarity searches and annotated with Gene Ontology (GO) and ...
Drosophila melanogaster has long been at the forefront of studies of transcriptional regulation in animals. Many fundamental ideas--such as cis control elements that act over long distances, the regulation of development by hierarchical cascades of transcription factors, dosage compensation, and position effect variegation--originated from studies of the fruit fly. The recent completion of the euchromatic DNA sequence of Drosophila is another breakthrough. The sequence data highlight important unanswered questions. For example, only one-fifth of the 124 Mb of Drosophila euchromatic DNA codes for protein. The function of the remaining 100 Mb of mostly unique DNA is largely unknown. Some proportion of this non-reading frame DNA must encode the functional recognition sites targeted by the approximately 700 sequence-specific DNA binding proteins that regulate transcription in Drosophila, but what proportion? Most or very little? Promoter sequences by definition contain all of the cis ...
High molecular weight DNA from pleroceroid larvae of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides was purified from isolated nuclei by conventional techniques. The DNA so isolated has a melting temperature (Tm) of 87 degrees C and a guanine plus cytosine (G/C) content of 44%. 5-Methyl cytosine could not be detected in plerocercoid DNA by HPLC analysis of DNA hydrolysates, by radiolabeling 5'-termini of MspI digests with polynucleotide kinase, or by comparing restriction patterns generated by MspI and HpaII. Renaturation kinetics demonstrated that the genome of S. mansonoides contains repetitive as well as single copy sequences and has a genome size estimated at approx. 1.6 X 10(9) bp. Hybridization was carried out between plerocercoid DNA and cDNAs for human beta-actin, alpha-tubulin and growth hormone (hGH). Rationale for this analysis was based on known homologies among actin and tubulin genes in numerous species and on apparent similarities between ...
A stochastic wind simulation for VAWTs (VSTOC) has been developed which yields turbulent wind-velocity fluctuations for rotationally sampled points. This allows three-component wind-velocity fluctuations to be simulated at specified nodal points on the wind-turbine rotor. A first-order convection scheme is used which accounts for the decrease in streamwise velocity as the flow passes through the wind-turbine rotor. The VSTOC simulation is independent of the particular analytical technique used to predict the aerodynamic and performance characteristics of the turbine. The VSTOC subroutine may be used simply as a subroutine in a particular VAWT prediction code or it may be used as a subroutine in an independent processor. The independent processor is used to interact with a version of the VAWT prediction code which is segmented into deterministic and stochastic modules. Using VSTOC in this fashion is very efficient with regard to decreasing computer time for the ...
Introduction: Research indicates that music can affect heart rate, blood pressure, and skin conductance. Music can stimulate central emotions in the brain and release biochemical materials that change the physiologic state. We sought to compare changes in the electrical function of the heart in response to music. Method: Subjects were asked to listen to 2 types of music, namely, sedative and arousal music, in conjunction with two 30-second periods of complete silence. The experiment was conducted in 4 segments: the first and third parts were silence, and the second and fourth parts were music. First, the response to each type of music was compared with that to the preceding period of silence. Next, the responses to both types of music were compared. Finally, the response to music regardles...
This paper outlines an approach to develop estimates of individual customer contestability using a combined statistical and engineering analysis. The approach is targeted for use for mid-size commercial and industrial customers who are not being considered for individual flexible pricing contracts. Contestability is defined as the potential lost revenue associated with customers leaving the utility or significantly reducing electricity purchases. Contestability is modeled from the customer`s perspective using a two-stage decision process. In the first stage, the customer decides if he will continue to purchase electricity from the utility (referred to as customer retention), and in the second stage, the customer determines the amount of electricity purchased (referred to as load retention). Measures of individual customer contestability will be key factors in developing market segments and new rate offerings in future energy markets.
In a shipping terminal, the pipeline in the pier usually has a diameter smaller than the main pipeline diameter. This diameter reduction amplifies the effects caused by hydraulic transients. It was noticed during simulations that check valves placed in the pier may introduce some error in the maximum pressure when it was modeled in a conventional fashion. The dynamic check valve model had been added to a commercial pipeline simulation software and the results was compared with a similar model using the method of characteristics. Considering a real state shipping terminal case, it was proved even a pipeline that works with low pressure and smooth elevation profile needs a detailed valve modeling to prevent the calculation of unreal pressure values in the region with diameter reduction. (author)
Forty-five patients with recent cervical hip fractures were included in a prospective, clinical, radiographic and sequential scintimetric study. Striking changes in radionuclide uptake over the entire hip region on the fracture side were found during the first 5 postoperative months. Fractures that healed without complications showed the highest relative femoral head uptake at 1 week and a peak value at 6 weeks, followed by a gradual decline at the subsequent examinations. Fractures with complications (redisplacement, nonunion, or late segmental collapse) showed a lower initial uptake and a more gradual increase and only a slight tendency towards increased uptake after 3 months. The accuracy in predicting nonunion with scintimetric examination alone is high both at 1 and at 6 weeks, and the accuracy is almost equally high with combined scintimetric, radiographic, and clinical assessment 3-5 months postoperatively.
An experimental and modelling study was performed for a reverse flow catalytic converter attached to a natural gas/diesel dual fuel engine. The catalytic converter had a segmented ceramic monolith honeycomb substrate and a catalytic washcoat containing a predominantly palladium catalyst. A one-dimensional single channel model was used to simulate the operation of the converter. The kinetics of the CO and methane oxidation followed first-order behaviour. The activation energy for the oxidation of methane showed a change with temperature, dropping from a value of 129 to 35 kJ/mol at a temperature of 874 K. The reverse flow converter was able to achieve high reactor temperature under conditions of low inlet gas temperature, provided that the initial reactor temperature was sufficiently high. (author)
This study aimed to explore the impact of perceived service quality and self-concept on consumer attitude and purchase process using channel type (physical and Internet) as a segmentation variable. From the perspective of consumer behaviour, this study attempted to estimate a relational model and perform an empirical validation using female cosmetics and skincare products as an example. It was discovered that the influence of perceived service quality and self-concept on consumer attitude, purchase intention and behaviour, satisfaction, and loyalty varied with channel type. The analysis result revealed that physical stores presented higher levels of agreement with all research perspectives than Internet stores. However, only two relational paths have a higher influencing effect in physical...
Full text: A method to measure noise power spectrum of a full field digital mammography system is presented. The effect of X-ray radiation dose, size and configuration of region of interest on normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS) was investigated. Flat field images were acquired using RQA-M2 beam quality technique (Mo/Mo anode-filter, 28 kV, 2 mm Al) with different clinical radiation doses. The images were cropped at about 4 cm from the edge of the breast wall and then divided into different size of non-overlapping or overlapping segments. NNPS was determined through de trending, 2-D fast Fourier transformation and normalization. Our measurement shows that high radiation dose gave lower NNPS at a specific beam quality. (author)
A method to measure noise power spectrum of a full field digital mammography system is presented. The effect of X-ray radiation dose, size and configuration of region of interest on normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS) was investigated. Flat field images were acquired using RQA-M2 beam quality technique (Mo/Mo anode-filter, 28 kV, 2 mm Al) with different clinical radiation doses. The images were cropped at about 4 cm from the edge of the breast wall and then divided into different size of non-overlapping or overlapping segments. NNPS was determined through detrending, 2-D fast Fourier transformation and normalization. Our measurement shows that high radiation dose gave lower NNPS at a specific beam quality.
To quantify the opportunities for natural gas and identify technological advances needed to capture such opportunities, the mineral-wool industry was analyzed with respect to the principal companies, their capabilities, and markets. The mineral-wool industry is stable with a slightly declining market. Of its market segments, only commercial acoustic insulation (which is currently dominant) is likely to be affected by growth in the next ten years. The principal process is based on treatment of blast-furnace slags in a cupola furnace using coke as the fuel and reducing agent. Expanded use of gas, as a substitute for coke, would eliminate environmental problems and expand the latitude of suitable raw materials. The study provides insights into the mineral-wool industry and identifies factors that may constitute bases for future usage of natural gas.
Background: Intestinal failure (IF) is the dependence upon parenteral nutrition to maintain minimal energy requirements for growth and development. It may occur secondary to a loss of bowel length, disorders of motility, or both. Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a malabsorptive state resulting from surgical resection, congenital defect, or diseases associated with loss of absorptive surface area. A particularly vexing problem is associated with whole bowel and/or segmental intestinal dysmotility. Motility disorders within the context of SBS and IF may relate to rapid intestinal transit secondary to loss of intestinal length, dysmotility associated with loss or poor antegrade peristalsis, or gastroparesis. Therapy may be classified into medical (prokinetic and antidiarrheal agents) and surgica...
The interaction energies between the different types of bases of a single strand of DNA molecule have been calculated. Using these original values of energies the harmonic behavior of a number of base patterns of DNA has been studied. In view of the great interest aroused by the discovery of the role of the telomere segment of the DNA in the replication process and its possible link with the aging process, we have investigated, with simple models, the harmonic behavior of the telomeric pattern of bases as well as the thermodynamic response in the biological system. With these results a conclusion on the probable role of the telomeric pattern on aging has also been drawn. Here the calculated values of harmonic frequencies of the telomeric pattern of bases and of other possible patterns show that the telomeric pattern is associated with the highest vibrational frequency among all patterns of base combinations at the replication end of DNA. This seems to suggest that ...
We propose a novel surveillance system that uses hybrid camera network. The system contains a panorama camera and PTZ cameras to take the wide range images and face images at high enough resolution for identification tasks. The robust human detection methods include robust background subtraction method (RRC), skin color segmentation and face tracking method. First, the system detects persons from a panorama image, and then the detailed face images are obtained with the PTZ cameras. The PTZ cameras can track the faces using the four directional features and the relaxation matching. In addition, the system has automatic camera position calibration feature. Thus, the user can use the system without any troublesome settings.
The gastrointestinal transit was studied in 20 patients with loop transverse colostomies and previously normal colons. This analysis was performed through radiological observation of progression of 20 radiopaque pellets and measurements of its transit time in the various segments of the digestive tract. An evaluation of other related clinical and radiological events was carried out sentimentality's. In order to better understand the influence of the surgical procedure, the study was performed under similar dietary and supportive care conditions and standard radiological studies before and after the re-establishment of transit, thus enabling a comparison with the same individual. (author)
Twenty-two patients with vertebral primaries were registered in the Intergroup Ewing's Sarcoma Study between 1973 and 1977. The radiation doses to the primary tumors ranged between 3800 and 6200 rad. All patients received intensive combination chemotherapy. After a followup ranging between 14 and 62 months, 14 patients remained disease-free. All patients with primary tumor of the cervical and dorsal spine remained disease-free. Of eight patients with lesions in the distal spine, (sacrococcygeal region) six developed recurrence, in three a local recurrence was observed despite doses of 6000 rad or higher. Doses of 5000 rad or less (in addition to combination chemotherapy as used in the Intergroup Ewing's Study) appear adequate in controlling the primary tumors of the proximal segments of the spinal column.
Twenty-six patients with late complications following femoral neck fracture were examined with both skeletal and bone marrow radionuclide scintimetry. There was no correlation between the methods with respect to the quantitative assessment of femoral head vascularity based on different uptake ratios comparing the fractured and the intact side. Skeletal scintimetry always had good image quality and permitted reliable differentation between nonunion of the fracture and late segmental collapse, in contrast to bone marrow scintimetry which gave poor image quality. Skeletal scintimetry thus seems superior to bone marrow scintimetry for assessment and differential diagnosis of late complications following femoral neck fracture. It is emphasized that the physiological mechanisms for radionuclide uptake must be taken into account when comparing scintimetric studies using different tracers.
Twenty-six patients with late complications following femoral neck fracture were examined with both skeletal and bone marrow radionuclide scintimetry. There was no correlation between the methods with respect to the quantitative assessment of femoral head vascularity based on different uptake ratios comparing the fractured and the intact side. Skeletal scintimetry always had good image quality and permitted reliable differentation between nonunion of the fracture and late segmental collapse, in contrast to bone marrow scintimetry which gave poor image quality. Skeletal scintimetry thus seems superior to bone marrow scintimetry for assessment and differential diagnosis of late complications following femoral neck fracture. It is emphasized that the physiological mechanisms for radionuclide uptake must be taken into account when comparing scintimetric studies using different tracers. (author).
In the 21st century, Aerial and satellite images are information rich. They are also complex to analyze. For GIS systems, many features require fast and reliable extraction of open space area from high resolution satellite imagery. In this paper we will study efficient and reliable automatic extraction algorithm to find out the open space area from the high resolution urban satellite imagery. This automatic extraction algorithm uses some filters and segmentations and grouping is applying on satellite images. And the result images may use to calculate the total available open space area and the built up area. It may also use to compare the difference between present and past open space area using historical urban satellite images of that same projection
The survival of acetabular components depends on several factors: wear, osteolysis and septic or aseptic loosening. Osteolysis seems to be the main cause for concern in cementless arthroplasties. Acetabular osteolysis results from particle debris and segmental unloading of acetabular bone by rigid sockets. We investigated a cementless elastic monoblock socket with regard to acetabular osteolysis and aseptic loosening in a cohort of young patients. We evaluated 158 hip arthroplasties with a minimum follow-up of ten?years (ten to 18) and a mean age of 42?years (18?50). The overall revision rate at 14?years was 80% with a 98% survival rate for aseptic loosening. The mean polyethylene wear rate was 0.11?mm/year. Progressive acetabular osteolysis was seen in 3% of patients evaluated. In conclus...
In the spring of 2009, the Romanian government has proposed a restructuring of the national power generation sector segment that is still owned by the state. As most of the power generation capacity is still state-owned, this restructuring will dramatically alter the competitive landscape of this sector. This paper is analyzing the rationale and principles of the restructuring as stated by government documents and officials, the assessment methodology and criteria proposed by the government, as well as the proposed final outcome of the restructuring initiative. Based on this critical assessment and the early results of the restructuring's implementation, we are able to make recommendations that can be considered for a revised restructuring approach. - Research highlights: #-># Power generation sector restructuring is proposed in 2009 by the Romanian government. #-># We assess the objectives, methodology and proposed outcome of the restructuring. #-># ...