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. Celllines developed from these foci, and clones established from these celllines, 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 ...
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare, acquired disease involving multiple hematopoietic celllines. Characteristics of PNH are intrinsic hemolytic anemia, iron deficiency anemia and venous thrombosis. We report a case of PNH with characterostoc MR and CT findings. The signal intensity of renal cortex was lower than that of medulla on both T1-and T2-weighted MR imaging. On T2 weighted MR images, the liver showed very low signal intensity but the signal intensity of the spleen was normal. On precontrast CT the attenuation of renal cortex was higher than that of renal medulla and the attenuation of liver was higher than that of the spleen. These findings of MR imaging and CT were the result from the deposition of hemosiderin in the cells of proximal convoluted tubules and transfusional hemosiderosis of liver.
We have established a cartilaginous fish cellline [Squalus acanthias embryo cellline (SAE)], a mesenchymal stem cellline derived from the embryo of an elasmobranch, the spiny dogfish...Full Text Available
Sirtuin 1 acts in various cell processes, deacetylating both chromatin and non-histone proteins, and its role in cancer and aging has long been studied and debated. Here we discuss another aspect of...Full Text Available
Sentinel node biopsy is an alternative to elective neck dissection for the management of T1/T2 oral and oro-pharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas and is also finding application to head and neck cancer...Full Text Available
Forty-four patients with small cell carcinoma of the bronchus underwent CT and MR studies of the brain to detect cerebral metastases. All patients were studied with contrast-enhanced CT scans, short (T1-weighted) and long (T2-weighted), spin-echo (SE) and FLASH 90 grades sequences were also obtained. A quantitative comparison of the results was carried out to assess the sensitivity of the different techniques in the detection of brain metastases according to lesion diameter. Metastases were identified in 19/44 patients (43%). All techniques detected the lesions >2 cm; of the metastases <2 cm, 63/124 (51%) were detected only by GdDTPA SE-T1 and FLASH sequences and 11 more (9%) only by Gd-DTPA SE-T1 scans. All the lesions identified oh enhanced CT scans or on T2-weighted images were easily detected by Gd-DTPA scans. CT sensitivity was ...
Cell cultures were prepared from lung tumors occurring in beagles following exposure to inhaled plutonium. Morphologic and growth characteristics of two of these celllines are described.
Substantially genetically stable continuous human celllines derived from normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) and processes for making and using the same. In a preferred embodiment, the celllines are derived by treating normal human mammary epithelial tissue with a chemical carcinogen such as benzo(a)pyrene. The novel celllines serve as useful substrates for elucidating the potential effects of a number of toxins, carcinogens and mutagens as well as of the addition of exogenous genetic material. The autogenic parent cells from which the celllines are derived serve as convenient control samples for testing. The celllines are not neoplastically transformed, although they have acquired several properties which distinguish them ...
Radiation damage studies have been carried out on undoped and CrO_4"2"- doped potassium and ammonium alums. The optical absorption bands observed around 27100 and 36500 cm"-"1 before irradiation have been attributed to the transitions t_1 #-># e and t_1 #-># t_2, on the basis of Ball-hausen and Liehr scheme. On prolonged X-irradiation, these bands disappear in both the alums and three new bands seem to grow in ammonium alum while only two new bands could be seen in potassium alum. EPR studies at RT reveal that there are two lines at g = 2.004 and g = 2.010 in ammonium alum and only one line at g = 2.004 in potassium alum. Besides these two nearly isotropic lines, there is a set of lines around g = 1.95 in both the alums. Correlating the optical and EPR studies it is concluded that SO_3"- and O_3"- centres have ...
Purpose: Patients with mycosis fungoides [cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL)] may benefit from adjuvant therapy after completing total skin electron beam therapy (TSEBT). We report the results for (T1(T2)) CTCL patients treated with adjuvant oral psoralen plus ultraviolet light (PUVA) with respect to overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), salvage of recurrence, and toxicity. Methods and Materials: Between 1974 and 1993, TSEBT was administered to a total of 213 patients with CTCL. Records were reviewed retrospectively, and a total of 114 patients were identified as having T1 or T2 disease. Radiotherapy was provided via a 6-MeV linac to a total of 36 Gy, 1 Gy/day, 4 days/week, for 9 weeks. Beginning in 1988, patients were offered adjuvant PUVA within 2 months of completing TSEBT. This was started at 0.5-2 J/m"2, 1-2 treatments/week, with a taper over 3-6 months. Therapy ...
Poncirin, flavanone glycoside, isolated from the fruit of Poncirus trifoliata, has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, the effects of poncirin on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells were investigated. The C3H10T1/2 mesenchymal stem cells and primary bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were studied. In the C3H10T1/2 cells, poncirin prevented adipocyte differentiation, as demonstrated by inhibition of cytoplasm lipid droplet accumulation and peroxisome proliferator-activating receptor-? (PPAR-?) and CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein-? (C/EBP-?) mRNA expression. By contrast, poncirin enhanced the expression of the key osteogenic transcription factors, runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ). Poncirin also enhanced expression ...
MRI, ultrasonography and angiography were performed on 24 cases with small renal cell carcinoma, and data were compared with pathological architecture type. An average diameter of cancer was 20.8 mm (10-30 mm). Each tumor was pathologically classified into four architecture types: alveolar type (15 cases), papillary type (5 cases), tubular type (3 cases) and cystic type (1 case). In comparison with renal cortex alveolar type renal cell carcinoma showed equal or low signal in T1-weighted images and equal or high signal in T2-weighted images. Papillary and tubular types showed high signal in T1-weighted images, and low signal in T2-weighted images. In alveolar type, many cases showed equal echo in ultrasonography and hypervascularity in angiography, and in papillary and tubular types, many cases showed high echo and hypovascularity. There were many cases with ...
While a great deal of evidence has directly implicated the importance of O6-alkylation of guanine in the mutagenicity of alkylating agents, evidence demonstrating the oncogenic potential of this lesion...Full Text Available
A classical velocity centrifugation technique was used to study the in vitro uptake of the new ketolide ABT-773 by human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and a myelomonoblastic cellline, PLB-985,...Full Text Available
AIM: To analyze the antiviral mechanism of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication.METHODS: In this research, the HBV-replicating cellline HepG2.117 was used...Full Text Available
Abstract One of the most significant problems in industrial bioprocessing of recombinant proteins using engineered mammalian cells is the phenomenon of cellline instability, where a production cellline suffers a loss of specific productivity (qP). This phenomenon occurs with unpredictable kinetics and has been widely observed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) celllines and with all commonly used gene expression systems. The underlying causes (both genetic and physiological) and the precise molecular mechanisms underpinning cellline instability have yet to be fully elucidated, although recombinant gene silencing and loss of recombinant gene copies have been shown to cause qP loss. In this work we have investigated the molecular mechanisms underpinning qP instability over long-term sub-cult...
The objective of this research is to determine the role of DNA repair in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis in mammalian cells. Use of the host-cell reactivation viral suicide enrichment procedure was initiated in the isolation of repair-deficient mutants. Lightly mutagenized BHK cells were infected with irradiated Herpes simplex virus (HSV); several radiation-sensitive strains were isolated among the survivors of the infection. The characterization of these strains is progressing and the enrichments are continuing. That alterations in the frequency of mutation of C3H/10T1/2 cells, occurring as a result of holding the cells in a confluent state following treatment with ethylmethane sulfonate, parallel the alterations in the frequency of neoplastic transformation was found. The repair capabilities of BHK cells were found to ...
Placental and placental-like alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) levels in the culture media of 87 celllines of neoplastic and 'normal' origin were measured by a conventional immunosorbent enzymatic assay...Full Text Available
The glycolipid content of human non-seminomatous germ cell tumour celllines correlates with their differentiation lineage. To analyse whether this reflects the situation in primary tumours, we studied...Full Text Available
Metastatic testicular germ cell tumours are cured in approximately 85% of patients using cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. Patients who fail to respond have a poor prognosis, and there is a...Full Text Available
Abstract Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which infects not only B cells, but also T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, is associated with multiple lymphoid malignancies. Recently, the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib was reported to induce apoptosis of EBV-transformed B cells. We evaluated the killing effect of this proteasome inhibitor on EBV-associated T lymphoma cells and NK lymphoma cells. First, we found that bortezomib treatment decreased the viability of multiple T and NK celllines. No significant difference was observed between EBV-positive and EBV-negative celllines. The decreased viability in response to bortezomib treatment was abrogated by a pan-caspase inhibitor. The induction of apoptosis was confirmed by flow cytometric assessment of annexin V staining. Additionally, ...
... and pathogen transmission. Because the ultimate object of stem cell research is cell-based clinical therapy, hES cells should ... 4%) Supported by grants (SC12021 and SC11012) from Stem Cell Research...
Low temperature Nonphotochemical Hole Burning (NPHB) Spectroscopy of the dye rhodamine 800 (MF680) was applied for the purpose of discerning differences between cultured normal and carcinoma ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. Both the celllines were developed and characterized at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), with the normal cellline having been transfected with a strain of temperature sensitive Simian Virus 40 Large T Antigen (SV40) for the purpose of extending the life of the cell culture without inducing permanent changes in the characteristics of the cellline. The cationic lipophilic fluorophore rhodamine 800 preferentially locates in in situ mitochondria due to the high lipid composition of mitochondria and the generation of a large negative membrane potential (relative to the cellular cytoplasm) for ...
Low temperature Nonphotochemical Hole Burning (NPHB) Spectroscopy of the dye rhodamine 800 (MF680) was applied for the purpose of discerning differences between cultured normal and carcinoma ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. Both the celllines were developed and characterized at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), with the normal cellline having been transfected with a strain of temperature sensitive Simian Virus 40 Large T Antigen (SV40) for the purpose of extending the life of the cell culture without inducing permanent changes in the characteristics of the cellline. The cationic lipophilic fluorophore rhodamine 800 preferentially locates in in situ mitochondria due to the high lipid composition of mitochondria and the generation of a large negative membrane potential (relative to the cellular cytoplasm) for ...
We report for the first time a relationship between the Tpl-2/cot oncogene and Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV) associated transformation of mammary gland cells. A sub-genomic library generated from a primary mammary gland tumor yielded a novel MMTV integration site which disrupted the Tpl-2/cot proto-oncogene between exons 7 and 8. Comparison of a cellline derived from normal mammary gland (comma-D) and a cellline established from an MMTV induced mammary tumor (GR) demonstrated similar rearrangements within Tpl-2/cot for the GR cells but not in the comma-D cells. These rearrangements in the cellline were accompanied by an increase in the level of Tpl-2/cot specific mRNA. This data suggests that Tpl-2/cot expression may be important in epithelial cell transformation or tumor ...
The influence of low-frequency electromagnetic field irradiating by high-voltage transmission lines on signal transduction of cell in spleen cells of the rates have been studied by molecular-biology techniques. The spleen cells are extracted from skilled rates, which are exposed in the electromagnetic field of high-voltage transmission lines with 4000 V/m and 0.09-0.1 G about 400 days. The quantity or level of phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3) in JAK-STAT signal transduction pathway of spleen cells, which are stimulated and unstimulated by IL-2, respectively, are detected by the immunoblotting and immunobiochemistry. The results show that the expression of phospho-STAT3 in spleen cell stimulated by IL-2 differ not from that in the unstimulated cell. The former is significantly ...
The thiazolidinedione (TZD) or glitazone class of peroxisome proliferator-activated-#gamma# (PPAR-#gamma#) ligands not only induce adipocyte differentiation and increase insulin sensitivity, but also exert growth inhibitory effects on several carcinoma celllines in vitro as well as in vivo. In the current study the in vitro effect of four PPAR-#gamma# agonists (ciglitazone, pioglitazone, troglitazone, rosiglitazone) on the cell growth of seven human neuroblastoma celllines (Kelly, LAN-1, LAN-5, LS, IMR-32, SK-N-SH, SH-SY5Y) was investigated. Growth rates were assessed by a colorimetric XTT-based assay kit. Expression of PPAR-#gamma# protein was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. All glitazones inhibited in vitro growth and viability of the human neuroblastoma celllines in a dose-dependent manner showing ...
The expression of three c-onc genes (c-erb, c-myc, c-myb) was investigated in five celllines established from fibrosarcomas induced with 20-methylcholanthrene (MCA) of Japanese quails. These celllines showed low levels of the three c-onc genes, with the exception of two celllines that accumulated moderate (MCAQ 1-4) and large amounts (MCAQ 3-5) of c-myc RNA. Molecular cloning and restriction endonuclease analyses indicated that expression of c-myc in these two celllines were not associated with detectable rearrangements in the c-myc locus, that the size of the c-myc transcript (2.7 kb) in MCAQ 3-5 was similar to that of the normal c-myc messenger RNAs (mRNA) and that the transcriptional activatin observed in MCAQ 3-5 was not mediated by the LTR (long terminal repeat) of a proximate ALV (avian leukosis virus) ...
Abstract The glycosylation profile of therapeutic antibodies is routinely analyzed throughout development to monitor the impact of process parameters and to ensure consistency, efficacy, and safety for clinical and commercial batches of therapeutic products. In this study, unusually high levels of the mannose-5 (Man5) glycoform were observed during the early development of a therapeutic antibody produced from a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cellline, model cellline A. Follow up studies indicated that the antibody Man5 level was increased throughout the course of cell culture production as a result of increasing cell culture medium osmolality levels and extending culture duration. With model cellline A, Man5 glycosylation increased more than twofold from 12% to 28% in the fed-batch process...
Although human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), the role of viral gene expression in the progression to and maintenance of the...Full Text Available
Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was discovered in human prostate tumors and later in some chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients. However, subsequent studies have identified various sources of potential contamination with XMRV and other murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related sequences in test samples. Biological and nucleotide sequence analysis indicates that XMRV is distinct from known xenotropic MLVs and has a broad host range and cell tropism including human cells. Therefore, it is prudent to minimize the risk of human exposure to infection by evaluating XMRV contamination in celllines handled in laboratory research and particularly those used in the manufacture of biological products. Nested DNA PCR assays were optimized for investigating XMRV gag and env sequences in various celllines, which included MRC-5, Vero, HEK-293, MDCK, HeLa, ...
Gamete development requires a coordinated soma-germ line interaction that ensures renewal and differentiation of germline and somatic stem cells. The physical contact between the germline and somatic...Full Text Available
This paper describes attempts to isolate and characterize glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-binding molecules on the surface of lymphocytes and lymphoma celllines and relate their expression to splenic and lymph...Full Text Available
BackgroundMultilevelness is a defining characteristic of complex systems. For example, in the intestinal tissue the epithelial lining is organized into crypts that are maintained...Full Text Available
Transformed Drosophila Kc celllines, resistant to methotrexate, an inhibitor of de novo purine and pyrimidine synthesis, have been obtained by calcium phosphate transfection of plasmids containing...Full Text Available
Vascular permeability factor (VPF) is an Mr 40-kD protein that has been purified from the conditioned medium of guinea pig line 10 tumor cells grown in vitro, and increases fluid permeability from blood...Full Text Available
Stem cells are expected to play a key role in the development and maintenance of organisms, and hold great therapeutic promises. However, a number of questions must be answered to achieve an...Full Text Available
BACKGROUNDProtocadherin-PC (PCDH-PC) expression is upregulated in apoptosis-resistant sublines of the LNCaP human prostate cancer (CaP) cellline. Here, we assess...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe zebrafish is recognized as a versatile cancer and drug screening model. However, it is not known whether the estrogen-responsive genes and signaling pathways that are...Full Text Available
IntroductionNormal and neoplastic breast tissues are comprised of heterogeneous populations of epithelial cells exhibiting various degrees of maturation and differentiation. While...Full Text Available
The outcome of various osteoprogenitor-cell transplantation protocols was assessed using Col1a1-GFP reporter transgenic mice. The model requires the recipient mice to undergo lethal total body irradiation...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe biopharmaceutical industry requires celllines to have an optimal proliferation rate and a high integral viable cell number resulting in a maximum volumetric recombinant...Full Text Available
Detection and quantification of prion infectivity is a crucial step for various fundamental and applied aspects of prion research. Identification of celllines highly sensitive to prion infection led...Full Text Available
The efficiency of dendrosome (a gene porter) was assessed in transferring recombinant human rotavirus VP2 cDNA into A549, a human lung cellline. After gene transferring, transmission electron microscopy showed core-like particles (CLPs) formation in the transfected cells both with dendrosome and lipofectamine porters. In addition, western blotting analysis showed that the expression of VP2 gene was almost equal in the dendrosome and lipofectamine-transfected cells. Also, the cytotoxicity studies revealed that dendrosome had a lower cytotoxicity than lipofectamine. Therefore, our study may introduce dendrosome as a possible carrier for gene transferring into the human lung cellline, especially, for intranasally administration of DNA vaccines.
Sphere-forming abilities in culture condition are considered a hallmark of cancer stem-like cells, which represents tumor cell invasiveness and stem-like characteristics. We aimed to show that the sphere-forming subpopulation of human malignant melanoma cellline WM-266-4 acts differently to zebrafish embryo extracts compared with their bulk counterpart. Spheres were maintained in neural stem cell culture conditions. The embryos of zebrafish at specific developmental stages were collected and the extracts were purified under 100 kDa. Spheres were treated with embyo extracts and proliferation assay and immunocytochemistry were conducted. Spheroid cells expressed nestin and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) but not melanoma antigen recognized by T-cells (MART)1, indicating their stem-l...
The authors describe an effect of suppression of invasion of the guinea pig eye conjunctiva and the HEp-2 epithelial cells by virulent Sh. flexneri bacilli, with a simultaneous administration of the same dose of avirulent shigella mutants, genetically connected with them. The data of morphological study and experiments with 3H-glucose labeled shigellae carried out on the cell species model indicated that the bacterial competition for the specific sites for absorption on the epithelial cells underlay the observed phenomenon. PMID:331774
IntroductionThe phenotypic and functional differences between cells that initiate human breast tumors (cancer stem cells) and those that comprise the tumor bulk are difficult to...Full Text Available
A tk{sup +/-} mouse embryonic stem (ES) cellline, designated 1G2, has been created in which one allele of the thymidine kinase (tk) gene was inactivated by targeted homologous recombination. This line is an analog of the mouse lymphoma tk{sup +/-} L5178Y cellline, which is used widely to assess the mutagenicity of chemical agents. Treatment of 1G2 cells with the alkylating agent N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) resulted in a dose-related increase in tribluorothymidine-resistant colonies. Mutant frequencies of 152 and 296 per 10{sup 6} cells were determined for 0.1 and 0.3 mg/ml doses of ENU, compared with a spontaneous mutant frequency of 15 per 10{sup 6} cells. The data indicate that tk{sup +/-} 1G2 ES cells may be useful for the creation of a transgenic mouse model for assessing in vivo mutation using ...
Abstract. Objective: Lapatinib (Tykerb, GW572016), a potent inhibitor of the catalytic activities of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (ErbB2), inhibits population growth of selected EGFR and HER2 overexpressing celllines. Previous studies with a small number of celllines suggest a correlation between overexpression of EGFR and/or HER2 and sensitivity to growth inhibition by lapatinib; however, the precise determinants of lapatinib selectivity for tumour and/or other cells remain unclear. Materials and methods: To clarify the determinants of its selectivity in cultured cells, lapatinib-induced cell population growth inhibition and relative EGFR and HER2 protein expression were quantified in 61 different human tumour celllines fro...
The ERA strain of rabies virus was propagated in a baby hamster kidney cellline (BHK-21/C13). The viral titer was 10(1.8) tissue culture infective doses (TCID) higher than that of commercial ERA vaccine....Full Text Available
We have cloned and characterized a 77-kDa oestrogen receptor (ER) from an oestrogen-independent subclone of the MCF-7 human breast cancer cellline. This receptor contains an in-frame, tandem duplication...Full Text Available
In this contract, Laser-assisted processing techniques for producing high-quality solar cell metallization patterns are being investigated, developed, and characterized. The tasks comprising these investigations are outlined. Four new batches of solar cells were processed, in addition to several test runs on wafers, using the laser decomposition of spun-on silver neodecanoate to metallize cells. Decomposition of silver neodecanoate was carried out at different laser powers on different cells on a given wafer to determine whether this would have any effect on cell performance. A one watt laser power gave an electroplated linewidth of 50 microns , while at 8 watts the line width was 90 microns.
The herbicide atrazine is a known immunotoxicant and an inhibitor of human natural killer (NK) cell lytic function. The precise changes in NK cell lytic function following atrazine exposure have not been fully elucidated. The current study identifies the point at which atrazine exerts its affect on the stepwise process of human NK cell-mediated lyses of the K562 target cellline. Using intracellular staining of human peripheral blood lymphocytes, it was determined that a 24-h in vitro exposure to atrazine did not decrease the level of NK cell lytic proteins granzyme A, granzyme B or perforin. Thus, it was hypothesized that atrazine exposure was inhibiting the ability of the NK cells to bind to the target cell and subsequently inhibit the release of lytic protein from the NK cell. To test t...
This report describes operations at SunLine Transit Agency for their newest prototype fuel cell bus and five compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. In May 2010, SunLine began operating its sixth-generation hydrogen fueled bus, an Advanced Technology (AT) fuel cell bus that incorporates the latest design improvements to reduce weight and increase reliability and performance. The agency is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the bus in revenue service. This report provides the early data results and implementation experience of the AT fuel cell bus since it was placed in service.
Understanding prostate stem cells may provide insight into the origin of prostate cancer. Primary cells have been cultured from human prostate tissue but they usually survive only 15-20 population doublings before undergoing senescence. We report here that RC-170N/h/clone 7 cells, a clonal cellline from hTERT-immortalized primary non-malignant tissue-derived human prostate epithelial cellline (RC170N/h), retain multipotent stem cell properties. The RC-170N/h/clone 7 cells expressed a human embryonic stem cell marker, Oct-4, and potential prostate epithelial stem cell markers, CD133, integrin #alpha#2#beta#1"h"i and CD44. The RC-170N/h/clone 7 cells proliferated in KGM and Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium with 10% fetal bovine serum and ...
The most advanced frontier of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is represented by the use of an HLA-partially matched relative as donor. In this type of transplantation, donor-derived natural killer (NK) cells, which are alloreactive towardtoward recipient cells, significantly contribute to the eradication of leukemia blasts. Alloreactive NK cells may also kill host dendritic cells and T lymphocytes, thus preventing graft-versus-host disease and graft rejection, respectively. Sophisticated strategies of adoptive infusion of T-celllines/clones specific for the most life-threatening pathogens (namely cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, Aspergillus and Adenovirus) have been envisaged, and successfully tested in a few pilot trials, to protect the recipient in the...
Glypican-3 (GPC3), a membrane-bound heparan sulfate proteoglycan, is found to be overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possible role of GPC3 in the development of HCC. In this study, RNA interference (RNAi) with a GPC3 small hairpin RNA (GPC3 shRNA) was used to identify the effects of GPC3 on the regulation of malignant behaviors of HCC. MHCC97-H, a highly metastatic human HCC cellline in which GPC3 mRNA and protein levels were detected as the highest among the 4 HCC celllines assessed in this study, and was thus selected as a cell model for in vitro and in vivo experiments. The results showed that down-regulation of GPC3 can significantly inhibit the proliferative and invasive ability of MHCC97-H. Compared with the parental HCC cells, GPC3-silenced cells exhibited ...
Palladium/magnetite nanoparticulate catalysts were developed for efficient elimination of halogenated organic pollutants from contaminated wastewater. Particle recovery from treated water can be ensured via magnetic separation. However, in worst-case scenarios, this catalyst removal step might fail, leading to particle release into the environment. Therefore, a toxicological study was conducted to investigate the impact of both pure magnetite and palladium/magnetite nanoparticle exposure upon human skin (HaCaT) and human colon (CaCo-2) celllines and a cellline from rainbow trout gills (RTgill-W1). To quantify cell viability after particle exposure, three endpoints were examined for all tested celllines. Additionally, the formation of reactive oxygen species was studied for the human cells. The results showed only ...
A range of 6-substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines were synthesized using a multicomponent coupling reaction. Most of these compounds were found to exhibit excellent activity against the colon cancer celllines HT-29 and Caco-2, whilst not showing significant toxicity against white blood cells. Our studies have shown that the proteolytic phase of apoptosis was initiated 2 h after treatment with these imidazo-[1,2-a]pyridines. The data suggests that the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-induced cell death in HT-29 and Caco-2 cells is mediated via pathway(s) that include the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytosol and the activation of caspase 3 and caspase 8.
BackgroundThe Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 (MRN) complex is a regulator of cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair. Defects in MRN can lead to defective S-phase arrest when cells are damaged....Full Text Available
Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) of adolescents and adults morphologically mimic different stages of embryogenesis. Established celllines of these cancers are used as informative models to study...Full Text Available
Metastatic disease is a primary cause of cancer-related death, and factors governing tumor cell metastasis have not been fully elucidated. Here, we address this question by using tumor celllines derived...Full Text Available
The temperature dependence of T_1 spin-lattice relaxation time on "5"1V, "6"9Ga, "7"1Ga and Knight shift on "5"1V and "2"9Si nuclei in polycrystalline V_3Si, V_3Ga, V_3Ge and in the monocrystal V_3Si in normal state is investigated. For V_3Si and V_3Ga a rapid growth (T_1T)"-"1 is observed with temperature decrease while for V_3Ge the maximum (T_1T)"-"1 at T approximately equal to 60 K has been found. The temperature dependence peculiarities have been discussed on the basis of theoretical models available and zone structure calculations for A-15 compounds. The T_1 anisotropy and possibility of its experimental discovery are considered. Anisotropic contribution in ...
Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) content is increased in many types of tumor cells. We have investigated the mechanism by which resveratrol, a stilbene that is pro-apoptotic in many tumor celllines, causes apoptosis in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma UMSCC-22B cells by a mechanism involving cellular COX-2. UMSCC-22B cells treated with resveratrol for 24 h, with or without selected inhibitors, were examined: (1) for the presence of nuclear activated ERK1/2, p53 and COX-2, (2) for evidence of apoptosis, and (3) by chromatin immunoprecipitation to demonstrate p53 binding to the p21 promoter. Stilbene-induced apoptosis was concentration-dependent, and associated with ERK1/2 activation, serine-15 p53 phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation of these proteins. These effects were blocked by ...
An on-linecell disruption system for at-line monitoring of the intracellular concentration of recombinant human superoxide dismutase (rhSOD) in a genetically modified Escherichia coli strain, HMS174(DE3) (pET11a/rhSOD), in bioreactor cultivations is described. The sampled bacteria were disrupted on-line by rapid mixing with a nonionic detergent. The recombinant protein content of the lysed bacterial sample was quantitated by a subsequent surface plasmon resonance biosensor with a specific monoclonal antibody. Extraction efficiency of the monitoring system was optimized with respect to the flow rate ratio of the cell suspension and the detergent at relevant cell densities with the aim to attain rapid monitoring. Monitoring was demonstrated for a shake flask culture and a glucose-limited fed-batch cultivation. The results are compared with a traditional ...
In a previous study, to identify genes of importance for hepatocellular carcinogenesis, and especially for processes involved in malignant transformation, the authors investigated differences in gene expression between adenomas and carcinomas by DNA microarray. In the present study, the authors investigated AW434047, one of the sequences that was upregulated in carcinomas. The investigation led to the identification of a novel gene, which the authors named hepatocyte malignant transforming factor (HMTF), of unknown function whose expression was increased in hepatocellular carcinomas. Northern blot and in situ hybridization also demonstrated high levels of HMTF in rat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) celllines, lymphocytes in the spleen, colon mucosal epithelia, spermatocytes, and granule cells of the hippocampus. Reduction of HMTF by RNA interference (RNAi) in N1 cells, an HCC cell ...
Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy has been used for the determination of the line strengths of 41 CO and CO[sub 2] absorption lines at temperatures between 295 and 1250 K. The CO vibrational-rotational lines were from the [ital P] branch of the fundamental absorption band (2150--1950 cm[sup [minus]1]) while the CO[sub 2] vibrational-rotational lines were from the far wing of the [ital R] branch of the [nu][sub 3] fundamental band (2395--2380 cm[sup [minus]1]). The intensities of the lines were measured from absorption spectra recorded in a high-temperature gas cell containing known concentrations of CO/CO[sub 2]/N[sub 2] gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure. Absorption spectra were recorded through the cell with the use of a moderate-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The absorption spectra were ...
Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy has been used for the determination of the line strengths of 41 CO and CO_2 absorption lines at temperatures between 295 and 1250 K. The CO vibrational-rotational lines were from the P branch of the fundamental absorption band (2150--1950 cm"-"1) while the CO_2 vibrational-rotational lines were from the far wing of the R branch of the #nu#_3 fundamental band (2395--2380 cm"-"1). The intensities of the lines were measured from absorption spectra recorded in a high-temperature gas cell containing known concentrations of CO/CO_2/N_2 gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure. Absorption spectra were recorded through the cell with the use of a moderate-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The absorption spectra were mathematically corrected for distortions resulting from the finite ...
Current genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are moving towards the use of large cohorts of primary celllines to study a disease of interest and to assign biological relevance to the genetic signals...Full Text Available
Recent studies suggest that TJ-41, a herbal drug, possesses chemotherapeutic effects. Accordingly, this study was undertaken to investigate the anticarcinogenic effects of TJ-41 on human breast cancer...Full Text Available
Reverse genetics technology so far established for measles virus (MeV) is based on the Edmonston strain, which was isolated several decades ago, has been passaged in nonlymphoid celllines, and is no...Full Text Available
To delineate the mechanisms of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) pathogenesis, four full-length BLV clones, 1, 8, 9, and 13, derived from the transformed cellline FLK-BLV and a clone construct, pBLV913,...Full Text Available
BackgroundCD26 (dipeptidyl peptidase IV, DPPIV) is a 110 kDa surface glycoprotein expressed in most normal tissues, and is a potential novel therapeutic target for selected cancers....Full Text Available
Exposure of animals to hyperoxia decreases lung VEGF mRNA expression concomitant with an acute increase in VEGF protein within the epithelial lining fluid (ELF). The VEGF concentration in ELF...Full Text Available
SummaryEpigenetic drugs have been shown to enhance gene expression and drug sensitivity in ovarian cancer celllines and animal models. Based on promising pre-clinical studies,...Full Text Available
The dielectrophoretic (DEP) crossover method has been applied to the detection of cell responses to toxicants. Time and dose responses of the human cultured leukemia (HL-60) line were measured...Full Text Available
The search for cancer treatment continues to be a global effort. As part of this global effort, many natural products have been tested against cancer celllines, mostly from tropically located plants....Full Text Available
The cellular receptor for murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV)-A59 is a member of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family of glycoproteins in the immunoglobulin superfamily. We isolated...Full Text Available
The aim of this study was to survey the expression of an embryonic cytokine gene, MK, in the normal organs and neoplastic tissues of adults. Northern analysis showed that MK mRNA was exclusively expressed...Full Text Available
A hitherto unreported immunofluorescent staining pattern obtained from human sera is described. Serum from six patients was found to possess specific antibody activity against liningcells of loops...Full Text Available
A comparative study has been carried out of the growth of two lines of Datura innoxia (Mill.) cells, designated DI-6 and NR1, their resistance to chlorate, and their ability to assimilate...Full Text Available
The mammalian placenta consists of different trophoblast cell types that assist in the variety of functions required for the maintenance of pregnancy. In rodents, labyrinthine trophoblasts of the placenta are especially important, because they are capable of differentiating into fused labyrinthine cells, which form the feto-maternal exchange surface. Even though the molecular signals triggering labyrinthine trophoblast differentiation are poorly understood, transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b) has been shown to be present in the placental environment and alter trophoblast development. In this study, we investigated the effects of TGF-b on the differentiation of the labyrinthine trophoblast stem celllines SM10 and HRP-1. RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that while the molecular expression of l...
Purpose The paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2 (PITX2) gene encodes a transcription factor controlled by the WNT/Dvl/CTNNB1 and Hedgehog/TGFB pathways in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Although PITX2 is reportedly involved in various functions, including tissue development by controlling cell growth, its significance in CRC remains unclear. We report our findings regarding abnormal PITX2 expression in human CRC. Methods PITX2 expression was evaluated in 5 human CRC celllines and 92 primary CRC samples. Cell growth was evaluated after inhibition of PITX2 expression or after exogenous introduction of PITX2. Results PITX2 expression was seen in all the five CRC celllines. The study of tissue samples indicated that PITX2 expression was significantly higher in cancer...
The major goal of this contract is to define fine grid lines using laser-assisted metallization and to demonstrate the fabrication of high-efficiency cells using this process. During this period a solar cell run was completed using low-resistivity float-zone silicon. Grid lines were written by spinning silver neodecanoate solution after the Ti-Pd evaporation. This run produced cell efficiencies as high as 11.2% prior to antireflection coating and 16.6% after the AR coating. Open-circuit voltage was approx.604 mV and short-circuit current density was approx.35 mA/cmS.
BACKGROUND Hypermethylation of CpG islands is a common epigenetic alteration associated with cancer. Tumor suppressor genes retinoic acid receptor beta (RARb) and PDLIM4 are hypermethylated and silenced in prostate cancer (PCa) tissues and PCa celllines compared to normal prostate cells. METHODS In this study, a benign prostate epithelial cellline RWPE1 was used as a model to study the epigenetic regulation of Myc on the RARb and PDLIM4 promoters. Forced Myc overexpression inhibited the RARb and PDLIM4 expression. RESULTS Pyrosequencing study showed that Myc overexpression increased methylation in several CpG sites of both promoters. A DNA methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2prime-deoxycytidine reversed the epigenetic alteration effect of Myc on both RARb and PDLIM4. CONCLUSION The epigenetic r...
Bone marrow is one of the most radiosensitive organs. Irradiation causes a marked decrease in the total number of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow. The reticular meshwork structure of marrow stromal cells, however, is relatively resistant to irradiation. Unimpaired stromal cell structure has been thought to be a prerequisite for the repopulation of hematopoietic cells during recovery from the effects of irradiation. The reticular framework is maintained by cell adhesion apparatuses such as gap junctions. The in vitro radiobiologic survival values of a cloned stromal cellline, H-1/A, were studied (n = 1.8, D0 = 138 cGy). Radiation doses of up to 4000 cGy had no detectable effects on the production of colony-stimulating factor 1. H-1/A cells communicate with each other via gap junctions as determined by the ...
Bone marrow is one of the most radiosensitive organs. Irradiation causes a marked decrease in the total number of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow. The reticular meshwork structure of marrow stromal cells, however, is relatively resistant to irradiation. Unimpaired stromal cell structure has been thought to be a prerequisite for the repopulation of hematopoietic cells during recovery from the effects of irradiation. The reticular framework is maintained by cell adhesion apparatuses such as gap junctions. The in vitro radiobiologic survival values of a cloned stromal cellline, H-1/A, were studied (n = 1.8, D0 = 138 cGy). Radiation doses of up to 4000 cGy had no detectable effects on the production of colony-stimulating factor 1. H-1/A cells communicate with each other via gap junctions as determined by the ...
Three novel inosine-based dinuclear platinum complexes have been synthesized via a solid-phase strategy. In these compounds, the metal is linked both to the N-7 of the purine nucleus and to the terminal amine group of a hexylamine side chain installed on N-1. Cis- or trans- diamine as well as ethylenediamine ligands are coordinated to platinum along with a chloride. The synthesised complexes were tested against four different human tumor celllines. One of these complexes proved to be more cytotoxic than cisplatin against the MCF7 cancer cellline in a short-term exposure assay.
The herbicide atrazine is a known immunotoxicant and an inhibitor of human natural killer (NK) cell lytic function. The precise changes in NK cell lytic function following atrazine exposure have not been fully elucidated. The current study identifies the point at which atrazine exerts its affect on the stepwise process of human NK cell-mediated lyses of the K562 target cellline. Using intracellular staining of human peripheral blood lymphocytes, it was determined that a 24-h in vitro exposure to atrazine did not decrease the level of NK cell lytic proteins granzyme A, granzyme B or perforin. Thus, it was hypothesized that atrazine exposure was inhibiting the ability of the NK cells to bind to the target cell and subsequently inhibit the release of lytic protein from the NK cell. To test this ...
The levels of General Transcription Factor (TF) IIA were examined during mammalian brain development and in rat embryo fibroblasts and transformed celllines. The large TFIIA subunit paralogues ab and t are largely produced in unsynchronized celllines, yet only TFIIA ab is observed in a number of differentiated tissue extracts. Steady-state protein levels of the TFIIA t, ab, and g subunits were significantly reduced when human embryonal (ec) and hepatic carcinoma celllines were stimulated to differentiate with either all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) or sodium butyrate. ATRA-treated NT2-ec cells required replating to induce a neuronal phenotype and loss of detectable TFIIA t and g proteins. High levels of TFIIA t, ab, and g and Sp factors were identified in extracts from human fetal and rat...
The authors have been involved for the last few years in developing high affinity sigma-receptor-specific radiopharmaceuticals for use in nuclear medicine. They recently demonstrated that sigma-1 receptors are expressed in human melanoma cells and that sigma receptors could be used as external markers for non-invasive imaging. In order to determine the presence of sigma receptors in other human tumors they have screened numerous non-small cell lung carcinoma, melanoma and breast cancer celllines. All of these celllines expressed high sigma receptor densities using commercially available ["3H]-(+)-pentazocine or ["3H]DTG tritiated sigma ligands. Therefore, a sigma ligand with high affinity in both sigma-1 and sigma-2 subtype pharmacological assays could be potentially useful for imaging a variety of primary and metastatic sites of various origins. The authors ...
Isolation and expansion of neural stem cells (NSCs) of human origin are crucial for successful development of cell therapy approaches in neurodegenerative diseases. Different epigenetic and genetic immortalization strategies have been established for long-term maintenance and expansion of these cells in vitro. Here we report the generation of a new, clonal NSC (hc-NSC) line, derived from human fetal cortical tissue, based on v-myc immortalization. Using immunocytochemistry, we show that these cells retain the characteristics of NSCs after more than 50 passages. Under proliferation conditions, when supplemented with epidermal and basic fibroblast growth factors, the hc-NSCs expressed neural stem/progenitor cell markers like nestin, vimentin and Sox2. When growth factors were withdrawn, proliferation and expression of v-myc and telomerase were dramatically ...
In this contract, Laser-assisted processing techniques for producing high-quality solar cell metallization patterns are being investigated, developed, and characterized. The tasks comprising these investigations are outlined. Four new batches of solar cells were processed, in addition to several test runs on wafers, using the laser decomposition of spun-on silver neodecanoate to metallize cells. Decomposition of silver neodecanoate was carried out at different laser powers on different cells on a given wafer to determine whether this would have any effect on cell performance. A one watt laser power gave an electroplated linewidth of 50 ..mu..m, while at 8 watts the line width was 90 ..mu..m.
ObjectivesTo assess the influence of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on the efficacy of ionizing radiation on prostate cancer cells because of the increased use of dietary interventions, especially by patients with prostate cancer. Radiotherapy is used to treat localized prostate cancer. Some people consume green tea (EGCG) as a chemopreventive agent against prostate cancer. Green tea can act as an antioxidant and induce superoxide dismutase enzymes, which could scavenge the free oxygen radicals generated by radiotherapy. MethodsProstate cancer cellline DU145 cells were treated with EGCG or radiotherapy, or both. Cell death was assessed using trypan blue cell counting, and apoptosis was confirmed by assessing poly (adenosine phosphate ribose) polymerase cleavage. The antioxidant potenti...
Summary.? It is widely believed that hepatocellular cancer (HCC), especially HBV associated HCC, is highly resistant to chemotherapy. To investigate the molecular influence of HBx protein on multidrug resistance (MDR) in HCC and the potential role of the NF-?B pathway in this process. We established HBx-expressing cells by liposome-mediated transfection of the HBx into the HepG2 cellline. We found that HBx expression in HCC cells induces drug resistance against multiple drugs, a significantly lower apoptosis ratio in HepG2-HBx and HepG2.2.15 cells, compared with HepG2 and HepG2-3.1 cells (P?HCC cells were downregulated by IMD-0354 treatment, which is the NF-?B pathway inhibitor. Taken together, these results suggest that HBx protein might be one of the causes for the occurrence of MDR in HCC, and the NF-?B pathway might be involved in this ...
The purpose was to identify human in vitro celllines with a high relative cellular sensitivity to fast neutrons as compared to photons and to examine their relationship to intrinsic photon radiosensitivity and cellular proliferation kinetics. The clonogenic cell survival following exposure to low LET, 4 MeV photons or, high LET, 62.5 MeV (p #-># Be"+) fast neutrons and the cell survival following exposure to low LET, 4 MeV photons or, high LET, 62.5 MeV (p #-># Be"+) fast neutrons and the cell kinetic parameters of 30 human in vitro celllines, covering a wide range of histologies, were analyzed alone and with previously published data of Fertil and Malaise. The relative survival at 1.6 Gy of neutrons (SF_1_._6) compared to 2 Gy of photons (SF_2) and the cell kinetic parameters of the 30 cell ...
The authors have found that heat-inactivated serum (57/sup 0/C for 1 hour) from normal chickens reduces the proliferation of mitogen-stimulated chicken and murine splenocytes as well as some transformed mammalian lymphoblastoid celllines. Greater than a 50% reduction in /sup 3/H-thymidine incorporation was observed when concanavalin A (Con A)-activated chicken splenocytes that were cultured in the presence of 10% autologous or heterologous serum were compared to mitogen-stimulated cells cultured in the absence of serum. Normal chicken serum (10%) also caused greater than 95% suppression of /sup 3/H-thymidine incorporation by bovine (EBL-1 and BL-3) and gibbon ape (MLA 144) transformed lymphoblastoid celllines. The only cellline tested that was not inhibited by chicken serum was an IL-2-dependent, murine cell ...
The evolution of "humanized" (i.e., free of animal sourced reagents) and ultimately chemically defined culture systems for human embryo stem cell (hESC) isolation and culture is of importance to improving their efficacy and safety in research and therapeutic applications. This can be achieved by integration of a multitude of individual approaches to replace or eliminate specific animal sourced reagents into a single comprehensive protocol. In the present study our objective was to integrate strategies obviating reliance on some of the most poorly defined and path-critical factors associated with hESC derivation, namely the use of animal immune compliment to isolate embryo inner cell mass, and animal sourced serum products and feeder cells to sustain hESC growth and attachment. As a result we report the derivation of six new hESC lines isolated by outgrowth from whole blastocysts on an extracellular ...
The effect of growth phase on expression of virulence-associated factors was studied by Northern hybridization in an M1T1 clinical isolate of Streptococcus pyogenes. Expression of M...Full Text Available
Dose-response studies of the radiosensitivity of spermatogonial stem cells in various epithelial stages after irradiation with graded doses of fission neutrons of 1 MeV mean energy were carried out in the Cpb-N mouse. These studies on the stem cell population in stages IX-XI yielded simple exponential lines characterized by an average D0 value of 0.76 +/- 0.02 Gy. In the subsequent epithelial stages XII-III, a significantly lower D0 value of 0.55 +/- 0.02 Gy was found. In contrast to the curves obtained for stem cells in stages IX-III, the curves obtained in stages IV-VIII indicated the presence of a mixture of radioresistant and radiosensitive stem cells. In stage VII, almost no radioresistant stem cells appeared to be present and a D0 value for the radiosensitive stem cells of 0.22 +/- 0.01 Gy was derived. Previously, data were obtained on ...
Abstract Purpose: To describe the pattern of expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs) p16, p21 and p27, and the cell cycle in SRA 01/04 cells relative to contact inhibition. Methods: SRA 01/04 cells were grown to overconfluence under normal conditions. At various phases of the cell growth, cells were assayed by flow cytometry and Western blotting for the expression of CDKIs. Results: Expression of p16 was detected from early logarithmic growth to stationary phases, during which the number of cells in G0/G1 increased from 46 to 69%. Expression of p21 was detected only during the overgrowth phase, when 60% of the cells were in G0/G1. Expression of p27 was not observed in SRA 01/04 cells. Conclusions: p16 expression was likely mediated by G0/G1 arrest to induce contact inh...
The types of investigations undertaken to test for possible biological effects of extremely low frequency electric fields have been numerous. However, neither animal and plant experimentation nor clinical studies nor experience with operating extremely high voltage transmission lines have to date provided convincing evidence of a harmful effect from exposure to electric fields associated with transmission lines in spite of numerous attempts to find such effects. Analysis of internal fields and currents supports these observations as the levels appear to be too low to affect mammalian cells. Thus, while one can never prove the negative (i.e. that there is no effect), the overwhelming body of evidence indicates that the electric fields associated with high-voltage lines have no deleterious biological effects. (author).
In t(15;17) acute promyelocytic leukemia, all-trans retinoic acid (RA) induces leukemic cell maturation in vitro and remission in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients, but in vivo treatments invariably...Full Text Available
Purpose.To report the increased production of extracellular transforming growth factor β-induced protein (TGFBIp) by human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) after induction...Full Text Available
Although previous studies have provided evidence for the expression of P2X receptors in renal proximal tubule, only one cellline study has provided functional evidence. The current study investigated...Full Text Available
Retrospective analyses were performed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of intra-oral cone (IOC) radiation therapy for carcinoma of the oral tongue, especially about its faculty of local control and complications. Thirty-nine patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue were treated with IOC radiation therapy alone or in combination with external irradiation. IOC radiation therapy was given not only for T1 and T2, but also for T3 tumors. Hypofractionation was used for IOC radiation therapy. The 2 year local control rates, including surgical salvage, for T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 100%, 73.3%, 40% and 0%, respectively. The 5 year actuarial survival rates for Stage I, II, III and IV were 100%, 65.3%, 35.4% and 0%, respectively. The incidences of radiation complications, i.e. soft tissue ulceration and osteoradionecrosis, were 42.9% and 2.9%, respectively. It is suggested ...
Normal fetal brain maturation can be studied by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from the 18th gestational week (GW) to term, and relies primarily on T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted (DW) sequences. These maturational changes must be interpreted with a knowledge of the histological background and the temporal course of the respective developmental steps. In addition, MR presentation of developing and transient structures must be considered. Signal changes associated with maturational processes can mainly be ascribed to the following changes in tissue composition and organization, which occur at the histological level: (1) a decrease in water content and increasing cell-density can be recognized as a shortening of T1- and T2-relaxation times, leading to increased T1-weighted and decreased T2-weighted intensity, respectively; (2) the arrangement of microanatomical structures ...
The green fluorescent protein (GFP) asFP499 from Anemonia sulcata is a distant homologue of the GFP from Aequorea victoria. We cloned the asFP499 gene into a mammalian expression vector and showed that this protein was expressed in the human lymphoblast cellline Ramos RA1 and in the embryonic kidney 293T cellline (HEK 293T). In HEK 293T cells, asFP499 was localized mainly in the cytoplasm, suggesting that the protein was excluded from the nucleus. We identified _1_9_4LRMEKLNI_2_0_1 as a candidate nuclear export signal in asFP499 and mutated the isoleucine at position 201 to an alanine. Unlike the wildtype form, the mutant protein was distributed throughout the cytoplasm and nucleus. This is First report of a GFP that contains a functional NES.
The cellular transport systems and the transport kinetics of ["1"2"3I]IMT uptake into non-malignant extracranial cells were characterized for the first time. Human fibroblasts were chosen as non-malignant extracranial cells as they are found ubiquitous in the body. ["1"2"3I]IMT is exclusively transported into fibroblasts via the sodium independent system L. An apparent Michaelis constant K_m=116.2#+-#18.9 #mu#M and a maximum transport velocity V_m_a_x=191.6#+-#13.9 pmol * (10"6 cells)"-"1 * min"-"1 were calculated for the sodium-independent transport. These results were compared with those determined in two malignantly transformed extracranial celllines, the human Ewing's sarcoma celllines VH-64 and CADO-ES-1.
Glycosaminoglycan synthesis by two subpopulations of a mouse mammary tumor cellline was compared. The two sublines express distinctly different growth characteristics in vitro and in vivo which indicate differences in growth regulation. Newly made glycosaminoglycans were recovered from the culture media, the cell surfaces, and residual cellular material. The cell population which grows more aggressively in vivo (+SA subline, a subline that grows in soft agarose) incorporated about 8 times more (/sup 14/C)glucosamine per cell into total glycosaminoglycans than did the slower-growing population (-SA subline, which does not grow in soft agarose). Appropriate control experiments indicated that the apparent difference in rates of synthesis was not due to discrepancies in glucosamine uptake. The main residual cellular molecule labeled was heparan sulfate, but the predominant molecule at ...
Micropatterned surfaces with different chemical topographies were synthesised in order to investigate the influence of surface chemistry and topography on cell behaviour. The microstructured materials were synthesised by photoimmobilising natural Hyaluronan (Hyal) and its sulphated derivative (HyalS), both adequately functionalised with a photorective moiety, on glass substrates. Four different grating patterns (10, 25, 50 and 100 {mu}m) were used to pattern the hyaluronan. The micropatterned samples were analysed by Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy to investigate the chemistry and the topography of the surfaces. The spectroscopic and microscopic analysis of the microstructured surfaces revealed that the photoimmobilisation process was successful, demonstrating that the photomask patterns were well reproduced on the sample surface. The influence of chemical topographies on the cell ...
Stem cell research has important implications for medicine. The source of stem cells influences their therapeutic potential, with stem cells derived from early-stage embryos remaining the most versatile. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a source of embryonic stem cells, allows for understandings about disease development and, more importantly, the ability to yield embryonic stem celllines that are genetically matched to the somatic cell donor. However, SCNT requires women to donate eggs, which involves injection of ovulation-inducing hormones and egg retrieval through laparoscopy or transvaginal needle aspiration. Risks from this procedure are fiercely debated, most notably risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). This review examines risk of OHSS resulting from oocyte donation. We conclude that risk posed ...
The authors have previously identified a small-cell lung cancer cellline (NCI-H209) that expresses an aberrant, underphosphorylated form of the retinoblastoma protein RB1. Molecular analysis of RB1 mRNA from this cellline revealed a single point mutation within exon 21 that resulted in a nonconservative amino acid substitution (cysteine to phenylalanine) at codon 706. Stable expression of this mutant RB1 cDNA in a human cellline lacking endogenous RB1 demonstrated that this amino acid change was sufficient to inhibit phosphorylation. In addition, this cysteine-to-phenylalanine substitution also resulted in loss of RB1 binding to the simian virus 40 large tumor and adenovirus E1A transforming proteins. These results confirm the importance of exon 21 coding sequences and suggest that the cysteine residue at codon 706 may play a role in ...
The objective was to characterize imaging findings of benign notochordal cell tumors (BNCTs). Clinical and imaging data for 9 benign notochordal cell tumors in 7 patients were reviewed retrospectively. Conventional radiographs (n = 9), bone scintigrams (n = 2), computed tomographic images (n = 7), and magnetic resonance images (n = 8) were reviewed. Eight of the 9 lesions were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and microscopically examined. There were 3 male and 4 female patients with an age range of 22 to 55 years (average age, 44 years). Two patients had two lesions at different sites. The lesions involved the cervical spine in 4 patients, the lumbar spine in 2, the sacrum in 2, and the coccyx in 1. The most common symptom was mild pain. The lesions of 2 patients were found incidentally during imaging studies for unrelated conditions. Five patients underwent surgical procedures. One patient died of surgical complications. All other patients have ...
Abstract The treatment of advanced colorectal cancer with 5-fluorouracil has two major problems: development of tumor resistance and toxicity toward normal tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible advantages of combining 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with resveratrol (trans-3, 4prime, 5-trihydroxystilbene) for treating HT-29 and SW-620 colorectal carcinoma celllines. Since combined treatment using 5-FU with resveratrol resulted in a significant decrease in long-term cell survival, we investigated the possible basis of this synergistic interaction at a molecular level, focusing on oxidative stress as a possible mediator of cell death. Resveratrol established interactions with the mitochondria of cancer cells and induced an imbalance in cellular antioxidant activities, leading...
A radiation hard low power, low voltage dynamic memory is obtained by the use of a dummy cell concept. Compared to conventional dummy cell concepts, this concept applies a fully sized dummy cell. By optimizing the dummy cell precharge voltage for 5 V and 3 V operation and the timing of the dummy word-line, the overall soft error rate (SER) of the chip is improved by 2 orders of magnitude. An additional improvement of 1 order of magnitude is possible for 3 V operation by adjusting substrate bias and cell plate voltage. The results are verified by an accelerated SER measurement with a radium 226 source and an additional field soft error study.
Two lines of mouse tumor cells were shown to be capable of aggregating mouse and rabbit platelets in vitro. This process required higher Mg/sup 2 +/ concentrations than were needed by other commonly used platelet-aggregating agents. Platelet-aggregating activity was also found in tumor cell membrane fragments. This membrane-bound platelet-aggregating material contained protein, lipid, and carbohydrate moieties. The presence of all three appeared to be essential for stimulating platelet aggregation. Destruction of any component abolished its activity. Platelet aggregation induced by tumor cell membrane fragments was associated with a secretory release reaction. In this process, growth-promoting activity for tumor cells was also released from platelets. These results underline the importance of platelets in establishing tumor metastases.
Studies of various established human bladder and renal carcinoma celllines cultured in vitro demonstrated the presence of specific, saturable, high affinity binding sites for /sup 125/I-labeled human interferon Beta ser IFN-beta ser). This recombinant produced interferon labeled with approximately one atom of /sup 125/I/molecule of IFN expressed minimal or no loss of antiviral activity. A single class of binding sites (1000-2000/cell) with an affinity constant of 10(10)-10(11) L/M was measured at 4 degrees C for cells exhibiting widely different sensitivity to the antiproliferative effect of IFN-beta ser. Major fluctuations in the binding of /sup 125/I-labeled IFN-beta ser to cellular receptors were observed during in vitro proliferation of four of five celllines examined. A significant decrease (P less than 0.001) in specific binding was observed 48 h after ...
Extracellular ATP stimulates transmembrane ion fluxes in the mouse macrophage cellline J774. In the presence of Mg2+, nonhydrolyzable ATP analogs and other purine and pyrimidine nucleotides do not elicit this response, suggesting the presence of a specific receptor for ATP on the macrophage plasma membrane. One candidate for such a receptor is the ecto-ATPase expressed on these cells. We, therefore, investigated the role of this enzyme in ATP-induced /sup 86/Rb+ efflux in J774 cells. The ecto-ATPase had a broad nucleotide specificity and did not hydrolyze extracellular ATP in the absence of divalent cations. /sup 86/Rb+ efflux was not blocked by inhibition of the ecto-ATPase and did not require Ca2+ or Mg2+. In fact, ATP-stimulated /sup 86/Rb+ efflux was inhibited by Mg2+ and correlated with the availability of ATP4- in the medium. In the absence of divalent cations, the slowly hydrolyzable ATP analogs ...
The process of mouse skin tumor formation is subdivided into three operational stages. These stages include initiation, promotion and progression. Ionizing radiation has been found to be a weak initiating agent in the production of malignant squamous cell carcinomas, a complete carcinogen and an agent effective in causing tumor progression. Four skin tumor histologies have been seen with ionizing radiation: benign papillomas, squamous (SCC) and basal (BCC) cell carcinomas and fibrosarcomas. Distinct non-ras transforming genes have been detected in radiation initiated SCCs. A benign papilloma cellline (308) was used as a model system to study ionizing radiation induced progression. A variant 308 cellline (308 10 Gy 5) derived by irradiation of the parental 308 cell has been characterized. The 308 10 Gy 5 cells unlike ...
The specific receptor sites and the endocytosis of transferrin (Tf) are evidenced in a cellline (HT-29) derived from a human colic adenocarcinoma by means of "1"2"5I radiolabeled Tf. The receptor density is studied in undifferentiated (UD) or differentiated (D) cells with respective doubling times of about 24 hours and 46 hours. The number of binding sites for Tf is 162,000 (K_d = 7.8 nmol/l in ND cells and 68,000 (K_d = 7.40 nmol/l) in D cells. The distribution between the Tf bound to the cell surface and the internalized Tf is investigated by elimination of Tf bound to the surface by an acid wash method. The intracellular cycle of Tf seems to be characterized by a slower kinetics in UD cells. The high density of Tf receptor sites in HT-29 UD cells should allow the detection or the treatment of highly evolutive colic ...
A novel single-chain immunotoxin was constructed by combining a CD33-specific single chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragment with an engineered variant of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (ETA). The variant toxin carries the KDEL peptide at its C-terminus, a cellular peptide mediating improved retrograde transport to the endoplasmic reticulum. The purified recombinant fusion protein induced potent apoptosis of the human myeloid celllines U937, HL-60 and THP-1. Up to 98% of U937 cells were eliminated after treatment for 72 h with a single dose of 500 ng/ml (c. 7 nmol/l). Killing was antigen-specific and occurred by apoptosis. A control protein, consisting of a CD19-specific scFv antibody fragment fused to the ETA-KDEL toxin, failed to induce death of the CD19-negative celllines U937, HL-60 and THP-1. The CD33-ETA toxin also mediated apoptosis of fresh patient-derived acute myeloid leukaemia ...
Radio-biologists have pointed out a novel radiobiological phenomenon observed in many tumor and normal celllines: hyper-radiosensitivity to very low-dose (H.R.S.) followed by induced radioresistance (I.R.R.) after a threshold dose of 0.1-0.3 Gy that depends on the cellline. Radioresistance at high dose (i.e. higher than 0.5 Gy) and metastatic potential of tumor cells are likely major factors of failure in radiotherapy. A careful review of literature suggests that: 1) radiotherapy does not increase the metastatic potential of tumor cells; 2) radioresistance at high dose and metastatic potential are not related. However, inside a given tumor cellline, highly metastatic clones may elicit more cells showing H.R.S; or are more radiosensitive at high dose than poorly metastatic ones. Recent data ...
The development of leukemia and thyroid cancer is characterized by activation of the abl oncogene and ret oncogene, respectively. In order to clarify the relationship between these gene aberrations and radiation, the pro-myelogenous leukemia-derived cellline HL60 and the thyroid cancer-derived cellline 8505C, were irradiated in vitro with 100Gy of X-rays. RNA was then extracted from 10"8 cells of the respective celllines and examined by the reverse transcription PCR method for rearrangements of abl and ret genes. Five kinds of positive bands were observed in the HL-60 cells irradiated with 100Gy of X-ray. Similarly, six positive bands were also observed in the 8505C cells irradiated with 100Gy. In vitro X-irradiation activation of oncogenes found in radiation induced cancers imply that gene ...
A crucial step in human breast cancer progression is the acquisition of invasiveness. There is a distinct lack of human cell culture models to study the transition from pre-invasive to invasive phenotype as it may occur 'spontaneously' in vivo. To delineate molecular alterations important for this transition, we isolated human breast epithelial celllines that showed partial loss of tissue polarity in three-dimensional reconstituted-basement membrane cultures. These cells remained non-invasive; however, unlike their non-malignant counterparts, they exhibited a high propensity to acquire invasiveness through basement membrane in culture. The genomic aberrations and gene expression profiles of the cells in this model showed a high degree of similarity to primary breast tumor profiles. The xenograft tumors formed by the cell ...
In this paper we discuss possible signatures for the production of scalar t_1t_1"* (top squarkonium) bound states #sigma#_t_1 at hadron colliders, where t_1 is the lighter scalar top eigenstate. We first study the decay of #sigma#_t_1; explicit expressions are given for all potentially important decay modes. If t_1 has unsuppressed two-body decays, they will always overwhelm the annihilation decays of #sigma#_t_1. Among the latter, we find that usually either the gg or hh final state dominates, depending on the size of the off-diagonal entry of the top squark mass matrix; h is the lighter neutral scalar Higgs boson of the minimal supersymmetric model. If m_#sigma#_t happens to be close to the mass ...
Certain allelochemicals of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense cause lysis of a broad spectrum of target protist cells but the lytic mechanism is poorly defined. We first hypothesized that membrane sterols serve as molecular targets of these lytic compounds, and that differences in sterol composition among donor and target cells may cause insensitivity of Alexandrium and sensitivity of targets to lytic compounds. We investigated Ca^2^+ influx after application of lytic fractions to a model cellline PC12 derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla to establish how the lytic compounds affect ion flux associated with lysis of target membranes. The lytic compounds increased permeability of the cell membrane for Ca^2^+ ions even during blockade of Ca^2^+ channels wit...
Increasing evidence has been accumulated indicating the important role of epigenetic regulation in tumor genesis. Previously, we observed that the transfection of hepatitis C virus core (HCVc) protein led to malignant transformation in normal biliary cells, and that tumor suppressor gene RASSF1A was downregulated in many hilar cholangiocarcinoma patients by hypermethylation in the promoter region. In the present study, we found SET and MYND domain-containing protein 3 (SMYD3), a novel histone methyltransferase, was overexpressed in cholangiocarcinoma patients especially in those with HCV infection. Transfection of HCVc into hilar cholangiocarcinoma celllines QBC939 and FRH0201 could upregulate the expression of SMYD3 and promote cell growth, which was consistent with the results of our cl...
Erythroid differentiation regulator (Erdr1) was first discovered in mouse leukemia celllines and functions as a stress-related survival factor. This study investigated whether Erdr1 regulates murine melanoma progression, as well as the mechanism involved in Erdr1-regulated metastasis. The expression of Erdr1 is negatively correlated with IL-18 expression, which has a pro-cancer effect in melanoma. To study the role of Erdr1 as an anti-cancer factor, cell migration, invasion, and proliferation were measured. Erdr1 overexpression markedly inhibited the level of cell migration, invasion, and proliferation in B16F10 cells in vitro. In addition, Erdr1 overexpression significantly suppressed melanoma lung colonization, metastasis, and tumor growth in vivo. To identify the factors involved in Er...
A red basil cellline (T2b) rich in rosmarinic acid (RA) was selected for the stable production of anthocyanins (ACs) in the dark. Cell suspension cultures were subjected to mechanical stress through increased agitation (switch from 90 to 150rpm) to determine the relationship between AC and RA accumulation. Cell extracts were analyzed by HPLC and LC-MS, and the resulting data were processed with multivariate statistical analysis. MS and MS/MS spectra facilitated the putative annotation of several complex cyanidin-based ACs, which were esterified with coumaric acid and, in some cases, also with malonic acid. It was also possible to identify various RA-related molecules, some caffeic and coumaric acid derivatives and some flavanones. Mechanical stress increased the total AC and RA contents, ...
Abstract This study reports the effects of varying concentrations of copper sulfate on the metabolic and gene transcriptional profile of a recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cellline producing an immunoglobulin G (IgG)-fusion protein (B0). Addition of 50 M copper sulfate significantly decreased lactate accumulation in the cultures while increasing viable cell density and protein titer. These changes could be seen from day 6 and became increasingly evident with culture duration. Reducing the copper sulfate concentration to 5 M retained all the above beneficial effects, but with the added benefit of reduced levels of the aggregated form of the B0 protein. To profile the cellular changes due to copper sulfate addition at the transcriptional level, Affymetrix CHO microarrays were used to...
Aims: In this study we investigated whether attenuation of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) could protect HepG2 cells from free fatty acid (FFA)-induced apoptosis. Main methods: Human liver cellline HepG2 cells were exposed to Sodium Palmitate (Pa) or Sodium Oleate (Ol). Apoptosis and ER stress of HepG2 cells were analyzed with flow cytometry, real-time RT-PCR and Western Blotting. An expression plasmid encoding for the ER chaperone immunoglobulin heavy chain-binding protein (Bip) was transfected into HepG2 cells to attenuate ER stress. Small interfering RNA siCHOP was used to knockdown the expression of C/EBP Homologous Protein (CHOP) in HepG2. Key findings: Pa led to cytotoxicity and apoptosis in HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent pattern and also induced ER stress indicated by inc...
The effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) on guanylate cyclase activity and cyclic GMP accumulation were examined, since these hormones appear to be intimately associated with blood pressure and intravascular volume homeostasis. ANP was found to increase cyclic GMP accumulation in ten cell culture systems, which were derived from blood vessels, adrenal cortex, kidney, lung, testes and mammary gland. ANP receptors were characterized in intact cultured cells using {sup 125}I-ANP{sub 8-33}. Specific {sup 125}I-ANP binding was saturable and of high affinity. Scratchard analysis of the binding data for all cell types exhibited a straight line, indicating that these cells possessed a single class of binding sites. Despite the presence of linear Scatchard plots, these studies demonstrated that cultured cells possess two ...
Premnalatifolin A (1), a unique icetexane diterpene dimer was isolated from the stem-bark of Indian medicinal plant, Premna latifolia. Its structure and relative stereochemistry were elucidated on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis, including HRESIMS and 2D NMR (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY) spectra. The compound has dimeric carbon skeleton composed of two icetexane skeletal diterpenes linked via ether bond. Further, premnalatifolin A (1) was also evaluated for its cytotoxicity against cancer celllines (HT-29, A-431, MCF-7, Hep-G2, PC-3, A-549, B-16 F10, and ACHN), which displayed potent activity against HT-29 and MCF-7 celllines with the IC50 values of 12.15 and 1.11mg/mL, respectively.
Studies on the regulation of the enterocytic differentiation of the human colon cancer cellline HT-29, which is differentiated in the absence (Glc"-) but not in the presence of glucose (Glc"+), have recently shown that the post-translational processing of sucrase-isomaltase and particularly its glycosylation vary as a function of cell differentiation. Other studies indicate that in undifferentiated HT-29 Glc"+ cells there is an accumulation of UDP-N-acetylhexosamine, which is involved in the glycosylation process. The purpose of the present work is to investigate whether an overall alteration of protein glycosylation is associated with the inability of HT-29 cells to differentiate. At least three alterations are detected: (i) after a 10-min pulse, the incorporation of D-[2-"3H]mannose in undifferentiated cells is severely reduced, compared to differentiated ...
The human olfactomedin 4 gene (OLFM4) encodes an olfactomedin-related glycoprotein. OLFM4 is normally expressed in a limited number of tissues, including the prostate, but its biological functions in prostate are largely unknown. In this study, we found that OLFM4 messenger RNA was reduced or undetectable in prostate cancer tissues and prostate cancer celllines. To study the effects of OLFM4 on prostate cancer progression, we transfected PC-3 prostate cancer cells with OLFM4 to establish OLFM4-expressing PC-3 cell clones. The OLFM4-expressing PC-3 cell clones were found to have decreased proliferation and invasiveness compared with vector-transfected control PC-3 cells in vitro. In addition, nude mice injected with OLFM4-expressing PC-3 cells demonstrated reduced tumor growth and bone invasion and metastasis compared with mice injected with ...
A rat hepatocyte cellline was shown previously to contain a nuclear pool of free heparan SO/sub 4/ (HS) chains which turns over rapidly. These cells were labeled with /sup 35/SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ and the steady state levels of (/sup 35/SO/sub 4/)HS in the nucleus were measured under culture conditions chosen to give different cell doubling times (DT's). In each log phase culture growing at a constant rate, the level of nuclear HS did not change as the cell density increased. Rapidly dividing cells had levels of nuclear HS within the range of 30-42 pmol /sup 35/SO/sub 4/ in the nuclear HS/10/sup 6/ cells. However, in cultures with decreased DT's, there was a corresponding decrease in the level of nuclear HS below 30 pmol/10/sup 6/ cells that was proportional to the decrease in the DT. In contrast, when ...
Inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is an appealing method for decreasing the immunoresistance and augmenting T cell-mediated immunotherapy. A major impediment to this strategy is the impact of conventional PI3K/mTOR pathway inhibitors on T cell function. In particular, rapamycin, is a well-known immunosuppressant that can decrease the activity of the PI3K/mTOR pathway in tumor cells, but also has a profound inhibitory effect on T cells. Here we show that Honokiol, a natural dietary product isolated from an extract of seed cones from Magnolia grandiflora, can decrease PI3K/mTOR pathway-mediated immunoresistance of glioma, breast and prostate cancer celllines, without affecting critical proinflammatory T cell functions. Specifically, we show that at doses sufficient to down-regulate ...
The aim of this study was to evaluate cucurbitacins (Cucs) liver protective activity in vitro and conduct QSAR studies against lipophilicity and ab initio descriptors. Nine Cucs were isolated from Cucurbitaceae plants and eight prepared by C2-alkylation or C16-acylation. Ten Cucs demonstrated protective activity on human hepatocyte-derived HepG2 cells exposed to CCl4 (EC50=2.4-45.3mM) with good margin to toxicity (T/A). All Cucs exhibited anti-proliferative effect on serum-activated rat stellate cells, HSC-T6 (EC50=0.02-4.12mM) with high T/A. While silybin is nontoxic, its protection is lower compared to Cuc D (3), iso-D (4), I (5), B (11), E (12), I-Me (6), L-Me (7), and E-Me (13) on both celllines. Strong correlations were found for lipophilicity with both protection and toxicity on Hep...
Abstract Polycystic kidney diseases (PKD) are inherited disorders characterized by fluid-filled cysts primarily in the kidneys. We previously reported differences between the expression of Cux1, p21, and p27 in the cpk and Pkd1 null mouse models of PKD. Embryonic lethality of Pkd1 null mice limits its study to early stages of kidney development. Therefore, we examined mice with a collecting duct specific deletion in the Pkd1 gene. Cux1 was ectopically expressed in the cyst lining epithelial cells of newborn, P7 and P15 Pkd1CD mice. Cux1 expression correlated with cell proliferation in early stages of cystogenesis, however, as the disease progressed, fewer cyst liningcells showed increased cell proliferation. Rather, Cux1 expression in late stage cystogenesis was associated with increased ...
A new simple multi-well plate-based assay to determine monocyte differentiation-inducing activity was developed. It is based on the increase of macrophage adherence after the induction of monocyte differentiation. The assay was conducted using a human monocytic leukemia cellline, THP-1, treated with either 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate or cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-gamma. This method is sensitive and easy to perform, especially in case of analyzing a large number of samples. PMID:17920620
A new simple multi-well plate-based assay to determine monocyte differentiation-inducing activity was developed. It is based on the increase of macrophage adherence after the induction of monocyte differentiation. The assay was conducted using a human monocytic leukemia cellline, THP-1, treated with either 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate or cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-? and interferon-?. This method is sensitive and easy to perform, especially in case of analyzing a large number of samples.
We study neutral and charged Higgs boson production in association with stop and sbottom squarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), within the so-called M-SUGRA scenario, i.e., the Supergravity (SUGRA) inspired Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). For low values of \\tan\\beta only the cases \\tilde{t}_1\\tilde{t}_1^* H, \\tilde{t}_1\\tilde{t}_1^* h and than 30 a variety of signals involving all Higgs bosons can be accessed, at high collider luminosity. The dependence of these reactions on the M-SUGRA parameters might further allow one to pin down the actual structure of the underlying Supersymmetric (SUSY) model.
... by r repair crews, thus creating a second queue, that of failed terminals. The authors defined a trivariate stochastic process as follows: X(t) = 1 if ...
Three normal human diploid cell strains were transfected with an activated Ha-ras oncogene (EJ ras) or SV40 T-antigen. Multiple clones were examined for morphological alterations, growth requirements, ability to grow under anchorage independent conditions, immortality and tumorigenicity in nude mice. Clones expressing SV40 T-antigen alone or in combination with ras protein p21 were significantly radioresistant as compared with their parent cells or clones transfected with the neo gene only. This radioresistant phenotype persisted in post-crisis, immortalized celllines. These data suggest that expression of the SV40 T-antigen but not activated Ha-ras plays an important role in the radiosensitivity of human diploid cells. The radioresistant phenotype in SV40 T transfected cells was not related to the enhanced level of genetic instability seen in pre-crisis and ...
Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in global gene regulation. Researchers in recombinant protein production have proposed miRNAs as biomarkers and cell engineering targets. However, miRNA expression remains understudied in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, one of the most commonly used host cell systems for therapeutic protein production. To profile highly conserved miRNA expression, we used the miRCURY- miRNA array for screening miRNAs in CHO cells. The selection criteria for further miRNA profiling included positive hybridization signals and experimentally validated predicted regulatory targets. On the basis of screening, we selected 16 miRNAs for quantitative RT-PCR profiling. We profiled miR expression in parental CHO DG44 and CHO K1 celllines as well as four recombinant DG44...
Expression of Bacterial luciferase enzyme (lux) in mammalian cells would be a powerful bioreporter protein system for in vivo imaging because eukaryotic luciferases need expensive substrates. However, only a few efforts have been made to express bacterial luciferase enzyme in mammalian cells. As the result of this, we attempted to construct bicistronic vector including two bacterial luciferase genes (LuxA and LuxB) for assessing the potential to be visualized in vitro or in vivo by optical imaging system after transfection to mammalian cells. We designed and synthesized luxA and luxB genes from Photorhabdus Luminescens. To co-express both luxA and luxB genes from a single promoter, we cloned as a bicistronic transcript fused with an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES). This bicistronic transcript was transfected by Superfect to HEK 293T cellline. We also transfected lux A and lux ...
The advancement of bioprocess monitoring will play a crucial role to meet the future requirements of bioprocess technology. Major issues are the acceleration of process development to reduce the time to the market and to ensure optimal exploitation of the cell factory and further to cope with the requirements of the Process Analytical Technology initiative. Due to the enormous complexity of cellular systems and lack of appropriate sensor systems microbial production processes are still poorly understood. This holds generally true for the most microbial production processes, in particular for the recombinant protein production due to strong interaction between recombinant gene expression and host cell metabolism. Therefore, it is necessary to scrutinise the role of the different cellular compartments in the biosynthesis process in order to develop comprehensive process monitoring concepts by involving the most significant process variables and ...
DescriptionIron deficiency anaemia is a common problem and may be particularly important to certain groups of vegetarians. This project investigates isolating and identifying iron-binding constituents of meat digests using human Caco-2 celllines. Stable isotope techniques used to test whether one or more of these compounds enhance iron absorpion in vivo and could therefore be added to vegetarian products to imporve iron nutrition.
Despite intensive efforts, the intracellular signaling pathways that mediate apoptosis remain unclear. The human B lymphoma cellline, B104, possesses characteristics that make it an attractive model...Full Text Available
BackgroundHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause of chronic hepatitis which progresses to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) afflicting > 170 million people worldwide....Full Text Available
Purpose: To assess the prognostic value of biologic (p53, Ki-67) and clinical factors in squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx after radical surgery and postoperative radiotherapy (RT). Methods and Materials: Between 1985 and 1995, a total of 102 patients with 104 tumor sites were entered onto the study. Fifty-five primary tumors (53%) involved the tonsils, 26 (25%) the soft palate, and 23 (22%) the base of the tongue. Median age was 53 years (range 36-80 years). The clinical T- and N-categories (UICC 1997) were: T1 (30), T2 (47), T3 (22), T4 (5), N0 (33), N1 (28), N2 (42), and N3 (1). Histologically-clear margins were achieved in all patients by initial surgery. Postoperative RT to the primary and regional lymphatics was given, to a total of 60 Gy in 6 weeks, and single daily fractions of 2 Gy. The expression of the nuclear p53- and Ki-67-labeling index (LI) was investigated by immunostaining using the monoclonal ...
In this experiments, we established long-termed culture methods of bone marrow stromal cells for proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. And we selected some extracts which support maximal proliferation of stromal cells with this method. We conformed the synergic effects of herbal mixture extracts for stromal cell growth. The proliferation of stromal cells was increased rather by the addition of mixture extracts than by addition of single strain extract. In the previous and cooperative experiments, we selected complex extracts (Him-I, Him-II) which increased the number of nonadherent mononuclear cells. Different cytokine expression patterns were observed stromal cells cultured in the presence or absence of mixture extracts which support differentiation of nonadherent cells. Some fractions of Him-I and Him-II ...
Ag, Cu, and Ni metallizations were inkjet printed with near vacuum deposition quality. The approach developed can be easily extended to other conductors such as Pt, Pd, Au, etc. Thick highly conducting lines of Ag and Cu demonstrating good adhesion to glass, Si, and printed circuit board (PCB) have been printed at 100-200 deg C in air and N2 respectively. Ag grids were inkjet-printed on Si solar cells and fired through the silicon nitride AR layer at 850 deg C, resulting in 8% cells. Next generation inks, including an ink that etches silicon nitride, have now been developed. Multi-layer inkjet printing of the etching ink followed by Ag ink produced contacts under milder conditions and gave solar cells with efficiencies as high as 12%.
DNA methylation is considered as a potential cause of aberrations in regulation of gene expression during carcinogenesis. Therefore, changes in DNA methylation patterns may be targets for chemoprevention. In the present study, we investigated effects of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), vitamin D3, and resveratrol alone and in combination with adenosine analogues: 2-chloro-2'-deoxyadenosine (2CdA) and 9-beta-d-arabinosyl-2-fluoroadenine (F-ara-A), on methylation and expression of retinoic acid receptor beta 2 (RARbeta2) in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer celllines. Alterations in methylation and expression levels after treatment of cells with the tested compounds were evaluated by methylation-sensitive restriction analysis (MSRA) and real-time PCR, respectively. RARbeta2 promoter in the ...
Mono-layers of stearic and behenic acids deposited with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, were used as aligning films in nematic liquid crystal cells. During the filling process the liquid crystal adopts a deformed quasi-planar alignment with splay-bend deformation and preferred orientation along the filling direction. This state is metastable and transforms with time into homeotropic once the flow has ceased. The transition is accompanied by formation of disclination lines which nucleate at the edges of the cell. The lifetime of the metastable splay-bend state was found to depend on the cell thickness. On heating, anchoring transition from quasi-homeotropic to degenerate tilted alignment in form of circular domains takes place near the transition to the isotropic phase. The anchoring transition is reversible with a small hysteresis.
Purpose/Objective: The role of programmed cell death (apoptosis) as a cellular response to cancer therapy such as radiation or chemotherapy is the subject of much study, and manipulation of the apoptotic response in tumor cells may be valuable in the treatment of a variety of cancers. Both p53 dependent and independent apoptotic pathways have been identified; p53 is mutated in at least 50 % of human cancers and a majority of radiation resistant tumors contain p53 mutations. This study is designed to examine the induction of programmed cell death in a human colon carcinoma cellline that possesses two mutated p53 alleles. Ionizing radiation alone, or in combination with the chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), were used to elicit the apoptotic response. This study will focus on whether these treatments can induce a significant apoptotic response in cells ...
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of femoral marrow MR imaging as predictor of outcome for hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in beta-thalassemia major. MR imaging of the proximal femur, including T1- and T2-weighted spin echo and short-tau inversion recovery and in-phase and out-of-phase fast field echo images, was prospectively performed in 27 thalassemia major patients being prepared for HSCT. The area of red marrow and its percentage of the proximal femur were measured, and the presence of marrow hemosiderosis was assessed. Age-adjusted multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between red marrow area percentage and marrow hemosiderosis and HSCT outcome. Red area percentage were less in patients with successful (90.25{+-}4.14%) compared to unsuccessful transplants (94.54% {+-}2.93%; p=0.01). Red marrow area percentage correlated positively with duration of ...
Under certain growth conditions, the human colon adenocarcinoma cellline HT-29 exhibits intestinal enterocyte-like properties. The differentiated cells possess a brush border with the enzyme markers (aminopeptidase and sucrase) normally associated with the intestine. To aid in the characterization of the transport properties of these cells, the uptake of a non-metabolizable amino acid analog, "1"4C-#alpha#-methylaminoisobutyric acid (MeAIB) as examined in the HT-29-Al subclone which possesses a brush border. The cells exhibited a time-dependent uptake of MeAIB which was concentrative and sodium-dependent. The pH optimum for uptake was about 7.8. Uptake was inhibited by low temperature, 1 mM ouabain, or 0.5 mM dinitrophenol. A 1 hr-preincubation of the cells in an isotonic KCl solution resulted in a decreased uptake rate, suggesting that a negative membrane ...
The photobiology of mouse melanocyte lines with different pigment genotypes was studied by measuring colony-forming ability after irradiation. The celllines were wild-type black (melan-a) and the mutants brown (melan-b) and albino (melan-c). Four lamps emitting various UV wavelengths were used. These were germicidal (UVC, 200-280 nm), 82.3% output at 254 nm, TL01 (UVB, 280-320 nm), 64.2% at 310-311 nm, FS20, broadband with peak output at 312 nm and Alisun-S (UVA, 320-400 nm), broadband with peak output at 350-354 nm. Appropriate filtration reduced the contaminating UVC to nonlethal levels for the longer waverange lamps. It is clear from these studies that, in pigment cells, monochromatic results cannot predict polychromatic responses and that cell death from solar irradiations is a complex phenomenon that depends on more than DNA damage. (author).
In this review, we demonstrate the developmental appearance, structural features, and reorganization of transient cerebral zones and structures in the human fetal brain using a correlative histological and MRI analysis. The analysis of postmortem aldehyde-fixed specimens (age range: 10 postovulatory weeks to term) revealed that, at 10 postovulatory weeks, the cerebral wall already has a trilaminar appearance and consists of: (1) a ventricular zone of high cell-packing density; (2) an intermediate zone; (3) the cortical plate (in a stage of primary consolidation) with high MRI signal intensity. The anlage of the hippocampus is present as a prominent bulging in the thin limbic telencephalon. The early fetal telencephalon impar also contains the first commissural fibers and fornix bundles in the septal area. The ganglionic eminence is clearly visible as an expanded continuation of the proliferative ventricular zone. The basal ganglia showed an initial aggregation of ...
HIX, a recombinant derived from Moloney leukemia virus, has an envelope glycoprotein different from that of the Moloney virus. HIX and Moloney viruses share the majority of the large T1 oligonucleotides...Full Text Available
In this experiments, we established long-termed culture methods of bone marrow stromal cells for proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. And we selected some extracts which support maximal proliferation of stromal cells with this method. We conformed the synergic effects of herval mixture extracts for stromal cell growth. The proliferation of stromal cells was increased rather by the addition of mixture extracts than by addition of single strain extract. In the previous and cooperative experiments, we selected complex extracts which increased the number of nonadherent mononuclear cells. Different cytokine expression patterns were observed stromal cells cultured in the presence or absence of mixture extracts which support differentiation of nonadherent cells. Stimulation of macrophage cell ...
Nerve growth factor (NGF), a survival factor for neurons enforces pain by sensitizing nociceptors. Also in the pancreas, NGF was associated with pain and it can stimulate the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells. Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) respond to NGF with apoptosis. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-b, one of the strongest pro-fibrogenic activators of pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) induced NGF and its two receptors in an immortalized human cellline (ihPSC) and primary rat PSC (prPSC) as determined by RT-PCR, western blot, and immunofluorescence. In contrast to HSC, PSC expressed both NGF receptors, although p75NTR expression was weak in prPSC. In contrast to ihPSC TGF-b activated both Smad signaling cascades in prPSC. NGF secretion was diminished by the activin-like kinase (ALK)...
Replication-defective vectors derived from reticuloendotheliosis virus were used to transduce exogenous genes into early somatic stem cells of the chicken embryo. One of these vectors transduced and expressed the chicken growth hormone coding sequence. The helper cellline, C3, was used to generate stocks of vector containing about 10/sup 4/ transducing units per ml. Injection of 5- to 20-..mu..l volumes of vector directly beneath the blastoderm of unincubated chicken embryos led to infection of somatic stem cells. Infected embryos and adults contained unrearranged integrated proviral DNAs. Embryos expressed the transduced chicken growth hormone gene and contained high levels of serum growth hormone. Blood, brain, muscle, testis, and semen contained from individuals injected as embryos contained vector DNA. Replication-defective vectors of the reticuloendotheliosis virus transduced exogenous genes into ...
The gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), replicates to high titers in some human celllines and is able to infect non-human primates. To determine whether APOBEC3 (A3) proteins restrict XMRV infections in a non-human primate model, we sequenced proviral DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of XMRV-infected rhesus macaques. Hypermutation characteristic of A3DE, A3F and A3G activities was observed in the XMRV proviral sequences in vivo. Furthermore, expression of rhesus A3DE, A3F, or A3G in human cells inhibited XMRV infection and caused hypermutation of XMRV DNA. These studies show that some rhesus A3 isoforms are highly effective against XMRV in the blood of a non-human primate model of infection and in cultured human cells. PMID:21982221
Patients with Ewing's sarcoma who present with a central axis or proximal extremity primary and/or with metastatic disease have a poor prognosis despite aggressive combination chemotherapy and local irradiation. In this high risk group of patients, total body irradiation (TBI) has been proposed as a systemic adjuvant. To aid in the design of a clinical TBI protocol, the authors have studied in the in vitro radiation response of two established celllines of Ewing's sarcoma and human bone marrow CFUc. The Ewing's lines showed a larger D_0 and anti-n compared to the bone marrow CFU. No repair of potentially lethal radiation damage (PLDR) was found after 4.5 Gy in plateau phase Ewing's sarcoma cells. A theoretical split dose survival curve for both the Ewing's sarcoma lines and human bone marrow CFUc using this TBI schedule shows a significantly lower surviving fraction (10"-"4-10"-"5) ...
The herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) reporter system is being used to directly and indirectly monitor therapeutic gene expression, immune cell trafficking and protein-protein interactions in various living animals. However, the issues of HSV1-TK enzyme stability in living cells and whether this reporter system is optimal for dynamic studies of gene expression events in genetic imaging have not be addressed. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the application of this reporter system in dynamic studies of transcriptional gene regulation. To achieve this purpose, we established two tetracycline-inducible murine sarcoma celllines, tetracycline-turn-off HSV1-tk-expressing cellline (NG4TL4/tet-off-HSV1-tk) and tetracycline-turn-off Luc-expressing cellline (NG4TL4/tet-off-Luc), to create an ...
IL-4-induced Stat6 signaling is active in a variety of cell types and plays a role in cell proliferation/growth and resistance to apoptosis. Using EMSA, we identified differential IL-4/Stat6 activities in colorectal cancer celllines, HT-29 being active Stat6"h"i"g"h phenotype and Caco-2 being defective Stat6"n"u"l"l phenotype, respectively. Active Stat6"h"i"g"h HT-29 cells exhibited resistance to apoptosis by flowcytometry and aggressive metastasis by Transwell assay compared with defective Stat6"n"u"l"l Caco-2 cells. Comparing one another using RT-PCR, Stat6"h"i"g"h HT-29 cells expressed more mRNA of anti-apoptotic and pro-metastatic genes Survivin, MDM2, and TMPRSS4, while Stat6"n"u"l"l Caco-2 cells expressed more mRNA of pro-apoptotic and anti-metastatic genes BAX, CAV1, and P53, respectively. This is the first study ...
In mice, coat pigmentation requires a stem cell (SC) system in which the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of melanocytes (MCs) are regulated by microenvironments in hair follicles (HFs). In vitro systems are required to analyze the behavior of single melanocyte stem cells (MCSCs) and their potential to form SC systems in vivo. We describe here an experimental system for the isolation, self-renewal, and differentiation of MCSCs, as well as an in vivo reconstitution assay for assessing their potential. Using Dct(tm1(Cre)Bee)/CAG-CAT-GFP mice, we show that, in the presence of stem cell factor and basic fibroblast growth factor and the XB2 feeder cellline, purified MCSCs can undergo clonogenic proliferation, resulting in c-Kit(low) side scatter(low) cells. In culture, these cells maintain their capacity to differentiate and ...
The relationships between severity of iron deficiency anemia, response to iron treatment, respiratory and gastrointestinal illness and weight changes were assessed before (T1) and after (T2) iron therapy. Seventy-five pre-school children from rural Guatemala received daily oral iron (ferrous sulfate 5 mg/kg/day) for eleven weeks, and were classified into one of three groups: (1) severe iron deficient (Hgb < 9.25 g/dl at T1 and > 1g/dl Hgb response (T2-T1) to Fe Rx; (2) moderately iron deficient (Hgb 9.25 g/dl to 11.5 g/dl and T2-T1 > 1g/dl); (3) normal controls (Hgb > 11.5 g/dl and T2-T1 < 1g/dl). When both severely and moderately anemic children were pooled together, there was a statistical significant difference between the number of days ill with ...
Objective. To compare turbo inversion recovery magnitude (TIRM) with standard T1-weighted (T1-W) and T2-weighted (T2-W) MR sequences in the very early detection of acute osteomyelitis in children. Materials and methods. In 15 children with osteomyelitis, 15 sets of T1-W spin-echo (SE) (TR/TE, 400-640/12-17), T2-W turbo spin-echo (TSE) (TR/TE/ETL, 3290-4465/112-120/11), and TIRM (TR/TE/TI, 4000-6120/60/160) images were acquired with a 1.0-T magnet. Contrast-to-noise (C/N) ratios and percentage of signal between lesion and normal bone marrow were analysed with a computer-assisted image analysing system in a region of interest (ROI). Results. In 13 of 15 patients, the absolute signal enhancement in a ROI on the TIRM images was better than on the T1-W SE and T2-W TSE images and in 14 of 15 cases, C/N ratios were also better ...
To assess the utility of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the study of pediatric patients with clinical suspicion of pituitary disease. We studied 18 patients aged 7 to 18 years.Fifteen had hormonal disturbances, two presented amenorrhea and 1 complained of headache, fever and symptoms of polyuria and polydipsia. All the patients were examined using a Siemens SP 42 1-Tesla MRI scanner. Sagittal and coronal T1-weighted spin-echo images were obtained; in addition T2-weighted spin-echo or fast spin-echo imaging was performed in ten cases and intravenous gadolinium was administered in nine. We found 9 patients with hypothalamic-pituitary dysgenesis, 2 with germinoma, 2 cases of pituitary hemosiderosis in patients with thalassemia, 2 cases of microadenoma, one abscess, one case of idiopathic central diabetes insipidus and one of Langerhans cell histiocytosis. MR enabled us to assess pituitary structural alterations in children ...
Early white matter (WM) injury affects brain maturation in preterm infants as revealed by diffusion tensor imaging and volumetric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at term postmenstrual age (PMA). The aim of the study was to assess quantitatively brain maturation in preterm infants with and without milder forms of WM damage (punctate WM lesions, PWML) using conventional MRI. Brain development was quantitatively assessed using a previously validated scoring system (total maturation score, TMS) which utilizes four parameters (progressive myelination and cortical infolding, progressive involution of glial cell migration bands and germinal matrix tissue). PWML were defined as foci of increased signal on T1-weighted images and decreased signal on T2-weighted images with no evidence of cystic degeneration. A group of 22 preterm infants with PWML at term PMA (PWML group) were compared with 22 matched controls with a normal MR ...
The PbII binding characteristics of the previously reported PbII binding proteins of rat kidney cytosol were investigated further. Saturation and Scatchard analysis of /sup 203/Pb binding in whole cytosol and in 40% saturated ammonium sulfate precipitated fractions disclosed a class of relatively high-affinity sites with an apparent Kd of approximately 50 nM and binding capacities of approximately 41 and 9 pmol/mg of protein, respectively. Two /sup 203/Pb binding proteins with approximate molecular masses of 63K and 11.5K daltons and a high molecular weight component (greater than 200K) were isolated by Sepharose-6B column chromatography. The time course of association of /sup 203/Pb with cytosol and the 63K protein showed maximum binding at 18 hr which was stable up to 25 hr at 4 degrees C. The approximate half-time dissociation rate (T1/2) of specifically bound /sup 203/Pb to the 63K protein was 100 min at 4 degrees C whereas the 11.5K ...
The PbII binding characteristics of the previously reported PbII binding proteins of rat kidney cytosol were investigated further. Saturation and Scatchard analysis of "2"0"3Pb binding in whole cytosol and in 40% saturated ammonium sulfate precipitated fractions disclosed a class of relatively high-affinity sites with an apparent Kd of approximately 50 nM and binding capacities of approximately 41 and 9 pmol/mg of protein, respectively. Two "2"0"3Pb binding proteins with approximate molecular masses of 63K and 11.5K daltons and a high molecular weight component (greater than 200K) were isolated by Sepharose-6B column chromatography. The time course of association of "2"0"3Pb with cytosol and the 63K protein showed maximum binding at 18 hr which was stable up to 25 hr at 4 degrees C. The approximate half-time dissociation rate (T1/2) of specifically bound "2"0"3Pb to the 63K protein was 100 min at 4 degrees C whereas the 11.5K protein showed ...
H Power Enterprises of Canada was founded in 1997; currently, it has 40 employees and expect to grow to about 50 by mid-2000. The company is engaged in fuel cell technology development , manufacturing and marketing. The company has the advantage that its technology has been proven, products are already commercialized, and strategic alliances are already in place to make an assault on the market. The concept of proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology is explained in terms of efficiency, response time, power density, stack manufacturing cost, maintenance cost, stack life and compatible thermal loads. Individual products, their energy and operating efficiency, potential applications and potential markets are reviewed. It is estimated that for stationary fuel cells the market will be worth $ 30 billion by 2030. In the United States alone, remote residential cogeneration sites are estimated at 500,000. The estimates for ...
Many assays for oncogenic transformation have been developed ranging from those in established rodent celllines where morphological alteration is scored, to those in human cells growing in nude mice where tumor invasiveness is scored. In general, systems that are most quantitaive are also the least relevant in terms of human carcinogenesis and human risk estimation. The development of cell culture systems has made it possible to assess at the cellular level the oncogenic potential of a variety of chemical, physical and viral agents. Cell culture systems afford the opportunity to identify factors and conditions that may prevent or enhance cellular transformation by radiation and chemicals. Permissive and protective factors in radiation-induced transformation include thyroid hormone and the tumor promoter TPA that increase the transformation incidence for a given dose of radiation, ...
Many assays for oncogenic transformation have been developed ranging from those in established rodent celllines where morphological alteration is scored, to those in human cells growing in nude mice where tumor invasiveness is scored. In general, systems that are most quantitaive are also the least relevant in terms of human carcinogenesis and human risk estimation. The development of cell culture systems has made it possible to assess at the cellular level the oncogenic potential of a variety of chemical, physical and viral agents. Cell culture systems afford the opportunity to identify factors and conditions that may prevent or enhance cellular transformation by radiation and chemicals. Permissive and protective factors in radiation-induced transformation include thyroid hormone and the tumor promoter TPA that increase the transformation incidence for a given dose of radiation, ...
In drug development, Caco-2 cells are often employed to study the influence of membrane transporters on drug permeability. The aim of the current study was to characterize permeability and kinetic parameters of selected organic anionic compounds in Caco-2 cells, and to investigate whether the Caco-2 cellline may be used as an overall model to predict interactions on multiple membrane transporters in the intestine. Taurocholic acid (TCA) and estrone-3-sulfate (E(1) S) were used as model substrates. Possible inhibitors studied were TCA, E(1) S, taurolithocholic acid, fluvastatin, and glipizide. The effects of these compounds on initial uptake, apparent permeability, and intracellular end-point accumulations of the probe substrates were studied. Both interactions on apical and basolateral influx transporters were observed. These interactions were proposed to be mediated mainly by the apical ...
Bulk nanocrystalline pure iron rods were fabricated by the equal channel angular pressure (ECAP) technique up to eight passes. The microstructure and grain size distribution, natural immersion and electrochemical corrosion in simulated body fluid, cellular responses and hemocompatibility were investigated in this study. The results indicate that nanocrystalline pure iron after severe plastic deformation (SPD) would sustain durable span duration and exhibit much stronger corrosion resistance than that of the microcrystalline pure iron. The interaction of different celllines reveals that the nanocrystalline pure iron stimulates better proliferation of fibroblast cells and preferable promotion of endothelialization, while inhibits effectively the viability of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). The burst of red cells and adhesion of the platelets were also substantially suppressed ...
Abstract Sam68 (Src-associated protein in mitosis 68-kDa) is a multifunctional protein, known to govern cellular signal transduction, transcription, RNA metabolism, proliferation, apoptosis, and HIV-1 replication. Although intrinsic mechanisms that modulate Sam68 function are beginning to emerge, the regulatory events contributing to its expression remain elusive. We previously reported that heat shock protein-22 (Hsp22) antagonizes Sam68 function in rev-response element (RRE)-mediated gene expression. We now demonstrate that Sam68 levels correlate inversely with Hsp22 in a variety of cells, including U87, Jurkat, 293T, and U-937. In U87 glioblastoma cells, which contained high levels of Hsp22 than other celllines tested, Hsp22 knockdown dramatically increased both Sam68 mRNA and protein,...
Genome-wide association studies have linked lung cancer risk with a region of chromosome 15q25.1 containing CHRNA3, CHRNA5 and CHRNB4 encoding a3, a5 and b4 subunits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR), respectively. One of the strongest associations was observed for a non-silent single-nucleotide polymorphism at codon 398 in CHRNA5. Here, we have used pharmacological (antagonists) or genetic (RNA interference) interventions to modulate the activity of CHRNA5 in non-transformed bronchial cells and in lung cancer celllines. In both cell types, silencing CHRNA5 or inhibiting receptors containing nAChR a5 with a-conotoxin MII exerted a nicotine-like effect, with increased motility and invasiveness in vitro and increasing calcium influx. The effects on motility were enhanced by addit...
Newly commercialized Fourier transform Raman spectroscopic instrumentation provides a simpler alternative for vibrational spectroscopic analysis. Instrument vendors currently design for laboratory use, but there are many potential process applications of these stable, easy to use instruments. Raman spectroscopy is highly suited to analysis of aqueous samples. Near infrared excitation minimized fluorescence interference and allows for remote operation via fiber optic probes. The Department of Energy has funded research at the Measurement and Control Center to establish the utility of this method for on-line composition analysis in distillation columns. Laboratory evaluation and instrument employs an air-cooled laser and a thermoelectrically cooled detector. The device is mounted on a three by foot cart for convenient location in control rooms. Current fiber optic extension cables allow for analysis in a cell thirty five meters from the ...
This paper extends the analytical procedure described in another paper in these proceedings to analyze a variety of compact and light-weight OSC-designed radioisotope-heated generators. Those generators employed General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules and a converter containing sixteen AMTEC cells of OSC`s revised five-tube design with enhanced cell wall reflectivity described in a companion paper in these proceedings. OSC found that the performance of the generator is primarily a function of the thermal insulation between the outside of the generator`s 16 cells and the inside of its wall. After examining a variety of insulation options, it was found that the generator`s performance is optimized by employing a hybrid insulation system, in which the space between the cells is filled with fibrous Min-K insulation, and the generator walls are lined with tapered (i.e., graded-length) ...
Platinum complexes play an important role in the development of anticancer drugs. Their cytotoxicity can be influenced by the nature of the leaving ligands, due to the hydrolysis reaction that occurs prior to the binding of the platinum complex to DNA. Also, non-leaving groups such as lipophilic diamines may affect cellular uptake. In this work, we describe the synthesis of platinum(II) complexes having oxalato and long chain aliphatic N-alkyl ethylenediamines as ligands. The products were characterized by elemental analyses, infrared spectroscopy and {sup 1}H, {sup 13}C and {sup 195}Pt NMR spectroscopy. Biological activity was assessed against tumor celllines (A{sub 549}, B16-F1, B16-F10, MDA-MB-231) and non-tumor celllines (BHK-21 and CHO). The length of the carbon chain affects the cytotoxicity and the oxalato complexes were less cytotoxic than the respective chloride-containing analogues. (author)
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) images of live rats with sterile and pyogenic abscesses, hematomas, and various implanted and spontaneous neoplasms demonstrated good contrast differentiation between pathologic and surrounding normal tissues. This differentiation was maximal when both the T1 and T2 tissue relaxation times were used as criteria. Neoplasms have a broad range of T1 and T2 values and may be confused with abscesses or hematomas. Tissue rate constants (1/T1 and 1/T2) are mainly dependent on total water content, the exception being fat, which has a 1/T2 value much shorter than that expected on the basis of water content alone.
A newly developed method to support tissue characterization in routine MR imaging is presented. It represents a compromise between the practical requirements of clinical routine (short measurement time, multisection imaging) and the necessary accuracy of the relaxation parameter evaluation. The sequence employed is a modification of the PHAPS technique and works with two excitation pulses. It allows the simultaneous acquisition of all measurement data for the subsequent T1, T2, and rho evaluations. T1 is determined with a specially designed computation formula based on four signal ratios. A multiexponential T2 analysis is performed with use of 28 echoes. From these parameters, relative proton density can be computed.
Tungsten, in the form of tungstate, polymerizes with phosphate, and as extensive polymerization occurs, cellular phosphorylation and dephosphorylation reactions may be disrupted, resulting in negative effects on cellular functions. A series of studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of tungsten on several phosphate-dependent intracellular functions, including energy cycling (ATP), regulation of enzyme activity (cytosolic protein tyrosine kinase [cytPTK] and tyrosine phosphatase), and intracellular secondary messengers (cyclic adenosine monophosphate [cAMP]). Rat noncancerous hepatocyte (Clone-9), rat cancerous hepatocyte (H4IIE), and human cancerous hepatocyte (HepG2) cells were exposed to 1-1000 mg/l tungsten (in the form of sodium tungstate) for 24 h, lysed, and analyzed for the ab...
Introduction The progressive growth of malignancies is accompanied by a decline in the immune response through mechanisms which are poorly understood. Apoptosis and induction of inflammation by tumor released cytokines as tumor escape mechanisms have been proposed to play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis. Methods Expression of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-?) was analyzed in colorectal cancer specimen and the cancer cellline HT-29 by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. TNF-? expression on protein and mRNA level were correlated with clinical characteristics and impact on survival. TNFR-1 was co-labelled with TNF-? and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells in immunofluorescence double staining experiments. Results: 94% (n?=?98/104) of the patients with CRC expressed TNF-?. High TNF-? express...
Nano- and microstructured surfaces are known to impact on the binding and differentiation of cells, but the detailed basic understanding of the underlying regulatory mechanisms is still scarce, which impedes the rational design of smart biomaterials. Towards a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between topographical parameters such as feature design and lateral and vertical dimensions we here report on a combinatorial screening approach, BioSurface Structure Array (BSSA) of test squares each with a distinct topography. Using such BSSA libraries of 504 topographically distinct surface structures, we have identified combinations of size, gap and height of structures which enhance mineralization as well as the expression of osteogenic markers of a preosteoblastic murine cellline. This g...
We revisit a recently proposed agent-based model of active biological motion and compare its predictions with own experimental findings for the speed distribution of bacterial cells, Salmonella typhimurium. Agents move according to a stochastic dynamics and use energy stored in an internal depot for metabolism and active motion. We discuss different assumptions of how the conversion from internal to kinetic energy d(v) may depend on the actual speed, to conclude that d 2 v ? with either ? = 2 or 1 ? < 2 are promising hypotheses. To test these, we compare the model?s prediction with the speed distribution of bacteria which were obtained in media of different nutrient concentration and at different times. We find that both hypotheses are in line with the experimental observations, with ? bet...
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 celllines 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...
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 celllines (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...
A 2-year-old, female spayed, domestic shorthair cat presented to the University of Missouri-Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (UMC-VMTH) with an approximately 11-month history of fluid-draining pockets along her ventral thorax and axillae. The skin in these regions was erythematous, and multiple areas drained a serous to serosanguinous fluid. Fluid-filled, nodules formed along the ventrum, but these nodules disappeared as fluid drained spontaneously. Histologic assessment of skin biopsies revealed areas of vascular proliferation extending along the deep margin of the section and rare instances of invasion into the superficial dermis. These vascular channels were devoid of cells, lined by variably pleomorphic endothelial cells which had a low mitotic index. Based on the mild to moderate ...
Normal human foreskin keratinocytes cotransfected with the neomycin resistance gene and recombinant human papillomavirus (HPV) DNAs (types 16, 18, 31, and 33) that have a high or moderate association with cervical malignancy acquired immortality and contained integrated and transcriptionally active viral genomes. Only transcripts from the intact E6 and E7 genes were detected in at least one cellline, suggesting that one or both of these genes are responsible for immortalization. Recombinant HPV DNAs with low or no oncogenic potential for cervical cancer (HPV1a, -5, -6b, and -11) induced small G418-resistant colonies that senesced as did the nontransfected cells. These colonies contained only episomal virus DNA; therefore, integration of HPV sequences is important for immortalization of keratinocytes. This study suggests that the virus-encoded immortalization function contributes to the pathogenesis of cervical carcinoma.
Individual canine synovial villi were used to establish short-term synovial organ cultures. These villi incorporated /sup 3/H-glucosamine into highly-polymerized /sup 3/H-hyaluronic acid (/sup 3/H-HA), which was the only /sup 3/H-glycosaminoglycan identified in the culture medium. Some /sup 3/H-HA, and larger amounts of other /sup 3/H-glycosaminoglycans, were recovered from cultured tissues. Culture medium /sup 3/H-HA content was proportional to the surface area of cultured villi. Organ cultures of nonvillous synovium were compared with villi; nonvillous cultures synthesized less /sup 3/H-HA per mm2 of their synovial intimal surface than villi. These cultures complement cell culture techniques for in vitro studies of synovial liningcell function.
Keratinocyte growth factor receptor (KGFR) and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 2c share identical amino acid sequences, except for a 46-amino acid domain in the extracellular region. Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to KGFR have not been reported nor are commercially available. In this study, we generated murine MAbs specific to KGFR in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice using a modified Repeated Immunizations at Multiple Sites (RIMMS) technology. Stable celllines expressing the full-length human KGFR or FGFR2c were produced to facilitate the identification of KGFR-specific MAbs. Following the initial screening of hybridoma clones with a fluorescence-based, confocal cell detection method and ELISA, KGFR-specific MAbs were selected and confirmed by flow cytometry and Western blot ...
The Formula Not Shown system of Formula Not Shown was first observed in auroral emissions by Meinel in 1950. Although the Formula Not Shown band system has been reinvestigated since this first spectral study, no laboratory spectrum of the (2,1) vibronic band has been obtained. We have recently built a continuous-wave cavity ringdown spectrometer, and as a first test of this spectrometer we observed the (2,1) band of Formula Not Shown in a positive column discharge cell. Many lines of the first positive band system of Formula Not Shown were also identified during the process of assigning this spectrum. The relative intensities of the Formula Not Shown and Formula Not Shown bands were found to change with discharge cell pressure, and so each spectral region was observed at two pressures to a...
Amphiphysin is a protein concentrated in neuronal synapses and peripherally associated with neurotransmitter vesicles. It is expressed in many neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems, in the adrenal medulla, in the anterior and posterior pituitary, in celllines of the endocrine pancreas, and in spermatocytes. Its subcellular localization and tissue distribution indicate a potential involvement in mechanisms of regulated exocytosis. A role in the dynamic organization of the membrane-associated cytoskeleton is suggested by structural homology to the products of two yeast genes, RVS161 and RVS167, whose mutation results in an abnormal actin distribution, disturbs budding morphology, and impairs cell entry into stationary phase. Limited stretches of sequence similarity, including an SH3 domain, are also shared with other actin-binding proteins. Amphiphysin is the dominant autoantigen in paraneoplastic Stiff-Man ...
We have observed significant differences in the response to ionizing radiation of two closely related human celllines, and now compare the effects on these lines of both low and intermediate LET radiation. Compared to TK6, WTK1 has an enhanced X-ray survival, and is also more resistant to cell killing by {alpha}-particles. The hprt locus is more mutable in WTK1 than in TK6 by both X-rays and {alpha}-particles. WTK1 is also more mutable by {alpha}-particles than by X-rays at the hprt locus. X-ray-induced mutation at the heterozygous tk locus in WTK1 is about 25 fold higher than in TK6, while {alpha}-particle-induced mutation is nearly 50 fold higher at this locus. Also, the slowly growing tk- mutants, which comprise the majority of spontaneous and X-ray-induced tk- mutants of TK6, were not induced significantly by {alpha}-particles. Previously, we showed that TK6 has a reduced capacity for recombination ...
The effect of the heavy particle irradiation on cell survival is different from that of X-ray irradiation. In Japan, heavy particles will be applied to cancer patients in the near future. This study was performed to determine the effect that carbon particle irradiation exerts to human monolayer cells in vitro, in comparison with the effect of 200 kVp X-ray. Two human celllines, HeLaS3 and RMUG, were used. The irradiation was carried out by the RIKEN ring cyclotron and 200 kVp X-ray. The experimental procedure is explained. Also split dose experiment was carried out by applying equally divided doses at intervals of 2 - 4 hours. The Bragg curve of 135 MeV/n carbon beam through the lucite plates with different thickness is given. Thus the different LETs were obtained. The survival curves for 200 kVp X-ray and the various LETs of carbon beam are shown. The curves became steeper, and Do values decreased ...
The staging of patients with multiple myeloma demands sensitive imaging methods for the assessment of the skeletal system. MRI allows for direct visualization of the bone marrow which exhibits five different infiltration patterns in multiple myeloma: 1. normal appearance of the bone marrow, 2. focal involvement, 3. homogeneous diffuse infiltration, 4. combined diffuse and focal infiltration, 5. ''salt and pepper'' pattern with inhomogeneous bone marrow signals due to multiple fat islands. The combination of T1w-SE and STIR sequences is best suited for detecting all infiltration patterns and for the differential diagnoses e. g. hemangiomas. With parallel imaging in MRI, acquisition times can be markedly reduced and whole-body screening of the bone marrow can be achieved within 30 min. MRI is superior to radiography for the detection of focal as well as diffuse infiltration. Multidetector computed tomography ...
Paeciloxocins A and B (2-(1-hydroxy-3-methylbutyl)- and 2-(1-acetoxy-3-methylbutyl)- 11-hydroxy-9-methyl-1-methoxy-5H,7H-dibenzo[b,g]-1,5-dioxocin-5-ones), viz., two new metabolites, were isolated from the mangrove fungus Paecilomyces sp. collected from the Taiwan Strait. Their structures were elucidated by spectral methods. Paeciloxocin A exhibited strong cytotoxicity against the hepG2 cellline.
The synthesis and biophysical characterization of four prodrug ether phospholipid conjugates are described. The lipids are prepared from the anticancer drug chlorambucil and have C16 and C18 ether chains with phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylglycerol headgroups. All four prodrugs have the ability to form unilamellar liposomes (86-125 nm) and are hydrolyzed by phospholipase A2, resulting in chlorambucil release. Liposomal formulations of prodrug lipids displayed cytotoxicity toward HT-29, MT-3, and ES-2 cancer celllines in the presence of phospholipase A2, with IC50 values in the 8-36 ?M range.
ABSTRACT: Metabolomic analysis will provide the next large set of clues to further our understanding of human health and disease. A recent study has elucidated the significant differences in the metabolomes of adipocytes, serum and an adipocyte cellline after activation of two nuclear receptors, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor ?/? (PPAR?/?) and PPAR?. These findings hold great promise for explaining fundamental differences in the mechanisms of PPAR agonists and for identifying targets for the treatment of diabetes.See related research article: http://genomebiology.com/2011/12/8/R75. PMID:21861850
Abstract First results showing the viability of combining laser chemical processing (LCP) and aerosol jet printing (AJP) technologies to produce a high-efficiency front side for silicon solar cells are presented. LCP simultaneously opens the anti-reflection coating (ARC) and highly dopes the underlying silicon to create a selective emitter, while AJP is the first in a two-step fine-line contact formation procedure. The electrical properties as well as the morphology of the resulting structures are presented. Performance similar to that achieved with evaporated TiPdAg metallization is demonstrated. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper describes the chemical constituents isolated from aerial parts of the plant Galianthe brasiliensis. From a methanol extract, the iridoid glycosides asperuloside, deacetylasperuloside, mixture of Z- and E-6-O-p-coumaroylscandoside methyl ester, the triterpene ursolic acid and the steroids stigmasterol, campesterol, b-sitosterol and 3-O-b-glucopyranosyl sitosterol were isolated. The structures of the natural products were identified on the basis of spectral data, including 2D NMR experiments. The antiproliferative properties of the crude methanolic extract were investigated against a series of nine human cancer celllines. (author)
The present study was undertaken to determine the involvement of calcium-protein kinase C pathway in the mechanism of action of Escherichia coli heat stable enterotoxin (STa) apart from STa-induced activation of guanylate cyclase in human colonic carcinoma cellline COLO-205, which was used as a model cultured cellline to study the mechanism of action of E. coli STa. In response to E. coli STa, protein kinase C (PKC) activity was increased in a time-dependent manner with its physical translocation from cytosol to membrane. Inhibition of the PKC activity in membrane fraction and inhibition of its physical translocation in response to IP_3-mediated calcium release inhibitor dantrolene suggested the involvement of intracellular store depletion in the regulation of PKC activity. Among different PKC isoforms, predominant involvement of calcium-dependent protein kinase C (PKC#alpha#) was specified using ...
Pseudomonas putida encodes 20 extracytoplasmic sigma factors (ECFs). In this study, we show that one of these ECFs, known as ECF-Pp12...Full Text Available
ObjectiveTo examine the longitudinal relationship between depressive symptoms at study entry (T1) on pain intensity (PI) and functional disability over a 1-year period...Full Text Available
A new gadolinium chelating NIR fluorescent molecular probe increases T1 relaxivity of water protons, facilitating combined optical and magnetic resonance imaging.
Angelin Pedra is a specie found in the north of Mato Grosso State in Brazil, where an expressive volume of waste of this wood is produced. An alternative to recycle this waste is to produce wood plastic composites. However, structural and chemical investigations are fundamental to generate information for this use. In the present work, low field NMR was used to determine the spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times with objective to investigate the molecular dynamic behavior of the alburnu and cerne regions of Angelin Pedra aiming at a potential use of this waste wood in polymeric composites. The results of the proton spin-lattice relaxation time (T1H) and the proton spin-spin relaxation time (T2H) showed at least three different mobility domains for both regions. Among the values, one was very flexible and other was rigid. Knowing that wood is a polymer composite basically constituted by cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin can attribute the ...
Some kind of one-dimensional (1D) peanut-shaped fullerene polymers (PSFPs) exhibit metallic properties, but their occurrence conditions are not yet clarified. By using the VASP (Vienna ab-initio simulation package) with density functional theory (DFT) and projector augmented wave (PAW) method, we have performed first-principles electronic structure calculations of four basic 1D PSFPs, T1, T2, T6, and T7 (the name of T1-T6 is the same as that of Wang et al. [9]) and two associated 1D PSFPs, T1SW1 and T6SW that are created by generalized Stone-Wales transformation (GSW) from T1 and T6. We found that almost regular six-membered rings connected throughout the tube are necessary to get metallic properties for the 1D PSFPs, although there may be several other conditions to expect metallic proper...
Jul 16, 2011 ... The standard filtering applies to all the existing distribution methods/media. ... needed to allow your data point(s) to be added to the MOA lightcurve. .... name="t1" value="0.00" unit="sigma" ucd="stat.snr" />
ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of breast carcinoma (T1–2N0) surgery without axillary dissection on axillary and distant relapses, and to evaluate the usefulness of a panel...Full Text Available
Among the most promising technological alternatives for the development of photovoltaic modules and cells of a low cost, good energetic conversion and feasibility for mass production, polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells deposited directly on a transparent substrate are currently being considered the best. We have developed in our laboratory a PECVD reactor capable of producing the deposition of amorphous hydrogenated silicon at rates of above 2 nm/seg, allowing a significant production per line on the plant. Discharge gas is silane, to which diborane or phosphine is added so as to form the cell. Basically, work is done on a structure of cell type TCO/n+/p-/p+/M, which has 2 {mu}m of total thickness. Schott AF-37 glass is used as a substrate, for their ability to withstand temperatures of up to 800 C. The amorphous cell is subsequently annealed at ...
Four /sup 125/I labeled mono- and diamines were prepared and evaluated as potential brain-imaging agents. The diamines are analogues of the previously reported /sup 75/Se labeled diamines, which show high brain uptake and retention. All of the radioiodinated amines display high initial brain uptake in rats after intravenous injection (1.7-2.4% dose/organ). The xylylenediamines show prolonged brain retention (t1/2 approximately 18 h), which is desirable for brain imaging. In contrast, the benzylamine is rapidly cleared from brain tissue (t1/2 approximately 15 min).
Because every cell within the body has the same genetic information, a significant problem in biology is to understand how cells within a tissue express genes selectively. A sophisticated network of physical and biochemical signals converge in a highly orchestrated manner to bring about the exquisite regulation that governs gene expression in diverse tissues. Thus, the ultimate decision of a cell to proliferate, express tissue-specific genes, or apoptose must be a coordinated response to its adhesive, growth factor, and hormonal milieu. The unifying hypothesis examined in this overview is that the unit of function in higher organisms is neither the genome nor the cell alone but the complex, three-dimensional tissue. This is because there are bidirectional connections between the components of the cellular microenvironment (growth factors, hormones, and extracellular matrix) and the nucl2048 These ...
The authors compared unenhanced and contrast-enhanced fast MRI and Computerized Tomography in the detection of liver metastases. Eleven patients with single or multiple hepatic lesions (42 in all) were submitted to V and magnetic resonance studies; T1- and T2- weighted TSE, T2-weighted TSE with fat suppression, unenhanced breath-hold TFE and early or delayed enhanced breath-hold TFE images were acquired with a 1.5 T superconductive magnet (Philips NT). The quantitative analysis of all magnetic resonance images was performed for contrast/noise ratio (CNR) and number of detected lesions; magnetic resonance and Computerized Tomography images were also compared qualitatively for lesion conspicuity, anatomical structure identification and artifacts. The results were compared with Student's test. Early enhanced breath-hold TFE was statistically superior to T1-weighted TSE (p = .0009), T2-weighted TSE (p = ...
PURPOSE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly virulent malignancy with no effective treatment thus requiring innovative and effective targeted therapies. The oncogene Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) plays a seminal role in hepatocarcinogenesis and profoundly downregulates insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 (IGFBP7). The present study focuses on analyzing potential tumor suppressor functions of IGFBP7 in HCC and the relevance of IGFBP7 downregulation in mediating AEG-1 function.EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: IGFBP7 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in HCC tissue microarray and real-time PCR and ELISA in human HCC celllines. Dual Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed to detect loss of heterozygosity at IGFBP7 locus. Stable IGFBP7-overexpressing clones were established in the background of AEG-1-overexpressing human HCC cells and were analyzed for in vitro proliferation and senescence and in ...
Candoxin (PDB #1JGK), a three-finger neurotoxin from Bungarus candidus venom, inhibits post-synaptic neuromuscular and neuronal alpha7nACh-receptors, and induces delayed cell-death throughout the glial population. When applied to cultured human glial celllines, candoxin (CDX) induced cell death in a concentration (EC(50) approximately 1muM) and time dependent manner. Results of TUNEL-histochemistry further confirm CDX-induced brain (hippocampus, frontal cortex, and temporal regions) damage when administered intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v) in adult mice. In this study, we explored differential gene expression profiles following exposure of human glial (Hs 683) celllines to CDX at various time intervals using Affymetrix-GeneChips. By means of MAS and GeneSpring analyses, 105 genes whose expression was significantly (P<0.01) altered by at least 3-fold were ...
Results reported are for single dose exposures and refer to "6"0Co-#gamma#-irradiation. The RBE determined by V79 cell survival and based on the Do ratio was found to be 1.70#+-#0.4 ranging from 1.5 to 1.8. In the case of the regeneration of mouse jejunal crypts the RBE was calculated at ten cell curvival and was found to be 1.68. The maximum acute mouse skin reaction at a skin score of 2.0 was found to be 2.1 while the average skin reaction was 1.7. Growth retardation of Vicia faba bean roots measured at the level of 50% indicated an average RBE of 3.0 and a range of 2.7 to 3.7. The OER obtained for V79 cell survival was found to be 1.7 to 1.8. Comparison is made with the RBE and OER measurements for the neutron facilities at Clatterbridge, Fermilab and Louvain-la-Neuve which produce neutrons by the same nuclear reaction and whose physical specifications closely resemeble those of the Faure neutrons. This comparison ...
Micropatterned materials were obtained by a controlled laser ablation of a photoimmobilised homogeneous layer of hyaluronic acid (Hyal) and its sulphated derivative (HyalS). The photoimmobilisation was performed by coating the polysaccharide, adequately functionalised with a photoreactive group, on aminosilanised glass substrate and immobilising it on the surface under UV light. Hyal or HyalS photoimmobilised samples were then subjected to laser ablation with wavelengths in the UV regions in order to drill the pattern. Four different patterns with stripes of 100, 50, 25 and 10 {mu}m were generated. A chemical characterisation by attenuated total reflection/Fourier transform infrared (ATR/FT-IR) and time of flight-secondary ions mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) confirmed the success of the laser ablation procedure and the presence of alternating stripes of polysaccharide and native glass. The exact dimensions of the stripes were determined by atomic force microscopy. The analysis of ...
The aim of this contract is to investigate, develop, and characterize laser-assisted processing techniques utilized to produce the fine-line, thin-metal grid structures that are required to fabricate high-efficiency solar cells. During the first quarter of this contract, a comprehensive literature search was carried out in the various state-of-the-art laser-assisted techniques for metal deposition, including laser chemical vapor deposition and laser photolysis of organometallics, as well as laser-enhanced electroplating. A compact system for the experiments involving laser-assisted photolysis of gas-phase compounds was designed and constructed. The work performed in the second quarter is detailed in this report. Metal deposition experiments have been carried out utilizing laser-assisted pyrolysis of a variety of metal-bearing polymer films and metallo-organic inks spun onto silicon substrates. Laser decomposition of spun-on silver neodecanoate ...
This report concerns investigations in the title conducted by 8 groups of National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) during the period of 1998-2000. The groups are for investigation of: Effects of p53 tumor suppressor gene in radiation-induced leukemia, Role of atm-gene in dose rate effect of ionizing radiation, Function of DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PK{sub cs}), Functional complementation of radiation-sensitive mutant M10 cellline by human XRCC4 cDNA expression, Role of radiation-induced apoptosis in digital defects in embryonic mice, Functional analysis of S-phase specific novel nuclear protein NP95 by gene targeting, Role of chemokine in T cell development and lymphomagenesis, and establishment of production techniques of gene-modified mice using embryonic stem cells for genetic analysis of radiation-sensitive genes. The groups describe summaries of their studies and ...
Ependymal cellsline the cerebral ventricles forming the interface that separates the cerebrospinal (CSF) and interstitial fluids (ISF). Extracellular molecules move between ependymal cells, whereas lipid soluble molecules pass both between and through cells. We measured the transfer of tritiated water (TOH) from CSF to blood across the ependymal and capillary interfaces by ventriculocisternal (VC) steady-state tissue clearance. Adult cats anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium underwent VC perfusion with the extracellular marker (/sup 14/C)sucrose and TOH added to the artificial CSF. Brain tissue was analyzed for depth of penetration of the isotopes into periventricular gray matter. We found that TOH distribution space was lower than expected from water content measurements, whereas sucrose space was normal. Using VC steady-state equations we calculated an ependymal permeability that was similar to the ...
Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) constitute a major component of the thymic stroma which provides a microenvironment critical for developing thymocytes. We have previously demonstrated that doxycycline (Dox), a tetracycline derivative, enhances the proliferation of the mouse thymic epithelial cellline 1 (MTEC1) via MAPK/ERK signal pathway. Herein we provide evidence that Dox also has profound impact on the cytokine production by MTEC1. Specifically, the expression of IL-6 and GM-CSF, both at mRNA and protein levels, was found to be increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner with the addition of Dox. Western blotting analysis revealed that treatment with Dox-induced phosphorylation of the p65 subunit of NF-kB and ERK. Notably, Dox-induced up-regulation of IL-6 and GM-CSF was largely abol...
In this paper, an improved soft switched two cell interleaved boost AC/DC converter with high power factor is proposed and investigated. A new auxiliary circuit is designed and added to two cell interleaved boost converter to reduce the switching losses. The proposed auxiliary circuit is implemented using only one auxiliary switch and a minimum number of passive components without an important increase in the cost and complexity of the converter. The main advantage of this auxiliary circuit is that it not only provides zero-voltage-transition (ZVT) for the main switches but also provides soft switching for the auxiliary switch and diodes. Though all semiconductor devices operate under soft switching, they do not have any additional voltage and current stresses. The proposed converter operates successfully in soft switching operation mode for a wide range of input voltage level and the load. In addition, it has advantages such as fewer structure ...
BackgroundDespite an ever-improving understanding of the molecular biology of cancer, the treatment of most cancers has not changed dramatically in the past three decades and drugs that do not discriminate between tumor cells and normal tissues remain the mainstays of anticancer therapy. Since Hsp90 is typically involved in cell proliferation and survival, this is thought to play a key role in cancer, and Hsp90 has attracted considerable interest in recent years as a potential therapeutic target.MethodsWe focused on the interaction of Hsp90 with its cofactor protein p60/Hop, and engineered a cell-permeable peptidomimetic, termed "hybrid Antp-TPR peptide", modeled on the binding interface between the molecular chaperone Hsp90 and the TPR2A domain of Hop.ResultsIt was demonstrated that this designed hybrid Antp-TPR peptide inhibited the interaction of Hsp90 with the TPR2A domain, inducing cell death of ...
Identification of factors that determine individual patient risk for recurrence and progression in superficial papillary carcinoma of the bladder is a subject of extensive research as it would be a major outcome in patient management. It has been well recognized that traditional prognostic markers as tumor grade and stage are not accurate enough in predicting biological behavior. A large number of markers have been investigated as potential prognostic factors and relatively few can help in predicting outcome. Material and Methods: Forty-nine cases undergoing complete transurethral resection for primary superficial papillary transitional cell carcinoma were subjected to clinicopathologic evaluation as well as immunohistochemical staining for p53, bcl-2, cytokeratin 20 and Ki-67. The CAS-200 image analyzer was used to estimate the Ki-67 labeling index. Results: Recurrence was observed in 19 cases (38.8%) and progression in 7 cases (14.3%) with a median followup of 49 ...
Independent power producers (IPPs) have had open access to existing power systems ever since the electric power industry was restructured and deregulated. IPPs are small-scale, distributed, and independently operated. Introducing an IPP to the power system can be beneficial to the existing power system because it can increase the security margin or reduce production cost and environmental pollution. The disadvantage is that some IPPs are not subject to dispatch control, consequently, they may reduce the network security. Often IPPs use co-generation, small-scale hydro, even fuel cells or other types of renewable energy sources. An evaluation of IPPs impact on an existing utility power system was determined in a modified IEEE 14 bus system. The total generating cost, environmental impact, transmission line margin, voltage profile, network congestion, security and other power quality measures were evaluated. It was concluded that on balance, an ...
The patients studied were referred for routine abscess localization with indium-111 labelled autologous leukocytes. One series (n=15) was studied at 1 day after reinjection of labelled cells and a second series (n=9) was studied between 4 hours and 4 days after reinjection of labelled cells. The leukocytes were isolated by a gravity sedimentation method and labelled with In-111 oxinate according to Roevekamp and co-workers. The labelled cell suspension administered to the patient contained between 11 and 15 MegaBq (300-400 microCi). The indium-111 concentration in the liver and spleen was quantitated using a scintillation camera and an on-line computer system. Phantom studies were carried out to obtain conversion factors from geometric mean counts to MegaBq of activity for both liver and spleen. Once determined, the amount of activity in liver and spleen was corrected for physical decay of In-111 and ...
Coronary angiography provides anatomical information whereas thellium myocardial scintigraphy measures resistive tissue perfusion. Because of this fundamental difference. The authors question the validity of using coronary angiography as the gold standard to judge thellium myocardial scintigraphy. The authors studied 20 patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary angioplasty who fulfilled the following criteria: (1) history of chest pain; (2) angiographically significant single vessel disease (>50% stenosis); (3) no prior myocardial infarction. All patients underwent maximal exercise thallium single photon emission computed tomography (T1-SPECT). Tl-SPECT was scored visually according to a 0 to 3 scale (0=absent uptake; 1=markedly decreased uptake; 2=minimally decreased uptake; 3=normal uptake). Translesional gradient and percent stenosis were measured before and after angioplasty. The authors found that significant linear ...
In virtually all forms of life on earth, proteins in each cell are made according to a genetic blueprint, in the form of DNA. The translation of copies of this genetic blueprint (in the form of messenger RNA) into polypeptides is performed on the ribosome, a highly complex molecular machine composed of RNAs and proteins. To this end, special adaptor molecules called transfer RNAs are lined up by the ribosome in the sequence dictated by the genetic code, such that the amino acids carried by these molecules can be linked into a polypeptide. Several cofactors are involved in these processes, some of which require energy freed up by GTP hydrolysis. Although the ribosome was discovered more than 50 years ago, its structure has only been solved recently by X-ray crystallography. Another technique, cryo-electron microscopy, is starting to contribute toward our understanding of the ribosome's function, by portraying its conformational changes ...
Three classes of solar emanations, namely, photon radiation from solar flares, solar energetic particles, and inhomogeneities in the solar wind that drive magnetic storms, are examined, and their effects on humans and technological systems are discussed. Solar flares may disrupt radio communications in the HF and VLF ranges. Energetic particles pose a special hazard at low-earth orbit and above, where they can penetrate barriers such as spacesuits and aluminum and destroy cells and solid state electronics. Energetic solar particles also influence terrestrial radio waves propagating through polar regions. Magnetic storms may disturb the operation of navigation instruments, power lines and pipelines, and satellites; they give rise to ionospheric storms which affect radio communication at all latitudes. There is also a growing body of evidence that changes in the geomagnetic field affect biological systems. 3 refs.
The mapping of the magnetic flux bundle from the center cell to the Plasma Potential Control plates (PPC) on the end fan of the Tandem Mirror Experiment Upgrade (TMX-U), was improved by the addition of trim coils (12,000 amp-turns) on each side of each end fan next to the pump beam magnetic shields. The coils' axes are oriented perpendicular to the machine centerline. These coils made the necessary corrections to the field-line mapping, while keeping the field in the nearby pump beam magnetic shield below the saturation threshold. This paper briefly describes the problem, discusses the design as it evolved, and presents the results of the field testing. A brief description of the improvement in the machine performance is also included.
Background and purpose: The aims of this study were to investigate the anti-cancer activity of SZ-685C, an anthracycline analogue isolated from marine-derived mangrove endophytic fungi, and to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying such activity. Experimental approach: The effect of SZ-685C on the viability of cancer celllines was investigated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. SZ-685C-induced apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling assay and analysis of caspase activation. The effect of SZ-685C on the Akt/FOXO pathway was studied using Western blotting analysis, and the in vivo anti-tumour efficacy was examined in ...
An intact basement membrane (BM) is essential for the proper function, differentiation and morphology of many epithelial cells. The disruption or loss of this BM occurs during normal development as well as in the disease state. To examine the importance of BM during mammary gland development in vivo, we generated transgenic mice that inappropriately express autoactivating isoforms of the matrix metalloproteinase stromelysin-1. The mammary glands from these mice are both functionally and morphologically altered throughout development. We have now documented a dramatic incidence of breast tumors in several independent lines of these mice. These data suggest that overexpression of stromelysin-1 and disruption of the BM may be a key step in the multi-step process of breast cancer.
One of the research challenges in oncology is to develop new biochemical methods for noninvasive tumor therapy evaluation to determine whether the chemotherapeutics is effective. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was labeled with radioiodine and evaluated in vitro as well as in vivo, using A2058, a melanoma cellline overexpressing VEGFR-1 and -2. Saturation binding analysis with [{sup 125}I]-VEGF resulted in a K {sub d} of 0.1 nM. Internalization assays indicate the preserved ligand induced internalization and metabolization of the tracer. Biodistribution studies with [{sup 123}I]-VEGF in wild type and A2058 tumor-bearing athymic mice showed low background activity and a tumor to reference tissue ratio of maximum 6.12. These results suggest that [{sup 123}I]-VEGF is a potentially suitable tracer for tumor therapy evaluation.
Nanocrystalline powders of GaN with grain sizes ranging from 2 to 30 nm were examined under high external pressures by in situ diffraction techniques in a diamond anvil cell at DESY (HASYLAB, Station F3). The experiments on densification of pure powders under high pressure were performed without a pressure medium. The mechanism of generation and relaxation of internal strains and their distribution in nanoparticles was deduced from Bragg reflections recorded in situ under high pressures at room temperature. The microstrain was calculated from the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) values of the Bragg lines. It was found that microstrains in GaN crystallites are generated and subsequently relaxed by two mechanisms: generation of stacking faults and change of the size and shape of the grains occurring under external stress. (author)
The paper describes the chemical constituents isolated from aerial parts of the plant Galianthe brasiliensis. From a methanol extract, the iridoid glycosides asperuloside, deacetylasperuloside, mixture of Z- and E-6-O-p-coumaroylscandoside methyl ester, the triterpene ursolic acid and the steroids stigmasterol, campesterol, b-sitosterol and 3-O-b-glucopyranosyl sitosterol were isolated. The structures of the natural products were identified on the basis of spectral data, including 2D NMR experiments. The antiproliferative properties of the crude methanolic extract were investigated against a series of nine human cancer celllines. (author)
In vitro cytocompatibility and cellular interactions of lauric acid and dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles were evaluated with two different celllines (mouse fibroblast and human cervical carcinoma). Lauric acid-coated magnetite nanoparticles were less cytocompatible than dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles and cellular uptake of lauric acid-coated magnetic nanoparticles was more than that of dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles. Lesser cytocompatibility and higher uptake of lauric acid-coated magnetite nanoparticles as compared to dextran-coated magnetic nanoparticles may be due to different cellular interactions by coating material. Thus, coating plays an important role in modulation of biocompatibility and cellular interaction of magnetic nanoparticles.
In vitro cytocompatibility and cellular interactions of lauric acid and dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles were evaluated with two different celllines (mouse fibroblast and human cervical carcinoma). Lauric acid-coated magnetite nanoparticles were less cytocompatible than dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles and cellular uptake of lauric acid-coated magnetic nanoparticles was more than that of dextran-coated magnetite nanoparticles. Lesser cytocompatibility and higher uptake of lauric acid-coated magnetite nanoparticles as compared to dextran-coated magnetic nanoparticles may be due to different cellular interactions by coating material. Thus, coating plays an important role in modulation of biocompatibility and cellular interaction of magnetic nanoparticles.
...comAbstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), once thought to be a rare tumor in North America, is a rapidly increasing type of cancer in recent years in the United States. Current treatment modalities to halt the disease progression are only marginally effective. The mainstay treatment ...In addition, NM was shown to down-regulate urokinase plasminogen activator (by fibrin zymography) and up-regulate tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (by reverse zymography) in another HCC cellline, Sk-Hep-1. MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities were further modulated by cytokines, inducers and inhibitors, including NM. In ... Our results suggest that NM is an excellent candidate for therapeutic use in the treatment HCC by inhibiting critical parameters in cancer development and progression, such as proliferation, invasion and metastasis, and by inducing apoptosis. Last update: 2 September 2011 JavaScript seems ...
Summary Background Sorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor that blocks cell proliferation via the ERK pathway and angiogenesis via the VEGF pathway. This phase II trial was conducted to determine the efficacy and tolerability of sorafenib for the treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (UC) who had not had prior chemotherapy for advanced disease. Patients and Methods Seventeen chemo-na?ve UC patients with adequate performance status and organ function were treated with sorafenib 400?mg twice daily on a continuous basis until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective tumor response rate as measured by RECIST criteria. Secondary endpoints included rate of prolonged stable disease (>3?months), time to progression, median and 1?yr survival and ...
Results of our systematic NMR study in high T_c cuprates are reviewed. The antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations (AFSF) decrease in the order of La_1_._8_5Sr_0_._1_5CuO_4. YBa_2Cu_3O_7 and Tl_2Ba_2CuO_6_+_y. 1/T_1 of "6"3Cu in the CuO_2 plane in the normal state follows essentially a Curie-Weiss law at high temperature and T_1T = const. law at low temperature. The temperature dependence of 1/T_1 and the Knight shift together with their impurity effect in the superconducting state strongly suggest d-wave pairing implying the AFSF to be responsible for the occurrence of superconductivity. From the NQR frequency measurement the density of Cu 3d and O 2p holes decreases and increases, respectively, in the order of La, Y and Tl compounds, which is consistent with the change of AFSF. The relation between T_c and #nu#_Q, and their pressure dependence suggest that there ...
Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) 19-9 and 73-3 specific for human colon adenocarcinoma were labelled with a high number of gadolinium atoms. Twenty five DTPA were chelated per MAb, with only slight loss of immunoreactivity. The NMR contrast agent Gd-25 DTPA-MAb 19-9 or 73-3 ((Gd) 17 mumole/kg, (MAb) 60 microM) was injected into nude mice bearing human colon adenocarcinoma (SW948). Tumors were removed 24 hr after injection and T1 was measured in vitro. T1 relaxation time varied according to MAb specificity against tumour targets; T1 decreased 20% for MAb 19-9 and MAb 73-3 with SW948 tumor. Imaging was performed with this model. Very good contrast was obtained 24 hr after Gd-25 DTPA-MAb injection.
This paper reports the result obtained during fiscal 1994 on a demonstration research on photovoltaic power generating systems. Solar cells with an output of 750 kW, storage battery facilities with an output of 3,058 kWh, three DC-AC converters with a rating of 250 kW, and a diesel generator with an output of 300 kW having been installed up to the previous fiscal year were combined to perform comprehensive adjustments and tests such as battery charge/discharge tests and AC parallel operation tests. The battery charge/discharge tests revealed that the 10 hour rate discharge capacity meets the specifications, and the batteries are free of deterioration after a demonstration operation of about 4.5 months. Difference between the power generation record and the planned value is thought due to the following reasons: the array output data in a power line connected system come about 90% of the simulation result due to correction coefficient for the ...
A lightweight, low permeability liner for graphite epoxy composite compressed gas storage vessels. The liner is composed of polymers that may or may not be coated with a thin layer of a low permeability material, such as silver, gold, or aluminum, deposited on a thin polymeric layer or substrate which is formed into a closed bladder using torispherical or near torispherical end caps, with or without bosses therein, about which a high strength to weight material, such as graphite epoxy composite shell, is formed to withstand the storage pressure forces. The polymeric substrate may be laminated on one or both sides with additional layers of polymeric film. The liner may be formed to a desired configuration using a dissolvable mandrel or by inflation techniques and the edges of the film seamed by heat sealing. The liner may be utilized in most any type of gas storage system, and is particularly applicable for hydrogen, gas mixtures, and oxygen used for vehicles, fuel ...
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.
An /alpha//sub 2/-adrenergic receptor subtype has been cloned from a human kidney cDNA library using the gene for the human platelet /alpha//sub 2/-adrenergic receptor as a probe. The deduced amino acid sequence resembles the human platelet /alpha//sub 2/-adrenergic receptor and is consistent with the structure of other members of he family of guanine nucleotide-binding protein-coupled receptors. The cDNA was expressed in a mammalian cellline (COS-7), and the /alpha//sub 2/-adrenergic ligand (/sup 3/H)rauwolscine was bound. Competition curve analysis with a variety of adrenergic ligands suggests that this cDNA clone represents the /alpha//sub 2/B-adrenergic receptor. The gene for this receptor is on human chromosome 4, whereas the gene for the human platelet /alpha//sub 2/-adrenergic receptor (/alpha//sub 2/A) lies on chromosome 10. This ability to express the receptor in mammalian cells, free of other adrenergic receptor ...
Following the publication (Stenhouse and Baxter, Nature; 267:828 (1977)) of the levels of bomb "1"4C and the residence times of carbon in the human body, excess radiation burdens from this radioisotope are evaluated under the assumption that no radiation dose, however small, can be regarded as entirely harmless biologically. The estimated annual absorbed dose attributable to "1"4C both natural and man-made for 1953-1973 and similar predicted figures for 1975-2025 are shown graphically. The cumulated doses to gonads (over 30 yr) and to bone marrow and bone-liningcells (over 60 yr) and also estimates of the biological damage to reproductive cells from "1"4C #beta#-irradiation (30 yr accumulated dose) are presented. It is concluded from both genetic and somatic considerations, that the potential human radiation burden due to artificially produced "1"4C calculated using the assumptions stated is certainly significant and, ...
The numerous challenges facing the North American electric utility industry were discussed. In addition to competition, electric utilities are faced with low demand growth, public pressure to avoid adding transmission and distribution capacity, and strict environmental requirements. In view of these developments, large central generation additions that have been industry norm until recently, do not always make economic sense in the current environment. Instead, smaller, distributed additions to generating capacity is becoming the new norm. Small-scale on-site generating capacity has the added advantage of reducing the need for expensive high-voltage transmission lines. The Ballard generation system described here is a modular, efficient fuel cell-based solution to implementing distributed power concepts. The system is natural gas fueled, with low noise, vibration and emissions. Apart from its other advantages, it provides ideal convergence ...
This paper contains literature from American Power Conference Air Toxics Being Measured Accurately, Controlled Effectively NO{sub x} and SO{sub 2} Emissions Reduced; Surface Condensers Improve Heat Rate; Usable Fuel from Municipal Solid Waste; Cofiring Technology Reduces Gas Turbine Emissions; Trainable, Rugged Microsensor Identifies of Gases; High-Tc Superconductors Fabricated; High-Temperature Superconducting Current Leads; Vitrification of Low-Level Radioactive and Mixed Wastes; Characterization, Demolition, and Disposal of Contaminated Structures; On-Line Plant Diagnostics and Management; Sulfide Ceramic Materials for Improved Batteries; Flywheel Provides Efficient Energy Storage; Battery Systems for Electric Vehicles; Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells for Transportation; Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells for Transportation; Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor Monitors Emissions in Real-Time; Advance Alternative-Fueled Automotive ...
This report summarizes the results and activities funded by this three-year award. The principal goal of this project was to determine the thermal conductivity in clusters of galaxies. Intracluster plasmas possess chaotic magnetic fields. Since charged particles are constrained to move primarily along magnetic field lines, the topology of intracluster magnetic fields slows particle diffusion relative to the non-magnetized case, thereby reducing the thermal conductivity. Our first approach to this problem was to employ the static-magnetic-field approximation. In reality, intracluster magnetic field lines are constantly moving, since they are advected by turbulent intracluster motions. The turbulent velocities, however, are much smaller than the rapid speeds of thermal electrons, which make the dominant contribution to the thermal conductivity. In the static-field approximation, one neglects turbulent motions of field lines, ...
Four "1"2"5I labeled mono- and diamines were prepared and evaluated as potential brain-imaging agents. The diamines are analogues of the previously reported "7"5Se labeled diamines, which show high brain uptake and retention. All of the radioiodinated amines display high initial brain uptake in rats after intravenous injection (1.7-2.4% dose/organ). The xylylenediamines show prolonged brain retention (t1/2 approximately 18 h), which is desirable for brain imaging. In contrast, the benzylamine is rapidly cleared from brain tissue (t1/2 approximately 15 min).
We report the delayed sequelae arising in a case of electrical injury, reviewing the literature on the subject and focusing on the MRI findings of the brain. A 23-year-old male suffered burns to the left parietal scalp, both feet, and the anterior chest wall. Neurological symptoms and MRI abnormalities appeared 14 days after the insult and continued for about three months. T1-weight MR images demonstrated homogeneous hypointensity, while T2-weighted images depicted hyperintense finger-like projections. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images demonstrated strong band-like enhancement, indicating meningeal hyperemia. Follow-up MR imaging showed that the lesion had disappeared, indicating that the cerebral edema and meaningeal hyperemia were reversible.
We studied whether plasma-etching techniques can use standard screen-printed gridlines as etch masks to form self-aligned, patterned-emitter profiles on multicrystalline-silicon (mc-Si) cells from Solarex. We conducted an investigation of plasma deposition and etching processes on full-size mc-Si cells processed in commercial production lines, so that any improvements obtained would be immediately relevant to the PV industry. This investigation determined that reactive ion etching (RIE) is compatible with using standard, commercial, screen-printed gridlines as etch masks to form self-aligned, selectively doped emitter profiles. This process results in reduced gridline contact resistance when followed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) treatments, an undamaged emitter surface easily passivated by plasma-nitride, and a less heavily doped emitter between gridlines for reduced emitter recombination. This ...
Laser-assisted processing techniques for producing high-quality solar cell metallization patterns have been investigated, developed, and characterized. During the early stages, preliminary investigations were carried out on a variety of promising laser-assisted metallization schemes, and the best of these was selected for further development. A comprehensive literature search initially yielded information on state-of-the-art laser-assisted techniques for metal deposition such as laser chemical vapor deposition and laser photolysis of organometallics, as well as laser-enhanced electroplating. Initial experiments on laser-enhanced electroplating yielded very promising results with linewidths as narrow as 25 ..mu..m and local plating speeds as high as 12 ..mu..m/s being achieved. Metal deposition experiments were carried out utilizing laser-assisted pyrolysis of a variety of metal-bearing polymer films and metallo-organic inks spun onto silicon substrates. Argon-ion ...
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive form of human brain tumor, which has no effective cure. Previously, we have demonstrated that overexpression of the C-terminal fragment of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERTC27) inhibits the growth and tumorigenicity of human cervical cancer HeLa cells. In this study, the therapeutic effect and molecular mechanisms of hTERTC27-mediated cancer gene therapy were further explored in vivo in established human glioblastoma xenografts in nude mice. We showed that intratumoral injection of adeno-associated virus carrying hTERTC27 (rAAV-hTERTC27) is highly effective in reducing the growth of the subcutaneously transplanted glioblastoma tumors. Histological analyses showed that rAAV-hTERTC27 treatment leads to profound necrosis, apoptosis, infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils and reduced microvessel density in the tumor samples. To study the molecular mechanism of rAAV-hTERTC27-mediated antitumor ...
The first essential before embarking on the radiation-hardening of electrical insulation - mostly magnet coils - in any beam line application is to obtain a reliable estimate of the dose to the components. These are examples ( switchyards at SLAC and LAMPF) where the degree of hardness specified was much higher than was required. Although experience shows that the cost premium for substantial radiation - hardening is of the order of 10%, it has also become clear that well - designed beam line have negligible losses: hardening is required only in the vicinity of targets, collimators or other beam - intercepting devices. Where the beam is deliberately scraped, local shielding will minimize the associated radiation in the surroundings. Electron machines have their own special problems due to synchrotron radiation, so certainly coils and other electrical equipment should be kept away from the beam bend - plane. Because proton beams interact with ...
A fast and simple flow-through optosensor was designed and characterized for the direct screening of four tetracycline (TCC) antibiotics (tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline) in water and bovine milk samples. The proposed optosensor provides rapid binary yes/no overall responses, being appropriate for the screening of this family of antibiotics above or below a pre-set concentration threshold. The experimental set-up is based on a flow-injection manifold coupled on-line to a phosphorescence detector. Aliquots of the samples are pretreated with Eu(III) to form room temperature phosphorescent metal chelates and injected in the flow manifold. Those chelates are then on-line retained on a conventional flow-cell (packed with polymeric Amberlite XAD-4 particles) which is placed inside the cell holder of the phosphorimeter. After the emission is registered, the antibiotic-metal ...
Completing a SAR study, a series of (RS)-6-substituted-7- or 9-(1,2,3,5-tetrahydro-4,1-benzoxazepine-3-yl)-7H or 9H-purines was previously prepared. The most potent antiproliferative agent against the MCF-7 adenocarcinoma cellline that belongs to the benzoxazepine O,N-acetalic family is (RS)-9-[1-(9H-fluorenyl-9-methoxycarbonyl)-1,2,3,5-tetrahydro-4,1-benzo xazepine-3-yl]-6-chloro-9H-purine (16, IC50 = 0.67 +- 0.18 mM), whilst (RS)-7-{2-(N-hydroxymethylphenyl)-2-nitrobenzenesulfonamido]-1-methoxye thyl}-6-chloro-7H-purine (37) shows the lowest IC50 value between the family of acyclic O,N-acetals (IC50 = 3.25 +- 0.23 mM). Moreover, 16 showed the better in vitro Therapeutic Index in breast celllines (3.19), whilst 37 was found to be 3.69-fold more active against HT-29 human colon cancer ce...
Due to biological effects of magnetic fields of high voltage transmission lines and induced effects on has pipe line, telecommunication system and interference with sensitive electronic equipment, many effort have been done to reduce transmission lines magnetic fields and several ideas have been introduced. In this paper we review three methods: phase split, shielded and compacted line methods. With aid of a developed software programme these methods are then applied to transmission lines and the results are analyzed.
Corona from bare conductors of electrical overhead power lines is studied in this article. Its origin, as well as, its bad influences over communication systems are both studied, yet. Line`s models are defined, in order to be able the examination of Corona on line`s cables. Formulas for the surface electrical gradient calculations are shown. (author) 2 refs.
Thin film solar cells and solar cell testing - photovoltaic cells, radiation damage to cadmium sulfide solar cells, and airplane testing of solar cells
Abstract The term -stem cell- most commonly refers to embryonic stem cells, particularly in the lay media; however, it also describes other cell types. A stem cell represents a cell of multi-lineage potential with the ability for self-renewal. It is now clear that the plasticity and immortality of a given stem cell will depend on what type of stem cell it is, whether an embryonic stem cell, a fetal-placental stem cell or an adult stem cell. Stem cells offer great promise as cell-based therapies for the future. With evolving technology, much of the socio-political debate regarding stem cells can now be avoided.
The pressure of a 6:12 fluid is obtained from the Percus-Yevick theory at the temperature kT/? = 1.35. The energy equation results are in excellent agreement with machine calculation results in contrast to the pressure and compressibility equation results. Present address: Diffusion Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Joanna Geary joined a Birmingham University team of scientists working on the project in Geneva. Simond Hadley took the pictures. "The most exciting thing of all" says professor Peter Watkins with a smile, "is we have absolutely no idea what will happen until we switch it on."
The volume contains reports on plant technology, on systems organisation with the aim to minimize the risk (human error), on the problem of seismic risk, on core-disruptive accidents and on accident consequence models with different release categories and a comparison of the potential damage incurred. Mr. Webb; one of the authors, attempts to disprove the objections to his two earliest SNR statements by experts of Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre.
Objective: To analyze the characteristics of external hydrocephalus in infancy with MR imaging, and to explore the cause of accumulation of extracerebral fluid and the relation with brain development. Methods: Conventional magnetic resonance T_1 weighted imaging (T_1WI) and T_2 weighted imaging (T_2WI) were performed in 46 infants aged 2 years or younger with external hydrocephalus (EH), and the results were analyzed. They were divided into 7 age groups. The width of extractable space was measured on T_2WI and compared with normal standard. Results: EH mainly resulted from infection, subdural hematoma or subarachnoid hemorrhage, HIE, which were 67.4% (31/46 cases) of the cases; EH with unknown cause were 26.1% (12/46 cases). EH was mainly located at the foreside of cerebral convexity, of which 80.4% (37/46 cases )was predominantly in the subarachnoid space, 8.7% (4/46 cases) in subdural space, 10.9% was ...
Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid (Lipiodol) is widely applied in the transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). We studied signal intensity, the T1 relaxation time and the T2 relaxation time of Lipiodol itself using Siemens Magnetom H15-2 T (1.5 Tesla) and Magnetom M10 (1.0 Tesla). Lipiodol showed higher signal intensity than saline solution on the T1-weighted images (short TR, short TE technique in spin echo method). On the T2-weighted images (long TR, long TE technique in spin echo method), Lipiodol showed lower signal intensity than saline solution. The T1 relaxation time of Lipiodol, measured at 1.0 T, was 201 msec and 218 msec at 1.5 T. The T2 relaxation time of Lipiodol, measured at 1.0 T, was 127 msec; and 167 msec at 1.5 T. The signal intensity of Lipiodol at 1.0 T was higher than the intensity at 1.5 T. Shorter T1 ...
To investigate the pattern of normal white-matter maturation as demonstrated by high-field-strength MR imaging, 82 normal infants were examined using a 1.5-T unit with spin-echo T1-weighted and T2-weighted pulse sequences. The infants ranged in age from 4 days to 2 years. The scans were assessed for qualitative changes of white matter relative to gray matter and correlated with the patient's age in 14 anatomic areas of the brain. The MR images showed that changes of brain maturation occur in an orderly manner, commencing in the brain stem and progressing to the cerebellum and the cerebrum. Changes from brain myelination were seen earlier on T1-weighted images than on T2-weighted images, possibly because of T1 shortening by the components of the developing myelin sheaths. The later changes on the T2-weighted images correlated best with the development of ...
Requirements are provided for NSLS beam line front ends and vacuum interlocks. Guidelines are provided for UHV beam line vacuum systems, including materials, vacuum hardware (pumps, valves, and flanges), acoustic delay lines and beam line fast valves, instrumentation, fabrication and testing, and the NSLS cleaning facility. Also discussed are the design review for experimenters' equipment that would be connected to the NSLS and acceptance tests for any beam line to be connected with the ring vacuum. Also appended are a description of the acoustic delay line as well as the NSLS vacuum standards and NSLS procedures. (LEW)
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation has undertaken to investigate, develop, and characterize laser-assisted processing techniques utilized to produce the fine line, thin metal grid structures that are required to fabricate high-efficiency solar cells. Two basic techniques for metal deposition will be investigated, as follows: (1) photochemical decomposition of liquid or gas phase organometallic compounds utilizing either a focused, CW ultraviolet laser (System 1) or a mask and ultraviolet flood illumination, such as that provided by a repetitively pulsed, defocused excimer laser (System 2), for pattern definition, and (2) thermal deposition of metals from organometallic solutions or vapors utilizing a focused, CW laser beam as a local heat source to draw the metallization pattern. The purpose of this contract is to investigate the various existing laser-assisted film deposition techniques in order to develop a new, cost-effective technology ...
The nuclear lamina proteins, prelamin A, lamin B, and a 70-kD lamina-associated protein, are posttranslationally modified by a metabolite derived from mevalonate. This modification can be inhibited by treatment with (3-R,S)-3-fluoromevalonate, demonstrating that it is isoprenoid in nature. We have examined the association between isoprenoid metabolism and processing of the lamin A precursor in human and hamster cells. Inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase by mevinolin (lovastatin) specifically depletes endogenous isoprenoid pools and inhibits the conversion of prelamin A to lamin A. Prelamin A processing is also blocked by mevalonate starvation of Mev-1, a CHO cellline auxotrophic for mevalonate. Moreover, inhibition of prelamin A processing by mevinolin treatment is rapidly reversed by the addition of exogenous mevalonate. Processing of prelamin A is, therefore, dependent on isoprenoid metabolism. ...
Previous experiments had indicated a slight genotoxic potential both in rat and in human colon cells of a sample of 2-dodecylcyclobutanone, a compound formed by irradiation of food containing palmitic acid in its triglycerides. Up to date, there is no evidence that 2-alkylcyclobutanones occur in non-irradiated foodstuffs, consequently it is prudent to test several members of the class of 2-alkylcyclobutanones which are produced by treatment of fat-containing food with ionising radiation. In this work, 2-tetradecylcyclobutanone (derived from stearic acid) has been tested for its cytotoxic and genotoxic potential. Human colon tumor celllines, i.e. HT 29 and HT 29 clone 19A, were employed as models for in vitro experiments for cytotoxicity and genotoxicity tests. Cytotoxicity was measured by tetrazolium salt reduction assays (MTT and WST-1) and genotoxicity by determining DNA damage using the Comet Assay. Neither cytotoxic ...
In this paper active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) is used to chemically modify the surface of UHMWPE. This is an unexplored and new area of research. ASPN allows the homogeneous treatment of any shape or surface at low temperature; therefore, it was thought that ASPN would be an effective technique to modify organic polymer surfaces. ASPN experiments were carried out at 120 {sup 0}C using a dc plasma nitriding unit with a 25% N{sub 2} and 75% H{sub 2} atmosphere at 2.5 mbar of pressure. UHMWPE samples treated for different time periods were characterized by nanoindentation, FTIR, XPS, interferometry and SEM. A 3T3 fibroblast cellline was used for in vitro cell culture experiments. Nanoindentation of UHMWPE showed that hardness and elastic modulus increased with ASPN treatment compared to the untreated material. FTIR spectra did not show significant differences between the untreated and treated samples; however, some ...
The goal of the present work was to develop a new synthetic nanosystem for gene delivery. For this purpose, we chose two polysaccharides, hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CS), as the main components of the nanocarrier. Nanoparticles with different hyaluronate:chitosan (HA:CS) mass ratios (0.5:1 and 1:1) and different polymer molecular weights (hyaluronate 170 (HA) or <10 kDa (HAO) and chitosan 125 (CS) or 10-12 (CSO) kDa) could be obtained using an ionic crosslinking method. These nanoparticles were loaded with pDNA and characterized for their size, zeta potential and pDNA association efficiency. Moreover, their toxicity and ability to transfect the model plasmid pEGFP-C1 were evaluated in the cellline HEK 293, as well as their intracellular fate. The results showed that HA:CS nanoparticles have a small size in the range of 110-230 nm, a positive zeta potential of +10 to +32 mV and a very high pDNA association efficiency of 87-99% ...
Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) are multipotent progenitor cells that have transient immunomodulatory properties on Natural Killer (NK) cells, Dendritic Cells (DC), and T cells. This...Full Text Available
We have conducted a systematic investigation of the origin and underlying physics of the line--line and line--continuum correlations of AGNs, particularly the Baldwin effect. Based on the homogeneous sample of Seyfert 1s and QSOs in the SDSS DR4, we find the origin of all the emission-line regularities is Eddington ratio (L/Ledd). The essential physics is that L/Ledd regulates the distributions of the properties (particularly column density) of the clouds bound in the line-emitting region.
This paper is a tutorial discussion of the basic principles of ground relaying for high voltage and extra high voltage transmission lines. Three different HV configurations are considered: Long lines, lines with a weak mid-point station, and mutually-coupled lines. Application criteria for EHV circuits are also discussed, and specific setting calculations are included where appropriate.
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
Potassium dichlorido(l-prolinato)platinate(II), K[PtCl"2(l-pro"?"H)] (1), and chlorido(dimethyl sulfoxide)(l-prolinato)platinum(II), [PtCl(l-pro"?"H)(dmso)] (2), were synthesized by ligand substitution reactions. Both complexes were characterized by ^1H, ^1^3C, and ^1^9^5Pt NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and HR-ESI-MS. The molecular structures of 1 and 2 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, proving bidentate coordinated l-prolinato ligand and SP-4-4 configuration of 2a. With the help of DFT calculations stability of possible isomers of 1 and 2 was studied. A considerable difference in the in vitro cytotoxicity of 1 versus 2a (exchange of one chlorido ligand by dmso) against four human cancer celllines was found.
Somatostatin receptor expression has been demonstrated on a number of plasma celllines. Therefore, we questioned whether somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) can be used to demonstrate in vivo multiple myeloma (MM) activity. SRS was performed in newly diagnosed (n = 9) or relapsing (n = 18) MM patients or in patients with localized plasmacytoma (n = 2). The results were compared with radiographic findings. A positive SRS was demonstrated in 44% of the newly diagnosed patients, in 83% of the relapsed patients and in both patients with plasmacytoma. The SRS findings corresponded with radiographic abnormalities in 40% of the patients. However, in relapsed patients 60% demonstrated increased SRS uptake in areas without new radiographic abnormalities. The positive SRS corresponded with histologically proven disease activity and responded upon treatment. Moreover, immunohistochemical staining of MM material demonstrated concordant somatostatin ...
Emerging evidence suggests that E3 ligases play critical roles in diverse biological processes, including innate immune responses in plants. However, the mechanism of the E3 ligase involvement in plant innate immunity is unclear. We report that a rice gene, OsBBI1, encoding a RING finger protein with E3 ligase activity, mediates broad-spectrum disease resistance. The expression of OsBBI1 was induced by rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, as well as chemical inducers, benzothiadiazole and salicylic acid. Biochemical analysis revealed that OsBBI1 protein possesses E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro. Genetic analysis revealed that the loss of OsBBI1 function in a Tos17-insertion line increased susceptibility, while the overexpression of OsBBI1 in transgenic plants conferred enhanced resi...
Support for raising energy efficiency is reported for the following five areas during 1998-2001: 1. Fuel-based energy systems with the sub-areas: Sustainable production of biofuels, including ash recycling; Cogeneration; and Large scale heat production. 2. Transport with two sub-areas: Internal combustion engines; and Electric drive-lines. 3. Power production/Power technology with the sub-areas: Hydropower; Wind power; Power transmission and distribution; and Photovoltaic solar cells. 4. Industry with the sub-areas: Processes; and Support systems in industry. 5. Buildings with the sub-areas: Heating, cooling and climatic shields; and Components and support systems. In total, 1,800 M SEK (about 180 M USD) was contributed by the Energy Administration during this period. An overview of the projects is presented in this report.
An overall plant design was developed for a gas-cooled fast reactor employing a direct supercritical Brayton power conversion system. The most important findings were that (1) the concept could be capital-cost competitive, but startup fuel cycle costs are penalized by the low core power density, specified in large part to satisfy the goal of significant post-accident passive natural convection cooling; (2) active decay heat removal is preferable as the first line of defense, with passive performance in a backup role; (3) an innovative tube-in-duct fuel assembly, vented to the primary coolant, appears to be practicable; and (4) use of the S-Co2 GFR to support hydrogen production is a synergistic application, since sufficient energy can be recuperated from the product H2 and 02 to allow the electrolysis cell to run 250 C hotter than the reactor coolant, and the water boilers can be used for reactor decay heat removal. Increasing core power ...
Antitumor platinum(II) complexes derived from N-alkyl-propanediamine differing in the length of their carbon chain (C8, C10, C12 and C14) were incorporated in liposomes and the cytotoxic activity of these formulations was evaluated against tumor (A{sub 549}, MDA-MB-231, B16-F1 and B16-F10) and non-tumor (BHK-21 and CHO) celllines. Stable and monodisperse liposome suspensions incorporating the platinum complexes were obtained from the lipid composition consisting of distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, cholesterol and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero- 3-phosphoethanolamine-N-(methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000) at 5:3:0.3 molar ratio. The entrapment efficiency (EE%) of the platinum complexes in liposomes increased with the carbon chain length. EE% was higher than 80% in C12- and C14-derivatives. The effect of liposome encapsulation on the cytotoxic activity of the complexes was found to depend on the carbon chain length. These data indicate that the ...
Repetitive hydatidiform mole was observed in four pregnancies. The pregnancies presented with heavy bleeding and vomiting, but the post-evacuation courses were uncomplicated, with rapid regression of serum hCG levels. Cytogenetic investigations, analyses of restriction fragment length polymorphisms, and flow cytometry in three pregnancies were consistent with diploid, biparental conception as the origin of fetal tissue and molar and nonmolar villi. In one pregnancy, the analyses of cytogenetic markers suggested the coexistence of two different celllines of dizygotic, biparental origin, whereas DNA analysis was consistent with a single conception. With incomplete genetic information, a hydatidiform mole with coexistent normal fetus is generally considered to result from dizygous twinning comprising an androgenetic complete mole and a normal conception. In the present gestations, the results based on several techniques applied on numerous ...
The neutron transport equation in Cartesian geometry possesses straight line characteristics along which the streaming operator can be written as a full differential in terms of the characteristic length. This idea was used by Lathrop to develop the step characteristic method, which he showed to be positive definite but less accurate than conventional Diamond-Difference schemes. Several authors since then have developed new methods utilizing the characteristic curves (including non-Cartesian geometry). A Linear Characteristic Method, based on a more consistent linear representation of the incoming-surface and within-cell angular flux, has been developed and tested in two-dimensional geometry producing highly accurate and computationally efficient results. A similar linear method, with several modifications, was developed for three-dimensional Cartesian geometry, and implemented in ORNL`s production code TORT. In this paper is presented a fully ...
This article describes the nature of the electromagnetic waves, what they are and how do they affect us. Current concern is focused on exposure to low level power-frequency magnetic fields like microwave radiation from mobile phones and leaking microwave ovens; high power radiation from defence and airport radars; fields close to high voltage transmission lines; radio frequency fields from industrial welders and heaters and DC magnetic fields in aluminium smelters. These fields with frequency less than 300 GHz do not carry sufficient energy to break chemical bonds and it is assumed that they cannot damage cell DNA. The amount of radiation absorbed by a human exposed to far field electromagnetic radiation (EMR) depends on the orientation and size of the person. In the 30-300 MHz range it is possible to excite resonance in the whole or partial body such as the head. It is emphasised that since there are some evidence that electromagnetic fields ...
Abstract Four new dimeric naphtho--pyrones, named rubasperone D (1), rubasperone E (2), rubasperone F (3), and its atropisomer rubasperone G (4), together with four known monomeric naphtho--pyrones, TMC 256 A1 (5), rubrofusarin B (6), fonsecin (7), and flavasperone (8), were isolated from the mangrove endophytic fungus Aspergillus tubingensis (GX1-5E) cultivated in solid rice medium. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including IR, 1D- and 2D-NMR, and MS. In the in vitro cytotoxicity assays, 5 displayed inhibitory activities against tumor celllines of MCF-7, MDA-MB-435, Hep3B, Huh7, SNB19, and U87-MG with IC50 values between 19.92 and 47.98-M. Compounds 1, 6, and 8 also showed mild cytotoxic activity.
Two overlapping cDNA clones encoding human DNA topoisomerase II were identified by two independent methods. In one, a human cDNA library in phage {lambda} was screened by hybridization with a mixed oligonucleotide probe encoding a stretch of seven amino acids found in yeast and Drosophila DNA topoisomerase II; in the other, a different human cDNA library in a {lambda}gt11 expression vector was screened for the expression of antigenic determinants that are recognized by rabbit antibodies specific to human DNA topoisomerase II. The entire coding sequences of the human DNA topoisomerase II gene were determined from these and several additional clones, identified through the use of the cloned human TOP2 gene sequences as probes. Hybridization between the cloned sequences and mRNA and genomic DNA indicates that the human enzyme is encoded by a single-copy gene. The location of the gene was mapped to chromosome 17q21-22 by in situ hybridization of a cloned fragment to metaphase chromosomes ...
As an interim report on the study on vibration of transmission lines when gust is blowing, this paper introduces events of confused and other contacts between transmission lines, photographing of transmission line vibration, physical measurement on transmission line response, and development of simulation software. Events of confused contacts of high-voltage transmission lines with overhead ground wires have the following common conditions: gust blows nearly perpendicularly to the line direction; no obstacles exist in upwind directions; the wind blows upward or downward against high-voltage transmission lines; and size of the high-voltage transmission lines is 25 mm{sup 2}. According to photographs of transmission line vibration, it appears that gust caused a high-voltage transmission ...
The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a 735-kV transmission line on the electric and magnetic field exposures of people living at the edge of the line's right of way. Exposure of 18...Full Text Available
Purpose Cisplatin plus gemcitabine is a standard regimen for first-line treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Phase II studies of pemetrexed plus platinum compounds have also shown activity in this setting. Patients and Methods This noninferiority, phase III, randomized study compared the overall survival between treatment arms using a fixed margin method (hazard ratio [HR] < 1.176) in 1,725 chemotherapy-naive patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 to 1. Patients received cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) on day 1 and gemcitabine 1,250 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 (n = 863) or cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) and pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) on day 1 (n = 862) every 3 weeks for up to six cycles. Results Overall survival for cisplatin/pemetrexed was noninferior to cisplatin/ gemcitabine (median survival, 10.3 v 10.3 months, respectively; HR = 0.94; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.05). Overall survival was ...
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 ...
The concept of a direct energy recovery system that applies a varying magnetic field is proposed for a negative-ion-based neutral beam injection system (NNB) to heat a plasma and/or drive a plasma current in a fusion reactor. The output beam energy and power of such an NNB will be {approximately}1 MeV and {approximately}1- MW/beam-line, respectively, and nearly the same amounts of positive- and negative-ion beams remain unneutralized in an NNB by using a gas-neutralizing cell. Therefore, the output of a beam direct convertor in an NNB is a bipolar direct current (dc) electric power with close to {plus_minus} 1 MV and several amperes if a conventional electrostatic or magnetostatic field is applied for ion beam separation. However, such high-voltage dc power is difficult to handle at the point of the regeneration of the power back to a commercial electric line because a very high voltage inverter tough enough to withstand ...
A method, which estimates the lightning performance of high voltage transmission lines based on the Monte-Carlo simulation technique, is described in this paper. The average number of faults which occur in a transmission line, dividing them in single-phase and three-phase faults, as well as the average grounding resistances of the transmission lines are calculated. The method is applied, on several operating Greek transmission lines, showing good correlation between predicted and field observation results. The proposed method can be used as a useful tool in the design of electric power systems, aiding in the right insulation dimensioning of a transmission line.(author)
The mutual inductance between parallel transmission lines influences the locating of the transmission line faults. A fault location algorithm for parallel lines developed in this paper takes into account the magnetic coupling between parallel lines. The paper presents a detailed description of the developed algorithm and test results performed on a simplified real transmission line. The obtained error is less than 0.5 percent in most cases. Also, the developed algorithm is not sensitive to typical fault parameters, such as: resistance, type, location, and incidence angle. 7 refs, 4 figs, 12 tabs
... ice, hurricanes, and trees (less likely on high voltage transmission lines ) can bring down above ground power lines. Flooding, Leeching ground ...
A thermal-resistant radiation sensing system using optical fiber has been developed. The system is for monitoring progress of chemical decontamination and able to measure the gamma-ray level in a hot solution of decontamination chemicals in situ. Our sensor head makes use of thermal-resistant NaI (T1) and it is connected to an optical fiber bundle. Scintillation photons pass from the NaI (T1) into the end of the bundle. This part of the system can withstand temperatures of over 100degC. At the far end of the optical fiber bundle, the scintillation photons are converted into fluorescent photons using a wavelength-shifting fiber. These photons are transferred to a distant photomultiplier tube through two thin transparent optical fibers. Furthermore, we propose a self-compensation technique for the dependence of scintillator sensitivity on. This compensation method is based on the correlation between ...
The half-life of "1"0"9Cd was measured by following the decay of sources from a radiochemically pure solution with two different measuring systems: an ionisation chamber and a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The measurements were performed over a period of 3.6 years, i.e. about 2.8 half-lives of "1"0"9Cd. The resulting half-life values and detailed uncertainty budgets (k=1) are presented for both systems. The result obtained with the ionisation chamber, 462.36 (33) days, and the one obtained with the HPGe detector, 461.92 (76) days, are mutually consistent. The weighted mean of our measured values, T_1_/_2("1"0"9Cd)=462.29 (30) days, is consistent with the currently recommended values of 461.4 (12) days and 462.0 (3) days. From a set of selected experimental values published after 1970, a 'partially weighted mean' of T_1_/_2("1"0"9Cd)=462.36 (39) days was calculated. More measurements are needed ...
The MRI and CT appearances in 48 patients with histologically confirmed benign and malignant pleural abnormalities were compared retrospectively. Abnormal pleural changes were shown in 47 out of the 48 patients by high signal intensity of the pleura in T_2-weighted sequences and in contrast enhanced T_1-weighted sequences on MRI. CT showed abnormalities in 45 out of 48 patients. Delineation of pleural and pulmonary changes by CT was possible in 13 out of 23 cases, and pleural disease from effusions in 15 out of 28 cases. T_2-weighted MRI was successful in 14 out of 23 and 4 out of 28 cases, respectively. T_1-weighted images after contrast were successful in 20 out of 23 and 22 out of 28 cases, respectively. Indications of malignant pleural disease were the presence of mediastinal or circumferential involvement or involvement of the entire pleura, thickness of more than 10 mm and nodular changes. The ...
Intramuscular hermorrhage was induced by injecting autologous blood into the paraspinal muscle of 8 rabbits. In order to evaluate the time-dependent changes of hemorrhage observed on MRI, the animals were imaged at different stages of blood resolution at 0.02 tesla (T), and control examined with ultrasound using a 7.5 MHz linear transducer. Six inversion recovery sequences (TR=1 000 ms. TE=30 ms, and TI=18, 48, 148, 201, 302, and 398 ms) were used for the invivo calculation of T1 relaxation times. IR 1 000 (398)/30 imaging was performed before and after the Gd-DOTA administration. The hemorrhage was evident on MR images throughout the study, especially on the T2 weighted (SE 1 000/100) images. MRI showed the healing lesion longer than ultrasound. The T1 relaxation time increased during the time of resolution. Lesions on days 4 to 7 enhanced in intensity after the injection of Gd-DOTA. (orig.).
The primary aim was to evaluate delayed contrast-enhanced MRI in depicting perineural spread of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCC) and consequently to determine the capability of MRI/MRCP for staging CCC. Fifteen patients that underwent MRI/MRCP and surgical treatment were retrospectively included. Two radiologists evaluated MR images to assess delayed periductal enhancement, extent of bile duct stenosis, liver parenchymal and vascular involvement and presence of liver atrophy. An agreement between delayed enhancement of the bile duct walls and perineural neoplastic spread showed a very good correlation factor (0.93). The overall accuracy in detecting biliary neoplastic invasion was higher for delayed T1-weighted images (93.3%) than for the MRCP images (80%), and T1-delayed image increased the MR accuracy in assessing the neoplastic resectability (p < 0.05). MRI correctly predicted vascular involvement ...
Central nervous system (CNS) manifestations in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients are an early and common feature. The spectrum of AIDS-related CNS diseases are encephalitis caused by the human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) itself, opportunistic infection, infarct and malignancy. We experienced two cases of CNS involvement in AIDS and they were serologically diagnosed as HIV encephalitis and CNS toxoplasmosis, respectively. In the case of the HIV encephalitis patient, brain MRI showed a non-enhancing lesion with high signal intensity on T2WI and low signal on T1WI and there was no mass effect on the right frontal lobe, periventricular white matter, splenium of the corpus callosum or bilateral basal ganglia. In the other case of CNS toxoplasmosis, MR showed multiple nodular and rim enhanced mass lesions in the right basal ganglia, thalamus and periventricular white matter, which were of low signal intensity on ...
Between 1984 and 1988, seven women with breast cancer were treated with intraoperative electron beam therapy (IOEBT). All patients were Caucasian. Patient age ranged from 37 to 62 (median 53) years. Histopathology was infiltrating duct carcinoma (6/7) or medullary carcinoma (1/7). Four tumors were staged T1 N0 MO, one T1 N1 MO, one T2 N1 MO, and one lesion was recurrent. At the time of primary lumpectomy or axillary node dissection, a dose of 10 or 15 Gy IOEBT was administered to the tumor bed with 6 or 9 MeV electrons through the lumpectomy wound. All patients received 45 or 50 Gy over five to six weeks with 6 MV photons to the breast and, in four patients, to the regional nodes. Three patients received adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen. No post-operative complications were observed. All patients are alive as of August, 1989, with no evidence of recurrent disease. Excellent cosmesis is the rule. ...
We report $^{7}$Li pulsed NMR measurements in polycrystalline and single crystal samples of the quasi one-dimensional S=1 antiferromagnet LiVGe$_2$O$_6$, whose AF transition temperature is $T_{\\text{N}}\\simeq 24.5$ K. The field ($B_0$) and temperature ($T$) ranges covered were 9-44.5 T and 1.7-300 K respectively. The measurements included NMR spectra, the spin-lattice relaxation rate ($T_1^{-1}$), and the spin-phase relaxation rate ($T_2^{-1}$), often as a function of the orientation of the field relative to the crystal axes. The spectra indicate an AF magnetic structure consistent with that obtained from neutron diffraction measurements, but with the moments aligned parallel to the c-axis. The spectra also provide the $T$-dependence of the AF order parameter and show that the transition is either second order or weakly first order. Both the spectra and the $T_1^{-1}$ data show that $B_0$ has at most ...
Abstract Aims: This study performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on glycemic control and pregnancy outcomes in women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) treated with lispro (LP) versus regular insulin (RI) since before pregnancy. Methods: We performed a MEDLINE and EMBASE search. Abstracts (and full articles when appropriate) were reviewed by two independent researchers. Inclusion criteria were patients with T1DM, data on women treated with RI and LP since before pregnancy until delivery in the same article, at least five pregnancies in each group, and information on at least one pregnancy outcome. Quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle?Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for cohort studies. Results: Outcome data were summarized with Revman version 5.0 (ims.cochrane.org...
Abstract Aims To determine the long-term health economic benefits associated with lispro vs. regular human insulin (RHI) in UK Type 1 diabetic (T1DM) patients using the previously published and validated CORE Diabetes Model. Methods A literature review designed to capture clinical benefits associated with lispro and T1DM cohort characteristics specific to UK was undertaken. Clinical benefits were derived from a Cochrane meta-analysis. The estimated difference (weighted mean) in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was -0.1% (95% confidence interval -0.2 to 0.0%) for lispro vs. RHI. Severe hypoglycaemia rates for lispro and RHI were 21.8 and 46.1 events per 100 patient years, respectively. Costs and disutilities were accounted for severe hypoglycaemia rates. All costs were accounted in 2007 UK from...
This report contains two sections. In the first section a limited review is presented and the preparation of the red mud based additives is described. The additives are characterized by composition and their catalytic activity in hydrocracking is investigated in a batch autoclave under an initial hydrogen pressure of 12 MPa at 435 C and 30 min residence time. A quantitative characterization of the products is given. Comparisons between the red mud additives and coke respectively a commercial catalyst are made. (orig.)
Sixty-six cases of histologically proven hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) were studied by MRI. Detectability was better by MRI than by CT, especially in the tumor under 2 cm in diameter. The capsule was detected in all cases of HCC over 3 cm in diameter. The capsule was able to be diagnosed only by dynamic MRI study in some cases. High intensity on the T1-weighted image and iso or low intensity on the T2-weighted image suggested that the nodule was adenomatous hyperplasi (AH) or well differentiated HCC. MRI is concluded to be an essential modality in the diagnosis of HCC. (author).
Objective: To compare the histopathology of nodular fasciitis (NF) with the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in order to evaluate the basis of the MR signal characteristics. Design and patients: Ten patients with NF, nine females and 1 male, with an age ranging from 13 to 58 years (mean 26.8 years) were studied. MRI findings, available in all 10 patients, were compared with the histopathology in nine patients, and an area-to-area comparative study of the whole specimen section histopathology and MRI was performed in two patients. Results: On the basis of an excisional biopsy or resection specimen, the nine lesions were classified into myxoid (n=4), cellular (n=3) and fibrous (n=2) subtypes. Four myxoid lesions with a subcutaneous location showed a homogeneous SI comparable with muscle on T1-weighted images, high SI on T2-weighted images, and had homogeneous enhancement. One cellular lesion presented with homogeneous, slightly higher SI ...
Conduction properties of Rb"+ ion in Rb-Al-priderite and K"+ ion and Rb"+ ion in (K,Rb)-Al-priderite, were investigated by NMR using "2"7Al in the framework as a probe. Size effect was observed remarkably in the activation energies. Frequency dependence of T_1 in Rb-Al-priderite at a low temperature indicates that the relaxation behavior of "2"7Al in Rb-Al-priderite can be described by the continuum model. Barrier height distributions and 'attempt frequencies' in both samples obtained by a curve-fitting method are discussed in comparison with those of K-Al-priderite. (orig.).
The central nervous system is involved in 10-20% of cases in Lyme disease. The neurological symptoms, time course of the disease and imaging findings are multifaceted. We report two patients with cervical radiculitis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed strong enhancement of the cervical nerve roots on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. These imaging patterns of borrelia-associated radiculitis have not been reported before. Knowledge of these imaging features may help to diagnose neuroborreliosis, which presents with non-specific symptoms. (orig.)
The report discusses: Combustion characteristics of various commercial cokes for cupola furnace operation; quality level of modern cokes; foundry coke, blast furnace coke, MB coke; characteristic data, e.g. grain size distribution, drum resistance, concentrations of water, carbon, sulphur, ash, and volatiles, reactivity; changes in coke quality during transport. (HS)
Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and histopathology were used to diagnose an articular process synovial myxoma in a dog. On MR images, the tumor was characterized by distortion of the left L1-L2 articular process, widening of the articular process joint, and the presence of a mass contiguous with the synovium of the articular process that displaced the spinal cord. The tumor was T2-hyperintense, T1-hypointense, relative to muscle, and had mild contrast enhancement. The MR features of articular process synovial myxoma may be distinct from other diseases of the articular process joint.
We describe a 16-month-old boy presenting with stridor and fever. The chest X-ray suggested inhalation of a foreign body but here was no history of this. A high spot a T_1-weighted chest MRI was due to a peanut which was seen to have moved from the right main bronchus to the left inferior bronchus, between the two MRI studies. MRI can provide information on position and size of the peanut, the conditons of the surrounding tissues and may be also useful in treatment. We consider MRI to be a valuable new method for the diagnosis of peanut inhalation. (orig./GDG).
In Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging, contrast is dependent on the emission of radiofrequency waves by atomic nuclei, balanced by several parameters. The high information content of NMR images is due to the multiplicity of its parameters. However, this advantage introduces a difficulty in the interpretation of the contrast. There are three contrast parameters for each tissue: hydrogen nuclei density; relaxation time T1; relaxation time T2. Contrast may be enhanced towards any of these parameters by increasing the emission of radiowaves by atomic nuclei using particular pulse sequences.
We studied telomeric DNA in leukemic cells as well as in normal T cells, B cells, monocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells. No marked differences were...Full Text Available
Radioisotopes of Pb(II) have been of some interest in radioimmunotherapy and radioimmunoimaging (RII). However, the absence of a kinetically stable bifunctional chelating agent for Pb(II) has hampered its use for these applications. "2"0"3Pb (T_1_/_2=52.02 h) has application potential in RII, with a #gamma#-emission that is ideal for single photon emission computerized tomography, whereas "2"1"2Pb (T_1_/_2=10 h) is a source of highly cytotoxic #alpha#-particles via its decay to its "2"1"2Bi (T_1_/_2=60 min) daughter. The synthesis of the novel bifunctional chelating agent 2-(4-isothiocyanotobenzyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraaza-1,4,7,10-tetra-(2-carbamoyl methyl)-cyclododecane (4-NCS-Bz-TCMC) is reported herein. The Pb[TCMC]"2"+ complex was less labile to metal ion release than Pb[DOTA]"2"- at pH 3.5 and below in isotopic exchange experiments. In addition to increased ...
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 detect trans-generational genomic instability, a total of 4806 ...
After an international ideas competition by TNC Switzerland and Germany in 1996, six companies where given the opportunity to construct a prototype of their newly developed integrated PV-sound barrier concepts. The main goal was to develop highly integrated concepts, allowing the reduction of PV sound barrier systems costs, as well as the demonstration of specific concepts for different noise situations. This project is strongly correlated with a German project. Three of the concepts of the competition are demonstrated along a highway near Munich, constructed in 1997. The three Swiss installations had to be constructed at different locations, reflecting three typical situations for sound barriers. The first Swiss installation was the world first Bi-facial PV-sound barrier. It was built on a highway bridge at Wallisellen-Aubrugg in 1997. The operational experience of the installation is positive. But due to the different efficiencies of the two cell sides, its ...
Fuel irradiation leads to a swelling resulting from the formation of gaseous (Kr, Xe) or solid fission products which are found either in solution or as solid inclusions in the matrix. This phenomena has to be evaluated to be taken into account in fuel cladding Interaction. Fuel swelling was studied as a function of burn up by measuring the corresponding cell constant evolution by X-Ray diffraction. This study was realized on Mixed Oxide Fuels (MOX) irradiated in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) at different burn-up for 3 initial Pu contents. Lattice parameter evolutions were followed as a function of burn-up for the irradiated fuel with and without an annealing thermal treatment. These experimental evolutions are compared to the theoretical evolutions calculated from the hard sphere model, using the fission product concentrations determined by the APPOLO computer code. Contribution of varying parameters influencing the unit cell value is ...
Statoil is operating an increasing number of offshore and onshore pipelines in the North Sea area and elsewhere. Cathodic protection is a significant part of the corrosion management for these lines and we have collected a significant amount of experience with respect to design and operation of the systems. This paper deals with our comprehensive program for the onshore cathodic protection systems and the various challenges in different countries with respect to technical matters, such as operating conditions and different terrain. Generally, the systems are based on automatically controlled rectifier systems with a wide range of current drainage and very comprehensive monitoring of potentials and current flowing. The use of coupons, polarisation cells and buried reference cells are essential, as well as the use of intensive measurements along the route. The use of online monitoring of selected test posts and all rectifier ...
This paper deals with the efficient simulation of the dynamical behaviour of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs). MCFCs allow an efficient and environmentally friendly energy production via electrochemical reactions. Their dynamics can be described by large scale systems of up to currently 22 nonlinear partial differential algebraic equations (PDAE). The paper also serves as a basis for later parameter identification and optimal control purposes. Therefore, the numerical simulations are particularly based on hierarchically embedded systems of PDAE, first of all in one space dimension. The PDAE are of mixed parabolic-hyperbolic type and are completed by nonlinear initial and boundary conditions of mixed type. For a series of embedded models in one space dimension, the vertical method of lines (MOL) is used throughout this paper. For the semi-discretization in space appropriate difference schemes are applied depending on the type of equations. ...
The feasibility of using desferrioxamine (DF), an iron chelator, as a therapeutic agent against paraquat (PQ/sup + +/) toxicity in male Sprague-Dawley rats was explored, based on the rationale of limiting toxic hydroxyl radical production from hydrogen peroxide by removing redox-active iron. Body weights, mortality, and lung histopathology were followed for periods up to 14 days after intraperitoneal injection of PQ/sup + +/ (20 or 25 mg/kg body weight) with or without concurrent daily subcutaneous injections of DF (300 mg/day). Animals receiving PQ/sup + +/ showed the expected typical patterns of mortality and of lung histopathology, namely: marked edema, subpleural hemorrhage, acute inflammation, perivascular mononuclear cell infiltrates, sloughing of alveolar and bronchiolar liningcells, and diffuse interstitial fibrosis. Desferrioxamine alone was non-toxic. Surprisingly, results when both PQ/sup + +/ and DF were ...
Combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy (CRC) is actually one important way of research in oncology. Theoretical advantages are: (1) Spatial cooperation; (2) Additivity, which is only obtained if the toxicity of each modality are different; (3) Supra-additivity, which needs a rigorous in vitro definition; the only way to prove it is to make an isobologram analysis. This model has however, some limitations: qualitative variable could not be used, results could be different, depending on the cellline and isoeffect chosen...In fact, a supra-additivity was only demonstrated for cis platinum and etoposide. Interactions mechanisms were: (1) at the molecular level, creation of new lesions or inhibition of radiation lesions repair; (2) At the cellular level, either cytokinetic cooperation with S-phase dependent drugs, or synchronization for the drugs which blocked the cells in M-phase; (3) At the tissular level, ...
The transfer function concept is well known as an additional method to evaluate the impulse test of power transformers in the test laboratory. Another application for the transfer function method is monitoring of transformers in service. Thereby, Off-line and On-line monitoring can be realized. Both kinds of monitoring are demonstrated with on-site measurements on a power transformer in service.
Overloaded transmission lines are only part of the problem. The ability of the network to carry power is also limited by the supply of reactive power and by frequency stability. Reactive power problems must be corrected in minutes, frequency stability problems in seconds. There is no way that market forces can handle these problems. Reactive power must be supplied to all long transmission and distribution lines to compensate for the loss of reactive volt-amperes - and resulting voltage drop - in the reactance along the line`s length. 7 figs.
Juvenile trees of kalmia derived from shoot tip culture, and seedlings of kobus were irradiated with #gamma#-rays. In kalmia, two mutation lines were obtained which had narrowlong leaves. In kobus two mutation lines were obtained. One mutation line has flowers with 7 to 13 petals. Another mutation line has yellow-green variegated leaves. (author).
During the last several years, audible noise produced by high voltage transmission lines in corona has emerged as an important design consideration. In this same time frame a number of different methods for calculating audible noise levels have been proposed. The methods currently available, for both ac and dc lines, are described in this paper and are compared through application to practical line geometries for which data from long-term measurements are available.
Development of selective serotonin transporter (SERT) tracers for single-photon emission tomography (SPET) is important for studying the underlying pharmacology and interaction of specific serotonin reuptake site inhibitors, commonly used antidepressants, at the SERT sites in the human brain. In search of a new tracer for imaging SERT, IDAM (5-iodo-2-[[2-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]phenyl]thio]benzyl alcohol) was developed. In vitro characterization of IDAM was carried out with binding studies in celllines and rat tissue homogenates. In vivo binding of [[sup 125]I]IDAM was evaluated in rats by comparing the uptakes in different brain regions through tissue dissections and ex vivo autoradiography. In vitro binding study showed that IDAM displayed an excellent affinity to SERT sites (K[sub i]=0.097 nM, using membrane preparations of LLC-PK[sub 1] cells expressing the specific transporter) and showed more than 1000-fold of ...
Gel dosimetry is a new dosimetry method applied in radiation therapy. Gel dosimeters consist of a radiation sensitive gel, which can integrate absorbed doses from several radiation sources or beams. The dose to the gel can be evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a procedure that is the focus of the present thesis. A robust tool for the evaluation of the nonuniformity in MRI has been developed, the Deviation Image method. Unlike previously presented methods, the Deviation Image method includes all nonuniformity variations across a phantom surface and is insensitive to stochastic noise. Methods for the estimation of stochastic noise were analyzed in terms of sensitivity to nonuniformities. A method that averages the stochastic noise level over five regions over the phantom surface, and a method that assesses the stochastic noise level from the background, were found to be the methods of choice. Pronounced MR image nonuniformity variation with repetition and ...
Aerial lines or cables, as one mainly energy transport path of electronic system when illuminated by HEMP, has been often modeled by field-to-transmission line model. However, in many cases, authors too often encounter some confusing statements to the lines effects during experimental procedure. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss these cases, such as the electromagnetic environment above the ground plane, the contribution of the different electromagnetic field component to the induced current and voltage, variations of the load current for different line heights and ground conductivities etc. (authors)
Results obtained on induced current and voltage caused by a high voltage transmission lines running parallel at a trolley bus contact lines, are presented. A computer program in Basic language, was developed to calculate the electric induction, problems of safety, a theoretical development and mathematical model of the electric factors between two lines (inductor and induced) are also discussed. 11 figs., 1 tab., 8 refs.
A detailed description is given of the design, fabrication, and installation of oil-filled 500-kV cable lines used for the first time in the USSR for transmitting electric power from step-up transformers installed several meters from the hydroelectric generators to an outdoor distribution system or a junction point at which they are connected to overhead power transmission lines. These lines are 950 to 1050 m long and they are placed at levels differing by 45 m along the route. These lines can transmit power as great as 630 MV.A.
We have investigated the properties of nerve cell precursors in hydra by analyzing the differentiation and proliferation capacity of interstitial cells in the peduncle of Hydra oligactis, which is a region of active nerve cell differentiation. Our results indicate that about 50% of the interstitial cells in the peduncle can grow rapidly and also give rise to nematocyte precursors when transplanted into a gastric environment. If these cells were committed nerve cell precursors, one would not expect them to differentiate into nematocytes nor to proliferate apparently without limit. Therefore we conclude that cycling interstitial cells in peduncles are not intermediates in the nerve cell differentiation pathway but are stem cells. The remaining interstitial cells in the peduncle are ...
A silicon solar cell assembly comprising a large, thin silicon solar cell bonded to a metal mount for use when there exists a mismatch in the thermal expansivities of the device and the mount.
Experiments were designed to elucidate whether or not the irradiated bone marrow cells receive any stimulation for the self-replication and differentiation from normal 'stromal' cell colonies in the bone marrow cell culture in vitro. When irradiated or unirradiated bone marrow cells were overlaid on the normal adherent cell colonies, the proliferation of haemopoietic stem cells was supported, the degree of the stimulation depending on the starting cellular concentration. There was, however, no significant changes in the concentration of either CFUs or CFUc regardless of the dose of irradiation on the bone marrow cells overlaid. This was a great contrast to the dose-dependent decrease of CFUs or CFUc within the culture in which both the stem cells and stromal cells were ...
Ethane oxidation was studied in ethane-grown resting cells (mycelia) of an Acremonium sp. and in cell-free preparations of such mycelia. From resting cell experiments evidence was found for a pathway...Full Text Available
In most adult tissues there reside pools of stem and progenitor cells inside specialized microenvironments referred to as niches. The niche protects the stem cells from inappropriate expansion...Full Text Available
... Fuel Cell Technologies Equipment on Environmental Expert Find and compare a variety of fuel cell technologies equipment on the world's largest environmental industry portal. View ...
Purpose.There is a paucity of neuron replacement studies for retinal ganglion cells. Given the complex phenotype of these neurons, replacement of ganglion cells may be impossible....Full Text Available
We report the isolation of adherent, clonogenic, fibroblast-like cells with osteogenic and adipogenic potential from the blood of four mammalian species. These cells phenotypically resemble but are...Full Text Available
Effects of cell concentrations on the survival and repopulation of haemopoietic stem cells after irradiation were studied in the long-term culture of mouse bone marrow cells in vitro. No difference was observed in the survival of the stem cells among cultures in which 0 - 10/sup 7/ cells were re-inoculated on the adherent cell colonies in the culture flask. Stem cells showed a significant proliferation within 1 week and the number of the stem cells exceeded the control in 3 weeks after irradiation in the cultures with less than 10/sup 6/ re-inoculated cells per flask. In contrast, there was a considerable delay in the onset of stem cell proliferation after irradiation in the culture with 10/sup 7/ cells per flask. Based on these results, a possibility that a ...
Emission-line abundances have been uncertain for more than a decade due to unexplained discrepancies in the relative intensities of the forbidden lines and weak permitted recombination lines in planetary nebulae (PNe) and H II regions. The observed intensities of forbidden and recombination lines originating from the same parent ion differ from their theoretical values by factors of more than an order of magnitude in some of these nebulae. In this study we observe UV resonance line absorption in the central stars of PNe produced by the nebular gas, and from the same ions that emit optical forbidden lines. We then compare the derived absorption column densities with the emission measures determined from ground-based observations of the nebular forbidden lines. We find for our sample of PNe that the collisionally excited forbidden ...
SummaryIn vivo tumor cell migration through integrin-dependent pathways is key to the metastatic behavior of malignant cells. Using quantitative in vivo...Full Text Available
Terminal differentiation of many vascular cells involves cell wall changes. Cells first elongate their primary wall, then lay down a lignified secondary wall, which is often followed by digestion of...Full Text Available
For proper tissue morphogenesis, cell divisions and cell fate decisions must be tightly and coordinately regulated. One elegant way to accomplish this is to couple them with asymmetric cell divisions....Full Text Available
Totipotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into every cell type. Renewal of totipotent stem cells in the germline and cellular differentiation during early embryogenesis rely upon posttranscriptional...Full Text Available
AIM: To isolate and identify the biological characteristics of human colon cancer stem cells (SW1116 cells) and further study their proteome.METHODS: SW1116 cells were isolated and cultured with...Full Text Available
Interleukin 2 (IL-2) and B-cell growth factors I and II (BCGF I and BCGF II) are lymphokines produced by T cells that play a major role in T- and B-cell cooperation. Peripheral blood lymphocytes from...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
BackgroundStem cell characteristics are an important feature of human cancer cells and play a major role in the therapy resistance of tumours. Strategies to target cancer stem cells...Full Text Available
Endothelial cells and mural cells (smooth muscle cells, pericytes, or fibroblasts) are known to communicate with one another. Their interactions not only serve to support fully functional blood...Full Text Available
BackgroundAs the resident stem cells of skeletal muscle, satellite cells are activated by extracellular cues associated with local damage. Once activated, satellite cells will re-enter...Full Text Available
Craniofacial injuries require a variety of different cell types to repopulate areas of bone, cartilage, tendon, and fat. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) provide a multipotent cell source for tissue...Full Text Available
We describe the lethal, recessive accelerated-cell-death11 Arabidopsis mutant (acd11). Cell death in acd11 exhibits characteristics of animal apoptosis...Full Text Available
Somatic cell nuclear transfer or therapeutic cloning has provided great hope for stem cell-based therapies. However therapeutic cloning has been experiencing both ethical and technical difficulties....Full Text Available
Background:Stem cells can differentiate into multiple cell types, and therefore can be used for cellular therapies, including tissue repair. However, the participation of stem cells...Full Text Available
It has been postulated that thrombin binds to endothelial cells through, at least in part, cell surface glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulfate, which could serve as antithrombin cofactor on the...Full Text Available
Hematopoietic stem cells replenish all the cells of the blood throughout the lifetime of an animal. Although thousands of stem cells reside in the bone marrow, only a few contribute to blood production...Full Text Available
In the growing chloronema cell suspension cultures of the moss Funaria hygrometrica Hedw., activities of several enzymes have been found to be cell-density-dependent. Cyclic nucleotide...Full Text Available
In preimplantation mouse development, the first cell lineages to be established are the trophectoderm (TE) and inner cell mass. TE possesses epithelial features, including apical-basal cell polarity...Full Text Available
...false Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research Presidential Documents ...2009 Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research Memorandum for the Heads...scientifically worthy human stem cell research, including human...
Background/Purpose: Peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) are commonly used for neonatal vascular access. The aim of this study was to look at PICC line complication rates and possible predictors of PICC infection in a neonatal intensive care unit. Method: This was a prospective study of 226 neonates who had PICCs on our neonatal intensive care unit between January 2006 and June 2009. Complete data was available on 218 neonates who had 294 PICC lines. Criteria for catheter-related sepsis was positive blood cultures (peripheral/central) and/or a positive catheter tip culture after removal in the presence of a clinical suspicion of line sepsis. Results: Of 218 neonates, 132 (169 lines) were medical, and 86 (125 lines) were surgical. Our PICC line infection rate was 17 infect...
Abstract Voltage sag caused by faults on an electric power transmission line is one of the most intractable power quality issues for both utility companies and customers. The fault in power system randomly exists along transmission lines due to the combination of many uncertain factors. To predict and assess the annual expected sag frequency (ESF) deriving from the faults along lines, a stochastic based method that employs maximum entropy principle, namely the maximum entropy probability method (MEPM), has been introduced in this paper. Moreover, various types of faults have been considered systematically. With the fault line intervals and the sample moments taken into account, the discrete values of distribution probability of fault locations along the transmission lines have been estimat...
This report presents the data and results of a site specific case study comparing costs of an overhead line with an underground circuit traversing the same route. The costs used for the overhead line are actual numbers for a line scheduled to be built by a utility. The underground circuit costs were developed using the same criteria of line rating, contingencies, and location. Often cost comparisons between overhead and underground lines are made using figures taken from studies with widely varying assumptions. This project attempts to provide a comparison by studying the costs of overhead and underground lines following the same route and using the same design assumptions. Caution must be used, however, in extending the results of this study beyond its original intent. It is site-specific and may be representative of only one area of the country. 9 refs., 23 ...
Electric utilities have been surprised by recent opposition to the construction of very-high-voltage transmission lines, which met with little resistance in the past. Concerns over health and safety factors are associated with the increase in the number of such lines, although their presence has always been an inconvenience and a hazard for those living and working in the immediate vicinity. The new lines present additional hazards due to the continuous flow of small electric currents and the charges that build up in the area of the towers and lines. The lines are also a threat to persons wearing cardiac pacemakers. There is experimental evidence from the Soviet Union and the U.S. that electric and magnetic fields at the frequencies of such power lines can have serious biological effects on growth rates and the functioning of the central nervous system. Full ...
In the CLIC main linac it is very important to minimise the trajectory excursion and consequently the emittance dilution in order to obtain the required luminosity. Several algorithms have been proposed and lately the ballistic method has proved to be very effective. The trajectory method described in this Note retains the main advantages of the latter while adding some interesting features. It is based on the separation of the unknown variables like the quadrupole misalignments, the offset and slope of the injection straight line and the misalignments of the beam position monitors (BPM). This is achieved by referring the trajectory relatively to the injection line and not to the average pre-alignment line and by using two trajectories each corresponding to slightly different quadrupole strengths. A reference straight line is then derived onto which the beam is bent by a kick obtained by moving the ...
We have developed a cell-mediated mutagenesis assay in which cells with the appropriate markers for mutagenesis are co-cultivated with either lethally irradiated rodent embryonic cells that can metabolize carcinogenic hydrocarbons or with primary rat liver cells that can metabolize chemicals carcinogenic to the liver. During co-cultivation, the reactive metabolites of the procarcinogen appear to be transmitted to the mutable cells and induce mutations in them. Assays of this type make it possible to demonstrate a relationship between carcinogenic potency of the chemicals and their ability to induce mutations in mammalian cells. In addition, by simultaneously comparing the frequencies of transformation and mutation induced in normal diploid hamster cells by benzo(a)pyrene (BP) and one of its metabolites, it is possible to estimate the genetic ...
...Basic Information | Fuel Cells & Vehicles | US EPA This web page provides basic information on EPA's Fuel Cells & Vehicles web site ...including the chemical composition of fuel cell technology, how it works, descriptions of the various types of fuel cells , their availability and ... background,electrochemical,hydrogen,fuel cell,fuel cell vehicle,fuel reformer,performace,improved fuel economy,increased engine efficiency,lower emissions,zero emissions,availablity,fuel cell types,diagram,Proton ...Exchange Membrane,PEM Basic Information | Fuel Cells & Vehicles | US EPA background,electrochemical,hydrogen,fuel cell,fuel cell vehicle,fuel reformer,performace,improved fuel economy,...
Laser-assisted processing techniques for producing high-quality solar cell metallization patterns are investigated, developed, and characterized. The tasks comprising these investigations are outlined. A new batch of solar cells was processed using the laser decomposition of spun-on silver neodecanoate to metallize cells. Decomposition of silver neodecanoate was carried out at different laser powers on different cells on a given wafer to determine whether this would have any effect on cell performance. Solar cells which were written with laser powers of 5 to 8 watts, gave excellent results with cell efficiencies in the range of 14 to 16%.
... nent to the design and construction of metal-semiconductor solar cells, in that both the photovoltage and the efficiency of metal-semiconductor cells ...
This contribution provides an overview and imparts basic knowledge on pertinent technical developments in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver: 3D sequences, respiratory triggering, parallel imaging, and 3 Tesla (3T). 3D sequences can be used as T1-weighted (T1w) sequences for analyzing dynamics of contrast enhancement or as T2w sequences for MR cholangiography. Consistent improvements in respiratory triggering make it possible to obtain good image quality on T2w scans even in patients unable to hold their breath. Parallel imaging as a universal technique to accelerate image acquisition is particularly appropriate for MRI of the liver, and it has been shown that the reduced acquisition time is not achieved at the expense of image quality. Further progress in MRI of the liver can be expected with use of the 3T systems, but hitherto irrelevant problems must still be solved. Overall the ...
An Otto cycle engine with internal and external irreversibilities of friction and heat leakage, in which the heat transfer between the working fluid and the environment obeys linear phenomenological heat transfer law [q ?? ?(T ?1)], is studied in this paper. The optimal piston motion trajectory for maximizing the work output per cycle is derived for the fixed total cycle time and fuel consumed per cycle. Optimal control theory is applied to determine the optimal piston trajectories for the cases of with and without piston acceleration constraint on each stroke and the optimal distribution of the total cycle time among the strokes. The optimal piston motion with acceleration constraint for each stroke consists of three segments, including initial maximum acceleration and final maximum decel...
We study the finite temperature electroweak transition with non-perturbative lattice Monte Carlo simulations. We find that it is of first order, at least for Higgs masses up to 80 GeV. The critical temperature of the phase transition is found to be smaller than that determined by a 2-loop renormalization group improved effective potential. The jump of the order parameter at the critical temperature is considerably larger than the perturbative value. By comparing lattice data and perturbation theory, we demonstrate that the latter, for the computation of the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field v(T) in the broken phase at given temperature, converges quite well, provided v(T)/T>1. An upper bound on the Higgs mass necessary for electroweak baryogenesis in the light of the lattice data is briefly discussed.
Studies on the separation of Ag(I) during the recovery of Pu from analytical waste generated during potentiometric determination of Pu using AgO as oxidant, by precipitation of Pu as ammonium plutonium (III) oxalate have shown that most of the Ag(I) is separated during the reduction of Pu to Pu(III) state by ascorbic acid. A decontamination factor of 54 was obtained. Additional a decontamination factor of 5.8 was obtained during the precipitation of Pu as ammonium plutonium (III) oxalate. The Ag content was determined by gamma spectrometry, using "1"1"1Ag as a tracer (T_1_/_2 7.45 d, #gamma# 342.1 keV) and HPGe as detector. The studies indicate that Ag is preferentially separated almost quantitatively during the recovery of plutonium, when acidity adjustment is done with NaOH instead of NH_3. (author)
A prospective study was performed on 50 patients suffering from osteochondritis dissecans of the knee and ankle to define criteria for stability and fixation of osteochondral lesions. Morphological parameters in MRI (size, fragmentation, cartilage, interface) and conventional radiology (separation, fragmentation) were registered and compared with arthroscopical staging. MRI staging based on different types of interfaces was demonstrated on T_1- and T_2-weighted images. MRI could correctly predict a Grade 1 lesion in 50%, a Grade 2 lesion in 90%, a Grade 3 lesion on 0%, and a Grade 4 lesion in 79%. Stable lesions were differentiated from unstable lesions in 90%. Radiographic findings corresponded with arthroscopic staging in only 56% of the cases because fibrotic connection may guarantee stability in case of bony separation. (orig./MG).
A four-stage scoring system for brain maturation was established with MR imaging. First, gyration and myelination were analyzed in 50 anamnestically normal children (32-240 weeks postconceptional age). Subsequently 60 patients (same age range) with birth asphyxia, seizures, or developmental delays were evaluated analogously. T1- and T2-weighted images (500/30 and 3,000/120 [repetition time msec/echo time msec]) were obtained with a 2.35-T magnet in all children. Whereas gyration abnormalities were seen in some patients, all handicapped children presented with delayed myelination. In conclusion, prospective staging of brain development (gyration and myelination) is possible and is best obtained with T2-weighted images.
MRI findings in 13 patients with monolateral parotid tumor were compared with US, sialographic and CT findings. MRI did not allow an accurate diagnosis in 2 patients with diffuse chronic parotitis. MRI was superior to CT in 1 case in defining the intraglandular site of the lesion, and in 2 patients in showing the extraglandular involvement. MRI proved to be superior to CT thanks to its contrast resolution and to multiplanar imaging. MRI high contrast resolution made it possible to demonstrate neoplastic lesions of 4 mm in diameter. The lesion has low signal intensity on T1-weighted images and high signal intensity on T2-weighted. Parotid tumors cannot be characterized by signal intensity alone: only morphology allows to discriminate between benign and malignant lesions. To conclude, US is a screening method, while MRI is helpful in detecting multifocal lesions and in evaluating the tumor extent.
In the first part of this contribution, the definition of reference values is given and the theoretical and practical problems in the application of this concept are discussed. In this connection, the present resources on instrumentation and the technical requirements for dose assessment are described. In the second part, some consequences are taken and proposals for further actions are made. (orig.) [German] Im ersten Teil des Aufsatzes werden die Definition von Referenzwerten in der radiologischen Diagnostik untersucht und die theoretischen und praktischen Probleme der Umsetzung des gesamten Konzepts eroertert. In diesem Zusammenhang werden auch der gegenwaertige Geraetebestand und die technischen Voraussetzungen zur Dosisermittlung beschrieben. Im zweiten Teil werden daraus Schlussfolgerungen gezogen und Vorschlaege zum weiteren Vorgehen gemacht. (orig.)
Phytoplankton community composition, density, and succession were studied in tropical commercial ponds with euryhaline tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fabricius) using green-water technology at two different stocking densities [T1 10 post-larvae (PL) m?2 and T2 15 PL m?2] in one grow-out season (May?October 2005) in Leganes, Iloilo, Philippines. Weekly qualitative and quantitative analyses of phytoplankton were done along with physicochemical analyses of the pond waters. A total of 103 taxa belonging to nine different algal classes were observed. Of these classes, the Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Bacillariophyceae constituted the great bulk of the phytoplankton population. The two treatments did not show any significant differences in the growth pattern of phytoplankton over time and in t...
The optimal management of men with very favorable clinicopathological factors who develop biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) has not been previously reported. Both local and systemic recurrences are unlikely in this cohort. This study examines their management and outcomes. Between October 2000 to March 2010, 1627 men underwent open RP by a single surgeon. In all, 448 (27.5%) met the following criteria for extremely low risk disease: preoperative PSA level <10?ng?ml?1, clinical stage T1c/T2a, Gleason score ?6, estimated cancer volume in the surgical specimen ?5% and no evidence for positive surgical margin. Undetectable PSA was defined as ?0.04?ng?ml?1. BCR was defined as PSA ?0.2?ng?ml...
This paper examines Pippenger's (2011) proposed solution to the forward bias puzzle, which is based on the covered interest parity (CIP) condition. It is argued that the CIP-based approach does not solve this well known and long-standing puzzle in international finance in a meaningful way. Moreover, it is shown that empirical results from such an approach follow mechanically from the identity-like nature of the theory of covered interest parity, which, aside from small deviations due to transaction costs, is assumed to hold in all periods (as if it were an identity). We show that rather than leading to new insights, the simple reconfiguration of CIP to solve for the time t+1 spot exchange rate leads to tautological expressions that, when estimated, might appear to successfully explain the ...
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to observe the process of fixation in liver specimens non-invasively by means of magnetic resonance. The fixation process of several formaldehyde-containing solutions was monitored with MRI and MRS at two different temperatures. Materials and Methods: Liver specimens were conserved in aqueous fixative solutions containing formaldehyde concentrations of 0.7, 1.8, 4 and 7.2% and at different temperatures of 5 C and 20 C. MRI was performed with T1-, T2- and PD-weighted TSE sequences, a 2D FLASH-sequence with and without magnetization transfer, and a FISP 3D-sequence on a clinical 1.5 Tesla MR whole-body unit, and MRS with {sup 1}H-spectroscopic methods (STEAM-sequence) on a 3 Tesla MR whole-body unit. Results: The diffusion of formaldehyde into the tissue was best identified on PD- and T1-weighted images as a band under the liver surface with increasing thickness, ...
Normal state nuclear magnetic resonance studies of the La_3In, La_3Tl compounds have been made in order to investigate the origin of the large temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility. It is possible to analyse the different contributions to the susceptibility using Knight-shift and relaxation time T_1 measurements of In"1"1"5 and Tl"2"0"5 nuclei. The exchange enhancement of the spin-susceptibility chisub(pd) is of the same order as that found in A-15 compounds and the strong temperature-dependence of chi(T) is attributed to the presence of a peak in the electronic density of states near the Fermi level. The variation of the Knight-shift in the ternary alloys La_3Xsub(1-y)Xsub(y)sup(') is analogous to that observed in the corresponding La_3X phases, on the other hand the Knight-shift in the carbides La_3XC is temperature independent. (author).
Summary Status epilepticus or other brain-damaging insults launch a cascade of events that may lead to the development of epilepsy. MRI techniques available today, including T2- and T1-weighted imaging, functional MRI, manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and phase imaging, can detect not only damage caused by status epilepticus but also plastic changes in the brain that occur in response to damage. Optimal balance between damage and recovery processes is a key for planning possible treatments, and noninvasive imaging has the potential to greatly facilitate this process and to make personalized treatment plans possible.
A detector has been developed and used to measure dose distributions versus linear energy transfer to thin gas targets in spherical geometry from fast neutron irradiation of tissue-equivalent plastic and carbon. The detector is a hemispherical proportional counter with a Cs(T1) scintillator at the center of the hemisphere. The coincidence of the proportional counter signals constrain the measurements to charged particles traversing the radius of the hemisphere. The charged particle energy deposition distributions are directly measured for a known pathlength. The A-150 kerma factor was measured at a neutron energy of 14.8 MeV and is in agreement with tabulated values. The carbon kerma factor measurements are less than the tabulated value at 14.8 MeV. The alpha-particle production in carbon was measured for neutron energies from 14.1 to 14.8 MeV and is compared with existing data.
An inclusion complex between imazalil (IMZ), a selected fungicide, and cyclomaltoheptaose (beta-cyclodextrin, betaCD) was obtained using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide. The best preparation conditions were determined, and the inclusion complex was investigated by means of 1H NMR spectroscopy in aqueous solution and 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy in the solid state. Information on the geometry of the betaCD/IMZ complex was obtained from ROESY spectroscopy, while the dynamics of the inclusion complex in the kilohertz range was obtained from the proton spin-lattice relaxation times in the rotating frame, T(1rho) (1H). PMID:14553984
In this work, the half-life of the "1"5"5Sm #beta#"- decay was determined using enriched "1"5"4Sm samples submitted to irradiation in the IEA-R1 reactor of IPEN; the activity of the samples were followed for 4-5 consecutive half lives using a 198 cm"3 HPGe detector. The data was corrected using a non paralizable dead time correction and fitted to an exponential decay function using a non linear fitting procedure developed on the MatLab platform. The resulting value--T_1_/_2 = 22.180(26) min--was compatible to the one found in the literature, with a lower uncertainty.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pork/beef levels and the casings on the quality properties of semi-dried jerky. The pork/beef levels in the four test formulations were as follows: T-1 (pork: beef=100:0), T-2 (95:5), T-3 (90:10), and T-4 (80:20). After tumbling for 30min with curing solution, the cured meats were stuffed into natural sheep casings, collagen casings, or cellulose casings, and then dried. The restructured jerky with cellulose casing had the lowest water content and the highest protein content, with no significant differences between various formulations. There were no significant differences among all formulations with regard to pH and total microbial counts, and jerky with cellulose casing had the lowest value of water activity. The processing yields ...
In 15 patients (16 hip joints) we found the clinical and radiological signs of BMOS. On T1-weighted MRI images areas of low signal intensity could be observed in the head, neck and the intertrochanteric region of the femur in various extensions. These areas showed a significant increase in signal intensity on the T2-weighted images. Because pain was resistant to conservative therapy all these patients were treated by core decompression of the femoral head in a prospective study. Bone cores were evaluated histologically using undecalcified sections and quantitative microradiography. The existence of intramedullary oedema in exactly the regions exhibiting the MRI pattern of bone marrow oedema was verified histologically; however, bone and marrow changes similar to those of early avascular necrosis (AVN) were also visible. (orig.)
Summation Copper-64 (T1/2?=?12.7 hours; ?+, 0.653?MeV [17.8 %]; ??, 0.579?MeV [38.4 %]) has decay characteristics that allow for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and targeted radiotherapy of cancer. The well-established coordination chemistry of copper allows for its reaction with a wide variety of chelator systems that can potentially be linked to peptides and other biologically relevant small molecules, antibodies, proteins, and nanoparticles. The 12.7-hours half-life of 64Cu provides the flexibility to image both smaller molecules and larger, slower clearing proteins and nanoparticles. In a practical sense, the radionuclide or the 64Cu-radiopharmaceuticals can be easily shipped for PET imaging studies at sites remote to the production facility. Due to the versatility of 64Cu, ...
This paper develops a fluid dynamic model using finite difference methods characterizing flow in phantoms simulating in vivo conditions and to compare those results with velocity encoded MR images. The phantom consisted of 1-inch (2.5-cm) tubing with semicircular insert and fluid with viscosity, T1, and T2 comparable to blood. Numeric solutions to Navier-Stokes equations for this system were obtained using finite difference methods, with velocity input function of zero at walls and parabolic at both ends. In resulting color raster (CR) images, color temperature represented velocity value. In velocity-encoded MR images acquired under the same flow conditions, phase is proportional to average velocity during application of flow-encoding gradients. Because these gradients are applied along one direction per acquisition, magnitude and direction of velocity are obtained.
Twenty-three patients with intracranial meningiomas were examined by means of magnetic resonance tomography (MRT). In 13 patients the paramagnetic contrast medium gadolinium DTPA was used. Meningiomas show only slight changes in signal intensity compared with brain in the spin-echo mode, the greatest contrast being found on photon density images (TR 1600 ms, TE 35 ms). In T1 images more than 50% of the patients showed a low signal margin between tumour and brain. Hyperostosis of the calvarium is easily recognised, but MRT is unreliable for showing tumour calcification. After intravenous injection of gadolinium DTPA, there was marked homogeneous uptake in the meningiomas. These signs are useful for the diagnosis of a meningioma by MRT. (orig.).
In this context, the bulk ratio of CH4/N2 is examined as a potential alternative geochemical parameter for the assessment of thermal maturity of natural gas and compared to other previously published data. Open-system non-isothermal pyrolysis of low-mature coal from the Manjiaer sag, Tarim basin, yielded generation curves for methane and nitrogen. Analysis of the change of vitrinite reflectance indicates a two-stage process of thermal maturation with increasing temperatures. The relationship between Ro and pyrolysis temperature could be expressed by the following equations: Stage I: Ro = 0.0014T + 0.109, r = 0.9931(Ro Ro = 0.0067T -1.5855, r = 0.9996 (Ro > 0.6%). A kinetic interpretation of the characteristics of nitrogen and methane generation in humic coal during laboratory pyrolysis ind...
BackgroundAlthough benign ampullary tumors are removed endoscopically, due to their potential to progress to malignant disease, the favored treatment for adenocarcinoma is pancreaticoduodenectomy. We reviewed our institutions experience in order to identify which patients were at highest risk of disease progression following surgical resection, as well as evaluate whether localized T1 tumors are best treated by pancreaticoduodenectomy. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 157 patients who presented with an ampullary mass, from 2001 to 2010, and identified 51 with benign adenoma and 106 with adenocarcinoma. ResultsPatients with malignant tumors most often presented with larger tumors and jaundice, which alone was predictive of survival (OR = 67). Forty-five percent of patients with pathologic...
We present our discovery of a narrow-line Baldwin effect, an anti-correlation between the equivalent width (EW) of a line and the flux of the associated continuum, in 5-20$\\mu$m mid-infared lines from a sample of 68 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), located at z$<$0.5, observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on the {\\it Spitzer Space Telescope}. Our analysis reveals a clear anti-correlation between the EW of the [SIV] 10.51$\\mu$m, [NeII] 12.81$\\mu$m, and [NeIII] 15.56$\\mu$m lines and their mid-IR continuum luminosities, while the Baldwin effect for [NeV] 14.32$\\mu$m is not as obvious. We suggest that this anti-correlation is driven by the central AGN and not circumnuclear star formation in the host galaxy. We also find that the slope of the narrow-line Baldwin effect in the mid-infrared does not appear to steepen with increasing ionization potential. Examining the dependence of ...
OBJECTIVES: To reassess the risk of leukaemia associated with residential exposure near high voltage transmission electric lines of 49 kV and above in view of the recent publications. METHODS: Through...Full Text Available
BackgroundSome epidemiologic studies have suggested an association between electromagnetic field exposure induced by high voltage power lines and childhood leukemia, but null results...Full Text Available
Dairy cattle of three genetic lines maintained year round in total confinement (either in loose housing or tie stall barn) were monitored for estrous cycle activity and reproductive performance. Only...Full Text Available
The latest electronic circuit technology that can be used for the electric railway traction system fed by an AC/DC dual power line was developed. This system consists of reverse conducting GTO thyristors, microprocessors, and DSP`s. In the AC power supply line section, the line converter is controlled by PWM technology to secure a high power factor and reduce the higher harmonic generation of an input current as far as possible. The line converter and motor converter use reverse conducting GTO thyristors. Since these converters are cooled using a heat pipe cooler, they are reduced in size and weight. The electric grounding point of the main power circuit is set to the negative side of the DC line for AC and DC line sections. Therefore, the AC/DC selector switch was simplified in structure. Moreover, the DC input for the auxiliary power supply can be obtained ...
Operation of an X-ray spectrometer based on a spherical variable-line-spacing (VLS) grating is analyzed using dedicated ray-tracing software allowing fast optimization of the grating parameters and...Full Text Available
This booklet presents safe practices that you should follow if your activities take you near high-voltage transmission lines. It documents information that has generally been available to the public.
We study how the microscale topography of a solid surface affects the apparent advancing and receding angles at the contact line of a liquid drop pinned to this surface. Photolithographic methods...Full Text Available
This report discusses the work done on EPRI program S149-1. In this program the feasibility of cleaning steam generators off line with organic chelants as a means of arresting denting corrosion was investigated. The rationale behind this program is to mak...
Until 1990, in Tuscany, salt pollution of anti-salt insulators installed on high-tension transmission lines had led to rare breakdowns. On the contrary, in the last months of 1990, in most of Tuscany, following a strong libeccio wind coming from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and due to a long period of drought, salt deposits accumulated on the insulators of the high-voltage transmission lines (380 kV, 220 kV and 132 kV). This phenomenon not only took place in the coastal areas near Livorno, Pisa and Grosseto, but also in areas far away from the sea such as Florence, Prato, Arezzo and Siena. Following this, several high-tension lines, and whole sections of 380 kV electric stations went out of order, damaging the stations' equipment, insulators on the lines, and in particular porcelain insulators. The maintenance operations that were immediately undertaken consisted in washing operations, first focussed on ...
Until 1990, in Tuscany, salt pollution of anti-salt insulators installed on high-tension transmission lines had led to rare breakdowns. On the contrary, in the last months of 1990, in most of Tuscany, following a strong libeccio wind coming from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and due to a long period of drought, salt deposits accumulated on the insulators of the high-voltage transmission lines (380 kV, 220 kV and 132 kV). This phenomenon not only took place in the coastal areas near Livorno, Pisa and Grosseto, but also in areas far away from the sea such as Florence, Prato, Arezzo and Siena. Following this, several high-tension lines, and whole sections of 380 kV electric stations went out of order, damaging the stations' equipment, insulators on the lines, and in particular porcelain insulators. The maintenance operations that were immediately undertaken consisted in washing operations, first focussed on ...
This paper presents a method for the optimal design of high voltage transmission lines taking into consideration shielding and backflashover failure rates. The minimization of suitably defined performance indices, which relate the failures caused by lightning in a transmission line to both line insulation level and tower footing resistance, is aimed. Optimum values for both line insulation level and tower footing resistance are calculated. The method is applied on several operating Hellenic transmission lines of 150 and 400kV, respectively, carefully selected among others, due to their high failure rates during lightning thunderstorms. Special attention has been paid on open loop lines, where a possible failure could bring the system out of service causing significant problems. The obtained design parameters, which reduce the failure rates caused by lightning, ...
Previous studies have shown that iterative in-line x-ray phase retrieval algorithms may have higher precision than direct retrieval algorithms. This communication compares three iterative phase...Full Text Available
comprehensive description for this model is available through AGARD, Reference [8]. ... Specifically, there is a pocket of flow separation at the side-of- body ...
Overhead, high power transmission lines have secured rights of way on agricultural lands in Minnesota. The economic impact of such utility crossings, including effects on land price, was investigated. Sale records and survey data were analyzed. Buyers, sellers, and brokers were interviewed concerning inconvenience, radio interference, appearance, and loss of irrigation possibilities due to the transmission lines. In nine affected sales, there was only one case in which less money was indicated for the farm because of the presence of a transmission line.
Overhead, high power transmission lines have secured rights of way on agricultural lands in Minnesota. The economic impact of such utility crossings, including effects on land price, was investigated. Sale records and survey data were analyzed. Buyers, sellers, and brokers were interviewed concerning inconvenience, radio interference, appearance, and loss of irrigation possibilities due to the transmission lines. In nine affected sales, there was only one case in which less money was indicated for the farm because of the presence of a transmission line.
Theoretical development for temperature measurements via narrow line, infrared absorption of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) is presented. The proposed technique is based on rapid-scanning of two adjacent absorption line shapes. Spectroscopic considerations for sensitivity to temperature measurements are discussed. Several line pairs are evaluated, and the R(58) and R(60) transitions of the (00{sup 0}1){l_arrow}(00{sup 0}0) band are suggested for use in high temperature measurements for combustion systems.
The present paper is concerned with the prediction method for the motions and tensions of mooring lines on slack-moored floating oceanic architectural building in coastal zone. The motions and the tensions of mooring lines were estimated by the time domain numerical simulation in the present method. The present method includes the nonlinearity of mooring system, slow varying wave drift force. The authors performed a time domain numerical simulation for motions and the tensions of mooring lines on floating barge in two component waves. Also, the results obtained by numerical simulation were compared with the experimental results. The validity of the present method was confirmed.
Audible noise from corona discharge had been identified as one of the most important factors in the design of conductor configurations for high-voltage transmission lines. 500 kV and above. Therefore this paper describes audible noise characteristics of 6 X 480 mm{sup 2} conductor bundle in KEPRI 765 kV Test Line and Corona Cage. Prediction formula for audible(corona) noise on a 765 kV Transmission Line was developed using this results. (author). 4 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.
Self-magnetically insulated, high-voltage transmission lines are used in inertial confinement fusion particle accelerators in order to transmit power from the vacuum insulator to the diode. This paper describes a time-dependent 2-D code (MITL) for calculating (for planar or triplate geometries) the motion of test electrons through the tapered input or output convolutes of such lines. MITL results show that the electron canonical momentum in the direction of the flow changes as the electron passes through the convoluted geometry; it is suggested that these electrons lead to losses observed in long self-magnetically insulated lines.
With the increasing use of high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission lines there is a growing concern among the public about possible human health effects resulting from exposure to the electric fields associated with these lines. While there is no definitive evidence of such effects, mounting public fear and activism over hypothesized health risks is already causing delays in the licensing and constuction of major power transmission facilities, and is encouraging the formation of regulatory policy. This paper briefly reviews the concerns, biological effects data and standards for HVAC transmission lines.
An improved method to design suitable compensating schemes for extra high voltage transmission lines is presented. The technique is general and effective and will greatly facilitate the design of the optimal compensation scheme for extra high voltage transmission lines. The technique is illustrated for a typical 500 kV system. The equations developed here for voltage maxima and minima along the transmission line eliminate the need for point-to-point computation of the voltage profile. The controversy existing in the literature over the problem of making a choice between pi and tee configurations has been removed and it is established with a mathematical proof that the tee configuration requires compensating elements of lower ratings.
The paper provides a brief description of the fuel characterization for Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) and Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). The development and characterization of mechanical properties of Alloy D9 clad and wrapper tubes are discussed. The problems associated with fusion welding of Alloy D9 are outlined. Non-destructive characterization of cladding tubes by optimum encircling eddy current probes, on-line and off-line neural network methods is presented. Both the on-line and off-line neural network methods could readily detect and size defects specified by the designers
Recent studies have shown Y chromosome microdeletions associated with male infertility. The factors responsible for Y chromosome microdeletions in spermatozoa remain unresolved. However, the environmental pollutants are known to damage DNA in differentiating and maturing germ cells in the male reproductive tract. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of seminal hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and its isomers, an environmental pollutant, in 50 fertile and 50 infertile males in relation to semen quality and the incidence of Y chromosome microdeletion in azoospermic factor (AZF) region. As compared to control, an increased HCH level and significantly decreased semen quality were observed in the infertile males. A positive significant association was found between sperm count with alpha-HCH and beta-HCH in the infertile males. A negative significant association was observed between sperm counts with gamma-HCH in asthenospermia patients and with ...
New platinum(II) complexes with asymmetrically substituted chiral diamine ligands A{sub 2}PtX{sub 2}, (A{sub 2}=NH{sub 2}CH(CH{sub 3})CH{sub 2}NH(c-C{sub 5}H{sub 9}) (apcpa), NH{sub 2}CH(CH{sub 3})CH{sub 2}NH(c-C{sub 6}H{sub 11}) (apcha); X{sub 2}=2Cl, isopropylidenmalonate (IPM), 1,1'-cyclobutandicarboxylate (CBDCA) have been synthesized and characterized by means of elemental analyses, infrared and NMR spectroscopies, and X-ray crystallography. The crystal structures of (S-apcha)Pt[CBDCA]{center_dot}3H{sub 2}O (orthorhombic, P2{sub 1}2{sub 1}2(No. 18), a=6.926(3), b=15.243(3), c=19.319(4) A, V=2039.5(10) A{sup 3}, Z=4, R=0.072) and (S-apcha)Pt[IPM]{center_dot}2.5H{sub 2}O (monoclinic, P2/c(No. 13), a=9.882(1), b=18.502(1), c=22.056(1) A, V=4032.8(5) A{sup 3}, Z=8, R=0.093) exhibit that the platinum atoms achieve a typical square planar arrangement with two nitrogen atoms in cis position and with the chiral center retained. The spectroscopic data disclose that these platinum ...
Radishes (Raphanus sativus L.) are members of the cruciferous vegetable family that contain many classes of biologically active phytochemicals. This study determined the phytochemical composition of the sprouts and mature taproots of 8 radish varieties. Radish sprouts contained significantly greater concentrations of glucosinolates (3.8-fold) and isothiocyanates (8.2-fold) than the mature radish taproot and also contained significantly greater concentrations of phenolics (on average 6.9-fold). The anthocyanin concentrations of the mature radish taproot were significantly greater than in the sprouts of red, pink, and purple varieties. The primary anthocyanidins present in the red and pink radish varieties were pelargonidin and delphinidin, while the primary anthocyanidin in the purple radish variety was cyanidin. Radish sprouts were between 9- and 59-fold more potent than the corresponding mature taproot at activating the antioxidant response element (ARE) in a stably transfected ...
Humoral immune response to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu or ErbB-2) has been detected in sera of breast cancer patients and shown to be an appropriate prognostic marker (Taylor et al., 2007). However, since Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a widely used monoclonal antibody as cancer therapy agent for tumors over-expressing HER-2, there is a need for an efficient way to detect host-generated antibodies against HER-2 without the confounding effect of Herceptin. Here we describe a screening method developed to decipher between host antibodies against HER-2 and that of Herceptin. By producing a series of truncation mutants within the epitope of Herceptin, we were able to inhibit this binding. We demonstrated also that by a three amino acid substitution (PPF?SSS) we were able to abrogate Herceptin binding while generating a highly conserved HER-2 extracellular domain (ECD). By producing a stable cellline that expresses this mutated ...
The stunning, intricate interaction between the visual, vestibular and optomotor systems--each a miracle on its own--ensures maintenance of orientation in space as well as visual recognition and target selection despite a host of sensory conflicts and adversary disturbances. Their main goals are to keep a target of interest on the fovea by either maintaining or shifting the direction of gaze in order to produce an accurate internal representation of the visual surroundings, in particular the selected target, and to continuously mirror the spatial relationship between these various visual elements and the self. Not surprising, the implementation of this host of elaborate neural networks encompasses almost every part of the brain, including the brainstem, cerebellum, extrapyramidal system and many areas of the cerebral cortex. Thus far, these systems are among the best investigated in brain research; and enormous knowledge was amassed over the last century employing a variety of ...
In order for fuel cells to be successful, a full-scale hydrogen infastructure is required. The HyTra concept is presented here (HYdrogen TRAnsform, Transfer and TRAnsport) involves combined production, storage and supply of hydrogen in a transportable trailer, i.e. it is both a hydrogen production unit and a mobile filling station. The trailer can be transported to the selected site, where it will produce gaseous hydrogen from electricity and water by electrolysis. A compressor pumps the gas into an internal pressure tank and compresses it to filling pressure. Filling takes place by the overflow principle via a flexible high-pressure line with a standardised H{sub 2} filling unit. (orig.) [German] Um die Marktdurchdringung der Brennstoffzellentechnik gewaehrleisten zu koennen, muss eine flaechendeckende Wasserstoffinfrastruktur aufgebaut werden. Das neue HyTra-Konzept (HYdrogen TRAnsform, TRAnsfer and TRAnsport) beruht auf der Kombination von ...
The safety of tissue allografts has come under increased scrutiny due to recent reports of allograft-associated bacterial and viral infections in tissue recipients. We report that 50 kGy of gamma irradiation, nearly three times the dose currently used, is an effective pathogen inactivation method when used under optimized conditions that minimize damage to the tissue. Cancellous bone dowels treated with a radioprotectant solution and 50 kGy of optimized irradiation had an ultimate compressive strength and modulus of elasticity equal to conventionally irradiated (18 kGy) and non-irradiated control bone grafts. We subjected bone dowels treated with this pathogen inactivation method to an in vitro cytotoxicity test using three different mammalian celllines and concluded that the treated grafts were not cytotoxic. The log reduction of nine pathogens spiked into radioprotectant-treated bone irradiated to 50 kGy was also tested. We achieved 4.9 logs ...
This report presents the results of work which included extensive modifications to HRI`s existing 3 ton per day Process Development Unit (PDU) and completion of the first PDU run. The 58-day Run 1 demonstrated scale-up of the Catalytic Two-Stage Liquefaction (CTSL Process) on Illinois No. 6 coal to produce distillate liquid products at a rate of up to 5 barrels per to of moisture-ash-free coal. The Kerr McGee Rose-SR unit from Wilsonville was redesigned and installed next to the US Filter installation to allow a comparison of the two solids removal systems. Also included was a new enclosed reactor tower, upgraded computer controls and a data acquisition system, an alternate power supply, a newly refurbished reactor, an in-line hydrotreater, interstage sampling system, coal handling unit, a new ebullating pump, load cells and improved controls and remodeled preheaters. Distillate liquid yields of 5 barrels/ton of moisture ash free coal were ...
Previous karyotypic studies have indicated a possible series of non-random chromosomal events involved in the progression of melanoma. We sought to define a model of melanocyte tumorigenesis by studying allelic deletions of polymorphic simple tandem repeat markers mapping to chromosome 1, 6q, 7, 9p, 10, 11, 17, and 21 in thirty matched pairs of melanoma and constitutional DNAs. The most frequent and earliest deletions were found on 9p (57%) and 10q (32%) and with the exception of one case, no sample has loss of markers on another chromosome without concomitant loss of markers on 9p and/or 10q. Losses on 6q were also a frequent (32%) event that sometimes occurred in primary melanomas, whereas losses of loci on distal 1p (26%) or 11q (26%) occurred only in metastic melanomas. A background rate (0-17%) of allele loss was seen on chromosomes 7, 17, and 21. Homozygous deletions in a panel of 31 melanoma celllines were only detected for markers on ...
Silicone-rubber washers function as damping and articulating elements in cast-aluminum spacers that separate bundle subconductors in each phase of extra-high-voltage transmission lines. Spacer/dampers are located every 3 ft. along transmission lines on Canada's first operational 500 and 735 kV system.
Since 1985 the operating sections of the 1200 kV AC Ekibastuz-Urals transmission system were used for a variety of field studies on a wide range of technological problems associated to high voltage transmission lines. The tests performed confirmed correctness of the main engineering and design decision made at development stage and demonstrated that such transmission lines are reliable and efficient. 3 figs.
The audible noise produced by corona on high-voltage transmission lines has several characteristics that differentiate it from other community noises. Transmission line noise is quite broadband and has a significant high frequency content. Special instrumentation designed to measure this type of noise pollution is described. All measuring systems have the same three basic elements: a transducer, a processing device, and an output device. Recorders, microphone devices, frequency analyzers, and meteorological instrumentation are discussed.
Variation for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain yield and its component traits was documented in a `Cheyenne¿ x Cheyenne (`Wichita¿ 3A) recombinant inbred chromosome line population. In the present study, a population of 223 Cheyenne (Wichita 3A) recombinant inbred chromosome lines was used to map ...
The use of irrigation systems in the proximity of high voltage transmission lines is increasing. This study examines the induced voltages and currents on a pivotal irrigation system operating under a 765 kV line. With a few simple precautions such as a system can be operated in complete safety. 1 ref.
The prediction of faults on high voltage transmission lines requires the detection of incipient faults, which is implemented by detection of the radio noise due to contaminated insulators, insulation deterioration, and improver connections. It is shown that the radio noise due to incipient faults is separable and identifiable from normal transmission line radio noise, hence faults can be predicted.
This paper presents some results of lightning induced over voltages for a typical high voltage transmission line configuration. The authors developed an elaborated electromagnetic coupling between the lightning channel and characteristics and the resulting induced overvoltage. The lightning current parameters, for local data, in order to determine the occurrence severity for high voltage transmission lines. (author)
The Baldwin Effect, a negative correlation between emission-line equivalent width and luminosity in active galactic nuclei, is still of interest as a diagnostic of accretion physics nearly thirty years after its discovery. This review examines recent developments in the study of correlations between line and continuum emission in AGNs, as measured both in ensembles and in individual sources.
We identify emission lines of post-iron peak elements in very high signal-to-noise spectra of a sample of planetary nebulae. Analysis of lines from ions of Kr and Xe reveals enhancements in most of the PNe, in agreement with the theories of s-process in AGB star. Surprisingly, we did not detect lines from Br even though s-process calculations indicate that it should be produced with Kr at detectable levels.