Large-scale cancer genome projects will soon be able to sequence many cancer genomes to comprehensively identify genetic changes in human cancer. Genome-wide association studies have also identified...Full Text Available
Metastable and somatically heritable patterns of DNA methylation provide an important level of genomic regulation. In this article, we review methods for analyzing these genome-wide epigenetic...Full Text Available
The ETS proteins are a family of transcription factors (TFs) that regulate a variety of biological processes. We made genome-wide analyses to explore the classification of the ETS gene family. We identified...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies are designed to discover SNPs that are associated with a complex trait. Employing strict significance thresholds when testing individual SNPs avoids false positives at...Full Text Available
The development of chromatin immunoprecipitation methods coupled with DNA microarray (ChIP-chip) technology has enabled genome-wide identification of cis-DNA regulatory elements to which transcription...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 2,000 trait-SNP associations, and the number continues to increase. GWAS have focused on traits with potential consequences for human...Full Text Available
Extending genomewide association analysis by the inclusion of gene expression data may assist in the dissection of complex traits. We examined piebald, a pigmentation phenotype in both human and Merino...Full Text Available
Copy number variants (CNVs) are an important component of genomic variation in humans and other mammals. Similar de novo deletions and duplications, or copy number changes (CNCs), are now known to be...Full Text Available
With the advent of dense maps of human genetic variation, it is now possible to detect positive natural selection across the human genome. Here we report an analysis of over 3 million polymorphisms...Full Text Available
BackgroundCucumber, Cucumis sativus L. is an important vegetable crop worldwide. Until very recently, cucumber genetic and genomic resources, especially molecular...Full Text Available
Our understanding of the genetic basis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been rapidly advanced using large-scale, case–control, candidate gene studies as well as genome-wide...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe genomic organisation of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) varies greatly between different vertebrates. In mammals, the classical MHC consists of a large number...Full Text Available
Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones are effective mapping and sequencing reagents for use with a wide variety of small and large genomes. This report describes the development of a physical...Full Text Available
The evaluation of biological markers is recognized as necessary to the future of toxicology, epidemiology, and quantitative risk assessment. For biological markers to become widely accepted, their validity...Full Text Available
BackgroundCotton, with a large genome, is an important crop throughout the world. A high-density genetic linkage map is the prerequisite for cotton genetics and breeding. A genetic...Full Text Available
Bortezomib/PS-341/Velcade, a proteasome inhibitor, is widely used to treat multiple myeloma. While several mechanisms of the cytotoxicity of the drug were proposed, the actual mechanism remains elusive....Full Text Available
We conducted a genome-wide association study of gastric cancer (GC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in ethnic Chinese subjects in which we genotyped 551,152 single nucleotide polymorphisms...Full Text Available
Case-parent trios were used in a genomewide association study of cleft lip with/without cleft palate (CL/P). SNPs near two genes not previously associated with CL/P [MAFB:...Full Text Available
The ultimate goal of this research is to generate and apply novel technologies to speed completion and integration of the human genome map and sequence with biomedical problems. To do this, techniques were developed and genome-wide resources generated. This includes a genome-wide Mapped and Integrated BAC/PAC Resource that has been used for gene finding, map completion and anchoring, breakpoint definition and sequencing. In the last period of the grant, the Human Mapped BAC/PAC Resource was also applied to determine regions of human variation and to develop a novel paradigm of primate evolution through to humans. Further, in order to more rapidly evaluate animal models of human disease, a BAC Map of the mouse was generated in collaboration with the MTI Genome Center, Dr. Bruce Birren.
The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, a neglected tropical infection that affects millions of people in the Americas. Current chemotherapy...Full Text Available
Current genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are moving towards the use of large cohorts of primary cell lines to study a disease of interest and to assign biological relevance to the genetic signals...Full Text Available
Mouse genetic resources include inbred strains, recombinant inbred lines, chromosome substitution strains, heterogeneous stocks, and the Collaborative Cross (CC). These resources were generated through...Full Text Available
Genome-wide studies of bacterial gene expression are shifting from microarray technology to second generation sequencing platforms. RNA-seq has a number of advantages over hybridization-based techniques,...Full Text Available
BackgroundEukaryotic DNA replication is regulated at the level of large chromosomal domains (0.5–5 megabases in mammals) within which replicons are activated relatively synchronously....Full Text Available
In a follow-up to our previously reported genome-wide association study of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC)1, we describe here several new susceptibility...Full Text Available
We performed genome-wide homozygosity mapping in a large consanguineous family from Morocco and mapped the autosomal-recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) in this family to the DFNB79...Full Text Available
Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) allows researchers to determine the genome-wide binding locations of individual transcription factors (TFs) at high resolution....Full Text Available
Forum domains are stretches of chromosomal DNA that are excised from eukaryotic chromosomes during their spontaneous non-random fragmentation. Most forum domains are 50–200 kb in length....Full Text Available
The torque-velocity relationship is known to be affected by ageing, decreasing its protective role in the prevention of falls. Interindividual variability in this torque-velocity relationship is partly...Full Text Available
Bovine embryos can be generated by in vitro fertilization or somatic nuclear transfer; however, these differ from their in vivo counterparts in many aspects and exhibit a higher proportion of developmental...Full Text Available
Neurons in the hippocampal CA1 region are particularly sensitive to oxidative stress (OS), whereas those in CA3 are resistant. To uncover mechanisms for selective CA1 vulnerability to OS, we...Full Text Available
Zinc is an essential trace metal ion for growth, but an excess of Zn is toxic and microorganisms express diverse resistance mechanisms. To understand global bacterial responses to excess Zn, we conducted...Full Text Available
Transcription factors drive organogenesis, from the initiation of cell fate decisions to the maintenance and implementation of these decisions. The Drosophila embryonic salivary gland...Full Text Available
Despite the recent success of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in identifying loci consistently associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), a large proportion of the genetic components of...Full Text Available
Partial epilepsies have a substantial heritability. However, the actual genetic causes are largely unknown. In contrast to many other common diseases for which genetic association-studies have successfully...Full Text Available
Present investigations suggest that approximately 30% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases arise on the basis of inherited factors. We hypothesize that the majority of inherited factors are moderately...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Gram-negative, xylem-limited phytopathogenic bacterium Xylella fastidiosa is responsible for causing economically important diseases in grapevine,...Full Text Available
Cultured mouse or human embryonic stem (ES) cells provide access to all of the genes required to elaborate the fundamental components and physiological systems of a mammalian cell. Chemical or insertional...Full Text Available
BackgroundProteins may evolve through the recruitment and modification of discrete domains, and in many cases, protein action can be dissected at the domain level. PDZ domains are...Full Text Available
Inferring cluster structure in microarray datasets is a fundamental task for the -omic sciences. A fundamental question in Statistics, Data Analysis and Classification, is the prediction of the number of clusters in a dataset, usually established via internal validation measures. Despite the wealth of internal measures available in the literature, new ones have been recently proposed, some of them specifically for microarray data. In this dissertation, a study of internal validation measures is given, paying particular attention to the stability based ones. Indeed, this class of measures is particularly prominent and promising in order to have a reliable estimate the number of clusters in a dataset. For those measures, a new general algorithmic paradigm is proposed here that highlights the richness of measures in this class and accounts for the ones already available in the literature. Moreover, some of the most representative ...
Meningococcal disease is an infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Genetic factors contribute to host susceptibility and progression to disease, but the genes responsible for disease development are largely unknown. We report here a genome-wide association study for host susceptibility to meningococcal disease using 475 individuals with meningococcal disease (cases) and 4,703 population controls from the UK. We performed, in Western European and South European cohorts (consisting of 968 cases and 1,376 controls), two replication studies for the most significant SNPs. A cluster of complement factor SNPs replicated independently in both cohorts, including SNPs within complement factor H (CFH) (rs1065489 (p.936D
Borrelial infection may manifest with a wide range of clinical signs, and in many cases, microbiological findings are essential for a proper diagnosis. This study included 48 patients with a working...Full Text Available
include modeling geometric complexities, coupling between the flow and the .... noted that the AGARD 445.6 wing data set, which has been widely used for .... higher-level computational aeroelastic code validations at transonic flow separation ...
The International Index of Erectile Function is a well-worded and psychometrically valid self-report questionnaire widely used as the standard for the evaluation of male sexual function. However, some conceptual and statistical problems arise when using the measure with men who are not sexually active. These problems are illustrated using 2 empirical examples, and the authors provide recommended solutions to further strengthen the efficacy and validity of this measure.
Our inability to associate distant regulatory elements with the genes that they regulate has largely precluded their examination for sequence alterations contributing to human disease. One major obstacle is the large genomic space surrounding targeted genes in which such elements could potentially reside. In order to delineate gene regulatory boundaries we used whole-genome human-mouse-chicken (HMC) and human-mouse-frog (HMF) multiple alignments to compile conserved blocks of synteny (CBS), under the hypothesis that these blocks have been kept intact throughout evolution at least in part by the requirement of regulatory elements to stay linked to the genes that they regulate. A total of 2,116 and 1,942 CBS>200 kb were assembled for HMC and HMF respectively, encompassing 1.53 and 0.86 Gb of human sequence. To support the existence of complex long-range regulatory domains within these CBS we analyzed the prevalence and distribution of ...
Recent GWAS studies focused on uncovering novel genetic loci related to AD have revealed associations with variants near CLU, CR1, PICALM and BIN1....Full Text Available
BackgroundCotton fiber development undergoes rapid and dynamic changes in a single cell type, from fiber initiation, elongation, primary and secondary wall biosynthesis, to fiber...Full Text Available
The N1-methyl-Adenosine (m1A58) modification at the conserved nucleotide 58 in the TΨC loop is present in most eukaryotic tRNAs. In yeast, m1A58 modification...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have established a variant, rs10993994, on chromosome 10q11 as being associated with prostate cancer risk. Since the variant is located outside of a protein-coding...Full Text Available
Microarray is a powerful tool for genome-wide gene expression analysis. In microarray expression data, often mean and variance have certain relationships. We present a non-parametric mean-variance smoothing...Full Text Available
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The capacity to maintain internal ion homeostasis amidst changing conditions is particularly important for teleost fishes whose reproductive cycle is dependent upon movement from freshwater to seawater. Although the physiology of seawater osmoregulation in mitochondria-rich cells of fish gill epithelium is well understood, less is known about the underlying causes of inter- and intraspecific variation in salinity tolerance. We used a genome-scan approach in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) correlated with variation in four salinity tolerance performance traits and six body size traits. Comparative genomics approaches allowed us to infer whether allelic variation at candidate gene loci (e.g., ATP1alpha1b, NKCC1, CFTR, and cldn10e) could have underlain observed variation. RESULTS: Combined parental analyses yielded genome-wide significant QTL on linkage groups 8, 14 ...
Retroelements constitute a large part of the human genome. These sequences are mostly silenced in normal cells, but genome-wide DNA hypomethylation in cancers might lead to their re-expression. Whether this re-expression really occurs in human cancers is largely unkown. We therefore investigated expression and DNA methylation of several classes of retroelements in human prostate cancer tissues and cell lines by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and pyrosequencing, respectively. The most striking finding was strong and generalized increased expression of the HERV-K_22q11.23 provirus in cancers, including de novo expression of a spliced accessory Np9 transcript in some tumors. In parallel, DNA methylation in the long terminal repeat (LTR) decreased. Conversely, HER...
In the post Genome era, the aim of behavior genetics has shifted from estimating the relative contributions of genes and environmental factors to (co-)variation in human complex traits, to localization of genes and identification of functional genetic variants. This special issue reflects this transition and presents fifteen papers that report on genome-wide linkage scans for complex traits in humans and on methodological tools and innovations. Six papers focus on cognition and report overlapping linkage peaks on chromosomes 6p and 14p. Papers on addictive behavior, i.e. smoking and alcohol dependence and its endophenotypes, find moderate LOD scores on chromosomes 6p, 5q, 4p and 7q, respectively. Three papers concentrate on emotionality, depression and loneliness and examine chromosomes 2q...
Although low-energy ion radiation has been proven to have a wide range of biological effects and led to fruitful achievements as a new mutagenic source for genetic modification, there still exist some disputes about its mutagenic mechanisms because of its short-penetrating property. In present research, Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic for GUS recombination substrate was used to evaluate the genomic instability induced by irradiations of alpha particle (3.3MeV) and Low-energy-Argon ion (30 KeV). A pronounced effects of alpha particle irradiation to Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and Argon ion irradiation to seeds on the somatic homologous recombination frequency (sHRF) were reported. The sHRFs increased 1.88-fold and 2.42-fold, respectively, which indicated that the short-penetrating radiation could effectively induce the plant genomic instability in either dry seeds or seedlings with active metabolism. The local alpha ...
The aim of this work is the development and experimental validation of a detailed dynamic fuel cell model using the gPROMS modeling environment. The model is oriented towards optimization and control and it relies on material and energy balances as well as electrochemical equations including semi-empirical equations. For the experimental validation of the model a fully automated and integrated hydrogen fuel cell testing unit was used. The predictive power of the model has been compared with the data obtained during load change experiments. A sensitivity analysis has been employed to reveal the most critical empirical model parameters that should be estimated using a systematic estimation procedure. Model predictions are in good agreement with experimental data under a wide range of operati...
Abstract Plant metabolomics has been well established and applied across multiple fields including medicine, biotechnology, and environmental sciences in the post-genomic era. The Chenopodiaceae C3 halophyte Suaeda salsa is the most important plant species in the vegetation of saline soil and even intertidal zone in the Yellow River Delta, which is economically consumed as food, widely used as a bioindicator of environmental stresses (salinity, drought, and pollution) and typically applied for the phyto-remediation of degraded wetland. However, no global studies have been focused on the metabolic profile of this halophyte which is widely applied in environment related research areas. In metabolomics, the first crucial step is the preparation of plant samples. In this work, several strategi...
Genetic mapping is approached using the techniques of high resolution fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). This technology and the results of its application are designed to rapidly generate whole genome as tool box of expressed sequence to speed the identification of human disease genes. The results of this study are intended to dovetail with and to link the results of existing technologies for creating backbone YAC and genetic maps. In the first eight months, this approach generated 60--80% of the expressed sequence map, the remainder expected to be derived through more long-term, labor-intensive, regional chromosomal gene searches or sequencing. The laboratory has made significant progress in the set-up phase, in mapping fetal and adult brain and other cDNAs, in testing a model system for directly linking genetic and physical maps using FISH with small fragments, in setting up a database, and in establishing the validity and throughput ...
Prokaryotic genomes can be annotated based on their structural, operational, and functional properties. These annotations provide the pivotal scaffold for understanding cellular functions on a genome-scale,...Full Text Available
Background and AimsIt is well known that genome size differs among species. However, information on the variation and dynamics of genome size in wild populations and on the early...Full Text Available
Background The identification of sequences that control transcription in metazoans is a major goal of genome analysis. In a previous study, we demonstrated that searching for clusters of predicted transcription factor binding sites could discover active regulatory sequences, and identified 37 regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome with high densities of predicted binding sites for five transcription factors involved in anterior-posterior embryonic patterning. Nine of these clusters overlapped known enhancers. Here, we report the results of in vivo functional analysis of 27 remaining clusters. Results We generated transgenic flies carrying each cluster attached to a basal promoter and reporter gene, and assayed embryos for reporter gene expression. Six clusters are enhancers of adjacent genes: giant, fushi tarazu, odd-skipped, nubbin, squeeze and pdm2; three drive expression in patterns unrelated to those of neighboring genes; the ...
In this work, we query the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii copper regulon at a whole-genome level. Our RNA-Seq data simulation and analysis pipeline validated a 2-fold cutoff and 10 RPKM (reads per kilobase of mappable length per million mapped reads) (~1 mRNA per cell) to reveal 63 CRR1 targets plus another 86 copper-responsive genes. Proteomic and immunoblot analyses captured 25% of the corresponding proteins, whose abundance was also dependent on copper nutrition, validating transcriptional regulation as a major control mechanism for copper signaling in Chlamydomonas. The impact of copper deficiency on the expression of several O2-dependent enzymes included steps in lipid modification pathways. Quantitative lipid profiles indicated increased polyunsaturation of fatty acids on thylakoid membrane digalactosyldiglycerides, indicating a global impact of copper deficiency on the photosynthetic apparatus. Discovery of a putative ...
We report a whole-genome shotgun assembly (called WGSA) of the human genome generated at Celera in 2001. The Celera-generated shotgun data set consisted of 27 million sequencing reads organized in pairs...Full Text Available
BackgroundAnimal mitochondrial genomes are physically separate from the much larger nuclear genomes and have proven useful both for phylogenetic studies and for understanding genome...Full Text Available
Discovery of better biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy-response prediction is the most critical task of a scientific quest aimed at developing newly designed, tailor-made therapies for patients with cancer. Consequently, a proteome wide analysis, in addition to genomic studies, is an absolute requirement for a complete functional understanding of tumor biology. Ultra-sensitive, high-performance Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry (MS) currently holds an important role in fulfilling the demands of biomarker discovery. In this review, we describe the applicability of FTICR MS for breast cancer proteomics, particularly for the analysis of complex protein mixtures obtained from a limited number of cells typically available from clinical specimens.
Males and females display differences in physiology, behaviour and susceptibility to many diseases. Genome-wide transcription profiling studies have uncovered large-scale sex differences in autosomal gene expression in somatic tissues that are thought to underlie such 'sexual dimorphisms'. Because males and females differ genetically mainly in their sex chromosome complement, most sex differences can be traced back to the X and Y chromosomes. Although sex hormones are usually considered the main architects of sexual dimorphisms, recent studies have demonstrated that sex chromosomes can also induce sex differences in somatic gene expression in the absence of hormonal differences. The recent discovery of epigenetic sex differences that are not hormone-induced brings us closer to understandin...
To gain insight into the changes in the transcriptome of soybean roots during soybean cyst nematode (SCN) infection, we conducted genome-wide gene expression profiling using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) combined with Solexa sequencing. More than 3 million tags were generated from the SCN-infected and uninfected roots, and 366941 and 314591 clean UniTags were obtained from SCN-infected and uninfected samples, respectively. In the SCN-infected sample, 48249 UniTags represented 18114 reference genes. In the uninfected control, 46290 UniTags represented 19323 reference genes. Comparison of tag frequencies identified 1405 genes that were expressed at greater levels in SCN-infected roots than in uninfected roots, and 1191 genes that were expressed at lower levels. Quantitative real-...
One approach to validate nuclear power plant (NPP) signals makes use of pattern recognition techniques. This approach often assumes that there is a set of signal prototypes that are continuously compared with the actual sensor signals. These signal prototypes are often computed based on empirical models with little or no knowledge about physical processes. A common problem of all data-based models is their limited ability to make predictions on the basis of available training data. Another problem is related to suboptimal training algorithms. Both of these potential shortcomings with conventional approaches to signal validation and sensor operability validation are successfully resolved by adopting a recently proposed learning paradigm called the support vector machine (SVM). The work presented here is a novel application of SVM for data-based modeling of system state variables in an NPP, integrated with a nonlinear, ...
The authors discuss radioimmunoassays (RIAs) for eicosanoids widely used in the field of experimental, clinical and pharmacological research. The main drawback of RIAs is the possibility of low specificity. This was clearly demonstrated during the controversy on plasma levels of 6-keto-PGF_1 #alpha#, the stable hydrolysis product of PGI_2. When extensive purification including reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (rp-HPLC) was performed prior to the RIA for 6-keto-PGF_1 #alpha# the levels were at least one order of magnitude less than previously claimed, and did not support the so-called circulating hormone hypothesis.
The LHC is designed to provide proton beams of 7 TeV and nominal luminosity of 10**34 cm**-2s**-1. This objective is achieved at an affordable cost by pushing all major collider components to the limits of technology, by upgrading the existing CERN accelerators and infrastructure, and by involving the technical expertise, resources and dedication of accelerator laboratories world-wide. Following a decade of intensive R&D and technical validation of major collider systems, the LHC construction is now fully underway. Major industrial contracts have been awarded and are in execution for the procurement of the magnet, cryogenics and other systems. In this report, the status of the design and construction of the major LHC systems is presented.
The development of detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms for analysis of autoignition and knocking of hydrocarbon fuels is described. In particular, kinetic processes of concern for the oxidation of complex hydrocarbon fuel molecules are emphasized. The wide ranges of temperature and pressure which are encountered by end gases in automobile engine combustion chambers result in extreme demands on reaction mechanisms which are intended to describe knocking conditions and predict rates of combustion and ignition. The reactions and chemical species which are most important in each temperature and pressure regime are discussed, and the validation of these reaction mechanisms through comparison with idealized experimental results is described. 53 refs., 8 figs., 5 tabs.
We study the well-posedness of the initial value problem for a wide class of singular evolution equations. We prove a general well-posedness theorem under three assumptions easy to check: the first controls the singular part of the equation, the second the behavior of the nonlinearities, and the third one assumes that an energy estimate can be found for the linearized system. We allow losses of derivatives in this energy estimate and therefore construct a solution by a Nash-Moser iterative scheme. As an application to this general theorem, we prove the well-posedness of the Serre and Green-Naghdi equation and discuss the problem of their validity as asymptotic models for the water-waves equations.
Drosophila melanogaster has long been at the forefront of studies of transcriptional regulation in animals. Many fundamental ideas--such as cis control elements that act over long distances, the regulation of development by hierarchical cascades of transcription factors, dosage compensation, and position effect variegation--originated from studies of the fruit fly. The recent completion of the euchromatic DNA sequence of Drosophila is another breakthrough. The sequence data highlight important unanswered questions. For example, only one-fifth of the 124 Mb of Drosophila euchromatic DNA codes for protein. The function of the remaining 100 Mb of mostly unique DNA is largely unknown. Some proportion of this non-reading frame DNA must encode the functional recognition sites targeted by the approximately 700 sequence-specific DNA binding proteins that regulate transcription in Drosophila, but what proportion? Most or very little? Promoter sequences by definition contain all of the cis ...
In July 2005 a new algorithm was released by Varian Medical Systems for the Eclipse planning system and installed in our institute. It is the anisotropic analytical algorithm (AAA) for photon dose calculations, a convolution/superposition model for the first time implemented in a Varian planning system. It was therefore necessary to perform validation studies at different levels with a wide investigation approach. To validate the basic performances of the AAA, a detailed analysis of data computed by the AAA configuration algorithm was carried out and data were compared against measurements. To better appraise the performance of AAA and the capability of its configuration to tailor machine-specific characteristics, data obtained from the pencil beam convolution (PBC) algorithm implemented in Eclipse were also added in the comparison. Since the purpose of the paper is to address the basic performances of the AAA and of its ...
Genetic mapping is approached using the techniques of high resolution fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). This technology and the results of its application are designed to rapidly generate whole genome as tool box of expressed sequence to speed the identification of human disease genes. The results of this study are intended to dovetail with and to link the results of existing technologies for creating backbone YAC and genetic maps. In the first eight months, this approach generated 60--80% of the expressed sequence map, the remainder expected to be derived through more long-term, labor-intensive, regional chromosomal gene searches or sequencing. The laboratory has made significant progress in the set-up phase, in mapping fetal and adult brain and other cDNAs, in testing a model system for directly linking genetic and physical maps using FISH with small fragments, in setting up a database, and in establishing the validity and throughput ...
Eukaryotic genome size varies over five orders of magnitude; however, the distribution is strongly skewed toward small values. Genome size is highly correlated to a number of phenotypic traits, suggesting...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenomes store information for building and maintaining organisms. Complete sequencing of many genomes provides the opportunity to study and compare global information properties...Full Text Available
Despite the availability of dozens of animal genome sequences, two key questions remain unanswered: First, what fraction of any species' genome confers biological function, and second, are apparent...Full Text Available
The spliced alignment of expressed sequence data to genomic sequence has proven a key tool in the comprehensive annotation of genes in eukaryotic genomes. A novel algorithm was developed to assemble...Full Text Available
The genome sequence of the solvent-producing bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 has been determined by the shotgun approach. The genome consists of a 3.94-Mb chromosome and...Full Text Available
The availability of full genome sequences has allowed the construction of microarrays, with which screening of the full genome for changes in gene expression is possible. This method can provide a wealth...Full Text Available
The recent assembly of the silkworm Bombyx mori genome with 432 Mb on 28 holocentric chromosomes has become a reference in the genomic analysis of the very diverse Order of Lepidoptera....Full Text Available
Structural variants which cause changes in copy numbers constitute an important component of genomic variability. They account for 0.7% of genomic differences in two individual genomes, of which...Full Text Available
BackgroundDuplications of stretches of the genome are an important source of individual genetic variation, but their unrecognized presence in laboratory organisms would be a confounding...Full Text Available
BackgroundOver the past decade, many investigators have used sophisticated time series tools for the analysis of genomic sequences. Specifically, the correlation of the nucleotide...Full Text Available
In animal models, single-gene mutations in genes involved in insulin/IGF and target of rapamycin signalling pathways extend lifespan to a considerable extent. The genetic, genomic and epigenetic influences...Full Text Available
The recent accumulation of genomic information of many representative animals has made it possible to trace the evolution of the complement system based on the presence or absence of each complement...Full Text Available
Genomic imprinting refers to the parent-of-origin-specific epigenetic marking of a number of genes. This epigenetic mark leads to a bias in expression between maternally and paternally inherited imprinted...Full Text Available
Genetics, Genomics, and Molecular Biology USGS scientists develop and integrate new genetic and molecular techniques into systematic analyses to describe individuals and populations of fish .....
BackgroundSwine is an important agricultural commodity and biomedical model. Manipulation of the pig genome provides opportunity to improve production efficiency, enhance disease...Full Text Available
BackgroundNucleotide sequences and the gene arrangements of mitochondrial genomes are effective tools for resolving phylogenetic problems. Hemipteroid insects are known to possess...Full Text Available
AbstractThe elucidation of the human and mouse genome sequence and developments in high-throughput genome analysis, and in computational tools, have made it possible to profile entire...Full Text Available
Based on an multivariate statistical evaluation of binary and metric data relating to the soil cover of the European Community five regionally representative reference soils (EURO-Soils) have been identified for chemicals testing in the EC. The soil material sampled at representative localities in Italy, Greece, Great Britain, France and Germany was treated and prepared according to OECD Test Guideline 106 and analysed in detail. The homogenised specimens were subject to an EC-wide ring test to evaluate the feasibility of the modified guideline and to validate the physical-chemical amenability of the reference soils for sorption tests. The results proved the validity of the soils selected for assessing the potential behaviour of new chemicals in soil on the basis of a comparative evaluation of the individual test results obtained. In the light of this parametric assessment potential test soils were subsequently identified ...
The thermal performance monitoring and optimization system TEMPO is developed at the OECD Halden Reactor Project. The system supports staff of nuclear power plants in identification and correction of problems, which cause small decreases in plant efficiency but which may lead to significant economical losses. The system-wide physical model consists of mathematical description of individual components, such as the reactor, the pumps, the heat exchangers, or the turbines, etc. TEMPO code has recently been extended with new steam generator (SG) models. The present paper summarizes the thermal-hydraulic modelling aspects of the vertical and the horizontal SG. The heat balance equations and their solution are shown with the appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The method of the calculation of the pressure losses are also introduced. The vertical SG model is based on a U-tube structure and treated as a 1D flow channel. The horizontal approach is a superposition ...
The goal of this work is to present a systematic Monte Carlo validation study on the clinical implementation of the enhanced dynamic wedges (EDWs) into the Pinnacle"3 (Philips Medical Systems, Fitchburg, WI) treatment planning system (TPS) and QA procedures for patient plan verification treated with EDWs. Modeling of EDW beams in the Pinnacle"3 TPS, which employs a collapsed-cone convolution superposition (CCCS) dose model, was based on a combination of measured open-beam data and the 'Golden Segmented Treatment Table' (GSTT) provided by Varian for each photon beam energy. To validate EDW models, dose profiles of 6 and 10 MV photon beams from a Clinac 2100 C/D were measured in virtual water at depths from near-surface to 30 cm for a wide range of field sizes and wedge angles using the Profiler 2 (Sun Nuclear Corporation, Melbourne, FL) diode array system. The EDW output factors (EDWOFs) for square fields from 4 to 20 cm ...
Currently, over 30,000 mapped STSs and 27,000 mapped Unigenes (non-redundant, unigene sets of cDNA representing EST clusters) are available for human alone. A total of 44,000 Unigene cDNA clones have been supplied by Research Genetics. Unigenes, or cDNAs are excellent resource for map building for two reasons. Firstly, they exist in two alternative forms -- as both sequence information for PCR primer pairs, and cDNA clones -- thus making library screening by colony hybridization as well as pooled library PCR possible. The authors have developed an efficient and robust procedure to screen genomic libraries with large number of DNA probes. Secondly, the linkage and order of expressed sequences, or genes are highly conserved among human, mouse and other mammalian species. Therefore, mapping with cDNA markers rather than random anonymous STSs will greatly facilitate comparative, evolutionary studies as well as physical map building. They have currently deconvoluted ...
Although incompressible fluid flows can be regarded as a particular case of a general problem, numerical methods and the mathematical formulation aimed to solve compressible and incompressible flows have their own peculiarities, in such a way, that it is generally not possible to attain both regimes with a single approach. In this work, we start from a typically compressible formulation, slightly modified to make use of pressure variables and, through augmenting the stabilising parameters, we end up with a simplified model which is able to deal with a wide range of flow regimes, from supersonic to low speed gas flows. The resulting methodology is flexible enough to allow for the simulation of liquid flows as well. Examples using conservative and pressure variables are shown and the results are compared to those published in the literature, in order to validate the method. (author)
Based on a multi-zone spray-mixing approach, an air-fuel mixing and combustion model for a Direct Injection Diesel engine is presented. The predictions from the model show very good agreement with the experimental data for various engines under a wide range of operating conditions. Major physical processes are modeled and validated independently. The atomisation process is based on Binary Drop Division concept. Fuel droplets are considered randomly distributed in the spray. A spherico-symmetrical transient drop evaporation model is used for evaporation calculation. A 3-dimensional spray-swirl interaction is modeled on centreline velocity vector/continuum approach. Turbulent mixing is characterised considering all possible available energy sources in DI diesel engines.
Terrain attributes derived from digital elevation models have been used widely for mapping soil organic matter (SOM). Among these attributes, the topographic wetness index (TWI), an index for quantitatively indicating the balance between water accumulation and drainage conditions at the local scale, has been shown to correlate with SOM. However, TWIs used in most studies are calculated using a single-flow-direction (SFD) algorithm, which assumes that all water from a grid cell flows into only one neighboring cell. This assumption is not always valid, especially in areas with low relief where movement of water may be divergent. To overcome this SFD limitation, a multiple-flow-direction (MFD) algorithm has been developed, which distributes flow from a grid cell to several downslope neighbors...
Although the radioreceptor method is widely used for estrogen receptor assay in human tissue, it has several limitations and a number of alternative methods are being explored. An immunohistochemical method of estrogen receptor assay using a specific antibody to estradiol has been proposed as a suitable alternative. The present study was designed to evaluate the validity of this method in detecting true estrogen receptors in human tumor tissue. Using radioiodinated antibody to estrogen, we have demonstrated that the estrogen antibody can detect the estrogen when it is bound to 4S type receptor but is unable to bind to estrogen when the hormone is bound to 8S type receptor. Our observations suggest that the immunohistochemical method of detection of intracellular cytosolic receptor for estrogen is not a suitable alternative to the currently used radioreceptor method.
We have developed an energy-extension method of a Bragg curve counter (BCC) at the high-energy end for the measurements of double-differential cross-sections (DDXs) of fragment productions induced by tens of MeV protons. In this method, we estimate the incident energies of the fragments penetrating a BCC on the basis of the energy loss and atomic number (Z). We applied this method to the DDX measurements of the {sup nat}C(p, Li) and {sup nat}C(p, Be) reactions induced by 70 MeV protons. The validity of this method has been confirmed by comparing the DDXs of beryllium with theoretical predictions of the PHITS code and the two-body kinematics. This method improves the energy acceptance of the BCC for light fragments twice as wide as that of a conventional method without remodeling of the BCC and any loss of the original advantages.
The previous decade has brought a remarkable increase of the interest in applications that deal with querying and mining of time series data. Many of the research efforts in this context have focused on introducing new representation methods for dimensionality reduction or novel similarity measures for the underlying data. In the vast majority of cases, each individual work introducing a particular method has made specific claims and, aside from the occasional theoretical justifications, provided quantitative experimental observations. However, for the most part, the comparative aspects of these experiments were too narrowly focused on demonstrating the benefits of the proposed methods over some of the previously introduced ones. In order to provide a comprehensive validation, we conducted an extensive experimental study re-implementing eight different time series representations and nine similarity measures and their variants, and testing their effectiveness on ...
Phenytoin (PHT), phenobarbital (PHB), lamotrigine (LTG), and topiramate (TPM) are some of the most widely used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Monitoring of their concentrations in serum is important for the treatment of epilepsy. A reference measurement procedure (RMP) for certification of PHT, PHB, LTG, and TPM in serum has been developed and critically evaluated. Isotopically labeled compounds of PHT, PHB, LTG, and TPM are used as internal standards for the four AEDs. The four drugs and their respective labeled internal standards are simultaneously extracted from serum using solid-phase extraction prior to reversed-phase liquid chromatography?tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Chromatographic separation was performed using a C18 column. Electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive ion mo...
A new numerical technique called the convolution-based particle tracking (CBPT) method is developed to simulate resident or flux-averaged solute concentrations in groundwater models. The method is valid for steady-state flow and linear transport processes such as sorption with a linear sorption isotherm and first-order decay. The CBPT method uses particle tracking to take advantage of the ability of particle-based approaches to maintain sharp fronts for advection-dominated transport problems common in groundwater modeling and because of the flexibility of the random walk method to simulate a wide range of possible forms of the dispersion tensor. Furthermore, the algorithm for carrying out the convolution and superposition calculation from particle tracking results is very efficient. We sho...
In the absence of empirical outdoor thermal comfort studies it has been widely assumed that indoor thermal comfort theory generalises to outdoor settings without modification. Many indoor models were developed to describe thermal discomfort, not stress, therefore their relevance to conditions that vary greatly from neutrality, as many outdoor climatic conditions do, has not been critically validated in the field to date. The thermal comfort of 1018 subjects in outdoor and semi-outdoor locations in subtropical Sydney was investigated by a questionnaire and a comprehensive package of micro-meteorological instruments. The thermal neutrality in terms of the thermal comfort index OUT{sub S}ET* of 26.2 {sup o}C was significantly higher than the indoor SET* counterpart of 24{sup o}C (ASHRAE Trans. 92 (1986) 709). (author)
Annona reticulata L. possesses many traits desirable in other edible annonas, and hybridization is the simplest means to combine desirable features of related species. In this study, A. reticulata was hybridized with atemoya (A. cherimola Mill.??A. squamosa L.), and 250 trispecies hybrids were studied for 28 traits (12 tree traits and 16 fruit traits) with the objective of salvaging useful genes from the three edible annonas and determining the extent of variation in the progeny. The heterozygous nature of Annona spp. and simultaneous segregation of three distant genomes resulted in a tremendous heterogeneity in the progenies. The fitness of the progenies ranged from very vigorous to very weak, with a wide range of values for tree height (1.75?5.9?m), canopy spread (1.15?5.07?m) and trunk...
The iron hormone hepcidin is inhibited by matriptase-2, a liver serine-protease encoded by TMPRSS6 gene. Cleaving the BMP-coreceptor hemojuvelin, matriptase-2 impairs the BMP/SMAD signaling pathway, downregulates hepcidin and facilitates iron absorption. TMPRSS6 inactivation causes iron-deficiency-anemia refractory to iron administration both in humans and mice. Genomewide association studies have shown that the SNP rs855791, which causes the matriptase-2 V736A amino acid substitution, is associated with variations of serum iron, transferrin saturation, hemoglobin and erythrocyte traits. Here we show that in vitro matriptase-2 736(A) inhibits hepcidin more efficiently than 736(V). Moreover, in a genotyped population, after exclusion of samples with iron deficiency and inflammation, hepcidin, hepcidin/transferrin saturation and hepcidin/ferritin ratios were significantly lower and iron parameters were consistently higher in homozygotes 736(A) ...
Taeniasis has been known as one of the prevalent parasitic infections in Korea. Until recently, Taenia saginata had long been considered a dominant, and widely distributed species but epidemiological profiles of human Taenia species in Korea still remain unclear. In order to better understand distribution patterns of human Taenia tapeworms in Korea, partial nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cox1 and ITS2 (internal transcribed spacer 2) were determined, along with morphological examinations, on 68 Taenia specimens obtained from university museum collections deposited since 1935. Genomic DNA was extracted from formalin-preserved specimens. Phylogenetic relationships among the genotypes (cox1 haplotype) detected in this study were inferred using the neighbor-joining method as a tree building method. Morphological and genetic analyses identified 3 specimens as T. solium, 51 specimens as T. asiatica, and 14 specimens as T. saginata. Our results ...
Begomoviruses are phytopathogens that threaten food security [18]. Sida spp. are ubiquitous weed species found in Jamaica. Sida samples were collected island-wide, DNA was extracted via a modified Dellaporta method, and the viral genome was amplified using degenerate and sequence-specific primers [2, 11]. The amplicons were cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis revealed that a DNA-A molecule isolated from a plant in Liguanea, St. Andrew, was 90.9% similar to Sida golden yellow vein virus-[United States of America:Homestead:A11], making it a strain of SiGYVV. It was named Sida golden yellow vein virus-[Jamaica:Liguanea 2:2008] (SiGYVV-[JM:Lig2:08]). The cognate DNA-B, previously unreported, was successfully cloned and was most similar to that of Malvastrum yellow mosaic Jamaica virus (MaYMJV). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that this virus was most closely related to begomoviruses that infect malvaceous hosts in Jamaica, Cuba and Florida in ...
Abstract Common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SMAD7 (18q21) have been linked to colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in genome-wide association studies, but little is known about their effects on survival. SMAD7 regulates gastrointestinal inflammation by inhibiting transforming growth factor- (TGFB), which can act as both a tumor suppressor and a promoter of metastasis. Regular use of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) inhibitors, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), reduces the risk of developing CRC. Because COX2 overexpression reduces the growth suppressing effects of TGFB, we hypothesized that survival may depend on both SMAD7 genotype and prediagnostic NSAID use. Postmenopausal women, ages 50-74, diagnosed with incident invasive CRC from 1997 to 2002 were identified using t...
N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis has led to the elucidation of several regulator genes for melanocyte and skin development. Here we characterized a mutant from ENU mutagenesis with similar phenotype as that of Splotch mutant, including exencephaly, spina bifida and abnormal limbs in homozygotes as well as white belly spotting and occasionally loop-tail in heterozygotes. This novel mutant was named as Sp(xG). Through genome-wide linkage analysis in backcross progenies with microsatellite markers, the Sp(xG) was confined to a region between D1MIT415 and D1MIT7 on chromosome 1, where notable Pax3 gene was located. Direct sequencing revealed that Sp(xG) carried a nucleotide A894G missense transition in exon 6 of Pax3 gene that resulted in Asn to Asp substitution at amino acid 269 within the highly-conserved homeodomain (HD) DNA recognition module, which was the first point mutation found in this domain in mice. This N269D mutation impaired the transactivation ...
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 cell lines. 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...
The EUROTRAC sub-project ''Tropospheric Ozone Research'' (TOR) follows a dual strategy: - Observation of the chemical processes contributing to the oxygen balance directly in the atmosphere; - Establishment of a validated data base for model calculations. Both tasks require simultaneous measurements of a wide range of chemical and meteorological components. In the case of the investigation of the chemical processes, it is also desirable to measure the free radicals directly involved in ozone production. In the project described, a measuring station was set up. For a period of two years and a half, continuous measurements were made of ozone and its chemical precursors (NO, NO_2, NO_y, VOC, CO), as well as other photooxidants (H_2O_2 and organic hydroperoxides, organic nitrates), the photolysis frequency of NO_2, and meteorological parameters (wind, temperature, moisture, aerosols). The station was located on the Schauinsland mountain in the ...
As a three-year joint university-industry effort, development of a generalized boiling transition analysis method has been started in 2002 aiming at enhanced capabilities of subchannel analysis for a wide variety of BWR-type fuel bundle geometry from ordinary BWR to tight lattice fuel bundles. For this purpose, five dominant factors affecting boiling transition phenomena have been identified on which our efforts of experimentation and numerical analyses are focused. In this report, as the first-year achievement, we will describe a master plan of the development and contents for experimental approaches to construct thermal-hydraulic databases. The databases will be utilized for the developments of constitutive equations to describe the basic characteristics of the elementary processes. The planned experiments are divided into two groups. One is air-water experiments at atmospheric pressure, and the other is steam-water experiments up to 1 MPa. The former group of ...
As a three-year joint university-industry effort, development of a generalized boiling transition analysis method has been started in 2002 aiming at enhanced capabilities of subchannel analysis for a wide variety of BWR-type fuel bundle geometry from ordinary BWR to tight lattice fuel bundles. For this purpose, five dominant factors affecting boiling transition phenomena have been identified on which our efforts of experimentation and numerical analyses are focused. In this report, as the first-year achievement, we will describe a master plan of the development and contents for experimental approaches to construct thermal-hydraulic databases. The databases will be utilized for the developments of constitutive equations to describe the basic characteristics of the elementary processes. The planned experiments are divided into two groups. One is air-water experiments at atmospheric pressure, and the other is steam-water experiments up to 1 MPa. The former group of ...
The application of neural networks, alone or in conjunction with other advanced technologies (expert systems, fuzzy logic, and/or genetic algorithms), to some of the problems of complex engineering systems has the potential to enhance the safety, reliability, and operability of these systems. Typically, the measured variables from the systems are analog variables that must be sampled and normalized to expected peak values before they are introduced into neural networks. Often data must be processed to put it into a form more acceptable to the neural network (e.g., a fast Fourier transformation of the time-series data to produce a spectral plot of the data). Specific applications described include: (1) Diagnostics: State of the Plant (2) Hybrid System for Transient Identification, (3) Sensor Validation, (4) Plant-Wide Monitoring, (5) Monitoring of Performance and Efficiency, and (6) Analysis of Vibrations. Although specific examples described ...
The application of neural networks, alone or in conjunction with other advanced technologies (expert systems, fuzzy logic, and/or genetic algorithms), to some of the problems of complex engineering systems has the potential to enhance the safety, reliability, and operability of these systems. Typically, the measured variables from the systems are analog variables that must be sampled and normalized to expected peak values before they are introduced into neural networks. Often data must be processed to put it into a form more acceptable to the neural network (e.g., a fast Fourier transformation of the time-series data to produce a spectral plot of the data). Specific applications described include: (1) Diagnostics: State of the Plant (2) Hybrid System for Transient Identification, (3) Sensor Validation, (4) Plant-Wide Monitoring, (5) Monitoring of Performance and Efficiency, and (6) Analysis of Vibrations. Although specific examples described ...
Most of the essays gathered in this volume were first presented at a conference, Justice and the Human Genome, in Chicago in early November, 1991. The goal of the, conference was to consider questions of justice as they are and will be raised by the Human Genome Project. To achieve its goal of identifying and elucidating the challenges of justice inherent in genomic research and its social applications the conference drew together in one forum members from academia, medicine, and industry with interests divergent as rate-setting for insurance, the care of newborns, and the history of ethics. The essays in this volume address a number of theoretical and practical concerns relative to the meaning of genomic research.
Comparative sequence analysis of the human and the pufferfish Fugu rubripes (fugu) genomes has revealed several novel functional coding and noncoding regions in the human genome. In particular, the fugu genome has been extremely valuable for identifying transcriptional regulatory elements in human loci harboring unusually high levels of evolutionary conservation to rodent genomes. In such regions, the large evolutionary distance between human and fishes provides an additional filter through which functional noncoding elements can be detected with high efficiency.
AECL is undertaking the validation of ADDAM, an atmospheric dispersion and dose code based on the Canadian Standards Association model CSA N288.2. The key component of the validation program involves the comparison of air concentrations predicted by the model with measured values. Measurements are available from field studies at two Canadian reactor sites and from a wind tunnel study of the CANDU site at Wol song, Korea. The measurements were obtained close enough to the release points to test the model for exclusion area boundaries as small as 500 m. Model predictions were higher than the observations almost 75 percent of the time and the magnitude of the over predictions was typically much larger than the magnitude of the under predictions. The effect of the topography at the Wol song site was limited to small changes in plume trajectory due to channeling in valleys and a small reduction in the lateral spread of the plume. The terrain did not ...
Evolutionary conservation of DNA sequences provides a tool for the identification of functional elements in genomes. We have created a database of evolutionary conserved regions (ECRs) in vertebrate genomes entitled ECRbase that is constructed from a collection of pairwise vertebrate genome alignments produced by the ECR Browser database. ECRbase features a database of syntenic blocks that recapitulate the evolution of rearrangements in vertebrates and a collection of promoters in all vertebrate genomes presented in the database. The database also contains a collection of annotated transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) in all ECRs and promoter elements. ECRbase currently includes human, rhesus macaque, dog, opossum, rat, mouse, chicken, frog, zebrafish, and two pufferfish genomes. It is freely accessible at http://ECRbase.dcode.org.
Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology are providing unprecedented opportunities for comprehensive analysis of cancer genomes, exomes, transcriptomes, as well as epigenomic components. The integration...Full Text Available
The bovine syncytial virus, a member of the retroviral subfamily Spumavirinae, causes a persistent, asymptomatic infection in cattle. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the viral genome revealed two overlapping...Full Text Available
BackgroundFood supply from the ocean is constrained by the shortage of domesticated and selected fish. Development of genomic models of economically important fishes should assist...Full Text Available
The development of new methods for gene addition to mammalian genomes is necessary to overcome the limitations of conventional genetic engineering strategies. Although a variety of DNA-modifying enzymes...Full Text Available
In many dinoflagellate species, the plastid genome has been proposed to exist as a limited number of single-gene minicircles, and many genes normally found in the plastid genome are nuclear-encoded....Full Text Available
Polyploidy is an important force in the evolution of flowering plants. Genomic merger and doubling induce an extensive array of genomic effects, including immediate and long-term alterations in the...Full Text Available
Genomic disorders are conditions that result from DNA rearrangements, such as deletions or duplications. The identification of the dosage-sensitive gene(s) within the rearranged genomic interval is...Full Text Available
Spectacular increases in the quantity of sequence data genome have facilitated major advances in eukaryotic comparative genomics. By exploiting homology with classical model organisms, this makes possible...Full Text Available
Mapping the restriction fragments of the Brucella melitensis 16M genome with a new restriction endonuclease, PacI, which cut the DNA into only eight fragments, indicated that this species contains two...Full Text Available
Plastid genome content and arrangement are highly conserved across most land plants and their closest relatives, streptophyte algae, with nearly all plastid introns having invaded the genome in their...Full Text Available
The nucleocapsid protein (NC) of retroviruses plays a major role in genomic RNA packaging, and some evidence has implicated the matrix protein (MA) of certain retroviruses in viral RNA binding. To further...Full Text Available
SUMMARYTwo abundant classes of mobile elements, namely Alu and L1 elements, continue to generate new retrotransposon insertions in human genomes. Estimates suggest that these...Full Text Available
The entire genome of rabies virus vaccine strain Flury-LEP-C, a Chinese variant of the rabies virus vaccine strain Flury-LEP, was sequenced. The overall length of the genome of Flury-LEP-C strain was...Full Text Available
Transposable elements (TEs) comprise a large fraction of mammalian genomes. A number of these elements are actively jumping in our genomes today. As a consequence, these insertions provide a source...Full Text Available
While genomic alterations identified in human tumors using techniques such as comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) may be recurrent, they frequently encompass large regions, in some cases...Full Text Available
Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, is the second largest animal order and includes numerous agricultural pests. To facilitate comparative genomics in Lepidoptera, we isolated BAC clones containing...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenome-scale metabolic reconstructions have been recognised as a valuable tool for a variety of applications ranging from metabolic engineering to evolutionary studies....Full Text Available
The gram-negative plant-pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria is the causative agent of bacterial spot disease in pepper and tomato plants, which leads to economically...Full Text Available
The cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV)/rabbit model has been used to study oncogenicity and immunogenicity of different antigens from the papillomavirus genome and has therefore served...Full Text Available
BackgroundA large fraction of the human genome is attributable to L1 retrotransposon sequences. Not only do L1s themselves make up a significant portion of the genome, but L1-encoded...Full Text Available
A genomic clone that specifies a single polypeptide precursor for ricin, a toxic lectin of Ricinus communis (castor bean), was isolated, sequenced and Sl mapped. The gene encodes a 64 kDa precursor...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe genomes of prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes display a very strong 11 bp periodic bias in the distribution of their nucleotides. This bias is present throughout a given...Full Text Available
Despite their status as the most speciose group of terrestrial vertebrates, birds exhibit the smallest and least variable genome sizes among tetrapods. It has been suggested that this is because powered...Full Text Available
Soybean (Glycine max) is a paleopolyploid whose genome has gone through at least two rounds of polyploidy and subsequent diploidization events. Several studies have investigated the...Full Text Available
The two haploid genome sequences that a person inherits from the two parents represent the most fundamentally useful type of genetic information for the study of heritable diseases and the development...Full Text Available
BackgroundPlastid genome content and protein sequence are highly conserved across land plants and their closest algal relatives. Parasitic plants, which obtain some or all of their...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe bacterial genus Listeria contains pathogenic and non-pathogenic species, including the pathogens L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii,...Full Text Available
The genomic termini of RNA viruses contain essential cis-acting signals for such diverse functions as packaging, genome translation, mRNA transcription, and RNA replication, and thus...Full Text Available
Hundreds of genomes have been successfully sequenced to date, and the data are publicly available. At the same time, the advances in large-scale expression and purification of recombinant proteins have...Full Text Available
The honeybee has been the most important insect species for study of social behavior. The recently released draft genomic sequence for the bee will accelerate honeybee behavioral genetics. Although...Full Text Available
The complete RNA genome of the avian nephritis virus (ANV) associated with acute nephritis in chickens has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. Excluding the poly(A) tail, the genome comprises 6,927...Full Text Available
BackgroundFormation of site specific genomic double strand breaks (DSBs), induced by the expression of a pair of engineered zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), dramatically increases the...Full Text Available
Here we develop an argument in support of sequencing a garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) genome, and outline a plan to accomplish this. This snake is a common, widespread, nonvenomous...Full Text Available
Inherited genetic variation has a critical but as yet largely uncharacterized role in human disease. Here we report a public database of common variation in the human genome: more than one million...Full Text Available
This book presents in simple terms the basis of molecular genetics and how it is used to obtain an understanding of the human genome. The author's central focus is the transistion of genetics from statistics to experimental manipulations, and he offers analogies that help readers visualize the genome, thereby avoiding conventional scientific presentations. He illustrates how genetics is used in scientific laboratories, in courtrooms, and in hospitals. Little is presented about the complex social and ethical issues raised by the Human Genome project.
France has a wide variety of experimental spent fuels different from LWR spent fuel discharged from commercial reactors. Reprocessing such fuels would thus require the development and construction of special facilities. The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has consequently opted for long-term interim storage of these spent fuels over a period of 50 years. Comparative studies of different storage concepts have been conducted on the basis of safety (mainly containment barriers and cooling), economic, modular design and operating flexibility criteria. These studies have shown that dry storage in a concrete vault cooled by natural convection is the best solution. A research and development program including theoretical investigations and mock-up tests confirmed the feasibility of cooling by natural convection and the validity of design rules applied for fuel storage. A facility called CASCAD was built at the CEA's Cadarache Nuclear Research ...
Accurately predicting wind turbine blade loads and response is important for the proper design of wind turbines. The need to accurately predict both deterministic and stochastic blade loads is now widely recognized. Previous rotor code development and validation efforts at NREL have concentrated on prediction of deterministic and stochastic blade loads for rigid hub rotors. During the past year this effort was expanded for predicting blade and shaft loads for two-bladed teetering hub rotors. The NREL (formerly SERI) Teetering Rotor Analysis Program (STRAP), a derivative of the Force and Loads Analysis Program (FLAP), can include the effects of rotor undersling, delta-3 and the effects of a concentrated hub mass. The degrees of freedom include rotor teeter and symmetric and asymmetric rotor flap modes. A time-dependent, prescribed yaw motion can also be input to the code. Loads due to turbulent wind inputs are also calculated. In this paper, ...
Validation of nuclear power reactor signals is often performed by comparing signal prototypes with the actual reactor signals. The signal prototypes are often computed based on empirical data. The implementation of an estimation algorithm which can make predictions on limited data is an important issue. A new machine learning algorithm called support vector machines (SVMS) recently developed by Vladimir Vapnik and his coworkers enables a high level of generalization with finite high-dimensional data. The improved generalization in comparison with standard methods like neural networks is due mainly to the following characteristics of the method. The input data space is transformed into a high-dimensional feature space using a kernel function, and the learning problem is formulated as a convex quadratic programming problem with a unique solution. In this paper the authors have applied the SVM method for data-based state estimation in nuclear power reactors. In ...
A dipole magnet based on the common coil design, using prereacted Nb{sub 3}Sn superconductor, is under development at Fermilab, for a future Very Large Hadron Collider. This magnet has some innovative design and technological features such as single layer coils, a 22 mm wide 60-strand Rutherford type cable and stainless steel collars reinforced by horizontal bridges inserted between coil blocks. Both left and right coils are wound simultaneously into the collar structure and then impregnated with epoxy. In order to optimize the design and fabrication techniques an R&D program is underway. The production of cables with the required characteristics was shown possible. Collar laminations were produced, assembled and tested in order to check the effectiveness of the bridges and the validity of the mechanical design. A mechanical model consisting of a 165 mm long section of the magnet straight section was assembled and tested. This paper ...
A computer model of cryogenic system for storing solid antimatter is used to explore the radiative cooling-power requirements for long-term antimatter storage. If vacuum-chamber pressures as low as 10 to -18th power torr can be reached, and the rest of the large set of assumptions is valid, milligram quantities of solid antimatter could be stored indefinitely at 1.5 K using cooling powers of less than a microwatt. Many of the assumptions made are problematic and need verification, as they could potentially change the results greatly. The system modeled is a sphere of solid anti-parahydrogen at 1.5 K or below levitated in a spherical cryogenic vacuum chamber. The free matter gas in the chamber is assumed to be molecular hydrogen, and sublimation of both matter and antimatter is assumed to be negligible. The antihydrogen is assumed to be in thermal equilibrium, although annihilation-energy deposition is localized and hydrogen's thermal-impulse response time ...
Whether exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) cause cancer has been vigorously debated for many years and has been the most vexing issue with which ICNIRP has had to deal during its short existence. There have been three parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that the issue of cancer has raised: static (0 Hz) magnetic fields, extremely low frequency (ELF) fields (defined as > 0-300 Hz, but concerns have been raised almost exclusively at the power frequencies of 50/60 Hz), and radiofrequency (RF) fields (300 Hz -300 GHz). By far the major problems have arisen during the construction of new high voltage transmission lines and mobile telephone systems. Actions by protest groups concerned with possible health effects, especially with cancer in children, has now reached such a scale that it is costing electrical utilities and communications companies billions of dollars annually world-wide. With such high stakes, ICNIRP has had to be extremely careful in its ...
The field of digital libraries (DLs) coalesced in 1994: the first digital library conferences were held that year, awareness of the World Wide Web was accelerating, and the National Science Foundation awarded $24 Million (U.S.) for the Digital Library Initiative (DLI). In this paper we examine the state of the DL domain after a decade of activity by applying social network analysis to the co-authorship network of the past ACM, IEEE, and joint ACM/IEEE digital library conferences. We base our analysis on a common binary undirectional network model to represent the co-authorship network, and from it we extract several established network measures. We also introduce a weighted directional network model to represent the co-authorship network, for which we define $AuthorRank$ as an indicator of the impact of an individual author in the network. The results are validated against conference program committee members in the same period. The results ...
RELAP5 (Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program) is a system code developed at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory for thermal hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactors. The code RELAP5 is widely used for safety analysis studies of commercial nuclear power plants. However, recent released version of RELAP5/3.2 and over present significant capabilities for analysis of nuclear reactor research systems. As a contribution to the assessment of RELAP5/3.3 for research reactor safety analysis, experimental data from the University of Massachusetts Lowell Research Reactor UMLRR are used. The UMLRR is a 1 MW, light water moderated and cooled, graphite-reflected, open-pool type research reactor. This paper presents the development and the validation of a UMLRR-RELAP model using experimental data. For this purpose, a series of experiments were performed for benchmarking RELAP5 calculations for research reactor systems. As a result ...
Advanced modality of high-precision radiotherapy fulfilled by a composition of large numbers of small field beams called 'beamlets' can be achieved via nonuniform intensity fluencies. In case of radiation measurements and calculations with narrow high-energy photon beams, however, an accurate two-dimensional dosimetry is a challenging task due to dosimetrically unfavorable phenomena such as dramatic changes of the dose at the field boundaries, dis-equilibrium of the electrons resulting from larger detector volume, and non-uniformity between the detector and the phantom materials. Meanwhile, with the advantages of high spatial resolution and wide range of absorbed doses, there is a growing demand of GAFCHROMICat..EBT film to confirm delivered dose distribution. Especially, the effects from the material differences between the phantom and the film can be minimized in the heterogeneous condition since the GAFCHROMICat..EBT film is composed of tissueequivalent ...
It is becoming clear that simple sequence repeats (SSRs) play a significant role in fungal genome organization, and they are a large source of genetic markers for population genetics and meiotic maps. We identified SSRs in the Laccaria bicolor genome by in silico survey and analyzed their distribution in the different genomic regions. We also compared the abundance and distribution of SSRs in L. bicolor with those of the following fungal genomes: Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Coprinopsis cinerea, Ustilago maydis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus nidulans, Magnaporthe grisea, Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using the MISA computer program, we detected 277,062 SSRs in the L. bicolor genome representing 8% of the assembled genomic sequence. Among the analyzed basidiomycetes, L. bicolor exhibited the highest SSR density although no correlation ...
Full text of publication follows: The TUV NORD e.V. is an independent Technical Support Organisation (TSO) performing safety assessments in almost every field of technology. In nuclear safety the TUV can look back on more than 40 years of experience. In the last years in Germany PWR safety analyses were focussed on boron dilution events with the potential of reactivity transients. The possibility of coolant with a low boron concentration collected in localized areas of the reactor coolant system (RCS) can be caused by injection of coolant with less boron content from interfacing systems (external dilution) as well as separation of borated reactor coolant into highly concentrated and diluted fractions (inherent dilution). Inherent dilution can e.g. occur after reflux-condenser heat transfer after a small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) with a limited operability of the emergency core cooling (ECC) systems. The TUV Nord e.V. was charged by German supervisory authorities with the ...
Non-first order (FO) kinetics models are of three types; second order (SO), general order (GO) and mixed order (MO). It is shown that all three of these have constraints in their energy level schemes and their applicable parameter values. In nature such restrictions are not expected to exist. The thermoluminescence (TL) glow peaks produced by these models shift their position and change their shape as the trap occupancies change. Such characteristics are very unlike those found in samples of real materials. In these models, in general, retrapping predominates over recombination. It is shown that the quasi-equilibrium (QE) assumption implied in the derivation of the TL equation of these models is quite valid, thus disproving earlier workers' conclusion that QE cannot be held under retrapping dominant conditions. However notwithstanding their validity, they suffer from the shortcomings as stated above and have certain lacunae. For ...
ObjectiveIn the context of the importance of valid self-report measures to research and evidence-based practice in social work, an argument-based approach to validity...Full Text Available
In neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and prion disease it has been shown that host genetic background can have a significant effect on susceptibility. Indeed, human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated several candidate genes. Understanding such genetic susceptibility is relevant to risks of developing variant CJD (vCJD) in populations exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and understanding mechanisms of neurodegeneration. In mice, aspects of prion disease susceptibility can be modelled by examining the incubation period following experimental inoculation. Quantitative trait linkage studies have already identified multiple candidate genes; however, it is also possible to take an individual candidate gene approach. Rarb and Stmn2 were selected as candidates based on the known association with vCJD. Because of the increasing overlap described between prion and Alzheimer's diseases we also chose Clu, Picalm and Cr1, which ...
... Standards Validation Group National Computer Systems Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology ... STANDARD. ... (See test Ci )i3A. ...
Coupled modeling of subsurface multiphase fluid and heat flow, solute transport and chemical reactions can be used for the assessment of acid mine drainage remediation, mineral deposition, waste disposal sites, hydrothermal convection, contaminant transport, and groundwater quality. Here they present a numerical simulation model, TOUGHREACT, which considers non-isothermal multi-component chemical transport in both liquid and gas phases. A wide range of subsurface thermo-physical-chemical processes is considered. The model can be applied to one-, two- or three-dimensional porous and fractured media with physical and chemical heterogeneity. The model can accommodate any number of chemical species present in liquid, gas and solid phases. A variety of equilibrium chemical reactions is considered, such as aqueous complexation, gas dissolution/exsolution, cation exchange, and surface complexation. Mineral dissolution/precipitation can proceed either subject to local ...
Technology progress in DNA sequencing boosts the genomic database growth at faster and faster rate. Compression, accompanied with random access capabilities, is the key to maintain those huge amounts of data. In this paper we present an LZ77-style compression scheme for relative compression of multiple genomes of the same species. While the solution bears similarity to known algorithms, it offers significantly higher compression ratios at compression speed over a order of magnitude greater. One of the new successful ideas is augmenting the reference sequence with phrases from the other sequences, making more LZ-matches available.
Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) are sequences that are identical between reference genomes of distantly related species. As they are under negative selection and enriched near or in specific classes...Full Text Available
Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in premature aging, age-related diseases, and tumor initiation and progression. Alterations of the mitochondrial genome accumulate both in aging tissue...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe availability of multiple, essentially complete genome sequences of prokaryotes and eukaryotes spurred both the demand and the opportunity for the construction of an...Full Text Available
High-throughput technologies for DNA sequencing and for analyses of transcriptomes, proteomes and metabolomes have provided the foundations for deciphering the structure, variation and function of the...Full Text Available
BackgroundOrthology analysis is an important part of data analysis in many areas of bioinformatics such as comparative genomics and molecular phylogenetics. The ever-increasing flood...Full Text Available
Synthetic polymers and nanomaterials display selective phenotypic effects in cells and in the body that affect signal transduction mechanisms involved in inflammation, differentiation, proliferation,...Full Text Available
Eukaryotic genomes are packaged in two basic forms, euchromatin and heterochromatin. We have examined the composition and organization of Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin in...Full Text Available
ABSTRACT. Chlorarachniophytes are enigmatic marine unicellular algae that acquired photosynthesis by secondary endosymbiosis. Chlorarachniophytes are unusual in that the nucleus of the engulfed algal cell (a green alga) persists in a miniaturized form, termed a nucleomorph. The nucleomorph genome of the model chlorarachniophyte, Bigelowiella natans CCMP621, is 373 kilobase pairs (kbp) in size, the smallest nuclear genome characterized to date. The B. natans nucleomorph genome is composed of three chromosomes, each with canonical eukaryotic telomeres and sub telomeric ribosomal DNA (rDNA) operons transcribed away from the chromosome end. Here we present the complete rDNA operon and telomeric region from the nucleomorph genome of Lotharella oceanica CCMP622, a newly characterized chlorarachn...
The study of amphibian embryogenesis has provided important insight into the mechanisms of vertebrate development. The frog Xenopus laevis has been an important model of vertebrate...Full Text Available
Pork identification in four types of food products, which are sausages and the casings, bread and biscuits, using species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of a conserved region in the mitochondrial (mt) 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was developed. Genomic DNA of the food products were successfully extracted except for the casing samples, where no genomic DNA was detected. The extracted genomic DNA was then subjected to PCR amplification targeting the specific regions of the 12S rRNA gene. The genomic DNA from the food products were found to be of good quality and produced clear PCR products on the amplification of 12S rRNA gene of 387 base pairs (bp) from pork species. The species-specific PCR identification yielded excellent results for identification of pork derivatives...
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are a significant component of a wider family of retroelements that constitute part of the human genome. These viruses, perhaps representative of previous exogenous...Full Text Available
Motivation: DNA sequences can be represented by sequences of four symbols, but it is often useful to convert the symbols into real or complex numbers for further analysis. Several mapping...Full Text Available
... Extracellular Signaling through the Microenvironment: A Hypothesis Relating Carcinogenesis, Bystander Effects, and Genomic InstabilityMary Helen Barcellos-Hoff1a ... ...
Congruence is a broadly applied notion in evolutionary biology used to justify multigene phylogeny or phylogenomics, as well as in studies of coevolution, lateral gene transfer, and as evidence for...Full Text Available
Development of a fertilized egg into an adult human requires trillions of cell divisions, the vast majority of which duplicate their genome once and only once. Nevertheless, trophoblast giant...Full Text Available
High-throughput genomic and proteomic technologies have generated a wealth of publicly available data on ageing. Easy access to these data, and their computational analysis, is of great importance in...Full Text Available
The study of genetic variability within natural populations of pathogens may provide insight into their evolution and pathogenesis. We used a Mycobacterium tuberculosis high-density...Full Text Available
The biosynthesis of insect juvenile hormone (JH) and its neuroendocrine control are attractive targets for chemical control of insect pests and vectors of disease. To facilitate the molecular...Full Text Available
Acquisition of detailed knowledge of the structure and evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi populations is essential for control of Chagas disease....Full Text Available
BackgroundMany difficult problems in evolutionary genomics are related to mutations that have weak effects on fitness, as the consequences of mutations with large effects are often...Full Text Available
The quality of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins depends critically on the biomolecular force field that is used. Such force fields are defined by force-field parameter sets, which are generally determined and improved through calibration of properties of small molecules against experimental or theoretical data. By application to large molecules such as proteins, a new force-field parameter set can be validated. We report two 3.5 ns molecular dynamics simulations of hen egg white lysozyme in water applying the widely used GROMOS force-field parameter set 43A1 and a new set 45A3. The two MD ensembles are evaluated against NMR spectroscopic data NOE atom-atom distance bounds, {sup 3}J{sub NH{alpha}} and {sup 3}J{sub {alpha}}{sub {beta}} coupling constants, and {sup 1}5N relaxation data. It is shown that the two sets reproduce structural properties about equally well. The 45A3 ensemble fulfills the atom-atom distance bounds derived ...
Targeted genome capture combined with next-generation sequencing was used to analyze 2.9 Mb of the DFNB79 interval on chromosome 9q34.3, which includes 108 candidate genes. Genomic...Full Text Available
The dissimilatory metal reducing bacterium Shewanella sp. strain HN-41 was first reported to produce novel photoactive As-S nanotubes via reduction of As(V) and S(2)O(3)(2-) under anaerobic conditions. Here we report the draft genome sequence and annotation of strain HN-41. PMID:21868804
BackgroundThe mitochondrial genome of the Octocorallia has several characteristics atypical for metazoans, including a novel gene suggested to function in DNA repair. This mtMutS...Full Text Available
Actinosynnema mirum Hasegawa et al. 1978 is the type species of the genus, and is of phylogenetic interest because of its central phylogenetic location in the Actino-synnemataceae, a rapidly growing family within the actinobacterial suborder Pseudo-nocardineae. A. mirum is characterized by its motile spores borne on synnemata and as a producer of nocardicin antibiotics. It is capable of growing aerobically and under a moderate CO2 atmosphere. The strain is a Gram-positive, aerial and substrate mycelium producing bacterium, originally isolated from a grass blade collected from the Raritan River, New Jersey. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence and annotation. This is the first complete genome sequence of a member of the family Actinosynnemataceae, and only the second sequence from the actinobacterial suborder Pseudonocardineae. The 8,248,144 bp long single replicon genome ...
DNA methylation is an important event in epigenetic changes in cells, and a fundamental regulator of gene transcription. Bisulfite genomic sequencing is a powerful technique used in studies of DNA methylation. However, the established procedures often require relatively large amounts of DNA. In everyday practice, samples submitted for analysis might contain very small amounts of poor quality material, as is often the case with forensic stain samples. In this study, we assess a modified, more efficient method of bisulfite genomic sequencing. Genomic DNA extracted from 3-mm dried blood spots using QIAamp micro kit was treated with sodium bisulfite (using EpiTect kit). Subsequent methylation-specific PCR (MSP) followed by DNA sequencing displayed the differentially methylated region of imprinted gene SNRPN. Our results show that this new combination of efficient DNA extraction and bisulfite treatment provides high quality ...
Planning is an important part of computational model verification and validation (V&V) and the requisite planning document is vital for effectively executing the plan. The document provides a means of communicating intent to the typically large group of people, from program management to analysts to test engineers, who must work together to complete the validation activities. This report provides guidelines for writing a validation plan. It describes the components of such a plan and includes important references and resources. While the initial target audience is the DART Full System Model teams in the nuclear weapons program, the guidelines are generally applicable to other modeling efforts. Our goal in writing this document is to provide a framework for consistency in validation plans across weapon systems, different types of models, and different scenarios. Specific details contained in any ...
Based on the Morlet wavelet transformation and Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD), we present a wind turbine fault diagnosis method in this paper. Wind turbine can be damaged by moisture absorption, fatigue, wind gusts or lightening strikes. Due to this reason, there is an increasing need to monitor the health of these structures. Vibration analysis is the best-known technology applied in wind turbine condition monitoring, in which the time-frequency analysis techniques such as Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) are widely used. Theoretically WVD has an infinite resolution in time-frequency domain. For early wind turbine fault signals, however, there are two main difficulties in WVD analysis. One is strong noise signals in the background and the other is cross terms in WVD itself. In this paper, continuous wavelet transformation (CWT) is employed to filter useless noise in raw vibration signals, and auto terms window (ATW) function is used to suppress the cross terms in ...
In the framework of spallation neutron sources and accelerator-driven systems, the international PISA (Proton-induced Spallation) collaboration has initiated measurements of total- and double-differential cross-sections for products of spallation reactions in a wide range of target nuclei (GU) at the COSY proton accelerator in Julich (Germany). The purpose is to study secondary particle production created in structural, window and target materials via proton beams up to 2.5 GeV of incident kinetic energy. Residual nuclei [H, He up to intermediate mass fragment (IMF)] production cross-sections are of great importance for estimating the damage to target and structure materials involving the planned spallation neutron sources, given that the lifetime of window and target materials is directly associated to those cross-sections. The demand for reliable theoretical predictions on production cross-sections is by no means satisfied by the models and codes that are ...
This thesis presents the work achieved to instrument the ATLAS software framework, ATHENA, with a library of tools and utensils for the physics analysis as well as the extraction of the jet energy scale using physics events (in-situ calibration). The software part presents the various components of the ATHENA framework which handles the simulated and reconstructed data flow as well as the different stages of this process, before and during the data taking. The building of a library of tools easing the reconstruction of physics objects, their association with Monte-Carlo particles and their API is then explained. The need for common language and collaboration-wide utensils is emphasised as it allows to share the workload of validating these tools and to get reproducible physics results. The analysis part deals with the implementation of a light jet energy scale calibration algorithm within the C++ framework. This calibration algorithm makes use ...
The Ranque-Hilsch tube is a particular type of vortex tube device. The flow enters the device tangentially near one end and exits from the open ends of the tube. The inlet air is of a uniform temperature throughout while the outputs are of different temperatures. One outlet is hotter and the other is colder than the inlet air. This device has no moving parts and does not require any additional power for its operation other than that supplied to the device to compress the inlet air. It has, however, not been widely used, mainly because of its low efficiency. In this paper, a simplified 2-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model for the flow in the vortex tube is developed using FLUENT. This model makes use of the assumption of axial symmetry throughout the entire flow domain. Compared to a three-dimensional computational solution, the simplified model requires significantly less computational time. This is important because the model is to be used for an ...
Research highlights: {yields} Mathematical model represents a power system which consists of synchronous machine connected to infinite bus through transmission line. {yields} Power system stabilizer was designed based on optimal pole shifting controller. {yields} The system performances was tested through load disturbances at different operating conditions. {yields} The system performance with the proposed optimal pole shifting controller is compared with the conventional pole placement controller. {yields} The digital simulation results indicated that the proposed controller has a superior performance. -- Abstract: Power system stabilizer based on optimal pole shifting is proposed. An approach for shifting the real parts of the open-loop poles to any desired positions while preserving the imaginary parts is presented. In each step of this approach, it is required to solve a first-order or a second-order linear matrix Lyapunov equation for shifting one real pole or two complex ...
Research highlights: ? Mathematical model represents a power system which consists of synchronous machine connected to infinite bus through transmission line. ? Power system stabilizer was designed based on optimal pole shifting controller. ? The system performances was tested through load disturbances at different operating conditions. ? The system performance with the proposed optimal pole shifting controller is compared with the conventional pole placement controller. ? The digital simulation results indicated that the proposed controller has a superior performance. -- Abstract: Power system stabilizer based on optimal pole shifting is proposed. An approach for shifting the real parts of the open-loop poles to any desired positions while preserving the imaginary parts is presented. In each step of this approach, it is required to solve a first-order or a second-order linear matrix Lyapunov equation for shifting one real pole or two complex conjugate poles, respectively. This ...
The electric power industry can use the carbon dioxide absorption process to capture carbon from high-volume flue gas. However, the current cost of the process is too high due to the approximation method used in process design. The absorption column is typically designed with parameters that are assumed to be constant over the whole length of the column, resulting in an oversized unit. This approximation method is no longer valid given new environmental and economic concerns. In order to develop an accurate column design for high-efficiency carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) capture, it is necessary to understand the phenomena taking place in the system. A mechanistic model is presented for a robust absorber design that takes into account mass-transfer and hydrodynamic behaviour within the CO{sub 2} absorption columns. The capture performance of a packed column under a wide range of design and operating conditions was determined using a model based on ...
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission stipulates in 10 CFR 61 that disposed low-level radioactive waste (LLW) be stabilized. To provide guidance to disposal vendors and nuclear station waste generators for implementing those requirements, the NRC developed the Technical Position on Waste Form, Revision 1. That document details a specified set of recommended testing procedures and criteria, including several tests for determining the biodegradation properties of waste forms. Cement has been widely used to solidify LLW; however, the resulting waste forms are sometimes susceptible to failure due to the actions of waste constituents, stress, and environment. The purpose of this research program is to develop modified microbial degradation test procedures that will be more appropriate than the existing procedures for evaluating the effects of microbiologically influenced chemical attack on cement-solidified LLW. Groups of microorganisms indigenous to LLW disposal sites are ...
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission stipulates in 10 CFR 61 that disposed low-level radioactive waste (LLW) be stabilized. To provide guidance to disposal vendors and nuclear station waste generators for implementing those requirements, the NRC developed the Technical Position on Waste Form, Revision 1. That document details a specified set of recommended testing procedures and criteria, including several tests for determining the biodegradation properties of waste forms. Information has been presented by a number of researchers, which indicated that those tests may be inappropriate for examining microbial degradation of cement-solidified LLW. Cement has been widely used to solidify LLW; however, the resulting waste forms are sometimes susceptible to failure due to the actions of waste constituents, stress, and environment. The purpose of this research program was to develop modified microbial degradation test procedures that would be more appropriate than the ...
We have developed a kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulator that links atomic migration and binding energies determined primarily from first principles calculations to macroscopic phenomena and laboratory time scales. Input for the kMC simulation is obtained from a combination of ab initio planewave pseudopotential calculations, molecular dynamics simulations, and experimental data. The simulator is validated against an extensive series of experimental studies of the diffusion of B spikes in self-implanted Si. The implant energy, dose, and dose rate, as well as the detailed thermal history of the sample, are included. Good agreement is obtained with the experimental data for temperatures between 750 and 950 C and times from 15 to 255 s. At 1050o C we predict too little diffusion after 105 s compared to experiment: apparently, some mechanism which is not adequately represented by our model becomes important at this temperature. Below 1050o C, the kMC simulation produces ...
The detailed sequence stratigraphic analysis of the siliciclastic-dominated Late Cretaceous sediments (Aren Sandstone and Garumnian red beds, south central Pyrenees, Spain) reveals the repeating disposition of critical elements and controlling mechanisms of cycles and sequences. Our approach integrates (a) hierarchy of unconformity-bounded units, (b) physical expression of boundaries traceable from the continent to the basin, (c) featuring facies and depositional systems, (d) well log and seismic expression, and (e) driving basing-filling mechanisms. A comparison to other active basins is suggested in order to prove the validity beyond the regional scale. Four basin-wide transgressive facies cycles were identified and interpreted as third-order units. The transgressive phase of each cycle is represented by mixed shelf deposits, while regressive periods consists of complex delta systems. The cycles are composed within their regressive phase of ...
A phenomenological model of turbulent combustion has been developed and validated against data from wide ranging tests on a Ricardo E6 engine. Most tests used iso-octane, with a range of air fuel ratios and ignition timings, for tests at full throttle (with and without knock) and at part throttle. Some full throttle tests were also conducted with methanol and toluene. The engine performance was characterized by mean and coefficient of variation (CoV) of: the peak pressure, the maximum rate of pressure rise, the IMEP, the burn rate and flame speed measurements. The results have been used to argue that the cycle-by-cycle variations in combustion should be characterized by the CoV of IMEP in preference to the CoV of the maximum cylinder pressure. Evidence is also presented to support the observation that the cycle-by-cycle variations in combustion are lower when the early combustion is more rapid. It has also been shown that the CoV of IMEP is a ...
This paper provides guidance in the definition, documentation, measurement, enhancement of processes, and validation of a strategic plan for configuration management (CM). The approach and methodology used in establishing a strategic plan is the same for any enterprise, including the Department of Energy (DOE), commercial nuclear plants, the Department of Defense (DOD), or large industrial complexes. The principles and techniques presented are used world wide by some of the largest corporations. The authors used industry knowledge and the areas of their current employment to illustrate and provide examples. Developing a strategic configuration and information management plan for DOE Idaho Field Office (DOE-ID) facilities is discussed in this paper. A good knowledge of CM principles is the key to successful strategic planning. This paper will describe and define CM elements, and discuss how CM integrates the facility's physical configuration, ...
Aim: To investigate interpretative accuracy and reporting time for radiologists performing computed tomography (CT) colonography in day-to-day non-academic clinical practice. Materials and methods: Thirteen radiologists from seven centres, who were reporting CT colonography in non-academic daily clinical practice, interpreted a dataset of 15 colonoscopically validated cases in a controlled environment. Ten cases had either a cancer or polyp >10 mm; one case had a medium polyp and four were normal. Correct case categorization and interpretation times were compared using analysis of variance to aggregated results obtained from both experienced observers and observers recently trained using 50 cases, working in an academic environment. The effect of experience was determined using Spearman's rank correlation. Results: Individual accuracy was highly variable, range 53% (95% CI 27-79%) to 93% (95% CI 68-100%). Mean accuracy overall was significantly ...
To overcome the limitations of conventional bobbin style eddy-current probes, it has become common practice to perform some portion of a steam generator tube inspection program with array coil probes. Typically, eight surface-riding pancake coils are utilized in a probe head, either as eight independent coils (8 x 1) or in a parallel combination of four serially connected coils (4 x 4). The advantages of the array coils are improved sensitivity to intergranular attack (IGA), reduced interference from tube denting, and improved sensitivity to circumferential cracking. The current status of commercially available probes is such that several weaknesses in array coils have limited the widespread application of this technology. Task S 301-6 was conceived to address each of the weaknesses in order to produce a more reliable and cost-effective probe. The emphasis was on reliability, since the cost associated with downtime for a probe change far exceeds the price of a probe. The array coil ...
In the present paper we estimate the effect of sodium in the in-service inspection of non-magnetic steam generators tubes using eddy current technique and eddy current probes based on a differential double bobbin coil configuration. Experimental measurements of defects signals in steam generator tubes of fast breeder reactor are compared with simulations results of a two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element code to validate a reliable electromagnetic model of the system (eddy current coils, steam generator tube, defect) when there is no sodium on the outer steam generator tube surface. The electromagnetic code is used to evaluate the sodium band and sodium layer signals when a defect is located under steam generator support plate. Using a multi-frequency algorithm, its parameters are determined in the 'no sodium condition' (there is no sodium on the outer steam generator tube surface), defects signal is enhanced during eddy currents inspection, even when the ...
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a highly conversed topic, particularly since implementation of screening for CRC is imminent within the U.K. Aims: The aim of this research project was to examine the diagnostic tools currently used within the UK to detect CRC and their impact on the aetiology and epidemiology of CRC. Methodology: The complexity of the research topic lent itself towards a literature review. A systematic approach of researching was therefore adopted to analyse and critically evaluate the reliability and validity of articles. Electronic databases including AMED, Cancerlit, CINHAL, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE and EBM-Reviews were utilised to provide a wide spectrum of recent and relevant articles. Other research strategies involved looking for books relating to the topics, which were kept to within 6 years of publication to maintain accuracy of information. Selected websites, such as NICE, the Department of Health, NHS websites ...
Detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms have been developed to describe the pyrolysis and oxidation of nine n-alkanes larger than n-heptane, including n-octane (n-C{sub 8}H{sub 18}), n-nonane (n-C{sub 9}H{sub 20}), n-decane (n-C{sub 10}H{sub 22}), n-undecane (n-C{sub 11}H{sub 24}), n-dodecane (n-C{sub 12}H{sub 26}), n-tridecane (n-C{sub 13}H{sub 28}), n-tetradecane (n-C{sub 14}H{sub 30}), n-pentadecane (n-C{sub 15}H{sub 32}), and n-hexadecane (n-C{sub 16}H{sub 34}). These mechanisms include both high temperature and low temperature reaction pathways. The mechanisms are based on our previous mechanisms for the primary reference fuels n-heptane and iso-octane, using the reaction class mechanism construction first developed for n-heptane. Individual reaction class rules are as simple as possible in order to focus on the parallelism between all of the n-alkane fuels included in the mechanisms, and these mechanisms will be refined further in the future to incorporate greater levels of ...
Genomic instability can be produced by ionising radiation, so-called radiation-induced genomic instability, and chemical mutagens. Radiation-induced genomic instability occurs in both germinal and somatic cells and also in the offspring of irradiated individuals, and it is characterised by genetic changes including chromosomal rearrangements. The majority of studies of trans-generational, radiation-induced genomic instability have been described in the male germ line, whereas the authors who have chosen the female as a model are scarce. The aim of this work is to find out the radiation-induced effects in the foetal offspring of X-ray-treated female rats and, at the same time, the possible impact of this radiation-induced genomic instability on the action of a chemical mutagen. In order to achieve both goals, the quantity and quality of chromosomal damage were analysed. In order to ...
The sequencing and detailed comparative functional analysis of genomes of a number of select botanical models open new doors into comparative genomics among the angiosperms, with potential benefits for improvement of many orphan crops that feed large populations. In this study, a set of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was developed by mining the expressed sequence tag (EST) database of sorghum. Among the SSR-containing sequences, only those sharing considerable homology with rice genomic sequences across the lengths of the 12 rice chromosomes were selected. Thus, 600 SSR-containing sorghum EST sequences (50 homologous sequences on each of the 12 rice chromosomes) were selected, with the intention of providing coverage for corresponding homologous regions of the sorghum genome. Primer pairs were designed and polymorphism detection ability was assessed using parental pairs of two existing sorghum ...
BackgroundThe objective of this study was to develop and validate a daily electronic Endometriosis Pain and Bleeding Diary (EPBD) for assessing treatment-related changes in endometriosis...Full Text Available
The identification and validation of biomarkers for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia are increasingly important. To date, ELISA measurement of β-amyloid(1–42),...Full Text Available
The validation parameters for pharmaceutical analyses were examined for the accelerator mass spectrometry measurement of 14C/C ratio, independent of chemical separation procedures....Full Text Available
The thesis gives an overview of the validation process for thermal-hydraulic system codes and it presents in more detail the assessment and validation of the French code CATHARE for VVER calculations. Three assessment cases are presented: loop seal clearing, core reflooding and flow in a horizontal steam generator. The experience gained during these assessment and validation calculations has been used to analyze the behavior of the horizontal steam generator and the natural circulation in the geometry of the Loviisa nuclear power plant. Large part of the work has been performed in cooperation with the CATHARE-team in Grenoble, France. (41 refs., 11 figs., 8 tabs.).
Abstract Septins are highly conserved cytoskeletal GTP-binding proteins implicated in numerous cellular processes from apoptosis to vesicle trafficking. Septins have been associated with leukemia and solid tumor malignancies, including breast, ovarian, and prostate. We previously reported that high SEPT9_i1 expression in human mammary epithelial cell lines (HMECs) led to malignant cellular phenotypes such as increased cell proliferation, invasiveness, motility, and genomic instability. Our goal here was to better understand how SEPT9_i1 expression might contribute to genomic instability and malignant progression. First, we confirmed that even transient expression of SEPT9_i1 was sufficient to increase aneuploidy in HMECs. We then analyzed SEPT9_i1 by immunoprecipitation and immunofluoresce...
As with other areas of biomedical research, the expectation is that the results of genome research will yield commercially valuable products of benefits to human health. The report, analyzes universities`, companies`, and researchers` experiences and perspectives since enactment of federal laws to enhance technology transfer--especially as it pertains to research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, the agencies funding U.S. efforts in the Human Genome Project. OTA prepared this background paper with the assistance of a panel of advisors and reviewers selected for their expertise and diverse points of view. Additionally, hundreds of individuals cooperated with OTA staff through interviews or by providing written material. These authorities were drawn from government, academia, industry, and professional societies worldwide.
Evidence suggests that insertion of the IS6110 element is not without consequence to the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains. Thus, mapping of multiple IS6110 insertion sites in the genome of biomedically relevant clinical isolates would result in a better understanding of the role of this mobile element, particularly with regard to transmission, adaptability and virulence. In the present paper, we describe a versatile strategy, referred to as GL-PCR, that amplifies IS6110-flanking sequences based on the construction of a genomic library. M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA is fully digested with HincII and then ligated into a plasmid vector between T7 and T3 promoter sequences. The ligation reaction product is transformed into Escherichia coli and selective PCR amplification...
BackgroundA common approach to understanding the genetic basis of complex traits is through identification of associated quantitative trait loci (QTL). Fine mapping QTLs requires...Full Text Available
A nonviral vector for highly efficient site-specific integration would be desirable for many applications in transgenesis, including gene therapy. In this study we directly compared the genomic integration...Full Text Available
chipD is a web server that facilitates design of DNA oligonucleotide probes for high-density tiling arrays, which can be used in a number of genomic applications such as ChIP-chip or gene-expression...Full Text Available
The genome sequence of the Mamavirus, a new Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus strain, is reported. With 1,191,693 nt in length and 1,023 predicted protein-coding genes, the Mamavirus...Full Text Available
Molecular Misreading (MM) is the inaccurate conversion of genomic information into aberrant proteins. For example, when RNA polymerase II transcribes a GAGAG motif it synthesizes at low frequency RNA...Full Text Available
The structural phosphoprotein NS of vesicular stomatitis virus, in association with the virion-associated RNA polymerase L protein, transcribes the genome ribonucleoprotein template in vitro. It contains...Full Text Available
The lesion bypass pathway, which is regulated by monoubiquitination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), is essential for resolving replication stalling due to DNA lesions. This process is...Full Text Available
Materials and MethodsThe genomic effects of tumor-endothelial interactions in cancer are not yet well characterized. To study this interaction in breast...Full Text Available
DNA transposons are efficient tools in transgenesis and have therefore become popular in the analysis of the regulatory genome in vertebrates via enhancer trap screens. Here, I discuss recent progress...Full Text Available
Significant emphasis has recently been placed on the characterization of the human cancer genome. This effort has been assisted by the development of new DNA sequencing technologies that allow...Full Text Available
The recent introduction of several transposable elements in zebrafish opens new frontiers for genetic manipulation in this important vertebrate model. This review discusses transposable elements as...Full Text Available
BackgroundTransposons, i.e. transposable elements (TEs), are the major internal spontaneous mutation agents for the variability of eukaryotic genomes. To address the general issue...Full Text Available
A detailed map of the transcriptional organization of the CELO virus genome was produced. Recent computer analysis of CELO virus has indicated the presence of 38 putative open reading frames (ORFs)....Full Text Available
Transposable elements (TEs) were first discovered more than 50 years ago, but were totally ignored for a long time. Over the last few decades they have gradually attracted increasing interest from research...Full Text Available
AbstractThe Galaxy package empowers regular users to perform rich DNA sequence analysis through a much-needed and user-friendly graphical web interface.See research article...Full Text Available
In this study, the complete sequence of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Atelura formicaria (Hexapoda: Zygentoma) is described. The molecule is 15.205 bp in length and it is the third complete mt genome sequenced from the Zygentoma. The genome organization conforms with the putative ancestral insect gene arrangement. All protein coding genes use standard initiation codons (methionine and isoleucine). The exception is nad4 that starts with GTG, a codon used for this purpose in other insect species. A peculiar strand skew bias is observed, given that the PCGs encoded on the J-strand contain more thymines than adenines and more cytosines than guanines. This trend in nucleotide composition has been observed also in the "firebrat" Thermobia domestica (Zygentoma, Lepismatidae), but differs from that of the majority of hexapod species, including Tricholepidion gertschi (Zygentoma, Lepidotrichidae), where adenines and cytosines outnumber thymines and ...
BackgroundChromatin insulators or boundary elements are a class of functional elements in the eukaryotic genome. They regulate gene transcription by interfering with promoter-enhancer...Full Text Available
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common inhabitant of soil and water, is an opportunistic pathogen of growing clinical relevance. Its genome, one of the largest among bacteria [5570 open reading...Full Text Available
SummaryAgeing is a complex, challenging phenomenon that will require multiple, interdisciplinary approaches to unravel its puzzles. To assist basic research on ageing, we developed...Full Text Available
An outbreak of acute respiratory disease in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia, in September 1994 resulted in the deaths of 14 racing horses and a horse trainer. The causative agent was a new member...Full Text Available
BackgroundTwenty-eight genes putatively encoding cytosolic glutathione transferases have been identified in the Anopheles gambiae genome. We manually annotated these...Full Text Available
Assembly of infectious adenovirus particles requires seven functionally redundant elements at the left end of the genome, termed A repeats, that direct packaging of the DNA. Previous studies revealed...Full Text Available
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is clearly a factor in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, but its mechanism of action remains obscure. One possibility is that the HBV integration event alters the...Full Text Available
Recognition of acetylated chromatin by the bromodomains and extra-terminal domain (BET) family proteins is a hallmark for transcriptional activation and anchoring viral genomes to mitotic chromosomes...Full Text Available
Using the complete genome of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 which has 14 chromosomes as an example, we have examined the distribution functions for the amount of C or G and A or T consecutively...Full Text Available
BackgroundRNA turnover plays an important role in the gene regulation of microorganisms and influences their speed of acclimation to environmental changes. We investigated whole-genome...Full Text Available
BackgroundFertilization, cell division and embryo development depend on genomic contributions from male and female gametes. We hypothesize that teratozoospermic sperm influences...Full Text Available
We have used restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) of genomic DNA to classify porcine Pasteurella multocida isolates with similar capsular and somatic serotypes, and to monitor the distribution of...Full Text Available
We use high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping microarrays to demonstrate the ability to accurately and robustly determine whether individuals are in a complex genomic DNA mixture....Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Class II DNA transposons are mobile genetic elements that move DNA sequence from one position in the genome to another. We have previously demonstrated that the naturally...Full Text Available
The evolution of the human mitochondrial genome is characterized by the emergence of ethnically distinct lineages or haplogroups. Nine European, seven Asian (including Native American), and three African...Full Text Available
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in clinical material cannot replicate efficiently in vitro until it has adapted by mutation. Consequently, wild-type HCMV differ fundamentally from the passaged strains...Full Text Available
Orthologous positions of 55 genes associated with height in four human populations were located on the bovine genome. Single nucleotide polymorphisms close to eight of these genes were significantly...Full Text Available
The retroviral RNA genome is dimeric, consisting of two identical strands of RNA linked near their 5′ ends by a dimer linkage structure. Previously it was shown that human foamy virus (HFV)...Full Text Available
Normal cells, both in vivo and in vitro, become quiescent after serial cell proliferation. During this process, cells can develop immortality with genomic instability,...Full Text Available
Comparison of gastric carcinoma and gastritis isolates showed the presence of genes, probably carcinoma associated (JHP947 and JHP940), that are situated in a Helicobacter...Full Text Available
The genomic viral RNA (vRNA) segments of influenza A virus contain specific packaging signals at their termini that overlap the coding regions. To further characterize cis-acting signals...Full Text Available
BackgroundFor more than a decade there has been increasing interest in the use of nanotechnology and microarray platforms for diagnostic applications. In this report, we describe...Full Text Available
Purpose: Small animal micro-CT imaging is being used increasingly in preclinical biomedical research to provide phenotypic descriptions of genomic models. Most of this imaging is coincident...Full Text Available
We have characterized the kinetic response of gene targets throughout the murine genome to transcriptional modulation by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In contrast to a model in which multiple genes...Full Text Available
The RNA packaging process for retroviruses involves a recognition event of the genome-length viral RNA by the viral Gag polyprotein precursor (PrGag), an important step in particle morphogenesis. The...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenetic interactions within hybrids influence their overall fitness. Understanding the details of these interactions can improve our understanding of speciation. One experimental...Full Text Available
Large population sizes, rapid growth and 3.8 billion years of evolution firmly establish microorganisms as a major source of the planet's biological and genetic diversity. However, up to 99% of the...Full Text Available
Marine sediments are frequently covered by mats of the filamentous Beggiatoa and other large nitrate-storing bacteria that oxidize hydrogen sulfide using either oxygen or nitrate, which...Full Text Available
The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) packages its genomic RNA as a dimer of homologous RNA molecules that has to be selected among a multitude of cellular and viral RNAs. Interestingly, spliced...Full Text Available
Chromosomal common fragile sites (CFSs) are genetically unstable regions of the genome that are induced by conditions that impair DNA replication. In this report, we show that treatment with the DNA...Full Text Available
The plasmid pE194 (3.7 kilobases) is capable of integrating into the genome of the bacterial host Bacillus subtilis in the absence of the major homology-dependent RecE recombination system. Multiple...Full Text Available
BackgroundRecently, the discovery of copy number variation (CNV) led researchers to think that there are more variations of genomic DNA than initially believed. Moreover, a certain...Full Text Available
A duplication of the polypurine tract (PPT) at the center of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genome (the cPPT) has been shown to prime a separate plus-strand initiation and to result...Full Text Available
BackgroundIn recent years, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has emerged as a critical model organism for comparative genomics and developmental biology. Although...Full Text Available
BackgroundHIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) is a heterodimer composed of p66 and p51 subunits and is responsible for reverse transcription of the viral RNA genome into DNA. RT can...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp) is the causative agent of the human disease melioidosis. To understand the evolutionary mechanisms...Full Text Available
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) contains a viroid-like circular RNA that replicates via a double rolling circle replication mechanism. It is generally assumed that HDV RNA is synthesized and remains exclusively...Full Text Available
Harmful algal blooms, caused by rapid growth and accumulation of certain microalgae in the ocean, pose considerable impacts on marine environments, aquatic industries and even public health. Here, we...Full Text Available
Increasing numbers of human cowpox virus infections that are being observed and that particularly affect young non-vaccinated persons have renewed interest in this zoonotic disease. Usually causing...Full Text Available
The continued evolution of bacterial pathogens has major implications for both human and animal disease, but the exchange of genetic material between host-restricted pathogens is rarely considered....Full Text Available
Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, the third most common mycobacterial disease after tuberculosis and leprosy. It is an emerging infectious disease that...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe objective of the study was to analyse the evolution of Bordetella pertussis population and the influence of herd immunity in different areas of the...Full Text Available
Campylobacter is one of the leading causes of food-borne gastroenteritis and has a high prevalence in poultry. Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni 327 is a subspecies...Full Text Available
The accelerating development of biochemical and DNA-based diagnostic tests for human genetic conditions in the last decade has engendered a revolution in genetic diagnosis. Both genetic testing and...Full Text Available
Over the past two decades, combined advances in genetics, developmental biology and biochemistry have transformed the study of human birth defects. This review describes the importance of genome architecture,...Full Text Available
BackgroundDeveloping lepidopteran microsatellite DNA markers can be problematical, as markers often exhibit multiple banding patterns and high frequencies of non-amplifying "null"...Full Text Available
BackgroundCucumis melo (melon) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, whose economic importance among horticulture crops is second only to Solanaceae. Melon has high...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe decline noticed in several fertility traits of dairy cattle over the past few decades is of major concern. Understanding of the genomic factors underlying fertility,...Full Text Available
Werner Syndrome (WS) is an inherited disease characterized by premature onset of aging, increased cancer incidence, and genomic instability. The WS gene encodes a 1,432-amino acid polypeptide (WRN)...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe western African clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis is an anuran amphibian species now used as model in vertebrate comparative genomics. It provides the...Full Text Available
In Staphylococcus aureus, a pronounced shift in position of the acriflavin resistance locus was observed when gene order was determined by marker frequency analysis of cells of various ages. In young cells (2-hour culture), acriflavin resistance was mappe...
Many pathogens colonize different anatomical sites, but the selective pressures contributing to survival in the diverse niches are poorly understood. Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is...Full Text Available
Genome endoreduplication during mammalian development is a rare event for which the mechanism is unknown. It first appears when fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) deprivation induces differentiation...Full Text Available
The objectives of this study were to examine the association between dietary factors and underweight and overweight adult Vietnamese living in the rural areas of Vietnam. A cross-sectional study of...Full Text Available
Caries is a multifactorial disease, and studies aiming to unravel the factors modulating its etiology must consider all known predisposing factors. One major factor is bacterial colonization,...Full Text Available
DNA damage is a threat to genomic integrity in all living organisms. Plants and green algae are particularly susceptible to DNA damage especially that caused by UV light, due to their light dependency...Full Text Available
Cyteogenetic maps of sorghum chromosomes 3-7, 9, and 10 were constructed on the basis of the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of ~ ... regions of heterchromatin were delimited for all 10 sorghum chrom...
BackgroundOncidium spp. produce commercially important orchid cut flowers. However, they are amenable to intergeneric and inter-specific crossing making phylogenetic...Full Text Available
RNAs transcribed from the mitochondrial genome of Physarum polycephalum are heavily edited. The most prevalent editing event is the insertion of single Cs, with Us and dinucleotides...Full Text Available
BackgroundStructured noncoding RNAs perform many functions that are essential for protein synthesis, RNA processing, and gene regulation. Structured RNAs can be detected by comparative...Full Text Available
Mechanisms for differential regulation of gene expression may underlie much of the phenotypic variation and adaptability of malaria parasites. Here we describe transcriptional variation among culture-adapted...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe rate of emergence of human pathogens is steadily increasing; most of these novel agents originate in wildlife. Bats, remarkably, are the natural reservoirs of many...Full Text Available
It is well known that DNA strands bind to silica surfaces in the presence of high concentrations of chaotropic salts. We developed simple methods to evaluate binding and recovery of DNA on flat...Full Text Available
BackgroundMimivirus, a giant dsDNA virus infecting Acanthamoeba, is the prototype of the mimiviridae family, the latest addition to the family of the nucleocytoplasmic...Full Text Available
Global hypomethylation has been shown to increase genome instability potentially leading to increased cancer risk. We determined whether global methylation in blood leukocyte DNA was associated...Full Text Available
BackgroundType A1 Clostridium botulinum strains are a group of Gram-positive, spore-forming anaerobic bacteria that produce a genetically, biochemically, and biophysically...Full Text Available
The standard paradigm postulates that the human mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is strictly maternally inherited and that, consequently, mtDNA lineages are clonal. As a result of mtDNA clonality, phylogenetic...Full Text Available
BackgroundGenomics has substantially changed our approach to cancer research. Gene expression profiling, for example, has been utilized to delineate subtypes of cancer, and facilitated...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe goat (Capra hircus) represents one of the most important farm animal species. It is reared in all continents with an estimated world population of...Full Text Available
Signatures of natural selection occur throughout the human genome and can be detected at the sequence level. We have re-sequenced ABCE1, a host candidate gene essential for...Full Text Available
Rhodococcus fascians is a Gram-positive phytopathogen that induces shooty hyperplasia on its hosts through the secretion of cytokinins. Global transcriptomics using microarrays combined...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe production of high yields of recombinant proteins is an enduring bottleneck in the post-genomic sciences that has yet to be addressed in a truly rational manner. Typically...Full Text Available
The human genome contains greater than 20 actin-related sequences, six of which at least are expressed as protein. We have shown by blot hybridization the presence of actin-like sequences on both the...Full Text Available
Rapid development in genomics in recent years has allowed the simultaneous measurement of the expression levels of thousands of genes using DNA microarrays. This has offered tremendous potential...Full Text Available
BackgroundCentrosome aberrations can cause genomic instability and correlate with malignant progression in common human malignancies such as breast and prostate cancer. Deregulation...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe commonest pathogenic DMD changes are intragenic deletions/duplications which make up to 78% of all cases and point mutations (roughly 20%) detectable...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe order Tetraodontiformes consists of approximately 429 species of fishes in nine families. Members of the order exhibit striking morphological diversity and radiated...Full Text Available
The distribution of 20 variable regions resulting from insertion-deletion events in the genomes of the tubercle bacilli has been evaluated in a total of 100 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,...Full Text Available
Arabidopsis and rice are the only two model plants whose finished phase genome sequence has been completed. Here we report the construction of an oligomer microarray based on the presently...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVEPreimplantation factor (PIF) is a novel, 15 amino acid peptide, secreted by viable embryos. This study aims to elucidate PIF’s effects in human endometrial...Full Text Available
A search for homologs of the Bacillus subtilis PhoP response regulator in the group A streptococcus (GAS) genome revealed three good candidates. Inactivation of one of these, recently...Full Text Available
In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is critical, however, for both basic and clinical research into brain function....Full Text Available
A DNA fragment located on the 3' side of the Coxiella burnetii htpAB operon was determined by Southern blotting to exist in approximately 19 copies in the Nine Mile I genome. The DNA sequences of this...Full Text Available
The origin of life is a long-standing mystery puzzling many people. This mystery possesses not only philosophical but also important biological significance. To unveil this mystery, the searches for the root of life, or the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), based on comparative-genomic analysis have been intensively performed on rRNAs, tRNAs and proteins sequences. The current search pointed to a Methanopyrus-proximal LUCA, which opens up the reconstruction of Lucan biology and helps to delineate the evolutionary pathways.
Outbreaks of disease attributable to human error or natural causes can provide unique opportunities to gain new information about host-pathogen interactions and new leads for pathogenesis research. Poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (PSGN), a sequela of infection with pathogenic streptococci, is a common cause of preventable kidney disease worldwide. Although PSGN usually occurs after infection with group A streptococci, organisms of Lancefield group C and G also can be responsible. Despite decades of study, the molecular pathogenesis of PSGN is poorly understood. As a first step toward gaining new information about PSGN pathogenesis, we sequenced the genome of Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus strain MGCS10565, a group C organism that caused a very large and unusually severe epidemic of nephritis in Brazil. The genome is a circular chromosome of 2,024,171 bp. The genome shares extensive gene content, including many ...
Background:The validity of dementia diagnoses in the Danish nationwide hospital registers was evaluated to determine the value of these registers in epidemiological research about dementia. Methods: Two hundred patients were randomly selected from 4,682 patients registered for the first time with a dementia diagnosis in the last 6 months of 2003. The patients' medical journals were reviewed to evaluate if they fulfilled ICD-10 and/or DSM-IV criteria for dementia and specific dementia subtypes. The patients who were still alive in 2006 were invited to an interview. Results: One hundred and ninety-seven journals were available for review and 51 patients were interviewed. A registered diagnosis of dementia was found to be correct in 169 (85.8%) cases. Regarding dementia subtypes, the degree of agreement between the registers and the results of the validating process was low with a kappa of 0.36 (95% CI 0.24-0.48). Conclusion: The ...
For models with several time-dependent components, generalized entropies can be defined. This is shown for the Bianchi type IX model. We first derive the Cardy-Verlinde formula under the assumption that the first law of thermodynamics is valid. This leads to an explicit expression of the total entropy associated with this type of universe. Assuming the validity of the Cardy entropy formula, we obtain expressions for the corresponding Bekenstein, Bekenstein-Hawking and Hubble entropies. We discuss the validity of the Cardy-Verlinde formula and possible extensions of the outlined procedure to other time-dependent models.
Typing Workshop": [Introductions] [Intro, DNA Basics, and Historical Perspective] [DNA Extraction] [Validation and QA/QC] [DNA Quantitation] [PCR Amplification] [STR Loci and Kits]...
BACKGROUND:In adults, it is well known that high levels of pain catastrophizing are related to increased pain and disability as well as to heightened anxiety and depression. However,...Full Text Available
PURPOSE.- The study aims to clinically validate the defining characteristics (DCs) of the nursing diagnosis (ND) of Activity Intolerance for patients with ischemic heart disease and refractory angina. METHODS.- Cross-sectional study was used, involving 22 patients with ND of Activity Intolerance. The Fehring method was used to validate the ND. FINDINGS.- Most DCs presented reliability indexes between 0.5 and 0.79. Three DCs presented reliability indexes - 0.8. CONCLUSION.- All DCs were validated, and electrocardiographic changes indicating ischemia, verbal report of fatigue, and abnormal rate response to activity were considered as DC major. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE.- This study is relevant in daily nursing practice for guidance in establishing the care plan and describing the ass...
SynopsisAttention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a valid and impairing psychological disorder that persists into adulthood in a majority of cases and is associated...Full Text Available
measure meteorological variables and bulk water temper- ature. The locations of the buoys are given in Table 1. TB2 and TB3 were moved slightly farther south ...
BackgroundThe evaluation of interventions and policies designed to promote resilience, and research to understand the determinants and associations, require reliable and valid measures...Full Text Available
BackgroundAdequate pain assessment is critical for evaluating the efficacy of analgesic treatment in clinical practice and during the development of new therapies. Yet the currently...Full Text Available
Crenarchaea are ubiquitous and abundant microbial constituents of soils, sediments, lakes and ocean waters, yet relatively little is known about their fundamental evolutionary, ecological, and physiological properties. To better describe the ubiquitous nonthermophilic Crenarchaea, we analyzed the genome sequence of one representative, the uncultivated sponge symbiont, Cenarchaeum symbiosum. C. symbiosum genotypes coinhabiting the same host partitioned into two dominant populations, corresponding to previously described a- and b-type ribosomal RNA variants. Although synthetic, overlapping a- and b-type ribotypes harbored significant genetic variability. A single tiling path comprising the dominant a-type genotype was assembled, and used to explore the biological properties of C. symbiosum and its planktonic relatives. Out of a total of 2,066 predicted open reading frames, 36% were more highly conserved with other Archaea. The remainder partitioned between bacteria ...
Mutations in the mouse formin (Fmn) gene, formerly known as the limb deformity (ld) gene, give rise to recessively inherited limb deformities and renal malformations or aplasia. The Fmn gene encodes many differentially processed transcripts that are expressed in both adult and embryonic tissues. To study the genomic organization of the Fmn locus, we have used Fmn probes to isolate and characterize genomic clones spanning 500 kb. Our analysis of these clones shows that the Fmn gene is composed of at least 24 exons and spans 400 kb. We have identified two novel exons that are expressed in the developing embryonic limb bud as well as adult tissues such as brain and kidney. We have also used a microsatellite polymorphism from within the Fmn gene to map it genetically to a 2.2-cM interval between D2Mit58 and D2Mit103. 36 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.
The germplasm with exotic genomic components especially from Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense L. Gb) is the dominant genetic resources to enhance fiber quality of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L., Gh). Due to low efficiency of phenotypic evaluation and selection on fiber quality, genetic dissection of favorable alleles using molecular markers is essential. Genetic dissection on putative Gb introgressions related to fiber traits were conducted by SSR markers with mapping populations derived from a cross between Luyuan343 (LY343), a superior fiber quality introgression line (IL) with genomic components from Gb, and an elite Upland cotton cv. Lumianyan#22 (LMY22). Among 82 polymorphic loci screened out from 4050 SSRs, 42 were identified as putative introgression alleles. A total of 29 fib...
Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba found in soil, freshwater, and marine environments and an important predator of bacteria. Acanthamoeba castellanii is also an opportunistic pathogen of clinical interest, responsible for several distinct diseases in humans. In order to provide a genomic platform for the study of this ubiquitous and important protist, we generated a sequence survey of approximately 0.5 x coverage of the genome. The data predict that A. castellanii exhibits a greater biosynthetic capacity than the free-living Dictyostelium discoideum and the parasite Entamoeba histolytica, providing an explanation for the ability of A. castellanii to inhabit adversity of environments. Alginate lyase may provide access to bacteria within biofilms by breaking down the biofilm matrix, and polyhydroxybutyrate depolymerase may facilitate utilization of the bacterial storage compound polyhydroxybutyrate as a food source. Enzymes for the ...
This report describes the fiscal 1998 result on development of genome informatics technology. As comparative analysis technique of genes, the combination of electrophoresis and PCR was used. For improvement of the throughput and reproducibility of the technique, module- shuffling primers were used, and the multi(96)-arrayed capillary fragment analyzer was devised. The system detecting SNPs rapidly was also developed successfully. As analysis technology of DNA sequence by use of triple- stranded DNA formation, study was made on construction of long cDNA libraries, selective subtraction of specific sequences from libraries, and the basic technology of homologous cloning. Study was also made on each reaction step of IGCR technique for fast analysis, and specifications of a fluorescence transfer monitor. As modeling technique of genetic sequence information, the simulation model was developed for gene expression regulatory networks during muscle differentiation, and ...
A comprehensive dataset of NDV genome sequences was evaluated using bioinformatics to characterize the evolutionary forces affecting NDV genomes. Despite evidence of recombination in most genes, only one event in the fusion gene of genotype V viruses produced evolutionarily viable progenies. The codon-associated rate of change for the six NDV proteins revealed that the highest rate of change occurred at the fusion protein. All proteins were under strong purifying (negative) selection; the fusion protein displayed the highest number of amino acids under positive selection. Regardless of the phylogenetic grouping or the level of virulence, the cleavage site motif was highly conserved implying that mutations at this site that result in changes of virulence may not be favored. The coding sequence of the fusion gene and the genomes of viruses from wild birds displayed higher yearly rates of change in virulent viruses than in ...
The genus Conexibacter (Monciardini et al. 2003) represents the type genus of the family Conexibacteraceae (Stackebrandt 2005, emend. Zhi et al. 2009) with Conexibacter woesei as the type species of the genus. C. woesei is a representative of a deep evolutionary line of des-cent within the class Actinobacteria. Strain ID131577T was originally isolated from temperate forest soil in Gerenzano (Italy). Cells are small, short rods that are motile by peritrichous fla-gella. They may form aggregates after a longer period of growth and, then as a typical charac-teristic, an undulate structure is formed by self-aggregation of flagella with entangled bacteri-al cells. Here we describe the features of the organism, together with the complete sequence and annotation. The 6,359,369 bp long genome of C. woesei contains 5,950 protein-coding and 48 RNA genes and is part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project.
We survey a new area of parameter-free similarity distance measures useful in data-mining, pattern recognition, learning and automatic semantics extraction. Given a family of distances on a set of objects, a distance is universal up to a certain precision for that family if it minorizes every distance in the family between every two objects in the set, up to the stated precision (we do not require the universal distance to be an element of the family). We consider similarity distances for two types of objects: literal objects that as such contain all of their meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. The latter may have literal embodyments like the first type, but may also be abstract like ``red'' or ``christianity.'' For the first type we consider a family of computable distance measures corresponding to parameters expressing similarity according to particular features between ...
On November fourth and fifth 2010 a group of more than 100 international investigators gathered in Atlanta for the second Osteoarthritis (OA) Biomarkers Global Initiative workshop titled ''Genetics and Genomics: New Targets in OA''. The first workshop took place in April 2009 and focused on in vitro (soluble) biomarkers whilst the third and final workshop will take place in 2012 and will focus on imaging biomarkers. The OA Research Society International (OARSI) has organized the workshops. In addition to OARSI, the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the Arthritis Foundation, Amgen, Genzyme, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and Pfizer sponsored the second meeting. It was clear from this meeting that experiments in the genetics, epigenetic...
Abstract Copy number variants (CNVs) are known to be associated with complex neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and autism) but have not been explored in the isolated features of aggressive behaviors such as intermittent explosive disorder (IED). IED is characterized by recurrent episodes of aggression in which individuals act impulsively and grossly out of proportion from the involved stressors. Previous studies have identified genetic variants in the serotonergic pathway that play a role in susceptibility to this behavior, but additional contributors have not been identified. Therefore, to further delineate possible genetic influences, we investigated CNVs in individuals diagnosed with IED and/or personality disorder (PD). We carried out array comparative genomic hybridizati...
Brucella melitensis is a Gram-negative coccobacillus bacteria belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria subclass. It is an important zoonotic pathogen that causes brucellosis, a disease affecting sheep, cattle, and sometimes humans. The B. melitensis strain M5-90, a live attenuated vaccine cultured from the B. melitensis virulent strain M28, has been an effective tool to control brucellosis in goats and sheep in China. Here we report the complete genome sequences of B. melitensis M28 and M5-90, strains with different virulence backgrounds, which will serve as a valuable reference for future studies. PMID:21478357
Abstract Alcohol drinking is highly prevalent in many cultures and contributes to the global burden of disease. In fact, it was shown that alcohol constitutes 3.2% of all worldwide deaths in the year 2006 and is linked to more than 60 diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis, neuropsychiatric disorders, injuries and foetal alcohol syndrome. Alcoholism, which has been proven to have a high genetic load, is one potentially fatal consequence of chronic heavy alcohol consumption, and may be regarded as one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric diseases afflicting our society today. The aim of the integrated genome research network -Genetics of Alcohol Addiction--which is a German inter-/trans-disciplinary life science consortium consisting of molecular biologists,...
Lipids in the stratum corneum (SC) are of major importance for the skin barrier function. Many different methods have been used for the collection of SC for the analysis of SC lipids. The objective of the present study was to validate the cyanoacrylate method for the collection of SC in relation to lipid analysis.
2D simulation modeling of a river basin is based on notion of a River Basin as an opened non equilibrium nature system. All components of the system (elevation, water, soil properties and others) are linked to single multi - functional model. The objective of flood simulation is one the model functions. The objectives of the paper are as follows: a mean scale basin floods computing and the model validation; a large scale basin simulation and demands for its validation; results and demands for flood hazard assessment. (orig.)
Most of the tissue banks in the Asia Pacific region have been using ionising radiation at 25 kGy to sterilise human tissues for save clinical usage. Under tissue banking quality system, any dose employed for sterilisation has to be validated and the validation exercise has to be a part of quality document. Tissue grafts, unlike medical items, are not produced in large number per each processing batch and tissues relatively have a different microbial population. A Code of Practice established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2004 offers several validation methods using smaller number of samples compared to ISO 11137 (1995), which is meant for medical products. The methods emphasise on bioburden determination, followed by sterility test on samples after they were exposed to verification dose for attaining of sterility assurance level (SAL) of 10{sup -1}. This paper describes our experience in using the IAEA ...
Piping in nuclear power plants is vital to the proper operation and safety of these facilities. To assure safety in the unlikely event of a pipe break, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences from the resulting whipping pipe on neighboring components and structures. Numerical simulations allow for rapid evaluation of these consequences. Before simulations can be accepted, however, the methodology and computer codes must be validated against experimental results. This paper uses a probabilistic approach to validate pipe whip simulations against limited experimental results. Probabilistic analysis software was developed and coupled to existing deterministic finite element software. An example of a whipping pipe impacting against a reinforced concrete slab was simulated. The described probabilistic approach was used to validate the numerical simulations. The conclusions obtained were that the numerical simulations of ...
Carbon monoxide can be produced in severe accidents from interaction of ex-vessel molten core with concrete. Depending on the particular core-melt scenario, the type of concrete and geometric factors affecting the interaction, the quantities of carbon monoxide produced can vary widely, up to several volume percent in the containment. Carbon monoxide is a combustible gas. The carbon monoxide thus produced is in addition to the hydrogen produced by metal-water reactions and by radiolysis, and represents a possibly significant contribution to the combustible gas inventory in the containment. Assessment of possible accident loads to containment thus requires knowledge of the combustion properties of both CO and H_2 in the containment atmosphere. Extensive studies have been carried out and are still continuing in the nuclear industry to assess the threat of hydrogen in a severe reactor accident. However the contribution of carbon monoxide to the combustion threat has ...
A 7-kb genomic segment containing the coding sequence for the Drosophila melanogaster Formosa variant of salivary gland secretion protein 3 (sgs3) has been inserted into the snw y, bw, st strain of...Full Text Available
The first reported Far East scarlet-like fever (FESLF) epidemic swept the Pacific coastal region of Russia in the late 1950s. Symptoms of the severe infection included erythematous skin rash and desquamation,...Full Text Available
Hepatitis C virus NS3-4A is a membrane-bound enzyme complex that exhibits serine protease, RNA helicase, and RNA-stimulated ATPase activities. This enzyme complex is essential for viral genome replication...Full Text Available
There are about fifty SET domain protein methyltransferases (PMTs) in the human genome, that transfer a methyl group from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to substrate lysines on histone tails or other peptides. A number of structures in complex with cofactor, substrate, or inhibitors revealed the mechanisms of substrate recognition, methylation state specificity, and chemical inhibition. Based on these structures, we review the structural chemistry of SET domain PMTs, and propose general concepts towards the development of selective inhibitors.
A 269-kilobase conjugative plasmid, pK29, from a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain was sequenced. The plasmid harbors multiple antimicrobial resistance genes, including those encoding CMY-8...Full Text Available
BackgroundLand plant genomes contain multiple members of a eukaryote-specific gene family encoding proteins with pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) motifs. Some PPR proteins were shown...Full Text Available
With the advent of subgenomic hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicons, studies of the intracellular steps of the viral replication cycle became possible. These RNAs are capable of self-amplification in cultured human hepatoma cells, but save for the genotype 2a isolate JFH-1, efficient replication of these HCV RNAs requires replication enhancing mutations (REMs), previously also called cell culture adaptive mutations. These mutations cluster primarily in the central region of non-structural protein 5A (NS5A), but may also reside in the NS3 helicase domain or at a distinct position in NS4B. Most efficient replication has been achieved by combining REMs residing in NS3 with distinct REMs located in NS4B or NS5A. However, in spite of efficient replication of HCV genomes containing such mutations, they do not support production of infectious virus particles. By using the genotype 1b isolate Con1, in this study we show that REMs interfere with HCV assembly. Strongest ...
DescriptionThe recent sequencing of the complete genomes of several streptomycete species revealed the presence of a large number of cryptic' secondary metabolic gene clusters, and led to the realisation that these organisms have the ability to produce many more natural products than had previously been recognised. One of the aims of our work is to identify the physiological signals and regulatory mechanisms responsible for the activation of these 'cryptic' pathways, thus unleashing the full biosynthetic p [continued...
By using a low-resolution macrorestriction map as the foundation (R. Majumder et al., J. Bacteriol. 176:1105–1112, 1996), an ordered cloned DNA map of the 3.2-Mb chromosome of the hypertoxinogenic...Full Text Available
Two sequences with homology to a thioredoxin oligonucleotide probe were detected by Southern blot analysis of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 genomic DNA. One of the sequences was shown to code for a protein...Full Text Available
By polymerase chain reaction with arbitrary primer (AP-PCR), the possibility of transmission of genome instability to somatic cells of the offspring (F_1 generation) from male parents of mice exposed to chronic low-dose #gamma#-radiation was studied. Male mice 15 days after exposure to 10-50 cGy were mated with unirradiated females. Biopsies were taken from tale tips of two month-old mice progeny for DNA separation. Primer in the AP-PCR was 20-mer oligonucleotide flanking the micro-satellite locus Atplb2 on chromosome 11 of the mouse. Comparative analysis of individual fingerprints of AP-PCR products on DNA-templates from the offspring of irradiated and unirradiated male mice revealed an increased variability of micro-satellite-associated sequences in the genome of the offspring of males exposed to 25 and 50 cGy. DNA-fingerprints of the offspring of male mice exposed to chronic irradiation doses 10 and 25 cGy. 15 days before fertilization (at ...
Mycoreovirus 1 (MyRV1), a member of the Reoviridae family possessing a genome consisting of 11 dsRNA segments (S1–S11), and the prototype hypovirus (CHV1-EP713)...Full Text Available
We have isolated a human thrombomodulin cDNA, and a human genomic clone containing the putative promoter domain, as well as the translated and untranslated regions of the endothelial cell receptor....Full Text Available
BackgroundThe beta-defensin gene cluster (DEFB) at chromosome 8p23.1 is one of the most copy number (CN) variable regions of the human genome. Whereas individual DEFB CNs have been...Full Text Available
BackgroundEstrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) are transcription factors (TFs) that mediate estrogen signaling and define the hormone-responsive phenotype...Full Text Available
We have isolated the human prointerleukin 1 (proIL-1) beta gene from leukocyte and fetal liver libraries. The nucleotide sequence and its gene organization reveals that the proIL-1 beta gene is composed...Full Text Available
We present the draft genome sequence and its analysis for Fusobacterium nucleatum sub spp. vincentii (FNV), and compare that genome with F. nucleatum ATCC 25586 (FN). A total of 441 FNV open reading frames (ORFs) with no orthologs in FN have been identified. Of these, 118 ORFs have no known function and are unique to FNV, whereas 323 ORFs have functional orthologs in other organisms. In addition to the excretion of butyrate, H2S and ammonia-like FN, FNV has the additional capability to excrete lactate and aminobutyrate. Unlike FN, FNV is likely to incorporate galactopyranose, galacturonate, and sialic acid into its O-antigen. It appears to transport ferrous iron by an anaerobic ferrous transporter. Genes for eukaryotic type serine/threonine kinase and phosphatase, transpeptidase E-transglycosylase Pbp1A are found in FNV but not in FN. Unique ABC transporters, cryptic phages, and three types of restriction-modification systems have been ...
Outbreaks of disease attributable to human error or natural causes can provide unique opportunities to gain new information about host-pathogen interactions and new leads for pathogenesis research....Full Text Available
...Explore - The Lab - Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gateway to Science Radio TV Shop News Sport Local Children Science Environment more Topics help Science Home News in Science Features Explore TV & Radio Dr Karl Play Podcasts DNA - The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA completely changed biology and opened up the new field of genetics. The 'backbone of life' has given us the human genome, stem cell research, ...
BackgroundAvian β-defensins (AvBDs) represent a group of innate immune genes with broad antimicrobial activity. Within the chicken genome, previous work identified 14 AvBDs...Full Text Available
Occupational and environmental exposure to organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls are linked with increased risk of hematologic malignancies. DOE facilities and waste sites in the U.S. are contaminated with mixtures of potentially hazardous chemicals such as metals, organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive isotopes. A major goal of this project was to establish linkage between chemical/radiation exposure and induction of genomic damage in target populations with the capability to undergo transformation.
The halogenated benzimidazoles BDCRB (2-bromo-5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-riborfuranosyl benzimidazole riboside) and TCRB (2,5,6-trichloro-1-β-d-riborfuranosyl benzimidazole...Full Text Available
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a monogenic disease characterized by a high variability of disease severity and outcome that points to the role of environmental factors and modulating genes that shape the course...Full Text Available
Genome sequences are essential tools for comparative and mutational analyses. Here we present the short read sequence of mouse chromosome 17 from the Mus musculus domesticus derived...Full Text Available
Full text: DNA rearrangement events leading to chromosomal aberrations are central to ionizing radiation-induced cell death. Although DNA double-strand breaks are probably the lesion that initiates formation of chromosomal aberrations, little is understood about the molecular mechanisms that generate and modulate DNA rearrangement. Examination of the sequences that flank sites of DNA rearrangement may provide information regarding the processes and enzymes involved in rearrangement events. Accordingly, we developed a method using inverse PCR that allows the detection and sequencing of putative radiation-induced DNA rearrangements in defined regions of the human genome. The method can detect single copies of a rearrangement event that has occurred in a particular region of the genome and, therefore, DNA rearrangement detection does not require survival and continued multiplication of the affected cell. Ionizing radiation-induced DNA ...
A multiple comparison approach using whole genome transcriptional arrays was used to identify genes and pathways involved in calorie restriction/dietary restriction (DR) life span extension in Drosophila....Full Text Available
The state of chromatin during the cell cycle was examined using synchronized cultures of CHO hamster cells. Results support Mazia's dynamic chromosome cycle model and indicate that DNA-interactive chemotherapeutic agents elicit different types of kinetic responses in treated cells, suggesting a degree of specificity of interaction between various alkylating and intercalating agents and the genome. Effects of sarkosyl crystals, heparin, and chemotherapeutic agents, neocarzinostatin and adriamycin, on chromation are discussed. (HLW)
The gene Rv1885c from the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv encodes a monofunctional and secreted chorismate mutase (*MtCM) with a 33-amino-acid...Full Text Available
The Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA I) present in latently infected cells is encoded in a 2-kilobase exon contained in the BamHI K viral genomic fragment. This exon is, however, found within...Full Text Available
Trichloroethene (TCE), a common groundwater contaminant, can be degraded under certain conditions by microorganisms that occur naturally in the subsurface. TCE can be degraded under anaerobic conditions to less chlorinated compounds and ultimately into the non-chlorinated, non-hazardous end product, ethene, via anaerobic reductive dechlorination (ARD). ARD is widely recognized as a TCE degradation mechanism, and occurs in active groundwater remediation and can occur during monitored natural attenuation (MNA). MNA relies on natural processes, such as dispersion and degradation, to reduce contaminant concentrations to acceptable levels without active human intervention other than monitoring. TCE can also be biodegraded under aerobic conditions via cometabolism, in which microbial enzymes produced for other purposes fortuitously also react with TCE. In cometabolism, TCE is oxidized directly to non-hazardous products. Cometabolism as a TCE-degrading process under ...
The Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP - BPA project No.2003-0017) has been created as a cost effective means of developing protocols and new technologies, novel indicators, sample designs, analytical, data management and communication tools and skills, and restoration experiments that support the development of a region-wide Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) program to assess the status of anadromous salmonid populations, their tributary habitat and restoration and management actions. The most straightforward approach to developing a regional-scale monitoring and evaluation program would be to increase standardization among status and trend monitoring programs. However, the diversity of species and their habitat, as well as the overwhelming uncertainty surrounding indicators, metrics, and data interpretation methods, requires the testing of multiple approaches. Thus, the approach ISEMP has adopted is to develop a broad template ...
Heterochromatin constitutes a significant portion of the genome in higher eukaryotes; approximately 30% in Drosophila and human. Heterochromatin contains a high repeat DNA content and a low density of protein-encoding genes. In contrast, euchromatin is composed mostly of unique sequences and contains the majority of single-copy genes. Genetic and cytological studies demonstrated that heterochromatin exhibits regulatory roles in chromosome organization, centromere function and telomere protection. As an epigenetically regulated structure, heterochromatin formation is not defined by any DNA sequence consensus. Heterochromatin is characterized by its association with nucleosomes containing methylated-lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me), heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) that binds H3K9me, and Su(var)3-9, which methylates H3K9 and binds HP1. Heterochromatin formation and functions are influenced by HP1, Su(var)3-9, and the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. My thesis project ...
Two studies (N = 420) were conducted to develop and validate the instructional dissent scale (IDS) for use in the college classroom. Participants in study 1 were 210 students who completed the IDS pilot inventory which was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis yielding three distinct factors of dissent (i.e., expressive, rhetorical, vengeful). Concurrent validity support was provided as perceived teacher misbehaviors were associated positively with students' likelihood of engaging in dissent and students reported fewer learning outcomes when they dissented. Participants in study 2 were from a different sample of 210 students who completed the IDS along with measures of classroom justice and student challenge behavior. A confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the hypothesiz...
Three adolescents (ages 14-17) with emotional and behavioral disorders displayed chronic disruptive behavior in their self-contained classrooms at a self-contained alternative school. A descriptive functional behavioral assessment was conducted for each student. Data from file review, structured interviews, and direct observations were used to identify the functions of their disruptive behaviors. Then, function-based interventions were systematically constructed for each student and implemented for an extended period (nearly 6 weeks) within the most problematic situation in their classrooms. The interventions improved each student's behavior and the effects maintained during follow-up and generalized to instruction in a nonintervention classroom. Social validity data comparing the interventions to baseline practices revealed the function-based intervention had moderately higher social validity among teachers and substantially higher social ...
Sandia National Laboratories has erected a research oriented, 34- meter diameter, Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine near Bushland, Texas. This machine, designated the Sandia 34-m VAWT Test Bed, is equipped with a large array of strain gauges that have been placed at critical positions about the blades. This manuscript details a series of four-point bend experiments that were conducted to validate the output of the blade strain gauge circuits. The output of a particular gauge circuit is validated by comparing its output to equivalent gauge circuits (in this stress state) and to theoretical predictions. With only a few exceptions, the difference between measured and predicted strain values for a gauge circuit was found to be of the order of the estimated repeatability for the measurement system.
Purpose To examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese-language version of the PedsQL? Multidimensional Fatigue Scale and to investigate the agreement between child self-reported fatigue and parent proxy-reported fatigue. Methods The Japanese-language version of the PedsQL? Multidimensional Fatigue Scale was administered to 652 preschoolers and schoolchildren aged 5?12 and their parents, and to 91 parents of preschool children aged 1?4. Results Internal consistency reliability was 0.62?0.87 for children and 0.81?0.93 for parents. Known-group validity was examined between a group of healthy samples (n?=?530) and chronic condition sample (n?=?102); the chronically ill group reported a significantly higher perceived fatigue problem. Correlations between child self- and parent proxy r...
This paper details the design of a premixed, swirl-stabilized combustor that was designed and built for the express purpose of obtaining validation-quality data for the development of large eddy simulations (LES) of gas turbine combustors. The combustor features nonambiguous boundary conditions, a geometrically simple design that retains the essential fluid dynamics and thermochemical processes that occur in actual gas turbine combustors, and unrestrictive access for laser and optical diagnostic measurements. After discussing the design detail, a preliminary investigation of the performance and operating envelope of the combustor is presented. With the combustor operating on premixed methane/air, both the equivalence ratio and the inlet velocity were systematically varied and the flame structure was recorded via digital photography. Interesting lean flame blowout and resonance characteristics were observed. In addition, the combustor exhibited a large region of ...
RELAP5/MOD3 code was developed for western type power water reactors with vertical steam generators. Thus, this code should be validated also for VVER design with horizontal steam generators. The validation work, which has been started in Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), has already shown some weaknesses of the code. For example the flow inside a steam generator horizontal tube in some accident cases is not correctly modelled by the code. It may be the result of erroneous prediction of the flow regime. The aim of the study is the attempt of verification of the flow regime map, which is used in the RELAP5/MOD3 computer code for two-phase flow in horizontal tubes. (18 refs.).
As part of the United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP), food composition data for vitamin D in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference are being updated and expanded, focusing on high priority foods and validated analytical methodology. A lack of certified reference materials and analytical methods validated for these key foods required the development of five matrix-specific control composite materials (CC) (canned salmon and vitamin D3 fortified cereal, orange juice, milk, and cheese). Each of six experienced laboratories (research and commercial) analyzed vitamin D3 in five subsamples of each CC in five separate analytical batches, with one subsample of each material in each run. Research laboratories perform...
Research on the emotion of shame has increased significantly in recent years. However, there remains a need for more psychometrically sound measures of shame, including measures of shame in response to specific, idiographic experiences. The Shame Inventory was developed in order to assess both global feelings of shame as well as shame in response to specific life events or personal characteristics. Two studies were conducted to determine the preliminary psychometric properties of the Shame Inventory. Across both studies, results indicate that the inventory has high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity. The Shame Inventory holds promise as a new measure designed to assess both global feelings of shame as well as specific shame-eliciting ...
Piping in nuclear power plants is vital to the proper operation and safety of these facilities. To assure safety in the unlikely event of a pipe break, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences from the resulting whipping pipe on neighboring components and structures. Numerical simulations allow for rapid evaluation of these consequences. Before simulations can be accepted, however, the methodology and computer codes must be validated against experimental results. This paper uses a probabilistic approach to validate pipe whip simulations against limited experimental results. Probabilistic analysis software was developed and coupled to existing deterministic finite element software. An example of a whipping pipe impacting against a reinforced concrete slab was simulated. The described pr...
Studies in our wound ballistics laboratory have shown that excellent healing can occur in complicated assault rifle wounds that are free of tension and well drained. A conservative approach to debridement and excision of tissue in uncomplicated extremity wounds may be a valid and resource-saving technique. PMID:2366941
ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic and prognostic value of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) in elective percutaneous coronary intervention...Full Text Available
BackgroundStrategies to accurately identify the occurrence of specific health care events in administrative data is central to many quality improvement and research efforts. Many...Full Text Available
An important component of the overall program to validate WIMS-AECL for use with RFSP in the analysis of CANDU-6 reactors for design and safety analysis calculations is the validation of calculations of incremental cross sections used to represent reactivity devices. A method has been developed for the calculation of the three-dimensional neutron flux distribution in and around CANDU reactor fuel channels and reactivity control devices. The methods is based on one- and two dimensional transport calculations with the WIMS-AECL lattice cell code, SPH homogenization, and three-dimensional flux calculations with finite-difference diffusion theory using the MULTICELL code. Simulations of Wolsung 1 Phase-B commissioning measurements and Point Lepreau restart tests have been performed, as a part of the program to validate WIMS-AECL lattice cell calculations for application to CANDU reactor simulations in RFSP. The incremental ...
BackgroundThe aim of this study is to validate the questionnaire ECOS-16 (Assessment of health related quality of life in osteoporosis) for the evaluation of health related quality...Full Text Available
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is one of the most important prognostic and predictive factors for breast cancer patients. Recently, serum HER2...Full Text Available
Sexual pressure among young urban women represents adherence to gender stereotypical expectations to engage in sex. Revision of the original 5-factor Sexual Pressure Scale was undertaken in...Full Text Available
Lifetime exposure to physical activity is an important construct for evaluating associations between physical activity and disease outcomes, given the long induction periods in many chronic diseases....Full Text Available
Dippold, V., S. Mohler , Validation of the Wind-US Unstructured Flow Solver .... Hamed, A. and A. Mohamed, Assessment of Shock Induced Flow Separation and ...... Nozzles for Hypersonic Propulsion, NASA CR 185197, AGARD Symposium ...
Although the Kaiser Physical Activity Survey (KPAS) was a potential instrument for cross cultural research of midlife women, little information is available on its reliability and validity among...Full Text Available
BackgroundTissue microarray (TMA) data are commonly used to validate the prognostic accuracy of tumor markers. For example, breast cancer TMA data have led to the identification...Full Text Available
We have developed and validated a microporous poly(ethylene terephthalate) membrane-based indirect co-culture system for human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) propagation, which allows real-time...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to compare and to validate different dose calculation algorithms for the use in radiation therapy of small lung lesions and to optimize the treatment...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE. This study was conducted to determine whether an index for measuring quality of care for psychiatric emergencies is reliable and valid. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING. The study used primary...Full Text Available
AIMS—(1) To validate a leg to leg bioimpedance analysis (BIA) device in the measurement of body composition in children by assessment of its agreement with dual energy x...Full Text Available
NUPEC has carried out hydrogen mixing tests to investigate hydrogen distribution behavior within a model containment and to provide a set of experimental data for validation of severe accident analysis codes.
The biological accumulation of heavy metals and cesium, strontium, and uranium in plants is discussed. The role of nutrient deficiencies and foliar treatments of manganese and iron compounds is described.
ObjectiveTo examine the validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 2 (PHQ-2), a 2-item depression screening scale among adolescents.Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE--To develop, test, and validate an algorithm for diagnosing disease in neonates during an over the telephone referral to a specialist cardiac centre. DESIGN--A draft algorithm requiring only...Full Text Available
Purpose:To investigate the clinical usage of dose verification of Helical Tomotherapy plans by using 2D-array ion chambers, and to develop an efficient way to validate the dose delivered...Full Text Available
The use of digital wound images would allow remote consultation between patients, physicians, or other caregivers over the Internet. To evaluate the efficacy and validity of digital images for assessment...Full Text Available
Attention has shifted from the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) to chemoprevention using aspirin and folic acid as agents capable of preventing the onset of colon cancer. However, no sensitive...Full Text Available
PurposeTo develop a generic instrument for measuring short-term health status in the recovery period among patients undergoing abdominal and pelvic surgery.Full Text Available
BackgroundMany health care professionals use spinal palpatory exams as a primary and well-accepted part of the evaluation of spinal pathology. However, few studies have explored...Full Text Available
Mass balance relations, valid for any counterflow system, are derived and applied to a central core model of the renal medulla, in which descending Henle's limbs (DHL), ascending Henle's limbs (AHL),...Full Text Available
All microRNA (miRNA) target—finder algorithms return lists of candidate target genes. How valid is that output in a biological setting? Transcriptome analysis has proven to be a useful approach...Full Text Available
Objective:To estimate the prevalence of insulin resistant syndrome (IRS) among newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes and to test their validity against two indices...Full Text Available
A nucleic acid extraction system that can handle small numbers of specimens with a short test turnaround time and short hands-on time is desirable for emergent testing. We performed a comparative validation...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a well recognized and validated triage system that prioritizes patient care by severity of illness....Full Text Available
Validation of body-mass relationships requires a careful statistical analysis of data of normal weight individuals. BMI (ratio between body mass and square of body height) and BSI values (ratio between...Full Text Available
In 1992, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) began using a Flow Duration Analysis (FDA) methodology to assess headwater benefits in river basins where use of the Headwater Benefits Energy Gains (HWBEG) model may not result in significant improvements in modeling accuracy. The purpose of this study is to validate the accuracy and appropriateness of the FDA method for determining energy gains in less complex basins. This report presents the results of Oak Ridge National Laboratory`s (ORNL`s) validation of the FDA method. The validation is based on a comparison of energy gains using the FDA method with energy gains calculated using the MWBEG model. Comparisons of energy gains are made on a daily and monthly basis for a complex river basin (the Alabama River Basin) and a basin that is considered relatively simple hydrologically (the Stanislaus River Basin). In addition to validating the FDA ...
OBJECTIVE—To validate the accuracy of the prognostic significance of non-invasive clinical diagnostic indices as predictors of sustained ventricular tachycardia (sVT) or fibrillation...Full Text Available
Human arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity is determined by two distinct genes, NAT1 and NAT2, and the classical acetylation polymorphism in NAT2 has been associated with a variety of disorders,...Full Text Available
Sensitivity and specificity measure inherent validity of a diagnostic test against a gold standard. Researchers develop new diagnostic methods to reduce the cost, risk, invasiveness, and time. Adequate...Full Text Available
The purpose of this report is to describe the sampling approaches, modifications made to the 100 Area and 300 Area component of the RCBRA Sampling and Analysis Plan, summarize validation efforts, and provide sample identification numbers.
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the Arabic translation of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among a sample of male Muslim prisoners (N = 107) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a two-factor model to be the best fit of the data. Good internal reliability (a =.91) and predictive validity were also observed. While the limitations of the study are observed, these promising results suggest that the Arabic version of the AUDIT is a reliable and sound measure of alcohol use disorders among prisoners in the UAE.
A rigorous mathematical model is developed to describe chemical absorption of carbon dioxide in a falling-film micro-contactor. Contrary to previous models described in literature, hydrodynamics in both phases is accurately captured by the Navier-Stokes equations. By this means, backmixing effects can be accounted for. Furthermore, the interface position is determined directly using the level-set method. The developed model is validated with experimental data obtained from literature and a good agreement is established. With the validated model, detailed studies are performed to investigate the impact of process parameters.
The radiative transport problem is cast in integral form using a transport kernel. The transport kernel has an explicit representation in terms of a Feynman Path Integral over all paths between selected points in a volume. This representation is setup in detail. Numerical evaluation of this Path Integral is formulated with a Frenet-Serret based procedure for generating valid random paths, and with a numerical evaluation of the weight for each valid path. Very early sanity checks of a numerical implementation are reported. Approaches to optimization are identified. (authors)
One year of research on validating the performance of the Cable Monitoring and Rating System (CMARS) is reported. The performance testing was conducted on underground 230-kV and 345-kV pipe type cable circuits owned by the New Jersey Public Service Electric and Gas Co. Laser temperature monitoring systems and a data acquisition system were installed. Software installation and development is discussed. The CMARS testing program is described. (LCL)
This executive summary presents the motivation, structure, objectives, methodologies and results of the first stage of the international DECOVALEX project - DECOVALEX I (1992-1995). The acronym stands for Development of Coupled Models and their Validation against Experiment in Nuclear Waste Isolation, and the project is an international effort to develop mathematical models, numerical methods and computer codes for coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rocks and buffer materials for geological isolation of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive wastes, and validate them against laboratory and field experiments. 24 refs.
Supercritical fluid extraction from dried banana peel (Musa spp., subgroup Prata, genomic group AAB, popularly known in Brazil as Enxerto) was studied. The aspects investigated were: overall extraction curve (OEC), mass transfer modeling of the yield curves, economical analysis of the process and phase equilibrium data for the pseudo-ternary system of banana peel extract, carbon dioxide and ethanol. The extraction operating conditions evaluated were: pressure ranging from 100bar to 300bar, temperature from 40 to 50^oC and constant solvent flow rate of 5.0gCO2/min. Experimental extraction data were correlated using three kinetic models based on mass transfer equations (logistic, diffusion and Esquivel models). Phase equilibrium measurements were performed using pressure from 64.9bar to 239....
Pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) is a secretory pancreatic protein present in small amounts in normal pancreas and overexpressed during the acute phase of pancreatitis. In this paper, the authors describe the cloning, characterization, and chromosomal mapping of the human PAP gene. The gene spans 2748 bp and contains six exons interrupted by five introns. The gene has a typical promoter containing the sequences TATAAA and CCAAT 28 and 52 bp upstream of the cap site, respectively. They found striking similarities in genomic organization as well as in the promoter sequences between the human and rat PAP genes. The human PAP gene was mapped to chromosome 2p12 using rodent-human hybrid cells and in situ chromosomal hybridization. This localization coincides with that of the reg/lithostathine gene, which encodes a pancreatic secretory protein structurally related to PAP, suggesting that both genes derived from the same ancestral gene by duplication. 35 refs., 4 ...
Goosecoid is a homeobox gene first isolated from a Xenopus dorsal lip cDNA library. Homologous genes have been isolated from mouse, zebrafish, and chick. In all species examined, the gene is expressed and plays an important role during the process of gastrulation in early embryonic development. The authors report here the cloning of the human goosecoid (GSC) from a genomic library and the sequence of its encoded protein. The genomic organization and protein sequence of the human gene are highly conserved with respect to those of its Xenopus and mouse counterparts: all three genes consist of three exons, with conserved exon-intron boundaries. The sequence of the homeo-domain is 100% conserved in most vertebrates. Using somatic cell hybrid and chromosomal in situ hybridization, the gene was mapped to chromosome 14q32.1. 30 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.
The product of the human GRO gene is a cytokine with inflammatory and growth-regulatory properties; GRO is also called MGSA for melanoma growth-stimulatory activity. The authors have identified two additional genes, GRO#beta# and GRO#gamma#, that share 90% and 86% identity at the deduced amino acid level with the original GRO#alpha# isolate. One amino acid substitution of proline in GRO#alpha# by leucine in GRO#beta# and GRO#gamma# leads to a large predicted change in protein conformation. Significant differences also exist in the 3' untranslated region, including different numbers of ATTTA repeats associated with mRNA instability. A 122-base-pair region in the 3' region is conserved among the three GRO genes, and a part of it is also conserved in the Chinese hamster genome, suggesting a role in regulation. DNA hybridization with oligonucleotide probes and partial sequence analysis of the genomic clones confirm that the three forms are derived ...
Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), a protease inhibitor that circulates in association with plasma lipoproteins (VLDL, LDL and HDL), helps to regulate the extrinsic blood coagulation cascade. The authors have cloned a 125-kb genomic region containing the entire human TFPI gene on six overlapping cosmids and prepared a restriction map of this contig to clarify gene structure. More than half (45 kb) of the 85-kb gene is occupied with 5[prime] noncoding elements: coding begins at exon 3. A HindIII RFLP identified with one cosmid was genotyped in the CEPH panel of 559 reference families. Linkage analysis using markers on human chromosome 2 located the TFPI gene on 2q, 36 cM proximal to D2S43(pYNZ15) and 13 cM distal to the crystalline [gamma]-polypeptide locus CRYGP1(p5G1). 31 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.
The Drosophila hairy gene encodes a basic helix- loop-helix protein that functions in at least two steps during Drosophila development: (1) during embryogenesis, when it partakes in the establishment of segments, and (2) during the larval stage, when it functions negatively in determining the pattern of sensory bristles on the adult fly. In the rat, a structurally homologous gene (RHL) behaves as an immediate-early gene in its response to growth factors and can, like that in Drosophila, suppress neuronal differentiation events. Here, the authors report the genomic cloning of the human hairy gene homolog (HRY). The coding region of the gene is contained within four exons. The predicted amino acid sequence reveals only four amino acid differences between the human and rat genes. Analysis of the DNA sequence 5[prime] to the coding region reveals a putatitve untranslated exon. To increase the value of the HRY gene as a genetic marker and to assess its potential ...
We have been investigating radiation-induced neoplastic transformants of C3H 10T1/2 mouse fibroblasts for evidence of heritable changes. C3H 10T1/2 cells were treated with 8 Gy X rays. After approximately 8 weeks of culture, type II/III foci were isolated from the monolayer using cloning rings. Cell lines developed from these foci, and clones established from these cell lines, were examined for DNA content. The isolated focus-derived populations and derived clones often display aneuploidy and/or polyploidization. In one instance a clone (derived from a single cell) displayed multiple polyploidies. During passage the ploidy of many of the anomalous populations gradually reverted to the ploidy of the non-neoplastically transformed state. The morphological features associated with the neoplastic transformation event were nevertheless retained. The results demonstrate that exposure to radiation can induce, in association with morphological neoplastic transformation, a heritable, ...
The authors describe a cloning strategy for the construction of a human genomic library in yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) based on complete digestion of high-molecular-weight DNA with the infrequently cutting restriction enzyme MluI. Cloning of MluI fragments in the vector pYAC-RC and one subsequent size fractionation by preparative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis yielded a library with average insert sizes of 600 kb. Ninety-seven percent of the colonies were recombinant. An additional size fractionation of MluI fragments prior to ligation had no significant influence on the size of the YACs. The library currently consists of 5000 clones, which is the equivalent of one human genome. Nineteen percent of the YACs were larger than 1.2 Mb. Since smaller MluI fragments are lost during sizing, they also performed cloning without size fractionation. Only 20% of the colonies were recombinant, probably due to unligated vector fragments that were ...
A statistical method is presented for detecting quantitative trait loci (QTLs), based on the linear model. Unlike methods able to detect a few well separated QTLs and to estimate their effects and positions, this method considers the genome as a whole and enables the detection of chromosomal segments involved in the differences between two homozygous lines, and their backcross, doubled haploid, or F[sub 2] progenies, for a quantitative trait. Genetic markers must be codominant, but missing markers are accepted, provided they are missing independently from the experiment. Asymptotic properties, which are of practical use, are developed. This method does not rely on strong genetic hypotheses, and thus does not permit any precise genetic analysis of the trait under study, but it does assess which regions of the genome are involved, whatever the complexity of the genetic determinism (number, effects and interactions among QTLs). Simultaneous use of ...
The chemiosmotic model of energy transduction offers a satisfying and widely confirmed understanding of the action of uncouplers on such processes as oxidative phosphorylation; the uncoupler, by facilitating...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe evolution of eukaryotic cells is widely agreed to have proceeded through a series of endosymbiotic events between larger cells and proteobacteria or cyanobacteria,...Full Text Available
The Sirtuins are a family of orthologues of yeast Sir2 found in a wide range of organisms from bacteria to man. They display a high degree of conservation between species, in both sequence and function,...Full Text Available
IntroductionShoulder pain covers a wide range of problems and affects up to 20% of the population. It is not a specific diagnosis. Shoulder pain can be caused by problems with the...Full Text Available
The report evaluates the most recent developments in Slovak forestry and provides a wide range of economic, social and environmental data associated with the sector in 2003. Extended summary is published in English.
Plate-boundary earthquakes have occurred repeatedly in the past several thousand years at the Cascadia subduction zone, where they are widely recorded ... ...
The objective of this study was to determine the direct actions of nitroprusside and nitroglycerin on the pulmonary vascular bed in the intactchest dog. These widely used nitrogen oxide-containing vasodilator...Full Text Available
BackgroundPolybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used flame retardant compounds that are persistent and bioaccumulative and therefore have become ubiquitous environment...Full Text Available
BackgroundSection Calochroi is one of the most species-rich lineages in the genus Cortinarius (Agaricales, Basidiomycota) and is widely distributed...Full Text Available
BackgroundTitanium and titanium alloys are widely used for fabrication of dental implants. Since the material composition and the surface topography of a biomaterial play a fundamental...Full Text Available
BackgroundBisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics, including infant formula bottles.ObjectivesBased on the...Full Text Available
This document provides information on the supply and disposition of natural gas to a wide audience. The 1996 data are presented in a sequence that follows natural gas from it`s production to it`s end use.
The Cox proportional hazards model is the most widely used model for survival analysis because of its simplicity. The fundamental assumption in this model is the proportionality of the hazard function....Full Text Available
The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging (MFRTA) is currently one of the most widely accepted theories used to explain aging....Full Text Available
Fava beans (Vicia fava) are cultivated rather widely in most countries of the Eastern Mediterranean area and provide a cheap but protein-rich food that can be eaten alone, in various...Full Text Available
... with the loosening of Bush-era restrictions on stem cell research, a move that was widely hailed by the ... The first two explore the contentious debate over stem cell research. Using a series of intervie...
of injuries, disabilities, and deaths; and 3. Encourage professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines such as engineering, bioengineering, medicine, health care, public...
CAAX proteins are widely involved in global cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, and carcinogenesis. As an important modulator of biological activity, signal transduction via protein...Full Text Available
Experience gained with a wide variety of missile injuries of the brain is presented. Clinical signs and intracranial pressure (ICP) studied in the early post-injury period have been correlated with...Full Text Available
Apicomplexans are pathogens responsible for malaria, toxoplasmosis, and crytposporidiosis in humans, and a wide range of livestock diseases. These unicellular eukaryotes are stealthy invaders, sheltering...Full Text Available
Pseudomonas stutzeri is a nonfluorescent denitrifying bacterium widely distributed in the environment, and it has also been isolated as an opportunistic pathogen from humans. Over the...Full Text Available
Haloorganic biocides are widely employed as soil fumigants to combat the destructive action of plant parasitic nematodes and fungi. These substances are dehalogenated by soil organisms, principally...Full Text Available
... curricula and prototypical instructional materials have been emphasized. The program has provided ... materials are adapted and implemented on a state-wide basis. The laboratory materials and the text ...
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are mutualistic symbionts living in the roots of 80% of land plant species, and developing extensive, below-ground extraradical hyphae fundamental for the uptake of...Full Text Available
Environmental arsenic is a world-wide health issue, making it imperative for us to understand mechanisms of metalloid uptake and detoxification. The predominant intracellular form is the highly mephitic...Full Text Available
Binary Star Evolution. The evolution of close binary stars can be very different from that of wide binaries of isolated stars. If the stars are close enough ...
... the program manager plans to spend $23.2 million to procure 107 Hornets in excess of the 270 required by the 82nd Airborne Division for its basic ...
Measurements of the taste thresholds of blowflies for a wide variety of carbohydrates, presented individually and in combination, showed that the stimulating effects of the compounds are not always...Full Text Available
The avermectins were introduced in 1981 and constitute a potent new class of anthelmintic agents. They are naturally-derived products of microbial action displaying an exceptionally wide range of antiparasitic...Full Text Available