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Sample records for mouse n-end rule

  1. N-end rule pathway inhibition assists colon tumor regression via necroptosis

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    Pritha Agarwalla

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent study has shown that N-end rule pathway, an ubiquitin dependent proteolytic system, counteracts cell death by degrading many antisurvival protein fragments like BCLxL, BRCA1, RIPK1, etc. Inhibition of the N-end rule pathway can lead to metabolic stabilization of proapoptotic protein fragments like RIPK1, thereby sensitizing cells to programmed cell death. Receptor interacting serine-threonine protein kinase-1 (RIPK1 is one of the upstream regulators of programmed necrosis known as necroptosis. Necroptosis is particularly gaining attention of cancer biologists as it provides an alternate therapeutic modality to kill cancer cells, which often evolve multiple strategies to circumvent growth inhibition by apoptosis. Utilizing the over expression of biotin receptor in cancer cells, herein, we report that coadministration of synthetic hetero-bivalent N-end rule inhibitor RFC11 and anticancer drug shikonin solubilized in a stable biotin receptor-targeted liposome exhibited significant synergistic antitumor effect in both subcutaneous and orthotopic mouse colon tumor model through induction of necroptosis with distinctive upregulation of RIPK1. Besides developing a newly targeted formulation for necroptosis induction, this report is the first in vivo evidence demonstrating that potent inhibition of N-end rule pathway can enhance therapeutic efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutics.

  2. Life and death of proteins after protease cleavage: protein degradation by the N-end rule pathway.

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    Dissmeyer, Nico; Rivas, Susana; Graciet, Emmanuelle

    2018-05-01

    Contents Summary 929 I. conservation and diversity of N-end rule pathways 929 II. Defensive functions of the N-end rule pathway in plants 930 III. Proteases and degradation by the N-end rule pathway 930 IV. New proteomics approaches for the identification of N-end rule substrates 932 V. Concluding remarks 932 Acknowledgements 934 References 934 SUMMARY: The N-end rule relates the stability of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue and some of its modifications. Since its discovery in the 1980s, the repertoire of N-terminal degradation signals has expanded, leading to a diversity of N-end rule pathways. Although some of these newly discovered N-end rule pathways remain largely unexplored in plants, recent discoveries have highlighted roles of N-end rule-mediated protein degradation in plant defense against pathogens and in cell proliferation during organ growth. Despite this progress, a bottleneck remains the proteome-wide identification of N-end rule substrates due to the prerequisite for endoproteolytic cleavage and technical limitations. Here, we discuss the recent diversification of N-end rule pathways and their newly discovered functions in plant defenses, stressing the role of proteases. We expect that novel proteomics techniques (N-terminomics) will be essential for substrate identification. We review these methods, their limitations and future developments. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

  3. The N-end rule pathway counteracts cell death by destroying proapoptotic protein fragments.

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    Piatkov, Konstantin I; Brower, Christopher S; Varshavsky, Alexander

    2012-07-03

    In the course of apoptosis, activated caspases cleave ∼500 to ∼1,000 different proteins in a mammalian cell. The dynamics of apoptosis involve a number of previously identified, caspase-generated proapoptotic protein fragments, defined as those that increase the probability of apoptosis. In contrast to activated caspases, which can be counteracted by inhibitor of apoptosis proteins, there is little understanding of antiapoptotic responses to proapoptotic protein fragments. One possibility is the regulation of proapoptotic fragments through their selective degradation. The previously identified proapoptotic fragments Cys-RIPK1, Cys-TRAF1, Asp-BRCA1, Leu-LIMK1, Tyr-NEDD9, Arg-BID, Asp-BCL(XL), Arg-BIM(EL), Asp-EPHA4, and Tyr-MET bear destabilizing N-terminal residues. Tellingly, the destabilizing nature (but not necessarily the actual identity) of N-terminal residues of proapoptotic fragments was invariably conserved in evolution. Here, we show that these proapoptotic fragments are short-lived substrates of the Arg/N-end rule pathway. Metabolic stabilization of at least one such fragment, Cys-RIPK1, greatly augmented the activation of the apoptosis-inducing effector caspase-3. In agreement with this understanding, even a partial ablation of the Arg/N-end rule pathway in two specific N-end rule mutants is shown to sensitize cells to apoptosis. We also found that caspases can inactivate components of the Arg/N-end rule pathway, suggesting a mutual suppression between this pathway and proapoptotic signaling. Together, these results identify a mechanistically specific and functionally broad antiapoptotic role of the Arg/N-end rule pathway. In conjunction with other apoptosis-suppressing circuits, the Arg/N-end rule pathway contributes to thresholds that prevent a transient or otherwise weak proapoptotic signal from reaching the point of commitment to apoptosis.

  4. Ablation of arginylation in the mouse N-end rule pathway: loss of fat, higher metabolic rate, damaged spermatogenesis, and neurological perturbations.

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    Christopher S Brower

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available In the N-end rule pathway of protein degradation, the destabilizing activity of N-terminal Asp, Glu or (oxidized Cys residues requires their conjugation to Arg, which is recognized directly by pathway's ubiquitin ligases. N-terminal arginylation is mediated by the Ate1 arginyltransferase, whose physiological substrates include the Rgs4, Rgs5 and Rgs16 regulators of G proteins. Here, we employed the Cre-lox technique to uncover new physiological functions of N-terminal arginylation in adult mice. We show that postnatal deletion of mouse Ate1 (its unconditional deletion is embryonic lethal causes a rapid decrease of body weight and results in early death of approximately 15% of Ate1-deficient mice. Despite being hyperphagic, the surviving Ate1-deficient mice contain little visceral fat. They also exhibit an increased metabolic rate, ectopic induction of the Ucp1 uncoupling protein in white fat, and are resistant to diet-induced obesity. In addition, Ate1-deficient mice have enlarged brains, an enhanced startle response, are strikingly hyperkinetic, and are prone to seizures and kyphosis. Ate1-deficient males are also infertile, owing to defects in Ate1(-/- spermatocytes. The remarkably broad range of specific biological processes that are shown here to be perturbed by the loss of N-terminal arginylation will make possible the dissection of regulatory circuits that involve Ate1 and either its known substrates, such as Rgs4, Rgs5 and Rgs16, or those currently unknown.

  5. N-terminomics reveals control of Arabidopsis seed storage proteins and proteases by the Arg/N-end rule pathway.

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    Zhang, Hongtao; Gannon, Lucy; Hassall, Kirsty L; Deery, Michael J; Gibbs, Daniel J; Holdsworth, Michael J; van der Hoorn, Renier A L; Lilley, Kathryn S; Theodoulou, Frederica L

    2018-05-01

    The N-end rule pathway of targeted protein degradation is an important regulator of diverse processes in plants but detailed knowledge regarding its influence on the proteome is lacking. To investigate the impact of the Arg/N-end rule pathway on the proteome of etiolated seedlings, we used terminal amine isotopic labelling of substrates with tandem mass tags (TMT-TAILS) for relative quantification of N-terminal peptides in prt6, an Arabidopsis thaliana N-end rule mutant lacking the E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS6 (PRT6). TMT-TAILS identified over 4000 unique N-terminal peptides representing c. 2000 protein groups. Forty-five protein groups exhibited significantly increased N-terminal peptide abundance in prt6 seedlings, including cruciferins, major seed storage proteins, which were regulated by Group VII Ethylene Response Factor (ERFVII) transcription factors, known substrates of PRT6. Mobilisation of endosperm α-cruciferin was delayed in prt6 seedlings. N-termini of several proteases were downregulated in prt6, including RD21A. RD21A transcript, protein and activity levels were downregulated in a largely ERFVII-dependent manner. By contrast, cathepsin B3 protein and activity were upregulated by ERFVIIs independent of transcript. We propose that the PRT6 branch of the pathway regulates protease activities in a complex manner and optimises storage reserve mobilisation in the transition from seed to seedling via control of ERFVII action. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

  6. The N-end rule pathway catalyzes a major fraction of the protein degradation in skeletal muscle

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    Solomon, V.; Lecker, S. H.; Goldberg, A. L.

    1998-01-01

    In skeletal muscle, overall protein degradation involves the ubiquitin-proteasome system. One property of a protein that leads to rapid ubiquitin-dependent degradation is the presence of a basic, acidic, or bulky hydrophobic residue at its N terminus. However, in normal cells, substrates for this N-end rule pathway, which involves ubiquitin carrier protein (E2) E214k and ubiquitin-protein ligase (E3) E3alpha, have remained unclear. Surprisingly, in soluble extracts of rabbit muscle, we found that competitive inhibitors of E3alpha markedly inhibited the 125I-ubiquitin conjugation and ATP-dependent degradation of endogenous proteins. These inhibitors appear to selectively inhibit E3alpha, since they blocked degradation of 125I-lysozyme, a model N-end rule substrate, but did not affect the degradation of proteins whose ubiquitination involved other E3s. The addition of several E2s or E3alpha to the muscle extracts stimulated overall proteolysis and ubiquitination, but only the stimulation by E3alpha or E214k was sensitive to these inhibitors. A similar general inhibition of ubiquitin conjugation to endogenous proteins was observed with a dominant negative inhibitor of E214k. Certain substrates of the N-end rule pathway are degraded after their tRNA-dependent arginylation. We found that adding RNase A to muscle extracts reduced the ATP-dependent proteolysis of endogenous proteins, and supplying tRNA partially restored this process. Finally, although in muscle extracts the N-end rule pathway catalyzes most ubiquitin conjugation, it makes only a minor contribution to overall protein ubiquitination in HeLa cell extracts.

  7. Rates of ubiquitin conjugation increase when muscles atrophy, largely through activation of the N-end rule pathway

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    Solomon, V.; Baracos, V.; Sarraf, P.; Goldberg, A. L.

    1998-01-01

    The rapid loss of muscle mass that accompanies many disease states, such as cancer or sepsis, is primarily a result of increased protein breakdown in muscle, and several observations have suggested an activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Accordingly, in extracts of atrophying muscles from tumor-bearing or septic rats, rates of 125I-ubiquitin conjugation to endogenous proteins were found to be higher than in control extracts. On the other hand, in extracts of muscles from hypothyroid rats, where overall proteolysis is reduced below normal, the conjugation of 125I-ubiquitin to soluble proteins decreased by 50%, and treatment with triiodothyronine (T3) restored ubiquitination to control levels. Surprisingly, the N-end rule pathway, which selectively degrades proteins with basic or large hydrophobic N-terminal residues, was found to be responsible for most of these changes in ubiquitin conjugation. Competitive inhibitors of this pathway that specifically block the ubiquitin ligase, E3alpha, suppressed most of the increased ubiquitin conjugation in the muscle extracts from tumor-bearing and septic rats. These inhibitors also suppressed ubiquitination in normal extracts toward levels in hypothyroid extracts, which showed little E3alpha-dependent ubiquitination. Thus, the inhibitors eliminated most of the differences in ubiquitination under these different pathological conditions. Moreover, 125I-lysozyme, a model N-end rule substrate, was ubiquitinated more rapidly in extracts from tumor-bearing and septic rats, and more slowly in those from hypothyroid rats, than in controls. Thus, the rate of ubiquitin conjugation increases in atrophying muscles, and these hormone- and cytokine-dependent responses are in large part due to activation of the N-end rule pathway.

  8. Facilitated stimulus-response associative learning and long-term memory in mice lacking the NTAN1 amidase of the N-end rule pathway.

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    Balogh, S A; McDowell, C S; Tae Kwon, Y; Denenberg, V H

    2001-02-23

    The N-end rule relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. Inactivation of the NTAN1 gene encoding the asparagine-specific N-terminal amidase in mice results in impaired spatial memory [26]. The studies described here were designed to further characterize the effects upon learning and memory of inactivating the NTAN1 gene. NTAN1-deficient mice were found to be better than wild-type mice on black-white and horizontal-vertical discrimination learning. They were also better at 8-week Morris maze retention testing when a reversal trial was not included in the testing procedures. In all three tasks NTAN1-deficient mice appeared to use a strong win-stay strategy. It is concluded that inactivating the asparagine-specific branch of the N-end rule pathway in mice results in impaired spatial learning with concomitant compensatory restructuring of the nervous system in favor of non-spatial (stimulus-response) learning.

  9. End Sequencing and Finger Printing of Human & Mouse BAC Libraries

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    Fraser, C

    2005-09-27

    This project provided for continued end sequencing of existing and new BAC libraries constructed to support human sequencing as well as to initiate BAC end sequencing from the mouse BAC libraries constructed to support mouse sequencing. The clones, the sequences, and the fingerprints are now an available resource for the community at large. Research and development of new metaodologies for BAC end sequencing have reduced costs and increase throughput.

  10. Ubiquitin ligases of the N-end rule pathway: assessment of mutations in UBR1 that cause the Johanson-Blizzard syndrome.

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    Cheol-Sang Hwang

    Full Text Available Johanson-Blizzard syndrome (JBS; OMIM 243800 is an autosomal recessive disorder that includes congenital exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, facial dysmorphism with the characteristic nasal wing hypoplasia, multiple malformations, and frequent mental retardation. Our previous work has shown that JBS is caused by mutations in human UBR1, which encodes one of the E3 ubiquitin ligases of the N-end rule pathway. The N-end rule relates the regulation of the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. One class of degradation signals (degrons recognized by UBR1 are destabilizing N-terminal residues of protein substrates.Most JBS-causing alterations of UBR1 are nonsense, frameshift or splice-site mutations that abolish UBR1 activity. We report here missense mutations of human UBR1 in patients with milder variants of JBS. These single-residue changes, including a previously reported missense mutation, involve positions in the RING-H2 and UBR domains of UBR1 that are conserved among eukaryotes. Taking advantage of this conservation, we constructed alleles of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae UBR1 that were counterparts of missense JBS-UBR1 alleles. Among these yeast Ubr1 mutants, one of them (H160R was inactive in yeast-based activity assays, the other one (Q1224E had a detectable but weak activity, and the third one (V146L exhibited a decreased but significant activity, in agreement with manifestations of JBS in the corresponding JBS patients.These results, made possible by modeling defects of a human ubiquitin ligase in its yeast counterpart, verified and confirmed the relevance of specific missense UBR1 alleles to JBS, and suggested that a residual activity of a missense allele is causally associated with milder variants of JBS.

  11. Ubiquitin conjugation by the N-end rule pathway and mRNAs for its components increase in muscles of diabetic rats

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    Lecker, S. H.; Solomon, V.; Price, S. R.; Kwon, Y. T.; Mitch, W. E.; Goldberg, A. L.

    1999-01-01

    Insulin deficiency (e.g., in acute diabetes or fasting) is associated with enhanced protein breakdown in skeletal muscle leading to muscle wasting. Because recent studies have suggested that this increased proteolysis is due to activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome (Ub-proteasome) pathway, we investigated whether diabetes is associated with an increased rate of Ub conjugation to muscle protein. Muscle extracts from streptozotocin-induced insulin-deficient rats contained greater amounts of Ub-conjugated proteins than extracts from control animals and also 40-50% greater rates of conjugation of (125)I-Ub to endogenous muscle proteins. This enhanced Ub-conjugation occurred mainly through the N-end rule pathway that involves E2(14k) and E3alpha. A specific substrate of this pathway, alpha-lactalbumin, was ubiquitinated faster in the diabetic extracts, and a dominant negative form of E2(14k) inhibited this increase in ubiquitination rates. Both E2(14k) and E3alpha were shown to be rate-limiting for Ub conjugation because adding small amounts of either to extracts stimulated Ub conjugation. Furthermore, mRNA for E2(14k) and E3alpha (but not E1) were elevated 2-fold in muscles from diabetic rats, although no significant increase in E2(14k) and E3alpha content could be detected by immunoblot or activity assays. The simplest interpretation of these results is that small increases in both E2(14k) and E3alpha in muscles of insulin-deficient animals together accelerate Ub conjugation and protein degradation by the N-end rule pathway, the same pathway activated in cancer cachexia, sepsis, and hyperthyroidism.

  12. WellnessRules: A Web 3.0 Case Study in RuleML-Based Prolog-N3 Profile Interoperation

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    Boley, Harold; Osmun, Taylor Michael; Craig, Benjamin Larry

    An interoperation study, WellnessRules, is described, where rules about wellness opportunities are created by participants in rule languages such as Prolog and N3, and translated within a wellness community using RuleML/XML. The wellness rules are centered around participants, as profiles, encoding knowledge about their activities conditional on the season, the time-of-day, the weather, etc. This distributed knowledge base extends FOAF profiles with a vocabulary and rules about wellness group networking. The communication between participants is organized through Rule Responder, permitting wellness-profile translation and distributed querying across engines. WellnessRules interoperates between rules and queries in the relational (Datalog) paradigm of the pure-Prolog subset of POSL and in the frame (F-logic) paradigm of N3. An evaluation of Rule Responder instantiated for WellnessRules revealed acceptable Web response times.

  13. Evaluating multiepisode events: boundary conditions for the peak-end rule.

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    Miron-Shatz, Talya

    2009-04-01

    This study advances our understanding of how people arrive at retrospective evaluations of multiepisode experiences. Large samples from the United States, France, and Denmark (810, 820, and 805 participants, respectively) reported their feelings during each episode of the previous day using the Day Reconstruction Method. The duration-weighted average of these feelings represented the normative approach to evaluation, and, contrary to the predictions of the peak-end rule, the average was the best predictor of retrospective evaluations of the day. To capture participants' heuristic evaluation, they also reported having a wonderful (peak) and/or awful (low) moment during the previous day. The results indicate that retrospective evaluations of multiepisode events rely on the averaged ratings of emotions, ignore ends, and also consider the presence of lows, and occasionally peaks, as subjectively defined by those experiencing them. Peaks and lows contribute more to comparative, rather than absolute evaluations. Future research should examine whether these findings extend to other multiepisode events that, unlike days, form cohesive units in terms of their content, goal, and emotionality. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  14. Development and application of a cost-benefit framework for energy reliability. Using probabilistic methods in network planning and regulation to enhance social welfare. The N-1 rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nooij, Michiel de; Baarsma, Barbara; Bloemhof, Gabriel; Dijk, Harold; Slootweg, Han

    2010-01-01

    Although electricity is crucial to many activities in developed societies, guaranteeing a maximum reliability of supply to end-users is extremely costly. This situation gives rise to a trade-off between the costs and benefits of reliability. The Dutch government has responded to this trade-off by changing the rule stipulating that electricity networks must be able to maintain supply even if one component fails (known as the N-1 rule), even in maintenance situations. This rule was changed by adding the phrase 'unless the costs exceed the benefits.' We have developed a cost-benefit framework for the implementation and application of this new rule. The framework requires input on failure probability, the cost of supply interruptions to end-users and the cost of investments. A case study of the Dutch grid shows that the method is indeed practicable and that it is highly unlikely that N-1 during maintenance will enhance welfare in the Netherlands. Therefore, including the limitation 'unless the costs exceed the benefits' in the rule has been a sensible policy for the Netherlands, and would also be a sensible policy for other countries. (author)

  15. Endogenous Mouse Dicer Is an Exclusively Cytoplasmic Protein.

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    Christian Much

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Dicer is a large multi-domain protein responsible for the ultimate step of microRNA and short-interfering RNA biogenesis. In human and mouse cell lines, Dicer has been shown to be important in the nuclear clearance of dsRNA as well as the establishment of chromatin modifications. Here we set out to unambiguously define the cellular localization of Dicer in mice to understand if this is a conserved feature of mammalian Dicer in vivo. To this end, we utilized an endogenously epitope tagged Dicer knock-in mouse allele. From primary mouse cell lines and adult tissues, we determined with certainty by biochemical fractionation and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy that endogenous Dicer is exclusively cytoplasmic. We ruled out the possibility that a fraction of Dicer shuttles to and from the nucleus as well as that FGF or DNA damage signaling induce Dicer nuclear translocation. We also explored Dicer localization during the dynamic and developmental context of embryogenesis, where Dicer is ubiquitously expressed and strictly cytoplasmic in all three germ layers as well as extraembryonic tissues. Our data exclude a direct role for Dicer in the nuclear RNA processing in the mouse.

  16. Endogenous Mouse Dicer Is an Exclusively Cytoplasmic Protein.

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    Much, Christian; Auchynnikava, Tania; Pavlinic, Dinko; Buness, Andreas; Rappsilber, Juri; Benes, Vladimir; Allshire, Robin; O'Carroll, Dónal

    2016-06-01

    Dicer is a large multi-domain protein responsible for the ultimate step of microRNA and short-interfering RNA biogenesis. In human and mouse cell lines, Dicer has been shown to be important in the nuclear clearance of dsRNA as well as the establishment of chromatin modifications. Here we set out to unambiguously define the cellular localization of Dicer in mice to understand if this is a conserved feature of mammalian Dicer in vivo. To this end, we utilized an endogenously epitope tagged Dicer knock-in mouse allele. From primary mouse cell lines and adult tissues, we determined with certainty by biochemical fractionation and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy that endogenous Dicer is exclusively cytoplasmic. We ruled out the possibility that a fraction of Dicer shuttles to and from the nucleus as well as that FGF or DNA damage signaling induce Dicer nuclear translocation. We also explored Dicer localization during the dynamic and developmental context of embryogenesis, where Dicer is ubiquitously expressed and strictly cytoplasmic in all three germ layers as well as extraembryonic tissues. Our data exclude a direct role for Dicer in the nuclear RNA processing in the mouse.

  17. End effects on elbows subjected to moment loadings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodabaugh, E.C.; Moore, S.E.

    1982-01-01

    So-called end effects for moment loadings on short-radius and long-radius butt welding elbows of various arc lengths are investigated with a view toward providing more accurate design formulas for critical piping systems. Data developed in this study, along with published information, were used to develop relatively simple design equations for elbows attached at both ends to long sections of straight pipe. These formulas are the basis for an alternate ASME Code procedure for evaluating the bending moment stresses in Class 1 nuclear piping (ASME Code Case N-319). The more complicated problems of elbows with other end conditions, e.g., flanges at one or both ends, are also considered. Comparisons of recently published experimental and theoretical studies with current industrial code design rules for these situations indicate that these rules also need to be improved

  18. Jahn-Teller effect versus Hund's rule coupling in C60N-

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    Wehrli, S.; Sigrist, M.

    2007-09-01

    We propose variational states for the ground state and the low-energy collective rotator excitations in negatively charged C60N- ions (N=1,…,5) . The approach includes the linear electron-phonon coupling and the Coulomb interaction on the same level. The electron-phonon coupling is treated within the effective mode approximation which yields the linear t1u⊗Hg Jahn-Teller problem whereas the Coulomb interaction gives rise to Hund’s rule coupling for N=2,3,4 . The Hamiltonian has accidental SO(3) symmetry which allows an elegant formulation in terms of angular momenta. Trial states are constructed from coherent states and using projection operators onto angular momentum subspaces which results in good variational states for the complete parameter range. The evaluation of the corresponding energies is to a large extent analytical. We use the approach for a detailed analysis of the competition between Jahn-Teller effect and Hund’s rule coupling, which determines the spin state for N=2,3,4 . We calculate the low-spin-high-spin gap for N=2,3,4 as a function of the Hund’s rule coupling constant J . We find that the experimentally measured gaps suggest a coupling constant in the range J=60-80meV . Using a finite value for J , we recalculate the ground state energies of the C60N- ions and find that the Jahn-Teller energy gain is partly counterbalanced by the Hund’s rule coupling. In particular, the ground state energies for N=2,3,4 are almost equal.

  19. Medicare Program; End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System, Payment for Renal Dialysis Services Furnished to Individuals With Acute Kidney Injury, and End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-11-01

    This rule updates and makes revisions to the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) prospective payment system (PPS) for calendar year (CY) 2018. It also updates the payment rate for renal dialysis services furnished by an ESRD facility to individuals with acute kidney injury (AKI). This rule also sets forth requirements for the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP), including for payment years (PYs) 2019 through 2021.

  20. End-to-End Traffic Flow Modeling of the Integrated SCaN Network

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    Cheung, K.-M.; Abraham, D. S.

    2012-05-01

    In this article, we describe the analysis and simulation effort of the end-to-end traffic flow for the Integrated Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Network. Using the network traffic derived for the 30-day period of July 2018 from the Space Communications Mission Model (SCMM), we generate the wide-area network (WAN) bandwidths of the ground links for different architecture options of the Integrated SCaN Network. We also develop a new analytical scheme to model the traffic flow and buffering mechanism of a store-and-forward network. It is found that the WAN bandwidth of the Integrated SCaN Network is an important differentiator of different architecture options, as the recurring circuit costs of certain architecture options can be prohibitively high.

  1. Neuromuscular activity of Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis snake venom in mouse nerve-muscle preparations

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    A. M. Durigon

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available The pharmacological effects of Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis venom on mouse phrenic nerve-diaphragm (PND preparations were studied. Venom (20 mug/ml irreversibly inhibited indirectly evoked twitches in PND preparations (60 ± 10% inhibition, mean ± SEM; p<0.05; n=6. At 50 mug/ml, the venom blocked indirectly and directly (curarized preparations evoked twitches in mouse hemidiaphragms. In the absence of Ca2+, venom (50 mug/ml, produced partial blockade only after an 80 min incubation, which reached 40.3 ± 7.8% (p<0.05; n=3 after 120 min. Venom (20 mug/ml increased (25 ± 2%, p< 0.05 the frequency of giant miniature end-plate potentials in 9 of 10 end-plates after 30 min and the number of miniature end-plate potentials which was maximum (562 ± 3%, p<0.05 after 120 min. During the same period, the resting membrane potential decreased from - 81 ± 1.4 mV to - 41.3 ± 3.6 mV 24 fibers; p<0.01; n=4 in the end-plate region and from - 77.4 ± 1.4 to -44.6 ± 3.9 mV (24 fibers; p<0.01; n=4 in regions distant from the end-plate. These results indicate that B. n. pauloensis venom acts primarily at presynaptic sites. They also suggest that enzymatic activity may be involved in this pharmacological action.

  2. A path planning method for robot end effector motion using the curvature theory of the ruled surfaces

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    Güler, Fatma; Kasap, Emin

    Using the curvature theory for the ruled surfaces a technique for robot trajectory planning is presented. This technique ensures the calculation of robot’s next path. The positional variation of the Tool Center Point (TCP), linear velocity, angular velocity are required in the work area of the robot. In some circumstances, it may not be physically achievable and a re-computation of the robot trajectory might be necessary. This technique is suitable for re-computation of the robot trajectory. We obtain different robot trajectories which change depending on the darboux angle function and define trajectory ruled surface family with a common trajectory curve with the rotation trihedron. Also, the motion of robot end effector is illustrated with examples.

  3. In-depth mapping of the mouse brain N-glycoproteome reveals widespread N-glycosylation of diverse brain proteins.

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    Fang, Pan; Wang, Xin-Jian; Xue, Yu; Liu, Ming-Qi; Zeng, Wen-Feng; Zhang, Yang; Zhang, Lei; Gao, Xing; Yan, Guo-Quan; Yao, Jun; Shen, Hua-Li; Yang, Peng-Yuan

    2016-06-21

    N-glycosylation is one of the most prominent and abundant posttranslational modifications of proteins. It is estimated that over 50% of mammalian proteins undergo glycosylation. However, the analysis of N-glycoproteins has been limited by the available analytical technology. In this study, we comprehensively mapped the N-glycosylation sites in the mouse brain proteome by combining complementary methods, which included seven protease treatments, four enrichment techniques and two fractionation strategies. Altogether, 13492 N-glycopeptides containing 8386 N-glycosylation sites on 3982 proteins were identified. After evaluating the performance of the above methods, we proposed a simple and efficient workflow for large-scale N-glycosylation site mapping. The optimized workflow yielded 80% of the initially identified N-glycosylation sites with considerably less effort. Analysis of the identified N-glycoproteins revealed that many of the mouse brain proteins are N-glycosylated, including those proteins in critical pathways for nervous system development and neurological disease. Additionally, several important biomarkers of various diseases were found to be N-glycosylated. These data confirm that N-glycosylation is important in both physiological and pathological processes in the brain, and provide useful details about numerous N-glycosylation sites in brain proteins.

  4. Some remarks on Feynman rules for non-commutative gauge theories based on groups G≠U(N)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorn, Harald; Sieg, Christoph

    2002-01-01

    We study for subgroups G is a subset of U(N) partial summations of the θ-expanded perturbation theory. On diagrammatic level a summation procedure is established, which in the U(N) case delivers the full star-product induced rules. Thereby we uncover a cancellation mechanism between certain diagrams, which is crucial in the U(N) case, but set out of work for G is a subset of U(N). In addition, an explicit proof is given that for G is a subset of U(N), G≠U(M), M< N there is no partial summation of the θ-expanded rules resulting in new Feynman rules using the U(N) star-product vertices and besides suitable modified propagators at most a finite number of additional building blocks. Finally, we show that certain SO(N) Feynman rules conjectured in the literature cannot be derived from the enveloping algebra approach. (author)

  5. Effect of chitosan-N-acetylcysteine conjugate in a mouse model of botulinum toxin B-induced dry eye.

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    Hongyok, Teeravee; Chae, Jemin J; Shin, Young Joo; Na, Daero; Li, Li; Chuck, Roy S

    2009-04-01

    To evaluate the effect of a thiolated polymer lubricant, chitosan-N-acetylcysteine conjugate (C-NAC), in a mouse model of dry eye. Eye drops containing 0.5% C-NAC, 0.3% C-NAC, a vehicle (control group), artificial tears, or fluorometholone were applied in a masked fashion in a mouse model of induced dry eye from 3 days to 4 weeks after botulinum toxin B injection. Corneal fluorescein staining was periodically recorded. Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunofluorescence staining were performed at the end of the study to evaluate inflammatory cytokine expressions. Mice treated with C-NAC, 0.5%, and fluorometholone showed a downward trend that was not statistically significant in corneal staining compared with the other groups. Chitosan-NAC formulations, fluorometholone, and artificial tears significantly decreased IL-1beta (interleukin 1beta), IL-10, IL-12alpha, and tumor necrosis factor alpha expression in ocular surface tissues. The botulinum toxin B-induced dry eye mouse model is potentially useful in evaluating new dry eye treatment. Evaluation of important molecular biomarkers suggests that C-NAC may impart some protective ocular surface properties. However, clinical data did not indicate statistically significant improvement of tear production and corneal staining in any of the groups tested. Topically applied C-NAC might protect the ocular surface in dry eye syndrome, as evidenced by decreased inflammatory cytokine expression.

  6. Molecular cloning, expression, and characterization of mouse amine N-sulfotransferases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Saki; Sakakibara, Yoichi; Mishiro, Emi; Kouriki, Haruna; Nobe, Rika; Kurogi, Katsuhisa; Yasuda, Shin; Liu, M.-C.; Suiko, Masahito

    2008-01-01

    By searching the GenBank database, we recently identified a novel mouse cytosolic sulfotransferase (SULT) cDNA (IMAGE Clone ID 679629) and a novel mouse SULT gene (LOC 215895). Sequence analysis revealed that both mouse SULTs belong to the cytosolic SULT3 gene family. The recombinant form of these two newly identified SULTs, designated SULT3A1 and SULT3A2, were expressed using the pGEX-4T-1 glutathione S-transferase fusion system and purified from transformed BL21 Escherichia coli cells. Both purified SULT3A1 and SULT3A2 exhibited strong amine N-sulfonating activities toward 1-naphthylamine among a variety of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds tested as substrates. Kinetic constants of the sulfation of 1-naphthylamine and 1-naphthol by these two enzymes were determined. Collectively, these results imply that these two amine-sulfonating SULT3s may play essential roles in the metabolism and detoxification of aromatic amine compounds in the body

  7. Stability analysis and structural rules of titanium dioxide clusters (TiO2)n with n = 1-9

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Weiwei; Han Ye; Yao Shuyu; Sun Haiqing

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: · We investigated the structure and stability of (TiO 2 ) n clusters with n = 1-9. · Some initial structures are introduced and proved to be the real global minimum. · We summarized the structural rules for small (TiO 2 ) n clusters. · The bonding features for the energy increment or decrement of the clusters are investigated. · A general shift of stability and reactivity with size for (TiO 2 ) n clusters. - Abstract: Atomic clusters have been considered as models for fundamental mechanistic insight into complex surfaces and catalysts. The structure and stability of (TiO 2 ) n clusters with n = 1-9 are investigated using the b3lyp hybrid density functional method in this paper. Some of the clusters are proposed initially and proved to be the real global minima. The stability and band gap of the clusters as a function of size are also investigated. The structural rules of the clusters are first summarized. The lowest-lying (TiO 2 ) n isomers tend to form some compact rather than quasi-linear or circular structures. The oxygen atom in 4-fold coordination and the titanium atom in 4-fold coordination favor the cluster stability. The 5-fold coordinated Ti-atom, the Ti-Ti bond and the terminal Ti-O bond lead to stability penalty for the clusters. No evidence for a regular variation in stability or reactivity with size of the clusters has shown. The structural rules can serve as guiding factors for formation research and structure design of (TiO 2 ) n and other transition metal oxide clusters.

  8. O(N) symmetries, sum rules for generalized Hermite polynomials and squeezed states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daboul, Jamil; Mizrahi, Salomon S

    2005-01-01

    Quantum optics has been dealing with coherent states, squeezed states and many other non-classical states. The associated mathematical framework makes use of special functions as Hermite polynomials, Laguerre polynomials and others. In this connection we here present some formal results that follow directly from the group O(N) of complex transformations. Motivated by the squeezed states structure, we introduce the generalized Hermite polynomials (GHP), which include as particular cases, the Hermite polynomials as well as the heat polynomials. Using generalized raising operators, we derive new sum rules for the GHP, which are covariant under O(N) transformations. The GHP and the associated sum rules become useful for evaluating Wigner functions in a straightforward manner. As a byproduct, we use one of these sum rules, on the operator level, to obtain raising and lowering operators for the Laguerre polynomials and show that they generate an sl(2, R) ≅ su(1, 1) algebra

  9. De novo CNV formation in mouse embryonic stem cells occurs in the absence of Xrcc4-dependent nonhomologous end joining.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin F Arlt

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Spontaneous copy number variant (CNV mutations are an important factor in genomic structural variation, genomic disorders, and cancer. A major class of CNVs, termed nonrecurrent CNVs, is thought to arise by nonhomologous DNA repair mechanisms due to the presence of short microhomologies, blunt ends, or short insertions at junctions of normal and de novo pathogenic CNVs, features recapitulated in experimental systems in which CNVs are induced by exogenous replication stress. To test whether the canonical nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ pathway of double-strand break (DSB repair is involved in the formation of this class of CNVs, chromosome integrity was monitored in NHEJ-deficient Xrcc4(-/- mouse embryonic stem (ES cells following treatment with low doses of aphidicolin, a DNA replicative polymerase inhibitor. Mouse ES cells exhibited replication stress-induced CNV formation in the same manner as human fibroblasts, including the existence of syntenic hotspot regions, such as in the Auts2 and Wwox loci. The frequency and location of spontaneous and aphidicolin-induced CNV formation were not altered by loss of Xrcc4, as would be expected if canonical NHEJ were the predominant pathway of CNV formation. Moreover, de novo CNV junctions displayed a typical pattern of microhomology and blunt end use that did not change in the absence of Xrcc4. A number of complex CNVs were detected in both wild-type and Xrcc4(-/- cells, including an example of a catastrophic, chromothripsis event. These results establish that nonrecurrent CNVs can be, and frequently are, formed by mechanisms other than Xrcc4-dependent NHEJ.

  10. Exploration of SWRL Rule Bases through Visualization, Paraphrasing, and Categorization of Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanpour, Saeed; O'Connor, Martin J.; Das, Amar K.

    Rule bases are increasingly being used as repositories of knowledge content on the Semantic Web. As the size and complexity of these rule bases increases, developers and end users need methods of rule abstraction to facilitate rule management. In this paper, we describe a rule abstraction method for Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) rules that is based on lexical analysis and a set of heuristics. Our method results in a tree data structure that we exploit in creating techniques to visualize, paraphrase, and categorize SWRL rules. We evaluate our approach by applying it to several biomedical ontologies that contain SWRL rules, and show how the results reveal rule patterns within the rule base. We have implemented our method as a plug-in tool for Protégé-OWL, the most widely used ontology modeling software for the Semantic Web. Our tool can allow users to rapidly explore content and patterns in SWRL rule bases, enabling their acquisition and management.

  11. Desarrollo endógeno y globalización

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Vázquez-Barquero

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available El desarrollo endógeno es una interpretación que permite explicar la mecánica de la acumulación de capital en un entorno de fuerte competencia como el que caracteriza a la globalización. El artículo argumenta que la difusión del conocimiento, la organización flexible de la producción, las economías de urbanización y la densidad del tejido institucional son los procesos que determinan el aumento de la productividad y que gracias al efecto Hanoi es posible generar la sinergia necesaria entre estos procesos, lo que facilita la aparición de rendimientos crecientes. El desarrollo endógeno es una interpretación para la acción, y la política de desarrollo local incide sobre estos procesos, lo que permite a las ciudades y regiones responder a los desafíos de la globalizaciónEndogenous development is a notion that explains the mechanics of capital accumulation under the conditions of increasing competition, such as those that characterize the globalization process. The paper argues that the productivity determinants are the difussion of innovation, the flexible organization of production, the agglomeration economies and institutional thickness. The Hanoi effect would propel the necessary sinergy between these processes and determine the rise of increasing returns. Endogenous development is an approach for action and local development policiy tools focus on these processes and help the cities and regions answer the challenges of globalization.

  12. Dynamic gene expression analysis in a H1N1 influenza virus mouse pneumonia model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Yanyan; Gao, Yingjie; Shi, Yujing; Cui, Xiaolan

    2017-06-01

    H1N1, a major pathogenic subtype of influenza A virus, causes a respiratory infection in humans and livestock that can range from a mild infection to more severe pneumonia associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Understanding the dynamic changes in the genome and the related functional changes induced by H1N1 influenza virus infection is essential to elucidating the pathogenesis of this virus and thereby determining strategies to prevent future outbreaks. In this study, we filtered the significantly expressed genes in mouse pneumonia using mRNA microarray analysis. Using STC analysis, seven significant gene clusters were revealed, and using STC-GO analysis, we explored the significant functions of these seven gene clusters. The results revealed GOs related to H1N1 virus-induced inflammatory and immune functions, including innate immune response, inflammatory response, specific immune response, and cellular response to interferon-beta. Furthermore, the dynamic regulation relationships of the key genes in mouse pneumonia were revealed by dynamic gene network analysis, and the most important genes were filtered, including Dhx58, Cxcl10, Cxcl11, Zbp1, Ifit1, Ifih1, Trim25, Mx2, Oas2, Cd274, Irgm1, and Irf7. These results suggested that during mouse pneumonia, changes in the expression of gene clusters and the complex interactions among genes lead to significant changes in function. Dynamic gene expression analysis revealed key genes that performed important functions. These results are a prelude to advancements in mouse H1N1 influenza virus infection biology, as well as the use of mice as a model organism for human H1N1 influenza virus infection studies.

  13. Mouse-tracking evidence for parallel anticipatory option evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cranford, Edward A; Moss, Jarrod

    2017-12-23

    In fast-paced, dynamic tasks, the ability to anticipate the future outcome of a sequence of events is crucial to quickly selecting an appropriate course of action among multiple alternative options. There are two classes of theories that describe how anticipation occurs. Serial theories assume options are generated and evaluated one at a time, in order of quality, whereas parallel theories assume simultaneous generation and evaluation. The present research examined the option evaluation process during a task designed to be analogous to prior anticipation tasks, but within the domain of narrative text comprehension. Prior research has relied on indirect, off-line measurement of the option evaluation process during anticipation tasks. Because the movement of the hand can provide a window into underlying cognitive processes, online metrics such as continuous mouse tracking provide more fine-grained measurements of cognitive processing as it occurs in real time. In this study, participants listened to three-sentence stories and predicted the protagonists' final action by moving a mouse toward one of three possible options. Each story was presented with either one (control condition) or two (distractor condition) plausible ending options. Results seem most consistent with a parallel option evaluation process because initial mouse trajectories deviated further from the best option in the distractor condition compared to the control condition. It is difficult to completely rule out all possible serial processing accounts, although the results do place constraints on the time frame in which a serial processing explanation must operate.

  14. Differentiation and Transplantation of Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cone Photoreceptors into a Mouse Model of End-Stage Retinal Degeneration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamil Kruczek

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The loss of cone photoreceptors that mediate daylight vision represents a leading cause of blindness, for which cell replacement by transplantation offers a promising treatment strategy. Here, we characterize cone differentiation in retinas derived from mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs. Similar to in vivo development, a temporal pattern of progenitor marker expression is followed by the differentiation of early thyroid hormone receptor β2-positive precursors and, subsequently, photoreceptors exhibiting cone-specific phototransduction-related proteins. We establish that stage-specific inhibition of the Notch pathway increases cone cell differentiation, while retinoic acid signaling regulates cone maturation, comparable with their actions in vivo. MESC-derived cones can be isolated in large numbers and transplanted into adult mouse eyes, showing capacity to survive and mature in the subretinal space of Aipl1−/− mice, a model of end-stage retinal degeneration. Together, this work identifies a robust, renewable cell source for cone replacement by purified cell suspension transplantation.

  15. An end-to-end coupled model ROMS-N 2 P 2 Z 2 D 2 -OSMOSE of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    An end-to-end coupled model ROMS-N 2 P 2 Z 2 D 2 -OSMOSE of the southern Benguela foodweb: parameterisation, calibration and pattern-oriented validation. ... We also highlight the capacity of this model for tracking indicators at various hierarchical levels. Keywords: individual-based model, model validation, ...

  16. 17 CFR 239.14 - Form N-2 for closed end management investment companies registered on Form N-8A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... management investment companies registered on Form N-8A. 239.14 Section 239.14 Commodity and Securities... Registration Statements § 239.14 Form N-2 for closed end management investment companies registered on Form N... closed end management investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 on form N...

  17. Loss of Ubr2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, leads to chromosome fragility and impaired homologous recombinational repair

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ouyang, Yan; Kwon, Yong Tae; An, Jee Young; Eller, Danny; Tsai, S.-C.; Diaz-Perez, Silvia; Troke, Joshua J.; Teitell, Michael A.; Marahrens, York

    2006-01-01

    The N-end rule pathway of protein degradation targets proteins with destabilizing N-terminal residues. Ubr2 is one of the E3 ubiquitin ligases of the mouse N-end rule pathway. We have previously shown that Ubr2 -/- male mice are infertile, owing to the arrest of spermatocytes between the leptotene/zygotene and pachytene of meiosis I, the failure of chromosome pairing, and subsequent apoptosis. Here, we report that mouse fibroblast cells derived from Ubr2 -/- embryos display genome instability. The frequency of chromosomal bridges and micronuclei were much higher in Ubr2 -/- fibroblasts than in +/+ controls. Metaphase chromosome spreads from Ubr2 -/- cells revealed a high incidence of spontaneous chromosomal gaps, indicating chromosomal fragility. These fragile sites were generally replicated late in S phase. Ubr2 -/- cells were hypersensitive to mitomycin C, a DNA cross-linking agent, but displayed normal sensitivity to gamma-irradiation. A reporter assay showed that Ubr2 -/- cells are significantly impaired in the homologous recombination repair of a double strand break. In contrast, Ubr2 -/- cells appeared normal in an assay for non-homologous end joining. Our results therefore unveil the role of the ubiquitin ligase Ubr2 in maintaining genome integrity and in homologous recombination repair

  18. Loss of Ubr2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, leads to chromosome fragility and impaired homologous recombinational repair

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ouyang, Yan [Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Kwon, Yong Tae [Center for Pharmacogenetics and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); An, Jee Young [Center for Pharmacogenetics and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Eller, Danny [Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Tsai, S.-C. [Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Diaz-Perez, Silvia [Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Troke, Joshua J. [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Teitell, Michael A. [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Marahrens, York [Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)]. E-mail: ymarahrens@mednet.ucla.edu

    2006-04-11

    The N-end rule pathway of protein degradation targets proteins with destabilizing N-terminal residues. Ubr2 is one of the E3 ubiquitin ligases of the mouse N-end rule pathway. We have previously shown that Ubr2{sup -/-} male mice are infertile, owing to the arrest of spermatocytes between the leptotene/zygotene and pachytene of meiosis I, the failure of chromosome pairing, and subsequent apoptosis. Here, we report that mouse fibroblast cells derived from Ubr2{sup -/-} embryos display genome instability. The frequency of chromosomal bridges and micronuclei were much higher in Ubr2{sup -/-} fibroblasts than in +/+ controls. Metaphase chromosome spreads from Ubr2{sup -/-} cells revealed a high incidence of spontaneous chromosomal gaps, indicating chromosomal fragility. These fragile sites were generally replicated late in S phase. Ubr2{sup -/-} cells were hypersensitive to mitomycin C, a DNA cross-linking agent, but displayed normal sensitivity to gamma-irradiation. A reporter assay showed that Ubr2{sup -/-} cells are significantly impaired in the homologous recombination repair of a double strand break. In contrast, Ubr2{sup -/-} cells appeared normal in an assay for non-homologous end joining. Our results therefore unveil the role of the ubiquitin ligase Ubr2 in maintaining genome integrity and in homologous recombination repair.

  19. N400 elicited by incongruent ending words of Chinese idioms in healthy adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xing-shi; Tang, Yun-xiang; Xiao, Ze-ping; Wang, Ji-jun; Zhang, Ming-dao; Zhang, Zai-fu; Hu, Zhen-yu; Lou, Fei-ying; Chen, Chong; Zhang, Tian-hong

    2010-03-20

    Prior research about N400 has been mainly based on English stimuli, while the cognitive processing of Chinese characters is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the semantic processing of Chinese idioms. Event related potentials (ERP) component N400 was elicited by 38 pairs of matching (congruent) and mismatching (incongruent) ended Chinese idioms: ending words with same phoneme but different shape and meaning (sPdSdM), with similar shape but different phoneme and meaning (sSdPdM), with same meaning but different phoneme and shape (sMdPdS), and words with different phoneme, shape and meaning (dPdSdM) and recorded by Guangzhou Runjie WJ-1 ERP instruments. In 62 right-handed healthy adults (age 19 - 50 years), N400 amplitudes and latencies were compared between matching and mismatching conditions at Fz, Cz and Pz. N400 showed a midline distribution and could be elicited in electrodes Fz, Cz and Pz. The mean values of N400 latencies and amplitudes were obtained for matching and mismatching ending words in healthy adults. Significant differences were found in N400 latencies and amplitudes in matching and mismatching ending-words idioms in healthy adults (P idioms, N400 latencies were prolonged and the amplitudes were increased in mismatching ones. N400s elicited by different types of stimuli showed different latencies and amplitudes, and longest N400 latency and largest N400 amplitude were elicited by ending-words with dPdSdM. No gender difference was found of N400 latency and amplitude in this study (P > 0.05). Compared with English stimuli, Chinese ideographic words could provide more flexible stimuli for N400 research in that the words have 3-dimension changes - phoneme, shape and meaning. Features of N400 elicited by matching and mismatching ending words in Chinese idioms are mainly determined by the meaning of the word. Some issues of N400 elicited by Chinese characters deserve further research.

  20. Nucleotide excision repair modulates the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of N-n-butyl-N-nitrosourea in cultured mammalian cells as well as in mouse splenocytes in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bol, S A; van Steeg, H; van Oostrom, C T; Tates, A D; Vrieling, H; de Groot, A J; Mullenders, L H; van Zeeland, A A; Jansen, J G

    1999-05-01

    The butylating agent N-n-butyl-N-nitrosourea (BNU) was employed to study the role of nucleotide excision repair (NER) in protecting mammalian cells against the genotoxic effects of monofunctional alkylating agents. The direct acting agent BNU was found to be mutagenic in normal and XPA mouse splenocytes after a single i.p. treatment in vivo. After 25 and 35 mg/kg BNU, but not after 75 mg/ kg, 2- to 3-fold more hprt mutants were detected in splenocytes from XPA mice than from normal mice. Using O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT)-deficient hamster cells, it was found that NER-deficient CHO UV5 cells carrying a mutation in the ERCC-2 gene were 40% more mutable towards lesions induced by BNU when compared with parental NER-proficient CHO AA8 cells. UV5 cells were 1.4-fold more sensitive to the cytotoxic effects of BNU compared with AA8 cells. To investigate whether this increased sensitivity of NER-deficient cells is modulated by AGT activity, cell survival studies were performed in human and mouse primary fibroblasts as well. BNU was 2.7-fold more toxic for mouse XPA fibroblasts compared with normal mouse fibroblasts. Comparable results were found for human fibroblasts. Taken together these data indicate that the role of NER in protecting rodent cells against the mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of the alkylating agent BNU depends on AGT.

  1. Proposal to modify Rule 6, Rule 10a, and Rule 12c of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oren, Aharon; Garrity, George M; Schink, Bernhard

    2014-04-01

    According to the current versions of Rule 10a and Rule 12c of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, names of a genus or subgenus and specific epithets may be taken from any source and may even be composed in an arbitrary manner. Based on these rules, names may be composed of any word or any combination of elements derived from any language with a Latin ending. We propose modifying these rules by adding the text, currently part of Recommendation 6, according to which words from languages other than Latin or Greek should be avoided as long as equivalents exist in Latin or Greek or can be constructed by combining word elements from these two languages. We also propose modification of Rule 6 by adopting some of the current paragraphs of Recommendation 6 to become part of the Rule.

  2. Light Cone Sum Rules for gamma*N ->Delta Transition Form Factors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    V.M. Braun; A. Lenz; G. Peters; A. Radyushkin

    2006-02-01

    A theoretical framework is suggested for the calculation of {gamma}* N {yields} {Delta} transition form factors using the light-cone sum rule approach. Leading-order sum rules are derived and compared with the existing experimental data. We find that the transition form factors in a several GeV region are dominated by the ''soft'' contributions that can be thought of as overlap integrals of the valence components of the hadron wave functions. The ''minus'' components of the quark fields contribute significantly to the result, which can be reinterpreted as large contributions of the quark orbital angular momentum.

  3. Validity of reciprocity rule on mouse skin thermal damage due to CO2 laser irradiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parvin, P.; Dehghanpour, H. R.; Moghadam, M. S.; Daneshafrooz, V.

    2013-07-01

    CO2 laser (10.6 μm) is a well-known infrared coherent light source as a tool in surgery. At this wavelength there is a high absorbance coefficient (860 cm-1), because of vibration mode resonance of H2O molecules. Therefore, the majority of the irradiation energy is absorbed in the tissue and the temperature of the tissue rises as a function of power density and laser exposure duration. In this work, the tissue damage caused by CO2 laser (1-10 W, ˜40-400 W cm-2, 0.1-6 s) was measured using 30 mouse skin samples. Skin damage assessment was based on measurements of the depth of cut, mean diameter of the crater and the carbonized layer. The results show that tissue damage as assessed above parameters increased with laser fluence and saturated at 1000 J cm-2. Moreover, the damage effect due to high power density at short duration was not equivalent to that with low power density at longer irradiation time even though the energy delivered was identical. These results indicate the lack of validity of reciprocity (Bunsen-Roscoe) rule for the thermal damage.

  4. 1H, 15N and 13C NMR Assignments of Mouse Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase B2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breivik, Åshild S.; Aachmann, Finn L.; Sal, Lena S.; Kim, Hwa-Young; Del Conte, Rebecca; Gladyshev, Vadim N.; Dikiy, Alexander

    2011-01-01

    A recombinant mouse methionine-r-sulfoxide reductase 2 (MsrB2ΔS) isotopically labeled with 15N and 15N/13C was generated. We report here the 1H, 15N and 13C NMR assignments of the reduced form of this protein. PMID:19636904

  5. 17 CFR 239.15 - Form N-1 for open-end management investment companies registered on Form N-8A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... management investment companies registered on Form N-8A. 239.15 Section 239.15 Commodity and Securities... Registration Statements § 239.15 Form N-1 for open-end management investment companies registered on Form N-8A...-end management investment companies that are separate accounts of insurance companies as defined by...

  6. Molecular glycopathology by capillary electrophoresis: Analysis of the N-glycome of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded mouse tissue samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donczo, Boglarka; Szarka, Mate; Tovari, Jozsef; Ostoros, Gyorgyi; Csanky, Eszter; Guttman, Andras

    2017-06-01

    Capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection was used to analyze endoglycosidase released and fluorophore-labeled N-glycans from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) mouse tissue samples of lung, brain, heart, spleen, liver, kidney and intestine. The FFPE samples were first deparaffinized followed by solubilization and glycoprotein retrieval. PNGase F mediated release of the N-linked oligosaccharides was followed by labeling with aminopyrene trisulfonate. After CE-LIF glycoprofiling of the FFPE mouse tissues, the N-glycan pool of the lung specimen was subject to further investigation by exoglycosidase array based carbohydrate sequencing. Structural assignment of the oligosaccharides was accomplished by the help of the GUcal software and the associated database, based on the mobility shifts after treatments with the corresponding exoglycosidase reaction mixtures. Sixteen major N-linked carbohydrate structures were sequenced from the mouse lung FFPE tissue glycome and identified, as high mannose (3) neutral biantennary (3) sialylated monoantennary (1) and sialylated bianennary (9) oligosaccharides. Two of these latter ones also possessed alpha(1-3) linked galactose residues. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. N400 elicited by incongruent ending words of Chinese idioms in healthy adults

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    CHEN Xing-shi; ZHANG Tian-hong; TANG Yun-xiang; XIAO Ze-ping; WANG Ji-jun; ZHANG Ming-dao; ZHANG Zai-fu; HU Zhen-yu; LOU Fei-ying; CHEN Chong

    2010-01-01

    Background Prior research about N400 has been mainly based on English stimuli,while the cognitive.processing of Chinese characters is still unclear.The aim of the present study was to further investigate the semantic processing of Chinese idioms.Methods Event related potentials (ERP) component N400 was elicited by 38 pairs of matching (congruent) and mismatching (incongruent) ended Chinese idioms:ending words with same phoneme but different shape and meaning (sPdSdM),with similar shape but different phoneme and meaning(sSdPdM),with same meaning but different phoneme and shape(sMdPdS),and words with different phoneme,shape and meaning(dPdSdM)and recorded by Guangzhou Runjie WJ-1 ERP instruments.In 62 right-handed healthy adults(age 19-50 years),N400 amplitudes and latencies were compared between matching and mismatching conditions at Fz,Cz and Pz.Results N400 showed a midline distribution and could be elicited in electrodes Fz, Cz and Pz.The mean values of N400 latencies and amplitudes were obtained for matching and mismatching ending werds in healthy adults.Significant differences were found in N400 latencies and amplitudes in matching and mismatching ending-werds idioms in healthy adults(P0.05).Conclusions Compared with English stimuli.Chinese ideographic words could provide more flexible stimuli for N400 research in that the werds have 3-dimension changes-phoneme.shape and meaning.Features of N400 elicited by matching and mismatching ending words in Chinese idioms are mainly determined by the meaning of the werd.Some issues of N400 elicited by Chinese characters deserve further research.

  8. Phenotyping of nNOS neurons in the postnatal and adult female mouse hypothalamus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chachlaki, Konstantina; Malone, Samuel A; Qualls-Creekmore, Emily; Hrabovszky, Erik; Münzberg, Heike; Giacobini, Paolo; Ango, Fabrice; Prevot, Vincent

    2017-10-15

    Neurons expressing nitric oxide (NO) synthase (nNOS) and thus capable of synthesizing NO play major roles in many aspects of brain function. While the heterogeneity of nNOS-expressing neurons has been studied in various brain regions, their phenotype in the hypothalamus remains largely unknown. Here we examined the distribution of cells expressing nNOS in the postnatal and adult female mouse hypothalamus using immunohistochemistry. In both adults and neonates, nNOS was largely restricted to regions of the hypothalamus involved in the control of bodily functions, such as energy balance and reproduction. Labeled cells were found in the paraventricular, ventromedial, and dorsomedial nuclei as well as in the lateral area of the hypothalamus. Intriguingly, nNOS was seen only after the second week of life in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH). The most dense and heavily labeled population of cells was found in the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis (OV) and the median preoptic nucleus (MEPO), where most of the somata of the neuroendocrine neurons releasing GnRH and controlling reproduction are located. A great proportion of nNOS-immunoreactive neurons in the OV/MEPO and ARH were seen to express estrogen receptor (ER) α. Notably, almost all ERα-immunoreactive cells of the OV/MEPO also expressed nNOS. Moreover, the use of EYFP Vglut2 , EYFP Vgat , and GFP Gad67 transgenic mouse lines revealed that, like GnRH neurons, most hypothalamic nNOS neurons have a glutamatergic phenotype, except for nNOS neurons of the ARH, which are GABAergic. Altogether, these observations are consistent with the proposed role of nNOS neurons in physiological processes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Conformance Testing: Measurement Decision Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimbs, Scott M.

    2010-01-01

    The goal of a Quality Management System (QMS) as specified in ISO 9001 and AS9100 is to provide assurance to the customer that end products meet specifications. Measuring devices, often called measuring and test equipment (MTE), are used to provide the evidence of product conformity to specified requirements. Unfortunately, processes that employ MTE can become a weak link to the overall QMS if proper attention is not given to the measurement process design, capability, and implementation. Documented "decision rules" establish the requirements to ensure measurement processes provide the measurement data that supports the needs of the QMS. Measurement data are used to make the decisions that impact all areas of technology. Whether measurements support research, design, production, or maintenance, ensuring the data supports the decision is crucial. Measurement data quality can be critical to the resulting consequences of measurement-based decisions. Historically, most industries required simplistic, one-size-fits-all decision rules for measurements. One-size-fits-all rules in some cases are not rigorous enough to provide adequate measurement results, while in other cases are overly conservative and too costly to implement. Ideally, decision rules should be rigorous enough to match the criticality of the parameter being measured, while being flexible enough to be cost effective. The goal of a decision rule is to ensure that measurement processes provide data with a sufficient level of quality to support the decisions being made - no more, no less. This paper discusses the basic concepts of providing measurement-based evidence that end products meet specifications. Although relevant to all measurement-based conformance tests, the target audience is the MTE end-user, which is anyone using MTE other than calibration service providers. Topics include measurement fundamentals, the associated decision risks, verifying conformance to specifications, and basic measurement

  10. Hyperactivation of PARP triggers nonhomologous end-joining in repair-deficient mouse fibroblasts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie R Gassman

    Full Text Available Regulation of poly(ADP-ribose (PAR synthesis and turnover is critical to determining cell fate after genotoxic stress. Hyperactivation of PAR synthesis by poly(ADP-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1 occurs when cells deficient in DNA repair are exposed to genotoxic agents; however, the function of this hyperactivation has not been adequately explained. Here, we examine PAR synthesis in mouse fibroblasts deficient in the base excision repair enzyme DNA polymerase β (pol β. The extent and duration of PARP-1 activation was measured after exposure to either the DNA alkylating agent, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS, or to low energy laser-induced DNA damage. There was strong DNA damage-induced hyperactivation of PARP-1 in pol β nullcells, but not in wild-type cells. In the case of MMS treatment, PAR synthesis did not lead to cell death in the pol β null cells, but instead resulted in increased PARylation of the nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ protein Ku70 and increased association of Ku70 with PARP-1. Inhibition of the NHEJ factor DNA-PK, under conditions of MMS-induced PARP-1 hyperactivation, enhanced necrotic cell death. These data suggest that PARP-1 hyperactivation is a protective mechanism triggering the classical-NHEJ DNA repair pathway when the primary alkylated base damage repair pathway is compromised.

  11. Advanced glycation end products-modified proteins and oxidized LDL mediate down-regulation of leptin in mouse adipocytes via CD36

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Unno, Yuka; Sakai, Masakazu; Sakamoto, Yu-ichiro; Kuniyasu, Akihiko; Nakayama, Hitoshi; Nagai, Ryoji; Horiuchi, Seikoh

    2004-01-01

    Advanced glycation end products (AGE)-modified proteins as well as oxidized-LDL (Ox-LDL) undergo receptor-mediated endocytosis by CHO cells overexpressing CD36, a member of class B scavenger receptor family. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of glycolaldehyde-modified BSA (GA-BSA) as an AGE-ligand and Ox-LDL on leptin expression in adipocytes. GA-BSA decreased leptin expression at both protein and mRNA levels in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and mouse epididymal adipocytes. Ox-LDL showed a similar inhibitory effect on leptin expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, which effect was protected by N-acetylcysteine, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitor. Binding of 125 I-GA-BSA or 125 I-Ox-LDL to 3T3-L1 adipocytes and subsequent endocytic degradation were inhibited by a neutralizing anti-CD36 antibody. Furthermore, this antibody also suppressed Ox-LDL-induced leptin down-regulation. These results clarify that the interaction of GA-BSA and Ox-LDL with CD36 leads to down-regulation of leptin expression via ROS system(s) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, suggesting that a potential link of AGE- and/or Ox-LDL-induced leptin down-regulation might be linked to insulin-sensitivity in metabolic syndrome

  12. QCD effects to Bjorken unpolarized sum rule for νN deep-inelastic scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alekhin, S I; Kataev, A L

    2003-01-01

    The possibility of the first measurement of Bjorken unpolarized sum rule for F 1 structure function of νN deep-inelastic scattering at neutrino factories is commented. The brief summary of various theoretical contributions to this sum rule is given. Using the next-to-leading set of parton distributions functions, we simulate the expected Q 2 -behaviour and emphasize that its measurement can allow us to determine the value of the QCD strong coupling constant α s with reasonable theoretical uncertainty, dominated by the ambiguity in the existing estimates of the twist-4 non-perturbative 1/Q 2 -effect

  13. Sensory innervation of the temporomandibular joint in the mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dreessen, D; Halata, Z; Strasmann, T

    1990-01-01

    The sensory innervation of the temporomandibular joints (TMJs) of 8 STR/IN mice was investigated by means of light and electron microscopy. Through the cutting of complete semithin sections in series it was possible to investigate the joints thoroughly. Additionally, one joint with its nerve supply was reconstructed three-dimensionally with a computerized three-dimensional programme. The reconstruction was based on one complete semithin section series. The joint's nerve supply originates from the nervus auriculotemporalis and additionally from motor branches of the n. mandibularis: n. massetericus, n. pterygoideus lateralis and the nn. temporales posteriores. The greatest number of nerve fibres and endings is located in the dorsolateral part of the joint capsule. They lie only in the stratum fibrosum and subsynovially. Neither the stratum synoviale nor the discus articularis contain any nerve fibres or endings, whereas the peri-articular loose connective tissue is richly innervated. The only type of nerve ending observed within the joint was the free nerve ending, which is assumed to serve not only as a nociceptor but also as a polymodal mechanoreceptor. Merely within the insertion of the musculus pterygoideus lateralis at the collum mandibulae single stretch receptors of the Ruffini type were observed. Ultrastructurally, they correspond to those described in the cat's knee joint. Neither lamellated nor nerve endings of the Golgi or Pacini type were observed in the joint or in the peri-articular connective tissue. The unexpected paucity of nerve fibres and endings in the TMJ itself of the mouse suggests that the afferent information from the joint is less important for position sense and movement than the afferent information from muscles, tendons and periodontal ligaments.

  14. Altered selenium status in Huntington's disease: neuroprotection by selenite in the N171-82Q mouse model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Zhen; Marks, Eileen; Chen, Jianfang; Moline, Jenna; Barrows, Lorraine; Raisbeck, Merl; Volitakis, Irene; Cherny, Robert A; Chopra, Vanita; Bush, Ashley I; Hersch, Steven; Fox, Jonathan H

    2014-11-01

    Disruption of redox homeostasis is a prominent feature in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD). Selenium an essential element nutrient that modulates redox pathways and has been reported to provide protection against both acute neurotoxicity (e.g. methamphetamine) and chronic neurodegeneration (e.g. tauopathy) in mice. The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of sodium selenite, an inorganic form of selenium, on behavioral, brain degeneration and biochemical outcomes in the N171-82Q Huntington's disease mouse model. HD mice, which were supplemented with sodium selenite from 6 to 14 weeks of age, demonstrated increased motor endurance, decreased loss of brain weight, decreased mutant huntingtin aggregate burden and decreased brain oxidized glutathione levels. Biochemical studies revealed that selenite treatment reverted HD-associated changes in liver selenium and plasma glutathione in N171-82Q mice and had effects on brain selenoprotein transcript expression. Further, we found decreased brain selenium content in human autopsy brain. Taken together, we demonstrate a decreased selenium phenotype in human and mouse HD and additionally show some protective effects of selenite in N171-82Q HD mice. Modification of selenium metabolism results in beneficial effects in mouse HD and thus may represent a therapeutic strategy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The mouse and ferret models for studying the novel avian-origin human influenza A (H7N9) virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Lili; Bao, Linlin; Deng, Wei; Zhu, Hua; Chen, Ting; Lv, Qi; Li, Fengdi; Yuan, Jing; Xiang, Zhiguang; Gao, Kai; Xu, Yanfeng; Huang, Lan; Li, Yanhong; Liu, Jiangning; Yao, Yanfeng; Yu, Pin; Yong, Weidong; Wei, Qiang; Zhang, Lianfeng; Qin, Chuan

    2013-08-08

    The current study was conducted to establish animal models (including mouse and ferret) for the novel avian-origin H7N9 influenza virus. A/Anhui/1/2013 (H7N9) virus was administered by intranasal instillation to groups of mice and ferrets, and animals developed typical clinical signs including body weight loss (mice and ferrets), ruffled fur (mice), sneezing (ferrets), and death (mice). Peak virus shedding from respiratory tract was observed on 2 days post inoculation (d.p.i.) for mice and 3-5 d.p.i. for ferrets. Virus could also be detected in brain, liver, spleen, kidney, and intestine from inoculated mice, and in heart, liver, and olfactory bulb from inoculated ferrets. The inoculation of H7N9 could elicit seroconversion titers up to 1280 in ferrets and 160 in mice. Leukopenia, significantly reduced lymphocytes but increased neutrophils were also observed in mouse and ferret models. The mouse and ferret model enables detailed studies of the pathogenesis of this illness and lay the foundation for drug or vaccine evaluation.

  16. Effect of Thai banana (Musa AA group) in reducing accumulation of oxidation end products in UVB-irradiated mouse skin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leerach, Nontaphat; Yakaew, Swanya; Phimnuan, Preeyawass; Soimee, Wichuda; Nakyai, Wongnapa; Luangbudnark, Witoo; Viyoch, Jarupa

    2017-03-01

    Chronic UVB exposure causes skin disorders and cancer through DNA strand breaks and oxidation of numerous functional groups of proteins and lipids in the skin. In this study, we investigated the effects of Thai banana (Musa AA group, "Khai," and Musa ABB group, "Namwa") on the prevention of UVB-induced skin damage when fed to male ICR mice. Mice were orally fed banana (Khai or Namwa) fruit pulps at dose of 1mg/g body weight/day for 12weeks. The shaved backs of the mice were irradiated with UVB for 12weeks. The intensity dose of UVB-exposure was increased from 54mJ/cm 2 /exposure at week 1 to 126mJ/cm 2 /exposure at week 12. A significant increase in skin thickness, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation end products, and expression of MMP-1 was observed in UVB-irradiated mouse skin. A reduction in the accumulation of oxidation end products was found in the skin of UVB-irradiated mice receiving Khai. This occurred in conjunction with a reduction in MMP-1 expression, inhibition of epidermal thickening, and induction of γ-GCS expression. The dietary intake of Khai prevented skin damage from chronic UVB exposure by increased γ-GCS expression and reduced oxidation end products included carbonyls, malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. END-OF-LIFE DECISIONS IN DUTCH NEONATOLOGY

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moratti, Sofia

    2010-01-01

    This contribution describes the regulation of end-of-life decisions in neonatology in the Netherlands. An account is given of the process of formulating rules, which includes a report by the Dutch Association for Paediatrics, two Court rulings, a report by a Consultation Group appointed by the

  18. N-Formyl-Perosamine Surface Homopolysaccharides Hinder the Recognition of Brucella abortus by Mouse Neutrophils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mora-Cartín, Ricardo; Chacón-Díaz, Carlos; Gutiérrez-Jiménez, Cristina; Gurdián-Murillo, Stephany; Lomonte, Bruno; Chaves-Olarte, Esteban; Barquero-Calvo, Elías; Moreno, Edgardo

    2016-06-01

    Brucella abortus is an intracellular pathogen of monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and placental trophoblasts. This bacterium causes a chronic disease in bovines and in humans. In these hosts, the bacterium also invades neutrophils; however, it fails to replicate and just resists the killing action of these leukocytes without inducing significant activation or neutrophilia. Moreover, B. abortus causes the premature cell death of human neutrophils. In the murine model, the bacterium is found within macrophages and dendritic cells at early times of infection but seldom in neutrophils. Based on this observation, we explored the interaction of mouse neutrophils with B. abortus In contrast to human, dog, and bovine neutrophils, naive mouse neutrophils fail to recognize smooth B. abortus bacteria at early stages of infection. Murine normal serum components do not opsonize smooth Brucella strains, and neutrophil phagocytosis is achieved only after the appearance of antibodies. Alternatively, mouse normal serum is capable of opsonizing rough Brucella mutants. Despite this, neutrophils still fail to kill Brucella, and the bacterium induces cell death of murine leukocytes. In addition, mouse serum does not opsonize Yersinia enterocolitica O:9, a bacterium displaying the same surface polysaccharide antigen as smooth B. abortus Therefore, the lack of murine serum opsonization and absence of murine neutrophil recognition are specific, and the molecules responsible for the Brucella camouflage are N-formyl-perosamine surface homopolysaccharides. Although the mouse is a valuable model for understanding the immunobiology of brucellosis, direct extrapolation from one animal system to another has to be undertaken with caution. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  19. Normalization sum rule and spontaneous breaking of U(N) invariance in random matrix ensembles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canali, C.M.; Kravtsov, V.E.

    1995-03-01

    It is shown that the two-level correlation function R(s,s') in the invariant random matrix ensembles (RME) with soft confinement exhibits a ''ghost peak'' at s approx. -s'. This lifts the sum rule prohibition for the level number variance to have a Poisson-like term var(n) = ηn that is typical of RME with broken U(N) symmetry. Thus we conclude that the U(N) invariance is broken spontaneously in the RME with soft confinement, η playing the role of an order-parameter. (author). 16 refs, 1 fig

  20. Elaboración de corredores o canales endémicos mediante planillas de cálculo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Bortman

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available Las epidemias o brotes pueden ser definidos como un exceso en el número de casos de un problema de salud dado, en una población, un período y un lugar en particular. Sin embargo, determinar lo que constituye un exceso implica conocer lo que es normal o de esperar. La elaboración de canales o corredores endémicos permite definir los valores de casos esperados y de esta forma evidenciar de forma gráfica la aparición de un nú mero mayor de casos. En el presente trabajo se describe una nueva metodología para la realización de estos canales endémicos, en la que se utilizan las planillas de cálculo Qpro y Excel, mediante la determinación de la media geométrica de lastasas históricas y su in tervalo de confianza. Se presenta también un corredor endémico acumulativo que facilita la vigilancia de sucesos endémicos de baja incidencia.

  1. END effects on the n = 2 rotational instability in the reversed field theta-pinch

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aso, Y.; Wu, Ch.; Himeno, S.; Hirano, K.

    1981-07-01

    It is observed that n = 2 rotational mode which appears in the field reversed configuration created by a theta-pinch can be stabilized if the ejected plasmas from the ends are guided out to the far ends of the apparatus by long axial solenoidal fields. This is understood from the fact that endshorting becomes no longer possible before the ejecting plasma tips reach to the ends. Measurement of plasma rotations just outside the separatrix suggests that both preferential diffusion loss and endshorting play a very important role for the n = 2 mode. (author)

  2. Una aproximación teórica al desarrollo endógeno

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Macías

    2004-05-01

    Full Text Available Este trabajo propone una reflexión teórica y conceptual acerca del desarrollo como proceso endógeno. La viabilidad de tal perspectiva depende, en gran medida, de si se asume o no su construcción a partir de la vida comunitaria como espacio de subjetividad. La tarea es compleja pero posible, pues parece depender de las propias comunidades y de sus capacidades para  sobreponer sus facultades reflexivas a un ethos racionalista,propio de una civilización que progresivamente niega y desestima sus dimensiones morales y afectivas. Es necesario entonces superar el fatalismo determinista de lo estructural, el reto del desarrollo endógeno es, en primer término, subjetivo y humano.

  3. Leaving room for improvisation: towards a design approach for open-ended play.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Valk, de L.C.T.; Bekker, M.M.; Eggen, J.H.

    2013-01-01

    Open-ended play with interactive objects provides children with the freedom to construct their own rules, goals and meaning. Instead of games with strict rules, open-ended play designs offer interaction opportunities as a trigger for creating personalized games. The process of developing these

  4. A novel monoclonal antibody targeting carboxymethyllysine, an advanced glycation end product in atherosclerosis and pancreatic cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulrika Wendel

    Full Text Available Advanced glycation end products are formed by non-enzymatic reactions between proteins and carbohydrates, causing irreversible lysine and arginine alterations that severely affect protein structure and function. The resulting modifications induce inflammation by binding to scavenger receptors. An increase in advanced glycation end products is observed in a number of diseases e.g. atherosclerosis and cancer. Since advanced glycation end products also are present in healthy individuals, their detection and quantification are of great importance for usage as potential biomarkers. Current methods for advanced glycation end product detection are though limited and solely measure total glycation. This study describes a new epitope-mapped single chain variable fragment, D1-B2, against carboxymethyllysine, produced from a phage library that was constructed from mouse immunizations. The phage library was selected against advanced glycation end product targets using a phage display platform. Characterization of its binding pattern was performed using large synthetic glycated peptide and protein libraries displayed on microarray slides. D1-B2 showed a preference for an aspartic acid, three positions N-terminally from a carboxymethyllysine residue and also bound to a broad collection of glycated proteins. Positive immunohistochemical staining of mouse atherosclerotic plaques and of a tissue microarray of human pancreatic tumors confirmed the usability of the new scFv for advanced glycation end product detection in tissues. This study demonstrates a promising methodology for high-throughput generation of epitope-mapped monoclonal antibodies against AGE.

  5. Metformin prevents methylglyoxal-induced apoptosis of mouse Schwann cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ota, Kimiko; Nakamura, Jiro; Li, Weiguo; Kozakae, Mika; Watarai, Atsuko; Nakamura, Nobuhisa; Yasuda, Yutaka; Nakashima, Eirtaro; Naruse, Keiko; Watabe, Kazuhiko; Kato, Koichi; Oiso, Yutaka; Hamada, Yoji

    2007-01-01

    Methylglyoxal (MG) is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications via the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). To clarify whether the antidiabetic drug metformin prevents Schwann cell damage induced by MG, we cultured mouse Schwann cells in the presence of MG and metformin. Cell apoptosis was evaluated using Hoechst 33342 nuclear staining, caspase-3 activity, and c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation. Intracellular ROS formation was determined by flow cytometry, and AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation was also examined. MG treatment resulted in blunted cell proliferation, an increase in the number of apoptotic cells, and the activation of caspase-3 and JNK along with enhanced intracellular ROS formation. All of these changes were significantly inhibited by metformin. No significant activation of AMPK by MG or metformin was observed. Taken together, metformin likely prevents MG-induced apoptotic signals in mouse Schwann cells by inhibiting the formation of AGEs and ROS

  6. Ultrastructural and biochemical localization of N-RAP at the interface between myofibrils and intercalated disks in the mouse heart.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, J Q; Elzey, B; Williams, G; Lu, S; Law, D J; Horowits, R

    2001-12-11

    N-RAP is a recently discovered muscle-specific protein found at cardiac intercalated disks. Double immunogold labeling of mouse cardiac muscle reveals that vinculin is located immediately adjacent to the fascia adherens region of the intercalated disk membrane, while N-RAP extends approximately 100 nm further toward the interior of the cell. We partially purified cardiac intercalated disks using low- and high-salt extractions followed by density gradient centrifugation. Immunoblots show that this preparation is highly enriched in desmin and junctional proteins, including N-RAP, talin, vinculin, beta1-integrin, N-cadherin, and connexin 43. Electron microscopy and immunolabeling demonstrate that N-RAP and vinculin are associated with the large fragments of intercalated disks that are present in this preparation, which also contains numerous membrane vesicles. Detergent treatment of the partially purified intercalated disks removed the membrane vesicles and extracted vinculin and beta1-integrin. Further separation on a sucrose gradient removed residual actin and myosin and yielded a fraction morphologically similar to fasciae adherentes that was highly enriched in N-RAP, N-cadherin, connexin 43, talin, desmin, and alpha-actinin. The finding that N-RAP copurifies with detergent-extracted intercalated disk fragments even though beta-integrin and vinculin have been completely removed suggests that N-RAP association with the adherens junction region is mediated by the cadherin system. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that recombinant N-RAP fragments bind alpha-actinin in a gel overlay assay. In addition, immunofluorescence shows that N-RAP remains bound at the ends of isolated, detergent-treated cardiac myofibrils. These results demonstrate that N-RAP remains tightly bound to myofibrils and fasciae adherentes during biochemical purification and may be a key constituent in the mechanical link between these two structures.

  7. New Insights on the Morphology of Adult Mouse Penis1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Esequiel; Weiss, Dana A.; Yang, Jennifer H.; Menshenina, Julia; Ferretti, Max; Cunha, Tristan J.; Barcellos, Dale; Chan, Lok Yun; Risbridger, Gail; Cunha, Gerald R.; Baskin, Laurence S.

    2011-01-01

    ABSTRACT The adult mouse penis represents the end point of masculine sex differentiation of the embryonic genital tubercle and contains bone, cartilage, the urethra, erectile bodies, several types of epithelium, and many individual cell types arrayed into specific anatomical structures. Using contemporary high-resolution imaging techniques, we sought to provide new insights to the current description of adult mouse penile morphology to enable understanding of penile abnormalities, including hypospadias. Examination of serial transverse and longitudinal sections, scanning electron microscopy, and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction provided a new appreciation of the individual structures in the adult mouse penis and their 3D interrelationships. In so doing, we discovered novel paired erectile bodies, the male urogenital mating protuberance (MUMP), and more accurately described the urethral meatus. These morphological observations were quantified by morphometric analysis and now provide accurate morphological end points of sex differentiation of mouse penis that will be the foundation of future studies to identify normal and abnormal penile development. PMID:21918128

  8. Effect of Duplicate Genes on Mouse Genetic Robustness: An Update

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhixi Su

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In contrast to S. cerevisiae and C. elegans, analyses based on the current knockout (KO mouse phenotypes led to the conclusion that duplicate genes had almost no role in mouse genetic robustness. It has been suggested that the bias of mouse KO database toward ancient duplicates may possibly cause this knockout duplicate puzzle, that is, a very similar proportion of essential genes (PE between duplicate genes and singletons. In this paper, we conducted an extensive and careful analysis for the mouse KO phenotype data and corroborated a strong effect of duplicate genes on mouse genetics robustness. Moreover, the effect of duplicate genes on mouse genetic robustness is duplication-age dependent, which holds after ruling out the potential confounding effect from coding-sequence conservation, protein-protein connectivity, functional bias, or the bias of duplicates generated by whole genome duplication (WGD. Our findings suggest that two factors, the sampling bias toward ancient duplicates and very ancient duplicates with a proportion of essential genes higher than that of singletons, have caused the mouse knockout duplicate puzzle; meanwhile, the effect of genetic buffering may be correlated with sequence conservation as well as protein-protein interactivity.

  9. HMGB1 Contributes to the Expression of P-Glycoprotein in Mouse Epileptic Brain through Toll-Like Receptor 4 and Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Chen

    Full Text Available The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1 in the seizure-induced P-glycoprotein (P-gp overexpression and the underlying mechanism. Kainic acid (KA-induced mouse seizure model was used for in vivo experiments. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups: normal saline control (NS group, KA-induced epileptic seizure (EP group, and EP group pretreated with HMGB1 (EP+HMGB1 group or BoxA (HMGB1 antagonist, EP+BoxA group. Compared to the NS group, increased levels of HMGB1 and P-gp in the brain were observed in the EP group. Injection of HMGB1 before the induction of KA further increased the expression of P-gp while pre-treatment with BoxA abolished this up-regulation. Next, the regulatory role of HMGB1 and its potential involved signal pathways were investigated in mouse microvascular endothelial bEnd.3 cells in vitro. Cells were treated with HMGB1, HMGB1 plus lipopolysaccharide from Rhodobacter sphaeroides (LPS-RS [toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4 antagonist], HMGB1 plus FPS-ZM1 [receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE inhibitor], HMGB1 plus SN50 [nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB inhibitor], or vehicle. Treatment with HMGB1 increased the expression levels of P-gp, TLR4, RAGE and the activation of NF-κB in bEnd.3 cells. These effects were inhibited by the pre-treatment with either LPS-RS or FPS-ZM1, and were abolished by the pre-treatment of SN50 or a combination treatment of both LPS-RS and FPS-ZM1. Luciferase reporter assays showed that exogenous expression of NF-κB p65 increased the promoter activity of multidrug resistance 1a (P-gp-encoding gene in endothelial cells. These data indicate that HMGB1 contributes to the overexpression of P-gp in mouse epileptic brain tissues via activation of TLR4/RAGE receptors and the downstream transcription factor NF-κB in brain microvascular endothelial cells.

  10. Integrands for QCD rational terms and {N} = {4} SYM from massive CSW rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elvang, Henriette; Freedman, Daniel Z.; Kiermaier, Michael

    2012-06-01

    We use massive CSW rules to derive explicit compact expressions for integrands of rational terms in QCD with any number of external legs. Specifically, we present all- n integrands for the one-loop all-plus and one-minus gluon amplitudes in QCD. We extract the finite part of spurious external-bubble contributions systematically; this is crucial for the application of integrand-level CSW rules in theories without supersymmetry. Our approach yields integrands that are independent of the choice of CSW reference spinor even before integration. Furthermore, we present a recursive derivation of the recently proposed massive CSW-style vertex expansion for massive tree amplitudes and loop integrands on the Coulomb-branch of {N} = {4} SYM. The derivation requires a careful study of boundary terms in all-line shift recursion relations, and provides a rigorous (albeit indirect) proof of the recently proposed construction of massive amplitudes from soft-limits of massless on-shell amplitudes. We show that the massive vertex expansion manifestly preserves all holomorphic and half of the anti-holomorphic supercharges, diagram-by-diagram, even off-shell.

  11. Non-homologous end joining mediated DNA repair is impaired in the NUP98-HOXD13 mouse model for myelodysplastic syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puthiyaveetil, Abdul Gafoor; Reilly, Christopher M; Pardee, Timothy S; Caudell, David L

    2013-01-01

    Chromosomal translocations typically impair cell differentiation and often require secondary mutations for malignant transformation. However, the role of a primary translocation in the development of collaborating mutations is debatable. To delineate the role of leukemic translocation NUP98-HOXD13 (NHD13) in secondary mutagenesis, DNA break and repair mechanisms in stimulated mouse B lymphocytes expressing NHD13 were analyzed. Our results showed significantly reduced expression of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)-mediated DNA repair genes, DNA Pkcs, DNA ligase4, and Xrcc4 leading to cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. Our results showed that expression of NHD13 fusion gene resulted in impaired NHEJ-mediated DNA break repair. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Optimization of conventional rule curves coupled with hedging rules for reservoir operation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Taghian, Mehrdad; Rosbjerg, Dan; Haghighi, Ali

    2014-01-01

    As a common approach to reservoir operating policies, water levels at the end of each time interval should be kept at or above the rule curve. In this study, the policy is captured using rationing of the target yield to reduce the intensity of severe water shortages. For this purpose, a hybrid...... to achieve the optimal water allocation and the target storage levels for reservoirs. As a case study, a multipurpose, multireservoir system in southern Iran is selected. The results show that the model has good performance in extracting the optimum policy for reservoir operation under both normal...... model is developed to optimize simultaneously both the conventional rule curve and the hedging rule. In the compound model, a simple genetic algorithm is coupled with a simulation program, including an inner linear programming algorithm. In this way, operational policies are imposed by priority concepts...

  13. 43 CFR 4.100 - General rules and guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false General rules and guidelines. 4.100... rules and guidelines. (a) Effective date and applicability—(1) Effective date and general applicability..., in which event the period shall run to the end of the next business day. (e) General guidelines—(1...

  14. Differential host determinants contribute to the pathogenesis of 2009 pandemic H1N1 and human H5N1 influenza A viruses in experimental mouse models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otte, Anna; Sauter, Martina; Alleva, Lisa; Baumgarte, Sigrid; Klingel, Karin; Gabriel, Gülsah

    2011-07-01

    Influenza viruses are responsible for high morbidities in humans and may, eventually, cause pandemics. Herein, we compared the pathogenesis and host innate immune responses of a seasonal H1N1, two 2009 pandemic H1N1, and a human H5N1 influenza virus in experimental BALB/c and C57BL/6J mouse models. We found that both 2009 pandemic H1N1 isolates studied (A/Hamburg/05/09 and A/Hamburg/NY1580/09) were low pathogenic in BALB/c mice [log mouse lethal dose 50 (MLD(50)) >6 plaque-forming units (PFU)] but displayed remarkable differences in virulence in C57BL/6J mice. A/Hamburg/NY1580/09 was more virulent (logMLD(50) = 3.5 PFU) than A/Hamburg/05/09 (logMLD(50) = 5.2 PFU) in C57BL/6J mice. In contrast, the H5N1 influenza virus was more virulent in BALB/c mice (logMLD(50) = 0.3 PFU) than in C57BL/6J mice (logMLD(50) = 1.8 PFU). Seasonal H1N1 influenza revealed marginal pathogenicity in BALB/c or C57BL/6J mice (logMLD(50) >6 PFU). Enhanced susceptibility of C57BL/6J mice to pandemic H1N1 correlated with a depressed cytokine response. In contrast, enhanced H5N1 virulence in BALB/c mice correlated with an elevated proinflammatory cytokine response. These findings highlight that host determinants responsible for the pathogenesis of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses are different from those contributing to H5N1 pathogenesis. Our results show, for the first time to our knowledge, that the C57BL/6J mouse strain is more appropriate for the evaluation and identification of intrinsic pathogenicity markers of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses that are "masked" in BALB/c mice. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Reduced DNA repair in mouse satellite DNA after treatment with methylmethanesulfonate, and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodell, W J; Banerjee, M R

    1976-01-01

    We have measured DNA repair in mouse satellite and main band DNA as resolved by Ag+-Cs2SO4 centrifugation in response to treatment with the alkylating agents, methyl methanesulfonate, and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. We find that there is a statistically significant lower incorporation of 3H-Tdr into the satellite DNA as compared to the main band at varying periods after treatment with the alkylating agents. This suggests a reduced repair activity in the satellite DNA. We have measured the extent of binding of 14C-methyl methanesulfonate to the satellite, and main band DNA, and no difference in binding was observed, indicating that the reduced repair activity of satellite DNA is not due to a difference in binding of alkylating agents. We believe that the reduced incorporation of 3H-Tdr into satellite DNA may be due to its location in the condensed chromatin fraction. PMID:184436

  16. Proteomic analysis of mouse thymoma EL4 cells treated with bis (tri-n-butyltin)oxide (TBTO)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osman, A.M.; Kol, S.; Peijnenburg, A.A.C.M.; Blokland, M.H.; Pennings, J.L.A.; Kleinjans, J.C.S.; Loveren, van H.

    2009-01-01

    Here, we report the results of proteomic analysis of the mouse thymoma EL4 cell line exposed to bis(tri-n-butylin)oxide (TBTO), an immunotoxic organotin compound. The objective of the work was to examine whether TBTO affects the expression of proteins in this cell line and to compare the

  17. A Hybrid Approach for NER System for Scarce Resourced Language-URDU: Integrating n-gram with Rules and Gazetteers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeeda Naz

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available We present a hybrid NER (Name Entity Recognition system for Urdu script by integration of n-gram model (unigram and bigram, rules and gazetteers. We used prefix and suffix characters for rule construction instead of first name and last name lists or potential terms on the output list that is produced by n-gram model. Evaluation of the system is performed on two corpora, the IJCNLP NE (Named Entity corpus and CRL NE corpus in Urdu text. The system achieved 92.65 and 87.6% using hybrid unigram and 92.47 and 86.83% using hybrid bigram on IJCNLP NE corpus and CRL NE corpus, respectively.

  18. Sequencing analysis of mutations induced by N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea at different sampling times in mouse bone marrow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jianyong; Chen, Tao

    2010-03-01

    In our previous study (Wang et al., 2004, Toxicol. Sci. 82: 124-128), we observed that the cII gene mutant frequency (MF) in the bone marrow of Big Blue mice showed significant increase as early as day 1, reached the maximum at day 3 and then decreased to a plateau by day 15 after a single dose of carcinogen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) treatment, which is different from the longer mutation manifestation time and the constancy of MFs after reaching their maximum in some other tissues. To determine the mechanism underlying the quick increase in MF and the peak formation in the mutant manifestation, we examined the mutation frequencies and spectra of the ENU-induced mutants collected from different sampling times in this study. The cII mutants from days 1, 3 and 120 after ENU treatment were randomly selected from different animals. The mutation frequencies were 33, 217, 305 and 144 x 10(-6) for control, days 1, 3, and 120, respectively. The mutation spectra at days 1 and 3 were significantly different from that at day 120. Considering that stem cells are responsible for the ultimate MF plateau (day 120) and transit cells are accountable for the earlier MF induction (days 1 or 3) in mouse bone marrow, we conclude that transit cells are much more sensitive to mutation induction than stem cells in mouse bone marrow, which resulted in the specific mutation manifestation induced by ENU.

  19. Conformal branching rules and modular invariants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walton, M.A.

    1989-01-01

    Using the outer automorphisms of the affine algebra SU(n), we show how the branching rules for the conformal subalgebra SU(pq) contains SU(p) x SU(q) may be simply calculated. We demonstrate that new modular invariant combinations of SU(n) characters are obtainable from the branching rules. (orig.)

  20. DNA Packaging Specificity of Bacteriophage N15 with an Excursion into the Genetics of a Cohesive End Mismatch.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Feiss

    Full Text Available During DNA replication by the λ-like bacteriophages, immature concatemeric DNA is produced by rolling circle replication. The concatemers are processed into mature chromosomes with cohesive ends, and packaged into prohead shells, during virion assembly. Cohesive ends are generated by the viral enzyme terminase, which introduces staggered nicks at cos, an approx. 200 bp-long sequence containing subsites cosQ, cosN and cosB. Interactions of cos subsites of immature concatemeric DNA with terminase orchestrate DNA processing and packaging. To initiate DNA packaging, terminase interacts with cosB and nicks cosN. The cohesive ends of N15 DNA differ from those of λ at 2/12 positions. Genetic experiments show that phages with chromosomes containing mismatched cohesive ends are functional. In at least some infections, the cohesive end mismatch persists through cyclization and replication, so that progeny phages of both allelic types are produced in the infected cell. N15 possesses an asymmetric packaging specificity: N15 DNA is not packaged by phages λ or 21, but surprisingly, N15-specific terminase packages λ DNA. Implications for genetic interactions among λ-like bacteriophages are discussed.

  1. Generación automática de reglas de negocio en bases de datos para la implementación del sistema de información SIMCO (Automatic business rules generation in data bases for the implementation of the information system SIMCO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaisel Nuñez Arcia

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Spanis abstract. El diseño e implementación de sistemas informáticos para las organizaciones deben basarse en las políticas y reglas del negocio. Hoy día se considera ventajoso aplicar el enfoque de reglas de negocio en el desarrollo de sistemas de información, y de esta manera garantizar la inserción y modificación de las reglas de manera automática. Una de las formas para implementar un sistema de información usando reglas de negocio, es a través del tipo de herramienta independiente de los gestores de datos, pero que genera recursos de bases de datos. Ante la necesidad de desarrollar un sistema de información transaccional para la gestión de menús de comedores en la UCLV, se hizo necesaria una aplicación cuya interfaz de entrada realice las operaciones de inserción y actualización en una base de datos. La existencia de un conjunto de reglas de negocio que deben ser chequeadas al realizar estas operaciones, hace posible la utilización de la herramienta LPT-SQL con vistas a disminuir el esfuerzo de programación al insertar el código, que garantiza el cumplimiento de las reglas, y su posible modificación independientemente de la interfaz de usuario. English abstract The design and implementation of informatics systems for the organizations must be based in the business policies and rules. Nowadays, to apply a focus on business rules in the development of information systems is considered advantageous, hence guarantee the automatic insertion and modification of rules. One of the ways to implement an information system using business rules is through the independent tool type of the data managers, but that generates data bases resources. In view of the need to develop a transactional information system for the menus management of UCLV dining centres, an application which input interface makes the insert and update operations on a database was necessary. The existence of a set of business rules that must be checked to perform

  2. 'Sum rules' for preequilibrium reactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hussein, M.S.

    1981-03-01

    Evidence that suggests a correct relationship between the optical transmission matrix, P, and the several correlation widths, gamma sub(n), found in nsmission matrix, P, and the several correlation widths, n, found in multistep compound (preequilibrium) nuclear reactions, is presented. A second sum rule is also derived within the shell model approach to nuclear reactions. Indications of the potential usefulness of the sum rules in preequilibrium studies are given. (Author) [pt

  3. Dynamic association rules for gene expression data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shu-Chuan; Tsai, Tsung-Hsien; Chung, Cheng-Han; Li, Wen-Hsiung

    2015-10-14

    The purpose of gene expression analysis is to look for the association between regulation of gene expression levels and phenotypic variations. This association based on gene expression profile has been used to determine whether the induction/repression of genes correspond to phenotypic variations including cell regulations, clinical diagnoses and drug development. Statistical analyses on microarray data have been developed to resolve gene selection issue. However, these methods do not inform us of causality between genes and phenotypes. In this paper, we propose the dynamic association rule algorithm (DAR algorithm) which helps ones to efficiently select a subset of significant genes for subsequent analysis. The DAR algorithm is based on association rules from market basket analysis in marketing. We first propose a statistical way, based on constructing a one-sided confidence interval and hypothesis testing, to determine if an association rule is meaningful. Based on the proposed statistical method, we then developed the DAR algorithm for gene expression data analysis. The method was applied to analyze four microarray datasets and one Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) dataset: the Mice Apo A1 dataset, the whole genome expression dataset of mouse embryonic stem cells, expression profiling of the bone marrow of Leukemia patients, Microarray Quality Control (MAQC) data set and the RNA-seq dataset of a mouse genomic imprinting study. A comparison of the proposed method with the t-test on the expression profiling of the bone marrow of Leukemia patients was conducted. We developed a statistical way, based on the concept of confidence interval, to determine the minimum support and minimum confidence for mining association relationships among items. With the minimum support and minimum confidence, one can find significant rules in one single step. The DAR algorithm was then developed for gene expression data analysis. Four gene expression datasets showed that the proposed

  4. Scattering rules in soliton cellular automata associated with Uq(D(1)n)-crystal Bn,1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamad, Mahathir bin

    2012-01-01

    By means of the crystal theory, we study a class of automata associated with U q (D (1) n )-crystal B n,1 . They have a commuting family of time evolutions, and solitons of length l are labeled by U q (A (1) n−1 )-crystal B 2,l A . The scattering rule of two solitons of lengths l 1 and l 2 (l 1 > l 2 ) including the phase shift is identified with the combinatorial R-matrix for the U q (A (1) n −1 )-crystal B 2,l 2 A ⊗B 2,l 1 A . (paper)

  5. End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — This final rule implements a case-mix adjusted bundled prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare outpatient end-stage renal disease (ESRD) dialysis facilities...

  6. Pressure-volume Relationship in the Stress-echocardiography Laboratory: Does (Left Ventricular End-diastolic) Size Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bombardini, Tonino; Mulieri, Louis A; Salvadori, Stefano; Costantino, Marco Fabio; Scali, Maria Chiara; Marzilli, Mario; Picano, Eugenio

    2017-02-01

    The variation between rest and peak stress end-systolic pressure-volume relation is an afterload-independent index of left ventricular contractility. Whether and to what extent it depends on end-diastolic volume remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the dependence of the delta rest-stress end-systolic pressure-volume relation on end-diastolic volume in patients with negative stress echo and all ranges of resting left ventricular function. We analyzed interpretable data obtained in 891 patients (593 men, age 63 ± 12 years) with ejection fraction 47% ± 12%: 338 were normal or near-normal or hypertensive; 229 patients had coronary artery disease; and 324 patients had ischemic or nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. They were studied with exercise (n = 172), dipyridamole (n = 482) or dobutamine (n = 237) stress echocardiography. The end-systolic pressure-volume relation was evaluated at rest and peak stress from raw measurement of systolic arterial pressure by cuff sphygmomanometer and end-systolic volume by biplane Simpson rule 2-dimensional echocardiography. Absolute values of delta rest-stress end-systolic pressure-volume relation were higher for exercise and dobutamine than for dipyridamole. In the overall population, an inverse relationship between end-systolic pressure-volume relation and end-diastolic volume was present at rest (r 2 = 0.69, P stress (r 2 = 0.56, P stress end-systolic pressure-volume relation was considered (r 2 = 0.13). Left ventricular end-diastolic volume does not affect the rest-stress changes in end-systolic pressure-volume relation in either normal or abnormal left ventricles during physical or pharmacological stress. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  7. Do budget balance rules anchor budget balance expectations? -- Some international evidence

    OpenAIRE

    Rülke, Jan-Christoph; Frenkel, Michael; Lis, Eliza

    2013-01-01

    This is the first study that analyzes whether budget balance expectations are anchored and whether budget balance rules effectively anchor expectations. To this end, we use a unique data set which covers budget balance expectations in 17 countries that implemented a budget balance rules. While our results are mixed concerning the general impact of budget balance rules on anchoring expectations, we do find that specific features of budget balance rules are important to successfully anchor budg...

  8. A mouse model of the human Fragile X syndrome I304N mutation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie B Zang

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The mental retardation, autistic features, and behavioral abnormalities characteristic of the Fragile X mental retardation syndrome result from the loss of function of the RNA-binding protein FMRP. The disease is usually caused by a triplet repeat expansion in the 5'UTR of the FMR1 gene. This leads to loss of function through transcriptional gene silencing, pointing to a key function for FMRP, but precluding genetic identification of critical activities within the protein. Moreover, antisense transcripts (FMR4, ASFMR1 in the same locus have been reported to be silenced by the repeat expansion. Missense mutations offer one means of confirming a central role for FMRP in the disease, but to date, only a single such patient has been described. This patient harbors an isoleucine to asparagine mutation (I304N in the second FMRP KH-type RNA-binding domain, however, this single case report was complicated because the patient harbored a superimposed familial liver disease. To address these issues, we have generated a new Fragile X Syndrome mouse model in which the endogenous Fmr1 gene harbors the I304N mutation. These mice phenocopy the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome in the existing Fmr1-null mouse, as assessed by testicular size, behavioral phenotyping, and electrophysiological assays of synaptic plasticity. I304N FMRP retains some functions, but has specifically lost RNA binding and polyribosome association; moreover, levels of the mutant protein are markedly reduced in the brain specifically at a time when synapses are forming postnatally. These data suggest that loss of FMRP function, particularly in KH2-mediated RNA binding and in synaptic plasticity, play critical roles in pathogenesis of the Fragile X Syndrome and establish a new model for studying the disorder.

  9. Bribe-proof Rules in the Division Problem

    OpenAIRE

    Jordi MassóAuthor-Email:; Alejandro Neme

    2003-01-01

    The division problem consists of allocating an amount of a perfectly divisible good among a group of n agents with single-peaked preferences. A rule maps preference profiles into n shares of the amount to be allocated. A rule is bribe-proof if no group of agents can compensate another agent to misrepresent his preference and, after an appropriate redistribution of their shares, each obtain a strictly preferred share. We characterize all bribe-proof rules as the class of efficient, strategy-pr...

  10. Planning for compliance: OSHA's bloodborne pathogen rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bednar, B; Duke, M C

    1990-11-01

    Overall, the bloodborne pathogen rule constitutes a reasonable response to a significant threat to workplace safety. The risks to dialysis workers from HBV and HIV must be minimized or eliminated and the rule is generally consistent with the consensus approach. Unfortunately for dialysis providers, the rule is not exempt from the law of unintended consequences: government regulation will always have impact beyond its object. Promulgation of the final rule will immediately increase the expenses of dialysis providers. Additionally, the enormity of the HBV and HIV problem coupled with the open-ended nature of the rule's key provisions will almost certainly bring additional costs. So long as dialysis reimbursement remains flat, the unintended consequence of the bloodborne pathogen rule may be to quicken the pace of consolidation in the dialysis service market. The added burden of compliance may be too much for small independent facilities. Only large chains may have the resources to comply and survive. To forestall this effect and to provide employees with maximum protection, all dialysis providers should plan now for compliance.

  11. Study of quark line selection rule (OZI rule) in the hadron processes. 3. Study of the OZI rule in production of φ and ω mesons in diffractive p N interactions at the energy of 70 GeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balats, M.Ya.; Vavilov, D.V.; Viktorov, V.A.

    1996-01-01

    Ratio of cross sections for pφ- and pω-production in diffractive p N-interactions was measured with the Sphinx facility at the energy of E p = 70 GeV. Results of this work demonstrate significant OZI rule violation in proton-induced reactions. 12 refs., 8 figs

  12. Optimized reaction mechanism rate rules for ignition of normal alkanes

    KAUST Repository

    Cai, Liming

    2016-08-11

    The increasing demand for cleaner combustion and reduced greenhouse gas emissions motivates research on the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and their surrogates. Accurate detailed chemical kinetic models are an important prerequisite for high fidelity reacting flow simulations capable of improving combustor design and operation. The development of such models for many new fuel components and/or surrogate molecules is greatly facilitated by the application of reaction classes and rate rules. Accurate and versatile rate rules are desirable to improve the predictive accuracy of kinetic models. A major contribution in the literature is the recent work by Bugler et al. (2015), which has significantly improved rate rules and thermochemical parameters used in kinetic modeling of alkanes. In the present study, it is demonstrated that rate rules can be used and consistently optimized for a set of normal alkanes including n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, n-decane, and n-undecane, thereby improving the predictive accuracy for all the considered fuels. A Bayesian framework is applied in the calibration of the rate rules. The optimized rate rules are subsequently applied to generate a mechanism for n-dodecane, which was not part of the training set for the optimized rate rules. The developed mechanism shows accurate predictions compared with published well-validated mechanisms for a wide range of conditions.

  13. End-of-life decisions and the reinvented Rule of Double Effect: a critical analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindblad, Anna; Lynöe, Niels; Juth, Niklas

    2014-09-01

    The Rule of Double Effect (RDE) holds that it may be permissible to harm an individual while acting for the sake of a proportionate good, given that the harm is not an intended means to the good but merely a foreseen side-effect. Although frequently used in medical ethical reasoning, the rule has been repeatedly questioned in the past few decades. However, Daniel Sulmasy, a proponent who has done a lot of work lately defending the RDE, has recently presented a reformulated and more detailed version of the rule. Thanks to its greater precision, this reinvented RDE avoids several problems thought to plague the traditional RDE. Although an improvement compared with the traditional version, we argue that Sulmasy's reinvented RDE will not stand closer scrutiny. Not only has the range of proper applicability narrowed significantly, but, more importantly, Sulmasy fails to establish that there is a morally relevant distinction between intended and foreseen effects. In particular, he fails to establish that there is any distinction that can account for the alleged moral difference between sedation therapy and euthanasia. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. The diversity of the N2O reducers matters for the N2O:N2 denitrification end-product ratio across an annual and a perennial cropping system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domeignoz-Horta, Luiz A; Spor, Aymé; Bru, David; Breuil, Marie-Christine; Bizouard, Florian; Léonard, Joël; Philippot, Laurent

    2015-01-01

    Agriculture is the main source of terrestrial emissions of N2O, a potent greenhouse gas and the main cause of ozone layer depletion. The reduction of N2O into N2 by microorganisms carrying the nitrous oxide reductase gene (nosZ) is the only biological process known to eliminate this greenhouse gas. Recent studies showed that a previously unknown clade of N2O-reducers was related to the capacity of the soil to act as an N2O sink, opening the way for new strategies to mitigate emissions. Here, we investigated whether the agricultural practices could differently influence the two N2O reducer clades with consequences for denitrification end-products. The abundance of N2O-reducers and producers was quantified by real-time PCR, and the diversity of both nosZ clades was determined by 454 pyrosequencing. Potential N2O production and potential denitrification activity were used to calculate the denitrification gaseous end-product ratio. Overall, the results showed limited differences between management practices but there were significant differences between cropping systems in both the abundance and structure of the nosZII community, as well as in the [rN2O/r(N2O+N2)] ratio. More limited differences were observed in the nosZI community, suggesting that the newly identified nosZII clade is more sensitive than nosZI to environmental changes. Potential denitrification activity and potential N2O production were explained mainly by the soil properties while the diversity of the nosZII clade on its own explained 26% of the denitrification end-product ratio, which highlights the importance of understanding the ecology of this newly identified clade of N2O reducers for mitigation strategies.

  15. Oral administration of yessotoxin stabilizes E-cadherin in mouse colon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callegari, Federica; Sosa, Silvio; Ferrari, Sara; Soranzo, Maria Rosa; Pierotti, Silvia; Yasumoto, Takeshi; Tubaro, Aurelia; Rossini, Gian Paolo

    2006-01-01

    YTX has been shown to disrupt the E-cadherin-catenin system in cultured epithelial cells, raising some concern that ingestion of seafood contaminated by YTX might favour tumour spreading and metastasis formation in vivo. In order to probe whether YTX might affect cadherin systems in vivo, we have set up a study involving repeated oral dosing of the toxin in mice (1 mg/kg/day, for 7 days) and analysis of E-cadherin and N-cadherin in tissue extracts obtained at the end of the dosing scheme, as well as 1 and 3 months after YTX administration. We found that the E-cadherin pools obtained from lung and kidney were not altered by YTX in any of our experimental conditions. Extracts from mouse colon contained intact E-cadherin and an E-cadherin fragment of about 90 kDa (ECRA 9 ), displaying a molecular alteration resembling that caused by YTX in cultured cells. We found that the relative proportion of ECRA 9 , as compared to intact E-cadherin, was higher in colon extracts from control mice than from YTX-treated animals, indicating that oral administration of YTX to mice stabilizes E-cadherin of mouse colon. No significant difference could be detected in samples prepared from colons obtained 30 or 90 days after termination of YTX treatment. Oral administration of YTX to mice did not lead to a significant increase in the fragments of E-cadherin detectable in serum, neither it altered the N-cadherin pool of mouse heart. Electron microscopy analysis showed no substantial ultrastructural differences between controls and YTX-treated mice. Our findings show that ingestion of food contaminated by YTX poses a low risk of disruption of the E-cadherin system in vivo

  16. A Rear-End Collision Avoidance Scheme for Intelligent Transportation System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Chen

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a rear-end collision control model is proposed using the fuzzy logic control scheme for the autonomous or cruising vehicles in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs. Through detailed analysis of the car-following cases, our controller is established on some reasonable control rules. In addition, to refine the initialized fuzzy rules considering characteristics of the rear-end collisions, the genetic algorithm is introduced to reduce the computational complexity while maintaining accuracy. Numerical results indicate that our Genetic algorithm-optimized Fuzzy Logic Controller (GFLC outperforms the traditional fuzzy logic controller in terms of better safety guarantee and higher traffic efficiency.

  17. H5N1 whole-virus vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies in humans which are protective in a mouse passive transfer model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Keith Howard

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Vero cell culture-derived whole-virus H5N1 vaccines have been extensively tested in clinical trials and consistently demonstrated to be safe and immunogenic; however, clinical efficacy is difficult to evaluate in the absence of wide-spread human disease. A lethal mouse model has been utilized which allows investigation of the protective efficacy of active vaccination or passive transfer of vaccine induced sera following lethal H5N1 challenge. METHODS: We used passive transfer of immune sera to investigate antibody-mediated protection elicited by a Vero cell-derived, non-adjuvanted inactivated whole-virus H5N1 vaccine. Mice were injected intravenously with H5N1 vaccine-induced rodent or human immune sera and subsequently challenged with a lethal dose of wild-type H5N1 virus. RESULTS: Passive transfer of H5N1 vaccine-induced mouse, guinea pig and human immune sera provided dose-dependent protection of recipient mice against lethal challenge with wild-type H5N1 virus. Protective dose fifty values for serum H5N1 neutralizing antibody titers were calculated to be ≤1∶11 for all immune sera, independently of source species. CONCLUSIONS: These data underpin the confidence that the Vero cell culture-derived, whole-virus H5N1 vaccine will be effective in a pandemic situation and support the use of neutralizing serum antibody titers as a correlate of protection for H5N1 vaccines.

  18. Defining Alcohol-Specific Rules Among Parents of Older Adolescents: Moving Beyond No Tolerance

    OpenAIRE

    Bourdeau, Beth; Miller, Brenda; Vanya, Magdalena; Duke, Michael; Ames, Genevieve

    2012-01-01

    Parental beliefs and rules regarding their teen’s use of alcohol influence teen decisions regarding alcohol use. However, measurement of parental rules regarding adolescent alcohol use has not been thoroughly studied. This study used qualitative interviews with 174 parents of older teens from 100 families. From open-ended questions, themes emerged that describe explicit rules tied to circumscribed use, no tolerance, and “call me.” There was some inconsistency in explicit rules with and betwee...

  19. Comparative metabonomics of differential hydrazine toxicity in the rat and mouse

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bollard, Mary E.; Keun, Hector C.; Beckonert, Olaf; Ebbels, Tim M.D.; Antti, Henrik; Nicholls, Andrew W.; Shockcor, John P.; Cantor, Glenn H.; Stevens, Greg; Lindon, John C.; Holmes, Elaine; Nicholson, Jeremy K.

    2005-01-01

    Interspecies variation between rats and mice has been studied for hydrazine toxicity using a novel metabonomics approach. Hydrazine hydrochloride was administered to male Sprague-Dawley rats (30 mg/kg, n = 10 and 90 mg/kg, n = 10) and male B6C3F mice (100 mg/kg, n = 8 and 250 mg/kg, n = 8) by oral gavage. In each species, the high dose was selected to produce the major histopathologic effect, hepatocellular lipid accumulation. Urine samples were collected at sequential time points up to 168 h post dose and analyzed by 1 H NMR spectroscopy. The metabolites of hydrazine, namely diacetyl hydrazine and 1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-6-oxo-3-pyridazine carboxylic acid (THOPC), were detected in both the rat and mouse urine samples. Monoacetyl hydrazine was detected only in urine samples from the rat and its absence in the urine of the mouse was attributed to a higher activity of N-acetyl transferases in the mouse compared with the rat. Differential metabolic effects observed between the two species included elevated urinary β-alanine, 3-D-hydroxybutyrate, citrulline, N-acetylcitrulline, and reduced trimethylamine-N-oxide excretion unique to the rat. Metabolic principal component (PC) trajectories highlighted the greater degree of toxic response in the rat. A data scaling method, scaled to maximum aligned and reduced trajectories (SMART) analysis, was used to remove the differences between the metabolic starting positions of the rat and mouse and varying magnitudes of effect, to facilitate comparison of the response geometries between the rat and mouse. Mice followed 'biphasic' open PC trajectories, with incomplete recovery 7 days after dosing, whereas rats followed closed 'hairpin' time profiles, indicating functional reversibility. The greater magnitude of metabolic effects observed in the rat was supported by the more pronounced effect on liver pathology in the rat when compared with the mouse

  20. Decision Analysis of Dynamic Spectrum Access Rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Juan D. Deaton; Luiz A. DaSilva; Christian Wernz

    2011-12-01

    A current trend in spectrum regulation is to incorporate spectrum sharing through the design of spectrum access rules that support Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA). This paper develops a decision-theoretic framework for regulators to assess the impacts of different decision rules on both primary and secondary operators. We analyze access rules based on sensing and exclusion areas, which in practice can be enforced through geolocation databases. Our results show that receiver-only sensing provides insufficient protection for primary and co-existing secondary users and overall low social welfare. On the other hand, using sensing information between the transmitter and receiver of a communication link, provides dramatic increases in system performance. The performance of using these link end points is relatively close to that of using many cooperative sensing nodes associated to the same access point and large link exclusion areas. These results are useful to regulators and network developers in understanding in developing rules for future DSA regulation.

  1. Update of ESA EEE parts relifing rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Blanc, P.; Aicardi, C.

    2002-12-01

    Storage of EEE part represents a key process in space electronics activity. In order to cope with projects time schedule on one hand and with economical procurement constraints on the other hand, parts are often to be stored for quite a long time. Obsolescence issues could make us to build strategic stock in order to be able to still manufacture equipments over time. Up to now several documents ruled the way to de-store (relifed) EEE part in such a way we are able to guaranty their reliability despite their long period of storage. None of these documents backed up their figures and rules with consistent approach and physics. No field return existed or was used to assess these rules. In the frame of a contract from CNES we established an updated rule taking into account field-return and failure mechanisms analysis .We ended up by a new storage and de-storage procedure that is to be included in the ECSS format.

  2. Empresa, conocimiento e innovación factores claves del modelo de desarrollo endógeno

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lissette Hernández

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available La globalización y el aumento de la competencia entre las empresas y entre los territorios ha llevado a las ciudades y a las regiones urbanas a fortalecer las ventajas competitivas derivadas de sus capacidades y potencialidades productivas, mediante la mejora de los recursos locales, la diferenciación de sus sistemas de producción y la especialización con respecto a las demás ciudades y regiones del sistema global. Es precisamente este entorno el que ha originado el renacimiento de las teorías de desarrollo endógeno como instrumento para el análisis y la acción de políticas públicas en muchos países latinoamericanos, y actualmente con una notable vigencia en Venezuela. De allí que el presente artículo tenga como objetivo sistematizar el acervo de teorías que fundamentan el modelo de desarrollo endógeno, el cual tiene sus raíces en las grandes teorías del desarrollo (la teoría del gran impulso o empujón, la teoría del crecimiento dualista, la teoría de la dependencia, y la teoría territorial del desarrollo, identificando los conceptos y lasrelaciones que perduran en la interpretación del desarrollo endógeno; así como los factores determinantes o clave en este modelo. Para su desarrollo se empleó un diseño de investigación no experimental de carácter bibliográfico o documental, con un tipo de estudio descriptivo. En este sentido, es menester destacar la revisión de teorías que sobre esta temática han erigido autores como Arocena (1995, Boisier (1997, 1998 y 2003, Sunkel (1969 y 1973, y muy especialmente los aportes teóricos de Vázquez Barquero (1982, 1988, 1993, 1999 y 2005. Entre las principales conclusiones destaca la importancia de la empresa como protagonista de la actividad productiva, y del conocimiento y la innovación como factores catalizadores del crecimiento y desarrollo local, mediante la formación de redes empresariales que permitan la creación de un entorno innovador.

  3. The HIV-1 viral protein Tat increases glutamate and decreases GABA exocytosis from human and mouse neocortical nerve endings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musante, Veronica; Summa, Maria; Neri, Elisa; Puliti, Aldamaria; Godowicz, Tomasz T; Severi, Paolo; Battaglia, Giuseppe; Raiteri, Maurizio; Pittaluga, Anna

    2010-08-01

    Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-encoded transactivator of transcription (Tat) potentiated the depolarization-evoked exocytosis of [(3)H]D-aspartate ([(3)H]D-ASP) from human neocortical terminals. The metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) 1 receptor antagonist 7-(hydroxyimino)cyclopropa[b]chromen-1a-carboxylate ethyl ester (CPCCOEt) prevented this effect, whereas the mGlu5 receptor antagonist 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl) pyridine hydrochloride (MPEP) was ineffective. Western blot analysis showed that human neocortex synaptosomes possess mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptors. Tat potentiated the K(+)-evoked release of [(3)H]D-ASP or of endogenous glutamate from mouse neocortical synaptosomes in a CPCCOEt-sensitive and MPEP-insensitive manner. Deletion of mGlu1 receptors (crv4/crv4 mice) or mGlu5 receptors (mGlu5(-/-)mouse) silenced Tat effects. Tat enhanced inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production in human and mouse neocortical synaptosomes, consistent with the involvement of group I mGlu receptors. Tat inhibited the K(+)-evoked release of [(3)H]gamma-aminobutyric acid ([(3)H]GABA) from human synaptosomes and that of endogenous GABA or [(3)H]GABA from mouse nerve terminals; the inhibition was insensitive to CPCCOEt or MPEP. Tat-induced effects were retained by Tat(37-72) but not by Tat(48-85). In mouse neocortical slices, Tat facilitated the K(+)- and the veratridine-induced release of [(3)H]D-ASP in a CPCCOEt-sensitive manner and was ineffective in crv4/crv4 mouse slices. These observations are relevant to the comprehension of the pathophysiological effects of Tat in central nervous system and may suggest new potential therapeutic approaches to the cure of HIV-1-associated dementia.

  4. Relationships among gas production, end products of rumen fermentation and microbial N produced in vitro at two incubation times

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cattani, Mirko; Maccarana, Laura; Hansen, Hanne Helene

    2013-01-01

    at 48 h. At t½, the valerate content in rumen fl uid was negligible. However, relatively large amounts of valerate were measured after 48 h, probably the result of microbial lysis. Results suggest that relationships among end-products of rumen fermentation can be more accurately evaluated at a substrate...... for ammonia N (N-NH3), volatile fatty acids (VFA), residual NDF and N bound to residual NDF (N-NDF). Values of GP were also predicted from VFA. Microbial N (MN) was computed as the difference between N present at the beginning and at the end of incubation. At 48 h, the relationship between GP measured...

  5. Immunostimulatory mouse granuloma protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontan, E; Fauve, R M; Hevin, B; Jusforgues, H

    1983-10-01

    Earlier studies have shown that from subcutaneous talc-induced granuloma in mice, a fraction could be extracted that fully protected mice against Listeria monocytogenes. Using standard biochemical procedures--i.e., ammonium sulfate fractionation, preparative electrophoresis, gel filtration chromatography, isoelectric focusing, and preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis--we have now purified an active factor to homogeneity. A single band was obtained in NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel with an apparent Mr of 55,000. It migrated with alpha 1-globulins and the isoelectric point was 5 +/- 0.1. The biological activity was destroyed with Pronase but not with trypsin and a monospecific polyclonal rabbit antiserum was obtained. The intravenous injection of 5 micrograms of this "mouse granuloma protein" fully protects mice against a lethal inoculum of L. monocytogenes. Moreover, after their incubation with 10 nM mouse granuloma protein, mouse peritoneal cells became cytostatic against Lewis carcinoma cells.

  6. Evolving fuzzy rules for relaxed-criteria negotiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sim, Kwang Mong

    2008-12-01

    In the literature on automated negotiation, very few negotiation agents are designed with the flexibility to slightly relax their negotiation criteria to reach a consensus more rapidly and with more certainty. Furthermore, these relaxed-criteria negotiation agents were not equipped with the ability to enhance their performance by learning and evolving their relaxed-criteria negotiation rules. The impetus of this work is designing market-driven negotiation agents (MDAs) that not only have the flexibility of relaxing bargaining criteria using fuzzy rules, but can also evolve their structures by learning new relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules to improve their negotiation outcomes as they participate in negotiations in more e-markets. To this end, an evolutionary algorithm for adapting and evolving relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules was developed. Implementing the idea in a testbed, two kinds of experiments for evaluating and comparing EvEMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are evolved using the evolutionary algorithm) and EMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are manually constructed) were carried out through stochastic simulations. Empirical results show that: 1) EvEMDAs generally outperformed EMDAs in different types of e-markets and 2) the negotiation outcomes of EvEMDAs generally improved as they negotiated in more e-markets.

  7. 43 CFR 4.801 - Suspension of rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Review Under Part 17 of This Title-Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs of the Department of... rules. Upon notice to all parties, the responsible Department official or the administrative law judge... determination that no party will be unduly prejudiced and the ends of justice will thereby be served. ...

  8. In vivo blunt-end cloning through CRISPR/Cas9-facilitated non-homologous end-joining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geisinger, Jonathan M.; Turan, Sören; Hernandez, Sophia; Spector, Laura P.; Calos, Michele P.

    2016-01-01

    The CRISPR/Cas9 system facilitates precise DNA modifications by generating RNA-guided blunt-ended double-strand breaks. We demonstrate that guide RNA pairs generate deletions that are repaired with a high level of precision by non-homologous end-joining in mammalian cells. We present a method called knock-in blunt ligation for exploiting these breaks to insert exogenous PCR-generated sequences in a homology-independent manner without loss of additional nucleotides. This method is useful for making precise additions to the genome such as insertions of marker gene cassettes or functional elements, without the need for homology arms. We successfully utilized this method in human and mouse cells to insert fluorescent protein cassettes into various loci, with efficiencies up to 36% in HEK293 cells without selection. We also created versions of Cas9 fused to the FKBP12-L106P destabilization domain in an effort to improve Cas9 performance. Our in vivo blunt-end cloning method and destabilization-domain-fused Cas9 variant increase the repertoire of precision genome engineering approaches. PMID:26762978

  9. Mouse neuroblastoma cell based model and the effect of epileptic events on calcium oscillations and neural spikes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Suhwan; Baek, Juyeong; Jung, Unsang; Lee, Sangwon; Jung, Woonggyu; Kim, Jeehyun; Kang, Shinwon

    2013-05-01

    Recently, Mouse neuroblastoma cells are considered as an attractive model for the study of human neurological and prion diseases, and intensively used as a model system in different areas. Among those areas, differentiation of neuro2a (N2A) cells, receptor mediated ion current, and glutamate induced physiological response are actively investigated. The reason for the interest to mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells is that they have a fast growing rate than other cells in neural origin with a few another advantages. This study evaluated the calcium oscillations and neural spikes recording of mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells in an epileptic condition. Based on our observation of neural spikes in mouse N2A cell with our proposed imaging modality, we report that mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells can be an important model related to epileptic activity studies. It is concluded that the mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells produce the epileptic spikes in vitro in the same way as produced by the neurons or the astrocytes. This evidence advocates the increased and strong level of neurotransmitters release by enhancement in free calcium using the 4-aminopyridine which causes the mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells to produce the epileptic spikes and calcium oscillation.

  10. Spontaneous inflammatory pain model from a mouse line with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Tsung-Chieh

    2012-05-01

    in pstpip2 causes autoinflammatory disease in an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis mouse model. Thus, our pstpip2 mutant mice provide a new model for investigating the potential mechanisms of inflammatory pain.

  11. EPA, environmentalists feud over land ban waste rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, D.

    1990-01-01

    The publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's final, major hazardous waste regulation marks the end of a five-year effort to control land disposal of waste. This article discusses how the rule has ignited a major fight between the agency and environmental groups that fear the regulation is far too lenient to industry. The rule will affect everyone who handles chemical waste from researchers to truck drivers. Although it is the last, it is also the largest of the hazardous waste regulations, covering a vast array of substances. The rule's provisions encompass almost 350 listed wastes, multisource leachate, mixed radioactive and hazardous waste, alternative treatments for lab packs, and treatment standards for waste that exhibits one or more hazardous characteristics

  12. New accounting rules: asset allocation and portfolio management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew, B K

    1997-01-01

    New accounting rules went into effect at the end of 1995 that are now starting to affect how medical practices must report income from equity and fixed income investments. This article explores the new accounting rules and considers the other factors that help practices determine investment strategies, including desired investment return, comfort with level of risk, appropriate time horizons, liquidity needs and legal restrictions. The author also presents an example that examines the different considerations that may affect an asset allocation decision, including endowments and operating reserve funds.

  13. 17 CFR 239.15A - Form N-1A, registration statement of open-end management investment companies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... statement of open-end management investment companies. 239.15A Section 239.15A Commodity and Securities... Registration Statements § 239.15A Form N-1A, registration statement of open-end management investment companies... management investment companies other than separate accounts of insurance companies registered under the...

  14. Poroviscoelastic cartilage properties in the mouse from indentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiravarambath, Sidharth; Simha, Narendra K; Namani, Ravi; Lewis, Jack L

    2009-01-01

    A method for fitting parameters in a poroviscoelastic (PVE) model of articular cartilage in the mouse is presented. Indentation is performed using two different sized indenters and then these data are fitted using a PVE finite element program and parameter extraction algorithm. Data from a smaller indenter, a 15 mum diameter flat-ended 60 deg cone, is first used to fit the viscoelastic (VE) parameters, on the basis that for this tip size the gel diffusion time (approximate time constant of the poroelastic (PE) response) is of the order of 0.1 s, so that the PE response is negligible. These parameters are then used to fit the data from a second 170 mum diameter flat-ended 60 deg cone for the PE parameters, using the VE parameters extracted from the data from the 15 mum tip. Data from tests on five different mouse tibial plateaus are presented and fitted. Parameter variation studies for the larger indenter show that for this case the VE and PE time responses overlap in time, necessitating the use of both models.

  15. Rule-Based and Case-Based Reasoning in Housing Prices

    OpenAIRE

    Gabrielle Gayer; Itzhak Gilboa; Offer Lieberman

    2004-01-01

    People reason about real-estate prices both in terms of general rules and in terms of analogies to similar cases. We propose to empirically test which mode of reasoning fits the data better. To this end, we develop the statistical techniques required for the estimation of the case-based model. It is hypothesized that case-based reasoning will have relatively more explanatory power in databases of rental apartments, whereas rule-based reasoning will have a relative advantage in sales data. We ...

  16. False Position, Double False Position and Cramer's Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boman, Eugene

    2009-01-01

    We state and prove the methods of False Position (Regula Falsa) and Double False Position (Regula Duorum Falsorum). The history of both is traced from ancient Egypt and China through the work of Fibonacci, ending with a connection between Double False Position and Cramer's Rule.

  17. 17 CFR 230.498 - Summary Prospectuses for open-end management investment companies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...-end management investment companies. 230.498 Section 230.498 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... management investment companies. (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Class means a class of... reliance on an exemptive rule adopted by the Commission. (3) Fund means an open-end management investment...

  18. Effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in a ventilator-induced injury mouse model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura A Cagle

    Full Text Available Positive-pressure mechanical ventilation is an essential therapeutic intervention, yet it causes the clinical syndrome known as ventilator-induced lung injury. Various lung protective mechanical ventilation strategies have attempted to reduce or prevent ventilator-induced lung injury but few modalities have proven effective. A model that isolates the contribution of mechanical ventilation on the development of acute lung injury is needed to better understand biologic mechanisms that lead to ventilator-induced lung injury.To evaluate the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in reducing lung injury in a ventilator-induced lung injury murine model in short- and longer-term ventilation.5-12 week-old female BALB/c mice (n = 85 were anesthetized, placed on mechanical ventilation for either 2 hrs or 4 hrs with either low tidal volume (8 ml/kg or high tidal volume (15 ml/kg with or without positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers.Alteration of the alveolar-capillary barrier was noted at 2 hrs of high tidal volume ventilation. Standardized histology scores, influx of bronchoalveolar lavage albumin, proinflammatory cytokines, and absolute neutrophils were significantly higher in the high-tidal volume ventilation group at 4 hours of ventilation. Application of positive end-expiratory pressure resulted in significantly decreased standardized histology scores and bronchoalveolar absolute neutrophil counts at low- and high-tidal volume ventilation, respectively. Recruitment maneuvers were essential to maintain pulmonary compliance at both 2 and 4 hrs of ventilation.Signs of ventilator-induced lung injury are evident soon after high tidal volume ventilation (as early as 2 hours and lung injury worsens with longer-term ventilation (4 hrs. Application of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers are protective against worsening VILI across all time points. Dynamic compliance can be used guide

  19. Effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in a ventilator-induced injury mouse model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franzi, Lisa M.; Linderholm, Angela L.; Last, Jerold A.; Adams, Jason Y.; Harper, Richart W.

    2017-01-01

    Background Positive-pressure mechanical ventilation is an essential therapeutic intervention, yet it causes the clinical syndrome known as ventilator-induced lung injury. Various lung protective mechanical ventilation strategies have attempted to reduce or prevent ventilator-induced lung injury but few modalities have proven effective. A model that isolates the contribution of mechanical ventilation on the development of acute lung injury is needed to better understand biologic mechanisms that lead to ventilator-induced lung injury. Objectives To evaluate the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in reducing lung injury in a ventilator-induced lung injury murine model in short- and longer-term ventilation. Methods 5–12 week-old female BALB/c mice (n = 85) were anesthetized, placed on mechanical ventilation for either 2 hrs or 4 hrs with either low tidal volume (8 ml/kg) or high tidal volume (15 ml/kg) with or without positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers. Results Alteration of the alveolar-capillary barrier was noted at 2 hrs of high tidal volume ventilation. Standardized histology scores, influx of bronchoalveolar lavage albumin, proinflammatory cytokines, and absolute neutrophils were significantly higher in the high-tidal volume ventilation group at 4 hours of ventilation. Application of positive end-expiratory pressure resulted in significantly decreased standardized histology scores and bronchoalveolar absolute neutrophil counts at low- and high-tidal volume ventilation, respectively. Recruitment maneuvers were essential to maintain pulmonary compliance at both 2 and 4 hrs of ventilation. Conclusions Signs of ventilator-induced lung injury are evident soon after high tidal volume ventilation (as early as 2 hours) and lung injury worsens with longer-term ventilation (4 hrs). Application of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers are protective against worsening VILI across all time points

  20. Effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in a ventilator-induced injury mouse model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cagle, Laura A; Franzi, Lisa M; Linderholm, Angela L; Last, Jerold A; Adams, Jason Y; Harper, Richart W; Kenyon, Nicholas J

    2017-01-01

    Positive-pressure mechanical ventilation is an essential therapeutic intervention, yet it causes the clinical syndrome known as ventilator-induced lung injury. Various lung protective mechanical ventilation strategies have attempted to reduce or prevent ventilator-induced lung injury but few modalities have proven effective. A model that isolates the contribution of mechanical ventilation on the development of acute lung injury is needed to better understand biologic mechanisms that lead to ventilator-induced lung injury. To evaluate the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers in reducing lung injury in a ventilator-induced lung injury murine model in short- and longer-term ventilation. 5-12 week-old female BALB/c mice (n = 85) were anesthetized, placed on mechanical ventilation for either 2 hrs or 4 hrs with either low tidal volume (8 ml/kg) or high tidal volume (15 ml/kg) with or without positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers. Alteration of the alveolar-capillary barrier was noted at 2 hrs of high tidal volume ventilation. Standardized histology scores, influx of bronchoalveolar lavage albumin, proinflammatory cytokines, and absolute neutrophils were significantly higher in the high-tidal volume ventilation group at 4 hours of ventilation. Application of positive end-expiratory pressure resulted in significantly decreased standardized histology scores and bronchoalveolar absolute neutrophil counts at low- and high-tidal volume ventilation, respectively. Recruitment maneuvers were essential to maintain pulmonary compliance at both 2 and 4 hrs of ventilation. Signs of ventilator-induced lung injury are evident soon after high tidal volume ventilation (as early as 2 hours) and lung injury worsens with longer-term ventilation (4 hrs). Application of positive end-expiratory pressure and recruitment maneuvers are protective against worsening VILI across all time points. Dynamic compliance can be used guide the frequency

  1. Genome-wide RNA-seq analysis of human and mouse platelet transcriptomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowley, Jesse W.; Oler, Andrew J.; Tolley, Neal D.; Hunter, Benjamin N.; Low, Elizabeth N.; Nix, David A.; Yost, Christian C.; Zimmerman, Guy A.

    2011-01-01

    Inbred mice are a useful tool for studying the in vivo functions of platelets. Nonetheless, the mRNA signature of mouse platelets is not known. Here, we use paired-end next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to characterize the polyadenylated transcriptomes of human and mouse platelets. We report that RNA-seq provides unprecedented resolution of mRNAs that are expressed across the entire human and mouse genomes. Transcript expression and abundance are often conserved between the 2 species. Several mRNAs, however, are differentially expressed in human and mouse platelets. Moreover, previously described functional disparities between mouse and human platelets are reflected in differences at the transcript level, including protease activated receptor-1, protease activated receptor-3, platelet activating factor receptor, and factor V. This suggests that RNA-seq is a useful tool for predicting differences in platelet function between mice and humans. Our next-generation sequencing analysis provides new insights into the human and murine platelet transcriptomes. The sequencing dataset will be useful in the design of mouse models of hemostasis and a catalyst for discovery of new functions of platelets. Access to the dataset is found in the “Introduction.” PMID:21596849

  2. Triplet Transport to and Trapping by Acceptor End Groups on Conjugated Polyfluorene Chains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sreearunothai, P.; Miller, J.; Estrada, A.; Asaoka, S.; Kowalczyk, M.; Jang, S.; Cook, A.R.; Preses, J.M.

    2011-08-31

    Triplet excited states created in polyfluorene (pF) molecules having average lengths up to 170 repeat units were transported to and captured by trap groups at the ends in less {approx}40 ns. Almost all of the triplets attached to the chains reached the trap groups, ruling out the presence of substantial numbers of defects that prevent transport. The transport yields a diffusion coefficient D of at least 3 x 10{sup -4} cm{sup 2} s{sup -1}, which is 30 times typical molecular diffusion and close to a value for triplet transport reported by Keller (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2011, 133, 11289-11298). The triplet states were created in solution by pulse radiolysis; time resolution was limited by the rate of attachment of triplets to the pF chains. Naphthylimide (NI) or anthraquinone (AQ) groups attached to the ends of the chains acted as traps for the triplets, although AQ would not have been expected to serve as a trap on the basis of triplet energies of the separate molecules. The depths of the NI and AQ triplet traps were determined by intermolecular triplet transfer equilibria and temperature dependence. The trap depths are shallow, just a few times thermal energy for both, so a small fraction of the triplets reside in the pF chains in equilibrium with the end-trapped triplets. Trapping by AQ appears to arise from charge transfer interactions between the pF chains and the electron-accepting AQ groups. Absorption bands of the end-trapped triplet states are similar in peak wavelength (760 nm) and shape to the 760 nm bands of triplets in the pF chains but have reduced intensities. When an electron donor, N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD), is added to the solution, it reacts with the end-trapped triplets to remove the 760 nm bands and to make the trapping irreversible. New bands created upon reaction with TMPD may be due to charge transfer states.

  3. Mottled Neuherberg (Mo sup(N)), a new male-lethal coat colour mutation of the house mouse (Mus musculus)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schroeder, J.H.

    1975-01-01

    A new semidominant X-chromosomal mutation, Mottled Neuherberg (Mo sup(N)), which causes coat colour variegation is described. Mo sup(N) arose in the second postirradiation generation after 2 x 200 R of X-rays (24 hours apart) to oocytes of X/O mice. Heterozygous Mo sup(N) females have irregular patches of fully and lightly coloured fur over the whole coat with curly vibrissae. Their viability is reduced, about 3% of the heterozygotes dying prenatally and 6 to 28% dying postnatally before weaning. Survivors are fertile without externally visible abnormalities. Hemizygous Mo sup(N) males die in utero after implantation. The recombination frequency between Mo sup(N) and tabby (Ta) was 3.65 +- 3.16% (with 95% -confidence limits). Therefore, it is suggested that Mo sup(N) is a new allele of the mottled (Mo) locus of the house mouse. Mo sup(N)-bearing ova seem to have a lower chance of becoming fertilized by wild-type spermatozoa than by Ta-bearing spermatozoa. (orig.) [de

  4. Valoración económica para la protección socioambiental de la vaquita marina, una especie endémica

    OpenAIRE

    García Gómez, José; Chávez Nungaray, Erika

    2017-01-01

    Resumen: Las prácticas humanas irracionales sobre el medio ambiente hacen indispensable implementar medidas de protección, como la Reserva de la Biosfera del Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Río Colorado, para preservar el entorno natural y los hábitats, y así favorecer la diversidad biológica. En este trabajo se buscó determinar el soporte económico local, a través de la valoración de la vaquita marina, especie endémica en peligro de extinción que habita en la reserva, y también divulgar...

  5. Application of American and French rules for the next belgian PWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roch, M.; Cavaco, A.

    1987-01-01

    The licensing practice in Belgium is evolving from the precedent compliance with the USNRC rules (as applied to the 4 last Belgian PWRs) to a more sophisticated approach applied to the next Belgian PWR (N8), which incorporates a mixed compliance with the USNRC or with French rules, depending on the equipment, the structure or the system considered. In this paper, we present the approach concerning the licensing rules applicable to N8. The following aspects are covered: rules applicable to the NSSS; rules applicable to the BOP (codes of design for systems and structures); rules applicable to the equipment (code of construction for mechanical and electrical components); impact on the lay-out of the plant. Some examples of application of this methodology are given. (author)

  6. Open field modifications needed to measure, in the mouse, exploration- driven ambulation and fear of open space.

    OpenAIRE

    Vidal Gómez, José

    2014-01-01

    The open field test is used to assess ambulation and anxiety; one way to assess anxiety is to compare ambulation in the center with ambulation in the periphery: the more anxious is the mouse, the less it moves in the center. The results of this report cast doubts on the generality of that rule, because they show that ambulation, both in the center and in the periphery, depends on the mouse strain and on the size of the open field; specifically, in a brightly lit open-field of moderate size (3...

  7. Construction of a mouse model of factor VIII deficiency by gene targeting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bi, L.; Lawler, A.; Gearhart, J. [Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] [and others

    1994-09-01

    To develop a small animal model of hemophilia A for gene therapy experiments, we set out to construct a mouse model for factor VIII deficiency by gene targeting. First, we screened a mouse liver cDNA library using a human FVIII cDNA probe. We cloned a 2.6 Kb partial mouse factor VIII cDNA which extends from 800 base pairs of the 3{prime} end of exon 14 to the 5{prime} end of exon 26. A mouse genomic library made from strain 129 was then screened to obtain genomic fragments covering the exons desired for homologous recombination. Two genomic clones were obtained, and one covering exon 15 through 22 was used for gene targeting. To make gene targeting constructs, a 5.8 Kb genomic DNA fragment covering exons 15 to 19 of the mouse FVIII gene was subcloned, and the neo expression cassette was inserted into exons 16 and 17 separately by different strategies. These two constructs were named MFVIIIC-16 and MFVIIIC-17. The constructs were linearized and transfected into strain 129 mouse ES cells by electroporation. Factor VIII gene-knockout ES cell lines were selected by G-418 and screened by genomic Southern blots. Eight exon 16 targeted cell lines and five exon 17 targeted cell lines were obtained. Three cell lines from each construct were injected into blastocysts and surgically transferred into foster mothers. Multiple chimeric mice with 70-90% hair color derived from the ES-cell genotype were seen with both constructs. Germ line transmission of the ES-cell genotype has been obtained for the MFVIIIC-16 construct, and multiple hemophilia A carrier females have been identified. Factor VIII-deficient males will be conceived soon.

  8. Fibre optic sensor on robot end effector for flexible assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yung, K.L.; Lau, W.S.; Choi, C.K.; Shan, Y.Y.

    1995-01-01

    A fibre optic sensor system was constructed for use on robot end effectors for flexible assembly. The sensor detected the deviations between robot end effector and the workpiece. The signal was fed back to robot controller to shift the end effector until the centre of end effector and the centre of workpiece were aligned at the correct orientation. Then workpiece can be grasped symmetrically. Sensor fusion concept was used to guard against sensor system failure. Fuzzy linguistic variable and control rule concept were introduced in the sensor integration. The experimental setup for the sensor integrated system was shown. The accuracy was also discussed

  9. Changes in Nuclear Orientation Patterns of Chromosome 11 during Mouse Plasmacytoma Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann-Kristin Schmälter

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Studying changes in nuclear architecture is a unique approach toward the understanding of nuclear remodeling during tumor development. One aspect of nuclear architecture is the orientation of chromosomes in the three-dimensional nuclear space. We studied mouse chromosome 11 in lymphocytes of [T38HxBALB/c]N mice with a reciprocal translocation between chromosome X and 11 (T38HT(X;11 exhibiting a long chromosome T(11;X and a short chromosome T(X;11 and in fast-onset plasmacytomas (PCTs induced in the same strain. We determined the three-dimensional orientation of chromosome 11 using a mouse chromosome 11 specific multicolor banding probe. We also examined the nuclear position of the small translocation chromosome T(X;11 which contains cytoband 11E2 and parts of E1. Chromosomes can point either with their centromeric or with their telomeric end toward the nuclear center or periphery, or their position is found in parallel to the nuclear border. In T38HT(X;11 nuclei, the most frequently observed orientation pattern was with both chromosomes 11 in parallel to the nuclear border (“PP”. PCT cells showed nuclei with two or more copies of chromosome 11. In PCTs, the most frequent orientation pattern was with one chromosome in parallel and the other pointing with its centromeric end toward the nuclear periphery (“CP”. There is a significant difference between the orientation patterns observed in T38HT(X;11 and in PCT nuclei (P < .0001.

  10. QCD sum rule for nucleon in nuclear matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mallik, S.; Sarkar, Sourav

    2010-01-01

    We consider the two-point function of nucleon current in nuclear matter and write a QCD sum rule to analyse the residue of the nucleon pole as a function of nuclear density. The nucleon self-energy needed for the sum rule is taken as input from calculations using phenomenological N N potential. Our result shows a decrease in the residue with increasing nuclear density, as is known to be the case with similar quantities. (orig.)

  11. Estrategias de financiamiento para el desarrollo endógeno del sector confección zuliano

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariby Boscán

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Los cambios en el entorno empresarial experimentados a escala mundial en las últimas décadas, demandan para las firmas de reducido tamaño adquisición de tecnología actualizada, aprendizaje tecnológico y reestructuración de procesos, lo cual es clave para impulsar y consolidar el desarrollo endógeno local. Sin embargo, esto amerita disponibilidad de recursos financieros, siendo esta una necesidad apremiante para los empresarios zulianos. El objetivo del presente artículo, consiste en analizar las estrategias de financiamiento que faciliten el desarrollo endógeno en el sector confección zuliano. Con esta finalidad se diseñó un estudio descriptivo y de campo, utilizando una entrevista semiestructurada aplicada a diez gerentes. La investigación se basó fundamentalmente en los postulados de Brealey y Myers (1998, Diez y López (2001, Vázquez (2005 y Sunkel (1991. Entre los resultados destacan: las empresas, prefieren financiamiento privado, dado que los requisitos son sencillos y el acceso a la fuente es rápido. A corto plazo, los gerentes utilizan la estrategia pre-pago y en algunas oportunidades el crédito comercial, mientras que a largo plazo, han utilizado préstamos bancarios y manejo del patrimonio. Se concluye que, para lograr el desarrollo endógeno se requiere combinar fuentes públicas y privadas, por lo que se recomienda mejorar el acceso y tiempo para el otorgamiento de crédito de los programas públicos, por cuanto el financiamiento es uno de los factores más importantes para lograr el desarrollo económico del sector.

  12. Mechanisms of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) action on synaptic transmission at the mouse neuromuscular junction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerasimova, E; Lebedeva, J; Yakovlev, A; Zefirov, A; Giniatullin, R; Sitdikova, G

    2015-09-10

    Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a widespread gasotransmitter also known as a powerful neuroprotective agent in the central nervous system. However, the action of H2S in peripheral synapses is much less studied. In the current project we studied the modulatory effects of the H2S donor sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) on synaptic transmission in the mouse neuromuscular junction using microelectrode technique. Using focal recordings of presynaptic response and evoked transmitter release we have shown that NaHS (300 μM) increased evoked end-plate currents (EPCs) without changes of presynaptic waveforms which indicated the absence of NaHS effects on sodium and potassium currents of motor nerve endings. Using intracellular recordings it was shown that NaHS increased the frequency of miniature end-plate potentials (MEPPs) without changing their amplitudes indicating a pure presynaptic effect. Furthermore, NaHS increased the amplitude of end-plate potentials (EPPs) without influencing the resting membrane potential of muscle fibers. L-cysteine, a substrate of H2S synthesis induced, similar to NaHS, an increase of EPC amplitudes whereas inhibitors of H2S synthesis (β-cyano-L-alanine and aminooxyacetic acid) had the opposite effect. Inhibition of adenylate cyclase using MDL 12,330A hydrochloride (MDL 12,330A) or elevation of cAMP level with 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (pCPT-cAMP) completely prevented the facilitatory action of NaHS indicating involvement of the cAMP signaling cascade. The facilitatory effect of NaHS was significantly diminished when intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) was buffered by 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid tetrakis acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM) and ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (EGTA-AM). Activation of ryanodine receptors by caffeine or ryanodine increased acetylcholine release and prevented further action of NaHS on transmitter release, likely due to

  13. Structural organization of the human and mouse laminin beta2 chain genes, and alternative splicing at the 5' end of the human transcript

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Durkin, M E; Gautam, M; Loechel, F

    1996-01-01

    We have determined the structural organization of the human and mouse genes that encode the laminin beta2 chain (s-laminin), an essential component of the basement membranes of the neuromuscular synapse and the kidney glomerulus. The human and mouse genes have a nearly identical exon-intron organ......We have determined the structural organization of the human and mouse genes that encode the laminin beta2 chain (s-laminin), an essential component of the basement membranes of the neuromuscular synapse and the kidney glomerulus. The human and mouse genes have a nearly identical exon...

  14. Severely altered guanidino compound levels, disturbed body weight homeostasis and impaired fertility in a mouse model of guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schmidt, A.; Marescau, B.; Boehm, E.A.; Renema, W.K.J.; Peco, R.; Das, A.; Steinfeld, R.; Chan, S.; Wallis, J.; Davidoff, M.; Ullrich, K.; Waldschutz, R.; Heerschap, A.; Deyn, P.P. de; Neubauer, S.; Isbrandt, D.

    2004-01-01

    We generated a knockout mouse model for guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency (MIM 601240), the first discovered human creatine deficiency syndrome, by gene targeting in embryonic stem cells. Disruption of the open reading frame of the murine GAMT gene in the first exon resulted in

  15. Mendeleev Table: a Proof of Madelung Rule and Atomic Tietz Potential

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belokolos, Eugene D.

    2017-06-01

    We prove that a neutral atom in mean-field approximation has O(4) symmetry and this fact explains the empirical [n+l,n]-rule or Madelung rule which describes effectively periods, structure and other properties of the Mendeleev table of chemical elements.

  16. Targeting the Full Length of the Motor End Plate Regions in the Mouse Forelimb Increases the Uptake of Fluoro-Gold into Corresponding Spinal Cord Motor Neurons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Paul Tosolini

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Lower motor neuron dysfunction is one of the most debilitating motor conditions. In this regard, transgenic mouse models of various lower motor neuron dysfunctions provide insight into the mechanisms underlying these pathologies and can also aid the development of new therapies. Viral-mediated gene therapy can take advantage of the muscle-motor neuron topographical relationship to shuttle therapeutic genes into specific populations of motor neurons in these mouse models. In this context, motor end plates (MEPs are highly specialised regions on the skeletal musculature that offer direct access to the pre-synaptic nerve terminals, henceforth to the spinal cord motor neurons. The aim of this study was two-folded. First it was to characterise the exact position of the MEP regions for several muscles of the mouse forelimb using acetylcholinesterase histochemistry. This MEP-muscle map was then used to guide a series of intramuscular injections of Fluoro-Gold (FG in order to characterise the distribution of the innervating motor neurons. This analysis revealed that the MEPs are typically organised in an orthogonal fashion across the muscle fibres and extending throughout the full width of each muscle. Furthermore, targeting the full length of the MEP regions gave rise to a seemingly greater number of labelled motor neurons that are organised into columns spanning through more spinal cord segments than previously reported. The present analysis suggests that targeting the full width of the muscles’ MEP regions with FG increases the somatic availability of the tracer. This process ensures a greater uptake of the tracer by the pre-synaptic nerve terminals, hence maximising the labelling in spinal cord motor neurons. This investigation should have positive implications for future studies involving the somatic delivery of therapeutic genes into motor neurons for the treatment of various motor dysfunctions.

  17. Diurnal activity of the four-striped mouse, Rhabdomys pumilio

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    mouse was marked with a toe-clipped number. Temperatures in the shade 1 m above ground level were recorded with a Yellow. Springs Instrument Telethermometer at the beginning and end of each trap check. Maxi- mum daily temperatures recorded for the three days in July were 24, 20, and 26°C; minimum observed ...

  18. The linear rule of metal extraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han Li; Yushuang Wang; Zhichun Chen; Shulan Meng

    1988-01-01

    On the basis of experimental results a linear rule for the solvent extraction of rare earths and yttrium over a definite range of acidity and metal ion concentration is found. Relations between the coefficients of the linear rule and initial acidity are presented for the extraction systems: HEH(EHP)-kerosene-HNO 3 -R(NO 3 ) 3 , HEH(EHP)-kerosene-HCl-RCl 3 , D2EHPA-n-heptane-HCl-RCl 3 , HEH(EHP)-n-heptane-HCl-RCl 3 , where R=La-Nd, Sm-Lu, Y; HEH(EHP)=momo(2-ethyl-hexyl)2-ethyl-hexyl phosphonate; D2EHPA=di(2-ethyl-hexyl) phosphoric acid. 3 refs.; 1 tab

  19. Production of peptide antisera specific for mouse and rat proinsulin C-peptide 2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blume, N; Madsen, O D; Kofod, Hans

    1990-01-01

    for antibody binding to the immunizing antigen. Antisera to C-peptide 2, stained islet beta-cells on mouse and rat, but not monkey pancreas sections in immunocytochemical analysis. Preabsorption to the synthetic C-peptide 2, but not the synthetic mouse and rat C-peptide 1 abolished staining. In conclusion we......Mice and rats have two functional non-allelic insulin genes. By using a synthetic peptide representing a common sequence in mouse and rat C-peptide 2 as antigen, we have produced rabbit antisera specific for an epitope which is not present in mouse or rat C-peptide 1. Long-term immunization did...... not seem to increase the end point titre as tested in direct ELISA. The specificity of the antiserum was determined by competitive ELISA and histochemistry on pancreas sections. Only the synthetic C-peptide 2, but not the homologous synthetic C-peptide 1 from mouse and rat competed efficiently in ELISA...

  20. Preventing the Androgen Receptor N/C Interaction Delays Disease Onset in a Mouse Model of SBMA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lori Zboray

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the androgen receptor (AR and is associated with misfolding and aggregation of the mutant AR. We investigated the role of an interdomain interaction between the amino (N-terminal FxxLF motif and carboxyl (C-terminal AF-2 domain in a mouse model of SBMA. Male transgenic mice expressing polyQ-expanded AR with a mutation in the FxxLF motif (F23A to prevent the N/C interaction displayed substantially improved motor function compared with N/C-intact AR-expressing mice and showed reduced pathological features of SBMA. Serine 16 phosphorylation was substantially enhanced by the F23A mutation; moreover, the protective effect of AR F23A was dependent on this phosphorylation. These results reveal an important role for the N/C interaction on disease onset in mice and suggest that targeting AR conformation could be a therapeutic strategy for patients with SBMA.

  1. Can Baird's and Clar's Rules Combined Explain Triplet State Energies of Polycyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons with Fused 4nπ- and (4n + 2)π-Rings?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayub, Rabia; Bakouri, Ouissam El; Jorner, Kjell; Solà, Miquel; Ottosson, Henrik

    2017-06-16

    Compounds that can be labeled as "aromatic chameleons" are π-conjugated compounds that are able to adjust their π-electron distributions so as to comply with the different rules of aromaticity in different electronic states. We used quantum chemical calculations to explore how the fusion of benzene rings onto aromatic chameleonic units represented by biphenylene, dibenzocyclooctatetraene, and dibenzo[a,e]pentalene modifies the first triplet excited states (T 1 ) of the compounds. Decreases in T 1 energies are observed when going from isomers with linear connectivity of the fused benzene rings to those with cis- or trans-bent connectivities. The T 1 energies decreased down to those of the parent (isolated) 4nπ-electron units. Simultaneously, we observe an increased influence of triplet state aromaticity of the central 4n ring as given by Baird's rule and evidenced by geometric, magnetic, and electron density based aromaticity indices (HOMA, NICS-XY, ACID, and FLU). Because of an influence of triplet state aromaticity in the central 4nπ-electron units, the most stabilized compounds retain the triplet excitation in Baird π-quartets or octets, enabling the outer benzene rings to adapt closed-shell singlet Clar π-sextet character. Interestingly, the T 1 energies go down as the total number of aromatic cycles within a molecule in the T 1 state increases.

  2. 20 CFR 404.1579 - How we will determine whether your disability continues or ends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... effect of various impairments on the ability to do work. Where, by such new or improved methods... ends. (a) General. (1) The rules for determining whether disability continues for widow's or widower's monthly benefits for months after December 1990 are discussed in §§ 404.1594 through 404.1598. The rules...

  3. Defining Alcohol-Specific Rules Among Parents of Older Adolescents: Moving Beyond No Tolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourdeau, Beth; Miller, Brenda; Vanya, Magdalena; Duke, Michael; Ames, Genevieve

    2012-01-01

    Parental beliefs and rules regarding their teen's use of alcohol influence teen decisions regarding alcohol use. However, measurement of parental rules regarding adolescent alcohol use has not been thoroughly studied. This study used qualitative interviews with 174 parents of older teens from 100 families. From open-ended questions, themes emerged that describe explicit rules tied to circumscribed use, no tolerance, and "call me." There was some inconsistency in explicit rules with and between parents. Responses also generated themes relating to implicit rules such as expectations and preferences. Parents described their methods of communicating their position via conversational methods, role modeling their own behavior, teaching socially appropriate use of alcohol by offering their teen alcohol, and monitoring their teens' social activities. Findings indicate that alcohol rules are not adequately captured by current assessment measures.

  4. TRADING RULES ON A SMALL STOCK MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefán B. Gunnlaugsson

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In this article, the results of an extensive study of the weak form efficiency of the Iceland stock market are presented. This study almost covers the market’s entire history, with the research starting at the beginning of 1993 and ending in July 2017. Four trading rules based on 70-day moving averages were constructed and compared with the passive investment strategy of buying the market index. All of these trading rules provided significantly better returns than the passive strategy, even when considering trading costs. This result indicates that the Icelandic stock market did not show weak form efficiency, and past returns predicted future returns during the period examined.

  5. Measurements and analysis of end-to-end Internet dynamics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paxson, Vern [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Computer Science Division

    1997-04-01

    Accurately characterizing end-to-end Internet dynamics - the performance that a user actually obtains from the lengthy series of network links that comprise a path through the Internet - is exceptionally difficult, due to the network`s immense heterogeneity. At the heart of this work is a `measurement framework` in which a number of sites around the Internet host a specialized measurement service. By coordinating `probes` between pairs of these sites one can measure end-to-end behavior along O(N2) paths for a framework consisting of N sites. Consequently, one obtains a superlinear scaling that allows measuring a rich cross-section of Internet behavior without requiring huge numbers of observation points. 37 sites participated in this study, allowing the author to measure more than 1,000 distinct Internet paths. The first part of this work looks at the behavior of end-to-end routing: the series of routers over which a connection`s packets travel. Based on 40,000 measurements made using this framework, the author analyzes: routing `pathologies` such as loops, outages, and flutter; the stability of routes over time; and the symmetry of routing along the two directions of an end-to-end path. The author finds that pathologies increased significantly over the course of 1995 and that Internet paths are heavily dominated by a single route. The second part of this work studies end-to-end Internet packet dynamics. The author analyzes 20,000 TCP transfers of 100 Kbyte each to investigate the performance of both the TCP endpoints and the Internet paths. The measurements used for this part of the study are much richer than those for the first part, but require a great degree of attention to issues of calibration, which are addressed by applying self-consistency checks to the measurements whenever possible. The author finds that packet filters are capable of a wide range of measurement errors, some of which, if undetected, can significantly taint subsequent analysis.

  6. Age-dependent values of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide are superior to a single cut-point for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in primary care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hildebrandt, Per; Collinson, Paul O; Doughty, Robert N

    2010-01-01

    The study evaluated the use of age-related decision limits for N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in symptomatic patients in primary care, compared with the present standards.......The study evaluated the use of age-related decision limits for N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in symptomatic patients in primary care, compared with the present standards....

  7. 78 FR 46855 - Safety Zone; East End Maritime Foundation Fireworks Display, Greenport Harbor, Greenport, NY

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-02

    ... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; East End Maritime Foundation Fireworks Display, Greenport Harbor, Greenport, NY... temporary rule proposes to establish a safety zone for the East End Maritime Foundation fireworks display....1. 0 2. Add Sec. 165.T01-0600 to read as follows: Sec. 165.T01-0600 Safety Zone; East End Maritime...

  8. The First Scube3 Mutant Mouse Line with Pleiotropic Phenotypic Alterations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, Helmut; Sabrautzki, Sibylle; Przemeck, Gerhard K H; Leuchtenberger, Stefanie; Lorenz-Depiereux, Bettina; Becker, Lore; Rathkolb, Birgit; Horsch, Marion; Garrett, Lillian; Östereicher, Manuela A; Hans, Wolfgang; Abe, Koichiro; Sagawa, Nobuho; Rozman, Jan; Vargas-Panesso, Ingrid L; Sandholzer, Michael; Lisse, Thomas S; Adler, Thure; Aguilar-Pimentel, Juan Antonio; Calzada-Wack, Julia; Ehrhard, Nicole; Elvert, Ralf; Gau, Christine; Hölter, Sabine M; Micklich, Katja; Moreth, Kristin; Prehn, Cornelia; Puk, Oliver; Racz, Ildiko; Stoeger, Claudia; Vernaleken, Alexandra; Michel, Dian; Diener, Susanne; Wieland, Thomas; Adamski, Jerzy; Bekeredjian, Raffi; Busch, Dirk H; Favor, John; Graw, Jochen; Klingenspor, Martin; Lengger, Christoph; Maier, Holger; Neff, Frauke; Ollert, Markus; Stoeger, Tobias; Yildirim, Ali Önder; Strom, Tim M; Zimmer, Andreas; Wolf, Eckhard; Wurst, Wolfgang; Klopstock, Thomas; Beckers, Johannes; Gailus-Durner, Valerie; Hrabé de Angelis, Martin

    2016-12-07

    The vertebrate Scube (Signal peptide, CUB, and EGF-like domain-containing protein) family consists of three independent members, Scube1-3, which encode secreted cell surface-associated membrane glycoproteins. Limited information about the general function of this gene family is available, and their roles during adulthood. Here, we present the first Scube3 mutant mouse line (Scube3 N294K/N294K ), which clearly shows phenotypic alterations by carrying a missense mutation in exon 8, and thus contributes to our understanding of SCUBE3 functions. We performed a detailed phenotypic characterization in the German Mouse Clinic (GMC). Scube3 N294K/N294K mutants showed morphological abnormalities of the skeleton, alterations of parameters relevant for bone metabolism, changes in renal function, and hearing impairments. These findings correlate with characteristics of the rare metabolic bone disorder Paget disease of bone (PDB), associated with the chromosomal region of human SCUBE3 In addition, alterations in energy metabolism, behavior, and neurological functions were detected in Scube3 N294K/N294K mice. The Scube3 N294K/N294K mutant mouse line may serve as a new model for further studying the effect of impaired SCUBE3 gene function. Copyright © 2016 Fuchs et al.

  9. The First Scube3 Mutant Mouse Line with Pleiotropic Phenotypic Alterations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helmut Fuchs

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The vertebrate Scube (Signal peptide, CUB, and EGF-like domain-containing protein family consists of three independent members, Scube1–3, which encode secreted cell surface-associated membrane glycoproteins. Limited information about the general function of this gene family is available, and their roles during adulthood. Here, we present the first Scube3 mutant mouse line (Scube3N294K/N294K, which clearly shows phenotypic alterations by carrying a missense mutation in exon 8, and thus contributes to our understanding of SCUBE3 functions. We performed a detailed phenotypic characterization in the German Mouse Clinic (GMC. Scube3N294K/N294K mutants showed morphological abnormalities of the skeleton, alterations of parameters relevant for bone metabolism, changes in renal function, and hearing impairments. These findings correlate with characteristics of the rare metabolic bone disorder Paget disease of bone (PDB, associated with the chromosomal region of human SCUBE3. In addition, alterations in energy metabolism, behavior, and neurological functions were detected in Scube3N294K/N294K mice. The Scube3N294K/N294K mutant mouse line may serve as a new model for further studying the effect of impaired SCUBE3 gene function.

  10. Intranasal immunization of baculovirus displayed hemagglutinin confers complete protection against mouse adapted highly pathogenic H7N7 reassortant influenza virus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subaschandrabose Rajesh Kumar

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Avian influenza A H7N7 virus poses a pandemic threat to human health because of its ability for direct transmission from domestic poultry to humans and from human to human. The wide zoonotic potential of H7N7 combined with an antiviral immunity inhibition similar to pandemic 1918 H1N1 and 2009 H1N1 influenza viruses is disconcerting and increases the risk of a putative H7N7 pandemic in the future, underlining the urgent need for vaccine development against this virus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we developed a recombinant vaccine by expressing the H7N7-HA protein on the surface of baculovirus (Bac-HA. The protective efficacy of the live Bac-HA vaccine construct was evaluated in a mouse model by challenging mice immunized intranasally (i.n. or subcutaneously (s.c. with high pathogenic mouse adapted H7N7 reassorted strain. Although s.c. injection of live Bac-HA induced higher specific IgG than i.n. immunization, the later resulted in an elevated neutralization titer. Interestingly, 100% protection from the lethal viral challenge was only observed for the mice immunized intranasally with live Bac-HA, whereas no protection was achieved in any other s.c. or i.n. immunized mice groups. In addition, we also observed higher mucosal IgA as well as increased IFN-γ and IL-4 responses in the splenocytes of the surviving mice coupled with a reduced viral titer and diminished histopathological signs in the lungs. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that protection from high pathogenic H7N7 (NL/219/03 virus requires both mucosal and systemic immune responses in mice. The balance between Th1 and Th2 cytokines is also required for the protection against the H7N7 pathogen. Intranasal administration of live Bac-HA induced all these immune responses and protected the mice from lethal viral challenge. Therefore, live Bac-HA is an effective vaccine candidate against H7N7 viral infections.

  11. Codification of LMFBR rules and comparison of codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faure, O.; Debaene, J.P.

    1993-01-01

    The first part of this report presents the basic RCC-MR (regles de conception et de construction des materiels mecaniques des ilots nucleaires, reacteurs a neutrons rapides) design rules and their purpose. The second part is a qualitative comparison between RCC-MR, Code case N47 (ASME) and ETSDG Guide (MONJU Guide), made on the following topics: negligible creep test, ratcheting, creep fatigue, buckling, piping rules. An outline is given on improvements to RCC-MR rules now in progress

  12. In vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into functional ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Studies have shown that embryonic stem (ES) cells can be successfully differentiated into liver cells, which offer the potential unlimited cell source for a variety of end-stage liver disease. In our study, in order to induce mouse ES cells to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells under chemically defined conditions, ES cells ...

  13. PIV Measurements of Gas Flow Fields from Burning End

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yifei; Wu, Junzhang; Zeng, Jingsong; Tang, Darong; Du, Liang

    2017-12-01

    To study the influence of cigarette gas on the environment, it is necessary to know the cigarette gas flow fields from burning end. By using PIV technique, in order to reveal velocity characteristics of gas flow fields, the velocities of cigarette gas flow fields was analyzed with different stepping motor frequencies corresponding to suction pressures, and the trend of velocity has been given with image fitting. The results shows that the velocities of the burning end increased with suction pressures; Between velocities of the burning end and suction pressures, the relations present polynomial rule; The cigarette gas diffusion in combustion process is faster than in the smoldering process.

  14. EPR detection of free radicals in UV-irradiated skin: mouse versus human

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jurkiewicz, B.A.; Buettner, G.R.

    1996-01-01

    Ultraviolet radiation produces free radicals in Skh-1 mouse skin, contributing to photoaging and carcinogenesis. If a mouse model is a general indicator of free radical processes in human skin photobiology, then radical production observed in mouse and human skin should be directly comparative. In this work we show that UV radiation (λ > 300 nm, 14 μW/cm 2 UVB; 3.5 mW/cm 2 UVA) increases the ascorbate free radical (Asc) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal in both Skh-1 mouse skin (45%) and human facial skin biopsies (340%). Visible light (λ > 400 nm; 0.23 mW/cm 2 UVA) also increased the Ascsignal in human skin samples (45%) but did not increase baseline mouse Asc, indicating that human skin is more susceptible to free radical formation and that a chromophore for visible light may be present. Using EPR spin-trapping techniques, UV radiation produced spin adducts consistent with trapping lipid alkyl radicals in mouse skin (α-[4-pyridyl 1-oxide]-N-tert-butyl nitrone/alkyl radical adduct; a N = 15.56 G and a H 2.70 G) and lipid alkoxyl radicals in human skin (5,5-dimethylpyrroline -1-oxide/alkoxyl radical adduct; a N = 14.54 G and a H = 16.0 G). Topical application of the iron chelator Desferal to human skin significantly decreases these radicals (∼50%), indicating a role for iron in lipid peroxidation. (Author)

  15. 78 FR 35812 - Revisions to Procedural Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-14

    ... also APWU Reply Comments at 2-5. The Public Representative believes that some changes in N-Case rules.... Id. at 2. The Public Representative asserts that N- Case procedures must assure meaningful public... special studies that explore related subjects. Each of these features of the proposed N-Case format is...

  16. Reputación grupal endógena. Un modelo formal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodríguez Sickert, Carlos

    2007-04-01

    preferencias egoístas será responder con honor a la confianza depositada y, por ende, el equilibrio bayesiano perfecto del juego es uno en el que emerge la confianza intergrupal. El tamaño de dicha proporción crítica depende negativamente de la eficiencia del mecanismo de sanción y positivamente del tamaño de los incentivos perversos que enfrenta el agente cuya confianza es requerida. Aún cuando el poder disuasivo de la presión social no sea suficiente, la confianza intergrupal puede emerger si los beneficios potenciales de la cooperación compensan el daño eventual asociado a la traición de la confianza.

  17. Double strand break rejoining by the Ku-dependent mechanism of non-homologous end-joining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeggo, P.; Singleton, B.; Beamish, H.; Priestley, A.

    1999-01-01

    The DNA-dependent protein kinase functions in the repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and in V(D)J recombination. To gain insight into the function of DNA-PK in this process we have carried out a mutation analysis of Ku80 and DNA-PKcs. Mutations at multiple sites within the N-terminal two thirds of Ku80 result in loss of Ku70/80 interaction, loss of DNA end-binding activity and inability to complement Ku80 defective cell fines. In contrast, mutations in the carboxy terminal region of the protein do not impair DNA end-binding activity but decrease the ability of Ku to activate DNA-PK. To gain insight into important functional domains within DNA-PKcs, we have analysed defective mutants, including the mouse scid cell line, and the rodent mutants, ire-20 and V-3. Mutational changes in the carboxy terminal region have been identified in all cases. Our results strongly suggest that the C-terminus of DNA-PKcs is required for kinase activity. (author)

  18. Highly scalable and robust rule learner: performance evaluation and comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurgan, Lukasz A; Cios, Krzysztof J; Dick, Scott

    2006-02-01

    Business intelligence and bioinformatics applications increasingly require the mining of datasets consisting of millions of data points, or crafting real-time enterprise-level decision support systems for large corporations and drug companies. In all cases, there needs to be an underlying data mining system, and this mining system must be highly scalable. To this end, we describe a new rule learner called DataSqueezer. The learner belongs to the family of inductive supervised rule extraction algorithms. DataSqueezer is a simple, greedy, rule builder that generates a set of production rules from labeled input data. In spite of its relative simplicity, DataSqueezer is a very effective learner. The rules generated by the algorithm are compact, comprehensible, and have accuracy comparable to rules generated by other state-of-the-art rule extraction algorithms. The main advantages of DataSqueezer are very high efficiency, and missing data resistance. DataSqueezer exhibits log-linear asymptotic complexity with the number of training examples, and it is faster than other state-of-the-art rule learners. The learner is also robust to large quantities of missing data, as verified by extensive experimental comparison with the other learners. DataSqueezer is thus well suited to modern data mining and business intelligence tasks, which commonly involve huge datasets with a large fraction of missing data.

  19. 78 FR 69535 - Amendments to Existing Validated End-User Authorizations in the People's Republic of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-20

    .... (Samsung China), Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), SK hynix Semiconductor..., Chair, End-User Review Committee, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th...)'' for Validated End-User Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) This final rule...

  20. Direct contact with endoderm-like cells efficiently induces cardiac progenitors from mouse and human pluripotent stem cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hideki Uosaki

    Full Text Available RATIONALE: Pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs have emerged as a powerful tool to study cardiogenesis in vitro and a potential cell source for cardiac regenerative medicine. However, available methods to induce CPCs are not efficient or require high-cost cytokines with extensive optimization due to cell line variations. OBJECTIVE: Based on our in-vivo observation that early endodermal cells maintain contact with nascent pre-cardiac mesoderm, we hypothesized that direct physical contact with endoderm promotes induction of CPCs from pluripotent cells. METHOD AND RESULT: To test the hypothesis, we cocultured mouse embryonic stem (ES cells with the endodermal cell line End2 by co-aggregation or End2-conditioned medium. Co-aggregation resulted in strong induction of Flk1(+ PDGFRa(+ CPCs in a dose-dependent manner, but the conditioned medium did not, indicating that direct contact is necessary for this process. To determine if direct contact with End2 cells also promotes the induction of committed cardiac progenitors, we utilized several mouse ES and induced pluripotent (iPS cell lines expressing fluorescent proteins under regulation of the CPC lineage markers Nkx2.5 or Isl1. In agreement with earlier data, co-aggregation with End2 cells potently induces both Nkx2.5(+ and Isl1(+ CPCs, leading to a sheet of beating cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, co-aggregation with End2 cells greatly promotes the induction of KDR(+ PDGFRa(+ CPCs from human ES cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our co-aggregation method provides an efficient, simple and cost-effective way to induce CPCs from mouse and human pluripotent cells.

  1. An inducible mouse model of late onset Tay-Sachs disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeyakumar, Mylvaganam; Smith, David; Eliott-Smith, Elena; Cortina-Borja, Mario; Reinkensmeier, Gabriele; Butters, Terry D; Lemm, Thorsten; Sandhoff, Konrad; Perry, V Hugh; Dwek, Raymond A; Platt, Frances M

    2002-08-01

    Mouse models of the G(M2) gangliosidoses, Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease, are null for the hexosaminidase alpha and beta subunits respectively. The Sandhoff (Hexb-/-) mouse has severe neurological disease and mimics the human infantile onset variant. However, the Tay-Sachs (Hexa-/-) mouse model lacks an overt phenotype as mice can partially bypass the blocked catabolic pathway and escape disease. We have investigated whether a subset of Tay-Sachs mice develop late onset disease. We have found that approximately 65% of the mice develop one or more clinical signs of the disease within their natural life span (n = 52, P disease at an earlier age (n = 21, P Tay-Sachs mice confirmed that pregnancy induces late onset Tay-Sachs disease. Onset of symptoms correlated with reduced up-regulation of hexosaminidase B, a component of the bypass pathway.

  2. Proceso de cicatrización de heridas de piel, campos endógenos y su relación con las heridas crónicas

    OpenAIRE

    Claribeth Guarín Corredor; Paola Quiroga Santamaría; Nancy Stella Landinez Parra

    2013-01-01

    Antecedentes. La cicatrización de heridas en piel es un proceso de alta complejidad orientado a recuperar la integridad del tejido, permitiendo su regeneración y restaurando sus funciones. Objetivo. Revisar los procesos de cicatrización normal y de heridas crónicas en la piel y su relación con las corrientes endógenas. Materiales y métodos. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos en diferentes bases de datos, la cual se hizo con base en los títulos de términos...

  3. Antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diefendorff, James M; Richard, Erin M

    2003-04-01

    Central to all theories of emotional labor is the idea that individuals follow emotional display rules that specify the appropriate expression of emotions on the job. This investigation examined antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions. Full-time working adults (N = 152) from a variety of occupations provided self-report data, and supervisors and coworkers completed measures pertaining to the focal employees. Results using structural equation modeling revealed that job-based interpersonal requirements, supervisor display rule perceptions, and employee extraversion and neuroticism were predictive of employee display rule perceptions. Employee display rule perceptions, in turn, were related to self-reported job satisfaction and coworker ratings of employees' emotional displays on the job. Finally, neuroticism had direct negative relationships with job satisfaction and coworker ratings of employees' emotional displays.

  4. Inmigrantes. Del estado de excepción al estado de derecho (Immigrants. From the State of Siege to the Rule of Law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier De Lucas

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The evolution of migration policies in the EU shows that the so-called "spirit of Tampere" and especially the objectives of full integration, understood as a mutual negotiation process, governed by the principle of equality in all rights and the priority of the rule of law, suffer an increasing deterioration, under the double pretext of economic crisis and the withdrawal securitarian. The alternative proposed by Lochak seems clearer than ever and growing concern about particular orientation Juridical (Legislative more than case law that is tilted by the logic of "state of siege. " Against this, there is a renewed focus on the one hand, the minimum that represents respect for the principles and rules of the rule of law, but also the need to place on the political agenda of the EU mechanisms to make accessible the citizenship for immigrants La evolución de las políticas migratorias en la UE muestra que el denominado “espíritu de Tampere” y sobre todo los objetivos de una integración plena, entendida como un proceso de negociación mutua,  regido por el principio de igualdad  en todos los derechos y la prioridad de las reglas del Estado de Derecho, sufre un creciente deterioro, bajo la doble coartada de la crisis económica y del repliegue securitario. La alternativa propuesta por Lochak parece más evidente que nunca y en particular crece la preocupación por una orientación juridical (más legislativa que jurisprudencial que se inclina por la lógica del “estado de sitio”. Frente a ello, hay que volver a insistir, de un lado, en el mínimo que representa el respeto por los principios y reglas del Estado de Derecho, pero también en la necesidad de colocar en la agenda política de la UE mecanismos que hagan accesible la ciudadanía para los inmigrantes. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1739891

  5. Proceso de cicatrización de heridas de piel, campos endógenos y su relación con las heridas crónicas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claribeth Guarín Corredor

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Antecedentes. La cicatrización de heridas en piel es un proceso de alta complejidad orientado a recuperar la integridad del tejido, permitiendo su regeneración y restaurando sus funciones. Objetivo. Revisar los procesos de cicatrización normal y de heridas crónicas en la piel y su relación con las corrientes endógenas. Materiales y métodos. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos en diferentes bases de datos, la cual se hizo con base en los títulos de términos médicos (Medical Subjects Headings MESH, con la utilización de los vocablos “Wound Healing”, “Pressure Ulcer” y el subencabezado “Electrophysiology”, “Electric Stimulation” and “Skin”. Resultados. La alteración de factores intrínsecos o extrínsecos puede conducir a heridas crónicas, lo que se evidencia en cambios en el comportamiento bioeléctrico de la piel y sus características dieléctricas. La activación de la migración celular y, con esta, el proceso de cicatrización, mediante la generación de un estimulo eléctrico exógeno es posible en presencia de alteraciones de los campos endógenos. Conclusión. El proceso de cicatrización depende de múltiples factores tanto intrínsecos como extrínsecos, los cuales son fácilmente alterables. Para esto, es fundamental comprender a cabalidad el comportamiento de la piel ante una lesión y cuáles son los mecanismos que se alteran cuando se instaura una lesión crónica.

  6. Effect of ionizing radiation on apoptosis in the cortex of mouse lymph node

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Dong; Liu Jiamei; Liu Shuzheng

    1999-01-01

    Objective: To study the alteration of apoptosis in the cortex of mouse lymph node following whole body X-irradiation. Methods: The method of TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) was used to detect apoptosis the cortex of mouse lymph node. Results: The sensitivity to high and low dose ionizing radiation was distinct in different area of the cortex. Conclusion: The decrease of apoptotic cells in the inter nodular and deep cortex indicate that low dose radiation may suppress the apoptosis of T lymphocytes and play a role in immune regulation

  7. Effect of ionizing radiation on apoptosis in mouse Peyer's patches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Jiamei; Chen Dong; Liu Shuzheng

    1999-01-01

    The relationship of time-effect and dose-effect of apoptosis in mouse Peyer's patches after whole body irradiation (WBI) with different doses of X-rays was studied by the method of TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL). The results showed that the number of TUNEL positive cells in mouse Peyer's patches were significantly increased following WBI with 2 Gy irradiation, While the number of TUNEL positive cells were decreased after WBI with doses of 0.05 Gy and 0.075 Gy X-rays. the results support the view that 2 Gy irradiation promote the apoptosis of immune cells and the low doses of radiation suppress the apoptosis of immune cells

  8. Mapping of the Mouse Actin Capping Protein Beta Subunit Gene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cooper John A

    2000-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Capping protein (CP, a heterodimer of α and β subunits, is found in all eukaryotes. CP binds to the barbed ends of actin filaments in vitro and controls actin assembly and cell motility in vivo. Vertebrates have three isoforms of CPβ produced by alternatively splicing from one gene; lower organisms have one gene and one isoform. Results We isolated genomic clones corresponding to the β subunit of mouse CP and identified its chromosomal location by interspecies backcross mapping. Conclusions The CPβ gene (Cappb1 mapped to Chromosome 4 between Cdc42 and D4Mit312. Three mouse mutations, snubnose, curly tail, and cribriform degeneration, map in the vicinity of the β gene.

  9. Pharmacological and immunochemical characterization of α2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in mouse brain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteaker, Paul; Wilking, Jennifer A; Brown, Robert WB; Brennan, Robert J; Collins, Allan C; Lindstrom, Jon M; Boulter, Jim

    2009-01-01

    Aim: α2 nAChR subunit mRNA expression in mice is most intense in the olfactory bulbs and interpeduncular nucleus. We aimed to investigate the properties of α2* nAChRs in these mouse brain regions. Methods: α2 nAChR subunit-null mutant mice were engineered. Pharmacological and immunoprecipitation studies were used to determine the composition of α2 subunit-containing (α2*) nAChRs in these two regions. Results: [125I]Epibatidine (200 pmol/L) autoradiography and saturation binding demonstrated that α2 deletion reduces nAChR expression in both olfactory bulbs and interpeduncular nucleus (by 4.8±1.7 and 92±26 fmol̇mg-1 protein, respectively). Pharmacological characterization using the β2-selective drug A85380 to inhibit [125I]epibatidine binding proved inconclusive, so immunoprecipitation methods were used to further characterize α2* nAChRs. Protocols were established to immunoprecipitate β2 and β4 nAChRs. Immunoprecipitation specificity was ascertained using tissue from β2- and β4-null mutant mice, and efficacy was good (>90% of β2* and >80% of β4* nAChRs were routinely recovered). Conclusion: Immunoprecipitation experiments indicated that interpeduncular nucleus α2* nAChRs predominantly contain β2 subunits, while those in olfactory bulbs contain mainly β4 subunits. In addition, the immunoprecipitation evidence indicated that both nuclei, but especially the interpeduncular nucleus, express nAChR complexes containing both β2 and β4 subunits. PMID:19498420

  10. Controlling weapons of mass destruction through the rule of law

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanzman, E.A.

    1995-08-08

    Many who speak of the end of the Cold War emphasize the improvement in international relations when they speak of the momentous consequences of this event. According to this image, the half century since Trinity has been a period of sparse international communication during which the Eastern and Western blocs hibernated in their isolated dens of security alliances. The emphasis in the phrase ``Cold War`` was on the word ``cold,`` and relations with the former Communist regimes are now ``warm`` by comparison. It is equally valid to consider what has happened to the word ``was` in this highly descriptive phrase. While meaningful international dialogue was in a state of relative lethargy during much of the last fifty years, the military establishments of the Great Powers were actively engaged in using as much force as possible in their efforts to control world affairs, short of triggering a nuclear holocaust. Out of these military postures a tense peace ironically emerged, but the terms by which decisions were made about controlling weapons of mass destruction (i.e., nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons) were the terms of war. The thesis of this paper is that the end of the Cold War marks a shift away from reliance on military might toward an international commitment to controlling weapons,of mass destruction through the ``rule of law.`` Rawls wrote that ``legal system is a coercive order of public rules addressed to rational persons for the purpose of regulating their conduct and providing the framework for social cooperation. The regular and impartial administration of public rules, becomes the rule of law when applied to the legal system.`` Inparticular, Rawls identifies as part of this system of public rules those laws that aim to prevent free riders on the economic system and those that aim to correct such externalities as environmental pollution.``

  11. Mouse neuroblastoma cell-based model and the effect of epileptic events on calcium oscillations and neural spikes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Suhwan; Jung, Unsang; Baek, Juyoung; Lee, Sangwon; Jung, Woonggyu; Kim, Jeehyun; Kang, Shinwon

    2013-01-01

    Recently, mouse neuroblastoma cells have been considered as an attractive model for the study of human neurological and prion diseases, and they have been intensively used as a model system in different areas. For example, the differentiation of neuro2a (N2A) cells, receptor-mediated ion current, and glutamate-induced physiological responses have been actively investigated with these cells. These mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells are of interest because they grow faster than other cells of neural origin and have a number of other advantages. The calcium oscillations and neural spikes of mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells in epileptic conditions are evaluated. Based on our observations of neural spikes in these cells with our proposed imaging modality, we reported that they can be an important model in epileptic activity studies. We concluded that mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells produce epileptic spikes in vitro in the same way as those produced by neurons or astrocytes. This evidence suggests that increased levels of neurotransmitter release due to the enhancement of free calcium from 4-aminopyridine causes the mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells to produce epileptic spikes and calcium oscillations.

  12. Basic safety rule number no.2002-01

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-12-01

    The purpose of this rule is to define acceptable methods for the development of probabilistic safety assessments(P.S.A.) and proven applications of P.S.A. for operating or future pressurized water reactors (PWR type reactors) of the French nuclear power programme, incorporating available French and international experience in this area. The standing group of experts for nuclear reactors has been consulted for the drafting of this rule. (N.C.)

  13. Utilización de Sistemas Basados en Reglas y en Casos para diseñar transmisiones por tornillo sinfín // Use of rules based systems and cases based systems for worm gear design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Laureano Moya‐Rodríguez

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Las técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial se aplican hoy en día a diferentes problemas de Ingeniería,especialmente los Sistemas Basados en el Conocimiento. Entre estos últimos los más comunes son losSistemas Basados en Patrones, los Sistemas Basados en Reglas, los Sistemas Basados en Casos y losSistemas Híbridos. Los Sistemas Basados en Casos parten de problemas resueltos en un dominio deaplicación y mediante un proceso de adaptación, encuentran la solución a un nuevo problema. Estossistemas pueden ser usados con éxito para el diseño de engranajes, particularmente para el diseño detransmisiones por tornillo sin fin, sin embargo ello constituye un campo de las aplicaciones de laInteligencia Artificial aún inexplorada. En el presente trabajo se hace una comparación del uso de losSistemas Basados en Regla y los Sistemas Basados en Casos para el diseño de transmisiones portornillo sin fin y se muestran los resultados de la aplicación de los sistemas basados en regla al diseñoparticular de una transmisión por tornillo sin fin.Palabras claves: tornillo sin fin, engranajes, sistemas basados en casos, sistemas basados en reglas,inteligencia artificial.____________________________________________________________________________AbstractNowadays Artificial Intelligence techniques are applied successfully to different engineering problems,especially the “Knowledge Based Systems”. Among them the most common are the “Frame basedSystems”, “Rules Based Systems”, “Case Based Systems” and "Hybrid Systems". The “Case BasedSystems” (CBS analyze solved problems in an application domain and by means of a process ofadaptation; they find the solution to a new problem. These systems can be used successfully for thedesign of gears, particularly for designing worm gears; nevertheless it constitutes a field of the applicationsof artificial intelligence even unexplored. A comparison of the use of “Rules Based System” and

  14. Pancreatitis with normal lipase and amylase in setting of end-stage renal disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Anuj; Masood, Umair; Khan, Babar; Chawla, Kunal; Manocha, Divey

    2017-09-01

    Pancreatitis with normal lipase and amylase level is a rare phenomenon. This is especially true in patient with end-stage renal disease as lipase and amylase are renally excreted. Literature review reveals previous case report of pancreatitis with normal lipase and amylase level, however, none of them occurred in the setting of end-stage renal disease. Our case is the first such reported case of pancreatitis in such setting. Here we report a 30year old male with past medical history of end-stage renal disease who presented in emergency department with acute abdominal pain. Laboratory work up revealed normal lipase and amylase level. However, radiological work up was consistent with pancreatitis. This case report highlight the importance of taking the overall clinical picture rather than laboratory work up to rule in or rule out the diagnosis of pancreatitis. Furthermore, this should also serve an important reminder for clinicians to further investigate where clinical suspicion for pancreatitis is high. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Business rules for creating process flexibility : Mapping RIF rules and BDI rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gong, Y.; Overbeek, S.J.; Janssen, M.

    2011-01-01

    Business rules and software agents can be used for creating flexible business processes. The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) is a new W3C recommendation standard for exchanging rules among disparate systems. Yet, the impact that the introduction of RIF has on the design of flexible business processes

  16. Rule-Based Event Processing and Reaction Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paschke, Adrian; Kozlenkov, Alexander

    Reaction rules and event processing technologies play a key role in making business and IT / Internet infrastructures more agile and active. While event processing is concerned with detecting events from large event clouds or streams in almost real-time, reaction rules are concerned with the invocation of actions in response to events and actionable situations. They state the conditions under which actions must be taken. In the last decades various reaction rule and event processing approaches have been developed, which for the most part have been advanced separately. In this paper we survey reaction rule approaches and rule-based event processing systems and languages.

  17. Centralized mouse repositories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donahue, Leah Rae; Hrabe de Angelis, Martin; Hagn, Michael; Franklin, Craig; Lloyd, K C Kent; Magnuson, Terry; McKerlie, Colin; Nakagata, Naomi; Obata, Yuichi; Read, Stuart; Wurst, Wolfgang; Hörlein, Andreas; Davisson, Muriel T

    2012-10-01

    Because the mouse is used so widely for biomedical research and the number of mouse models being generated is increasing rapidly, centralized repositories are essential if the valuable mouse strains and models that have been developed are to be securely preserved and fully exploited. Ensuring the ongoing availability of these mouse strains preserves the investment made in creating and characterizing them and creates a global resource of enormous value. The establishment of centralized mouse repositories around the world for distributing and archiving these resources has provided critical access to and preservation of these strains. This article describes the common and specialized activities provided by major mouse repositories around the world.

  18. Proceso de cicatrización de heridas de piel, campos endógenos y su relación con las heridas crónicas

    OpenAIRE

    Guarín Corredor, Claribeth; Quiroga Santamaría, Paola; Landinez Parra, Nancy Stella

    2014-01-01

    Antecedentes. La cicatrización de heridas en piel es un proceso de alta complejidad orientado a recuperar la integridad del tejido, permitiendo su regeneración y restaurando sus funciones. Objetivo. Revisar los procesos de cicatrización normal y de heridas crónicas en la piel y su relación con las corrientes endógenas. Materiales y métodos. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos en diferentes bases de datos, la cual se hizo con base en los títulos de términos médicos (Medical Subjects Headings)...

  19. Privacy-Preserving Detection of Inter-Domain SDN Rules Overlaps

    KAUST Repository

    Dethise, Arnaud

    2017-08-24

    SDN approaches to inter-domain routing promise better traffic engineering, enhanced security, and higher automation. Yet, naïve deployment of SDN on the Internet is dangerous as the control-plane expressiveness of BGP is significantly more limited than the data-plane expressiveness of SDN, which allows fine-grained rules to deflect traffic from BGP\\'s default routes. This mismatch may lead to incorrect forwarding behaviors such as forwarding loops and blackholes, ultimately hindering SDN deployment at the inter-domain level. In this work, we make a first step towards verifying the correctness of inter-domain forwarding state with a focus on loop freedom while keeping private the SDN rules, as they comprise confidential routing information. To this end, we design a simple yet powerful primitive that allows two networks to verify whether their SDN rules overlap, i.e., the set of packets matched by these rules is non-empty, without leaking any information about the SDN rules. We propose an efficient implementation of this primitive by using recent advancements in Secure Multi-Party Computation and we then leverage it as the main building block for designing a system that detects Internet-wide forwarding loops among any set of SDN-enabled Internet eXchange Points.

  20. An investigation of some quantum systems using modified quantization rule form

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maiz, F., E-mail: fethimaiz@gmail.com [University of Cartage, Nabeul Engineering Preparatory Institute, Merazka, 8000 Nabeul (Tunisia); King Khalid University, Faculty of Science, Physics Department, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413 (Saudi Arabia)

    2014-09-15

    We propose a new simple quantization rule form: J{sub n}=nπ+δ(n), for exactly solvable and nonsolvable quantum systems. Here, J{sub n} is the momentum integral between two turning points, n the principal quantum number, and δ(n) is a function of potential parameters and n. This new quantization rule form is a generalization of the conventional one, already developed for exactly solvable quantum systems. We found that δ(n) is a constant independent of n for exactly solvable quantum systems. We carry out the expression of δ(n) for V-shape potential, and show that it takes this form δ(n)=(π/2)+(1/a+bn+cn{sup 2}) for anharmonic oscillators potential V(x)=αx{sup p}+βx{sup 2}.

  1. Vigencia de recursos endógenos en la producción social de la vivienda rural

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Calla García

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available El objeto de estudio de la presente investigación es la Vivienda Rural en la Cuenca del Río Desaguadero y el Lago Poopo, que abarca doce provincias de los departamentos de La Paz y Oruro en la región del Altiplano central de Bolivia, donde se asienta una población mayoritariamente de origen indígena con altos índices de pobreza. En este contexto, la vivienda es una de las expresiones más importantes de la cultura y uno de los elementos más representativos del grado de desarrollo existente. Se aborda el problema a partir de procesos fenomenológicos socio-culturales, físico-espaciales y tecnológicos asociados a la dinámica de la concepción espacial y material de la vivienda, valorando principalmente la articulación del sitio habitable con sus moradores, su cultura y su área productiva; para identificar y sistematizar un conjunto de recursos endógenos del proceso de producción social del hábitat y la vivienda y encontrar nuevos paradigmas que incorporen aspectos como el capital social, el arraigo cultural, la percepción espacial, sus preferencias de uso y la materialidad de la construcción; aspectos que se involucran, se contraponen o se identifican con las transformaciones contemporáneas Como resultado de la investigación se propone un conjunto de lineamientos, programas, acciones y proyectos para contribuir a revertir la situación de precariedad habitacional y su impacto negativo en el bienestar de los habitantes, y demostrar que es posible construir políticas públicas de mejoramiento habitacional recreando sus propios paradigmas, adoptando dinámicas endógenas con adecuación cultural y adaptándolas a los desafíos actuales, como bases de un desarrollo local propio

  2. Downregulation of mouse CCR3 by lentiviral shRNA inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of mouse eosinophils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Xin-Hua; Liao, Bing; Xu, Yi; Liu, Ke; Huang, Yun; Huang, Quan-Long; Liu, Yue-Hui

    2017-02-01

    RNA interference has been considered as an effective gene silencing method in basic and preclinical investigations. The aims of the present study were to construct a lentiviral vector expressing a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting the murine CC chemokine receptor 3 (mCCR3), and to investigate its effects on the proliferation and apoptosis of mouse eosinophils. A recombinant lentiviral vector expressing four fragments of mouse CCR3 shRNA (pLVX‑mCCR3‑1+2+3+4‑shRNA) was constructed using subcloning techniques. This novel lentivirus was then packaged into 293T cells by co‑transduction with plasmids, including Baculo p35, pCMV R8.2 and VSV. The interference effects of the vector were verified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and western blot analyses. The effects of the interference on the proliferation and apoptosis of mouse eosinophils were investigated using 3‑(4,5‑dimethylthiazol‑2‑yl)‑5‑(3‑carboxymethoxyphenyl)‑2‑(4‑sulfophenyl)‑2H‑tetrazolium and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling methods, respectively. The results of the PCR and western blot analyses confirmed that the novel recombinant vector, pLVX‑mCCR3‑1+2+3+4‑shRNA, had high efficiency in inhibiting the mRNA and protein expression levels of mCCR3 in mouse eosinophils. The downregulation of mCCR3 significantly inhibited proliferation of the eosinophils. Furthermore, the present study found that the downregulation of mCCR3 significantly promoted apoptosis of the eosinophils. Therefore, the downregulation of mCCR3 led to the inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in mouse eosinophils. The predominant characteristics of allergic rhinitis are eosinophil infiltration and release of inflammatory mediators, which appear in a variety of clinical manifestations. The results of the present study indicate that mCCR3 silencing may serve as a putative approach for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

  3. Mechanisms of rule acquisition and rule following in inductive reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crescentini, Cristiano; Seyed-Allaei, Shima; De Pisapia, Nicola; Jovicich, Jorge; Amati, Daniele; Shallice, Tim

    2011-05-25

    Despite the recent interest in the neuroanatomy of inductive reasoning processes, the regional specificity within prefrontal cortex (PFC) for the different mechanisms involved in induction tasks remains to be determined. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate the contribution of PFC regions to rule acquisition (rule search and rule discovery) and rule following. Twenty-six healthy young adult participants were presented with a series of images of cards, each consisting of a set of circles numbered in sequence with one colored blue. Participants had to predict the position of the blue circle on the next card. The rules that had to be acquired pertained to the relationship among succeeding stimuli. Responses given by subjects were categorized in a series of phases either tapping rule acquisition (responses given up to and including rule discovery) or rule following (correct responses after rule acquisition). Mid-dorsolateral PFC (mid-DLPFC) was active during rule search and remained active until successful rule acquisition. By contrast, rule following was associated with activation in temporal, motor, and medial/anterior prefrontal cortex. Moreover, frontopolar cortex (FPC) was active throughout the rule acquisition and rule following phases before a rule became familiar. We attributed activation in mid-DLPFC to hypothesis generation and in FPC to integration of multiple separate inferences. The present study provides evidence that brain activation during inductive reasoning involves a complex network of frontal processes and that different subregions respond during rule acquisition and rule following phases.

  4. N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced null mutation at the mouse Car-2 locus: An animal model for human carbonic anhydrase II deficiency syndrome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewis, S.E.; Barnett, L.B.; Erickson, R.P.; Venta, P.J.; Tashian, R.E.

    1988-01-01

    Electrophoretic screening of (C57BL/6J x DBA/2J)F 1 progeny of male mice treated with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea revealed a mouse that lacked the paternal carbonic anhydrase II (Ca II). Breeding tests showed that this trait was heritable and due to a null mutation at the Car-2 locus on chromosome 3. Like humans with the same inherited enzyme defect, animals homozygous for the new null allele are runted and have renal tubular acidosis. However, the prominent osteopetrosis found in humans with CA II deficiency could be detected even in very old homozygous null mice. A molecular analysis of the deficient mice shows that the mutant gene is not deleted and is transcribed. The CA II protein, which is normally expressed in most tissues, could not be detected by immunodiffusion analysis in any tissues of the CA II-deficient mice, suggesting a nonsense or a missense mutation at the Car-2 locus

  5. The Franco Regime, a State subject to the Rule of Law?: notes on the evolution of the dictatorship's political language during the 1960s | Franquismo, ¿Estado de Derecho?: notas sobre la renovación del lenguaje político de la dictadura durante los años 60

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolás Sesma Landrin

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available The Franco regime continually modified its political language in order to adapt to changing international circumstances. To this end, towards the end of the 1950s it began to use the term Estado de Derecho (a state subject to the rule of law to define the nature of its legal-political system. This article examines the reaction that this use, not unprecedented in Catholic and Falangist policy, was to cause at the core of the international community. Specifically, we focus our attention on the report on The Rule of Law in Spain prepared by the International Committee of Jurists, a consultative body of the United Nations, as well as on the official response from the Franco regime, prepared by the Institute of Political Studies. | El régimen franquista fue renovando su lenguaje político como parte de su permanente proceso de adaptación a las circunstancias internacionales. En este sentido, desde finales de los años cincuenta comenzó a servirse del concepto de «Estado de Derecho» para definir la naturaleza de su ordenamiento jurídico-político. El presente artículo analiza las reacciones que dicha utilización, que contaba con algunos antecedentes en la cultura política católica y falangista, provocó en el seno de la comunidad internacional. En concreto, centramos nuestra atención en el informe que sobre El Imperio de la Ley en España elaboró la Comisión Internacional de Juristas, organismo consultivo de las Naciones Unidas, así como en la correspondiente respuesta oficial del franquismo, redactada por el Instituto de Estudios Políticos.

  6. Medicare program; revision to accrual basis of accounting policy. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), HHS. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-09-27

    Medicare policy provides that payroll taxes that a provider becomes obligated to remit to governmental agencies are included in allowable costs only in the cost reporting period in which payment (upon which the payroll taxes are based) is actually made to an employee. Therefore, for payroll accrued in 1 year but not paid until the next year, the associated payroll taxes are not an allowable cost until the next year. This final rule provides for an exception when payment would be made to the employee in the current year but for the fact the regularly scheduled payment date is after the end of the year. In that case, the rule requires allowance in the current year of accrued taxes on payroll that is accrued through the end of the year but not paid until the beginning of the next year, thus allowing accrued taxes on end-of-the year payroll in the same year that the accrual of the payroll itself is allowed. The effect of this rule is not on the allowability of cost but rather only on the timing of payment; that is, the cost of payroll taxes on end-of-the-year payroll is allowable in the current period rather than in the following period.

  7. Accelerated high-frame-rate mouse heart cine-MRI using compressed sensing reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motaal, Abdallah G; Coolen, Bram F; Abdurrachim, Desiree; Castro, Rui M; Prompers, Jeanine J; Florack, Luc M J; Nicolay, Klaas; Strijkers, Gustav J

    2013-04-01

    We introduce a new protocol to obtain very high-frame-rate cinematographic (Cine) MRI movies of the beating mouse heart within a reasonable measurement time. The method is based on a self-gated accelerated fast low-angle shot (FLASH) acquisition and compressed sensing reconstruction. Key to our approach is that we exploit the stochastic nature of the retrospective triggering acquisition scheme to produce an undersampled and random k-t space filling that allows for compressed sensing reconstruction and acceleration. As a standard, a self-gated FLASH sequence with a total acquisition time of 10 min was used to produce single-slice Cine movies of seven mouse hearts with 90 frames per cardiac cycle. Two times (2×) and three times (3×) k-t space undersampled Cine movies were produced from 2.5- and 1.5-min data acquisitions, respectively. The accelerated 90-frame Cine movies of mouse hearts were successfully reconstructed with a compressed sensing algorithm. The movies had high image quality and the undersampling artifacts were effectively removed. Left ventricular functional parameters, i.e. end-systolic and end-diastolic lumen surface areas and early-to-late filling rate ratio as a parameter to evaluate diastolic function, derived from the standard and accelerated Cine movies, were nearly identical. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Effective PCR-based detection of Naegleria fowleri from cultured sample and PAM-developed mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Heekyoung; Seong, Gi-Sang; Sohn, Hae-Jin; Kim, Jong-Hyun; Lee, Sang-Eun; Park, Mi Yeoun; Lee, Won-Ja; Shin, Ho-Joon

    2015-10-01

    Increasing numbers of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) cases due to Naegleria fowleri are becoming a serious issue in subtropical and tropical countries as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD). To establish a rapid and effective diagnostic tool, a PCR-based detection technique was developed based on previous PCR methods. Four kinds of primer pairs, Nfa1, Nae3, Nf-ITS, and Naegl, were employed in the cultured amoebic trophozoites and a mouse with PAM experimentally developed by N. fowleri inoculation (PAM-mouse). For the extraction of genomic DNA from N. fowleri trophozoites (1×10(6)), simple boiling with 10μl of PBS (pH 7.4) at 100°C for 30min was found to be the most rapid and efficient procedure, allowing amplification of 2.5×10(2) trophozoites using the Nfa-1 primer. The primers Nfa1 and Nae3 amplified only N. fowleri DNA, whereas the ITS primer detected N. fowleri and N. gruberi DNA. Using the PAM-mouse brain tissue, the Nfa1 primer was able to amplify the N. fowleri DNA 4 days post infection with 1ng/μl of genomic DNA being detectable. Using the PAM-mouse CSF, amplification of the N. fowleri DNA with the Nae3 primer was possible 5 days post infection showing a better performance than the Nfa1 primer at day 6. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  9. Phonological reduplication in sign language: rules rule

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iris eBerent

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Productivity—the hallmark of linguistic competence—is typically attributed to algebraic rules that support broad generalizations. Past research on spoken language has documented such generalizations in both adults and infants. But whether algebraic rules form part of the linguistic competence of signers remains unknown. To address this question, here we gauge the generalization afforded by American Sign Language (ASL. As a case study, we examine reduplication (X→XX—a rule that, inter alia, generates ASL nouns from verbs. If signers encode this rule, then they should freely extend it to novel syllables, including ones with features that are unattested in ASL. And since reduplicated disyllables are preferred in ASL, such rule should favor novel reduplicated signs. Novel reduplicated signs should thus be preferred to nonreduplicative controls (in rating, and consequently, such stimuli should also be harder to classify as nonsigns (in the lexical decision task. The results of four experiments support this prediction. These findings suggest that the phonological knowledge of signers includes powerful algebraic rules. The convergence between these conclusions and previous evidence for phonological rules in spoken language suggests that the architecture of the phonological mind is partly amodal.

  10. Gender-Based Behavioral Analysis for End-User Development and the "RULES" Attributes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzafilkou, Katerina; Protogeros, Nicolaos; Karagiannidis, Charalampos; Koumpis, Adamantios

    2017-01-01

    This paper addresses the role of gender in End-User Development (EUD) environments and examines whether there are gender differences in performance and in correlations between performance and a set of behavioral attributes. Based on a review of the most prominent EUD-related behavioral Human Computer Interaction (HCI) theories, and the influence…

  11. Development and Matching of Binocular Orientation Preference in Mouse V1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basabi eBhaumik

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Eye-specific thalamic inputs converge in the primary visual cortex (V1 and form the basis of binocular vision. For normal binocular perceptions, such as depth and stereopsis, binocularly matched orientation preference between the two eyes is required. A critical period of binocular matching of orientation preference in mice during normal development is reported in literature. Using a reaction diffusion model we present the development of RF and orientation selectivity in mouse V1 and investigate the binocular orientation preference matching during the critical period. At the onset of the critical period the preferred orientations of the modeled cells are mostly mismatched in the two eyes and the mismatch decreases and reaches levels reported in juvenile mouse by the end of the critical period. At the end of critical period 39% of cells in binocular zone in our model cortex is orientation selective. In literature around 40% cortical cells are reported as orientation selective in mouse V1. The starting and the closing time for critical period determine the orientation preference alignment between the two eyes and orientation tuning in cortical cells. The absence of near neighbor interaction among cortical cells during the development of thalmo-cortical wiring causes a salt and pepper organization in the orientation preference map in mice. It also results in much lower % of orientation selective cells in mice as compared to ferrets and cats having organized orientation maps with pinwheels.

  12. Development and matching of binocular orientation preference in mouse V1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhaumik, Basabi; Shah, Nishal P

    2014-01-01

    Eye-specific thalamic inputs converge in the primary visual cortex (V1) and form the basis of binocular vision. For normal binocular perceptions, such as depth and stereopsis, binocularly matched orientation preference between the two eyes is required. A critical period of binocular matching of orientation preference in mice during normal development is reported in literature. Using a reaction diffusion model we present the development of RF and orientation selectivity in mouse V1 and investigate the binocular orientation preference matching during the critical period. At the onset of the critical period the preferred orientations of the modeled cells are mostly mismatched in the two eyes and the mismatch decreases and reaches levels reported in juvenile mouse by the end of the critical period. At the end of critical period 39% of cells in binocular zone in our model cortex is orientation selective. In literature around 40% cortical cells are reported as orientation selective in mouse V1. The starting and the closing time for critical period determine the orientation preference alignment between the two eyes and orientation tuning in cortical cells. The absence of near neighbor interaction among cortical cells during the development of thalamo-cortical wiring causes a salt and pepper organization in the orientation preference map in mice. It also results in much lower % of orientation selective cells in mice as compared to ferrets and cats having organized orientation maps with pinwheels.

  13. Low-energy proton stopping power of N2, O2, and water vapor, and deviations from Bragg's rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Y.J.; Khandelwal, G.S.; Wilson, J.W.

    1984-01-01

    A modified local-plasma model, based on the works of Lindhard and Winther, and Bethe, Brown, and Walske is established. The Gordon-Kim model for molecular-electron density is used to calculate stopping power of N 2 , O 2 , and water vapor for protons of energy ranging from 40 keV to 2.5 MeV, resulting in good agreement with experimental data. Deviations from Bragg's rule are evaluated and are discussed under the present theoretical model

  14. Parity of Θ+(1540) from QCD sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Su Houng; Kim, Hungchong; Kwon, Youngshin

    2005-01-01

    The QCD sum rule for the pentaquark Θ + , first analyzed by Sugiyama, Doi and Oka, is reanalyzed with a phenomenological side that explicitly includes the contribution from the two-particle reducible kaon-nucleon intermediate state. The magnitude for the overlap of the Θ + interpolating current with the kaon-nucleon state is obtained by using soft-kaon theorem and a separate sum rule for the ground state nucleon with the pentaquark nucleon interpolating current. It is found that the K-N intermediate state constitutes only 10% of the sum rule so that the original claim that the parity of Θ + is negative remains valid

  15. Is the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’ of ecological field studies reliable? A call for greater attention to the variability in our data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martínez–Abraín, A.

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available A common practice of experimental design in field ecology, which relies on the Central Limit Theorem, is the use of the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’. I show here that papers published in Animal Biodiversity and Conservation during the period 2010–2013 adjust to this rule. Samples collected around this relatively small size have the advantage of coupling statistically–significant results with large effect sizes, which is positive because field researchers are commonly interested in large ecological effects. However, the power to detect a large effect size depends not only on sample size but, importantly, also on between–population variability. By means of a hypothetical example, I show here that the statistical power is little affected by small–medium variance changes between populations. However, power decreases abruptly beyond a certain threshold, which I identify roughly around a five–fold difference in variance between populations. Hence, researchers should explore variance profiles of their study populations to make sure beforehand that their study populations lies within the safe zone to use the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’. Otherwise, sample size should be increased beyond 30, even to detect large effect sizes.

  16. 18 CFR 385.104 - Rule of construction (Rule 104).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Definitions § 385.104 Rule of construction (Rule 104). To the extent that the text of a rule is inconsistent with its caption, the text of the rule controls. [Order 376, 49 FR 21705, May 23, 1984] ...

  17. Cutkosky rules for superstring field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pius, Roji; Sen, Ashoke

    2016-01-01

    Superstring field theory expresses the perturbative S-matrix of superstring theory as a sum of Feynman diagrams each of which is manifestly free from ultraviolet divergences. The interaction vertices fall off exponentially for large space-like external momenta making the ultraviolet finiteness property manifest, but blow up exponentially for large time-like external momenta making it impossible to take the integration contours for loop energies to lie along the real axis. This forces us to carry out the integrals over the loop energies by choosing appropriate contours in the complex plane whose ends go to infinity along the imaginary axis but which take complicated form in the interior navigating around the various poles of the propagators. We consider the general class of quantum field theories with this property and prove Cutkosky rules for the amplitudes to all orders in perturbation theory. Besides having applications to string field theory, these results also give an alternative derivation of Cutkosky rules in ordinary quantum field theories.

  18. Preschoolers can infer general rules governing fantastical events in fiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van de Vondervoort, Julia W; Friedman, Ori

    2014-05-01

    Young children are frequently exposed to fantastic fiction. How do they make sense of the unrealistic and impossible events that occur in such fiction? Although children could view such events as isolated episodes, the present experiments suggest that children use such events to infer general fantasy rules. In 2 experiments, 2- to 4-year-olds were shown scenarios in which 2 animals behaved unrealistically (N = 78 in Experiment 1, N = 94 in Experiment 2). When asked to predict how other animals in the fiction would behave, children predicted novel behaviors consistent with the nature of the fiction. These findings suggest that preschoolers can infer the general rules that govern the events and entities in fantastic fiction and can use these rules to predict what events will happen in the fiction. The findings also provide evidence that children may infer fantasy rules at a more superordinate level than the basic level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. FeynRules - Feynman rules made easy

    OpenAIRE

    Christensen, Neil D.; Duhr, Claude

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we present FeynRules, a new Mathematica package that facilitates the implementation of new particle physics models. After the user implements the basic model information (e.g. particle content, parameters and Lagrangian), FeynRules derives the Feynman rules and stores them in a generic form suitable for translation to any Feynman diagram calculation program. The model can then be translated to the format specific to a particular Feynman diagram calculator via F...

  20. A scaling analysis of a cat and mouse Markov chain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Litvak, Nelli; Robert, Philippe

    Motivated by an original on-line page-ranking algorithm, starting from an arbitrary Markov chain $(C_n)$ on a discrete state space ${\\cal S}$, a Markov chain $(C_n,M_n)$ on the product space ${\\cal S}^2$, the cat and mouse Markov chain, is constructed. The first coordinate of this Markov chain

  1. Influence of age, irradiation and humanization on NSG mouse phenotypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaclyn S. Knibbe-Hollinger

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Humanized mice are frequently utilized in bench to bedside therapeutic tests to combat human infectious, cancerous and degenerative diseases. For the fields of hematology-oncology, regenerative medicine, and infectious diseases, the immune deficient mice have been used commonly in basic research efforts. Obstacles in true translational efforts abound, as the relationship between mouse and human cells in disease pathogenesis and therapeutic studies requires lengthy investigations. The interplay between human immunity and mouse biology proves ever more complicated when aging, irradiation, and human immune reconstitution are considered. All can affect a range of biochemical and behavioral functions. To such ends, we show age- and irradiation-dependent influences for the development of macrocytic hyper chromic anemia, myelodysplasia, blood protein reductions and body composition changes. Humanization contributes to hematologic abnormalities. Home cage behavior revealed day and dark cycle locomotion also influenced by human cell reconstitutions. Significant age-related day-to-day variability in movement, feeding and drinking behaviors were observed. We posit that this data serves to enable researchers to better design translational studies in this rapidly emerging field of mouse humanization.

  2. Random walkers with extreme value memory: modelling the peak-end rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Rosemary J.

    2015-05-01

    Motivated by the psychological literature on the ‘peak-end rule’ for remembered experience, we perform an analysis within a random walk framework of a discrete choice model where agents’ future choices depend on the peak memory of their past experiences. In particular, we use this approach to investigate whether increased noise/disruption always leads to more switching between decisions. Here extreme value theory illuminates different classes of dynamics indicating that the long-time behaviour is dependent on the scale used for reflection; this could have implications, for example, in questionnaire design.

  3. The Influence of N-acetylcysteine and Gender-Related Differences on the Radiosensitivity of Mouse Lymphocytes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Shamy, E.; El-Kabany, H.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of the present study is to evaluate the possible efficiency of 200 mg/kg body weight N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on the radiosensitivity of mouse lymphocytes considering gender factor. The half of blood sample from mice was exposed to gamma-radiation (2 Gy). The time course of lymphocyte apotosis of irradiated samples was examined in vitro by flow cytometry and compared with lymphocytes from non-irradiated remaining half of samples. Kinetics of radiation-induced apoptosis was similar among groups, which peaked at 8 h. NAC protected irradiated lymphocytes in male mice. Lymphocytes from female mice were highly radiation resistant compared to males and the NAC provided no additional benefit at the doses used in this study. These results highlight that radiation-induced apoptosis is complex and is modified by the radio protector and gender.

  4. Jumping Stand Apparatus Reveals Rapidly Specific Age-Related Cognitive Impairments in Mouse Lemur Primates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Luc Picq

    Full Text Available The mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus is a promising primate model for investigating normal and pathological cerebral aging. The locomotor behavior of this arboreal primate is characterized by jumps to and from trunks and branches. Many reports indicate insufficient adaptation of the mouse lemur to experimental devices used to evaluate its cognition, which is an impediment to the efficient use of this animal in research. In order to develop cognitive testing methods appropriate to the behavioral and biological traits of this species, we adapted the Lashley jumping stand apparatus, initially designed for rats, to the mouse lemur. We used this jumping stand apparatus to compare performances of young (n = 12 and aged (n = 8 adults in acquisition and long-term retention of visual discriminations. All mouse lemurs completed the tasks and only 25 trials, on average, were needed to master the first discrimination problem with no age-related differences. A month later, all mouse lemurs made progress for acquiring the second discrimination problem but only the young group reached immediately the criterion in the retention test of the first discrimination problem. This study shows that the jumping stand apparatus allows rapid and efficient evaluation of cognition in mouse lemurs and demonstrates that about half of the old mouse lemurs display a specific deficit in long-term retention but not in acquisition of visual discrimination.

  5. A scaling analysis of a cat and mouse Markov chain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Litvak, Nelli; Robert, Philippe

    2012-01-01

    If ($C_n$) a Markov chain on a discrete state space $S$, a Markov chain ($C_n, M_n$) on the product space $S \\times S$, the cat and mouse Markov chain, is constructed. The first coordinate of this Markov chain behaves like the original Markov chain and the second component changes only when both

  6. Energetics, thermoregulation and torpor in the Chilean mouse-opossum Thylamys elegans (Didelphidae Energética, termorregulación y sopor en la yaca Thylamys elegans (Didelphidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Bozinovic

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we studied the energetic expenditure and thermoregulation of the Chilean mouse-opossum Thylamys elegans (Dielphidae a nocturnal small marsupial, endemic of southern South America. We studied their standard energetic and determined whether they exhibit shallow daily torpor or deep prolonged torpor as a function of ambient temperature and food availability. Thylamys elegans partially supports the hypothesis that Neotropical marsupials have somewhat a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR and thermal conductance (Cm than Australian ones. In fact, BMR was higher but Cm was lower than expected for their body mass. The higher mass-independent BMR of the Chilean mouse-opossum may be explained by its insectivorous food habits and its low Cm by its temperate habitats. Euthermic Chilean mouse-opossum showed daily fluctuations in body temperature being significantly higher during night time. In addition T. elegans entered in daily torpor and aroused spontaneously only was food was absent. That is, this species display a facultative type of daily torpor because propensity to enter in torpor was dependent of the combination of food absence and low ambient temperature. No torpor was observed when food was available. During torpor ambient temperature was slightly above ambient temperature between 0.3 to 0.5 °C. Torpor in this species as well as in marsupials in general, appears to be a flexible and an opportunistic response to unpredictable environmental conditionsEstudiamos la energética y termorregulación de Thylamys elegans o "yaca" (Dielphidae un marsupial pequeño y endémico de Sudamérica. Estudiamos su energética estándar y determinamos si presentan estados de sopor superficial o profundo en función de la temperatura ambiente y la disponibilidad de alimento. Thylamys elegans apoya de manera parcial la hipótesis que sostiene que los marsupiales Neotropicales poseen tasas metabólicas basales (BMR y conductancias térmicas (Cm mas altas

  7. Peak and end effects in patients' daily recall of pain and fatigue: a within-subjects analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Stefan; Stone, Arthur A; Schwartz, Joseph E; Broderick, Joan E

    2011-02-01

    Clinical research often relies on retrospective recall of symptom levels, but the information contained in these ratings is not well understood. The "peak-and-end rule" suggests that the most intense (peak) and final (end) moments of an experience disproportionately influence retrospective judgments, which may bias self-reports of somatic symptoms. This study examined the extent to which peak and end symptom levels systematically affect patients' day-to-day recall of pain and fatigue. Rheumatology patients (N = 97) completed 5 to 6 momentary ratings of pain and fatigue per day as well as a daily recall rating of these symptoms for 28 consecutive days. For pain, peak and end momentary ratings predicted daily recall of average pain beyond the actual average of momentary ratings. This effect was small, yet was confirmed in both between-person and within-person (repeated measures) analyses. For fatigue, neither peak nor end momentary symptoms significantly contributed to daily recall. Of note, the evidence for peak- and end-effects in recall of pain and fatigue varied significantly between individual patients. These findings suggest that peak- and end-effects create a small bias in recall reports of pain, but not fatigue. However, there are considerable individual differences in susceptibility to peak and end heuristics. The peak-end cognitive heuristic could bias end-of-day recall of pain and fatigue. An effect was shown for pain, but not for fatigue. The effects were small and were unlikely to substantially bias end-of-day assessments. Individuals were shown to differ in the degree that the heuristic was associated with recall. Copyright © 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Proportional Reasoning and Rule-Governed Behavior with the Balance Beam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maloney, David P.

    1983-01-01

    Examined relation between college students' (N=108) ability to solve simple ratio tasks (for example, their proportional reasoning patterns) and their rule-governed behavior with the balance beam. Also identified modifications in a set of rules for the balance beam tasks. Results and implications for science instruction are discussed. (JN)

  9. Failure of catalase to protect against aflatoxin B1-induced mouse lung tumorigenicity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guindon, Katherine A.; Foley, Julie F.; Maronpot, Robert R.; Massey, Thomas E.

    2008-01-01

    The carcinogenic mycotoxin aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) induces 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) formation in mouse lung, an effect that can be prevented by treatment with polyethylene glycol-conjugated catalase (PEG-CAT). G → T transversion mutation in K-ras, an early event in AFB 1 -induced mouse lung carcinogenesis, is thought to result from AFB 1 -8,9-exo-epoxide binding to DNA to form AFB 1 -N 7 -guanine, but may also result from formation of 8-OHdG. Therefore, oxidative DNA damage may be important in AFB 1 carcinogenicity. The objective of this study was to determine whether PEG-CAT would prevent AFB 1 tumorigenicity. Mouse lung tumorigenesis was assessed following treatment of female A/J mice with 300 kU/kg PEG-CAT ip and/or 50 mg/kg AFB 1 . Mice were killed 7 months post-treatment and tumors greater than 1 mm in diameter were excised. Unexpectedly, the mean number of tumors per mouse in the PEG-CAT + AFB 1 group (8.81 ± 3.64, n = 47) was greater than that of the group treated with AFB 1 alone (7.05 ± 3.45, n = 42) (P 1 were larger than those from mice treated with AFB 1 alone (P 1 and PEG-CAT + AFB 1 groups (P > 0.05). In vitro incubation with mouse liver catalase (CAT) resulted in conversion of [ 3 H]AFB 1 into a DNA-binding species, a possible explanation for the results observed in vivo. These results demonstrate that PEG-CAT is not protective against AFB 1 carcinogenicity in mouse lung despite preventing DNA oxidation

  10. Synthesis of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea linked to a methidium chloride analogue and its reactions with 32P-end-labeled DNA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konakahara, T.; Wurdeman, R.L.; Gold, B.

    1988-01-01

    The synthesis and characterization of an N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) analogue that is covalently linked to methidium nucleus (9) is described. At 37/degrees/C in pH 8.0 buffer 9 hydrolyzes via pseudo-first-order kinetics, with a calculated t/sub 1/2/ = 77 min. By use of polyacrylamide sequencing gels the formation of piperidine-labile N 7 -methylguanine adducts from the reaction of 9 and MNU with 5'- 32 P-end-labeled DNA restriction fragments is reported. DNA methylation by 9 in 10 mM Tris buffer is enhanced with increasing ionic strength (50-200 mM NaCl), which contrasts to the inhibition of MNU-induced cleavage with increasing salt. In addition, 9 methylates all G sites equally, while MNU shows a clear preference for d(G)/sub n/ (n ≥ 3) runs and an asymmetrical methylation pattern within these G-rich regions. The results are discussed in terms of the delivery of the MNU moiety to the DNA target by a non-sequence-specific intercalation process and the subsequent hydrolytic generation of a nondiffusible alkylating intermediate

  11. Analysis of the relationship between end-to-end distance and activity of single-chain antibody against colorectal carcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianhua; Liu, Shanhong; Shang, Zhigang; Shi, Li; Yun, Jun

    2012-08-22

    We investigated the relationship of End-to-end distance between VH and VL with different peptide linkers and the activity of single-chain antibodies by computer-aided simulation. First, we developed (G4S)n (where n = 1-9) as the linker to connect VH and VL, and estimated the 3D structure of single-chain Fv antibody (scFv) by homologous modeling. After molecular models were evaluated and optimized, the coordinate system of every protein was built and unified into one coordinate system, and End-to-end distances calculated using 3D space coordinates. After expression and purification of scFv-n with (G4S)n as n = 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9, the immunoreactivity of purified ND-1 scFv-n was determined by ELISA. A multi-factorial relationship model was employed to analyze the structural factors affecting scFv: rn=ABn-ABO2+CDn-CDO2+BCn-BCst2. The relationship between immunoreactivity and r-values revealed that fusion protein structure approached the desired state when the r-value = 3. The immunoreactivity declined as the r-value increased, but when the r-value exceeded a certain threshold, it stabilized. We used a linear relationship to analyze structural factors affecting scFv immunoreactivity.

  12. Quantization rules for strongly chaotic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aurich, R.; Bolte, J.

    1992-09-01

    We discuss the quantization of strongly chaotic systems and apply several quantization rules to a model system given by the unconstrained motion of a particle on a compact surface of constant negative Gaussian curvature. We study the periodic-orbit theory for distinct symmetry classes corresponding to a parity operation which is always present when such a surface has genus two. Recently, several quantization rules based on periodic orbit theory have been introduced. We compare quantizations using the dynamical zeta function Z(s) with the quantization condition cos(π N(E)) = 0, where a periodix-orbit expression for the spectral staircase N(E) is used. A general discussion of the efficiency of periodic-orbit quantization then allows us to compare the different methods. The system dependence of the efficiency, which is determined by the topological entropy τ and the mean level density anti d(E), is emphasized. (orig.)

  13. Electroretinographic genotype-phenotype correlations for mouse and man at the dmd/DMD locus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Millers, D.M.; Weleber, R.G.; Woodward, W.R. [Oregon Health Sciences Univ., Portland, OR (United States)] [and others

    1994-09-01

    Reduced or absent b-waves in the dark-adapted electroretinogram (ERG) of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) patients led to the identification of dystrophin in human retina and the proposal that it plays a role in retinal electrophysiology. Study of a large group of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy males to determine their ocular characteristics indicated that there were position-specific effects of deletions, with 3{prime} defects associated with severe electroretinographic changes, whereas some 5{prime} patients demonstrated less severe, or even normal, ERGs. We studied the mdx mouse, a model with X-linked muscular dystrophy and defective full-length dystrophin, which failed to show any ERG abnormalities. Given the presence of alternate isoforms of dystrophin in retina, and the 5{prime} deletion DMD/BMD patients with normal ERGs, we studied mouse models with differing dystrophin mutations (mdx{sup Cv3}, mdx{sup Cv5}) to determine the usefulness of alternate strains as models for the visual effects of dystropin. Abnormal ERGs similar to those seen in DMD/BMS patients exist in the mdx{sup Cv3} strain of muscular dystrophy mice. Normal ERGs were found the mdx{sup Cv5} strain. The mutations in the mdx and mdx{sup Cv5} mice have been mapped to the 5{prime} end of the dmd gene, while the mutation in the mdx{sup Cv3} mouse is in the 3{prime} end. Thus, there are position effects of the gene defect on the ERG phenotype that are conserved in the mouse. Such genotype-phenotype correlations may reflect differential expression of shorter isoforms of dystrophin.

  14. Kuramoto model with uniformly spaced frequencies: Finite-N asymptotics of the locking threshold.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ottino-Löffler, Bertrand; Strogatz, Steven H

    2016-06-01

    We study phase locking in the Kuramoto model of coupled oscillators in the special case where the number of oscillators, N, is large but finite, and the oscillators' natural frequencies are evenly spaced on a given interval. In this case, stable phase-locked solutions are known to exist if and only if the frequency interval is narrower than a certain critical width, called the locking threshold. For infinite N, the exact value of the locking threshold was calculated 30 years ago; however, the leading corrections to it for finite N have remained unsolved analytically. Here we derive an asymptotic formula for the locking threshold when N≫1. The leading correction to the infinite-N result scales like either N^{-3/2} or N^{-1}, depending on whether the frequencies are evenly spaced according to a midpoint rule or an end-point rule. These scaling laws agree with numerical results obtained by Pazó [D. Pazó, Phys. Rev. E 72, 046211 (2005)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.72.046211]. Moreover, our analysis yields the exact prefactors in the scaling laws, which also match the numerics.

  15. New Safety rules

    CERN Multimedia

    Safety Commission

    2008-01-01

    The revision of CERN Safety rules is in progress and the following new Safety rules have been issued on 15-04-2008: Safety Procedure SP-R1 Establishing, Updating and Publishing CERN Safety rules: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SP-R1.htm; Safety Regulation SR-S Smoking at CERN: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SR-S.htm; Safety Regulation SR-M Mechanical Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SR-M.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M1 Standard Lifting Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M1.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M2 Standard Pressure Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M2.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M3 Special Mechanical Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M3.htm. These documents apply to all persons under the Director General’s authority. All Safety rules are available at the web page: http://www.cern.ch/safety-rules The Safety Commission

  16. Mouse allergen exposure and immunologic responses: IgE-mediated mouse sensitization and mouse specific IgG and IgG4 levels

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Matsui, Elizabeth C.; Krop, Esmeralda J. M.; Diette, Gregory B.; Aalberse, Rob C.; Smith, Abigail L.; Eggleston, Peyton A.

    2004-01-01

    Although there is evidence that contact with mice is associated with IgE-mediated mouse sensitization and mouse specific antibody responses, the exposure-response relationships remain unclear. To determine whether IgE-mediated mouse sensitization and mouse specific IgG (mIgG) and mIgG4 levels

  17. Investigación: Desarrollo endógeno y descentralización efectiva: una nueva revalorización del territorio desde la perspectiva boiseriana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Manuel Orozco Plascencia

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Estudiar y revisar la obra de Sergio Boisier Etcheverry (pensador latinoamericanodel territorio reviste en una singular importancia teórica, enla que se rescatan más de 50 años de análisis del viejo y nuevo paradigmadel desarrollo regional. Dicho autor es capaz de crear una visiónpropia del desarrollo endógeno del espacio, con la cual busca alcanzaruna descentralización efectiva, a través de la interacción de sus actoresen tres escenarios: contextual, estratégico y político, los cuales convergenen lo que define como el hexágono del desarrollo regional, es decir con elgrado de conectividad o sinapsis que logran las instituciones, el entorno,los actores, recursos, cultura y procedimientos, cuando trabajan colectivamenteen la consolidación de tres tipos de regiones (pivótales, asociativasy virtuales. Boisier emula parte de sus aportaciones con la metáforadel vuelo de un cometa, donde el capital y la tecnología son la brisa quelo eleva, mientras que el cerebro y las manos son quienes lo construyen.En este artículo se estable como hipótesis que el pensamiento boiserianodel desarrollo regional es un instrumento adecuado para revalorar alterritorio integralmente, que considera la funcionalidad de la sociedad delconocimiento y de la construcción de una región inteligente para alcanzaruna descentralización efectiva. El escrito se divide en 6 secciones: motivacionespara estudiar las contribuciones de Boisier; revisión teórico–histórica del viejo paradigma del desarrollo regional; relación globalización–territorio; marco cognitivo para una descentralización efectiva; desarrolloendógeno; y la región y su vínculo con la sociedad del conocimiento.

  18. 77 FR 62572 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change, as...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-15

    ...)(B), the board of directors of a Company \\5\\ shall consider the following factors: (i) The source of... 14.10(c)(4)(A) and (B), but rather, only open-end management investment companies registered under.... In addition, Rule 10C-1 does not exempt open-end management investment companies from the...

  19. A Redox Sensitive Pathway in the Mouse ES Cell Assay Modeled From ToxCast HTS Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    The broad chemical landscape coupled with the lack of developmental toxicity information across most environmental chemicals has motivated the need for high- throughput screening methods and predictive models of developmental toxicity. Towards this end, we used the mouse embryoni...

  20. Rules for matrix element evaluations in JWKB approximation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giler, S.

    1990-01-01

    Using the properties of the so-called fundamental solutions to the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation having Froeman and Froeman form the rules are formulated which allow one to evaluate matrix elements in the JWKB approximation and its generalizations. The rules apply to operators M(x, d/dx), M being polynomial functions of their arguments. The applicability of the rules depends on the properties of the so-called canonical indices introduced in this paper. The canonical indices are global characteristics of underlying Stokes graphs. If sufficiently small in comparison with unity they allow one to apply safely the JWKB approximation within the so-called ε-reduced canonical domains of a given Stokes graph. The Oth canonical index for the nth energy level Stokes graph corresponding to the harmonic oscillator potential is found to be ε CAN = 0.678/(2n+1). If the application of the rules is allowed then approximated matrix elements are obtained in an unambiguous way and with an accuracy controlled by corresponding canonical indices. Several examples of matrix elements are considered to illustrate how the rules should be used. Limitations to the rules are also discussed with the aid of suitably chosen examples. (author)

  1. Redes de innovación socio productivas en el desarrollo endógeno: caso Las Peonías

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belinda Colina

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Los objetivos del trabajo son determinar condiciones favorables para la conformación de redes de innovación socio productivas (RISP, así como proponer la creación de estas en la comunidad de las Peonías, de la parroquia Idelfonso Vázquez, municipio Maracaibo del Estado Zulia. La metodología fue cualitativa, exploratoria, descriptiva y documental; basada en un estudio de caso, asimismo es un estudio propositivo. Se revisaron documentos sobre la citada comunidad, se visitaron organismos oficiales y se efectuó investigación de campo (entrevistas a líderes comunitarios, habitantes de la zona y a representantes de algunos organismos. El resultado es que el capital social en las Peonías se encuentra en un estado embrionario de conformación. Las conclusiones son: 1 que la constitución de RISP en las Peonías, en elmarco del desarrollo endógeno deben estar sustentadas en redes de proximidad en primera instancia, y en segundo lugar en redes de larga distancia. 2 que es preciso fortalecer las capacidades existentes y crear nuevas capacidades en esta comunidad. Todo ello con la finalidad de impulsar el desarrollo endógeno para el bienestar y la autonomía de este grupo social, el cual constituye un reservorio natural, poblacional, económico y cultural desaprovechado y de amplias posibilidades locales, regionales y nacionales.

  2. Cell surface response of chemically transformed, malignant mouse embryonal fibroblasts and human colon cancer cells to the maturation-promoting agent, N,N-dimethylformamide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marks, M.E.

    1985-01-01

    The lactoperoxidase/ 125 I radioiodination procedure was used to probe the cell surface of normal, nontransformed AKR-2B mouse embryo fibroblasts and malignant, permanently methylcholanthrene-transformed AKR-2B (AKR-MCA) cells to establish the relationship between cell surface changes and transformation/differentiation in this call system. AKR-MCA cells displayed surface alterations secondary to N,N-dimethylformamide (DFM)-promoted differentiation. Growth of AKR-MCA cells in DMF virtually eliminated the 85,000 and 63,000 molecular weight surface proteins susceptible to radioiodination and increased surface material of ∼200,000 molecular weight. Thus, surface profiles of DFM-treated AKR-MCA cells were essentially identical to those of nontransformed AKR-2B cells. Experimentation was extended to a cultured human colon cancer cell line (HCT MOSER). HCT MOSER cells exposed to DMF manifested marked, reversible morphological and surface changes which occurred as a function of time of growth in DMF and DMF concentration. Interestingly, material reactive with anti-fibronectin was found on the surfaces and in the culture medium of DFM-treated HCT MOSER cells

  3. Equation of state modeling of the phase equilibria of asymmetric CO2+n-alkane binary systems using mixing rules cubic with respect to mole fraction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cismondi, Martin; Mollerup, Jørgen M.; Zabaloy, Marcelo S.

    2010-01-01

    for a great diversity of mixtures. Nevertheless, the models for representing phase equilibria and physico-chemical properties of asymmetric systems may require more flexible mixing rules than the classical quadratic van der Waals (vdW) mixing rules or their equivalent (with regard to the number of available...... interaction parameters) in modern equations of state.In particular, the phase equilibria of binary mixtures containing CO2 and heavy n-alkanes have been studied by an important number of authors and using different types of models, achieving only partially accurate results and realizing the difficulties...

  4. Born’s rule as signature of a superclassical current algebra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fussy, S.; Mesa Pascasio, J.; Schwabl, H.; Grössing, G.

    2014-01-01

    We present a new tool for calculating the interference patterns and particle trajectories of a double-, three- and N-slit system on the basis of an emergent sub-quantum theory developed by our group throughout the last years. The quantum itself is considered as an emergent system representing an off-equilibrium steady state oscillation maintained by a constant throughput of energy provided by a classical zero-point energy field. We introduce the concept of a “relational causality” which allows for evaluating structural interdependences of different systems levels, i.e. in our case of the relations between partial and total probability density currents, respectively. Combined with the application of 21st century classical physics like, e.g., modern nonequilibrium thermodynamics, we thus arrive at a “superclassical” theory. Within this framework, the proposed current algebra directly leads to a new formulation of the guiding equation which is equivalent to the original one of the de Broglie–Bohm theory. By proving the absence of third order interferences in three-path systems it is shown that Born’s rule is a natural consequence of our theory. Considering the series of one-, double-, or, generally, of N-slit systems, with the first appearance of an interference term in the double slit case, we can explain the violation of Sorkin’s first order sum rule, just as the validity of all higher order sum rules. Moreover, the Talbot patterns and Talbot distance for an arbitrary N-slit device can be reproduced exactly by our model without any quantum physics tool. -- Highlights: •Calculating the interference patterns and particle trajectories of a double-, three- and N-slit system. •Deriving a new formulation of the guiding equation equivalent to the de Broglie–Bohm one. •Proving the absence of third order interferences and thus explaining Born’s rule. •Explaining the violation of Sorkin’s order sum rules. •Classical simulation of Talbot patterns

  5. Arms control and the rule of law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanzman, E.A.

    1995-01-01

    Many who speak of the end of the Cold War emphasize the warming of international relations when they speak of the momentous consequences of this event. According to this image, the half century since Trinity has been a period of sparse international communication during which the Eastern and Western blocs hibernated in their isolated dens of security alliances. Yet it is equally valid to consider the implications of the end of the war footing that has underlain the policies of all of the major military powers during the last fifty years. While meaningful international dialogue was in a state of relative lethargy during much of this period, the military establishments of the Great Powers were actively engaged in using as much force as possible in their efforts to control world affairs, short of triggering a nuclear holocaust. International discourse, at least in English, was rife with such military images as appeasement, containment, crisis stability, and tripwires. From the military posture of the U.S. and Russia a tense peace ironically emerged, but the terms by which decisions were made about controlling weapons of mass destruction (i.e., nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons) were the terms of war. The thesis of this paper is that the end of the Cold War marks a shift away from reliance on military might toward an international commitment to control weapons of mass destruction through the rule of law developed by John Rawls. The progression of agreements during this century to limit weapons of mass destruction testifies to this new development. A review of arms control agreements that the U.S. is a part of show clear growth of the rule of law as the world has left the Cold War

  6. Arms control and the rule of law

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanzman, E.A.

    1995-03-01

    Many who speak of the end of the Cold War emphasize the warming of international relations when they speak of the momentous consequences of this event. According to this image, the half century since Trinity has been a period of sparse international communication during which the Eastern and Western blocs hibernated in their isolated dens of security alliances. Yet it is equally valid to consider the implications of the end of the war footing that has underlain the policies of all of the major military powers during the last fifty years. While meaningful international dialogue was in a state of relative lethargy during much of this period, the military establishments of the Great Powers were actively engaged in using as much force as possible in their efforts to control world affairs, short of triggering a nuclear holocaust. International discourse, at least in English, was rife with such military images as appeasement, containment, crisis stability, and tripwires. From the military posture of the U.S. and Russia a tense peace ironically emerged, but the terms by which decisions were made about controlling weapons of mass destruction (i.e., nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons) were the terms of war. The thesis of this paper is that the end of the Cold War marks a shift away from reliance on military might toward an international commitment to control weapons of mass destruction through the rule of law developed by John Rawls. The progression of agreements during this century to limit weapons of mass destruction testifies to this new development. A review of arms control agreements that the U.S. is a part of show clear growth of the rule of law as the world has left the Cold War.

  7. A co-design process developing heuristics for practitioners providing end of life care for people with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Nathan; Mathew, Rammya; Wilcock, Jane; Manthorpe, Jill; Sampson, Elizabeth L; Lamahewa, Kethakie; Iliffe, Steve

    2016-08-02

    The end of life for someone with dementia can present many challenges for practitioners; such as, providing care if there are swallowing difficulties. This study aimed to develop a toolkit of heuristics (rules-of-thumb) to aid practitioners making end-of-life care decisions for people with dementia. An iterative co-design approach was adopted using a literature review and qualitative methods, including; 1) qualitative interviews and focus groups with family carers and 2) focus groups with health and care professionals. Family carers were recruited from a national charity, purposively sampling those with experience of end-of-life care for a person with dementia. Health and care professionals were purposively sampled to include a broad range of expertise including; general practitioners, palliative care specialists, and geriatricians. A co-design group was established consisting of health and social care experts and family carers, to synthesise the findings from the qualitative work and produce a toolkit of heuristics to be tested in practice. Four broad areas were identified as requiring complex decisions at the end of life; 1) eating/swallowing difficulties, 2) agitation/restlessness, 3) ending life-sustaining treatment, and 4) providing "routine care" at the end of life. Each topic became a heuristic consisting of rules arranged into flowcharts. Eating/swallowing difficulties have three rules; ensuring eating/swallowing difficulties do not come as a surprise, considering if the situation is an emergency, and considering 'comfort feeding' only versus time-trialled artificial feeding. Agitation/restlessness encourages a holistic approach, considering the environment, physical causes, and the carer's wellbeing. Ending life-sustaining treatment supports practitioners through a process of considering the benefits of treatment versus quality-of-life and comfort. Finally, a heuristic on providing routine care such as bathing, prompts practitioners to consider adapting

  8. A 3-hydroxy β-end group in xanthophylls is preferentially oxidized to a 3-oxo ε-end group in mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagao, Akihiko; Maoka, Takashi; Ono, Hiroshi; Kotake-Nara, Eiichi; Kobayashi, Miyuki; Tomita, Mie

    2015-02-01

    We previously found that mice fed lutein accumulated its oxidative metabolites (3'-hydroxy-ε,ε-caroten-3-one and ε,ε-carotene-3,3'-dione) as major carotenoids, suggesting that mammals can convert xanthophylls to keto-carotenoids by the oxidation of hydroxyl groups. Here we elucidated the metabolic activities of mouse liver for several xanthophylls. When lutein was incubated with liver postmitochondrial fraction in the presence of NAD(+), (3'R,6'R)-3'-hydroxy-β,ε-caroten-3-one and (6RS,3'R,6'R)-3'-hydroxy-ε,ε-caroten-3-one were produced as major oxidation products. The former accumulated only at the early stage and was assumed to be an intermediate, followed by isomerization to the latter. The configuration at the C3' and C6' of the ε-end group in lutein was retained in the two oxidation products. These results indicate that the 3-hydroxy β-end group in lutein was preferentially oxidized to a 3-oxo ε-end group via a 3-oxo β-end group. Other xanthophylls such as β-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin, which have a 3-hydroxy β-end group, were also oxidized in the same manner as lutein. These keto-carotenoids, derived from dietary xanthophylls, were confirmed to be present in plasma of normal human subjects, and β,ε-caroten-3'-one was significantly increased by the ingestion of β-cryptoxanthin. Thus, humans as well as mice have oxidative activity to convert the 3-hydroxy β-end group of xanthophylls to a 3-oxo ε-end group. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  9. Chinese Medical Question Answer Matching Using End-to-End Character-Level Multi-Scale CNNs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheng Zhang

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses mainly on the problem of Chinese medical question answer matching, which is arguably more challenging than open-domain question answer matching in English due to the combination of its domain-restricted nature and the language-specific features of Chinese. We present an end-to-end character-level multi-scale convolutional neural framework in which character embeddings instead of word embeddings are used to avoid Chinese word segmentation in text preprocessing, and multi-scale convolutional neural networks (CNNs are then introduced to extract contextual information from either question or answer sentences over different scales. The proposed framework can be trained with minimal human supervision and does not require any handcrafted features, rule-based patterns, or external resources. To validate our framework, we create a new text corpus, named cMedQA, by harvesting questions and answers from an online Chinese health and wellness community. The experimental results on the cMedQA dataset show that our framework significantly outperforms several strong baselines, and achieves an improvement of top-1 accuracy by up to 19%.

  10. Noninvasive evaluation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor availability in mouse brain using single-photon emission computed tomography with [123I]5IA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuura, Yuki; Ueda, Masashi; Higaki, Yusuke; Watanabe, Keiko; Habara, Shogo; Kamino, Shinichiro; Saji, Hideo; Enomoto, Shuichi

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are of great interest because they are implicated in higher brain functions. Nuclear medical imaging is one of the useful techniques for noninvasive evaluation of physiological and pathological function in living subjects. Recent progress in nuclear medical imaging modalities enables the clear visualization of the organs of small rodents. Thus, translational research using nuclear medical imaging in transgenic mice has become possible and helps to elucidate human disease pathology. However, imaging of α4β2 nAChRs in the mouse brain has not yet been performed. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 5-[ 123 I]iodo-3-[2(S)-azetidinylmethoxy]pyridine ([ 123 I]5IA) for evaluating α4β2 nAChR availability in the mouse brain. Methods: A 60-min dynamic SPECT imaging session of α4β2 nAChRs in the mouse brain was performed. The regional distribution of radioactivity in the SPECT images was compared to the density of α4β2 nAChRs measured in an identical mouse. Alteration of nAChR density in the brains of Tg2576 mice was also evaluated. Results: The mouse brain was clearly visualized by [ 123 I]5IA-SPECT and probe accumulation was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with (−)-nicotine. The regional distribution of radioactivity in SPECT images showed a significant positive correlation with α4β2 nAChR density measured in an identical mouse brain. Moreover, [ 123 I]5IA-SPECT was able to detect the up-regulation of α4β2 nAChRs in the brains of Tg2576 transgenic mice. Conclusions: [ 123 I]5IA-SPECT imaging would be a promising tool for evaluating α4β2 nAChR availability in the mouse brain and may be useful in translational research focused on nAChR-related diseases.

  11. Deleterious effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in the fat-1 mouse model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana Shefer-Weinberg

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD represents a spectrum of pathologies, ranging from hepatocellular steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, fibrosis and cirrhosis. It has been suggested that fish oil containing n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA induce beneficial effects in NAFLD. However, n-3 PUFA are sensitive to peroxidation that generate free radicals and reactive aldehydes. We aimed at determining whether changing the tissue ratio of n-3 to n-6 PUFA may be beneficial or alternatively harmful to the etiology of NAFLD. The transgenic Fat-1 mouse model was used to determine whether n-3 PUFA positively or negatively affect the development of NAFLD. fat-1mice express the fat-1 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans, which encodes an n-3 fatty-acid desaturase that converts n-6 to n-3 fatty acids. Wild-type C57BL/6 mice served as the control group. Both groups of mice were fed methionine and choline deficient (MCD diet, which induces NASH within 4 weeks. The study shows that NASH developed faster and was more severe in mice from the fat-1 group when compared to control C57BL/6 mice. This was due to enhanced lipid peroxidation of PUFA in the liver of the fat-1 mice as compared to the control group. Results of our mice study suggest that supplementing the diet of individuals who develop or have fatty livers with n-3 PUFA should be carefully considered and if recommended adequate antioxidants should be added to the diet in order to reduce such risk.

  12. Human · mouse genome analysis and radiation biology. Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hori, Tada-aki

    1994-03-01

    This issue is the collection of the papers presented at the 25th NIRS symposium on Human, Mouse Genome Analysis and Radiation Biology. The 14 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

  13. The truncated Hyper-Poisson queues: Hk/Ma,b/C/N with balking, reneging and general bulk service rule

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shawky A.I.

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to derive the analytical solution of the queue: Hk/Ma,b/C/N with balking and reneging in which (I units arrive according to a hyper-Poisson distribution with k independent branches, (II the queue discipline is FIFO; and (III the units are served in batches according to a general bulk service rule. The steady-state probabilities, recurrence relations connecting various probabilities introduced are found and the expected number of units in the queue is derived in an explicit form. Also, some special cases are obtained. .

  14. Mathematical modelling of contact of ruled surfaces: theory and practical application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panchuk, K. L.; Niteyskiy, A. S.

    2016-04-01

    In the theory of ruled surfaces there are well known researches of contact of ruled surfaces along their common generator line (Klein image is often used [1]). In this paper we propose a study of contact of non developable ruled surfaces via the dual vector calculus. The advantages of this method have been demonstrated by E. Study, W. Blaschke and D. N. Zeiliger in differential geometry studies of ruled surfaces in space R3 over the algebra of dual numbers. A practical use of contact is demonstrated by the example modeling of the working surface of the progressive tool for tillage.

  15. Rules and routines in organizations and the management of safety rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weichbrodt, J. Ch.

    2013-07-01

    This thesis is concerned with the relationship between rules and routines in organizations and how the former can be used to steer the latter. Rules are understood as formal organizational artifacts, whereas organizational routines are collective patterns of action. While research on routines has been thriving, a clear understanding of how rules can be used to influence or control organizational routines (and vice-versa) is still lacking. This question is of particular relevance to safety rules in high-risk organizations, where the way in which organizational routines unfold can ultimately be a matter of life and death. In these organizations, an important and related issue is the balancing of standardization and flexibility – which, in the case of rules, takes the form of finding the right degree of formalization. In high-risk organizations, the question is how to adequately regulate actors’ routines in order to facilitate safe behavior, while at the same time leaving enough leeway for actors to make good decisions in abnormal situations. The railroads are regarded as high-risk industries and also rely heavily on formal rules. In this thesis, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were therefore selected for a field study on rules and routines. The issues outlined so far are being tackled theoretically (paper 1), empirically (paper 2), and from a practitioner’s (i.e., rule maker’s) point of view (paper 3). In paper 1, the relationship between rules and routines is theoretically conceptualized, based on a literature review. Literature on organizational control and coordination, on rules in human factors and safety, and on organizational routines is combined. Three distinct roles (rule maker, rule supervisor, and rule follower) are outlined. Six propositions are developed regarding the necessary characteristics of both routines and rules, the respective influence of the three roles on the rule-routine relationship, and regarding organizational aspects such as

  16. Rules and routines in organizations and the management of safety rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weichbrodt, J. Ch.

    2013-01-01

    This thesis is concerned with the relationship between rules and routines in organizations and how the former can be used to steer the latter. Rules are understood as formal organizational artifacts, whereas organizational routines are collective patterns of action. While research on routines has been thriving, a clear understanding of how rules can be used to influence or control organizational routines (and vice-versa) is still lacking. This question is of particular relevance to safety rules in high-risk organizations, where the way in which organizational routines unfold can ultimately be a matter of life and death. In these organizations, an important and related issue is the balancing of standardization and flexibility – which, in the case of rules, takes the form of finding the right degree of formalization. In high-risk organizations, the question is how to adequately regulate actors’ routines in order to facilitate safe behavior, while at the same time leaving enough leeway for actors to make good decisions in abnormal situations. The railroads are regarded as high-risk industries and also rely heavily on formal rules. In this thesis, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were therefore selected for a field study on rules and routines. The issues outlined so far are being tackled theoretically (paper 1), empirically (paper 2), and from a practitioner’s (i.e., rule maker’s) point of view (paper 3). In paper 1, the relationship between rules and routines is theoretically conceptualized, based on a literature review. Literature on organizational control and coordination, on rules in human factors and safety, and on organizational routines is combined. Three distinct roles (rule maker, rule supervisor, and rule follower) are outlined. Six propositions are developed regarding the necessary characteristics of both routines and rules, the respective influence of the three roles on the rule-routine relationship, and regarding organizational aspects such as

  17. Percoll gradient-centrifuged capacitated mouse sperm have increased fertilizing ability and higher contents of sulfogalactosylglycerolipid and docosahexaenoic acid-containing phosphatidylcholine compared to washed capacitated mouse sperm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furimsky, Anna; Vuong, Ngoc; Xu, Hongbin; Kumarathasan, Premkumari; Xu, Min; Weerachatyanukul, Wattana; Bou Khalil, Maroun; Kates, Morris; Tanphaichitr, Nongnuj

    2005-03-01

    Although Percoll gradient centrifugation has been used routinely to prepare motile human sperm, its use in preparing motile mouse sperm has been limited. Here, we showed that Percoll gradient-centrifuged (PGC) capacitated mouse sperm had markedly higher fertilizing ability (sperm-zona pellucida [ZP] binding and in vitro fertilization) than washed capacitated mouse sperm. We also showed that the lipid profiles of PGC capacitated sperm and washed capacitated sperm differed significantly. The PGC sperm had much lower contents of cholesterol and phospholipids. This resulted in relative enrichment of male germ cell-specific sulfogalactosylglycerolipid (SGG), a ZP-binding ligand, in PGC capacitated sperm, and this would explain, in part, their increased ZP-binding ability compared with that of washed capacitated sperm. Analyses of phospholipid fatty acyl chains revealed that PGC capacitated sperm were enriched in phosphatidylcholine (PC) molecular species containing highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs), with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22: 6n-3) being the predominant HUFA (42% of total hydrocarbon chains of PC). In contrast, the level of PC-HUFAs comprising arachidonic acid (20:4n-6), docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5n-6), and DHA in washed capacitated sperm was only 27%. Having the highest unsaturation degree among all HUFAs in PC, DHA would enhance membrane fluidity to the uppermost. Therefore, membranes of PGC capacitated sperm would undergo fertilization-related fusion events at higher rates than washed capacitated sperm. These results suggested that PGC mouse sperm should be used in fertilization experiments and that SGG and DHA should be considered to be important biomarkers for sperm fertilizing ability.

  18. Kinetics of end-to-end collision in short single-stranded nucleic acids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaojuan; Nau, Werner M

    2004-01-28

    A novel fluorescence-based method, which entails contact quenching of the long-lived fluorescent state of 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]-oct-2-ene (DBO), was employed to measure the kinetics of end-to-end collision in short single-stranded oligodeoxyribonucleotides of the type 5'-DBO-(X)n-dG with X = dA, dC, dT, or dU and n = 2 or 4. The fluorophore was covalently attached to the 5' end and dG was introduced as an efficient intrinsic quencher at the 3' terminus. The end-to-end collision rates, which can be directly related to the efficiency of intramolecular fluorescence quenching, ranged from 0.1 to 9.0 x 10(6) s(-1). They were strongly dependent on the strand length, the base sequence, as well as the temperature. Oligonucleotides containing dA in the backbone displayed much slower collision rates and significantly higher positive activation energies than strands composed of pyrimidine bases, suggesting a higher intrinsic rigidity of oligoadenylate. Comparison of the measured collision rates in short single-stranded oligodeoxyribonucleotides with the previously reported kinetics of hairpin formation indicates that the intramolecular collision is significantly faster than the nucleation step of hairpin closing. This is consistent with the configurational diffusion model suggested by Ansari et al. (Ansari, A.; Kuznetsov, S. V.; Shen, Y. Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2001, 98, 7771-7776), in which the formation of misfolded loops is thought to slow hairpin formation.

  19. Why the Three-Point Rule Failed to Sufficiently Reduce the Number of Draws in Soccer: An Application of Prospect Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riedl, Dennis; Heuer, Andreas; Strauss, Bernd

    2015-06-01

    Incentives guide human behavior by altering the level of external motivation. We apply the idea of loss aversion from prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) to the point reward systems in soccer and investigate the controversial impact of the three-point rule on reducing the fraction of draws in this sport. Making use of the Poisson nature of goal scoring, we compared empirical results with theoretically deduced draw ratios from 24 countries encompassing 20 seasons each (N = 118.148 matches). The rule change yielded a slight reduction in the ratio of draws, but despite adverse incentives, still 18% more matches ended drawn than expected, t(23) = 11.04, p prospect theory assertions. Alternative point systems that manipulated incentives for losses yielded reductions at or below statistical expectation. This provides support for the deduced concept of how arbitrary aims, such as the reduction of draws in the world's soccer leagues, could be more effectively accomplished than currently attempted.

  20. Mouse ENU Mutagenesis to Understand Immunity to Infection: Methods, Selected Examples, and Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grégory Caignard

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Infectious diseases are responsible for over 25% of deaths globally, but many more individuals are exposed to deadly pathogens. The outcome of infection results from a set of diverse factors including pathogen virulence factors, the environment, and the genetic make-up of the host. The completion of the human reference genome sequence in 2004 along with technological advances have tremendously accelerated and renovated the tools to study the genetic etiology of infectious diseases in humans and its best characterized mammalian model, the mouse. Advancements in mouse genomic resources have accelerated genome-wide functional approaches, such as gene-driven and phenotype-driven mutagenesis, bringing to the fore the use of mouse models that reproduce accurately many aspects of the pathogenesis of human infectious diseases. Treatment with the mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU has become the most popular phenotype-driven approach. Our team and others have employed mouse ENU mutagenesis to identify host genes that directly impact susceptibility to pathogens of global significance. In this review, we first describe the strategies and tools used in mouse genetics to understand immunity to infection with special emphasis on chemical mutagenesis of the mouse germ-line together with current strategies to efficiently identify functional mutations using next generation sequencing. Then, we highlight illustrative examples of genes, proteins, and cellular signatures that have been revealed by ENU screens and have been shown to be involved in susceptibility or resistance to infectious diseases caused by parasites, bacteria, and viruses.

  1. Official News relating to CERN Safety Rules

    CERN Multimedia

    HSE Unit

    2015-01-01

    The CERN Safety Rules listed below have been published on the official CERN Safety Rules website (see here).   Safety Regulation SR-WS Works and services: this SR-WS (version 1) will cancel and replace the corresponding provisions of Safety Instruction IS50 “Safety Coordination on CERN Worksites”. General Safety Instruction GSI-WS-1 Safety coordination for works and services: this GSI-WS-1 (version 1) will cancel and replace the corresponding provisions of Safety Instruction IS39 “Notice of Start of Works (AOC)” and of Safety Instruction IS50 “Safety Coordination on CERN Worksites” ​Specific Safety Instruction SSI-WS-1-1 Safety coordinator for category 1 operations: this SSI-WS-1-4 (version 1) will cancel and replace the corresponding provisions of Safety Instruction IS50 “Safety Coordination on CERN Worksites”.​ ​ In order to limit the impact on the end-of-year technical st...

  2. Mouse adhalin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, L; Vachon, P H; Kuang, W

    1997-01-01

    . To analyze the biological roles of adhalin, we cloned the mouse adhalin cDNA, raised peptide-specific antibodies to its cytoplasmic domain, and examined its expression and localization in vivo and in vitro. The mouse adhalin sequence was 80% identical to that of human, rabbit, and hamster. Adhalin...... was specifically expressed in striated muscle cells and their immediate precursors, and absent in many other cell types. Adhalin expression in embryonic mouse muscle was coincident with primary myogenesis. Its expression was found to be up-regulated at mRNA and protein levels during myogenic differentiation...

  3. 42 CFR 417.464 - End of CMS's liability for payment: Disenrollment of beneficiaries and termination or default of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false End of CMS's liability for payment: Disenrollment... Enrollment, Entitlement, and Disenrollment under Medicare Contract § 417.464 End of CMS's liability for... disenrollment: General rule. (1) CMS's liability for monthly capitation payments to the HMO or CMP generally...

  4. Corrupción burocrática y crecimiento económico endógeno.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isaac Ehrlich

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Existe una aparente diversidad de la incidencia de la corrupción burocrática entre los países, en diferentes etapas del desarrollo económico, y bajo diferentes regímenes políticos y económicos. Sin embargo, ha sido escaso el análisis teórico o empírico acerca de la relación entre corrupción, gobierno y crecimiento. Este documento busca llenar este vacío a través de modelos de equilibrio de crecimiento endógeno, en los cuales los agentes pueden ser homogéneos o pueden ser miembros de las clases burocrática y trabajadora. El "crecimiento balanceado" es derivado como una sustitución permanente entre la acumulación de capital humano, que genera el crecimiento; y en capital político, que principalmente asegura el poder burocrático. Los análisis se concentran en la interacción entre estos dos tipos de capital y sus implicaciones para los estados de desarrollo y crecimiento de largo plazo bajo diferentes grados de intervención gubernamental en la economía y regímenes políticos alternativos. Se encuentra consistencia de proposiciones específicas con la evidencia empírica basada en un panel de datos internacional de 152 países en el período 1960 - 1992.

  5. Immunity against mouse thymus-leukemia antigen (TL) protects against development of lymphomas induced by a chemical carcinogen, N-butyl-N-nitrosourea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsujimura, Kunio; Obata, Yuichi; Matsudaira, Yasue; Ozeki, Satoshi; Taguchi, Osamu; Nishida, Keiko; Okanami, Yuko; Akatsuka, Yoshiki; Kuzushima, Kiyotaka; Takahashi, Toshitada

    2004-11-01

    Mouse thymus-leukemia antigens (TL) are aberrantly expressed on T lymphomas in C57BL/6 (B6) and C3H/He (C3H) mice, while they are not expressed on normal T lymphocytes in these strains. When N-butyl-N-nitrosourea (NBU), a chemical carcinogen, was administered orally to B6 and C3H strains, lymphoma development was slower than in T3(b)-TL gene-transduced counterpart strains expressing TL ubiquitously as self-antigens, suggesting that anti-TL immunity may play a protective role. In addition, the development of lymphomas was slightly slower in C3H than in B6, which seems to be in accordance with the results of skin graft experiments indicating that both cellular and humoral immunities against TL were stronger in C3H than B6 mice. The interesting finding that B lymphomas derived from a T3(b)-TL transgenic strain (C3H background) expressing a very high level of TL were rejected in C3H, but not in H-2K(b) transgenic mice (C3H background), raises the possibility that TL-specific effector T cell populations are eliminated and/or energized to a certain extent by interacting with H-2K(b) molecules.

  6. Primer registro del ratón de los volcanes (Neotomodon alstoni para el estado de Hidalgo, México First record of the volcano mouse (Neotomodon alstoni from the State of Hidalgo, Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandro García-Becerra

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available El ratón de los volcanes (Neotomodon alstoni se registra por primera vez en el estado de Hidalgo, México. Los ejemplares se recolectaron en diciembre de 2010, en el municipio de Almoloya, aproximadamente a 32.8 km al norte de la localidad documentada más cercana al estado de Tlaxcala, por lo que este nuevo registro se convierte en el más norteño para la distribución conocida del ratón de los volcanes.The volcano mouse (Neotomodon alstoni is firstly recorded in the State of Hidalgo. Specimens were collected in December 2010, at the municipality of Almoloya, approximately 32.8 km to the north from the nearest locality in the state of Tlaxcala. Therefore, this is the northernmost record for the range of the Mexican volcano mouse.

  7. Generalization of Faddeev-Popov rules in Yang-Mills theories: N = 3,4 BRST symmetries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reshetnyak, Alexander

    2018-01-01

    The Faddeev-Popov rules for a local and Poincaré-covariant Lagrangian quantization of a gauge theory with gauge group are generalized to the case of an invariance of the respective quantum actions, S(N), with respect to N-parametric Abelian SUSY transformations with odd-valued parameters λp, p = 1,…,N and generators sp: spsq + sqsp = 0, for N = 3, 4, implying the substitution of an N-plet of ghost fields, Cp, instead of the parameter, ξ, of infinitesimal gauge transformations: ξ = Cpλ p. The total configuration spaces of fields for a quantum theory of the same classical model coincide in the N = 3 and N = 4 symmetric cases. The superspace of N = 3 SUSY irreducible representation includes, in addition to Yang-Mills fields 𝒜μ, (3 + 1) ghost odd-valued fields Cp, B̂ and 3 even-valued Bpq for p, q = 1, 2, 3. To construct the quantum action, S(3), by adding to the classical action, S0(𝒜), of an N = 3-exact gauge-fixing term (with gauge fermion), a gauge-fixing procedure requires (1 + 3 + 3 + 1) additional fields, Φ¯(3): antighost C¯, 3 even-valued Bp, 3 odd-valued B̂pq and Nakanishi-Lautrup B fields. The action of N = 3 transformations on new fields as N = 3-irreducible representation space is realized. These transformations are the N = 3 BRST symmetry transformations for the vacuum functional, Z3(0) =∫dΦ(3)dΦ¯(3)exp{(ı/ℏ)S(3)}. The space of all fields (Φ(3),Φ¯(3)) proves to be the space of an irreducible representation of the fields Φ(4) for N = 4-parametric SUSY transformations, which contains, in addition to 𝒜μ the (4 + 6 + 4 + 1) ghost-antighost, Cr = (Cp,C¯), even-valued, Brs = -Bsr = (Bpq,Bp4 = Bp), odd-valued B̂r = (B̂,B̂pq) and B fields. The quantum action is constructed by adding to S0(𝒜) an N = 4-exact gauge-fixing term with a gauge boson, F(4). The N = 4 SUSY transformations are by N = 4 BRST transformations for the vacuum functional, Z4(0) =∫dΦ(4)exp{(ı/ℏ)S(4)}. The procedures are valid for

  8. Neuropathology in mice expressing mouse alpha-synuclein.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claus Rieker

    Full Text Available α-Synuclein (αSN in human is tightly linked both neuropathologically and genetically to Parkinson's disease (PD and related disorders. Disease-causing properties in vivo of the wildtype mouse ortholog (mαSN, which carries a threonine at position 53 like the A53T human mutant version that is genetically linked to PD, were never reported. To this end we generated mouse lines that express mαSN in central neurons at levels reaching up to six-fold compared to endogenous mαSN. Unlike transgenic mice expressing human wildtype or mutant forms of αSN, these mαSN transgenic mice showed pronounced ubiquitin immunopathology in spinal cord and brainstem. Isoelectric separation of mαSN species revealed multiple isoforms including two Ser129-phosphorylated species in the most severely affected brain regions. Neuronal Ser129-phosphorylated αSN occurred in granular and small fibrillar aggregates and pathological staining patterns in neurites occasionally revealed a striking ladder of small alternating segments staining either for Ser129-phosphorylated αSN or ubiquitin but not both. Axonal degeneration in long white matter tracts of the spinal cord, with breakdown of myelin sheaths and degeneration of neuromuscular junctions with loss of integrity of the presynaptic neurofilament network in mαSN transgenic mice, was similar to what we have reported for mice expressing human αSN wildtype or mutant forms. In hippocampal neurons, the mαSN protein accumulated and was phosphorylated but these neurons showed no ubiquitin immunopathology. In contrast to the early-onset motor abnormalities and muscle weakness observed in mice expressing human αSN, mαSN transgenic mice displayed only end-stage phenotypic alterations that manifested alongside with neuropathology. Altogether these findings show that increased levels of wildtype mαSN does not induce early-onset behavior changes, but drives end-stage pathophysiological changes in murine neurons that are

  9. Test of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule in phi production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Etkin, A.; Foley, K.J.; Goldman, J.H.; Love, W.A.; Morris, T.W.; Ozaki, S.; Platner, E.D.; Saulys, A.C.; Wheeler, C.D.; Willen, E.H.; Lindenbaum, S.J.; Kramer, M.A.; Mallik, U.

    1978-01-01

    We have measured the reaction π - p → K + K - K + K - n at 22.6 GeV/c and defect strong phi signals in the K + K - effective-mass plots. We do not observe the expected Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka--rule suppression of the phiphin final state and conclude that the rule is working poorly in the observed production processes

  10. Australian road rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-02-01

    *These are national-level rules. Australian Road Rules - 2009 Version, Part 18, Division 1, Rule 300 "Use of Mobile Phones" describes restrictions of mobile phone use while driving. The rule basically states that drivers cannot make or receive calls ...

  11. Rule Versus the Causality Rule in Insurance Law

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lando, Henrik

    When the Buyer of insurance has negligently kept silent or misrepresented a (material) fact to the Seller, one of two rules will determine the extent to which cover will consequently be reduced. The pro-rata rule lowers cover in proportion to how much the Seller would have increased the premium had...... he been correctly informed; the causality rule provides either zero cover if the omitted fact has caused the insurance event, or full cover if the event would have occurred regardless of the fact. This article explores which rule is more efficient. Using the framework proposed by Picard and Dixit...... it subjects the risk averse Buyer of insurance to less variance. This implies that the pro rata rule should apply when there is significant risk for a Buyer of unintentional misrepresentation, and when the incentive to intentionally misrepresent can be curtailed through frequent verification of the Buyer...

  12. An intron capture strategy used to identify and map a lysyl oxidase-like gene on chromosome 9 in the mouse

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wydner, K.S.; Passmore, H.C. [Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States); Kim, Houngho; Csiszar, K.; Boyd, C.D. [UMDNJ, New Brunswick, NJ (United States)

    1997-03-01

    An intron capture strategy involving use of polymerase chain reaction was used to identify and map the mouse homologue of a human lysyl oxidase-like gene (LOXL). Oligonucleotides complementary to conserved domains within exons 4 and 5 of the human lysyl oxidase-like gene were used to amplify the corresponding segment from mouse genomic DNA. Sequencing of the resulting mouse DNA fragment of approximately 1 kb revealed that the exon sequences at the ends of the amplified fragment are highly homologous (90% nucleotide identity) to exons 4 and 5 of the human lysyl oxidase-like gene. An AluI restriction site polymorphism within intron 4 was used to map the mouse lysyl oxidase-like gene (Loxl) to mouse Chromosome 9 in a region that shares linkage conservation with human chromosome 15q24, to which the LOXL was recently mapped. 22 refs., 3 figs.

  13. A 3-hydroxy β-end group in xanthophylls is preferentially oxidized to a 3-oxo ε-end group in mammals[S

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagao, Akihiko; Maoka, Takashi; Ono, Hiroshi; Kotake-Nara, Eiichi; Kobayashi, Miyuki; Tomita, Mie

    2015-01-01

    We previously found that mice fed lutein accumulated its oxidative metabolites (3′-hydroxy-ε,ε-caroten-3-one and ε,ε-carotene-3,3′-dione) as major carotenoids, suggesting that mammals can convert xanthophylls to keto-carotenoids by the oxidation of hydroxyl groups. Here we elucidated the metabolic activities of mouse liver for several xanthophylls. When lutein was incubated with liver postmitochondrial fraction in the presence of NAD+, (3′R,6′R)-3′-hydroxy-β,ε-caroten-3-one and (6RS,3′R,6′R)-3′-hydroxy-ε,ε-caroten-3-one were produced as major oxidation products. The former accumulated only at the early stage and was assumed to be an intermediate, followed by isomerization to the latter. The configuration at the C3′ and C6′ of the ε-end group in lutein was retained in the two oxidation products. These results indicate that the 3-hydroxy β-end group in lutein was preferentially oxidized to a 3-oxo ε-end group via a 3-oxo β-end group. Other xanthophylls such as β-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin, which have a 3-hydroxy β-end group, were also oxidized in the same manner as lutein. These keto-carotenoids, derived from dietary xanthophylls, were confirmed to be present in plasma of normal human subjects, and β,ε-caroten-3′-one was significantly increased by the ingestion of β-cryptoxanthin. Thus, humans as well as mice have oxidative activity to convert the 3-hydroxy β-end group of xanthophylls to a 3-oxo ε-end group. PMID:25502844

  14. [Activation of nucleolar organizers during in vitro cultivation of mouse R1 embryonic stem cells].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunafina, E R; Chaplina, M V; Filiasova, E I; Gibanova, N V; Khodarovich, Iu M; Larionov, O A; Zatsepina, O V

    2005-01-01

    We studies the activities of ribosomal genes (nucleolus forming regions of chromosomes) at successive stages of cultivation of the mouse R1 embryonic stem cells. The total number and number of active nucleolar organizers were estimated by means of in situ hybridization with mouse rDNA probes and argentophilic staining of nucleolus forming chromosomes regions from the 16th until the 32nd passages. The data we obtained suggest that the total number of nucleolar organizers per metaphase plate was constant (as a rule, eight), while the mean number of active nucleolar organizers progressively increased from the early (16th) to the late (32nd) passages: 5.2 +/- 0.4 versus 7.4 +/- 0.9 argentophilic organizers per cell. Cell heterogeneity by the number of active nucleolar organizers also increased during the late passages. Taken together, these data suggest activation of DNA transcription and synthesis of ribosomes during cultivation of mouse R1 embryonic stem cells. Based on the experimental and published data, it has been proposed that activation of ribosomal genes correlates in time with a decreased capacity of embryonic stem cells for pluripotent differentiation.

  15. The 1% rule in four digital health social networks: an observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Mierlo, Trevor

    2014-02-04

    In recent years, cyberculture has informally reported a phenomenon named the 1% rule, or 90-9-1 principle, which seeks to explain participatory patterns and network effects within Internet communities. The rule states that 90% of actors observe and do not participate, 9% contribute sparingly, and 1% of actors create the vast majority of new content. This 90%, 9%, and 1% are also known as Lurkers, Contributors, and Superusers, respectively. To date, very little empirical research has been conducted to verify the 1% rule. The 1% rule is widely accepted in digital marketing. Our goal was to determine if the 1% rule applies to moderated Digital Health Social Networks (DHSNs) designed to facilitate behavior change. To help gain insight into participatory patterns, descriptive data were extracted from four long-standing DHSNs: the AlcoholHelpCenter, DepressionCenter, PanicCenter, and StopSmokingCenter sites. During the study period, 63,990 actors created 578,349 posts. Less than 25% of actors made one or more posts. The applicability of the 1% rule was confirmed as Lurkers, Contributors, and Superusers accounted for a weighted average of 1.3% (n=4668), 24.0% (n=88,732), and 74.7% (n=276,034) of content. The 1% rule was consistent across the four DHSNs. As social network sustainability requires fresh content and timely interactions, these results are important for organizations actively promoting and managing Internet communities. Superusers generate the vast majority of traffic and create value, so their recruitment and retention is imperative for long-term success. Although Lurkers may benefit from observing interactions between Superusers and Contributors, they generate limited or no network value. The results of this study indicate that DHSNs may be optimized to produce network effects, positive externalities, and bandwagon effects. Further research in the development and expansion of DHSNs is required.

  16. The 1% Rule in Four Digital Health Social Networks: An Observational Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background In recent years, cyberculture has informally reported a phenomenon named the 1% rule, or 90-9-1 principle, which seeks to explain participatory patterns and network effects within Internet communities. The rule states that 90% of actors observe and do not participate, 9% contribute sparingly, and 1% of actors create the vast majority of new content. This 90%, 9%, and 1% are also known as Lurkers, Contributors, and Superusers, respectively. To date, very little empirical research has been conducted to verify the 1% rule. Objective The 1% rule is widely accepted in digital marketing. Our goal was to determine if the 1% rule applies to moderated Digital Health Social Networks (DHSNs) designed to facilitate behavior change. Methods To help gain insight into participatory patterns, descriptive data were extracted from four long-standing DHSNs: the AlcoholHelpCenter, DepressionCenter, PanicCenter, and StopSmokingCenter sites. Results During the study period, 63,990 actors created 578,349 posts. Less than 25% of actors made one or more posts. The applicability of the 1% rule was confirmed as Lurkers, Contributors, and Superusers accounted for a weighted average of 1.3% (n=4668), 24.0% (n=88,732), and 74.7% (n=276,034) of content. Conclusions The 1% rule was consistent across the four DHSNs. As social network sustainability requires fresh content and timely interactions, these results are important for organizations actively promoting and managing Internet communities. Superusers generate the vast majority of traffic and create value, so their recruitment and retention is imperative for long-term success. Although Lurkers may benefit from observing interactions between Superusers and Contributors, they generate limited or no network value. The results of this study indicate that DHSNs may be optimized to produce network effects, positive externalities, and bandwagon effects. Further research in the development and expansion of DHSNs is required. PMID:24496109

  17. Elaboración de corredores o canales endémicos mediante planillas de cálculo Establishing endemic levels or ranges with computer spreadsheets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Bortman

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available Las epidemias o brotes pueden ser definidos como un exceso en el número de casos de un problema de salud dado, en una población, un período y un lugar en particular. Sin embargo, determinar lo que constituye un exceso implica conocer lo que es normal o de esperar. La elaboración de canales o corredores endémicos permite definir los valores de casos esperados y de esta forma evidenciar de forma gráfica la aparición de un nú mero mayor de casos. En el presente trabajo se describe una nueva metodología para la realización de estos canales endémicos, en la que se utilizan las planillas de cálculo Qpro y Excel, mediante la determinación de la media geométrica de lastasas históricas y su in tervalo de confianza. Se presenta también un corredor endémico acumulativo que facilita la vigilancia de sucesos endémicos de baja incidencia.Epidemics or disease out breaks can be defined as an excess in the number of cases of a given health problem, in a particular population, period, and place. However, to determine what constitutes an excess implies knowing what is normal or to be expected. Establishing endemic levels or ranges makes it possible to determine figures for the number of expected cases and to show in graphic form the appearance of a higher number of cases. In this work a new methodology is described to develop these endemic ranges, in which the Quattro Pro (Qpro and Excel software programs are used to calculate the geometric mean of historical rates and their confidence intervals. Also presented is a procedure for cumulative endemic ranges that facilitates surveillance of endemic events with a low incidence.

  18. A New Mouse Model That Spontaneously Develops Chronic Liver Inflammation and Fibrosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Fransén-Pettersson

    Full Text Available Here we characterize a new animal model that spontaneously develops chronic inflammation and fibrosis in multiple organs, the non-obese diabetic inflammation and fibrosis (N-IF mouse. In the liver, the N-IF mouse displays inflammation and fibrosis particularly evident around portal tracts and central veins and accompanied with evidence of abnormal intrahepatic bile ducts. The extensive cellular infiltration consists mainly of macrophages, granulocytes, particularly eosinophils, and mast cells. This inflammatory syndrome is mediated by a transgenic population of natural killer T cells (NKT induced in an immunodeficient NOD genetic background. The disease is transferrable to immunodeficient recipients, while polyclonal T cells from unaffected syngeneic donors can inhibit the disease phenotype. Because of the fibrotic component, early on-set, spontaneous nature and reproducibility, this novel mouse model provides a unique tool to gain further insight into the underlying mechanisms mediating transformation of chronic inflammation into fibrosis and to evaluate intervention protocols for treating conditions of fibrotic disorders.

  19. Monolithic Ytterbium All-single-mode Fiber Laser with Direct Fiber-end Delivery of nJ-level Femtosecond Pulses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Turchinovich, Dmitry

    2008-01-01

    We demonstrate a monolithic, i.e. without any free-space coupling, all-single-mode passively modelocked Yb-fiber laser, with direct fiber-end delivery of 364−405 fs pulses of 4 nJ pulse energy using a low-loss hollow-core photonic crystal fiber compression....

  20. Anti-allodynic effects of N-demethylsinomenine, an active metabolite of sinomenine, in a mouse model of postoperative pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ou, Yuntao; Su, Man; Ling, Yong; Wei, Qianqian; Pan, Fei; Li, Jiejia; Li, Jun-Xu; Zhu, Qing

    2018-03-15

    Sinomenine, a major bioactive ingredient isolated from traditional Chinese medicine Sinomenium acutum, has been reported to have analgesic effects in various pain animal models. N-demethylsinomenine, the N-demethylated product of sinomenine, has been identified to be the major metabolite of sinomenine and is also a natural component extracted from Sinomenium acutum. This study examined the anti-allodynic effects of N-demethylsinomenine in a mouse model of postoperative pain. A significant and sustained mechanical allodynia that lasted for 4 days was induced by making a surgical incision on the right hind paw in mice. Acute treatment with N-demethylsinomenine (10-40 mg/kg, s.c.) relieved the mechanical allodynia in a dose-dependent manner. Although there was no difference in maximal analgesic effect between N-demethylsinomenine (40 mg/kg, s.c.) and sinomenine (40 mg/kg, s.c.), the onset of action of N-demethylsinomenine was quicker than sinomenine. Repeated treatment with N-demethylsinomenine (10-40 mg/kg/day, s.c.) also dose-dependently exerted sustained antinociception against postoperative allodynia and did not produce analgesic tolerance and carry-over effect. The anti-allodynia induced by N-demethylsinomenine (40 mg/kg, s.c.) was attenuated by bicuculline, a selective γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA A ) receptor antagonist. In addition, the doses of N-demethylsinomenine used here did not alter the locomotor activity in mice. Our findings demonstrated that N-demethylsinomenine exerts behaviorally-specific anti-allodynia against postoperative allodynia mediated through the GABA A receptors, suggesting it may be a useful novel pharmacotherapy for the control of postoperative pain. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Downregulation of glutathione S-transferase M1 protein in N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine-induced mouse bladder carcinogenesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chuang, Jing-Jing [Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan (China); Dai, Yuan-Chang [Department of Pathology, Chiayi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan (China); Lin, Yung-Lun; Chen, Yang-Yi; Lin, Wei-Han [Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan (China); Chan, Hong-Lin [Institute of Bioinformatics and Structural Biology and Department of Medical Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China); Liu, Yi-Wen, E-mail: ywlss@mail.ncyu.edu.tw [Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan (China)

    2014-09-15

    Bladder cancer is highly recurrent following specific transurethral resection and intravesical chemotherapy, which has prompted continuing efforts to develop novel therapeutic agents and early-stage diagnostic tools. Specific changes in protein expression can provide a diagnostic marker. In our present study, we investigated changes in protein expression during urothelial carcinogenesis. The carcinogen BBN was used to induce mouse bladder tumor formation. Mouse bladder mucosa proteins were collected and analyzed by 2D electrophoresis from 6 to 20 weeks after commencing continuous BBN treatment. By histological examination, the connective layer of the submucosa showed gradual thickening and the number of submucosal capillaries gradually increased after BBN treatment. At 12-weeks after the start of BBN treatment, the urothelia became moderately dysplastic and tumors arose after 20-weeks of treatment. These induced bladder lesions included carcinoma in situ and connective tissue invasive cancer. In protein 2D analysis, the sequentially downregulated proteins from 6 to 20 weeks included GSTM1, L-lactate dehydrogenase B chain, keratin 8, keratin 18 and major urinary proteins 2 and 11/8. In contrast, the sequentially upregulated proteins identified were GSTO1, keratin 15 and myosin light polypeptide 6. Western blotting confirmed that GSTM1 and NQO-1 were decreased, while GSTO1 and Sp1 were increased, after BBN treatment. In human bladder cancer cells, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine increased the GSTM1 mRNA and protein expression. These data suggest that the downregulation of GSTM1 in the urothelia is a biomarker of bladder carcinogenesis and that this may be mediated by DNA CpG methylation. - Highlights: • GSTM1 and NQO-1 proteins decreased in the mouse bladder mucosa after BBN treatment. • BBN induced GSTO1 and Sp1 protein expression in the mouse bladder mucosa. • 5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine increased GSTM1 mRNA and protein in human bladder cancer cell. • GSTM1

  2. The liability rules under international GHG emissions trading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhong Xiang Zhang

    2001-01-01

    Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol authorizes emissions trading, but the rules governing emissions trading have been deferred to subsequent conferences. In designing and implementing an international greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading scheme, assigning liability rules has been considered to be one of the most challenging issues. In general, a seller-beware liability works well in a strong enforcement environment. In the Kyoto Protocol, however, it may not always work. By contrast, a buyer-beware liability could be an effective deterrent to non-compliance, but the costs of imposing it are expected to be very high. To strike a middle ground, we suggest a combination of preventive measures with strong but feasible end-of-period punishments to ensure compliance with the Kyoto emissions commitments. Such measures aim to maximize efficiency gains from emissions trading and at the same time, to minimize over-selling risks. (author)

  3. Metodología para la elaboración de canales endémicos y tendencia de la notificación del dengue, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, 2009-2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauricio Hernández

    2016-08-01

    Conclusión. La elaboración del canal endémico del dengue en el Valle del Cauca evidenció la importancia de aplicar estas metodologías de vigilancia en las situaciones de interés en salud pública. Como se observó en los resultados, hubo años en los que el número de casos fue muy bajo y otros en los que la epidemia alcanzó cifras muy elevadas.

  4. Delivery of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves Tear Production in a Mouse Model of Sjögren’s Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hema S. Aluri

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to test the potential of mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BD-MSCs in improving tear production in a mouse model of Sjögren’s syndrome dry eye and to investigate the underlying mechanisms involved. NOD mice (n=20 were randomized to receive i.p. injection of sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS, control or murine BD-MSCs (1 × 106 cells. Tears production was measured at baseline and once a week after treatment using phenol red impregnated threads. Cathepsin S activity in the tears was measured at the end of treatment. After 4 weeks, animals were sacrificed and the lacrimal glands were excised and processed for histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and RNA analysis. Following BD-MSC injection, tears production increased over time when compared to both baseline and PBS injected mice. Although the number of lymphocytic foci in the lacrimal glands of treated animals did not change, the size of the foci decreased by 40.5% when compared to control animals. The mRNA level of the water channel aquaporin 5 was significantly increased following delivery of BD-MSCs. We conclude that treatment with BD-MSCs increases tear production in the NOD mouse model of Sjögren’s syndrome. This is likely due to decreased inflammation and increased expression of aquaporin 5.

  5. 75 FR 62462 - Additions to the List of Validated End-Users in the People's Republic of China: Hynix...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-12

    ...-01] RIN 0694-AE95 Additions to the List of Validated End-Users in the People's Republic of China... Corporation to the list of validated end-users in the People's Republic of China (PRC). With this rule, exports, reexports and transfers (in-country) of certain items to one facility of Hynix Semiconductor...

  6. Subexponential lower bounds for randomized pivoting rules for the simplex algorithm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friedmann, Oliver; Hansen, Thomas Dueholm; Zwick, Uri

    2011-01-01

    The simplex algorithm is among the most widely used algorithms for solving linear programs in practice. With essentially all deterministic pivoting rules it is known, however, to require an exponential number of steps to solve some linear programs. No non-polynomial lower bounds were known, prior...... to this work, for randomized pivoting rules. We provide the first subexponential (i.e., of the form 2Ω(nα), for some α>0) lower bounds for the two most natural, and most studied, randomized pivoting rules suggested to date. The first randomized pivoting rule considered is Random-Edge, which among all improving...... pivoting steps (or edges) from the current basic feasible solution (or vertex) chooses one uniformly at random. The second randomized pivoting rule considered is Random-Facet, a more complicated randomized pivoting rule suggested by Kalai and by Matousek, Sharir and Welzl. Our lower bound for the Random...

  7. Characterization of a pneumococcal meningitis mouse model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mook-Kanamori Barry

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background S. pneumoniae is the most common causative agent of meningitis, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to develop an integrated and representative pneumococcal meningitis mouse model resembling the human situation. Methods Adult mice (C57BL/6 were inoculated in the cisterna magna with increasing doses of S. pneumoniae serotype 3 colony forming units (CFU; n = 24, 104, 105, 106 and 107 CFU and survival studies were performed. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF, brain, blood, spleen, and lungs were collected. Subsequently, mice were inoculated with 104 CFU S. pneumoniae serotype 3 and sacrificed at 6 (n = 6 and 30 hours (n = 6. Outcome parameters were bacterial outgrowth, clinical score, and cytokine and chemokine levels (using Luminex® in CSF, blood and brain. Meningeal inflammation, neutrophil infiltration, parenchymal and subarachnoidal hemorrhages, microglial activation and hippocampal apoptosis were assessed in histopathological studies. Results Lower doses of bacteria delayed onset of illness and time of death (median survival CFU 104, 56 hrs; 105, 38 hrs, 106, 28 hrs. 107, 24 hrs. Bacterial titers in brain and CSF were similar in all mice at the end-stage of disease independent of inoculation dose, though bacterial outgrowth in the systemic compartment was less at lower inoculation doses. At 30 hours after inoculation with 104 CFU of S. pneumoniae, blood levels of KC, IL6, MIP-2 and IFN- γ were elevated, as were brain homogenate levels of KC, MIP-2, IL-6, IL-1β and RANTES. Brain histology uniformly showed meningeal inflammation at 6 hours, and, neutrophil infiltration, microglial activation, and hippocampal apoptosis at 30 hours. Parenchymal and subarachnoidal and cortical hemorrhages were seen in 5 of 6 and 3 of 6 mice at 6 and 30 hours, respectively. Conclusion We have developed and validated a murine model of pneumococcal meningitis.

  8. The pathophysiology of mitochondrial disease as modeled in the mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Douglas C; Fan, Weiwei

    2009-08-01

    It is now clear that mitochondrial defects are associated with a plethora of clinical phenotypes in man and mouse. This is the result of the mitochondria's central role in energy production, reactive oxygen species (ROS) biology, and apoptosis, and because the mitochondrial genome consists of roughly 1500 genes distributed across the maternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the Mendelian nuclear DNA (nDNA). While numerous pathogenic mutations in both mtDNA and nDNA mitochondrial genes have been identified in the past 21 years, the causal role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the common metabolic and degenerative diseases, cancer, and aging is still debated. However, the development of mice harboring mitochondrial gene mutations is permitting demonstration of the direct cause-and-effect relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and disease. Mutations in nDNA-encoded mitochondrial genes involved in energy metabolism, antioxidant defenses, apoptosis via the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mtPTP), mitochondrial fusion, and mtDNA biogenesis have already demonstrated the phenotypic importance of mitochondrial defects. These studies are being expanded by the recent development of procedures for introducing mtDNA mutations into the mouse. These studies are providing direct proof that mtDNA mutations are sufficient by themselves to generate major clinical phenotypes. As more different mtDNA types and mtDNA gene mutations are introduced into various mouse nDNA backgrounds, the potential functional role of mtDNA variation in permitting humans and mammals to adapt to different environments and in determining their predisposition to a wide array of diseases should be definitively demonstrated.

  9. Moraceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pamela Cáceres

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Moraceae es reconocida en el Perú por presentar 19 géneros y 128 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993; Ulloa Ulloa et al., 2004, la mayoría arbóreas y/o hemiepífitos. En este trabajo reconocemos dos especies endémicas en igual número de géneros. Las especies endémicas se encuentran en la región Bosques Húmedos Amazónicos, entre los 115 y 220 m de altitud. Ambas especies endémicas se encuentran dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  10. Evaluation of End Mill Coatings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    L. J. Lazarus; R. L. Hester,

    2005-08-01

    Milling tests were run on families of High Speed Steel (HSS) end mills to determine their lives while machining 304 Stainless Steel. The end mills tested were made from M7, M42 and T15-CPM High Speed Steels. The end mills were also evaluated with no coatings as well as with Titanium Nitride (TiN) and Titanium Carbo-Nitride (TiCN) coatings to determine which combination of HSS and coating provided the highest increase in end mill life while increasing the cost of the tool the least. We found end mill made from M42 gave us the largest increase in tool life with the least increase in cost. The results of this study will be used by Cutting Tool Engineering in determining which end mill descriptions will be dropped from our tool catalog.

  11. Delayed rule following

    OpenAIRE

    Schmitt, David R.

    2001-01-01

    Although the elements of a fully stated rule (discriminative stimulus [SD], some behavior, and a consequence) can occur nearly contemporaneously with the statement of the rule, there is often a delay between the rule statement and the SD. The effects of this delay on rule following have not been studied in behavior analysis, but they have been investigated in rule-like settings in the areas of prospective memory (remembering to do something in the future) and goal pursuit. Discriminative even...

  12. The Effects of the Clock and Kickoff Rule Changes on Actual and Market-Based Expected Scoring in NCAA Football

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth Linna

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Clock rule changes were introduced in the 2006 season with the goal of reducing the average duration of the game; these changes were reversed in 2007. In addition, in 2007 the kickoff rule was changed to create more excitement and potentially more scoring. We examine what happened to actual and expected scoring during these National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA football seasons. The clock rule change in 2006 led to lower scoring which was not fully encompassed in the betting market, leading to significant returns to betting the under. Multiple rule changes in 2007 led to volatility in the betting market that subsided by season’s end.

  13. Effects of environmental enrichment on the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mouse model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorrells, A D; Corcoran-Gomez, K; Eckert, K A; Fahey, A G; Hoots, B L; Charleston, L B; Charleston, J S; Roberts, C R; Markowitz, H

    2009-04-01

    The manner in which an animal's environment is furnished may have significant implications for animal welfare as well as research outcomes. We evaluated four different housing conditions to determine the effects of what has been considered standard rodent enrichment and the exercise opportunities those environments allow on disease progression in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mouse model. Forty-eight copper/zinc superoxide dismutase mice (strain: B6SJL-TgN [SOD1-G931]1Gur) (SOD1) and 48 control (C) (strain: B6SJL-TgN[SOD1]2Gur) male mice were randomly assigned to four different conditions where 12 SOD1 and 12 C animals were allotted to each condition (n = 96). Conditions tested the effects of standard housing, a forced exercise regime, access to a mouse house and opportunity for ad libitum exercise on a running wheel. In addition to the daily all-occurrence behavioural sampling, mice were weighed and tested twice per week on gait and Rotor-Rod performance until the mice reached the age of 150 days (C) or met the criteria for our humane endpoint (SOD1). The SOD1 mice exposed to the forced exercise regime and wheel access did better in average lifespan and Rotor-Rod performance, than SOD1 mice exposed to the standard cage and mouse house conditions. In SOD1 mice, stride length remained longest throughout the progression of the disease in mice exposed to the forced exercise regime compared with other SOD1 conditions. Within the control group, mice in the standard cage and forced exercise regime conditions performed significantly less than the mice with the mouse house and wheels on the Rotor-Rod. Alpha motor neuron counts were highest in mice with wheels and in mice exposed to forced exercise regime in both mouse strains. All SOD1 mice had significantly lower alpha neuron counts than controls (P model, and may have implications for the effects of these strategies on experimental outcomes.

  14. Efficient photocatalytic degradation of gaseous N,N-dimethylformamide in tannery waste gas using doubly open-ended Ag/TiO2 nanotube array membranes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yang; Ma, Lin; Chang, Wenkai; Huang, Zhiding; Feng, Xugen; Qi, Xiaoxia; Li, Zenghe

    2018-06-01

    Gaseous N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), typical volatile organic compound exhausted from manufacturing factories, may damage the health of workers under long-term exposure even at low levels. The defined geometry, porous surface and highly ordered channels make the free-standing anodic TiO2 nanotube (TiNT) arrays particularly suitable for applications of practical air purification by flow-through photocatalysis. In the present work, crystallized doubly open-ended Ag/TiNT array membranes were designed and prepared by employing a lift-off process based on an anodization-annealing-anodization-etching sequence, followed by uniform Ag nanoparticles decoration. For the photocatalytic degradation of gaseous DMF at low concentration levels close to that found in realistic pollutant air, an analytical methodology for the monitoring and determination of degradation process was developed based on the coupling of headspace sampling with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS). The doubly open-ended Ag/TiNT arrays exhibited higher removal efficiency of gaseous DMF from air compared with conventional bottom-closed Ag/TiNT arrays and pure bottomless TiNT arrays. These results indicated that the photocatalytic properties of TiNT arrays were improved with the open-bottom morphology and the Ag nanoparticles decoration. Based on the analysis with GC-MS and high performance ion chromatography (HPIC), it was found that demethylation is the main pathway of DMF degradation in photocatalytic reactions. Furthermore, decontamination of actual polluted tannery waste gas collected in leather factory proved that the photocatalysis on doubly open-ended Ag/TiNT array membrane is an efficient way and a promising application to treat air contaminated by DMF despite the complexity of various volatile organic compounds.

  15. Double 90 Degrees Counterrotated End-to-End-Anastomosis: An Experimental Study of an Intestinal Anastomosis Technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzner, Philipp; Kulemann, Birte; Seifert, Gabriel; Glatz, Torben; Chikhladze, Sophia; Höppner, Jens; Hopt, Ulrich; Timme, Sylvia; Bronsert, Peter; Sick, Olivia; Zhou, Cheng; Marjanovic, Goran

    2015-06-01

    The aim of the article is to investigate a new anastomotic technique compared with standardized intestinal anastomotic procedures. A total of 32 male Wistar rats were randomized to three groups. In the Experimental Group (n = 10), the new double 90 degrees inversely rotated anastomosis was used, in the End Group (n = 10) a single-layer end-to-end anastomosis, and in the Side Group (n = 12) a single-layer side-to-side anastomosis. All anastomoses were done using interrupted sutures. On postoperative day 4, rats were relaparotomized. Bursting pressure, hydroxyproline concentration, a semiquantitative adhesion score and two histological anastomotic healing scores (mucosal healing according to Chiu and overall anastomotic healing according to Verhofstad) were collected. Most data are presented as median (range). p < 0.05 was considered significant. Anastomotic insufficiency occurred only in one rat of the Side Group. Median bursting pressure in the Experimental Group was 105 mm Hg (range = 72-161 mm Hg), significantly higher in the End Group (164 mm Hg; range = 99-210 mm Hg; p = 0.021) and lower in the Side Group by trend (81 mm Hg; range = 59-122 mm Hg; p = 0.093). Hydroxyproline concentration did not differ significantly in between the groups. The adhesion score was 2.5 (range = 1-3) in the Experimental Group, 2 (range = 1-2) in the End Group, but there were significantly more adhesions in the Side Group (range = 3-4); p = 0.020 versus Experimental Group, p < 0.001 versus End Group. The Chiu Score showed the worst mucosal healing in the Experimental Group. The overall Verhofstad Score was significantly worse (mean = 2.032; standard deviation [SD] = 0.842) p = 0.031 and p = 0.002 in the Experimental Group, compared with the Side Group (mean = 1.729; SD = 0.682) and the End Group (mean = 1.571; SD = 0.612). The new anastomotic technique is feasible and did not show any relevant complication. Even though it was superior to the side-to-side anastomosis by trend with

  16. Characterization of differential cocaine metabolism in mouse and rat through metabolomics-guided metabolite profiling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Dan; Shi, Xiaolei; Wang, Lei; Gosnell, Blake A; Chen, Chi

    2013-01-01

    Rodent animal models have been widely used for studying neurologic and toxicological events associated with cocaine abuse. It is known that the mouse is more susceptible to cocaine-induced hepatotoxicity (CIH) than the rat. However, the causes behind this species-dependent sensitivity to cocaine have not been elucidated. In this study, cocaine metabolism in the mouse and rat was characterized through LC-MS-based metabolomic analysis of urine samples and were further compared through calculating the relative abundance of individual cocaine metabolites. The results showed that the levels of benzoylecgonine, a major cocaine metabolite from ester hydrolysis, were comparable in the urine from the mice and rats treated with the same dose of cocaine. However, the levels of the cocaine metabolites from oxidative metabolism, such as N-hydroxybenzoylnorecgonine and hydroxybenzoylecgonine, differed dramatically between the two species, indicating species-dependent cocaine metabolism. Subsequent structural analysis through accurate mass analysis and LC-MS/MS fragmentation revealed that N-oxidation reactions, including N-demethylation and N-hydroxylation, are preferred metabolic routes in the mouse, while extensive aryl hydroxylation reactions occur in the rat. Through stable isotope tracing and in vitro enzyme reactions, a mouse-specific α-glucoside of N-hydroxybenzoylnorecgonine and a group of aryl hydroxy glucuronides high in the rat were identified and structurally elucidated. The differences in the in vivo oxidative metabolism of cocaine between the two rodent species were confirmed by the in vitro microsomal incubations. Chemical inhibition of P450 enzymes further revealed that different P450-mediated oxidative reactions in the ecgonine and benzoic acid moieties of cocaine contribute to the species-dependent biotransformation of cocaine.

  17. Nuevos registros, áreas de extensión y ocupación para los lagartos altoandinos endémicos de la Región de O’Higgins, Chile: Liolaemus curis, Liolaemus ubaghsi y Phymaturus damasense

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Ramírez-Álvarez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Se presentan los mapas de distribución actualizados, áreas de extensión y ocupación para tres especies de lagartos altoandinos (Squamata: Liolaemidae endémicos de la Región de O’Higgins, Chile: Liolaemus curis, Liolaemus ubaghsi y Phymaturus damasense, en base a la confirmación de los registros históricos para estas especies, y a nuevos registros obtenidos en actividades de prospección de fauna nativa de la Unidad de Vida Silvestre del SAG de la región de O’Higgins. Considerando las amenazas particulares que enfrentan sus poblaciones, y estos nuevos datos de distribución territorial, se sugiere actualizar sus estados de conservación.

  18. Engaging With Colonial Archives: Reflections Of An End-User

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayodeji Olukoju

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Official and/or public archives were a byproduct of colonial rule in Africa. (Archives are a byproduct of administrative governance everywhere. Given the density and diversity of colonial archival records, historians have tended to rely on them for the study of the colonial period. Publications on the use of archives have not captured the perspective of end-users, who often face peculiar challenges in the use of colonial and metropolitan archives. This paper provides an end-user perspective on colonial archives in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. It highlights the challenges of data collection and prospects of optimal use of archival source material. The discussion is of general application to users of colonial archives especially in the former British colonies in Africa.

  19. Crypto-rhombomeres of the mouse medulla oblongata, defined by molecular and morphological features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomás-Roca, Laura; Corral-San-Miguel, Rubén; Aroca, Pilar; Puelles, Luis; Marín, Faustino

    2016-03-01

    The medulla oblongata is the caudal portion of the vertebrate hindbrain. It contains major ascending and descending fiber tracts as well as several motor and interneuron populations, including neural centers that regulate the visceral functions and the maintenance of bodily homeostasis. In the avian embryo, it has been proposed that the primordium of this region is subdivided into five segments or crypto-rhombomeres (r7-r11), which were defined according to either their parameric position relative to intersomitic boundaries (Cambronero and Puelles, in J Comp Neurol 427:522-545, 2000) or a stepped expression of Hox genes (Marín et al., in Dev Biol 323:230-247, 2008). In the present work, we examine the implied similar segmental organization of the mouse medulla oblongata. To this end, we analyze the expression pattern of Hox genes from groups 3 to 8, comparing them to the expression of given cytoarchitectonic and molecular markers, from mid-gestational to perinatal stages. As a result of this approach, we conclude that the mouse medulla oblongata is segmentally organized, similarly as in avian embryos. Longitudinal structures such as the nucleus of the solitary tract, the dorsal vagal motor nucleus, the hypoglossal motor nucleus, the descending trigeminal and vestibular columns, or the reticular formation appear subdivided into discrete segmental units. Additionally, our analysis identified an internal molecular organization of the migrated pontine nuclei that reflects a differential segmental origin of their neurons as assessed by Hox gene expression.

  20. Structure of the mouse galectin-4 N-terminal carbohydrate-recognition domain reveals the mechanism of oligosaccharide recognition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krejciríková, Veronika; Pachl, Petr; Fábry, Milan; Malý, Petr; Rezácová, Pavlína; Brynda, Jirí (Czech Academy)

    2011-11-18

    Galectin-4, a member of the tandem-repeat subfamily of galectins, participates in cell-membrane interactions and plays an important role in cell adhesion and modulation of immunity and malignity. The oligosaccharide specificity of the mouse galectin-4 carbohydrate-recognition domains (CRDs) has been reported previously. In this work, the structure and binding properties of the N-terminal domain CRD1 were further investigated and the crystal structure of CRD1 in complex with lactose was determined at 2.1 {angstrom} resolution. The lactose-binding affinity was characterized by fluorescence measurements and two lactose-binding sites were identified: a high-affinity site with a K{sub d} value in the micromolar range (K{sub d1} = 600 {+-} 70 {mu}M) and a low-affinity site with K{sub d2} = 28 {+-} 10 mM.

  1. Action Rules Mining

    CERN Document Server

    Dardzinska, Agnieszka

    2013-01-01

    We are surrounded by data, numerical, categorical and otherwise, which must to be analyzed and processed to convert it into information that instructs, answers or aids understanding and decision making. Data analysts in many disciplines such as business, education or medicine, are frequently asked to analyze new data sets which are often composed of numerous tables possessing different properties. They try to find completely new correlations between attributes and show new possibilities for users.   Action rules mining discusses some of data mining and knowledge discovery principles and then describe representative concepts, methods and algorithms connected with action. The author introduces the formal definition of action rule, notion of a simple association action rule and a representative action rule, the cost of association action rule, and gives a strategy how to construct simple association action rules of a lowest cost. A new approach for generating action rules from datasets with numerical attributes...

  2. Different neurophysiological mechanisms underlying word and rule extraction from speech.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruth De Diego Balaguer

    Full Text Available The initial process of identifying words from spoken language and the detection of more subtle regularities underlying their structure are mandatory processes for language acquisition. Little is known about the cognitive mechanisms that allow us to extract these two types of information and their specific time-course of acquisition following initial contact with a new language. We report time-related electrophysiological changes that occurred while participants learned an artificial language. These changes strongly correlated with the discovery of the structural rules embedded in the words. These changes were clearly different from those related to word learning and occurred during the first minutes of exposition. There is a functional distinction in the nature of the electrophysiological signals during acquisition: an increase in negativity (N400 in the central electrodes is related to word-learning and development of a frontal positivity (P2 is related to rule-learning. In addition, the results of an online implicit and a post-learning test indicate that, once the rules of the language have been acquired, new words following the rule are processed as words of the language. By contrast, new words violating the rule induce syntax-related electrophysiological responses when inserted online in the stream (an early frontal negativity followed by a late posterior positivity and clear lexical effects when presented in isolation (N400 modulation. The present study provides direct evidence suggesting that the mechanisms to extract words and structural dependencies from continuous speech are functionally segregated. When these mechanisms are engaged, the electrophysiological marker associated with rule-learning appears very quickly, during the earliest phases of exposition to a new language.

  3. The Golden Rule and its Consequences: A Practical and Effective Solution for World Peace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Rakhshani

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Peace is something desirable and requested by all nations in the world. What makes it necessary to address this issue is the critical, undesirable state of the current world that, despite statements by international organizations with the theme of peace, reveals growing conflict and war and irreversible damages caused by them. This article seeks to provide a practical and effective solution for achieving peace in the global community. To this end, it introduces the golden rule (treating others as you wish others to treat you as a rule common to all nations. This rule which has a special place in moral philosophy and has been the common denominator of all religions and schools of thought from ancient times until the present provides peace throughout the world through its mechanism. With the use of analytical methods, this study examines and explains it. The results show that the most effective and powerful way to achieve world peace is the adherence to the golden rule.

  4. Medicare program; revision to accrual basis of accounting policy--HCFA. Proposed rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-05-18

    Current policy provides that payroll taxes a provider becomes obligated to remit to governmental agencies are included in allowable costs under Medicare only in the cost reporting period in which payment (upon which the payroll taxes are based) is actually made to an employee. Therefore, for payroll accrued in one year but not paid until the next year, the associated payroll taxes on the payroll are not an allowable cost until the next year. This proposed rule would make one exception, in the situation where payment would be made to the employee in the current year but for the fact the regularly scheduled payment date is after the end of the year. In that case, the rule would require allowance in the current year of accrued taxes on payroll that is accrued through the end of the year but not paid until the beginning of the next year, thus allowing accrued taxes on end-of-the year payroll in the same year that the accrual of the payroll itself is allowed. The effect of this proposal is not on the allowability of cost but rather only on the timing of payment; that is, the cost of payroll taxes on and-of-the-year payroll would be allowable in the current period rather than in the following period.

  5. Medicare Program; End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System, Coverage and Payment for Renal Dialysis Services Furnished to Individuals With Acute Kidney Injury, End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program, Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies Competitive Bidding Program Bid Surety Bonds, State Licensure and Appeals Process for Breach of Contract Actions, Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies Competitive Bidding Program and Fee Schedule Adjustments, Access to Care Issues for Durable Medical Equipment; and the Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease Care Model. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-11-04

    This rule updates and makes revisions to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for calendar year 2017. It also finalizes policies for coverage and payment for renal dialysis services furnished by an ESRD facility to individuals with acute kidney injury. This rule also sets forth requirements for the ESRD Quality Incentive Program, including the inclusion of new quality measures beginning with payment year (PY) 2020 and provides updates to programmatic policies for the PY 2018 and PY 2019 ESRD QIP. This rule also implements statutory requirements for bid surety bonds and state licensure for the Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program (CBP). This rule also expands suppliers' appeal rights in the event of a breach of contract action taken by CMS, by revising the appeals regulation to extend the appeals process to all types of actions taken by CMS for a supplier's breach of contract, rather than limit an appeal for the termination of a competitive bidding contract. The rule also finalizes changes to the methodologies for adjusting fee schedule amounts for DMEPOS using information from CBPs and for submitting bids and establishing single payment amounts under the CBPs for certain groupings of similar items with different features to address price inversions. Final changes also are made to the method for establishing bid limits for items under the DMEPOS CBPs. In addition, this rule summarizes comments on the impacts of coordinating Medicare and Medicaid Durable Medical Equipment for dually eligible beneficiaries. Finally, this rule also summarizes comments received in response to a request for information related to the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model and future payment models affecting renal care.

  6. Dichapetalaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca León

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Dichapetalaceae es una adición reciente a la flora endémica peruana. Incluye plantas leñosas como árboles y lianas, siendo reconocida en la flora peruana por presentar tres géneros y 16 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993. En este trabajo reconocemos un endemismo en el género Tapura. Este taxón endémico ocupa la región Bosques Húmedos Amazónicos, a 250 m de altitud. No se encuentra representada en el Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  7. Proof of Kochen–Specker Theorem: Conversion of Product Rule to Sum Rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toh, S.P.; Zainuddin, Hishamuddin

    2009-01-01

    Valuation functions of observables in quantum mechanics are often expected to obey two constraints called the sum rule and product rule. However, the Kochen–Specker (KS) theorem shows that for a Hilbert space of quantum mechanics of dimension d ≤ 3, these constraints contradict individually with the assumption of value definiteness. The two rules are not irrelated and Peres [Found. Phys. 26 (1996) 807] has conceived a method of converting the product rule into a sum rule for the case of two qubits. Here we apply this method to a proof provided by Mermin based on the product rule for a three-qubit system involving nine operators. We provide the conversion of this proof to one based on sum rule involving ten operators. (general)

  8. Simple rules for the signature and singularity structure of the multiparticle amplitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buras, A.J.

    1975-08-01

    It is shown that the representation of the 2→N amplitude in the multiregge limit which exhibits signature factors and singularity structure allowed by the Stoimann relations can be reproduced by means of few simple rules. The rules are illustrated on several examples and their importance in the Reggeon Calculus are pointed out. (Auth.)

  9. Declarative Rule-based Safety for Robotic Perception Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Johann Thor Ingibergsson; Kraft, Dirk; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh

    2017-01-01

    Mobile robots are used across many domains from personal care to agriculture. Working in dynamic open-ended environments puts high constraints on the robot perception system, which is critical for the safety of the system as a whole. To achieve the required safety levels the perception system needs...... to be certified, but no specific standards exist for computer vision systems, and the concept of safe vision systems remains largely unexplored. In this paper we present a novel domain-specific language that allows the programmer to express image quality detection rules for enforcing safety constraints...

  10. Safety Computer Vision Rules for Improved Sensor Certification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Johann Thor Ingibergsson; Kraft, Dirk; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh

    2017-01-01

    Mobile robots are used across many domains from personal care to agriculture. Working in dynamic open-ended environments puts high constraints on the robot perception system, which is critical for the safety of the system as a whole. To achieve the required safety levels the perception system needs...... to be certified, but no specific standards exist for computer vision systems, and the concept of safe vision systems remains largely unexplored. In this paper we present a novel domain-specific language that allows the programmer to express image quality detection rules for enforcing safety constraints...

  11. Regulation of homocysteine metabolism and methylation in human and mouse tissues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Natalie C.; Yang, Fan; Capecci, Louis M.; Gu, Ziyu; Schafer, Andrew I.; Durante, William; Yang, Xiao-Feng; Wang, Hong

    2010-01-01

    Hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism involves multiple enzymes; however, tissue Hcy metabolism and its relevance to methylation remain unknown. Here, we established gene expression profiles of 8 Hcy metabolic and 12 methylation enzymes in 20 human and 19 mouse tissues through bioinformatic analysis using expression sequence tag clone counts in tissue cDNA libraries. We analyzed correlations between gene expression, Hcy, S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) levels, and SAM/SAH ratios in mouse tissues. Hcy metabolic and methylation enzymes were classified into two types. The expression of Type 1 enzymes positively correlated with tissue Hcy and SAH levels. These include cystathionine β-synthase, cystathionine-γ-lyase, paraxonase 1, 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, betaine:homocysteine methyltransferase, methionine adenosyltransferase, phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferases and glycine N-methyltransferase. Type 2 enzyme expressions correlate with neither tissue Hcy nor SAH levels. These include SAH hydrolase, methionyl-tRNA synthase, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate:Hcy methyltransferase, S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, DNA methyltransferase 1/3a, isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferases, and histone-lysine N-methyltransferase. SAH is the only Hcy metabolite significantly correlated with Hcy levels and methylation enzyme expression. We established equations expressing combined effects of methylation enzymes on tissue SAH, SAM, and SAM/SAH ratios. Our study is the first to provide panoramic tissue gene expression profiles and mathematical models of tissue methylation regulation.—Chen, N. C., Yang, F., Capecci, L. M., Gu, Z., Schafer, A. I., Durante, W., Yang, X.-F., Wang, H. Regulation of homocysteine metabolism and methylation in human and mouse tissues. PMID:20305127

  12. Berberidaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Ulloa Ulloa

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Berberidaceae es reconocida en el Perú con un género, Berberis, y 32 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993, mayormente arbustos. Esta familia incluye 14 endemismos. La mayoría de estas especies endémicas ocupan la región Mesoandina, entre los 2000 y 4200 m de altitud. Dos de estos taxones endémicos están representados dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  13. Using Rule-Based Computer Programming to Unify Communication Rules Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanford, David L.; Roach, J. W.

    This paper proposes the use of a rule-based computer programming language as a standard for the expression of rules, arguing that the adoption of a standard would enable researchers to communicate about rules in a consistent and significant way. Focusing on the formal equivalence of artificial intelligence (AI) programming to different types of…

  14. Crassulaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca León

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Crassulaceae es reconocida en el Perú por presentar cinco géneros y 29 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993, mayormente arbustos y hierbas. En este trabajo reconocemos 13 especies y dos variedades como endemismos peruanos en tres géneros. Echeveria es el género con el mayor número de especies endémicas. Los taxones endémicos ocupan principalmente las regiones Mesoandina y Puna Húmeda y Seca, entre los 1700 y 4500 m de altitud. Se aplicaron las categorías y criterios de la UICN a nueve taxones. Dos Crassulaceae endémicas están representados dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  15. Breeding a PKU-mouse model on Phe-free diet, is it possible?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dagnæs-Hansen, Frederik; Johansen, Karen Singers; Vorup-Jensen, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    The PKU-mouse model mutated in the PAH gene was developed in the 1990s in the laboratory of Dr. Alexandra Shedlovsky at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin. The mutation was generated by ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) treatment of BTBR males. Several mutation was found...

  16. Prácticas de policía: apuntes para una arqueología de la educación en Santafé colonial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Patricia Rodríguez Ávila

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the general rulings group contained in police court orders and edicts to show the configuration of two educational strategies into Santa Fe city by the end of the 18th century: the appropriation of urban ruling practices, and the collection of homeless, idle and vague people as producers of public disorders. On these people the Royal Hospice of Santa Fe tried to force a new moral modeling by means of their reclusion and forcing to work.//Este artículo analiza algunas reglamentaciones contenidas en autos o bandos de policía para mostrar la configura¬ción de dos estrategias educativas en la ciudad de Santa Fe a finales del siglo XVIII: la incorporación de prácticas de regulación urbana y la recolección de mendigos, ociosos y malentretenidos causantes de desórdenes públicos, sobre quienes se buscó ejercer un nuevo tipo de ortopedia moral mediante su reclusión y aplicación al trabajo en el Real Hospicio de Santa Fe.

  17. Convention on nuclear safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The document presents the Rules of Procedure and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/449) convened in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Convention. It includes four parts: General provisions, Preparatory process for review meetings, Review meetings, and Amendment and interpretation of rules

  18. Medicare program; revision to accrual basis of accounting policy. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-09-27

    Medicare policy provides that payroll taxes that a provider becomes obligated to remit to governmental agencies are included in allowable costs only in the cost reporting period in which payment (upon which the payroll taxes are based) is actually made to an employee. Therefore, for payroll accrued in 1 year but not paid until the next year, the associated payroll taxes are not an allowable cost until the next year. This final rule provides for an exception when payment would be made to the employee in the current year but for the fact that regularly scheduled payment date is after the end of the year. In that case, the rule requires allowance in the current year of accrued taxes on payroll that is accrued through the end of the year but not paid until the beginning of the next year, thus allowing accrued taxes on end-of-the year payroll in the same year that the accrual of the payroll itself is allowed. The effect of this rule is not on the allowability of cost but rather only on the timing of payment; that is, the cost of payroll taxes on end-of-the-year payroll is allowable in the current period rather than in the following period.

  19. A series of N-terminal epitope tagged Hdh knock-in alleles expressing normal and mutant huntingtin: their application to understanding the effect of increasing the length of normal huntingtin’s polyglutamine stretch on CAG140 mouse model pathogenesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng Shuqiu

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Huntington’s disease (HD is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease that is caused by the expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ stretch within Huntingtin (htt, the protein product of the HD gene. Although studies in vitro have suggested that the mutant htt can act in a potentially dominant negative fashion by sequestering wild-type htt into insoluble protein aggregates, the role of the length of the normal htt polyQ stretch, and the adjacent proline-rich region (PRR in modulating HD mouse model pathogenesis is currently unknown. Results We describe the generation and characterization of a series of knock-in HD mouse models that express versions of the mouse HD gene (Hdh encoding N-terminal hemaglutinin (HA or 3xFlag epitope tagged full-length htt with different polyQ lengths (HA7Q-, 3xFlag7Q-, 3xFlag20Q-, and 3xFlag140Q-htt and substitution of the adjacent mouse PRR with the human PRR (3xFlag20Q- and 3xFlag140Q-htt. Using co-immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemistry analyses, we detect no significant interaction between soluble full-length normal 7Q- htt and mutant (140Q htt, but we do observe N-terminal fragments of epitope-tagged normal htt in mutant htt aggregates. When the sequences encoding normal mouse htt’s polyQ stretch and PRR are replaced with non-pathogenic human sequence in mice also expressing 140Q-htt, aggregation foci within the striatum, and the mean size of htt inclusions are increased, along with an increase in striatal lipofuscin and gliosis. Conclusion In mice, soluble full-length normal and mutant htt are predominantly monomeric. In heterozygous knock-in HD mouse models, substituting the normal mouse polyQ and PRR with normal human sequence can exacerbate some neuropathological phenotypes.

  20. Efficiency in Rule- vs. Plan-Based Movements Is Modulated by Action-Mode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheib, Jean P P; Stoll, Sarah; Thürmer, J Lukas; Randerath, Jennifer

    2018-01-01

    The rule/plan motor cognition (RPMC) paradigm elicits visually indistinguishable motor outputs, resulting from either plan- or rule-based action-selection, using a combination of essentially interchangeable stimuli. Previous implementations of the RPMC paradigm have used pantomimed movements to compare plan- vs. rule-based action-selection. In the present work we attempt to determine the generalizability of previous RPMC findings to real object interaction by use of a grasp-to-rotate task. In the plan task, participants had to use prospective planning to achieve a comfortable post-handle rotation hand posture. The rule task used implementation intentions (if-then rules) leading to the same comfortable end-state. In Experiment A, we compare RPMC performance of 16 healthy participants in pantomime and real object conditions of the experiment, within-subjects. Higher processing efficiency of rule- vs. plan-based action-selection was supported by diffusion model analysis. Results show a significant response-time increase in the pantomime condition compared to the real object condition and a greater response-time advantage of rule-based vs. plan-based actions in the pantomime compared to the real object condition. In Experiment B, 24 healthy participants performed the real object RPMC task in a task switching vs. a blocked condition. Results indicate that plan-based action-selection leads to longer response-times and less efficient information processing than rule-based action-selection in line with previous RPMC findings derived from the pantomime action-mode. Particularly in the task switching mode, responses were faster in the rule compared to the plan task suggesting a modulating influence of cognitive load. Overall, results suggest an advantage of rule-based action-selection over plan-based action-selection; whereby differential mechanisms appear to be involved depending on the action-mode. We propose that cognitive load is a factor that modulates the advantageous

  1. Delayed rule following.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, D R

    2001-01-01

    Although the elements of a fully stated rule (discriminative stimulus [S(D)], some behavior, and a consequence) can occur nearly contemporaneously with the statement of the rule, there is often a delay between the rule statement and the S(D). The effects of this delay on rule following have not been studied in behavior analysis, but they have been investigated in rule-like settings in the areas of prospective memory (remembering to do something in the future) and goal pursuit. Discriminative events for some behavior can be event based (a specific setting stimulus) or time based. The latter are more demanding with respect to intention following and show age-related deficits. Studies suggest that the specificity with which the components of a rule (termed intention) are stated has a substantial effect on intention following, with more detailed specifications increasing following. Reminders of an intention, too, are most effective when they refer specifically to both the behavior and its occasion. Covert review and written notes are two effective strategies for remembering everyday intentions, but people who use notes appear not to be able to switch quickly to covert review. By focusing on aspects of the setting and rule structure, research on prospective memory and goal pursuit expands the agenda for a more complete explanation of rule effects.

  2. The Rule of Law against the Rule of Greed: Edmund Burke against the East India Company

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakob Fortunat Stagl

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available At the end of the 18th century Bengal suddenly came under the rule of the East India Company. The former trading company had become the sovereign, first, of a country the size of France, and eventually of the whole Indian subcontinent. The Company was not controlled by any positive law, be it Indian, British or international. As a consequence, the Company’s individual and corporate greed reigned supreme, with the most dire consequences for the native Indian population. The Indian question aroused the interest of Edmund Burke. He saw in India a metaphor for his native Ireland and was suspicious of the corruption of British politics by the money and influence that the Company’s men had gained in India. He therefore made it the aim of his life to fight the Company’s unrestrained avarice by fostering an impeachment trial against Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of Bengal. In order to get Hastings convicted it was necessary to show that he had infringed the law. But which law should Hastings’ judges apply? He resorted to Natural Law and Roman Law. Thence he took the maxim »Eundem negotiatorem et dominum«, that is to say, commerce which aims at profit, and government which aims at the welfare of the population, are irreconcilable. Though after many years Hastings was acquitted, Burke contributed by this trial to civilising British rule in India. Burke’s stance has recently been criticised by the post-colonial school: He should have pleaded for the British to quit India rather than improving their rule and thereby prolonging its existence.

  3. Hamburg rules V Hague Visby rules an English perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Tozaj Dorian; Xhelilaj Ermal

    2010-01-01

    It has often been argued for the effect of defences provided to carriers under Art IV (2) of Hague Visby Rules to almost nullify the protection guaranteed to shippers in other provisions of this convention. Therefore an all embracing universal shipper friendly convention, merely the Hamburg Rules, need be incorporated in all countries in order to address this issue and fully satisfy the intentions of the parties for the establishment of international rules in international trade

  4. Death talk: Basic linguistic rules and communication in perinatal and paediatric end-of-life discussions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xafis, Vicki; Watkins, Andrew; Wilkinson, Dominic

    2016-04-01

    This paper considers clinician/parent communication difficulties noted by parents involved in end-of-life decision-making in the light of linguistic theory. Grice's Cooperative Principle and associated maxims, which enable effective communication, are examined in relation to communication deficiencies that parents have identified when making end-of-life decisions for the child. Examples from the literature are provided to clarify the impact of failing to observe the maxims on parents and on clinician/parent communication. Linguistic theory applied to the literature on parental concerns about clinician/parent communication shows that the violation of the maxims of quantity, quality, relation, and manner as well as the stance that some clinicians adopt during discussions with parents impact on clinician/parent communication and lead to distrust, anger, sadness, and long-term difficulties coping with the experience of losing one's child. Parents have identified communication deficiencies in end-of-life discussions. Relating these communication deficiencies to linguistic theory provides insight into communication difficulties but also solutions. Gaining an understanding of basic linguistic theory that underlies human interactions, gaining insight into the communication deficiencies that parents have identified, and modifying some communication behaviours in light of these with the suggestions made in this article may lead to improved clinician/parent communication. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The Mouse Genome Database (MGD): facilitating mouse as a model for human biology and disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eppig, Janan T; Blake, Judith A; Bult, Carol J; Kadin, James A; Richardson, Joel E

    2015-01-01

    The Mouse Genome Database (MGD, http://www.informatics.jax.org) serves the international biomedical research community as the central resource for integrated genomic, genetic and biological data on the laboratory mouse. To facilitate use of mouse as a model in translational studies, MGD maintains a core of high-quality curated data and integrates experimentally and computationally generated data sets. MGD maintains a unified catalog of genes and genome features, including functional RNAs, QTL and phenotypic loci. MGD curates and provides functional and phenotype annotations for mouse genes using the Gene Ontology and Mammalian Phenotype Ontology. MGD integrates phenotype data and associates mouse genotypes to human diseases, providing critical mouse-human relationships and access to repositories holding mouse models. MGD is the authoritative source of nomenclature for genes, genome features, alleles and strains following guidelines of the International Committee on Standardized Genetic Nomenclature for Mice. A new addition to MGD, the Human-Mouse: Disease Connection, allows users to explore gene-phenotype-disease relationships between human and mouse. MGD has also updated search paradigms for phenotypic allele attributes, incorporated incidental mutation data, added a module for display and exploration of genes and microRNA interactions and adopted the JBrowse genome browser. MGD resources are freely available to the scientific community. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  6. Optimization of the virtual mouse HeadMouse to foster its classroom use by children with physical disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Merce TEIXIDO

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the optimization of a virtual mouse called HeadMouse in order to foster its classroom use by children with physical disabilities. HeadMouse is an absolute virtual mouse that converts head movements in cursor displacement and facial gestures in click actions. The virtual mouse combines different image processing algorithms: face detection, pattern matching and optical flow in order to emulate the behaviour of a conventional computer mouse. The original implementation of HeadMouse requires large computational power and this paper proposes specific optimizations in order to enable its use by children with disabilities in standard low cost classroom computers.

  7. Presynaptic inhibition of spontaneous acetylcholine release induced by adenosine at the mouse neuromuscular junction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Lorenzo, Silvana; Veggetti, Mariela; Muchnik, Salomón; Losavio, Adriana

    2004-05-01

    1. At the mouse neuromuscular junction, adenosine (AD) and the A(1) agonist 2-chloro-N(6)-cyclopentyl-adenosine (CCPA) induce presynaptic inhibition of spontaneous acetylcholine (ACh) release by activation of A(1) AD receptors through a mechanism that is still unknown. To evaluate whether the inhibition is mediated by modulation of the voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs) associated with tonic secretion (L- and N-type VDCCs), we measured the miniature end-plate potential (mepp) frequency in mouse diaphragm muscles. 2. Blockade of VDCCs by Cd(2+) prevented the effect of the CCPA. Nitrendipine (an L-type VDCC antagonist) but not omega-conotoxin GVIA (an N-type VDCC antagonist) blocked the action of CCPA, suggesting that the decrease in spontaneous mepp frequency by CCPA is associated with an action on L-type VDCCs only. 3. As A(1) receptors are coupled to a G(i/o) protein, we investigated whether the inhibition of PKA or the activation of PKC is involved in the presynaptic inhibition mechanism. Neither N-(2[p-bromocinnamylamino]-ethyl)-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-89, a PKA inhibitor), nor 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methyl-piperazine (H-7, a PKC antagonist), nor phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PHA, a PKC activator) modified CCPA-induced presynaptic inhibition, suggesting that these second messenger pathways are not involved. 4. The effect of CCPA was eliminated by the calmodulin antagonist N-(6-aminohexil)-5-chloro-1-naphthalenesulfonamide hydrochloride (W-7) and by ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid-acetoxymethyl ester epsilon6TDelta-BM, which suggests that the action of CCPA to modulate L-type VDCCs may involve Ca(2+)-calmodulin. 5. To investigate the action of CCPA on diverse degrees of nerve terminal depolarization, we studied its effect at different external K(+) concentrations. The effect of CCPA on ACh secretion evoked by 10 mm K(+) was prevented by the P/Q-type VDCC antagonist omega-agatoxin IVA. 6. CCPA failed to

  8. Concave distal end of ulna metaphysis alone is not a sign of rickets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oestreich, Alan E. [Cincinnati Children' s Hospital Medical Center, Department of Radiology, 5031, Cincinnati, OH (United States)

    2015-07-15

    Statements have been made in the literature and in legal testimony that misrepresent the radiographic finding of concave distal end of the ulnar metaphysis. To demonstrate that a concave distal end of the ossified ulna in infancy can be normal. Eighty distal wrists of randomly selected infants in the first year of life with radiographic evidence that ruled out rickets were reviewed. In 16 of the cases (20%), mild or moderate concavity of the distal end of the ulna was seen. An intact metaphyseal collar of distal radius or ulna confirmed the absence of radiographic rickets. The finding of 20% of concave distal ulnas in the first year of life confirms the widely acknowledged statements that concave distal end of the ulna alone is not indicative of rickets. Statements to the contrary are not justified. (orig.)

  9. Concave distal end of ulna metaphysis alone is not a sign of rickets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oestreich, Alan E.

    2015-01-01

    Statements have been made in the literature and in legal testimony that misrepresent the radiographic finding of concave distal end of the ulnar metaphysis. To demonstrate that a concave distal end of the ossified ulna in infancy can be normal. Eighty distal wrists of randomly selected infants in the first year of life with radiographic evidence that ruled out rickets were reviewed. In 16 of the cases (20%), mild or moderate concavity of the distal end of the ulna was seen. An intact metaphyseal collar of distal radius or ulna confirmed the absence of radiographic rickets. The finding of 20% of concave distal ulnas in the first year of life confirms the widely acknowledged statements that concave distal end of the ulna alone is not indicative of rickets. Statements to the contrary are not justified. (orig.)

  10. Exposure of the mouse perinatal testis to radiation leads to hypospermia at sexual maturity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forand, A.; Messiaen, S.; Habert, R.; Bernardino-Sgherri, J.

    2009-01-01

    The first round of mouse spermatogenesis begins from 3 to 4 days after birth through differentiation of gonocytes into spermatogonial-stem cells and type A spermatogonia. Consequently, this step of differentiation may determine generation of the original population of stem cells and the fertility potential of the adult mouse. We aimed to determine the effect of perinatal exposure to ionizing radiation on the testis at the end of the first wave of spermatogenesis and at sexual maturity. Our results show that, radiation sensitivity of the testis substantially decreases from late foetal life to the end of the first week after birth. In addition, partial or full recovery from radiation induced testicular weight loss occurred between the first round of spermatogenesis and sexual maturity, and this was associated with the stimulation of spermatogonial proliferation. Exposure of mice at 17.5 days after conception or at 1 day after birth to γ-rays decreased the sperm counts at sexual maturity, while exposure of 8 day-old mice had no effect. This suggests that irradiation of late foetal or early neonatal testes has a direct impact on the generation of the neonatal spermatogonial-stem cell pool. (authors)

  11. Resolving task rule incongruence during task switching by competitor rule suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Dimov, Eduard

    2010-07-01

    Task switching requires maintaining readiness to execute any task of a given set of tasks. However, when tasks switch, the readiness to execute the now-irrelevant task generates interference, as seen in the task rule incongruence effect. Overcoming such interference requires fine-tuned inhibition that impairs task readiness only minimally. In an experiment involving 2 object classification tasks and 2 location classification tasks, the authors show that irrelevant task rules that generate response conflicts are inhibited. This competitor rule suppression (CRS) is seen in response slowing in subsequent trials, when the competing rules become relevant. CRS is shown to operate on specific rules without affecting similar rules. CRS and backward inhibition, which is another inhibitory phenomenon, produced additive effects on reaction time, suggesting their mutual independence. Implications for current formal theories of task switching as well as for conflict monitoring theories are discussed. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

  12. Quality of Living and Dying: Pediatric Palliative Care and End-of-Life Decisions in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brouwer, Marije; Maeckelberghe, Els; DE Weerd, Willemien; Verhagen, Eduard

    2018-07-01

    In 2002, The Netherlands continued its leadership in developing rules and jurisdiction regarding euthanasia and end-of-life decisions by implementing the Euthanasia Act, which allows euthanasia for patients 12 years of age and older. Subsequently, in 2005, the regulation on active ending of life for newborns was issued. However, more and more physicians and parents have stated that the age gap between these two regulations-children between 1 and 12 years old-is undesirable. These children should have the same right to end their suffering as adults and newborn infants. An extended debate on pediatric euthanasia ensued, and currently the debate is ongoing as to whether legislation should be altered in order to allow pediatric euthanasia. An emerging major question regards the active ending of life in the context of palliative care: How does a request for active ending of life relate to the care that is given to children in the palliative phase? Until now, the distinction between palliative care and end-of-life decisions continues to remain unclear, making any discussion about their mutual in- and exclusiveness hazardous at best. In this report, therefore, we aim to provide insight into the relationship between pediatric palliative care and end-of-life decisions, as understood in the Netherlands. We do so by first providing an overview of the (legal) rules and regulations regarding euthanasia and active ending of life, followed by an analysis of the relationship between these two, using the Dutch National Guidelines for Palliative Care for Children. The results of this analysis revealed two major and related features of palliative care and end-of-life decisions for children: (1) palliative care and end-of-life decisions are part of the same process, one that focuses both on quality of living and quality of dying, and (2) although physicians are seen as ultimately responsible for making end-of-life decisions, the involvement of parents and children in this decision is

  13. Susceptibilidad dE Lutzomyia verrucarrum a piretroides en zonas endémicas de Enfermedad de Carrión de Ancash

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Lucero

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available La enfermedad de Carrión es una infección metaxénica endémica del Perú, el control vectorial de la Lutzomyia verrucarum con insecticidas es una de las formas más usadas para reducir su morbilidad. Se determinó la susceptibilidad de este vector a los piretroides más usados (cyflutrina, alfacipermetrina y deltametrina en dos zonas endémicas altoandinas de Ancash (Llumpa: 3200 msnm y Maya: 2600 msnm, Perú en junio de 1999. Se expuso a 50 mosquitos por cada zona e insecticida usando la prueba de contacto para anophelinos modificada. Se encontró una mortalidad del 100% para cada piretroide ensayado. Si bien se demostró una susceptibilidad total de L. verrucarum es necesario implementar la vigilancia de la resistencia a insecticidas como se hace con otros vectores en el Perú.

  14. Evidence for Bergmann's Rule and Not Allopatric Subspeciation in the Threatened Kaka (Nestor meridionalis).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dussex, Nic; Sainsbury, James; Moorhouse, Ron; Jamieson, Ian G; Robertson, Bruce C

    2015-01-01

    Species of conservation concern characterized by small and declining populations greatly benefit from proactive management approaches such as population translocations. Because they often show intra-specific genetic and phenotypic variation, which can result from drift or differential selective pressures between habitats, understanding the distribution of such variation and its underlying processes is a prerequisite to develop effective management guidelines. Indeed, translocations among genetically differentiated populations potentially locally adapted are discouraged in order to avoid outbreeding depression, while translocations among populations characterized by high gene flow with no evidence for local adaptation are encouraged. Here, we first test whether 2 recognized subspecies, the North Island kaka (Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis) and South Island kaka (Nestor meridionalis meridionalis) of New Zealand fit a scenario of allopatric subspeciation following the separation of the North and South Islands at the end of the Pleistocene using 1 mtDNA (n = 96) and 9 microsatellite markers (n = 126). We then test whether morphological differences among the 2 subspecies support a pattern of local adaptation, comparing phenotypic divergence (P ST) and the level of divergence by drift alone (F ST) among populations. We find little population structure between islands, ruling out allopatric subspeciation in kaka. Further, P ST exceeds F ST, supporting an adaptive latitudinal size cline consistent with Bergmann's rule. These results therefore suggest that using neutral genetic diversity alone can be misleading when identifying management units and that the nature of phenotypic variation should be considered in translocations efforts. We finally discuss North and South Island management units but suggest that cross-island translocation be allowed. © The American Genetic Association. 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. La provincia en Boyacá: unidad territorial, histórico-funcional de planificación en la gestión del desarrollo regional endógeno, 2004-2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorena Andrea Estupiñan Pedraza

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo analiza la provincia como dimensión territorial del desarrollo en Boyacá. En primer lugar, se describe la provincia como unidad territorial (lugar concreto de acción, histórica (trascendente, funcional (con usos específicos; en segundo lugar, se expone el concepto de planificación en la gestión del desarrollo regional endógeno para, finalmente, analizarlo desde lo provincial. Así, se establece que para “alcanzar un cambio social sostenido que lleve al perfeccionamiento de una región”, es necesario partir de la activación de las capacidades internas, lo que incluye la organización del territorio, que en Boyacá es la provincia, y que es desde ella, que se debe planificar el desarrollo departamental.

  16. Electronuclear sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arenhoevel, H.; Drechsel, D.; Weber, H.J.

    1978-01-01

    Generalized sum rules are derived by integrating the electromagnetic structure functions along lines of constant ratio of momentum and energy transfer. For non-relativistic systems these sum rules are related to the conventional photonuclear sum rules by a scaling transformation. The generalized sum rules are connected with the absorptive part of the forward scattering amplitude of virtual photons. The analytic structure of the scattering amplitudes and the possible existence of dispersion relations have been investigated in schematic relativistic and non-relativistic models. While for the non-relativistic case analyticity does not hold, the relativistic scattering amplitude is analytical for time-like (but not for space-like) photons and relations similar to the Gell-Mann-Goldberger-Thirring sum rule exist. (Auth.)

  17. Understanding Kaula's Rule for Small Bodies

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, J.; Scheeres, D. J.; Farnocchia, D.; Chesley, S.

    2015-12-01

    Kaula's rule gives a bound on the RMS of the gravity coefficients of each order as a power law K/n^2, where n is the degree. Kaula derived the value of K for Earth as 10-5. This rule has been used as an a priori information bound on the gravity coefficients of other planetary bodies before their gravity fields are measured by spacecraft. To apply Kaula's rule to other bodies, the simple scaling based on the relative gravity of each body is used - (gEarth/gPlanet)2. This scaling was successfully used even for Vesta, where K = 0.011. However, if Kaula's rule is applied to very small bodies, such as the OSIRIS-REx target asteroid Bennu, the scaling results in un-useable bounds. In this case, K ~ 105. This fact has motivated further investigation into the derivation and application of a Kaula-like power rule to bound the gravity field of small bodies. Our initial investigation focuses on the specific application to Bennu. This study is enabled by the fact that a fairly accurate shape model of Bennu has been derived based on three Earth-based radar apparitions along with a constrained bulk density based on astrometry and thermal measurements. Thus we investigated varying the Bennu topography within the expected accuracy of the shape model as well as the density distribution. Several interesting facts were discovered through this analysis. First, the top shape of Bennu, common to a number of near-Earth asteroids, results in the even zonal coefficients being larger than the odd zonal of one lower degree. Second, the zonals in general are significantly larger than the coefficients with order > 1, so that the zonals will dominate any fitting of K to a power law. This encourages us to have one K for the absolute value of the zonals (K=0.087), and a separate value for the RMS of the other coefficients (K=0.026). Third, variation in the topography within this uncertainty dominates the variation in the gravity field coefficients over basic inhomogenous density distribution

  18. 49 CFR 393.130 - What are the rules for securing heavy vehicles, equipment and machinery?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... heavy vehicles, equipment and machinery? (a) Applicability. The rules in this section apply to the transportation of heavy vehicles, equipment and machinery which operate on wheels or tracks, such as front end... heavy vehicles, equipment or machinery with crawler tracks or wheels. (1) In addition to the...

  19. Comparative mapping in the beige-satin region of mouse chromosome 13

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perou, C.M.; Pryor, R.; Kaplan, J. [Univ. of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)] [and others

    1997-01-15

    The proximal end of mouse chromosome (Chr) 13 contains regions conserved on human chromosomes 1q42-q44, 6p23-p21, and 7p22-p13. This region also contains mutations that may be models for human disease, including beige (human Chediak-Higashi syndrome). An interspecific backcross of SB/Le and Mus spretus mice was used to generate a molecular genetic linkage map of mouse chromosome 13 with an emphasis on the proximal region including beige (bg) and satin (sa). This map provides the gene order of the two phenotypic markers bg and sa relative to restriction fragment length polymorphisms and simple sequence length polymorphisms in 131 backcross animals. In parallel, we have created a physical map of the region using Nidogen (Nid) as a molecular starting point for cloning a YAC contig that was used to identify the beige gene. The physical map provides the fine-structure order of genes and anonymous DNA fragments that was not resolved by the genetic linkage mapping. The results show that the bg region of mouse Chr 13 is highly conserved on human Chr 1q42-q44 and provide a starting point for a complete functional analysis of the entire bg-sa interval. 37 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

  20. An Experimental Research on the pCI Rule and Causal Judgment (in Chinese)

    OpenAIRE

    Shao, Z. F.; Wang, J.

    2005-01-01

    This research examined the precision of the pCI rule through three experiments. The results show that first , the tendency of the subjects’ casual judgments was basically similar to the pCI rule. But (a + d) / n predicted human’s casual judgments were even better; second, the increase of subjects’ casual judgments was milder than the pCI rule, and the subjects needed time to construct their own way of judging relationship; finally, different people had different ways of causal judgments, and ...

  1. Service without a Smile: Comparing the Consequences of Neutral and Positive Display Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trougakos, John P.; Jackson, Christine L.; Beal, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    We used an experimental design to examine the intrapersonal and interpersonal processes through which neutral display rules, compared to positive display rules, influence objective task performance of poll workers and ratings provided by survey respondents of the poll workers. Student participants (N = 140) were trained to adhere to 1 of the 2…

  2. Context-sensitive grapheme-phoneme conversion rules impairment in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joël Macoir

    2014-04-01

    Results. As shown in Table 1, NG and ND's performance was well preserved in tasks with words and nonwords with n-cGPC rules. However, ND was impaired in all tasks with c-sGPC rules, whilst NG's performance was affected for c-sGPC stimuli only in the rhyming task. Discussion. The processing of regular words and nonwords is assumed to be unimpaired in svPPA since their production do not necessary rely on the lexical-semantic route of reading and spelling. In the present study, this hypothesis was confirmed for n-cGPC rules only. However, both patients presented with difficulty in c-sGPC stimuli. This pattern of performance, never reported before in svPPA, questions the possible role of semantic memory in the reading and spelling of stimuli comprising consistent but contextual GPC rules.

  3. Choosing the rules: distinct and overlapping frontoparietal representations of task rules for perceptual decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jiaxiang; Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus; Carlin, Johan D; Rowe, James B

    2013-07-17

    Behavior is governed by rules that associate stimuli with responses and outcomes. Human and monkey studies have shown that rule-specific information is widely represented in the frontoparietal cortex. However, it is not known how establishing a rule under different contexts affects its neural representation. Here, we use event-related functional MRI (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern classification methods to investigate the human brain's mechanisms of establishing and maintaining rules for multiple perceptual decision tasks. Rules were either chosen by participants or specifically instructed to them, and the fMRI activation patterns representing rule-specific information were compared between these contexts. We show that frontoparietal regions differ in the properties of their rule representations during active maintenance before execution. First, rule-specific information maintained in the dorsolateral and medial frontal cortex depends on the context in which it was established (chosen vs specified). Second, rule representations maintained in the ventrolateral frontal and parietal cortex are independent of the context in which they were established. Furthermore, we found that the rule-specific coding maintained in anticipation of stimuli may change with execution of the rule: representations in context-independent regions remain invariant from maintenance to execution stages, whereas rule representations in context-dependent regions do not generalize to execution stage. The identification of distinct frontoparietal systems with context-independent and context-dependent task rule representations, and the distinction between anticipatory and executive rule representations, provide new insights into the functional architecture of goal-directed behavior.

  4. Smooth criminal: convicted rule-breakers show reduced cognitive conflict during deliberate rule violations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jusyte, Aiste; Pfister, Roland; Mayer, Sarah V; Schwarz, Katharina A; Wirth, Robert; Kunde, Wilfried; Schönenberg, Michael

    2017-09-01

    Classic findings on conformity and obedience document a strong and automatic drive of human agents to follow any type of rule or social norm. At the same time, most individuals tend to violate rules on occasion, and such deliberate rule violations have recently been shown to yield cognitive conflict for the rule-breaker. These findings indicate persistent difficulty to suppress the rule representation, even though rule violations were studied in a controlled experimental setting with neither gains nor possible sanctions for violators. In the current study, we validate these findings by showing that convicted criminals, i.e., individuals with a history of habitual and severe forms of rule violations, can free themselves from such cognitive conflict in a similarly controlled laboratory task. These findings support an emerging view that aims at understanding rule violations from the perspective of the violating agent rather than from the perspective of outside observer.

  5. Genome wide analysis of inbred mouse lines identifies a locus containing Ppar-gamma as contributing to enhanced malaria survival.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Selina E R Bopp

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The genetic background of a patient determines in part if a person develops a mild form of malaria and recovers, or develops a severe form and dies. We have used a mouse model to detect genes involved in the resistance or susceptibility to Plasmodium berghei malaria infection. To this end we first characterized 32 different mouse strains infected with P. berghei and identified survival as the best trait to discriminate between the strains. We found a locus on chromosome 6 by linking the survival phenotypes of the mouse strains to their genetic variations using genome wide analyses such as haplotype associated mapping and the efficient mixed-model for association. This new locus involved in malaria resistance contains only two genes and confirms the importance of Ppar-gamma in malaria infection.

  6. Bottom mass from nonrelativistic sum rules at NNLL

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stahlhofen, Maximilian

    2013-01-15

    We report on a recent determination of the bottom quark mass from nonrelativistic (large-n) {Upsilon} sum rules with renormalization group improvement (RGI) at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) order. The comparison to previous fixed-order analyses shows that the RGI computed in the vNRQCD framework leads to a substantial stabilization of the theoretical sum rule moments with respect to scale variations. A single moment fit (n=10) to the available experimental data yields M{sub b}{sup 1S}=4.755{+-}0.057{sub pert}{+-}0.009{sub {alpha}{sub s}}{+-}0.003{sub exp} GeV for the bottom 1S mass and anti m{sub b}(anti m{sub b})=4.235{+-}0.055{sub pert}{+-}0.003{sub exp} GeV for the bottom MS mass. The quoted uncertainties refer to the perturbative error and the uncertainties associated with the strong coupling and the experimental input.

  7. Morphology of nerve endings in vocal fold of human newborn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonçalves da Silva Leite, Janaina; Costa Cavalcante, Maria Luzete; Fechine-Jamacaru, Francisco Vagnaldo; de Lima Pompeu, Margarida Maria; Leite, José Alberto Dias; Nascimento Coelho, Dulce Maria; Rabelo de Freitas, Marcos

    2016-10-01

    Sensory receptors are distributed throughout the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. Laryngeal sensitivity is crucial for maintaining safe swallowing, thus avoiding silent aspiration. Morphologic description of different receptor types present in larynx vary because of the study of many different species, from mouse to humans. The most commonly sensory structures described in laryngeal mucosa are free nerve endings, taste buds, muscle spindles, glomerular and corpuscular receptors. This study aimed at describing the morphology and the distribution of nerve endings in premature newborn glottic region. Transversal serial frozen sections of the whole vocal folds of three newborns were analyzed using an immuno-histochemical process with a pan-neuronal marker anti-protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5). Imaging was done using a confocal laser microscope. Nerve fiber density in vocal cord was calculated using panoramic images in software Morphometric Analysis System v1.0. Some sensory structures, i.e. glomerular endings and intraepithelial free nerve endings were found in the vocal cord mucosa. Muscle spindles, complex nerve endings (Meissner-like, spherical, rectangular and growing) spiral-wharves nerve structures were identified in larynx intrinsic muscles. Nervous total mean density in vocal cord was similar in the three newborns, although they had different gestational age. The mean nerve fiber density was higher in the posterior region than anterior region of vocal cord. The present results demonstrate the occurrence of different morphotypes of sensory corpuscles and nerve endings premature newborn glottic region and provide information on their sensory systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. The Rules of the Game—The Rules of the Player

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorhauge, Anne Mette

    2013-01-01

    of the game manager in order to implement the rules and provide a world for the other players. In online role-playing games, a programmed system simulates the rule system as well as part of the game manager’s tasks, while the rest of the activity is up to the players to define. Some aspects may translate more......This article presents a critical view of the concept of rules in game studies on the basis of a case study of role-playing across media. Role-playing in its traditional form is a complex activity including a game system and a number of communicative conventions where one player takes the role...... or less unproblematically across media, others are transformed by the introduction of the programmed system. This reveals some important perspectives on the sort of rules that can be simulated in a programmed system and what this means to the concept of rules in game studies....

  9. The vulcain N expert fire system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roche, A.

    1989-03-01

    The Institute for Nuclear Safety and Protection (IPSN) has begun work on an expert system to aid in the diagnosis of fire hazards in nuclear installations. This system is called Vulcain N and is designed as a support tool for the analyses carried out by the IPSN. Vulcain N, is based on the Vulcain expert system already developed by Bertin for its own needs and incorporates the specific rules and know-how of the IPSN experts. The development of Vulcain N began in October 1986 with the drawing up of the technical specifications, and should be completed by the end of 1988. Vulcain N brings together knowledge from a number of different domains: the locations of the combustible materials, the thermal characteristics of the combustible materials and of the walls of the room, the ventilation conditions and, finally, knowledge of fire experts concerning the development of fire. The latter covers four levels of expert knowledge: standards and their associated calculations, the simplified physics of the fire enabling more precise values to be obtained for the figures given by the standards, the rules and knowledge which enables a certain number of deductions to be made concerning the development of the fire, and a numerical simulation code which can be used to monitor the variation of certain characteristic parameters with time. For a given fire out-break scenario, Vulcain N performs diagnosis of different aspects: development of fire, effect of ventilation, emergency action possibilities, propagation hazards, etc. Owing to its flexibility, it can be used in the analysis of fire hazards to simulate a number of possible scenarios and to very rapidly deduce the essential, predominant factors. It will also be used to assist in drafting emergency procedures for application in facilities with nuclear hazards

  10. Development of mPMab-1, a Mouse-Rat Chimeric Antibody Against Mouse Podoplanin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Shinji; Kaneko, Mika K; Nakamura, Takuro; Ichii, Osamu; Konnai, Satoru; Kato, Yukinari

    2017-04-01

    Podoplanin (PDPN), the ligand of C-type lectin-like receptor-2, is used as a lymphatic endothelial marker. We previously established clone PMab-1 of rat IgG 2a as a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) against mouse PDPN. PMab-1 is also very sensitive in immunohistochemical analysis; however, rat mAbs seem to be unfavorable for pathologists because anti-mouse IgG and anti-rabbit IgG are usually used as secondary antibodies in commercially available kits for immunohistochemical analysis. In this study, we develop a mouse-rat chimeric antibody, mPMab-1 of mouse IgG 2a , which was derived from rat PMab-1 mAb. Immunohistochemical analysis shows that mPMab-1 detects podocytes of the kidney, lymphatic endothelial cells of the colon, and type I alveolar cells of the lung. Importantly, mPMab-1 is more sensitive than PMab-1. This conversion strategy from rat mAb to mouse mAb could be applicable to other mAbs.

  11. α-Synuclein deficiency and efferent nerve degeneration in the mouse cochlea: a possible cause of early-onset presbycusis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, S N; Back, S A; Choung, Y H; Kim, H L; Akil, O; Lustig, L R; Park, K H; Yeo, S W

    2011-11-01

    Efferent nerves under the outer hair cells (OHCs) play a role in the protection of these cells from loud stimuli. Previously, we showed that cochlear α-synuclein expression is localized to efferent auditory synapses at the base of the OHCs. To prove our hypothesis that α-synuclein deficiency and efferent auditory deficit might be a cause of hearing loss, we compared the morphology of efferent nerve endings and α-synuclein expression within the cochleae of two mouse models of presbycusis. Comparative animal study of presbycusis. The C57BL/6J(C57) mouse strain, a well-known model of early-onset hearing loss, and the CBA mouse strain, a model of relatively late-onset hearing loss, were examined. Auditory brainstem responses and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were recorded, and cochlear morphology with efferent nerve ending was compared. Western blotting was used to examine α-synuclein expression in the cochlea. Compared with CBA mice, C57 mice showed earlier onset high-frequency hearing loss and decreased function in OHCs, especially within high-frequency regions. C57 mice demonstrated more severe pathologic changes within the cochlea, particularly within the basal turn, than CBA mice of the same age. Weaker α-synuclein and synaptophysin expression in the efferent nerve endings and cochlear homogenates in C57 mice was observed. Our results support the hypothesis that efferent nerve degeneration, possibly due to differential α-synuclein expression, is a potential cause of early-onset presbycusis. Further studies at the cellular level are necessary to verify our results. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

  12. Teaching versus enforcing game rules in preschoolers' peer interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köymen, Bahar; Schmidt, Marco F H; Rost, Loreen; Lieven, Elena; Tomasello, Michael

    2015-07-01

    Children use normative language in two key contexts: when teaching others and when enforcing social norms. We presented pairs of 3- and 5-year-old peers (N=192) with a sorting game in two experimental conditions (in addition to a third baseline condition). In the teaching condition, one child was knowledgeable, whereas the other child was ignorant and so in need of instruction. In the enforcement condition, children learned conflicting rules so that each child was making mistakes from the other's point of view. When teaching rules to an ignorant partner, both age groups used generic normative language ("Bunnies go here"). When enforcing rules on a rule-breaking partner, 3-year-olds used normative utterances that were not generic and aimed at correcting individual behavior ("No, this goes there"), whereas 5-year-olds again used generic normative language, perhaps because they discerned that instruction was needed in this case as well. Young children normatively correct peers differently depending on their assessment of what their wayward partners need to bring them back into line. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Bayesian probability estimates are not necessary to make choices satisfying Bayes’ rule in elementary situations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domurat, Artur; Kowalczuk, Olga; Idzikowska, Katarzyna; Borzymowska, Zuzanna; Nowak-Przygodzka, Marta

    2015-01-01

    This paper has two aims. First, we investigate how often people make choices conforming to Bayes’ rule when natural sampling is applied. Second, we show that using Bayes’ rule is not necessary to make choices satisfying Bayes’ rule. Simpler methods, even fallacious heuristics, might prescribe correct choices reasonably often under specific circumstances. We considered elementary situations with binary sets of hypotheses and data. We adopted an ecological approach and prepared two-stage computer tasks resembling natural sampling. Probabilistic relations were inferred from a set of pictures, followed by a choice which was made to maximize the chance of a preferred outcome. Use of Bayes’ rule was deduced indirectly from choices. Study 1 used a stratified sample of N = 60 participants equally distributed with regard to gender and type of education (humanities vs. pure sciences). Choices satisfying Bayes’ rule were dominant. To investigate ways of making choices more directly, we replicated Study 1, adding a task with a verbal report. In Study 2 (N = 76) choices conforming to Bayes’ rule dominated again. However, the verbal reports revealed use of a new, non-inverse rule, which always renders correct choices, but is easier than Bayes’ rule to apply. It does not require inversion of conditions [transforming P(H) and P(D|H) into P(H|D)] when computing chances. Study 3 examined the efficiency of three fallacious heuristics (pre-Bayesian, representativeness, and evidence-only) in producing choices concordant with Bayes’ rule. Computer-simulated scenarios revealed that the heuristics produced correct choices reasonably often under specific base rates and likelihood ratios. Summing up we conclude that natural sampling results in most choices conforming to Bayes’ rule. However, people tend to replace Bayes’ rule with simpler methods, and even use of fallacious heuristics may be satisfactorily efficient. PMID:26347676

  14. Bayesian probability estimates are not necessary to make choices satisfying Bayes’ rule in elementary situations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artur eDomurat

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper has two aims. First, we investigate how often people make choices conforming to Bayes’ rule when natural sampling is applied. Second, we show that using Bayes’ rule is not necessary to make choices satisfying Bayes’ rule. Simpler methods, even fallacious heuristics, might prescribe correct choices reasonably often under specific circumstances. We considered elementary situations with binary sets of hypotheses and data. We adopted an ecological approach and prepared two-stage computer tasks resembling natural sampling. Probabilistic relations were to be inferred from a set of pictures, followed by a choice between the data which was made to maximize a chance for a preferred outcome. Using Bayes’ rule was deduced indirectly from choices.Study 1 (N=60 followed a 2 (gender: female vs. male x 2 (education: humanities vs. pure sciences between-subjects factorial design with balanced cells, and a number of correct choices as a dependent variable. Choices satisfying Bayes’ rule were dominant. To investigate ways of making choices more directly, we replicated Study 1, adding a task with a verbal report. In Study 2 (N=76 choices conforming to Bayes’ rule dominated again. However, the verbal reports revealed use of a new, non-inverse rule, which always renders correct choices, but is easier than Bayes’ rule to apply. It does not require inversing conditions (transforming P(H and P(D|H into P(H|D when computing chances. Study 3 examined efficiency of the three fallacious heuristics (pre-Bayesian, representativeness, and evidence-only in producing choices concordant with Bayes’ rule. Computer-simulated scenarios revealed that the heuristics produce correct choices reasonably often under specific base rates and likelihood ratios. Summing up we conclude that natural sampling leads to most choices conforming to Bayes’ rule. However, people tend to replace Bayes’ rule with simpler methods, and even use of fallacious heuristics may

  15. Concerning the order of the Ministry of Transport for the amendment to part of the Rules for the Vehicle Transportation of Nuclear Fuel, the Rules for Ship Transportation and Storage of Dangerous Objects, and the Rules for the Enforcement of the Aviation Act

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    The Ministry of Transport is planning to make amendments to the Rules for the Vehicle Transportation of Nuclear Fuel, the Rules for Ship Transportation and Storage of Dangerous objects, and the Rules for the Enforcement of the Aviation Act, on the basis of results of a study carried out by the Working Group for the Protection of Nuclear Material, the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan. The planned amendments to the Rules for the Vehicle Transportation of Nuclear Fuel cover the locking and sealing of containers, the development of transportation plans, the arrangement and operations of responsible persons and guards for its transportation, and improvement in the communications and liaison system. The amendments to the Rules for Ship Transportation and Storage of Dangerous Objects are related to the range of nuclear fuel substances to be protected, the measures to be taken for their protection during transportation by ship, the approval by the Minister of Transport, and the notification to the Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters. The planned amendments to the Rules for the Enforcement of the Aviation Act cover the range of nuclear fuel substances to be protected, etc. (N.K.)

  16. Tissue distribution of the dystrophin-related gene product and expression in the mdx and dy mouse

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Love, D.R.; Marsden, R.F.; Bloomfield, J.F.; Davies, K.E. (John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (England)); Morris, G.E.; Ellis, J.M. (North East Wales Inst., Deeside, Wales (England)); Fairbrother, U.; Edwards, Y.H. (Univ. College London (England)); Slater, C.P. (Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England)); Parry, D.J. (Univ. of Ottawa, Ontario (Canada))

    1991-04-15

    The authors have previously reported a dystrophin-related locus (DMDL for Duchenne muscular dystrophy-like) on human chromosome 6 that maps close to the dy mutation on mouse chromosome 10. Here they show that this gene is expressed in a wide range of tissues at varying levels. The transcript is particularly abundant in several human fetal tissues, including heart, placenta, and intestine. Studies with antisera raised against a DMDL fusion protein identify a 400,000 M{sub r} protein in all mouse tissues tested, including those of mdx and dy mice. Unlike the dystrophin gene, the DMDL gene transcript is not differentially spliced at the 3{prime} end in either fetal muscle or brain.

  17. Gaze beats mouse

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mateo, Julio C.; San Agustin, Javier; Hansen, John Paulin

    2008-01-01

    Facial EMG for selection is fast, easy and, combined with gaze pointing, it can provide completely hands-free interaction. In this pilot study, 5 participants performed a simple point-and-select task using mouse or gaze for pointing and a mouse button or a facial-EMG switch for selection. Gaze...

  18. Induction of PNAd and N-acetylglucosamine 6-O-sulfotransferases 1 and 2 in mouse collagen-induced arthritis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosen Steven D

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Leukocyte recruitment across blood vessels is fundamental to immune surveillance and inflammation. Lymphocyte homing to peripheral lymph nodes is mediated by the adhesion molecule, L-selectin, which binds to sulfated carbohydrate ligands on high endothelial venules (HEV. These glycoprotein ligands are collectively known as peripheral node addressin (PNAd, as defined by the function-blocking monoclonal antibody known as MECA-79. The sulfation of these ligands depends on the action of two HEV-expressed N-acetylglucosamine 6-O-sulfotransferases: GlcNAc6ST-2 and to a lesser degree GlcNAc6ST-1. Induction of PNAd has also been shown to occur in a number of human inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA. Results In order to identify an animal model suitable for investigating the role of PNAd in chronic inflammation, we examined the expression of PNAd as well as GlcNAc6ST-1 and -2 in collagen-induced arthritis in mice. Here we show that PNAd is expressed in the vasculature of arthritic synovium in mice immunized with collagen but not in the normal synovium of control animals. This de novo expression of PNAd correlates strongly with induction of transcripts for both GlcNAc6ST-1 and GlcNAc6ST-2, as well as the expression of GlcNAc6ST-2 protein. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that PNAd and the sulfotransferases GlcNAc6ST-1 and 2 are induced in mouse collagen-induced arthritis and suggest that PNAd antagonists or inhibitors of the enzymes may have therapeutic benefit in this widely-used mouse model of RA.

  19. End-stage Renal Failure as a Complication of Acute Tubulo-Interstitial Nephritis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reda, G.; Ali, R.; Abdelrehman, M.; Sinha, A. K.; Ayman, K.

    2005-01-01

    Acute tubulo-interstitial nephritis (ATIN) is an important cause of acute renal failure, where renal impairement tends to be variable but recovery is the rule. End-stage renal failure (ESRF) has been rarely reported as a complication of ATIN. We report here a case of idiopathic ATIN that resulted in severe acute renal failure. The patient developed ESRF, which required permanent renal replacement therapy. (author)

  20. Explanation of the Hund's rule for atomic spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muftakhova, F.I.; Zilberman, L.A.

    1982-01-01

    An original formula for electrostatic interaction in many-electron atoms, based on a new mathematical method, related by recoupling a matrix of n vector coupling momenta and its permutation properties, is given in general form. Hund's rule for atomic spectra-like maximum probability of couple momentum of l 2 configuration in the LS term of lsup(n) configuration is explained. Also, non-competence of exchange interaction notion for d and f atoms is based on mentioned formula. (Auth.)

  1. Assessment of orthologous splicing isoforms in human and mouse orthologous genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Horner David S

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent discoveries have highlighted the fact that alternative splicing and alternative transcripts are the rule, rather than the exception, in metazoan genes. Since multiple transcript and protein variants expressed by the same gene are, by definition, structurally distinct and need not to be functionally equivalent, the concept of gene orthology should be extended to the transcript level in order to describe evolutionary relationships between structurally similar transcript variants. In other words, the identification of true orthology relationships between gene products now should progress beyond primary sequence and "splicing orthology", consisting in ancestrally shared exon-intron structures, is required to define orthologous isoforms at transcript level. Results As a starting step in this direction, in this work we performed a large scale human- mouse gene comparison with a twofold goal: first, to assess if and to which extent traditional gene annotations such as RefSeq capture genuine splicing orthology; second, to provide a more detailed annotation and quantification of true human-mouse orthologous transcripts defined as transcripts of orthologous genes exhibiting the same splicing patterns. Conclusions We observed an identical exon/intron structure for 32% of human and mouse orthologous genes. This figure increases to 87% using less stringent criteria for gene structure similarity, thus implying that for about 13% of the human RefSeq annotated genes (and about 25% of the corresponding transcripts we could not identify any mouse transcript showing sufficient similarity to be confidently assigned as a splicing ortholog. Our data suggest that current gene and transcript data may still be rather incomplete - with several splicing variants still unknown. The observation that alternative splicing produces large numbers of alternative transcripts and proteins, some of them conserved across species and others truly species

  2. RuleMaDrone: A Web-Interface to Visualise Space Usage Rules for Drones

    OpenAIRE

    Trippaers, Aäron

    2015-01-01

    RuleMaDrone, an application developed within this thesis, is presented as a solution to communicate the rules and regulations to drone operators. To provide the solution a framework for drone safety was designed which consists of the rules and regulations, the drone properties and the environmental factors. RuleMaDrone is developed with this framework and thus will provide drone operators with an application which they can use to find a safe and legal fly zone. RuleMaDrone u...

  3. Investigation of the OZI selection rule for connected quark diagrams in hadronic processes: 3. Diffractive φ and ω production in pN collisions at 70 GeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The ratio between the cross sections for the diffractive production of pφ and pω systems in pN collisions at Ep=70 GeV is determined by using data from the SPHINX detector. A significant violation of the OZI rule in proton-induced transitions is observed

  4. Strategy as simple rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenhardt, K M; Sull, D N

    2001-01-01

    The success of Yahoo!, eBay, Enron, and other companies that have become adept at morphing to meet the demands of changing markets can't be explained using traditional thinking about competitive strategy. These companies have succeeded by pursuing constantly evolving strategies in market spaces that were considered unattractive according to traditional measures. In this article--the third in an HBR series by Kathleen Eisenhardt and Donald Sull on strategy in the new economy--the authors ask, what are the sources of competitive advantage in high-velocity markets? The secret, they say, is strategy as simple rules. The companies know that the greatest opportunities for competitive advantage lie in market confusion, but they recognize the need for a few crucial strategic processes and a few simple rules. In traditional strategy, advantage comes from exploiting resources or stable market positions. In strategy as simple rules, advantage comes from successfully seizing fleeting opportunities. Key strategic processes, such as product innovation, partnering, or spinout creation, place the company where the flow of opportunities is greatest. Simple rules then provide the guidelines within which managers can pursue such opportunities. Simple rules, which grow out of experience, fall into five broad categories: how- to rules, boundary conditions, priority rules, timing rules, and exit rules. Companies with simple-rules strategies must follow the rules religiously and avoid the temptation to change them too frequently. A consistent strategy helps managers sort through opportunities and gain short-term advantage by exploiting the attractive ones. In stable markets, managers rely on complicated strategies built on detailed predictions of the future. But when business is complicated, strategy should be simple.

  5. 49 CFR 222.41 - How does this rule affect Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and Pre-Rule Partial Quiet Zones?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-Rule Quiet Zone may be established by automatic approval and remain in effect, subject to § 222.51, if... Zone may be established by automatic approval and remain in effect, subject to § 222.51, if the Pre... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How does this rule affect Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and...

  6. Using the Chain Rule as the Key Link in Deriving the General Rules for Differentiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sprows, David

    2011-01-01

    The standard approach to the general rules for differentiation is to first derive the power, product, and quotient rules and then derive the chain rule. In this short article we give an approach to these rules which uses the chain rule as the main tool in deriving the power, product, and quotient rules in a manner which is more student-friendly…

  7. Correspondence Training: An Example of Rule-Governed Behavior?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deacon, Joseph R.; Konarski, Edward A., Jr.

    1987-01-01

    Results of a study comparing the outcome of a reinforcement (do only) procedure with correspondence (say/do) training indicated no apparent differences in generalization between two groups of mentally retarded adults (N=12). Rule-governed behavior, rather than verbal regulation of behavior, may best account for behavior changes seen in…

  8. End-user centeredness in antiretroviral therapy services in Nigerian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: To describe the perception of end users with regard to end-user centeredness in antiretroviral therapy (ART) service provision in Nigerian public health facilities. Design: A qualitative design was followed. Subjects and setting: Unstructured focus group discussions were conducted with end users (n = 64) in six ...

  9. Symmetry breaking, germ layer specification and axial organisation in aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Brink, Susanne C; Baillie-Johnson, Peter; Balayo, Tina; Hadjantonakis, Anna-Katerina; Nowotschin, Sonja; Turner, David A; Martinez Arias, Alfonso

    2014-11-01

    Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are clonal populations derived from preimplantation mouse embryos that can be propagated in vitro and, when placed into blastocysts, contribute to all tissues of the embryo and integrate into the normal morphogenetic processes, i.e. they are pluripotent. However, although they can be steered to differentiate in vitro into all cell types of the organism, they cannot organise themselves into structures that resemble embryos. When aggregated into embryoid bodies they develop disorganised masses of different cell types with little spatial coherence. An exception to this rule is the emergence of retinas and anterior cortex-like structures under minimal culture conditions. These structures emerge from the cultures without any axial organisation. Here, we report that small aggregates of mESCs, of about 300 cells, self-organise into polarised structures that exhibit collective behaviours reminiscent of those that cells exhibit in early mouse embryos, including symmetry breaking, axial organisation, germ layer specification and cell behaviour, as well as axis elongation. The responses are signal specific and uncouple processes that in the embryo are tightly associated, such as specification of the anteroposterior axis and anterior neural development, or endoderm specification and axial elongation. We discuss the meaning and implications of these observations and the potential uses of these structures which, because of their behaviour, we suggest to call 'gastruloids'. © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  10. A flexible energy market - electric power reserves at the place of the end-user

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Livik, Klaus; Groenli, Helle; Fretheim, Stig; Feilberg, Nicolai; Gjervan, Sverre; Dymbe, Lars

    1996-01-01

    If short-term as well as long-term prices in the electric power market are to be stable, then the market must be flexible and both energy and power related efforts must be taken at the end-user's place. The report analyses what type of actors in the electric power market are profiting from a flexible end-user market for energy and power. It is found that a flexible market has utilitarian value for end-users, network owners, suppliers, market operators and system operators. It is also clearly desirable from the point of view of the authorities. Considerable possibilities of developing the flexible energy and power market exist at the end-user. The possibilities can be realized by means of technological developments and political incentives such as by rules for monopoly control. End-user measures may have considerable utilitarian value, socio economically. Especially in areas with high marginal costs of power transport will network owners see the advantages of such measures

  11. Difference rule-a new thermodynamic principle: prediction of standard thermodynamic data for inorganic solvates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, H Donald Brooke; Glasser, Leslie

    2004-12-08

    We present a quite general thermodynamic "difference" rule, derived from thermochemical first principles, quantifying the difference between the standard thermodynamic properties, P, of a solid n-solvate (or n-hydrate), n-S, containing n molecules of solvate, S (water or other) and the corresponding solid parent (unsolvated) salt: [P[n-solvate] - P[parent

  12. Fusion rules of chiral algebras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaberdiel, M.

    1994-01-01

    Recently we showed that for the case of the WZW and the minimal models fusion can be understood as a certain ring-like tensor product of the symmetry algebra. In this paper we generalize this analysis to arbitrary chiral algebras. We define the tensor product of conformal field theory in the general case and prove that it is associative and symmetric up to equivalence. We also determine explicitly the action of the chiral algebra on this tensor product. In the second part of the paper we demonstrate that this framework provides a powerful tool for calculating restrictions for the fusion rules of chiral algebras. We exhibit this for the case of the W 3 algebra and the N=1 and N=2 NS superconformal algebras. (orig.)

  13. Rules, culture, and fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, W M

    1995-01-01

    Behavior analysis risks intellectual isolation unless it integrates its explanations with evolutionary theory. Rule-governed behavior is an example of a topic that requires an evolutionary perspective for a full understanding. A rule may be defined as a verbal discriminative stimulus produced by the behavior of a speaker under the stimulus control of a long-term contingency between the behavior and fitness. As a discriminative stimulus, the rule strengthens listener behavior that is reinforced in the short run by socially mediated contingencies, but which also enters into the long-term contingency that enhances the listener's fitness. The long-term contingency constitutes the global context for the speaker's giving the rule. When a rule is said to be "internalized," the listener's behavior has switched from short- to long-term control. The fitness-enhancing consequences of long-term contingencies are health, resources, relationships, or reproduction. This view ties rules both to evolutionary theory and to culture. Stating a rule is a cultural practice. The practice strengthens, with short-term reinforcement, behavior that usually enhances fitness in the long run. The practice evolves because of its effect on fitness. The standard definition of a rule as a verbal statement that points to a contingency fails to distinguish between a rule and a bargain ("If you'll do X, then I'll do Y"), which signifies only a single short-term contingency that provides mutual reinforcement for speaker and listener. In contrast, the giving and following of a rule ("Dress warmly; it's cold outside") can be understood only by reference also to a contingency providing long-term enhancement of the listener's fitness or the fitness of the listener's genes. Such a perspective may change the way both behavior analysts and evolutionary biologists think about rule-governed behavior.

  14. Comparison of stem-spermatogonial renewal and mitotic activity in the #betta#-irratiated mouse and rat

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erickson, B.H.; Hall, G.G.

    1983-01-01

    The Sprague-Dawley rat exceeds the CRF 1 mouse in number of isolated or purported stem cells per unit area of seminiferous tubule by a factor of 2.1, yet the mouse exceeds the rat in number of first-generation spermatogonia (A 1 ) per unit of tubule by a factor of 1.8. This difference could lead to an interspecies difference in irradiation response and help clarify the identity of spermatogonial stem cell. To test this thesis, mice and rats were irradiated with 600 R of 60 Co #betta#-radiation and killed at postirradiation intervals of 1-16 weeks. Both tubular whole mounts and cross sections were evaluated. The species did not differ in percent survival of isolated spermatogonia, but the mouse exceeded the rat in survival and/or production of A 1 or clonal spermatogonia by a factor of 5. By week 16 after irradiation, the mouse restis had regained 67% of its preirradiation weight, in contrast to the rat's 52%. Clonal renewal was in progress by the end of the 2 (mouse) and 3 (rat) weeks and was substantially complete by the 8 week. In both species the isolated population, however, diminished throughout the first 8 weeks and was renewed between 8 and 16 weeks. Clonal renewal was not accompanied by an increase in the number of isolated spermatogonial mitoses, but was accompanied by increases in the mitotis of pairs and clones and the apparent splitting of existing clones to form additional clones. Thus, the mouse's superiority in the rate and completeness of spermatogonial renewal was apparently due to the attributes of the undifferentiated A 1 spermatogonial clone. (orig.)

  15. Mapping of the mouse actin capping protein {alpha} subunit genes and pseudogenes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hart, M.C.; Korshunova, Y.O.; Cooper, J.A. [Washington Univ. School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO (United States)

    1997-02-01

    Capping protein (CP), a heterodimer of {alpha} and {beta} subunits, is found in all eukaryotes. CP binds to the barbed ends of actin filaments in vitro and controls actin assembly and cell motility in vivo. Vertebrates have three {alpha} isoforms ({alpha}1, {alpha}2, {alpha}3) produced from different genes, whereas lower organisms have only one gene and one isoform. We isolated genomic clones corresponding to the a subunits of mouse CP and found three {alpha}1 genes, two of which are pseudogenes, and a single gene for both {alpha}2 and {alpha}3. Their chromosomal locations were identified by interspecies backcross mapping. The {alpha}1 gene (Cappa1) mapped to Chromosome 3 between D3Mit11 and D3Mit13. The {alpha}1 pseudogenes (Cappa1-ps1 and Cappa1-ps2) mapped to Chromosomes 1 and 9, respectively. The {alpha}2 gene (Cappa2) mapped to Chromosome 6 near Ptn. The {alpha}3 gene (Cappa3) also mapped to Chromosome 6, approximately 68 cM distal from Cappa2 near Kras2. One mouse mutation, de, maps in the vicinity of the {alpha}1 gene. No known mouse mutations map to regions near the {alpha}2 or {alpha}3 genes. 29 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

  16. Assessment of plasminogen synthesis in vitro by mouse tumor cells using a competition radioimmunoassay for mouse plasminogen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roblin, R.O.; Bell, T.E.; Young, P.L.

    1978-01-01

    A sensitive, specific competition radioimmunoassay for mouse plasmin(ogen) has been developed in order to determine whether mouse tumor cells can synthesize plasminogen in vitro. The rabbit anti-BALB/c mouse plasminogen antibodies used in the assay react with the plasminogen present in serum from BALB/c, C3H, AKR and C57BL/6 mice, and also recognized mouse plasmin. The competition radiommunoassay can detect as little as 50 ng of mouse plasminogen. No competition was observed with preparations of fetal calf, human and rabbit plasminogens. A variety of virus-transformed and mouse tumor cell lines were all found to contain less than 100 ng mouse plasminogen/mg of cell extract protein. Thus, if the plasminogen activator/plasmin system is important in the growth or movement of this group of tumor cells, the cells will be dependent upon the circulatory system of the host for their plasminogen supply. (Auth.)

  17. Consistence of Network Filtering Rules

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SHE Kun; WU Yuancheng; HUANG Juncai; ZHOU Mingtian

    2004-01-01

    The inconsistence of firewall/VPN(Virtual Private Network) rule makes a huge maintainable cost.With development of Multinational Company,SOHO office,E-government the number of firewalls/VPN will increase rapidly.Rule table in stand-alone or network will be increased in geometric series accordingly.Checking the consistence of rule table manually is inadequate.A formal approach can define semantic consistence,make a theoretic foundation of intelligent management about rule tables.In this paper,a kind of formalization of host rules and network ones for auto rule-validation based on SET theory were proporsed and a rule validation scheme was defined.The analysis results show the superior performance of the methods and demonstrate its potential for the intelligent management based on rule tables.

  18. Comparison of the design rules for the end of the prestressed concrete double tee component between China and the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meng Xian Hong

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Precast prestressed concrete double tee is an economic bearing component which can be made into a large span, large coverage area .From the angle of the design for the end of the precast prestressed concrete double tee component, flexure and axial tension in extended end, direct shear, diagonal tension at re-entrant corner, diagonal tension in extended end and the connection of the end of precast prestressed double tee component in China and the United States are compared. The comparative study provide the direction for the future development of China in the double tee,including strengthening the end reinforcement and increasing end connections.

  19. No Effect of NGAL/lipocalin-2 on Aggressiveness of Cancer in the MMTV-PyMT/FVB/N Mouse Model for Breast Cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cramer, Elisabeth P; Glenthøj, Andreas; Häger, Mattias

    2012-01-01

    tumor volume, or to the number of metastases. Histology and gelatinolytic activity of the mammary tumors did not differ between wild-type and lipocalin-2-deficient mice. We conclude that NGAL/lipocalin-2 does not invariably affect the aggressiveness of breast cancers as assessed in mouse models, thus......NGAL/lipocalin-2 is a siderophore-binding protein that is highly expressed in several cancers. It is suggested to confer a proliferative advantage to cancer cells. Its expression has been correlated with aggressiveness of breast cancer as determined both in patients and in mouse breast cancer...... models. This was recently confirmed in two mouse models of spontaneous breast cancer in wild-type and lipocalin-2-deficient mice. We used a similar strategy using a different mouse strain. Lipocalin-2-deficient mice and mouse mammary tumor virus-polyoma middle T antigen (MMTV-PyMT) mice were crossed...

  20. Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Mouse Click Motions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Youngsu Cha

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we study energy harvesting from the mouse click motions of a robot finger and a human index finger using a piezoelectric material. The feasibility of energy harvesting from mouse click motions is experimentally and theoretically assessed. The fingers wear a glove with a pocket for including the piezoelectric material. We model the energy harvesting system through the inverse kinematic framework of parallel joints in a finger and the electromechanical coupling equations of the piezoelectric material. The model is validated through energy harvesting experiments in the robot and human fingers with the systematically varying load resistance. We find that energy harvesting is maximized at the matched load resistance to the impedance of the piezoelectric material, and the harvested energy level is tens of nJ.

  1. Max-out-in pivot rule with Dantzig's safeguarding rule for the simplex method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tipawanna, Monsicha; Sinapiromsaran, Krung

    2014-01-01

    The simplex method is used to solve linear programming problem by improving the current basic feasible solution. It uses a pivot rule to guide the search in the feasible region. The pivot rule is used to select an entering index in simplex method. Nowadays, many pivot rule have been presented, but no pivot rule shows superior performance than other. Therefore, this is still an active research in linear programming. In this research, we present the max-out-in pivot rule with Dantzig's safeguarding for simplex method. This rule is based on maximum improvement of objective value of the current basic feasible point similar to the Dantzig's rule. We can illustrate by Klee and Minty problems that our rule outperforms that of Dantzig's rule by the number of iterations for solving linear programming problems

  2. Armazenamento refrigerado sob atmosfera modificada de pedúnculos de cajueiro-anão-precoce dos clones CCP-76, end-157, end-183 e end-189 Storage of cashew apples from dwarf clones CCP-76, end-157, end-183 and end-189 under refrigeration and modified atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Auricélia de Souza Morais

    2002-12-01

    Full Text Available Pedúnculos de clones de cajueiro-anão-precoce, dos clones CCP-76, END-157, END-183 e END-189, foram armazenados durante 25 dias, sob refrigeração associada a atmosfera modificada, com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito das condições atualmente utilizadas (5ºC e 85-90% de UR para conservação, transporte e comercialização de cajus in natura. Os pedúnculos foram avaliados a cada 5 dias quanto às seguintes características: perda de peso, firmeza, cor (antocianinas, sólidos e açúcares solúveis, acidez, pH, vitamina C e compostos fenólicos. O uso da refrigeração (5ºC e 85% U.R, associada a atmosfera modificada, proporcionou uma vida útil pós-colheita de 10 dias para o clone END 189, de até 15 dias para o clone END 157 e de até 25 dias para os clones CCP 76 e END 183. A temperatura de 5ºC não se mostrou adequada para armazenamento de pedúnculos de coloração mais intensa (END 157 e END 189 que a testemunha (CCP 76, provocando perda de cor (antocianinas a partir do 10º dia de armazenamento. A atmosfera modificada reduziu significativamente a perda de peso, favorecendo a aparência do produto para comercialização, independentemente do clone estudado.Apples or false fruits from early dwarf cashew clones CCP-76, END-157, END-183 and END-189 were stored for 25 days under refrigeration associated to modified atmosphere with the aim of evaluating the effect of the conditions presently adopted (5ºC and 85-90% RH for conservation, storage and commercialization of fresh cashew apples. The cashew apples were evaluated every 5 days for the following characteristics: weight loss, pulp firmness, color (anthocyannins, acidity, pH, soluble solids, vitamin C and phenolic contents. With the use of refrigeration and modified atmosphere it was possible to attain postharvest storage life of 10 days for clone END 189, 15 days for clone END 157 and up to 25 days for clones CCP 76 and END 183. It was found that 5ºC was not an adequate

  3. The Mouse Tumor Biology Database: A Comprehensive Resource for Mouse Models of Human Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krupke, Debra M; Begley, Dale A; Sundberg, John P; Richardson, Joel E; Neuhauser, Steven B; Bult, Carol J

    2017-11-01

    Research using laboratory mice has led to fundamental insights into the molecular genetic processes that govern cancer initiation, progression, and treatment response. Although thousands of scientific articles have been published about mouse models of human cancer, collating information and data for a specific model is hampered by the fact that many authors do not adhere to existing annotation standards when describing models. The interpretation of experimental results in mouse models can also be confounded when researchers do not factor in the effect of genetic background on tumor biology. The Mouse Tumor Biology (MTB) database is an expertly curated, comprehensive compendium of mouse models of human cancer. Through the enforcement of nomenclature and related annotation standards, MTB supports aggregation of data about a cancer model from diverse sources and assessment of how genetic background of a mouse strain influences the biological properties of a specific tumor type and model utility. Cancer Res; 77(21); e67-70. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

  4. Totally optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha

    2017-11-22

    Optimality of decision rules (patterns) can be measured in many ways. One of these is referred to as length. Length signifies the number of terms in a decision rule and is optimally minimized. Another, coverage represents the width of a rule’s applicability and generality. As such, it is desirable to maximize coverage. A totally optimal decision rule is a decision rule that has the minimum possible length and the maximum possible coverage. This paper presents a method for determining the presence of totally optimal decision rules for “complete” decision tables (representations of total functions in which different variables can have domains of differing values). Depending on the cardinalities of the domains, we can either guarantee for each tuple of values of the function that totally optimal rules exist for each row of the table (as in the case of total Boolean functions where the cardinalities are equal to 2) or, for each row, we can find a tuple of values of the function for which totally optimal rules do not exist for this row.

  5. Totally optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha M.; Moshkov, Mikhail

    2017-01-01

    Optimality of decision rules (patterns) can be measured in many ways. One of these is referred to as length. Length signifies the number of terms in a decision rule and is optimally minimized. Another, coverage represents the width of a rule’s applicability and generality. As such, it is desirable to maximize coverage. A totally optimal decision rule is a decision rule that has the minimum possible length and the maximum possible coverage. This paper presents a method for determining the presence of totally optimal decision rules for “complete” decision tables (representations of total functions in which different variables can have domains of differing values). Depending on the cardinalities of the domains, we can either guarantee for each tuple of values of the function that totally optimal rules exist for each row of the table (as in the case of total Boolean functions where the cardinalities are equal to 2) or, for each row, we can find a tuple of values of the function for which totally optimal rules do not exist for this row.

  6. Introduction to Feedforward Control of Electric Drives - Rules and Limits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michal Malek

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Electric servodrives are characterized by precise tracking and its derivations. The way to meet this goal cost them a number of obstacles, whether variations associated with end-stage of astatism, changes in the positioning system parameters or to changes in load torque than the failing values. Problems arise in situations where the link between the servomotor and the load is not driven by "perfect" solid coupling. And the basic rules of control system affected by this phenomenon are given in this article.

  7. Quality of Living and Dying: Pediatric Palliative Care and End-of-Life Decisions in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brouwer, Marije; Maeckelberghe, Els; de Weerd, Willemien; Verhagen, Eduard

    2018-01-01

    The Netherlands has always been (and continues to be) at the forefront in developing rules and jurisdiction regarding euthanasia and end-of-life decisions. In 2002, this resulted in the Euthanasia Act, which allows euthanasia for patients twelve years of age and older. Following that, in 2005, the

  8. Single residue AAV capsid mutation improves transduction of photoreceptors in the Abca4-/- mouse and bipolar cells in the rd1 mouse and human retina ex vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Silva, Samantha R; Charbel Issa, Peter; Singh, Mandeep S; Lipinski, Daniel M; Barnea-Cramer, Alona O; Walker, Nathan J; Barnard, Alun R; Hankins, Mark W; MacLaren, Robert E

    2016-11-01

    Gene therapy using adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for the treatment of retinal degenerations has shown safety and efficacy in clinical trials. However, very high levels of vector expression may be necessary for the treatment of conditions such as Stargardt disease where a dual vector approach is potentially needed, or in optogenetic strategies for end-stage degeneration in order to achieve maximal light sensitivity. In this study, we assessed two vectors with single capsid mutations, rAAV2/2(Y444F) and rAAV2/8(Y733F) in their ability to transduce retina in the Abca4 -/- and rd1 mouse models of retinal degeneration. We noted significantly increased photoreceptor transduction using rAAV2/8(Y733F) in the Abca4 -/- mouse, in contrast to previous work where vectors tested in this model have shown low levels of photoreceptor transduction. Bipolar cell transduction was achieved following subretinal delivery of both vectors in the rd1 mouse, and via intravitreal delivery of rAAV2/2(Y444F). The successful use of rAAV2/8(Y733F) to target bipolar cells was further validated on human tissue using an ex vivo culture system of retinal explants. Capsid mutant AAV vectors transduce human retinal cells and may be particularly suited to treat retinal degenerations in which high levels of transgene expression are required.

  9. Intense and widespread seismicity during the end-Triassic mass extinction due to emplacement of a large igneous province

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lindström, Sofie; Pedersen, Gunver Krarup; Schootbrugge, Bas van de

    2015-01-01

    Multiple levels of earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformations (seismites) are concentrated in the end-Triassic mass extinction interval across Europe. The repetitive nature of the seismites rules out an origin by an extraterrestrial impact. Instead, this intense seismic activity is linked...

  10. Dantrolene is neuroprotective in Huntington's disease transgenic mouse model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Xi

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Huntington's disease (HD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the Huntingtin protein which results in the selective degeneration of striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs. Our group has previously demonstrated that calcium (Ca2+ signaling is abnormal in MSNs from the yeast artificial chromosome transgenic mouse model of HD (YAC128. Moreover, we demonstrated that deranged intracellular Ca2+ signaling sensitizes YAC128 MSNs to glutamate-induced excitotoxicity when compared to wild type (WT MSNs. In previous studies we also observed abnormal neuronal Ca2+ signaling in neurons from spinocerebellar ataxia 2 (SCA2 and spinocerebellar ataxia 3 (SCA3 mouse models and demonstrated that treatment with dantrolene, a ryanodine receptor antagonist and clinically relevant Ca2+ signaling stabilizer, was neuroprotective in experiments with these mouse models. The aim of the current study was to evaluate potential beneficial effects of dantrolene in experiments with YAC128 HD mouse model. Results The application of caffeine and glutamate resulted in increased Ca2+ release from intracellular stores in YAC128 MSN cultures when compared to WT MSN cultures. Pre-treatment with dantrolene protected YAC128 MSNs from glutamate excitotoxicty, with an effective concentration of 100 nM and above. Feeding dantrolene (5 mg/kg twice a week to YAC128 mice between 2 months and 11.5 months of age resulted in significantly improved performance in the beam-walking and gait-walking assays. Neuropathological analysis revealed that long-term dantrolene feeding to YAC128 mice significantly reduced the loss of NeuN-positive striatal neurons and reduced formation of Httexp nuclear aggregates. Conclusions Our results support the hypothesis that deranged Ca2+ signaling plays an important role in HD pathology. Our data also implicate the RyanRs as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of HD and demonstrate that Ryan

  11. Dantrolene is neuroprotective in Huntington's disease transgenic mouse model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xi; Wu, Jun; Lvovskaya, Svetlana; Herndon, Emily; Supnet, Charlene; Bezprozvanny, Ilya

    2011-11-25

    Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the Huntingtin protein which results in the selective degeneration of striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs). Our group has previously demonstrated that calcium (Ca2+) signaling is abnormal in MSNs from the yeast artificial chromosome transgenic mouse model of HD (YAC128). Moreover, we demonstrated that deranged intracellular Ca2+ signaling sensitizes YAC128 MSNs to glutamate-induced excitotoxicity when compared to wild type (WT) MSNs. In previous studies we also observed abnormal neuronal Ca2+ signaling in neurons from spinocerebellar ataxia 2 (SCA2) and spinocerebellar ataxia 3 (SCA3) mouse models and demonstrated that treatment with dantrolene, a ryanodine receptor antagonist and clinically relevant Ca2+ signaling stabilizer, was neuroprotective in experiments with these mouse models. The aim of the current study was to evaluate potential beneficial effects of dantrolene in experiments with YAC128 HD mouse model. The application of caffeine and glutamate resulted in increased Ca2+ release from intracellular stores in YAC128 MSN cultures when compared to WT MSN cultures. Pre-treatment with dantrolene protected YAC128 MSNs from glutamate excitotoxicty, with an effective concentration of 100 nM and above. Feeding dantrolene (5 mg/kg) twice a week to YAC128 mice between 2 months and 11.5 months of age resulted in significantly improved performance in the beam-walking and gait-walking assays. Neuropathological analysis revealed that long-term dantrolene feeding to YAC128 mice significantly reduced the loss of NeuN-positive striatal neurons and reduced formation of Httexp nuclear aggregates. Our results support the hypothesis that deranged Ca2+ signaling plays an important role in HD pathology. Our data also implicate the RyanRs as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of HD and demonstrate that RyanR inhibitors and Ca2+ signaling stabilizers such as

  12. Do Group Decision Rules Affect Trust? A Laboratory Experiment on Group Decision Rules and Trust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Julie Hassing

    2016-01-01

    Enhanced participation has been prescribed as the way forward for improving democratic decision making while generating positive attributes like trust. Yet we do not know the extent to which rules affect the outcome of decision making. This article investigates how different group decision rules......-hierarchical decision-making procedures enhance trust vis-à-vis other more hierarchical decision-making procedures....... affect group trust by testing three ideal types of decision rules (i.e., a Unilateral rule, a Representative rule and a 'Non-rule') in a laboratory experiment. The article shows significant differences between the three decision rules on trust after deliberation. Interestingly, however, it finds...

  13. Verification of business rules programs

    CERN Document Server

    Silva, Bruno Berstel-Da

    2013-01-01

    Rules represent a simplified means of programming, congruent with our understanding of human brain constructs. With the advent of business rules management systems, it has been possible to introduce rule-based programming to nonprogrammers, allowing them to map expert intent into code in applications such as fraud detection, financial transactions, healthcare, retail, and marketing. However, a remaining concern is the quality, safety, and reliability of the resulting programs.  This book is on business rules programs, that is, rule programs as handled in business rules management systems. Its

  14. RIGHTS, RULES, AND DEMOCRACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard S. Kay, University of Connecticut-School of Law, Estados Unidos

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Democracy require protection of certain fundamental rights, but can we expect courts to follow rules? There seems little escape from the proposition that substantive constitutional review by an unelected judiciary is a presumptive abridgement of democratic decision-making. Once we have accepted the proposition that there exist human rights that ought to be protected, this should hardly surprise us. No one thinks courts are perfect translators of the rules invoked before them on every occasion. But it is equally clear that rules sometimes do decide cases. In modern legal systems the relative roles of courts and legislators with respect to the rules of the system is a commonplace. Legislatures make rules. Courts apply them in particular disputes. When we are talking about human rights, however, that assumption must be clarified in at least one way. The defense of the practice of constitutional review in this article assumes courts can and do enforce rules. This article also makes clear what is the meaning of “following rules”. Preference for judicial over legislative interpretation of rights, therefore, seems to hang on the question of whether or not judges are capable of subordinating their own judgment to that incorporated in the rules by their makers. This article maintains that, in general, entrenched constitutional rules (and not just constitutional courts can and do constrain public conduct and protect human rights. The article concludes that the value judgments will depend on our estimate of the benefits we derive from the process of representative self-government. Against those benefits we will have to measure the importance we place on being able to live our lives with the security created by a regime of human rights protected by the rule of law. Keywords: Democracy. Human Rights. Rules. Judicial Review.

  15. Physical consequences of the alpha/beta rule which accurately calculates particle masses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greulich, Karl Otto [Fritz Lipmann Institute, Beutenbergstr.11, D07745 Jena (Germany)

    2015-07-01

    Using the fine structure constant α (=1/137.036), the proton vs. electron mass ratio β (= 1836.2) and the integers m and n, the α/β rule: m{sub particle} = α{sup -n} x β m x 27.2 eV/c{sup 2} allows almost exact calculation of particle masses. (K.O.Greulich, DPG Spring meeting 2014, Mainz, T99.4) With n=2, m=0 the electron mass becomes 510.79 keV/c{sup 2} (experimental 511 keV/c{sup 2}) With n=2, m=1 the proton mass is 937.9 MeV/c{sup 2} (literature 938.3 MeV/c{sup 2}). For n=3 and m=1 a particle with 128.6 GeV/c{sup 2} close to the reported Higgs mass, is expected. For n=14 and m=-1 the Planck mass results. The calculated masses for gauge bosons and for quarks have similar accuracy. All masses fit into the same scheme (the alpha/beta rule), indicating that non of these particle masses play an extraordinary role. Particularly, the Higgs Boson, often termed the *God particle* plays in this sense no extraordinary role. In addition, particle masses are intimately correlated with the fine structure constant α. If particle masses have been constant over all times, α must have been constant over these times. In addition, the ionization energy of the hydrogen atom (13.6 eV) needs to have been constant if particle masses have been unchanged or vice versa. In conclusion, the α/β rule needs to be taken into account when cosmological models are developed.

  16. End-Users, Front Ends and Librarians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourne, Donna E.

    1989-01-01

    The increase in end-user searching, the advantages and limitations of front ends, and the role of the librarian in end-user searching are discussed. It is argued that librarians need to recognize that front ends can be of benefit to themselves and patrons, and to assume the role of advisors and educators for end-users. (37 references) (CLB)

  17. Digestibily of Some Kind of Alternative Diets on Lesser Mouse Deer (Tragulus javanicus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    WR Farida

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Four female lesser mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus were used in this study to observe their feed consumption and digestibility given alternative diets in captive.  The results showed that 125g/head/day sweet potatoes supplementation in ration increased the consumption and digestibility of dry matter intake, ash, ether extract, and N-free extract. Supplementation of commercial concentrate in lesser mouse deer’s diet decreased the digestion of dry matter, ash, crude protein, and crude fiber. Animal Production 6(1: 17-22 (2004   Key Words: Digestibility, Consumption, Alternative Diets, Tragulus javanicus

  18. On Galilei invariance in quantum mechanics and the Bargmann superselection rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giulini, D.

    1996-01-01

    We reinvestigate Bargmann close-quote s superselection rule for the overall mass of n particles in ordinary quantum mechanics with Galilei invariant interaction potential. We point out that in order for mass to define a superselection rule it should be considered as a dynamical variable. We present a minimal extension of the original dynamics in which mass it treated as dynamical variable. Here the classical symmetry group turns out to be given by an R-extension of the Galilei group. Unlike before, there is now no obstruction to implement an action of the classical symmetry group on Hilbert space. We include some comments of a general nature on formal derivations of superselection rules without dynamical context. Copyright copyright 1996 Academic Press, Inc

  19. Convention on nuclear safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The document is the first revision of the Rules of Procedures and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/573), convened in accordance with the Chapter 3 of the Convention

  20. Convention on Nuclear Safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The document is the second revision of the Rules of Procedures and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/573), convened in accordance with the Chapter 3 of the Convention

  1. 75 FR 4101 - Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System User Access Authorization Form and Rules of Behavior...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5376-N-05] Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System User Access Authorization Form and Rules of Behavior and User Agreement AGENCY... Access, Authorization Form and Rules Of Behavior and User Agreement. OMB Approval Number: 2577-New. Form...

  2. The Mouse That Soared

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-09-01

    Astronomers have used an X-ray image to make the first detailed study of the behavior of high-energy particles around a fast moving pulsar. The image, from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, shows the shock wave created as a pulsar plows supersonically through interstellar space. These results will provide insight into theories for the production of powerful winds of matter and antimatter by pulsars. Chandra's image of the glowing cloud, known as the Mouse, shows a stubby bright column of high-energy particles, about four light years in length, swept back by the pulsar's interaction with interstellar gas. The intense source at the head of the X-ray column is the pulsar, estimated to be moving through space at about 1.3 million miles per hour. VLA Radio Image of the Mouse, Full Field VLA Radio Image of the Mouse, Full Field A cone-shaped cloud of radio-wave-emitting particles envelopes the X-ray column. The Mouse, a.k.a. G359.23-0.82, was discovered in 1987 by radio astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array in New Mexico. It gets its name from its appearance in radio images that show a compact snout, a bulbous body, and a remarkable long, narrow, tail that extends for about 55 light years. "A few dozen pulsar wind nebulae are known, including the spectacular Crab Nebula, but none have the Mouse's combination of relatively young age and incredibly rapid motion through interstellar space," said Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and lead author of a paper on the Mouse that will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal. "We effectively are seeing a supersonic cosmic wind tunnel, in which we can study the effects of a pulsar's motion on its pulsar wind nebula, and test current theories." Illustration of the Mouse System Illustration of the Mouse System Pulsars are known to be rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars -- objects so dense that a mass equal to that of the Sun is packed into a

  3. Regional in vivo binding of (/sup 3/H)N-propylnorapomorphine in the mouse brain. Evidence for labelling of central dopamine receptors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koehler, C; Fuxe, K; Ross, S B [Astra Pharmaceuticals AB, Soedertaelje (Sweden)

    1981-07-10

    Tail vein injections of (/sup 3/H)N-propylnorapomorphine ((/sup 3/H)NPA) in male mice resulted in a dose-related accumulation of radioactivity in the following brain regions: striatum (max), olfactory tubercle and cerebellum (min). The specific binding was saturable with increasing concentrations of the drug and stereospecifically displaced by (+)butaclamol. Dopamine agonists (apomorphine, NPA and bromocriptine) and antagonists (spiperone, haloperidol, (+)butaclamol and l-sulpiride) all caused dose-dependent prevention of (/sup 3/H)NPA binding. Mianserin, phenoxybenzamine and propranolol did not prevent the in vivo (/sup 3/H)NPA binding suggesting that (/sup 3/H)NPA binds specifically to dopamine receptors in the striatum and the olfactory tubercle of the mouse.

  4. On proving confluence modulo equivalence for Constraint Handling Rules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Henning; Kirkeby, Maja Hanne

    2017-01-01

    -logical built-in predicates such as var/1 and incomplete ones such as is/2, that are ignored in previous work on confluence. To this end, a new operational semantics for CHR is developed which includes such predicates. In addition, this semantics differs from earlier approaches by its simplicity without loss......Previous results on proving confluence for Constraint Handling Rules are extended in two ways in order to allow a larger and more realistic class of CHR programs to be considered confluent. Firstly, we introduce the relaxed notion of confluence modulo equivalence into the context of CHR: while...

  5. Efficacy and Palatability of Different Rodenticide Formulations Applied against House Mouse (Mus musculus L. in Plant Storage Facilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Goran Jokić

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Palatability (daily intake of different rodenticide formulations based on bromadiolone was compared in experiments with house mouse (Mus musculus L. in agricultural storage facilities, and rodent numbers were assessed at the beginning and end of experiment, as well as rodenticide efficacy. The dynamic of bait intake was monitored for ten days in facilities of the Institute of Animal Husbandry in Zemun and the Agricultural Cooperatives at Starčevo and Omoljica. The experiments complied with the relevant standard method of OEPP/EPPO. Agricultural products were stored either as bulk commodities or in sacs laid on pallete racks in the treated facilities. Baits were laid in boxes on mice routes below palletes holding sacs and on places where significant damage had been observed, at 1-3 m spacing and in 10-20 g portions. Mouse abundance was estimated based on the highest and lowest daily intakes of bait by mice over a period of 10 days, which was divided by the mouse daily feed requirement. The presence of house mouse was also monitored over the next 20 days. The efficacy of test products was computed using Abbott’s formula.

  6. Staff Rules and Regulations - Modification n°9 to the 11th edition

    CERN Multimedia

    2015-01-01

    In accordance with CERN/3166 and recommendations made and decisions taken at the Finance Committee and Council meetings in March 2015, the following pages of the Staff Rules and Regulations have been updated with effect from 31 March 2015:   Contents list, page iii   Chapter I, General Provisions: o Section 3 (Conduct) - amendment on page 5   Chapter II, Conditions of Employment and Association: o Section 1 (Employment and association) - amendment on page 14 o Section 3 (Training) - amendment on pages 19 and 20 Chapter III, Working Conditions: o Section 1 (Working hours) - amendment on pages 31 and 32 Chapter VI, Settlement of Disputes and Discipline: o Section 1 (Settlement of disputes) - amendment on page 51 In addition, typographical errors have been corrected in the English version on page 12 (Articles R II 1.05 and 1.06) and page 78 (Annex R A 11, correction of the vertical axis definition). The complete updated electronic version of the Staff Rules an...

  7. Burn mouse models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Calum, Henrik; Høiby, Niels; Moser, Claus

    2014-01-01

    Severe thermal injury induces immunosuppression, involving all parts of the immune system, especially when large fractions of the total body surface area are affected. An animal model was established to characterize the burn-induced immunosuppression. In our novel mouse model a 6 % third-degree b......Severe thermal injury induces immunosuppression, involving all parts of the immune system, especially when large fractions of the total body surface area are affected. An animal model was established to characterize the burn-induced immunosuppression. In our novel mouse model a 6 % third...... with infected burn wound compared with the burn wound only group. The burn mouse model resembles the clinical situation and provides an opportunity to examine or develop new strategies like new antibiotics and immune therapy, in handling burn wound victims much....

  8. A Transgenic Tri-Modality Reporter Mouse

    OpenAIRE

    Yan, Xinrui; Ray, Pritha; Paulmurugan, Ramasamy; Tong, Ricky; Gong, Yongquan; Sathirachinda, Ataya; Wu, Joseph C.; Gambhir, Sanjiv S.

    2013-01-01

    Transgenic mouse with a stably integrated reporter gene(s) can be a valuable resource for obtaining uniformly labeled stem cells, tissues, and organs for various applications. We have generated a transgenic mouse model that ubiquitously expresses a tri-fusion reporter gene (fluc2-tdTomato-ttk) driven by a constitutive chicken β-actin promoter. This "Tri-Modality Reporter Mouse" system allows one to isolate most cells from this donor mouse and image them for bioluminescent (fluc2), fluorescent...

  9. Mariposas diurnas endémicas de la Región Paleártica occidental: patrones de distribución y su análisis mediante parsimonia (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    García-Barros, Enrique

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available The geographic distributions of the butterflies endemic to the Western Palaearctic are used to classify operative area units based on an index of association, and on parsimony analyses, and these results are compared. It is shown that the PAE-PCE method proposed by García-Barros et al. (2002 does not warrant detection of all subsets of area units characterised by endemic elements with identic distributions. However, satisfactory results can be achieved if Wager parsimony is subtituted by a method of cladogram construction that proscibes homoplasy, such as compatibility. When used as a classification procedure, the results of parsimony analysis can be broadly consistent with those derived from other procedures of hyerarchical classification. A distinction should be made between two different usages of parsimony, both of which represent ‘static’ (sensu Rosen, 1988 interpretations of area cladograms: PAE in a strict sense, aimed at detecting putative areas of endemicity. These are potentially overlapping entities, and hence the method may imply potentially multiple solutions. And, cladistic procedures applied as an agglomerative method (ideally with a single, most parsimonious solution. As far as the butterfly faunas are concered, the highest concentration of endemisms occur across the western circum-mediterranean mountain chains, and in the largest Mediterranean islands. The Iberian Peninsula is featured not just by a high concentration of endemic butterflies, but also by the coexistence of several distinc areas of endemism. Broad patterns derived from the endemic fauna fit well to those based on the whole butterfly fauna.

    La distribución de las mariposas endémicas del oeste de la Región Paleártica se emplea para producir una clasificación de las unidades de área mediante un coeficiente de asociación y mediante un análisis de parsimonia, y se comparan los resultados. Se demuestra que el procedimiento PAE

  10. BAG3 regulates contractility and Ca2+ homeostasis in adult mouse ventricular myocytes

    OpenAIRE

    Feldman, Arthur M.; Gordon, Jennifer; Wang, JuFang; Song, Jianliang; Zhang, Xue-Qian; Myers, Valerie D.; Tilley, Douglas G.; Gao, Erhe; Hoffman, Nicholas E.; Tomar, Dhanendra; Madesh, Muniswamy; Rabinowitz, Joseph; Koch, Walter J.; Su, Feifei; Khalili, Kamel

    2016-01-01

    Bcl2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) is a 575 amino acid anti-apoptotic protein that is constitutively expressed in the heart. BAG3 mutations, including mutations leading to loss of protein, are associated with familial cardiomyopathy. Furthermore, BAG3 levels have been found to be reduced in end-stage non-familial failing myocardium. In contrast to neonatal myocytes in which BAG3 is found in the cytoplasm and involved in protein quality control and apoptosis, in adult mouse left ventricular (...

  11. Vochysiaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca León

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Vochysiaceae es reconocida en el Perú por presentar cuatro géneros y 32 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993; Ulloa Ulloa et al., 2004, todas árboles. En este trabajo reconocemos dos especies endémicas en el género Qualea. Estas especies endémicas han sido encontradas en la región Bosques Húmedos Amazónicos, entre los 100 y 160 m de altitud. Ninguna especie endémica se encuentra representada dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  12. Measurement of the Spin Structure Function of the Neutron G1(N) from Deep Inelastic Scattering of Polarized Electrons from Polarized Neutrons in He-3

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dunn, J

    2004-01-06

    Polarized electrons of energies 19.42, 22.67, and 25.5 GeV were scattered off a polarized {sup 3}He target at SLAC's End Station A to measure the spin asymmetry of the neutron. From this asymmetry, the spin dependent structure function g{sub 1}{sup n}(x) was determined over a range in x from 0.03 to 0.6 with an average Q{sup 2} of 2 (GeV/C){sup 2}. The value of the integral of g{sub 1}{sup n} over x is {integral}g{sub 1}{sup n}(x)dx = -0.036 {+-} 0.009. The results were interpreted in the frame work of the Quark Parton Model (QPM) and used to test the Ellis-Jaffe and Bjorken sum rules. The value of the integral is 2.6 standard deviations from the Ellis-Jaffe prediction while the Bjorken sum rule was found to be in agreement with this data and proton data from SMC and E-143.

  13. Cuscutaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca León

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Cuscutaceae es reconocida en el Perú por presentar un género, Cuscuta, y 19 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993, todas ellas hierbas. En este trabajo reconocemos siete especies endémicas, aunque en necesidad de revisión taxonómica y colecciones botánicas; por ello no se aplicaron las categorías y criterios de la UICN. Estos taxones endémicos ocupan principalmente la región Mesoandina, por debajo de los 3200 m de altitud. Aparentemente, sólo una de estas especies se encuentra representada dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  14. Dilleniaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blanca León

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Dilleniaceae es una adición reciente a la flora endémica peruana; los endemismos han sido recolectados y reconocidos hacia fines de los 1990. Está representada en el Perú por seis géneros y 23 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993; Ulloa Ulloa et al., 2004, la mayoría lianas. En este trabajo reconocemos tres endemismos en dos géneros. Las especies endémicas ocupan la región Bosques Húmedos Amazónicos, entre los 100 y 125 m de altitud. No se encuentra representada en el Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  15. Accumulation of advanced glycation end-products and activation of the SCAP/SREBP Lipogenetic pathway occur in diet-induced obese mouse skeletal muscle.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raffaella Mastrocola

    Full Text Available Aim of this study was to investigate whether advanced glycation end-products (AGEs accumulate in skeletal myofibers of two different animal models of diabesity and whether this accumulation could be associated to myosteatosis. Male C57Bl/6j mice and leptin-deficient ob/ob mice were divided into three groups and underwent 15 weeks of dietary manipulation: standard diet-fed C57 group (C57, n = 10, high-fat high-sugar diet-fed C57 group (HFHS, n = 10, and standard diet-fed ob/ob group (OB/OB, n = 8. HFHS mice and OB/OB mice developed glycometabolic abnormalities in association with decreased mass of the gastrocnemius muscle, fast-to-slow transition of muscle fibers, and lipid accumulation (that occurred preferentially in slow compared to fast fibers. Moreover, we found in muscle fibers of HFHS and OB/OB mice accumulation of AGEs that was preferential for the lipid-accumulating cells, increased expression of the lipogenic pathway SCAP/SREBP, and co-localisation between AGEs and SCAP-(hyperexpressing cells (suggestive for SCAP glycosylation. The increased expression of the SCAP/SREBP lipogenic pathway in muscle fibers is a possible mechanism underlying lipid accumulation and linking myosteatosis to muscle fiber atrophy and fast-to-slow transition that occur in response to diabesity.

  16. Diaphragm Muscle Weakness Following Acute Sustained Hypoxic Stress in the Mouse Is Prevented by Pretreatment with N-Acetyl Cysteine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew J. O’Leary

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Oxygen deficit (hypoxia is a major feature of cardiorespiratory diseases characterized by diaphragm dysfunction, yet the putative role of hypoxic stress as a driver of diaphragm dysfunction is understudied. We explored the cellular and functional consequences of sustained hypoxic stress in a mouse model. Adult male mice were exposed to 8 hours of normoxia, or hypoxia (FiO2 = 0.10 with or without antioxidant pretreatment (N-acetyl cysteine, 200 mg/kg i.p.. Ventilation and metabolism were measured. Diaphragm muscle contractile function, myofibre size and distribution, gene expression, protein signalling cascades, and oxidative stress (TBARS were determined. Hypoxia caused pronounced diaphragm muscle weakness, unrelated to increased respiratory muscle work. Hypoxia increased diaphragm HIF-1α protein content and activated MAPK, mTOR, Akt, and FoxO3a signalling pathways, largely favouring protein synthesis. Hypoxia increased diaphragm lipid peroxidation, indicative of oxidative stress. FoxO3 and MuRF-1 gene expression were increased. Diaphragm 20S proteasome activity and muscle fibre size and distribution were unaffected by acute hypoxia. Pretreatment with N-acetyl cysteine substantially enhanced cell survival signalling, prevented hypoxia-induced diaphragm oxidative stress, and prevented hypoxia-induced diaphragm dysfunction. Hypoxia is a potent driver of diaphragm weakness, causing myofibre dysfunction without attendant atrophy. N-acetyl cysteine protects the hypoxic diaphragm and may have application as a potential adjunctive therapy.

  17. Effect of gabazine on sensory stimulation train evoked response in mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bing, Yan-Hua; Jin, Wen-Zhe; Sun, Lei; Chu, Chun-Ping; Qiu, De-Lai

    2015-02-01

    Cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) respond to sensory stimulation via climbing fiber and mossy fiber-granule cell pathways, and generate motor-related outputs according to internal rules of integration and computation. However, the dynamic properties of sensory information processed by PC in mouse cerebellar cortex are currently unclear. In the present study, we examined the effects of the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor A (GABA(A)) antagonist, gabazine, on the stimulation train on the simple spike firing of PCs by electrophysiological recordings method. Our data showed that the output of cerebellar PCs could be significantly affected by all pulses of the low-frequency (0.25 -2 Hz) sensory stimulation train, but only by the 1st and 2nd pulses of the high-frequency (≥ 4 Hz) sensory stimulation train. In the presence of gabazine (20 μM), each pulse of 1 Hz facial stimulation evoked simple spike firing in the PCs, but only the 1st and 2nd pulses of 4 Hz stimulation induced an increase in simple spike firing of the PCs. These results indicated that GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition did not significantly affect the frequency properties of sensory stimulation evoked responses in the mouse cerebellar PCs.

  18. Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of mouse galectin-4 N-terminal carbohydrate recognition domain in complex with lactose

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krejčiříková, Veronika; Fábry, Milan; Marková, Vladimíra; Malý, Petr; Řezáčová, Pavlína; Brynda, Jiří

    2008-01-01

    Mouse galectin-4 carbohydrate binding domain was overexpressed in E. coli and crystallized in the presence of lactose. The crystals belong to tetragonal space group P42 1 2 and diffraction data were collected to 2.1 Å resolution. Galectin-4 is thought to play a role in the process of tumour conversion of cells of the alimentary tract and the breast tissue; however, its exact function remains unknown. With the aim of elucidating the structural basis of mouse galectin-4 (mGal-4) binding specificity, we have undertaken X-ray analysis of the N-terminal domain, CRD1, of mGal-4 in complex with lactose (the basic building block of known galectin-4 carbohydrate ligands). Crystals of CRD1 in complex with lactose were obtained using vapour-diffusion techniques. The crystals belong to tetragonal space group P42 1 2 with unit-cell parameters a = 91.1, b = 91.16, c = 57.10 Å and preliminary X-ray diffraction data were collected to 3.2 Å resolution. An optimized crystallization procedure and cryocooling protocol allowed us to extend resolution to 2.1 Å. Structure refinement is currently under way; the initial electron-density maps clearly show non-protein electron density in the vicinity of the carbohydrate binding site, indicating the presence of one lactose molecule. The structure will help to improve understanding of the binding specificity and function of the potential colon cancer marker galectin-4

  19. Differences in both glycosylation and binding properties between rat and mouse liver prolactin receptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lascols, O; Cherqui, G; Munier, A; Picard, J; Capeau, J

    1994-05-01

    To investigate whether glycanic chains of prolactin receptors (PRL-R) play a role in hormone binding activity, comparison was made of rat and mouse liver solubilized receptors with respect to both their affinity for the hormone and their glycosylation properties. As compared with rat receptors, mouse receptors exhibited a 2-fold higher affinity for human growth hormone (hGH), the hormone being bound by both tissues with a lactogenic specificity. Along with this increased affinity, mouse receptors had a 2 lower M(r) relative to rat receptors (62 kDa versus 64 kDa as measured on hGH cross-linked receptors). These differences could be ascribed to different glycosylation properties of the receptors from the two species, as supported by the followings. 1) After treatment with endoglycosidase F (endo F), rat and mouse PRL-R no longer exhibited any difference in their M(r) (54 kDa for both cross-linked receptors). 2) Neuraminidase treatment increased by 37% the binding of hGH to mouse receptors, but was ineffective on the hormone-binding to rat receptors. Conversely, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), another sialic acid specific probe, decreased hGH binding to rat receptors by 25%, but had no effect on this process for mouse ones. 3) Marked differences were observed in the recoveries of rat and mouse hormone-receptor (HR) complexes from ricin-1- (RCA1-), concanavalin A- (ConA-) and WGA-immobilized lectins. These differences were reduced (RCA1 and ConA) or abolished (WGA) after rat and mouse receptor desialylation by neuraminidase, a treatment which decreased the M(r) of both receptors by 2 kDa. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that the PRL-R from rat and mouse liver contain biantennary N-linked oligosaccharidic chains with distinct type of sialylation, which may account for their differential hormone-binding affinities.

  20. Caracterización de la población y del hábitat de la salamandra endémica (Bolitoglossa mombachoensis en la Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heraldo Ramón Salgado Aráuz

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available LA RESERVA NATURAL VOLCÁN MOMBACHO ALBERGA A UNA GRAN DIVERSIDAD de especies silvestres en su bosque nuboso (Nebliselva, debido a sus pisos o gradientes altitudinales. En él se encuentra una especie de salamandra endémica, objeto de este estudio. Para el muestreo, se utilizó el método de transectos (tres de un m ancho por 100m de largo. Además, se seleccionaron cuatro microhábitat, asociadados a vegetación, tomados como unidades naturales de muestreo a través de cuadrantes de 10x10m. Los resultados arrojaron una población de 703 individuos asociados a vegetación y de preferencia por la especie: Heliconia latispatha, Dieffenbachia sp., Hedichium coronarium, Vriesea pedicellata y Clusia rotundata. Se encontró la mayor actividad de la especie entre 8:00 PM a 10:00 PM, a una temperatura entre 16º a 18º, de 20º a 21º y de 22º a 23º, con una humedad relativa de 61% a 95%. La mayor parte de los individuos (690 se encontraron de 0.20 a 0.99 cm de altura del sotobosque al estrato de vegetación. Por lo tanto, se han encontrado nuevos datos de la ecología de la especie para el área y para la ciencia.

  1. Comparative Effects of Phosphoenolpyruvate, a Glycolytic Intermediate, as an Organ Preservation Agent with Glucose and N-Acetylcysteine against Organ Damage during Cold Storage of Mouse Liver and Kidney

    OpenAIRE

    Ishitsuka, Yoichi; Fukumoto, Yusuke; Kondo, Yuki; Irikura, Mitsuru; Kadowaki, Daisuke; Narita, Yuki; Hirata, Sumio; Moriuchi, Hiroshi; Maruyama, Toru; Hamasaki, Naotaka; Irie, Tetsumi

    2013-01-01

    We evaluated the usefulness of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), a glycolytic intermediate with antioxidative and energy supplementation potentials, as an organ preservation agent. Using ex vivo mouse liver and kidney of a static cold storage model, we compared the effects of PEP against organ damage and oxidative stress during cold preservation with those of glucose or N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, histological changes, and oxidative stress parameters (measured as thi...

  2. The role of traffic rules.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noordzij, P.C.

    1988-01-01

    Experienced road users seem to have their own set of traffic rules (including rules about when to violate the official rules). The number of violations is enormous, causing great concern for the authorities. The situation could be improved by separating a set of rules with the aim of deterring road

  3. Life fraction rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maile, K.

    1989-01-01

    Evaluations for lifetime estimation of high temperature loaded HTR-components under creep fatigue load had been performed. The evaluations were carried out on the basis of experimental data of strain controlled fatigue tests with respectively without hold times performed on material NiCr 22 Co 12 Mo (Inconel 617). Life prediction was made by means of the linear damage accumulation rule. Due to the high temperatures no realistic estimates of creep damage can be obtained with this rule. Therefore the rule was modified. The modifications consist in a different analysis of the relaxation curve including different calculation of the creep damage estimate resp. in an extended rule, taking into consideration the interaction between creep and fatigue. In order to reach a better result transparency and to reduce data set dependent result scattering a round robin with a given data set was carried out. The round robin yielded that for a given test temperature of T = 950deg C realistic estimate of damage can be obtained with each modification. Furthermore a reduction of resulting scatterbands in the interaction diagram can be observed, i.e. the practicability of the rule has been increased. (orig.)

  4. Double dissociation between rules and memory in music: an event-related potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Robbin A; Ullman, Michael T

    2007-11-01

    Language and music share a number of characteristics. Crucially, both domains depend on both rules and memorized representations. Double dissociations between the neurocognition of rule-governed and memory-based knowledge have been found in language but not music. Here, the neural bases of both of these aspects of music were examined with an event-related potential (ERP) study of note violations in melodies. Rule-only violations consisted of out-of-key deviant notes that violated tonal harmony rules in novel (unfamiliar) melodies. Memory-only violations consisted of in-key deviant notes in familiar well-known melodies; these notes followed musical rules but deviated from the actual melodies. Finally, out-of-key notes in familiar well-known melodies constituted violations of both rules and memory. All three conditions were presented, within-subjects, to healthy young adults, half musicians and half non-musicians. The results revealed a double dissociation, independent of musical training, between rules and memory: both rule violation conditions, but not the memory-only violations, elicited an early, somewhat right-lateralized anterior-central negativity (ERAN), consistent with previous studies of rule violations in music, and analogous to the early left-lateralized anterior negativities elicited by rule violations in language. In contrast, both memory violation conditions, but not the rule-only violation, elicited a posterior negativity that might be characterized as an N400, an ERP component that depends, at least in part, on the processing of representations stored in long-term memory, both in language and in other domains. The results suggest that the neurocognitive rule/memory dissociation extends from language to music, further strengthening the similarities between the two domains.

  5. End to End Travel

    Data.gov (United States)

    US Agency for International Development — E2 Solutions is a web based end-to-end travel management tool that includes paperless travel authorization and voucher document submissions, document approval...

  6. Analysis of Rules for Islamic Inheritance Law in Indonesia Using Hybrid Rule Based Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khosyi'ah, S.; Irfan, M.; Maylawati, D. S.; Mukhlas, O. S.

    2018-01-01

    Along with the development of human civilization in Indonesia, the changes and reform of Islamic inheritance law so as to conform to the conditions and culture cannot be denied. The distribution of inheritance in Indonesia can be done automatically by storing the rule of Islamic inheritance law in the expert system. In this study, we analyze the knowledge of experts in Islamic inheritance in Indonesia and represent it in the form of rules using rule-based Forward Chaining (FC) and Davis-Putman-Logemann-Loveland (DPLL) algorithms. By hybridizing FC and DPLL algorithms, the rules of Islamic inheritance law in Indonesia are clearly defined and measured. The rules were conceptually validated by some experts in Islamic laws and informatics. The results revealed that generally all rules were ready for use in an expert system.

  7. A Better Budget Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dothan, Michael; Thompson, Fred

    2009-01-01

    Debt limits, interest coverage ratios, one-off balanced budget requirements, pay-as-you-go rules, and tax and expenditure limits are among the most important fiscal rules for constraining intertemporal transfers. There is considerable evidence that the least costly and most effective of such rules are those that focus directly on the rate of…

  8. Challenges for Rule Systems on the Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yuh-Jong; Yeh, Ching-Long; Laun, Wolfgang

    The RuleML Challenge started in 2007 with the objective of inspiring the issues of implementation for management, integration, interoperation and interchange of rules in an open distributed environment, such as the Web. Rules are usually classified as three types: deductive rules, normative rules, and reactive rules. The reactive rules are further classified as ECA rules and production rules. The study of combination rule and ontology is traced back to an earlier active rule system for relational and object-oriented (OO) databases. Recently, this issue has become one of the most important research problems in the Semantic Web. Once we consider a computer executable policy as a declarative set of rules and ontologies that guides the behavior of entities within a system, we have a flexible way to implement real world policies without rewriting the computer code, as we did before. Fortunately, we have de facto rule markup languages, such as RuleML or RIF to achieve the portability and interchange of rules for different rule systems. Otherwise, executing real-life rule-based applications on the Web is almost impossible. Several commercial or open source rule engines are available for the rule-based applications. However, we still need a standard rule language and benchmark for not only to compare the rule systems but also to measure the progress in the field. Finally, a number of real-life rule-based use cases will be investigated to demonstrate the applicability of current rule systems on the Web.

  9. City state institutions under municipal or family rule in 13th-century Alessandria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Luongo

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available In the 13th century many attempts were made to set up personal rule over Alessandria, with varying degrees of success. The first was Manfredi II Lancia, viceroy of Emperor Frederick II. This was followed by Guglielmo VII of Monferrato, whose plans were opposed initially by Oberto Pelavicino and subsequently by Carlo of Angiò. Dominion over Alessandria actively involved the population and the dignitaries of the city (divided by loyalty to the rival Lanzavecchia and Del Pozzo families. They were able to establish or end the rule of one family or another. Hence, the political élite of Alessandria took advantage of the aspirations of foreign rulers to solve internal problems, by according them with different powers as the situation demanded and as the loyalties of the rival factions changed.

  10. Communicating rules in recreation areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terence L. Ross; George H. Moeller

    1974-01-01

    Five hundred fifty-eight campers were surveyed on the Allegheny National Forest to determine their knowledge of rules governing recreation behavior. Most of them were uninformed about the rules. Results of the study suggest that previous camping experience, age, camping style, and residence significantly affect knowledge of rules. Campers who received rule brochures or...

  11. The Adler sum rule and quark parton distribution functions in nucleon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niegawa, Akira; Sasaki, Ken.

    1975-01-01

    The behaviour of the quark parton distribution functions is discussed through the phenomenological analysis of the deep inelastic e-p and e-n data under constraint of the saturation of the Adler sum rule. It is concluded that in the region 0 0 where the Regge parametrization can be applied, anti u(x) is equal to anti d(x), and both behave as const/x, (x 0 will be 0.04--0.05); for x 0 x 0 is given. The rate of convergence of the Adler sum rule is also discussed. (auth.)

  12. Methodological approaches based on business rules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca Ioana ANDREESCU

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Business rules and business processes are essential artifacts in defining the requirements of a software system. Business processes capture business behavior, while rules connect processes and thus control processes and business behavior. Traditionally, rules are scattered inside application code. This approach makes it very difficult to change rules and shorten the life cycle of the software system. Because rules change more quickly than the application itself, it is desirable to externalize the rules and move them outside the application. This paper analyzes and evaluates three well-known business rules approaches. It also outlines some critical factors that have to be taken into account in the decision to introduce business rules facilities in a software system. Based on the concept of explicit manipulation of business rules in a software system, the need for a general approach based on business rules is discussed.

  13. Comparative effects of n-3, n-6 and n-9 unsaturated fatty acid-rich diet consumption on lupus nephritis, autoantibody production and CD4+ T cell-related gene responses in the autoimmune NZBWF1 mouse.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James J Pestka

    Full Text Available Mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, a prototypical autoimmune disease, correlates with the onset and severity of kidney glomerulonephritis. There are both preclinical and clinical evidence that SLE patients may benefit from consumption of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA found in fish oil, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here we employed the NZBWF1 SLE mouse model to compare the effects of dietary lipids on the onset and severity of autoimmune glomerulonephritis after consuming: 1 n-3 PUFA-rich diet containing docosahexaenoic acid-enriched fish oil (DFO, 2 n-6 PUFA-rich Western-type diet containing corn oil (CRN or 3 n-9 monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA-rich Mediterranean-type diet containing high oleic safflower oil (HOS. Elevated plasma autoantibodies, proteinuria and glomerulonephritis were evident in mice fed either the n-6 PUFA or n-9 MUFA diets, however, all three endpoints were markedly attenuated in mice that consumed the n-3 PUFA diet until 34 wk of age. A focused PCR array was used to relate these findings to the expression of 84 genes associated with CD4+ T cell function in the spleen and kidney both prior to and after the onset of the autoimmune nephritis. n-3 PUFA suppression of autoimmunity in NZBWF1 mice was found to co-occur with a generalized downregulation of CD4+ T cell-related genes in kidney and/or spleen at wk 34. These genes were associated with the inflammatory response, antigen presentation, T cell activation, B cell activation/differentiation and leukocyte recruitment. Quantitative RT-PCR of representative affected genes confirmed that n-3 PUFA consumption was associated with reduced expression of CD80, CTLA-4, IL-10, IL-18, CCL-5, CXCR3, IL-6, TNF-α and osteopontin mRNAs in kidney and/or spleens as compared to mice fed n-6 PUFA or n-9 MUFA diets. Remarkably, many of the genes identified in this study are currently under consideration as biomarkers and/or biotherapeutic targets for SLE and other

  14. Estudio comparativo de biocompatibilidad entre la hemodiafiltración en línea y la hemodiafiltración con reinfusión endógena

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Luis Cobo Sánchez

    Full Text Available Objetivo: Comparar la biocompatibilidad entre la hemodiafiltración en línea (HDF y la hemodiafiltración con reinfusión endógena (HFR. Material y método: Estudio comparativo observacional en una población de 15 pacientes en hemodiálisis crónica elegidos al azar entre los pacientes de nuestra unidad. Se compararon cambios en el perfil hematológico, nivel de PCR y constantes vitales, pre y post hemodiálisis, tras someterse a ambas técnicas de hemodiafiltración. Se comparó las diferencias entre los parámetros estudiados pre y post hemodiálisis en cada técnica. Resultados: Los niveles de plaquetas descendieron más en la HDF (HDF -1,33 vs HFR -19,73 x10³/mm³, p=0,005. El nivel de leucocitos disminuyó en la HDF y aumentó en la HFR (HDF -0,46 vs HFR +0,8 x10³/mm³; p=0,006. Respecto a la fórmula leucocitaria hubo resultados dispares: segmentados HDF -1,7 vs HFR +5,4%, p<0,001; linfocitos HDF +1,96 vs HFR -3,62%, p<0,001. Con la HFR disminuyeron menos los niveles de PCR (HDF -0,05 vs HFR -0,001 mg/dl; p=NS. En lo referente a las constantes vitales, la tensión arterial sistólica descendió más en la HFR que en la HDF (HDF -9,93 vs HFR -10,33 mmHg; p<0,001, a la inversa que la diastólica (HDF -5,2 vs HFR -3 mmHg; p=0,007 y la frecuencia cardiaca (HDF -1,46 vs HFR +1,73 lpm; p=NS. La temperatura corporal aumentó más con la HDF que con la HFR (HDF +0,35 vs HFR +0,06 ºC; p=NS. Conclusiones: Según nuestros resultados la HFR parece más biocompatible que la HDF, probablemente derivado por la reinfusión exógena de la HDF.

  15. Inner ear morphology is perturbed in two novel mouse models of recessive deafness.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerry A Miller

    Full Text Available Human MYO7A mutations can cause a variety of conditions involving the inner ear. These include dominant and recessive non-syndromic hearing loss and syndromic conditions such as Usher syndrome. Mouse models of deafness allow us to investigate functional pathways involved in normal and abnormal hearing processes. We present two novel mouse models with mutations in the Myo7a gene with distinct phenotypes. The mutation in Myo7a(I487N/I487N ewaso is located within the head motor domain of Myo7a. Mice exhibit a profound hearing loss and manifest behaviour associated with a vestibular defect. A mutation located in the linker region between the coiled-coil and the first MyTH4 domains of the protein is responsible in Myo7a(F947I/F947I dumbo. These mice show a less severe hearing loss than in Myo7a(I487N/I487N ewaso; their hearing loss threshold is elevated at 4 weeks old, and progressively worsens with age. These mice show no obvious signs of vestibular dysfunction, although scanning electron microscopy reveals a mild phenotype in vestibular stereocilia bundles. The Myo7a(F947I/F947I dumbo strain is therefore the first reported Myo7a mouse model without an overt vestibular phenotype; a possible model for human DFNB2 deafness. Understanding the molecular basis of these newly identified mutations will provide knowledge into the complex genetic pathways involved in the maintenance of hearing, and will provide insight into recessively inherited sensorineural hearing loss in humans.

  16. Clearance kinetics and matrix binding partners of the receptor for advanced glycation end products.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavle S Milutinovic

    Full Text Available Elucidating the sites and mechanisms of sRAGE action in the healthy state is vital to better understand the biological importance of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE. Previous studies in animal models of disease have demonstrated that exogenous sRAGE has an anti-inflammatory effect, which has been reasoned to arise from sequestration of pro-inflammatory ligands away from membrane-bound RAGE isoforms. We show here that sRAGE exhibits in vitro binding with high affinity and reversibly to extracellular matrix components collagen I, collagen IV, and laminin. Soluble RAGE administered intratracheally, intravenously, or intraperitoneally, does not distribute in a specific fashion to any healthy mouse tissue, suggesting against the existence of accessible sRAGE sinks and receptors in the healthy mouse. Intratracheal administration is the only effective means of delivering exogenous sRAGE to the lung, the organ in which RAGE is most highly expressed; clearance of sRAGE from lung does not differ appreciably from that of albumin.

  17. End-to-side and end-to-end anastomoses give similar results in cervical oesophagogastrostomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierie, J P; De Graaf, P W; Poen, H; Van Der Tweel, I; Obertop, H

    1995-12-01

    To find out if there were any differences in healing between end-to-end and end-to-side anastomoses for oesophagogastrostomy. Open study with historical controls. University hospital, The Netherlands. 28 patients with end-to-end and 90 patients with end-to-side anastomoses after transhiatal oesophagectomy and partial gastrectomy for cancer of the oesophagus or oesophagogastric junction, with gastric tube reconstruction and cervical anastomosis. Leak and stricture rates, and the number of dilatations needed to relieve dysphagia. There were no significant differences in leak rates (end-to-end 4/28, 14%, and end-to-side 13/90, 14%) or anastomotic strictures (end-to-end 9/28, 32%, and end-to-side 26/90, 29%). The median number of dilatations needed to relieve dysphagia was 7 (1-33) after end-to-end and 9 (1-113) after end-to-side oesophagogastrostomy. There were no differences between the two methods of suture of cervical oesophagogastrostomy when leakage, stricture, and number of dilatations were used as criteria of good healing.

  18. Spatio-Temporal Rule Mining

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gidofalvi, Gyozo; Pedersen, Torben Bach

    2005-01-01

    Recent advances in communication and information technology, such as the increasing accuracy of GPS technology and the miniaturization of wireless communication devices pave the road for Location-Based Services (LBS). To achieve high quality for such services, spatio-temporal data mining techniques...... are needed. In this paper, we describe experiences with spatio-temporal rule mining in a Danish data mining company. First, a number of real world spatio-temporal data sets are described, leading to a taxonomy of spatio-temporal data. Second, the paper describes a general methodology that transforms...... the spatio-temporal rule mining task to the traditional market basket analysis task and applies it to the described data sets, enabling traditional association rule mining methods to discover spatio-temporal rules for LBS. Finally, unique issues in spatio-temporal rule mining are identified and discussed....

  19. A mouse model for MERS coronavirus-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cockrell, Adam S; Yount, Boyd L; Scobey, Trevor; Jensen, Kara; Douglas, Madeline; Beall, Anne; Tang, Xian-Chun; Marasco, Wayne A; Heise, Mark T; Baric, Ralph S

    2016-11-28

    Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a novel virus that emerged in 2012, causing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), severe pneumonia-like symptoms and multi-organ failure, with a case fatality rate of ∼36%. Limited clinical studies indicate that humans infected with MERS-CoV exhibit pathology consistent with the late stages of ARDS, which is reminiscent of the disease observed in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Models of MERS-CoV-induced severe respiratory disease have been difficult to achieve, and small-animal models traditionally used to investigate viral pathogenesis (mouse, hamster, guinea-pig and ferret) are naturally resistant to MERS-CoV. Therefore, we used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to modify the mouse genome to encode two amino acids (positions 288 and 330) that match the human sequence in the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 receptor, making mice susceptible to MERS-CoV infection and replication. Serial MERS-CoV passage in these engineered mice was then used to generate a mouse-adapted virus that replicated efficiently within the lungs and evoked symptoms indicative of severe ARDS, including decreased survival, extreme weight loss, decreased pulmonary function, pulmonary haemorrhage and pathological signs indicative of end-stage lung disease. Importantly, therapeutic countermeasures comprising MERS-CoV neutralizing antibody treatment or a MERS-CoV spike protein vaccine protected the engineered mice against MERS-CoV-induced ARDS.

  20. Conserved and Divergent Features of Human and Mouse Kidney Organogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindström, Nils O; McMahon, Jill A; Guo, Jinjin; Tran, Tracy; Guo, Qiuyu; Rutledge, Elisabeth; Parvez, Riana K; Saribekyan, Gohar; Schuler, Robert E; Liao, Christopher; Kim, Albert D; Abdelhalim, Ahmed; Ruffins, Seth W; Thornton, Matthew E; Basking, Laurence; Grubbs, Brendan; Kesselman, Carl; McMahon, Andrew P

    2018-03-01

    Human kidney function is underpinned by approximately 1,000,000 nephrons, although the number varies substantially, and low nephron number is linked to disease. Human kidney development initiates around 4 weeks of gestation and ends around 34-37 weeks of gestation. Over this period, a reiterative inductive process establishes the nephron complement. Studies have provided insightful anatomic descriptions of human kidney development, but the limited histologic views are not readily accessible to a broad audience. In this first paper in a series providing comprehensive insight into human kidney formation, we examined human kidney development in 135 anonymously donated human kidney specimens. We documented kidney development at a macroscopic and cellular level through histologic analysis, RNA in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence studies, and transcriptional profiling, contrasting human development (4-23 weeks) with mouse development at selected stages (embryonic day 15.5 and postnatal day 2). The high-resolution histologic interactive atlas of human kidney organogenesis generated can be viewed at the GUDMAP database (www.gudmap.org) together with three-dimensional reconstructions of key components of the data herein. At the anatomic level, human and mouse kidney development differ in timing, scale, and global features such as lobe formation and progenitor niche organization. The data also highlight differences in molecular and cellular features, including the expression and cellular distribution of anchor gene markers used to identify key cell types in mouse kidney studies. These data will facilitate and inform in vitro efforts to generate human kidney structures and comparative functional analyses across mammalian species. Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Nephrology.

  1. A quantitative analysis of statistical power identifies obesity end points for improved in vivo preclinical study design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selimkhanov, J; Thompson, W C; Guo, J; Hall, K D; Musante, C J

    2017-08-01

    The design of well-powered in vivo preclinical studies is a key element in building the knowledge of disease physiology for the purpose of identifying and effectively testing potential antiobesity drug targets. However, as a result of the complexity of the obese phenotype, there is limited understanding of the variability within and between study animals of macroscopic end points such as food intake and body composition. This, combined with limitations inherent in the measurement of certain end points, presents challenges to study design that can have significant consequences for an antiobesity program. Here, we analyze a large, longitudinal study of mouse food intake and body composition during diet perturbation to quantify the variability and interaction of the key metabolic end points. To demonstrate how conclusions can change as a function of study size, we show that a simulated preclinical study properly powered for one end point may lead to false conclusions based on secondary end points. We then propose the guidelines for end point selection and study size estimation under different conditions to facilitate proper power calculation for a more successful in vivo study design.

  2. Organisational Rules in Schools: Teachers' Opinions about Functions of Rules, Rule-Following and Breaking Behaviours in Relation to Their Locus of Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirkasimoglu, Nihan; Aydin, Inayet; Erdogan, Cetin; Akin, Ugur

    2012-01-01

    The main aim of this research is to examine teachers' opinions about functions of school rules, reasons for rule-breaking and results of rule-breaking in relation to their locus of control, gender, age, seniority and branch. 350 public elementary school teachers in Ankara are included in the correlational survey model study. According to the…

  3. Gold, the Golden Rule, and Government: Civil Society and the End of the State

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D.G. White

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Properly speaking, money and law are natural outgrowths of human society, evolving over time via the voluntary cooperation that lies at the heart of the social enterprise. And as gold and the golden rule have for millennia formed the basis, respectively, of society’s money and law, they accordingly constitute the “twin pillars of civilization,” governing the social enterprise such that, in Mises’s words, “the human species has multiplied far beyond the margin of subsistence.” It stands to reason, then, that if money and law are corrupted, the social enterprise will be corrupted as well. And as this is precisely what the state has done, essentially toppling the twin pillars of civilization, it is necessary to understand what the state is, where it came from, and how it has systematically gone about corrupting money and law, and thus the social enterprise as a whole. For only then can money and law be returned to their rightful owners, and only then can the state be put in its proper place. Which is no place so far as the proper functioning of civil society is concerned.

  4. Cell membrane and cell junctions in differentiation of preimplanted mouse embryos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izquierdo, L; Fernández, S; López, T

    1976-12-01

    Cell membrane and cell junctions in differentiation of preimplanted mouse embryos, (membrana celular y uniones celulares en la diferenciación del embrión de ratón antes de la implantación). Arch. Biol. Med. Exper. 10: 130-134, 1976. The development of cell junctions that seal the peripheral blastomeres could be a decisive step in the differentiation of morulae into blastocysts. The appearance of these junctions is studied by electron microscopy of late morulae and initial blastocysts. Zonulae occludentes as well as impermeability to lanthanum emulsion precedes the appearance of the blastocel and hence might be considered as one of its necessary causes.

  5. New security measures are proposed for N-plants: Insider Rule package is issued by NRC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1984-01-01

    New rules proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will require background investigations and psychological assessments of new job candidates and continual monitoring of the behavior of all power plant workers with access to sensitive areas. Licensees will have to submit an ''access authorization'' program for approval describing how they will conduct these security activities. The employee checks will go back five years to examine credit, educational, and criminal histories. Implementation of the rules could involve the Edison Electric Institute as an intermediary to funnel criminal checks from the Justice Department and FBI. The NRC is also considering a clarification of areas designated as ''vital'' because current designations may be too strict

  6. MINOR HUMAN-ANTIBODY RESPONSE TO A MOUSE AND CHIMERIC MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY AFTER A SINGLE IV INFUSION IN OVARIAN-CARCINOMA PATIENTS - A COMPARISON OF 5 ASSAYS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    BUIST, MR; KENEMANS, P; VANKAMP, GJ; Haisma, Hidde

    The human anti-(mouse Ig) antibody (HAMA) response was measured in serum of 52 patients suspected of having ovarian carcinoma who had received an i.v. injection of either the murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) OV-TL 3 F(ab')(2) (n = 28, 1 mg) or the chimeric mouse/human mAb MOv18 (cMOv18; n = 24, 3

  7. Long-chain n-3 PUFAs from fish oil enhance resting state brain glucose utilization and reduce anxiety in an adult nonhuman primate, the grey mouse lemur.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pifferi, Fabien; Dorieux, Olène; Castellano, Christian-Alexandre; Croteau, Etienne; Masson, Marie; Guillermier, Martine; Van Camp, Nadja; Guesnet, Philippe; Alessandri, Jean-Marc; Cunnane, Stephen; Dhenain, Marc; Aujard, Fabienne

    2015-08-01

    Decreased brain content of DHA, the most abundant long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LCPUFA) in the brain, is accompanied by severe neurosensorial impairments linked to impaired neurotransmission and impaired brain glucose utilization. In the present study, we hypothesized that increasing n-3 LCPUFA intake at an early age may help to prevent or correct the glucose hypometabolism observed during aging and age-related cognitive decline. The effects of 12 months' supplementation with n-3 LCPUFA on brain glucose utilization assessed by positron emission tomography was tested in young adult mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus). Cognitive function was tested in parallel in the same animals. Lemurs supplemented with n-3 LCPUFA had higher brain glucose uptake and cerebral metabolic rate of glucose compared with controls in all brain regions. The n-3 LCPUFA-supplemented animals also had higher exploratory activity in an open-field task and lower evidence of anxiety in the Barnes maze. Our results demonstrate for the first time in a nonhuman primate that n-3 LCPUFA supplementation increases brain glucose uptake and metabolism and concomitantly reduces anxiety. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  8. N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosoureas covalently bound to nonionic and monocationic lexitropsin dipeptides. Synthesis, DNA affinity binding characteristics, and reactions with 32P-end-labeled DNA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Church, K.M.; Wurdeman, R.L.; Zhang, Yi; Chen, Faxian; Gold, B.

    1990-01-01

    The synthesis and characterization of a series of compounds that contain an N-alkyl-N-nitrosourea functionality linked to DNA minor groove binding bi- and tripeptides (lexitropsins or information-reading peptides) based on methylpyrrole-2-carboxamide subunits are described. The lexitropsins (lex) synthesized have either a 3-(dimethylamino)propyl or propyl substituent on the carboxyl terminus. The preferred DNA affinity binding sequences of these compounds were footprinted in 32 P-end-labeled restriction fragments with methidiumpropyl-EDTA·Fe(II), and in common with other structural analogues, e.g., distamycin and netropsin, these nitrosoureas recognize A-T-rich runs. The affinity binding of the compound with the dimethylamino terminus, which is ionized at near-neutral pH, appeared stronger than that observed for the neutral dipeptide. The sequence specificity for DNA alkylation by (2-chloroethyl)nitrosourea-lex dipeptides (Cl-ENU-lex), with neutral and charged carboxyl termini, using 32 P-end-labeled restriction fragments, was determined by the conversion of the adducted sites into single-strand breaks by sequential heating at neutral pH and exposure to base. The DNA cleavage sites were visualized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. Linking the Cl-ENU moiety to minor groove binders is a viable strategy to qualitatively and quantitatively control the delivery and release of the ultimate DNA alkylating agent in a sequence-dependent fashion

  9. Arrhythmia phenotype in mouse models of human long QT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salama, Guy; Baker, Linda; Wolk, Robert; Barhanin, Jacques; London, Barry

    2009-03-01

    Enhanced dispersion of repolarization (DR) was proposed as a unifying mechanism, central to arrhythmia genesis in the long QT (LQT) syndrome. In mammalian hearts, K(+) channels are heterogeneously expressed across the ventricles resulting in 'intrinsic' DR that may worsen in long QT. DR was shown to be central to the arrhythmia phenotype of transgenic mice with LQT caused by loss of function of the dominant mouse K(+) currents. Here, we investigated the arrhythmia phenotype of mice with targeted deletions of KCNE1 and KCNH2 genes which encode for minK/IsK and Merg1 (mouse homolog of human ERG) proteins resulting in loss of function of I(Ks) and I(Kr), respectively. Both currents are important human K(+) currents associated with LQT5 and LQT2. Loss of minK, a protein subunit that interacts with KvLQT1, results in a marked reduction of I(Ks) giving rise to the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome and the reduced KCNH2 gene reduces MERG and I(Kr). Hearts were perfused, stained with di-4-ANEPPS and optically mapped to compare action potential durations (APDs) and arrhythmia phenotype in homozygous minK (minK(-/-)) and heterozygous Merg1 (Merg(+/-)) deletions and littermate control mice. MinK(-/-) mice has similar APDs and no arrhythmias (n = 4). Merg(+/-) mice had prolonged APDs (from 20 +/- 6 to 32 +/- 9 ms at the base, p mice (60% vs. 10%). A comparison of mouse models of LQT based on K(+) channel mutations important to human and mouse repolarization emphasizes DR as a major determinant of arrhythmia vulnerability.

  10. Effect of dietary advanced glycation end products on mouse liver.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raza Patel

    Full Text Available UNLABELLED: The exact pathophysiology of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH is not known. Previous studies suggest that dietary advanced glycation end products (AGEs can cause oxidative stress in liver. We aim to study the effects of dietary AGEs on liver health and their possible role in the pathogenesis of NASH. METHODS: Two groups of mice were fed the same diet except the AGE content varied. One group was fed a high AGE diet and the second group was fed a regular AGE diet. Liver histology, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin resistance and glucose tolerance were assessed. RESULTS: Histology revealed that neutrophil infiltration occurred in the livers of the high AGE group at week 26; steatosis did not accompany liver inflammation. At week 39 livers from both groups exhibited macro- or micro-steatosis, yet no inflammation was detected. Higher insulin levels were detected in the regular AGE group at week 26 (P = 0.034, compared to the high AGE group. At week 39, the regular AGE group showed higher levels of alanine aminotransferase (P<0.01 and aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.02 than those of the high AGE group. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that a high AGE diet can cause liver inflammation in the absence of steatosis. Our results show that dietary AGEs could play a role in initiating liver inflammation contributing to the disease progression of NASH. Our observation that the inflammation caused by high AGE alone did not persist suggests interesting future directions to investigate how AGEs contribute to pro-oxidative and anti-oxidative pathways in the liver.

  11. Data from SILAC-based quantitative analysis of lysates from mouse microglial cells treated with Withaferin A (WA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayan, Malathi; Seeley, Kent W; Jinwal, Umesh K

    2016-06-01

    Mass spectrometry data collected in a study analyzing the effect of withaferin A (WA) on a mouse microglial (N9) cell line is presented in this article. Data was collected from SILAC-based quantitative analysis of lysates from mouse microglial cells treated with either WA or DMSO vehicle control. This article reports all the proteins that were identified in this analysis. The data presented here is related to the published research article on the effect of WA on the differential regulation of proteins in mouse microglial cells [1]. Mass spectrometry data has also been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD003032.

  12. The Evolution of End-of-Life Care: Ethical Implications for Case Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fink-Samnick, Ellen

    2016-01-01

    This article: : Applicable to all health care sectors where case management is practiced. Few topics are more intimate and multifaceted for case managers than engaging with today's culturally diverse patient populations around end-of-life processes. The already prominent focus of this issue has been further elevated by a series of events to receive public attention. These include the Institute of Medicine's 2014 report-Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life, rising numbers of patients around the globe requesting to end life on their own terms, and corresponding death with dignity initiatives and legislation.Another vital factor in the end-of-life equation involves how the latest generation of shared decision making influences the management of treatment dialogues among practitioners, patients, as well as insurance companies. Case managers are at the intersection of these complex interactions, working to achieve ethical, as well as legal accountability to the patient, employer, and profession while balancing personal perspectives. Professionals strive to effectively intervene with patients and their support systems facing end-of-life care decisions. It is essential case managers actively consider the intricacies of ethical practice and current contexts including death with dignity legislation, shared decision making, and shifts in regulations and reimbursement for end-of-life care.Case management's ethical envelope will continue to be pushed. To that end amid shifting societal constructs, professionals must have mastery of applicable codes, standards, principles, and rules essential for adherence to ethical practice.

  13. Binary effectivity rules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keiding, Hans; Peleg, Bezalel

    2006-01-01

    is binary if it is rationalized by an acyclic binary relation. The foregoing result motivates our definition of a binary effectivity rule as the effectivity rule of some binary SCR. A binary SCR is regular if it satisfies unanimity, monotonicity, and independence of infeasible alternatives. A binary...

  14. Technical rules in law

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Debelius, J

    1978-08-01

    An important source of knowledge for technical experts is the state of the art reflected by catalogues of technical rules. Technical rules may also achieve importance in law due to a legal transformation standard. Here, rigid and flexible reference are controversial with regard to their admissibility from the point of view of constitutional law. In case of a divergence from the generally accepted technical rules, it is assumed - refutably - that the necessary care had not been taken. Technical rules are one out of several sources of information; they have no normative effect. This may result in a duty of anyone applying them to review the state of technology himself.

  15. Technical rules in law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Debelius, J.

    1978-01-01

    An important source of knowledge for technical experts is the state of the art reflected by catalogues of technical rules. Technical rules may also achieve importance in law due to a legal transformation standard. Here, rigid and flexible reference are controversial with regard to their admissibility from the point of view of constitutional law. In case of a divergence from the generally accepted technical rules, it is assumed - refutably - that the necessary care had not been taken. Technical rules are one out of several sources of information; they have no normative effect. This may result in a duty of anyone applying them to review the state of technology himself. (orig.) [de

  16. Demonstration of an RF front-end based on GaN HEMT technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ture, Erdin; Musser, Markus; Hülsmann, Axel; Quay, Rüdiger; Ambacher, Oliver

    2017-05-01

    The effectiveness of the developed front-end on blocking the communication link of a commercial drone vehicle has been demonstrated in this work. A jamming approach has been taken in a broadband fashion by using GaN HEMT technology. Equipped with a modulated-signal generator, a broadband power amplifier, and an omni-directional antenna, the proposed system is capable of producing jamming signals in a very wide frequency range between 0.1 - 3 GHz. The maximum RF output power of the amplifier module has been software-limited to 27 dBm (500 mW), complying to the legal spectral regulations of the 2.4 GHz ISM band. In order to test the proof of concept, a real-world scenario has been prepared in which a commercially-available quadcopter UAV is flown in a controlled environment while the jammer system has been placed in a distance of about 10 m from the drone. It has been proven that the drone of interest can be neutralized as soon as it falls within the range of coverage (˜3 m) which endorses the promising potential of the broadband jamming approach.

  17. Phosphorus-31, 15N, and 13C NMR of glyphosate: Comparison of pH titrations to the herbicidal dead-end complex with 5-enolpyruvoylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castellino, S.; Leo, G.C.; Sammons, R.D.; Sikorski, J.A.

    1989-01-01

    The herbicidal dead-end ternary complex (E S3P Glyph ) of glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] with 5-enolpyruvoylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and the substrate shikimate 3-phosphate (S3P) has been characterized by 31 P, 15 N, and 13 C NMR. The NMR spectra of EPSPS-bound glyphosate show unique chemical shifts (δ) for each of the three nuclei. By 31 P NMR, glyphosate in the dead-end complex is a distinct species 3.5 ppm downfield from free glyphosate. The 13 C signal of glyphosate in the dead-end complex is shifted 4 ppm downfield from that of free glyphosate. The 15 N signal for glyphosate (99%) in the dead-end complex is 5 ppm further downfield than that of any free zwitterionic species and 10 ppm downfield from that of the average free species at pH 10.1. The structures of each ionic state of glyphosate are modeled with force field calculations by using MacroModel. A correlation is made for the 31 P δ and the C-P-O bond angle, and the 13 C and 15 N δ values are postulated to be related to C-C-O and C-N-C bond angles, respectively. The downfield 31 P chemical shift perturbation for S3P in the EPSPS binary complex is consistent with ionization of the 3-phosphate of S3P upon binding. Comparison with the S3P 31 P δ vs pH titration curve specifies predominantly the dianion of the 3-phosphate in the E S3P binary complex, while the E S3P Glyph complex indicates net protonation at the 3-phosphate. Chemical shift perturbations of this latter type may be explained by changes in the O-P-O bond angle

  18. Evaluación de conocimientos y prácticas sobre la leishmaniasis tegumentaria en un área endémica de Venezuela

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa Nieves

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Introducción. La leishmaniasis es un grave problema de salud pública en muchas partes de América. Las poblaciones expuestas a la leishmaniasis carecen de información de la enfermedad, razón por la cual es necesario realizar intervenciones y evaluaciones educativas que contribuyan a que el control tenga un mayor impacto. Objetivo. Determinar el nivel de conocimientos y prácticas sobre la leishmaniasis tegumentaria y la fauna de flebótomos en las comunidades endémicas de Bolero Alto y Bajo del municipio Pinto Salina del Estado Mérida, Venezuela, entre septiembre de 2006 y julio de 2007. Materiales y métodos. Se elaboró una encuesta en la cual se incluyeron aspectos epidemiológicos, de prevención y de control de la leishmaniasis. Se aplicaron a personas mayores de siete años en viviendas seleccionadas aleatoriamente. También se realizaron capturas intradomiciliarias y peridomiciliarias de flebotominos vectores. Resultados. Más del 68% de los individuos de las comunidades poseía un nivel de conocimientos considerado como insuficiente; los aspectos de mayor desconocimiento fueron en relación con la transmisión y la prevención. Se detectaron siete especies de Lutzomyia de importancia epidemiológica: L youngi, L. ovallesi, L. gomezi, L. walkeri, L. panamensis, L. punctigeniculata y L. venezuelensis. Las especies predominantes para ambas comunidades fueron L. youngi con más del 55% y L. ovallesi con más del 24% del total de especímenes capturados. Conclusión. Se determinó un bajo nivel de conocimientos sobre la leishmaniasis en los pobladores de las comunidades endémicas estudiadas, lo cual se debe tener en cuenta en el desarrollo de alternativas educativas de impacto en el control complementario de la enfermedad. Las mismas deben dirigirse a cubrir las deficiencias de conocimientos más acentuadas en la población, enfocadas a evitar las picaduras del insecto vector.

  19. Prohibition of Children’s Toys and Child Care Articles Containing Specified Phthalates. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-27

    The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) issues this final rule prohibiting children's toys and child care articles that contain concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPENP), di-n-hexyl phthalate (DHEXP), and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP). Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) established permanent and interim prohibitions on the sale of certain consumer products containing specific phthalates. That provision also directed the CPSC to convene a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) to study the effects on children's health of all phthalates and phthalate alternatives as used in children's toys and child care articles and to provide recommendations to the Commission regarding whether any phthalates or phthalate alternatives, other than those already permanently prohibited, should be prohibited. The CPSIA requires the Commission to promulgate a final rule after receiving the final CHAP report. This rule fulfills that requirement.

  20. The Impact of Family Rules on Children's Eating Habits, Sedentary Behaviors, and Weight Status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lederer, Alyssa M; King, Mindy H; Sovinski, Danielle; Kim, Nayoung

    2015-08-01

    Family rules may be influential in helping children to modify their dietary and sedentary behaviors, which are important modifiable risk factors for childhood obesity. However, data examining family rules in relation to children's health behaviors and weight status are limited. This cross-sectional study examined differences in family rules by demographic characteristics of students enrolled in the HEROES (Healthy, Energetic, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools) Initiative, a school-based childhood obesity prevention program. It also investigated the relationship between eating and screen time family rules and six eating and screen time behaviors: fast food consumption; soft drink consumption; fruit and vegetable intake; television viewing; computer use; and video game use, in addition to the association between family rules and children's weight status. Measures included self-reported behavioral data and anthropometric data from students in fourth to eighth grade at 16 schools (N=2819) in a tri-state area of the United States in spring 2012. Approximately one-third of students had each of the family rules examined. Whereas the profile of students who had specific rules varied, in general, younger, female, white, and low socioeconomic status students were more likely to have rules than their counterparts. Family rules were associated with healthier outcomes for each of the six behaviors examined (pchildren's weight status. This study demonstrates that family rules are an underutilized strategy to promote healthier eating habits and reduce children's screen time hours and may serve as an intermediary mechanism to curb childhood obesity.

  1. Systemic Delivery of a Glucosylceramide Synthase Inhibitor Reduces CNS Substrates and Increases Lifespan in a Mouse Model of Type 2 Gaucher Disease

    OpenAIRE

    Cabrera-Salazar, Mario A.; DeRiso, Matthew; Bercury, Scott D.; Li, Lingyun; Lydon, John T.; Weber, William; Pande, Nilesh; Cromwell, Mandy A.; Copeland, Diane; Leonard, John; Cheng, Seng H.; Scheule, Ronald K.

    2012-01-01

    Neuropathic Gaucher disease (nGD), also known as type 2 or type 3 Gaucher disease, is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GC). This deficiency impairs the degradation of glucosylceramide (GluCer) and glucosylsphingosine (GluSph), leading to their accumulation in the brains of patients and mouse models of the disease. These accumulated substrates have been thought to cause the severe neuropathology and early death observed in patients with nGD and mouse models. Substrate a...

  2. A pilot study of the attitudes of Australian Rules footballers towards protective headgear.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finch, C F; McIntosh, A S; McCrory, P; Zazryn, T

    2003-12-01

    Despite a relatively high risk of injury to participants of Australian Rules football, very few players report wearing protective equipment. The aim of this paper is to describe the results of a pilot survey of the attitudes of community-level Australian Rules football players towards protective headgear and the risk of head injury. Seventy players from four purposefully chosen clubs in metropolitan Melbourne completed a self-report questionnaire at the end of the 2000-playing season. Almost all players (91.4%) reported they did not wear protective headgear during the 2000 season. Non-headgear users said that headgear was too uncomfortable (47.4%) and they didn't like it (42.1%). However, 80.0% of non-users said they would wear it if it prevented injury. The major motivation for wearing headgear was to prevent injury. Players considered rugby, boxing and driving a car, to be associated with a higher-risk of head injury than Australian Rules football. As a group, the players perceived the risk of head injury in Australian Rules football to be low to moderate when compared to other sports and activities. This partially explains why so few players wore protective headgear. Repeat surveys on a larger sample should be conducted to further understand the attitudes towards protective headgear and perceptions of risk in community-level Australian football players.

  3. Systemic delivery of a glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor reduces CNS substrates and increases lifespan in a mouse model of type 2 Gaucher disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario A Cabrera-Salazar

    Full Text Available Neuropathic Gaucher disease (nGD, also known as type 2 or type 3 Gaucher disease, is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GC. This deficiency impairs the degradation of glucosylceramide (GluCer and glucosylsphingosine (GluSph, leading to their accumulation in the brains of patients and mouse models of the disease. These accumulated substrates have been thought to cause the severe neuropathology and early death observed in patients with nGD and mouse models. Substrate accumulation is evident at birth in both nGD mouse models and humans affected with the most severe type of the disease. Current treatment of non-nGD relies on the intravenous delivery of recombinant human glucocerebrosidase to replace the missing enzyme or the administration of glucosylceramide synthase inhibitors to attenuate GluCer production. However, the currently approved drugs that use these mechanisms do not cross the blood brain barrier, and thus are not expected to provide a benefit for the neurological complications in nGD patients. Here we report the successful reduction of substrate accumulation and CNS pathology together with a significant increase in lifespan after systemic administration of a novel glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor to a mouse model of nGD. To our knowledge this is the first compound shown to cross the blood brain barrier and reduce substrates in this animal model while significantly enhancing its lifespan. These results reinforce the concept that systemically administered glucosylceramide synthase inhibitors could hold enhanced therapeutic promise for patients afflicted with neuropathic lysosomal storage diseases.

  4. Systemic delivery of a glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor reduces CNS substrates and increases lifespan in a mouse model of type 2 Gaucher disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrera-Salazar, Mario A; Deriso, Matthew; Bercury, Scott D; Li, Lingyun; Lydon, John T; Weber, William; Pande, Nilesh; Cromwell, Mandy A; Copeland, Diane; Leonard, John; Cheng, Seng H; Scheule, Ronald K

    2012-01-01

    Neuropathic Gaucher disease (nGD), also known as type 2 or type 3 Gaucher disease, is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GC). This deficiency impairs the degradation of glucosylceramide (GluCer) and glucosylsphingosine (GluSph), leading to their accumulation in the brains of patients and mouse models of the disease. These accumulated substrates have been thought to cause the severe neuropathology and early death observed in patients with nGD and mouse models. Substrate accumulation is evident at birth in both nGD mouse models and humans affected with the most severe type of the disease. Current treatment of non-nGD relies on the intravenous delivery of recombinant human glucocerebrosidase to replace the missing enzyme or the administration of glucosylceramide synthase inhibitors to attenuate GluCer production. However, the currently approved drugs that use these mechanisms do not cross the blood brain barrier, and thus are not expected to provide a benefit for the neurological complications in nGD patients. Here we report the successful reduction of substrate accumulation and CNS pathology together with a significant increase in lifespan after systemic administration of a novel glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor to a mouse model of nGD. To our knowledge this is the first compound shown to cross the blood brain barrier and reduce substrates in this animal model while significantly enhancing its lifespan. These results reinforce the concept that systemically administered glucosylceramide synthase inhibitors could hold enhanced therapeutic promise for patients afflicted with neuropathic lysosomal storage diseases.

  5. Mouse SNP Miner: an annotated database of mouse functional single nucleotide polymorphisms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramensky Vasily E

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The mapping of quantitative trait loci in rat and mouse has been extremely successful in identifying chromosomal regions associated with human disease-related phenotypes. However, identifying the specific phenotype-causing DNA sequence variations within a quantitative trait locus has been much more difficult. The recent availability of genomic sequence from several mouse inbred strains (including C57BL/6J, 129X1/SvJ, 129S1/SvImJ, A/J, and DBA/2J has made it possible to catalog DNA sequence differences within a quantitative trait locus derived from crosses between these strains. However, even for well-defined quantitative trait loci ( Description To help identify functional DNA sequence variations within quantitative trait loci we have used the Ensembl annotated genome sequence to compile a database of mouse single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs that are predicted to cause missense, nonsense, frameshift, or splice site mutations (available at http://bioinfo.embl.it/SnpApplet/. For missense mutations we have used the PolyPhen and PANTHER algorithms to predict whether amino acid changes are likely to disrupt protein function. Conclusion We have developed a database of mouse SNPs predicted to cause missense, nonsense, frameshift, and splice-site mutations. Our analysis revealed that 20% and 14% of missense SNPs are likely to be deleterious according to PolyPhen and PANTHER, respectively, and 6% are considered deleterious by both algorithms. The database also provides gene expression and functional annotations from the Symatlas, Gene Ontology, and OMIM databases to further assess candidate phenotype-causing mutations. To demonstrate its utility, we show that Mouse SNP Miner successfully finds a previously identified candidate SNP in the taste receptor, Tas1r3, that underlies sucrose preference in the C57BL/6J strain. We also use Mouse SNP Miner to derive a list of candidate phenotype-causing mutations within a previously

  6. Precision calculation of threshold πd scattering, πN scattering lengths, and the GMO sum rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baru, V.; Hanhart, C.; Hoferichter, M.; Kubis, B.; Nogga, A.; Phillips, D. R.

    2011-12-01

    We use chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) to calculate the πd scattering length with an accuracy of a few percent, including isospin-violating corrections in both the two- and three-body sectors. In particular, we provide the technical details of a recent letter (Baru et al., 2011) [1], where we used data on pionic deuterium and pionic hydrogen atoms to extract the isoscalar and isovector pion-nucleon scattering lengths a and a. We study isospin-breaking contributions to the three-body part of a due to mass differences, isospin violation in the πN scattering lengths, and virtual photons. This last class of effects is ostensibly infrared enhanced due to the smallness of the deuteron binding energy. However, we show that the leading virtual-photon effects that might undergo such enhancement cancel, and hence the standard ChPT counting provides a reliable estimate of isospin violation in a due to virtual photons. Finally, we discuss the validity of the Goldberger-Miyazawa-Oehme sum rule in the presence of isospin violation, and use it to determine the charged-pion-nucleon coupling constant.

  7. Metabolism of whole body protein in pregnant and non-pregnant gilts using 15N-glycine single-dose end-product method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu De; Liu Huifang; Zhou Anguo; Wang Kangning; Yang Feng

    2007-01-01

    The metabolism of whole-body protein for pregnant and non-pregnant gilts was investigated using single-dose of 15 N-glycine end-product method. The results showed that there were no differences (P>0.05) in protein dynamic metabolism, amino acids utilization rate between pregnant and non-pregnant gilts at breeding. However, N flux, protein turnover rate, protein synthesis rate and breakdown rate of pregnant gilts were lower (P<0.05) than those of non-pregnant gilts at 30days after breeding, but the protein aggradiation's rate increased by 25% (P<0.05). During late gestation, N flux, protein turnover rate, protein synthesis rate and breakdown rate of pregnant sows were significantly increased (P<0.01), and protein aggradation's rate increased by 71.1%, compared with that of non-pregnant gilts. (authors)

  8. Basic safety rule number no.2002-01; Regle fondamentale de surete no. 2002-01

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-12-15

    The purpose of this rule is to define acceptable methods for the development of probabilistic safety assessments(P.S.A.) and proven applications of P.S.A. for operating or future pressurized water reactors (PWR type reactors) of the French nuclear power programme, incorporating available French and international experience in this area. The standing group of experts for nuclear reactors has been consulted for the drafting of this rule. (N.C.)

  9. Following the Rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katz, Anne

    2016-05-01

    I am getting better at following the rules as I grow older, although I still bristle at many of them. I was a typical rebellious teenager; no one understood me, David Bowie was my idol, and, one day, my generation was going to change the world. Now I really want people to understand me: David Bowie remains one of my favorite singers and, yes, my generation has changed the world, and not necessarily for the better. Growing up means that you have to make the rules, not just follow those set by others, and, at times, having rules makes a lot of sense.
.

  10. The Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule and dual unitarization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ninomiya, Kansuke; Toyoda, Fumihiko.

    1978-01-01

    The Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule carries an important role in the constituent rearrangement and interest in the rule has been increased by the discovery of the J/psi particle. An example of phenomenological analysis related to the OZI rule is introduced. The decays of psi particles can be explained consistently by an existence of the disconnected type of a constituent rearrangement diagram (CRD) with comparable strength to that of the connected one. A survey of an outline of the dual unitarization scheme and discussion of the OZI rule with the scheme and other related theory are presented. The method of dual unitarization starts with the unitarity relation. In the estimation of multiparticle production amplitude in the unitarity sum, dominant nondiffractive production component is taken as a first approximation and the amplitude is described by the multiperipheral model of Reggeon exchange. Here, a case of meson-meson scattering in flavor of SU(N) scheme is considered. A survey of the mechanism of the planar bootstrap and Pomeron generation in the dual unitarization is made. The nonplanar CR diagrams give breaking of various features at the planar level. The reaction with the disconnected CRD could occur in the nonperipheral region through the hard collision of constituent and appears at large momentum transfers in comparable order with a connected one. Baryon and baryoniums with the scheme of the dual unitarization are examined. (Kato, T.)

  11. Purification and characterization of an amidohydrolase for N4-long-chain fatty acyl derivatives of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine from mouse liver microsomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hori, K; Tsuruo, T; Tsukagoshi, S; Sakurai, Y

    1984-03-01

    N4-Long-chain fatty acyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine amidohydrolase, a metabolizing enzyme for N4-acyl derivatives of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine with long-chain fatty acids, was purified from mouse liver microsomes. The purification was accomplished by solubilization of liver microsomes with Triton X-100, diethylaminoethyl cellulose chromatography, gel filtrations, hydroxyapatite chromatography, and concanavalin A:Sepharose chromatography. On sodium dodecyl sulfate:polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the purified enzyme preparation produced a single protein band with a molecular weight of 54,000. The enzyme had an optimal pH of 9.0, and the Michaelis constant for N4-palmitoyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine was 67 microM. The thiols such as dithiothreitol or 2-mercaptoethanol stabilized the enzyme and stimulated its activity. p-Chloromercuribenzoate, N-ethylmaleimide, diisopropylfluorophosphate, and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride strongly inhibited the reaction. Bovine serum albumin markedly stimulated the enzyme activity, whereas detergents such as Triton X-100, deoxycholate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate had little effect. The enzyme did not require monovalent or divalent cations. Among the series of N4-acyl derivatives of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine with different chain lengths of acyl residues, the purified enzyme preferentially hydrolyzed the derivatives with long-chain fatty acids (C12 to C18), and N4-palmitoyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine was the most susceptible. The purified enzyme was inactive on various N-acylamino acids, amides, oligopeptides, proteins, N-acylsphingosines (ceramides), triglyceride, lecithin, and lysolecithin. These results suggest that N4-long-chain fatty acyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine amidohydrolase may be a new type of linear amidase.

  12. Standardizing an End-to-end Accounting Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenberg, Edward; Kazz, Greg

    2006-01-01

    Currently there are no space system standards available for space agencies to accomplish end-to-end accounting. Such a standard does not exist for spacecraft operations nor for tracing the relationship between the mission planning activities, the command sequences designed to perform those activities, the commands formulated to initiate those activities and the mission data and specifically the mission data products created by those activities. In order for space agencies to cross-support one another for data accountability/data tracing and for inter agency spacecraft to interoperate with each other, an international CCSDS standard for end-to-end data accountability/tracing needs to be developed. We will first describe the end-to-end accounting service model and functionality that supports the service. This model will describe how science plans that are ultimately transformed into commands can be associated with the telemetry products generated as a result of their execution. Moreover, the interaction between end-to-end accounting and service management will be explored. Finally, we will show how the standard end-to-end accounting service can be applied to a real life flight project i.e., the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project.

  13. Tres lustros de investigaciones en la Estación Biológica Archbold (Florida, Estados Unidos) sobre demografía y conservación de especies vegetales endémicas de Florida

    OpenAIRE

    Menges, Eric S.; Quintana Ascencio, Pedro Francisco

    2003-01-01

    El laboratorio de Ecología Vegetal en la Estación Biológica Archbold incide en el estudio demográfico a largo plazo, la ecología del fuego y la biología de la conservación en el Matorral de Florida, una comunidad rica en especies endémicas. El fuego es el disturbio natural dominante, y hemos documentado las respuestas de las comunidades vegetales, las estrategias de vida y los patrones demográficos de varias especies en relación con el fuego. Hemos estudiado la ecología de poblaci...

  14. Firm heterogeneity, Rules of Origin and Rules of Cumulation

    OpenAIRE

    Bombarda , Pamela; Gamberoni , Elisa

    2013-01-01

    We analyse the impact of relaxing rules of origin (ROOs) in a simple setting with heterogeneous firms that buy intermediate inputs from domestic and foreign sources. In particular, we consider the impact of switching from bilateral to diagonal cumulation when using preferences (instead of paying the MFN tariff) involving the respect of rules of origin. We find that relaxing the restrictiveness of the ROOs leads the least productive exporters to stop exporting. The empirical part confirms thes...

  15. Minor human antibody response to a mouse and chimeric monoclonal antibody after a single i.v. infusion in ovarian carcinoma patients: a comparison of five assays

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buist, M. R.; Kenemans, P.; van Kamp, G. J.; Haisma, H. J.

    1995-01-01

    The human anti-(mouse Ig) antibody (HAMA) response was measured in serum of 52 patients suspected of having ovarian carcinoma who had received an i.v. injection of either the murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) OV-TL 3 F(ab')2 (n = 28, 1 mg) or the chimeric mouse/human mAb MOv18 (cMOv18; n = 24, 3 mg).

  16. QCD and power corrections to sum rules in deep-inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ravindran, V.; Neerven, W.L. van

    2001-01-01

    In this paper we study QCD and power corrections to sum rules which show up in deep-inelastic lepton-hadron scattering. Furthermore we will make a distinction between fundamental sum rules which can be derived from quantum field theory and those which are of a phenomenological origin. Using current algebra techniques the fundamental sum rules can be expressed into expectation values of (partially) conserved (axial-)vector currents sandwiched between hadronic states. These expectation values yield the quantum numbers of the corresponding hadron which are determined by the underlying flavour group SU(n) F . In this case one can show that there exist an intimate relation between the appearance of power and QCD corrections. The above features do not hold for phenomenological sum rules, hereafter called non-fundamental. They have no foundation in quantum field theory and they mostly depend on certain assumptions made for the structure functions like super-convergence relations or the parton model. Therefore only the fundamental sum rules provide us with a stringent test of QCD

  17. Mouse Hepatitis Virus Strain A59 and Blocking Antireceptor Monoclonal Antibody Bind to the N-Terminal Domain of Cellular Receptor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dveksler, Gabriela S.; Pensiero, Michael N.; Dieffenbach, Carl W.; Cardellichio, Christine B.; Basile, Alexis A.; Elia, Patrick E.; Holmes, Kathryn V.

    1993-03-01

    Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) strain A59 uses as cellular receptors members of the carcinoembryonic antigen family in the immunoglobulin superfamily. Recombinant receptor proteins with deletions of whole or partial immunoglobulin domains were used to identify the regions of receptor glycoprotein recognized by virus and by antireceptor monoclonal antibody CC1, which blocks infection of murine cells. Monoclonal antibody CC1 and MHV-A59 virions bound only to recombinant proteins containing the entire first domain of MHV receptor. To determine which of the proteins could serve as functional virus receptors, receptor-negative hamster cells were transfected with recombinant deletion clones and then challenged with MHV-A59 virions. Receptor activity required the entire N-terminal domain with either the second or the fourth domain and the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. Recombinant proteins lacking the first domain or its C-terminal portion did not serve as viral receptors. Thus, like other virus receptors in the immunoglobulin superfamily, including CD4, poliovirus receptor, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1, the N-terminal domain of MHV receptor is recognized by the virus and the blocking monoclonal antibody.

  18. The Product and Quotient Rules Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eggleton, Roger; Kustov, Vladimir

    2011-01-01

    Mathematical elegance is illustrated by strikingly parallel versions of the product and quotient rules of basic calculus, with some applications. Corresponding rules for second derivatives are given: the product rule is familiar, but the quotient rule is less so.

  19. Steroid metabolism in the mouse placenta

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okker-Reitsma, G.H.

    1976-01-01

    The purpose of the study described in this thesis was to investigate the capacity for steroid synthesis of the mouse placenta - especially the production of progesterone, androgens and estrogens - and to determine, if possible, the relation of steroid synthesis to special cell types. In an introductory chapter the androgen production in the mouse placenta is surveyed by means of a histochemical and bioindicator study of different stages of development of the placenta. The metabolism of [ 3 H]-dehydroepiandrosterone and [ 3 H]-progesterone by mouse placental tissue in vitro is studied. The metabolism of [ 3 H]-progesterone by the mouse fetal adrenal in vitro is also studied

  20. Multiple mouse chromosomal loci for dynein-based motility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vaughan, K.T.; Mikami, Atsushi; Paschal, B.M. [Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, Shrewsbury, MA (United States)] [and others

    1996-08-15

    Dyneins are multisubunit mechanochemical enzymes capable of interacting with microtubules to generate force. Axonemal dyneins produce the motive force for ciliary and flagellar beating by inducing sliding between adjacent microtubules within the axoneme. Cytoplasmic dyneins translocate membranous organelles and chromosomes toward the minus ends of cytoplasmic microtubules. Dynactin is an accessory complex implicated in tethering cytoplasmic dynein to membranous organelles and mitotic kinetochores. In the studies described here, we have identified a number of new dynein genes and determined their mouse chromosomal locations by interspecific backcross analysis. We have also mapped several dynein and dynactin genes cloned previously. Our studies provide the first comprehensive attempt to map dynein and dynactin genes in mammals and provide a basis for the further analysis of dynein function in development and disease. 65 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

  1. The Cu(II) affinity of the N-terminus of human copper transporter CTR1: Comparison of human and mouse sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bossak, Karolina; Drew, Simon C; Stefaniak, Ewelina; Płonka, Dawid; Bonna, Arkadiusz; Bal, Wojciech

    2018-05-01

    Copper Transporter 1 (CTR1) is a homotrimeric membrane protein providing the main route of copper transport into eukaryotic cells from the extracellular milieu. Its N-terminal extracellular domain, rich in His and Met residues, is considered responsible for directing copper into the transmembrane channel. Most of vertebrate CTR1 proteins contain the His residue in position three from N-terminus, creating a well-known Amino Terminal Cu(II)- and Ni(II)-Binding (ATCUN) site. CTR1 from humans, primates and many other species contains the Met-Asp-His (MDH) sequence, while some rodents including mouse have the Met-Asn-His (MNH) N-terminal sequence. CTR1 is thought to collect Cu(II) ions from blood copper transport proteins, including albumin, but previous reports indicated that the affinity of N-terminal peptide/domain of CTR1 is significantly lower than that of albumin, casting serious doubt on this aspect of CTR1 function. Using potentiometry and spectroscopic techniques we demonstrated that MDH-amide, a tripeptide model of human CTR1 N-terminus, binds Cu(II) with K of 1.3 × 10 13  M -1 at pH 7.4, ~13 times stronger than Human Serum Albumin (HSA), and MNH-amide is even stronger, K of 3.2 × 10 14  M -1 at pH 7.4. These results indicate that the N-terminus of CTR1 may serve as intermediate binding site during Cu(II) transfer from blood copper carriers to the transporter. MDH-amide, but not MNH-amide also forms a low abundance complex with non-ATCUN coordination involving the Met amine, His imidazole and Asp carboxylate. This species might assist Cu(II) relay down the peptide chain or its reduction to Cu(I), both steps necessary for the CTR1 function. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) Is the International Resource for Information on the Laboratory Mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, MeiYee; Shaw, David R

    2018-01-01

    Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI, http://www.informatics.jax.org/ ) web resources provide free access to meticulously curated information about the laboratory mouse. MGI's primary goal is to help researchers investigate the genetic foundations of human diseases by translating information from mouse phenotypes and disease models studies to human systems. MGI provides comprehensive phenotypes for over 50,000 mutant alleles in mice and provides experimental model descriptions for over 1500 human diseases. Curated data from scientific publications are integrated with those from high-throughput phenotyping and gene expression centers. Data are standardized using defined, hierarchical vocabularies such as the Mammalian Phenotype (MP) Ontology, Mouse Developmental Anatomy and the Gene Ontologies (GO). This chapter introduces you to Gene and Allele Detail pages and provides step-by-step instructions for simple searches and those that take advantage of the breadth of MGI data integration.

  3. Onagraceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susy Castillo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Esta es la familia de las «fucsias», la cual es reconocida en el Perú por presentar seis géneros y 76 especies (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993; Ulloa Ulloa et al., 2004, principalmente arbustos y hierbas. En este trabajo reconocemos 24 especies endémicas, la mayoría en el género Fuchsia. Las especies endémicas se encuentran mayormente en la región Bosques Muy Húmedos Montanos, entre los 1600 y 2500 m de altitud. Diez especies endémicas se encuentran representados dentro del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  4. Multiple RNAs from the mouse carboxypeptidase M locus: functional RNAs or transcription noise?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castilho Beatriz A

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A major effort of the scientific community has been to obtain complete pictures of the genomes of many organisms. This has been accomplished mainly by annotation of structural and functional elements in the genome sequence, a process that has been centred in the gene concept and, as a consequence, biased toward protein coding sequences. Recently, the explosion of transcriptome data generated and the discovery of many functional non-protein coding RNAs have painted a more detailed and complex scenario for the genome. Here we analyzed the mouse carboxypeptidase M locus in this broader perspective in order to define the mouse CPM gene structure and evaluate the existence of other transcripts from the same genomic region. Results Bioinformatic analysis of nucleotide sequences that map to the mouse CPM locus suggests that, in addition to the mouse CPM mRNA, it expresses at least 33 different transcripts, many of which seem to be non-coding RNAs. We randomly chose to evaluate experimentally four of these extra transcripts. They are expressed in a tissue specific manner, indicating that they are not artefacts or transcriptional noise. Furthermore, one of these four extra transcripts shows expression patterns that differed considerably from the other ones and from the mouse CPM gene, suggesting that there may be more than one transcriptional unit in this locus. In addition, we have confirmed the mouse CPM gene RefSeq sequence by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE and directional cloning. Conclusion This study supports the recent view that the majority of the genome is transcribed and that many of the resulting transcripts seem to be non-coding RNAs from introns of genes or from independent transcriptional units. Although some of the information on the transcriptome of many organisms may actually be artefacts or transcriptional noise, we argue that it can be experimentally evaluated and used to find and define biological

  5. Musical Electroacupuncture May Be a Better Choice than Electroacupuncture in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

    OpenAIRE

    Jiang, Jing; Liu, Gang; Shi, Suhua; Li, Zhigang

    2016-01-01

    Objectives. To compare musical electroacupuncture and electroacupuncture in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Methods. In this study, 7.5-month-old male senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice were used as an Alzheimer's disease animal model. In the normal control paradigm, 7.5-month-old male SAMR1 mice were used as the blank control group (N group). After 15 days of treatment, using Morris water maze test, micro-PET, and immunohistochemistry, the differences among the musical e...

  6. 75 FR 51934 - Telemarketing Sales Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 310 Telemarketing Sales Rule AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. ACTION: Final rule; correction. SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') published a final rule on August 10, 2010, adopting amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that address the...

  7. MicroRNA regulation in Ames dwarf mouse liver may contribute to delayed aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, David J; Li, Na; Liang, Ruqiang; Sarojini, Harshini; An, Jin; Masternak, Michal M; Bartke, Andrzej; Wang, Eugenia

    2010-02-01

    The Ames dwarf mouse is well known for its remarkable propensity to delay the onset of aging. Although significant advances have been made demonstrating that this aging phenotype results primarily from an endocrine imbalance, the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and its impact on longevity remains to be explored. Towards this end, we present the first comprehensive study by microRNA (miRNA) microarray screening to identify dwarf-specific lead miRNAs, and investigate their roles as pivotal molecular regulators directing the long-lived phenotype. Mapping the signature miRNAs to the inversely expressed putative target genes, followed by in situ immunohistochemical staining and in vitro correlation assays, reveals that dwarf mice post-transcriptionally regulate key proteins of intermediate metabolism, most importantly the biosynthetic pathway involving ornithine decarboxylase and spermidine synthase. Functional assays using 3'-untranslated region reporter constructs in co-transfection experiments confirm that miRNA-27a indeed suppresses the expression of both of these proteins, marking them as probable targets of this miRNA in vivo. Moreover, the putative repressed action of this miRNA on ornithine decarboxylase is identified in dwarf mouse liver as early as 2 months of age. Taken together, our results show that among the altered aspects of intermediate metabolism detected in the dwarf mouse liver--glutathione metabolism, the urea cycle and polyamine biosynthesis--miRNA-27a is a key post-transcriptional control. Furthermore, compared to its normal siblings, the dwarf mouse exhibits a head start in regulating these pathways to control their normality, which may ultimately contribute to its extended health-span and longevity.

  8. Autonomous Rule Creation for Intrusion Detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Todd Vollmer; Jim Alves-Foss; Milos Manic

    2011-04-01

    Many computational intelligence techniques for anomaly based network intrusion detection can be found in literature. Translating a newly discovered intrusion recognition criteria into a distributable rule can be a human intensive effort. This paper explores a multi-modal genetic algorithm solution for autonomous rule creation. This algorithm focuses on the process of creating rules once an intrusion has been identified, rather than the evolution of rules to provide a solution for intrusion detection. The algorithm was demonstrated on anomalous ICMP network packets (input) and Snort rules (output of the algorithm). Output rules were sorted according to a fitness value and any duplicates were removed. The experimental results on ten test cases demonstrated a 100 percent rule alert rate. Out of 33,804 test packets 3 produced false positives. Each test case produced a minimum of three rule variations that could be used as candidates for a production system.

  9. Methodological approaches based on business rules

    OpenAIRE

    Anca Ioana ANDREESCU; Adina UTA

    2008-01-01

    Business rules and business processes are essential artifacts in defining the requirements of a software system. Business processes capture business behavior, while rules connect processes and thus control processes and business behavior. Traditionally, rules are scattered inside application code. This approach makes it very difficult to change rules and shorten the life cycle of the software system. Because rules change more quickly than the application itself, it is desirable to externalize...

  10. Exogenous incorporation of neugc-rich mucin augments n-glycolyl sialic acid content and promotes malignant phenotype in mouse tumor cell lines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alonso Daniel F

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Carbohydrates embedded in the plasma membrane are one of the main actors involved in the communication of cells with the microenvironment. Neuraminic sialic acids are glycocalyx sugars that play important roles in the modulation of malignant cell behaviour. N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc is synthesized by the cytidine monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH, an enzyme expressed in all mammals except humans. In mice, this sugar is synthesized in several somatic tissues. Methods We used the B16 melanoma and F3II mammary carcinoma mouse tumor cell lines. By CMAH directed RT-PCR and NeuGc detection with the specific anti-NeuGc-GM3 antibody 14F7 we evaluated enzyme and ganglioside expression in tumor cells, respectively. Expression of NeuGc-GM3 ganglioside was reached by in vitro incubation with NeuGc-rich bovine submaxillary mucin and evaluated by slot-blot and immunohistochemistry assays using the 14F7 antibody. Tumor cells treated with mucin or purified NeuGc were injected s.c. and i.v. in syngeneic mice to evaluate tumor and metastatic growth. Results In the present work we demonstrated the absence of expression of CMAH enzyme in B16 melanoma and F3II mammary carcinoma cells. In vitro incubation of these NeuGc-negative cells with NeuGc-rich mucin increased the presence of NeuGc in cell membranes for at least 48-72 h, as a component of the GM3 ganglioside. Preincubation with NeuGc-rich mucin reduced tumor latency and increased the metastatic potential of tumor cells in syngeneic animals. Similar results were obtained when cells were incubated with purified NeuGc alone. Conclusion Our results indicate that B16 and F3II mouse tumor cell lines do not express NeuGc in cell membranes but they are able to incorporate NeuGc from an exogenous source, contributing to the malignant phenotype of melanoma and mammary carcinoma cells.

  11. A modification of the Schomaker—Stevenson rule for prediction of single bond distances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Richard; Haaland, Arne

    1985-04-01

    A modification of the Schomaker—Stevenson rule: ?c = 8.5 pm, n = 1.4, significantly reduces the discrepancy between experimental calculated bond lengths for every polar bonds between main group elements.

  12. Endogeneously arising network allocation rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slikker, M.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we study endogenously arising network allocation rules. We focus on three allocation rules: the Myerson value, the position value and the component-wise egalitarian solution. For any of these three rules we provide a characterization based on component efficiency and some balanced

  13. Neosporosis epidémica y endémica: descripción de dos eventos en bovinos para cría

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricio M Calandra

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available El objetivo de este trabajo es describir dos eventos producidos en la provincia de Buenos Aires en los cuales Neospora caninum estuvo asociado a la ocurrencia de abortos en bovinos de cría para carne. En uno de ellos se registraron 11 abortos en 57 vaquillonas durante 45 días, en este evento fue 5 veces más probable que una vaquillona que sufrió un aborto fuera seropositiva a N. caninum que una que no lo sufrió (odds ratio [OR] = 4,9 IC 1,2-19,9 (p 0,05. Se analizaron dos fetos de cada evento: estos resultaron negativos a otros patógenos de la reproducción, aunque presentaron anticuerpos específicos y lesiones histopatológicas compatibles con infecciones por N. caninum. Estos resultados sugieren dos posibles modalidades de presentación de abortos en bovinos causados por N. caninum: una epidémica, como la del primer evento aquí referido, y una endémica, como la del segundo.

  14. MouseMine: a new data warehouse for MGI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motenko, H; Neuhauser, S B; O'Keefe, M; Richardson, J E

    2015-08-01

    MouseMine (www.mousemine.org) is a new data warehouse for accessing mouse data from Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI). Based on the InterMine software framework, MouseMine supports powerful query, reporting, and analysis capabilities, the ability to save and combine results from different queries, easy integration into larger workflows, and a comprehensive Web Services layer. Through MouseMine, users can access a significant portion of MGI data in new and useful ways. Importantly, MouseMine is also a member of a growing community of online data resources based on InterMine, including those established by other model organism databases. Adopting common interfaces and collaborating on data representation standards are critical to fostering cross-species data analysis. This paper presents a general introduction to MouseMine, presents examples of its use, and discusses the potential for further integration into the MGI interface.

  15. Performance based regulation - The maintenance rule

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Correia, Richard P. [NRR/DOTS/TQMP, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, M/S OWFN 10A19, Washington, D.C. 20555 (United States)

    1997-07-01

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a transition from 'process-oriented' to 'results-oriented' regulations. The maintenance rule is a results-oriented rule that mandates consideration of risk and plant performance. The Maintenance Rule allows licensees to devise the most effective and efficient means of achieving the results described in the rule including the use of Probabilistic Risk (or Safety) Assessments. The NRC staff conducted a series of site visits to evaluate implementation of the Rule. Conclusions from the site visits indicated that the results-oriented Maintenance Rule can be successfully implemented and enforced. (author)

  16. Performance based regulation - The maintenance rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Correia, Richard P.

    1997-01-01

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a transition from 'process-oriented' to 'results-oriented' regulations. The maintenance rule is a results-oriented rule that mandates consideration of risk and plant performance. The Maintenance Rule allows licensees to devise the most effective and efficient means of achieving the results described in the rule including the use of Probabilistic Risk (or Safety) Assessments. The NRC staff conducted a series of site visits to evaluate implementation of the Rule. Conclusions from the site visits indicated that the results-oriented Maintenance Rule can be successfully implemented and enforced. (author)

  17. Persistent Rule-Following in the Face of Reversed Reinforcement Contingencies: The Differential Impact of Direct Versus Derived Rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harte, Colin; Barnes-Holmes, Yvonne; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot; McEnteggart, Ciara

    2017-11-01

    Rule-governed behavior and its role in generating insensitivity to direct contingencies of reinforcement have been implicated in human psychological suffering. In addition, the human capacity to engage in derived relational responding has also been used to explain specific human maladaptive behaviors, such as irrational fears. To date, however, very little research has attempted to integrate research on contingency insensitivity and derived relations. The current work sought to fill this gap. Across two experiments, participants received either a direct rule (Direct Rule Condition) or a rule that involved a novel derived relational response (Derived Rule Condition). Provision of a direct rule resulted in more persistent rule-following in the face of competing contingencies, but only when the opportunity to follow the reinforced rule beforehand was relatively protracted. Furthermore, only in the Direct Rule Condition were there significant correlations between rule-compliance and stress. A post hoc interpretation of the findings is provided.

  18. Data from SILAC-based quantitative analysis of lysates from mouse microglial cells treated with Withaferin A (WA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malathi Narayan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Mass spectrometry data collected in a study analyzing the effect of withaferin A (WA on a mouse microglial (N9 cell line is presented in this article. Data was collected from SILAC-based quantitative analysis of lysates from mouse microglial cells treated with either WA or DMSO vehicle control. This article reports all the proteins that were identified in this analysis. The data presented here is related to the published research article on the effect of WA on the differential regulation of proteins in mouse microglial cells [1]. Mass spectrometry data has also been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with the identifier http://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/archive/projects/PXD003032.

  19. Genetic Dissection of Trabecular Bone Structure with Mouse Intersubspecific Consomic Strains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taro Kataoka

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Trabecular bone structure has an important influence on bone strength, but little is known about its genetic regulation. To elucidate the genetic factor(s regulating trabecular bone structure, we compared the trabecular bone structures of two genetically remote mouse strains, C57BL/6J and Japanese wild mouse-derived MSM/Ms. Phenotyping by X-ray micro-CT revealed that MSM/Ms has structurally more fragile trabecular bone than C57BL/6J. Toward identification of genetic determinants for the difference in fragility of trabecular bone between the two mouse strains, we employed phenotype screening of consomic mouse strains in which each C57BL/6J chromosome is substituted by its counterpart from MSM/Ms. The results showed that many chromosomes affect trabecular bone structure, and that the consomic strain B6-Chr15MSM, carrying MSM/Ms-derived chromosome 15 (Chr15, has the lowest values for the parameters BV/TV, Tb.N, and Conn.D, and the highest values for the parameters Tb.Sp and SMI. Subsequent phenotyping of subconsomic strains for Chr15 mapped four novel trabecular bone structure-related QTL (Tbsq1-4 on mouse Chr15. These results collectively indicate that genetic regulation of trabecular bone structure is highly complex, and that even in the single Chr15, the combined action of the four Tbsqs controls the fragility of trabecular bone. Given that Tbsq4 is syntenic to human Chr 12q12-13.3, where several bone-related SNPs are assigned, further study of Tbsq4 should facilitate our understanding of the genetic regulation of bone formation in humans.

  20. A clinical prediction rule for histological chorioamnionitis in preterm newborns.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasper V Been

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Histological chorioamnionitis (HC is an intrauterine inflammatory process highly associated with preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcome. HC is often clinically silent and diagnosed postnatally by placental histology. Earlier identification could facilitate treatment individualisation to improve outcome in preterm newborns. AIM: Develop a clinical prediction rule at birth for HC and HC with fetal involvement (HCF in preterm newborns. METHODS: Clinical data and placental pathology were obtained from singleton preterm newborns (gestational age ≤ 32.0 weeks born at Erasmus UMC Rotterdam from 2001 to 2003 (derivation cohort; n = 216 or Máxima MC Veldhoven from 2009 to 2010 (validation cohort; n = 206. HC and HCF prediction rules were developed with preference for high sensitivity using clinical variables available at birth. RESULTS: HC and HCF were present in 39% and 24% in the derivation cohort and in 44% and 22% in the validation cohort, respectively. HC was predicted with 87% accuracy, yielding an area under ROC curve of 0.95 (95%CI = 0.92-0.98, a positive predictive value of 80% (95%CI = 74-84%, and a negative predictive value of 93% (95%CI = 88-96%. Corresponding figures for HCF were: accuracy 83%, area under ROC curve 0.92 (95%CI = 0.88-0.96, positive predictive value 59% (95%CI = 52-62%, and negative predictive value 97% (95%CI = 93-99%. External validation expectedly resulted in some loss of test performance, preferentially affecting positive predictive rather than negative predictive values. CONCLUSION: Using a clinical prediction rule composed of clinical variables available at birth, HC and HCF could be predicted with good test characteristics in preterm newborns. Further studies should evaluate the clinical value of these rules to guide early treatment individualisation.

  1. "Chaos Rules" Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, David

    2011-01-01

    About 20 years ago, while lost in the midst of his PhD research, the author mused over proposed titles for his thesis. He was pretty pleased with himself when he came up with "Chaos Rules" (the implied double meaning was deliberate), or more completely, "Chaos Rules: An Exploration of the Work of Instructional Designers in Distance Education." He…

  2. Idioms-based Business Rule Extraction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R Smit (Rob)

    2011-01-01

    htmlabstractThis thesis studies the extraction of embedded business rules, using the idioms of the used framework to identify them. Embedded business rules exist as source code in the software system and knowledge about them may get lost. Extraction of those business rules could make them accessible

  3. 18 CFR 39.10 - Changes to an Electric Reliability Organization Rule or Regional Entity Rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... RULES CONCERNING CERTIFICATION OF THE ELECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION; AND PROCEDURES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, APPROVAL, AND ENFORCEMENT OF ELECTRIC RELIABILITY STANDARDS § 39.10 Changes to an Electric... Reliability Organization Rule or Regional Entity Rule. 39.10 Section 39.10 Conservation of Power and Water...

  4. Incremental Learning of Context Free Grammars by Parsing-Based Rule Generation and Rule Set Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Katsuhiko; Hoshina, Akemi

    This paper discusses recent improvements and extensions in Synapse system for inductive inference of context free grammars (CFGs) from sample strings. Synapse uses incremental learning, rule generation based on bottom-up parsing, and the search for rule sets. The form of production rules in the previous system is extended from Revised Chomsky Normal Form A→βγ to Extended Chomsky Normal Form, which also includes A→B, where each of β and γ is either a terminal or nonterminal symbol. From the result of bottom-up parsing, a rule generation mechanism synthesizes minimum production rules required for parsing positive samples. Instead of inductive CYK algorithm in the previous version of Synapse, the improved version uses a novel rule generation method, called ``bridging,'' which bridges the lacked part of the derivation tree for the positive string. The improved version also employs a novel search strategy, called serial search in addition to minimum rule set search. The synthesis of grammars by the serial search is faster than the minimum set search in most cases. On the other hand, the size of the generated CFGs is generally larger than that by the minimum set search, and the system can find no appropriate grammar for some CFL by the serial search. The paper shows experimental results of incremental learning of several fundamental CFGs and compares the methods of rule generation and search strategies.

  5. Loop versus end colostomy reversal: has anything changed?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruns, B R; DuBose, J; Pasley, J; Kheirbek, T; Chouliaras, K; Riggle, A; Frank, M K; Phelan, H A; Holena, D; Inaba, K; Diaz, J; Scalea, T M

    2015-10-01

    Though primary repair of colon injuries is preferred, certain injury patterns require colostomy creation. Colostomy reversal is associated with significant morbidity and healthcare cost. Complication rates may be influenced by technique of diversion (loop vs. end colostomy), though this remains ill-defined. We hypothesized that reversal of loop colostomies is associated with fewer complications than end colostomies. This is a retrospective, multi-institutional study (four, level-1 trauma centers) of patients undergoing colostomy takedown for trauma during the time period 1/2006-12/2012. Data were collected from index trauma admission and subsequent admission for reversal and included demographics and complications of reversal. Student's t test was used to compare continuous variables against loop versus end colostomy. Discrete variables were compared against both groups using Chi-squared tests. Over the 6-year study period, 218 patients underwent colostomy takedown after trauma with a mean age of 30; 190 (87%) were male, 162 (74%) had penetrating injury as their indication for colostomy, and 98 (45%) experienced at least one complication. Patients in the end colostomy group (n = 160) were more likely to require midline laparotomy (145 vs. 18, p colostomy (n = 58). Local takedown of a loop colostomy is safe and leads to shorter hospital stays, less intra-operative blood loss, and fewer complications when compared to end colostomy.

  6. Rules Extraction with an Immune Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deqin Yan

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a method of extracting rules with immune algorithms from information systems is proposed. Designing an immune algorithm is based on a sharing mechanism to extract rules. The principle of sharing and competing resources in the sharing mechanism is consistent with the relationship of sharing and rivalry among rules. In order to extract rules efficiently, a new concept of flexible confidence and rule measurement is introduced. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is effective.

  7. 78 FR 41291 - Additions to the List of Validated End-Users in the People's Republic of China: Samsung China...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-10

    ...-Fabrication Equipment, Inc., China (AMEC) as VEUs. With this rule, exports, reexports and transfers (in...-Vogel, Chair, End-User Review Committee, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce... EAR). VEUs are reviewed and approved by the U.S. Government in accordance with the provisions of...

  8. Identification of 17 hearing impaired mouse strains in the TMGC ENU-mutagenesis screen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kermany, Mohammad [St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital; Parker, Lisan [St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital; Guo, Yun-Kai [St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital; Miller, Darla R [ORNL; Swanson, Douglas J [ORNL; Yoo, Tai-June [Neuroscience Institute, Memphis, TN; Goldowitz, Daniel [University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis; Zuo, Jian [St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital

    2006-01-01

    The Tennessee Mouse Genome Consortium (TMGC) employed an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-mutagenesis scheme to identify mouse recessive mutants with hearing phenotypes. We employed auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to click and 8, 16, and 32 kHz stimuli and screened 285 pedigrees (1819 mice of 8-11 weeks old in various mixed genetic backgrounds) each bred to carry a homozygous ENU-induced mutation. To define mutant pedigrees, we measured P12 mice per pedigree in P2 generations and used a criterion where the mean ABR threshold per pedigree was two standard deviations above the mean of all offspring from the same parental strain. We thus identified 17 mutant pedigrees (6%), all exhibiting hearing loss at high frequencies (P16 kHz) with an average threshold elevation of 30-35 dB SPL. Interestingly, four mutants showed sex-biased hearing loss and six mutants displayed wide range frequency hearing loss. Temporal bone histology revealed that six of the first nine mutants displayed cochlear morphological defects: degeneration of spiral ganglia, spiral ligament fibrocytes or inner hair cells (but not outer hair cells) mostly in basal turns. In contrast to other ENU-mutagenesis auditory screens, our screen identified high-frequency, mild and sex-biased hearing defects. Further characterization of these 17 mouse models will advance our understanding of presbycusis and noise-induced hearing loss in humans.

  9. GESTATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ETHANE DIMETHANESULFONATE (EDS) ALTERS DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOUSE TESTIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    GESTATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ETHANE DIMETHANESULFONATE (EDS) ALTERS DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOUSE TESTIS. D.K. Tarka*1,2, J.D. Suarez*2, N.L. Roberts*2, J.M. Rogers*1,2, M.P. Hardy3, and G.R. Klinefelter1,2. 1University of North Carolina, Curriculum in Toxicology, Chapel Hill, NC; 2USEPA,...

  10. Poly (ADP-ribose) metabolism in alkylated mouse L5178Y cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyle, J.M.

    1985-01-01

    Poly ADP-ribosylation of two mouse lymphoma cell lines, L5178Y (LS) and the radiation and alkylating agent resistant derivative AII, was investigated by uptake of [ 3 H]NAD by permeabilised cells into acid-precipitable material that was sensitive to phosphodiesterase but insensitive to DNase and RNase. Basal activities in both lymphoma lines were 3-4-fold greater than in mouse L1210 leukaemia cells. However, total endogenous poly (ADP-R) polymerase activity in both L5178Y cell lines, stimulated by a large excess of DNase in the presence of Triton X-100, was less than half the activity in L1210 cells. Doses of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) that produced 20-50% survival of colony-forming units increased poly (ADP-R) in both lymphoma lines by only 25% compared with 377% in L1210 cells when synthesis was measured immediately after a 30-min exposure of MNU. Concentrations of 3-aminobenzamide (3AB) above 2.5 mM inhibited colony-forming ability of lymphoma cells and equally inhibited uptake of [ 14 C]formate into protein, RNA and DNA indicating that 3AB behaves as a general metabolic poison. Non-toxic concentrations of 3AB potentiated cell killing by MNU to a similar degree in both lymphoma cell lines. In conclusion, the authors have found little evidence to support the hypothesis that the differential sensitivity of LS and AII is related to poly ADP-ribosylation. Compared with other mouse cells, L5178Y cells appear deficient in poly (ADP-R) polymerase and poly (ADP-R) glycohydrolase activities

  11. Mouse fetal antigen 1 (mFA1), the circulating gene product of mdlk, pref-1 and SCP-1: isolation, characterization and biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bachmann, E; Krogh, T N; Højrup, P

    1996-01-01

    The mouse homologue to human fetal antigen 1 (hFA1) was purified from mouse amniotic fluid by cation exchange chromatography and immunospecific affinity chromatography. Mouse FA1 (mFA1) is a single chain glycoprotein with an M(r) of 42-50 kDa (SDS-PAGE). The N-terminal amino acid sequence (39...... residues) revealed 74% identity to hFA1 and 100% identity to the translated cDNAs referred to as mouse dlk, pref-1 and SCP-1. mFA1 is the secreted processed molecule encoded by the mRNA defined by these identical mouse cDNAs. Monospecific rabbit anti-mFA1 antibodies, purified by ammonium sulfate...... precipitation and immunospecific affinity chromatography, were used for immunohistochemical and quantitative ELISA techniques. The indirect immunoperoxidase technique demonstrated mFA1 within the endocrine structures of adult mouse pancreas, whereas the exocrine tissue remained unstained. FA1-positive staining...

  12. Proof Rules for Recursive Procedures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hesselink, Wim H.

    1993-01-01

    Four proof rules for recursive procedures in a Pascal-like language are presented. The main rule deals with total correctness and is based on results of Gries and Martin. The rule is easier to apply than Martin's. It is introduced as an extension of a specification format for Pascal-procedures, with

  13. Damaging role of neutrophilic infiltration in a mouse model of progressive tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marzo, Elena; Vilaplana, Cristina; Tapia, Gustavo; Diaz, Jorge; Garcia, Vanessa; Cardona, Pere-Joan

    2014-01-01

    Tuberculosis was studied using an experimental model based on the C3HeB/FeJ mouse strain, which mimics the liquefaction of caseous necrosis occurring during active disease in immunocompetent adults. Mice were intravenously infected with 2 × 10(4) Colony Forming Units of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their histopathology, immune response, bacillary load, and survival were evaluated. The effects of the administration of drugs with anti-inflammatory activity were examined, and the C3H/HeN mouse strain was also included for comparative purposes. Massive intra-alveolar neutrophilic infiltration led to rapid granuloma growth and coalescence of lesions into superlesions. A central necrotic area appeared showing progressive cellular destruction, the alveoli cell walls being initially conserved (caseous necrosis) but finally destroyed (liquefactive necrosis). Increasing levels of pro-inflammatory mediators were detected in lungs. C3HeB/FeJ treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and C3H/HeN animals presented lower levels of pro-inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α, IL-17, IL-6 and CXCL5, a lower bacillary load, better histopathology, and increased survival compared with untreated C3HeB/FeJ. The observation of massive neutrophilic infiltration suggests that inflammation may be a key factor in progression towards active tuberculosis. On the basis of our findings, we consider that the C3HeB/FeJ mouse model would be useful for evaluating new therapeutic strategies against human tuberculosis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Limpieza y desinfección: riesgo toxicológico Cleaning and disinfection: toxicological risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastián Sánchez-Fortún Rodríguez

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available La utilización de biocidas para la desinfección de superficies, como las torres de refrigeración, ha llegado a ser un elemento clave para la prevención de enfermedades, como es el caso de la legionelosis. Pero su utilización conlleva asumir una serie de riesgos, tanto para la Salud Pública como para el entorno medioambiental donde las descargas procedentes de los puntos de aplicación pueden provocar profundas alteraciones en el medio acuático. El análisis efectuado en el presente trabajo, acerca de los diferentes parámetros para la evaluación del riesgo que supone la utilización de estos formulados, lleva a la conclusión de que, aún entendiendo que todo biocida podría provocar efectos no deseados sobre los seres vivos y el medioambiente, un correcto equilibrio entre los criterios de eficacia y seguridad es la única pauta viable para prevenir el riesgo toxicológico generado por las necesarias pautas de limpieza y desinfección de estas superficies.The use of biocides for the surfaces disinfection, as cooling towers, has ended up being a key element for the prevention of illnesses, like it is the case of legionelosis disease. But their use bears to assume risks, as much for the Public and Environmental Health where the discharges can cause deep alterations in the aquatic ecosystems. The analysis apply in this work, about the different parameters for the risk evaluation that supposes the use of these formulated, takes to the conclusion that, still understanding that all biocide could cause adverse effects on organisms and environments, a correct balance among effectiveness and security approaches is the only viable rule to prevent the toxicological risk generated by the necessary cleaning and disinfection rules of these surfaces.

  15. Malvaceae endémicas del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magda Chanco

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available La familia Malvaceae es reconocida en el Perú con 38 géneros y 264 especies (Brako & Zarucchi 1993, Ulloa et al. 2004, mayormente arbustos y hierbas. En este trabajo reconocemos 87 especies endémicas en 16 géneros. El género más rico en especies endémicas es Nototriche. Las especies endémicas se encuentran en varias regiones ecológicas, entre ellas Altoandina, Mesoandina y Puna Húmeda y Seca, por encima de los 2500 m, hasta alcanzar los límites de la vegetación a 5100 m de altitud. Se aplicaron las categorías y criterios de la UICN a 84 especies. Once especies endémicas se encuentran presentes en el Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado.

  16. Structural Graphical Lasso for Learning Mouse Brain Connectivity

    KAUST Repository

    Yang, Sen

    2015-08-07

    Investigations into brain connectivity aim to recover networks of brain regions connected by anatomical tracts or by functional associations. The inference of brain networks has recently attracted much interest due to the increasing availability of high-resolution brain imaging data. Sparse inverse covariance estimation with lasso and group lasso penalty has been demonstrated to be a powerful approach to discover brain networks. Motivated by the hierarchical structure of the brain networks, we consider the problem of estimating a graphical model with tree-structural regularization in this paper. The regularization encourages the graphical model to exhibit a brain-like structure. Specifically, in this hierarchical structure, hundreds of thousands of voxels serve as the leaf nodes of the tree. A node in the intermediate layer represents a region formed by voxels in the subtree rooted at that node. The whole brain is considered as the root of the tree. We propose to apply the tree-structural regularized graphical model to estimate the mouse brain network. However, the dimensionality of whole-brain data, usually on the order of hundreds of thousands, poses significant computational challenges. Efficient algorithms that are capable of estimating networks from high-dimensional data are highly desired. To address the computational challenge, we develop a screening rule which can quickly identify many zero blocks in the estimated graphical model, thereby dramatically reducing the computational cost of solving the proposed model. It is based on a novel insight on the relationship between screening and the so-called proximal operator that we first establish in this paper. We perform experiments on both synthetic data and real data from the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas; results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.

  17. Presynaptic mGlu1 and mGlu5 autoreceptors facilitate glutamate exocytosis from mouse cortical nerve endings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musante, Veronica; Neri, Elisa; Feligioni, Marco; Puliti, Aldamaria; Pedrazzi, Marco; Conti, Valerio; Usai, Cesare; Diaspro, Alberto; Ravazzolo, Roberto; Henley, Jeremy M; Battaglia, Giuseppe; Pittaluga, Anna

    2008-09-01

    The effects of mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptor activation on the depolarization-evoked release of [3H]d-aspartate ([3H]D-ASP) from mouse cortical synaptosomes were investigated. The mGlu1/5 receptor agonist 3,5-DHPG (0.1-100microM) potentiated the K+(12mM)-evoked [3H]D-ASP overflow. The potentiation occurred in a concentration-dependent manner showing a biphasic pattern. The agonist potentiated [3H]D-ASP exocytosis when applied at 0.3microM; the efficacy of 3,5-DHPG then rapidly declined and reappeared at 30-100microM. The fall of efficacy of agonist at intermediate concentration may be consistent with 3,5-DHPG-induced receptor desensitization. Facilitation of [3H]D-ASP exocytosis caused by 0.3microM 3,5-DHPG was prevented by the selective mGlu5 receptor antagonist MPEP, but was insensitive to the selective mGlu1 receptor antagonist CPCCOEt. In contrast, CPCCOEt prevented the potentiation by 50microM 3,5-DHPG, while MPEP had minimal effect. Unexpectedly, LY 367385 antagonized both the 3,5-DHPG-induced effects. A total of 0.3microM 3,5-DHPG failed to facilitate the K+-evoked [3H]D-ASP overflow from mGlu5 receptor knockout (mGlu5-/-) cortical synaptosomes, but not from nerve terminals prepared from the cortex of animals lacking the mGlu1 receptors, the crv4/crv4 mice. On the contrary, 50microM 3,5-DHPG failed to affect the [3H]D-ASP exocytosis from cortical synaptosomes obtained from crv4/crv4 and mGlu5-/-mice. Western blot analyses in subsynaptic fractions support the existence of both mGlu1 and mGlu5 autoreceptors located presynaptically, while immunocytochemistry revealed their presence at glutamatergic terminals. We propose that mGlu1 and mGlu5 autoreceptors exist on mouse glutamatergic cortical terminals; mGlu5 receptors may represent the "high affinity" binding sites for 3,5-DHPG, while mGlu1 autoreceptors represent the "low affinity" binding sites.

  18. Rules Versus Discretion in Monetary Policy

    OpenAIRE

    Stanley Fischer

    1988-01-01

    This paper examines the case for rules rather than discretion in the conduct of monetary policy, from both historical and analytic perspectives. The paper starts with the rules of the game under the gold standard. These rules were ill-defined and not adhered to; active discretionary policy was pursued to defend the gold standard -- but the gold standard came closer to a regime of rules than the current system. The arguments for rules in general developed by Milton Friedman are described mo ap...

  19. Rule Making and Rule Breaking: Game Development and the Governance of Emergent Behaviour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer R. Whitson

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Discussions of ‘control’ in games often center on players and their myriad attempts to push back upon the systems that seek to constrain them. The fact that players resist the constraints imposed upon them is not surprising, nor is it surprising that counterplay and control are such rich topics for game studies academics. In this article, I argue that players are invited by games to bend the rules. It is in the very nature of play to find the movement between the rules, and for many players the ‘fun’ in play is the inherent challenge of attempting to master, defeat, or remake games’ formal structures. These rationalities of play preclude blind obedience to the rules and have distinct implications for how games are governed. While there have been numerous studies of players who bend or break the rules (Consalvo, 2007; Foo and Koivisto, 2004; Dibbell, 1998; Kolko and Reid, 1998; Williams, 2006; Mnookin, 1997 and players who alter and re-make the rules in their role of co-producers (Sotamaa, 2009; Kücklich, 2005; Humphreys, 2005; Taylor, 2006b, there is little research on game development companies and their attempts to harness these rationalities of play and uphold the rules beyond the reflexive writings of game designers themselves (Curtis, 1992; Morningstar and Farmer, 1991; Koster, 2002.

  20. Gaming the system. Dodging the rules, ruling the dodgers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morreim, E H

    1991-03-01

    Although traditional obligations of fidelity require physicians to deliver quality care to their patients, including to utilize costly technologies, physicians are steadily losing their accustomed control over the necessary resources. The "economic agents" who own the medical and monetary resources of care now impose a wide array of rules and restrictions in order to contain their costs of operation. However, physicians can still control resources indirectly through "gaming the system," employing tactics such as "fudging" that exploit resource rules' ambiguity and flexibility to bypass the rules while ostensibly honoring them. Physicians may be especially inclined to game the system where resource rules seriously underserve patients' needs, where economic agents seem to be "gaming the patient," with needless obstacles to care, or where others, such as hospitals or even physicians themselves, may be denied needed reimbursements. Though tempting, gaming is morally and medically hazardous. It can harm patients and society, offend honesty, and violate basic principles of contractual and distributive justice. It is also, in fact, usually unnecessary in securing needed resources for patients. More fundamentally, we must reconsider what physicians owe their patients. They owe what is theirs to give: their competence, care and loyalty. In light of medicine's changing economics, two new duties emerge: economic advising, whereby physicians explicitly discuss the economic as well as medical aspects of each treatment option; and economic advocacy, whereby physicians intercede actively on their patients' behalf with the economic agents who control the resources.