Evidence for nodular epileptogenicity and gender differences in periventricular nodular heterotopia

The new synthetic oleanane triterpenoid 2-cyano-3,12-dioxoolean-1,9-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO) is a potent, multifunctional molecule. It induces monocytic differentiation of human myeloid leukemia cells and adipogenic differentiation of mouse 3T3-L1 fibroblasts and enhances the neuronal differentiation of rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells caused by nerve growth factor. CDDO inhibits proliferation of many human tumor cell lines, including those derived from estrogen receptor-positive and -negative breast carcinomas, myeloid leukemias, and several carcinomas bearing a Smad4 mutation. Furthermore, it suppresses the abilities of various inflammatory cytokines, such as IFN-gamma, interleukin-1, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, to induce de novo formation of the enzymes inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNos) and inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) in mouse peritoneal macrophages, rat brain microglia, and human colon fibroblasts. CDDO will also protect rat brain hippocampal neurons from cell death induced by beta-amyloid. The above activities have been found at concentrations ranging from 10(-6) to 10(-9) M in cell culture, and these results suggest that CDDO needs further study in vivo, for either chemoprevention or chemotherapy of malignancy as well as for neuroprotection.     

Java-based Internet biometric authentication system

An online biometric verification system for use over the Internet and requiring no specialist equipment is presented. Combining two distinct tests to ensure authenticity, a typing style test and a mouse-based signature test, achieves a fraudulent access rate of /spl ap/ 4.4 percent, while authentic users access with a rate of /spl ap/ 99 percent.     

Traffic engineering of the radio interface for cellular mobilenetworks

The paper reviews traffic-related issues in the operation of the radio interface in cellular mobile networks operating with FDMA, TDMA, or CDMA technology. The emphasis is on issues which affect the traffic performance of the network, rather than on transmission technology, or transmission quality measures such as bit error rate. The author reviews the important traffic performance measures for cellular systems and the issues of channel assignment, handoff, access control, traffic modeling, and traffic management. Traffic modeling for all types of networks is considered in some depth, both by drawing analogies with fixed-wire networks, and by considering cellular-specific modeling. From the modeling results, he concludes that reuse-based networks such as FDMA and TDMA possess quite different traffic characteristics from CDMA networks     

Multiple-level defoliation assessment with hyperspectral data: integration of continuum-removed absorptions and red edges

Hyperspectral data were collected from 40 canopies of saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima): 10 healthy canopies and 30 canopies defoliated by an introduced biological control agent, the saltcedar leaf beetle (Diorhabda carinata). These data assessed multiple-level defoliations in response to the process of biological control. Two important characteristics of the hyperspectral data – red edges and continuum-removed absorptions – were used to discriminate four defoliation categories of saltcedar (healthy plants, newly defoliated plants, completely defoliated plants and refoliating plants) at the canopy level. The red edge positions were located at ranges of 711–716 nm, 706–712 nm, 694–698 nm and 715–719 nm for the four defoliation stages described above, respectively. These red edge positions alone could not clearly judge the four defoliation categories associated with feeding by the beetles. Only the completely defoliated canopies had distinct red edge positions that could be differentiated from the other three types of canopies. While using a classification tree to integrate the red edge positions and their derivatives with the central band depths of these five continuum-removed absorptions, it was found that only two band depths of the continuum-removed absorptions were selected, which were the red absorption between 570 and 716 nm and the water absorption between 936 and 990 nm in the near-infrared region (NIR). This implied that the continuum-removed absorptions outperformed the red edges for identifying the defoliation categories. The resulting overall accuracy was 87.5%. The producer accuracy was 100%, 70%, 100% and 80% for the healthy plants, newly defoliated, completely defoliated plants and refoliating canopies, respectively. The corresponding user accuracy was 90.91%, 77.78%, 100% and 80%. Therefore, we concluded that single spectral data based variable failed to separate the four stages but a combination of the two continuum-removed absorptions located in the blue absorption and the first water absorption in the NIR improved the identification of defoliated canopies associated with the dynamic defoliation process of the biological control agent. This study developed the defoliation detection techniques of commonly used binary levels (i.e. defoliation and non-defoliation) to multiple vegetation defoliation levels. We anticipate applying these assessment techniques to wide-area collections of hyperspectral data covering the two spectral regions as described above to further evaluate the effectiveness of these biological control beetles and their impact on saltcedar management in the Western United States.     

Behavioral effects of psychomotor stimulants in rats with dorsal or ventral subiculum lesions: Locomotion, cocaine self-administration, and prepulse inhibition of startle.

Compelling evidence suggests a primary role for the mesoaccumbens dopaminergic pathway in the behavioral effects of amphetamine and cocaine, but the roles of other projections to the accumbens, including those arising in the hippocampal formation, are less clear. The authors evaluated the effects of discrete excitotoxic lesions of either the dorsal or ventral subiculum on the locomotor activating, reinforcing, and sensorimotor gating-disruptive effects of psychomotor stimulant drugs. Whereas dorsal subiculum-lesioned rats were hyperactive in tests of exploratory locomotion and startle reactivity, ventral subiculum-lesioned rats exhibited an attenuated locomotor response to amphetamine, moderately impaired acquisition of cocaine self-administration, and reduced levels of prepulse inhibition of startle. These 2 behavioral profiles overlap considerably with those previously observed in rats with lesions of the rostrodorsal and caudomedial accumbens, respectively, and suggest that projections from dorsal subiculum to accumbens core and ventral subiculum to accumbens shell exert distinct influences on behavioral responses that are amplified by psychomotor stimulant drugs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The pharmacokinetics, antigenicity, and fusion-inhibition activity of RSHZ19, a humanized monoclonal antibody to respiratory syncytial virus, in healthy volunteers

Single ascending doses of RSHZ19 (also known as SB 209763), a humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb) directed to the fusion protein of respiratory syncytial virus, were administered to healthy men to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, antigenicity, and fusion inhibition (FI) activity of RSHZ19. Doses of RSHZ19 (0.025-10.0 mg/kg) or placebo were infused over 30 min, and subjects were followed for 10 weeks. Plasma concentrations of RSHZ19 and RSHZ19-specific antibodies were determined by ELISAs. FI titers were used to evaluate the ability of plasma to inhibit virus-induced fusion of VERO cells previously infected with RS Long strain virus. Twenty-six subjects, mean age 24, completed the study. RSHZ19 was safe and well tolerated, and no subject developed antibodies to RSHZ19 during follow-up. RSHZ19 had low plasma clearance and a half-life of approximately 23 days, similar to native IgG. Increases in FI titers relative to pretreatment levels were seen 24 h after MAb administration in all 4 subjects given 10 mg/kg and in 2 of 4 given 5 mg/kg.     

Simple Approximations for Token Rings

Recently, a conservation law for the waiting times at a token ring has been derived. This conservation law is used here to develop simple approximations to the waiting times at individual queues on a token ring. Although exact algorithms are available, they may require significant computation time. In contrast, the approximation developed here is easily calculated on a pocket calculator, and is more accurate than earlier approximations.     

Doubly dissociable effects of median- and dorsal-raphé lesions on the performance of the five-choice serial reaction time test of attention in rats

Six experiments examined the effects of selective median (MRN)- and dorsal (DRN)-raphé nucleus lesions on the performance of the five-choice serial reaction time task. In this test rats are required to localize brief visual stimuli presented randomly in one of five locations in approximately 30 min sessions of 100 trials. Both accuracy and latency to respond are measured, as well as the incidence of premature and perseverative responding. Selective 5-HT lesions were induced by intra-raphé infusions of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine following pretreatment with both a noradrenergic and a dopaminergic re-uptake inhibitor. Analysis of tissue monoamine content demonstrated that the MRN lesion profoundly depleted hippocampal 5-HT (by about 90%) without affecting noradrenaline and dopamine, whereas the DRN lesion primarily depleted (by about 80%) nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen 5-HT. Rats with 5-HT lesions of the MRN performed the task with a similar degree of accuracy to that exhibited by sham-operated controls. Although the MRN lesion did not affect the latency to respond correctly to the visual targets the lesioned animals collected the food reward significantly faster than the controls. A transient increase in the number of premature responses also resulted from this lesion. In contrast the DRN lesion produced a transient but significant increase in the accuracy of performance, and increased both the speed and the probability of responding. The similarity of the effects following global forebrain 5-HT depletion and the selective DRN lesion suggests that the 5-HT projections of the DRN rather than the MRN may play an important role in impulsive behaviour following 5-HT depletion.     

Sequence requirements of the HIV-1 protease flap region determined by saturation mutagenesis and kinetic analysis of flap mutants

The retroviral proteases (PRs) have a structural feature called the flap, which consists of a short anti-parallel beta-sheet with a turn. The flap extends over the substrate binding cleft and must be flexible to allow entry and exit of the polypeptide substrates and products. We analyzed the sequence requirements of the amino acids within the flap region (positions 46-56) of the HIV-1 PR. The phenotypes of 131 substitution mutants were determined using a bacterial expression system. Four of the mutant PRs with mutations in different regions of the flap were selected for kinetic analysis. Our phenotypic analysis, considered in the context of published structures of the HIV-1 PR with a bound substrate analogs, shows that: (i) Met-46 and Phe-53 participate in hydrophobic interactions on the solvent-exposed face of the flap; (ii) Ile-47, Ile-54, and Val-56 participate in hydrophobic interactions on the inner face of the flap; (iii) Ile-50 has hydrophobic interactions at the distance of both the delta and gamma carbons; (iv) the three glycine residues in the beta-turn of the flap are virtually intolerant of substitutions. Among these mutant PRs, we have identified changes in both kcat and Km. These results establish the nature of the side chain requirements at each position in the flap and document a role for the flap in both substrate binding and catalysis.