Amperometric assay for aldolase activity: antibody-catalyzed ferrocenylamine formation

Screening of new catalysts for aldolase activity is a major task in bioorganic chemistry. For this purpose, fast and convenient methods are required for the detection of the catalysts. We have developed the first amperometric assay for aldol or retro-aldol catalytic activity. A new ferrocene-aldol derivative was synthesized with redox activity significantly different from that of ferrocenylamine. It was shown that the reaction between aldolase antibody 38C2 and a ferrocene-aldol substrate generated free ferrocenylamine, which could be detected and quantified by simple electrochemical measurement. The amperometric assay was applied to perform a Michaelis-Menten analysis of catalytic antibody 38C2 in order to determine the enzymatic kinetic parameters.     

Current concepts on the role of oxytocin in milk ejection

Timing of oxytocin release may influence milk ejection. Oxytocin is higher in cows after manual premilking stimulation than in cows receiving no stimulation. Premilking stimulation offers no advantages to milk production in short trials but results in shorter times of machine on and higher average rate of milk flow. Enhanced mechanical stimulation does not seem as effective as manual stimulation in short trials. Oxytocin release is multiphasic, and contents in blood decline during milking. Maximal concentrations during milking decrease across lactation. Nonlactating cows also release oxytocin upon udder stimulation and conditioning. Virgin heifers do not respond in the same way to udder stimulation as lactating cows, thus suggesting that sensitivity of the milk ejection reflex depends upon the physiological state of the animal. Cows probably release about one-third of their stores of oxytocin at milking, and it appears that little hormone is necessary for effect at the udder. Basal concentrations of oxytocin decrease from early to midlactation and increase from mid to late lactation and from late lactation to involution. Half-lives, metabolic clearance rates, and entry rates for oxytocin were measured in cattle in various physiological states. Data from these measurements are discussed.     

Mesh segmentation using feature point and core extraction

Mesh segmentation has become a necessary ingredient in many applications in computer graphics. This paper proposes a novel hierarchical mesh segmentation algorithm, which is based on new methods for prominent feature point and core extraction. The algorithm has several benefits. First, it is invariant both to the pose of the model and to different proportions between the model’s components. Second, it produces correct hierarchical segmentations of meshes, both in the coarse levels of the hierarchy and in the fine levels, where tiny segments are extracted. Finally, the boundaries between the segments go along the natural seams of the models.     

Polymorphism of POS. II. kinetics of melt crystallization

Melt crystallization of four polymorphs of POS, α,δ, pseudo-β′ andβ, was examined with pure samples (>99.9%). Induction time, τ, for newly occurring crystals was measured with a polarizing microscope equipped with a temperature-controlled growth cell. Rate of crystallization, 1/τ, was obtained for each polymorph, whose identification was done with x-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Two modes of crystallization, melt cooling and melt mediation, were applied. From these experiments, the following conclusions were obtained: (i) The rate of melt-mediated crystallization was always higher than of simple melt cooling; (ii) the pseudo-β′ form was crystallized in a wider range of temperature than the less stable δ form; (iii) the occurrence behavior of the polymorphs differed between simple melt cooling and melt mediation; (iv) the δ form was crystallized only by simple melt cooling in a narrow range of temperature, 25.5°C∼28.3°C. This means that there is a possibility that δ may result from racemic compounds that are crystallized in a specific manner. The experimental results are discussed in comparison to 1,3-dipalmitoyl2-oleoylglycerol (POP), 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (SOS) and cocoa butter.     

A High-Speed Optical Multidrop Bus for Computer Interconnections

Signal integrity constraints of high-speed electronics have made multidrop electrical buses infeasible. This high-speed alternative uses hollow metal waveguides and pellicle beam splitters that interconnect modules attached to the bus. With 1 mW of laser power, the bus can interconnect eight modules at 10 Gbps per channel and achieves an aggregate bandwidth of more than 25 Gbytes per second with 10-bit-wide signaling paths.     

Polymorphism of pos. I. occurrence and polymorphic transformation

Polymorphic behavior of 1,3-rac-palmitoyl-stearoy 1-2-oleoylglycerol, 99.9% purity (POS) was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), solubility measurements and optical microscopy in comparison with 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (POP) and 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (SOS). Melt crystallization and solvent crystallization were examined for the occurrence of metastable and stable polymorphs. The number of independent polymorphs was four; α,δ, pseudoβ′ andβ. The lowest melting form, α, was identical to that commonly observed in POP and SOS lowest melting forms. As to the highest melting form,β, the XRD shortspacing pattern was identical toβ ₁ of POP and SOS. This is consistent with crystal habit:β single crystals of POS showed the same shape as those of β₁ of POP and SOS. However, the melting point ofβ (POS), 35.9°C, was lower than those ofβ ₁ of POP, 36.7°C, and of SOS, 43.0°C. Correspondingly, solubility ofβ of POS was lower than that of β₁ of POP below about 13°C, but higher above 13°C. POS did not possessβ ₂ , which is the second stable form in POP and SOS. Two forms of6 and pseudoβ′ occurred, the latter being more stable. The structural properties ofδ showed thatδ is not identical toγ previously observed in POP and SOS. Transformation behavior from the metastable to stable polymorphs of POS showed some differences from those of POP and SOS. Presented at the AOCS annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 1989.     

Tuning the ensemble selection process of schema matchers

Schema matching is the task of providing correspondences between concepts describing the meaning of data in various heterogeneous, distributed data sources. It is recognized to be one of the basic operations required by the process of data and schema integration and its outcome serves in many tasks such as targeted content delivery and view integration. Schema matching research has been going on for more than 25 years now. An interesting research topic, that was largely left untouched involves the automatic selection of schema matchers to an ensemble, a set of schema matchers. To the best of our knowledge, none of the existing algorithmic solutions offer such a selection feature. In this paper we provide a thorough investigation of this research topic. We introduce a new heuristic, Schema Matcher Boosting (SMB). We show that SMB has the ability to choose among schema matchers and to tune their importance. As such, SMB introduces a new promise for schema matcher designers. Instead of trying to design a perfect schema matcher, a designer can instead focus on finding better than random schema matchers. For the effective utilization of SMB, we propose a complementary approach to the design of new schema matchers. We separate schema matchers into first-line and second-line matchers. First-line schema matchers were designed by-and-large as applications of existing works in other areas (e.g., machine learning and information retrieval) to schemata. Second-line schema matchers operate on the outcome of other schema matchers to improve their original outcome. SMB selects matcher pairs, where each pair contains a first-line matcher and a second-line matcher. We run a thorough set of experiments to analyze SMB ability to effectively choose schema matchers and show that SMB performs better than other, state-of-the-art ensemble matchers.     

Identification variability as a measure of loudness: An application to gender differences.

It is well known that discrimination response variability increases with stimulus intensity, closely related to Weber's Law. It is also an axiom that sensation magnitude increases with stimulus intensity. Following earlier researchers such as Thurstone, Garner, and Durlach and Braida, we explored a new method of exploiting these relationships to estimate the power function exponent relating sound pressure level to loudness, using the accuracy with which listeners could identify the intensity of pure tones. The log standard deviation of the normally distributed identification errors increases linearly with stimulus range in decibels, and the slope, a, of the regression is proportional to the loudness exponent, n. Interestingly, in a demonstration experiment, the loudness exponent estimated in this way is greater for females than for males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and discriminant validity of the Adult Attachment Interview: A psychometric study in young Israeli adults.

59 male and female Israeli students were interviewed twice by 2 different interviewers at 3 mo intervals to assess the Adult Attachment Interview's (AAI; C. George et al, 1985) test–retest reliability and the effects of the interviewers on the interview itself as well as its subsequent classification. Various memory measures were used to obtain a wide range of information about Ss' memory abilities. Information was also obtained from the students' records about various intelligence-related skills. Results showed high degree of interjudge and test–retest reliabilities, irrespective of interviewers. The classifications on the AAI were not found to be associated with nonattachment-related memory and intelligence abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)