A novel hydroxylase from Catharanthus roseus participating in the hydroxylation of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid

A novel 55-kDa hydroxylase was isolated from cultured cells of Catharanthus roseus by a three-step procedure: anion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography and hydroxylapatite adsorption chromatography. The enzyme specifically catalyzed the hydroxylation of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid to give 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid. The enzyme activity was optimal at pH 7.8 and was completely inhibited by divalent cations, such as Cu(2+) and Hg(2+). The enzyme showed sequence similarity to certain plant flavonoid 3'-hydroxylases.     

Pitavastatin ameliorates severe hepatic steatosis in aromatase-deficient (Ar−/−) mice

Tamoxifen is a potent antagonist of estrogen, and hepatic steatosis is a frequent complication in adjuvant tamoxifen for breast cancer. Impaired hepatic FA β-oxidation in peroxisomes, microsomes, and mitochondria results in progression of massive hepatic steatosis in estrogen deficiency. This impairment, although latent, is potentially serious: About 3% of the general population in the United States is now suffering from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis associated with obesity and hyperlipidemia. Therefore, in the present study we tried to restore impaired hepatic FA β-oxidation by administering a novel statin, pitavastatin, to aromatase-deficient (Ar−/−) mice defective in intrinsic estrogen synthesis. Northern blot analysis of Ar−/− mice liver revealed a significant restoration of mRNA expression of essential enzymes involved in FA β-oxidation such as very long fatty acyl-CoA synthetase in peroxisome, peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase, and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase. Severe hepatic steatosis observed in Ar−/− mice substantially regressed. Consistent findings were obtained in the in vitro assays of FA β-oxidation activity. These findings demonstrate that pitavastatin is capable of restoring impaired FA β-oxidation in vivo via the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α-mediated signaling pathway and is potent enough to ameliorate severe hepatic steatosis in mice deficient in intrinsic estrogen.     

Interferon or corticosteroid: treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C positive for serum markers of autoimmune diseases

From 1979 to 1994, reparative and reconstructive surgery were used to repair the war injuries of skins, bones, blood vessels and nerves of the limbs in 800 cases. A systematic clinical study was carried out. Many new operative methods were used and the results of treatment were good. Innovations and modifications were made in technique. In 120 cases of war injuries having soft tissues defects including skin and muscles, various tissue transplantations were used with the hope to accomplish one-staged repair of the defect and reconstruction of motor function of muscle. To those infections of bone and joint in war injuries, following early eradication of infected focus, transplantation of musculo-cutaneous flap or omental graft was immediately carried out with the aim to obtain primary healing of the wound. In the treatment of bone defects from war wounds with loss of skin and muscles, the vascularized skeleto-cutaneous graft was used. In the treatment of 150 cases of injury of peripheral nerve from forearms, the result of good to fair rated 68.8 percent for upper extremity and that for lower extremity, it was 62.2 percent. Following the early repair of 500 cases of injury of peripheral blood vessels, the patency rate of the blood vessel was 90 percent. The result following by pass vascular graft in the treatment of forearms injury of blood vessels even with very poor local condition was still very successful.     

Error rate for envelope-detected on?off keying in the presence of interference

The effects of an interfering carrier and Gaussian noise on envelope-detected on?off keying are analysed. Optimum decision levels with their resulting error rates were found numerically and are presented for a range of interference and noise levels.     

Theory of Multiplicative Noise Caused by Coupling Loss and Amplitude Vector Rotation in Optical Communication Channels

From a general optical channel model, it is shown that the coupling loss intensity noise generated at connections of optical channels is caused by amplitude vector rotation and its dependency upon the coupling coefficient. The shape of the polarization is not important. This noise becomes muitiplicative noise so that the noise disturbs signals directly even if fluctuations of rotation of the amplitude vector are of low frequency. Detailed spectral properties and SNR are given for this type of noise, and the existence of a lower bound of SNR is shown. The coupling loss intensity noise becomes serious in the coupling of fibers and optical circuits, while it will not be important for the splicing of fibers.     

Experiments on fracture behavior of single fiber-brittle zone model composites

Single fiber-brittle zone model composites were prepared by the electroless plating method, in order to know the effect of the interfacial bonding strength between the fiber and brittle zone on the fracture strength of the composites. For the case of weak inter-facial bonding, the notch formed by the fracture of the brittle zone at an early stage of deformation was unable to extend into the fiber due to a premature interfacial debonding. Therefore no deleterious effect of the brittle zone on the fiber strength was found. For the case of strong interfacial bonding, the formed notch extended into the fiber, resulting in loss of the fiber strength. The strength of such a composite was well explained by the theory recently proposed by Ochiai and Murakami. The important parameters to describe the fracture behavior of the fiber coated with the brittle zone, the strain energy release rate of the fiber and the permissible thickness of the brittle zone, below which the strength of the fiber is not reduced, were experimentally determined.     

理学SIMULTIX 10/11型多道X射线荧光光谱仪的背景测定装置与应用

文章介绍了理学SIMULTIX 10/11多道同时型X射线荧光光谱仪上所配备的具有背景测定与扣除功能的固定型测角仪的原理、特点和应用实例。该测角仪能明显地提高痕量元素分析的灵敏度与准确度,而且扩大了对于不同类型样品的分析适应范围,例如铁素体与奥氏体样品中钒的测定等。     

Compositional inhomogeneity at the epitaxial layer and substrate interface of AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures

Carrier concentration spikes at the epilayer/substrate interface were observed in some two-dimensional electron gas AIGaAs/GaAs structures grown by low pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. Using secondary ion mass spectroscopy, the carrier spikes were correlated with indium. Under certain growth conditions an anomalous interfacial layer, which is compositionally inhomogeneous, is formed producing an enhanced carrier density. Procedures are described which reduce the presence of indium at the epilayer/substrate interface and eliminate the carrier spike.     

NADPH diaphorase-positive neurons in the intracardiac plexus of human, monkey and canine right atria

Distribution of nitric oxide synthase in intracardiac ganglion cells located in human, monkey and canine right atria was histologically investigated using the reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) diaphorase method and acetylcholinesterase histochemistry. In the intracardiac ganglion, many large neurons exhibited both positive reactions, whereas some of the NADPH diaphorase-positive small neuronal cells were shown with negative acetylcholinesterase reaction.