An investigation of the pH-activity relationships of Cex, a family 10 xylanase from Cellulomonas fimi: xylan inhibition and the influence of nitro-substituted aryl-beta-D-xylobiosides on xylanase activity

The kinetic parameters of Cex, a family 10 xylanase from Cellulomonas fimi, were determined at various pH levels using soluble birchwood xylan (BWX) as a natural polymeric substrate along with three other synthetic aryl-beta-D-xylobioside substrates. Using BWX, a high level of substrate inhibition was observed which increased with decreasing pH. In contrast, typical Michaelis-Menten-type profiles were obtained using the three aryl-beta-D-xylobiosides as substrates. The k(cat) values determined using o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylobioside did not change as the pH increased, whereas the k(cat) values obtained with BWX, phenyl-beta-D-xylobioside and p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylobioside decreased, suggesting that the presence of an ortho nitro group affects the activity displayed by Cex. These differences were not observed with XynB from Clostridium stercorarium F9, a member of the same family of xylanases as Cex. These results indicate that a careful evaluation is required when employing substituted aryl-beta-D-xylobiosides in the characterization of xylanases.     

A model of stage of change to recommend colonoscopy among urban primary care physicians.

Theory is little used in the prediction of physician cancer screening stage of change. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the theoretical predictors of stage of change to recommend colonoscopy among 235 urban physicians. Constructs from the theory of planned behavior, social-cognitive theory, and the transtheoretical model were systematically tested. As predicted, contextual factors, such as the physicians' ages, their race-ethnicities, patient race-ethnicity, and office-related barriers to preventive care were associated with stage of change through self-efficacy, normative beliefs, and negative behavioral beliefs. The findings demonstrate the relevance of these models to studying the behavior of physicians and support the development of interventions that are tailored to normative beliefs and specific physician cognitions for colonoscopy recommendation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanism for change in leakage current waveform on a wet silicone rubber surface-a study using a dynamic 3-D model

This paper describes the results of experiments and simulations made to examine the waveform of leakage current flowing through the surface of HTV (high temperature vulcanized) silicone rubber specimen exposed to clean fog. Water droplets were placed on the surface of specimen energized with AC voltage and investigations of the surface state were done by a high-speed video camera in a wet condition produced by sprayed clean fog. Simultaneously, according to the experimental condition, a dynamic 3-D model was built to calculate the electric field and current density distribution on the specimen surface by a finite element software. A conducting water layer is formed due to the deformation of droplets and the development of dry band arcing. This caused large distortion and nonlinearly which increased the odd harmonic components in the leakage current waveform. This is in good agreement with the simulating calculation. The information from the leakage current frequency characteristic was extracted and correlated with the insulation surface condition. It can be considered as a diagnostic index for electrical characteristics and insulation state of polymer insulators in the wet condition.     

Sinusoidal model based on instantaneous frequency attractors

We propose a sinusoidal synthesis method based on instantaneous frequency (IF) attractors, which correspond to harmonic frequency trajectories. The algorithm is novel in extracting accurate sinusoidal components. Since the continuity of IF attractors is well-defined and simple to detect, the IF attractors can be extracted from audio signals without any explicit constraint or complicated algorithm; therefore, they can be directly applied to sinusoidal synthesis. Accuracy of IF attractor analysis can be further improved by time-warping analysis, which improves resolution for harmonic components whose frequencies that change rapidly. We describe the procedure for sinusoidal synthesis and precise phase estimation along with examples and also evaluate the effect of time-warping on analysis and synthesis of speech.     

Release of embryogenic carrot cells with high regeneration potency from immobilized alginate beads

For the mass-production of regenerated carrot plantlets, embryogenic carrot callus immobilized in calcium alginate gel beads was cultivated in a growth medium and the regeneration frequency of cells released from alginate gel beads was compared with that in a suspension culture. Cells released in the immobilized culture were regenerated at a frequency which was about 1.5 times higher than that obtained in the suspension culture. When CaCl2 was added to the growth medium at 5 mM, repeated batch culture for plantlet production continued for 245 d with no significant decrease in the productivity (1.6 x 10(5) plantlets/l-medium/d).     

Positron emission tomography [15O]water studies with short interscan interval for single-subject and group analysis: influence of background subtraction

Ethanol at concentration of 200 mM induces anesthesia in experimental animals and depresses neurotransmission in isolated spinal cords. To determine whether actions on primary afferent nerve terminals contribute to ethanol's depressant effects on spinal cord, a study was undertaken to test whether ethanol blocks sodium currents (I(Na)) in dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRGn). Whole-cell patch clamp was used to examine I(Na) in DRGn isolated from 1- to 15-day-old rats. At a holding potential of -80 mV ethanol (200 mM) decreased peak tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) and tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S) I(Na) by 19.0% +/- 2.7 (mean +/- SEM) and 8.5% +/- 2.2, respectively. Maximal available I(Na) was reduced to 82 +/- 4% (TTX-R) and 93 +/- 1% (TTX-S) of control. Steady-state inactivation curves were shifted in the hyperpolarizing direction by 2.1 +/- 0.2 mV (TTX-R) and 1.1 +/- 0.1 mV (TTX-S). At prepulse potentials of -30 mV (TTX-R) and -70 mV (TTX-S), these shifts contributed an additional 17 +/- 1% (TTX-R) and 7 +/- 1% (TTX-S) reduction in available I(Na). Ethanol thus selectively induced both voltage-independent and voltage-dependent block of TTX-R I(Na) in DRGn. Because DRGn TTX-R sodium channels are associated with small-diameter primary afferent fibers, these results are consistent with a role for ethanol actions on sodium channels in depression of nociceptive-related neurotransmission in spinal cord.     

Acute respiratory distress syndrome due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus sepsis in hyper-IgE syndrome

We report the case of a 34 year old woman with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) sepsis with hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome (HIES). Although chemotactic activity of neutrophils was impaired in this patient, neutrophils accumulated in the lungs as assessed by bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) counts. In addition to antibiotics and oxygen therapy, the administration of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) resulted in a remarkable recovery.     

Prognostic predictor with multiple fuzzy neural models using expression profiles from DNA microarray for metastases of breast cancer

Gene expression profiling data from DNA microarray were analyzed using the fuzzy neural network (FNN) modeling method for predicting the distant metastases of breast cancer. The best model consisting of five genes was able to predict metastases of breast cancer with 94% accuracy. Furthermore, 100% accuracy was achieved by majoritarian decision using only 25 genes from five noninferior models which were constructed independently. From the constructed model, gene expression rules, which may cause distant metastases, were explicitly extracted and 60% of the metastases cases could be explained by this rule. The FNN modeling method described in this paper enables precise extraction of significant biological markers affecting prognosis without prior knowledge.     

International intercomparison of laser power at 633 nm

An international intercomparison of laser power at 633 nm has recently been completed. This comparison was initiated at a meeting of the High Frequency Working Group of CCE/CIPM in October, 1972.