Elevated plasma and urinary endothelin-I levels in human salt-sensitive hypertension

The influence of anterior mandibular height is often overlooked when planning treatment of facial vertical excess or deficiency. Although treatment decisions tend to focus primarily on Le Fort I maxillary osteotomies, genioplasty remains a useful adjunctive surgical procedure. Components of anterior facial vertical dysplasia are reviewed, and six genioplasty strategies are described.     

Dimensions of the Functional Assessment Inventory for five disability groups.

The Functional Assessment Inventory (FAI) is used to assess functional capacities and limitations by a number of state rehabilitation agencies and other service groups working with people with disabilities. Previous investigations into the factor structure of the Functional Assessment Inventory reported by Crewe and Athelstan (1984) suggested that the FAI had the same factor structure for a variety of different disability groups. However, fairly heterogeneous disability groups were investigated using relatively small samples. This study used a sample of 5,741 applicants to Arkansas Rehabilitation Services to investigate the dimensionality of the FAI for 5 relatively homogeneous disability groups: orthopedic/amputation, chronic/physical condition, mental illness, mental retardation, and learning disability. Principal factor analyses with Promax rotations identified different factor structures for the different disability groups. A simple scoring system and sets of norms for the 5 disability groups and for a broadly representative disability group were developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A single amino acid change in the hemagglutinin protein of measles virus determines its ability to bind CD46 and reveals another receptor on marmoset B cells

This paper provides evidence for a measles virus receptor other than CD46 on transformed marmoset and human B cells. We first showed that most tissues of marmosets are missing the SCR1 domain of CD46, which is essential for the binding of Edmonston measles virus, a laboratory strain that has been propagated in Vero monkey kidney cells. In spite of this deletion, the common marmoset was shown to be susceptible to infections by wild-type isolates of measles virus, although they did not support Edmonston measles virus production. As one would expect from these results, measles virus could not be propagated in owl monkey or marmoset kidney cell lines, but surprisingly, both a wild-type isolate (Montefiore 89) and the Edmonston laboratory strain of measles virus grew efficiently in B95-8 marmoset B cells. In addition, antibodies directed against CD46 had no effect on wild-type infections of marmoset B cells and only partially inhibited the replication of the Edmonston laboratory strain in the same cells. A direct binding assay with insect cells expressing the hemagglutinin (H) proteins of either the Edmonston or Montefiore 89 measles virus strains was used to probe the receptors on these B cells. Insect cells expressing Edmonston H but not the wild-type H bound to rodent cells with CD46 on their surface. On the other hand, both the Montefiore 89 H and Edmonston H proteins adhered to marmoset and human B cells. Most wild-type H proteins have asparagine residues at position 481 and can be converted to a CD46-binding phenotype by replacement of the residue with tyrosine. Similarly, the Edmonston H protein did not bind CD46 when its Tyr481 was converted to asparagine. However, this mutation did not affect the ability of Edmonston H to bind marmoset and human B cells. The preceding results provide evidence, through the use of a direct binding assay, that a second receptor for measles virus is present on primate B cells.     

An Upper Bound on the Performance of Pulse Modulation Systems

A lower bound is found on the mean square error achievable by any nonlinear pulse modulation system without memory. This bound differs by 6 dB from the limit given by Shannon theorems, at high signal-to-noise ratios. The bound is obtained by finding the signal locus which minimizes a simple lower bound on mean square error, for a given average signal energy and without bandwidth constraints. For the locus that we have found, an upper bound on error shows that the degradation with respect to Shannon's limit is within 8 to 9 dB. The locus, however, does not seem of practical interest.     

Molecular and Biochemical Mechanism of Cannabidiol in the Management of the Inflammatory and Oxidative Processes Associated with Endometriosis

Endometriosis is usually associated with inflammation and chronic pelvic pain. This paper focuses the attention on the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and analgesic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and on its potential role in endometriosis. We employed an in vivo model of endometriosis and administered CBD daily by gavage. CBD administration strongly reduced lesions diameter, volume and area. In particular, it was able to modify lesion morphology, reducing epithelial glands and stroma. CBD showed anti-oxidant effects reducing lipid peroxidation, the expression of Nox-1 and Nox-4 enzymes. CBD restored the oxidative equilibrium of the endogenous cellular defense as showed by the SOD activity and the GSH levels in the lesions. CBD also showed important antifibrotic effects as showed by the Masson trichrome staining and by downregulated expression of MMP-9, iNOS and TGF-β. CBD was able to reduce inflammation both in the harvested lesions, as showed by the increased Ikb-α and reduced COX2 cytosolic expressions and reduced NFkB nuclear localization, and in the peritoneal fluids as showed by the decreased TNF-α, PGE2 and IL-1α levels. CBD has important analgesic effects as showed by the reduced mast cells recruitment in the spinal cord and the reduced release of neuro-sensitizing and pro-inflammatory mediators. In conclusion, the collected data showed that CBD has an effective and coordinated effects in endometriosis suppression.     

Simplified Analysis and Design of an AC/DC Power Conversion System for Traction Drives

An ac/dc power conversion system suitable for traction drives supplied by an ac feeder line is considered. In order to work out a simple procedure for the preliminary design of the conversion system, some simplifying hypotheses are made. These hypotheses allow a simple analysis of the overall steady-state behavior of the power conversion system. In this way the selection of the circuit components is very easy; it is also possible to determine the most suitable commutating instants of the power converter. Finally, the validity of the simplifying hypotheses is tested and confirmed taking into account the specifications of the converter employed in a traction drive.     

Engineered Ferritin Nanoparticles for the Bioluminescence Tracking of Nanodrug Delivery in Cancer

The identification of a highly sensitive method to check the delivery of administered nanodrugs into the tumor cells is a crucial step of preclinical studies aimed to develop new nanoformulated cures, since it allows the real therapeutic potential of these devices to be forecast. In the present work, the ability of an H‐ferritin (HFn) nanocage, already investigated as a powerful tool for cancer therapy thanks to its ability to actively interact with the transferrin receptor 1, to act as an efficient probe for the monitoring of nanodrug delivery to tumors is demonstrated. The final formulation is a bioluminescent nanoparticle, where the luciferin probe is conjugated on nanoparticle surface by means of a disulfide containing linker (Luc‐linker@HFn) which is subjected to glutathione‐induced cyclization in tumor cell cytoplasm. The prolonged imaging of luciferase+ tumor models, demonstrated by an in vitro and an in vivo approach, associated with the prolonged release of luciferin into cancer cells by disulfide bridge reduction, clearly indicates the high efficiency of Luc‐linker@HFn for drug delivery to the tumor tissues.     

Memory and topological frustration in nematic liquid crystals confined in porous materials

Orientational ordering is key to functional materials with switching capability, such as nematic liquid crystals and ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials. We explored the confinement of nematic liquid crystals in bicontinuous porous structures with smooth surfaces that locally impose normal orientational order on the liquid crystal. We find that frustration leads to a high density of topological defect lines permeating the porous structures, and that most defect lines are made stable by looping around solid portions of the confining material. Because many defect trajectories are possible, these systems are highly metastable and efficient in memorizing the alignment forced by external fields. Such memory effects have their origin in the topology of the confining surface and are maximized in a simple periodic bicontinuous cubic structure. We also show that nematic liquid crystals in random porous networks exhibit a disorder-induced slowing-down typical of glasses that originates from activated collisions and rearrangements of defect lines. Our findings offer the possibility to functionalize orientationally ordered materials through topological confinement.