Proteolysis of the phage lambda CII regulatory protein by FtsH (HflB) of Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the expression of psychosis may reflect an active morbid process that is associated with increasingly poor outcome unless ameliorated by antipsychotic drugs. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 48 in-patients with schizophrenia, many of whom had been admitted before the introduction of antipsychotic drugs to rural Irish psychiatric hospitals in the late 1950s. Each patient was assessed for positive and negative symptoms, and for general and executive (frontal) cognitive function. RESULTS: After controlling for age and for duration and continuity of subsequent antipsychotic treatment, current severity both of negative symptoms and of general cognitive impairment was predicted strongly by increasing duration of initially untreated psychosis; duration of illness following initiation of antipsychotic medication failed to predict the severity thereof. Neither of these indices of illness duration predicted the severity of positive symptoms or of executive dyscontrol. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing duration of initially untreated psychosis was associated specifically with heightened accrual of prominent negative symptoms and general cognitive impairment. Executive dyscontrol, though also prominent in these patients, may be 'locked-in' at an earlier phase of the illness.     

Numerical examination of the dual-mode model for permeation,sorption, and desorption rate curves

Numerical solutions were applied to the dual-mode sorption and transport model for gas permeation, sorption, and desorption rate curves allowing for mobility of the Langmuir component. Satisfactory agreement is obtained between integral diffusion coefficient from sorption and desorption rate curves and apparent diffusion coefficient from permeation rate curves (time lag method). These rate curves were also compared to the curves predicted by Fickian-type diffusion equations. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Spatially varied orientation selective epitaxial growth of CeO2(100) and (110) regions on Si(100) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering utilizing electron beam irradiation

Spatially varied epitaxial growth of CeO₂(100) and CeO₂(110) regions on Si(100) substrates is attained using electron beam induced orientation selective epitaxial (OSE) growth by reactive magnetron sputtering. The spatially controlled OSE grown samples are made on Si(100) substrates with various electric resistivity values. By X-ray diffraction measurements, we obtain the lateral orientation mapping within the epitaxial layer surfaces and reveal existence of the transition regions in between the above mentioned two orientation areas. The width of the transition regions is clarified to decrease proportionally with the logarithm of underlying Si substrate resistivity. A surface potential distribution model is proposed to explain the results.     

Increasing chemisorbed silane coupling agents in surface-treated layer of silica particles

In the surface treated inorganic particles with silane coupling agent (SCA), chemisorbed and physisorbed molecules are present in the treated layer. Increasing the amount of chemisorption by increasing the molecular weight of SCAs was investigated. Oligomers formed via self-condensation during storage more than 10 days at room temperature for 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane-treated silica particles. Monomeric SCA evaporates easily by heating. The oligomers restrict evaporation, and heating increases the chemisorption. The influence of molecular weight of SCA was investigated. In the case of amino group, the amount of chemisorbed was greater for aminoethylaminooctyltrimethoxysilane with high molecular weight than for 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. For SCAs with hydrocarbon chains, the amount of chemisorption was lower for both low molecular weight molecules and decyltrimethoxysilane (D) with a high molecular weight. For fluorocarbon chains, the amount of chemisorption was lower for low molecular weight molecules, whereas it increased significantly by heating for high molecular weight type of 1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyltriethoxysilane (F). Wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis of F-treated silica particles showed that the fluorocarbon chains formed an ordered structure. There was no such indication for the D-treated system. This ordered structure seems to influence on higher chemisorption for F-treated systems.     

The Improvement of Bond Strength Properties and Surface Characteristics of Resinous Woods

Apitong (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea Morelet) contain high amounts of extractives that contribute to poor bonding. To reduce, if not to eliminate, the effects of these extraneous substances, surfaces of small wood blocks were Soxhlet-extracted for 8 hours by different solvents. Wettability of the wood surfaces was then measured by droplet and dynamic methods using water and dilute NaOH as liquids. Tensile shear strengths of extracted wood bonded with aqueous vinyl polymer isocyanate (API), resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) resin adhesives were also measured. Results revealed that although Caribbean pine had much higher resin content than Apitong, the former had better wettability than the latter. Solvent extraction of the adherend with either hexane or ethanol-benzene (1:2) for 8 hours was not enough to improve its wettability but enough to improve its gluability. However, successive extraction with hexane, methanol and ethanol benzene rendered the wood satisfactorily wettable. Generally, a direct relationship between wettability and bond strength could not be observed. In a separate experiment to improve bonding strengths, test specimens were either overheated or autoclaved for 4 minutes at 125°C during the pressing period. Autoclave treatment was found to be useful in increasing the bond strengths of API, RF, PVAc and urea formaldehyde (UF)-bonded Apitong and Caribbean pine.     

Diffusion and sorption for carbon dioxide in Kapton at extremely low pressure

Pressure-dependent solubility and diffusion coefficients for carbon dioxide in glassy polymers have been well described using the “dual sorption and transport model.” However, the plastisization effect by high-pressure carbon dioxide seems to promote the pressure dependence of the sorption and transport coefficients. To avoid the relaxation process by the plastization which is superimposed on the diffusion process, the diffusion and sorption of carbon dioxide were measured at extremely low pressure (below 1 cmHg). Linear isotherms observed for CO₂ sorption into Kapton were interpreted in terms of the dual model equation at extremely low pressure. From the permeation curve of the Kapton/CO₂ system, the diffusion and permeation coefficients were obtained according to the usual manner, and both coefficients were independent of pressure. Sorption and transport parameters were obtained from sorption isotherms and average values of the permeation coefficients. The parameters thus obtained were substituted in an approximated dual sorption and transport equations at extremely low pressure and the pressure independence of the diffusion and permeation coefficients were sufficiently reproduced. It is a good technique to experiment at such extremely low pressure when the validity of the dual model is evaluated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 69: 1013–1017, 1998     

The presence of CD5LOW+NK cells in normal controls and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

CD5 antigen is present on all normal alpha beta T cells and some B cells. Human NK cells do not usually express CD5 antigen, but we found a subset of CD5LOW+ (low density of CD5) NK cells in some patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Unlike CD5-NK cells, most CD5LOW+NK cells had HLA-DR. We observed few CD5LOW+NK cells in the normal controls and some in the large granular lymphocyte (LGL) population purified by Percoll density centrifugation. Sorted CD5LOW+NK populations were LGL. The CD5LOW+NK cells had high lytic activity on K562 cells in a 4-h 51chromium release assay. Our results indicate that there is a previously unidentified subset of NK cells.     

A risk estimation method of railway embankment collapse due to heavy rainfall

Slope collapses of embankments and cut slopes along railways are often triggered by heavy rainfall of a typhoon, etc., and have much influence on the running safety of trains. It is of vital importance to find out the risky sites along the railway to control railway operations. For this purpose, it is desiable to develop a practical damage estimation method which can accurately predict the risks of slope collapse and can be simply applied by many railway workers. This paper deals with a method of estimating the railway embankment collapse in times of heavy rainfall based on a multivariate analysis. The critical rainfall is proposed to be defined as a product of the amount of accumulated rainfall and the maximum hourly rainfall. This value is also determined by a function whose variables include information on the embankment such as soil and structural properties, the surface ground geotechnical characteristics, the catchment and seepage, and the empirical rainfall. Therefore, the risk evaluation for embankments can be performed with the critical rainfall value.     

Role of dpp signalling in prepattern formation of the dorsocentral mechanosensory organ in Drosophila melanogaster

A proneural cluster of dorsocentral bristles forms adjacent to the dorsal side of wg-expressing cells in the notum region of the wing imaginal disc. It has been shown that wg activity is required for these structures to form. However, the restriction of this proneural cluster to the dorsal posterior side of the wg expression domain in the anterior compartment of the wing imaginal disc has suggested that Wg signalling itself is insufficient to establish the dorsocentral proneural cluster. Some factor(s) from the posterior side must participate in this action in cooperation with Wg signalling. We have examined the role of Dpp signalling in dorsocentral bristle formation by either ectopically activating or conditionally reducing Dpp signalling. Ubiquitous activation of Dpp signalling in the notum region of the wing imaginal disc induced additional dorsocentral proneural cluster all along the dorsal side of the wg expression domain, and altered wg expression. Conditional loss-of-function of Dpp signalling during disc development resulted in the inhibition of dorsocentral proneural cluster formation and expansion of the wg expression domain. These results suggest that Dpp signalling has two indispensable roles in dorsocentral bristle formation: induction of the dorsocentral proneural cluster in cooperation with Wg signalling and restriction of the wg expression domain in the notum region of the wing imaginal disc.