Protein 4.1R-deficient mice are viable but have erythroid membrane skeleton abnormalities

A diverse family of protein 4.1R isoforms is encoded by a complex gene on human chromosome 1. Although the prototypical 80-kDa 4.1R in mature erythrocytes is a key component of the erythroid membrane skeleton that regulates erythrocyte morphology and mechanical stability, little is known about 4.1R function in nucleated cells. Using gene knockout technology, we have generated mice with complete deficiency of all 4.1R protein isoforms. These 4.1R-null mice were viable, with moderate hemolytic anemia but no gross abnormalities. Erythrocytes from these mice exhibited abnormal morphology, lowered membrane stability, and reduced expression of other skeletal proteins including spectrin and ankyrin, suggesting that loss of 4. 1R compromises membrane skeleton assembly in erythroid progenitors. Platelet morphology and function were essentially normal, indicating that 4.1R deficiency may have less impact on other hematopoietic lineages. Nonerythroid 4.1R expression patterns, viewed using histochemical staining for lacZ reporter activity incorporated into the targeted gene, revealed focal expression in specific neurons in the brain and in select cells of other major organs, challenging the view that 4.1R expression is widespread among nonerythroid cells. The 4.1R knockout mice represent a valuable animal model for exploring 4.1R function in nonerythroid cells and for determining pathophysiological sequelae to 4.1R deficiency.     

Metabolic fingerprint of patients showing responsiveness to treatment of septic shock in intensive care unit

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - An early metabolic signature associated with the responsiveness to treatment can be useful in the better management of septic shock...     

LEARNING TO IMPROVE PLAN QUALITY

Adaptive automated planning systems that can, over time, improve the quality of plans they produce are a promising prospect. The first part of the article discusses the issues involved in designing quality improving learning for planning systems and reviews recent work on learning to improve plan quality. The second part describes our work on the Performance Improving Planning (PIP) System. The heart of PIP is an analytic technique that compares two planning episodes for solving a planning problem that led to two different quality solutions—a higher-quality solution and a lower quality solution—and identifies the critical differences that were responsible for the resulting differences in the quality of the completed plans. We compare the effectiveness of two different ways of storing and applying the knowledge learned from this analysis—as search-control rules and as rewrite rules. The results show that the search-control rules are more effective in improving plan quality. Further analysis of PIP-search-control—the version of PIP that stores the learned knowledge as search-control rules—shows that it is an effective technique for improving plan quality in a variety of situations.     

Peripheral mRNA Expression and Prognostic Significance of Emotional Stress Biomarkers in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

Emotional stress is believed to be associated with increased tumor progression. Stress-induced epigenetic modifications can contribute to the severity of disease and poor prognosis in cancer patients. The current study aimed to investigate the expression profiles along with the prognostic significance of psychological stress-related genes in metastatic breast cancer patients, to rationalize the molecular link between emotional stress and cancer progression. We profiled the expression of selected stress-associated genes (5-HTT, NR3C1, OXTR, and FKBP5) in breast cancer including the stress evaluation of all participants using the Questionnaire on Distress in Cancer Patients–short form (QSC-R10). A survival database, the Kaplan–Meier Plotter, was used to explore the prognostic significance of these genes in breast cancer. Our results showed relatively low expressions of 5-HTT (p = 0.02) and OXTR (p = 0.0387) in metastatic breast cancer patients as compared to the non-metastatic group of patients. The expression of NR3C1 was low in tumor grade III as compared to grade II (p = 0.04). Additionally, the expression of NR3C1 was significantly higher in patients with positive estrogen receptor status. However, no significant difference was found regarding FKBP5 expression in breast cancer. The results suggest a potential implication of these genes in breast cancer pathology and prognosis.     

Design considerations for an automotive magnetorheological brake

In this paper, design considerations for building an automotive magnetorheological (MR) brake are discussed. The proposed brake consists of multiple rotating disks immersed in a MR fluid and an enclosed electromagnet. When current is applied to the electromagnet, the MR fluid solidifies as its yield stress varies as a function of the magnetic field applied. This controllable yield stress produces shear friction on the rotating disks, generating the braking torque. In this work, practical design criteria such as material selection, sealing, working surface area, viscous torque generation, applied current density, and MR fluid selection are considered to select a basic automotive MR brake configuration. Then, a finite element analysis is performed to analyze the resulting magnetic circuit and heat distribution within the MR brake configuration. This is followed by a multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) procedure to obtain optimal design parameters that can generate the maximum braking torque in the brake. A prototype MR brake is then built and tested and the experimental results show a good correlation with the finite element simulation predictions. However, the braking torque generated is still far less than that of a conventional hydraulic brake, which indicates that a radical change in the basic brake configuration is required to build a feasible automotive MR brake.     

Survey of antibodies against various infectious disease agents in racing camels in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

1. The roles of both Ca2+ and adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in carbachol and K(+)-stimulated [3H]-noradrenaline release from SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were examined. 2. Both carbachol and K+ caused a time- and dose-related stimulation of [3H]-noradrenaline release. The release event in perfused cells was monophasic. Half-maximum stimulation measured in statically incubated (3 min) cells was 38 +/- 4 microM and 63 +/- 4 mM respectively. K+ (100 mM, added)-evoked release was greater than that produced by carbachol (1 mM). 3. Both carbachol and K+ caused a time- and dose (measured at 3 min)-related stimulation of cyclic AMP formation with half-maximum stimulation occurring at 5 +/- 1 microM and 49 +/- 2 mM respectively. In contrast to its effects on release, carbachol produced a greater stimulation of cyclic AMP formation than K+. 4. K(+)-stimulated [3H]-noradrenaline release was entirely dependent on Ca2+ entry as 2.5 mM Ni2+ abolished release. However, carbachol-evoked (1 mM) release appeared to be unaffected by Ni2+ pretreatment. 5. These data suggest that in SH-SY5Y cells, elevated cyclic AMP levels are not directly involved in [3H]-noradrenaline release. In addition, carbachol-stimulated release is largely independent of extracellular Ca2+ possibly implying a role for intracellular stored Ca2+ in the release process.     

Fluorescent lipids of bovine brain white matter

Two fluorescent lipids were isolated from a chloroform-methanol (2∶1 v/v) extract of bovine brain white matter by two-step preparative thin layer chromatography on Silica Gel G. The first step was performed with chloroform-diethyl ether-acetic acid (70∶30∶1 v/v) as developing solvent and revealed a single fluorescent band below the solvent front. The band was scraped off, and the lipid was eluted in chloroform and reapplied to Silica Gel G plates. In the second step, benzene-methanol-ethyl acetate (85∶10∶5 v/v) as developing solvent revealed two fluoresent bands (A and B) with R_f values of 0.72 and 0.65. The lipids were eluted and the UV and visible absorption spectra were measured in heptane, as were the excitation and fluorescence spectra. Sulfuric acid absorption spectra (2 and 24 hr treatment at 22 C) as well as the resulting excitation and fluorescence spectra were also determined. The fluorescent lipids reacted positively in a number of nonspecific color tests for steroids, but the chemical nature of these minor components of the neutral lipid fraction remains to be established.     

Influence and comparison of emerging techniques of yarn manufacturing on physical–mechanical properties of polyester-/cotton-blended yarns and their woven fabrics

Abstract

In this study, the physical–mechanical properties of ring spun, ring compact, rotor and air-vortex yarns were investigated. The study was carried with yarn having linear densities of 24.4 tex and 36.7 tex, which were then converted to woven fabrics. The ring spun yarns have higher values of strength but also with higher strength irregularities. Extra-ordinarily low hairiness was observed in air-vortex yarns due to its unique yarn formation technique. The deviation rate (DR) of yarns have correlation with the mass spectrogram of respective yarns obtained from USTER Tester 5. Rotor and air-vortex yarns exhibited higher coefficient of friction. The woven fabrics made from ring spun yarns exhibited higher tensile and tear strength with higher elongation at break. The fabrics made from air-vortex yarns have very good pilling grade due to less protruding fibres on their surface and good structural integrity.