(Carboxyalkyl)pyrroles in human plasma and oxidized low-density lipoproteins

Free-radical oxidation of human plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) produces (carboxyalkyl)pyrrole (CAP) epitopes that were detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using antibodies raised against keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)-bound 2-(omega-carboxyheptyl)-pyrrole (CHP) and 2-(omega-carboxypropyl)pyrrole (CPP). These antibodies exhibit high structural selectivity (< 0.5% cross-reactivity) in competitive binding inhibition assays with the corresponding human serum albumin (HSA)-bound pyrroles. No cross-reactivity was detected for HSA-bound 2-pentylpyrrole, an epitope that is generated by a reaction of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) with protein lysyl residues. Oxidation of either arachidonic or linoleic acid in the presence of HSA produced an HNE-derived 2-pentylpyrrole epitope. However, only oxidation of linoleic acid formed HSA-bound CHP, while only oxidation of arachidonic acid generated HSA-bound CPP. Since ester hydrolysis with KOH markedly elevated levels of immunoreactive epitopes detected in oxidized LDL, the CAPs are presumably generated by reactions of oxidized cholesteryl esters, triglycerides, and phospholipids with LDL protein, and only some of these oxidized esters are hydrolyzed, e.g., by phospholipase activity associated with LDL. Protein-bound CHP immunoreactivity was detected in human plasma, and levels are significantly elevated in renal failure and atherosclerosis patients compared with healthy volunteers. This provides the first evidence for the biological occurrence of protein-bound CAPs in vivo and further suggests that free-radical oxidation of polyunsaturated lipids produces hydroxyalkenal carboxylate esters whose gamma-hydroxy-alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde functionality and reactivity resemble that of HNE.     

Evolutionary Gradient Search Revisited

Evolutionary gradient search (EGS) is an approach to optimization that combines features of gradient strategies with ideas from evolutionary computation. Recently, several modifications to the algorithm have been proposed with the goal of improving its robustness in the presence of noise and its suitability for implementation on parallel computers. In this paper, the value of the proposed modifications is studied analytically. A scaling law is derived that describes the performance of the algorithm on the noisy sphere model and allows comparing it with competing strategies. The comparisons yield insights into the interplay of mutation, multire combination, and selection. Then, the covariance matrix adaptation mechanism originally formulated for evolution strategies is adapted for use with EGS in order to make the algorithm competitive on objective functions with large condition numbers of their Hessians. The resulting strategy is evaluated experimentally on a number of convex quadratic test functions.     

Status, job satisfaction, and factors of job satisfaction of state institution and clinic psychologists.

"In this report we will compare psychologists with other mental hygiene professionals—psychologists in state schools and hospitals with psychologists in clinics." Ss were 80 psychiatrists, 80 psychologists, 80 social workers, 80 teachers, 80 nurses (40 of each group in state institutions and 40 in nonstate institutions) and, in addition, 59 upper middle class and 51 lower middle class Ss. There is "limited support for the hypothesis which states that status and job satisfaction are related." The hypothesis that "the status of state institution psychologists is lower than that of clinic psychologists, is generally substantiated." The hypothesis that "there are differences in the job satisfaction of the two groups of psychologists finds some support." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Cartwright's "Determinants of scientific progress."

Asserts that some investigations (e.g., M. Chapko, 1972; S. Rettig, 1966) on the nature of ethical risk taking did not enjoy the rise and fall in popularity of D. Cartwright's (see record 1973-31210-001) conventional risky shift. The ethical risk shift is facilitated by the dominant stress of the gain function in the group, as opposed to the dominant stress of the loss function in the individual situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prominent Field for Shape Processing and Analysis of?Archaeological Artifacts

Archaeological artifacts are an essential element of archaeological research. They provide evidence of the past and enable archaeologists to obtain qualified conclusion. Nowadays, many artifacts are scanned by 3D scanners. While convenient in many aspects, the 3D representation is often unsuitable for further analysis, due to flaws in the scanning process or defects in the original artifacts. We propose a new approach for automatic processing of scanned artifacts. It is based on the definition of a new direction field on surfaces (a normalized vector field), termed the prominent field. The prominent field is oriented with respect to the prominent feature curves of the surface. We demonstrate the applicability of the prominent field in two applications. The first is surface enhancement of archaeological artifacts, which helps enhance eroded features and remove scanning noise. The second is artificial coloring that can replace manual artifact illustration in archaeological reports.     

斯坦哈特自然历史博物馆

正新的博物馆将成为特拉维大学自然历史类收藏品的新家,该建筑设计包含展览和研究两种功能。通常未展出的收藏品都会放置在一个大木箱里——珍贵的植物和动物标本储存箱。设计师正是借鉴了标本箱这一形象,将建筑体打造成一个神秘的宝箱,邀请人们进入参观。盒子式建筑体象征着永恒,兼具历史与未来两种象征意义。