Electrophysiological localization of brain regions involved in perceptual memory

In activated macrophages the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS) generates high amounts of toxic mediator, nitric oxide (NO) which contributes to the circulatory failure associated with septic shock. A sesquiterpene lactone compound (yomogin) isolated from medicinal plant Artemisia princeps Pampan inhibited the production of NO in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells by suppressing i-NOS enzyme expression. Thus, yomogin may be a useful candidate for the development of new drugs to treat endotoxemia and inflammation accompanied by the overproduction of NO.     

Insulin receptor substrate-2 amino acid polymorphisms are not associated with random type 2 diabetes among Caucasians

OBJECTIVE: We sought to reevaluate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and thyroid autoimmunity in 47 patients with celiac disease; 91 healthy subjects were studied as controls. Both patients and controls were from Sardinia, Italy. METHODS: Diagnosis of celiac disease was made on the basis of clinical history, presence of positive antigliadin IgA (AGA-A) and IgG (AGA-G) antibodies, antireticulin antibodies (ARA), antiendomysium antibodies (EMA), and was confirmed by jejunal biopsy. HLA class II typing for DQB1 and DQA1 alleles was performed in 36/47 celiac patients. Thyroid was evaluated by palpation and echography; serum free thyroid hormones (FT4, FT3), thyrotropic hormone (TSH), and antithyroid peroxidase autoantibodies (anti-TPO) were assayed by radioimmunoassays. RESULTS: The prevalence of anti-TPO was higher in celiac patients (29.7%) than in healthy controls (9.6%) (p < 0.001) and thyroid echography frequently displayed (42.5%) a hypoechogenic pattern. Five anti-TPO-positive celiac patients were hypothyroid (two overt, three subclinical). A higher but not significantly different prevalence of anti-TPO (3/7 = 42.8%) was found in celiac patients displaying the DQB1*0502 genotype, when compared with the remaining patients (8/29 = 27.6%). CONCLUSIONS: An elevated prevalence of clinical and subclinical autoimmune thyroid autoimmunity was found in Sardinian celiac patients, especially in those displaying the DQB1*0502 genotype; this finding could be related to a particular genetic background of the Sardinian population.     

Cultured, autologous nucleus pulposus cells induce functional changes in spinal nerve roots

STUDY DESIGN: Nerve conduction velocity in pig nerve roots was assessed after application of various preparations of nucleus pulposus and control. OBJECTIVE: To study whether cultured nucleus pulposus cells could reduce nerve conduction velocity after epidural application. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: It is known that nucleus pulposus applied epidurally may reduce the nerve conduction velocity of the adjacent nerve roots and that this reduction seems to be related to the cells of the nucleus pulposus. METHODS: Nucleus pulposus cells and fibroblasts were cultured for 3 weeks, and various preparations were applied to the cauda equina in 29 pigs. The cells were always from the same animals from which they had been harvested. After 1 week, nerve conduction velocity was determined by local electrical stimulation. RESULTS: Application of live fibroblasts and conditioned culture medium from the nucleus pulposus cell culture dishes did not induce significant reduction of conduction velocity, compared with application of dead fibroblasts, which served as control. However, application of live and dead nucleus pulposus cells induced significant reductions. CONCLUSIONS: Application of nucleus pulposus cells reproduced the previously seen reduction in nerve conduction velocity induced by nonmodified nucleus pulposus. Because membranes of the nucleus pulposus cells had similar effects, it can be assumed that the effects are related to membrane-bound substances or structures.     

Simultaneous structural analysis and design based on augmented Lagrangian duality

Solution procedures in structural optimization are commonly based on a nested approach where approximations of the analysis and design problems are solved alternately in an iterative scheme. In this paper, we study a simultaneous approach based on an integrated formulation of the analysis and design problems. An advantage of the simultaneous approach, when compared to the nested one, is that the dependence between the analysis and design variables is imposed explicitly. In the nested approach, this dependence is implicitly determined through the solution of the analysis problem. Earlier simultaneous approaches mostly utilize various penalty function reformulations. In this paper, we make use of two augmented Lagrangian schemes, which avoid the numerical ill-conditioning inherent in penalty reformulations. These schemes give rise to Lagrangian subproblems with somewhat different properties, and two efficient techniques are adapted for their solution. The first is a projected Newton method, and the second is a simplicial decomposition scheme. Computational results for bar-truss structures show that the proposed schemes are viable approaches for solving the integrated formulation, and that they are promising for future developments.     

Tissue distribution and disease manifestations of the tRNA(Lys) A-->G(8344) mitochondrial DNA mutation in a case of myoclonus epilepsy and ragged red fibres

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term influence of different types of intestinal urinary diversion on skeletal bone and its mineral content. METHODS: Densitometry was used to estimate bone mineral content, and bone biopsies were analyzed with histomorphometric technique. The study comprised 20 patients with conduit urinary diversion and 19 with cecal continent reservoir, all followed up for more than 5 years, with normal or near-normal renal function. RESULTS: Bone mineral content did not differ significantly between the patients with cecal continent urinary reservoir and those with conduit diversion or between these groups and a reference group. At the cellular level, the histomorphometric analysis revealed no defective bone mineralization or increased bone resorption in either group of patients. The trabecular bone volume was greater than normal in the reservoir group, but not in the conduit group. The appositional rate was significantly below normal in both groups of patients, but did not differ between conduit and reservoir patients. CONCLUSIONS: Subtle changes in electrolytes and acid-base homeostasis identified in adults with intestinal segments incorporated in the urinary tract and with largely normal renal function do not seem to influence bone mineralization in the long term. At the cellular level, a lower than normal appositional rate was found in the patients with conduit or continent urinary diversion. In the latter group, this finding, together with increased trabecular bone volume, may indicate a decrease of bone turnover.     

Allergic sensitization is associated with increased bronchial responsiveness: a prospective study of allergy to laboratory animals

The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the extent of change in bronchial responsiveness and the prognostic value of methacholine provocation in early sensitization to laboratory animals. Thirty eight laboratory technicians were studied during training (before first exposure) and after having been exposed to laboratory animals for a median 18 (range 5-33) months. On both occasions they were subjected to spirometry, bronchial methacholine challenge, skin-prick tests and blood sampling, and responded to questionnaires. Nine (24%) developed laboratory animal allergy (LAA), defined as animal work-related symptoms (n = 8), or specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) (n = 7) or both. In the LAA group, bronchial responsiveness was normal before employment, but had increased significantly at follow-up compared to technicians who had not developed LAA. Six of the nine LAA subjects had a more than threefold increase in bronchial responsiveness, and three of these reported chest symptoms. Spirometric values were not different between the groups prior to exposure or at follow-up, and had no prognostic value. However, a pre-employment level of total IgE > 100 kU.L-1 predicted the development of LAA (relative risk 2.8). Thus, early LAA was associated with increased bronchial responsiveness in most subjects. In contrast to total IgE, the level of pre-employment bronchial responsiveness or lung function did not influence the magnitude of change in responsiveness, nor predict sensitization.     

Brij 58, a polyoxyethylene acyl ether, creates membrane vesicles of uniform sidedness. A new tool to obtain inside-out (cytoplasmic side-out) plasma membrane vesicles

Most of the plasma membrane vesicles formed upon homogenization of plant tissue have a right-side-out (cytoplasmic side-in) orientation. Subsequent purification of plasma membrane vesicles using aqueous two-phase partitioning leads to a further enrichment in right-side-out vesicles resulting in preparations with 80-90% of the vesicles in this orientation. Thus, to be able to assay, e.g. the ion-pumping activities of the H(+)-ATPase and the Ca(2+)-ATPase, which expose their active sites towards the cytoplasm, the vesicles have to be inverted. This is very efficiently achieved by including 0.05% of the detergent Brij 58 (C16E20) in the assay medium, which produces 100% sealed, inside-out (cytoplasmic side-out) vesicles from preparations of 80-90% right-side-out vesicles. This was shown by assaying ATP-dependent H+ pumping using the delta pH probe acridine orange and dissipating the H+ gradient with nigericin, and by assaying ATP-dependent Ca2+ transport using 45Ca2+ and dissipating the Ca2+ gradient with the ionophore A23187. The presence of intact vesicles was confirmed by electronmicroscopy. The detergent Brij 58 is a polyoxyethylene acyl ether and a survey among some other members of this series revealed that those with a head group of relatively large size (E20-23) showed this 'non-detergent behavior', whereas those with smaller head groups (E8-10) behaved as normal detergents and permeabilized the membranes. Thus, a very convenient system for studies on ion-pumping activities and other vectorial properties of the plasma membrane is obtained by simply including the detergent Brij 58 in the assay medium.     

1.27 /spl mu/m metamorphic InGaAs quantum well lasers on GaAs substrates

Pulsed operation at a wavelength of 1.27 /spl mu/m from metamorphic ridge-waveguide (RWG) InGaAs quantum well lasers on GaAs substrates using an alloy graded buffer, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, is demonstrated. Laser performance is anisotropic along the two orthogonal <1/spl plusmn/10> directions with lower threshold currents along the <1-10> direction. Post-growth rapid thermal annealing further reduces threshold currents. For 4 /spl mu/m-wide RWG lasers, minimum threshold current densities are 1-2.5 kA/cm/sup 2/ for cavity lengths 0.6-1.5 mm.     

On the Possibility of Modifying the Gelatinization Properties of Starch by Lipid Surface Coating

The gelatinization properties of potato starch were modified by coating the surface of the starch granules with lipids by an aqueous dispersion of monoglyceride or an ethanol monoglyceride solution. The volumes of gels were smaller than those of the untreated starch. In the polarizing microscope it was observed that decreased disruption of starch granules in connection with gelatinization occurs with increasing amount of lipids present on the surface. The gelatinization enthalpy and the gelatinization temperature at a low water content measured by DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) were not influenced by the lipid coating. A third endothermic transition, however, was observed for the lipid-coated starch. Freeze-drying, used in the preparation of the lipid-coated starch, was found to lower the gelatinization enthalpy as well as the gelatinization temperature.