Olfactory and auditory event-related potentials in Huntington's disease.

The influence of Huntington's disease (HD) on the olfactory event-related potential (OERP), an electrophysiological measure of olfactory information processing, has not been reported to date. In the present study, olfactory and auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded monopolarly from Fz, Cz, and Pz electrode sites in 8 patients with HD and 8 age- and gender-matched control participants. Results demonstrated that individuals with HD were delayed compared with controls on the P3 component of the OERP (p     

A look at public key certificates

Many Internet applications use public key technology for security purposes. These applications (i.e. World Wide Web protocols, Internet protocol security, digital signatures, user authentication and E-mail) require a public key infrastructure (PKI) to securely manage public encryption keys for widely distributed users or systems.¹ The use of public key technology requires that the user of a public key be confident that the public key belongs to the correct remote subject (i.e. person or system) with which the encryption mechanism will be used.² This confidence is obtained through the use of public key certificates.²     

A finite element formulation to identify damage fields: the equilibrium gap method

It is proposed to determine damage parameters in two dimensions (surface of a material) or three dimensions (in the bulk of a solid) by using full‐field displacement measurements. A finite‐element approach is developed to evaluate piece‐wise constant elastic parameters modeled by an isotropic damage variable. Two sets of examples are discussed. The first series deals with mechanical fields obtained by finite element simulations to assess the performance of the approach. The second series is concerned with displacement measurements performed during a biaxial test on a composite material. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The face of the patent is not the “Whole Story”: determining effective life of a pharmaceutical patent in the United States

This article provides an overview of the factors that may contribute to the effective term of protection for a pharmaceutical product in the USA––by patent and by FDA market exclusivities, identifies public and commercial sources for collecting relevant patent term and exclusivity data, and provides a strategy for ensuring that the effective term of protection has been calculated accurately.     

Successful adoption of macroergonomics in manufacturing: Using a multicriteria decision‐making methodology– analytic hierarchy process

The research presented in this paper aims to support the macroergonomics adoption improvement process by developing a broader understanding of relationships between key macroergonomics factors and management styles. The methodology involves knowledge acquisition, identifying, and categorizing a holistic set of key criteria about the macroergonomics adoption process. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is suggested as a multi‐attribute decision‐making methodology to effectively enhance adoption of macroergonomics and to improve management decision performance in measuring and comparing the overall performance of different management styles based on macroergonomical criteria. The study found that in terms of company culture, participation, human capability, and attitudes, the best management style in improving macroergonomics adoption is Management by Values. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 14: 353–377, 2004.     

Facile Synthesis and Proposed Mechanism of α,ω‐Oxetanyl-Telechelic Poly(3-nitratomethyl-3-methyl oxetane) by an SN2(i) Nitrato Displacement Method in Basic Media

The synthesis of a novel heterocyclic–telechelic polymer, α,ω-oxetanyl-telechelic poly(3-nitratomethyl-3-methyl oxetane), is described. Infrared spectroscopy (IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have been used to confirm the successful synthesis, demonstrating the presence of the telechelic-oxetanyl moieties. Synthesis of the terminal functionalities has been achieved via displacement of nitrato groups, in a manner similar to that employed with other leaving groups such as azido, bromo, and nitro, initiated by nucleophiles. In the present case, displacement occurs on the ends of a nitrato-functionalized polymer driven by the formation of sodium nitrate, which is supported by the polar aprotic solvent N,N-dimethyl formamide. The formation of an alkoxide at the polymer chain ends is favored and allows internal back-biting to the nearest carbon bearing the nitrato group, intrinsically in an S_N2(i) reaction, leading to α,ω-oxetanyl functionalization. The telechelic-oxetanyl moieties have the potential to be cross-linked by chemical (e.g., acidic) or radiative (e.g., ultraviolet) curing methods without the use of high temperatures, usually below 100°C. This type of material was designed for future use as a contraband simulant, whereby it would form the predominant constituent of elastomeric composites comprising rubbery polymer with small quantities of solids, typically crystals of contraband substances, such as explosives or narcotics. This method also provides an alternative approach to ring closure and synthesis of heterocycles.     

The PKR/P38/RIPK1 Signaling Pathway as a Therapeutic Target in Alzheimer’s Disease

Neuropathological lesions in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) include amyloid plaques formed by the accumulation of amyloid peptides, neurofibrillary tangles made of hyperphosphorylated tau protein, synaptic and neuronal degenerations, and neuroinflammation. The cause of AD is unknown, but according to the amyloid hypothesis, amyloid oligomers could lead to the activation of kinases such as eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 2 (PKR), p38, and receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1), which all belong to the same stress-activated pathway. Many toxic kinase activations have been described in AD patients and in experimental models. A p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor was recently tested in clinical trials but with unsuccessful results. The complex PKR/P38/RIPK1 (PKR/dual specificity mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 6 (MKK6)/P38/MAP kinase-activated protein kinase 2 (MK2)/RIPK1) is highly activated in AD brains and in the brains of AD transgenic animals. To delineate the implication of this pathway in AD, we carried out a search on PubMed including PKR/MKK6/p38/MK2/RIPK1, Alzheimer, and therapeutics. The involvement of this signaling pathway in the genesis of AD lesions, including Aβ accumulations and tau phosphorylation as well as cognitive decline, is demonstrated by the reports described in this review. A future combination strategy with kinase inhibitors should be envisaged to modulate the consequences for neurons and other brain cells linked to the abnormal activation of this pathway.     

Functional characterization of purified pear protease and its proteolytic activities with casein and myofibrillar proteins

This study was performed to characterize pear protease proteolytic activity and investigate the use of pear protease as a meat tenderizer. Pear protease was purified and stabilized by 5% dextrin during lyophilization (dry) or concentration (liquid). Pear protease was further characterized with respect to pH, thermodynamics, and enzyme kinetics. Pear protease was stable at a pH range of 5-8 with an optimum pH of 6.5. From Arrhenius plots, liquid protease showed higher temperature dependency (23.49 kJ/mol) than dry protease (18.62 kJ/mol) due to its higher activation energy. The kcat/Km, catalytic efficiency of enzyme, was similar with 2.9 and 2.7 µM/min with dry and liquid proteases. Pear protease was evaluated for its proteolytic activities with casein and beef myofibrillar proteins by individually and combination with fig and kiwifruit proteases. These result indicated that pear and kiwifruit proteases could be complementary to be a desirable product for meat tenderization.     

A First Report of Photoemission in Experiments Related to Flash Sintering

A highly nonlinear increase in electrical conductivity and concomitant photoemission occurs not only during “flash sintering” but also in presintered, dense specimens. We report results from experiments with dense specimens that show a strong correspondence between the intensity of photoemission and electrical conductivity of specimens under a variety of conditions of the electrical parameters. It is proposed that both properties are related to the concentration of electron–hole pairs generated in such experiments.     

An automated technique for real-time production of lifelike animations of American Sign Language

Generating sentences from a library of signs implemented through a sparse set of key frames derived from the segmental structure of a phonetic model of ASL has the advantage of flexibility and efficiency, but lacks the lifelike detail of motion capture. These difficulties are compounded when faced with real-time generation and display. This paper describes a technique for automatically adding realism without the expense of manually animating the requisite detail. The new technique layers transparently over and modifies the primary motions dictated by the segmental model and does so with very little computational cost, enabling real-time production and display. The paper also discusses avatar optimizations that can lower the rendering overhead in real-time displays.