Molecular regulators of resolution of inflammation: potential therapeutic targets in the reproductive system

Inflammatory processes are central to reproductive events including ovulation, menstruation, implantation and labour, while inflammatory dysregulation is a feature of numerous reproductive pathologies. In recent years, there has been much research into the endogenous mechanisms by which inflammatory reactions are terminated and tissue homoeostasis is restored, a process termed resolution. The identification and characterisation of naturally occurring pro-resolution mediators including lipoxins and annexin A1 has prompted a shift in the field of anti-inflammation whereby resolution is now observed as an active process, triggered as part of a normal inflammatory response. This review will address the process of resolution, discuss available evidence for expression of pro-resolution factors in the reproductive tract and explore possible roles for resolution in physiological reproductive processes and associated pathologies.     

Leaching of residues of certain pesticides from black tea to brew

Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world. It is prepared after infusing processed black tea in hot water. During the process of brewing, along with flavour and aroma, the residues of plant protection chemicals may also be transferred into the tea brew or infusion. The leaching of certain pesticides, such as ethion, endosulfan, dicofol, chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin, hexaconazole, fenpropathrin, propargite, quinalphos and lambdacyhalothrin from powdered black tea into the brew was studied. The rate of transfer of the pesticide residue from black tea to the hot brew was largely influenced by physicochemical parameters, such as water solubility and octanol-water partition coefficient. Tea brews prepared from untreated black tea samples were fortified with standard solutions of the respective pesticides, extracted and analysed using GC and HPLC by following standardised methods. Results revealed that the rate of leaching of residues of these pesticides into the tea brew was low due to their low solubilities in aqueous medium and high octanol-water partitioning coefficients.     

Matrix approach for the coefficients of maximally flat FIR filter transfer functions expressed in powers of cos w

A matrix approach is proposed for determining the coefficients of maximally flat FIR filter transfer functions expressed in powers of cos w. It is shown that the transformation matrix is a product of the well known Q-matrix and a diagonal matrix. Also, a property relating two Q-matrices of successive orders, N and N + 1, is pointed out.     

Electrochemical preparation of potassium gold cyanide

The essential requirements for the industrial preparation of potassium gold cyanide (pgc) are: (a) high rate of dissolution and (b) smooth and uniform dissolution. Employing galvanostatic and potentiostatic polarisation data and observations on the surface topography of anodes dissolved by both the techniques, it is shown that potentiostatic dissolution of gold in potassium cyanide at +0·345 V satisfies the above requirements.     

Phosphorylation on histidine is accompanied by localized structural changes in the phosphocarrier protein, HPr from Bacillus subtilis

The histidine-containing protein (HPr) of bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) serves a central role in a series of phosphotransfer reactions used for the translocation of sugars across cell membranes. These studies report the high-definition solution structures of both the unphosphorylated and histidine phosphorylated (P-His) forms of HPr from Bacillus subtilis. Consistent with previous NMR studies, local conformational adjustments occur upon phosphorylation of His 15, which positions the phosphate group to serve as a hydrogen bond acceptor for the amide protons of Ala 16 and Arg 17 and to interact favorably with the alpha-helix macrodipole. However, the positively charged side chain of the highly conserved Arg 17 does not appear to interact directly with phospho-His 15, suggesting that Arg 17 plays a role in the recognition of other PTS enzymes or in phosphotransfer reactions directly. Unlike the results reported for Escherichia coli P-His HPr (Van Nuland NA, Boelens R, Scheek RM, Robillard GT, 1995, J Mol Biol 246:180-193), our data indicate that phosphorylation of His 15 is not accompanied by adoption of unfavorable backbone conformations for active site residues in B. subtilis P-Ser HPr.     

Changes in material symmetry associated with deformation: Uniaxial extension

When a material which is isotropic with respect to a reference configuration is deformed, it is anisotropic with respect to the deformed configuration. The nature of the anisotropy depends on the deformation. In this paper, we consider the special case of the change of a reference configuration by uniaxial extension. We first discuss the structure of the new material symmetry group, and show that it includes non-orthogonal unimodular transformations. Then using the general representation for the response functional of an isotropic material, we show how to construct a representation of the new response functional which satisfies the restrictions of the new material symmetry group.     

Neutron structural study of the Bi-monolayer compound (Bi0.5Cu0.5)Sr2(Y0.8Cu0.2)Cu2O7 + δ—the Role of excess oxygen in superconductivity

Comparative neutron structural investigations are made on nonsuperconducting (slow-cooled) and superconducting (liquid-nitrogen quenched;T _c ^onset=70 K andR=0 at 20 K) samples of (Bi_0.5Cu_0.5)Sr₂(Y_0.8Cu_0.2)Cu₂O_{7 + δ} in order to examine the role of excess oxygen on the superconducting behavior of this “1212”-phase compound. Analysis of refined structural parameters shows that the two main factors which influence the superconductivity in (Bi, Cu)-1212 are: (i) the extent of occupancy of excess oxygen at O(5), the 2(e) site located in between the two CuO₂ pyramidal layers, and (ii) the length of the apical Cu(2)-O(2) bond. The (Bi, Cu)-O monolayer plays the role of the “charge reservoir” quite effectively as reflected by the substantial increase in the length of the apical (bridging) Cu(2)-O(2) bond due to depletion of excess oxygen in this layer. Surprisingly, vacancies at as many as 10% of the O(1) site belonging to the CuO₂ planes do not appear to disrupt the flow of current in the Cu(3d)-O(2p) planar network in the superconducting state. Relevant features of the structure of the (Bi, Cu)-1212 phase, in particular the role of excess oxygen and its occupancy at different sites, are discussed in the light of the available data on the isostructural (Pb, Cu)-1212 phase and the (La, Sr, Ca)₃-Cu₂O_{6 + δ} phase superconductors.     

Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups.

The dimensions by which adults of differing ages experience emotion were studied by self-administering questionnaires administered to older adults (n?=?828) recruited from Elderhostel programs, middle-aged (aged 30–59 yrs) children of Elderhostel attenders (n?=?231), and young adult (aged 18–29 yrs) Ss recruited from college classes or through Elderhostel participants (n?=?207). Elders were higher in emotional control, mood stability, and emotional maturity through moderation and leveling of positive affect and lower in surgency, psychophysiological responsiveness, and sensation seeking. These findings are consistent with the hypothesized increase in self-regulatory capacity with age. These cross-sectional differences cannot, however, be distinguished from cohort-related explanations; they require considerable replication across different types of Ss and further characterization of the dimensions in terms of their functions for self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-voltage dynamic BiCMOS CLA circuit with carry skip using novelfull-swing logic

This paper presents novel low-voltage dynamic BiCMOS logic gates and an improved carry look-ahead (CLA) circuit with carry skip using these new dynamic BiCMOS topologies. The well-known “MOS clock feedthrough effect” is used to achieve full swing with substantially reduced low-to-high evaluation delay in the logic gates, thus, resulting in reduced carry propagation/bypass delay in the cascaded CLA array. Simulations at clocking frequency of 100 MHz, using 2-μm BiCMOS process parameters and supply voltage in the range of 2-4 V displays lower gate delay and lower power dissipation compared to other recent dynamic BiCMOS logic topologies. The circuit has no dc power dissipation, race, or charge redistribution problems. An 8-b CLA with 5-b carry skip was achieved in 2.917 ns. This speed is significantly higher than other recent dynamic BiCMOS CLA designs. In addition, the new CLA circuit is more compact compared to previous dynamic BiCMOS CLA designs. A tiny chip was fabricated using the MOSIS Orbit Analog 2-μm V-well CMOS process for the experimental verification of the new low-voltage dynamic BiCMOS topologies