Molecular analysis of human immunoglobulin heavy chain variable genes (IgVH) in normal and malignant B cells

The diagnostic value of monitoring human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) late pp67 mRNA expression by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) after renal-allograft transplantation was evaluated. RNAs were isolated from 489 whole-blood specimens of 42 patients for the specific amplification of the late pp67 (UL65) mRNA. NASBA results were compared to results from the pp65 antigenemia assay, virus isolation by cell culture, and serology. The sensitivity value for NASBA proved to be higher than that for the antigenemia assay (50 versus 35%) for the detection of HCMV infection, while the sensitivity values of cell culture and NASBA were comparable (54 and 50%, respectively). NASBA detected the onset of HCMV infection simultaneously with cell culture and the antigenemia assay. Both the antigenemia assay and NASBA are very specific (100%) and highly predictive (100%) for the onset of HCMV infection. Antiviral therapy with ganciclovir resulted in negative results for cell culture, the antigenemia assay, and NASBA. In conclusion, monitoring HCMV pp67 mRNA expression by NASBA is a highly specific method for the detection of HCMV infection in renal-allograft recipients and is more sensitive than the antigenemia assay. Furthermore, NASBA can be used to monitor the progression of HCMV infections and the effect of antiviral therapy on viral activity.     

Concentration-dependent changes in the latency and amplitude of somatosensory-evoked potentials by desflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane

Despite improvement in early diagnosis, surgical techniques, and general patient care, most deaths of cancer patients result from metastases. Recent studies have revealed that cytokines produced by cancer cells or by stromal cells play an important role into development the cancer metastasis. The formation of a cancer metastasis involves several major steps: 1) extensive vascularization; 2) local invasion; 3) adherence either to capillary endothelial cells or to subendothelial basement membrane; 4) extravasation; and 5) proliferation. In colon cancer, several cytokines such as growth factors, inflammatory cytokines, and angiogenic factors have been confirmed to be involved in each step of metastasis. This paper summarizes the involvement of cytokines in the development of invasion and metastasis in colon cancer.     

Significant amounts of glycogen are synthesized from 3-carbon compounds in astroglial primary cultures from mice with participation of the mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase isoenzyme

The incorporation was studied of the gluconeogenic substrates lactate, alanine, aspartate and glutamate into glycogen of astroglial primary cultures derived from mouse brain. The incorporation was inhibited by 3-mercaptopicolinate, an inhibitor of one of the characteristic gluconeogenic enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Only the mitochondrial isoenzyme of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase was detectable in the astroglial primary cultures. After the incubation of glucose-starved cells with medium containing a mixture of [6-3H]glucose and [U-14C]glucose, the newly synthesized glycogen showed a 3H/14C ratio which was approximately 15% less than the isotope ratio for the medium. The decrease of the isotope ratio was not significantly inhibited by 3-mercaptopicolinate, indicating a cycling of approximately 15% of the glucose to the level of the triose phosphates before its incorporation into astroglial glycogen. During the initial phase of glycogen resynthesis, the contribution of the gluconeogenic substrates appeared to be higher. This was in agreement with the accumulation of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate during refeeding. A participation of gluconeogenic substrates in glycogen metabolism was also detectable when the glycogen content was not changing significantly.     

Transient trimethylaminuria in childhood

Trimethylaminuria, also called fish-odour syndrome, is an inherited disorder caused by deficient N-oxidation and increased excretion of trimethylamine. This study reports on two unrelated and otherwise healthy children with transient trimethylaminuria, a hitherto unknown abnormality, without N-oxidation deficiency. This demonstrates that a diagnosis of fish-odour syndrome should include the analysis of urinary excretion not only of trimethylamine but also of trimethylamine-N-oxide. Since transient trimethylaminuria may be a common condition and no cause for it can presently be recognized, such patients will require careful follow-up.     

Estimation procedure for the Weibull parameters used in the local approach

The local approach was recently proposed by Beremin and Mudry for evaluating the statistical behaviour of toughness results of materials. This approach introduces a stress parameter _w , termed the Weibull stress, as a measure of the fracture resistance of materials instead of the conventional toughness parameters such as K _c, _c and J _cl (critical stress intensity factor, CTOD and J-integral, respectively). The Weibull stress _w obeys the Weibull distribution with the two parameters m and _u (the shape and the scale parameter, respectively). The first parameter m is normally estimated to be 22 irrespective of the kind of material. In this paper a procedure for the determination of the Weibull parameters m and _u is developed. This procedure consists of the determination of the plastic zone ahead of the crack tip, from which cleavage fracture originates, and of the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters m and _u based on the stress distribution in the plastic zone. Calculations using this procedure confirm that the distribution of the Weibull stress _w is a material property independent of specimen thickness, and in particular that the shape parameter m depends on the material, e.g. m12 for a German reactor pressure vessel steel (20 Mn Mo Ni 5 5). Using these parameters for the distribution of the Weibull stress the size effect in fracture toughness values is predicted and an improved agreement between theory and experiments is obtained compared to the Weakest Link model.     

Effects of superconducting fluctuations on the NMR relaxation rateT 1 −1 of two-dimensional systems aboveT c

Fluctuation-induced corrections to the NMR relaxation rate T ₁ ^–1 in dirty two-dimensional superconductors above the superconducting transition (T>T_c) are re-investigated including dynamic fluctuations. Static fluctuations, as discussed by Kuboki and Fukuyama,¹ dominate the fluctuation terms near T_c. We find that dynamic fluctuations become important for T/T_c1.05, and might even reverse the sign of the total fluctuation-induced contributions to T ₁ ^–1 . We observe that (T₁T)^–1 has a minimum at T=T_min (·) for ·/T_c0.1 which depends on the pair-breaking parameter ·. Furthermore, we show that the fluctuation contributions to T ₁ ^–1 can be obtained numerically with very high accuracy from multipoint Padé approximants.     

The residue of vector sets with applications to decidability problems in Petri nets

Summary A set K of integer vectors is called right-closed, if for any elementmK all vectors mm are also contained in K. In such a case K is a semilinear set of vectors having a minimal generating set res(K), called the residue of K. A general method is given for computing the residue set of a right-closed set, provided it satisfies a certain decidability criterion.Various right-closed sets wich are important for analyzing, constructing, or controlling Petri nets are studied. One such set is the set CONTINUAL(T) of all such markings which have an infinite continuation using each transition infinitely many times. It is shown that the residue set of CONTINUAL(T) can be constructed effectively, solving an open problem of Schroff. The proof also solves problem 24 (iii) in the EATCS-Bulletin. The new methods developed in this paper can also be used to show that it is decidable, whether a signal net is prompt [23] and whether certain -languages of a Petri net are empty or not.It is shown, how the behaviour of a given Petri net can be controlled in a simple way in order to realize its maximal central subbehaviour, thereby solving a problem of Nivat and Arnold, or its maximal live subbehaviour as well. This latter approach is used to give a new solution for the bankers problem described by Dijkstra.Since the restriction imposed on a Petri net by a fact [11] can be formulated as a right closed set, our method also gives a new general approach for implementations of facts.     

一个与Ethernet兼容的多媒体实时传输协议的设计

为适应办公自动化的需要, 探讨了一种集图像( 声音)/ 数据服务于一体的多媒体传输协议, 对协议的集成策略及执行过程进行了详尽说明, 并给出了协议进程的形式描述。经仿真运行证明, 用该协议实现的介质访问控制器( MAC) 能与传统的Ethernet MAC 共存于一个Ethernet 网上。该协议能满足图像( 声音) 的实时传输要求, 该协议只是对MAC 而言的, 因而对现存的数据链路层以上的协议无影响。     

二氧化硅包覆CsPbI3纳米晶薄膜的制备

卤化钙钛矿型(ABX3)纳米材料是近几年兴起的光电新材料,由于全无机钙钛矿CsPbX3(X=Cl,Br,I)纳米晶体的稳定性差,严重阻碍了实际应用,但因其具有窄带隙,在太阳能电池领域有着重要的应用前景.本研究在CsPbI3纳米晶周围使硅酸四甲酯(TMOS)发生水解反应,形成CsPbI3@SiO2纳米晶体复合材料,促使甲苯悬浮液的稳定性显著提高,发光稳定性可增加到29 d.通过进一步以聚(苯乙烯-乙烯-丁二烯-苯乙烯)三嵌共聚物(SEBS)对复合材料进行包裹,得到具有良好透明性和可拉伸性的SEBS/CsPbI3@SiO2薄膜,在水中有保持24 h稳定荧光现象,在水中12 h能保持原有发光强度的53％,而未经二氧化硅包裹的SEBS/CsPbI3纳米晶薄膜在水中仅8 h就失去荧光.本研究不仅为CsPbX3的表面改性提供了一种新方法,有助于解决稳定性问题,而且以聚合物复合的薄膜具有可拉伸性,也可应用在柔性器件中,具有重要的应用价值.