Cross-specialty linkage and extrapolation of resource-based relative value scales

We used the fluorescent labelled dopamine D1-receptor antagonist Bodipy-SCH 23390 for the cellular localization of D1-ligand binding sites in the retinae of different vertebrates (teleosts, Xenopus, turtle, rat and rabbit). Competition experiments with unfixed cryosections of fish retina were performed to characterize the binding conditions of Bodipy-labelled SCH 23390. Tissue bound [3H]SCH 23390 was displaceable with increased amounts of bodipy-SCH 23390. The pharmacological specificity of the D1 fluorescent antagonist was determined by competition experiments with an excess of unlabelled SCH 23390. This treatment significantly reduced the level of fluorescence of the retina confirming the specificity of the binding. We observed a homogeneously distributed fluorescence signal in both plexiform layers in unfixed cryosections of fish, frog, turtle, rat and rabbit. Similar staining intensities of both plexiform layers were found in frog, turtle, rat and rabbit retina. In teleosts, the label of the outer plexiform layer was markedly more intense. Non-specific label was associated with photoreceptor outer and inner segments. The specific labelling of both plexiform layers indicates a mismatch of dopamine releasing and D1-binding sites, and suggests a possible extrasynaptic localization of the D1-receptor. The physiological significance of the observed distribution of D1-ligand binding sites is discussed with respect to the role of dopamine in controlling adaptational processes in the retina.     

Parasitic Bipolar Junction Transistors in a Floating-Gate MOSFET for Fluorescence Detection

In this letter, we examined whether the parasitic bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) in the MOSFET fabricated by the standard CMOS process can play a role as a fluorescence detector. To suppress the action of two vertical parasitic BJTs, the gate and n-well were tied in the parasitic BJTs, and the body node was connected to the drain. The proposed device was compared with the inherent and the parasitic diodes in the MOSFET. It had 100 times higher photocurrents than the diodes in the MOSFET. In addition, it was applied for the detection of the fluorescent signal, and could detect near 10 nM of Alexa 546. Therefore, CMOS-process-compatible parasitic BJTs can be used as a photodetector in an integrated fluorescence detector.     

A novel bidirectional CMOS transceiver for chip-to-chip optical interconnects

A novel bidirectional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transceiver for chip-to-chip optical interconnects operating at 2.5 Gb/s is proposed, which shares the common block of a receiver and a transmitter on a single chip. The share of the common block of two circuits makes it possible to save 55% or 20% of power dissipation, depending on the operating mode. The chip in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology occupies an area of 0.82/spl times/0.82 mm/sup 2/, 70% of the total area of a typical unshared transceiver chip. The transmitting and receiving modes of operation show -3-dB bandwidths of 2.2 and 2.4 GHz and electrical isolations of -28 and -40 dB, respectively.     

Drying of persimmons (Diospyros kaki L.) and the following changes in the studied bioactive compounds and the total radical scavenging activities

Fresh persimmons were subjected to two different processes: sun-drying during 1 month and dehydration at 60 °C during 12 h. To assess the effect of this process on nutritional and health-related properties of persimmons dietary fibers, minerals, trace elements, polyphenols and the total radical scavenging activities (TRSAs) were determined before and after processing. It was found that the contents of dietary fibers, minerals and trace elements in fresh and dried persimmons fruits were comparable. Total polyphenols in fresh persimmons was higher than in dried fruits (1.3 vs. 0.9 and 0.8 mg/100 g FW, respectively) and percentage of inhibition was higher than in dried fruits (70% vs. 59% and 55% and 58% vs. 53% and 46% for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) [ABTS] radicals, respectively (P>0.05 in all cases). In conclusion: (1) the differences in the contents of dietary fibers, minerals and trace elements in fresh and dried persimmons are not significant; (2) the contents of polyphenols and the level of the TRSA are higher in fresh persimmons than in dried fruits; however, both variables are also high in dried persimmons; (3) when fresh fruits are not available, proper dried persimmons could be used as a valuable substitute.     

Anatomical basis of a congenital hearing impairment: basilar papilla dysplasia in the Belgian Waterslager canary

We studied the role of proteases in apoptosis using a cell-free system prepared from a human leukemia cell line. HL60 cells are p53 null and extremely sensitive to a variety of apoptotic stimuli including DNA damage induced by the topoisomerase I inhibitor, camptothecin. We measured DNA fragmentation induced in isolated nuclei by cytosolic extracts using a filter elution assay. Cytosol from camptothecin-treated HL60 cells induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in nuclei from untreated cells. This fragmentation was suppressed by serine protease inhibitors. Serine proteases (trypsin, endoproteinase Glu-C, chymotrypsin A, and proteinase K) and papain by themselves induced DNA fragmentation in naive nuclei. This effect was enhanced in the presence of cytosol from untreated cells. Cysteine protease inhibitors (E-64, leupeptin, Ac-YVAD-CHO [ICE inhibitor]) did not affect camptothecin-induced DNA fragmentation. The apopain/Yama inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-CHO, and the proteasome inhibitor, MG-132, were also inactive both in the cell-free system and in whole cells. Interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) or human immunodeficiency virus protease failed to induce DNA fragmentation in naive nuclei. Together, these results suggest that DNA damage activates serine protease(s) which in turn activate(s) nuclear endonuclease(s) during apoptosis in HL60 cells.     

Dynamic sectorization of microcells for balanced traffic in CDMA:genetic algorithms approach

With the increase of cellular users, traffic hot spots and unbalanced call distributions are common in wireless networks. As a solution to this problem, code-division multiple-access techniques enable a base transceiver station to connect microcells with optical fibers and to control the channels by sectorizing the microcells. To solve the load balancing among microcells, we dynamically sectorize the microcells depending on the time-varying traffic. The microcell sectorization problem is formulated as an integer linear programming that minimizes the blocked and handoff calls in the network. In the proposed sectorization, proper, connected, and compact sectors are considered to keep the handoffs as small as possible while satisfying the channel capacity at each sector. Three genetic algorithms (GAs) are proposed to solve the problem: standard GA, grouping GA, and parallel GA. Computational results show that the proposed GAs are highly effective. All three GAs illustrate outstanding performance for small size problems. The parallel GA, which is based on the operators used in grouping GA, demonstrates excellent solution quality in a reasonable time     

Feature Reduction via Generalized Uncorrelated Linear Discriminant Analysis

High-dimensional data appear in many applications of data mining, machine learning, and bioinformatics. Feature reduction is commonly applied as a preprocessing step to overcome the curse of dimensionality. Uncorrelated Linear Discriminant Analysis (ULDA) was recently proposed for feature reduction. The extracted features via ULDA were shown to be statistically uncorrelated, which is desirable for many applications. In this paper, an algorithm called ULDA/QR is proposed to simplify the previous implementation of ULDA. Then, the ULDA/GSVD algorithm is proposed, based on a novel optimization criterion, to address the singularity problem which occurs in undersampled problems, where the data dimension is larger than the sample size. The criterion used is the regularized version of the one in ULDA/QR. Surprisingly, our theoretical result shows that the solution to ULDA/GSVD is independent of the value of the regularization parameter. Experimental results on various types of data sets are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and to compare it with other commonly used feature reduction algorithms.     

Improvement of device performances by thin interlayer in conjugated polymers/methanofullerene plastic solar cell

Recent studies have reported that a thin interlayer between poly(3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT: PSS) and an emissive polymer layer leads to a large increase in the performances of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) by preventing significant quenching of the radiative excitons at the PEDOT: PSS interface; therefore, acting as an efficient exciton-blocking layer. Using the similar idea, a thin interlayer was fabricated between PEDOT: PSS and the active layer of conjugated polymers/methanofullerene composites in a plastic solar cell. The interlayer consisted of a poly(fluorene)-based hole transporter spin-coated directly on top of the PEDOT: PSS layer. The devices with the interlayer exhibited a higher efficiency than in those without the interlayer.