Cloning, characterization, and transcriptional analysis of a gene encoding an alpha-crystallin-related, small heat shock protein from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus vulcanus

hspA, a gene encoding a 16-kDa heat-induced protein from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus vulcanus, has been cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of the gene product showed significant homology to sequences of the family of alpha-crystallin-related, small heat shock proteins. A monocistronic mRNA of hspA increased transiently in response to heat shock. The heat shock induction occurred at a vegetative promoter but without the CIRCE (controlling inverted repeat of chaperone expression) element.     

Genomic amplification of a decoy receptor for Fas ligand in lung and colon cancer

Fas ligand (FasL) is produced by activated T cells and natural killer cells and it induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) in target cells through the death receptor Fas/Apol/CD95. One important role of FasL and Fas is to mediate immune-cytotoxic killing of cells that are potentially harmful to the organism, such as virus-infected or tumour cells. Here we report the discovery of a soluble decoy receptor, termed decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), that binds to FasL and inhibits FasL-induced apoptosis. The DcR3 gene was amplified in about half of 35 primary lung and colon tumours studied, and DcR3 messenger RNA was expressed in malignant tissue. Thus, certain tumours may escape FasL-dependent immune-cytotoxic attack by expressing a decoy receptor that blocks FasL.     

Salvage of failed amputation about the hip in peripheral vascular disease by open wound care and nutritional support

Five consecutive patients with wound and/or plastic surgical flap failure after hip disarticulation or amputation at the lesser trochanteric transfemoral level were treated with local tissue debridement, open wound management, culture-specific antibiotic therapy, and nutritional supplementation. All of the patients underwent amputation about the hip as a result of ischemic necrosis of the lower extremity. Four of the five patients were able to achieve wound healing by second intention. The fifth patient died 2 months after the surgery. None of the patients required revision surgery. One patient underwent split-thickness skin grafting to minimize the need for continued wound care. Local wound management combined with nutritional support and culture-specific antibiotic therapy is an acceptable alternative to major amputation stump revision in patients with potentially high morbidity who fail to heal after amputation about the hip.     

Calorimetric and rheological study of isocyanate–pyrolysis oil blends

The reaction of polymethylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pMDI) with pyrolysis oils (PO) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheology. Chemical reactions between pMDI and PO occur under 100°C, as shown in DSC scans. DSC analysis showed that the peak temperature of the reaction decreased as the PO content of the PO–pMDI blends increased. The heat of reaction is at its maximum around 30–40% PO content. A rheological study of various PO–pMDI blends was done to evaluate the evolution of viscosity with time for different PO–pMDI hybrid mixtures. The initial viscosity of the blends is directly proportional to the PO content. An exponential increase of viscosity was demonstrated for all PO–pMDI mixtures. Rheological and chemical analysis results confirmed that chemical reactions occur between pMDI and PO at room temperature. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 1362–1370, 2003     

Extension and source/drain design for high-performance FinFET devices

Double gate devices based upon the FinFET architecture are fabricated, with gate lengths as small as 30 nm. Particular attention is given to minimizing the parasitic series resistance. Angled extension implants and selective silicon epitaxy are investigated as methods for minimizing parasitic resistance in FinFETs. Using these two techniques high performance devices are fabricated with on-currents comparable to fully optimized bulk silicon technologies. The influence of fin thickness on device resistance and short channel effects is discussed in detail. Devices are fabricated with fins oriented in the <100> and <100> directions showing different transport properties.     

Spectroscopic study of Y210C lambda-repressor: implications for cooperative interaction

The development of a percutaneous artificial internal organ system requires a reliable biocompatible connection between the external environment and the inside of the human body. Such is necessary for the success of a permanent left ventricular assist device. However, the search for a satisfactory interface at the epidermal level has proven to be difficult. Carbon has been proposed for this application, but its texture does not typically promote ingrowth from surrounding tissue. We have therefore employed a new processing method to produce a fine trabecularized carbon implant. The method for preparing the implant involves infiltrating low temperature pyrolytic carbon into the surface of a carbon core which is wrapped with carbon fabric. This results in a tightly woven porous structure of carbon (carbon fiber diameter: 35-50 microm, maximal pore size >200 microm) with gradually increasing porosity from 15-75%. We implanted test samples percutaneously in a calf for in vivo histological evaluation. Thirty days after implantation epidermal downgrowth was minimal. Microscopic analysis revealed that a thin fibrous capsule surrounded the implant, and mature connective tissue with accompanying blood vessels filled the pores of the fine trabecularized carbon layer. From these results we suggest that fine trabecularized carbon is ideally suited for a percutaneous device system in a permanent left ventricular assist device.     

Sub-pleural lipoma: apropos of a case]

The pyomyositis is still being a rare disease in our environment. A review of this illness is made as a result of a new case, which shows some peculiarities that differ it from others published previously: the patient showed a basic medullary carcynoma of thyroid with cerebral metastasis and the responsible germ was a Streptococcus pneumoniae. The immunodepressor factors which are presented at most patients who suffer a pyomyositis, the clinic picture so suggestive and the image methods we dispose nowadays, should serve to suspect its diagnostic in an earlier way, proceeding to its bacteriological confirmation before illness evolves to stages as advanced as in the shown case.     

Logic synthesis for reliability: an early start to controllingelectromigration and hot-carrier effects

Designing reliable CMOS chips involves careful circuit design, with attention directed to some of the potential reliability problems such as electromigration and hot-carrier effects. This paper considers logic synthesis to optimize, early in the design phase, against electromigration and hot-carrier degradation. The electromigration and hot-carrier effects are estimated at the gate level using signal activity measure (average number of transitions at circuit nodes). Results on MCNC synthesis benchmarks show that logic can be synthesized to optimize for higher reliability and lower silicon area. A minimum-area circuit is usually not associated with highest reliability     

Complete unfolding of the titin molecule under external force

Titin (also known as connectin) is a giant filamentous protein that spans the distance between the Z- and M-lines of the vertebrate muscle sarcomere. Several earlier studies have implicated titin as playing a fundamental role in maintaining sarcomeric structural integrity and generating the passive force of muscle. The elastic properties of titin were characterized in recent single-molecule mechanical works that described the molecule as an entropic spring in which partial unfolding may take place at high forces during stretch and refolding at low forces during release. In the present work titin molecules were stretched using a laser tweezer with forces above 400 pN. The high external forces resulted in complete mechanical unfolding of the molecule, characterized by the disappearance of force hysteresis at high forces. Titin refolded following complete denaturation, as the hysteresis at low forces reappeared in subsequent stretch-release cycles. The broad force range throughout which unfolding occurred indicates that the various globular domains in titin require different unfolding forces due to differences in the activation energies for their unfolding.