A C-terminal region of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor ADR1 plays an important role in the regulation of peroxisome proliferation by fatty acids

We examined the hypoxic tolerance phenomenon in vitro. Brief exposure to hypoxia induced the production of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) mRNA and protein in rat cortical neurons and protected them from hypoxic injury. Cortical neurons were cultured from 18th-day rat embryos in a serum-free medium and subjected to brief (4 h) and/or prolonged (24 h) hypoxia. Neuronal damage was assessed by quantifying lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in the medium. After brief hypoxia, LDH release was identical to that of the controls, whereas prolonged hypoxia caused a significant increase in LDH release, indicating neuronal death. However, if brief hypoxia was applied 2 days prior to the prolonged hypoxia, no increase in LDH release was observed. The bFGF mRNA expression was assessed with Northern blot and protein immunoreactivity with Western blot analysis. The brief period of hypoxia caused a 2.5-fold increase in bFGF mRNA and considerable bFGF protein expression 1 day later, but prolonged hypoxia caused increase in the expression of bFGF mRNA at 2 days and no protein expression until 3 days after the start of the hypoxia. When cells were subjected to prolonged hypoxia 2 days after brief hypoxia, however, no increase in bFGF mRNA was observed, while bFGF protein was expressed continuously. We also observed that exogenously applied bFGF reduced neuronal injury produced by prolonged hypoxia. The results obtained with this model suggest that brief hypoxia induces bFGF protein and thus tolerance to subsequent lethal hypoxia. Basic FGF might play a role as a tolerance-associated factor in this process. Thus, an in vitro model is useful for assessing the response of cortical neurons to hypoxic stress and for researching new factors related to ischemic tolerance.     

Development of a new advanced process for manufacturing polyacetal resins. Part III. End-capping during polymerization for manufacturing acetal homopolymer and copolymer

Conventionally, acetal homopolymer or copolymer is obtained by the polymerization of formaldehyde or trioxane, following the end-capping using acetic anhydride or unzipping of the unstable polymer end fraction. First, Asahi Chemical developed a new process to obtain an end-capped polymer during polymerization of highly purified formaldehyde using acetic anhydride as the chain-transfer agent. Use of highly purified formaldehyde and endcapping during polymerization using acetic anhydride as a chain-transfer agent or an endcapping agent will provide a simple process for manufacturing acetal homopolymer. The polymerization mechanism was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy analysis and proton NMR analysis of the polymer obtained. Second, for the acetal copolymer, purified trioxane was copolymerized with ethylene oxide in the presence of methylal, which gave an endcapped polymer with high thermal stability. Two new intermediates from the initiation reaction of the copolymerization, 1,3,5,7-tetraoxacyclononane (TOCN) and 1,3,5,7,10-pentaoxacyclododecane (POCD), were isolated and a new initiation mechanism was proposed. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A suggested method of estimation for spatial interdependent models with autocorrelated errors,and an application to a county expenditure model

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, we describe an estimation procedure that should be useful for spatial models which contain interactions between the dependent variables and autocorrelated error terms. Second, we apply that procedure to a spatial model relating to county police expenditures. Our estimation procedure does not require the specification of the error distribution, and its computational burden is modest. Large sample results are given.     

Preovulatory dynamics of ovarian steroid hormones in two mouse strains differing in the rate of meiotic maturation

Immature females of two inbred strains, KE and CBA, differing in the rate of meiotic maturation, were used in this study. On the 26th day they were treated with 5 IU PMSG (0 h) and 48 h later with 5 IU hCG. Groups of females were killed at 2 h intervals starting with 46 h and ovaries were then dissected for steroid analysis by appropriate RIAs. In both strains hCG injection resulted in a sharp increase in ovarian progesterone content with a simultaneous fall in androgen and oestradiol concentrations. However, in the CBA strain, progesterone concentration started to rise earlier while androgen concentration decreased later than in the KE strain. This subtle difference could be one of the factors contributing to the different maturation rate of KE and CBA strains.     

A clinical study in the treatment of acute bacterial infections with fleroxacin

The purpose of this clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fleroxacin and to compare with those of lomefloxacin. A randomized controlled study was carried out to treat sixty patients with urinary tract and respiratory tract bacterial infections, thirty in each group with one of the two drugs, and fifty cases were treated with fleroxacin in an open trial. Altogether there were one hundred and ten cases. Both fleroxacin and lomefloxacin were given orally, the dosage was 200 mg every 12 hours or 400 mg every 24 hours for 7-14 days. The clinical efficacy rate was 93.3%; the culturing rate in the fleroxacin group was 83.3%; the bacterial clearance rate was 92.3%, the incidence of adverse reactions was 9.4%, while in the lomefloxacin group they were 90.0%, 80.0%, 87.5% and 6.7% respectively, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). In the open and randomized trials, fleroxacin cured eighty cases of bacterial infections, the overall clinical efficacy rate was 90.0%, the culturing rate in the flero-xacin group was 83.8%, the bacterial clearance rate was 88.2% and the incidence of adverse reactions was 9.6%. It is shown that fleroxacin is an antibiotic of broad-spectrum, high efficacy and safety.     

Acidity near eroding polylactide-polyglycolide in vitro and in vivo in rabbit tibial bone chambers

Eroding poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide)(PDLLG) washers were observed chronically in vitro and in vivo following loading in a bone chamber tibial implant (BCI). Images were recorded using intravital microscopy of the implanted rabbit and direct pH measurements were obtained of the tissue in the bone chamber using a combination probe-reference microelectrode. While statistically significant pH differences were found between the control (unloaded) and experimental (PDLLG-bearing) BCIs, they were only of the order of 0.2 pH units. This value proved to be physiologically insignificant as no statistically significant difference in bone defect healing, as indicated by angiogenesis, was detected. It was shown that the measured small pH changes during PDLLG washers erosion would result whether the buffer was phosphate-buffered saline replaced weekly or interstitial fluid subject to vascular exchanges.