Experimental studies of mechanically-induced articular cartilage defects following implantation of allogeneic embryonal chondrocytes in a collagen-fibrin gel in chickens

Full thickness defects (diameter 1,7 mm; depth 2,5 mm) were created mechanically in articular cartilage and subchondral bone of the condyles of tibiotarsal joints of 9-month old chickens. This full-thickness defects were repaired with cultured allogenic embryonic chick epiphyseal chondrocytes from the tibiae and femura of 10-days-old chicken embryos. The cells were embedded in a collagen-fibrinogen-matrix. Controls were similarly operated, but received either no treatment or implants the delivery substance only. Healing of the defects was observed macroscopically, histologically, histochemically and histomorphometrically after 3, 12 and 24 weeks. This graft was successfully transplanted in mechanically induced defects in 80%. The resulting hyaline cartilage was structurally reorganized according to the host pattern and under the influence of environmental conditions. The articular zone preserved it's cartilaginous phenotype, whereas the subchondral regions were transformed into bone. 12 weeks after the operation the defects in the experimental group were completely filled. In all instances in this group, there was an initial extreme increase of mitotic rate and cell number. After 24 weeks normal and subnormal values were founded. The defects in the control groups healed with fibrocartilage. Our results showed, that only the defects in the experimental group were completely filled with reparative hyaline cartilage tissue. In the present study the mixture of cultured allogenic embryonic chondrocytes and a collagen-fibrinogen-matrix was used successfully as a transplant for repairing defects in articular cartilage of chickens. Thus allogenic transplantation of cultured embryonal chondrocytes appears to be one of the most promising methods for the restoration of articular cartilage.     

SH3 binding domains in the dopamine D4 receptor

The dopamine D4 receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that belongs to the dopamine D2-like receptor family. Functionally, the D2-like receptors are characterized by their ability to inhibit adenylyl cyclase. The dopamine D4 receptor as well as many other catecholaminergic receptors contain several putative SH3 binding domains. Most of these sites in the D4 receptor are located in a polymorphic repeat sequence and flanking sequences in the third intracellular loop. Here we demonstrate that this region of the D4 receptor can interact with a large variety of SH3 domains of different origin. The strongest interactions were seen with the SH2-SH3 adapter proteins Grb2 and Nck. The repeat sequence itself is not essential in this interaction. The data presented indicate that the different SH3 domains in the adapter proteins interact in a cooperative fashion with two distinct sites immediately upstream and downstream from the repeat sequence. Removal of all the putative SH3 binding domains in the third intracellular loop of the dopamine D4 receptor resulted in a receptor that could still bind spiperone and dopamine. Dopamine could not modulate the coupling of these mutant receptors to adenylyl cyclase and MAPK, although dopamine modulated receptor-G protein interaction appeared normal. The receptor deletion mutants show strong constitutive internalization that may account for the deficiency in functional activation of second messengers. The data indicates that the D4 receptor contains SH3 binding sites and that these sites fall within a region involved in the control of receptor internalization.     

Adverse environmental conditions in the respiratory and medical ICU settings

Sleep deprivation and fragmentation occurring in the hospital setting may have a negative impact on the respiratory system by decreasing respiratory muscle function and ventilatory response to CO2. Sleep deprivation in a patient with respiratory failure may, therefore, impair recovery and weaning from mechanical ventilation. We postulate that light, sound, and interruption levels in a weaning unit are major factors resulting in sleep disorders and possibly circadian rhythm disruption. As an initial test of this hypothesis, we sampled interruption levels and continuously monitored light and sound levels for a minimum of seven consecutive days in a medical ICU, a multiple bed respiratory care unit (RCU) room, a single-bed RCU room, and a private room. Light levels in all areas maintained a day-night rhythm, with peak levels dependent on window orientation and shading. Peak sound levels were extremely high in all areas representing values significantly higher than those recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency as acceptable for a hospital environment. The number of sound peaks greater than 80 decibels, which may result in sleep arousals, was especially high in the intensive and respiratory care areas, but did show a day-night rhythm in all settings. Patient interruptions tended to be erratic, leaving little time for condensed sleep. We conclude that the potential for environmentally induced sleep disruption is high in all areas, but especially high in the intensive and respiratory care areas where the negative consequences may be the most severe.     

HIV arthritis

Whether reexposure of varicella-immune persons to varicella-zoster virus would protect against or predispose to development of zoster was analyzed. The rate of zoster in 511 leukemic recipients of varicella vaccine who had 1 or > 1 dose of varicella vaccine and in those who did or did not have a household exposure to varicella was determined. A Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis revealed that the incidence of zoster was lower in those given > 1 dose of vaccine (P < .05). A Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that both household exposure to varicella and receipt of > 1 dose of vaccine were highly protective (P < .01) against zoster. Thus, the risk of zoster is decreased by reexposure to varicella-zoster virus, either by vaccination or by close exposure to varicella.     

电力市场环境下的稳定、安全与控制

电力市场化是全球电力工业都在热烈讨论和积极探索的热点课题 ,在中国电力市场化改革的今天 ,尤其具有重要的理论和实践意义。 2 0 0 2年 5月 1 3日至 1 8日 ,由清华港大深圳电力系统研究所主办的“电力市场新进展高级研讨会”在深圳清华大学研究院举行。在研讨会上 ,与会专家分别就电力市场研究和实践中的若干问题发表了演讲。本刊将主要内容摘录、汇编成文 ,奉献给大家 ,以便广大读者对电力市场的研究动态有比较全面的了解。在此 ,衷心感谢参加“电力市场新进展研讨会”的各位专家给予的大力支持和帮助 ,特别感谢香港大学 /浙江大学文福拴博士、香港大学严正博士在本文的摘编过程中提供的技术指导和具体帮助。     

Monte Carlo Simulations of High-Performance Implant Free In0.3Ga 0.7As Nano-MOSFETs for Low-Power CMOS Applications

The potential performance of implant free heterostructure In_0.3Ga_0.7As channel MOSFETs with gate lengths of 30, 20, and 15 nm is investigated using state-of-the-art Monte Carlo (MC) device simulations. The simulations are carefully calibrated against the electron mobility and sheet density measured on fabricated III-V MOSFET structures with a high-kappa dielectric. The MC simulations show that the 30 nm gate length implant free MOSFET can deliver a drive current of 2174 muA/mum at 0.7 V supply voltage. The drive current increases to 2542 muA/mum in the 20 nm gate length device, saturating at 2535 muA/mum in the 15 nm gate length one. When quantum confinement corrections are included into MC simulations, they have a negligible effect on the drive current in the 30 and 20 nm gate length transistors but lower the 15 nm gate length device drive current at 0.7 V supply voltage by 10%. When compared to equivalent Si based MOSFETs, the implant free heterostructure MOSFETs can deliver a very high performance at low supply voltage, making them suitable for low-power high-performance CMOS applications     

High Throughput Primer Walking of cDNA Clones

Primer walking of cloned DNA is a standard research tool. It has been used in the past to determine the sequence of individual clones of interest. With the expansion of DNA sequencing capacity the need to be able to walk larger numbers of clones has become necessary. Our laboratory is a mid-sized genomics facility. In conjunction with the Advanced Biomedical Computing Center (ABCC) we have developed methods for automating the primer selection, DNA sequencing, contig assembly and sequence analysis for clones arrayed in microtiter format. This approach has allowed us to walk 475 clones (five microtiter plates) selected from a cDNA library.     

Single-Threaded vs. Multithreaded: Where Should We Focus?

Today, with the increasing popularity of multicore processors, one approach to optimizing the processor's performance is to reduce the execution times of individual applications running on each core by designing and implementing more powerful cores. Another approach, which is the polar opposite of the first, optimizes the processor's performance by running a larger number of applications on a correspondingly larger number of cores, albeit simpler ones. The difference between these two approaches is that the former focuses on reducing the latency of individual applications or threads (it optimizes the processor's single-threaded performance), whereas the latter focuses on reducing the latency of the applications' threads taken as a group (it optimizes the processor's multithreaded performance). The panel, from the 2007 Workshop on Computer Architecture Research Directions, discusses the relevant issues.     

Intermittent Phenomena in Switched Systems With High Coupling Strengths

In this paper, one kind of intermittency generated by a discontinuous system is studied. Although this system, which is composed of two switched subsystems coupled with a high strength, is nonsmooth, the mechanism of this kind of intermittency can be analyzed with several explicit relations between the intermittency characteristics and the system control parameters. In particular, estimates of "steady-state" values of the system (in the laminar phases) and a critical value for this intermittency can be derived, which are helpful in relevant control systems design. Moreover, some power laws for the observed intermittency are obtained and discussed