Stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in the rat induces patterns of activity in midbrain dopaminergic neurons which resemble natural burst events

Ro41-0960 is a potent, fluorine containing COMT inhibitor which has be en reported to cross the blood brain barrier and to inhibit COMT in the brain. It is structurally similar to Ro40-7592 which is currently undergoing clinical trials in Parkinson's disease. Positron emission tomographic (PET) studies in baboon using F-18 labeled Ro41-0960 demonstrated a negligible uptake in the brain both at tracer doses and with the addition of unlabeled drug (1.5 mg/kg) at all times through a 90 min experimental interval. The brain to plasma ratios of F-18 averaged about 0.025. Region of interest analysis of the brain tissue area suggests that most of F-18 in the brain was due to the blood in the brain and not the brain tissue itself. However, high uptake was observed in the kidneys and in other organs which are known to have high COMT activity. Studies in mice showed that at 30 min after injection of tracer, F-18 in kidneys was largely as unchanged [18F]Ro41-0960 and that it could be displaced with unlabeled Ro41-0960. The fact that the average brain to blood ratio for mice (n=12) was 0.04, and that similar HPLC metabolite patterns were observed for brain and blood, provides consistent evidence that nearly all the F-18 in the brain represents F-18 in the cerebral blood vessels. These studies raise the question of whether the central pharmacological effects of Ro41-0960 are due to its presence in the brain. They also provide the first example of a positron emitter labeled radiotracer for COMT, and provide initial encouraging evidence that [18F]Ro41-0960 may be used to examine COMT in peripheral organs in vivo.     

Efficient algorithms for optimistic crash recovery

Summary Recovery from transient processor failures can be achieved by using optimistic message logging and checkpointing. The faulty processorsroll back, and some/all of the non-faulty processors also may have to roll back. This paper formulates the rollback problem as a closure problem. A centralized closure algorithm is presented together with two efficient distributed implementations. Several related problems are also considered and distributed algorithms are presented for solving them. S. Venkatesan received the B. Tech. and M. Tech degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1981 and 1983, respectively and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985 and 1988. He joined the University of Texas at Dallas in January 1989, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. His research interests are in fault-tolerant distributed systems, distributed algorithms, testing and debugging distributed programs, fault-tolerant telecommunication networks, and mobile computing. Tony Tony-Ying Juang is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Chung-Hwa Polytechnic Institute. He received the B.S. degree in Naval Architecture from the National Taiwan University in 1983 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1989 and 1992, respectively. His research interests include distributed algorithms, fault-tolerant distributed computing, distributed operating systems and computer communications.This research was supported in part by NSF under Grant No. CCR-9110177 and by the Texas Advanced Technology Program under Grant No. 9741-036     

Inhibitory effects of sweet potato leaves on nitric oxide production and protein nitration

The inhibitory effects of a water extract of sweet potato leaves (WSPL) on nitric oxide (NO) production and protein tyrosine residue nitration were investigated. The results showed that WSPL inhibited NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. In the range of 0–1.0 mg/ml, the inhibitory effect on NO generation in macrophages increased with increasing concentration of WSPL. Meanwhile, the protein tyrosine residue nitration in mouse heart homogenates was inhibited by 1 mg/ml WSPL. In addition, WSPL, in the range of 0–0.4 mg/ml, also exhibited radical scavenging, reducing and chelating activities and protected liposomes against oxidative damage. A high performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that phenolic acids and flavonols such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and quercetin were present in the WSPL, which could contribute to the protective effect against oxidative damage. Thus, WSPL might be useful in preventing protein nitration and oxidative stress.     

MRI brain lesion image detection based on color-converted K-means clustering segmentation

We present a preliminary design and experimental results of tumor objects tracking method for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain images (some stock images) that utilizes color-converted segmentation algorithm with K-means clustering technique. The method is capable of solving unable exactly contoured lesion objects problem in MRI image by adding the color-based segmentation operation. The key idea of color-converted segmentation algorithm with K-means is to solve the given MRI image by converting the input gray-level image into a color space image and operating the image labeled by cluster index. In this paper we investigate the possibility of employing this approach for image-based-MRI application. The application of the proposed method for tracking tumor is demonstrated to help pathologists distinguish exactly lesion size and region.     

Image noise reduction using Wiener filtering with pseudo-inverse

We present a preliminary design and experimental results of a Gaussian noise reduction method for ultrasound images. Our method utilizes a Wiener filtering algorithm with pseudo-inverse technique. The method is capable of solving the Gaussian noise problem in ultrasound image by setup a constant dB of noise function. The key idea of the Wiener filtering algorithm is to process the given ultrasound signal by making the filtering less sensitive to slight changes in input conditions. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of employing this approach for pre-processing ultrasound image application. The application of the proposed method for reducing Gaussian noise is demonstrated by four examples. Meanwhile, we also made the comparisons with median filter, mean filter and adaptive filter; the results reveal that the proposed method has the best noise filtering capability than other three methods. The results also show that the proposed method produces recovery images with quiet high peak-signal-to-noise ratio.     

Synthesis of graphene on silicon carbide substrates at low temperature

A method for the synthesis of millimeter-scaled graphene films on silicon carbide substrates at low temperatures (750 °C) is presented herein. Ni thin films were coated on a silicon carbide substrate and used to extract the substrate’s carbon atoms under rapid heating. During the cooling stage, the carbon atoms precipitated on the free surface of the Ni and formed single-layer or few-layer graphene. The result shows that the number of graphene layers might be further controlled by appropriate process conditions. In contrast to the epitaxial graphene synthesis on single crystal silicon carbide, the graphene prepared here are continuous over the entire Ni-coated area, and can be stripped from the substrate much more easily for further characterization. The large-scaled, low temperature and transferable features of our method suggest the potential for future graphene-based applications.     

Neuroendocrine differentiation in 32 cases of so-called sclerosing hemangioma of the lung: identified by immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study

Thirty-two cases of so-called sclerosing hemangioma of the lung observed by light microscopy were further studied by electron microscopy and/or immunohistochemistry. Three histologic patterns were seen: hemangioma-like, papillary, and solid. The only significant component representing the nature of the lesion is characteristic round cells within the stroma in all these patterns, whereas the surface cells lining the papillary projections or cystic spaces are normal or are hyperplastic bronchioloalveolar cells with a few neuroendocrine cells. Immunohistochemical findings showed that the "stromal cells" (tumor cells) were positive for neuroendocrine markers, namely, chromogranin A (19 of 22 cases), neuron-specific enolase (24 of 24), synaptophysin (six of 10), adrenocorticotropic hormone (14 of 15), growth hormone (14 of 15), calcitonin (11 of 15), and gastrin (11 of 14). Besides, some tumor cells were positive for epithelial membrane antigen (four of four), carcinoembryonic antigen (one of four), and vimentin (one of one). All tumor cells were negative for polyclonal antikeratin antibody (25 cases), AE1 (one case), and AE3 (one case). However, in contrast to the "stromal cells," the surface cells of the cystic spaces stained positively for keratin (25 of 25 cases), AE1 (one of one), AE3 (one of one), epithelial membrance antigen (four of four), and carcinoembryonic antigen (four of four); only a few of them expressed neruoendocrine markers. Both surface and tumor cells were negative for factor VIII-related antigen (25 cases), CD31 (one case), and alpha1-antitrypsin (25 cases). Ten cases further studied by electron microscopy and six examined by ultrastructural morphometry showed that the surface cells were mainly type 2 pneumocytes containing many lamellar bodies in the cytoplasm. Lying among them, neuroendocrine cells were occasionally seen. The stromal tumor cells had no lamellar body, but dense core granules (neurosecretory granules) and microtubules. In six cases, 92.3% (345 of 374) of tumor cells contained neurosecretory granules, which were pleomorphic and 73 to 1056 nm in diameter (mean, 302 nm). Two to 193 (mean, 12) neurosecretory granules were found in each tumor cell. Both immunohistochemical findings and ultrastructural evidence indicate that so-called sclerosing hemangioma of the lung is a benign lesion composed of neoplastic neuroendocrine cells with areas of sclerosis. A suggested name for this tumor is benign neuroendocrine tumor of the lung. The differentiation between this tumor and papillary adenoma, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, or carcinoid tumor of the lung is discussed.     

A Nanostructuring Method to Decouple Electrical and Thermal Transport through the Formation of Electrically Triggered Conductive Nanofilaments

Transforming thermal energy into electric energy and vice versa needs the decoupling of electrical transport from thermal transport. An innovative strategy is proposed by forming/disrupting electrically triggered conductive nanofilaments within semiconducting thin films to switch thermoelectric properties between two states without further material modification and manufacturing processes. It can also controllably adjust the degree of decoupling, providing a potential resolution and performance adjustability for heat/coldness control or power consumption reduction on demand.     

Optimization of site investigation program for improved statistical characterization of geotechnical property based on random field theory

This paper presents a framework for optimization of site investigation program, within which the robustness of the site investigation program and the investigation effort are optimized. A site investigation program is judged robust if the derived statistics of the geotechnical property of interest are robust against the uncertainties caused by limited data availability and test error. In this study, a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation-based Bayesian inference approach was used to characterize the statistics of the intended geotechnical property. The robustness of the site investigation program was formulated as a byproduct of the Bayesian inference of the geotechnical property statistics. The proposed framework for optimization of the site investigation program was implemented as a bi-objective optimization problem that considers both robustness and investigation effort. The concepts of Pareto Front and knee point were employed to aid in making an informed decision regarding selection of site investigation program. The effectiveness and significance of the proposed framework were demonstrated through a simulation study.