Remodeling of cell surface glycoproteins by N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III gene transfection: modulation of metastatic potentials and down regulation of hepatitis B virus replication

OBJECTIVE: To determine the long-term prognosis of neurologic involvement in Beh?et syndrome. DESIGN: Forty-six patients with Beh?et syndrome, who had been the subjects of a previous report with short-term follow-up, were reexamined 7 years later; 42 of them could be reexamined neurologically. Neuropsychological testing, magnetic resonance imaging, electromyography, and evoked potential studies were performed when available. RESULTS: Of the 27 patients who had had headaches without any neurologic symptoms or signs previously, 2 had developed an acute neurologic attack. In addition, 7 patients in this group showed minor abnormalities on neurologic examination and/or other laboratory investigations, without history of any attacks. Among the previous neuro-Beh?et group (n = 15), as defined by the presence of neurologic signs or symptoms, other than headache, 7 had a stationary course, while 8 had been progressive. Three of the latter group had died. Patients with progressive course had had abnormal cerebrospinal fluid findings at the time of the previous report, whereas patients with a stationary course had not. CONCLUSIONS: Silent neurologic involvement may occur in Beh?et syndrome. Patients should undergo periodic neurologic evaluation. The long-term prognosis in neuro-Beh?et syndrome does not seem to be as favorable as we observed in short-term follow-up. Cerebrospinal fluid findings may predict prognosis.     

Excess attenuation of millimeter waves at window region due to atmospheric water vapor

Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves - The attenuation of 245.52 GHz millimeter wave was measured through a near ground horizontal path in order to study the anomalous water vapor...     

Residential load characteristics observed at KEPCO power system

Residential load characteristics are studied, and those load characteristics that are important for power system studies are identified. The results are used to determine the load model parameters and their statistical correlation to the load composition is presented separately     

Room-Temperature Preparation of Highly Crystallized Luminescent SrWO4 Film by an Electrochemical Method

Highly crystallized luminescent SrWO₄ film has been prepared on a tungsten substrate in an alkaline solution containing strontlum ions by an electrochemical method using constant direct current of 1 mA/cm² at room temperature (25°C). This film showed only a single blue emission at 461 nm with the excitation of 248 nm at liquid nitrogen temperature (- 196°C), strongly suggesting it consists of well-crystallized defect-free crystals.     

Primary antiphospholipid syndrome with recurrent transient ischemic attacks: report of a case and its successful treatment

A 35-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with complaints of a two-year history of recurrent, daily episodes of transient ischemic attacks; the symptoms consisted of scotoma of her left eye, vertical diplopia, and paresthesia of her right arm. The presence of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies led to the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). After thrombotest values had decreased to 30% (international normalized ratio: 1.5) with warfarin, her symptoms did not recur. This suggests that anticoagulant therapy is effective for the prevention of recurrence of ischemic events complicated by primary APS, even when they occur repeatedly.     

A possible role of RGS9 in phototransduction. A bridge between the cGMP-phosphodiesterase system and the guanylyl cyclase system

In the current concept of phototransduction, the concentration of cGMP in retinal rod outer segments is controlled by the balance of two enzyme activities: cGMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) and guanylyl cyclase (GC). However, no protein directly mediates these two enzyme systems. Here we show that RGS9, which is suggested to control PDE activity through regulation of transducin GTPase activity (He, W., Cowan, C. W., and Wensel, T. G. (1998) Neuron 20, 95-102), directly interacts with GC. When proteins in the Triton X-100-insoluble fraction of bovine rod outer segments were isolated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and binding of GC to these proteins was examined using a GC-specific antibody, proteins (55 and 32 kDa) were found to interact with GC. However, the activity of GC bound to the 55-kDa protein was not detected. This observation was elucidated by the finding that the 55-kDa protein inhibited GC activity in a dose-dependent manner. Amino acid sequence showed that five peptides derived from the 55-kDa protein were identical to corresponding peptides of RGS9. Together with other biochemical characterization of the 55-kDa protein, these observations indicate that the 55-kDa protein is RGS9 and that RGS9 inhibits GC. RGS9 may serve as a mediator between the PDE and GC systems.     

The corrosion behaviour of iron in hydrogen chloride gas and gas mixtures of hydrogen chloride and oxygen at high temperatures

Catastrophic corrosion of iron by oxychlorination in hydrogen chloride gas containing 0–75 vol. % oxygen at 300–800°C has been investigated mainly by means of measurements of weight loss and the amount of sublimates. In pure hydrogen chloride gas, the corrosion behaviour was determined by the formation and sublimation of ferrous chloride. Addition of oxygen to hydrogen chloride gas greatly accelerated corrosion of iron due to the formation and sublimation of a low melting point volatile ferric chloride by oxychlorination reactions.