Source of ATP for hexokinase-catalyzed glucose phosphorylation in tumor cells: dependence on the rate of oxidative phosphorylation relative to that of extramitochondrial ATP generation

We isolated highly intact and tightly coupled mitochondria from the rat ascites hepatoma cell line AH130 by disruption of the cell membrane by nitrogen cavitation. These isolated mitochondria were found to have essentially the same functional properties as rat liver mitochondria, but unlike the latter, hexokinase (HK) was bound to their membrane. Using the tumor mitochondrial preparation, we examined the source of ATP for phosphorylation of glucose by HK under conditions in which intra- and extramitochondrial ATP-generation systems operated separately or together. Results showed that the membrane-bound HK utilized ATP derived from the most efficiently operating ATP generation system, i.e., oxidative phosphorylation. However, when the rate of extramitochondrial ATP generation was much greater than that of oxidative phosphorylation, HK used ATP from the extramitochondrial ATP-generation system.     

The effect of cryosurgical ablation of the prostate on erectile function

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence and identify the possible cause of erectile dysfunction after cryoablation of the prostate. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Erectile function was examined prospectively in 15 sexually active men (aged 59-72 years) who underwent cryoablation of the prostate for clinically localized prostate cancer. Erectile function was assessed before and 6 months after treatment; after intracavernosal injection with 10 micrograms of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), the degree and duration of erection, the size of the cavernosal arteries, the penile arterial blood flow velocity, and the time to achieve peak flow were evaluated using high-resolution ultrasonography and colour pulsed-Doppler spectral analysis. RESULTS: Post-operatively, all patients initially reported an inability to achieve an erection sufficient for vaginal intercourse. At 6 months' follow-up, erectile dysfunction persisted in nine, with minimal or no response to the intracavernosal PGE1 injections, there was a significant decrease in the peak velocity of blood flow within cavernosal arteries and a significant increase in the time to achieve peak arterial flow. CONCLUSION: Although many factors may contribute to erectile dysfunction after cryoablation of the prostate, vascular injury plays a major role.     

Transmission electron microscopic X-ray quantitative analysis of human dentin at 200 kV accelerating voltage

Qualitative and quantitative x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy is now used successfully to analyze many features and processes in inorganic samples. When applied to inorganic samples, however, the results are often less satisfactory due to problems of preparation of organic samples, difficulty of measuring x-rays from organic samples, damage of the sample by the electron beam, and other practical problems. In the present study we used a high voltage transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer to examine accurate quantitative standardless analysis of thin sections of an organic sample, human dentin. Based on our experiments we found the important parameters for quantitative analysis were sample thickness and appropriate choice of model sample. Further, we show that the method of Cliff and Lorimer can be used with biological samples at 200 kV, and we show that quantitative analysis of human dentin can be carried out at 200 kV. Finally, we show that areas of human dentin can be differentiated by their morphological characteristics and x-ray analyses obtained in the transmission electron microscope.     

Tough Hydrogels with Fast,Strong, and Reversible Underwater Adhesion Based on a Multiscale Design

Hydrogels have promising applications in diverse areas, especially wet environments including tissue engineering, wound dressing, biomedical devices, and underwater soft robotics. Despite strong demands in such applications and great progress in irreversible bonding of robust hydrogels to diverse synthetic and biological surfaces, tough hydrogels with fast, strong, and reversible underwater adhesion are still not available. Herein, a strategy to develop hydrogels demonstrating such characteristics by combining macroscale surface engineering and nanoscale dynamic bonds is proposed. Based on this strategy, excellent underwater adhesion performance of tough hydrogels with dynamic ionic and hydrogen bonds, on diverse substrates, including hard glasses, soft hydrogels, and biological tissues is obtained. The proposed strategy can be generalized to develop other soft materials with underwater adhesion.     

The composition of particulate phosphorus: A case study of the Grand River,Canada

We examined the fractions of particulate phosphorus (PP) in the lower reaches of the Grand River, Canada, to test the hypothesis that the river is a source of both particulate-bound orthophosphate and labile species of PP. At the mouth of the Grand River, the proportion of particulate organic P (POP) was, on average, 57.7% of total PP, which was significantly higher than the proportion of particulate inorganic P (PIP) in PP. Analysis with ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy showed that the proportion of P species other than orthophosphate in the NaOH- EDTA extract was 1.75 times greater than that of orthophosphate. Labile P species (e.g. nucleotides and pyrophosphate) were present in the NMR spectrum; whereas, refractory organic P (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate) was absent. These results suggest that during winter and spring, the Grand River supplies primarily bioavailable phosphorus species in organic forms to Lake Erie, rather than inorganic orthophosphate. These results suggest that labile organic P is contained in PP rather than alkaline extractable inorganic P. Future studies should examine POP species in other rivers of the Lake Erie watershed.     

Encoding of line drawings with a multiple grid chain code

The multiple grid(MG) chain code which uses four different square grids is proposed to encode line drawings. The main processes adopted in the code are: 1) a grid selection algorithm which allocates quantization points only to the vicinity of the course of a line drawing, 2) labeling rule on quantization points which makes the frequency of some codes larger than that of other codes, and 3) quantization points allocation-not to the corners, but to the sides of a square which makes the straight line segments larger without increasing quantization error. A performance comparison of various chain codes is made from the viewpoints of the encoding efficiency, naturalness of the encoded lines, and the rate distortion measure. Also, the superiority of the MG chain code to other codes is shown. At last, application of the MG chain code to the electronic blackboard system is explained.     

Ionic conductivity of hybrid films based on polyacrylonitrile and their battery application

The alternate current (AC) and direct current (DC) ionic conductivity of hybrid films composed of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), lithium perchlorate (LiClO₄), and a plasticizer was studied. Three kinds of the plasticizer [ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)] were used. Suitability of these hybrid films for lithium battery was investigated. The AC conductivity, which represents bulk ionic conductivity, was dependent on the component and the composition of the hybrid films, ranging from 10^?4?10^?8 Scm^?1. The AC conductivity was mainly determined by the molar ratio of [plasticizer]/[LiClO₄] in the hybrid films and increased with the increase in this ratio. The effect of the plasticizer on the enhancement in the AC conductivity was in the following order. DMF>EC>PC. The hybrid films with both electrodes of lithium showed the stable DC conductivity of about 1/10 of the AC conductivity, except for the hybrid films containing DMF. The hybrid films were found to be effective as a lithium ionic conductor. The galvanic cell. Li/sample/MnO₂, at the discharge current density of 90 μA/cm² showed the stable electromotive force of about 3 V for 70 h.     

Determination of lamellar twisting manner in a banded spherulite with scanning microbeam X-ray scattering

We investigated lamellar twisting manner in a banded spherulite, the blend of poly-(?-caprolactone) and poly-(vinyl butyral), with scanning microbeam X-ray diffraction. We obtained the diffraction contour intensity map with a scanning pitch of 1 μm by employing a rotation of a spherulite around its radial direction along which the microbeam scans. The results confirm that the twisting manner depends on the crystallization temperature and that it changes from continuous twisting to step-wise twisting with the increase of crystallization temperature. Moreover, we observed that the phase of long-period lamellar twisting advanced by about 15° compared to that of short-period lamella. In addition, it was confirmed that c-axis of packing structure was normal to lamella, which was represented by dominant short-period lamella.