Co-localization of serotonin and FMRFamide-like immunoreactivities in the central nervous system of the earthworm, Eisenia fetida

In addition to receptor-type pinealocytes, the mammalian pineal organ contains small and large neurons and ependymal/glial cells as well. Axons of pinealocytes form synaptic ribbon-containing axo-dendritic synapses on large secondary pineal neurons and/or terminate as neurohormonal endings on the basal lamina of the vascular surface of the organ. The small pineal neurons were found to be gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-immunoreactive, while large secondary neurons and pinealocytes contained immunoreactive amino acids (glutamate and aspartate). Glutamate accumulated presynaptically in pinealocytic axon terminals on large secondary neurons and in the axons of these neurons. Glutamate immunoreactive axons of pineal neurons were traced via the pineal tract to the habenular nucleus. Axons containing granular vesicles and coming from extrapineal perikarya are glutamate immunoreactive as well. Aspartate and GABA are also present in some of the myelinated axons, supposedly pinealopetal in the pineal tract.     

Long-term follow-up of immunosuppressive treatment for obstructive airways disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

BACKGROUND: Locally advanced thyroid cancer invading the tracheal cartilage represents a difficult treatment dilemma during thyroidectomy. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed to determine the results of laryngotracheal resection or tracheal cartilage shave with adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced thyroid cancer invading the upper airway. RESULTS: Of 597 patients undergoing thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer, 40 were found to have laryngotracheal invasion. Thirty-five patients with superficial invasion underwent cartilage shave procedures with adjuvant radiotherapy; five with full-thickness invasion underwent radical resection, including tracheal sleeve resection (n = 3) or total laryngectomy (n = 2). Histologic subtypes included papillary (n = 32), follicular (n = 2), Hurthle cell (n = 1), medullary (n = 3), and anaplastic (n = 2). Of the cartilage shave group, 25 are currently alive with no evidence of disease at a mean follow-up of 81 months (range 1-290). Six developed isolated local/regional recurrence and were managed with total laryngectomy (n = 1), tracheal resection (n = 1), cervical lymphadenectomy (n = 1), or repeat radiotherapy (n = 3). All six patients remain free of disease at a mean follow-up of 5 years. Of those who underwent initial laryngotracheal resection, four remain free of disease at a mean follow-up of 5 years. The rates of 10-year disease-free survival and overall survival for all patients were 47.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 24.8, 71.0) and 83.9% (95% CI 70.3, 97.5), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that adequate management of thyroid cancer with laryngotracheal invasion can be achieved with a more conservative surgical approach and adjuvant radiotherapy, reserving more radical resections for extensive primary lesions or locally recurrent disease.     

secG and temperature modulate expression of azide-resistant and signal sequence suppressor phenotypes of Escherichia coli secA mutants

SecA is a dynamic protein that undergoes ATP-dependent membrane cycling to drive protein translocation across the Escherichia coli inner membrane. To understand more about this process, azide-resistant (azi) and signal sequence suppressor (prlD) alleles of secA were studied. We found that azide resistance is cold sensitive because of a direct effect on protein export, suggesting that SecA-membrane interaction is regulated by an endothermic step that is azide inhibitable. secG function is required for expression of azide-resistant and signal sequence suppressor activities of azi and prlD alleles, and in turn, these alleles suppress cold-sensitive and export-defective phenotypes of a secG null mutant. These remarkable genetic observations support biochemical data indicating that SecG promotes SecA membrane cycling and that this process is dependent on an endothermic change in SecA conformation.     

The complexity of oblivious plans for orienting and distinguishing polygonal parts

In the problem ofparts feeding we are given a class of feasible operations for reorienting a part, and we are asked to find a fixed sequence of these operations which is guaranteed to bring the part into a known goal orientation from any possible initial orientation. Goldberg addressed this problem in [2], and showed that, for planar polygonal parts, there is always a sequence of simple operations which can be performed by a simple parallel-jaw gripper, which is guaranteed to orient the part (up to symmetry) without the use of any sensor information; he also conjectured thatO(n) steps are sufficient.In this paper we prove Goldberg's conjecture by explicitly constructing plans of at most2n – 1 steps for orienting polygonal parts in this model. We also give a lower bound on the number of steps required for such plans to show that this upper bound is tight.Finally, we extend these results to the problem ofdistinguishing among a finite set of parts using minimal sensing. Specifically, we assume that we are given a set of known polygonal parts, and a parallel-jaw gripper able to sense the distance between its jaws upon closure. We construct a simple oblivious plan of linear complexity which, when presented with a polygonal part, determines the index of this part.This research was supported in part by the NSF under Grant CCR-9207422, and by a Zumberge Fellowship. A preliminary version of this paper appeared in theProceedings of the Fourth Canadian Conference on Computational Geometry [1].     

Effect of gold doping on the superconducting critical temperature and transition width in single-crystal YBa2Cu3Oδ (YBCO)

Single-crystal YBa₂Cu₃O_?δ (YBCO) has been made with some of the copper atoms in the copper-oxygen chains replaced by gold. The samples were made by a flux method. The gold concentration was determined by EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) as a function of the nominal (i.e., flux) composition. Up to about 4.8% of all the copper atoms can be replaced by gold. The effect of the gold doping on the superconducting transition temperature (T _c ) and the transition width (ΔT _c ) were determined.     

Clinical applications of fundus reflection densitometry

Fundus reflection densitometry or retinal densitometry is a non-invasive technique to examine the visual photopigment kinetics in living eyes. The technique is based on the comparison of the reflected light from the fundus in a fully light adapted eye (when all visual photopigment has been bleached) with the reflected light following complete dark adaptation (when the retina contains its maximum amount of visual photopigment). The technique provides a measure of the density of visual photopigment, its time constant of regeneration, its distribution and spectral characteristics if measured at a series of wavelengths. Fundus reflection densitometry in the human eye was introduced 40 years ago. Presently, it is the only available technique from which direct and objective insight can be obtained into visual photopigment. This knowledge is particularly relevant in eyes where abnormalities of photoreceptor function are suspected. This paper summarizes the current knowledge of fundus reflection densitometry in the diseased and in the aging human retina, gathered over the last 30 years. Considerable improvements of the instrument for clinical purposes have been obtained, and are also discussed.