Construction of the full local similarity map for two biopolymers

A novel algorithm for construction of complete maps of local similarity for two biopolymer sequences is described. The algorithm is much faster than the related Altschul-Erickson procedure, it is implemented as the Dot-Helix module within the GeneBee package. Performance of the algorithm is exemplified with the analysis of the polyproteins of two poliovirus type 3 strains and its effectivity is compared to the Staden method. Possible applications of the algorithm are briefly discussed.     

Reductive activation of benzazolo[3,2-a]-quinolinium chlorides

An in vitro technique for the determination of radiopharmaceutical metabolism has been developed using isolated hepatocytes. Radioiodinated N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (IMP; iofetamine, USP) was employed a model tracer in these studies because its labeled metabolites are well-characterized. Hepatocytes isolated from the rat and human produced labeled metabolites in vitro for up to 4 h in a manner similar to that reported for humans in vivo. Identical metabolites were generated by all cell types investigated, but the rate of metabolism differed (rat > human; female > male; fresh > frozen). The utility of this methodology for the preclinical evaluation of potential radiopharmaceuticals is described.     

On the determination of grain-size distributions from intercept distributions

A matrix formulation for determining the spatial grain-size distribution of tetrakaidecahedral grains from linear-intercept data is developed. The truncation effect (which stems from the fact that the intersection of single-size grains by a test line gives rise to intercepts of different length) and the sampling effect (which results as a consequence of bigger grains being intersected more frequently than smaller ones) are separately taken into account. The derivation procedure of this formulation is applicable to any other convex shape, provided the linear intercept distribution for single-size grains of the corresponding shape is known. The percentage spatial grain-size distributions obtained by the formulation derived here are similar to those estimated by the Spektor's chord method for spherical grains.     

A Monte Carlo study of the quality dependence of diamond thermoluminescent dosimeters in radiotherapy beams

Monte Carlo simulations with the EGS4 code system have been performed to determine the quality dependence of diamond TLDs in photon beams ranging from 25 kV to 25 MV x-rays and also in megavoltage electron beams. It has been shown that diamond TLDs in the form of discs of thickness 0.3 mm and diameter 5.64 mm show no significant dependence on the incident energy in clinical electron beams when irradiated close to dmax, but require an energy correction factor of 1.050 +/- 0.008 compared with diamond TLDs irradiated in 60Co gamma-rays. The correction factor increases with depth of irradiation and this effect is greater for thicker detectors. The Monte Carlo predicted sensitivity in x-ray beams is constant within 2.5% over the energy range 250 kV to 25 MV. However the sensitivity decreases by about 60% for 25 kV x-rays compared with 60Co gamma-rays.