Expression of deletion-containing dystrophins in mdx muscle: implications for gene therapy and dystrophin function

The expression of full-length dystrophin and various dystrophin deletion mutants was monitored in mdx mouse muscle after intramuscular injection of dystrophin-encoding plasmid DNAs. Recombinant dystrophin proteins, including those lacking either the amino terminus, carboxyl terminus, or most of the central rod domain, showed localization to the plasma membrane. This suggests that there are multiple attachment sites for dystrophin to the plasma membrane. Only those constructs containing the carboxyl terminus were able to stabilize dystrophin-associated proteins (DAP) at the membrane, consistent with other studies that suggest that this domain is critical to DAP binding. Colocalization with DAP was not necessary for membrane localization of the various dystrophin molecules. However, stabilization and co-localization of the DAP did seem to be a prerequisite for expression and/or stabilization of mutant dystrophins beyond 1 wk and these same criteria seemed important for mitigating the histopathological consequences of dystrophin deficiency.     

Repeatability of treadmill exercise ejection fraction and wall motion using technetium 99m-labeled sestamibi first-pass radionuclide ventriculography

Bacterial antibodies were studied in acute, intermediate and convalescent phase sera (mean duration from first to last sample 36 days) of 121 children hospitalized for acute lower respiratory tract infection. Antibody responses were observed in 45% of all cases and in 29% of the 21 children < 1 year old. A total of 15 responses to Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumolysin), 20 to Haemophilus influenzae, 9 to Moraxella catarrhalis, 3 to chlamydiae and 8 to Mycoplasma pneumoniae were found. In 79 patients with 4 consecutive samples available, 52% of the 31 responses were measurable within 5 days from admission. Overall the responses were not associated with upper respiratory tract bacterial findings or acute otitis media. Significantly more responses were found in the 121 children with acute lower respiratory tract infection than in healthy controls (P < 0.007). We conclude that bacterial antibody assays provide a useful tool in the study of the etiology of acute lower respiratory tract infection in young children, even if the interval between paired serum samples is short.     

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of titanium (IV) ethoxide–oxygen–helium mixtures

Thin films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from titanium (IV) ethoxide (TEOT)–oxygen–helium mixtures. Actinometric optical emission spectroscopy was used to obtain the relative plasma concentrations of the species H, CH, O and CO as a function of the percentage of oxygen in the feed, R_ox. The concentrations of these species rise with increasing R_ox and tend to fall for R_ox greater than about 45%. As revealed by a strong decline in the emission intensity of the actinometer Ar as R_ox was increased, the electron mean energy or density (or both) decreased as greater proportions of oxygen were fed to the chamber. This must tend to reduce gas-phase fragmentation of the monomer by plasma electrons. As the TEOT flow rate was fixed, however, and since the species H and CH do not contain oxygen, the rise in their plasma concentrations with increasing R_ox is explained only by intermediate reactions involving oxygen or oxygen-containing species. Transmission infrared (IRS) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies were employed to investigate film structure and composition. The presence of CH₂, CH₃, CC, C–O and CO groups was revealed by IRS. In addition, the presence of C–O and CO groups was confirmed by XPS, which also revealed titanium in the + 4 valence state. The Ti content of the films, however, was found to be much less than that of the monomer material itself.     

Holistic Information Security: ISO 27001 and Due Care

“The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards—and even then I have my doubts.”

—Gene Spafford, Professor of Computer Science, Purdue University     

Learning from evolving data streams through ensembles of random patches

Knowledge and Information Systems - Ensemble methods represent an effective way to solve supervised learning problems. Such methods are prevalent for learning from evolving data streams. One of the...