Significance of serum beta-hCG as a tumor marker for stomach carcinoma

We performed BAEP study to evaluate acoustic nerve involvement in 102 patients affected by peripheral neuropathies of different etiology, predominantly hereditary and inflammatory acquired neuropathies. Prolonged latency of early waves, indicative of slowing in VIII nerve conduction, was found in a high percentage of cases. Abnormalities were far more frequent (44% vs 14%) and severe in patients with demyelinating rather than axonal neuropathy. Among demyelinating neuropathy, the most severe latency delay was found in Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy type III. The pattern of acoustic nerve involvement differed slightly between Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy type I and acquired inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, perhaps reflecting different pathogenetic mechanisms and different sites of VIII nerve demyelination.     

Evolution of the serum amyloid A (SAA) protein superfamily

The serum amyloid A (SAA) superfamily comprises a number of genes and proteins characterized from a range of mammalian species. The majority of members described to date are dramatically induced during the acute-phase response, suggesting an important short-term beneficial role in the response to tissue injury and inflammation. However, important disease associations have also been proposed for certain SAAs during chronic inflammation. The nomenclature of many of the superfamily members has been the result of comparisons with previously reported sequences implying disease association and/or functional relatedness between such members. The evolutionary relationships of the SAA superfamily members have been investigated by comparisons at both the amino acid and the nucleotide level. The results indicate that all members of the superfamily within a species have been undergoing concerted evolution. This has important implications in ascribing functions and disease associations to individual SAA superfamily members and indicates that designations should not be based on the extent of amino acid identity alone but should be made only following direct experimental observation of the proteins themselves.     

The "difference of means" may not be the "effect size".

Comments on J. Cohen's (see record 1995-12080-001) article with the purpose of restraining enthusiasm for the report of effect size in the form of a confidence interval for the differences of means, rather than the null hypothesis significance testing declaration that the effect size is not zero. Three examples are given in which measurement of effect sizes in the scale of the dependent variable tells researchers little that they need to know. It is suggested that better information might be obtained from effect sizes measured using the d statistic. (N. Cliff; see record 1994-08169-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cry Woolf

The Woolf Reforms, recently instituted to make civil litigation more user friendly, targeted, amongst other things, the investigator’s best friend, the Anton Piller Order (AP). The Order was targeted directly, by having its name changed to the Search Order, and indirectly, in that Woolf aimed to make claimants expend more effort in finding solutions before resorting to the “nuclear option” of the AP.     

Effect of Floodwater Extraction on Mountain Stream Morphology

Floodwater is often extracted for consumptive purposes from western mountain streams in the United States. The long-term extraction of floodwater may alter the morphological and ecological balance of such streams. Scale model experiments based on eight mountain gravel-bed streams in Idaho were conducted to test the effects of floodwater extraction on stream morphology. The model channel transported a poorly sorted mix of model “gravel,” as well as copious amounts of model “sand.” The channel had a discontinuous floodplain, developed its own bar morphology, and contained large model colluvium as well as a bedrock platform. A mobile-bed equilibrium was first developed using a repeated hydrograph. The experiment was then repeated using a sliding cutoff discharge. The discharges in the hydrograph that were below a given cutoff discharge were reduced to 30% of bankfull discharge. By raising the cutoff discharge, it was possible to study the effect of increasing severity of floodwater extraction on stream morphology. The experiments indicated an increase in sand content on the bed surface and a decrease in the standard deviation of fluctuations in bed elevation with increasing severity of floodwater extraction.     

Residual phase noise measurements of VHF, UHF, and microwavecomponents

The results of residual phase noise measurements on a number of VHF, UHF, and microwave amplifiers, both silicon (Si) bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) field effect transistor (FET) based, electronic phase shifters, frequency dividers and multipliers, etc., which are commonly used in a wide variety of frequency source and synthesizer applications are presented. The measurement technique has also been used to evaluate feedback oscillator components, such as the loop and buffer amplifiers, which can play important roles in determining an oscillator's output phase noise spectrum (often in very subtle ways). While some information has previously been published related to component residual phase noise properties, it generally focused on the flicker noise levels of the devices under test, for carrier offset frequencies less than 10 kHz. The work reported herein makes use of an extremely low noise, 500 MHz surface acoustic wave resonator oscillator (SAWRO) test source for residual phase noise measurements, both close-to-and far-from-the-carrier. Using this SAWRO-based test source at 500 MHz, we have been able to achieve a measurement system phase noise floor of -184 dBc/Hz, or better, for carrier offset frequencies greater than 10 kHz, and a system flicker phase noise floor of -150 dBc/Hz, or better, at 1 Hz carrier offset. The paper discusses the results of detailed residual phase noise measurements performed on a number of components using this overall system configuration. Several interesting observations related to the residual phase noise properties of moderate to high power RF amplifiers, i.e., amplifiers with 1 dB gain compression points in the range of +20 to +33 dBm, are highlighted     

FR139317, a specific ETA-receptor antagonist, inhibits cerebral activation by intraventricular endothelin-1 in conscious rats

A comprehensive series of time-related behavioral, physiological and cerebral metabolic studies was conducted using conscious Sprague-Dawley rats to discern the anti-endothelin (ET) properties of the specific ETA receptor antagonist, FR139317. Endothelin-1 (9 pmol given by injection into one lateral ventricle, i.c.v.) produced convulsions, acute arterial hypertension, arterial hyperglycemia, and hyperventilation. Brain structures close to the i.c.v. site of injection, such as the caudate nucleus, lateral septal nucleus, corpus callosum and hippocampal CA3 medial lamellae, as well as 14 other individual structures, displayed moderate-to-intense levels of metabolic activation after endothelin. Data were assessed quantitatively by means of the autoradiographic [14C]deoxyglucose technique combined with image analysis. Neural circuits in the efferent projection paths of the stimulated forebrain structures, such as the midbrain oculomotor complex, amygdaloid nuclei, substantia nigra pars reticulata and caudal subicular subregions of the hippocampal formation, were stimulated focally by endothelin. Specific medullary nuclei and cerebellar cortical subregions displayed high rates of glucose metabolism following endothelin injection at the time of maximum behavioral and physiological stimulation. I.c.v. treatment with > or = 14 nmol FR139317 before endothelin significantly inhibited the effects produced by the peptide. At the highest dose of FR139317 (28 nmol), there was only mild behavioral stimulation following endothelin injection, and hypermetabolic responses in the brain were abolished except in two specific areas of the cerebellar cortex (approx 40% increases in metabolic activity in the copula pyramis and paramedian lobule). The results indicate that the cerebral stimulatory effects of i.c.v. endothelin are mediated by the A type of endothelin receptor. By itself, i.c.v. FR139317 had no effects on the parameters assessed. Further evaluation of FR139317 is warranted as a possible therapeutic agent for neuropathologies suspected of deriving from central neural or vascular stimulation by endothelin, such as aneurysmal vasospasm, ischemia, excitotoxicity, and peptide-mediated epilepsies.     

Substance P modulates NMDA responses and causes long-term protein synthesis-dependent modulation of the lamprey locomotor network

Tachykinin immunoreactivity is found in a ventromedial spinal plexus in the lamprey. Neurons in this plexus project bilaterally and are thus in a position to modulate locomotor networks on both sides of the spinal cord. We have examined the effects of the tachykinin substance P on NMDA-evoked locomotor activity. Brief (10 min) application of tachykinin neuropeptides results in a prolonged concentration-dependent (>24 hr) modulation of locomotor activity, shown by the increased burst frequency and more regular burst activity. These effects are blocked by the tachykinin antagonist spantide II. There are at least two phases to the burst frequency modulation. An initial phase (approximately 2 hr) is associated with the protein kinase C-dependent potentiation of cellular responses to NMDA. The long-lasting phase (>2 hr) appears to be protein synthesis-dependent, with protein synthesis inhibitors causing the increased burst frequency to recover after washing for 2-3 hr. The modulation of the burst regularity is caused by a separate effect of tachykinins, because unlike the burst frequency modulation it does not require the modulation of NMDA receptors for its induction and is blocked by H8, an inhibitor of cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinases. The effects of substance P were mimicked by the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist eticlopride. The effects of eticlopride were blocked by the tachykinin antagonist spantide II, suggesting that eticlopride may endogenously release tachykinins. Because locomotor activity in vitro corresponds to that during swimming in intact animals, we suggest that endogenously released tachykinins will result in prolonged modulation of locomotor behavior.