Electron-beam CT scanning for detection of coronary calcification and prediction of coronary heart disease

Electron-beam or ultrafast computerized tomographic (CT) scanning provides a convenient and sensitive means of detecting coronary calcification, which is an early index of atherosclerosis. The procedure has strong negative predictive power for the presence of coronary artery disease, but a limited ability to predict disease severity. However, preliminary indications are that it is as good or better than conventional risk factors in this respect. Although further validation is needed before electron-beam CT can be regarded as an established method of detecting presymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis, the procedure has potential in this context.     

Synthesis, absolute configuration, and analysis of malathion, malaoxon, and isomalathion enantiomers

Syntheses of the enantiomers of malathion, malaoxon, and isomalathion are reported herein. Malathion enantiomers were prepared from (R)- or (S)-malic acid in three steps. Enantiomers of malathion were converted to the corresponding enantiomers of malaoxon in 52% yield by oxidation with monoperoxyphthalic acid, magnesium salt. The four isomalathion stereoisomers were prepared via two independent pathways using strychnine to resolve the asymmetric phosphorus moiety. The absolute configurations of the four stereoisomers of isomalathion were determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis of an alkaloid salt precursor. A high-performance liquid chromatography technique was developed to resolve the four stereoisomers of isomalathion, and to determine their stereoisomeric ratios.     

Beta-COP is essential for biosynthetic membrane transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex in vivo

Experimental glomerulonephritis was induced in rats to investigate the consequence of the antigen-antibody interaction on the surface of glomerular endothelial cells (GENs). A lectin, Lens culinaris hemoagglutinin (LCH), was first planted in the left kidney by isolated perfusion of a left kidney, and then the circulation was reestablished. Rabbit anti-LCH antibodies were injected from the tail vein 3 minutes after the recirculation of the left kidney, and acute glomerulonephritis ensued. Fifteen minutes after the injection, rabbit immunoglobulin G (IgG), rat C3, and LCH were observed exclusively on the surface of GENs. Accumulation of platelets was prominent. Three hours later, the immune deposits were seen in the subendothelial space, and the polymorphonuclear cells were the dominant infiltrate in the glomeruli. Up to the seventh day, immune deposits were seen in the subendothelial space, and the widening of this area was increasingly observed. Fourteen days later, immune deposits containing rat IgG were observed in the subepithelial area, but they were only occasionally seen in the subendothelial space and in the mesangial area. No crescent formation was seen at day 14, but the mesangial area was expanded, with an increased number of cells. The number of nuclei in the cross-section of a glomerulus increased after the induction of glomerulonephritis, but the number of leukocyte common antigen-positive cells (infiltrating cells) decreased gradually from day 4 to day 14. The staining of Thy-1.1, a marker of mesangial cell, was markedly enlarged in the glomerulus at day 14. These data suggest that mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis can be induced by the antigen-antibody interaction on the surface of GENs.     

Comparative molecular field analysis of the antitumor activity of 9H-thioxanthen-9-one derivatives against pancreatic ductal carcinoma 03

The present study establishes correlations of in vivo growth inhibition of a solid tumor, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (Panc03), of mice with the steric and electrostatic fields and the hydrophobic parameter log P of a series (32) of 1-[[2-(dialkylamino)alkyl]amino]- 9H-thioxanthen-9-ones by the 3D-QSAR method comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). The template molecular model was hycanthone methanesulfonate (19), the structure of which had been established previously by X-ray crystallography. The hycanthone base is protonated at the terminal nitrogen N(2), and an intramolecular hydrogen bond is present between the proximal nitrogen N(1) and carbonyl oxygen O(1) atoms. Crystallographic data also indicate a planar arrangement of bonds around N(1). However, the molecular geometry of 19, optimized by semiempirical molecular orbital methods (PM3, MNDO, AM1), showed the expected trigonal-pyramidal configuration for N(1). A comparison of MO and ab initio methods applied to a model compound, 1-amino-9H-thioxanthen-9-one, led to the selection of PM3 as the method for full geometry optimization of first the cationic and then the neutral forms of 1-32, whereas AM1 provided atomic charges for these same structures save those incorporating a sulfonamide moiety (5, 7, 20, 25, 26, 29, 31, and 32). Acceptable values for the latter were obtained from ab initio calculations. Structures were aligned by minimizing root-mean-square (rms) differences in the fitting of structures to 19 using the FIT option of SYBYL. An alternative strategy of alignment, steric and electrostatic alignment (SEAL), was invoked to provide a comparison of statistical data generated with the rms alignment. The rms-fit alignment of structures produced slightly better cross-validated and conventional r2 values than those generated with the SEAL method. In addition, the rms-fit data indicate that a shift in the lattice of one-half of its spacing has a much smaller effect on the CoMFA data for a lattice of 1 A than one of 2 A. Inclusion of log P in a CoMFA of the neutral structures effected a small (ca. 8-10%) but significant improvement in cross-validated r2 values. The relative contributions of the hydrophobic effects and the steric and electrostatic fields to the conventional r2 values were 16%, 42%, and 42%, respectively. By contrast, incorporation of frontier molecular orbital (HOMO and LUMO) energies or their gaps in the PLS analyses failed to enhance correlation coefficients derived for either the charged or uncharged compounds.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Excited-state-absorption cross sections and amplifier modeling inthe 1300-nm region for Nd-doped glasses

The performance of Nd³⁺-doped fibre amplifiers is limited by strong excited-state absorption (ESA) of the signal, and, even for fluorozirconate glasses, ESA prevents the important region below 1320 nm from being used. To quantify this limitation and explore alternative host materials, ESA and stimulated-emission cross sections have been measured for a representative group of glass compositions. These parameters have been used in an accurate fiber-amplifier model to provide the first quantitative comparisons of performance for Nd³⁺ -doped glasses in the 1300-nm band as a function of host     

The dilated slipped Banyan switching network architecture for usein an all-optical local-area network

A modification of the classical banyan switching network architecture, called the dilated slipped banyan, is described. This architecture is recursive and switching networks of any size perform permutation switching under a simple switching rule. They also exhibit column-control and dilation, properties that are particularly relevant to guided-wave and free-space photonic technologies. A photonic switching network, with this dilated slipped banyan architecture, is proposed as the hub of an all-optical active-star local-area network. The switching assignment at this hub is time-multiplexed on a fixed schedule that is known to all the terminals. This all-optical local-area network provides the equivalent of full-connectivity with high simultaneous data rates between every pair of terminals. A 16-terminal local-area network with 100 Mb/s of contention-free bandwidth between every pair of terminals is described     

Stimulation of monocyte tissue factor expression in an in vitro model of bacterial endocarditis

The coagulation system plays a major role in the formation of the infected endocardial vegetation in bacterial endocarditis. Since monocytes can express tissue factor (TF) on their surfaces, they are thought to be responsible for the extrinsic activation of the coagulation cascade during this disease. The present study used an in vitro model in which fibrin plates, isolated adherent monocytes, and Streptococcus sanguis were used as an analog for endocardial vegetations. Adherence to fibrin by itself was found to stimulate TF expression on the monocytes, but stimulation by S. sanguis significantly increased TF expression, which was found to be maximal at a bacterium-to-monocyte ratio of 9 or more.     

Endoneurial localisation of microvascular damage in human diabetic neuropathy

Twenty diabetic patients with neuropathy underwent clinical and neurophysiological evaluation together with a detailed morphometric assessment of capillary pathology in endoneurial and epineurial microvascular beds of the sural nerve. Morphological data were compared with ten non-diabetic control subjects. There were no significant differences in control subjects between basement membrane area, endothelial cell area, endothelial cell profile number or luminal area of endoneurial when compared with epineurial capillaries. In contrast, when compared with epineurial capillaries, endoneurial capillaries from diabetic patients demonstrated a significant increase in basement membrane (p < 0.001) and endothelial cell (p < 0.001) area and a significant reduction in luminal area (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in endothelial cell profile number between endoneurial and epineurial capillaries amongst diabetic patients. Previous studies have demonstrated a good correlation between the degree of microangiopathy and measures of neuropathic severity. In the present study increased endoneurial capillary basement membrane area was significantly related to reduced peroneal nerve conduction velocity (p < 0.001), myelinated fibre density (p < 0.001) and elevated vibration (p < 0.05) and thermal (p < 0.001) perception. Increased endothelial cell area and reduced luminal size were related to a reduced peroneal nerve conduction (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively), reduced myelinated fibre density (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) and elevated thermal perception (p < 0.05, p < 0.001). Epineurial capillary basement membrane, endothelial cell and luminal area failed to relate to measures of neuropathic severity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)