Mutational analysis of human papillomavirus type 11 E5a oncoprotein

In this study, we investigated the structural basis of human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV-11) E5a transforming activity at the amino acid level. The effects of insertion, deletion , and substitution mutations on teh E5a transforming activity were determined by the assay of anchorage-independent growth. In the conserved Cys-X-Cys structure, substitution of Ser for Cys-73 resulted in indistinguishable transforming activity, whereas substitution of Ser for Cys-75 or Ser for both Cys-73 and Cys-75 retained 50 and 42% transformation, respectively. This suggests that Cys at position 75 may be important for transformation. Charge and structural changes at teh COOH termini of several mutants impaired transformation significantly, but those at the middle region did so only mildly. In addition, the 16,000-molecular-weight pore-forming protein (16K protein) is known to associate with BPV-1, HPV-6, and HPV-16 E5 proteins. In this study, we investigated the correlation between E5a-16K binding affinity and the transforming activity of E5a by the use of 11 E5a mutants. Results show that E5a and these 11 E5a mutants could bind to the 16K protein when these proteins were coexpressed in COS cells, suggesting that simple binding of the 16K protein by E5a may not be sufficient for cell transformation.     

Color Doppler ultrasound velocimetry of internal carotid arteries in normal pregnancies

BACKGROUND: There are few reports on maternal cerebral circulation during pregnancy. Using the hypothesis that cerebral blood flow resistance decreases progressively with advancing gestational age (GA) as a consequence of estrogenic effects on the vascular system during pregnancy, we calculated the pulsatility index (PI) and the mean velocity (MV) of the maternal right internal carotid artery (ICA) in order to build fitted reference centiles. METHODS: A total of 315 pregnant women with a single fetus were studied at 20-42 weeks' gestation. The patients had uncomplicated singleton pregnancies and were without any known fetal or maternal risk factors. Duplex color ultrasound with a pulsed Doppler scanner (7.5 MHz) was used to determine the PI and MV of the maternal ICA. RESULTS: Among the 315 healthy pregnant women, the PI of maternal ICA decreased progressively with advancing GA, PI50th = Exp (0.3124-0.0084 x GA), (p = 0.0003), during the second half of pregnancy. The predicted 50th percentile PI values of the ICA decreased from 1.117 (5th% = 0.755, 95th% = 1.654) at 24 weeks' gestation to 0.917 (5th% = 0.659, 95th% = 1.448) at 40 weeks' gestation. The MV of the maternal ICA also decreased progressively with advancing GA, MV50th = Exp (3.855-0.0093 x GA), (p = 0.0005), during the second half of pregnancy. The predicted 50th percentile MV values in the ICA decreased from 37.811 cm/sec (5th% = 24.177 cm/sec, 95th% = 59.138 cm/sec) at 24 weeks' gestation to 32.591 cm/sec (5th% = 20.818 cm/sec, 95th% = 51.021 cm/sec) at 40 weeks' gestation. CONCLUSIONS: Both the PI and MV of the maternal ICA decreased with GA during the second half of normal pregnancy as a result of intracerebral vessel dilatation.     

Estimation of direction-of-arrivals based on the array manifold space

In this paper, a high resolution technique for estimating DOAs of spatially close source signals is presented. It is observed that the array manifold over a sector of interest is rank deficient and the dimension of the array manifold space, which is the range space of the array manifold, is less than the number of sensors in the array. The true signal subspace is a subspace in the array manifold space. A novel technique is provided that searches for the signal subspace in this array manifold space. The resulting estimated signal subspace has minimum principal angles with the data signal subspace generated by eigen-decomposing the covariance matrix of the array data vector. It is proved that the proposed estimator is asymptotically consistent and the estimated signal subspace is closer to the true signal subspace than the data signal subspace formed by MUSIC. The proposed novel technique has better performance than the MUSIC algorithm. Its performance is comparable to MLE and MD-MUSIC yet it requires only one-dimensional searches and is computationally much less intense. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed technique, and comparisons with MUSIC, MLE, and MD-MUSIC algorithms are also included.This research was supported by TRIO and NSERC.     

Testosterone worsens endothelial dysfunction associated with hypercholesterolemia and environmental tobacco smoke exposure in male rabbit aorta

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of interaction of sex hormones, hypercholesterolemia (HC) and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on endothelium-dependent relaxation, we examined vascular reactivity in vitro in an animal model of atherogenesis. BACKGROUND: Animal and human studies indicate the presence of interactions between classic coronary artery disease risk factors and endothelium-dependent relaxation. Sex hormones have also been shown to influence release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor. METHODS: New Zealand White rabbits were randomized to receive either an HC diet (n = 8) or ETS exposure plus HC diet (n = 8). Eight rabbits receiving a normal diet, without exposure to ETS, served as the control group. The HC diet consisted of 3% soybean oil and 0.3% cholesterol by weight over 13 weeks. The source of ETS was sidestream smoke of 4 cigarettes/15 min, 6 h/day, 5 days/week over 10 weeks in a smoking chamber. Rabbits were killed, and fresh aortic rings were harvested and maintained in oxygenated Krebs solution in an organ bath at 37 degrees C. Rings were precontracted with norepinephrine and exposed to acetylcholine in increasing doses, and isometric tension was recorded. Rings were also exposed to physiologic concentrations (1 nmol/liter) of either 17-beta-estradiol, testosterone or progesterone before pre-contraction with norepinephrine and relaxation with acetylcholine. Endothelium-independent relaxation was studied using nitroglycerin. The surface area of the ring covered by lipids was measured by Sudan IV staining. RESULTS: HC and ETS significantly reduced endothelium-dependent relaxation (p = 0.01 and p < 0.0005, respectively) and caused atherogenesis (p < 0.0005 and p = 0.047, respectively) but did not affect endothelium-independent relaxation. Incubation with estradiol and estradiol plus progesterone did not influence endothelium-dependent relaxation. Testosterone reduced endothelium-dependent relaxation (p = 0.049) and augmented the endothelial dysfunction associated with ETS exposure and HC (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Both HC and ETS are atherogenic and impair endothelial function but do not affect endothelium-independent relaxation. Physiologic levels of estradiol and estradiol plus progesterone do not affect endothelium-dependent relaxation. Physiologic levels of testosterone impair relaxation and augment the endothelial dysfunction associated with ETS exposure and HC.     

The anatomic basis and clinical applications of flaps based on the posterior tibial vessels

The vascular anatomy of the posterior tibial vessels has been studied in 20 legs of 10 cadavers. The number, size and distribution of the direct cutaneous and direct muscle branches of the posterior tibial vessels were recorded. For analysis, the leg was divided into four equal segments, Zone I being the most distal and Zone IV the most proximal. The direct cutaneous branches were found to cluster mainly around Zone II. The direct muscle branches to the soleus and flexor digitorum longus muscles arose chiefly in Zones II and III. Based on this knowledge, we performed fasciocutaneous, island soleus muscle, musculo-fasciocutaneous and flexor digitorum longus muscle flaps based on the posterior tibial vessels in 12 patients. Four were free fasciocutaneous flaps and eight were pedicled flaps. All flaps survived and there were no major complications. Delayed wound healing was encountered in three patients.