Influence of total surface area of core material on yield of deposited coacervate

The neuronal cytoskeleton is one of the most profoundly altered organelles in late life neuro-degenerative disorders that are characterized by progressive impairments in cognitive abilities. The elucidation of the protein building blocks of these organelles as well as advances in understanding how these proteins become altered in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other less common dementing illnesses, i.e., diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD) or the Lewy body variant of AD (LBVAD), will provide insights into the molecular basis of these disorders. Within, we review evidence that normal adult human tau is abnormally phosphorylated and converted into the subunits of AD paired helical filaments (PHFs), and that Lewy bodies (LBs) represent accumulation of altered neurofilament (NF) triplet subunits. Although the precise biological consequences of PHF and LB formation in neurons is unknown, growing evidence suggests that the formation of PHFs and LBs from normal neuronal cytoskeletal proteins could have deleterious effects on neuronal function and survival. Finally, insights into the composition of PHFs and LBs could lead to the development of novel strategies for the timely and accurate diagnosis of AD, DLBD and the LBVAD.     

Protection of B lymphocyte hybridoma against starvation-induced apoptosis: survival-signal role of some amino acids

Immunofluorescence microscopic observations indicated that a monoclonal antibody, Vmp 18, raised against the peptide 199-208 of murine interleukin 1 alpha, cross-reacted with an antigenic determinant of Drosophila thorax muscles. Immunoelectron microscopic analysis showed that the gold particles were mainly localized in the Z-line which is the attachment site of thin filaments from adjacent sarcomeres. On the contrary, the antibody failed to mark the Z-line in vertebrate skeletal muscle. A Western blot of total protein extract from Drosophila thorax muscles bound a protein of 43 kDa. Our observations suggest that the Vmp 18 antibody could contribute to clarify the composition of the Z-line in insect's flight muscles.     

Predictive equation for acquisition of hepatitis B in hospital workers in a general hospital

A cross-sectional study was performed to obtain risk factors for hepatitis B disease, HBsAg carriers and immunised personnel, among 2470 workers in a general hospital in Madrid, Spain. The data obtained were analyzed with multiple logistic regression to obtain beta coefficients for variables. The results of the analysis show that being a nurse or being regularly exposed to blood are the most important risk factors for hepatitis B acquisition. The length of time working at the same job activity was also a risk factor. The resulting beta coefficients allow the construction for a hepatitis non-immunised, HBsAg carrier and immunised HBV status, which can select subjects for a hepatitis B vaccination program.     

Generation of Technology-Independent Retargetable Analog Blocks

This paper introduces a complete methodology for retargeting of analog cells to different sets of specifications. This methodology is technology-independent, thus allowing the migration, from one technology to another, of the circuit under retargeting. Careful integration of the device sizing and layout generation tasks via the incorporation of layout constraints during the sizing process allows to generate fully functional designs in a few minutes. The methodology is illustrated via the retargeting of a fully-differential Miller-compensated two-stage operational amplifier for a new set of specifications and two different technological processes.An erratum to this article can be found at     

A Symbolic Pole/Zero Extraction Methodology Based on Analysis of Circuit Time-Constants

This paper introduces a methodology for symbolic pole/zero extraction based on the formulation of the time-constant matrix of the circuits. This methodology incorporates approximation techniques specifically devoted to achieve an optimum trade-off between accuracy and complexity of the symbolic root expressions. The capability to efficiently handle even large circuits will be demonstrated through several practical circuits.     

Quantum and Classical Correlations of Spatial and Spin Degrees of Freedom in Quantum Rings

A one-dimensional mesoscopic ring with one input and two output leads acts as a spintronic beam splitter. The spatial degree of freedom, i.e., the presence of two different possible output channels, gets intertwined with the spin direction as a consequence of quantum interference and spin-orbit interaction. We investigate this kind of spatial-spin correlation, and show that the output density operator contains no quantum entanglement in the important special case when the device polarizes a perfectly random input spin state. However, the correlations are in general not purely classical, we also present specific input states with maximal spatial-spin entanglement after the ring.     

Non-deterministic exponential time has two-prover interactive protocols

We determine the exact power of two-prover interactive proof systems introduced by Ben-Or, Goldwasser, Kilian, and Wigderson (1988). In this system, two all-powerful noncommunicating provers convince a randomizing polynomial time verifier in polynomial time that the inputx belongs to the languageL. We show that the class of languages having tow-prover interactive proof systems is nondeterministic exponential time.We also show that to prove membership in languages inEXP, the honest provers need the power ofEXP only.The first part of the proof of the main result extends recent techniques of polynomial extrapolation used in the single prover case by Lund, Fortnow, Karloff, Nisan, and Shamir.The second part is averification scheme for multilinearity of a function in several variables held by an oracle and can be viewed as an independent result onprogram verification. Its proof rests on combinatorial techniques employing a simple isoperimetric inequality for certain graphs:     

Inhibition of acid rock drainage from uranium ore waste using a conventional neutralization and precipitation treatment

Glass columns (length 50 cm, i.d. 4 cm) containing 900 g of uranium ore waste were subjected to a three-step process: (1) acid drainage generation, (2) neutralization and precipitation treatment and, again, (3) acid drainage generation. In the first acid generation step, lasting about one year, different variables (pyrite addition, inoculation and irrigation solution) were tested by measuring effluent pH, redox potential, total iron and sulphate. Conditions of acid generation were satisfactorily reproduced, reaching stable pH values around 2.0 that were determined mainly by pyrite addition and the type of irrigation solution used (distilled water or ferrous sulphate). The neutralization and precipitation treatment consisted of alternating irrigations of a neutralizing solution (CaO saturated plus NaOH) and a precipitating solution (ferric sulphate saturated). This treatment caused accumulation of basic iron sulphate and iron oxide precipitates according to SEM studies. After this treatment, the barrier effect created by the reaction products was checked, using irrigation solutions similar to the first step. The effluents collected showed higher pH and lower redox potential, total iron and sulphate values than those observed before the treatment, evidencing inhibition of acid drainage generation.