Receptive Field Sizes of Nyxnob Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells

Patients with congenital nystagmus, involuntary eye movements, often have a reduced visual acuity. Some of these patients have a retinal-specific mutation in the protein nyctalopin, which is also present in the Nyx^nob mouse. In these mice, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) have oscillatory activity, which leads to expanded axonal projections towards the dLGN and consequently to a desegregation of retinal projections to the brain. In this study, we investigate whether the receptive fields of Nyx^nob RGCs have also expanded by measuring the size of their receptive fields using MEA recordings. Contrary to our expectation, relative to wild-type (WT) mice we found receptive field sizes in the Nyx^nob retina had not increased but instead had decreased for green-light preferring RGCs. Additionally, we also found the receptive fields of UV-light preferring RGCs are larger than green-light preferring RGCs in both WT and Nyx^nob mice.     

Carrier distribution function in semiconductors

The principle of equal a priori probabilities is used to deduce the steady state distribution function for semiconductors. This function is then employed as a trial function in the Boltzmann equation and the parameters of the distribution are determined. A comparison with existing experimental data for germanium and silicon is performed and excellent agreement is found in the warm electron range.     

Gastric emptying in control subjects and patients with duodenal ulcer before and after vagotomy

The emptying of a solid meal labelled with Indium 113mDTPA from the stomach was studied with a gamma camera in 26 normal subjects, 27 patients with duodenal ulcer, on 41 occasions after truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty and 38 times after highly selective vagotomy. Applying the method of principal component analysis to the results, differences were detected between control and duodenal ulcer subjects and two probable subgroups of duodenal ulcer were observed. Half emptying times did not reveal these patterns. After vagotomy, delayed emptying was general at one week. At one month, patients after highly selective vagotomy had a more normal result than those with truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty (TV), but by six months no significant difference in overall emptying rate was found, although changes in the pattern of gastric emptying persisted in some patients after TV.     

Polymacron enzyme immunoassay system for detection of naturally contaminating Salmonella in foods, feeds, and environmental samples

A simple dot blot enzyme immunoassay was developed to screen enrichment broth cultures for the presence of Salmonella. This unique system utilizes macroporous polyester cloth (Polymacron) with an inexpensive hemoglobin coating to provide a high-affinity adsorbent for lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens in test samples. Bound LPS antigens are then detected using a monoclonal antibody conjugate recognizing a core oligosaccharide epitope common to all salmonellae frequently found in foods and related samples. The entire test (not including enrichment culture) could be completed in less than 1 h. The performance of this assay was evaluated in the analysis of enrichment broth cultures from a variety of egg and dairy products, chicken carcasses, animal feeds, and food-processing plant environmental samples for the presence of Salmonella.     

Determination of sedimentation coefficients for small peptides

Direct fitting of sedimentation velocity data with numerical solutions of the Lamm equations has been exploited to obtain sedimentation coefficients for single solutes under conditions where solvent and solution plateaus are either not available or are transient. The calculated evolution was initialized with the first experimental scan and nonlinear regression was employed to obtain best-fit values for the sedimentation and diffusion coefficients. General properties of the Lamm equations as data analysis tools were examined. This method was applied to study a set of small peptides containing amphipathic heptad repeats with the general structure Ac-YS-(AKEAAKE)nGAR-NH2, n = 2, 3, or 4. Sedimentation velocity analysis indicated single sedimenting species with sedimentation coefficients (s(20,w) values) of 0.37, 0.45, and 0.52 S, respectively, in good agreement with sedimentation coefficients predicted by hydrodynamic theory. The described approach can be applied to synthetic boundary and conventional loading experiments, and can be extended to analyze sedimentation data for both large and small macromolecules in order to define shape, heterogeneity, and state of association.     

CB1 cannabinoid receptor: cellular regulation and distribution in N18TG2 neuroblastoma cells

In order to characterize cellular regulation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors, synthesis and turnover studies were performed. Metabolic labeling of N18TG2 cells with 35S-labeled amino acids was followed by immunoprecipitation from cell lysates using an affinity-purified antibody generated to the N-terminal 14-amino-acid segment of the CB1 receptor. During a 2 h labeling period, CB1 receptors were rapidly and constitutively synthesized (rate: 0.86%/min). The majority of newly synthesized CB1 cannabinoid receptors (70%) was degraded rapidly by a first-order process (t1/2=4.8 h). The remaining nascent receptors, which were degraded slowly (t1/2>24 h), may represent the pool of potentially functional receptors. Trypsin treatment of intact confluent cells, designed to cleave the extracellular antibody recognition site, did not alter the recovery of metabolically labeled immunoprecipitated CB1 receptors. This suggests that a large percentage of newly synthesized receptors was inaccessible to the protease and is probably intracellular. Immunocytochemistry revealed CB1 cannabinoid immunoreactivity both intracellularly and on the cell surface. Subcellular membrane fractions exhibited receptor binding activity on plasma membranes and nuclear-associated membranes. Only low-affinity binding was seen in the chromatin fraction. An hypothesis has been developed to explain these results and form the basis for future studies.     

The amino acid composition of the proteinaceous component of guar gum (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus)

Guar gum, powdered endosperm from the seeds of the legume Cyamopsis tetragonolobus, is a galactomannan which contains 2.5-4.5% of a proteinaceous component. Data presented for 11 bulk commercial samples show that the most abundant amino acids are glycine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, serine and alanine, but that their relative proportions vary considerably. The proportions of other amino acids, e.g. histidine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, threonine, tyrosine and valine are remarkably constant. There appear to be some correlations between viscosity and the glycine, arginine and proline contents. Data for the amino acid compositions of several chemical derivatives of a medium-viscosity gum guar sample indicate that the proteinaceous component is retained but suffers variable modification. The amino acid profile for guar gum differs extensively from those for gum arabic and gum karaya; this provides a useful analytical supplement to sugar determinations for studies of admixtures of these hydrocolloids.     

Prolapse of the vaginal vault. Improved techniques for management of the abdominal approach or vaginal approach

A brief discussion of the history of techniques for the surgical management of prolapse of the vaginal vault is presented. The author's method for the abdominal procedure, sacral colpopexy, is presented together with a summary of twelve patients in whom it was used. The author's modification of the technique of the vaginal operation, "the anterior approach," is presented because it appears to make resection of the enterocele sac and identification of uterosacral ligaments easier and their utilization more effective.     

MODELING AND CONTROL OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES USING INTELLIGENT TECHNIQUES

This article will compare two different fuzzy-derived techniques for controlling small internal combustion engine and modeling fuel spray penetration in the cylinder of a diesel internal combustion engine. The first case study is implemented using conventional fuzzy-based paradigm, where human expertise and operator knowledge were used to select the parameters for the system. The second case study used an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), where automatic adjustment of the system parameters is affected by a neural networks based on prior knowledge. The ANFIS model was shown to achieve an improved accuracy compared to a pure fuzzy model, based on conveniently selected parameters. Future work is concentrating on the establishment of an improved neuro-fuzzy paradigm for adaptive, fast and accurate control of small internal combustion engines.