Conformational and topological requirements of cell-permeable peptide function

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography were used to study the size and metabolic rate of the caudate and the putamen in 18 patients with schizophrenia (n=16) or schizo-affective disorder (n=2) and 24 age- and sex-matched control subjects. METHODS: The patients were either never medicated (n=7) or drug free (n=11) for a median of 3 weeks. During uptake of fludeoxyglucose F 18, all patients performed a serial verbal learning test. Positron emission tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scans were coregistered, and the caudate and the putamen were traced on the magnetic resonance image. RESULTS: The striatum had a significantly lower relative metabolic rate in schizophrenics than in controls. Never-medicated patients had lower metabolic rates in the right putamen (ventral part of the dorsal striatum) than previously medicated patients. The caudate was significantly smaller in never-medicated patients than in controls and largest in previously medicated patients. Patients with higher relative metabolic rates in the putamen scored higher on the Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are consistent with reports of striatal enlargement in previously medicated patients and size increases after neuroleptic treatment. Never-medicated patients, in contrast, had ventral striatal structures that were smaller and less active than those observed in controls and previously medicated patients.     

Filariasis and erisipela in Santo Domingo

Protein complexes present different degrees of stability. We have previously described a glycoprotein from Bacillus thuringiensis that appeared as a multimer unable to be dissociated by the usual SDS-containing sample buffers of pH 6.8. In order to dissociate the complex, a SDS-containing sample buffer of pH 9 was described. In the present report three additional protein complexes with different degrees of stability and the effect of that dissociating sample buffer are described. The study of SDS critical micellar concentration values as a function of pH explains the improvement of dissociating properties at pH 9.     

Fasciola hepatica: partial characterization of circulating antigens

Antigens present in sera from Fasciola hepatica-infected goats were partially characterized by means of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of immunoprecipitates obtained by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. Agar containing the 2 immunoprecipitin lines, agar containing no precipitin lines, a crude extract of F. hepatica, and normal rabbit IgG were assayed. The electrophoretic pattern of 1 precipitin line showed, apart from the light and heavy chains of IgG and other faint bands, 2 prominent polypeptides of about 70 and 85 kDa. The other precipitin line showed a similar pattern, but with the 70-kDa band absent.     

Generalised impedance boundary conditions for EM scatteringproblems

Generalised impedance boundary conditions (GIBC) are derived for a planar, homogeneous, magnetic dielectric slab grounded by a perfect electric conducting plane. These boundary conditions, which are expressed in terms of linear differential operators of infinite order, reduce to the Weinstein boundary conditions in the limiting case of small thickness of the dielectric slab     

Electromagnetic diffraction of an obliquely incident plane wavefield by a wedge with impedance faces

A uniform asymptotic solution is presented for the electromagnetic diffraction by a wedge with impedance faces and with included angles equal to 0 (half-plane), π/2 (right-angled wedge), π (two-part plane) and 3π/2 (right-angled wedge). The incident field is a plane wave of arbitrary polarization, obliquely incident to the axis of the wedge. The formal solution, which is expressed in terms of an integral, was obtained by the generalized reflection method. A careful study of the singularities of the integrand is made before the asymptotic evaluation of the integral is carried out. The asymptotic evaluation of the integral is performed taking into account the presence of the surface wave poles in addition to the geometrical optics poles near the saddle points. This results in a uniform solution which is continuous acros the shadow boundaries of the geometrical optics fields as well as the surface wave fields     

Cross-reactivity of anti-10kD heat shock protein antibodies in leprosy and tuberculosis patients

The response to recombinant 10-kD heat shock protein (HSP) of Mycobacterium leprae (rML10) was evaluated by indirect ELISA in sera from leprosy patients, household contacts, tuberculosis patients and healthy controls in a leprosy-endemic area in the North East of Argentina. Some technical parameters were analyzed: within-assay and between-assay variability, dose-response curves and detectability indexes (specificity and sensitivity) of ELISA applied to measure anti-10 kDa antibodies. High levels of these antibodies have already been reported in positive bacilloscopy patients; herein we have also demonstrated that tuberculosis patients sera cross-react with this M. leprae antigen. This test seems to have a low sensitivity and specificity for leprosy detection; it confirms that antibodies against highly conserved HSP antigens are important in the polyclonal response against mycobacterial epitopes in leprosy as well as in tuberculosis.     

Cover Image,Volume 99, Issue 13

The cover image is based on the Research Article Study of the physical and chemical changes during the maturation of three cocoa clones, EET8, CCN51, and ICS60 by Andrés F Cubillos Bojacá et al., DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.9882 . Cover image ©AGROSAVIA Images.

     

A novel ordered weighted averaging weight determination based on ordinal dispersion

One of the most common techniques to find the adequate weights in ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators is based on the orness concept, where the weights are determined by maximizing the entropy (variation) for a fixed orness value. But such an entropy represents a dispersion measure for nominal variables, while weights in an OWA operator are essentially ordinal rather than nominal. Hence, in this paper, we propose a novel way to determine OWA weights based upon ordinal dispersion measures instead of an standard entropy measure. From this approach, we find an explicit formula for the weights, and we illustrate differences by means some multicriteria decision-making examples.     

Quantum‐Tunneling Metal‐Insulator‐Metal Diodes Made by Rapid Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition

A quantum‐tunneling metal‐insulator‐metal (MIM) diode is fabricated by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (AP‐CVD) for the first time. This scalable method is used to produce MIM diodes with high‐quality, pinhole‐free Al₂O₃ films more rapidly than by conventional vacuum‐based approaches. This work demonstrates that clean room fabrication is not a prerequisite for quantum‐enabled devices. In fact, the MIM diodes fabricated by AP‐CVD show a lower effective barrier height (2.20 eV) at the electrode–insulator interface than those fabricated by conventional plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition (2.80 eV), resulting in a lower turn on voltage of 1.4 V, lower zero‐bias resistance, and better asymmetry of 107.     

Prenatal diagnosis. II. Importance of ultrasonographic markers in prenatal diagnosis of chromosome abnormalities]

The Medical Genetic Unit of the University of Zulia (MGUUZ) has developed a Prenatal Diagnosis Program (PDP) since January-1993, in which Genetic Risk Factors are determined in couples who request prenatal genetic counseling. In this program, different prenatal diagnostic procedures are performed to detect congenital defects during intrauterine life. One of these procedures is the Fetal Sonogram (FS). FS is a non invasive technique which permits the prenatal diagnosis of many genetic dysmorphic syndromes. Through the search of abnormal specific characteristics in the fetus, chromosomopathies may be suspected. These findings are named "Echosonographic Markers of Chromosomal Abnormalities" (EMCA). During three years (January-1993 to December-1996), patients attended in the PDP included 321 pregnant women in which 312 FS were performed. Abnormal outcomes were 22 (17 with isolated congenital malformations and 5 with EMCA). Only one fetus with chromosome abnormality (46,XX21q-) could not be detected by FS. The goals of this paper are: 1) to report 5 patients with sonographic markers suggestive of chromosomal abnormalities and 2) to show the FS usefulness in prenatal diagnosis of chromosompathies. We conclude that, in the search of the EMCA the FS should be offered systematically to all pregnant women without recognizable genetic risk. They are the main group with optimal reproductive age and in consequence, with the possibility of having a relatively major number of conception outcomes with congenital defects, with or without chromosomic etiology. The majority of those defects can be detected by FS and could allow us to select the patients in which the use of an invasive prenatal diagnostic procedure could be justified.