2-Phenyloxazole-4-carboxamide as a Scaffold for Selective Inhibition of Human Monoamine Oxidase B

A series of 2-phenyloxazoles bearing an amide group at position 4 were designed and synthesized for evaluation as potential inhibitors of human recombinant monoamine oxidases (hrMAOs). Results of kinetics experiments demonstrated that all compounds behave as competitive MAO inhibitors, with good selectivity toward the MAO-B isoform. The most potent and selective derivatives are characterized by inhibition constant (K_i) values in the sub-micromolar range and a good selectivity index (K_{i MAO-A}/K_{i MAO-B}>50). Some derivatives were also found to be able to inhibit MAO activity in nerve growth factor (NGF)-differentiated PC12 cells, taken as a model of neuronal cells. In particular, 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-N-phenyloxazole-4-carboxamide (compound 4 a ) may be a promising new scaffold, exerting the highest selectivity and inhibitory effect toward MAOs in NGF-differentiated PC12 cell lysates, without compromising cell viability. Molecular docking analysis allowed a rationalization of the experimentally observed binding affinity and selectivity.     

IBM's Linux watch, the challenge of miniaturization

Nearly four years in development, the IBM Linux watch contains a complete computer system that runs Linux, displays X11 graphics, and has wireless connectivity. The system fits in a case that could pass as a slightly unusual analog timepiece with a somewhat odd shape and an extraordinarily brilliant face. The developers have created two versions of the watch, one with an organic light-emitting diode display and the other with a liquid crystal display. Still considered a research prototype, the watch already runs some personal information management applications, and it can communicate with PCs, PDAs, and other wireless-enabled devices, viewing condensed e-mail and directly receiving pager-like messages. Eventually, users will be able to access various Internet-based services, such as up-to-the-minute information about weather, traffic conditions, the stock market, and sports     

Variable-gain up-converter with current reuse for 5-GHz WLAN applications

A variable-gain up-conversion mixer for 5-GHz WLAN applications is presented, whose input stage is based on a novel variable gain transconductor. The proposed topology features reduced power consumption by exploiting dc current reuse for mixer biasing. Moreover, a new low-consumption control circuit is introduced, which achieves a temperature-stable and linear-in-dB characteristic, providing a 40-dB dynamic range within ±1 dB gain error.     

Macrophage-derived cytokines in the follicular fluids of women with infertility due to immunological causes. Elevated levels of interleukin 6 and low levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor

Myoclonus of the middle ear is a rare condition characterized by abnormal repetitive muscle contractions of the tympanic cavity. In this paper we describe what we believe is the first reported case of continuous high-frequency objective tinnitus caused by middle ear myoclonus. During exploratory tympanomastoidectomy it was hypothesized that a small dural arteriovenous malformation not identified on previous tests was the cause of the tinnitus. However, complete disappearance of the tinnitus during administration of curare for anesthesia led us to believe that the tinnitus might have been caused by myoclonus of the middle ear. Sectioning of the stapedius and tensor tympani tendons rendered the patient asymptomatic and confirmed the diagnosis of middle ear myoclonus. At follow-up of one year, the patient's quality of life had improved substantially; the tinnitus did not recur and she no longer had vertigo.     

An improved version of ISICS: A program for calculating K-, L- and M-shell cross sections from PWBA and ECPSSR theory using a personal computer

The formatting of the M-shell atomic parameters imbedded in file XCSC.H in ISICS has been corrected. The problem only affected cross section calculations for Uranium and heavier elements. The corrected version of ISICS has been re-compiled and is now available.

New version program summary

Program title: ISICSCatalogue identifier: ADDS_v3_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADDS_v3_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 4645No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 106 731Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: C++Computer: 80486 or higher-level PCsOperating system: WINDOWS 98 through WINDOWS XPClassification: 16.7Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: Ionization and X-ray production cross section calculations for ion-atom collisions.Solution method: Numerical integration of form factor using a logarithmic transform and Gaussian quadrature, plus exact integration limits.Reasons for new version: The formatting of the M-shell atomic parameters involving cross section calculations for Uranium and heavier elements needed to be corrected.Summary of revisions: The affected file XCSC.H in ISICS has been corrected and ISICS has been recompiled.Restrictions: The consumed CPU time increases with the atomic shell (K, L, M), but execution is still very fast.Running time: This depends on which shell and the number of different energies to be used in the calculation. For example, to calculate K-shell cross sections for protons striking carbon for 19 different proton energies it took less than 10 s; to calculate M-shell cross sections for protons on gold for 21 proton energies it took 4.2 min.     

Incremental Linear Discriminant Analysis Using Sufficient Spanning Sets and Its Applications

This paper presents an incremental learning solution for Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and its applications to object recognition problems. We apply the sufficient spanning set approximation in three steps i.e. update for the total scatter matrix, between-class scatter matrix and the projected data matrix, which leads an online solution which closely agrees with the batch solution in accuracy while significantly reducing the computational complexity. The algorithm yields an efficient solution to incremental LDA even when the number of classes as well as the set size is large. The incremental LDA method has been also shown useful for semi-supervised online learning. Label propagation is done by integrating the incremental LDA into an EM framework. The method has been demonstrated in the task of merging large datasets which were collected during MPEG standardization for face image retrieval, face authentication using the BANCA dataset, and object categorisation using the Caltech101 dataset.     

ISICS2011, an updated version of ISICS: A program for calculation K-, L-, and M-shell cross sections from PWBA and ECPSSR theories using a personal computer

In this new version of ISICS, called ISICS2011, a few omissions and incorrect entries in the built-in file of electron binding energies have been corrected; operational situations leading to un-physical behavior have been identified and flagged.

New version program summary

Program title: ISICS2011Catalogue identifier: ADDS_v5_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADDS_v5_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen?s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 6011No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 130 587Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: CComputer: 80486 or higher-level PCsOperating system: WINDOWS XP and all earlier operating systemsClassification: 16.7Catalogue identifier of previous version: ADDS_v4_0Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Commun. 180 (2009) 1716.Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: Ionization and X-ray production cross section calculations for ion–atom collisions.Solution method: Numerical integration of form factor using a logarithmic transform and Gaussian quadrature, plus exact integration limits.Reasons for new version: General need for higher precision in output format for projectile energies; some built-in binding energies needed correcting; some anomalous results occur due to faulty read-in data or calculated parameters becoming un-physical; erroneous calculations could result for the L and M shells when restricted K-shell options are inadvertently chosen; to achieve general compatibility with ISICSoo, a companion C++ version that is portable to Linux and MacOS platforms, has been submitted for publication in the CPC Program Library approximately at the same time as this present new standalone version of ISICS [1].Summary of revisions: The format field for projectile energies in the output has been expanded from two to four decimal places in order to distinguish between closely spaced energy values. There were a few entries in the executable binding energy file that needed correcting; K shell of Eu, M shells of Zn, M1 shell of Kr. The corrected values were also entered in the ENERGY.DAT file. In addition, an alternate data file of binding energies is included, called ENERGY_GW.DAT, which is more up-to-date [2]. Likewise, an alternate atomic parameters data file is now included, called FLOURE_JC.DAT, which is more up-to-date [3] fluorescence yields for the K and L shells and Coster–Kronig parameters for the L shell. Both data files can be read in using the -f usage option. To do this, the original energy file should be renamed and saved (e.g., ENERGY_BB.DAT) and the new file (ENERGY_GW.DAT ) should be duplicated as ENERGY.DAT to be read in using the -f option. Similarly for reading in an alternate FLOURE.DAT file. As with previous versions, the user can also simply input different values of any input quantity by invoking the “specify your own parameters” option from the main menu. You can also use this option to simply check the values of the built-in values of the parameters. If it still happens that a zero binding energy for a particular sub-shell is read in, the program will not completely abort, but will calculate results for the other sub-shells while setting the affected sub-shell output to zero. In calculating the Coulomb deflection factor, if the quantity inside the radical sign of the parameter zs becomes zero or negative, to prevent the program from aborting, the PWBA cross sections are still calculated while the ECPSSR cross sections are set to zero. This situation can happen for very low energy collisions, such as were noticed for helium ions on copper at energies of E?11.2 keV. It was observed during the engineering of ISICSoo [1] that erroneous calculations could result for the L- and M-shell cases when restricted K-shell R or HSR scaling options were inappropriately chosen. The program has now been fixed so that these inappropriate options are ignored for the L and M shells. In the previous versions, the usage for inputting a batch data file was incorrectly stated in the Users Manual as -Bxxx; the correct designation is -Fxxx, or alternatively, -Ixxx, as indicated on the usage screen in running the program.A revised Users Manual is also available.Restrictions: The consumed CPU time increases with the atomic shell (K, L, M), but execution is still very fast.Running time: This depends on which shell and the number of different energies to be used in the calculation. The running time is not significantly changed from the previous version.References:

• [1] 

  M. Batic, M.G. Pia, S. Cipolla, Comput. Phys. Commun. (2011), submitted for publication.

• [2] 

  http://www.jlab.org/~gwyn/ebindene.html.

• [3] 

  J. Campbell, At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 85 (2003) 291.

     

An Implicit Multistage Integration Method Including Projection for the Numerical Simulation of Constrained Multibody Systems

To be efficient, the simulation of multibody system dynamics requires fast and robust numerical algorithms for the time integration of the motion equations usually described by Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs). Firstly, multistep schemes especially built up for second-order differential equations are developed. Some of them exhibit superior accuracy and stability properties than standard schemes for first-order equations. However, if unconditional stability is required, one must be satisfied with second-order accurate methods, like one-step schemes from the Newmark family.Multistage methods for which high accuracy is not contradictory with stringent stability requirements are then addressed. More precisely, a two-stage, third-order accurate Implicit Runge–Kutta (IRK) method which possesses the desirable properties of unconditional stability combined with high-frequency dissipation is proposed.Projection methods which correct the integrated estimates of positions, velocities and accelerations are suggested to keep the constraint equations satisfied during the numerical integration. The resulting time integration algorithm can be easily implemented in existing incremental/iterative codes. Numerical results indicate that this approach compares favourably with classical methods.     

Using Bounded Diameter Minimum Spanning Trees to Build Dense Active Appearance Models

We present a method for producing dense active appearance models (AAMs), suitable for video-realistic synthesis. To this end we estimate a joint alignment of all training images using a set of pairwise registrations and ensure that these pairwise registrations are only calculated between similar images. This is achieved by defining a graph on the image set whose edge weights correspond to registration errors and computing a bounded diameter minimum spanning tree. Dense optical flow is used to compute pairwise registration and a flow refinement method to align small scale texture is introduced. Further, given the registration of training images, vertices are added to the AAM to minimise the error between the observed flow fields and the flow fields interpolated between the AAM mesh points. We demonstrate a significant improvement in model compactness.