Separation of gamma-globulins from porcine plasma by reversed micellar extraction

Factors affecting the separation of gamma-globulins from porcine plasma using reversed micelles were screened based on a fractional factorial design. The optimal processing conditions for obtaining the maximum yield of gamma-globulins under various constraints of product purity were determined using response surface methodology (RSM) and nonlinear programming. Results showed that the pH and sodium chloride concentration of the aqueous phase, and the concentration of surfactant (bis-(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate sodium salt, AOT) of the organic phase were the most important factors affecting the extraction performance. An eighty-five percent product purity and ninety-seven percent yield were obtained under the extraction conditions of 400 mM NaCl, 350 mM AOT, and pH 7.0. The extract exhibited immunological reactivity against anti-pig IgG.     

In vitro system for differentiating pluripotent neural crest cells into smooth muscle cells

The change in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) from a differentiated to a dedifferentiated state is the critical phenotypic response that promotes occlusive arteriosclerotic disease. Despite its importance, research into molecular mechanisms regulating smooth muscle differentiation has been hindered by the lack of an in vitro cell differentiation system. We identified culture conditions that promote efficient differentiation of Monc-1 pluripotent neural crest cells into SMC. Exclusive Monc-1 to SMC differentiation was indicated by cellular morphology and time-dependent induction of the SMC markers smooth muscle alpha-actin, smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, calponin, SM22alpha, and APEG-1. The activity of the SM22alpha promoter was low in Monc-1 cells. Differentiation of these cells into SMC caused a 20-30-fold increase in the activity of the wild-type SM22alpha promoter and that of a hybrid promoter containing three copies of the CArG element. By gel mobility shift analysis, we identified new DNA-protein complexes in nuclear extracts prepared from differentiated Monc-1 cells. One of the new complexes contained serum response factor. This Monc-1 to SMC model should facilitate the identification of nodal regulators of smooth muscle development and differentiation.     

Clinical evidence framework for Bayesian networks

There is poor uptake of prognostic decision support models by clinicians regardless of their accuracy. There is evidence that this results from doubts about the basis of the model as the evidence behind clinical models is often not clear to anyone other than their developers. In this paper, we propose a framework for representing the evidence-base of a Bayesian network (BN) decision support model. The aim of this evidence framework is to be able to present all the clinical evidence alongside the BN itself. The evidence framework is capable of presenting supporting and conflicting evidence, and evidence associated with relevant but excluded factors. It also allows the completeness of the evidence to be queried. We illustrate this framework using a BN that has been previously developed to predict acute traumatic coagulopathy, a potentially fatal disorder of blood clotting, at early stages of trauma care.     

On Weldon's ARQ Strategy

In order to maximize the throughput in a new ARQ strategy proposed by Weldon, a number of parameters need to be selected optimally. An efficient method for choosing these parameters is obtained by exploiting the form of a simplified expression for the throughput. It is also shown that for noisy, long delay channels, the throughput of the Weldon scheme can be increased by sending multiple copies of each new data block.     

Aortic carboxypeptidase-like protein, a novel protein with discoidin and carboxypeptidase-like domains, is up-regulated during vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation

Phenotypic modulation of vascular smooth muscle cells plays an important role in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. In a screen of proteins expressed in human aortic smooth muscle cells, we identified a novel gene product designated aortic carboxypeptidase-like protein (ACLP). The approximately 4-kilobase human cDNA and its mouse homologue encode 1158 and 1128 amino acid proteins, respectively, that are 85% identical. ACLP is a nonnuclear protein that contains a signal peptide, a lysine- and proline-rich 11-amino acid repeating motif, a discoidin-like domain, and a C-terminal domain with 39% identity to carboxypeptidase E. By Western blot analysis and in situ hybridization, we detected abundant ACLP expression in the adult aorta. ACLP was expressed predominantly in the smooth muscle cells of the adult mouse aorta but not in the adventitia or in several other tissues. In cultured mouse aortic smooth muscle cells, ACLP mRNA and protein were up-regulated 2-3-fold after serum starvation. Using a recently developed neural crest cell to smooth muscle cell in vitro differentiation system, we found that ACLP mRNA and protein were not expressed in neural crest cells but were up-regulated dramatically with the differentiation of these cells. These results indicate that ACLP may play a role in differentiated vascular smooth muscle cells.