Glycosylation in Indolent,Significant and Aggressive Prostate Cancer by Automated High-Throughput N-Glycan Profiling

The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health-care concern worldwide. This cancer can manifest itself in many distinct forms and the transition from clinically indolent PCa to the more invasive aggressive form remains poorly understood. It is now universally accepted that glycan expression patterns change with the cellular modifications that accompany the onset of tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate if differential glycosylation patterns could distinguish between indolent, significant, and aggressive PCa. Whole serum N-glycan profiling was carried out on 117 prostate cancer patients’ serum using our automated, high-throughput analysis platform for glycan-profiling which utilizes ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to obtain high resolution separation of N-linked glycans released from the serum glycoproteins. We observed increases in hybrid, oligomannose, and biantennary digalactosylated monosialylated glycans (M5A1G1S1, M8, and A2G2S1), bisecting glycans (A2B, A2(6)BG1) and monoantennary glycans (A1), and decreases in triantennary trigalactosylated trisialylated glycans with and without core fucose (A3G3S3 and FA3G3S3) with PCa progression from indolent through significant and aggressive disease. These changes give us an insight into the disease pathogenesis and identify potential biomarkers for monitoring the PCa progression, however these need further confirmation studies.     

A four-channel 3.125-Gb/s/ch CMOS serial-link transceiver with a mixed-mode adaptive equalizer

This work presents a quad-channel serial-link transceiver providing a maximum full duplex raw data rate of 12.5Gb/s for a single 10-Gbit eXtended Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI) in a standard 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. To achieve low bit-error rate (BER) and high-speed operation, a mixed-mode least-mean-square (LMS) adaptive equalizer and a low-jitter delay-immune clock data recovery (CDR) circuit are used. The transceiver achieves BER lower than <4.5/spl times/10/sup -15/ while its transmitted data and recovered clock have a low jitter of 46 and 64 ps in peak-to-peak, respectively. The chip consumes 178 mW per each channel at 3.125-Gb/s/ch full duplex (TX/RX simultaneous) data rate from 1.8-V power supply.     

High Throughput Primer Walking of cDNA Clones

Primer walking of cloned DNA is a standard research tool. It has been used in the past to determine the sequence of individual clones of interest. With the expansion of DNA sequencing capacity the need to be able to walk larger numbers of clones has become necessary. Our laboratory is a mid-sized genomics facility. In conjunction with the Advanced Biomedical Computing Center (ABCC) we have developed methods for automating the primer selection, DNA sequencing, contig assembly and sequence analysis for clones arrayed in microtiter format. This approach has allowed us to walk 475 clones (five microtiter plates) selected from a cDNA library.     

Calorimetric output power measurements on a CW 20 kW 7.16 GHzmicrowave transmitter

A calorimetric measurement technique developed for NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) transmitters that does not require data on the coolant's thermal parameters is described. Calibration of the measurement system is achieved by measuring the DC input power to the klystron and relating coolant temperature increase to this known power dissipation. Agreement between calorimetric and electrical measurements of total system power was good, the difference being less than 2%. The operation of the system was not greatly affected by the composition of the coolant, which was varied from pure water to 40% ethylene glycol by mass. Good accuracy was also shown at output power levels, which varied over a 3.6:1 range     

Sensitivity analysis of lossy coupled transmission lines

An analysis method, based on the numerical inversion of the Laplace transform, is described for the evaluation of the time domain sensitivity of networks that include lossy coupled transmission lines. The sensitivity can be calculated with respect to network components and parameters of the transmission lines. Sensitivity analysis is useful for waveform shaping and optimization. Examples and comparisons with sensitivity determined by perturbation are presented     

Electrode pitting in resistance spot welding of aluminum alloy 5182

Electrode pitting was investigated in resistance spot welding of 1.5-mm-thick sheet aluminum alloy 5182 using a medium-frequency direct-current welder and electrodes with a tip face curvature radius of 50 mm and tip face diameter of 10 mm. Detailed investigation of the metallurgical interactions between the copper electrode and aluminum alloy sheet was carried out using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that electrode degradation, which eventually leads to weld failure, proceeded in four basic steps: aluminum pickup, electrode alloying with aluminum, electrode tip face pitting, and cavitation. Since pitting and cavitation result from Al pickup and alloying, periodic electrode cleaning could extend electrode tip life by limiting the buildup of Al on the tip face. This work is part of the effort to improve electrode tip life in resistance spot welding of aluminum alloys for automotive applications.     

Validation of a limited sampling model to determine etoposide area under the curve

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To validate the utility of a previously reported 3-point limited sampling model (LSM) for determining etoposide area under the curve to infinity (AUC(infinity)). DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from two clinical trials of etoposide. SETTING: University medical center clinical research center. PATIENTS: Thirty-four patients with different malignancies. INTERVENTIONS: Etoposide was administered as a 2-hour infusion to 34 patients. Serial plasma samples were drawn over 24 hours after the infusion and analyzed for etoposide by high-performance liquid chromatography. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The 3-point LSM AUC was compared with a 14-point actual AUC calculated by the linear trapezoidal rule. Actual and predicted AUC(infinity) by the LSM were highly correlated (r=0.97, p<0.0001). The LSM predictions had a mean absolute error of 10.9% (95% CI -14.1, -5.3) and a mean error of -9.7% (95% CI 6.9, 14.9). Nine patients with poor AUC(infinity) estimations by the LSM (error > 12%) tended to have abnormally low or high peak concentrations. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the development of more robust LSM using other techniques, such as pharmacostatistical models, that can accommodate a greater degree of pharmacokinetic variability.     

Electrochemical studies of octadecanethiol and octanethiol films on variable surface area mercury sessile drops

Octadecanethiol (ODT) and octanethiol (OT) films at the mercury-electrolyte interface are examined using cyclic voltammetry and differential capacitance measurements at a single frequency. A mercury flow-system is used to alter the volume, and therefore, the surface area and surface pressure of the mercury electrode. Manipulation of the mercury electrode's volume enables the introduction and removal of defects in the insulating thiol films. OT and ODT film behavior are contrasted under conditions of expansion and contraction. ODT forms extremely impermeable layers that allow 1000 time less redox probe current than seen on uncoated drops. Expansion of the mercury electrode to increase the electrode surface area produces defects and pinholes in the thiol film. These defects are almost completely removed when the drop is compressed back to its initial surface area. OT also forms insulating films on mercury sessile drops, however these films contain more defects than ODT films. While expansion of an OT-coated mercury drop increases redox probe current, recompression of the drop does not return the film to its initial condition. Pinholes and defects in the OT and ODT films can also be produced by cycling to negative potentials, which produce abrupt stripping peaks.     

Implementation of wide-field integration of optic flow for autonomous quadrotor navigation

Insects are capable of robust visual navigation in complex environments using efficient information extraction and processing approaches. This paper presents an implementation of insect inspired visual navigation that uses spatial decompositions of the instantaneous optic flow to extract local proximity information. The approach is demonstrated in a corridor environment on an autonomous quadrotor micro-air-vehicle (MAV) where all the sensing and processing, including altitude, attitude, and outer loop control is performed on-board. The resulting methodology has the advantages of computation speed and simplicity, hence are consistent with the stringent size, weight, and power requirements of MAVs.