Long-term effect of perinatal and postnatal asphyxia on developing human auditory brainstem responses: peripheral hearing loss

Peripheral hearing was assessed by examining brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER) in children who suffered perinatal or postnatal asphyxia, particularly in those with residual neurodevelopmental deficits, to investigate the long-term effect of asphyxia on the developing auditory sensitivity. The BAER data were collected at least 6 months after the episode of asphyxia. Of the children who suffered perinatal asphyxia, hearing loss was found more frequently in those who exhibited residual neurodevelopmental deficits (17.1%) than in those who did not (6.3%), but this difference did not reach statistical significance. This implied that the long-term effect of perinatal asphyxia on the peripheral auditory system and its effect on the central nervous system may be relatively discrete or not closely correlated. The occurrence of hearing loss did not appear to be closely related to the degree of perinatal asphyxia, although hearing loss occurred more frequently in the children after severe asphyxia compared to those after mild asphyxia. There was no evidence for permanent hearing loss in the children who survived severe, prolonged postnatal asphyxia and exhibited residual neurodevelopmental deficits. These findings suggest that a critical period of particular sensitivity to the effect of hypoxia may exist during the development of the human peripheral auditory system. This period may range from some time prenatally to some time shortly after birth, probably the third postnatal month. After that, hypoxia is unlikely to lead to permanent hearing loss.     

Arginine 206 of the C5a receptor is critical for ligand recognition and receptor activation by C-terminal hexapeptide analogs

C5a is a 74-amino-acid glycoprotein whose receptor is a member of the rhodopsin superfamily. While antagonists have been generated to many of these receptors, similar efforts directed at family members whose natural ligands are proteins have met with little success. The recent development of hexapeptide analogs of C5a has allowed us to begin elucidation of the molecular events that lead to activation by combining a structure/activity study of the ligand with receptor mutagenesis. Removal of the hexapeptide's C-terminal arginine reduces affinity by 100-fold and eliminates the ability of the ligand to activate the receptor. Both the guanidino side chain and the free carboxyl of the arginine participate in the interaction. The guanidino group makes the energy-yielding contact with the receptor, while the free carboxylate negates "electrostatic" interference with Arg-206 of the receptor. It is the apparent movement Arg-206 induced by this set of interactions that is responsible for activation, since conversion of Arg-206 to alanine eliminates the agonist activity of the hexapeptides. Surprisingly, activation is a nearly energy-neutral event and may reflect the binding process rather than the final resting site of the ligand.     

The Linear Thermal Expansion of Bulk Nanocrystalline Ingot Iron from Liquid Nitrogen to 300 K

The linear thermal expansions (LTE) of bulk nanocrystalline ingot iron (BNII) at six directions on rolling plane and conventional polycrystalline ingot iron (CPII) at one direction were measured from liquid nitrogen temperature to 300 K. Although the volume fraction of grain boundary and residual strain of BNII are larger than those of CPII, LTE of BNII at the six measurement directions were less than those of CPII. This phenomenon could be explained with Morse potential function and the crystalline structure of metals. Our LTE results ruled out that the grain boundary and residual strain of BNII did much contribution to its thermal expansion. The higher interaction potential energy of atoms, the less partial derivative of interaction potential energy with respect to temperature T and the porosity free at the grain boundary of BNII resulted in less LTE in comparison with CPII from liquid nitrogen temperature to 300 K. The higher LTE of many bulk nanocrystalline materials resulted from the porosity at their grain boundaries. However, many authors attributed the higher LTE of many nanocrystalline metal materials to their higher volume fraction of grain boundaries.     

Inline electron holography and VEELS for the measurement of strain in ternary and quaternary (In,Al,Ga)N alloyed thin films and its effect on bandgap energy

We present the use of (1) dark‐field inline electron holography for measuring the structural strain, and indirectly obtaining the composition, in a wurtzite, 4‐nm‐thick InAlGaN epilayer on a AlN/GaN/AlN/GaN multinano‐layer heterosystem, and (2) valence electron energy‐loss spectroscopy to study the bandgap value of five different, also hexagonal, 20–50‐nm‐thick InAlGaN layers. The measured strain values were almost identical to the ones obtained by other techniques for similarly grown materials. We found that the biaxial strain in the III‐N alloys lowers the bandgap energy as compared to the value calculated with different known expressions and bowing parameters for unstrained layers. By contrast, calculated and experimental values agreed in the case of lattice‐matched (almost unstrained) heterostructures.     

Immunoassayable beta-endorphin level in the plasma and CSF of heroin addicted and normal subjects before and after electroacupuncture

The present study was undertaken to evaluate if plasma or CSF beta-endorphin level can be induced to rise during the treatment of heroin addiction by electroacupuncture. Based on the examination of 30 addicts, we obtained no evidence indicating an increase of beta-endorphin level in either the plasma or the CSF after 30 min of acupuncture. In spite of this, the majority of the addicts experienced a reduction of withdrawal symptoms during treatment. Since electroacupuncture may only induce a highly localized secretion of beta-endorphin in the brain, our results cannot unequivocally exclude the possibility that this peptide is involved in mediating the action of acupuncture.     

Identification of 130 kDa cell surface LDL-binding protein from smooth muscle cells as a partially processed T-cadherin precursor

Atypical cell surface lipoprotein-binding proteins of 105 kDa and 130 kDa are present in membranes of vascular smooth muscle cells. We recently identified the 105 kDa protein from human aortic media as T-cadherin, an unusual glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored member of the cadherin family of cell adhesion proteins. The goal of the present study was to determine the identity of 130 kDa lipoprotein-binding protein of smooth muscle cells. We applied different approaches that included protein sequencing of purified protein from human aortic media, the use of human T-cadherin peptide-specific antisera, and enzymatic treatment of cultured cells with trypsin and GPI-specific phospholipase C. Our results indicate that the 130 kDa protein is a partially processed form of T-cadherin which is attached to the membrane surface of smooth muscle cells via a GPI anchor and contains uncleaved N-terminal propeptide sequence. Our data disclose that, in contrast to classical cadherins, T-cadherin is expressed on the cell surface in both its precursor (130 kDa) and mature (105 kDa) forms.     

Multifactorial analysis of lung cancer dose-response relationships for workers at the Mayak nuclear enterprise

Dose-response relationships for alpha-radiation-induced lung cancers (adenocarcinoma, squamous carcinoma and small cell carcinoma) were developed by multifactorial analysis using data for Mayak nuclear enterprise workers chronically exposed by inhalation to 239Pu. The three most important lung cancer risk factors (smoking, plutonium incorporation, and external gamma irradiation), out of six factors previously identified, were used. Relative risks (odds ratios) were determined for 500 nuclear enterprise workers (162 cancer cases, 338 control) for different dose levels using a case-control study design and logistic regression. A threshold at about 3.7 kBq or 0.80 Gy was discovered for incorporated plutonium, which is satisfactorily described by linear-quadratic and quadratic models. Excess relative risk was 0.020 kBq(-2) and 0.97 Gy(-2). This quadratic function was mainly due to adenocarcinoma. A trend for decreasing risk was noted for the lowest levels of plutonium incorporation, near permissible level. No clear-cut dose-response relationship for lung cancer induction by chronic external gamma irradiation was obtained. Lung cancer induction by cigarette smoking had a linear dependence: smoking of one pack of papiroses (a type of Russian cigarette) per day for 5 y increases the lung cancer risk twofold. The effect was most clearly manifested for squamous-cell carcinoma.     

Integrating Web-based technology into distance education for nurses in China: computer and Internet access and attitudes

To increase continuing education accessibility, nurses around the world are turning to Web-based instruction. However, for Internet education to be successful, particularly in developing countries, nurses must have access to computers and the Internet as well as positive attitudes toward this form of learning. As part of a distance education project for nurses of the Tianjin Municipality in China, a survey of nurses was conducted to examine their sources of professional knowledge as well as their computer and Internet access and attitudes. The attitudes of the nurses were generally positive, and there was evidence of rapidly increasing use of and access to computers and the Internet. This article reports the results of that survey and their implications for Web-based teaching of Chinese nurses.