Comparison of composition, enzyme activity and selected functional properties of potato proteins isolated from potato juice with two different expanded bed resins

Protein concentrates prepared by expanded bed adsorption (EBA) chromatography from industrial potato juice (PJ) were analysed for chemical composition, color, enzyme activities, thermal properties and selected functional properties (solubility and emulsifying stability). Two EBA multi-modal resins, MIMO I-45 and MIMO 1300 (UpFront Chromatography), were employed under various pH conditions resulting in four potato protein concentrates, A-D. Concentrate B contained an electrophoretically pure protease inhibitor fraction (20-21 kDa), whereas concentrate A, C and D contained both patatin (41 kDa) and protease inhibitors. The potato protein concentrates were explored for the presence of transitions from native to denatured states using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Concentrate C had lower heat of transition (ΔH) and T-onset than the other concentrates. The concentrate containing protease inhibitors exhibited the highest denaturation temperature and enthalpy. All concentrates differed significantly (P < 0.05) in color brightness, with concentrate B and D emerging as the brightest. The solubility of the concentrates was evaluated at pH 6 and pH 4.5. All concentrates had lower solubility at pH 4.5 than at pH 6 (70-80%). The stability of emulsions (1% protein, 20% oil, 0.08% xanthan gum) against creaming was analysed with a new method based on the Single electrode Capacitance Probe (SeCaP) technology. Small differences among concentrates were observed by the new SeCaP method.     

An Explicit Lower Bound for TSP with Distances One and Two

Abstract. We show that, for any ɛ>0 , it is NP-hard to approximate the asymmetric traveling salesman problem with distances one and two within 2805/2804-ɛ . For the special case where the distance function is constrained to be symmetric, we show a lower bound of 5381/5380-ɛ , for any ɛ>0 . While it was previously known that there exists some constant, strictly greater than one, such that it is NP-hard to approximate the traveling salesman problem with distances one and two within that constant, this result is a first step towards the establishment of a good bound. In our proof we develop a new gadget construction to reduce from systems of linear equations mod 2 with two unknowns in each equation and at most three occurrences of each variable. Compared with earlier reductions to the traveling salesman problem with distances one and two, ours reduces the number of cities to less than a tenth of what was previously necessary.     

Radiologic features of shoulder instability

Roentgenographic studies in a patient with shoulder instability generally identify the presence of a Hill-Sachs lesion, the presence of bony abnormalities of either the anterior or posterior rim, the presence or absence of fractures, and thick pathologic changes in the joint structure, which not only may provide insight into the diagnosis, but also may give the clinician insight into whether these pathologic changes are likely to be improved with operative and nonoperative treatment modalities. Clearly, the anteroposterior view, particularly with internal rotation, seems important in the diagnosis of the unstable shoulder. The West Point axillary view seems to be a useful one to identify the presence of glenoid rim problems. An additional view, such as the Stryker notch view, may identify the extent and presence of Hill-Sachs lesion when this may not be present on the other two views. Computed tomography arthrography, magnetic resonance imaging scan, and stress testing probably has limited applicability in the routine roentgenographic diagnosis of the unstable shoulder.     

Method for establishing and measuring in vivo forces in an anterior cruciate ligament composite graft: response to differing levels of load sharing in a goat model

In order to determine the appropriate load history for optimal remodeling of an anterior cruciate ligament graft, methods for establishing and measuring the graft force due to an external load could be set to a preselected value in in vivo are required. Our objectives with this study were to (a) develop a method in which the graft force due to an external load could be set to a preselected value in a living animal, (b) show that this force could be maintained after fixation, and (c) determine what happens to the forces after the animal has functioned for as long as 2 weeks postoperatively, when differing levels of load sharing between the segments had been set at surgery. The anterior cruciate ligament was reconstructed in 12 goats with use of a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft and a synthetic augmentation device. The forces in the graft segments were established, at the time of surgical fixation, with use of a force-setting technique. In five animals, the tendon segment was set to carry 90% of the total graft force; in the remaining seven animals, the augmentation segment was set to share 90% of the total graft force. Graft forces were measured, with the use of buckle transducers mounted extra-articularly over the anterior tibia, under a 67 N anterior tibial load at 60 degrees of knee flexion before and after fixation and at 2 weeks postoperatively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Simplified tight analysis of Johnson's algorithm

In their paper “Tight bound on Johnson's algorithm for maximum satisfiability” [J. Comput. System Sci. 58 (3) (1999) 622-640] Chen, Friesen and Zheng provided a tight bound on the approximation ratio of Johnson's algorithm for Maximum Satisfiability [J. Comput. System Sci. 9 (3) (1974) 256-278]. We give a simplified proof of their result and investigate to what extent it may be generalized to non-Boolean domains.     

Arthroscopic reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts with and without augmentation. A prospective randomised study

In 100 consecutive patients with chronic deficiency of the anterior cruciate ligament we reconstructed the ligament using a bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft either with or without a Kennedy ligament augmentation device. The patients had an aggressive rehabilitation programme supervised by two physiotherapists. They were followed prospectively for at least two years by one surgeon, and assessed after six months and at one and two years. No significant functional or clinical difference was found between the two groups and the stability of the knees did not deteriorate with time in either group. The addition of a Kennedy ligament augmentation device gave no better results than the bone-patellar tendon-bone technique alone.     

Parallel fiber-optic SCI links

Parallel fiber-optic links promise to be a key enabling technology for distributed computing, substantially increasing transmission distance and bandwidth. The drive to include more and more processors and I/O devices in parallel-processor complexes has created a need for box-to-box interconnection links capable of delivering bandwidth comparable to system backplanes. Point-to-point links overcome the speed and cost constraints of shared buses. However, copper-based point-to-point links can reliably carry high-speed data only a limited distance. Parallel fiber-optic links substantially increase transmission distance and surpass copper's bandwidth capability. Our research addresses the integration of parallel fiber-optic data links into system designs that require a high-bandwidth link over moderate distances. To demonstrate the feasibility of using parallel fiber-optic technology as a fundamental building block in large-scale commercial and parallel machines, we constructed a link testbed     

Platform‐independent code conversion within the C++ locale framework

This paper describes some of the author's experiences from a C++ implementation of a concordance program for texts in Old West Norse (also known as Old Icelandic) and Runic Swedish. Since the input to the program used a character repertoire that no standard one‐byte character encoding covers, it was natural to use Unicode to represent data both inside the program and in external files. Inside the program, each character was represented with C++ ‘wide characters’; the input and output was represented in UTF‐8. The author constructed C++ code conversion facets that convert data between those two representations during file I/O. This enabled him to successfully compile, and run, the concordance program on both Linux (Fedora Core 3 with gcc 3.4.2) and Windows XP (using Visual C++ .NET 2003). The only necessary change to the source when changing platform was isolated to the lines selecting which code conversion facet to use—all other pieces of code remained unchanged. In particular, the author could still use the standard C++ locale framework for collation and code conversion, in spite of the fact that the library‐provided code conversion facets had been replaced. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Explicit Lower Bound for TSP with Distances One and Two

We show that, for any ?>0 , it is NP-hard to approximate the asymmetric traveling salesman problem with distances one and two within 2805/2804-? . For the special case where the distance function is constrained to be symmetric, we show a lower bound of 5381/5380-? , for any ?>0 . While it was previously known that there exists some constant, strictly greater than one, such that it is NP-hard to approximate the traveling salesman problem with distances one and two within that constant, this result is a first step towards the establishment of a good bound. In our proof we develop a new gadget construction to reduce from systems of linear equations mod 2 with two unknowns in each equation and at most three occurrences of each variable. Compared with earlier reductions to the traveling salesman problem with distances one and two, ours reduces the number of cities to less than a tenth of what was previously necessary.     

Five-year outcome of 13 patients with an initially undiagnosed anterior cruciate ligament rupture

MAB21L1, originally termed CAGR1, is the human homologue of the C. elegans cell fate determining gene mab21. MAB21L1, mapped to 13q13, contains a highly polymorphic 5' untranslated CAG repeat that normally ranges from six to 31 triplets in length. A pedigree has been previously reported in which the repeat length is expanded to 45-50 triplets and is transmitted unstably between generations; the expansion did not correlate to a clinical phenotype but did exhibit somatic mosaicism. We now report a second pedigree with an expanded and unstably transmitted MAB21L1 CAG repeat of similar length. The expansion is not clearly associated with a clinical phenotype, though the complexity of the pedigree renders any conclusion concerning phenotype-genotype relationships speculative. The expansion did not result in decreased expression of MAB21L1 protein. The length, C-G rich composition, somatic mosaicism, and unstable transmission of the expanded CAG repeat in MAB21L1 resemble the premutations observed in other genes, such as FMR1 and MDPK, in which longer expanded repeats are associated with a clinical phenotype. This raises the possibility that longer expansions in the MAB21L1 repeat may also be associated with a clinical phenotype.