In vitro and in vivo studies on the cardioprotective action of oligomeric procyanidins in a Crataegus extract of leaves and blooms

Cardioprotective effects of a standardized extract from leaves with flowers of Crataegus (WS-1442; content of oligomeric procyandins [OPC]: 18.75%) have recently been demonstrated in an ischemia-reperfusion model in rats. Further studies were now conducted to clarify the mechanism of action and to identify active constituents involved in these effects of WS-1442. Exhausting partitioning between ethyl acetate/water and successive ultrafiltration of the aqueous layer led to the quantitative recovery of three fractions, which were tested for their in vitro radical scavenging (RS) and human neutrophil elastase (HNE) inhibitory activity. The lipophilic ethylacetate-soluble fraction A, enriched in flavone derivatives and constituting 14.9% of WS-1442, was as active as WS-1442 in inhibiting HNE. However, its RS activity was only about half that of the primary extract. Although 67.9% of WS-1442 was recovered in a water-soluble low molecular weight fraction B, this fraction displayed only weak RS and HNE inhibiting activity. In contrast, the RS and HNE inhibiting potencies of an essentially flavone-free and OPC-rich fraction C (21.3% of WS-1442) were significantly higher (inhibition of lipid peroxidation: IC50 0.3 microgram/ml; inhibition of HNE: IC50 0.84 microgram/ml) as those of WS-1442. The RS and HNE inhibitory activities of the extract and those of its fractions correlated well with their OPC-content but not with their concentration of flavonols. These results demonstrate that OPCs of Crataegus extracts possess stronger radical scavenging activities than flavone derivatives or other constituents. In addition, the oligomeric components are potent inhibitors of HNE. Oral administration of 20 mg/kg/d of the OPC-rich fraction C to rats afforded similar protection against ischemia-reperfusion induced pathologies as treatment with WS-1442 at a dose of 100 mg/kg/d. These observations indicate that radical scavenging and elastase inhibitory activities could indeed be involved in the observed cardioprotective effects of WS-1442, and demonstrate that OPCs are major orally active constituents of WS-1442. Thus, Crataegus extracts used therapeutically for cardiovascular diseases should be analyzed and standardized for their OPC-content.     

Investigation of the Interaction of Sodium Chloride and Two Amino Sulfonic Acids,HEPES and MOPSO,by EMF Measurements

Ionic interactions in the two systems NaCl-HEPES (N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N′-2-ethanesulfonic acid) and NaCl-MOPSO (3-(N-Morpholino)-2-hydroxypropanesulfonic acid) have been studied in terms of their mutual influence on the respective activity coefficients of each component. Activity coefficients for each component of the two systems and for corresponding buffers are calculated from emf measurements of solutions containing NaCl, the aminosulfonic acid, and its conjugate base in a NalSE/solution/AgCl-Ag cell at 5, 15, 25, and 37 °C.     

Cytokine responses of human lung cells (BEAS-2B) treated with micron-sized and nanoparticles of metal oxides compared to soil dusts

Background  

The induction of cytokines by airway cells in vitro has been widely used to assess the effects of ambient and occupational particles. This study measured cytotoxicity and the release of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 by human bronchial epithelial cells treated with manufactured nano- and micron-sized particles of Al₂O₃, CeO₂, Fe₂O₃, NiO, SiO₂, and TiO₂, with soil-derived particles from fugitive dust sources, and with the positive controls LPS, TNF-α, and VOSO₄.     

Implantable biomedical microsystems for neural prostheses.

In the following article, the technologies to fabricate polyimide-based thin and flexible substrates with monolithically integrated electrode arrays and printed circuit boards (PCB) for hybrid electronic assemblies as well as an assembling technique that connects bare electronic dice with flexible PCBs are presented. The concept of modular, flexible biomedical microsystems as neural prostheses is introduced in general and described in detail in three examples. A cuff electrode with integrated multiplexer circuitry and standard implantable cables represents the combination of microtechnology with precision mechanics; a sieve electrode used as an implant in peripheral nerve regeneration studies demonstrates the next level of integration density but still uses a cable connection; and last, joint effort to fabricate the demonstrator of a vision prosthesis that is completely implantable in the eye with a wireless link for energy supply and data transmission is presented. System design, hybrid assembling technology, and flexible multilayer encapsulation using parylene and silicone rubber are the key components for creating a new generation of neural prostheses for complex and challenging new applications.     

"Psychology" or "the psychological studies"?

On both historical and principled grounds, the author has long argued that psychology cannot be a single or coherent discipline, whether conceived in scientific or sui generis terms. Instead, the desirability of renaming psychology as the psychological studies has been argued. The present article is a synoptic review of the basis for such a position and its entailments for the future. These are seen to be rather inviting ones for all competent persons engaged in psychological inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Image-based rendering of complex scenes from a multi-camera rig

Image-based rendering is a method to synthesise novel views from a set of given real images. Two methods to extrapolate novel views of complex scenes with occlusions and large depth discontinuities from images of a moving uncalibrated multi-camera rig are described. The real camera viewpoints are calibrated from the image data and dense depth maps are estimated for each real view. Novel views are synthesised from this representation with view-dependent image-based rendering techniques at interactive rates. Since the 3D scene geometry is available in this approach, it is well suited for mixed reality applications where synthetic 3D objects are seamlessly embedded in the novel view.     

Classification of model transformation techniques used in UML-based Web engineering

Software development techniques are continuously evolving with the goal of solving the main problems that still affect the building and maintenance of software systems: time, costs and error-proneness. Model-driven engineering (MDE) approaches aim to reduce at least some of these problems providing techniques for the construction of models and the specification of transformation rules, tool support and automatic generation of code and documentation. The method of resolution of MDE is to first build models, which are independent of the platform, transforming them in later stages to technological-dependent models, and to achieve automatic model and code generation based on transformation rules. Web engineering is a domain where model-driven approaches can be used to address evolution and adaptation of Web software to continuously emerging new platforms and changes in technologies. We present an overview of the development process of the Unified Modelling Language (UML)-based Web engineering (UWE) defined as an MDE approach. The main characteristic of UWE is the use of standards including the UML, XML metadata interchange as model exchange, meta-object facility for metamodelling, model-driven architecture and the transformation language query-view-transformation. We focus on the model transformation aspects of the UWE process.