A comparative nuclear localization study of galectin-1 with other splicing components

Thirty-two African American nurses (AAN) and 78 Caucasian nurses (CN) were compared on breast self-examination (BSE) practice and health beliefs. Relationships between these variables were also examined. The Health Belief Model provided the framework for the study. The sample is a subset of 269 women from a larger study. AANs were recruited from a professional nurses' group. CNs were recruited from a list of female employees of a university medical centre. The results of t-tests revealed no significant group differences on BSE frequency (P = 0.06) or BSE proficiency (P = 0.10). Noted was that 42% of AANs compared to 20% of CNs examined their breasts 12 or more times during the year. AANs were more likely to consider BSE beneficial (P = 0.002) and to feel confident (P = 0.006) about doing BSE; CNs perceived more barriers (P = 0.001) to BSE. For AANs, BSE frequency and proficiency were positively related to confidence and inversely related to barriers; BSE frequency was also related to health motivation. For CNs, BSE frequency and proficiency were inversely related to seriousness. Implications include additional research to validate findings and to increase the knowledge base of all nurses regarding BSE.     

Longitudinal analysis of multiple indicators of health decline among spousal caregivers

CONCLUSION: In view of the frequent absence of symptoms related to pancreatic lesions, screening tests for VHL should always include assessment of the pancreas and, considering the frequency of polycystic manifestations, VHL should always be borne in mind in the differential diagnosis of multiple pancreatic cysts, especially when occurring in young patients and in the absence of a positive history of pancreatic disease. BACKGROUND: Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) is a hereditary disease transmitted with an autosomal dominant character and characterized by hemangioblastomas of the central nervous system and retina, renal tumors and cysts, and pheochromocytoma. Pancreatic manifestations of VHL are reported in the literature with incidences ranging from 16 to 29% of cases and consist mainly in cystadenomas of the serous type and in multiple cystic lesions, often with complete replacement of the gland. METHODS AND RESULTS: We report five cases of VHL with a polycystic pancreas as the main or only manifestation, all devoid of symptoms related to involvement of the pancreas, who were referred to our Pancreatic Surgery center with diagnoses of multiple pancreatic pseudocysts of undefined origin.     

Thiol-dependent metal-catalyzed oxidation of copper, zinc superoxide dismutase

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a key enzyme in the antioxidant system of the cells. When exposed to a metal-catalyzed oxidation (MCO) system composed of Fe3+, O2, and thiol as an electron donor copper, zinc SOD (CuZnSOD) was susceptible to oxidative modification and damage as indicated by the loss of activity, fragmentation and aggregation of peptide as well as by the formation of carbonyl groups. Oxidative damage to CuZnSOD was inhibited by diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid as well as by free radical scavengers and spin-trapping agents. The results of the present study indicate that hydrogen peroxide may be generated from a thiol/Fe3+/O2 system and that hydroxyl free radicals, produced by metal-catalyzed Fenton reactions, may be the ultimate species mediating the SOD damage. Incubation with the MCO system resulted in the release of Cu ions from CuZnSOD. Incubation with the thiol-MCO did not significantly increase the formation of 2-oxohistidine in CuZnSOD. The lack of formation of 2-oxohistidine, as well as the pronounced preventive effect of spin-traps on the thiol-MCO-mediated damage to CuZnSOD, indicates that inactivation might actually be predominantly due to global oxidation rather than a site-specific oxidation. The thiol-MCO-mediated damage to SOD may result in the perturbation of cellular antioxidant defense mechanisms and subsequently lead to a pro-oxidant condition.     

A reliable multicast framework for light-weight sessions andapplication level framing

This paper describes scalable reliable multicast (SRM), a reliable multicast framework for light-weight sessions and application level framing. The algorithms of this framework are efficient, robust, and scale well to both very large networks and very large sessions. The SRM framework has been prototyped in wb, a distributed whiteboard application, which has been used on a global scale with sessions ranging from a few to a few hundred participants. The paper describes the principles that have guided the SRM design, including the IP multicast group delivery model, an end-to-end, receiver-based model of reliability, and the application level framing protocol model. As with unicast communications, the performance of a reliable multicast delivery algorithm depends on the underlying topology and operational environment. We investigate that dependence via analysis and simulation, and demonstrate an adaptive algorithm that uses the results of previous loss recovery events to adapt the control parameters used for future loss recovery. With the adaptive algorithm, our reliable multicast delivery algorithm provides good performance over a wide range of underlying topologies     

Early reduction of immune activation in lymphoid tissue following highly active HIV therapy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate immune reconstitution within HIV-infected lymphoid tissue during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). DESIGN AND METHODS: In situ cellular responses were studied in sequential tonsillar biopsies in three asymptomatic HIV-infected (CD4 cells greater than 400 x 10(6)/l) antiretroviral treatment-naive volunteers enrolled in a clinical trial to determine the early effect of HAART. Computerized image analysis was used to study immunohistochemically stained sequential tonsil sections for the patterns of local cytokine production, chemokine receptor expression and cellular distribution. Replicate quantitative assessments of samples before and after 4 weeks of therapy were used for the evaluation of drug effects and compared with four uninfected controls. Tonsillar HIV proviral-DNA was determined by fluorescent in situ 5'-nuclease assay. RESULTS: HIV-infected tonsil tissue was characterized by extensive pro-inflammatory and type 1 cytokine expression. A five- to 15-fold elevation of interleukin (IL)-1 alpha, IL-12, IL-2 and interferon (IFN)-gamma protein expression was found compared with controls, and each encompassed a mean of at least 4.5% of the tissue compartment. This was reduced by 20-90% in all individuals after 4 weeks of HAART. In contrast, type 2 cytokine expression (IL-4, IL-10), plus tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, remained low throughout the study. HAART reduced, by 40%, the expression of HIV co-receptors, CCR5 and CXCR4, which initially were elevated four to six times over the control values. In addition, the myelomonocytic inflammatory proteins, CD68 and calprotectin, diminished by 26-83% after therapy. The HIV RNA was reduced to undetectable levels in plasma by HAART. However, a large pool of tonsil cells (2-7%), remained HIV DNA positive after 4 weeks of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Although immune activation may be the direct consequence of HIV replication, HAART-associated reconstitution begins with a reduction in inflammatory cytokine production which precedes the elimination of local proviral reservoirs.     

A study on the long-term stability and removal of quats on treated fabric

Static hydrolysis of triethanolamine-based esterquats was studied in a system where the esterquat was deposited on fabric swatches and stored under ambient conditions in the laboratory for 3 mon. It was concluded that esterquat-based fabric softeners do not appreciably hydrolyze on the fabrics under ambient conditions. Fabric softeners based on dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium quats were compared to triethanolamine-based esterquats for removal from fabric during the next wash cycle. It was found that saturated quats did not totally wash off fabrics in cold water but remained mostly as the quat-anionic complex. Esterquats washed off better than alkyl quats, thereby leaving less residue than alkyl quats. This paper was presented May 2001 at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo at Minneapolis, MN.     

Computational Suboptimal Filter for a Class of Wiener-Poisson Driven Stochastic Processes

The minimum mean square estimate (MMSE) for a stochastic process drivensimultaneously by Wiener and Poisson processes is characterized by aninfinite number of stochastic differential equations (even in the simplestlinear case), and so is not practically implementable. In this article, apractical approximation to the solution is developed in terms of acomputationally suboptimal filter for the estimation problem. Basically, itdetects and estimates the Poisson driving process using a Maximum APosteriori (MAP) criterion, and then reconstructs the entire system stateusing MMSE applied to a system approximating the original one.     

The effects of residual chlorine on the behaviour of platinum group metals for oxidation of different hydrocarbons

The oxidation of a mixture of four hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide has been studied over alumina-supported palladium, platinum and rhodium catalysts made using chloride precursor salts. The order of the light-off temperatures for the hydrocarbons is the same for each metal (1-hexene, toluene, benzene and finally iso-octane) but the separation between each and their occurrence relative to carbon monoxide varies. The absolute values, especially for iso-octane, are strongly dependent on the pretreatment procedure. Exposure to H₂/H₂O in the place of O₂ gives much higher activity. Activation can also be achieved by repeated runs with the reactant mixture. Chlorobenzene is produced in small amounts during experiments using partially activated catalysts especially with rhodium. Other reasons for believing that the development of activity is at least partly associated with the removal of chlorine are discussed.     

Characterization of Fluorescence Lifetime of Photofrin and Delta-Aminolevulinic Acid Induced Protoporphyrin IX in Living Cells Using Single- and Two-Photon Excitation

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective treatment option for various types of invasive tumors. The efficacy of PDT treatment depends strongly on selective cell uptake and selective excitation of the tumor. The characterization of fluorescence lifetimes of photosensitizers localized inside living cells may provide the basis for further investigation of in vivo PDT dosage measurements using time-domain spectroscopy and imaging. In this communication, we investigated the fluorescence lifetime of localized Photofrin and delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in living MAT-LyLu (MLL) rat prostate adenocarcinoma cells. The MLL cells were incubated with the photosensitizers, and then treated with light under well-oxygenated conditions using a two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope (FLIM). Fluorescence lifetime images of these cells were recorded with average lifetimes of 5.5 plusmn 1.2 ns for Photofrin and 6.3 plusmn 1.2 ns for ALA-induced PpIX. When localized in cells, the lifetimes of both photosensitizers were found to be significantly shorter than those measured in organic solutions. The result for PpIX is consistent with literature values, while the lifetime of Photofrin is shorter than what has been reported. These results suggest that time-domain methods measuring photosensitizer lifetime changes may be good candidates for in vivo PDT dosage monitoring.