Improvement of 19F MR image uniformity in a mouse model of cellular therapy using inductive coupling

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - Improve 19F magnetic resonance imaging uniformity of perfluorocarbon (PFC)-labeled cells by using a secondary inductive resonator...     

Choosing the Ph.D. Path: A Multi-Criteria Model for Career Decisions

A interactive, multi-criteria decision model was developed using Criterium software to help students assess alternative career paths: undertaking graduate study leading to an engineering doctoral degree and an academic career versus pursuing a career as an engineer in industry. The use of the model enables consideration of multiple factors, which may represent conflicting objectives and which have different measures of value (quantitative and qualitative) and different levels of importance to the decision. The model should assist its users in more carefully and thoroughly evaluating the criteria that affect career choices. We hope that its use may also help reduce the impending shortage of engineering faculty by encouraging more students to consider careers as engineering professors.     

Replacement of loop II of VP1 of the DA strain with loop II of the GDVII strain of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus alters neurovirulence, viral persistence, and demyelination

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis viruses, which are murine picornaviruses, can cause central nervous system inflammatory disease. To study the role of loop II in capsid protein VP1, two mutant viruses of strain DA in which DA loop II amino acids were replaced with strain GDVII amino acids were constructed. Infection of mice with the two mutant viruses led to dramatically different patterns of disease.     

Hydrocephalus in mice infected with a Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus variant

The etiology of hydrocephalus is never established in the majority of clinical cases, while various agents, nutritional deficiencies, and genetic factors have been shown to play a role. Viral infection has been recognized as one of the causative factors in the development of hydrocephalus. The wild-type DA strain of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV), which belongs to the family Picornaviridae, causes a chronic demyelinating disease in mice with viral persistence that resembles multiple sclerosis. We found that a DA virus variant, hydrocephalus 101 virus (H101 virus), caused hydrocephalus in mice, a condition previously never described for TMEV. To clarify the relationship between DA virus infection and hydrocephalus, we compared H101 virus and wild-type DA virus infection in mice. Using immunohistochemistry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labeling (TUNEL), we found that during the acute phase of infection, H101 virus caused macrocephaly and meningitis with the presence of apoptosis, while parenchymal involvement was not evident. In contrast, wild-type DA virus caused an acute polioencephalomyelitis with parenchymal infection and apoptosis. During the chronic phase, H101 virus infection caused communicating hydrocephalus without viral persistence. No demyelination and little or no anti-TMEV antibodies were observed in H101 virus-infected mice. Sequence analysis revealed that H101 virus had mutations in the 5'UTR and capsid protein coding region. Characterization of this new hydrocephalus model gives insight into the possible viral involvement in human hydrocephalus cases of obscure etiology.