The effects of sustained (up to 9 months) striatal overexpression of glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) on lesioned nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons was studied using a recombinant lentiviral (rLV) vector to deliver GDNF into the striatum 4 weeks prior to the creation of an intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesion. The results of the amphetamine-induced rotation suggested an initi

Several N-N-and N-O-containing compounds were analysed for their ability to act as substrates for horseradish peroxidase and peroxidases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis extracts. Aminoguanidine, diaminoguanidine, isoniazid, hydroxylamine and hydrazine were found to be weak substrates for horseradish peroxidase in reaction I and to inhibit the reaction of horseradish peroxidase with hydrogen peroxide

Yeasts belonging to the lineage that underwent whole-genome duplication (WGD) possess a good fermentative potential and can proliferate in the absence of oxygen. In this study, we analyzed the pre-WGD yeast Kluyveromyces lactis and its ability to grow under oxygen-limited conditions. Under these conditions, K. lactis starts to increase the glucose metabolism and accumulates ethanol and glycerol. H

Recent research has shown the potential for nonallopatric speciation, but we lack an adequate understanding of the mechanisms of prezygotic barriers and how these evolve in the presence of gene flow. The marine snail Littorina saxatilis has distinct ecotypes in different shore microhabitats. Ecotypes hybridize in contact zones, but gene flow is impeded by assortative mating. Earlier studies have s

Trophic factors secreted both from the endocardium and epicardium regulate appropriate growth of the myocardium during cardiac development. Epicardially-derived cells play also a key role in development of the coronary vasculature. This process involves transformation of epithelia] (epicardial) cells to mesenchymal cells (EMT). Similarly, a subset of endocardial cells undergoes EMT to form the mes

Fifty years after its prediction, the highest-lying [ 2 0 2] 3) 2 orbit among the six Nilsson single-particle orbits originating from the sd shell in prolately deformed nuclei and the rotational band on this orbit were identified. The band members were observed in Al-25 at excitation energies of 6-7.5MeV in a high-resolution Mg-25(He-3,t) charge-exchange reaction at 0 degrees having a strong selec

Background Variability in response to thienopyridines has led to the development of point-of-care devices to assess adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation. These tests need to be evaluated in comparison to reference measurements of P2Y(12) function during different thienopyridine treatments. Methods After a run-in on 75 mg aspirin, I 10 subjects were randomized to double-blind tr

Objective The aim of this work was to study the histologic and manometric changes in the distal esophagus beyond 2 years following endoscopic sclerotherapy (EST) and/or surgical intervention, and to try to understand the etiological factors associated with these changes. Patients and interventions Forty patients, with an average age of 61.5 years, were studied for 2-12 years following sclerotherap

Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based predictive coding of line spectral frequencies (LSFs) has gained wide acceptance. In such coders, each mixture of a GMM can be interpreted as defining a linear predictive transform coder. In this paper, we use Kalman filtering principles to model each of these linear predictive transform coders to present GMM Kalman predictive coding. In particular, we show how s

Using magnetic relaxation dispersion (MRD), we have previously shown that the four internal water molecules in bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) exchange with bulk water on time scales between 10(-8) and 10(-4) s at room temperature. Because this exchange is controlled by the protein structure, internal water molecules can be used to probe rare conformational fluctuations. Here, we report

The breast cancer-associated gene Di12 encodes a novel protein, which was found overexpressed in invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast. In experiments designed to assess the role of the Di12 gene in oncogenesis, the overexpression of 339 N-terminal amino acids of this gene in NIH3T3 cells resulted in cellular transformation and in vivo tumorigenesis. NIH3T3-Di12 tumor cell growth was partly rev

Chronic venous ulcers are characterized by chronic inflammation. Heme and iron, originating from blood cell hemolysis as well as extravascular necrosis, have been implicated as important pathogenic factors due to their promotion of oxidative stress. It was recently reported that the plasma and tissue protein alpha1-microglobulin is involved in heme metabolism. The protein binds heme, and a carboxy

The effects of sulfate anions on the uptake of Pb(II) onto goethite were investigated at the molecular level using in situ Pb L-III-EXAFS and ATR-FTIR spectroscopies. Macroscopic uptake data show that Pb uptake can be enhanced by at least 30% at pH 5 in the presence of 3.16 mM sulfate and that sulfate uptake at pH 7 can be enhanced by more than a factor of 3 in the presence of 1.0 mM Pb. Consisten

Software inspections are regarded as an important technique to detect faults throughout the software development process. The individual preparation phase of software inspections has enlarged its focus from only comprehension to also include fault searching. Hence, reading techniques to support the reviewers on fault detection are needed. Usage-based reading (UBR) is a reading technique, which foc

To examine a putative role for neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in early vertebrate development we investigated nNOS mRNA expression and cGMP production during development of the zebrafish Danio rerio. The nNOS mRNA expression in the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery showed a distinct spatio-temporal pattern in developing zebrafish embryo and young larvae. nNOS mRNA expression was fi

The maximum concentration of water-insoluble solids (WIS) in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is restricted due to inhibition of the enzymes and the yeast, as well as mass transport problems caused by the viscosity of the pretreated material. However, the higher the concentration of WIS during SSF the less energy is needed in the subsequent distillation and evaporation steps. I

Electronic commerce is expected to influence a wide range of supply chain systems and thus lead to unidentified environmental impacts. Current studies discussing the impacts have the problem common in that they arrive either at conflicting or un-generalisable results. This article addresses the issue of methodology and proposes an assessment model for the resolution of this problem. Some important