Peptides deduced from the central hydrophobic region (residues 158–189) of the G protein of bovine and ovine respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and of human RSV subtypes A and B were synthesized. ...These peptides were used to develop ELISAs to measure specifically antibodies against these types and subtypes of RSV. We have evaluated the bovine RSV-G peptide in both an indirect ELISA and in a blocking ELISA. Specificity and sensitivity, relative to a routine diagnostic ELISA that detects antibodies against the RSV F-protein in bovine sera, were 98% and 92% respectively for the indirect peptide-based ELISA, and 98% and 98% for the blocking peptide-based ELISA. In paired serum samples, rises in antibody titer were detected more frequently with the indirect peptide-based ELISA than with the routine F-ELISA. Furthermore, the peptide-based G-ELISAs were able to differentiate between antibodies against BRSV and HRSV, and between those against BRSV and ORSV. In addition, the indirect peptide-based ELISA was selective for HRSV subtype A and B antibodies. This study shows that peptides, corresponding to the central hydrophobic region of the attachment protein G of several RSVs, can be used successfully as antigens in highly specific and sensitive immunoassays.
The CLEO III silicon vertex detector Kass, R.; Alam, M.S.; Alexander, J.P. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2003, Letnik:
501, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The design and operation of the CLEO III silicon vertex detector is described in this report. This detector consists of four layers of double-sided silicon wafers covering 93% of the solid angle. ...After initially meeting its signal-to-noise and spatial resolution design goals, the
r−
φ side efficiency of layers 1 and 2 decreased dramatically due to radiation-induced sensor effects.
The effect of osmotic shock, enzymatic incubation, pulsed electric field, and high shear homogenization on the release of water-soluble proteins and carbohydrates from the green alga
Ulva lactuca
was ...investigated in this screening study. For osmotic shock, both temperature and incubation time had a significant influence on the release with an optimum at 30 °C for 24 h of incubation. For enzymatic incubation, pectinase demonstrated being the most promising enzyme for both protein and carbohydrate release. Pulsed electric field treatment was most optimal at an electric field strength of 7.5 kV cm
−1
with 0.05 ms pulses and a specific energy input relative to the released protein as low as 6.6 kWh kg
prot
−1
. Regarding literature, this study reported the highest protein (~ 39%) and carbohydrate (~ 51%) yields of the four technologies using high shear homogenization. Additionally, an energy reduction up to 86% was achieved by applying a novel two-phase (macrostructure size reduction and cell disintegration) technique.
Status of the CLEO III silicon tracker von Toerne, E.; Alam, M.S.; Alexander, J.P. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2003, Letnik:
511, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The CLEO-III silicon vertex detector is a 4-layer device with double-sided silicon sensors arranged in a barrel design, covering 93% of the solid angle. After initially meeting its design goals of ...signal-to-noise performance and spatial resolution, the signal efficiency deteriorated on the rφ sensor side in the two innermost layers due to radiation induced sensor effects. Operation of the two outermost layers and the
z-coordinate readout in all layers is stable.
In this study the efficacy of using marine macroalgae as a source for polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are associated with the prevention of inflammation, cardiovascular diseases and mental ...disorders, was investigated.
The fatty acid (FA) composition in lipids from seven sea weed species from the North Sea (Ulva lactuca, Chondrus crispus, Laminaria hyperborea, Fucus serratus, Undaria pinnatifida, Palmaria palmata, Ascophyllum nodosum) and two from tropical seas (Caulerpa taxifolia, Sargassum natans) was determined using GCMS. Four independent replicates were taken from each seaweed species.
Omega-3 (n-3) and omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), were in the concentration range of 2-14 mg/g dry matter (DM), while total lipid content ranged from 7-45 mg/g DM. The n-9 FAs of the selected seaweeds accounted for 3%-56% of total FAs, n-6 FAs for 3%-32% and n-3 FAs for 8%-63%. Red and brown seaweeds contain arachidonic (C20:4, n-6) and/or eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA, C20:5, n-3), the latter being an important "fish" FA, as major PUFAs while in green seaweeds these values are low and mainly C16 FAs were found. A unique observation is the presence of another typical "fish" fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6, n-3) at ≈ 1 mg/g DM in S. natans. The n-6: n-3 ratio is in the range of 0.05-2.75 and in most cases below 1.0. Environmental effects on lipid-bound FA composition in seaweed species are discussed.
Marine macroalgae form a good, durable and virtually inexhaustible source for polyunsaturated fatty acids with an (n-6) FA: (n-3) FA ratio of about 1.0. This ratio is recommended by the World Health Organization to be less than 10 in order to prevent inflammatory, cardiovascular and nervous system disorders. Some marine macroalgal species, like P. palmata, contain high proportions of the "fish fatty acid" eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5, n-3), while in S. natans also docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6, n-3) was detected.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The use of long-term oral anticoagulant treatment after myocardial infarction remains controversial because of conflicting findings on mortality in previous trials and the increased risk of bleeding ...associated with anticoagulants. We have carried out a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicentre trial in 3404 hospital survivors of myocardial infarction. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to anticoagulant (nicoumalone or phenprocoumon) or placebo treatment within 6 weeks of discharge. The target prothrombin time was 2·8-4·8 international normalised ratio. During mean follow-up of 37 (range 6-76) months there were 170 deaths among 1700 anticoagulant-treated patients and 189 in 1704 placebo-treated patients (hazard ratio 0·90 95% Cl 0·73-1·11). Anticoagulant treatment led to significant reductions by comparison with placebo treatment in recurrent myocardial infarction (114 vs 242 patients; hazard ratio 0·47 0·38-0·59) and cerebrovascular events (37 vs 62; 0·60 0·40-0·90). Major bleeding complications were seen in 73 patients who received anticoagulants and 19 who received placebo. We conclude that long-term oral anticoagulant treatment after myocardial infarction in low-risk patients has a limited effect on mortality but achieves substantial benefit by reducing the risk of cerebrovascular events and recurrent myocardial infarction.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBJE, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
17.
Design and initial performance of the CLEO III silicon tracker von Toerne, E; Alam, M.S; Alexander, J.P ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
11/2001, Letnik:
473, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
CLEO III is the new experimental phase of the CLEO experiment at the CESR accelerator. Both the accelerator and the detector have recently been upgraded. A new charged particle tracking system with ...the addition of a ring imaging Cherenkov particle identification system has been installed. A major part of the tracking system upgrade was the construction of a new four-layer double-sided silicon tracker with 93% solid angle coverage and new readout electronics. The CLEO III upgrade was completed in February 2000 with the installation of the silicon detector. CLEO III has finished the commissioning phase and is now taking data. The design of the detector and first performance results are presented here.
Sclerostin is a Wnt pathway antagonist regulating osteoblast activity and bone turnover, and it plays a role in cardiovascular calcification processes. Previous findings indicate that sclerostin ...regulation is disturbed in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this study was to assess the association of circulating sclerostin levels with mortality in dialysis patients.
From a prospective cohort study of incident dialysis patients in the Netherlands, all patients with measured circulating sclerostin at 3 months after the start of dialysis (baseline) were included in the present analysis: n = 673, age 63 ± 14 years, mean serum sclerostin (ELISA) 1.24 ± 0.57 ng/mL. By Cox regression analyses, we assessed the association of sclerostin levels with cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality both in the short (18 months) and long term (4-year follow-up).
Serum sclerostin levels in the entire cohort correlated with intact parathyroid hormone levels (r = -0.25, P < 0.001), age (r = 0.16, P < 0.001) and serum alkaline phosphatase (r = -0.13, P = 0.001). After adjustment for various clinical and biochemical parameters, patients in the highest sclerostin tertile had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular death hazard ratio 0.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.13-0.62 and for all-cause mortality (0.39, 95% CI 0.22-0.68) within 18 months compared with patients of the lowest tertile. The association of sclerostin levels with outcome was less pronounced for long-term cardiovascular mortality and absent for non-cardiovascular mortality.
High levels of serum sclerostin are associated with lower short-term cardiovascular mortality in dialysis patients. The exact mechanisms of this association, e.g. how sclerostin influences or reflects uraemic vascular calcification, need to be investigated in further studies.
In ongoing and upcoming hadron collider experiments, top quark physics will play an important role in testing the Standard Model and its possible extensions. In this work we present analytic results ...for the differential cross sections of top quark pair production in hadronic collisions at next-to-leading order in the QCD coupling, keeping the full dependence on the spins of the top quarks. These results are combined with the corresponding next-to-leading order results for the decay of polarized top quarks into dilepton, lepton plus jets, and all jets final states. As an application we predict double differential angular distributions which are due to the QCD-induced top quark spin correlations in the intermediate state. In addition to the analytic results, we give numerical results in terms of fit functions that can easily be used in an experimental analysis.
Objective. To provide recommendations for the core outcome domains that should be
considered by investigators conducting clinical trials of the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments for chronic ...pain. Development of a core set of outcome domains would facilitate comparison and pooling of data, encourage more complete reporting of outcomes, simplify the preparation and review of research proposals and manuscripts, and allow clinicians to make informed decisions regarding the risks and benefits of treatment.
Methods. Under the auspices of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT), 27 specialists from academia, governmental agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry participated in a consensus meeting and identified core outcome domains that should be
considered in clinical trials of treatments for chronic pain.
Conclusions. There was a consensus that chronic pain clinical trials should assess outcomes representing six core domains: (1) pain, (2) physical functioning, (3) emotional functioning, (4) participant ratings of improvement and satisfaction with treatment, (5) symptoms and adverse events, (6) participant disposition (e.g. adherence to the treatment regimen and reasons for premature withdrawal from the trial). Although consideration should be given to the assessment of each of these domains, there may be exceptions to the general recommendation to include all of these domains in chronic pain trials. When this occurs, the rationale for not including domains should be provided. It is not the intention of these recommendations that assessment of the core domains should be considered a
requirement for approval of product applications by regulatory agencies or that a treatment must demonstrate statistically significant effects for all of the relevant core domains to establish evidence of its efficacy.
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