Background There is a need for alternative oral phosphate binders. In-vitro studies showed that iron(III) oxide-hydroxide-modified cross-linked dextran is a promising, insoluble phosphate-binding ...agent. The present study was designed to assess its in-vivo efficacy and safety in the rat. Study, design and methods Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide modified dextran beads were mixed with normal rat feed in a proportion of 8% by weight. With this formula rats were fed for 4 weeks. A control group received the same diet without added phosphate binder. Samples of blood, urine, and faeces were taken from each animal before the phosphate binder was administered, 2 weeks later, and at the end of the examination period (day 29). Phosphate, calcium, iron were analysed in the blood samples. Calcium and phosphate concentrations were determined in the urine, phosphate, calcium, and iron concentrations in the excrements. Stability of the material in the duodenum was also simulated. Results and conclusions The results demonstrate an excellent phosphate-binding capacity of the material and a good tolerance during the intestinal passage. No significant chemical or enzymatic degradation, histological alterations, or other treatment-related macroscopic findings were recorded. The present efficacy and toxicity study has shown effective phosphate binding with no toxicity and no iron release after ingestion of this novel phosphate binding agent. We propose clinical evaluation studies to assess whether similar efficacy and safety can be shown in humans.
The traC gene of the F plasmid tra operon is required for the assembly of mature F-pilin subunits into extended F pili. The nucleotide sequence of traC was determined with a determined with a deduced ...coding region of 875 amino acids (aa) and 99066 Da. The traC1044 mutant allele, which allows filamentous phage infection in the absence of piliation, contains a C-to-T transition leading to an Arg---Cys substitution. Confirmation of the translational start came from the direct N-terminal aa sequencing of a TraC-alkaline phosphatase fusion protein.
Mitochondrial targeting of an Atp2-LacZ fusion protein confers a respiration-defective phenotype on yeast cells. This effect has been utilized to select strains that grow, on nonfermentable carbon ...sources. some of which have decreased levels of hybrid protein localized to the organelle. Many of the mutants obtained were also temperature-sensitive for growth on all media. The recessive mft (mitochondrial fusion targeting) mutants have been assigned to three complementation groups. MFT1 was cloned and sequenced: it encodes a 255 amino acid protein that is highly basic and has no predicted membrane-spanning domains or organelle-targeting sequences. The MFT1 gene is 91 % identical to an open reading frame 3' of the SIR3 gene. Evidence is presented that these two closely related genes could represent a recent gene duplication.
Micropuncture of bovine lens epithelial cells cultured on plastic culture dishes gave values for the plasma membrane voltage (V) which remained stable for periods of up to several hours. The value of ...V was mainly in the range -30 to -45 mV, mean value -36.9 +/- 0.5 mV (S.E.M., n = 188). Raising extracellular K+ from 5 to 40 mM depolarized V by 10 +/- 3 mV. The extent of this depolarization increased with increasing steady-state V. Barium (2 mM) caused a rapid, reversible depolarization of 7.9 +/- 1.2 mV. In the presence of Ba2+, the response to 40 mM K was reduced to 3.6 +/- 1.1 mV. Ouabain (10(-5) M) caused a fast depolarization by 5.3 +/- 1.2 mV. Exposure to calcium-free EGTA-Ringer's depolarized V reversibly by 19.5 +/- 5.0 mV. In Ca-free medium, the depolarization induced by 40 mM K was reduced to 3.2 +/- 2.4 mV. Whereas in control Ringer's sodium conductance (as measured by exposure to a 10 mM Na-Ringer's) is small as compared to potassium conductance, it increased markedly in Ca-depleted medium. Amiloride (10(-4) and 10(-3) M) had no effect on this Na conductance. An increase in the relative conductance for sodium was also elicited by Ba2+ (2 mM). Extracellular acidification led to a depolarization, alkalinization to a hyperpolarization. The extent of this effect was virtually equal in the absence or presence of HCO3-, excluding a significant pathway for bicarbonate. No evidence for a significant chloride conductance could be obtained.
The prolactin, or lactogenic hormone, receptor has been purified ( similar to 80%) from lactating mouse liver and human term placenta by the nondenaturing zwitterionic detergent ...3-((3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethylammonio)-1-propane sulfonate and a prolactin affinity column. The isolated "core-binding unit" has a molecular weight of 37,000 plus or minus 2,000 daltons. It retains the specificity for lactogenic hormones and binds prolactin with an affinity (K sub(a) = 2 to 6 x 10 super(9) M super(-1)) similar to that of the receptor as it occurs in its membranous environment (K sub(a) = 3 to 5 x 10 super(9)M super(-1)). Whether this "core-binding unit" exists on the cell surface in a cryptic or active form is influenced greatly by its association with other membrane proteins and the concentration of phosphatidylcholine within its local membranous environment.
This paper presents a neural network-based approach for the detection/classification of cloud field from satellite data in both the visible and infrared (IR) range. Unlike many existing cloud ...detection schemes which use thresholding and statistical methods, this approach uses singular value decomposition (SVD) to extract image textural features in addition to mean value methodologies. The extracted features are then presented to a self-organizing feature map or Kohonen network for automatic detection and classification of cloud areas. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated under many situations which are considered difficult for the conventional methods. The proposed method also possesses some interesting classification capabilities which can facilitate future studies on global climatology.< >
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