Interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) is markedly overexpressed in Alzheimer's disease. We found the IL‐1A 2,2 genotype in 12.9% of 232 neuropathologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease patients and 6.6% of 167 ...controls from four centers in the United Kingdom and United States (odds ratio, 3.0; controlled for age and for ApoE apolipoprotein E genotype). Homozygosity for both allele 2 of IL‐1A and allele 2 of IL‐1B conferred even greater risk (odds ratio, 10.8). IL‐1 genotypes may confer risk for Alzheimer's disease through IL‐1 overexpression and IL‐1–driven neurodegenerative cascades. Ann Neurol 2000;47:365–368
Composite stamps composed of two layersa stiff layer supported by a flexible layerextend the capabilities of soft lithography to the generation of 50−100-nm features. The preparation of these ...stamps was adapted from a procedure originally developed by Schmid et al. (Macromolecules 2000, 33, 3042) for microcontact printing. This paper demonstrates how pattern transfer using other soft lithographic techniquesmicromolding in capillaries, microtransfer molding, and phase-shifting lithographycan be improved using two-layer stamps relative to stamps made of Sylgard 184 poly(dimethylsiloxane).
Rule-based and information-integration category learning were compared under minimal and full feedback conditions. Rule-based category structures are those for which the optimal rule is verbalizable. ...Information-integration category structures are those for which the optimal rule is not verbalizable. With minimal feedback subjects are told whether their response was correct or incorrect, but are not informed of the correct category assignment. With full feedback subjects are informed of the correctness of their response and are also informed of the correct category assignment. An examination of the distinct neural circuits that subserve rule-based and information-integration category learning leads to the counterintuitive prediction that full feedback should
facilitate rule-based learning but should also
hinder information-integration learning. This prediction was supported in the experiment reported below. The implications of these results for theories of learning are discussed.
This communication demonstrates an approach to generate simple nanostructures with critical dimensions down to 30 nm over cm2-sized areas using composite PDMS masks. These masks were patterned with ...feature sizes down to 100 nm. When used in phase-shifting lithography, these masks generated arrays of structures in photoresist with line widths as small as 30 nm, slots in metal with features down to 40 nm, and wells in epoxy with diameters as small as 100 nm. The wells were used to prepare arrays of uniformly sized nanocrystals of salts.
Background This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of alteplase double-bolus dosing compared with the front-loaded 90-minute infusion regimen in patients with acute myocardial infarction. ...Recent pilot studies have suggested that bolus dosing may provide improved efficacy in establishing early, complete, and sustained patency of the infarct-related artery in the thrombolytic treatment of acute myocardial infarction.
Methods and Results In this multicenter, randomized, open-label trial, 461 patients with acute myocardial infarction received 100 mg alteplase as a front-loaded 90-minute infusion (15 mg bolus, then 50 mg over a 30-minute period, then 35 mg over a 60-minute period) or double bolus (two 50 mg bolus injections 30 minutes apart). All patients also received intravenous heparin and oral aspirin during and after alteplase treatment. The 90-minute angiographic patency rates were 74.5% in the double-bolus group and 81.4% in the infusion group (
p = 0.08). Patency rates were also comparable for the two groups at 60 minutes (76.8% vs 77.5%) and 24 hours (95.5% vs 93.5%) after initiation of treatment. In-hospital mortality rates were 4.5% in the bolus group and 1.3% in the infusion group (
p = 0.04); 30-day mortality rates were 4.5% and 1.7%, respectively (
p = NS). The two groups were comparable in frequency of all other adverse events.
Conclusions Double-bolus alteplase administration produced reperfusion rates comparable to front-loaded infusion, but in-hospital and 30-day mortality rates were higher in the double-bolus group. These findings are in agreement with those of the COBALT megatrial, which also reported a trend to higher mortality rates with double-bolus dosing. (Am Heart J 1998;136:741-8.)
Recency Effects as a Window to Generalization Jones, Matt; Love, Bradley C; Maddox, W. Todd
Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition,
03/2006, Letnik:
32, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Accounts of learning and generalization typically focus on factors related to lasting changes in representation (i.e., long-term memory). The authors present evidence that shorter term effects also ...play a critical role in determining performance and that these recency effects can be subdivided into perceptual and decisional components. Experimental results based on a probabilistic category structure show that the previous stimulus exerts a contrastive effect on the current percept (perceptual recency) and that responses are biased toward or away from the previous feedback, depending on the similarity between successive stimuli (decisional recency). A method for assessing these recency effects is presented that clarifies open questions regarding stimulus generalization and perceptual contrast effects in categorization and in other domains.
Degenerative spondylolisthesis is four times more common in women than in men. Although this gender difference has long been recognised there has been no explanation for it. We have examined the ...radiographs and CT scans of 118 patients over the age of 55 years and of a control group under the age of 46 years. Our findings confirmed the presence of more sagittally-orientated facet joints in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis but did not show that the gender difference can be explained by the morphology of the facet joint. Furthermore, we conclude that the increased angle of the facet joint is the result of arthritic remodelling and not the primary cause of degenerative spondylolisthesis. It is more likely to be due to loss of soft-tissue resilience with subsequent failure of the facet joints which are acting as the last restraints to subluxation.
Hepatocellular carcinoma has one of the poorest 5 year survival rates of any human cancer. Preventive measures offer the best possibility of ameliorating this disease and chemoprotective agents are ...being developed for this purpose. The dithiolethiones, including oltipraz and the unsubstituted molecule 1,2-dithiole-3-thione, have been shown to be potent inhibitors of aflatoxin-induced hepatic tumorigenesis in rats. However, subsequent evaluation of dithiolethiones or other chemoprotective agents in human clinical trials will require the development of intermediate, non-invasive biomarkers to evaluate the efficacy of these interventions. In this study, levels of molecular dosimetry biomarkers for determining genotoxic damage caused by aflatoxin B1 have been measured in a chronic exposure model with male F344 rats wherein half the animals were fed a diet supplemented with 0.03% 1,2-dithiole-3-thione to lower their risk for tumors and the other half were fed unsupplemented AIN-76A diet and were at high risk for tumor development. Levels of hepatic aflatoxin-DNA adducts, serum aflatoxin-albumin adducts and excreted aflatoxin-N7-guanine adducts in urine were determined following multiple administrations of 250 micrograms aflatoxin B1/kg body wt on days 0-4 and 7-11 to assess the use of the serum and urinary biomarkers as indices of chemoprotective efficacy. In the rats fed 1,2-dithiole-3-thione, the overall diminutions in the levels of hepatic DNA adducts, urinary aflatoxin-N7-guanine and serum aflatoxin-albumin adducts over the 2 week exposure period were 76, 62 and 66% respectively. This parallelism in reductions of levels of biomarkers relative to target organ DNA adduct burden suggests that these biomarkers are predictive short-term, non-invasive measures for assessing the efficacy of chemoprotective interventions in experimental studies and can be applied to human clinical trials directed at populations at high risk for aflatoxin exposure and primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
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