bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular signature of a public clonotypic autoantibody in primary Sjögren's syndrome: A “forbidden” clone in systemic autoimmunity
Authors: Lindop Rhianna , Arentz Georgia , Chataway Tim K. , Thurgood Lauren A. , Jackson Michael W. , Reed Joanne H. , McCluskey James , Gordon Tom P.
Published: October 2011

Objective

This study was undertaken to determine the molecular characteristics of clonotypic autoantibodies in the sera of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS). This characterization is hampered by the presence of mixed anti‐Ro/La specificities that may conceal clonotypic species. In order to narrow clonotypic diversity, a positive selection step was performed on a peg‐like determinant of Ro 60 (termed Ro 60–peg) prior to analysis of the autoantibody proteome.

Methods

Monospecific anti–Ro 60–peg IgG were isolated by affinity purification from the sera of 7 patients with primary SS and anti‐Ro/La and subjected to 2‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and high‐resolution orbitrap mass spectrometric sequencing. V regions of heavy and light chains were analyzed by combined database and de novo amino acid sequencing.

Results

Proteomic analysis revealed a Ro 60–peg–specific IgG1κ‐restricted monoclonal autoantibody that was present in the sera of all patients and specified by a VH3–23 heavy chain paired with a Vκ3–20 light chain. The public anti–Ro 60–peg clonotype was specified further by common mutations in the heavy‐chain and light‐chain complementarity‐determining regions. Titers and relative affinities of clonotypic IgG did not vary over the course of the disease.

Conclusion

The expression of a Ro 60–reactive public B cell clonotype in a subset of patients with primary SS as a long‐lived, class‐switched circulating autoantibody implies a common breach of B cell tolerance checkpoints in these patients. The unique heavy chain/light chain signature opens the possibility of tracking the development of a “forbidden” clone against a bona fide systemic autoantigen in human disease.
Mining search intents for collaborative cyberporn filtering
Authors: Lee Lung‐Hao , Chen Hsin‐Hsi
Published: October 2011

This article presents a search‐intent‐based method to generate pornographic blacklists for collaborative cyberporn filtering. A novel porn‐detection framework that can find newly appearing pornographic web pages by mining search query logs is proposed. First, suspected queries are identified along with their clicked URLs by an automatically constructed lexicon. Then, a candidate URL is determined if the number of clicks satisfies majority voting rules. Finally, a candidate whose URL contains at least one categorical keyword will be included in a blacklist. Several experiments are conducted on an MSN search porn dataset to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. The resulting blacklist generated by our search‐intent‐based method achieves high precision (0.701) while maintaining a favorably low false‐positive rate (0.086). The experiments of a real‐life filtering simulation reveal that our proposed method with its accumulative update strategy can achieve 44.15% of a macro‐averaging blocking rate, when the update frequency is set to 1 day. In addition, the overblocking rates are less than 9% with time change due to the strong advantages of our search‐intent‐based method. This user‐behavior‐oriented method can be easily applied to search engines for incorporating only implicit collective intelligence from query logs without other efforts. In practice, it is complementary to intelligent content analysis for keeping up with the changing trails of objectionable websites from users' perspectives.
Artificial immune system for illicit content identification in social media
Authors: Yang Ming , Kiang Melody , Chen Hsinchun , Li Yijun
Published: October 2011

Social media is frequently used as a platform for the exchange of information and opinions as well as propaganda dissemination. But online content can be misused for the distribution of illicit information, such as violent postings in web forums. Illicit content is highly distributed in social media, while non‐illicit content is unspecific and topically diverse. It is costly and time consuming to label a large amount of illicit content (positive examples) and non‐illicit content (negative examples) to train classification systems. Nevertheless, it is relatively easy to obtain large volumes of unlabeled content in social media. In this article, an artificial immune system‐based technique is presented to address the difficulties in the illicit content identification in social media. Inspired by the positive selection principle in the immune system, we designed a novel labeling heuristic based on partially supervised learning to extract high‐quality positive and negative examples from unlabeled datasets. The empirical evaluation results from two large hate group web forums suggest that our proposed approach generally outperforms the benchmark techniques and exhibits more stable performance.
Automatic identification of personal insults on social news sites
Authors: Sood Sara Owsley , Churchill Elizabeth F. , Antin Judd
Published: October 2011

As online communities grow and the volume of user‐generated content increases, the need for community management also rises. Community management has three main purposes: to create a positive experience for existing participants, to promote appropriate, socionormative behaviors, and to encourage potential participants to make contributions. Research indicates that the quality of content a potential participant sees on a site is highly influential; off‐topic, negative comments with malicious intent are a particularly strong boundary to participation or set the tone for encouraging similar contributions. A problem for community managers, therefore, is the detection and elimination of such undesirable content. As a community grows, this undertaking becomes more daunting. Can an automated system aid community managers in this task? In this paper, we address this question through a machine learning approach to automatic detection of inappropriate negative user contributions. Our training corpus is a set of comments from a news commenting site that we tasked Amazon Mechanical Turk workers with labeling. Each comment is labeled for the presence of profanity, insults, and the object of the insults. Support vector machines trained on these data are combined with relevance and valence analysis systems in a multistep approach to the detection of inappropriate negative user contributions. The system shows great potential for semiautomated community management.
Biochemical characterization of fluorescent‐labeled recombinant human alpha‐l‐iduronidase in vitro
Authors: Tippin Brigette L. , Troitskaya Larisa , Kan Shih‐hsin , Todd Amanda K. , Le Steven Q. , Dickson Patricia I.
Published: October 2011

In vivo tracking of the delivery of therapeutic proteins is a useful tool for preclinical studies. However, many labels are too large to use without disrupting the normal uptake, function, or other properties of the protein. Low‐molecular‐weight fluorescent labels allow in vivo and ex vivo tracking of the distribution of therapeutic proteins, and should not alter the protein's characteristics. We tested the in vitro properties of fluorescent‐labeled recombinant human alpha‐l‐iduronidase (rhIDU, the enzyme deficient in Hurler syndrome) and compared labeled to unlabeled proteins. Labeled rhIDU retained full enzymatic activity and showed similar kinetics to nonlabeled rhIDU. Uptake of labeled rhIDU into human Hurler fibroblasts, measured by activity assay, was equivalent to unlabeled rhIDU enzyme and showed an uptake constant of 0.72 nM. Labeled rhIDU was also able to enter cells via the mannose 6‐phospate receptor pathway and reduce glycosaminoglycan storage in Hurler fibroblasts. Subcellular localization was verified within lysosomes by confocal microscopy. These findings suggest that fluorescent labeling does not significantly interfere with enzymatic activity, stability, or uptake, and validates this method as a way to track exogenously administered enzyme.
Human pluripotent stem cells for disease modelling and drug screening
Authors: Maury Yves , Gauthier Morgane , Peschanski Marc , Martinat Cécile
Published: October 2011

Considerable hope surrounds the use of disease‐specific pluripotent stem cells to generate models of human disease allowing exploration of pathological mechanisms and search for new treatments. Disease‐specific human embryonic stem cells were the first to provide a useful source for studying certain disease states. The recent demonstration that human somatic cells, derived from readily accessible tissue such as skin or blood, can be converted to embryonic‐like induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has opened new perspectives for modelling and understanding a larger number of human pathologies. In this review, we examine the opportunities and challenges for the use of disease‐specific pluripotent stem cells in disease modelling and drug screening. Progress in these areas will substantially accelerate effective application of disease‐specific human pluripotent stem cells for drug screening.
Determination of nitrate and nitrite in freshwaters using flow‐injection with luminol chemiluminescence detection
Authors: Yaqoob Mohammad , Folgado Biot Beatriz , Nabi Abdul , Worsfold Paul J.
Published: October 2011

A simple and sensitive flow‐injection (FI) method for the determination of nitrate and nitrite in natural waters, based on luminol chemiluminescence (CL) detection, is reported. Nitrate was reduced online to nitrite via a copperized cadmium (Cu–Cd) column and then reacted with acidic hydrogen peroxide to form peroxynitrous acid. CL emission was observed from the oxidation of luminol in an alkaline medium in the presence of the peroxynitrite anion. The limits of detection (S:N = 3) were 0.02 and 0.01 µg N/L, with sample throughputs of 40 and 90 /h for nitrate and nitrite, respectively. Calibration graphs were linear over the range 0.02–50 and 0.01–50 µg N/L [R2 = 0.9984 (n = 8) and R2 = 0.9965 (n = 7)] for nitrate and nitrite, respectively, with relative standard deviations (RSDs; n = 3) in the range 1.8–4.6%. The key chemical and physical variables (reagent concentrations, buffer pH, flow rates, sample volume, Cu–Cd reductor column length) were optimized and potential interferences investigated. The effect of cations [Ca(II), Mg(II), Co(II), Fe(II) and Cu(II)] was masked online with EDTA. Common anions (PO43−, SO42− and HCO3−) did not interfere at their maximum admissible concentrations in freshwaters. The effect of salinity on the luminol CL reaction with and without nitrate and nitrite (2 and 0.5 µg N/L, respectively) was also investigated. The method was successfully applied to freshwaters and the results obtained were in good agreement with those obtained by an automated segmented flow analyser reference method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Docosahexaenoic acid: A natural powerful adjuvant that improves efficacy for anticancer treatment with no adverse effects
Authors: Siddiqui Rafat A. , Harvey Kevin A. , Xu Zhidong , Bammerlin Elaine M. , Walker Candace , Altenburg Jeffrey D.
Published: October 2011

Epidemiological studies have linked fish oil consumption to a decreased incidence of cancer. The anticancer effects of fish oil are mostly attributed to its content of omega‐3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). However, DHA, because of its unique effect of altering membrane composition, is often regarded as the major omega‐3 fatty acid involved in anticancer activity. Although use of DHA as an anticancer drug to prevent or treat human cancer in clinical settings has not yet been well established, recent studies suggest that DHA can be very effective as an adjuvant with other anticancer agents. In this article, we present studies that show the role of DHA in improving anticancer drug efficacy. Several in vitro and animal studies suggest that combining DHA with other anticancer agents often improves efficacy of anticancer drugs and also reduces therapy‐associated side effects. Incorporation of DHA in cellular membranes improves drug uptake, whereas increased lipid peroxidation is another mechanism for DHA‐mediated enhanced efficacy of anticancer drugs. In addition, several intracellular targets including cyclooxygenase‐2, nuclear factor kappa B, peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma, mitogen‐activated protein kinase, AKT, and BCL‐2/BAX are found to play an important role in DHA‐mediated additive or synergistic interaction with anticancer drugs. The data suggest that DHA is a safe, natural compound that can greatly improve the anticancer properties of anticancer drugs. Use of DHA with anticancer treatments provides an avenue to therapeutic improvement that involves less risk or side effects for patients and reduced regulatory burden for implementation.
Xanthoangelols isolated from Angelica keiskei inhibit inflammatory‐induced plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI‐1) production
Authors: Ohkura Naoki , Nakakuki Yoshitaka , Taniguchi Masahiko , Kanai Shiho , Nakayama Akiko , Ohnishi Katsunori , Sakata Toshiyuki , Nohira Tomoyoshi , Matsuda Juzo , Baba Kimiye , Atsumi Gen‐ichi
Published: October 2011

The folk medicine Angelica keiskei (Ashitaba) exhibits antitumor, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities and it has recently attracted attention as a health food. Ashitaba is thought to have antithrombotic properties, but this has not yet been scientifically proven. The elevation of plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI‐1), an inhibitor of fibrinolysis results in a predisposition to the risk of thrombosis. The present study showed that Ashitaba exudates injected intraperitoneally and orally administered over long‐term suppressed the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced PAI‐1 increase in mouse plasma. We also found that xanthoangelol, xanthoangelols B and D, the components of Ashitaba exudates, significantly inhibited TNFα‐induced PAI‐1 production from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). These findings suggest that Ashitaba can decrease elevated PAI‐1 production, and that daily consumption of Ashitaba product might maintain anticoagulant status by inhibiting elevations in PAI‐1 under inflammatory conditions.
Selective decontamination of the oral and digestive tract in surgical versus non-surgical patients in intensive care in a cluster-randomized trial
Authors: Melsen W G , de Smet A M G A , Kluytmans J A J W , Bonten M J M
Published: October 2011

Background

Selective digestive decontamination (SDD) and selective oropharyngeal decontamination (SOD) are effective in improving survival in patients under intensive care. In this study possible differential effects in surgical and non-surgical patients were investigated.

Methods

This was a post hoc subgroup analysis of data from a cluster-randomized multicentre trial comparing three groups (SDD, SOD or standard care) to quantify effects among surgical and non-surgical patients. The primary study outcome was 28-day mortality rate. Duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay, and bacteraemia rates were secondary outcomes.

Results

The subgroup analyses included a total of 2762 surgical and 3165 non-surgical patients. Compared with standard care, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for mortality were comparable in SDD-treated surgical and non-surgical patients: 0·86 (95 per cent confidence interval 0·69 to 1·09; P = 0·220) and 0·85 (0·70 to 1·03; P = 0·095) respectively. However, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay and hospital stay were significantly reduced in surgical patients who had SDD. SOD did not reduce mortality compared with standard treatment in surgical patients (adjusted OR 0·97, 0·77 to 1·22; P = 0·801); in non-surgical patients it reduced mortality (adjusted OR 0·77, 0·63 to 0·94; P = 0·009) by 16·6 per cent, representing an absolute mortality reduction of 5·5 per cent with number needed to treat of 18.

Conclusion

Subgroup analysis found similar effects of SDD in reducing mortality in surgical and non-surgical ICU patients, whereas SOD reduced mortality only in non-surgical patients. The hypothesis-generating findings mandate investigation into mechanisms between different ICU populations.
Neuroimaging features of xeroderma pigmentosum group A
Authors: Ueda Takehiro , Kanda Fumio , Aoyama Nobukazu , Fujii Masahiko , Nishigori Chikako , Toda Tatsushi
Published: October 2011

Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA) is a hereditary dermatological disease in which hypersensitivity to ultraviolet radiation and various neurological symptoms are observed. In this study, to evaluate the degeneration occurring in the brain of XPA patients, neurological examinations by an established neurologist and 3‐Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed in 10 Japanese XPA patients. MRI studies included diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in addition to conventional sequences. Neurological examinations revealed various deteriorations in the both central and peripheral nervous systems in all subjects. MRI studies demonstrated age‐dependent decline in multimodalities. Severe brain atrophy in conventional sequences, decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) value in DTI, and reduced NAA/Cre ratio in MRS were observed in the adult patients. Multimodal MRI studies unmask the neurological deterioration in XPA patients.
Association between the lack of teeth and the expression of myosins in masticatory muscles of microphthalmic mouse
Authors: Nariyama Megumi , Kota Yuki , Kaneko Syuhei , Asada Yoshinobu , Yamane Akira
Published: October 2011

The purposes of the present study were to elucidate the influences of the deficiency of teeth on masticatory muscles, such as the masseter, temporalis and digastric muscles and compare the influence among masticatory muscles. We analysed the expressions of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein in these muscles in the microphthalmic (mi/mi) mouse, whose teeth cannot erupt because of a mutation in the mitf gene locus. The expression levels of MyHC mRNA and protein in the masseter, temporalis, digastric, tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles of +/+ and mi/mi mice were analysed with real‐time polymerase chain reaction and sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively. The mi/mi masseter muscle at 8 weeks of age expressed 4·1‐fold (p < 0·05) and 3.3‐fold (p < 0·01) more MyHC neonatal mRNA and protein than that in the +/+, respectively; the expression level of MyHC neonatal protein was 19% of the total MyHC protein in the masseter muscle of mi/mi mice. In the digastric muscle, the expression levels of MyHC I mRNA and protein in the mi/mi mice were 4·7‐fold (p < 0·05) and 5‐fold (p < 0·01) higher than those in the +/+ mice. In the temporalis, tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles, there was no significant difference in the expression levels of any MyHC isoform mRNA and protein between +/+ and mi/mi mice. These results indicate associations between the lack of teeth and the expression of MyHC in the masseter and digastric muscles but not such associations in the temporalis muscle, suggesting that the influence of tooth deficiency varies among the masticatory muscles. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthetic Small Molecules for Epigenetic Activation of Pluripotency Genes in Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts
Authors: Pandian Ganesh N. , Shinohara Ken‐ichi , Ohtsuki Akimichi , Nakano Yusuke , Masafumi Minoshima , Bando Toshikazu , Nagase Hiroki , Yamada Yasuhiro , Watanabe Akira , Terada Naohiro , Sato Shinsuke , Morinaga Hironobu , Sugiyama Hiroshi
Published: October 2011

Considering the essential role of chromatin remodeling in gene regulation, their directed modulation is of increasing importance. To achieve gene activation by epigenetic modification, we synthesized a series of pyrrole–imidazole polyamide conjugates (PIPs) that can bind to predetermined DNA sequences, and attached them with suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a potent histone deacetylase inhibitor. As histone modification is associated with pluripotency, these new types of conjugates, termed SAHA–PIPs, were screened for their effect on the expression of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) factors. We found certain SAHA–PIPs that could differentially up‐regulate the endogenous expression of Oct‐3/4, Nanog, Sox2, Klf4 and c‐Myc. SAHA and other SAHA–PIPs did not show such induction; this implies a role for PIPs and their sequence specificity in this differential gene activation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis suggested that SAHA–PIP‐mediated gene induction proceeds by histone H3 Lys9 and Lys14 acetylation and Lys4 trimethylation, which are epigenetic features associated with transcriptionally active chromatin.
Supporting Design and Control of a Reversed‐Phase Chromatography Step by Mechanistic Modeling
Authors: Westerberg K. , Borg N. , Andersson N. , Nilsson B.
Published: October 2011

There is a need to design and understand control strategies for biopharmaceutical processes. The control strategy will influence the design space and process performance and should be chosen together with the operating point and design space. Mechanistic modeling is used to design and evaluate control strategies for product pooling in preparative chromatography. A kinetic dispersive model was calibrated to reversed‐phase chromatography experiments. Uncorrelated process disturbances were introduced to optimized operating points, and the effects of disturbances were evaluated and reduced by control strategies. Pooling control was implemented at a fixed UV absorbance or as a function of retention volume and UV peak height. The higher flexibility of the second control strategy decreased the loss of yield and productivity caused by the disturbances.
Dendritic, Nanosized Building Block for Siloxane‐Based Materials: A Spherosilicate Dendrimer
Authors: Kawahara Kazufumi , Hagiwara Yoshiaki , Kuroda Kazuyuki
Published: October 2011

A spherosilicate dendrimer (DMS‐1) with closely spaced reaction sites (SiH groups) on the dendrimer surface has been synthesized by stepwise silylation of double‐four‐ring silicate with chlorotriethoxysilane (ClSi(OEt)3) and subsequently with chlorodimethylsilane (ClSiHMe2). DMS‐1 consists of a maximum of 40 Si atoms in the interior frameworks and 24 reactive SiH groups on the surface. Because DMS‐1 is spherical and about 1.5 nm in diameter, it can be regarded as the smallest well‐defined silica‐based nanoparticle. DMS‐1 also forms molecular crystals and is soluble in typical organic solvents. A molecularly ordered silica‐based hybrid can be prepared by heating a cast film of DMS‐1 at 180 °C for 5 days. The surface of DMS‐1 can be modified by hydrosilylation with 1‐hexadecene, triethoxyvinylsilane, and allylic‐terminated tetraethylene glycol monomethyl ether. More than 20 SiH groups out of 24 react with these reagents. The solubilities of the products depend on the modification. DMS‐1 is not only a building block for nanohybrids, but also the smallest and most precisely designed siloxane‐based nanoparticle.
N‐(β‐Carboxypropionyl)luminol as a new chemiluminescence label in immunoassay
Authors: Zhuang Hui‐Sheng , Wang Qiong‐E , Zhang Fan , Huang Qiao‐Jia , Tang Yu‐Chai
Published: October 2011

A new chemiluminescence label N‐(β‐carboxpropionyl)luminol (CPL) was used to label sheep anti‐human IgG (SaHIgG). The labeled antibody waa stable and could be detected at least dawn to 10−17 ∼10−16 mol. The molar incorporation ratio was estimated to be 0.26 mol of CPL per mol of SaHIgG. There were no apparent changes in the immunoreactivity of the labeled SaHIgG and in the quantum efficiency of the CPL after labeling.
Long‐Term Follow‐Up of Prophylactic Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillator–Only Therapy: Comparison of Ischemic and Nonischemic Heart Disease
Authors: Smith Tim , Theuns Dominic A.M.J. , Caliskan Kadir , Jordaens Luc
Published: October 2011

Background:

The benefits of primary prophylactic implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators (ICDs) are actually debated, as some drawbacks become more apparent and as the natural history of cardiac disease seems to improve. Therefore, contemporary follow‐up data of non‐trial populations treated according to current guidelines remain necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate mortality and the occurrence of ICD interventions in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) who received in the recent era a primary prophylactic ICD without resynchronization therapy.

Hypothesis:

Survival and event‐free rates from appropriate ICD therapy are different between ischemic and nonischemic ICD patients.

Methods:

Prospective cohort study of 427 consecutive primary prevention ICD patients with ischemic or nonischemic heart disease, excluding patients with resynchronization.

Results:

Ischemic heart disease was present in 290 patients (68%), nonischemic heart disease in 137 patients (32%). During a median follow‐up of 31 months (interquartile range [IQR] 15–45 months), 30 patients (7%) died. Mortality was not different in both disease categories. The incidence of appropriate ICD interventions was similar in CAD and DCM (23% vs 21%). Appropriate ICD intervention occurred more frequently in patients with atrial fibrillation (29% vs 19%). Inappropriate ICD intervention occurred in 11% of patients.

Conclusions:

The clinical course of ischemic and nonischemic heart disease patients treated with a primary prophylactic ICD is similar with respect to mortality and to appropriate and inappropriate ICD interventions, in spite of a younger age at baseline of the DCM patients. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This work was partly funded by “het College Voor Zorgverzekeringen” (OP 0864207). Dr. D.A.M.J. Theuns received research grants from Biotronik, Boston Scientific, and St. Jude Medical, and he is a consultant to Cameron Health (USA). L. Jordaens received research grants and speaker fees from Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Cameron Health, Medtronic, Sorin, and St. Jude Medical. T. Smith and K. Caliskan had no funding, financial relationships, or conflicts of interest to declare.
Adsorption Kinetics, Isotherms, and Desorption of Monocrotophos and Dichlorvos on Various Indian Soils
Authors: Kaur Paramjeet , Sud Dhiraj
Published: October 2011

Pesticide sorption on to the soil has a significant role in deciding the fate and behavior of pesticides in soil and aquatic environment. The present study investigates the adsorption of monocrotophos (MCP) and dichlorvos (DDVP) on the three soils of Malwa region of Punjab, India under different conditions. Batch adsorption experiments were preformed in replicates using 2 g of air‐dried soil and varying concentrations of pesticides and 20 mL of 0.01 M CaCl2 as background electrolyte. The results revealed high adsorption of MCP and DDVP in soil B with kf‐values 0.1261 and 0.0498 and n‐values 2.7345 and 1.831, respectively. The adsorption isotherms obtained were analyzed and the data was subjected to classical Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin models. The experimental data best fitted to the logarithm form of Freundlich and Temkin model. Kinetics analyses were performed using pseudo‐first order, pseudo‐second order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The regression results showed that the experimental data fitted very well with the pseudo‐second order kinetic model as correlation coefficient value is very closer to 1 and also followed the intraparticle diffusion model, whereas, diffusion is not only the rate controlling step. The percentages desorption with tap and distilled water is 32–64% for MCP and 25–48% for DDVP.
Removal of Heavy Metals from Synthetic Mixture as well as Pharmaceutical Sample Via Cation Exchange Resin Modified with Rhodamine B: Its Thermodynamic and Kinetic Studies
Authors: Nabi Syed A. , Shahadat Mohammad , Shalla Abid H. , Khan Amjad M. T.
Published: October 2011

A new sorbent was prepared by loading rhodamine B on Amberlite IR‐120. Various physico‐chemical parameters such as effects of adsorbate concentration, contact time, pH, and temperature on the sorption of the dye have been studied. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔH° and ΔS°) were also evaluated for the sorption of dye. Kinetic studies revealed that the sorption of the dye was best fit for pseudo‐second‐order kinetic. The metal ion uptake in different solvent systems has been explored through column studies. On the basis of distribution coefficient (Kd), some heavy metal ions of analytical interest from binary mixtures have been separated. The limit of detection (LOD) for the Ni2+ and Fe3+ metal ions was 0.81 and 0.60 µg L−1, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was found to be 2.72 and 2.0 µg L−1. This sorbent has also been successfully applied in the analysis of multivitamin formulation. The applicability of the modified resin in the separation of heavy metals constituting real and synthetic samples has been explored.
Mineral Content of Bottled and Desalinated Household Drinking Water in Kuwait
Authors: Al‐Mudhaf Humood F. , Al‐Hayan Mohammad N. , Selim Mustafa I. , Abu‐Shady Abdel‐Sattar I.
Published: October 2011

Three hundred and twenty‐two samples of desalinated household water were collected from 99 sampling locations that covered 95% of Kuwaiti's residential areas. Seventy‐one brands of bottled water were collected from Kuwaiti markets. The water quality parameters that were studied included pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), F−, Cl−, Br−, ${\rm NO}_{2}^{- } $, ${\rm NO}_{3}^{- } $, ${\rm SO}_{4}^{2- } $,${\rm PO}_{4}^{3- } $, ${\rm BrO}_{3}^{- } $, ${\rm ClO}_{3}^{- } $, ${\rm ClO}_{2}^{- } $, and the major macronutrients Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. The analysis yielded a large range of results for most of these parameters, with differences in some cases exceeding 10‐fold. With a few exceptions, the results were found to comply with US‐EPA and WHO standards. Only the water in two brands of bottled water was acidic (pH < 6.5). The TDS was found to be higher than the US‐EPA regulated value in 4 and 3% of the household samples and bottled water brands, respectively. The fluoride levels were generally higher in bottled water than in household water. However, the household water that was produced by the Doha desalination plant and some of the European brands of bottled water were the best samples studied in terms of their quantity of Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+ compared with the DRI values for those substances. EC and TDS were positively correlated with ${\rm NO}_{3}^{- } $, ${\rm SO}_{4}^{2- } $, Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ for household water but only with Ca2+ and Mg2+ for bottled water.
A fast‐switching, low‐inductance gradient set for motion encoding
Authors: Newling Benedict , Poirier Christopher P. , Snow Timothy A. , Balcom Bruce J. , Glover Paul M. , Colpitts Bruce G. , Mastikhin Igor V. , Hetherington Nathan L. , Macgregor Rodney P.
Published: October 2011

We present the design for a fast‐switching, three‐axis microimaging gradient set. To achieve high slew rates, we have reduced the inductance of the windings sacrificing peak gradient amplitude per unit current. The design suits our motion‐sensitized measurements of centimeter‐sized samples, which require rapidly switched, but low amplitude gradients. The gradient design has also proven useful for its reasonable bore size (12 cm). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part B (Magn Reson Engineering) 39B: 173‐179, 2011
Three‐dimensional EPR/NMR image coregistration using a MATLAB‐based software
Authors: Ohfuchi Masashi , Goodwin Jonathan , Fujii Hirotada , Hirata Hiroshi
Published: October 2011

The coregistration of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) images in three‐dimensional (3D) data space typically involves a process of visual inspection and manual alignment of the images. This is due primarily to the use of separate scanners, which can result in a number of potential differences between the two image types, such as resolution, field‐of‐view, and image orientation. In this article, we describe recently developed methodology and software that enables automatic coregistration of EPR and NMR acquired images without the need for manual alignment. The technique requires the use of fiducial markers during both EPR and NMR image acquisition, which contain a solution of free radical spin probes, and allow adjustment of the positions and the fields‐of‐view of the measured images. In this work we present results for EPR/NMR image coregistration using an isoflurane‐anesthetized mouse, injected with triarylmethyl radical (Oxo63) spin probes. The same spin probes were also used inside the fiducial markers and in plastic tubes used for phantom measurements. Using our MATLAB‐based software, we were able to successfully coregister EPR/NMR images in approximately 60 s. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part B (Magn Reson Engineering) 39B: 180–190, 2011
Numerical analysis of human sample effect on RF penetration and liver mr imaging at ultrahigh field
Authors: Pang Yong , Wu Bing , Wang Chunsheng , Vigneron Daniel B. , Zhang Xiaoliang
Published: October 2011

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide clinically‐valuable images for hepatic diseases and has become one of the most promising noninvasive methods in evaluating liver lesions. To facilitate the ultrahigh field human liver MRI, in this work, the RF penetration behavior in the conductive and high dielectric human body at the ultrahigh field of 7 Tesla (7T) is investigated and evaluated using the finite‐difference time‐domain numerical analysis. The study shows that in brain imaging at the ultrahigh field of 7T, the “dielectric resonance” effect dominates among other factors, resulting in improved B1 penetration; while in liver imaging, due to its irregular geometry of the liver, the “dielectric resonance” effect is not readily to be established, leading to a reduced B1 penetration or limited image coverage comparing to that in the brain. Therefore, it is necessary to build a large size coil to have deeper penetration to image human liver although the coil design may become more challenging due to the required high frequency. Based on this study, a bisected microstrip coil operating at 300 MHz range is designed and constructed. Three‐dimensional in vivo liver images in axial, sagittal and coronal orientations are then acquired from healthy volunteers using this dedicated RF coil on a 7T whole body MR scanner. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part B (Magn Reson Engineering) 39B: 206–216, 2011
Castration‐resistant prostate cancer: Many treatments, many options, many challenges ahead
Authors: Garcia Jorge A. , Rini Brian I.
Published: October 2011

Although the long natural history of prostate cancer presents challenges in the development of novel therapeutics, major contributions have been observed recently. A better understanding of the long‐term complications of androgen deprivation has changed the initial approach to most patients with advanced disease. Specifically, recognition of the limitations of prostate‐specific antigen has driven the pursuit of new tools capable of becoming true surrogates for disease outcome. Understanding the molecular biology of castration‐resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) has led to a dramatic paradigm shift in the treatment of patients with metastatic disease where the androgen receptor becomes a central therapeutic target. Specific adrenal inhibitors and engineered super androgen receptor inhibitors have become the most promising agents in the disease. Novel immune therapies have been shown to improve survival in selected patients with castration‐resistant disease despite the inability to impact traditional markers of response. Similarly, agents such as cabazitaxel and abiraterone acetate have demonstrated clinical benefit are now a standard of care in docetaxel‐refractory metastatic CRPC patients. All these changes have occurred in a relatively short period and are likely to change the prostate cancer treatment paradigm. This review summarizes the current management of CRPC and discusses potential future directions. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.
Empirical Hydrogen‐Bond Potential Functions—An Old Hat Reconditioned
Authors: Korth Martin
Published: October 2011

The accurate description of hydrogen‐bond interactions is of vital importance for the computational modeling of biological systems. Standard force field (FF) as well as semiempirical quantum mechanical (SQM) methods are now known to have considerable problems with the accurate description of hydrogen bonds. It was found that the performance of SQM methods can be greatly improved with empirical hydrogen‐bond correction terms. In the first part of this work we review the improvements developed during the recent revival of dedicated hydrogen‐bond terms, also in the light of earlier FF‐related work. The second part presents new findings connected to open questions in this field, namely, a study on the importance of angular and torsional information, a scheme how to avoid atom‐type‐defined target angles and a reduced version of our DH+ model for the application to force‐field methods and physically motivated protein–ligand scoring functions. Our results highlight the importance of using a complete geometric description (including angular and torsional coordinates) for the accurate treatment of hydrogen bonding. The reduced DH+ model—applied to a modified version of the UFF force field—shows a much improved accuracy for non‐covalent interactions also with FF methods, with gains in accuracy by more than one order of magnitude.
Important Steric Effects Resulting from the Additional Substituent at Boron within Scorpionate Complexes Containing κ3‐NNH Coordination Modes
Authors: Tsoureas Nikolaos , Hope Rebecca F. , Haddow Mairi F. , Owen Gareth R.
Published: October 2011

The complexes [Ru(Tai)H(PPh3)2] (4) [Tai = HB(7‐azaindolyl)3] and [Ru(ArBai)H(PPh3)2] [ArBai = Ar(H)B(7‐azaindolyl)2; Ar = phenyl (5), mesityl (6) and 2‐naphthyl (7)] have been prepared and fully characterised. Structural characterisation of complexes 4, 5 and 7 confirmed the expected κ3‐NNH coordination mode of the azaindolyl‐based ligands. In all complexes, the borohydride unit is located trans to the hydrido ligand, and the two triphenylphosphane ligands occupy sites trans to the two nitrogen donors. The strong Ru···H–B interaction means that the third substituent at the boron atom is held in close proximity to the ruthenium centre. In the case of complex 7, rotation of the naphthyl group about the boron centre is hindered by the triphenylphosphane substituents.
Chemokines: established and novel targets in atherosclerosis
Authors: Koenen Rory R. , Weber Christian
Published: October 2011

In their role as small chemotactic cytokines, chemokines are crucial mediators and regulators of leukocyte trafficking during immune surveillance and inflammation. Their involvement in the development and progression of inflammatory diseases has been subject of intense investigation. Concordantly, the chemokine system has been explored in search for therapeutic targets to prevent or treat inflammatory disorders, such as atherosclerosis. Targeting the chemokine system offers various entry points for a causative treatment of this widespread and chronic illness. Although this approach has encountered some setbacks, several innovative compounds are currently in an advanced stage of development. In this review, the current standing of this dynamic field is highlighted and the potential advantages and drawbacks of particular strategies are discussed.
Effects of CO2 on South African fresh water microalgae growth
Authors: Kativu Edmore , Hildebrandt Diane , Matambo Tonderayi , Glasser David
Published: October 2011

South Africa obtains over 80% of its energy needs from fossil fuels. Latest research indicate that South Africa emits over 500 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year and is therefore ranked number eight as the world's CO2 emitter. Unabated or controlled emission of CO2 and other green house gases has largely contributed to detrimental global warming and adverse climatic change. Microalgae are capable of converting hazardous CO2 into valuable biomass. A high CO2 tolerating microalgae was collected from Johannesburg Zoo Lake and identified as Desmodemus sp. Batch cultures were grown in 1000 mL. Erlenmeyer flasks. CO2 was bubbled into the microalgae culture media. The media contained optimal nutrients, an optimal photoperiod and light intensity and controlled pH. CO2 concentrations of 100%, 50%, 25%, 10%, and 5% and total gas flow rates of 20, 50 and 100 mL/min were used. The aim of this study was to determine the effective flow rate and CO2 concentration that gave optimal microalgae growth. Microalgae dry mass contain 50% carbon and carbon is known to be a limiting factor when all other nutrients and environmental conditions are presents. When atmospheric air was supplied at 50 mL/min the growth rate was 0.1151 per day and it increased drastically by almost 5 folds when 100% CO2 was supplied at 50 mL/min. Using a gas flow rate of 20 mL/min and 10% CO2, growth rate increased to 1.42 per day with a dry biomass yield of 809.96 mg/L after 12 days of growth. At a gas flow rate of 50 mL/min, 5% CO2 and the highest growth rate was 1.993 per day and an overall biomass yield of 1200 mg/L and the average pH was 6.36. At 100% CO2 the growth rate was 1.265 per day and dry biomass yield obtained was 469.81 mg/L while the average pH was 5.12. When gas flow rate was increased to 100 mL/min using 5% CO2 the growth rate slightly reduced to 1.30 per day with a dry biomass yield of 1000 mg/L. A growth rate was 0.34 and dry biomass yield of 279.47 mg/L at an average pH of 5.09 were achieved at 100% CO2. Higher flow rates and higher concentrations resulted in slightly reduced growth due to low pH. These investigations indicate that the species under study is CO2 tolerant and it presents a viable CO2 abatement strategy. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2012
Potential scenarios for nanomaterial release and subsequent alteration in the environment
Authors: Nowack Bernd , Ranville James F. , Diamond Stephen , Gallego-Urrea Julian A. , Metcalfe Chris , Rose Jerome , Horne Nina , Koelmans Albert A. , Klaine Stephen J.
Published: October 2011

The risks associated with exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) will be determined in part by the processes that control their environmental fate and transformation. These processes act not only on ENM that might be released directly into the environment, but more importantly also on ENM in consumer products and those that have been released from the product. The environmental fate and transformation are likely to differ significantly for each of these cases. The ENM released from actual direct use or from nanomaterial-containing products are much more relevant for ecotoxicological studies and risk assessment than pristine ENM. Released ENM may have a greater or lesser environmental impact than the starting materials, depending on the transformation reactions and the material. Almost nothing is known about the environmental behavior and the effects of released and transformed ENM, although these are the materials that are actually present in the environment. Further research is needed to determine whether the release and transformation processes result in a similar or more diverse set of ENM and ultimately how this affects environmental behavior. This article addresses these questions, using four hypothetical case studies that cover a wide range of ENM, their direct use or product applications, and their likely fate in the environment. Furthermore, a more definitive classification scheme for ENM should be adopted that reflects their surface condition, which is a result of both industrial and environmental processes acting on the ENM. The authors conclude that it is not possible to assess the risks associated with the use of ENM by investigating only the pristine form of the ENM, without considering alterations and transformation processes. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:50–59. © 2011 SETAC
Toxicity of aqueous C70-gallic acid suspension in Daphnia magna
Authors: Seda Brandon C. , Ke Pu-Chun , Mount Andrew S. , Klaine Stephen J.
Published: October 2011

The present study assessed the toxic effects of stable aqueous colloidal suspensions of gallic-acid-stabilized C70 fullerene on Daphnia magna. The suspensions were stabilized through noncovalent surface modification with gallic acid. In addition to whole-organism responses, changes in antioxidative processes in D. magna were quantified. Acute toxicity was observed with 96LC50 for C70-gallic acid of 0.4 ± 0.1 mg/L C70. Daphnia magna fecundity was significantly reduced in 21-d bioassays at C70-gallic aqcid concentrations below quantifiable limits. Antioxidant enzyme activities of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase as well as lipid peroxidation suggested that exposed organisms experienced oxidative stress. Microscopic techniques used to determine cellular toxicity via apoptosis proved unsuccessful. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:215–220. © 2011 SETAC
A subset of cutaneous and soft tissue mixed tumors are genetically linked to their salivary gland counterpart
Authors: Bahrami Armita , Dalton James D. , Krane Jeffrey F. , Fletcher Christopher D. M.
Published: October 2011

Neoplasms morphologically similar to mixed tumors and myoepitheliomas of the salivary glands, under the broad concept of myoepithelial neoplasia, have recently been defined in the skin and soft tissue; however, to date, no data have supported a shared genetic background with their salivary gland counterpart. From a large body of research, it has been well established that rearrangement of pleomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) leads to aberrant expression of its protein and is pathogenically relevant in the development of salivary mixed tumors. On the other hand, in soft tissue lesions, compelling evidence suggests that EWSR1 is involved in a significant subset. To examine the hypothesis that there is a genetic link between these histologically similar tumors at different sites, we randomly selected 20 benign myoepitheliomas/mixed tumors of skin and soft tissue (10 cases each). Nineteen cases could be immunostained for PLAG1, of which 11 cases showed distinct nuclear staining with moderate or strong intensity in a significant number of cells. Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization for PLAG1 was successfully performed in 11 cases (seven in skin and four in soft tissue) and was positive for gene rearrangement in eight cases (five in skin and three in soft tissue). All PLAG1‐rearranged tumors, except one, had clear‐cut ductal structures and were immunoreactive for PLAG1. In our series, tumors with PLAG1 alteration shared a common morphologic phenotype characterized by prominent tubuloductal differentiation, suggesting that myoepithelial neoplasms with genuine salivary gland‐like morphology, so‐called soft tissue/cutaneous mixed tumors, are genetically related to their salivary gland counterpart. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.