четверг, 8 марта 2012 г.

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IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 3203-3228: Tannins, Peptic Ulcers and Related Mechanisms

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

This review of the current literature aims to study correlations between the chemical structure and gastric anti-ulcer activity of tannins. Tannins are used in medicine primarily because of their astringent properties. These properties are due to the fact that tannins react with the tissue proteins with which they come into contact. In gastric ulcers, this tannin-protein complex layer protects the stomach by promoting greater resistance to chemical and mechanical injury or irritation. Moreover, in several experimental models of gastric ulcer, tannins have been shown to present antioxidant activity, promote tissue repair, exhibit anti Helicobacter pylori effects, and they are involved in gastrointestinal tract anti-inflammatory processes. The presence of tannins explains the anti-ulcer effects of many natural products.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 2929-2938: Update of Spectroscopic Data for 4-Hydroxydictyolactone and Dictyol E Isolated from a Halimeda stuposa — Dictyota sp. Assemblage

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The methanol extract of an assemblage of Halimeda stuposa and a Dictyota sp., yielded three natural products characteristic of Dictyota sp., and one of Halimeda sp. These included the xenicane diterpene 4-hydroxydictyolactone (1), and the diterpenes dictyol E (2), 8a,11-dihydroxypachydictyol A (3) and indole-3-carboxaldehyde (4). A minor revision of 1 and new spectroscopic data for 1 and 2 are provided, along with associated anti-cancer activities of compounds 1–4.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 3189-3202: Modulation Role of Abscisic Acid (ABA) on Growth, Water Relations and Glycinebetaine Metabolism in Two Maize (Zea mays L.) Cultivars under Drought Stress

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The role of plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) in plants under drought stress (DS) is crucial in modulating physiological responses that eventually lead to adaptation to an unfavorable environment; however, the role of this hormone in modulation of glycinebetaine (GB) metabolism in maize particularly at the seedling stage is still poorly understood. Some hydroponic experiments were conducted to investigate the modulation role of ABA on plant growth, water relations and GB metabolism in the leaves of two maize cultivars, Zhengdan 958 (ZD958; drought tolerant), and Jundan 20 (JD20; drought sensitive), subjected to integrated root-zone drought stress (IR-DS) simulated by the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG, 12% w/v, MW 6000). The IR-DS substantially resulted in increased betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) activity and choline content which act as the key enzyme and initial substrate, respectively, in GB biosynthesis. Drought stress also induced accumulation of GB, whereas it caused reduction in leaf relative water content (RWC) and dry matter (DM) in both cultivars. The contents of ABA and GB increased in drought-stressed maize seedlings, but ABA accumulated prior to GB accumulation under the drought treatment. These responses were more predominant in ZD958 than those in JD20. Addition of exogenous ABA and fluridone (Flu) (ABA synthesis inhibitor) applied separately increased and decreased BADH activity, respectively. Abscisic acid application enhanced GB accumulation, leaf RWC and shoot DM production in both cultivars. However, of both maize cultivars, the drought sensitive maize cultivar (JD20) performed relatively better than the other maize cultivar ZD958 under both ABA and Flu application in view of all parameters appraised. It is, therefore, concluded that increase in both BADH activity and choline content possibly resulted in enhancement of GB accumulation under DS. The endogenous ABA was probably involved in the regulation of GB metabolism by regulating BADH activity, and resulting in modulation of water relations and plant growth under drought, especially in the drought sensitive maize cultivar JD20.

Danish trade minister and ACTA booster apologise for bogus piracy numbers

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 02:16 AM PST

Here's a clip of a Danish TV show discussing ACTA, which Denmark has fiercely advocated in favor of. It starts with the head of a rightsholder society and the Danish trade minister quoting dodgy statistics about the extent and cost of piracy, and then demonstrates that these statistics are patently false, and finally, brings out those responsible for quoting them and gets them to admit their errors. Priceless.

You can see both the Danish Trade Minister and the head of a Danish music rights organization (and famous Danish musician) Ivan Pedersen appear on a TV show below (with English subtitles). On the show, a well-informed presenter focuses on how both of these ACTA defenders claimed that 95% of music downloaded in Denmark was unauthorized, and carefully shows how that's simply false -- and then gets both of the ACTA defenders to admit that the numbers were wrong.

Danish Trade Minister Apologizes For Using Bogus Industry Numbers To Support Pro-ACTA Argument

Energies, Vol. 5, Pages 658-669: Measurement and Evaluation of Heating Performance of Heat Pump Systems Using Wasted Heat from Electric Devices for an Electric Bus

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The objective of this study is to investigate heating performance characteristics of a coolant source heat pump using the wasted heat from electric devices for an electric bus. The heat pump, using R-134a, is designed for heating a passengers' compartment by using discharged energy from the coolant of electric devices, such as motors and inverters of the electric bus. The heating performance of the heat pump was tested by varying the operating parameters, such as outdoor temperature and volume flow rate of the coolant water of the electrical devices. Heating capacity, compressor work, and heating COP were measured; their behaviors with regard to the parameters were observed. Experimental results showed that heating COP increased with decrease of outdoor temperature, from 20.0 °C to 0 °C, and it observed to be 3.0 in the case of 0 °C outdoor temperature. The observed characteristics of the heating COP suggest that the heat pump is applicable as the cabin heater of an electric vehicle, which is limited by short driving range.

Viruses, Vol. 4, Pages 363-382: The Coronavirus E Protein: Assembly and Beyond

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The coronavirus E protein is a small membrane protein that has an important role in the assembly of virions. Recent studies have indicated that the E protein has functions during infection beyond assembly, including in virus egress and in the host stress response. Additionally, the E protein has ion channel activity, interacts with host proteins, and may have multiple membrane topologies. The goal of this review is to highlight the properties and functions of the E protein, and speculate on how they may be related.

Pharmaceutics, Vol. 4, Pages 197-211: Ocular Drug Delivery for Glaucoma Management

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Current glaucoma management modalities are hindered by low patient compliance and adherence. This can be due to highly complex treatment strategies or poor patient understanding. Treatments focus on the management or reduction of intraocular pressure. This is most commonly done through the use of daily topical eye drops. Unfortunately, despite effective therapies, glaucoma continues to progress, possibly due to patients not adhering to their treatments. In order to mitigate these patient compliance issues, many sustained release treatments are being researched and are entering the clinic. Conjunctival, subconjunctival, and intravitreal inserts, punctal plugs, and drug depots are currently in clinical development. Each delivery system has hurdles, yet shows promise and could potentially mitigate the current problems associated with poor patient compliance.

Pharmaceuticals, Vol. 5, Pages 297-316: Heterocycles in Peptidomimetics and Pseudopeptides: Design and Synthesis

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

This minireview provides a brief outline of the peculiar aspects of the preparation of peptidomimetic and pseudopeptidic structures containing heterocycles. In particular novel tricyclic structures are investigated as potential drugs.

411 Games Top 5 03.08.12: Western RPGs

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 01:49 AM PST

Come in and find out who is # 1. Hello everyone, I hope this week was a good one for all the readers out there.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Materials, Vol. 5, Pages 404-414: Initial Processes of Atomic Layer Deposition of Al2O3 on InGaAs: Interface Formation Mechanisms and Impact on Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Device Performance

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Interface-formation processes in atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 on InGaAs surfaces were investigated using on-line Auger electron spectroscopy. Al2O3 ALD was carried out by repeating a cycle of Al(CH3)3 (trimethylaluminum, TMA) adsorption and oxidation by H2O. The first two ALD cycles increased the Al KLL signal, whereas they did not increase the O KLL signal. Al2O3 bulk-film growth started from the third cycle. These observations indicated that the Al2O3/InGaAs interface was formed by reduction of the surface oxides with TMA. In order to investigate the effect of surface-oxide reduction on metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) properties, capacitors and field-effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated by changing the TMA dosage during the interface formation stage. The frequency dispersion of the capacitance-voltage characteristics was reduced by employing a high TMA dosage. The high TMA dosage, however, induced fixed negative charges at the MIS interface and degraded channel mobility.

Sins of a Dark Age - First Look

Posted: 07 Mar 2012 07:39 PM PST

This is the first time the commander position is shown for Sins of a Dark Age.

 

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Sins of a Dark Age - First Look" was posted by sampsona on Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:39:01 -0800

Tactical Intervention - First Look

Posted: 07 Mar 2012 06:29 PM PST

We check out the new terrorist vs counter terrorist, shooting, car driving, building rappelling, dog attacking action title.

 

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Tactical Intervention - First Look" was posted by sampsona on Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:29:06 -0800

Genes, Vol. 3, Pages 176-190: Molecular Functions of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Plants

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The past decade has seen dramatic changes in our understanding of the scale and complexity of eukaryotic transcriptome owing to the discovery of diverse types of short and long non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). While short ncRNA-mediated gene regulation has been extensively studied and the mechanisms well understood, the function of long ncRNAs remains largely unexplored, especially in plants. Nevertheless, functional insights generated in recent studies with mammalian systems have indicated that long ncRNAs are key regulators of a variety of biological processes. They have been shown to act as transcriptional regulators and competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), to serve as molecular cargos for protein re-localization and as modular scaffolds to recruit the assembly of multiple protein complexes for chromatin modifications. Some of these functions have been found to be conserved in plants. Here, we review our current understanding of long ncRNA functions in plants and discuss the challenges in functional characterization of plant long ncRNAs.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 3418-3437: Improving Fingerprint Verification Using Minutiae Triplets

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Improving fingerprint matching algorithms is an active and important research area in fingerprint recognition. Algorithms based on minutia triplets, an important matcher family, present some drawbacks that impact their accuracy, such as dependency to the order of minutiae in the feature, insensitivity to the reflection of minutiae triplets, and insensitivity to the directions of the minutiae relative to the sides of the triangle. To alleviate these drawbacks, we introduce in this paper a novel fingerprint matching algorithm, named M3gl. This algorithm contains three components: a new feature representation containing clockwise-arranged minutiae without a central minutia, a new similarity measure that shifts the triplets to find the best minutiae correspondence, and a global matching procedure that selects the alignment by maximizing the amount of global matching minutiae. To make M3gl faster, it includes some optimizations to discard non-matching minutia triplets without comparing the whole representation. In comparison with six verification algorithms, M3gl achieves the highest accuracy in the lowest matching time, using FVC2002 and FVC2004 databases.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 3394-3417: Simultaneous Source Localization and Polarization Estimation via Non-Orthogonal Joint Diagonalization with Vector-Sensors

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Joint estimation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) and polarization with electromagnetic vector-sensors (EMVS) is considered in the framework of complex-valued non-orthogonal joint diagonalization (CNJD). Two new CNJD algorithms are presented, which propose to tackle the high dimensional optimization problem in CNJD via a sequence of simple sub-optimization problems, by using LU or LQ decompositions of the target matrices as well as the Jacobi-type scheme. Furthermore, based on the above CNJD algorithms we present a novel strategy to exploit the multi-dimensional structure present in the second-order statistics of EMVS outputs for simultaneous DOA and polarization estimation. Simulations are provided to compare the proposed strategy with existing tensorial or joint diagonalization based methods.

Entropy, Vol. 14, Pages 517-532: Energy and Exergy Analysis for Improving the Energy Performance of Air-Cooled Liquid Chillers by Different Condensing-Coil Configurations

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

This study constructed a parameter analysis for improving the energy performance of air-cooled water chillers by altering the angle configuration of the condenser coils. The mathematical models for energy and exergy analyses of the individual components and overall system of air-cooled water chillers are presented. This study investigated the potential enhancement of performance efficiency in air-cooled chillers and the energy conversion efficiency of each component, in order to determine how the angle configuration of condenser coils influences chiller performance. This study found that the overall performance of an air-cooled chiller could be improved by approximately 3.4%, and the total irreversibility could be reduced by approximately 2.7%. With each 1% increase in average wind speed over the condenser coils, the overall performance of an air‑cooled chiller was found to be enhanced by approximately 0.43%, and its total irreversibility was reduced by approximately 0.35%. The results of this study can be effectively applied to air-cooled condenser units, and can provide an important basis of reference for developing and enhancing the energy efficiency of air-cooled chillers.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 3370-3393: Cell-Based Sensor System Using L6 Cells for Broad Band Continuous Pollutant Monitoring in Aquatic Environments

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Pollution of drinking water sources represents a continuously emerging problem in global environmental protection. Novel techniques for real-time monitoring of water quality, capable of the detection of unanticipated toxic and bioactive substances, are urgently needed. In this study, the applicability of a cell-based sensor system using selected eukaryotic cell lines for the detection of aquatic pollutants is shown. Readout parameters of the cells were the acidification (metabolism), oxygen consumption (respiration) and impedance (morphology) of the cells. A variety of potential cytotoxic classes of substances (heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, neurotoxins, waste water) was tested with monolayers of L6 cells (rat myoblasts). The cytotoxicity or cellular effects induced by inorganic ions (Ni2+ and Cu2+) can be detected with the metabolic parameters acidification and respiration down to 0.5 mg/L, whereas the detection limit for other substances like nicotine and acetaminophen are rather high, in the range of 0.1 mg/L and 100 mg/L. In a close to application model a real waste water sample shows detectable signals, indicating the existence of cytotoxic substances. The results support the paradigm change from single substance detection to the monitoring of overall toxicity.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 3359-3369: Circulating microRNAs as Biomarkers, Therapeutic Targets, and Signaling Molecules

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

Small noncoding microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of post-transcriptional gene regulation and have altered the prevailing view of a linear relationship between gene and protein expression. Aberrant miRNA expression is an emerging theme for a wide variety of diseases, highlighting the fundamental role played by miRNAs in both physiological and pathological states. The identification of stable miRNAs in bodily fluids paved the way for their use as novel biomarkers amenable to clinical diagnosis in translational medicine. Identification of miRNAs in exosomes that are functional upon delivery to the recipient cells has highlighted a novel method of intercellular communication. Delivery of miRNAs to recipient cells via blood, with functional gene regulatory consequences, opens up novel avenues for target intervention. Exosomes thus offer a novel strategy for delivering drugs or RNA therapeutic agents. Though much work lies ahead, circulating miRNAs are unequivocally ushering in a new era of novel biomarker discovery, intercellular communication mechanisms, and therapeutic intervention strategies.

Cancers, Vol. 4, Pages 281-294: Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Is a Critical Step in Tumorgenesis of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

The transcription factors Snail, Slug and Twist repress E-cadherin and induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process exploited by invasive cancer cells. In this study, we evaluated the role of EMT in the tumorgenesis of neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas (PNETs) in vitro, in vivo and human tumor specimen. Expression of EMT markers was analyzed using immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. For in vitro studies, BON-1 cells were analyzed regarding expression of EMT markers before and after transfection with siRNA against Slug or Snail, and cell aggregation assays were performed. To asses in vivo effects, Rip1Tag2 mice were treated with vehicle or the snail-inhibitor polythlylenglykol from week 5-10 of age. The resected pancreata were evaluated by weight, tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis. Snail and Twist was expressed in 61 % and 64% of PNETs. This was associated with loss of E-cadherin. RT-PCR revealed conservation of the EMT markers Slug and Snail in BON-1 cells. Transfection with siRNA against Slug was associated with upregulation of E-cadherin, enhanced cell-cell adhesion and inhibition of cell proliferation. Snail-inhibition in vivo by PEG was associated with increased apoptosis, decreased tumor cell proliferation and dramatic reduced tumor volume in Rip1Tag2 mice. The presented data show that EMT plays a key role in tumorgenesis of PNETs. The activation of Snail in a considerable subset of human PNETs and the successful effect of Snail inhibition by PEG in islet cell tumors of transgenic mice provides first evidence of Snail as a drug target in PNETs.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 3350-3358: Novel Principle of Contactless Gauge Block Calibration

Posted: 08 Mar 2012 12:00 AM PST

In this paper, a novel principle of contactless gauge block calibration is presented. The principle of contactless gauge block calibration combines low-coherence interferometry and laser interferometry. An experimental setup combines Dowell interferometer and Michelson interferometer to ensure a gauge block length determination with direct traceability to the primary length standard. By monitoring both gauge block sides with a digital camera gauge block 3D surface measurements are possible too. The principle presented is protected by the Czech national patent No. 302948.
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