понедельник, 17 декабря 2012 г.

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Forests, Vol. 3, Pages 1086-1103: Effects of Initial Stand Density and Climate on Red Pine Productivity within Huron National Forest, Michigan, USA

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Changes in climate are predicted to significantly affect the productivity of trees in the Great Lakes region over the next century. Forest management decisions, such as initial stand density, can promote climatic resiliency and moderate decreased productivity through the reduction of tree competition. The influences of climate (temperature and precipitation) and forest management (initial stand density) on the productivity of red pine (Pinus resinosa) across multiple sites within Huron National Forest, Michigan, were examined using dendrochronological methods. Two common planting regimes were compared in this analysis; low initial density (<988 trees per hectare) and high initial density (>1977 trees per hectare). Low initial density stands were found to have a higher climatic resilience by combining equal or greater measures of productivity, while having a reduced sensitivity to monthly and seasonal climate, particularly to summer drought.

Cells, Vol. 1, Pages 1293-1312: Time to Reconsider Stem Cell Induction Strategies

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Recent developments in stem cell research suggest that it may be time to reconsider the current focus of stem cell induction strategies. During the previous five years, approximately, the induction of pluripotency in somatic cells, i.e., the generation of so-called ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ (iPSCs), has become the focus of ongoing research in many stem cell laboratories, because this technology promises to overcome limitations (both technical and ethical) seen in the production and use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). A rapidly increasing number of publications suggest, however, that it is now possible to choose instead other, alternative ways of generating stem and progenitor cells bypassing pluripotency. These new strategies may offer important advantages with respect to ethics, as well as to safety considerations. The present communication discusses why these strategies may provide possibilities for an escape from the dilemma presented by pluripotent stem cells (self-organization potential, cloning by tetraploid complementation, patenting problems and tumor formation risk).

Atoms, Vol. 1, Pages 1: Welcome to Atoms: A New Open Access Journal

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

There is no doubt that it is an exciting time to be studying quantum properties of atoms, molecules, and nuclei. Increasingly deep connections between long-established fields: “atomic physics”, “molecular physics”, “chemical physics”, “nuclear physics”, “scattering theory”, “nuclear magnetic resonance”, “quantum optics”, etc., are blurring old research labels. Atoms is a new open access journal with a broad scope that will aim to capture some of these exciting changes and developments, with a quantum flavor. The Editorial Board's collective expertise spans the fields involved and reflects the international communities active in these areas.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 17275-17289: Optimization of Synthesis, Characterization and Cytotoxic Activity of Seleno-Capparis spionosa L. Polysaccharide

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

In this study, an experiment was designed to optimize the synthesis of seleno-Capparis spionosa L. polysaccharide (Se-CSPS) by response surface methodology. Three independent variables (reaction time, reaction temperature and ratio of Na2SeO3 to CSPS) were tested. Furthermore, the thermal stability, particle size, shape and cytotoxic activity of Se-CSPS in vitro were investigated. The optimum reaction conditions were obtained shown as follows: reaction time 7.5 h, reaction temperature 71 °C, and ratio of Na2SeO3 to CSPS 0.9 g/g. Under these conditions, the Se content in Se-CSPS reached 5.547 mg/g, which was close to the predicted value (5.518 mg/g) by the model. The thermal stability, particle size and shape of Se-CSPS were significantly different from those of CSPS. Additionally, a MTT assay indicated that the Se-CSPS could inhibit the proliferation of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells in a dose-dependent manner.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 17244-17274: Prodrugs of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), More Than Meets the Eye: A Critical Review

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

The design and the synthesis of prodrugs for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been given much attention by medicinal chemists, especially in the last decade. As a therapeutic group, NSAIDs are among the most widely used prescribed and over the counter (OTC) medications. The rich literature about potential NSAID prodrugs clearly shows a shift from alkyl, aryalkyl or aryl esters with the sole role of masking the carboxylic acid group, to more elaborate conjugates that contain carefully chosen groups to serve specific purposes, such as enhancement of water solubility and dissolution, nitric oxide release, hydrogen sulfide release, antioxidant activity, anticholinergic and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (AChEI) activity and site-specific targeting and delivery. This review will focus on NSAID prodrugs that have been designed or were, later, found to possess intrinsic pharmacological activity as an intact chemical entity. Such intrinsic activity might augment the anti-inflammatory activity of the NSAID, reduce its side effects or transform the potential therapeutic use from classical anti-inflammatory action to something else. Reports discussed in this review will be those of NO-NSAIDs, anticholinergic and AChEI-NSAIDs, Phospho-NSAIDs and some miscellaneous agents. In most cases, this review will cover literature dealing with these NSAID prodrugs from the year 2006 and later. Older literature will be used when necessary, e.g., to explain the chemical and biological mechanisms of action.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 17230-17243: Analysis of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Subproteome in the Livers of Type 2 Diabetic Mice

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease that results from insulin resistance in the liver, muscle, and adipose tissue and relative insulin deficiency. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays a crucial role in the regulation of the cellular response to insulin. Recently, ER stress has been known to reduce the insulin sensitivity of the liver and lead to type 2 diabetes. However, detailed mechanisms of ER stress response that leads to type 2 diabetes remains unknown. To obtain a global view of ER function in type 2 diabetic liver and identify proteins that may be responsible for hepatic ER stress and insulin resistance, we performed proteomics analysis of mouse liver ER using nano UPLC-MSE. A total of 1584 proteins were identified in control C57 and type 2 diabetic db/db mice livers. Comparison of the rER and sER proteomes from normal mice showed that proteins involved in protein synthesis and metabolic process were enriched in the rER, while those associated with transport and cellular homeostasis were localized to the sER. In addition, proteins involved in protein folding and ER stress were found only in the rER. In the livers of db/db mice, however, the functions of the rER and sER were severely disrupted, including the capacity to resolve ER stress. These results provide new insight into the research on hepatic insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes and are suggestive of the potential use of the differentially expressed hepatic ER proteins as biomarkers for hepatic insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 17210-17229: X-Ray Repair Cross Complementing Protein 1 in Base Excision Repair

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

X-ray Repair Cross Complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) acts as a scaffolding protein in the converging base excision repair (BER) and single strand break repair (SSBR) pathways. XRCC1 also interacts with itself and rapidly accumulates at sites of DNA damage. XRCC1 can thus mediate the assembly of large multiprotein DNA repair complexes as well as facilitate the recruitment of DNA repair proteins to sites of DNA damage. Moreover, XRCC1 is present in constitutive DNA repair complexes, some of which associate with the replication machinery. Because of the critical role of XRCC1 in DNA repair, its common variants Arg194Trp, Arg280His and Arg399Gln have been extensively studied. However, the prevalence of these variants varies strongly in different populations, and their functional influence on DNA repair and disease remains elusive. Here we present the current knowledge about the role of XRCC1 and its variants in BER and human disease/cancer.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 17536-17552: A Smartphone-Based Driver Safety Monitoring System Using Data Fusion

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

This paper proposes a method for monitoring driver safety levels using a data fusion approach based on several discrete data types: eye features, bio-signal variation, in-vehicle temperature, and vehicle speed. The driver safety monitoring system was developed in practice in the form of an application for an Android-based smartphone device, where measuring safety-related data requires no extra monetary expenditure or equipment. Moreover, the system provides high resolution and flexibility. The safety monitoring process involves the fusion of attributes gathered from different sensors, including video, electrocardiography, photoplethysmography, temperature, and a three-axis accelerometer, that are assigned as input variables to an inference analysis framework. A Fuzzy Bayesian framework is designed to indicate the driver’s capability level and is updated continuously in real-time. The sensory data are transmitted via Bluetooth communication to the smartphone device. A fake incoming call warning service alerts the driver if his or her safety level is suspiciously compromised. Realistic testing of the system demonstrates the practical benefits of multiple features and their fusion in providing a more authentic and effective driver safety monitoring.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 17504-17535: The Exploitation of Data from Remote and Human Sensors for Environment Monitoring in the SMAT Project

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

The Exploitation of Data from Remote and Human Sensors forEnvironment Monitoring in the SMAT Project

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 17497-17503: Micro-Displacement Sensor Based on a Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

A sensing head based on a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber for in-reflection measurement of micro-displacements is presented. The sensing structure takes advantage of the multimodal behavior of a short segment of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber in-reflection, being spliced to a single mode fiber at its other end. A modal interferometer is obtained when the sensing head is close to a mirror, through which displacement is measured.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 17476-17496: Assisting the Visually Impaired: Obstacle Detection and Warning System by Acoustic Feedback

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 17463-17475: A New Concept for Quantifying the Complicated Kinematics of the Cervical Spine and Its Application in Evaluating the Impairment of Clients with Mechanical Neck Disorders

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Mechanical neck disorder (MND) is one of the most common health issues and is characterized by restricted cervical mobility. However, traditional kinematic information often focuses on primary movement in the cardinal plane, which seems insufficient to fully determine the kinematics of the cervical spine because of the complexity of the anatomical structures involved. Therefore, the current investigation aimed to modify the concept of the three-dimensional workspace to propose an objective mathematical model to quantify the complicated kinematics of the cervical spine. In addition, the observation evaluated the characteristics of the cervical workspace in asymptomatic and MND groups. Seventeen healthy volunteers and twenty-five individuals with MND participated in the study and executed the motion of circumduction to establish the cervical workspace using an electromagnetic tracking system. The results produced a mathematical model to successfully quantify the cervical workspace. Moreover, MND groups demonstrated significant reduction in the normalization of the cervical workspace with respect to the length of the head-cervical complex. Accordingly, the current study provided a new concept for understanding the complicated kinematics of the cervical spine. The cervical workspace could be a useful index to evaluate the extent of impairment of the cervical spine and monitor the efficacy of rehabilitation programs for patients with MND.

UK Chart: Black Ops II still best selling game

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 02:28 AM PST

Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops II makes it five consecutive weeks at number one in the UK chart compiled by rampaging chart fiends Chart Track.

Egg artist's creation going to Smithsonian

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 01:20 AM PST

MERCEDES KOTELNICKI, 89, of Cameron Park holds the "Spirit of America," a decorated ostrich egg that will soon become part of the Smithsonian Institute's art collection.

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Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 14995-15002: Structural Changes of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) after Fungal and Phosphoric Acid Pretreatment

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) was pretreated using white-rot fungus Pleurotus floridanus, phosphoric acid or their combination, and the results were evaluated based on the biomass components, and its structural and morphological changes. The carbohydrate losses after fungal, phosphoric acid, and fungal followed by phosphoric acid pretreatments were 7.89%, 35.65%, and 33.77%, respectively. The pretreatments changed the hydrogen bonds of cellulose and linkages between lignin and carbohydrate, which is associated with crystallinity of cellulose of OPEFB. Lateral Order Index (LOI) of OPEFB with no pretreatment, with fungal, phosphoric acid, and fungal followed by phosphoric acid pretreatments were 2.77, 1.42, 0.67, and 0.60, respectively. Phosphoric acid pretreatment showed morphological changes of OPEFB, indicated by the damage of fibre structure into smaller particle size. The fungal-, phosphoric acid-, and fungal followed by phosphoric acid pretreatments have improved the digestibility of OPEFB’s cellulose by 4, 6.3, and 7.4 folds, respectively.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 14975-14994: The Role of Slingshot-1L (SSH1L) in the Differentiation of Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Cardiomyocyte-Like Cells

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Adult cardiomyocytes (CMs) have very limited capacity to regenerate. Therefore, there is a great interest in developing strategies to treat infarcted CMs that are able to regenerate cardiac tissue and promote revascularization of infarcted zones in the heart. Recently, stem cell transplantation has been proposed to replace infarcted CMs and to restore the function of the affected tissue. This area of research has become very active in recent years due to the huge clinical need to improve the efficacy of currently available therapies. Slingshot (SSH) is a family of protein phosphatases, which can specifically dephosphorylate and reactivate cofilin and inhibit the polymerization of actin filaments and actively involved in cytoskeleton rearrangement. In this study, we found that SSH1L promoted morphology changes of microfilaments during differentiation but was inhibited by the inhibitors of actin polymerization such as cytochalasin D. Overexpression of SSH1L could promote cardiac-specific protein and genes expression. 5-Aza can induce the differentiation of hMSCs into cardiomyocyte-like cells in vitro. We also observed that SSH1L efficiently promotes hMSCs differentiation into cardiomyocyte-like cells through regulation and rearrangement of cytoskeleton. Our work provides evidence that supports the positive role of SSH1L in the mechanism of stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocyte-like cells.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 14968-14974: Large-Scale Separation of Alkaloids from Corydalis bungeana Turcz. by pH-Zone-Refining Counter-Current Chromatography

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

pH-Zone-refining counter-current chromatography (pH-zone-refining CCC) was successfully applied for the large-scale separation of alkaloids from Corydalis bungeana. The crude extract was separated by a two-phase solvent system composed of petroleum ether–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (5:5:2:8, v/v) where triethylamine (10 mM) was added to the upper organic stationary phase as a retainer and hydrochloric acid (5 mM) to the aqueous mobile phase as a displacer. As a result, 285 mg of protopine, 86 mg of corynoloxine, 430 mg of coryno1ine, and 115 mg of acetylcorynoline were obtained from 3.0 g of crude extract in a one-step separation. The purities of these compounds were 99.1%, 98.3%, 99.0% and 98.5%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of these isolated compounds were confirmed by ESI-MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 14954-14967: Phenolic Profiles and Antioxidant Activity of Litchi (Litchi Chinensis Sonn.) Fruit Pericarp from Different Commercially Available Cultivars

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Litchi fruit pericarp (LFP) contains significant amounts of phenolics which have been found to exhibit diverse biological activities. The purpose of this work was to determine the varietal differences in phenolic profiles and antioxidant activity of LFP from nine commercially available cultivars. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents ranged from 9.39 to 30.16 mg gallic acid equivalents/g fresh weight (FW) and from 7.12 to 23.46 mg catechin equivalents/g FW, respectively. The total anthocyanin contents ranged from 1.77 to 20.94 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents/100 g FW. Three anthocyanins, including cyanidin-3-rutinoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, malvidin-3-glucoside, were detected, and cyanidin-3-rutinoside was the predominant constituent which contributes from 68.8% to 100% to total anthocyanins, The total procyanidin contents ranged from 4.35 to 11.82 mg epicatechin equivalents/g FW. Procyanidin B2, epicatechin, A-type procyanidin trimer, and procyanidin A2 were detected in all nine litchi varieties. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity activities and DPPH radical-scavenging activities ranged from 430.49 to 1752.30 μmol TE/100 g FW and from 4.70 to 11.82 mg/g (IC50), respectively. These results indicate that there are significant differences in phytochemical profiles and antioxidant activity among the tested varieties. Knowing the phenolic profiles and antioxidant activity of LFP of different varieties gives the insights into its potential application to promote health.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 14937-14953: QSPR Models for Predicting Log Pliver Values for Volatile Organic Compounds Combining Statistical Methods and Domain Knowledge

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are contained in a variety of chemicals that can be found in household products and may have undesirable effects on health. Thereby, it is important to model blood-to-liver partition coefficients (log Pliver) for VOCs in a fast and inexpensive way. In this paper, we present two new quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models for the prediction of log Pliver, where we also propose a hybrid approach for the selection of the descriptors. This hybrid methodology combines a machine learning method with a manual selection based on expert knowledge. This allows obtaining a set of descriptors that is interpretable in physicochemical terms. Our regression models were trained using decision trees and neural networks and validated using an external test set. Results show high prediction accuracy compared to previous log Pliver models, and the descriptor selection approach provides a means to get a small set of descriptors that is in agreement with theoretical understanding of the target property.

Marine Drugs, Vol. 10, Pages 2861-2892: Glycobiology of Reproductive Processes in Marine Animals: The State of the Art

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

Glycobiology is the study of complex carbohydrates in biological systems and represents a developing field of science that has made huge advances in the last half century. In fact, it combines all branches of biomedical research, revealing the vast and diverse forms of carbohydrate structures that exist in nature. Advances in structure determination have enabled scientists to study the function of complex carbohydrates in more depth and to determine the role that they play in a wide range of biological processes. Glycobiology research in marine systems has primarily focused on reproduction, in particular for what concern the chemical communication between the gametes. The current status of marine glycobiology is primarily descriptive, devoted to characterizing marine glycoconjugates with potential biomedical and biotechnological applications. In this review, we describe the current status of the glycobiology in the reproductive processes from gametogenesis to fertilization and embryo development of marine animals.
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