Large-scale albuminuria screen for nephropathy models in chemically induced mouse mutants

Background/Aim: Phenotype-driven screening of a great pool of randomly mutant mice and subsequent selection of animals showing symptoms equivalent to human kidney diseases may result in the generation of novel suitable models for the study of the pathomechanisms and the identification of genes involved in kidney dysfunction. Methods: We carried out a large-scale analysis of ethylnitrosourea (ENU)-induced mouse mutants for albuminuria by using qualitative SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Results: The primary albuminuria screen preceded the comprehensive phenotypic mutation analysis in a part of the mice of the Munich ENU project to avoid loss of mutant animals as a consequence of prolonged suffering from severe nephropathy. The primary screen detected six confirmed phenotypic variants in 2,011 G1 animals screened for dominant mutations and no variant in 48 G3 pedigrees screened for recessive mutations. Further breeding experiments resulted in two lines showing a low phenotypic penetrance of albuminuria. The secondary albuminuria screen was carried out in mutant lines which were established in the Munich ENU project without preceding primary albuminuria analysis. Two lines showing increased plasma urea levels were chosen to clarify if severe kidney lesions are involved in the abnormal phenotype. This analysis revealed severe albuminuria in mice which are affected by a recessive mutation leading to increased plasma urea and cholesterol levels. Conclusion: Thus, the phenotypic selection of ENU-induced mutants according to the parameter proteinuria in principle demonstrates the feasibility to identify nephropathy phenotypes in ENU-mutagenized mice. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Organized Current Patterns in Disordered Conductors

We present a general theory of current deviations in straight current carrying wires with random imperfections, which quantitatively explains the recent observations of organized patterns of magnetic field corrugations above micron-scale evaporated wires. These patterns originate from the most efficient electron scattering by Fourier components of the wire imperfections with wavefronts along the $\pm 45^{\circ}$ direction. We show that long range effects of surface or bulk corrugations are suppressed for narrow wires or wires having an electrically anisotropic resistivity

Spectral Orbits and Peak-to-Average Power Ratio of Boolean Functions with respect to the {I,H,N}^n Transform

We enumerate the inequivalent self-dual additive codes over GF(4) of blocklength n, thereby extending the sequence A090899 in The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences from n = 9 to n = 12. These codes have a well-known interpretation as quantum codes. They can also be represented by graphs, where a simple graph operation generates the orbits of equivalent codes. We highlight the regularity and structure of some graphs that correspond to codes with high distance. The codes can also be interpreted as quadratic Boolean functions, where inequivalence takes on a spectral meaning. In this context we define PAR_IHN, peak-to-average power ratio with respect to the {I,H,N}^n transform set. We prove that PAR_IHN of a Boolean function is equivalent to the the size of the maximum independent set over the associated orbit of graphs. Finally we propose a construction technique to generate Boolean functions with low PAR_IHN and algebraic degree higher than 2.Comment: Presented at Sequences and Their Applications, SETA'04, Seoul, South Korea, October 2004. 17 pages, 10 figure

Cluster density functional theory for lattice models based on the theory of Mobius functions

Rosenfeld's fundamental measure theory for lattice models is given a rigorous formulation in terms of the theory of Mobius functions of partially ordered sets. The free-energy density functional is expressed as an expansion in a finite set of lattice clusters. This set is endowed a partial order, so that the coefficients of the cluster expansion are connected to its Mobius function. Because of this, it is rigorously proven that a unique such expansion exists for any lattice model. The low-density analysis of the free-energy functional motivates a redefinition of the basic clusters (zero-dimensional cavities) which guarantees a correct zero-density limit of the pair and triplet direct correlation functions. This new definition extends Rosenfeld's theory to lattice model with any kind of short-range interaction (repulsive or attractive, hard or soft, one- or multi-component...). Finally, a proof is given that these functionals have a consistent dimensional reduction, i.e. the functional for dimension d' can be obtained from that for dimension d (d'<d) if the latter is evaluated at a density profile confined to a d'-dimensional subset.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, uses iopart.cls, as well as diagrams.sty (included

The Cop Number of the One-Cop-Moves Game on Planar Graphs

Cops and robbers is a vertex-pursuit game played on graphs. In the classical cops-and-robbers game, a set of cops and a robber occupy the vertices of the graph and move alternately along the graph's edges with perfect information about each other's positions. If a cop eventually occupies the same vertex as the robber, then the cops win; the robber wins if she can indefinitely evade capture. Aigner and Frommer established that in every connected planar graph, three cops are sufficient to capture a single robber. In this paper, we consider a recently studied variant of the cops-and-robbers game, alternately called the one-active-cop game, one-cop-moves game or the lazy-cops-and-robbers game, where at most one cop can move during any round. We show that Aigner and Frommer's result does not generalise to this game variant by constructing a connected planar graph on which a robber can indefinitely evade three cops in the one-cop-moves game. This answers a question recently raised by Sullivan, Townsend and Werzanski.Comment: 32 page

volumetric characterisation and correlation to established classification systems

Objective and sensitive assessment of cartilage repair outcomes lacks suitable methods. This study investigated the feasibility of 3D ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) to quantify cartilage repair outcomes volumetrically and their correlation with established classification systems. 32 sheep underwent bilateral treatment of a focal cartilage defect. One or two years post- operatively the repair outcomes were assessed and scored macroscopically (Outerbridge, ICRS-CRA), by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, MOCART), and histopathology (O'Driscoll, ICRS-I and ICRS-II). The UBM data were acquired after MRI and used to reconstruct the shape of the initial cartilage layer, enabling the estimation of the initial cartilage thickness and defect volume as well as volumetric parameters for defect filling, repair tissue, bone loss and bone overgrowth. The quantification of the repair outcomes revealed high variations in the initial thickness of the cartilage layer, indicating the need for cartilage thickness estimation before creating a defect. Furthermore, highly significant correlations were found for the defect filling estimated from UBM to the established classification systems. 3D visualisation of the repair regions showed highly variable morphology within single samples. This raises the question as to whether macroscopic, MRI and histopathological scoring provide sufficient reliability. The biases of the individual methods will be discussed within this context. UBM was shown to be a feasible tool to evaluate cartilage repair outcomes, whereby the most important objective parameter is the defect filling. Translation of UBM into arthroscopic or transcutaneous ultrasound examinations would allow non-destructive and objective follow-up of individual patients and better comparison between the results of clinical trials

Plant RuBisCo assembly in E. coli with five chloroplast chaperones including BSD2

Plant RuBisCo, a complex of eight large and eight small subunits, catalyzes the fixation of CO2 in photosynthesis. The low catalytic efficiency of RuBisCo provides strong motivation to reengineer the enzyme with the goal of increasing crop yields. However, genetic manipulation has been hampered by the failure to express plant RuBisCo in a bacterial host. We achieved the functional expression of Arabidopsis thaliana RuBisCo in Escherichia coli by coexpressing multiple chloroplast chaperones. These include the chaperonins Cpn60/Cpn20, RuBisCo accumulation factors 1 and 2, RbcX, and bundle-sheath defective-2 (BSD2). Our structural and functional analysis revealed the role of BSD2 in stabilizing an end-state assembly intermediate of eight RuBisCo large subunits until the small subunits become available. The ability to produce plant RuBisCo recombinantly will facilitate efforts to improve the enzyme through mutagenesis

How to share a quantum secret

We investigate the concept of quantum secret sharing. In a ((k,n)) threshold scheme, a secret quantum state is divided into n shares such that any k of those shares can be used to reconstruct the secret, but any set of k-1 or fewer shares contains absolutely no information about the secret. We show that the only constraint on the existence of threshold schemes comes from the quantum "no-cloning theorem", which requires that n < 2k, and, in all such cases, we give an efficient construction of a ((k,n)) threshold scheme. We also explore similarities and differences between quantum secret sharing schemes and quantum error-correcting codes. One remarkable difference is that, while most existing quantum codes encode pure states as pure states, quantum secret sharing schemes must use mixed states in some cases. For example, if k <= n < 2k-1 then any ((k,n)) threshold scheme must distribute information that is globally in a mixed state.Comment: 5 pages, REVTeX, submitted to PR