3,042 research outputs found
Studies of the conformation of pyridine nucleotide coenzymes. 1 - Ord spectra and hypochromicity of NADH
Optical properties, fluorescence, and absorption spectra of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotid
Prolonging assembly through dissociation:A self assembly paradigm in microtubules
We study a one-dimensional model of microtubule assembly/disassembly in which
GTP bound to tubulins within the microtubule undergoes stochastic hydrolysis.
In contrast to models that only consider a cap of GTP-bound tubulin, stochastic
hydrolysis allows GTP-bound tubulin remnants to exist within the microtubule.
We find that these buried GTP remnants enable an alternative mechanism of
recovery from shrinkage, and enhances fluctuations of filament lengths. Under
conditions for which this alternative mechanism dominates, an increasing
depolymerization rate leads to a decrease in dissociation rate and thus a net
increase in assembly.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review
Why Do Cascade Sizes Follow a Power-Law?
We introduce random directed acyclic graph and use it to model the
information diffusion network. Subsequently, we analyze the cascade generation
model (CGM) introduced by Leskovec et al. [19]. Until now only empirical
studies of this model were done. In this paper, we present the first
theoretical proof that the sizes of cascades generated by the CGM follow the
power-law distribution, which is consistent with multiple empirical analysis of
the large social networks. We compared the assumptions of our model with the
Twitter social network and tested the goodness of approximation.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted to WWW 201
Novel steady state of a microtubule assembly in a confined geometry
We study the steady state of an assembly of microtubules in a confined
volume, analogous to the situation inside a cell where the cell boundary forms
a natural barrier to growth. We show that the dynamical equations for growing
and shrinking microtubules predict the existence of two steady states, with
either exponentially decaying or exponentially increasing distribution of
microtubule lengths. We identify the regimes in parameter space corresponding
to these steady states. In the latter case, the apparent catastrophe frequency
near the boundary was found to be significantly larger than that in the
interior. Both the exponential distribution of lengths and the increase in the
catastrophe frequency near the cell margin is in excellent agreement with
recent experimental observations.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A continuous model for microtubule dynamics with catastrophe, rescue and nucleation processes
Microtubules are a major component of the cytoskeleton distinguished by
highly dynamic behavior both in vitro and in vivo. We propose a general
mathematical model that accounts for the growth, catastrophe, rescue and
nucleation processes in the polymerization of microtubules from tubulin dimers.
Our model is an extension of various mathematical models developed earlier
formulated in order to capture and unify the various aspects of tubulin
polymerization including the dynamic instability, growth of microtubules to
saturation, time-localized periods of nucleation and depolymerization as well
as synchronized oscillations exhibited by microtubules under various
experimental conditions. Our model, while attempting to use a minimal number of
adjustable parameters, covers a broad range of behaviors and has predictive
features discussed in the paper. We have analyzed the resultant behaviors of
the microtubules changing each of the parameter values at a time and observing
the emergence of various dynamical regimes.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure
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Does Medial Overhang of the Greater Trochanter Influence Femoral Stem Position During Cemented Hip Arthroplasty? A Retrospective Radiological Review
Purpose
We investigate the effect that variation in the anatomy of the greater trochanter (GT), in particular the medial overhang, can have on femoral stem alignment in total hip arthroplasty (THA).
Methods
Pre- and post-operative anteroposterior pelvic radiographs of 576 consecutive patients undergoing THA were retrospectively analysed. Medial overhang of the GT relative to the lateral femur diaphysis was measured. The femoral morphology was classified according to Dorr classification. The alignment of the femoral stem axes on post-operative radiographs was recorded.
Results
Following exclusions, 500 THAs performed by six surgeons all using the same cemented polish tapered stems were analysed: 320 THAs were performed via the posterior-lateral approach and 180 via the direct-lateral approach. Mean stem varus was 0.53° (range: -7 to 7°). Mean medial overhang was 21 mm (range: 8-43 mm). An overhang of 30 mm had a mean varus of 2.33°. Those with an overhang of 30 mm. One-way analysis of variance comparison of these groups returned a p-value of <0.0001. Dorr type A femora had a mean varus of 0.52°, Dorr B had a mean varus of 0.54° and Dorr C had a mean varus of 0.46°. The posterior-lateral approach had a mean varus of 1.05° (range: -7 to 7°) compared to -0.40° (range: -5 to 5°) for direct-lateral approach. The t-test comparing approach was p < 0.0001.
Discussion
The extent of medial overhang of the GT can adversely affect the final stem position in THA, resulting in a statistically significant increase in mean stem varus. There is a linear relationship between stem position and GT overhang, with an increased chance of significant varus malposition (44.4% with >30 mm of overhang).
Conclusions
Scrutiny of pre-operative radiographs to determine high-risk patients is important, and we propose a classification system of GT anatomy to aid assessment
A modified version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II for cognitive matching of infants with and without Down syndrome
Background Many measures of infants' early cognitive development, including the BSID-II (The Bayley Scales of Infant Development), mix together test items that assess a number of different developmental domains including language, attention, motor functioning and social abilities, and some items contribute to the assessment of more than one domain. Consequently, the scales may lead to under- or over-estimates of cognitive abilities in some clinical samples and may not be the best measure to use for matching purposes.
Method To address this issue we created a modified form of the BSID-II (the BSID-M) to provide a ‘purer’ assessment of the general cognitive capacities in infants with Down syndrome (DS) from 6 to 18 months of age. We excluded a number of items that implicated language, motor, attentional and social functioning from the original measure. This modified form was administered to 17 infants with Down syndrome when 6, 12 and 18 months old and to 41 typically developing infants at 4, 7 and 10 months old.
Results The results suggested that the modified form continued to provide a meaningful and stable measure of cognitive functioning and revealed that DS infants may score marginally higher in terms of general cognitive abilities when using this modified form than they might when using the standard BSID-II scales.
Conclusions This modified form may be useful for researchers who need a ‘purer’ measure with which to match infants with DS and other infants with intellectual disabilities on cognitive functioning
Community-linked maternal death review (CLMDR) to measure and prevent maternal mortality: a pilot study in rural Malawi.
In Malawi, maternal mortality remains high. Existing maternal death reviews fail to adequately review most deaths, or capture those that occur outside the health system. We assessed the value of community involvement to improve capture and response to community maternal deaths
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Reducing weight and increasing physical activity in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease: a randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of enhanced motivational interviewing intervention with usual care.
OBJECTIVE: The epidemic of obesity is contributing to the increasing prevalence of people at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), negating the medical advances in reducing CVD mortality. We compared the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an intensive lifestyle intervention consisting of enhanced motivational interviewing in reducing weight and increasing physical activity for patients at high risk of CVD. METHODS: A three-arm, single-blind, parallel-group randomised controlled trial was conducted in consenting primary care centres in south London. We recruited patients aged 40-74 years with a QRisk2 score ≥20.0%, which indicates the probability of having a CVD event in the next 10 years. The intervention was enhanced motivational interviewing which included additional behaviour change techniques and was delivered by health trainers in 10 sessions over 1 year, in either group (n=697) or individual (n=523) format. The third arm received usual care (UC; n=522). The primary outcomes were physical activity (mean steps/day) and weight (kg). Secondary outcomes were changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and CVD risk score. We estimated the relative cost-effectiveness of each intervention. RESULTS: At 24 months, the group and individual interventions were not more effective than UC in increasing physical activity (mean difference=70.05 steps, 95% CI -288.00 to 147.90 and mean difference=7.24 steps, 95% CI -224.01 to 238.50, respectively), reducing weight (mean difference=-0.03 kg, 95% CI -0.49 to 0.44 and mean difference=-0.42 kg, 95% CI -0.93 to 0.09, respectively) or improving any secondary outcomes. The group and individual interventions were not cost-effective at conventional thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: Enhancing motivational interviewing with additional behaviour change techniques was not effective in reducing weight or increasing physical activity in those at high CVD risk
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