Lateral hypothalamic stimulation: Stimulus-bound eating and self-deprivation

Research was undertaken in an attempt to clarify the relationship between stimulus-bound eating and self-deprivation produced by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. It was hypothesized that if these two phenomena are mediated through a common population of feeding-related neurons, a significant correlation should be observed between these two behaviors. No significant relationship was discovered among the rats tested for both stimulus-bound eating and self-deprivation. Although this finding by itself does not rule out some role for feeding-related neural elements in stimulus-bound eating and self-deprivation, the present results provide no support for this view and suggest alternative explanations should be sought.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23928/1/0000174.pd

Prevalidation of Salivary Biomarkers for Oral Cancer Detection

Background: Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 60%. Presently, there are no scientifically credible early detection techniques beyond conventional clinical oral examination. The goal of this study is to validate whether the seven mRNAs and three proteins previously reported as biomarkers are capable of discriminating patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) from healthy subjects in independent cohorts and by a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Early Detection Research Network (EDRN)-Biomarker Reference Laboratory (BRL). Methods: Three hundred and ninety-five subjects from five independent cohorts based on case controlled design were investigated by two independent laboratories, University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) discovery laboratory and NCI-EDRN-BRL. Results: Expression of all sevenmRNAand three protein markers was increased in OSCC versus controls in all five cohorts. With respect to individual marker performance across the five cohorts, the increase in interleukin (IL)-8 and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) was statistically significant and they remained top performers across different cohorts in terms of sensitivity and specificity. A previously identified multiple marker model showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for prediction of OSCC status ranging from 0.74 to 0.86 across the cohorts. Conclusions: The validation of these biomarkers showed their feasibility in the discrimination of OSCCs from healthy controls. Established assay technologies are robust enough to perform independently. Individual cutoff values for each of these markers and for the combined predictive model need to be further defined in large clinical studies. Impact: Salivary proteomic and transcriptomic biomarkers can discriminate oral cancer from control subjects. ©2012 AACR

Tenure, gender and household structure

Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Polymerization of ethylene oxide with a calixarene-based precursor: Synthesis of eight-arm poly(ethylene oxide) stars by the core-first methodology

Eight-arm poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) stars were prepared by the core-first method with a newly designed octahydroxylated precursor. This compound was readily obtained in two steps from commercially available tert-butylcalix[8]arene. The choice of the proper solvent of polymerization proved crucial to obtain PEO star materials with a narrow distribution of molar masses. For instance, the use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) resulted in PEO samples of rather large polydispersities (PDI: 1.3-1.5). In this solvent, the calix-arene-based precursor was only sparingly soluble, and an attempt to metalate its eight hydroxyl groups produced insoluble alkoxides. In addition, the presence of a side population of low-molar-mass species attributable to linear chains was detected because of the chain transfer of propagating alkoxides to DMSO. Polymerization experiments carried out in tetrahydrofuran (THF) as solvent afforded better control over the molar masses and PDIs. This was related to the better solubility of the octafunctional calixarene-based precursor in THF and to the small tendency of the alkoxides formed to aggregate in that solvent. Under such conditions, all eight hydroxyl functions efficiently initiated the polymerization of ethylene oxide. In this way, well-defined PEO stars (PDI \u3c 1.2) of tunable molar masses incorporating a calixarene-based core could be obtained, as it was supported by the characterization of the samples by size exclusion chromatography, NMR, and viscometry. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Magnetic field orientation of liquid crystalline epoxy thermosets

The effect of magnetic fields on the orientation and properties of 4,4′-bis(2,3-epoxypropoxy)-α-methylstilbene cured with sulfanilamide has been studied. This epoxy system is initially isotropic and forms a smectic A phase upon curing. A magnetic field was applied during the cure reaction, resulting in alignment of the molecules along the direction of the applied field. Measurement of the orientation parameter of the fully cured material by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) showed that orientation improved with an increase in field strength. The orientation parameters of the smectic layer normals calculated from the inner reflection of the WAXS pattern attained a maximum level of approximately 0.8 at a field strength of approximately 12 T. The orientation parameters calculated from the outer reflection of the WAXS pattern were considerably lower, possibly due to the presence of amorphous regions associated with domain boundaries or the loss of molecular alignment within the smectic layers due to topological restrictions of the cross-linking sites. Orientation resulted in an anisotropic linear thermal expansion coefficient after curing, although the overall volumetric expansion was constant. The elastic tensile modulus increased with the square of the orientation parameter, attaining a maximum value of 8.1 GPa, compared to 3.1 GPa for the unoriented material. The change in modulus with orientation could be fit with a simple model for the modulus of anisotropic materials