Inactivity of nitric oxide synthase gene in the atherosclerotic human carotid artery

Objective : Nitric oxide (NO) inhibits thrombus formation, vascular contraction, and smooth muscle cell proliferation. We investigated whether NO release is enhanced after endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) gene transfer in atherosclerotic human carotid artery ex vivo. Methods and Results : Western blotting and immunohistochemistry revealed that transduction enhanced eNOS expression; however, neither nitrite production nor NO release measured by porphyrinic microsensor was altered. In contrast, transduction enhanced NO production in non-atherosclerotic rat aorta and human internal mammary artery. In transduced carotid artery, calcium-dependent eNOS activity was minimal and did not differ from control conditions. Vascular tetrahydrobiopterin concentrations did not differ between the experimental groups.Treatment of transduced carotid artery with FAD, FMN, NADPH, L-arginine, and either sepiapterin or tetrahydrobiopterin did not alter NO release. Superoxide formation was similar in transduced carotid artery and control. Treatment of transduced carotid artery with superoxide dismutase (SOD), PEG-SOD, PEG-catalase did not affect NO release. Conclusions : eNOS transduction in atherosclerotic human carotid artery results in high expression without any measurable activity of the recombinant protein. The defect in the atherosclerotic vessels is neither caused by cofactor deficiency nor enhanced NO breakdown. Since angioplasty is performed in atherosclerotic arteries,eNOS gene therapy is unlikely to provide clinical benefi

Orientation and symmetries of Alexandrov spaces with applications in positive curvature

We develop two new tools for use in Alexandrov geometry: a theory of ramified orientable double covers and a particularly useful version of the Slice Theorem for actions of compact Lie groups. These tools are applied to the classification of compact, positively curved Alexandrov spaces with maximal symmetry rank.Comment: 34 pages. Simplified proofs throughout and a new proof of the Slice Theorem, correcting omissions in the previous versio

Topological gravity on plumbed V-cobordisms

An ensemble of cosmological models based on generalized BF-theory is constructed where the role of vacuum (zero-level) coupling constants is played by topologically invariant rational intersection forms (cosmological-constant matrices) of 4-dimensional plumbed V-cobordisms which are interpreted as Euclidean spacetime regions. For these regions describing topology changes, the rational and integer intersection matrices are calculated. A relation is found between the hierarchy of certain elements of these matrices and the hierarchy of coupling constants of the universal (low-energy) interactions. PACS numbers: 0420G, 0240, 0460Comment: 29 page

The stable topological-hyperbolic space form problem for complete manifolds of finite volume

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46609/1/222_2005_Article_BF01389189.pd

Die Metallcorrosion

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Die Metallkorrosion Semper'scher Trockenpräparate des Ohres: Trocken-Korrosions-PrÄparate

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