Commentary: The carboxyl-terminal Crk SH3 domain: Regulatory strategies and new perspectives

AbstractSince their discovery as cellular counterparts of viral oncogenes more than two decades ago, enormous progress has been made in unraveling the complex regulatory pathways of signal transduction initiated by the Crk family of proteins. New structural and biochemical studies have uncovered novel insights into both negative and positive regulation of Crk mediated by its atypical carboxyl-terminal SH3 domain (SH3C). Moreover, SH3C is tyrosine phosphorylated by receptor tyrosine kinases and non-receptor tyrosine kinases, thereby permitting assemblages of other SH2/PTB domain containing proteins. Such non-canonical signaling by the Crk SH3C reveals new regulatory strategies for adaptor proteins

Treatment compliance in relation to source of referral and initial reaction to the diagnosis of tuberculosis

The source of referral and patient’s reaction to diagnosis were studied in relation to regularity of treatment in 107 patients attending Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chennai. In all, 29% of the patients were referred by family members, 27% by neighbours and friends, 11% attended on their own, private practitioners referred 18% and government facilities/NGOs referred 15%. The initial reactions to diagnosis of tuberculosis were anxiety, fear, worry and/or shock in 59%. Only 31% of the patients were hopeful of cure at the time. All those who attended on their own completed > 80% of treatment as did 90% of those who were hopeful of cure at the time of diagnosis. And, 86% of those who experienced a negative reaction (fear of death, anxiety and worry) completed > 80% of treatment

Awareness On Pterygoid Implant Among Dental Undergraduates

Introduction: Pterygoid implant has been defined as “implant placement through the maxillary tuberosity and into the pterygoid plate.” These implants were first introduced by Tulasne in 1989. The pterygoid implant originates in the tuberosity region and then follows an oblique mesiocranial direction proceeding posteriorly toward the pyramidal process; it subsequently proceeds upward between both wings of the pterygoid processes and finds its encroachment in the pterygoid or scaphoid fossa of the sphenoid bone. The length of these implants ranges from 15 to 20 mm, and they are generally placed at an angle of 45° to 50° to the horizontal planeThe success rates for all these different treatment possibilities seem to be similar. Therefore the need for engaging the implants at the level of the pterygoid plate is currently controversially discussed. Aim: To analyse the awareness of pterygoid implants among dental undergraduates. Materials And Methods: A questionnaire was prepared on google forms. It was distributed among 70 students. The data was transferred to excel and coding was done, the data was transferred to SPSS and statistical analysis was done. Results: Though 14% were still not aware when pterygoid implants can be used commonly. On doing the chi square test in regards to the awareness of pterygoid implant among undergraduates, along with a chi square value of 12.666, the p value was found to be 0.014, p<0.05, hence making the correlation statistically significant. The knowledge about the contraindications were also analysed and 60% of the participants who were aware of pterygoid implant were well aware of the contraindications. Conclusion: As future clinicians it is very important to know about the newer developments in the field of dentistry to provide a better treatment as well as for framing a fair treatment plan, the study shows that there still more than awareness needed in the respective topic of pterygoid implants

Design of a real-time inspection system for NDE of reactor vessels and piping components

Progress in the development of a special-purpose system for use in a real-time in-service inspection system for reactor vessels and piping components is described in this report. An analysis of the synthetic aperture processing algorithm is presented and new methods of speedup are described. A number of special purpose processor architectures are presented and two of the more promising ones are described in detail and are compared and evaluated. Proposed specifications for an initial field inspection system are presented. A brief description of the capabilities of a laboratory prototype processor (to be fabricated) is given.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25794/1/0000356.pd

Review on Sparse-Based Multipath Estimation and Mitigation: Intense Solution to Counteract the Effects in Software GPS Receivers

Multipath is the major concern in GPS receivers that fade the actual GPS signal causes positioning error up to 10 m so special care need to be taken to mitigate the multipath effects. Numerous methods like hardware based antenna arrays technique, receiver based narrow correlator receiver, double -delta discriminator, Adaptive Multipath Estimator, Wavelet Transformation and Particle filter, Kalman filter based post receiver methods etc. used to resolve the problem. But some of the methods can only reduce code multipath error but not effective in eliminating carrier multipath error. Most of these techniques are based on the assumption that the Line-of-Sight (LOS) signal is stronger than the Non-Line of-Sight (NLOS) signals. However, in the scenarios where the LOS signal is weaker than the composite multipath signal, this approach may result in a bias in code tracking. In this chapter, different types of multipath mitigation and its limitation are described. The recent development in sparse signal processing based blind channel estimation is investigated to compensate the multipath error. The Rayleigh and Rician fading model with different multipath parameters are simulated to test the urban scenario. The inverse problem of finding the GPS signal is addressed based on the deconvolution approach. To solve linear inverse problems, the suitable kind of appropriate objective function has been formulated to find the signal of interest. By exploiting this methods, the signal is observed and the carrier and code tracking loop parameters are computed with minimal error

Extensible Component Based Architecture for FLASH, A Massively Parallel, Multiphysics Simulation Code

FLASH is a publicly available high performance application code which has evolved into a modular, extensible software system from a collection of unconnected legacy codes. FLASH has been successful because its capabilities have been driven by the needs of scientific applications, without compromising maintainability, performance, and usability. In its newest incarnation, FLASH3 consists of inter-operable modules that can be combined to generate different applications. The FLASH architecture allows arbitrarily many alternative implementations of its components to co-exist and interchange with each other, resulting in greater flexibility. Further, a simple and elegant mechanism exists for customization of code functionality without the need to modify the core implementation of the source. A built-in unit test framework providing verifiability, combined with a rigorous software maintenance process, allow the code to operate simultaneously in the dual mode of production and development. In this paper we describe the FLASH3 architecture, with emphasis on solutions to the more challenging conflicts arising from solver complexity, portable performance requirements, and legacy codes. We also include results from user surveys conducted in 2005 and 2007, which highlight the success of the code.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures; revised paper submitted to Parallel Computin

Reduced-folate carrier (RFC) is expressed in placenta and yolk sac, as well as in cells of the developing forebrain, hindbrain, neural tube, craniofacial region, eye, limb buds and heart

BACKGROUND: Folate is essential for cellular proliferation and tissue regeneration. As mammalian cells cannot synthesize folates de novo, tightly regulated cellular uptake processes have evolved to sustain sufficient levels of intracellular tetrahydrofolate cofactors to support biosynthesis of purines, pyrimidines, and some amino acids (serine, methionine). Though reduced-folate carrier (RFC) is one of the major proteins mediating folate transport, knowledge of the developmental expression of RFC is lacking. We utilized in situ hybridization and immunolocalization to determine the developmental distribution of RFC message and protein, respectively. RESULTS: In the mouse, RFC transcripts and protein are expressed in the E10.0 placenta and yolk sac. In the E9.0 to E11.5 mouse embryo RFC is widely detectable, with intense signal localized to cell populations in the neural tube, craniofacial region, limb buds and heart. During early development, RFC is expressed throughout the eye, but by E12.5, RFC protein becomes localized to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical studies show a statistical decrease in the number of neural tube defects, craniofacial abnormalities, cardiovascular defects and limb abnormalities detected in offspring of female patients given supplementary folate during pregnancy. The mechanism, however, by which folate supplementation ameliorates the occurrence of developmental defects is unclear. The present work demonstrates that RFC is present in placenta and yolk sac and provides the first evidence that it is expressed in the neural tube, craniofacial region, limb buds and heart during organogenesis. These findings suggest that rapidly dividing cells in the developing neural tube, craniofacial region, limb buds and heart may be particularly susceptible to folate deficiency

Causal State Estimation and Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

The observables of a noisy quantum system can be estimated by appropriately filtering the records of their continuous measurement. Such filtering is relevant for state estimation and measurement-based quantum feedback control. It is therefore imperative that the observables estimated through a causal filter satisfy the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In the Markovian setting, prior work implicitly guarantees this requirement. We show that any causal estimate of linear observables of a linear, but not necessarily Markovian, system will satisfy the uncertainty principle. In particular, this is true irrespective of any feedback control of the system and of where in the feedback loop -- inside or outside -- the measurement record is accessed. Indeed, causal estimators using the in-loop measurement record can be as precise as those using the out-of-loop record. These results clarify the role of causal estimators to a large class of quantum systems, restores the equanimity of in-loop and out-of-loop measurements in their estimation and control, and simplifies future experiments on measurement-based quantum feedback control

Feasibility of an Alcohol Intervention Programme for TB Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) - A Qualitative Study from Chennai, South India

The negative influences of alcohol on TB management with regard to delays in seeking care as well as non compliance for treatment has been well documented. This study is part of a larger study on the prevalence of AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder) among TB patients which revealed that almost a quarter of TB patients who consumed alcohol could be classified as those who had AUD. However there is dearth of any effective alcohol intervention programme for TB patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD).This qualitative study using the ecological system model was done to gain insights into the perceived effect of alcohol use on TB treatment and perceived necessity of an intervention programme for TB patients with AUD. We used purposive sampling to select 44 men from 73 TB patients with an AUDIT score >8. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and interviews were conducted with TB patients with AUD, their family members and health providers.TB patients with AUD report excessive alcohol intake as one of the reasons for their vulnerability for TB. Peer pressure has been reported by many as the main reason for alcohol consumption. The influences of alcohol use on TB treatment has been elaborated especially with regard to the fears around the adverse effects of alcohol on TB drugs and the fear of being reprimanded by health providers. The need for alcohol intervention programs was expressed by the TB patients, their families and health providers. Suggestions for the intervention programmes included individual and group sessions, involvement of family members, audiovisual aids and the importance of sensitization by health staff.The findings call for urgent need based interventions which need to be pilot tested with a randomized control trial to bring out a model intervention programme for TB patients with AUD