Family Firms and Firm Performance: Evidence from Japan

Corrigendum: Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 16 (12), 1331 (2009) doi:10.1038/nsmb1209-1331bInternational audienceThioredoxins (Trxs) are oxidoreductase enzymes, present in all organisms, that catalyze the reduction of disulfide bonds in proteins. By applying a calibrated force to a substrate disulfide, the chemical mechanisms of Trx catalysis can be examined in detail at the single-molecule level. Here we use single-molecule force-clamp spectroscopy to explore the chemical evolution of Trx catalysis by probing the chemistry of eight different Trx enzymes. All Trxs show a characteristic Michaelis-Menten mechanism that is detected when the disulfide bond is stretched at low forces, but at high forces, two different chemical behaviors distinguish bacterial-origin from eukaryotic-origin Trxs. Eukaryotic-origin Trxs reduce disulfide bonds through a single-electron transfer reaction (SET), whereas bacterial-origin Trxs show both nucleophilic substitution (SN2) and SET reactions. A computational analysis of Trx structures identifies the evolution of the binding groove as an important factor controlling the chemistry of Trx catalysis

A comparison of morphogenesis of muscles of the forearm and hand during ontogenesis and regeneration in the axolotl ( Ambystoma mexicanum )

The morphogenesis of muscles of the forearm and hand was studied in embryonic limbs of the axolotl ( Ambystoma mexicanum ) and compared with the course of morphogenesis in the regenerating limb of adults. The first part of the paper describes the morphogenesis of muscles ontogenetic development. The course of development, from the stage of muscle blastemas through that of the independent muscle anlagen is described for each muscle. The separation of muscle anlagen and their differentiation forms a prominent proximodistal gradient. At the same time there is a clear radioulnar gradient in the formation of muscle anlagen. Phylogenetically, this radioulnar gradient is restricted to the developing limb of Urodeles. In the second part of the paper, the morphogenesis of muscles is described in the regenerating limb. The major features in regeneration recapitulate those in the embryonic limb. Proximodistal and radioulnar gradients of development are also present in the regenerating limb. This structural similarity in development supports the viewpoint that the regeneration blastema is an integrated morphogenetic unit in which muscles differentiate according to the same genetic plan as they do in the embryo. There are some differences, however, between the regenerating and embryonic limb. The regenerating limb is larger, its muscle blastemas are also larger from the beginning, and the regenerating limb has a relatively greater amount of mesenchymal cells, which are not closely integrated into the muscle or skeletal anlagen.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47521/1/429_2004_Article_BF00519726.pd

Demonstration of surface electron rejection with interleaved germanium detectors for dark matter searches

The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 103.16 (2013): 164105 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/100/26/10.1063/1.4729825The SuperCDMS experiment in the Soudan Underground Laboratory searches for dark matter with a 9-kg array of cryogenic germanium detectors. Symmetric sensors on opposite sides measure both charge and phonons from each particle interaction, providing excellent discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils, and between surface and interior events. Surface event rejection capabilities were tested with two 210 Pb sources producing ∼130 beta decays/hr. In ∼800 live hours, no events leaked into the 8–115 keV signal region, giving upper limit leakage fraction 1.7 × 10−5 at 90% C.L., corresponding to < 0.6 surface event background in the future 200-kg SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment.This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. AST-9978911, NSF-0847342, PHY-1102795,NSF-1151869, PHY-0542066, PHY-0503729, PHY-0503629, PHY-0503641, PHY-0504224, PHY-0705052,PHY-0801708, PHY-0801712, PHY-0802575, PHY-0847342, PHY-0855299, PHY-0855525, and PHY-1205898), by the Department of Energy (Contract Nos. DE-AC03-76SF00098, DE-FG02-92ER40701, DE-FG02-94ER40823,DE-FG03-90ER40569, DE-FG03-91ER40618, and DESC0004022),by NSERC Canada (Grant Nos. SAPIN 341314 and SAPPJ 386399), and by MULTIDARK CSD2009-00064 and FPA2012-34694. Fermilab is operated by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. De-AC02-07CH11359, while SLAC is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the United States Department of Energy

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detailed investigations of the distribution of luminous and non- luminous matter in the Universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital imaging survey of pi steradians above about Galactic latitude 30 degrees in five broad optical bands to a depth of g' about 23 magnitudes, and a spectroscopic survey of the approximately one million brightest galaxies and 10^5 brightest quasars found in the photometric object catalog produced by the imaging survey. This paper summarizes the observational parameters and data products of the SDSS, and serves as an introduction to extensive technical on-line documentation.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, AAS Latex. To appear in AJ, Sept 200

Using NHANES oral health examination protocols as part of an esophageal cancer screening study conducted in a high-risk region of China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The oral health status of rural residents in the People's Republic of China has not been extensively studied and the relationship between poor oral health and esophageal cancer (EC) is unclear. We aim to report the oral health status of adults participating in an EC screening study conducted in a rural high-risk EC area of China and to explore the relationship between oral health and esophageal dysplasia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) oral health examination procedures and the Modified Gingival Index (MGI) were used in a clinical study designed to examine risk factors for esophageal cancer and to test a new esophageal cytology sampling device. This study was conducted in three rural villages in China with high rates of EC in 2002 and was a collaborative effort involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health and the Cancer Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nearly 17% of the study participants aged 40–67 years old were edentulous. Overall, the mean number of adjusted missing teeth (including third molars and retained dental roots) was 13.8 and 35% had 7 contacts or less. Women were more likely to experience greater tooth loss than men. The average age at the time of first tooth loss for those with no posterior functional contacts was approximately 41 years for men and 36 years for women. The mean DMFT (decayed, missing, and filled teeth) score for the study population was 8.5. Older persons, females, and individuals having lower educational attainment had higher DMFT scores. The prevalence of periodontal disease (defined as at least one site with 3 mm of attachment loss and 4 mm of pocket depth) was 44.7%, and 36.7% of the study participants had at least one site with 6 mm or more of attachment loss. Results from a parsimonious multivariate model indicate that participants with poor oral health wemore likely to have esophageal dysplasia (OR = 1.59; 95% CI 1.06, 2.39).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This report describes the first use of NHANES oral health protocols employed in a clinical study conducted outside of the United States. The extent and severity of poor oral health in this Chinese study group may be an important health problem and contributing factor to the prevalence of EC.</p

The Second Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has validated and made publicly available its Second Data Release. This data release consists of 3324 deg2 of five-band (ugriz) imaging data with photometry for over 88 million unique objects, 367,360 spectra of galaxies, quasars, stars, and calibrating blank sky patches selected over 2627 deg2 of this area, and tables of measured parameters from these data. The imaging data reach a depth of r ≈ 22.2 (95% completeness limit for point sources) and are photometrically and astrometrically calibrated to 2% rms and 100 mas rms per coordinate, respectively. The imaging data have all been processed through a new version of the SDSS imaging pipeline, in which the most important improvement since the last data release is fixing an error in the model fits to each object. The result is that model magnitudes are now a good proxy for point-spread function magnitudes for point sources, and Petrosian magnitudes for extended sources. The spectroscopy extends from 3800 to 9200 Å at a resolution of 2000. The spectroscopic software now repairs a systematic error in the radial velocities of certain types of stars and has substantially improved spectrophotometry. All data included in the SDSS Early Data Release and First Data Release are reprocessed with the improved pipelines and included in the Second Data Release. Further characteristics of the data are described, as are the data products themselves and the tools for accessing them

The Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This release, containing data taken up through June 2003, includes imaging data in five bands over 5282 deg^2, photometric and astrometric catalogs of the 141 million objects detected in these imaging data, and spectra of 528,640 objects selected over 4188 deg^2. The pipelines analyzing both images and spectroscopy are unchanged from those used in our Second Data Release.Comment: 14 pages, including 2 postscript figures. Submitted to AJ. Data available at http://www.sdss.org/dr