Saul Bellow and Imagination

As this quotation indicates clearly, Saul Bellow (1915~) definitely rejects the modernist's common assumption that "humankind has reached a terminal point." He insists that however dismal and bleak the contemporary situation may be, the novlist cannot and should not give the "apocalyptic interpretation" of human history. Indeed, there are misery and wretchedness; the ultimate nihilistic belief beckons the novelist. But it is a temptation which should be overcome. Declaration of "the last word," that man is finished, is a reckless exaggeration. It is "misrepresenting ourselves to ourselves."2l One of the surest ways to tell the truth probably lies in the realization that man is neither so great nor so insignificant. The deepest truth is to be found in the correct understanding of "being human." Bellow urges the novelist to cast away "a conventional unearned wretchedness, a bitterness about existence which is mere fashion." The novelist should "trust his own sense of life." Thisis the fundamental position of Bellow the novelist

Mass spectrometric studies on peptides and proteins : conformations of Escherichia coli Thioredoxin and its alkylated adducts studied by hydrogen/deuterium exchange and HPLC-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

E. coli thioredoxin (TRX) was modified by the episulfonium ion derived from S-(2-chloroethyl)glutathione (CEG) or S-(2-chloroethyl)cysteine (CEC). The alkylation site was located at Cys-32, which was confirmed by tandem mass spectrometry. Two forms of native TRX, Oxi- and Red-TRX, and two modified TRXs, GS- and Cys-TRX, were examined by hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange reactions using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for the analysis. Conformational dynamics during thermal denaturation were probed by H/D exchange-in experiments. Under conditions in which the folded conformational state is marginally stable, H/D exchange-in experiments resulted in mass spectra differing in the number of incorporated deuteriums which indicates the presence of two distinct populations of molecules. As the exchange-in time increased, the population representing the unfolded state increased and the population for the folded state decreased. The rate of conversion was used to estimate the rate constant of unfolding. ESI mass spectra were also recorded as a function of temperature without H/D exchange, and the observed bimodal charge state distributions were analyzed in order to estimate melting temperatures. GS-TRX showed increased resistance to hydrogen isotope exchange in comparison with Red-TRX indicating that there were enhanced intramolecular interactions in the former protein. Pepsin digestion was performed on deuterated TRXs to analyze different structural regions. The amount of deuterium incorporated was monitored with peptic peptides from deuterated TRXs with different exchange-in incubation periods. Deuterium levels of each peptide were plotted versus the exchange time and fitted with a series of first-order rate terms. The regions 59-80 and 81-108 of Oxi- and Red-TRX showed an EX1 mechanism as evidenced by two distinct mass envelopes that appeared after a short incubation time in deuterated solvent. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was carried out to obtain the information on individual amide linkages. MS/MS data showed generally excellent correlations with the exchange rate constants from published NMR data on Oxi- and Red-TRXs. Two residues, Ile-75 and Ala-93 in GS-TRX indicated the most probable sites responsible for induced H-bonding by the attached glutathionyl group, which was consistent with the energy minimized structure predicted by AMBER force field constants

THE ANALYSIS OF OCULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE DYNAMIC POSTURAL CONTROL OF TURN MOTION ON THE BALANCE BEAM

This study demonstrated the importance of dynamic postural balancing and ocular movement in a turn motion on the balance beam using a manufactured wireless EOG measuring system with three female gymnasts. This study found that among the dynamic postural control variables, angular displacement and ocular movement were closely related. During a turn motion, the ocular movement was in opposite direction of the angular displacement of head and trunk along the medio-lateral axis. This resulted from the gymnast’s effort to stare at the end of the balance beam or the front in order to keep balance. The change of angular displacement of head around the medio-lateral axis and vertical axis was in opposite direction of the ocular movement. When the motion was successful, the gymnasts performed a spotting motion

On-Line Cursive Korean Character Recognition by using Curvature Models

A cursive Korean character consists of several Korean alphabets where connection is present within and among the alphabets. Recognition of Korean characters can be carried out by splitting each character into smaller primitives. Small line segments can be used as the primitives. But this approach requires too much processing time, for there can be many candidate references to be matched to one input character and each reference usually consists of too many primitives. In this paper, we propose an approach using structural curvature models to overcome the difficulties of using small line segments. These models are obtained by segmenting the input character at the points showing sudden change in direction, excessive rotation, etc. By doing this, rather larger and structural curve segments can be used as the basic primitives to be matched resulting in the savings of processing time and better recognition rat

Sejong Open Cluster Survey (SOS). 0. Target Selection and Data Analysis

Star clusters are superb astrophysical laboratories containing cospatial and coeval samples of stars with similar chemical composition. We have initiated the Sejong Open cluster Survey (SOS) - a project dedicated to providing homogeneous photometry of a large number of open clusters in the SAAO Johnson-Cousins' $UBVI$ system. To achieve our main goal, we have paid much attention to the observation of standard stars in order to reproduce the SAAO standard system. Many of our targets are relatively small, sparse clusters that escaped previous observations. As clusters are considered building blocks of the Galactic disk, their physical properties such as the initial mass function, the pattern of mass segregation, etc. give valuable information on the formation and evolution of the Galactic disk. The spatial distribution of young open clusters will be used to revise the local spiral arm structure of the Galaxy. In addition, the homogeneous data can also be used to test stellar evolutionary theory, especially concerning rare massive stars. In this paper we present the target selection criteria, the observational strategy for accurate photometry, and the adopted calibrations for data analysis such as color-color relations, zero-age main sequence relations, Sp - Mv relations, Sp - Teff relations, Sp - color relations, and Teff - BC relations. Finally we provide some data analysis such as the determination of the reddening law, the membership selection criteria, and distance determination.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in J. of Korean Astronomical Society (JKAS

Home blood pressure measurement for hypertension management in the real world: Do not just measure, but share with your physician

IntroductionStudies of the effectiveness of home blood pressure (BP) measurement on the treatment of hypertension in the real world are sparse, and the results are controversial. There is an efficacy-effectiveness gap in the treatment of hypertension using home BP measurements. We aimed to investigate the effect of reporting home BP to physicians on ambulatory BP control as a factor contributing to the efficacy-effectiveness gap in treating patients with hypertension.MethodsWe recruited patients ≥20 years of age taking antihypertensive drugs. Office and 24-h ambulatory BP were measured. A questionnaire to the measurement of home BP was conducted. Participants were divided into an HBPM(−) group, home BP was not measured (n = 467); HBPM(+)-R(−) group, home BP was measured but not reported (n = 81); and HBPM(+)-R(+) group, home BP was measured and reported (n = 125).ResultsThe HBPM(+)-R(+) group had significantly lower office systolic BP (SBP, p = 0.035), 24-h SBP (p = 0.009), and daytime SBP (p = 0.016) than the HBPM(−) group, and lower nighttime SBP (p = 0.005) and diastolic BP (DBP, p = 0.008) than the HBPM(+)-R(−) group. In the multivariate analysis, the differences in 24-h SBP, daytime SBP, and nighttime DBP remained significant. There was a significant difference between groups in the target achievement rate of 24-h SBP (p = 0.046), nighttime SBP (p = 0.021), and nighttime DBP (p = 0.023). The nighttime SBP and DBP target achievement rates in the HBPM(+)-R(+) group were higher than those in the HBPM(+)-R(−) group (p = 0.006 and 0.010, respectively). Among patients measuring home BP, the adjusted odds ratio for 24-h and nighttime BP target achievement in the HBPM(+)-R(+) group were 2.233 and 3.658, respectively.ConclusionHome BP measurements should be reported to the treating physician to effectively manage hypertension.Clinical trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT03868384

Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Deglaciation has accelerated the transport of minerals as well as modern and ancient organic matter from land to fjord sediments in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the European Arctic Ocean. Consequently, such sediments may contain significant levels of total mercury (THg) bound to terrestrial organic matter. The present study compared THg contents in surface sediments from three fjord settings in Spitsbergen: Hornsund in the southern Spitsbergen, which has high annual volume of loss glacier and receives sediment from multiple tidewater glaciers, Dicksonfjorden in the central Spitsbergen, which receives sediment from glacifluvial rivers, and Wijdefjorden in the northern Spitsbergen, which receive sediments from a mixture of tidewater glaciers and glacifluvial rivers. Our results showed that the THg (52 +/- 15 ng g(-1)) bound to organic matter (OM) was the highest in the Hornsund surface sediments, where the glacier loss (0.44 km(3) yr(-1)) and organic carbon accumulation rates (9.3 similar to 49.4 g m(-2) yr(-1)) were elevated compared to other fjords. Furthermore, the delta C-13 (-27 similar to -24 parts per thousand) and delta S-34 values (-10 similar to 15 parts per thousand) of OM indicated that most of OM were originated from terrestrial sources. Thus, the temperature-driven glacial melting could release more OM originating from the meltwater or terrestrial materials, which are available for THg binding in the European Arctic fjord ecosystems.11Ysciescopu

Mechanisms of Cross-protection by Influenza Virus M2-based Vaccines

Current influenza virus vaccines are based on strain-specific surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) antigens and effective only when the predicted vaccine strains and circulating viruses are well-matched. The current strategy of influenza vaccination does not prevent the pandemic outbreaks and protection efficacy is reduced or ineffective if mutant strains emerge. It is of high priority to develop effective vaccines and vaccination strategies conferring a broad range of cross protection. The extracellular domain of M2 (M2e) is highly conserved among human influenza A viruses and has been utilized to develop new vaccines inducing cross protection against different subtypes of influenza A virus. However, immune mechanisms of cross protection by M2e-based vaccines still remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we review immune correlates and mechanisms conferring cross protection by M2e-based vaccines. Molecular and cellular immune components that are known to be involved in M2 immune-mediated protection include antibodies, B cells, T cells, alveolar macrophages, Fc receptors, complements, and natural killer cells. Better understanding of protective mechanisms by immune responses induced by M2e vaccination will help facilitate development of broadly cross protective vaccines against influenza A virus

Usefulness of Bone Metabolic Markers in the Diagnosis of Bone Metastasis from Lung Cancer

Bone metastasis is common in lung cancer patient and the diagnosis of bone metastasis is usually made by using imaging techniques, especially bone scintigraphy. However, the diagnostic yield from bone scintigraphy is limited. The aim of this study is to assess the clinical usefulness of urinary pyridinoline cross-linked N-telopeptides of Type I collagen (NTx), urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD), and serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the assessment of bone metastasis in patients with lung cancer. Urinary NTx, DPD, and serum ALP were measured in 151 lung cancer patients (33 with and 118 without bone metastasis). Lung cancer patients with bone metastasis had a higher urinary excretion of NTx and DPD, and a higher serum ALP than those without bone metastasis. NTx had a better receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve than DPD and ALP, since the areas under the ROC curve were 0.82, 0.79, and 0.71, respectively. Although correlation coefficients among NTx, DPD and ALP were significantly positive (p < 0.005), the strongest relationship was appeared between NTx and DPD (R=0.616). In conclusion, our results showed the utility of the new bone markers in detecting bone metastasis and suggested that measurement of urinary NTx was valid diagnostic method of bone metastasis from lung cancer