Analysis of fibrinogen variants at gamma 387Ile shows that the side chain of gamma 387 and the tertiary structure of the gamma C-terminal tail are important not only for assembly and secretion of fibrinogen but also for lateral aggregation of protofibrils and XIIIa-catalyzed gamma-gamma dimer formation

This research was originally published in Blood. Author(s).Kani, S; Terasawa, F; Yamauchi, K; Tozuka, M; Okumura, N. Title. Blood. 2006;108:1887-1894. © by the American Society of Hematology.ArticleBLOOD. 108(6): 1887-1894 (2006)journal articl

Functional analysis of recombinant B beta 15C and B beta 15A fibrinogens demonstrates that B beta 15G residue plays important roles in FPB release and in lateral aggregation of protofibrils

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.ArticleJOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS. 3(5): 983-990 (2005)journal articl

Conformal Invariance and Degrees of Freedom in the QCD String

We demonstrate that the Hagedorn-like growth of the number of observed meson states can be used to constrain the degrees of freedom of the underlying effective QCD string. We find that the temperature relevant for such string theories is not given by the usual Hagedorn value $T_H\approx 160$ MeV, but is considerably higher. This resolves an apparent conflict with the results from a static quark-potential analysis, and suggests that conformal invariance and modular invariance are indeed reflected in the hadronic spectrum. We also find that the $D_\perp=2$ scalar string is in excellent agreement with data.Comment: 13 pages (Standard LaTeX); --> replaced version emphasizes new results, and agrees with version to appear in Physical Review Letters (Jan 1994

Duality in Non-Trivially Compactified Heterotic Strings

We study the implications of duality symmetry on the analyticity properties of the partition function as it depends upon the compactification length. In order to obtain non-trivial compactifications, we give a physical prescription to get the Helmholtz free energy for any heterotic string supersymmetric or not. After proving that the free energy is always invariant under the duality transformation $R\rightarrow \alpha^{'}/(4R)$ and getting the zero temperature theory whose partition function corresponds to the Helmholtz potential, we show that the self-dual point $R_{0}=\sqrt{\alpha^{'}}/2$ is a generic singularity as the Hagedorn one. The main difference between these two critical compactification radii is that the term producing the singularity at the self-dual point is finite for any $R \neq R_{0}$. We see that this behavior at $R_{0}$ actually implies a loss of degrees of freedom below that point.Comment: (Preprint No. FTUAM-92/12) 17 page

Effects of viscous dissipation and boundary conditions on forced convection in a channel occupied by a saturated porous medium

Forced convection with viscous dissipation in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium is investigated numerically. Three different viscous dissipation models are examined. Two different sets of wall conditions are considered: isothermal and isoflux. Analytical expressions are also presented for the asymptotic temperature profile and the asymptotic Nusselt number. With isothermal walls, the Brinkman number significantly influences the developing Nusselt number but not the asymptotic one. At constant wall heat flux, both the developing and the asymptotic Nusselt numbers are affected by the value of the Brinkman number. The Nusselt number is sensitive to the porous medium shape factor under all conditions considered

Neural network modelling of RC deep beam shear strength

YesA 9 x 18 x 1 feed-forward neural network (NN) model trained using a resilient back-propagation algorithm and early stopping technique is constructed to predict the shear strength of deep reinforced concrete beams. The input layer covering geometrical and material properties of deep beams has nine neurons, and the corresponding output is the shear strength. Training, validation and testing of the developed neural network have been achieved using a comprehensive database compiled from 362 simple and 71 continuous deep beam specimens. The shear strength predictions of deep beams obtained from the developed NN are in better agreement with test results than those determined from strut-and-tie models. The mean and standard deviation of the ratio between predicted capacities using the NN and measured shear capacities are 1.028 and 0.154, respectively, for simple deep beams, and 1.0 and 0.122, respectively, for continuous deep beams. In addition, the trends ascertained from parametric study using the developed NN have a consistent agreement with those observed in other experimental and analytical investigations

Effects of viscous dissipation and boundary conditions on forced convection in a channel occupied by a saturated porous medium

Forced convection with viscous dissipation in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium is investigated numerically. Three different viscous dissipation models are examined. Two different sets of wall conditions are considered: isothermal and isoflux. Analytical expressions are also presented for the asymptotic temperature profile and the asymptotic Nusselt number. With isothermal walls, the Brinkman number significantly influences the developing Nusselt number but not the asymptotic one. At constant wall heat flux, both the developing and the asymptotic Nusselt numbers are affected by the value of the Brinkman number. The Nusselt number is sensitive to the porous medium shape factor under all conditions considered

Finite Temperature Bosonic Closed Strings: Thermal Duality and the Kosterlitz Thouless Transition

We elucidate the properties of a gas of free closed bosonic strings in thermal equilibrium. Our starting point is the intensive generating functional of connected one-loop closed vacuum string graphs given by the Polyakov path integral. Invariance of the path integral under modular transformations gives a thermal duality invariant expression for the free energy of free closed strings at finite temperature. The free bosonic string gas exhibits a self-dual Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition. The thermodynamic potentials of the gas of free bosonic closed strings are shown to exhibit an infinite hierarchy of thermal self-duality relations. Note Added (Sep 2005).Comment: 22pgs. Note Added (Sep 2005), clarifying conclusion

HER2 therapy. HER2 (ERBB2): functional diversity from structurally conserved building blocks

EGFR-type receptor tyrosine kinases achieve a broad spectrum of cellular responses by utilizing a set of structurally conserved building blocks. Based on available crystal structures and biochemical information, significant new insights have emerged into modes of receptor control, its deregulation in cancer, and the nuances that differentiate the four human receptors. This review gives an overview of current models of the control of receptor activity with a special emphasis on HER2 and HER3