Rituximab administration in third trimester of pregnancy suppresses neonatal B-cell development

We describe the effect on the neonate of administration of rituximab to a woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Rituximab, an anti-CD20 antibody, was given weekly for 4 weeks to a woman with ITP in her third trimester of pregnancy. One month after the last rituximab administration a healthy girl was born. She had normal growth and development during the first six months. At birth, B-lymphocytes were not detectable. Rituximab levels in mother and neonate were 24000 and 6700 ng/mL, respectively. Only 7 cases of rituximab administration during pregnancy were described. No adverse events are described for fetus and neonate. We demonstrate that rituximab passes the placenta and inhibits neonatal B-lymphocyte development. However, after 6 months B-lymphocyte levels normalized and vaccination titres after 10 months were adequate. No infection-related complications occurred. Rituximab administration during pregnancy appears to be safe for the child but further studies are warranted. Copyright © 2008 D. T. Klink et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1

Decolorization of synthetic dyes by laccase immobilized on epoxy-activated carriers

The Myceliophthora thermophila laccase was covalently immobilized on polymethacrylate-based polymers (Sepabeads EC-EP3 and Dilbeads NK) activated with epoxy groups. The enzyme immobilized on Sepabeads EC-EP3 exhibited notable activity (203 U/g) along with remarkably improved stability towards pH, temperature and storage time, but no increased resistance to organic solvents. In addition, the immobilized laccase also showed good operational stability, maintaining 84% of its initial activity after 17 cycles of oxidation of ABTS. The immobilized biocatalyst was applied to the decolorization of six synthetic dyes. Immobilized laccase retained 41% activity in the decolorization of Methyl Green in a fixed-bed reactor after five cycles. The features of these biocatalysts are very attractive for their application on the decolorization of dyes in the textile industry in batch and continuous fixed-bed bioreactors. To our knowledge, this is the first report on immobilization of laccase on Sepabeads carriers and its efficient dyes decolorization.We thank Drs. Moreno Daminati and Paolo Caimi (Resindion) and Vyasa Rajasekar (DilComplex) for providing us Sepabeads EC-EP3 and Dilbeads NK polymers, respectively. We are grateful to Ramiro Martínez (Novozymes A/S, Spain) for DeniLite II S samples. This material is based upon work founded by Spanish MEC (Projects VEM2004-08559 and CTQ2005-08925-C02-02/PPQ); European Union (Project NMP2-CT-2006-026456) and CSIC (Project 200580M121). Spanish MEC is also thanked for the post-doctoral fellowship (SB2004-0011) of Dr. A. Kunamneni and for the Ramon y Cajal contracts of Drs. S. Camarero and M. Alcalde.This material is based upon work financed by Spanish MEC (Projects VEM2004-08559 and CTQ2005-08925-C02-02/PPQ); European Union (Project NMP2-CT-2006-026456) and CSIC (Project 200580M121). Spanish MEC is also thanked for the post-doctoral fellowship (SB2004-0011) of Dr. A. Kunamneni and for the Ramon y Cajal contracts of Drs. S. Camarero and M. Alcalde.Peer reviewe

Stimulus - response curves of a neuronal model for noisy subthreshold oscillations and related spike generation

We investigate the stimulus-dependent tuning properties of a noisy ionic conductance model for intrinsic subthreshold oscillations in membrane potential and associated spike generation. On depolarization by an applied current, the model exhibits subthreshold oscillatory activity with occasional spike generation when oscillations reach the spike threshold. We consider how the amount of applied current, the noise intensity, variation of maximum conductance values and scaling to different temperature ranges alter the responses of the model with respect to voltage traces, interspike intervals and their statistics and the mean spike frequency curves. We demonstrate that subthreshold oscillatory neurons in the presence of noise can sensitively and also selectively be tuned by stimulus-dependent variation of model parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Comparison among Hamiltonian light-front formalisms at q+ = 0 and q+ <> 0: space-like elastic form factors of pseudoscalar and vector mesons

The electromagnetic elastic form factors of pseudoscalar and vector mesons are analyzed for space-like momentum transfers in terms of relativistic quark models based on the Hamiltonian light-front formalism elaborated in different reference frames (q+ 0 and q+ 0). As far as the one-body approximation for the electromagnetic current operator is concerned, it is shown that the predictions of the light-front approach at q+=0 should be preferred, particularly in case of light hadrons, because of: i) the relevant role played by the Z-graph at q+ 0, and ii) the appropriate elimination of spurious effects, related to the orientation of the null hyperplane where the light-front wave function is defined.Comment: version to appear in Phys. Rev. C. No change in the results and in the conclusion

Point-Form Analysis of Elastic Deuteron Form Factors

Point-form relativistic quantum mechanics is applied to elastic electron-deuteron scattering. The deuteron is modeled using relativistic interactions that are scattering-equivalent to the nonrelativistic Argonne $v_{18}$ and Reid '93 interactions. A point-form spectator approximation (PFSA) is introduced to define a conserved covariant current in terms of single-nucleon form factors. The PFSA is shown to provide an accurate description of data up to momentum transfers of 0.5 ${\rm GeV}^2$, but falls below the data at higher momentum transfers. Results are sensitive to the nucleon form factor parameterization chosen, particularly to the neutron electric form factor.Comment: RevTex, 31 pages, 1 table, 13 figure

Data submission and curation for caArray, a standard based microarray data repository system

caArray is an open-source, open development, web and programmatically accessible array data management system developed at National Cancer Institute. It was developed to support the exchange of array data across the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG&#x2122;), a collaborative information network that connect scientists and practitioners through a shareable and interoperable infrastructure to share data and knowledge. caArray adopts a federated model of local installations, in which data deposited are shareable across caBIG&#x2122;. &#xd;&#xa;&#xd;&#xa;Comprehensive in annotation yet easy to use has always been a challenge to any data repository system. To alleviate this difficulty, caArray accepts data upload using the MAGE-TAB, a spreadsheet-based format for annotating and communicating microarray data in a MIAME-compliant fashion (&#x22;http://www.mged.org/mage-tab&#x22;:http://www.mged.org/mage-tab). MAGE-TAB is built on community standards &#x2013; MAGE, MIAME, and Ontology. The components and work flow of MAGE-TAB files are organized in such a way which is already familiar to bench scientists and thus minimize the time and frustration of reorganizing their data before submission. The MAGE-TAB files are also structured to be machine readable so that they can be easily parsed into database. Users can control public access to experiment- and sample-level data and can create collaboration groups to support data exchange among a defined set of partners. &#xd;&#xa;&#xd;&#xa;All data submitted to caArray at NCI will go through strict curation by a group of scientists against these standards to make sure that the data are correctly annotated using proper controlled vocabulary terms and all required information are provided. Two of mostly used ontology sources are MGED ontology (&#x22;http://mged.sourceforge.net/ontologies/MGEDontology.php&#x22;:http://mged.sourceforge.net/ontologies/MGEDontology.php) and NCI thesaurus (&#x22;http://nciterms.nci.nih.gov/NCIBrowser/Dictionary.do&#x22;:http://nciterms.nci.nih.gov/NCIBrowser/Dictionary.do). The purpose of data curation is to ensure easy comparison of results from different labs and unambiguous report of results. &#xd;&#xa;&#xd;&#xa;Data will also undergo automatic validation process before parsed into database, in which minimum information requirement and data consistency with the array designs are checked. Files with error found during validation are flagged with error message. Curators will re-examine those files and make necessary corrections before re-load the files. The iteration repeats until files are validated successfully. Data are then imported into the system and ready for access through the portal or through API. Interested parties are encouraged to review the installation package, documentation, and source code available from &#x22;http://caarray.nci.nih.gov&#x22;:http://caarray.nci.nih.gov

Analysis of Gene expression in soybean (Glycine max) roots in response to the root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita using microarrays and KEGG pathways

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Root-knot nematodes are sedentary endoparasites that can infect more than 3000 plant species. Root-knot nematodes cause an estimated $100 billion annual loss worldwide. For successful establishment of the root-knot nematode in its host plant, it causes dramatic morphological and physiological changes in plant cells. The expression of some plant genes is altered by the nematode as it establishes its feeding site.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We examined the expression of soybean (<it>Glycine max</it>) genes in galls formed in roots by the root-knot nematode, <it>Meloidogyne incognita</it>, 12 days and 10 weeks after infection to understand the effects of infection of roots by <it>M. incognita</it>. Gene expression was monitored using the Affymetrix Soybean GeneChip containing 37,500 <it>G. max </it>probe sets. Gene expression patterns were integrated with biochemical pathways from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes using PAICE software. Genes encoding enzymes involved in carbohydrate and cell wall metabolism, cell cycle control and plant defense were altered.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A number of different soybean genes were identified that were differentially expressed which provided insights into the interaction between <it>M. incognita </it>and soybean and into the formation and maintenance of giant cells. Some of these genes may be candidates for broadening plants resistance to root-knot nematode through over-expression or silencing and require further examination.</p

Limits to Poisson's ratio in isotropic materials

A long-standing question is why Poisson's ratio v nearly always exceeds 0.2 for isotropic materials, whereas classical elasticity predicts v to be between -1 to 1/2. We show that the roots of quadratic relations from classical elasticity divide v into three possible ranges: -1 < v <= 0, 0 <= v <= 1/5, and 1/5 <= v < 1/2. Since elastic properties are unique there can be only one valid set of roots, which must be 1/5 <= v < 1/2 for consistency with the behavior of real materials. Materials with Poisson's ratio outside of this range are rare, and tend to be either very hard (e.g., diamond, beryllium) or porous (e.g., auxetic foams); such substances have more complex behavior than can be described by classical elasticity. Thus, classical elasticity is inapplicable whenever v < 1/5, and the use of the equations from classical elasticity for such materials is inappropriate.Comment: Physical Review B, in pres

Meaning and components of Quality of Life among individuals with spinal cord injury in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia

Purpose: Knowledge on the meaning of quality of life in individuals with spinal cord injury in developing countries is limited. This study aims to explore the meaning and components of quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injury in a rural area in Indonesia. Method: Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 12 individuals with paraplegia (8 males, 4 females) aged 24–67 years. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes that constitute meaning and components of quality of life. Results: Quality of life was not an easily understood concept, while “life satisfaction” and “happiness” were. Life satisfaction was associated with a person’s feeling when achieving goals or dreams and related to fulfillment of needs. Thirteen components of life satisfaction were identified and categorized into five domains as follows: (1) participation: earning income and work, being useful to others, community participation, and having skills and knowledge, (2) social support: social support, social relationship, (3) relationship with God: injury is God’s will, praying, (4) independence: being independent, mobility and accessibility, and health, and (5) psychological resources: accepting the condition, maintaining goals and motivation. Conclusions: Social, cultural and religious influences were prominent in the perception of life satisfaction. The measurement of quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injury in Indonesia needs to consider locally perceived meaning and components of quality of life. Implications for Rehabilitation Financial, social and health needs of individuals with spinal cord injury in Indonesia must be immediately addressed. To increase financial independence, rehabilitation professionals should equip individuals with spinal cord injury with adequate self-employment skills. Sociocultural and religious aspects should be considered in the measurement of quality of life

Effects of boundary conditions on magnetization switching in kinetic Ising models of nanoscale ferromagnets

Magnetization switching in highly anisotropic single-domain ferromagnets has been previously shown to be qualitatively described by the droplet theory of metastable decay and simulations of two-dimensional kinetic Ising systems with periodic boundary conditions. In this article we consider the effects of boundary conditions on the switching phenomena. A rich range of behaviors is predicted by droplet theory: the specific mechanism by which switching occurs depends on the structure of the boundary, the particle size, the temperature, and the strength of the applied field. The theory predicts the existence of a peak in the switching field as a function of system size in both systems with periodic boundary conditions and in systems with boundaries. The size of the peak is strongly dependent on the boundary effects. It is generally reduced by open boundary conditions, and in some cases it disappears if the boundaries are too favorable towards nucleation. However, we also demonstrate conditions under which the peak remains discernible. This peak arises as a purely dynamic effect and is not related to the possible existence of multiple domains. We illustrate the predictions of droplet theory by Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional Ising systems with various system shapes and boundary conditions.Comment: RevTex, 48 pages, 13 figure