More Than Just a Glass Face: What Makes a Green or Sustainable Building, Exactly?

Buildings are responsible for a wide range of environmental impacts. In response to this, several green building standards have been developed. Each standard uses different strategies and has different approaches to defining what features should make up a green building. This thesis uses the LEED, BREEAM, EEWH, and Living Building Challenge standards as a lens through which this question of what makes a green building is explored, with an emphasis on the distinction between greenness and sustainability in the built environment

Some Classes of Convergent Interval Matrices

Some classes of interval matrices for which a necessary and sufficient condition can be obtained in a simple form are indicated. A few sufficient conditions are also derived to assure convergence of interval matrices. Some of these results are discussed in association with their polynomial counterparts

Stability Robustness Conditions for Control Systems with Bounded and Unbounded Nonlinear Gain Elements

Taking the stability robustness into account in every aspect is a current trend in control theory. However, major recent efforts have been focused on the stability robustness of linear control systems, and so, results for nonlinear systems seem to be few. In this respect, we will make several attempts to cope with stability problems for control systems having bounded or unbounded nonlinear gain elements. We consider two tpyes of Lyapunov functions : L₂ type functions, i.e., quadratic functions and L₁ Type ones. The former is used to show the stability of systems with bounded gain elements and the latter for systems with unbounded gain characteristics. The existence of such functions assures robust stability for these nonlinear systems against perturbations in the nonlinear gain elements

Natural history of Upshaw-Schulman syndrome based on ADAMTS13 gene analysis in Japan

Upshaw–Schulman syndrome (USS) is an extremely rare hereditary deficiency of ADAMTS13 activity, termed congenital TTP. The clinical signs are usually mild during childhood, often with isolated thrombocytopenia. But their symptoms become more evident when patients have infections or get pregnant. We identified 43 USS-patients in Japan, who ranged in age from early childhood to 79 years of age. Analysing the natural history of these USS patients based on ADAMTS13 gene mutations may help characterise their clinical phenotypes. Severe neonatal jaundice that requires exchange blood transfusion, a hallmark of USS, was found in 18 of 43 patients (42%). During childhood, 25 of 43 patients were correctly diagnosed with USS without gender disparity. These 25 patients were categorised as having ‘the early-onset phenotype’. Between 15 and 45 years of age, 15 were correctly diagnosed, and, interestingly, they were all female. The remaining three patients were male and were diagnosed when they were older than 45 years of age, suggesting that they were ‘the late-onset phenotype’. Two of these three males developed sudden overt TTP when they were 55 and 63 years old, respectively. These two men had two different homozygous ADAMTS13 gene mutations, p.R193W/p.R193W and p.C1024R/p.C1024R, respectively. Both of which were not discovered in the US or Western countries. In vitro expression studies showed that these two proteins were consistently secreted into the culture medium but to a lesser extent and with reduced activity compared to the wild-type protein. Our results indicate that ‘the late-onset phenotype’ of USS is formed with ethnic specificity.・The definitive version is available at " http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04341.x "・State of the Art 2011 : XXIII Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Invited Reviewhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04341.

Regulation of P450 oxidoreductase by gonadotropins in rat ovary and its effect on estrogen production

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>P450 oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes electron transfer to microsomal P450 enzymes. Its deficiency causes Antley-Bixler syndrome (ABS), and about half the patients with ABS have ambiguous genitalia and/or impaired steroidogenesis. POR mRNA expression is up-regulated when mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiate into steroidogenic cells, suggesting that the regulation of POR gene expression is important for steroidogenesis. In this context we examined the regulation of POR expression in ovarian granulosa cells by gonadotropins, and its possible role in steroidogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Changes in gene expression in MSCs during differentiation into steroidogenic cells were examined by DNA microarray analysis. Changes in mRNA and protein expression of POR in the rat ovary or in granulosa cells induced by gonadotropin treatment were examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Effects of transient expression of wild-type or mutant (R457H or V492E) POR proteins on the production of estrone in COS-7 cells were examined in vitro. Effects of POR knockdown were also examined in estrogen producing cell-line, KGN cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>POR mRNA was induced in MSCs following transduction with the SF-1 retrovirus, and was further increased by cAMP treatment. Expression of POR mRNA, as well as Cyp19 mRNA, in the rat ovary were induced by equine chorionic gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin. POR mRNA and protein were also induced by follicle stimulating hormone in primary cultured rat granulosa cells, and the induction pattern was similar to that for aromatase. Transient expression of POR in COS-7 cells, which expressed a constant amount of aromatase protein, greatly increased the rate of conversion of androstenedione to estrone, in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of mutant POR proteins (R457H or V492E), such as those found in ABS patients, had much less effect on aromatase activity than expression of wild-type POR proteins. Knockdown of endogenous POR protein in KGN human granulosa cells led to reduced estrone production, indicating that endogenous POR affected aromatase activity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrated that the expression of POR, together with that of aromatase, was regulated by gonadotropins, and that its induction could up-regulate aromatase activity in the ovary, resulting in a coordinated increase in estrogen production.</p

Frequency of Pro475Ser Polymorphism of ADAMTS13 Gene and Its Association with ADAMTS-13 Activity in the Korean Population

Purpose: The in vitro study suggested that proline to serine polymorphism in codon 475 (C1423T) of the A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease with ThromboSpondin type 1 repeats-13 (ADAMTS-13) gene is related to reduced activity of ADAMTS-13. In this study, the frequency of the Pro475Ser polymorphism in Koreans was studied and plasma ADAMTS-13 activity was measured to find out whether this polymorphism contributes to decreased ADAMTS-13 activity in Koreans. Patients and Methods: The frequency of the C1423T allele of the ADAMTS13 gene was studied along with measuring plasma ADAMTS-13 activity in 250 healthy Korean individuals. Results: The allele frequency of C1423T polymorphism was 4%, and the median activity of CT type was 107 (69- 143)%, which was lower than in controls with the CC genotype [118 (48- 197)%, (p = 0.021)]. Conclusion: Therefore, the Pro475Ser polymorphism seems to be popular in the Korean population, and attenuates ADAMTS-13 plasma activity. Key Words: ADAMTS-13, polymorphism, thrombotic thromobocytopenic purpur

Identification of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)-inducible genes in human amniotic epithelial cells

BACKGROUND: Exposure to dioxins results in a broad range of pathophysiological disorders in human fetuses. In order to evaluate the effects of dioxins on the feto-placental tissues, we analyzed the gene expression in 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) treated primary cultures of human amniotic epithelial cells. METHODS: Human amniotic epithelial cells were dispersed by trypsin from amniotic membranes and cultured in DME/Ham's F12 medium supplemented with 10% FBS. Two weeks after plating, cells were treated with 50 nM TCDD or DMSO (control), further incubated for 48 hrs, and the gene expression was analyzed by DNA microarray technology and quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: Thirty eight TCDD-inducible genes, including cytochromeP4501A1 and cytochromeP4501B1, were identified. One of the remarkable profiles of the gene expression was the prominent up-regulation of interferon-inducible genes. The genes involved in the interferon gene expression and interferon signaling pathways were also up-regulated. Furthermore, the expression of genes related to collagen synthesis or degradation was enhanced by TCDD. CONCLUSION: Using DNA microarray and quantitative real-time PCR analyses, we identified TCDD-inducible genes, including interferon-inducible genes and genes related to collagen synthesis or degradation, in human amniotic epithelial cells