Purification from human plasma of a tetrapeptide that potentiates insulin-like growth factor-I activity in chick embryo cartilage

AbstractHuman plasma has been shown to contain a low molecular weight factor that potentiates human IGF-I stimulation of glycosaminoglycan synthesis in chick embryo cartilage. The peptide was purified and characterized by Edman degradation and electrospray mass spectrometry. The primary structure determined was: Trp-Gly-His-Glu. A homologous synthetic peptide similarly promoted matrix biosynthesis in cartilage exposed to IGF-1

ROLE DES FACTEURS DE CROISSANCE SERIQUES DE HAUT ET FAIBLE POIDS MOLECULAIRE DANS LA SYNTHESE ET LA SECRETION DE MACROMOLECULES PAR LE CARTILAGE

This chapter analyzes the development of corporate fiduciary law and principles in the law of the People’s Republic of China from the early 1990s to date. The story starts with a short history of the contested advent of explicitly law-based corporate fiduciary duties into the PRC legal system after 1978, with an in depth consideration of the concurrent “legal construction” and “corporatization without privatization” programs implemented by China’s post-Mao administrations in the two decades following. In that regard, at least three development paths are described and explained — academic, regulatory and judicial/jurisprudential. Then the paper details how the substantive legal concepts associated with corporate (and later partnership) fiduciary duties have been injected into Chinese law and regulation, by which institutions, and with what legal, regulatory or economic policy aims and effects. Third, the article canvases how these substantive legal principles have gained life, or not, in application by state institutions like the PRC judiciary or its securities regulator, or, oftentimes more importantly, at the urging of private claimants. Finally, the chapter provides a consideration of what this particular development path, both its advances and frustrations, means for the assumption by China — and application by increasingly competent and autonomous, if not politically fully independent, institutions embedded in a vastly different tradition — of complex legal doctrines originating in distinct legal, political and economic systems. The ostensibly narrow story of corporate fiduciary duties in modern China thus has significant meaning for the ongoing and future development of the PRC’s entire governance and legal systems. A revised version of this work will be published as a chapter in the forthcoming collection: Evan Criddle, Paul B. Miller and Robert H. Sitkoff, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018)

Rôles respectifs des facteurs de croissance sériques de haut et faible poids moléculaire dans le métabolisme des protéoglycannes et d'autres macromolécules du cartilage

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Optimization of the artificial neuronal network for the degradation and mineralization of amoxicillin photoinduced by the complex ferrioxalate with a gradual and progressive approach of the ligand

International audienceIn this work, the Ferrioxalate complex was used to mineralize the widely used antibiotic amoxicillin (AMX). The effect of operational parameters such as Fe3+ concentration, the molar ratio (Oxalate/Fe3+), and initial pH was studied for achieving high efficiency of degradation and mineralization. The effect of inorganic ions in the degradation of AMX was also investigated. Optimization of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict the performance of the process was realized. Neural networks were applied to model AMX degradation using 75 experimental data. Analysis of the results shows that the oxalate: iron ratio is limited to 3 with a Fe3+ concentration of 0.35 mM. In order to avoid this limitation, an alternative solution was adopted to increase the molar ratio with the gradual and progressive use of oxalic acid ligand. Almost total degradation and mineralization of AMX was achieved at the free initial pH of 2.8 and final pH of 6. The study of the effect of inorganic ions showed that bicarbonate and sulfate ions play an important role in contrast to Cl− ions with no noticeable influence. Neural network application resulted in a MSE of 1.1543 × 10-5 and a correlation coefficient r of 0.99 for AMX degradation and MSE of 1.12162 × 10-5 with r of 0.99 for mineralization. The model can describe successfully the percentage of degradation and mineralization of AMX under various conditions. ANN and NSGA-II (Non-dominant Sorting Genetic Algorithm -II) hybrid method to solve a multi-objective problem was proposed to determine the optimal (Fe3+/Ox/UVA) operating and process parameters

Safety and tolerability of sirolimus treatment in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

BACKGROUND: We initiated a randomized controlled clinical trial to assess the effect of sirolimus on disease progression in patients affected by autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Here we report the preliminary safety results of the first 6 months of treatment. METHOD: A total of 25 patients were randomized to sirolimus 2 mg/day and 25 patients to no treatment except standard care. Treatment adherence was monitored electronically. At baseline and at Month 6, laboratory parameters were analysed and the urinary protein profile in 24-h urine collections was determined. RESULTS: Both treatment groups were well balanced for age, sex and renal function. In 94.1 +/- 11.4% of the study days, patients in the sirolimus group were exposed to the drug when assuming a therapeutic efficacy duration of 30 h. At Month 6, the mean sirolimus dose and trough level were 1.28 +/- 0.71 mg/day and 3.8 +/- 1.9 microg/l, respectively. Glomerular (albumin, transferrin, IgG) and tubular (retinol-binding protein, alpha(1)-microglobulin) protein excretion remained unchanged. Glomerular filtration rate also did not change significantly. Haematological parameters were similar in both groups, except for a mild reduction of the mean corpuscular volume of erythrocytes in patients receiving sirolimus. Lipid levels were similar in both groups. Adverse events were transient and mild, and no grade 3 or 4 events occurred. The incidence of infections was similar in the sirolimus group (80%) and the standard group (88%). The most common gastrointestinal adverse events were mucositis (72% in the sirolimus group versus 16% in the standard group, P = 0.0001) and diarrhoea (36% in the sirolimus versus 20% in the standard group, P = 0.345). CONCLUSION: Treatment of ADPKD patients with sirolimus with a dose of 1-2 mg/day is safe and does not cause proteinuria or impairment of GFR. Treatment adherence was excellent. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00346918.)

Inter-Diffusion of cobalt and silicon through an ultrathin aluminum oxide layer

International audienceOptical emission spectroscopy of sputtered species during ion bombardment, Auger electron spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to study the cobalt and silicon diffusion through the interfaces of Co/AlO/Si(0 0 1) hetero-structure. The results are discussed as a function of the annealing temperature of sample and show that the diffusion process at the interfaces starts for annealing temperatures above 200 °C without detectable modification of the oxide layer