285 research outputs found
The transcriptional repressor protein NsrR senses nitric oxide directly via a [2Fe-2S] cluster
The regulatory protein NsrR, a member of the Rrf2 family of transcription repressors, is specifically dedicated to sensing nitric oxide (NO) in a variety of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. It has been proposed that NO directly modulates NsrR activity by interacting with a predicted [Fe-S] cluster in the NsrR protein, but no experimental evidence has been published to support this hypothesis. Here we report the purification of NsrR from the obligate aerobe Streptomyces coelicolor. We demonstrate using UV-visible, near UV CD and EPR spectroscopy that the protein contains an NO-sensitive [2Fe-2S] cluster when purified from E. coli. Upon exposure of NsrR to NO, the cluster is nitrosylated, which results in the loss of DNA binding activity as detected by bandshift assays. Removal of the [2Fe-2S] cluster to generate apo-NsrR also resulted in loss of DNA binding activity. This is the first demonstration that NsrR contains an NO-sensitive [2Fe-2S] cluster that is required for DNA binding activity
Nonequilibrium Evolution of Correlation Functions: A Canonical Approach
We study nonequilibrium evolution in a self-interacting quantum field theory
invariant under space translation only by using a canonical approach based on
the recently developed Liouville-von Neumann formalism. The method is first
used to obtain the correlation functions both in and beyond the Hartree
approximation, for the quantum mechanical analog of the model. The
technique involves representing the Hamiltonian in a Fock basis of annihilation
and creation operators. By separating it into a solvable Gaussian part
involving quadratic terms and a perturbation of quartic terms, it is possible
to find the improved vacuum state to any desired order. The correlation
functions for the field theory are then investigated in the Hartree
approximation and those beyond the Hartree approximation are obtained by
finding the improved vacuum state corrected up to . These
correlation functions take into account next-to-leading and
next-to-next-to-leading order effects in the coupling constant. We also use the
Heisenberg formalism to obtain the time evolution equations for the equal-time,
connected correlation functions beyond the leading order. These equations are
derived by including the connected 4-point functions in the hierarchy. The
resulting coupled set of equations form a part of infinite hierarchy of coupled
equations relating the various connected n-point functions. The connection with
other approaches based on the path integral formalism is established and the
physical implications of the set of equations are discussed with particular
emphasis on thermalization.Comment: Revtex, 32 pages; substantial new material dealing with
non-equilibrium evolution beyond Hartree approx. based on the LvN formalism,
has been adde
Stochastic Production Of Kink-Antikink Pairs In The Presence Of An Oscillating Background
We numerically investigate the production of kink-antikink pairs in a
dimensional field theory subject to white noise and periodic driving.
The twin effects of noise and periodic driving acting in conjunction lead to
considerable enhancement in the kink density compared to the thermal
equilibrium value, for low dissipation coefficients and for a specific range of
frequencies of the oscillating background. The dependence of the kink-density
on the temperature of the heat bath, the amplitude of the oscillating
background and value of the dissipation coefficient is also investigated. An
interesting feature of our result is that kink-antikink production occurs even
though the system always remains in the broken symmetry phase.Comment: Revtex, 21 pages including 7 figures; more references adde
Early versus Later Rhythm Analysis in Patients with Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Background
In a departure from the previous strategy of immediate defibrillation, the 2005 resuscitation guidelines from the American Heart Association–International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation suggested that emergency medical service (EMS) personnel could provide 2 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before the first analysis of cardiac rhythm. We compared the strategy of a brief period of CPR with early analysis of rhythm with the strategy of a longer period of CPR with delayed analysis of rhythm.
Methods
We conducted a cluster-randomized trial involving adults with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest at 10 Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium sites in the United States and Canada. Patients in the early-analysis group were assigned to receive 30 to 60 seconds of EMS-administered CPR and those in the later-analysis group were assigned to receive 180 seconds of CPR, before the initial electrocardiographic analysis. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge with satisfactory functional status (a modified Rankin scale score of ≤3, on a scale of 0 to 6, with higher scores indicating greater disability).
Results
We included 9933 patients, of whom 5290 were assigned to early analysis of cardiac rhythm and 4643 to later analysis. A total of 273 patients (5.9%) in the later-analysis group and 310 patients (5.9%) in the early-analysis group met the criteria for the primary outcome, with a cluster-adjusted difference of −0.2 percentage points (95% confidence interval, −1.1 to 0.7; P=0.59). Analyses of the data with adjustment for confounding factors, as well as subgroup analyses, also showed no survival benefit for either study group.
Conclusions
Among patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, we found no difference in the outcomes with a brief period, as compared with a longer period, of EMS-administered CPR before the first analysis of cardiac rhythm. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ROC PRIMED ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00394706.
Development and implementation of a prescription opioid registry across diverse health systems
Objective: Develop and implement a prescription opioid registry in 10 diverse health systems across the US and describe trends in prescribed opioids between 2012 and 2018.
Materials and Methods: Using electronic health record and claims data, we identified patients who had an outpatient fill for any prescription opioid, and/or an opioid use disorder diagnosis, between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018. The registry contains distributed files of prescription opioids, benzodiazepines and other select medications, opioid antagonists, clinical diagnoses, procedures, health services utilization, and health plan membership. Rates of outpatient opioid fills over the study period, standardized to health system demographic distributions, are described by age, gender, and race/ethnicity among members without cancer.
Results: The registry includes 6 249 710 patients and over 40 million outpatient opioid fills. For the combined registry population, opioid fills declined from a high of 0.718 per member-year in 2013 to 0.478 in 2018, and morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per fill declined from 985 MMEs per fill in 2012 to 758 MMEs in 2018. MMEs per member declined from 692 MMEs per member in 2012 to 362 MMEs per member in 2018.
Conclusion: This study established a population-based opioid registry across 10 diverse health systems that can be used to address questions related to opioid use. Initial analyses showed large reductions in overall opioid use per member among the combined health systems. The registry will be used in future studies to answer a broad range of other critical public health issues relating to prescription opioid use
Fermi Large Area Telescope Bright Gamma-ray Source List
Following its launch in June 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
(Fermi) began a sky survey in August. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi
in 3 months produced a deeper and better-resolved map of the gamma-ray sky than
any previous space mission. We present here initial results for energies above
100 MeV for the 205 most significant (statistical significance greater than
~10-sigma) gamma-ray sources in these data. These are the best-characterized
and best-localized point-like (i.e., spatially unresolved) gamma-ray sources in
the early-mission data.Comment: Accepted by ApJS. Many helpful comments by referee incorporated 57
pages, 12 figure
Microneurosurgical Anastomoses for Cerebral Ischemia [Contents]
From jacket: The purpose of this volume is to present a series of important papers on the rapidly growing surgical field of microneurosurgical anastomoses for cerebral ischemia. It includes papers on the indications and results of microneurosurgical bypass anastomoses; on the techniques used to study patients before and after surgery, including cerebral blood flow psychometic testing, etc.; and on the basic mechanisms of cerebral ischemia studies in animals. New ideas are suggested for techniques involving increased use of the occipital arteries and the development of vein, arterial, or prosthetic grafts in place of the STA (superficial temporal artery). Also discussed are the importance of measuring blood flow in the STA where possible, and the measurement of cerebral blood flow pre- and postoperatively to monitor the results. Psychometric studies are shown to be of importance pre- and postoperatively in addition to careful neurologic evaluation
Dopamine D2 receptor polymorphisms and susceptibility to alcohol dependence in Indian males: a preliminary study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter involved in reward mechanism in the brain and thereby influences development and relapse of alcohol dependence. The dopamine D2 receptor (<it>DRD2</it>) gene on chromosome 11 (q22-q23) has been found to be associated with increased alcohol consumption through mechanisms involving incentive salience attributions and craving in alcoholic patients. Therefore, we investigated the association of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in <it>DRD2 </it>gene with alcohol dependence in the north Indian subjects.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a retrospective analysis, genetic association of three polymorphisms from <it>DRD2 </it>gene with alcohol dependence was investigated using a case-control approach. Alcohol dependence was determined by DSM-IV criteria and a total of 90 alcoholics and 60 healthy unrelated age-matched control subjects were recruited. Odds ratio and confidence interval was calculated to determine risk conferred by a predisposing allele/genotype/haplotype. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to correlate various clinical parameters with genotypes, and to study pair-wise interactions between SNPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study showed a significant association of -141C Ins allele and a trend of association of TaqI A1 allele of <it>DRD2 </it>with alcohol dependence. Haplotype with the predisposing -141C Ins and TaqI A1 alleles (-141C Ins-A-A1) seems to confer ≈ 2.5 times more risk to develop alcohol dependence.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study provides preliminary insight into genetic risk to alcohol dependence in Indian males. Two polymorphisms namely, -141C Ins/Del and TaqI A in <it>DRD2 </it>gene may have clinical implications among Indian alcoholic subjects.</p
Clinical, quality of life, and economic value of acromegaly disease control
Although acromegaly is a rare disease, the clinical, economic and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) burden is considerable due to the broad spectrum of comorbidities as well as the need for lifelong management. We performed a comprehensive literature review of the past 12 years (1998–2010) to determine the benefit of disease control (defined as a growth hormone [GH] concentration <2.5 μg/l and insulin-like growth factor [IGF]-1 normal for age) on clinical, HRQoL, and economic outcomes. Increased GH and IGF-1 levels and low frequency of somatostatin analogue use directly predicted increased mortality risk. Clinical outcome measures that may improve with disease control include joint articular cartilage thickness, vertebral fractures, left ventricular function, exercise capacity and endurance, lipid profile, and obstructive apnea events. Some evidence suggests an association between controlled disease and improved HRQoL. Total direct treatment costs were higher for patients with uncontrolled compared to controlled disease. Costs incurred for management of comorbidities, and indirect cost could further add to treatment costs. Optimizing disease control in patients with acromegaly appears to improve outcomes. Future studies need to evaluate clinical outcomes, as well as HRQoL and comprehensive economic outcomes achieved with controlled disease
Crop Updates 2005 - Katanning
This session covers twenty five papers from different authors
KEYNOTE
How Farmers Can Work Together for a More Sustainable and Profitable Business, Brian McAlpine Farmer, Nuffield Scholar
GENERAL
2005 Seasonal Outlook, David Stephens and Nicola Telcik, Department of Agriculture
Essentials for cereal leaf disease management, K. Jayasena, R. Loughman, G. Thomas, C. Beard, and B. Paynter, Department of Agriculture
Benefits to the grower of grain licensing, Colin Mann, Grain Licensing Authority SOIL & NUTRIENTS
The effect of higher nitrogen fertiliser prices on rotation and fertiliser strategies in cropping systems, Ross Kingwell, Department of Agriculture
Effect of stubble burning and seasonality on microbial processes and nutrient cycling, Francis Hoyle, University of Western Australia
Soil Biology and Crop Production in Western Australian Farming Systems, D.V. Murphy, N. Milton, M. Osman, F.C. Hoyle, L.K Abbott, W.R. Cookson and S. Darmawanto, University of Western Australia
Nutrient Management to get optimal production, Bill Bowden, Department of Agriculture
OTHER CROPS
Which malting barley variety and why? Blakely Paynter, Department of Agriculture
KASPA AND OTHER NEW PULSE VARIETIES, 1. New Pulse varieties and where they fit in, K. Regan, P. White, Department of Agriculture & CLIMA, K. Siddique, CLIMA, K. Adhikari, Department of Agriculture & CLIMA, M. Harries, CLIMA
Kaspa in the WA Grain Belt 2003-2004, Ian Pritchard, Department of Agriculture
New annual pastures for Mediterranean farming systems, Angelo Loi, Phil Nichols, Clinton Revell & David Ferris, Department of Agriculture
Challenging herbicide resistant ryegrass, Bill Roy, Agricultural Consulting & Research Services Pty.Ltd
WEED MANAGEMENT
Ingest, incinerate or invert? The pro’s and con’s of 3 weed seed removal tactics, Sally Peltzer1, Dave Minkey1 and Michael Walsh2 Department of Agriculture 1 and Western Australian Herbicide Resistance lnitiative2
A good use guide for pre-emergent herbicides, Alexandra Douglas, Department of Agriculture
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
17.Growing season outlook, Meredith Fairbanks, Ian Foster, Geraldine Pasqual, David Stephens, Nicola Telcik, David Tennant, Department of Agriculture
18. Status Of Department Of Agriculture Western Australia Crop Varieties
19. Seed Licensee Details
20. Gene technology for growers. What is it? How does it Work? Belinda Barr, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, Dr Heather Bray, Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre.
21. Agronomic package for EGA Eagle Rock, Steve Penny, Department of Agriculture
22. Nutrient timing and requirements for increased crop yields in the high rainfall cropping zone, Narelle Hill, Ron McTaggart, Dr. Wal Anderson and Ray Tugwell Department of Agriculture
23. Insect contamination of cereal grain at harvest, Svetlana Micic and Phil Michael, Department of Agriculture
24. Crop leftovers: what’s in stubble for sheep? Roy Butler and Keith Croker, Department of Agriculture
25. Mandelup – Narrow-leafed lupi
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