A naturally occurring amino acid substitution in the voltage-dependent sodium channel selectivity filter affects channel gating

The pore of sodium channels contains a selectivity filter made of 4 amino acids, D/E/K/A. In voltage sensitive sodium channel (Nav) channels from jellyfish to human the fourth amino acid is Ala. This Ala, when mutated to Asp, promotes slow inactivation. In some Nav channels of pufferfishes, the Ala is replaced with Gly. We studied the biophysical properties of an Ala-to-Gly substitution (A1529G) in rat Nav1.4 channel expressed in Xenopus oocytes alone or with a beta 1 subunit. The Ala-to-Gly substitution does not affect monovalent cation selectivity and positively shifts the voltage-dependent inactivation curve, although co-expression with a beta 1 subunit eliminates the difference between A1529G and WT. There is almost no difference in channel fast inactivation, but the beta 1 subunit accelerates WT current inactivation significantly more than it does the A1529G channels. The Ala-to-Gly substitution mainly influences the rate of recovery from slow inactivation. Again, the beta 1 subunit is less effective on speeding recovery of A1529G than the WT. We searched Nav channels in numerous databases and noted at least four other independent Ala-to-Gly substitutions in Nav channels in teleost fishes. Thus, the Ala-to-Gly substitution occurs more frequently than previously realized, possibly under selection for alterations of channel gating.

Osteoprotective effect of propranolol in ovariectomized rats: a comparison with zoledronic acid and alfacalcidol

Currently beta-adrenergic receptor blockers are considered to be potential drugs under investigation for preventive or therapeutic effect in osteoporosis. However, there is no published data showing the comparative study of beta-blockers with well accepted agents for the treatment of osteoporosis. To address this question, we compared the effects of propranolol with well accepted treatments like zoledronic acid and alfacalcidol in an animal model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Five days after ovariectomy, 36 ovariectomized (OVX) rats were divided into 6 equal groups, randomized to treatments zoledronic acid (100 mu g/kg, intravenous single dose); alfacalcidol (0.5 mu g/kg, oral gauge daily); propranolol (0.1 mg/kg, subcutaneously 5 days per week) for 12 weeks. Untreated OVX and sham OVX were used as controls. At the end of treatment serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase were assayed. Femurs were removed and tested for bone density, bone porosity, bone mechanical properties and trabecular micro-architecture. Propranolol showed a significant decrease in alkaline phosphatase levels and bone porosity in comparison to OVX control. Moreover, propranolol significantly improved bone density, bone mechanical properties and inhibited the deterioration of trabecular microarchitecture when compared with OVX control. The osteoprotective effect of propranolol was comparable with zoledronic acid and alfacalcidol. Based on this comparative study, the results strongly suggest that propranolol can be a candidate therapeutic drug for the management of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Condition R and proper holomorphic maps between equidimensional product domains

We consider proper holomorphic mappings of equidimensional pseudoconvex domains in complex Euclidean space, where both source and target can be represented as Cartesian products of smoothly bounded domains. It is shown that such mappings extend smoothly up to the closures of the domains, provided each factor of the source satisfies Condition R. It also shown that the number of smoothly bounded factors in the source and target must be the same, and the proper holomorphic map splits as a product of proper mappings between the factor domains. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Better early osteogenesis of electroconductive hydroxyapatite-calcium titanate composites in a rabbit animal model

In view of the fact that bone healing can be enhanced due to external electric field application, it is important to assess the influence of the implant conductivity on the bone regeneration in vivo. To address this issue, this study reports the in vivo biocompatibility property of multistage spark plasma sintered hydroxyapatite (HA)-80 wt % calcium titanate (CaTiO3) composites and monolithic HA, which have widely different conductivity property (14 orders of magnitude difference). The ability of bone regeneration was assessed by implantation in cylindrical femoral bone defects of rabbit animal model for varying time period of 1, 4, and 12 weeks. The overall assessment of the histology results suggests that the progressive healing of bone defects around HA-80 wt % CaTiO3 is associated with a better efficacy with respect to (w.r.t) early stage neobone formation, which is histomorphometrically around 140% higher than monolithic HA. Overall, this study demonstrates that the in vivo biocompatibility property of HA-80 wt % CaTiO3 with respect to local effects after 12 weeks of implantation is not compromised both qualitatively and quantitatively, and a comparison with control implant (HA) points toward the critical role of electrical conductivity on better early stage bone regeneration. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 842-851, 2014.

On quasimodular eigenforms

We derive a multiplicity one result for quasimodular eigenforms on SL2(Z) by completing the description of all quasimodular eigenforms. As applications of our results, we complete the answer to the question of finding all quasimodular eigenforms arising as a product of two eigenforms and also give an estimate for the size of the maximum gap in the sequence of the Fourier coefficients of a quasimodular form.

Intensity Distribution Design for Laser-Induced Thermal Loading Based on Numerical Simulation

To accomplish laser-induced thermal loading simulation tests for pistons,the Gaussian beam was modulated into multi-circular beam with specific intensity distribution.A reverse method was proposed to design the intensity distribution for the laser-induced thermal loading based on finite element(FE) analysis.Firstly,the FE model is improved by alternating parameters of boundary conditions and thermal-physical properties of piston material in a reasonable range,therefore it can simulate the experimental resul...

Pull-in Instability Study of Carbon Nanotube Tweezers Under the Influence of Van der Waals Forces

The pull-in instability of two nanotubes under van der Waals force is studied. The cantilever beam with large deformation model is used. The influence of nanotube parameters such as the interior radius, the gap distance between the two nanotubes, etc, on the pull-in instability is studied. The critical nanotube length is determined for each specific set of nanotube parameters. The Galerkin method is applied to discretize the governing equations, and it shows good convergence.

Doping mechanism in tetrahedral amorphous carbon

Doping in hydrogenated amorphous silicon occurs by a process of an ionized donor atom partially compensated by a charged dangling bond. The total energies of various dopant and dopant/bonding combinations are calculated for tetrahedral amorphous carbon. It is found that charged dangling bonds are less favored because of the stronger Coulombic repulsion in ta-C. Instead the dopants can be compensated by weak bond states in the lower gap associated with odd-membered π-rings or odd-numbered π-chains. The effect is that the doping efficiency is low but there are not charged midgap recombination centres, to reduce photoconductivity or photoluminescence with doping, as occurs in a-Si:H.

Dinámica poblacional de descortezadores de pino en dos municipios del departamento de Nueva Segovia

El gorgojo descortezador del pino Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm., es el insecto más destructivo y de mayor importancia económica en los bosques de pino de Nicaragua. Este insecto se extiende desde el sur de los Estados Unidos hasta Honduras y Nicaragua, encontrándose junto a otras especies de Dendroctonus eI ps de la familia Scolytidae. En 1999 D. frontalisataco los municipios de Jalapa, Jícaro, San Fernando, Mozonte, Dipilto, Somoto, Cusmapa y Esteli. La afectación causada por D. frontalis fue de 32,359.41 Ha., que significó la pérdida del 50% del bosque equivalente a unos 3 millones de m³ de madera en rollo, causando pérdidas económicas de 38,898.842 millones de dólares y un cuantioso daño ambiental. Ante la situación de daño ocasionada por D. frontalis y la gran importancia que poseen los pinos en el departamento de Nueva Segovia por su potencial maderable, generación de divisas, fuente de empleo y beneficios ambientales, realizamos un estudio con el objetivo de determinar la dinámica poblacional de D. frontalis, otros descortezadores de pino y sus enemigos naturales en los municipios de Dipilto y Jícaro del Departamento de Nueva Segovia. El estudio se realizo durante el periodo de febrero 2004 a enero 2005. El monitoreo se realizó cada 15 días. Para el monitoreo se utilizaron trampas del tipo Lindgrennon-sticky funnel trap de 12 embudos con vaso colector, feromonas de agregación (frontalin®) y aguarrás como atrayentes. Los resultados obtenido fueron los siguientes. Se describió la dinámica poblacional de D. frontalis, en los municipios de Jicaro y Dipilto. El numero de insectos de D. frontalis fue estadísticamente mayor en dipilto que en Jicaro. Tambien se describió la dinámica poblacional de D. aproximatus, Ips sp. Xyleborus sp. Tomolips sp. y Cossonus sp. El numero de insectos de D. aproximatus, Xyleborus sp y Tomolips sp. fue estadísticamente mayor en Dipilto que en Jicaro. Por el contrario las poblaciones de Ips sp. fueron mayor en el municipio de Jicaro que en Dipilto y las poblaciones de Cossonus fueron estadísticamente similares en ambos municipios muestreados. Ademas, se describió la dinámica poblacional de los insectos depredadores de los descortezadores Temnochila sp. y Enoclerus sp. El depredador Temnochila se encontró en mayor numero que el depredador Enoclerus, aunque las poblaciones de ambos géneros fueron estadísticamente similares en ambos municipios.

基于数值模拟的激光热负荷光强分布设计

激光活塞热负荷模拟实验需将高斯光束调制成按特定光强分布的多个同心光环，为此提出了基于有限元（FE）分析的激光热负荷光强分布反求设计思想。应用最初设计的整形器对有限元模型进行校核，在合理的范围内调整边界条件参数和活塞材料热物性参数，使模拟结果与实验结果吻合；对于校核后的有限元模型，通过调整光强分布和加载条件以接近目标温度场，从而获得整形器优化设计方案。基于上述方法可实现由目标温度场反求设计出光场分布。研究表明，采用数值模拟方法进行研究，可大幅度缩短整形器设计周期、降低设计费用，并起到虚拟实验的作用，从而提高了热负荷实验的可控性和可预见性。

Coordenação de jornalismo : a cobertura jornalística na Câmara dos Deputados

Descreve e avalia as atividades desempenhadas pela Coordenação de Jornalismo da Câmara dos Deputados, desde sua criação em 2003 até o ano de 2006, ressaltando seu papel de integração entre os veículos de comunicação da instituição (TV Câmara, Rádio Câmara, Jornal da Câmara, Agência Câmara). Apresenta produtos desenvolvidos pela coordenação e sugere ações para aperfeiçoamento de seus serviços.