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Cardiovascular diseases are an emerging cause of mortality and morbidity in survivors of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT); however, the incidence of cardiovascular events (CVEs) in this population is not well described. This systematic review summarizes the evidence on the incidence of CVEs in HSCT recipients. Medline and Embase were searched from inception to December 2020. Inclusion criteria were cohort studies and phase 3 randomized controlled trials that reported CVEs among adults who underwent HSCT for hematological malignancies. After reviewing 8386 citations, 57 studies were included. The incidence of CVEs at 100 days was 0.19 (95% CI: 0.17–0.21) per 100 person-days after autologous HSCT and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.05–0.07) per 100 person-days after allogeneic HSCT. This higher incidence after autologous HSCT was driven by reports of arrhythmia from one population-based study in patients with multiple myeloma. The incidence of long-term CVEs was 3.98 (95% CI; 3.44–4.63) per 1000 person-years in survivors of autologous HSCT and 3.06 (95% CI; 2.69–3.48) per 1000 person-years in survivors of allogeneic HSCT. CVEs remain an important but under-reported cause of morbidity and mortality in recipients of HSCT. Future studies are required to better understand the incidence and risk factors for CVEs in HSCT recipients.

AbstractCognitive impairment is common in bipolar disorder and is emerging as a therapeutic target to enhance quality of life and function. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, PsycInfo, Cochrane, clinicaltrials.gov, and Embase databases for blinded or open-label randomized controlled trials evaluating the pro-cognitive effects of pharmacological, neurostimulation, or psychological interventions for bipolar disorder. Twenty-two trials were identified, evaluating a total of 16 different pro-cognitive interventions. The methodological quality of the identified trials were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Currently, no intervention (i.e., pharmacologic, neurostimulation, cognitive remediation) has demonstrated robust and independent pro-cognitive effects in adults with bipolar disorder. Findings are preliminary and methodological limitations limit the interpretation of results. Methodological considerations including, but not limited to, the enrichment with populations with pre-treatment cognitive impairment, as well as the inclusion of individuals who are in remission are encouraged. Future trials may also consider targeting interventions to specific cognitive subgroups and the use of biomarkers of cognitive function.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of nitric oxide (NO) on human sperm activity, human sperm-oocyte fusion and mouse embryonic development. Results showed that various concentrations of NO synthase blocker, N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, did not affect sperm cell motility at 0, 1, 2 or 4 hr, respectively. In contrast, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) significantly inhibited sperm cell motility and caused apoptosis. The adversely dose-dependent effect was only observed if SNP was freshly prepared. Adenosine triphosphate reversed the hazardous effect of SNP on sperm activity/viability. Hemoglobin neutralized the adverse effect of SNP. In hemi-zona sperm fusion test, the number of sperm bound to the zona in the presence of 10-4 M SNP was significantly less than the control group. SNP at 10-4 M caused all mouse embryonic development arrest. 46% and 56% of zygote reached the blastocyst stage with the treatment of 10-6 M and 10-8 M SNP, respectively, while the control reached 70%. NO adversely affected human sperm activity, human sperm-zona binding and embryonic development. It would appear that high concentration of NO may potentially decrease fertility.

The (gas +liquid) critical temperature of a number of ethers, esters, and ketones are reported. These values, together with values reported by Quadri and Kudchadker, and Ambrose and co-workers provide a fully extended data set for the development of correlations for predicting the critical temperature of organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Values reported here are compared with values reported in the literature, and it is concluded that many older values, on which a number of predictive correlations are based, are incorrect.

From analysis of published data for a number of alloys, it is shown that dislocation bowing during deformation in overaged and dispersion-hardened alloys depends to a large extent on the relative shear moduli of the obstacles and the matrix, although other factors such as particle size, the nature of the particle/matrix interface, and the structure of the particles, may also play an important role. The full Orowan strengthening effect may be realized in alloys containing small voids or particles whose shear modulus is greater than that of the matrix, but for systems where the shear moduli lie between these limits, it appears that Orowan looping does not normally take place to any great extent.

Mediator was resolved from yeast as a multiprotein complex on the basis of its requirement for transcriptional activation in a fully defined system. Three groups of mediator polypeptides could be distinguished: the products of five SRB genes, identified as suppressors of carboxy-terminal domain (CTD)-truncation mutants; products of four genes identified as global repressors; and six members of a new protein family, termed Med, thought to be primarily responsible for transcriptional activation. Notably absent from the purified mediator were Srbs 8, 9, 10, and 11, as well as members of the SWI/SNF complex. The CTD was required for function of mediator in vitro, in keeping with previous indications of involvement of the CTD in transcriptional activation in vivo. Evidence for human homologs of several mediator proteins, including Med7, points to similar mechanisms in higher cells.

A technology gap exists between ∼ 100 GHz and ∼ 10 THz. Free-electron lasers (FELs), driven by high quality, relatively low energy electron beams from electrostatic accelerators, and capable of generating kilowatts of coherent, tunable radiation, are ideally suited to explore the enabling science for future technology in this spectral range. We describe two experiments that use terahertz “optical rectification” to measure i) the intensity and temperature dependent energy relaxation in quantum wells and ii) the intrinsic relaxation of resonant tunneling diodes. Both benefit from the power and tunablilty of the UCSB FELs.

Coomassie brilliant blue and Ponceau red have traditionally been used to stain electroblotted proteins, since they are compatible with existing N-terminal and internal protein microsequencing as well as with immunoblotting procedures. With recent improvements in sequencing and immunoblotting technology, detection of significantly smaller amounts of protein has become necessary. Metal complexes were evaluated as alternatives to conventional stains. Electroblotted proteins were detected by blocking nonspecific sites with polyvinylpyrrolidone-40 followed by incubation in metal chelate solutions at acidic pH values. Two of the most promising metal chelate stains were the Ferrozine/ferrous complex and the ferrocyanide/ferric complex. Both stained a wide variety of proteins and peptides quantitatively. Dot blots and 1D and 2D electroblots were successfully stained using iron chelates. When these two stains were utilized in combination, they were of equivalent sensitivity to colloidal gold stain. The reversibility of the metal chelate stains was substantiated by incubating stained membranes at neutral to basic pH in the presence of 20 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid to rapidly elute the complexes from the bound proteins. The chelate stains were determined to be fully compatible with immunoblotting, N-terminal, and in situinternal protein microsequencing.

The paper demonstrates that a definite and simple relationship exists between ultimate tensile strength (or Brinell hardness) and the carbide size in steels, for a given carbide shape and volume fraction. This is explained on the basis that microvoid initiation, by decohesion at the carbide/matrix interface or by fracture of the carbide itself, is the critical event in the ductile fracture of these materials, and the stress required for microvoid formation may be related to the ultimate tensile strength.

Abstract: A creep-thermal cycling system with a constant stress cam has been designed to be inexpensive and easily fabricated in order to identify the creep and thermal-cycling damage mechanisms in metal-matrix composites (MMCs) with high ductility. The current system can be modified to be a stress thermal cycling (or fatigue) system.

The results of this study provide the first evidence that two completely separate vaccine approaches, one based on a subunit vaccine consisting of a mild adjuvant admixed with purified culture filtrate proteins and enhanced by the cytokine interleukin-2 and the second based on immunization with DNA encoding the Ag85A protein secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, could both prevent the onset of caseating disease, which is the hallmark of the guinea pig aerogenic infection model. In both cases, however, the survival of vaccinated guinea pigs was shorter than that conferred by Mycobacterium bovis BCG, with observed mortality of these animals probably due to consolidation of lung tissues by lymphocytic granulomas. An additional characteristic of these approaches was that neither induced skin test reactivity to commercial tuberculin. These data thus provide optimism that development of nonliving vaccines which can generate long-lived immunity approaching that conferred by the BCG vaccine is a feasible goal.

Explants of fresh biopsy specimens from non-neoplastic nasopharyngeal (NP) mucosa, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), other tumours (OT) of the head and neck and freshly removed tonsils were treated with an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) preparation from B95-8 cells and cultured. The mainly epitheloid outgrowths from these infected explants were then compared with those from their respective uninfected controls at 14 days. Growth stimulation occurred with a significantly higher frequency, and the degree of stimulation was generally higher with the infected NP explants than those of the similarly infected explants of other origins. Furthermore, after treatment with the virus preparation, several of the outgrowths from the NP explants showed growth characteristics and cellular morphology typical of those of transformed cells. Light microscopy has shown the changed NP cells to have epithelial characteristics. This is now being verified by electron microscopy, which has so far shown the presence of keratin fibrils and desmosomes in one specimen examined. They are also being examined for the presence of EBV-DNA and EBNA, and other features of transformation, including malignant tendency, by passage through athymic nude mice.

Tiazofurin, a C-nucleoside, was cytotoxic in hepatoma 3924A cells grown in culture with an LC50 = 7.5 microM. In the culture, a closely linked dose-related response of tumor cell-kill and depletion of GTP pools was observed after tiazofurin treatment. In rats carrying subcutaneously transplanted hepatoma 3924A solid tumors, a single intraperitoneal injection of tiazofurin (200 mg/kg) caused a rapid inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.14) activity and depleted GDP, GTP, and dGTP pools in the tumor; concurrently, the 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and IMP pools expanded 8- and 15-fold, respectively. Tiazofurin decreased tumoral IMP dehydrogenase activity and dGTP pools in a dose-dependent manner over a range of 50-200 mg/kg; by contrast, the depletion of GTP and the accumulation of IMP and PRPP pools were near maximum at 50 mg/kg. The increase in PRPP pools may be attributed to an inhibition by IMP of the activity of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.8). The IMP dehydrogenase activity and the pools of ribonucleotides returned to the normal range by 24-48 h after the single injection of tiazofurin. However, the markedly depleted dGTP pools remained low for 72 h. Tiazofurin treatment resulted in significant anti-tumor activity in rats inoculated with hepatoma 3924A. The decrease in GTP levels and particularly the sustained depletion in the dGTP pools may explain, in part at least, the chemo-therapeutic action of tiazofurin on hepatoma 3924A. This is the first report showing that a marked therapeutic response was achieved against rapidly growing hepatoma 3924A by treatment with a single anti-metabolite.

The UCSB free-electron lasers provide kilowatts of continuously tunable radiation from 120 GHz to 4.8 THz. They have the most impact on terahertz science and technology that require a tunable, high power source to explore non-linear dynamics or that sacrifice incident power to recover the linear response of systems with very small cross-section. We describe three experiments that demonstrate the utility of these lasers in experiments on the terahertz dynamics of semiconductor nanostructures: (i) terahertz dynamics of resonant tunneling diodes, (ii) saturation spectroscopy of quantum wells and (iii) photon-assisted tunneling in superlattices.

Mediator was isolated from yeast on the basis of its requirement for transcriptional activation in a fully defined system. We have now identified three new members of mediator in the low molecular mass range by peptide sequence determination. These are the products of the NUT2, CSE2, and MED11 genes. The product of the NUT1 gene is evidently a component of mediator as well. NUT1 and NUT2 were earlier identified as negative regulators of the HO promoter, whereas mutations in CSE2 affect chromosome segregation. MED11 is a previously uncharacterized gene. The existence of these proteins in the mediator complex was verified by copurification and co-immunoprecipitation with RNA polymerase II holoenzyme.

Summary The axisymmetric relative equilibrium shape of a finite dielectric liquid mass held together by surface tension and rotating uniformly in a uniform axial electric field is determined by expressing the slope of its tangent in terms of confluent hypergeometric functions and following a numerical integration.

The gas−liquid critical temperatures of 23 alkenes (C5−C8), 8 amine compounds (C3−C8), and 8 cyclic hydrocarbons (C8−C10) are reported. These values, together with the previously reported critical temperatures for alkenes, amines, and cyclic hydrocarbons, provide extended data sets which can be used to develop more accurate correlations for predicting the critical temperatures of these alkene, amine, and cyclic hydrocarbon compounds. The majority of compounds whose critical temperatures are reported here have not been previously investigated.

The gas−liquid critical temperatures of 13 chlorinated alkanes (C3−C8) and 28 halogenated aromatic compounds (C6−C7) are reported. These values, together with the previously reported critical temperatures of about 140 other halogenated hydrocarbons, provide an extended data set which can be used to develop more accurate correlations for predicting the critical temperatures of halogenated hydrocarbon compounds. The majority of compounds whose critical temperatures are reported here have not been previously investigated.

Abstract not available.

Yeast Rox3 protein, implicated by genetic evidence in both negative and positive transcriptional regulation, is identified as a mediator subunit by peptide sequence determination and is shown to copurify and co-immunoprecipitate with RNA polymerase II holoenzyme.

Planar waveguides of erbium doped ZnF2 on MgF2 substrates have been grown using molecular beam epitaxy and channel waveguides have been formed by ion milling. By exciting individual channels with an 800 nm pump, strong upconversion fluorescence has been generated at 410, 550 and 670 nm and at numerous weaker peaks. The fabrication technique can be adapted to semiconductor substrates for making compact diode-pumped visible and infra-red lasers.

The extinction-free neutron scattering for a 3.4 μm epitaxial film of the dilute antiferromagnet Fe0.5Zn0.5F2has been studied near the (100) magnetic Bragg point. For the H= 0 Bragg scattering we observe the random-exchange Ising model behavior I≈ |t|2βwith β= 0.35. For 0 < H< = 4.5 T the random-field Ising peak intensity vs. Thas the opposite curvature from the H= 0 case near Tc(H).

A 26-year-old woman with a history of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in remission, presented with abdominal pain and vomiting. Abdominal CT scan showed signs of small bowel obstruction associated with a localised area of intestinal wall thickening and mesenteric lymphadenopathy.

It is generally agreed that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)is intimately associated with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC)(1).