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In the early years of 40l(k) plans there were many firms jumping onboard to rush to market. The recordkeeping was basic, and the only complexities seemed to be with the [...]

Congress included provisions in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) to facilitate the adoption of automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans. The additions of Internal Revenue Code (Code) Sections 401(k)(13), 401(m)(12), and 414(w) and amendments to Section 411(a)(3)(G) and 4979 led the way for practitioners and plan sponsors to follow in instituting these programs. Treasury followed up with guidance, which included Notice 2009-65 on how to amend for automatic enrollment and Revenue Ruling 2009-30 on how automatic enrollment can work when there is an escalator feature included. Many plan sponsors who have already adopted automatic enrollment and auto-escalation in their plans are now targeting certain populations of employees by resetting their savings rate if they are below the automatic enrollment deferral percentage. This strategy is moving beyond enrolling eligible employees and focuses instead on getting individuals to save long term for retirement., The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in October 2009 focusing on automatic enrollment benefits and proposals to broaden retirement coverage. The report also highlighted challenges some participants may [...]

A national industrial policy that emphasizes scientific collaboration by the government, industry and academe needs to be implemented to easily make research ideas and inventions commercially viable. Bill Clinton's administration calls for cooperative alliances and has increased fedearl funding for research in this area. Moreover, collaboration should be within the market place and just within a nationsince there are state-of-the art communication systems available such as faxes and E-mail. Moreover, the advent of free trade agreements and regional trade groups make research collaboration more efficient.

Of 100 natural isolates of drug-resistant enteric bacteria, 51 were resistant to spectinomycin (Spc) and 46 contained transferable R factors mediating Spc resistance. All SpcRR factors mediated streptomycin and bluensomycin resistance and were fi+type. Extracts of R-SpcRstrains adenylated Spc, dihydrospectinomycin, actinamine, streptomycin, and bluensomycin in vitro in the presence of adenosine triphosphate and Mg++. Results of genetic and biochemical studies support the hypothesis that these reactions are mediated by a single enzyme.

Interactions between humans and ticks are often measured indirectly, using surveillance of tick population abundance and pathogen prevalence, or reported human disease data. We used data garnered as part of a free national citizen science research effort to describe actual human exposures to ticks in California. Human-biting ticks (n = 1,905) submitted for identification were predominantly western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) (68%), American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis) (24%), and Pacific Coast ticks (Dermacentor occidentalis) (7%). Tick exposure occurred predominantly during recreational use of the outdoors, rather than exposure near the home environment. Tick submissions peaked in May, but human exposure to ticks occurred throughout the year. Adult I. pacificuswere most frequently found on humans during March-May, though previous research demonstrates that questing adults on vegetation are more abundant earlier in the winter.

A common yet largely untested assumption in the theory of animal movements is that increased rates and a wider range of movements, such as occurs during breeding, make animals more vulnerable to mortality. We examined mortality among 34 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) wearing GPS collars during the autumn breeding season of 2006 and 2007 in a heavily hunted, forest-agricultural landscape of central New York state. We evaluated whether individuals having higher rates of movement incurred higher rates of mortality and whether mortality risk was higher when deer were in less familiar areas. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to analyze how mortality risk changes with movement rates measured over 3 time periods: < 1 day, up to 2 weeks prior to death, and 3–4 weeks prior to death. Overall, deer increased their movement rates as autumn progressed, males more so than females. However, deer that died moved at a slower rate relative to surviving deer up to 2 weeks prior to death (β = −2.22 ± 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −3.91 to −0.51) and a slower rate on their day of death compared to deer that survived (β = −1.77 ± 0.73; 95% CI= −3.19 to −0.33). Site familiarity was not significantly related to mortality risk. Deer were equally likely to die within their 50% core use area as elsewhere within their autumn home range. We hypothesize that increased sociality associated with breeding may make animals more vulnerable to harvest mortality. Our findings contradict general assumptions about the influences of movement behavior on mortality risk, suggesting that patterns may be sensitive to the spatiotemporal context of the movement analysis.

Peanut (Arachis Hypogea) is one of the few major agronomic crops for which a yield monitor is not commercially available. This paper describes an ongoing project whose long-term goal is to adapt an optical sensor originally developed for cotton yield monitoring for use as a peanut yield monitor (PYM). The immediate objective of the work reported here was to evaluate the PYM under harvest conditions typical in southern Georgia, USA. The PYM consists of two mass-flow sensors, a data acquisition system, and a DGPS receiver. The PYM was evaluated on three fields totaling 29 ha during the 2016 harvest season. Percent error between the scale load and calculated load was 2% or better for the first field tested, but increased greatly for subsequent fields that were tested, most likely caused by damage to the sensor lens from the impact of pebbles.

This paper will present a dynamic Variable Rate Irrigation System developed by the University of Georgia. The system consists of the EZZone management zone delineation tool, the UGA Smart Sensor Array (UGA SSA) and an irrigation scheduling decision support tool. An experiment was conducted in 2015 and 2016 in two different peanut fields to evaluate the performance of using the UGA SSA to dynamically schedule Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI). For comparison reasons strips were designed within the fields. These strips were irrigated according to either UGA SSA or Irrigator Pro recommendations. The results showed that Irrigator Pro is a conservative irrigation method which results in high yields. On the other hand the UGA SSA recommendations worked very well with the VRI system and in both years it recommended an average of 25% less irrigation water than the Irrigator Pro.

Quantificationof the fracture mechanisms is important for design and sustainment of fatigue–critical components and for improved life prediction models. The traditional fractography in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) provides important, but qualitative,information on fracture mechanisms. In this study, the fatigue fracture features at the crack-initiation site in a near-αtitanium alloy were characterized quantitativelyin an SEM. The crack initiated in a surface-located primary αgrain, with the resultant formation of a facet. A serrated feature was observed on the fatigue crack-initiating facet within an α grainfor the first time in this study. The spatial orientations of the crack-initiating facet and the fracture lines forming the serration were determined in 3D with the quantitative tilt fractography technique, which consists of analyzing an SEM image pair acquired at different stage tilt angles. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data were collected nondestructivelyfrom the grain associated with faceted crack-initiation, without recourse to cross-sectional polishing. Combining the spatial orientation and the EBSD data established that the facet plane was basal and the lines forming the serrated feature were along 〈a〉 $$ \left(\text{i.e.,}\; {\left\langle {2\bar{1}\bar{1}0} \right\rangle } \right) $$ i.e.,21¯1¯0 -type slip directions. The methodology presented in this study is applicable to quantification of crystallography for other planar and linear features in crystalline materials.

The findings of the Models For Excellence survey conducted by the American Society for Training and Development are reviewed in relation to human resources (HR) training and development courses in colleges. The survey found that HR courses occur predominantly in education departments and generally exist at the graduate level. Most programs emphasize program design, rather than marketing of HR services. Other aspects of the way HR is viewed and taught vary by school and department, Based upon the survey, it is recommended that HR courses: focus on roles rather than specific skills, try to be as broadly based as possible, and emphasize the theoretical aspects of HR. Students should consider their role interests in selecting HR courses.

Within the mammary gland, functional synthesis of milk is performed by its epithelial (alveolar) cells. The availability of a stable mammary epithelial cell line is essential for biochemical studies to elucidate cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for nutritional regulation of lactation. Therefore, porcine mammary epithelial cells (PMEC) were isolated from mammary glands of a 9-mo-old nonpregnant and nonlactating gilt and cultured to establish a nonimmortalized cell line. These cells were characterized by expression of cytokeratin-18 (an intermediate filament specific for epithelial cells), β-casein (a specific marker for mammary epithelial cells), and α-lactalbumin. In culture, the PMEC doubled in number every 24 h and maintained a cobblestone morphology, typical for cultured epithelial cells, for at least 15 passages. Addition of 0.2 to 2 μg/mL prolactin to culture medium for 3 d induced the production of β-casein and α-lactalbumin by PMEC in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, we have successfully developed a useful PMEC line for future studies of cellular and molecular regulation of milk synthesis by mammary epithelial cells of the sow.

Using the lattice Monte Carlo method, we compute the energy and Tan's contact in the ground state as well as the first excited state of few- to many-fermion systems in a one-dimensional periodic box. We focus on unpolarized systems of N=4,6,...,12 particles, with a zero-range interaction, and a wide range of attractive couplings. In addition, we provide extrapolations to the infinite-volume and thermodynamic limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in an era when female scientists were a lonely minority, women have made major contributions to our understanding of Haemophilus influenzaetype b (Hib) as a pathogen, its treatment and its prevention. The individual scientific and public health contributions, and their collective impact, are reviewed in the context of the development and successful implementation of highly efficacious Hibvaccines that are now being deployed to nearly every country worldwide for the prevention of life-threatening pediatric Hibdisease.

Here we present observations of a dust storm that occurred on 22 February 2020 in the northwestern Sonoran Desert. In‐situ and remotely sensed measurements and output from numerical simulations suggest that evaporative cooling from cold frontal orographic precipitation spilling over an upwind mountain range generated a density current, with dust uplift occurring as the density current traveled over the emissive desert surface. Because the density current was laden with dust, time series of vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter and extinction from a ceilometer located 25 km downwind of the initial dust emission event show a well‐developed density current structure, including an overturning frontal head with a vertical extent of 1.2 km. Ceilometer measurements and soundings suggest a density current body depth of 400–500 m exhibiting a two‐layer structure that consisted of a positively sheared and dusty lower‐level, and a negatively sheared and pristine upper level. Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability at the top of the density current cold pool generated quasi‐regular oscillations in the height of the dust and pristine‐sky interfacial layer. Ridges and troughs in the height of this interfacial layer were coupled to maxima and minima in surface wind speed and near surface dust concentrations, respectively, with peak dust concentrations located directly under the interfacial layer ridges. These results corroborate several findings from model studies of dust emission and transport by density currents, and suggest that the internal circulation of a density current modifies the timing of dust emission and the patterns of dust concentration within the current body. Here we discuss the case of a unique dust storm that occurred in the western end of the Sonoran Desert. Remote sensing and in‐situ measurements are used to demonstrate that the dust storm was generated by a density current. Lidar backscatter measurements during passage of this density current over a research site in the region are used to trace the path of dust laden air through the density current head and body, and reveal the internal circulation of this feature. These observational results corroborate findings from modeling studies of dust emission and transport by density currents, but also suggest a complex distribution of dust within the density current body. Measurements of a dust storm in the western Sonoran Desert that was generated by a density current are presentedThe density current exhibits a 2‐layer internal circulation with a lower dusty layer and an upper pristine layerThese observations corroborate several findings from numerical simulations of dust emission and transport by density currents Measurements of a dust storm in the western Sonoran Desert that was generated by a density current are presented The density current exhibits a 2‐layer internal circulation with a lower dusty layer and an upper pristine layer These observations corroborate several findings from numerical simulations of dust emission and transport by density currents

This study was inspired by the final regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) indicating that each state has the option to develop a new assessment for students whose disabilities have kept them from obtaining proficiency. Sets of high school science achievement items were enhanced for the new test. A 3-by-2, within subjects, experimental design was used with 400 participants from 3 states. Although items remained connected to grade-level content standards, in the enhanced condition they were easier for all groups. Changes in measurement precision were mixed for students in the group eligible for the new examination. Participants tended to report that individual enhancements made items easier, but that packages of enhancements did not affect the difficulty of items.

ABSTRACTWe previously reported that ethanol-killed cells of a noncapsulated strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae, given intranasally with cholera toxin as an adjuvant, protect rats against pneumonia and mice against colonization of the nasopharynx and middle ear by capsulated pneumococci of various serotypes. The acceleration of pneumococcal clearance from the nasopharynx in mice is CD4+T cell-dependent and interleukin 17A (IL-17A) mediated and can be antibody independent. Here, anticipating human studies, we have demonstrated protection with a new vaccine strain expressing a nonhemolytic derivative of pneumolysin and grown in bovine-free culture medium. Killing the cells with chloroform, trichloroethylene, or beta-propiolactone—all used without postinactivation washing—produced more-potent immunogens than ethanol, and retention of soluble components released from the cells contributed to protection. Two sequential intranasal administrations of as little as 1 µg of protein (total of cellular and soluble combined) protected mice against nasopharyngeal challenge with pneumococci. Nontoxic single and double mutants of Escherichia coliheat-labile toxin were effective as mucosal adjuvants. Protection was induced by the sublingual and buccal routes, albeit requiring larger doses than when given intranasally. Protection was likewise induced transdermally with sonicates of the killed-cell preparation. Thus, this whole-cell antigen can be made and administered in a variety of ways to suit the manufacturer and the vaccination program and is potentially a solution to the need for a low-cost vaccine to reduce the burden of childhood pneumococcal disease in low-income countries.

Cell wall polysaccharide (CWPS), pneumolysin, and surface adhesin A (PsaA) are antigens common to virtually all serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), and all have been studied separately for use in protection. Previously we showed that protection against nasopharyngeal (NP) colonization by intranasal vaccination of mice with killed pneumococci is mediated by TH17 cells and correlates with interleukin-17A (IL-17A) expression by T cells in vitro; we have also shown that CWPS and other species-common antigens protect against colonization by a similar mechanism. Here we made a fusion protein of PsaA with the pneumolysin nontoxic derivative PdT and then coupled CWPS to the fusion protein, aiming to enhance immune responses to all three antigens. When given intranasally with cholera toxin adjuvant, the fusion conjugate induced higher serum antibody titers and greater priming for IL-17A responses than an equimolar mixture of the three antigens. The conjugate administered intranasally protected mice against experimental NP colonization by a strain of serotype 6B, while mice immunized with the mixture or with bivalent conjugates were not protected. Subcutaneous immunization with the conjugate and alum adjuvant likewise induced higher antibody titers than the mixture, primed for IL-17A responses, and reduced colonization. The conjugate, but not the antigen mixture, fully protected mice from fatal pneumonia caused by a highly virulent serotype 3 strain. Thus, a covalent construct of three antigens common to all serotypes exhibits protection with both mucosal and systemic administration.

In the present paper, we review 4 topics that were identified through extensive consultation with stakeholders as issues of high impact and influence for the grains industry: improving soil testing and interpretation; role of fluid fertilisers in the Western Australian (WA) grains industry; using spatial and temporal information to improve crop nutrient management, particularly for nitrogen; and developing recommendations for managing emerging nutrient deficiencies. The key findings are summarised below.To further improve soil testing and interpretation, the review suggests that future research should focus on addressing soil sampling and interpretation questions, as they are important factors affecting the accuracy of fertiliser recommendations with changing cropping practices. There have been several studies to compare fluid with granular forms of P in WA, but the responses have not, so far, been consistent. More work may be needed to understand different crop response to fluid P fertiliser additions, particularly on low pH soils in WA. An understanding of the long-term performance of fluid P will also require an assessment of the residual value of fluid P compared with granular P under field conditions. Precision agriculture (PA) technology has potential to improve crop nutrient management and farm profitability in WA. The review indicates that understanding both spatial and temporal yield variation is critical for the successful adoption of PA technology by growers. The review also suggests that in WA, there is a need to explore the use of different layers of spatial information for determining management zones. In response to wide adoption of no-till and stubble retention cropping systems, increased use of fluid fertilisers together with advanced application technologies, and increased interest in cropping in the high rainfall zone, there is need to better understand growers' practices and attitudes to crop nitrogen (N) management, and thus to better position research and extension activities. The review also suggests the need to evaluate new fertiliser products and site-specific N management concepts and develop N management practices for waterlogging-prone soils for improved N use efficiency in cereal production systems in WA. The negative balance of magnesium (Mg) observed in WA cropping systems, together with the information reviewed on factors affecting soil Mg content and crop response to Mg application across Australia, suggests that there is a need to evaluate the risk and impact of Mg deficiency on acidic sandy soils of WA.

Citizen science projects have the potential to address hypotheses requiring extremely large datasets that cannot be collected with the financial and labour constraints of most scientific projects. Data collection by the general public could expand the scope of scientific enquiry if these data accurately capture the system under study. However, data collection inconsistencies by the untrained public may result in biased datasets that do not accurately represent the natural world. In this paper, we harness the availability of scientific and public datasets of the Lyme disease tick vector to identify and account for biases in citizen science tick collections. Estimates of tick abundance from the citizen science dataset correspond moderately with estimates from direct surveillance but exhibit consistent biases. These biases can be mitigated by including factors that may impact collector participation or effort in statistical models, which, in turn, result in more accurate estimates of tick population sizes. Accounting for collection biases within large-scale, public participation datasets could update species abundance maps and facilitate using the wealth of citizen science data to answer scientific questions at scales that are not feasible with traditional datasets.

Differential scanning calorimetry revealed two exothermal peaks in Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6‐Al10Ti5bulk metallic glass during divetrification. Analysis of the calorimetry data as well as in‐situ X‐ray diffraction experiments show that the exothermal peaks correspond to two nucleation events, controlled by interface and long‐range diffusion, respectively.

Serotype-specific immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae is conferred by antibodies to the capsular polysaccharides, which define the 90 known serotypes. Whether antibody to the species-common cell wall polysaccharide (C-Ps) is protective has been a matter of controversy. Here we show that C-Ps given intranasally with mucosal adjuvant increased the resistance of mice to experimental nasopharyngeal colonization by capsulated S. pneumoniae of serotype 6B. This immunity could be induced in mice congenitally lacking immunoglobulin but was dependent upon CD4+ T cells. Elimination of the charged amino group on the polymer backbone by N acetylation of C-Ps reduced the immunity, as did treatment of the mice with antibody to the cytokine interleukin-17A at the time of challenge, both consistent with the hypothesis of T-cell activation due to the zwitterionic motif of the polymer. C-Ps also protected in a model of fatal aspiration pneumonia by heavily capsulated serotype 3. These findings suggest a novel immunization strategy against S. pneumoniae.

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is involved in signaling from the insulin receptor. Inhibitors of GSK3 are expected to effect lowering of plasma glucose similar to insulin, making GSK3 an attractive target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Herein we report the discovery of a series of potent and selective GSK3 inhibitors. Compounds 7−12 show oral activity in an in vivo model of type II diabetes, and 9 and 12 have desirable PK properties.

Abstract: The heat capacities, thermal-expansion coefficients, thermal and electrical conductivities of Nb2AlC (actual Nb:Al:C mole fractions: 0.525±0.005, 0.240±0.002, and 0.235±0.005, respectively), Ti2AlC and (Ti, Nb)2AlC (actual Ti:Nb:Al:C mole fractions: 0.244±0.005, 0.273±0.005, 0.240±0.003, and 0.244±0.005, respectively) were measured as a function of temperature. These ternaries are good electrical conductors, with a resistivity that increases linearly with increasing temperatures. The resistivity of (Ti, Nb)2AlC is higher than the other members, indicating a solid-solution scattering effect. The thermal-expansion coefficients, in the 25 °C to 1000 °C temperature range, are comparable and fall in the narrow range of 8.7 to 8.9 × 10−6 K−1, with that of the solid solution being the highest. They are all good conductors of heat, with thermal conductivities in the range between 15 to 45 W/m K at room temperature. The electronic component of the thermal conductivity is the dominant mechanism at all temperatures for Nb2AlC and (Ti, Nb)2AlC. The conductivity of Ti2AlC, on the other hand, is high because the phonon contribution to the conductivity is nonnegligible.

Blood lead was mildly elevated (31 μg/dl, where 25 μg/dl is the upper limit of the normal range) in a woman with lumbar bullet fragments who was evaluated for anemia in the 23rd week of pregnancy. She required Cesarean section at term for pre-eclampsia and fetal distress. The infant had multiple congenital abnormalities. Postpartum maternal blood lead level was 75-85 μg/dl. The infant's blood lead level was also elevated. Chelation lowered the infant's blood lead level, but not the mother's. Surgical debulking of the lumbar lead deposits was followed by a fall in blood lead level from 65 to 52 μg/dl. This case demonstrates a remarkable gestational rise in maternal blood lead level. The infant's congenital abnormalities could be causally related to lead.

Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp 27) is expressed in mammary tumors and may play a role in tumor growth and response to anti-neoplastic drug therapy. 17beta-Estradiol (E2) induces Hsp 27 mRNA levels in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, and we have investigated the comparative inhibitory mechanisms using the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and the direct-acting antiestrogen ICI 164,384. TCDD inhibited E2-induced Hsp 27 gene expression and analysis of the Hsp 27 gene promoter showed that the inhibitory response was associated with AhR interactions with a pentanucleotide motif at -3 to +2 in the promoter that corresponded to the core sequence of a dioxin responsive element. In contrast, ICI 164,384 induced Hsp 27 gene expression and reporter gene activity in MCF-7 cells and this represents one of the few examples of the estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) agonist activity of the 'pure' antiestrogen ICI 164,384.

Ritonavir (Kempf, D. J.; Marsh, K. C., Denissen, J. F.; McDonald, E.; Vasavanonda, S.; Flentge, C. A.; Green, B. E.; Fino, L.; Park, C. H.; Kong, X. P.; Wideburg, N. E.; Saldivar, A.; Ruitz, L.; Kati, W. M.; Sham, H. L.; Robins, T.; Stewart, K. D.; Hsu, A.; Plattner, J. J.; Leonard, J. M.; Norbeck, D. W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1995, 92, 2484) is Abbott's novel protease inhibitor, for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative organism of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is marketed as Norvir. From the discovery of ritonavir until the new drug application (NDA) filing, only one crystalline form was known to exist. Attempts to identify other possible crystal forms were unsuccessful. Two years after the launch of Norvir to the market, some lots of Norvir capsules failed a dissolution specification. Investigation of this phenomena revealed the existence of a crystal form of ritonavir other than the one already known (Form I). This new crystal form was designated as Form II. The two crystal forms are polymorphs and differ substantially in their physical properties such as solubility. In this article, we will discuss the challenges these polymorphs created for the bulk drug substance as well as for the formulation, and how we dealt with these challenges.

Abstract: The influence of bond coat composition on the spallation resistance of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) on single-crystal René N5 substrates was assessed by furnace thermal cycle testing of TBCs with various vacuum plasma spray (VPS) or air plasma-spray (APS) MCrAlX (M=Ni and/or Co; and X=Y, Hf, and/or Si) bond coats. The TBC specimens with VPS bond coats were fabricated using identical parameters, with the exception of bond coat composition. The TBC lifetimes were compared with respect to MCrAlX composition (before and after oxidation testing) and MCrAlX properties (surface roughness, thermal expansion, hardness, and Young’s modulus). The average TBC spallation lifetimes varied significantly (from 174 to 344 1 h cycles at 1150 °C) as a function of bond coat composition. Results suggested a relationship between TBC durability and bond coat thermal expansion behavior below 900 °C. Although there were only slight differences in their relative rates of cyclic oxidation weight gain, VPS MCrAlX bond coats with better oxide scale adhesion provided superior TBC lifetimes.

Polyamine transport is an active process which contributes to the regulation and maintenance of intracellular polyamine pools. Although the biochemical properties of polyamine transport in mammalian cells have been extensively studied, attempts to isolate and characterize the actual protein(s) have met with limited success. As one approach, photoaffinity labelling of cell surface proteins using a polyamine-conjugated photoprobe may lead to the identification of polyamine-binding proteins (pbps) associated with the transport apparatus and/or other regulatory responses. In a previous study [Felschow, MacDiarmid, Bardos, Wu, Woster and Porter (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 28705-28711], we demonstrated that the photoprobes N4-ASA-spermidine and N1-ASA-norspermine [where the ASA (azidosalicylamidoethyl) group represents the photoreactive moiety] competed effectively with polyamines for transport and selectively labelled two major pbps at 118 and 50 kDa on the surface of murine and human leukaemia cells. In the present study, a new and more potent polyamine-conjugated photoprobe, N1-ASA-spermine, has been synthesized and used to develop a method based on detergent lysis for identifying putative cell-surface pbps on solid-tumour cell types. Transport kinetic assays showed that the new photoprobe competed with spermidine uptake with an apparent Ki of 1 μM, a value 20-50-fold lower than those of earlier probes. In L1210 cells, the new probe identified pbp50 and pbp118 thus reaffirming their identity as pbps. Two new bands were also detected. In A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells, N1-ASA-spermine identified pbps at 39, 62, 73 and 130 kDa, the latter believed to be a size variant of pbp118. The presence of pbp130/118 in two very different cell types suggests the generality of the protein among mammalian cell types as well as its importance for further study. The high affinity of the photoprobe for the polyamine-transport system strongly suggests that at least some of the identified pbps may be associated with that function.

Angular distributions of jet axes with respect to the beam axis for 3-jet events ine+e- annihilation provide a more sensitive indication of the spins of the underlying particles than the commonly used energy flow variables. Closed expressions for the angular distributions of quark and gluon jet axes are given in both single and double differential form. The angular distributions for undistinguished jets, e.g. the least energetic jet, are calculated. Vector gluons (QCD) and scalar gluons are contrasted to illustrate sensitivity to the gluon spin in each case.

Let {U1,?,Un} denote stochastic processes with imbedded signals {u1,?,un} respectively. A mapT is said to extract {u1,?,un} without distortion provided where?i, i = 1,?,n are chosen apriori. The mapT is said to be optimal whenever it minimizes where?i, i = i,?,n are suitable stochastic processes. The mapT is called an optimal distortion free signal extractor if it also is causal. This paper analyses polynomic optimal distortion free signal extractors.

An earlier study established an embedding procedure by which arbitrary finite state machines could be embedded in the continuous state system setting. This article considers the multiple interconnection of finite state machines using the embedded structure.

A technique utilizing coliphage as the test material has been developed and employed to evaluate the effectiveness of a containment system for zonal centrifugation of hepatitis viruses. An Andersen Viable Particle Sampler which had been loaded with plates containing a base layer of agar nutrient with an overlay of E. coli - agar suspension was used to sample the test air. The containment system, which includes a HEPA filter, was challenged with an aerosolized suspension of coliphage.

After receiving once daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) or subcutaneous (s.c.) injections of oxytetracycline (15 mg/100 g bodyweight) for 7 days, laboratory rats had significantly different oxytetracycline serum levels depending on the method of injection. Regardless of injection method, the biological half-life of the antibiotic was 4·25 h and serum antibiotic levels never fell below therapeutic levels for certain rat pathogens during 24 h post-injection. Severe peritonitis and cellulitis were found in rats whether injected s.c. or i.p. and some animals lost bodyweight. It appeared that either injection method would be an effective treatment for certain infectious diseases of laboratory rats but tissue damage, probably from oxytetracycline's acidity, made both methods unattractive.

For large industrial and research operations, maintaining reasonable control of all toxic materials used in their operations can be a formidable task. A system utilizing cards has been developed which serves a dual purpose - informing the user regarding hazards of a particular material and also facilitating appropriate workplace surveillance during its use. Selected data is printed on the card. The card contains a label which the user detaches and affixes to the container. This label classifies the material according to flammability, toxicity, reactivity and special properties on a 0 through 4 hazard rating system.

The biological effects of the interaction of stationary magnetic fields (SMF) with man and other animals have been reviewed. The lowest detectable limit of interaction between higher animals and a SMF is 80 to 100 G. The recommended limit on an extended-period basis for whole-body or head exposure is 200 G. Higher limits of magnetic-field exposure for limited periods of time are contained within this report.

The theoretical basis for the direct linear plot [Eisenthal & Cornish-Bowden (1974) Biochem. J. 139, 715-720], a non-parametric statistical method for the analysis of data-fitting the Michaelis-Menten equation, was reinvestigated in order to accommodate additional experimental designs and to provide estimates of precision more directly comparable with those obtained by parametric statistical methods. Methods are given for calculating upper and lower confidence limits for the estimated parameters, for accommodating replicate measurements and for comparing the results of two separate experiments. Factors that influence the proper design of experiments are discussed.