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Disopyramide as an antiarrhythmic agent has been used for treating ventricular tachycardia and metabolized into its major metabolite, mono-isopropyl-disopyramide, by CYP3A4. We developed a novel, selective, highly sensitive, accurate, rapid method using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of disopyramide and mono-isopropyl-disopyramide in rat plasma. This study is the first report for the assay validation using LC-MS/MS in biological fluids after simple protein-precipitation method. The most sensitive signals by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) showed at m/z 340.2 → 239.2 and 298.2 → 239.2 with same fragment ion for disopyramide and mono-isopropyl-disopyramide, respectively. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was determined at 2 ng/mL for both analytes and the linear concentration ranges were found to be 2–2000 ng/mL for disopyramide and 2–1000 ng/mL for mono-isopropyl-disopyramide. Finally, this assay was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic analysis of disopyramide and mono-isopropyl-disopyramide after oral and intravenous administration of disopyramide.

Although iron and copper are co-ordinately regulated in living cells, the homeostatic effects of each of these metals on the other remain unknown. Here, we show the function of AfMac1, a transcriptional activator of the copper and iron regulons of

2-(2,5-Dimethoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-N-(2-methoxybenzyl)ethanamine (25N-NBOMe, 2C-N-NBOMe, NBOMe-2C-N) is a novel synthetic psychoactive substance of the phenethylamine chemical class. A few metabolism studies have been conducted for 25I-NBOMe, 25B-NBOMe, and 25C-NBOMe, and others, whereas 25N-NBOMe metabolism has not been researched. In this study, the in vitro metabolism of 25N-NBOMe was investigated with human liver microsomes, and the reaction mixture was analyzed using liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF/MS). Formation of 14 metabolites (M1-M14) was yielded with incubation of 25N-NBOMe in human liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH. The metabolites were structurally characterized on the basis of accurate mass analysis and MS/MS fragmentation patterns. The biotransformations included hydroxylation, O-demethylation, N-dealkylation, nitro reduction, dehydrogenation, carbonylation, and combinations thereof. Hydroxyl metabolite was the most abundant compound after the phase I process. These results provide helpful information establishing biomarkers in case of 25N-NBOMe ingestion.

International audience; Although there have been a large body of works on computing the similarity of static shapes, similarity judgments on deforming meshes are not studied well. In this study, we investigate a similarity measurement method for comparing two deforming meshes. Based on the degree of deformation, we first binarily label each triangle within each frame as either 'deformed' or 'rigid', then merge the 'deformed' triangles in both spatial and temporal domains for the segmentation. The segmentation results are encoded in a form of evolving graph, with an aim of obtaining a compact representation of the motion of the mesh. Finally, we formulate the similarity measurement as a sequence matching problem: after clustering similar graphs and assigning each of the graphs with the cluster labels, each deforming mesh is represented with a sequence of labels. Then, we apply a sequence alignment algorithm to compute the locally optimal alignment between the two label sequences, and to compute the similarity by normalizing the alignment score. The experimental results over several datasets show that the similarities of animation data can be captured correctly using our approach. This may be significant, as it solves a problem that cannot be handled by current approaches.

Besides the noble physical appearance of gold and silver, their novel chemical properties attracted the modern technology for various industrial, chemical and biological uses including medical applications. The widespread use of gold and silver, however, can cause potential hazards to our environment. Therefore, suitable detection methods are a prerequisite for the evaluation of their harmful effects as well as for studying their beneficial biological properties. Due to the several advantages over the conventional analytical methods, the fluorescence detection of gold and silver has become an active research area in recent years. In this review, we provide an overview of the reported fluorescent detection systems for gold and silver species, and discuss their sensing properties with promising features. The future scope of developments in this field of research is also mentioned.

The use of cost-efficient and portative devices, such as the Ki-nect, has facilitated the reconstruction of indoor scenes, which has become a field of interest to many. While a large number of applications have been developed for the accurate reconstruction of a scene through efficient registration of multiple scans, the scanning of the scene by the user remains a time-consuming process. This is particularly the case when the scan must not contain any missing data. In this paper, we propose a method requiring only a few shots without any overlapping requirement, which makes the scanning process very simple and light. Given a set point clouds (shots) sparsely taken from an indoor scene, our method seeks for transformations that align the shots together, creating an alignment graph at the same time. It then searches within this graph for the set of transformations corresponding to a possible solution, providing a reconstruction of the scene. Since our method allows missing views and can find all plausible solutions, it can be used to create new scenes by assembling shots obtained from different real or virtual scenes.

Although automatic feature detection has been a long-sought subject by researchers in computer graphics and computer vision, feature extraction on deforming models remains a relatively unexplored area. In this paper, we develop a new method for automatic detection of spatio-temporal feature points on animated meshes. Our algorithm consists of three main parts. We first define local deformation characteristics, based on strain and curvature values computed for each point at each frame. Next, we construct multi-resolution space---time Gaussians and difference-of-Gaussian (DoG) pyramids on the deformation characteristics representing the input animated mesh, where each level contains 3D smoothed and subsampled representation of the previous level. Finally, we estimate locations and scales of spatio-temporal feature points by using a scale-normalized differential operator. A new, precise approximation of spatio-temporal scale-normalized Laplacian has been introduced, based on the space---time DoG. We have experimentally verified our algorithm on a number of examples and conclude that our technique allows to detect spatio and temporal feature points in a reliable manner.

A method for determining a novel phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor, 3-[1-(3cyclopropylmethoxy-4-difluoromethoxybenzyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl]-benzoic acid (PDE-423), in rat plasma was developed and validated using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for further pharmacokinetic study for development as a novel anti-asthmatic drug. PDE-423 in the concentration range of 0.02–10 µg/mL was linear with a correlation coefficient of >0.99, and the mean intra- and inter-assay precisions of the assay were 7.50 and 3.86%, respectively. The validated method was used successfully for a pharmacokinetic study of PDE-423 in rats. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A novel approach to suppress the side reactions observed in the reaction-based gold-sensing systems based on the alkyne activation is disclosed. By elevating steric strain around the reaction site, the gold ion promoted ring-opening process in rhodamine-lactam probes is significantly accelerated, which also leads to suppression of those possible side reactions. As a result, the probes show very high sensitivity in addition to excellent selectivity toward gold species. Furthermore, bioimaging of gold species in live cells was demonstrated with a FRET version.

Sarcoidosis is an idiopathic systemic granulomatous disorder that can involve any organ, although the lung is the most commonly affected site; moreover, it may affect multiple organs simultaneously or serially over a long time span. Diagnosing sarcoidosis can be a challenge in cases presenting an isolated extra-thoracic lesion at the early stage of disease. Pulmonary nodular lesion, a rare radiologic finding, may also lead to delayed diagnosis of sarcoidosis. We reported a case of atypical pulmonary nodular sarcoidosis that was suspected as lung adenocarcinoma, which was diagnosed about 20 years after initial isolated extra-thoracic manifestation occurred.

Pseudomembranous tracheitis (PMT) is a rare condition characterized by pseudomembrane formation in the tracheobronchial tree that may be associated with infectious and noninfectious processes. However, PMT attributed to Mycoplasma pneumoniae ( M. pneumoniae ), a common atypical respiratory infectious pathogen, has not been reported till date. Here, we report about a 29-year-old woman with complaints of severe persistent cough and radiographic deterioration despite antibiotics administration for pneumonia at an outside facility. She was finally diagnosed as having PMT with bilateral diffuse bronchiolitis caused by M. pneumoniae infection. The diagnosis was made based on a bronchoscopic finding of a pseudomembrane that partially covered the membranous portion of the upper and middle trachea, a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test with bronchial aspirate, and a positive serological test for M. pneumoniae without detection of any other causative pathogen through an extensive workup. Her symptoms and radiographic findings improved in response to moxifloxacin and corticosteroid treatment. This case is a rare presentation of M. pneumoniae infection complicating PMT in a young adult without any known risk factors.

Purpose The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the relationships of types of dental insurance coverage in Korea with sociodemographic characteristics and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases, as well as to evaluate the socioeconomic impact of Korean dental insurance policies. Methods Sample cohort data from 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service. Patients were divided into 2 groups. The exposed group comprised patients who received insurance benefits for complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implant care, while the control group comprised patients who did not receive these benefits. The type of insurance coverage and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases were compared between the 2 groups. Results Patients who received benefits in the form of complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implants had similar sociodemographic characteristics in terms of sex, age, income quintile, and type of insurance coverage to the control group. The prevalence of hypertension, anemia, renal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, and cerebral infarction was higher in the exposed group than in the control group (P, Graphical Abstract

1. A novel diacylglyceride acyltransferase-1 (DGAT-1) inhibitor, 2-(4-(4-(5-(2-phenyl-5-(trifluoromethyl) oxazole-4-carboxamido)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)phenyl)cyclohexyl) acetic acid (KR-69232), was synthesized for a potential therapeutic use against several metabolic disorders, such as obesity, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes, characterized by excessive triglycerides (TGs) in the blood. 2. The half-lives against phase I metabolism were measured as 75.3 ± 20.9 min and over 120 min in rat and human liver microsomes, respectively. In Caco-2 cell monolayers, extremely low permeability (0.13 × 10⁻⁶cm/s) was seen in the absorptive direction, predicting limited intestinal absorption of KR-69232. This compound was highly bound to rat and human plasma proteins (99.8%). 3. With the intravenous administration of KR-69232 in rats (1, 2, and 5 mg/kg), non-linear kinetics were observed at the highest dose, with significantly higher systemic clearance, higher volume of distribution, and lower dose-normalized AUC. Following oral administration, it exhibited low bioavailability (10%) and was absorbed slowly (T(max), 3.8-5.2 h) over the dose range. We also confirmed that considerable KR-69232 remained in the intestine at T(max), demonstrating its limited absorption into the systemic circulation.

In this study, we developed a method for the determination of PF-04620110 (2-{(1r,4r)-4-[4-(4-amino-5-oxo-7,8-dihydropyrimido[5,4-f][1,4]oxazepin-6(5H)-yl)phenyl]cyclohexyl}acetic acid), a novel diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT-1) inhibitor, in rat plasma and validated it using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Rat plasma samples were processed following a protein precipitation method by using acetonitrile and were then injected into an LC-MS/MS system for quantification. PF-04620110 and imipramine (internal standard) were separated using a Hypersil Gold C18 column, with a mixture of acetonitrile and 10 mm ammonium formate (90:10, v/v) as the mobile phase. The ion transitions monitored in positive-ion mode [M + H]+ of multiple-reaction monitoring were m/z 397.0 260.2 for PF-04620110 and m/z 280.8 86.0 for imipramine. The detector response was specific and linear for PF-04620110 at concentrations within the range 0.05–50 µg/mL and the signal-to-noise ratios for the samples were ≥10. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of the method matched the acceptance criteria for assay validation. PF-04620110 was stable under various processing and/or handling conditions. PF-04620110 concentrations in the rat plasma samples could be measured up to 24 h after intravenous or oral administration of PF-04620110, suggesting that the assay is useful for pharmacokinetic studies in rats. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We describe a system for taking a 2D sketch of a mirror-symmetric 3D shape and lifting the curves to 3D, inferring the symmetry relationship from the original hand-drawn curves. The system takes as input a hand-drawn sketch and generates a set of 3D curves such that their orthogonal projection matches the input sketch. The main contribution is a method which is able to identify the symmetry relationship among the hand-drawn curves even in the presence of ambiguity in the sketch.

OBJECTIVE The optimal prognostic model for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains unclear. In this study, we sought to identify independent predictors of 30-day mortality in patients with CAP and to determine whether adding specific prognostic factors to each of the two clinical prediction scores could improve the prognostic yield. METHODS This retrospective study involved 797 CAP patients who had been hospitalized at a tertiary referral center. The patients were categorized into two groups: those who survived and those who had died on or before 30 days after admission. Select clinical parameters were then compared between the two groups. RESULTS During the 30-day period, there were 72 deaths (9%). We constructed two models for a multivariate analysis: one was based on a high CURB-65 score (3-5) and the other on a high pneumonia severity index (PSI) class (V). In both models, a high CURB-65 score or a high PSI class, along with the presence of dyspnea, high Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (3-4), and a low serum albumin level, were independent predictors of 30-day mortality. In both the CURB-65-based and PSI-based models, the addition of dyspnea, high ECOG performance status, and hypoalbuminemia (

International audience; This paper presents an image-based rendering (IBR) system based on RGB-D images. The input of our system consists of RGB-D images captured at sparse locations in the scene and can be expanded by adding new RGB-D images. The sparsity of RGB-D images increases the usability of our system as the user need not capture a RGB-D image stream in a single shot, which may require careful planning for a hand-held camera. Our system begins with a single RGB-D image and images are incrementally added one by one. For each newly added image, a batch process is performed to align it with previously added images. The process does not include a global alignment step, such as bundle adjustment, and can be completed quickly by computing only local alignments of RGB-D images. Aligned images are represented as a graph, where each node is an input image and an edge contains relative pose information between nodes. A novel view image is rendered by picking the nearest input as the reference image and then blending the neighboring images based on depth information in real time. Experimental results with indoor scenes using Microsoft Kinect demonstrate that our system can synthesize high quality novel view images from a sparse set of RGB-D images.

Background and objective Few studies have analysed a large number of patients with necrotizing pneumonia (NP) diagnosed based on computed tomography (CT) scans. The aim of the present study was to document the incidence and clinical features of NP in patients with community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods This retrospective study was conducted on CAP patients who had been admitted to a tertiary referral centre and who had available enhanced CT scan images. Patients were allocated into NP and non‐NP groups, and they were compared with respect to various clinical variables. Results Of the 830 patients included in the present study, necrotizing change was observed in 103 patients (12%). Patients with NP experienced more symptoms of pneumonia, had higher blood levels of inflammatory markers and more often required pleural drainage compared to patients with non‐NP. Although the use of mechanical ventilation, vasopressor infusion, 30‐day mortality, in‐hospital mortality and clinical deterioration did not differ between the NP and non‐NP groups, the median length of hospital stay (LOS) was significantly longer in the NP group. Multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards model showed that necrotizing change independently predicted LOS in patients with CAP. Conclusion NP affects approximately one‐tenth of hospitalized CAP patients. It may be associated with more severe clinical manifestations and may increase the need for pleural drainage. NP was found to be an independent predictor of LOS, but not of mortality in CAP patients., We investigated the clinical features of community‐acquired necrotizing pneumonia. Necrotizing change was noted in approximately 10% of the patients with community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) and was characterized by more severe clinical manifestations and increased need for pleural drainage. Necrotizing change was a predictor of length of hospital stay (LOS) but not of mortality in patients with CAP.

This paper presents a new technique which makes use of deformation and motion properties between animated meshes for finding their spatial correspondences. Given a pair of animated meshes exhibiting a semantically similar motion, we compute a sparse set of feature points on each mesh and compute spatial correspondences among them so that points with similar motion behavior are put in correspondence. At the core of our technique is our new, dynamic feature descriptor named AnimHOG, which encodes local deformation characteristics. AnimHOG is ob-tained by computing the gradient of a scalar field inside the spatiotemporal neighborhood of a point of interest, where the scalar values are obtained from the deformation characteristic associated with each vertex and at each frame. The final matching has been formulated as a discreet optimization problem that finds the matching of each feature point on the source mesh so that the descriptor similarity between the corresponding feature pairs as well as compatibility and consistency as measured across the pairs of correspondences are maximized. Consequently, reliable correspondences can be found even among the meshes of very different shape, as long as their motions are similar. We demonstrate the performance of our technique by showing the good quality of matching results we obtained on a number of animated mesh pairs.

Vinylgold intermediates involved in various gold-catalyzedreactions are known to undergo proto-deauration in thepresence of a proton source. The unexpected result drew ourattention on the chemistry of vinylgold intermediatesinvolved and thus prompted us to investigate the gold-mediated cyclization in detail with simple substrates, N-(propargyl)benzamides. Described herein is identification ofthe vinylgold(III) intermediates involved and their reactionpathways, all of which expands our present understanding onthe vinylgold intermediates.The treatment of N-(propargyl)benzamide (1) with anequimolar amount of AuCl

We introduce in this paper a new method for smooth foldover-free warping of images. It allows users to specify the constraints in two different ways: positional constraints to constrain the position of points in the image and gradient constraints to constrain the orientation and scaling of some parts of the image. We then show how our method is used for texture mapping with hard constraints. We start with an unconstrained planar embedding of the target mesh calculated with conventional methods. In order to obtain a mapping that satisfies the user-defined constraints, we use our warping method to align the features of the texture image with those of the unconstrained embedding. Compared to previous work, our method generates a smoother texture mapping and offers higher level of control for defining the constraints.

The selective detection of zinc ions in lysosomes over that in cytosol is achieved with a fluorescent probe, which enabled the fluorescence imaging of endogenous zinc ions in lysosomes of NIH 3T3 cells as well as mouse hippocampal tissues by two-photon microscopy under excitation at 900 nm.

In this chapter, we are concerned with the problem of modeling personalized body models from one or more 2D photos. One of the key tasks in this setting is the 3D shape recovery from the image, a yet-to-be-done task in computer vision which has traditionally been done using just geometric techniques. With our target objects limited to the human body, we try and make the problem easier and the solution more robust and efficient, by making use of high-quality shape data that has previously been acquired from 3D scanners. Based on a compact shape space, which has been built from a collection of range scans of real human body, we formulate the problem as an optimization one and search for the shape parameters that best matches the input silhouette. Texture coordinates are then generated by projecting the resulting shape onto the front and back images. In the presence of noise or missing views, our technique has a bias toward representing, as much as possible, the previously acquired collective knowledge on the body shape. As a result, efficiency is gained due to the fact that a model is generated by interpolating quality shapes from the body scans.

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) is associated with metabolic syndromes such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. A new 11β-HSD1 inhibitor known as 2-(3-benzoyl)-4-hydroxy-1, 1-dioxo-2H-1, 2-benzothiazine-2-yl-1-phenylethanone (KR-66344) is being developed as a therapeutic agent for these metabolic diseases. The purpose of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics of KR-66344 to support further preclinical development. KR-66344 showed high liver microsomal stability with T1/2 values >3 h and high permeability with apparent permeability coefficients of 15.2-24.2 × 10(-6) cm/s in Caco-2 cell monolayers. KR-66344 was also strongly bound to plasma proteins (>98%). After intravenous dosing, KR-66344 exhibited low systemic clearance (0.27-0.37 L/h/kg) and a low to moderate volume of distribution at steady state (0.79-0.8 L/kg). The bioavailability and terminal half-lives of KR-66344 following oral administration were 25% and 1.7-3.3 h, respectively. In addition, KR-66344 showed dose-independent pharmacokinetics at 0.5-10 mg/kg in intravenous and oral pharmacokinetic studies.

In this article, we describe the need for telemedicine standards and classify various standards of telemedicine. The emerging issues in telecommunications standards, the application of these standards in the health care industry, and future development directions of telemedicine standards are described. Especially, the telemedicine code standardization of drugs and health care providers, multimedia-conferencing-based ISO telemedicine standards, information security management, wireless technology advances for telemedicine using sensor networks, and future standardization issues and considerations are introduced and discussed in detail.

We discuss a set of techniques based on examples for generating realistic, controllable human whole-body models. Users are assisted in automatically generating a new model or modifying an existing one by controlling the parameters provided. Our approach is based on examples and consists of three major parts. First, each example from the 3D range scanner is preprocessed so that the topology of all examples is identical. Second, the system that we call the modeling synthesizer learns from these examples the correlation between the parameters and the body geometry. After this learning process the synthesizer is devoted to the generation of appropriate shape and proportion of the body geometry through interpolation. Finally, we demonstrate our modifier synthesizer for more subtle manipulations of example models, using high-level parameters such as fat percentage. On any synthesized model, the underlying bone and skin structure is properly adjusted, so that the model remains completely animatable using the joint animation. By allowing automatic modification from a set of parameters, our approach may eventually lead to the automatic generation of a variety of population models.

The Internet is a compelling channel for selling garments. Several recent initiatives by companies such as Nordstrom, Macy's, and Lands End focus on made-to-measure manufacturing and shopping via the Internet. We present a Web application that provides more powerful access to and manipulation of clothing to facilitate clothing design, pattern derivation, and sizing. We apply 3D graphics technology to help create and simulate the virtual store.

Background Although organizing pneumonia (OP) responds well to corticosteroid therapy, relapse is common during dose reduction or follow-up. Predictors of relapse in OP patients remain to be established. The aim of the present study was to identify factors related to relapse in OP patients. Methods This study was retrospectively performed in a tertiary referral center. Of 66 OP patients who were improved with or without treatment, 20 (30%) experienced relapse. The clinical and radiologic parameters in the relapse patient group (n=20) were compared to that in the non-relapse group (n=46). Results Multivariate analysis demonstrated that percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC), PaO2/FiO2, and serum protein level were significant predictors of relapse in OP patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-0.97; p=0.018; OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00-1.04; p=0.042; and OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01-0.87; p=0.039, respectively). Conclusion This study shows that FVC, PaO2/FiO2 and serum protein level at presentation can significantly predict relapse in OP patients.

A method for determining a novel phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor, 3-[1-(3cyclopropylmethoxy-4-difluoromethoxybenzyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl]-benzoic acid (PDE-423), in rat plasma was developed and validated using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for further pharmacokinetic study for development as a novel anti-asthmatic drug. PDE-423 in the concentration range of 0.02-10 µg/mL was linear with a correlation coefficient of0.99, and the mean intra- and inter-assay precisions of the assay were 7.50 and 3.86%, respectively. The validated method was used successfully for a pharmacokinetic study of PDE-423 in rats.

A rhodamine-derived alkyne shows turn-on fluorescence change only toward Au(I)/Au(III) species among various other metal species examined. A formyloxazole compound is formed as the major product in aqueous media, presumably via a vinylgold intermediate, which casts new mechanistic implications on vinylgold intermediates.

The object of the present study was to develop and validate an assay method of mesoridazine in rat plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Plasma samples from rats were prepared by simple protein precipitation and injected onto the LC-MS/MS system for quantification. Mesoridazine and chlorpromazine as an internal standard (IS) were separated by a reversed phase C18 column. A mobile phase was composed of 10mM ammonium formate in water and acetonitrile (ACN) (v/v) by a linear gradient system, increasing the percentage of ACN from 2% at 0.4min to 98% at 2.5min with 4min total run time. The ion transitions monitored in positive-ion mode [M+H](+) of multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) were m/z 387>126 for mesoridazine and m/z 319>86 for IS. The detector response was specific and linear for mesoridazine at concentrations within the range 0.001-4μg/ml and the correlation coefficient (R(2)) was greater than 0.999 and the signal-to-noise ratios for the samples were ≥10. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of the method were determined to be within the acceptance criteria for assay validation guidelines. The matrix effects were approximately 101 and 99.5% from rat plasma for mesoridazine and chlorpromazine, respectively. Mesoridazine was stable under various processing and/or handling conditions. Mesoridazine concentrations were readily measured in rat plasma samples after intravenous and oral administration. This assay method can be practically useful to the pharmacokinetic and/or toxicokinetic studies of mesoridazine.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a sensitive non-invasive imaging technique. To reduce imaging measurements of defects, there is a demand for proper LC-ESI-MS/MS method to carry out with its specificity and sensitivity. This study describes a rapid and simple liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem-MS/MS (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method for determination of both PET tracers: N-[2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-N-(2-pyridyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (WAY-100635) and 4-fluoro-N-[2-[4-(2-methoxylphenyl)-1-piperazino]ethyl]-N-(2-pyridyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (FCWAY). Both target compounds were prepared by one-step protein precipitation with acetonitrile and methanol (1:1, v/v), and analyzed using a C18 column. This simple method has an excellent linearity, selectivity and sensitivity. Precision and accuracy values for the intra-day and inter-day validation were below 12%. The limit of quantification (LOQ) for both target compounds was defined as 1 ng/mL in plasma and 5 ng/mL in brain homogenate. The stability of both compounds is considered stable under a various experimental conditions. The in vitro MDR-MDCK cell permeability showed the both compounds have high permeability (Papp, A→B ≥ 20 × 10(-6 )cm/s) and low efflux ratio (≤2.0). Brain to blood (AUCbrain/AUCblood) distribution ratios in rats were 3.15 ± 0.42 for WAY-100635 and 2.20 ± 0.34 for FCWAY, respectively, and these results suggest that LC-ESI-MS/MS method might be a supplementary way for the identifying and understanding of radiopharmaceuticals.

Background and objective ‘Focal necrotizing pneumonia’ was defined as a localized type of necrotizing pneumonia characterized by a single or few cavities of low density without rim enhancement on computed tomography (CT) scan. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features and course of patients with focal necrotizing pneumonia, thereby elucidating its clinical relevance. Methods The present study was conducted retrospectively in patients who had been interpreted as having lung abscess or necrotizing pneumonia on CT scan. Clinical and radiological characteristics were compared between the focal necrotizing pneumonia and lung abscess groups. Results Overall, 68 patients with focal necrotizing pneumonia (n = 35) or lung abscess (n = 33) were included in the present study. The frequency of risk factors for aspiration was significantly lower in the focal necrotizing group, compared with the lung abscess group (14.3% vs 45.5%, P = 0.005). Compared with lung abscess, focal necrotizing pneumonia was observed more commonly in non-gravity-dependent segments (66% vs 36%, P

'Focal necrotizing pneumonia' was defined as a localized type of necrotizing pneumonia characterized by a single or few cavities of low density without rim enhancement on computed tomography (CT) scan. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features and course of patients with focal necrotizing pneumonia, thereby elucidating its clinical relevance.The present study was conducted retrospectively in patients who had been interpreted as having lung abscess or necrotizing pneumonia on CT scan. Clinical and radiological characteristics were compared between the focal necrotizing pneumonia and lung abscess groups.Overall, 68 patients with focal necrotizing pneumonia (n = 35) or lung abscess (n = 33) were included in the present study. The frequency of risk factors for aspiration was significantly lower in the focal necrotizing group, compared with the lung abscess group (14.3% vs 45.5%, P = 0.005). Compared with lung abscess, focal necrotizing pneumonia was observed more commonly in non-gravity-dependent segments (66% vs 36%, P 0.001). In addition, a trend towards more common isolation of aerobes as potential pathogens was observed in the focal necrotizing pneumonia group, compared with the lung abscess group (31% vs 12%, P = 0.08). However, in terms of treatment outcomes, a similar high rate of success was observed in both groups: 97%, respectively.Compared to lung abscess, focal necrotizing pneumonia occurs more commonly in non-gravity-dependent segments with lower incidence of risk factors for aspiration. Similar to lung abscess, the rate of success for treatment of focal necrotizing pneumonia was high.

In this study, we developed a method for the determination of PF-04620110 (2-{(1r,4r)-4-[4-(4-amino-5-oxo-7,8-dihydropyrimido[5,4-f][1,4]oxazepin-6(5H)-yl)phenyl]cyclohexyl}acetic acid), a novel diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT-1) inhibitor, in rat plasma and validated it using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Rat plasma samples were processed following a protein precipitation method by using acetonitrile and were then injected into an LC-MS/MS system for quantification. PF-04620110 and imipramine (internal standard) were separated using a Hypersil Gold C18 column, with a mixture of acetonitrile and 10 mm ammonium formate (90:10, v/v) as the mobile phase. The ion transitions monitored in positive-ion mode [M + H](+) of multiple-reaction monitoring were m/z 397.0 → 260.2 for PF-04620110 and m/z 280.8 → 86.0 for imipramine. The detector response was specific and linear for PF-04620110 at concentrations within the range 0.05-50 µg/mL and the signal-to-noise ratios for the samples were ≥10. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of the method matched the acceptance criteria for assay validation. PF-04620110 was stable under various processing and/or handling conditions. PF-04620110 concentrations in the rat plasma samples could be measured up to 24 h after intravenous or oral administration of PF-04620110, suggesting that the assay is useful for pharmacokinetic studies in rats.

To alleviate side reactions identified in an N-propargyl-rhodamine lactam sensing system, we devised the novel reaction-based sensing scheme for gold species based on the alkynophilicity. A fluorescein (2-ethynyl)benzoate underwent Au(III)-promoted ester hydrolysis selectively over other metal ions with high sensitivity, which accompanies a turn-on fluorescence change in pH 7.4 HEPES buffer. The work offers a versatile reactive moiety for the development of gold probes with improved sensing properties.

This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics of the novel TAZ modulator TM-25659 in rats following intravenous and oral administration at dose ranges of 0.5-5 mg/kg and 2-10 mg/kg, respectively. Plasma protein binding, plasma stability, liver microsomal stability, CYP inhibition, and transport in Caco-2 cells were also evaluated. After intravenous injection, systemic clearance, steady-state volumes of distribution, and half-life were dose-independent, with values ranging from 0.434-0.890 mL · h(-1) · kg(-1), 2.02-4.22 mL/kg, and 4.60-7.40 h, respectively. Mean absolute oral bioavailability was 50.9% and was not dose dependent. Recovery of TM-25659 was 43.6% in bile and1% in urine. In pharmacokinetic modeling studies, the three-compartment (3C) model was appropriate for understanding these parameters in rats. TM-25659 was stable in plasma. Plasma protein binding was approximately 99.2%, and was concentration-independent. TM-25659 showed high permeation of Caco-2 cells and did not appear to inhibit CYP450. TM-25659 was metabolized in phase I and II steps in rat liver microsomes. In conclusion, the pharmacokinetics of TM-25659 was characterized for intravenous and oral administration at doses of 0.5-5 and 2-10 mg/kg, respectively. TM-25659 was eliminated primarily by hepatic metabolism and urinary excretion.

Multicentric Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare atypical lymphoproliferative disorder, which is characterized by various systemic manifestations. Some patients with multicentric CD may have concomitant lung parenchymal lesions, for which lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) is known to be the most common pathologic finding. Follicular bronchiolitis and LIP are considered to be on the same spectrum of the disease. We describe a case of multicentric CD with pulmonary involvement, which was pathologically proven as follicular bronchiolitis.

This paper presents a system to create mirror-symmetric surfaces from free-form sketches. The system takes as input a hand-drawn sketch and generates a surface whose silhouette approximately matches the input sketch. The input sketch typically consists of a set of curves connected at their endpoints, forming T-junctions and cusps. Our system is able to identify the skewed-mirror and translational symmetry between the hand-drawn curves and uses this information to reconstruct the occluded parts of the surface and its 3D shape.

This article presents a new approach for Fourier-based modeling of bone anatomies for compression and smoothing. By treating the bone surface as a level set of a 31) scalar field, we can model topologically complex models such as bones. In particular, we experiment with five different alternatives, and prove that 31) scalar field which allows monotonous continuity around the boundary can be a good choice for volumetric description of the surface. This allows avoiding Gibbs phenomena which previous volume-based methods have suffered from, returning better results in compression and smoothing than other scalar fields. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method by showing results with various bone data.

In this work, we record a dancer's rhythmic movement with background music. The captured motion sequences are then segmented into dozens of motion clips, to construct a motion database consisting of sets of labeled motion clips. Many of these motion clips contain short and rapid transition from one main dancing motion to another, which causes unnatural, awkward movements when they are connected in different orders than the original sequence. In this paper, we describe our approach for automatically detecting the transition parts in the segmented motion clips. For each motion clip, we model the motion data using the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and use the resulting distribution cluster map to improve the efficiency and convergence of the clustering, principal component analysis (PCA) has been applied to the motion data prior to performing GMM. Experiments and comparative analysis show that this PCA-based GMM method effectively performs transition detection on the segmented motion clips.

Tight-fit cloth pressure provides important clue on how well a cloth fits to a body and thus on how comfortable the wearer feels with the cloth. Traditionally-used pressure sensor devices are expensive, sensitive to the experimental environment, and difficult to reproduce. In this paper, a physically-based cloth simulator has been tested for its usability as to measuring the cloth pressure, in order to replace physical measurement of cloth pressure that requires careful operation of pressure sensors. We use existing cloth simulator based on a particle system and measure spring forces exerted on each particle along its normal direction, divided by the summed area of triangles adjacent to that particle. To quantitatively validate the pressure values from the simulator, we have conducted comparative analysis on a set of thin-shell cylindrical tubes --- clothing pressure values have been measured by theoretical estimation and physical experiments using pressure sensors, and compared with those measured by the simulation. While their absolute pressure values differ from each other they exhibit a consistent tendency. From these comparative studies we concluded that cloth simulator can actually be used to measure tight-fit cloth pressure, and further conducted the clothing pressure measure on 3D human body models using the simulator.

When 3D objects occlude each other or self-occlude, their drawings typically consist of a set of contours that might partially overlap or self-overlap. The authors' method infers the hidden parts of contours and creates a smooth 3D shape matching those contours by solving a set of optimization problems

We present our framework that efficiently synchronizes dancing motion of a virtual character according to music input. Two modules have been developed to achieve this. A music server analyzes audio input on the fly and extracts information on music such as tempo, time signature, and beat time. A motion client chooses and displays motion clips according to the music information, by time-warping and synchronizing the start time of motion clips with the music beat time. As a preprocessing step, we construct a database of motion clips using captured dancing motion of a dancer. A PCA-based method is presented to easily identify transiting parts from each motion clip.