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A 20-yr-old African fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus) presented with a slowly growing mass located on the dorsum at the level of the last thoracic vertebrae. The mass was hard, 10 cm in diameter, and not adherent to the underlying tissues. Multiple biopsies were collected for histopathology and revealed extensive areas of necrosis, small nodules of malignant mesenchymal proliferation with areas of chondroid metaplasia, and atypical cells in vessel walls. The morphologic diagnosis was suggestive of malignant mesenchymal neoplasia originating from the vascular wall. The mass was removed 1 mo later due to ulceration and infection. Histologically, based on the World Health Organization's classification of neoplastic processes in domestic animals, the tumor was consistent with malignant mesenchymoma. The margins of resection revealed the presence of neoplastic cells. Based on these results, the particular species involved, the high local invasiveness, and the high metastatic index of this malignant tumor in domestic mammals and humans, the prognosis was poor. The animal died 6 mo later with metatastic disease.

To verify whether or not ciliary motility can be reliably assessed by light microscopy alone, we examined the nasal brushings of 53 patients with suspected ciliary dyskinesia and 10 healthy controls. The results of light microscopy were compared with cilia ultrastructure assessed with electron microscopy. Ciliary motility was significantly related with cilia ultrastructure. However, eight cases of lung disease due to bronchiectasis of unknown origin had immotile cilia on light microscopy, but normal ciliary ultrastructure on electron microscopy. Instances of normal and abnormal ultrastructure were detected in one case with motile cilia. There was an 83% agreement between electron microscopy and light microscopy. Sensitivity and specificity of light microscopy were 92% and 80%, respectively. In conclusion, light microscopy evaluation of ciliary motility does not appear to be a reliable screening test for ciliary dyskinesia because it does not quantify ciliary beat activity, which is a criterion for deranged ciliary motion. A complete evaluation of ciliary ultrastructure together with in vivo, if applicable, or in vitro function test (namely, the analysis of ciliary beat frequencies and/or waveform) is required for a definite diagnosis of ciliary dyskinesia.

A new model is presented aimed at filling the gap between top-down strategic models found in literature and real-life applications in field, where the need for a link between strategic planning and operations management emerges as a key-issue. The model considers that the strategic planning process should be triggered by a bottom-up approach, starting from the product cost structure, the product flow analysis and the supply chain, since strategic plans – in the end – will be implemented by division managers. So, the focus of strategic planning should be shifted from the company's strategic apex to the personnel involved in the supply chain management. After a comparative review of the most popular and recent approaches to strategic planning, the new model is introduced through a six-step methodology and the tool of competitive histograms is presented. Then, the model is tested by applying it to the real-life case study of the European flexible packaging market. Results point out that the power of competit...

Objective:To investigate an outbreak of gram-negative bacteremias at a hemodialysis center (December 1, 1996-January 31, 1997).Design:Retrospective cohort study. Reviewed infection control practices and maintenance and disinfection procedures for the water system and dialysis machines. Performed cultures of the water and dialysis machines, including the waste-handling option (WHO), a drain port designed to dispose of saline used to flush the dialyzer before patient use. Compared isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.Setting:A hemodialysis center in Maryland.Results:94 patients received dialysis on 27 machines; 10 (11%) of the patients had gram-negative bacteremias. Pathogens causing these infections wereEnterobacter cloacae(n=6),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(n=4), andEscherichia coli(n=2); two patients had polymicrobial bacteremia. Factors associated with development of gram-negative bacteremias were receiving dialysis via a central venous catheter (CVC) rather than via an arterio-venous shunt (all 10 infected patients had CVCs compared to 31 of 84 uninfected patients, relative risk [RR] undefined;PP=.005).E cloacae, P aeruginosa, or both organisms were grown from cultures obtained from several dialysis machines. WHO valves, which prevent backflow from the drain to dialysis bloodlines, were faulty in 8 (31%) of 26 machines, including 2 of 3 machines epidemiologically linked to case-patients. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns of available dialysis machine and patientE cloacaeisolates were identical.Conclusions:Our study suggests that WHO ports with incompetent valves and resultant backflow were a source of cross-contamination of dialysis bloodlines and patients' CVCs. Replacement of faulty WHO valves and enhanced disinfection of dialysis machines terminated the outbreak.

Objective. To provide indications for high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Design. We compared the HRCT and conventional chest radiography (CCR) scores and assessed their correlation with clinical scores and pulmonary function tests. Setting. Department of Pediatrics, Federico II University, Naples, Italy. Subjects. A total of 30 patients with CF 6.75 to 24 years of age. Results. CCR scores correlated highly with HRCT (r = −0.8) and clinical (r = 0.5) scores, whereas total HRCT scores were not related to clinical scores. Of all the specific HRCT findings, only bronchiectasis appeared related significantly to the clinical score (r = 0.6). Most pulmonary function tests were related to CCR and total HRCT scores, but not to HRCT scoring of specific changes. Forced vital capacity and CCR scores appeared the best predictors of the HRCT score (multiple R = 0.58 and 0.79, respectively). In patients with mild lung disease, HRCT detected bronchiectasis and air trapping in 57% and 71% of the cases, respectively. In patients with more abnormal chest radiographs, bronchiectasis and air trapping were demonstrated on HRCT in all cases. Conclusions. These findings suggest that HRCT of the chest is most useful in the identification of early lung abnormalities in patients with CF with mild respiratory symptoms, whereas for established disease, CCR is still the first-line imaging technique. The advantage of detecting early changes on CT imaging awaits additional confirmation, at least until early therapeutic interventions affecting significantly the final outcome of the disease are demonstrated. In patients with advanced disease, HRCT may be useful in the evaluation of specific lung changes when more aggressive treatment such as chest surgical interventions is indicated. Given the cost of the procedure and the high radiation dosage compared with CCR, a careful assessment of the cost:benefit ratios of HRCT is strongly recommended in CF.

Pulmonary disease of unknown etiology is a potentially fatal complication in patients with lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI), an autosomal recessive disorder caused by the defective transport of cationic amino acids. Lung involvement was investigated in nine Italian LPI patients through pulmonary function tests and lung imaging studies consisting of conventional chest radiography, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and perfusion and ventilation scintigraphy. One 10-yr-old patient died of severe respiratory insufficiency from alveolar proteinosis. All of the remaining patients were asymptomatic at the time of the study, although HRCT scans revealed signs of lung involvement defined by the presence of acinar nodules, inter- and/or intralobular thickening of the interstitial septa, and subpleural cysts in five of the patients. Radioisotope studies showed an uneven distribution of perfusion and ventilation, and confirmed the presence of segmental and/or diffuse pulmonary functional defects. No abnormalities of pulmonary function were evident, and answers to a questionnaire excluded primary coexisting lung disease. In patients with LPI, including those without clinical and functional impairment, HRCT and radioisotopic studies appear to be the most sensitive methods for the early diagnosis of lung disease and correct assessment of its progression.

Brefeldin A (BFA) is used to probe trafficking of proteins through the central vacuolar system (CVS) in a variety of cells. Transepithelial Na+ transport by high-resistance epithelia, such as A6 cultured cells, is inhibited by BFA. Apical Na+ channels, as well as basolateral pumps and K+ channels, are complex proteins that probably traverse the CVS for routing to the plasma membrane. BFA (5 micrograms/ml) decreases transepithelial Na+ current near zero and increases resistance reversibly after 4 h. Longer exposures are toxic. When tissues were treated for 20 h with 0.2 microgram/ml BFA, Na+ transport also was reversibly inhibited. Using noise analysis, we found that BFA drastically reduced apical Na+ channel density. The increase in single channel current was consistent with cell hyperpolarization. After apical permeabilization with nystatin, changes in transepithelial current reflect changes in basolateral membrane transport. Transport at this membrane was inhibited by ouabain and cycloheximide, but not by BFA. After BFA, aldosterone was ineffective, suggesting that an intact CVS is required for stimulation by this hormone. Thus BFA inhibition of Na+ transport is localized at the apical membrane. Implications for channel turnover as a mechanism for regulating the Na+ transport rate are discussed.

A detailed model for the dependence of photoconductivity on material parameters in a-Si:H is used with experimental data to indicate that the ratio between the capture cross-sections for neutral and charged states is small and that the energy level of surface states is different from that of bulk defect states.

a-C:H films were prepared by RF glow-discharge decomposition of diluted methane-hydrogen mixtures. RF power, bias voltage and methane percentage were systematically varied, and plasma characteristics, growth rates, and properties of the resulting films were studied by optical emission, photothermal deflection, IR, visible, Raman spectroscopy, and mass density measurements. The results found indicate a role of hydrogen in affecting the deposition mechanism by etching the growing films, but with no major effect on their structure with respect to other hydrocarbon feedstocks.

Purpose: Plantar plate tears are often unidentified causes of hindfoot discomfort. The purpose of our work is to describe the normal and pathologic appearance of plantar plate, assessed with dynamic high resolution ultrasound (D-HRUS). Methods and Materials: We used D-HRUS to assess 22 patients (age range 38–71) with an orthopaedic diagnosis of plantar plate tear. A Magnetic Resonance (MR) control was performed in all cases. Moreover, we performed D-HRUS on 10 healthy volunteers to understand the correct scan technique of the plantar plate and to determine the correct dynamic manoeuvres that allow to depict the normal ultrasound anatomy of this structure. Results: Normal plantar plate is a triangular structure, with homogeneous echogenic appearance; it can be easily assessed with plantar longitudinal scan on the metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) and passive flexion/extension of foot fingers. The dynamic scan allows to depict the relations among the plantar plate and the flexor tendons and the articular cartilage. In our study, D-HRUS has detected a plantar plate tear in 21/22 patients (14 on MTPJ II, five on MTPJ III, two on MTPJ II and III). They appear like small hypoechoic defects of the distal insertional fibres and can be divided into partial (eight patients) and full thickness tears (13 patients). In all patients, MR confirmed the diagnosis of plantar plate rupture but in nine cases it has not been able to differentiate a partial from a full thickness tear. Conclusion: D-HRUS allows to assess the plantar plate in detail and to detect its lesions. In particular, the dynamic analysis is able to differentiate a partial from a full thickness tear.

Elastic properties in structural ceramics are widely studied with different experimental techniques in order to obtain engineering and diagnostic data about the processed materials. A new set-up for measuring flexural resonance is presented. The apparatus is based on electrostatic excitation where sample vibrations are detected by a laser modulation technique. Due to the high sensitivity and accuracy of this experimental set-up, it was possible to measure Young's modulus of samples with relatively high thickness/length ratios, thus allowing elastic properties determination directly on bending-strength test bars. The measurements were performed according to ASTM procedure. The high frequency resolution allowed the evaluation of internal friction variation due to processing, by nonlinear least square analysis of resonance curves. 10 refs.

A study on amorphous hydrogenated silicon-germanium alloys is presented. Amorphous thin films are grown by glow discharge decomposition of silane/germane gas mixtures, in the presence of a large hydrogen concentration. Optical, electrical and photoelectrical properties of intrinsic alloys are reported and their effect on the performance of p-i-n photovoltaic devices is discussed.

A series of amorphous hydrogenated silicon‐germanium films has been produced by the glow‐discharge dissociation of a GeH4 +SiH4 +H2 gas mixture. The subgap optical absorption has been measured with the photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) technique, and the results are discussed and referred to a model density of states. The density of defects has been found meaningfully correlated to the bulk material, despite a number of possible complications intrinsic of the PDS technique and/or of the material itself, which can potentially prevent the correct determination of the density of defects from the subgap optical absorption. Namely, the defect density ranges from 1016 cm−3 in a‐Si:H to 5×1017 cm−3 in a Ge:H, whereas the Urbach tail width is only slightly increased from 50 to 70 meV. The amount of disorder and the defect density of the material are compared to the predictions of an available thermodynamical model: the increasing number of defects brought about by germanium results in being an intrinsic ...

Local therapy for early rectal cancer is a valid alternative to the classical radical operation, which has a higher morbidity and mortality rate. The use of high-dose preoperative radiation appears to enhance the options for sphincter-saving surgery even for T2-T3 rectal cancer patients with effective local control. The authors report their experience with transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) used to manage selected cases of distal rectal cancer without evidence of nodal or distant metastasis (N0-M0).The study enrolled 196 patients with rectal cancer (51 T1, 84 T2, and 61 T3). All the patients staged preoperatively as T2 and T3 underwent preoperative high-dose radiotherapy, and since 1997, patients younger than 70 years in good general condition also have undergone preoperative chemotherapy.Minor complications were observed in 17 patients (8.6%) and major complications in only 3 patients (1.5%). The definitive histology was 33 pT0 (17%), 73 pT1 (37%), 66 pT2 (34%), and 24 pT3 (12%). Eight patients (5 pT2 and 3 pT3) experienced local recurrence (4.1%). The rectal cancer-specific survival rate at the end of the follow-up period was 100% for pT1, 90% for pT2, and 77% for pT3 patients.Patients with T1 cancer and favorable histologic features may undergo local excision alone, whereas those with T2 and T3 rectal cancer require preoperative radiochemotherapy. The results in the authors' experience after TEM appear not to be substantially different in terms of local recurrence and survival rate from those described for conventional surgery.

Laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) is considered a safe procedure for spleens of normal size as well as for larger spleens. Seventy-five consecutive patients underwent LS. Splenomegaly was defined by diameter15 cm and by weight400 g. Thirty patients had splenomegaly. The outcomes with spleens15 cm and spleens15 cm were compared. LS was successfully completed in 73 cases (97.4%). Spleens15 cm required longer operating time and were associated with greater blood loss (P0.001), longer hospital stay, and more complications. Two patients needed blood transfusion. No overwhelming postsplenectomy infection was registered, and operative mortality was zero.

To investigate the frequency of night eating among obese patients, its biological correlates and its relationships with binge eating.The eating behavior of a group of patients enrolled in a weight-loss program was evaluated by Eating Inventory (EI) and by semistructured interviews designed to detect binge and night eating; in all cases body weight (BW) and energy expenditure (REE) were measured.Night eating was more frequent among binge eating patients, than in among non-binge ones. However, two-way ANOVA demonstrated that in binge eating patients the EI disinhibition and hunger score was higher than in their no-bingeing counterparts and in night eating individuals. Furthermore, between night eating and non-night eating patients, no differences in BW and REE were found.Binge eating and night eating appear to be related to different psychological constructs, the overlapping between the two behaviors, however, being quite frequent.

The 10 5/8” and 8 ½” sections of Tangara-1 ST3/ST4 exploratory well were drilled with the Power Drive PDX5* tool, a Rotary Steerable System (RSS) run for the first time through the Carbonera series (Miocene- Oligocene), in combination with the Conventional Steerable Assembly (downhole motor), to follow the directional plan designed to reach the target defined at the top of the Mirador (Eocene) and hence struck the hydrocarbons expected in this reservoir.

In this overview, the status and potential for CMOS terminal RF power amplifiers (PAs) are discussed. The paper focuses on two application areas for RF PAs, namely wireless LAN/PAN applications, with output power levels up to 24 dBm, and cellular applications with power levels beyond 30 dBm.

An innovative technique for the biasing of power amplifiers (PAs) is presented that allows reduction of the DC power consumption, especially when the PA is operated at mid/low output power, without compromising the linearity at high output power level. The fully integrated adaptive biasing circuit, in 0.5 /spl mu/m BICMOS technology, senses the operating PA power and adjusts its quiescent current accordingly. The method is applied to a UMTS PA, resulting in a power consumption saving of about 70% when compared to conventional biasing solutions.

MitoNuc: a database of nuclear genes encoding for mitochondrial proteins D. Catalano(1), F. Licciulli(1), G. Grillo(1), S. Liuni(1), G. Pesole(2), C. Saccone(1,3) and D. D'Elia(1) (1) Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche - Sezione di Bari, CNR, Palazzo dei Geometri, Via Amendola 168/5, 70126 Bari - Italy (2) Dipartimento di Fisiologia e Biochimica Generali, Università di Milano, Via Celoria, 26, 20133 Milano - Italy (3) Dipartimento di Biochimica e Biologia Molecolare, Università di Bari, Via Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari - Italy Keywords. Bioinformatics, Database, Mitochondrion, Nuclear Genes for Mitochondrion Introduction Mitochondria are sub-cellular organelles, present in the majority of eukaryotic organisms, which play a central role in the energy metabolisms of cells. They are also involved in many other cellar processes such as apoptosis, aging and in a number of different human diseases, including Parkinson's, diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's. Despite to their importance in the cell life maintenance, about the 95% of proteins, contributing to mitochondrial biogenesis and functional activities, are nuclear encoded, synthesized in the cytosol and targeted to mitochondria. The expression and assembling of these proteins are strictly dependent by the coordinated activities of the two genomes, mitochondrial and nuclear, but the molecular mechanisms and co-evolutionary processes of the cross-talk between these two genomes are still largely unknown. MitoNuc [1] is a specialized database of nuclear encoded mitochondrial proteins in Metazoa. It provides comprehensive data on genes and proteins consolidating information from external databases. These data include: gene sequence, structure and information from ENSEMBL [2], protein sequence and information from SWISSPROT [3], transcript sequence and structure from RefSeq [4] and UTRdb [5], disease information from OMIM [6]. Each database entry consists of a nuclear gene coding for a mitochondrial protein in a given species, and reports information on: species name and taxonomic classification; gene name, functional product, sub-cellular mitochondrial localization, protein tissue specificity, Enzyme Classification (EC) code for enzyme and disease data related to protein dysfunction. For each gene and gene product the Gene Ontology (GO) classification [7] with regard to molecular function, biological processes and cellular component is reported too. Links to external database resources are also provided. As far as the gene and transcript sequences data are concerned, in the previous MitoNuc releases they were extracted from the EMBL [8] related entries. Due to the high level of sequences redundancy in the primary database, the majority of MitoNuc entries contained more than one transcript and coding gene sequence for the same gene, thus introducing a remarkable redundancy level that affects the effectiveness of the database for sequence analysis aims. In order to remove redundancy we generated a MitoNuc section of gene and transcript sequences derived from those organisms whose genome sequence draft has been completed and annotated in ENSEMBL. These MitoNuc entries are available in the database section called "MitoNuc Genomics" that, at present, include the following species: Homo sapiens, Rattus Norvegicus and Mus Musculus. MitoNuc can be queried using the SRS Retrieval System [9] (http://www.ba.itb.cnr.it/srs/); the present release contains a total of 1344 entries among which 662 are collected in the MitoNuc Genomic section. The total number of species included in MitoNuc is about 64. System and Methods MitoNuc is a database conceptually structured in a relational schema and the Database Management System (DBMS) used for this application is MySQL. The database entries are generated from MySQL in a flat file format (EMBL format) to make it publicly available and retrievable through the SRS System Web interface and the EMBOSS package [10] utilities. Only the gene sequence is reported in the database, protein and transcript sequences can be dynamically extracted through the linking database function implemented in SRS from their external resources (SwissProt, RefSeq, UTRdb). Each database entry is annotated through a process automated thanks to the development of bio-perl scripts able to extract data from the external databases. Control procedures, including BLAST check [11] against protein sequences reported in the correlated public data resources (SWISSPROT and ENSEMBL) have been implemented, to avoid data inconsistencies. Protein sequences from all the different species present in MitoNuc are pair-wise aligned against the human protein sequence using the Needleman-Wunsch global alignment. Proteins whose sequence similarity is higher than the threshold fixed value of 60%, and fall into the same functional class, are multi-aligned using the CLUSTAL algorithm [12], manually controlled for consistence and grouped in Clusters. Each Cluster is named with the SWISSPROT Human identifier and groups homologous proteins from all the species present in MitoNuc. These data are collected in the database and will be soon correlated with the database entries so that they can be queried together and/or separately from entries data. As far as the query interface is concerned, the database can be queried combining different searching criteria and/or running multi-record queries. The multi-record querying can be run giving a list of reference values such as the entry identifiers (ID) from MitoNuc or external linked databases, the name of the genes or the GO ID, etc. The whole entries content or only part of them, such as gene and transcript sub-sequences (exons, introns, UTRs regions), can be extracted. Data can be saved locally in different file format using the SRS facilities. Conclusion MitoNuc database can be particularly useful for people interested in the study of the functional genomics and proteomics of nuclear gene and encoded proteins whose sub-cellular location is the mitochondrion. Indeed, in spite of the growing number of mitochondrial databases worldwide produced, the majority of them are species-specific, mainly human dedicated, or collect information on proteins only. Moreover, no one is able to allow the extraction of both, protein and gene sequences for a large set of these bio-molecules in only one time. Our goal is to make of MitoNuc the most reliable data resources until now produced in this field. To this aim we are already working on the improvement of its data content and on the enhancement of its Web interfaces and query support. Additional data that will be included are: SNPs information for the genes sequences, genomic intergenic region, functional protein domain information from PFAM [13]; protein structure data from PDB [14], protein family and family-specific signatures from InterPro [15]. The implementation of text mining procedures has also been planned for the retrieval and integration of protein-protein and DNA-protein interaction data available from external specialized data resources and for the integration of literature associated data from PUBMED. The database will be available in a table format too and statistics on its data set will be provided both in table and graphic format. Acknowledgements This project is funded within the grant of the PNR 2001-2003 (FIRB art.8) D.M. 199 - MIUR. References [1] Attimonelli, M. et al. MitoNuc: a database of nuclear genes coding for mitochondrial proteins. Update 2002. Nucleic Acids Res., 30, 172-3, 2002. [2] Birney E. et al. Ensembl 2004. Nucleic Acids Res., 32, 468-70, 2004. [3] Bairoch, A. and Apweiler, R. The SWISS-PROT protein sequence database and its supplement TrEMBL in 2000. Nucleic Acids Res., 28, 45-48, 2000. [4] Pruitt, K.D. and Maglott, D.R. RefSeq and LocusLink: NCBI gene-centered resources. Nucleic Acids Res., 29,137-40, 2001. [5] Pesole, G. et al. UTRdb and UTRsite: specialized databases of sequences and functional elements of 5' and 3' untranslated regions of eukaryotic mRNAs. Update 2002. Nucleic Acids Res., 30, 335-40,2002. [6] Hamosh, A. et al. Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), a knowledgebase of human genes and genetic disorders. Nucleic Acids Res., 30, 52-5, 2002. [7] Harris, M.A. et al. The Gene Ontology (GO) database and informatics resource. Nucleic Acids Res,. 32, 258-61, 2004. [8] Kulikova, T. et al. The EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database. Nucleic Acids Res., 32, 27-30, 2004. [9] Zdobnov, E.M et al. The EBI SRS server - new features. Bioinformatics Application Note, 18, 1149-1150, 2002. [10] Rice, P. et al. EMBOSS: The European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. Trends in Genetics, 16, 276-277, 2000. [11] Altschul, S.F. et al. Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs, Nucleic Acids Res., 25, 3389-3402, 1997. [12] Chenna, R. et al. Multiple sequence alignment with the Clustal series of programs. Nucleic Acids Res., 31, 3497-500, 2003. [13] Bateman, A. et al. The Pfam protein families database. Nucleic Acids Res., 32, 138-41, 2004. [14] Kihara, D. and Skolnick, J. The PDB is a covering set of small protein structures. J Mol Biol., 334,793-802, 2003. [15] Mulder, N.J. et al. The InterPro Database, 2003 brings increased coverage and new features. Nucleic Acids Res.,31, 315-8,2003.

INTRODUCTION: Mitochondria are sub-cellular organelles essential for the maintenance of cellular physiology of most of eukaryotic organisms. Besides their central role in the energetic metabolism of respiring cells they are also involved in some key steps of other important metabolic pathways such as heme and hormone biosynthesis. Furthermore, numerous studies have demonstrated a key role of mitochondria in apoptosis, aging and in a number of different human diseases, including Parkinson’s, diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s. Despite their importance in the cell life maintenance, about 95% of proteins contributing to mitochondrial biogenesis and functional activities are nuclear encoded and hence all functions of mitochondria depend on the interaction of nuclear and organelle genomes. In order to provide a specialized resource for functional and comparative genomics studies supporting research on basic science of mitochondria and mitochondrial pathogenesis we developed MitoNuc (1), which is a comprehensive collection of nuclear genes encoding for mitochondrial proteins of metazoan species consolidating information from the most accredited public databases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MitoNuc is a relational database implemented in the Database Management System (DBMS) MySQL. The database has been designed and developed to provide comprehensive data on nuclear genes and encoded proteins targeted to the mitochondrion. Data are extracted from external database and include: gene sequence, structure and information from ENSEMBL [2], protein sequence and information from SWISSPROT [3], transcript sequence and structure from RefSeq [4] and UTRdb [5], disease information from OMIM [6]. The database is automatically annotated thanks to the development of BioPerl scripts able to extract data from the external databases. Control procedures, including BLAST check against protein sequences reported in the correlated public data resources (SWISSPROT and ENSEMBL) have been implemented to avoid data inconsistencies. The database is available in an EMBL-like flat file format and retrievable through the SRS Retrieval System at the following address http://www.ba.itb.cnr.it/srs/ . Furthermore MitoNuc can be queried in a more user-friendly interface developed in PHP and BioPerl at the following address: http://www.ba.itb.cnr.it/MitoNuc/. RESULTS: Each database entry consists of a nuclear gene coding for a mitochondrial protein in a given species, and reports information on: species name and taxonomic classification; gene name, functional product, sub-mitochondrial localization, protein tissue specificity, Enzyme Classification (EC) code for enzyme and disease data related to protein dysfunction. For each gene and gene product the Gene Ontology (GO) classification with regard to molecular function, biological processes and cellular component is reported too. Links to external database resources are also provided. Protein sequences from all the different species present in MitoNuc are pair-wise aligned against the human protein sequence using the Needleman-Wunsch global alignment. Proteins whose sequence similarity is higher than the threshold fixed value of 60%, and which fall into the same functional class, are multi-aligned using the CLUSTAL algorithm, manually controlled for consistence and grouped in Clusters. Each Cluster is named with the SWISSPROT Human identifier and groups homologous proteins from all the species present in MitoNuc. These data can be queried from the home page of the database. As far as the query interface is concerned, the database can be queried combining different searching criteria and/or running multi-record queries. The multi-record querying can be run giving a list of reference values such as the entry identifiers (ID) of the MitoNuc database, the entry identifiers (ID) of the external linked public databases, the name of the genes, etc. Sequence data such as protein, gene or transcript sequence and sub-sequences (exons, introns, UTRs regions), can be extracted and locally saved in different file format. The present release of the database contains a total number of 1344 entries. 1. Attimonelli M. et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res. 30, 172-3 2. Birney E. et al. (2004) Nucleic Acids Res. 32, 468-70 3. Bairoch, A. et al. (2000) Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 45-48 4. Pruitt K.D. et al. (2001) Nucleic Acids Res. 29,137-40 5. Pesole, G. et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res. 30, 335-40 6. Hamosh A. et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res. 30, 52-5

The 6-channel read/write preamplifier IC supports data rates up to 1 Gb/s. The bandwidth of the reader exceeds 630 MHz. The input-referred noise is

This article identifies and describes a small group of patients with trochanteric tendinitis and bursitis in whom all modes of traditional therapy failed. We hypothesized that obstinate pain could be due to an increase in bone turnover associated with the formation of marginal bony outgrowths or enthesophytes. Injectable disodium clodronate is known to be highly efficacious in inhibiting bone reabsorption and is able to reduce several types of bone pain. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of disodium clodronate in periarticular pathology of the hip in a group of patients resistant to traditional treatments and who were hypothesized to have a component of bone pain in their pain syndrome. Periarticular ultrasound examination is a useful method for detecting soft tissue alterations and is of interest in the study of these patients. In this study ultrasound examination showed periarticular alterations even when results of radiography were negative. Reduction in the hyperechoic ultrasound image, which confirms periarticular calcification, was observed in 75% of the patients treated with disodium clodronate vs. 33% of those treated with paracetamol. At the end of the study, all patients treated with disodium clodronate had a reduction in spontaneous and provoked painor = 1/3 vs. the basal visual analogue scale, unlike those treated with paracetamol.

To verify whether or not ciliary motility can be reliably assessed by light microscopy alone, we examined the nasal brushings of 53 patients with suspected ciliary dyskinesia and 10 healthy controls. The results of light microscopy were compared with cilia ultrastructure assessed with electron microscopy. Ciliary motility was significantly related with cilia ultrastructure. However, eight cases of lung disease due to bronchiectasis of unknown origin had immotile cilia on light microscopy, but normal ciliary ultrastructure on electron microscopy. Instances of normal and abnormal ultrastructure were detected in one case with motile cilia. There was an 83% agreement between electron microscopy and light microscopy. Sensitivity and specificity of light microscopy were 92% and 80%, respectively. In conclusion, light microscopy evaluation of ciliary motility does not appear to be a reliable screening test for ciliary dyskinesia because it does not quantify ciliary beat activity, which is a criterion for deranged ciliary motion. A complete evaluation of ciliary ultrastructure together with in vivo, if applicable, or in vitro function test (namely, the analysis of ciliary beat frequencies and/or waveform) is required for a definite diagnosis of ciliary dyskinesia.

The surgical treatment of morbid obesity is reserved to patients non responding to medical and dietetical therapy. The Authors suggest for these patients a sequential surgical treatment: a vertical gastroplasty, followed by an abdominoplasty. In the Authors experience, this approach offers good results in terms of weight loss and aesthetics. In this paper, the results obtained in 19 patients, operated for morbid obesity in the past three years, are reported.

The frequent negativity of neuroradiological changes after neck injury despite the constant complaints (neck pain and stiffness, limited neck movements, arm pains) experienced after a motor vehicle crash has led us to verify the diagnostic and prognostic validity of different neurophysiological tests in these patients. To this aim 120 young patients (67 females and 53 males) referred for a whiplash syndrome aged 18-31 years without neuroradiological abnormalities have been submitted to EMG and BAEP studies immediately after the traffic accident and after six months. Constant slowing of median MNCV and SNCV and ulnar SNCV without changes in morphology, amplitude and duration of MAP and SAP have been observed in 92 patients, with persistent abnormalities in 64 cases after six months. Increase in I-III or I-V interpeak interval of BAEP have been observed unilaterally in 45 patients and bilaterally in 32 ones without changes in absolute latencies and V/I amplitude ratio, with persistence of such abnormalities in 31 and 16 patients respectively after six months. Simultaneous abnormalities of all neurophysiological tests have been observed in 31 patients, with unmodified recordings after six months in 24 patients. The above findings could be accounted for subtle cerebral lesions and a possible damage to brain stem structures as claimed by Ettlin et al. (1992). The usefulness of the above proposed neurophysiological tests in assessment of asymptomatic dysfunction of central motor and sensory pathways in whiplash injuries is discussed.

Brefeldin A (BFA) is a novel agent with the unique property of effecting a rapid increase of Golgi cisternae volume and subsequent loss of a recognizable Golgi apparatus in treated cells. Although a receptor-mediated mechanism has been proposed, the molecular basis of BFA action remains unknown (Lippincott-Schwartz, J., Glickman, J., Donaldson, J. G., Robbins, J., Kreis, T. E., Seamon, K. B., Sheetz, M. P., and Klausner, R. D. (1991) J. Cell Biol. 112, 567-577). Since a variety of ionophores distort Golgi architecture by initially causing osmotic swelling of the cisternae (Mollenhauer, H. H., Morre, D. J., and Rowe, L. D. (1990) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1031, 225-246), Golgi membrane permeabilization by BFA seemed possible. We examined the effects of BFA on the conductance of planar lipid bilayers bathed in several aqueous salt solutions. Addition of BFA (1 microgram/ml) quickly augmented alkali cation conductance (K+ greater than Na+ much greater than Li+) but not anion conductance of the bilayer. Lower concentrations (1 ng/ml) indicated that BFA formed discrete, cation-selective channels in these bilayers. Given that Golgi cisternae volume increases immediately upon treatment with BFA, these findings suggest that alteration of ion gradients or Golgi membrane potential followed by an influx of water may be the mechanism by which BFA initiates disruption of Golgi structural integrity. Subsequent functional perturbations may then ensue either as a consequence of these initial structural changes or by a combination of several distinct mechanisms.

After binding, the protein toxins ricin, abrin, and modeccin are endocytosed and processed through the cell's vesicular system in a poorly understood fashion, prior to translocation to the cytosol. The role of the Golgi apparatus in toxin processing was studied using brefeldin-A (BFA), a fungal metabolite which blocks Golgi function. At concentrations that inhibit secretion of interleukin-2 (IL-2), BFA blocks ricin, modeccin, and abrin intoxication of a lymphocyte derived cell line (Jurkat). Paradoxically, BFA enhances the toxicity of two ricin A-chain immunotoxins targeted against distinct cell surface determinants. BFA concentrations which are optimal for immunotoxin enhancement are below those needed to affect ricin intoxication or IL-2 secretion. BFA blockade of ricin does not involve effects on ricin endocytosis, toxin translocation to the cytosol, or the enzymatic activity of toxin A-chain. In contrast, BFA has no effect on immunotoxin processing but does enhance the immunotoxin translocation step. It is concluded that: 1) intact Golgi function is required for holotoxin processing. 2) Intact Golgi function is not required for holotoxin translocation. 3) Golgi function is tightly linked to immunotoxin translocation. 4) BFA has effects on vesicular routing in addition to the block of Golgi function in secretion which has been reported.

The authors examine 72 patients affected with homozygous B-thalassemia; The study was conducted by clinical-hematological and radiologic examination. The Singh method is used to compare clinical data with the degree of osteoporosis. The results indicate that there is a high frequency of osteoporotic abnormalities in thalassemia. The authors postulate that osteoporotic lesions are principally caused by hyperplasia of the marrow, the overactive bone marrow widening the medullary space and the increased intramedullary pressure causing osteoporosis.

Two-junction two-terminal p-i-n cells based on amorphous silicon and related amorphous alloys have been extensively studied in order to obtain stable thin film devices. Cell design was based on a realistic model taking into account both optical and transport properties of the intrinsic layers. Experimental results are in fair agreement with calculated data and confirm the possibility of obtaining medium-high efficiency with high photostability.

The authors describe embryology and anatomy of synovial plica of the knee joint. They propose a clinic and pathogenic classification and after examining the diagnostic problem of plica syndrome, analyze their long-term results after surgical treatment.

Body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), body fat, serum leptin concentration and resting energy expenditure (REE) were fitted in a multiple linear regression model in a group of individuals with stable body weight. While serum leptin concentration was well related to BW, to BMI and to body fat, no correlations with the REE values were found. This suggests that serum leptin concentration would represent an index of adiposity and poorly reflects energy metabolism.

Recently, Asano and Stutzmann [J. Appl. Phys. 70, 5025 (1991) and J. Non‐Cryst. Solids 137&138, 623 (1991)] examined the effects of in‐depth nonuniformity on optical absorption spectra of thin films, and reported that the amplitude of interference fringes is related to the depth profile of absorbing centers. They used this effect to analyze photothermal deflection spectra (PDS) of amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) films to get information on surface and interface defects. In a previous paper [Grillo and De Angelis, J. Non‐Cryst. Solids 114, 750 (1989)], we introduced this technique to study surface/interface defects in a‐Si:H, and gave the analytical formula for calculating explicitly the effect; here we show that application of this equation gives readily the shape of fringes for the cases of interest.