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| 2. |
- Bremer, Kåre, et al.
(författare)
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An ordinal classification for the families of flowering plants
- 1998
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Ingår i: ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. - : MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. - 0026-6493. ; 85:4, s. 531-553
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recent cladistic analyses are revealing the phylogeny of flowering plants in increasing detail, and there is support for the monophyly of many major groups above the family level. With many elements of the major branching sequence of phylogeny established
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Skagerlund, J., et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of an automatic method to extract the grating coupling coefficient in different types of fabricated DFB lasers
- 1998
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Ingår i: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 0018-9197 .- 1558-1713. ; 34, s. 141-146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Distributed feedback (DFB) laser parameters such as grating coupling coefficient, effective indices, facet reflectances, and the phases of facet reflectances have been determined using a method based on least-square fitting of theoretical spectra to measured, subthreshold DFB laser emission spectra. The only inputs needed are geometrical parameters such as length, grating period, and internal grating phase shifts. A larger number of devices have been successfully characterized, and consistent results have been obtained in both 1.3- mu;m multi-quantum-well (MQW) DFB lasers with both facets as-cleaved, and in 1.55- mu;m MQW DFB lasers with no, one, or two facets as-cleaved
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| 5. |
- West, Jay B., et al.
(författare)
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Comparison and evaluation of retrospective intermodality image registration techniques
- 1997
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Ingår i: SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. ; , s. 332-347
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- All retrospective image registration methods have attached to them some intrinsic estimate of registration error. However, this estimate of accuracy may not always be a good indicator of the distance between actual and estimated positions of targets within the cranial cavity. This paper describes a project whose principal goal is to use a prospective method based on fiducial markers as a ’gold standard’ to perform an objective, blinded evaluation of the accuracy of several retrospective image-to-image registration techniques. Image volumes of three modalities – CT, MR, and PET – were taken of patients undergoing neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. These volumes had all traces of the fiducial markers removed, and were provided to project collaborators outside Vanderbilt, who then performed retrospective registrations on the volumes, calculating transformations from CT to MR and/or from PET to MR, and communicated their transformations to Vanderbilt where the accuracy of each registration was evaluated. In this evaluation the accuracy is measured at multiple ’regions of interest,’ i.e. areas in the brain which would commonly be areas of neurological interest. A region is defined in the MR image and its centroid C is determined. Then the prospective registration is used to obtain the corresponding point C’ in CT or PET. To this point the retrospective registration is then applied, producing C’ in MR. Statistics are gathered on the target registration error (TRE), which is the disparity between the original point C and its corresponding point C’. A second goal of the project is to evaluate the importance of correcting geometrical distortion in MR images, by comparing the retrospective TRE in the rectified images, i.e., those which have had the distortion correction applied, with that of the same images before rectification. This paper presents preliminary results of this study along with a brief description of each registration technique and an estimate of both preparation and execution time needed to perform the registration.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Håkan S
(författare)
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Towards the Rational Design of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Molecular imprinting is a technique by which polymeric materials selective for a given target molecule can be created through a casting procedure. Functionalised monomers are added to a solution of molecular templates. Monomer-template complexes are formed and subsequently fixed through polymerisation, and following removal of the template species from the resultant molecularly imprinted polymer, MIP, a material containing binding sites able to specifically rebind the template is left. The objective of the present work has been to learn more about the mechanisms leading to the formation of selective binding sites in MIPs and the nature of these sites (1-3), with the goal to utilise this knowledge to develop better MIPs (4-7). 1) UV spectroscopic studies of the pre-polymerisation mixture were utilised to estimate the stabilities of monomer-template complexes under different conditions. It was observed that many templates are not fully complexed by monomers, possibly leading to different binding site populations. Such heterogeneity is indeed observed in MIPs. The method developed was found useful for rapid evaluation of different monomers or conditions for a given template. 2) Chromatographic studies were performed on polymers imprinted with various pyridyl templates. It was demonstrated that electrostatic interactions were those mainly responsible for binding in these systems. It was also demonstrated that free rotors in the template structure affected binding and selectivity negatively, and that the accessibilities of functional groups were essential for the utility of the template for molecular imprinting. 3) Load capacity studies of nicotine and 4,4´-bipyridyl MIPs revealed two different behaviours. The retention of 4,4´-bipyridyl decreased upon raising the sample load, but nicotine exhibited an increase. Two possible explanations to this unexpected effect were suggested: mobile phase related nicotine solvation effects or a type of cooperative binding. A maximum in resolution for the separation of (+/-)-nicotine at different sample loads indicated the presence of recognition sites for template-template complexes, implying the possible imprinting of template-template complexes. 4) A chiral tartaric acid based monomer was synthesised and employed for the imprinting of cinchona alkaloids. The chirality of the monomer was shown able to enhance selectivity for certain templates. Post-polymerisation debenzylation of the MIP enhanced both retention and selectivity due to a change from hydrogen bond interactions to ionic interactions. 5) Crown ethers were employed as co-templates in molecular imprinting to demonstrate a principle by which organic solvent non-solubles can be solubilised, and imprinted, in organic media. Rebinding studies in the absence of crown ether revealed imprinting related selectivity. 6) Imprinting in water was achieved through the introduction of a hydrophilic cross-linker, a highly acidic monomer, and a beta-cyclodextrin based monomer, able to interact by hydrophobic interactions with aromatic ring structures. By this approach, the enantiomers of phenylalanine were successfully imprinted. 7) A series of monomer combinations were evaluated to optimise the polymer system described in (6). Binding site hydrophobicities were examined by fluorescence spectroscopy. This thesis demonstrates that there is significant room for improving the performance of MIPs and points to some ways by which this can be achieved.
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| 8. |
- Lark, Michael W., et al.
(författare)
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Aggrecan degradation in human cartilage : Evidence for both matrix metalloproteinase and aggrecanase activity in normal, osteoarthritic, and rheumatoid joints
- 1997
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - 0021-9738. ; 100:1, s. 93-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To examine the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and aggrecanase in control and diseased human articular cartilage, metabolic fragments of aggrecan were detected with monospecific antipeptide antibodies. The distribution and quantity of MMP-generated aggrecan G1 fragments terminating in VDIPEN341 were compared with the distribution of aggrecanase-generated G1 fragments terminating in NITEGE373. Both types of G1 fragments were isolated from osteoarthritic cartilage. The sizes were consistent with a single enzymatic cleavage in the interglobular domain region, with no further proteolytic processing of these fragments. Both neoepitopes were also detected by immunohistochemistry in articular cartilage from patients undergoing joint replacement for osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and in cartilage from adults with no known joint disease. In control specimens, the staining intensity for both G1 fragments increased with age, with little staining in cartilage from 22-wk-old fetal samples. There was also an increase with age in the extracted amount of MMP- generated neoepitope in relation to both aggrecan and collagen content, confirming the immunohistochemical results. After the age of 20-30 yr this relationship remained at a steady state. The staining for the MMP-generated epitope was most marked in control cartilage exhibiting histological signs of damage, whereas intense staining for the aggrecanase-generated fragment was often noted in adult cartilage lacking overt histological damage. Intense staining for both neoepitopes appeared in the more severely fibrillated, superficial region of the tissue. Intense immunostaining for both VDIPEN- and NITEGE-neoepitopes was also detected in joint cartilage from patients with OA or RA. Cartilage in these specimens was significantly more degraded and high levels of staining for both epitopes was always seen in areas with extensive cartilage damage. The levels of extracted VDIPEN neoepitope relative to collagen or aggrecan in both OA and RA samples were similar to those seen in age-matched control specimens. Immunostaining for both types of aggrecan fragments was seen surrounding the cells but also further removed in the interterritorial matrix. In some regions of the tissue, both neoepitopes were found while in others only one was detected. Thus, generation and/or turnover of these specific catabolic aggrecan fragments is not necessarily coordinated. Our results are consistent with the presence in both normal and arthritic joint cartilage of proteolytic activity against aggrecan based on both classical MMPs and 'aggrecanase'.
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| 9. |
- Leary, Sophie E. C., et al.
(författare)
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Yersinia outer proteins (YOPS) E, K and N are antigenic but non-protective compared to V antigen, in a murine model of bubonic plague
- 1999
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Ingår i: Microbial Pathogenesis. - : Elsevier. - 0882-4010 .- 1096-1208. ; 26:3, s. 159-169
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The pathogenic Yersiniae produce a range of virulence proteins, encoded by a 70 kb plasmid, which are essential for infection, and also form part of a contact-dependent virulence mechanism. One of these proteins, V antigen, has been shown to confer a high level of protection against parenteral infection with Y. pestis in murine models, and is considered to be a protective antigen. In this study, the protective efficacy of V antigen has been compared in the same model with that of other proteins (YopE, YopK and YopN), which are part of the contact-dependent virulence mechanism. Mice immunised with two intraperitoneal doses of V antigen or each of the Yops, administered with either Alhydrogel or interleukin-12, produced high antigen-specific serum IgG titres. As shown in previous studies, V+Alhydrogel was fully protective, and 5/5 mice survived a subcutaneous challenge with 90 or 9x10(3) LD50's of Y. pestis GB. In addition, these preliminary studies also showed that V+IL-12 was partially protective: 4/5 or 3/5 mice survived a challenge with 90 or 9x10(3) LD50's, respectively. In contrast, none of the mice immunised with the Yops survived the challenges, and there was no significant delay in the mean time to death compared to mice receiving a control protein. These results show that using two different vaccine regimens, Yops E, K and N, failed to elicit protective immune responses in a murine model of plague, whereas under the same conditions, V antigen was fully or partially protective.
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