Lipopolysaccharide and serum cause the translocation of G-protein to the membrane and prime neutrophils via CD14.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in combination with human serum, in the absence of a second stimulus, causes an increase in the amount of the alpha -subunit (Gi alpha 2) of the guanine nucleotide binding protein Gi2 associated with the membrane. The LPS-serum complex also primes human neutrophils for O2- production in response to stimulation by the chemotactic factor fMet-Leu-Phe. Added serum factor is essential for priming at low concentrations of LPS. In the presence of serum, significant potentiation can be observed at LPS concentration as low as 0.1 ng/ml. The priming is dose and time dependent. Furthermore, the observed actions of the LPS-serum complex are not reversible since they cannot be overcome by washing. Monoclonal antibody against CD14 inhibits both the direct and priming actions of the LPS-serum complex. On the other hand, neither the antibody against CD11b nor the antibody against TNF-alpha inhibits the action of this complex.     

Assessment of Data Quality: Errors of Measurement and Errors of Process

As projects progress from pilot studies with few simple variables and small samples, the research process as a whole becomes qualitatively more complex and subject to an array of contamination by errors and mistakes. Data usually undergo a series of manipulations (e.g., recording, computer entry, transmission) prior to final statistical analysis. The process, then, consists of numerous operations only ending with eventual statistical analysis and write-up. We present a means of estimating the impact of process error in the same terms as psychometric reliability and discuss the implications for reducing the impact of errors on overall data quality.     

Measuring ecological impact of water consumption by bioethanol using life cycle impact assessment

Purpose  

Though the development of biofuel has attracted numerous studies for quantifying potential water demand applying life cycle thinking, the impacts of biofuel water consumption still remain unknown. In this study, we aimed to quantify ecological impact associated with corn-based bioethanol water consumption in Minnesota in responding to different refinery expansion scenarios by applying a life cycle impact assessment method.     

The genetics of chemotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster: Selection for repellent insensitivity

Summary In a Y-unit maze wild-type flies of Drosophila melanogaster were tested for their chemotactic behavior reactions to insect repellents. Selection over 12 generations in two parallel experiments yielded two insensitive lines. Crosses indicated that the genes that were responsible for insensitivity were at least in part dominant. Lines selected for insensitivity to one repellent were also insensitive to a second repellent.     

Membrane dynamics of lymphocyte interaction with antigen and tolerogen.

The principle of hapten-specific carrier-dependent immunologic tolerance was used to study the in vivo and in vitro interaction of lymphocyte membrane receptors with antigen (DNP-KLH) and tolerogen (DNP-MGG). Direct fluorescent techniques were employed to illustrate the binding of tolerogeu and antigen to the same population of lymphoid cells and the subsequent in vivo and in vitro events related to capping and regeneration of membrane receptors.     

A series of mutable alleles of the white locus in Drosophila melanogaster

Summary The origin and phenotypes of a number of zeste mutant stocks with mutable white loci are described. Each newly arising form was lighter in eye color than the mutant it originated from. In each case the lighter pigmentation is believed to be due to an increase in genetic material in the proximal region of the white locus, the increase supposedly being the result of unequal crossing over. Some of the mutations which arose in the mutable stocks are reversions. They occurred in males as well as in homo- and heterozygous females. The reversions are believed to be due to a decrease in genetic material in the proximal region of the white locus. The decrease is assumed to be the result of intrachromosomal recombination. At least some of these events took place premeiotically. New mutants which originate frequently from mutable stocks are stable. In addition to the structure of the mutable white locus there is probably at least one still unknown factor which affects its mutability since the frequency of mutations arising in the mutable stocks decreases over the years.     

Mayday - integrative analytics for expression data

Background  

DNA Microarrays have become the standard method for large scale analyses of gene expression and epigenomics. The increasing complexity and inherent noisiness of the generated data makes visual data exploration ever more important. Fast deployment of new methods as well as a combination of predefined, easy to apply methods with programmer's access to the data are important requirements for any analysis framework. Mayday is an open source platform with emphasis on visual data exploration and analysis. Many built-in methods for clustering, machine learning and classification are provided for dissecting complex datasets. Plugins can easily be written to extend Mayday's functionality in a large number of ways. As Java program, Mayday is platform-independent and can be used as Java WebStart application without any installation. Mayday can import data from several file formats, database connectivity is included for efficient data organization. Numerous interactive visualization tools, including box plots, profile plots, principal component plots and a heatmap are available, can be enhanced with metadata and exported as publication quality vector files.