In-silico prediction of blood-brain barrier permeability

The ability of penetration of the blood-brain barrier is one of the significant properties of a drug or drug-like compound for the central nervous system (CNS), which is commonly expressed by log BB (log BB = log (C (brain)/C (blood))). In this work, a dataset of 320 compounds with log BB values was split into a training set including 198 compounds and a test set including 122 compounds according to their structure properties by a Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM). Each molecule was represented by global and shape descriptors, 2D autocorrelation descriptors and RDF descriptors calculated by ADRIANA.Code. Several quantitative models for prediction of log BB were built by a multilinear regression (MLR), a support vector machine (SVM) and an artificial neural network (ANN) analysis. The models show good prediction performance on the test set compounds.

Use of the Interact Short Form as a tool to evaluate emotion of people with profound intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND

One of the essential purposes of intervention programmes for people with profound intellectual disabilities (ID) is to enhance the desirable mood and behaviour and decrease the undesirable ones through stabilizing their emotion. There is lack of validated instrument to offer a comprehensive measure that covers the mood and behaviour, both desirable and undesirable, appropriate for people with profound ID.

METHOD

This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the Interact Short Form for evaluating the mood and behaviour of people with profound ID, and at the same time, review their emotional profile using the Interact Short Form. Both content validity using expert panel review and construct validity by means of factor analysis were investigated. A total of 75 people with profound ID were recruited. Inter-rater reliability was tested. The results of the Interact Short Form were described to reflect the emotional profile of this group of participants.

RESULTS

Using the results of expert panel review and those from factor analysis, we found three subscales representing the mood and behaviour of people with profound ID. They were: 'emotional expression', 'interests towards tasks' and 'behaviours to environment'. All three subscales were found to be internally consistent (alpha = 0.71-0.88). The Interact Short Form- People with profound ID version also showed good inter-rater reliability (mean = 0.72). The results of the Interact Short Form showed that this group of participants had fairly stable emotion under the structured setting and activities in the residential institutions where data were collected.

CONCLUSIONS

The Interact Short Form- People with profound ID version serves as a helpful tool for both clinical and research use in assessing the mood and behaviour of people with profound ID in a simple, comprehensive and systematic way.

[The clinical characteristics of adhesive type cholesteatoma]

OBJECTIVE

To study the clinical characteristics of adhesive type cholesteatoma.

METHODS

Fifty-two cases (52 ears) of adhesive type cholesteatomas were reviewed. Of the 52 cases there were 30 males and 22 females; 24 left ears and 28 right ears. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 70 years. All of the patients were treated by tympanoplasty, and the open and close methods were performed in 37 ears and 10 ears, respectively. Other methods were employed in the remaining 5 cases. Nine ears underwent tympanoplasty type "O" without ossicular re-construction for an increase in the threshold of the bone conduction. Types I, III and IV tympanoplasties were performed in 1, 16 and 26 ears, respectively.

RESULTS

The structures of the upper parts of the stapes had disappeared in 25 ears, which was significantly higher in this series than that in the attic type cholesteatoma. The over-all recovery rate of hearing was 69.8%, while 75.9% and 55.6% in the open and closed tympanoplasties, respectively. Postoperative complications of perforations and re-adhesions of the tense part of the tympanic membrane were observed in 3 and 4 ears, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Adhesive type cholesteatoma is not uncommon. The cause of this disease may be the functional defects in the pharynotympanic tube. A thorough and effective treatment for the secretory otitis media is crucial for the prevention of adhesive type cholesteatomas. The open method tympanoplasty was considered as the first choice for adhesive type cholesteatoma while the closed method must be great careful.

Research and prediction of coordination reactions between CPA-mA and some metal ions using artificial neural networks

The complex relationship between maximum absorption wavelength (lambda(max)), molar absorptivity (epsilon) of the coordination compounds formed from m-acetyl-chlorophosphonazo (CPA-mA) and the metal ions, the acidity of coordination reaction, some properties of metal ions and the properties of more than 20 coordination compounds were studied using artificial neural networks with extended delta-bar-delta EDBD back learning algorithms in this paper. Six parameters: the pH of coordination reactions, metal ion radius (R), relative atomic weight (Wt), ionic electronic energy (E), metal ion standard Gibbs' free energy (deltaG0) and hard-soft acid-base dual scale (f) were used as input parameters, to predict the lambda(max) and epsilon of the coordination compounds. The structures of networks and the learning times were optimized. The best networks structure is 6-7-2. The optimum number of learning times is about 160,196. It is shown that the maximum relative error is no more than 6% in the testing set. The trained networks are used to simulate the complicated relations between the metal ion properties, coordination reaction conditions and the properties of coordination compounds. This optimized networks have been used for the prediction of the lembda(max) and epsilon of coordination compounds formed from Tb3+, Ho3+ with CPA-mA separately and with satisfactory results.

Loss in 3p and 4p and gain of 3q are concomitant aberrations in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva

Neoplasm of the vulva is a rare malignancy accounting for <5% of all female genital-tract cancer. However, in recent years the incidence of vulva intraepithelial neoplasia, known to serve as a precursor to carcinoma, has increased in young women generating considerable interest in its pathogenesis. Genetic changes at the molecular level in precursor or invasive vulvar tumors are not well investigated, and DNA copy number changes have not been reported until now. We used comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to analyze genetic alterations in 10 primary invasive squamous cell carcinomas of the vulva. Chromosomal aberrations were identified in 8/10 cases. The most frequent chromosomal losses were 4p13-pter (five cases), 3p (four cases), and 5q (two cases), and less frequent losses were detected at 6q, 11q, and 13q (one case each). The most frequent chromosomal gains were 3q (four cases) and 8p (three cases), and less frequent gains were found in 9p, 14, 17, and 20q (one case each). The pattern of chromosomal imbalance in vulvar cancer detected by CGH was revealed to be very similar to that in cervical cancers, despite regional differences in their prevalence. These results suggest that the pathogenic pathways in vulvar and cervical carcinomas may be similar and that the genetic background may be common to these two squamous cell carcinomas.

[Simultaneous determination of three components in antongding injection by Kalman filtering method]

Kalman filtering method was applied to determine three components in antongding injection without separation. The average recovery and relative standard deviation of amidopyrine, phenazone, barbital obtained by Kalman filtering method were 99.8%, 0.93%, 99.7%, 0.82%, 99.7%, 1.5% respectively. It was showed by t-test that there was no significant difference between the results of Kalman filtering method and standard method.

Flow injection analysis of fluoride: optimization of experimental conditions and non-linear calibration using artificial neural networks

This paper deals with the application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to two common problems in spectroscopy: optimization of experimental conditions and non-linear calibration of the result, with particular reference to the determination of fluoride by flow injection analysis (FIA). The FIA system was based on the formation of a blue ternary complex between zirconium(IV), p-methyldibromoarsenazo and F- with the maximum absorption wavelength at 635 nm. First, optimization in terms of sensitivity and sampling rate was carried out by using jointly a central composite design and ANNs, and a neural network with a 3-7-1 structure was confirmed to be able to provide the maximum performance. Second, the relationship between the concentration of fluoride and its absorbance was modeled by ANNs. In this process, cross-validation and leave-k-out were used. The results showed that good prediction was attained in the 1-4-1 neural net. The trained networks proved to be very powerful in both applications. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of free fluoride in tea and toothpaste with recoveries between 96 and 101%.

[Phylogenetic analysis of two rhizobia new groups]

On the basis of numerical taxonomy, SDS-PAGE whole-cell protein analysis, 16S rDNA PCR-RFLP and DNA-DNA hybridization, the full length of 16SrDNA of two strains (XJ96060, XJ96408) were sequenced and compared with the 16S rDNA sequences of other members of the alpha 2 subclass of the Proteobacteria available from GenBank. An unrooted tree was produced to determine the phylogenetic relationships of two groups. The results showed that all strains were clustered into 6 branches, they were Sinorhizobium, Mesorhizobium, Agrobacterium-Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium. Rhizobium, Azorhizobium. Group 1, 2 fell into Sinorhizobium branch.

Predicting the standard enthalpy (deltaH0f) and entropy (S0) of alkanes by artificial neural networks

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with Extended Delta-Bar-Delta (EDBD) back propagation learning algorithm have been developed to predict the standard enthalpy and entropy of 87 acyclic alkanes. Molecular weight, boiling point and density of the compounds were used as input parameters. The network's architecture and parameters were optimized to give maximum performances. The best network was a 3-6-2 ANN, and the optimum learning epoch was about 1320. The results show that the maximum relative errors of enthalpy and entropy are less than 3%. They reveal that the performances of ANNs for predicting the enthalpy and entropy of alkanes are satisfying.

Polyvalent Rev decoys act as artificial Rev-responsive elements

Interactions between Rev and the Rev-responsive element (RRE) control the order, rate, and extent of gene expression in human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Rev decoys may therefore prove to be useful RNA therapeutics for the treatment of AIDS. To improve upon the current generation of Rev decoys that bind single Rev molecules, it would be useful to generate polyvalent Rev decoys that could bind multiple Rev molecules. J. Kjems and P. A. Sharp (J. Virol. 67:4769-4776, 1993) originally constructed functional polyvalent Rev decoys, but the structural context of these polyvalent decoys remains unclear, and it has been argued that the individual decoys were either structurally discrete (Kjems and Sharp, J. Virol. 67:4769-4776, 1993) or were part of an extended helix (R. W. Zemmel et al., Mol. Biol. 258:763-777, 1996). To resolve the differences between these models, we have designed and synthesized concatemers of Rev-binding elements (RBEs) that fold to form multiple, discrete, high-affinity Rev-binding sites. We find that the concatenated RBEs can facilitate the cytoplasmic transport of viral mRNAs and therefore likely bind multiple Rev molecules. These artificial RREs may simultaneously sequester Rev and hinder access to the cellular transport machinery.

[Clinicopathological study of 52 cases of ameloblastoma of jaw]

OBJECTIVE

To observe the relationship between the histologic types, tumor invasion, operation mode and recurrence of ameloblastoma.

METHODS

Using WHO classification (1992) for histological typing of odontogenic tumors, 52 cases of ameloblastoma were studied clinicopathologically.

RESULTS

The 8 pathological types are: follicle formation type, plexiform type, acanthoma type, basal cell type, granular cell type, desmoplastic ameloblastoma, kerato ameloblastoma and ameloblastoma accompanied by bone formation. Recurrence in the 8 above types following surgery were 5/11, 0/5, 7/15, 5/8, 0/3, 0/3, 2/3 and 1/4 respectively. Five cases recurred in 21 patients with tumor cells infiltrating into the connective tissue surrounding the tumors. 12 cases recurred in 16 patients with tumor cells infiltrating thru the capsule into surrounding soft tissue. The recurrence rate in patients who had their tumor enucleated or curetted was 56.5% (13/23). The recurrence rate in the tumors resected together with involved bone segment was 24.1% (7/29). Multiple recurrences occurred in 3 cases whose tumors were not well differentiated and had atypical cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Recurrence was more often seen in the follicular, acanthoma, basaloid, and keratoid types of ameloblastoma. When these tumors invade adjacent soft tissues, the recurrence rate is also higher. Recurrence is linked to conservative surgery and to tumors with low differentiation.

Tissue expression and immunolocalization of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in postinfarction dysfunctional myocardium

BACKGROUND

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is markedly elevated in advanced heart failure. It is not known whether tissue TNF-alpha is elevated in the common setting of myocardial infarction leading to heart failure and what the source of TNF-alpha is. To determine this, we studied the expression and protein localization of TNF-alpha and its 2 main receptors (TNF-R1/R2) in a rat model of large infarction.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Male rats were randomized to proximal left anterior descending ligation. The animals were killed on days 1, 3, 10, and 35 after ligation to examine gene expression and protein production of TNF-alpha and TNF-R1/R2 from the infarct, peri-infarct, and contralateral zones of infarcted heart. There was increased TNF-alpha mRNA production throughout the myocardium at day 1, and detectable expression persisted to day 35 after myocardial infarction. The expression of this cytokine is not confined strictly to the infarct or peri-infarct zones but is expressed by cardiac myocytes within the myocardium in the contralateral normal zone. Changes in gene expression are mirrored initially by augmented protein production within the myocytes. Levels of TNF-alpha protein in the infarct and peri-infarct zones rose early to 8- to 10-fold above normal levels and rose to 4- to 5-fold in the contralateral zone. Finally, expression of the TNF-R1 mRNA transcripts was upregulated at days 3 and 10 after ligation in the infarct and peri-infarct zones, suggesting that the signal transduction pathways necessary for TNF-alpha in the heart remain intact as TNF-alpha biosynthesis increases.

CONCLUSIONS

TNF-alpha is present early in a model of large myocardial infarction and is sustained into the later stage within the myocardium. Expression of this cytokine is not only confined strictly to the infarct or peri-infarct zone but is expressed by cardiac myocytes within the myocardium contralateral to the infarct. Therefore TNF-alpha production forms a part of an important intrinsic myocardial stress response system to injury.

[Laryngeal reconstruction after near-total laryngectomy]

OBJECTIVE

To reduce the rate of near-total laryngectomy and reconstruct laryngeal function.

METHOD

A retrospective review was made on 19 patients treated by near-total laryngectomy and laryngeal reconstruction from 1991 to 1996. Eight patients were male and 11 were female. The age range was from 40 to 74 years, with a mean age of 57.6. Two cases were in stage II, 9 cases stage III, 8 cases stage IV. The characteristic of this operation is to remove hyoid bone and reduce aspiration.

RESULTS

Speech function in all patients was good. Deglutition in most patients was good. Five patients breathed through the larynx after decannulation. Fourteen patients respired through tracheostoma because of stenosis of laryngeal cavity. Among them, 10 cases did not need cannula for their wide tracheostomas, 4 cases needed cannula. Three-year survival rate was 78.6%(11/14), 5-year survival rate was 75%(3/4).

CONCLUSION

Laryngeal reconstruction near-total laryngectomy is helpful to restore laryngeal function and decrease the rate of total laryngectomy.

[Surgical treatment of excessive hyperplasia symptom of skin keratosis at the limb ends]

OBJECTIVE

We introduce the experience of treating 10 cases with excessive hyperplasia of skin keratosis at the limb end. There were 9 cases of palmar and plantar keratosis and 1 case of epidermodysplasia verruciformis.

METHOD

All cases received the operation of lesion excision and skin grafting except 2 cases who received skin flap for defect covering after lesion excision because of deep tissue exposure and postradiation ulcer.

RESULT

The operative effects were satisfactory after 8 years of follow-up. No recurrence was found in all cases and all patients resumed normal activity.

CONCLUSION

The effect of the skin flap is better than skin graft at the plantar area. Because of lack of fibrous septum in the subcutaneous tissue, the flap, often moving during walking, is liable to trauma and ulceration. The operation area must be well protected.

An open study of pamidronate in the treatment of refractory ankylosing spondylitis

OBJECTIVE

Bisphosphonates inhibit the development of delayed type hypersensitivity chronic inflammation and suppress inflammation and cartilage/bone erosion in diverse murine arthritis models. We evaluated antiinflammatory properties of the bisphosphonate pamidronate in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) refractory to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs.

METHODS

Patients included 14 men and 2 women. The first group of 8 patients (Group 1) received pamidronate as a 30 mg intravenous infusion once a month for 3 months, followed by a 60 mg dose once a month for an additional 3 months. Eight additional patients (Group 2) received only the 60 mg dose once a month for 3 months. Clinical assessments included the BASDAI (Bath AS Disease Activity Index), BASFI (Functional Index), and BASMI (Metrology Index), and laboratory assessments hemoglobin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at baseline and one month after final 60 mg dose of pamidronate. Mean BASDAI score at study entry was 6.7 for both groups.

RESULTS

A significant improvement was observed in disease activity score in Group 1 after 6 monthly infusions of pamidronate (mean BASDAI 4.21; p = 0.03), in the BASMI score (p = 0.01), and the ESR (p = 0.009). A significant improvement in the BASMI was noted in Group 2 patients (p = 0.007) after 3 monthly infusions of pamidronate, but not in the BASDAI score (mean 5.01; p = 0.07) or the ESR (p = 0.12).

CONCLUSION

Preliminary data suggest pamidronate may possess antiinflammatory activity in patients with AS, particularly with prolonged administration; this agent deserves further evaluation in a controlled trial.

The d-enantiomer form of indobufen totally accounts for the anti-cyclooxygenase and antiplatelet activity ex vivo and for the increase in bleeding time by indobufen in man

Indobufen is an antiplatelet drug able to inhibit thromboxane production and cyclooxygenase-dependent platelet aggregation by a reversible inhibition of cyclooxygenase. Indobufen exists in two enantiomeric forms, of which only d-indobufen is active in vitro in inhibiting cyclooxygenase. In order to verify that also inhibition of platelet function is totally accounted for by d-indobufen, ten patients with proven coronary artery disease (8 male, 2 female, age, mean +/- S.D., 58.7 +/- 7.5 years) were given, in random sequence, both 100 mg d-indobufen and 200 mg dl-indobufen as single administrations in a double-blind crossover design study with a washout period between treatments of 72 h. In all patients thromboxane (TX) B2 generation after spontaneous clotting (at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 h), drug plasma levels (at the same times), platelet aggregation in response to ADP, adrenaline, arachidonic acid, collagen, PAF, and bleeding time (at 0, 2, 12 h) were evaluated after each treatment. Both treatments determined peak inhibition of TXB2 production at 2 h from administration, with no statistical difference between the two treatments (97 +/- 3% for both treatments). At 12 h inhibition was 87 +/- 6% for d-indobufen and 88 +/- 6% for dl-indobufen (p = NS). Inhibition of TXB2 production correlated significantly with plasma levels of the drugs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Palindromic rheumatism: a response to chloroquine

We reviewed 71 patients with palindromic rheumatism. The average length of followup was 3.6 years. Fifty-one patients received antimalarial therapy. Forty-one of the 51 patients experienced marked improvement with 77.5% reduction in frequency and 63% reduction in duration of attacks. Sixteen out of the 71 patients developed persistent arthritis in the form of rheumatoid arthritis (12 patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (2 patients), Crohn's disease (1 patient) and asymmetric seronegative arthropathy (1 patient). Chloroquine therapy, therefore, seems effective in relieving palindromic rheumatism.

Structure and complete nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding rat fibroblast tropomyosin 4

We have isolated and determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the gene that encodes the 248 amino acid residue fibroblast tropomyosin, TM-4. The TM-4 sequence is encoded by eight exons, which span approximately 16,000 bases. The position of the intron-exon splice junctions relative to the final transcript are identical to those present in other vertebrate tropomyosin genes and the Drosophila melanogaster TMII gene. We have found no evidence that the rat TM-4 gene is alternatively spliced, unlike all the other tropomyosin genes from multicellular organisms that have been described. Typical vertebrate tropomyosin genes contain some, or all, of alternatively spliced exons 1a and 1b, 2a and 2b, 6a and 6b, and 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d in addition to common exons 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The rat fibroblast TM-4 mRNA is encoded by sequences most similar to exons 1b, 3, 4, 5, 6b, 7, 8 and 9d. Two exon-like sequences that are highly similar to alternatively spliced exons 2b and 9a of the rat beta-tropomyosin gene and the human TMnm gene have been located in the appropriate region of the gene encoding rat fibroblast TM-4. However, several mutations in these sequences render them non-functional as tropomyosin coding exons. We have termed these exon-like sequences, vestigial exons. The evolutionary relationship of the rat TM-4 gene relative to other vertebrate tropomyosin genes is discussed.

Gold induced marrow suppression: a review of 10 cases

We have reviewed 10 cases of gold sodium aurothiomalate (GSTM) induced marrow suppression. All had biopsy proven marrow hypoplasia/aplasia. Anemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were observed in 7 of the 10 patients. In 2 patients, hypoplastic marrow was associated with suppression of 2 of the formed elements of the blood, while in one patient, there was isolated neutropenia. Nine of the 10 patients survived. Bone marrow recovery occurred within an average of 5.4 months. A response was seen in 3 with antithymocyte globulin. One patient required an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. A combination of corticosteroids and androgens was associated with recovery in 5. Blood and platelet transfusions and antibiotics were instituted only when clinically indicated. We conclude that the prognosis of GSTM induced marrow suppression is better than previously reported.