Epivolve: A Protocol for Site-Directed Antibodies.

Researchers can often successfully generate antibodies to predicted epitopes. Especially when the epitopes are on the surface of a protein or in a hydrophilic loop. But it is difficult to direct recombinant antibodies to bind either to- or near a specific amino acid on a protein or peptide.

Validation and the Determination of Antibody Bioactivity Using MILKSHAKE and Sundae Protocols.

To develop reproducible results, it is critical that all reagents used in an experiment be validated in an alternative or independent method. We present two such independent methods for determining the specificity of antibodies: (1) "MILKSHAKE," which can be used to validate the liability and specificity of antibodies directed against post-translationally-modified epitopes, and (2) "Sundae," which is a more complete alanine-like scanning method that can be used to better understand the binding and bioactivity of specific residues of a protein. We apply both of these methods to the interaction between an antibody and its antigen.

MILKSHAKE Western blot and Sundae ELISA: We all scream for better antibody validation.

Knowing that an antibody's sensitivity and specificity is accurate is crucial for reliable data collection. This certainty is especially difficult to achieve for antibodies (Abs) which bind post-translationally modified proteins. Here we describe two validation methods using surrogate proteins in western blot and ELISA.

Determination of Spectroscopic Band Shapes by Second Derivatives, Part II: Infrared Spectra of Liquid Light and Heavy Water.

Second derivative and band simulation techniques are used in a synergetic relationship to identify components in the infrared (IR) spectra of liquid light and heavy water. Nine Gaussian components are retrieved in massive OH and OD stretch absorption. In this context, ν1 and ν3 are the principal components along with satellites derived from harmonic and combination bands.

Determination of spectroscopic band shapes using second derivatives, part I: theory.

The molecular spectra of water, aqueous solutions, hydrogen-bonded systems, and others have massive bands that contain many overlapping components. To decipher the spectra for molecular interpretation, it is necessary to separate these. Several attempts to do this have been made without clear success.

Ventrolateral and dorsomedial frontal cortex lesions impair mnemonic context retrieval.

The prefrontal cortex appears to contribute to the mnemonic retrieval of the context within which stimuli are experienced, but only under certain conditions that remain to be clarified. Patients with lesions to the frontal cortex, the temporal lobe and neurologically intact individuals were tested for context memory retrieval when verbal stimuli (words) had been experienced across multiple (unstable context condition) or unique (stable context condition) contexts; basic recognition memory of these words-in-contexts was also tested. Patients with lesions to the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) were impaired on context retrieval only when the words had been seen in multiple contexts, demonstrating that this prefrontal region is critical for active retrieval processing necessary to disambiguate memory items embedded across multiple contexts.

Utilization behavior after lesions restricted to the frontal cortex.

Utilization behavior, which refers to the tendency of patients to use objects presented to them out of context and in the absence of instructions to use them, has been ascribed to dysfunction of the frontal cortex. However, careful examination of the reports of patients presenting utilization behavior shows that these patients had sustained widespread cerebral lesions extending beyond the frontal cortex and often involving massive subcortical damage. The present study examined whether utilization behavior can be observed in patients with lesions restricted to the prefrontal cortex and no more than the immediately subjacent white matter.

Impairment only on the fluency subtest of the Frontal Assessment Battery after prefrontal lesions.

The Frontal Assessment Battery is a set of six subtests that is used widely to assess frontal cortical executive dysfunction. Performance on the Frontal Assessment Battery has been shown to be sensitive to various neurodegenerative diseases, but it has never been shown to be sensitive to damage restricted to the frontal cortex. Thus, despite its wide use, it has never been validated on an appropriate population of patients with frontal lesions.

[Perceptions regarding dialysis cessation and life support treatments in patients from Quebec undergoing hospital hemodialysis: age comparison].

Unlabelled: The End-Stage Renal Disease population is aging. Considering that hemodialysis is a treatment that maintains and prolongs life, this descriptive-comparative study looks at the perceptions of patients according to age group -< 65 years, n = 121 and ≥ 65 years, n = 123, as it pertains to dialysis treatment cessation and life-sustaining treatments.

Results: Older patients are more indecisive as to what dialysis treatment cessation may actually represent for them (p = 0,01).

Multi-wavelength dye concentration determination for enzymatic assays: evaluation of chromogenic para-nitrophenol over a wide pH range.

Enzymatic assays need robust, rapid colorimetric methods that can follow ongoing reactions. For this, we developed a highly accurate, multi-wavelength detection method that could be used for several systems. Here, it was applied to the detection of para-nitrophenol (pNP) in basic and acidic solutions.

Isotope effects in liquid water by infrared spectroscopy. V. A sea of OH4 of C2v symmetry.

The two water gas OH stretch vibrations that absorb in the infrared (IR) near 3700 cm(-1) are redshifted to near 3300 cm(-1) upon liquefaction. The bathochromic shift is due to the formation of four H-bonds: two are from the labile hydrogen atoms to neighbors and two are received from neighbors by the oxygen free electron pairs. Therefore, the water oxygen atom is surrounded by four hydrogen atoms, two of these make covalent bonds that make H-bonds and two are oxygen H-bonded.

Isotope effects in liquid water by infrared spectroscopy. IV. No free OH groups in liquid water.

The presence of free OH (OH not H-bonded) in bulk water is a key element for the determination of its molecular structure. The OH covalent bond infrared (IR) absorption is highly sensitive to the molecular environment. For this reason, IR spectroscopy is used for the determination of free OH.

Evaluation of in vivo biological activities of tetrapyrrole ethanolamides as novel anticancer agents.

The tetrapyrrole ethanolamide derivatives, hematoporphyrin propylether ethanolamide (HPPEEA, 1) and pheophorbide a ethanolamide (PEA, 2) have previously shown some photodynamic activities in an in vitro photodynamic assay (D. Girard et al. Bioorg.

Isotope effects in liquid water by infrared spectroscopy. III. H2O and D2O spectra from 6000 to 0 cm(-1).

The infrared spectra (IR) of pure liquid light (H(2)O) and heavy (D(2)O) water were obtained with attenuated total reflection (ATR) and transmission measurements in the mid-IR and far-IR. With these and with other values obtained from the literature, the real (n) and imaginary parts (k) of the refractive index were meticulously derived in the complete IR region from 6000 to 0 cm(-1). The reliability of the results resides in the critical comparison of our experimental data with that obtained from other laboratories and between calculated and experimental spectra, obtained by ATR and transmission techniques.

Infrared spectroscopy of methanol-hexane liquid mixtures. II. The strength of hydrogen bonding.

The study by Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy at 27 degrees C of methanol (MeOH) and hexane mixtures is presented. In the 0-0.25 and 0.

How to deal with some spurious fringes in Fourier transform infrared spectrometers.

Faulty fringes coming from an infrared spectrometer may creep into a spectrum. Because these come from one faulty interferogram out of many used to obtain the spectrum, these may pass unnoticed. However, they cause some problems in the data treatment of factor analysis and other spectral analysis.

Isotope effects in liquid water by infrared spectroscopy. II. Factor analysis of the temperature effect on H2O and D2O.

Some 500 infrared (IR) spectra of light and heavy waters were obtained between 29 and 93 degrees C in order to identify the species present in liquid water. Factor analysis of these gives two species for each type of water with their IR spectra and abundance curves. Using an orthogonalization procedure, we obtained the temperature factor limits of -22 and +118 degrees C (+/-5 degrees C) that we coined cold and hot factors, respectively.

Cross-modal interactions in the experience of musical performances: physiological correlates.

This experiment was conducted to investigate cross-modal interactions in the emotional experience of music listeners. Previous research showed that visual information present in a musical performance is rich in expressive content, and moderates the subjective emotional experience of a participant listening and/or observing musical stimuli [Vines, B. W.