General Purpose Alarm Device: A programmable annunciator.

The General Purpose Alarm Device (GPAD) shines lights and makes loud noises to draw the attention of a human being to a problem. It provides a programmable, 80 character display to provide textual information. As an inexpensive modular annunciator, it is intended to decrease the cost of any system that requires complex monitoring and rapid human intervention.

Factors affecting overall survival in 51 adult Filipino patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery for spine metastases.

Objectives: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is part of the multimodality treatment for patients with cancer. The objective of this study is to determine factors which influence overall survival (OS) of Filipino patients who underwent SRS for metastatic tumors of the spine.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of a cohort of Filipino patients treated with spine SRS for metastatic tumors in a single institution.

Galectin-9 bridges human B cells to vascular endothelium while programming regulatory pathways.

Humoral immunity is reliant on efficient recruitment of circulating naïve B cells from blood into peripheral lymph nodes (LN) and timely transition of naive B cells to high affinity antibody (Ab)-producing cells. Current understanding of factor(s) coordinating B cell adhesion, activation and differentiation within LN, however, is incomplete. Prior studies on naïve B cells reveal remarkably strong binding to putative immunoregulator, galectin (Gal)-9, that attenuates BCR activation and signaling, implicating Gal-9 as a negative regulator in B cell biology.

Interaction of the WD40 domain of a myoinositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase with SnRK1 links inositol, sugar, and stress signaling.

In plants, myoinositol signaling pathways have been associated with several stress, developmental, and physiological processes, but the regulation of these pathways is largely unknown. In our efforts to better understand myoinositol signaling pathways in plants, we have found that the WD40 repeat region of a myoinositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase (5PTase13; At1g05630) interacts with the sucrose nonfermenting-1-related kinase (SnRK1.1) in the yeast two-hybrid system and in vitro.

A new compartment at stereocilia tips defined by spatial and temporal patterns of myosin IIIa expression.

Class III myosins are motor proteins that contain an N-terminal kinase domain and a C-terminal actin-binding domain. We show that myosin IIIa, which has been implicated in nonsyndromic progressive hearing loss, is localized at stereocilia tips. Myosin IIIa progressively accumulates during stereocilia maturation in a thimble-like pattern around the stereocilia tip, distinct from the cap-like localization of myosin XVa and the shaft localization of myosin Ic.

Localization of a class III myosin to filopodia tips in transfected HeLa cells requires an actin-binding site in its tail domain.

Bass Myo3A, a class III myosin, was expressed in HeLa cells as a GFP fusion in order to study its cellular localization. GFP-Myo3A localized to the cytoplasm and to the tips of F-actin bundles in filopodia, a localization that is consistent with the observed concentration toward the distal ends of F-actin bundles in photoreceptor cells. A mutation in the motor active site resulted in a loss of filopodia localization, suggesting that Myo3A motor activity is required for filopodial tip localization.

Minimum requirements for the function of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2) is a G protein heterotrimer required for GTP-dependent delivery of initiator tRNA to the ribosome. eIF2B, the nucleotide exchange factor for eIF2, is a heteropentamer that, in yeast, is encoded by four essential genes and one nonessential gene. We found that increased levels of wild-type eIF2, in the presence of sufficient levels of initiator tRNA, overcome the requirement for eIF2B in vivo.

Genetic interactions between a null allele of the RIT1 gene encoding an initiator tRNA-specific modification enzyme and genes encoding translation factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene RIT1 encodes a phospho-ribosyl transferase that exclusively modifies the initiator tRNA (tRNAMet(i)) by the addition of a 2'-O-ribosyl phosphate group to Adenosine 64. As a result, tRNAMet(i) is prevented from participating in the elongation steps of protein synthesis. We previously showed that the modification is not essential for the function of tRNAMet(i) in the initiation of translation, since rit1 null strains are viable and show no obvious growth defects.

The helicase domain of the TMV replicase proteins induces the N-mediated defence response in tobacco.

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) induces the hypersensitive response (HR) in tobacco plants containing the N gene. This defence response is characterized by cell death at the site of virus infection and inhibition of viral replication and movement. A previous study indicated that a portion of the TMV replicase containing a putative helicase domain is involved in HR induction.

Interactions between tobacco mosaic virus and the tobacco N gene.

The interaction between tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and tobacco harbouring the N gene is a classical system for studying gene-for-gene interactions in disease resistance. The N gene confers resistance to TMV by mediating defence responses that function to limit viral replication and movement. We isolated the N gene and determined that N belongs to the nucleotide-binding-site-leucine-rich-repeat (NBS-LRR) class of plant disease resistance genes, and encodes both full-length and truncated proteins.

Ribosomal protein L9 is the product of GRC5, a homolog of the putative tumor suppressor QM in S. cerevisiae.

Genes encoding members of the highly conserved QM family have been identified in eukaryotic organisms from yeast to man. Results of previous studies have suggested roles for QM in control of cell growth and proliferation, perhaps as a tumor suppressor, and in energy metabolism. We identified recessive lethal alleles of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae QM homolog GRC5 that increased GCN4 expression when present in multiple copies.

Functional analysis of homologs of translation initiation factor 2gamma in yeast.

The gamma subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 is an EF-Tu-like protein that plays an essential role in protein synthesis. We have isolated an eIF-2gamma homolog from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe that complements a gcd11 null allele in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. GCD11 is an essential gene that encodes S.

Ligand interactions with eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2: role of the gamma-subunit.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) comprises three non-identical subunits alpha, beta and gamma. In vitro, eIF-2 binds the initiator methionyl-tRNA in a GTP-dependent fashion. Based on similarities between eukaryotic eIF-2gamma proteins and eubacterial EF-Tu proteins, we previously proposed a major role for the gamma-subunit in binding guanine nucleotide and tRNA.

Mutations in GCD11, the structural gene for eIF-2 gamma in yeast, alter translational regulation of GCN4 and the selection of the start site for protein synthesis.

Translation initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) in eukaryotic organisms is composed of three non-identical subunits, alpha, beta and gamma. In a previous report, we identified GCD11 as an essential gene encoding the gamma subunit of eIF-2 in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The predicted amino acid sequence of yeast eIF-2 gamma displays remarkable similarity to bacterial elongation factor Tu, including the presence of sequence elements conserved in all known guanine nucleotide binding proteins.

Preceptors' strategies for correcting residents in an ambulatory care medicine setting: a qualitative analysis.

Purpose: To understand the interactional strategies preceptors use as they relate to and occasionally correct interns in a general internal medicine teaching clinic.

Method: An observational, cohort study was carried out from May 1990 through May 1993 of the precepting conversations between 11 pairs of interns and faculty preceptors in the general internal medicine ambulatory care clinic of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. All interactions were videotaped and transcribed.

Characterization of Schizosaccharomyces pombe his1 and his5 cDNAs.

We have isolated Schizosaccharomyces pombe cDNAs corresponding to the genes his1+ and his5+. The his1 cDNA was isolated by functional complementation of the His- phenotype in a his1-29 gcn3 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, while the his5 cDNA was isolated as a suppressor of the 3-amino-1,2, 4-triazole (3-AT) sensitivity in a gcn3 S. cerevisiae strain.

The hearing aid input: a phonemic approach to assessing the spectral distribution of speech.

Objectives: The long-term goal is to investigate the feasibility of using real speech as a stimulus for electroacoustic evaluation of nonlinear hearing aids. The goals of the present study were to determine the spectral envelope of speech from acoustic measures of phoneme tokens in running speech, to compare the results with published data on long-term average speech spectra, to measure inter-talker differences of spectral envelope, and to explore the extent to which the intensity variation within and across talkers might be minimized by frequency-selective amplification and automatic gain control.

Design: Seven phonemes were selected to represent the extremes of frequency and intensity in English.

Cloning and sequence of ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) from Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

A gene encoding a homologue of the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTP binding proteins was cloned from a Schizosaccharomyces pombe cDNA library by a functional screen of suppressors of sensitivity to 3-aminotriazole in a gcn3 null strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two independent isolates each contained the full coding region of the ARF1 gene. The encoded SpARF1 protein has a predicted molecular weight of 20,618 and is 88% and 79% identical to human and S.

Evaluation of hip disorders by radiography, radionuclide scanning and magnetic resonance imaging.

Thirty-six hips were studied because of significant hip pain. Radiography of the hip and bone scintigraphy showed subtle changes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed using a 1.

Maximum real-ear gain of in-the-ear hearing aids.

Three hearing aid manufacturers provided custom full-shell in-the-ear hearing aids for each of 3 hearing-impaired subjects. Each manufacturer was instructed that the hearing aids should provide the maximum possible acoustic gain within the limits of hearing aid shell size and available components. Coupler gain, insertion gain, and functional gain were measured for each hearing aid.