New stability criterion of neural networks with leakage delays and impulses: a piecewise delay method.

This paper analyzes the global asymptotic stability of a class of neural networks with time delay in the leakage term and time-varying delays under impulsive perturbations. Here the time-varying delays are assumed to be piecewise. In this method, the interval of the variation is divided into two subintervals by its central point.

Characterization of splenic glycosaminoglycans accumulated in vivo in experimentally induced amyloid-susceptible and amyloid-resistant mice.

The pathogenesis of the amyloid deposition diseases is poorly understood. The CE/J mouse, which is naturally protected from amyloid A (AA) protein amyloidosis, has provided a tool to study mechanisms that may be implicated in amyloid deposition diseases by means of comparison of findings with those in an AA-susceptible mouse strain. We have compared proteoglycan/glycosaminoglycan accumulation in vivo in amyloid-protected CE/J mouse strain and in AA-susceptible CBA/J mouse strain in homeostasis and when injected with amyloid-inducing agents.

Hyaluronan is not elevated in urine or serum in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome.

Elevations in urinary hyaluronan have been used as the principal laboratory indicator for diagnosis of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS). Previous reports have provided evidence suggesting that children with HGPS have altered hyaluronan metabolism as indicated by a mean 17-fold increase in urinary hyaluronan over normal values. In addition, adults with Werner's syndrome have elevated urinary hyaluronan and even more prominent elevations in serum hyaluronan over age-matched controls.

Proteoglycans synthesized by canine intervertebral disc cells grown in a type I collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrix.

The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of proteoglycans synthesized by canine annulus fibrosus cells expanded in number in monolayer culture through passage 4 and subsequently grown in a type I collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrix to be employed for tissue engineering. Newly synthesized [35S]sulfate-labeled proteoglycans were analyzed by gel chromatography, including sequential digestion with enzymes and nitrous acid. After 1 week in culture, the percentage of cell-associated, aggregated proteoglycans synthesized in type I collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrices was 52% compared with 38% by the cells in monolayer.