The pro-BMP activity of Twisted gastrulation is independent of BMP binding.

The determination of the vertebrate dorsoventral body axis is regulated in the extracellular space by a system of interacting secreted molecules consisting of BMP, Chordin, Tolloid and Twisted Gastrulation (Tsg). Tsg is a BMP-binding protein that forms ternary complexes with BMP and Chordin. We investigated the function of Tsg in embryonic patterning by generating point mutations in its two conserved cysteine-rich domains.

The diagnosis of acute appendicitis in a pediatric population: to CT or not to CT.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine if focused appendiceal computed tomography with colon contrast (FACT-CC) increases the accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children.

Methods: A 5-year retrospective review was conducted of a university hospital database of 283 patients (age 0.8 to 19.

Sequence variation in the gene encoding the 10-kDa prolamin in Oryza (Poaceae). I. Phylogenetic Implications.

Oryza L. (Poaceae) contains approximately 20 wild and two domesticated species and nine genomes. Major disagreements exist on its systematics and genome evolution.

The biomechanics of wire fixation in the Ilizarov system.

The purpose of this study was to establish the optimal fixation of tensioned wires to the frame construct in the Ilizarov system. The usual torque to which the fixation bolts were tightened in clinical practice was established by serial testing of orthopaedic surgeons' work in our unit. The force required to produce wire slippage from the different types of wire fixation bolts, tightened to a predetermined torque, was measured using a testing rig.

Ilizarov wire tensioning and holding methods: a biomechanical study.

Aim: To investigate and compare two specific methods of Ilizarov wire tensioning and hold.

Method: This study utilised the vertical Hounsfield test machine H25KS, a stress/strain device with a load-cell linked to a computer program. Firstly, the department's present mechanical tensioners were assessed.

Pyrazolinone-piperidine dipeptide growth hormone secretagogues (GHSs). Discovery of capromorelin.

Novel pyrazolinone-piperidine dipeptide derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as growth hormone secretagogues (GHSs). Two analogues, capromorelin (5, CP-424391-18, hGHS-R1a K(i)=7 nM, rat pituicyte EC(50)=3 nM) and the des-methyl analogue 5c (hGHS-R1a K(i)=17 nM, rat pituicyte EC(50)=3 nM), increased plasma GH levels in an anesthesized rat model, with ED(50) values less than 0.05 mg/kg iv.

Attributions, affect, and behavior in abuse-risk mothers: a laboratory study.

Objective: There were two main aims: first, to assess parental attributions about child behavior in abuse-risk and nonclinic parents. Second, to assess how attributions predict affective and behavioral reactions to child behavior.

Method: Internal-external attributions relating to the causes of child behavior were compared across mothers at-risk of child abuse (n = 40) and mothers who reported no significant parental or child conduct or behavior problems (n = 20).

Discovery and biological characterization of capromorelin analogues with extended half-lives.

New tert-butyl, picolyl and fluorinated analogues of capromorelin (3), a short-acting growth hormone secretagogue (GHS), were prepared as part of a program to identify long-acting GHSs that increase 24-h plasma IGF-1 levels. Compounds 4c and 4d (ACD LogD values >or=2.9) displayed extended plasma elimination half-lives in dogs, primarily due to high volumes of distribution, but showed weak GH secretagogue activities in rats (ED(50)s>10 mg/kg).

Maternally supplied Smad5 is required for ventral specification in zebrafish embryos prior to zygotic Bmp signaling.

We have previously shown that the maternal effect dorsalization of zebrafish embryos from sbn(dtc24) heterozygous mothers is caused by a dominant negative mutation in Smad5, a transducer of ventralizing signaling by the bone morphogenetic proteins Bmp2b and Bmp7. Since sbn(dtc24) mutant Smad5 protein not only blocks wild-type Smad5, but also other family members like Smad1, it remained open to what extent Smad5 itself is required for dorsoventral patterning. Here, we report the identification of novelsmad5 alleles: three new isolates coming from a dominant enhancer screen, and four former isolates initially assigned to the cpt and pgy complementation groups.

Hop is an unusual homeobox gene that modulates cardiac development.

Hop is a small, divergent homeodomain protein that lacks certain conserved residues required for DNA binding. Hop gene expression initiates early in cardiogenesis and continues in cardiomyocytes throughout embryonic and postnatal development. Genetic and biochemical data indicate that Hop functions directly downstream of Nkx2-5.

Computational insights on the challenges for polymerizing polar monomers.

Taking Pd di-imine catalysts as an example, we use first principles density functional theory (B3LYP/6-31G) to investigate the chain propagation steps for polymerization of polar monomers. We start with the complex formed from insertion of ethylene into the polymer chain and consider insertion into the Pd-C bond for each of four polar monomers: methyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride, and acrylonitrile. We find 2,1-insertion is favored in each case (by 3 to 5 kcal/mol), resulting in a product with a strong interaction of the polar group for the growing polymer chain with the metal.

CT and conventional and diffusion-weighted MR imaging in acute stroke: study in 691 patients at presentation to the emergency department.

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in a consecutive series of patients at presentation to the emergency department with symptoms of acute stroke.

Materials And Methods: Clinical data and images obtained in 691 consecutive patients with suspected acute stroke were examined. Results of first and second head CT and brain diffusion-weighted (DW) and conventional MR imaging were compared with each other and with the final neurologic discharge diagnosis.

Copolymerization studies of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate with ethylene using a transition-metal catalyst.

Since the advent of Ziegler-Natta polymerization of ethylene, attempts have been made to extend coordination polymerization to commercially important monomers with polar functionality. In this study we examined the copolymerization of perdeuterated vinyl chloride (VC) and perdeuterated vinyl acetate (VA) with ethylene using a tridentate Fe(II) dichloride pyridine diimine metal catalyst. The resulting ethylene oligomers were examined by GC/MS and 2H NMR spectroscopy.

Influence of availability of clinical history on detection of early stroke using unenhanced CT and diffusion-weighted MR imaging.

Objective: The radiologic diagnosis of stroke requires accurate detection and appropriate interpretation of relevant imaging findings; both detection and interpretation may be influenced by knowledge of the patient's presentation. In our study, we evaluated the effect of the availability of clinical history on the sensitivity for stroke detection using unenhanced CT and diffusion-weighted MR imaging.

Materials And Methods: The records of 733 consecutive patients with a clinically based admission diagnosis of early stroke were reviewed.

Modulation of BMP activity in dorsal-ventral pattern formation by the chordin and ogon antagonists.

We analyzed the interactions between mutations in antagonistic BMP pathway signaling components to examine the roles that the antagonists play in regulating BMP signaling activity. The dorsalized mutants swirl/bmp2b, snailhouse/bmp7, lost-a-fin/alk8, and mini fin/tolloid were each analyzed in double mutant combinations with the ventralized mutants chordino/chordin and ogon, whose molecular nature is not known. Similar to the BMP antagonist chordino, we found that the BMP ligand mutants swirl/bmp2b and snailhouse/bmp7 are also epistatic to the putative BMP pathway antagonist, ogon, excluding a class of intracellular antagonists as candidates for ogon.

Projected digital radiologic images for teaching: balance of image quality with data size constraints.

Rationale And Objectives: The authors performed this study to determine, in the context of a teaching presentation with slides, the information content needed in a digitized radiologic image for it to be equivalent in quality to an analog image.

Materials And Methods: Eleven sets of radiologic images were obtained from a teaching file collection and digitized. The images were scanned at high resolution and saved as image files.

Cooperative action of ADMP- and BMP-mediated pathways in regulating cell fates in the zebrafish gastrula.

It was shown in Xenopus and chick that Spemann's organizer activity is regulated through the negative action of Anti-Dorsalizing Morphogenetic Protein (ADMP). We report the characterization and functional properties of admp in zebrafish. admp expression profile is consistent with a role in the organizer, including the tail organizer.