43 results match your criteria: "Univ. of Manchester[Affiliation]"

Towards an atomistic understanding of polymorphism in molecular solids.

Phys Chem Chem Phys

May 2022

Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Univ. of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.

Understanding and controlling polymorphism in molecular solids is a major unsolved problem in crystal engineering. While the ability to calculate accurate lattice energies with atomistic modelling provides valuable insight into the associated energy scales, existing methods cannot connect energy differences to the delicate balances of intra- and intermolecular forces that ultimately determine polymorph stability ordering. We report herein a protocol for applying Quantum Chemical Topology (QCT) to study the key intra- and intermolecular interactions in molecular solids, which we use to compare the three known polymorphs of succinic acid including the recently-discovered γ form.

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Hair Follicle Chemosensation: TRPM5 Signaling Is Required for Anagen Maintenance.

J Invest Dermatol

September 2021

Monasterium Laboratory - Skin and Hair Research Solutions GmbH, Münster, Germany; Mediteknia Skin & Hair Lab, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; Dr. Philip Frost Department of Dermatology & Cutaneous Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA; Centre for Dermatology Research, Univ of Manchester & NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

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Background: Slowness of movement, known as bradykinesia, is the core clinical sign of Parkinson's and fundamental to its diagnosis. Clinicians commonly assess bradykinesia by making a visual judgement of the patient tapping finger and thumb together repetitively. However, inter-rater agreement of expert assessments has been shown to be only moderate, at best.

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Pharmacological induction of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) expression is an effective therapeutic strategy for the management of beta-hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease. DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors 5-azacytidine (5-aza) and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) have been shown to induce fetal hemoglobin expression in both preclinical models and clinical studies, but are not currently approved for the management of hemoglobinopathies. We report here the discovery of a novel class of orally bioavailable DNMT1-selective inhibitors as exemplified by GSK3482364.

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Evaluation of non-contrast MRI biomarkers in lupus nephritis.

Clin Exp Rheumatol

March 2018

Arthritis Res. Ctr. Epidemiology, Musculoskeletal Res. & Dermatological Sciences, Academic Health Science Ctr., Univ.of Manchester; and The Kellgren Ctr. for Rheumatology, NIHR Manchester Musculoskeletal Biomed. Res. Ctr., Central Manchester Univ., UK.

Objectives: To investigate the association of novel non-contrast MRI biomarkers with standard measurements of renal function and renal disease activity in lupus.

Methods: A pilot study of lupus nephritis (LN) and lupus non-nephritis (LNN) patients, and healthy volunteers (HV), was undertaken. Multi-modal renal MRI was performed including sequences for arterial spin labelling (ASL) measuring blood flow, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), measuring microstructural disruption, and effective transverse relaxation time (T2*) which is a biomarker of micro-haemorrhage.

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Evaluation of aromatic amines with different purities and different solvent vehicles in the Ames test.

Regul Toxicol Pharmacol

March 2015

Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline, Gunnelswood Road, Stevenage SG1 2NY, UK.

Of all the in vitro mutagenicity assays, the Ames test displays the best correlation with rodent carcinogenicity and therefore carries significant weight with the food and drug regulatory bodies. Aromatic amines (AA) are ubiquitous structural groups in food and drug molecules despite the well-documented mutagenic and carcinogenic propensity for many representatives. Furthermore, recent regulatory guidelines (that is ICH M7) requires the hazard assessment of actual and potential impurities by two complementary (Q)SAR prediction methodologies if no carcinogenicity or bacterial mutagenicity data is available.

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High-resolution measurements of gas and aerosols' chemical composition along with meteorological and turbulence parameters were performed over the Aegean Sea (AS) during an Etesian outbreak in the framework of the Aegean-GAME airborne campaign. This study focuses on two distinct Etesian patterns, with similarities inside the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) and differences at higher levels. Under long-range transport and subsidence the pollution load is enhanced (by 17% for CO, 11% for O3, 28% for sulfate, 62% for organic mass, 47% for elemental carbon), compared to the pattern with a weaker synoptic system.

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Is the Fever for High Impact a Disadvantage for Systematists?

Neotrop Entomol

August 2014

Fac of Life Sciences, Univ of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester,, M13 9PT, UK.

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Egg Phenology of a Host-Specialist Butterfly in the Western Slopes of the Northern Chilean Andes.

Neotrop Entomol

December 2013

Fac of Life Sciences, The Univ of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Phenological studies are especially important in order to understand the ecological process operating at temporal level. The western slopes of the northern Chilean Andes at about 3,500 m asl are a mosaic of arid environments in which precipitations are highly seasonal, mostly concentrated in summer. Teriocolias zelia andina Forbes (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) is one of the most conspicuous and regularly observed butterflies flying in this region; it is a host specialist associated with the native shrub Senna birostris var.

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Assessment of patterns of fluctuating asymmetry and sexual dimorphism in carabid body shape.

Neotrop Entomol

April 2013

Fac of Life Sciences, Univ of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

The measurement tool most used to estimate developmental stability (DS) is fluctuating asymmetry (FA), which is a measure of the small random deviations that occur between the left and right sides of bilaterally symmetrical traits. In the Biobío Region of Chile, forest plantations are a widely extended phenomenon, which affect 27% of the surface area of the region and which are dominated by the monoculture of Pinus radiata. This study evaluated the presence of FA in the body shape of two populations of Ceroglossus chilensis (Eschscholtz) in two 13-year-old forest plantations (commercial thinning) using insects collected with interception traps.

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This article explores the living arrangements and familial relations of small business households in northwest English towns between 1760 and 1820. Focusing on evidence from inventories and personal writing, it examines the homes that such households lived and worked in and the ways in which space was ordered and used: indicating that access to particular spaces was determined by status. This study suggests both the continuance of the "household family" into the nineteenth century (rather than its more modern, "nuclear" variant) and the existence of keenly felt gradations of status within households making it likely that the constitution of "the family" differed according to one's place in the domestic hierarchy.

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Simulation of liquid imidazole using a high-rank quantum topological electrostatic potential.

Phys Chem Chem Phys

December 2010

Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB), 131 Princess Street, Univ. of Manchester, Manchester M1 7DN, UK.

Rigid body molecular dynamics simulations were carried out on pure liquid imidazole at four different temperatures and at 1 atm. Imidazole, which is important both in life science and materials science, is one of the simplest molecules to possess both a lone pair and a π system. These two features are known to benefit from multipolar electrostatics.

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Normal childhood growth is determined by ultradian and infradian variations in GH secretion, yet GH treatment of children with short stature is restricted to daily fixed doses. We have used GH-deficient dwarf rats to determine whether variable GH dose regimens promote growth more effectively than fixed doses. Animals were treated with saline or 4.

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Despite their success in boosting cereals production overall, the Green Revolution programs of the 1950s and 1960s were often criticized for failing to achieve their declared aim of alleviating world hunger. Most critics argued that the programs had produced a technology unsuited to the needs of small peasant farmers. This paper explores why such inappropriate technology might have been developed, focusing on the early years of the Rockefeller Foundation's Mexican Agricultural Program (MAP).

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Toward a microfluidic-based rapid amylase assay system.

J Food Sci

August 2009

Manchester Interdisciplinary Bioscience Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The Univ. of Manchester, Manchester, U.K.

Article Synopsis
  • - The article presents a prototype system for measuring amylase using microfluidic technology, which significantly reduces the time needed for assays compared to traditional laboratory methods that use microtitre plates.
  • - The new microreactor system enhances assay sensitivity, achieving a 10-fold increase in standard trials and a 2-fold increase in real-sample lab trials, while also cutting the reaction time from 20 minutes to just 3.2 minutes.
  • - Results indicate the microfluidic assay outperforms the standard macroassay in terms of efficiency, likely due to better mixing, thermal efficiency, and improved reaction kinetics inherent in microfluidic devices.
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High levels of naturally occurring arsenic are found in the shallow reducing aquifers of West Bengal, Bangladesh, and other areas of Southeast Asia. These aquifers are used extensively for drinking water and irrigation by the local population. Mechanisms for its release are unclear, although increasing evidence points to a microbial control.

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Sweetness and bitterness taste of meals per se does not mediate gastric emptying in humans.

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol

September 2009

Univ. of Manchester, Section of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Clinical Sciences Bldg., Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Stott Lane, Salford, United Kingdom, M6 8HD.

In cell line and animal models, sweet and bitter tastants induce secretion of signaling peptides (e.g., glucagon-like peptide-1 and cholecystokinin) and slow gastric emptying (GE).

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Oxidant-induced inhibition of the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase in pancreatic acinar cells: role of the mitochondria.

Am J Physiol Cell Physiol

November 2008

Faculty of Life Sciences, 2nd Floor Core Technology Facility, 46 Grafton St., Univ. of Manchester, Manchester M13 9NT, UK.

Impairment of the normal spatiotemporal pattern of intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) signaling, and in particular, the transition to an irreversible "Ca(2+) overload" response, has been implicated in various pathophysiological states. In some diseases, including pancreatitis, oxidative stress has been suggested to mediate this Ca(2+) overload and the associated cell injury. We have previously demonstrated that oxidative stress with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) evokes a Ca(2+) overload response and inhibition of plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA) in rat pancreatic acinar cells (Bruce JI and Elliott AC.

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K+ channel inhibition modulates the biochemical and morphological differentiation of human placental cytotrophoblast cells in vitro.

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol

October 2008

Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, The Univ. of Manchester, Research Floor, St. Mary's Hospital, Hathersage Road, Manchester, M13 0JH.

Maintaining placental syncytiotrophoblast, a specialized multinucleated transport epithelium, is essential for normal human pregnancy. Syncytiotrophoblast continuously renews through differentiation and fusion of cytotrophoblast cells, under paracrine control by syncytiotrophoblast production of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). We hypothesized that K(+) channels participate in trophoblast syncytialization and hCG secretion in vitro.

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Phospholipase C-delta1 modulates sustained contraction of rat mesenteric small arteries in response to noradrenaline, but not endothelin-1.

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol

August 2008

Cardiovascular Research Group, School of Clinical and Laboratory Science, Univ. of Manchester, Core Technology Facility (3floor 46 Grafton St., Manchester M13 9NT, UK.

Vasoconstrictors activate phospholipase C (PLC), which hydrolyzes phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)), leading to calcium mobilization, protein kinase C activation, and contraction. Our aim was to investigate whether PLC-delta(1), a PLC isoform implicated in alpha(1)-adrenoreceptor signaling and the pathogenesis of hypertension, is involved in noradrenaline (NA) or endothelin (ET-1)-induced PIP(2) hydrolysis and contraction. Rat mesenteric small arteries were studied.

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Alternans of cardiac calcium cycling in a cluster of ryanodine receptors: a simulation study.

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol

August 2008

Biological Physics Group, School of Physics & Astronomy, The Univ. of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.

Mechanical alternans in cardiac muscle is associated with intracellular Ca(2+) alternans. Mechanisms underlying intracellular Ca(2+) alternans are unclear. In previous experimental studies, we produced alternans of systolic Ca(2+) under voltage clamp, either by partially inhibiting the Ca(2+) release mechanism, or by applying small depolarizing pulses.

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The paper presents a new genetic algorithm (GA)-based discrete dynamic programming (DDP) approach for generating static schedules in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) environment. This GA-DDP approach adopts a sequence-dependent schedule generation strategy, where a GA is employed to generate feasible job sequences and a series of discrete dynamic programs are constructed to generate legal schedules for a given sequence of jobs. In formulating the GA, different performance criteria could be easily included.

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When used for visualization of high-dimensional data, the self-organizing map (SOM) requires a coloring scheme, such as the U-matrix, to mark the distances between neurons. Even so, the structures of the data clusters may not be apparent and their shapes are often distorted. In this paper, a visualization-induced SOM (ViSOM) is proposed to overcome these shortcomings.

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In this paper, a novel methodology called a reference model approach to stability analysis of neural networks is proposed. The core of the new approach is to study a neural network model with reference to other related models, so that different modeling approaches can be combinatively used and powerfully cross-fertilized. Focused on two representative neural network modeling approaches (the neuron state modeling approach and the local field modeling approach), we establish a rigorous theoretical basis on the feasibility and efficiency of the reference model approach.

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