Low aspect ratio wings are used extensively on openwheeled race cars to generate aerodynamic downforce. Consequently, a great deal of effort is invested in obtaining wing profiles that provide high values of lift coefficient. If the wings are designed using 2-D methods, then it is necessary to take into account the change in operating angle of a typical airfoil section that occurs when it opera...

STUDY DESIGN Biomechanical analysis of a novel prosthesis based on the physiological curvature of endplate was performed. OBJECTIVE To compare the biomechanical differences between a novel prosthesis based on the physiological curvature of the endplate and the Prestige LP prosthesis after cervical disc replacement (CDR). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Artificial disc prostheses have been widely...

The two subtypes of mammalian muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR) are generated by the substitution of the 1 (adult) subunit for the g (fetal) subunit within the AChR pentamer. Null mutations of the adultAChR 1-subunit gene are themost commoncauseof theAChRdeficiencysyndrome. This is adisorder of neuromuscular transmission characterizedbynon-progressive fatigablemuscleweaknesspresen...

beta-Bungarotoxins have been shown to be presynaptic blockers of neuromuscular transmission. This paper reports experiments using the most positively charged beta-bungarotoxin that elutes from a CM-Sephadex C-25 column. The toxin is shown to be a single polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 11,000 and has phospholipase A2 activity. The application of the enzymatically active toxi...

INTRODUCTION The intervertebral disc (IVD) is a fibrocartilaginous structure which contributes to flexibility and load support in the spine. It is divided into several regions which include the annulus fibrosus (AF), nucleus pulposus (NP) and cartilage endplate (CEP). The CEP is a thin hyaline cartilage layer on the surface of the vertebral body, covering both the NP and AF [1]. The endplate pl...

We describe the genetic and kinetic defects in a congenital myasthenic syndrome caused by heteroallelic mutations of the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) epsilon subunit gene. The mutations are an in-frame duplication of six residues in the long cytoplasmic loop (epsilon1254ins18) and a cysteine-loop null mutation (epsilonC128S). The epsilon1254 ins18 mutation causes mode switching in the kinetics...

Formation of th neuromuscular junction depends upon reciprocal inductive interactions between the developing nerve and muscle, resulting in the precise juxtaposition of a differentiated nerve terminal with a highly specialized patch on the muscle membrane, termed the motor endplate. Agrin is a nerve-derived factor that can induced molecular reorganizations at the motor endplate, but the mechani...

When I wrote this paper, I was a junior faculty member in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, where I had been recently joined by Regis Kelly, a colleague whom I had met when we were postdoctoralfellows in biochemistry at Stanford. At Harvard, we were trying to develop a biochemical approach to the neuromtscularjunclion, which at that time was the synapse whose electrophys...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the genetic and physiologic basis of the neuromuscular symptoms of hypotonia-cystinuria syndrome (HCS) and isolated PREPL deficiency, and their response to therapy. METHODS We performed molecular genetic, histochemical, immunoblot, and ultrastructural studies, investigated neuromuscular transmission in vitro in a patient with isolated PREPL deficiency, and evaluated t...