Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease characterized by symptoms attributable to the death of striatal and cortical neurons. The molecular mechanisms mediating neuronal death in HD involve oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Administration of 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP), an irreversible inhibitor of the mitochondrial enzyme succinat...

Nanoporous materials with 3-D interconnected channels and large surface areas have been known to be technologically useful for a wide spectrum of applications, particularly in the fields energy storage conversion, supported catalysis separation technology. For first time, we herein report upon an original approach elaborate nanoporous polymers, especially thermosets, bicontinuous morphology. Th...

The primary anti-(4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NP) antibody response is known to have a heteroclitic fine specificity, i.e., anti-NP antibodies bind (4-hydroxy-5-iodo-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NIP) with greater affinity than NP itself. Past studies of NP-specific DTH responses and NP-specific T cell-mediated suppression have demonstrated sharing of fine specificity patterns and idiotypic structu...

I assume that most students have encountered Turing machines before. (Students who have not may want to look at Sipser’s book [3].) A Turing machine is defined by an integer k ≥ 1, a finite set of states Q, an alphabet Γ, and a transition function δ : Q×Γk → Q×Γk−1×{L, S,R}k where: • k is the number of (infinite, one-dimensional) tapes used by the machine. In the general case we have k ≥ 3 and ...

We have previously shown that cross-reactive sensitivity (CS) responses induced by 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl acetyl-O-succinimide (NP-O-Su) and elicited by its 5-iodo analogue, 4-hydroxy-5-iodo-3-nitrophenyl acetyl-O-succinimide were observed in strains of mice possessing the Igh-1b allotype, but not in strains bearing allotypes Igh-1c or Igh-1j. These CS responses are mediated by T cells and can...

Monoclonal antibodies against the major glycoprotein (HN) and the nucleoprotein (NP) of paramyxovirus SV5 and human paramyxovirus (PF) type 3 have been obtained. Two different epitopes have been detected on the SV5 HN polypeptide, one being specific to SV5 and the other also cross-reacting with PF-2 HN polypeptide. Monoclonal antibody against SV5 NP polypeptide also reacted with PF-2 NP polypep...

The mitochondrial toxin 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP) has been largely used to study neurodegenerative disorders in which bioenergetic defects are implicated. In the present study, we analyzed the molecular pathways involved in FK506 neuroprotection against cell death induced by 3-NP, using cultured cortical neurons. 3-NP induced cytochrome c release and increased caspases -2, -3, -8, and -9-lik...

BALB/c mice were immunized with either NP-3 or NP-4, two anticarcinoembryonic antigen murine monoclonal antibodies. Each animal produced anti-idiotype antibodies to the corresponding immunogen and no cross-reactivity between anti-NP-3 sera and anti-NP-4 sera was detected. Hybridomas were produced from these animals and two IgG1 anti-idiotype monoclonal antibodies were obtained: CM1 specific for...

Premature senescence of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells and inflammation are two common features of degenerated discs. This study investigated the effects of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α on the premature senescence of NP cells and the molecular mechanism behind this process. Rat NP cells were cultured with or without different concentrations of TNF-α for 1 and 3 days. The inhibitor LY294002 was ...

Silica nanoparticles (NP) is one of the most commonly used nanomaterials with potential health hazards. However, the effects of Silica NP on germ cells and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, GC-2 and TM-4, which are two different types of male germ cells were exposed to Silica NP for 24h, and then general cytotoxicity and multi-parameter cytotoxicity were evaluated. Our...