Prosthetic liners exist to improve amputee safety and comfort by adding a cushioning layer between the residual limb and the prosthetic socket. Many choices in liner technology are available, and clinicians often rely on personal intuition and experience to choose which liners are appropriate for which patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the literature to find what scientific evi...

In mammals, the master circadian clock resides in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. The period and phase of the circadian pacemaker are calibrated by direct photic input from retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). SCN-projecting RGCs respond to light in the absence of rod- and cone-driven synaptic input, a property for which they are termed intrinsically photosensitive. In SCN-proje...

RATIONALE We have shown recently that particulate (pGC) and soluble guanylyl (sGC) cyclases synthesize cGMP in different compartments in adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVMs). OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) exerts a feedback control on cGMP concentration contributing to its intracellular compartmentation. METHODS AND RESULTS Global cGMP levels, cGMP-phos...

A simple, reproducible, and rapid gas chromatographic method for short-chain fatty acid determination in human feces was developed. It involves direct injection of fecal supernatants into the gas chromatograph, without any pretreatment. Contamination of the gas chromatographic column with nonvolatile fecal material was prevented by the use of a glass liner in the injector. This liner, which act...

Local anesthetics are a diverse group of clinically useful compounds that act as pore blockers of both voltage- and cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) ion channels. We used the local anesthetic tetracaine to probe the nature of the conformational change that occurs in the pore of CNG channels during the opening allosteric transition. When applied to the intracellular side of wild-type rod CNG channe...

One of the most attractive features of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) is the possibility for users to interact with a large number of other users in a variety of collaborative and competitive situations. Gamers within an MMOG typically become members of active communities with mutual interests, shared adventures, and common objectives. We present the EU funded Community Network Game...

Cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels are the primary targets of light- and odorant-induced signaling in photoreceptors and olfactory sensory neurons. Compartmentalized cyclic nucleotide signaling is necessary to ensure rapid and efficient activation of these nonselective cation channels. However, relatively little is known about the subcellular localization of CNG channels or the mechanisms o...

CNG repeats (where N denotes one of the four natural nucleotides) are abundant in the human genome. Their tendency to undergo expansion can lead to hereditary diseases known as TREDs (trinucleotide repeat expansion disorders). The toxic factor can be protein, if the abnormal gene is expressed, or the gene transcript, or both. The gene transcripts have attracted much attention in the biomedical ...

The cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channel in retinal rods converts the light-regulated intracellular cGMP concentration to various levels of membrane potential. Blockade of the channel by cations such as Ca2+ and Mg2+ lowers its effective conductance. Consequently, the membrane potential has very low noise, which enables rods to detect light with extremely high sensitivity. Here, we report that...

This feasibility study is a response to the increasing of interest in coal seam gas (CSG) in Australia and due to the demands for alternative fuels by high fuel-consumption industries such as agriculture. A technical analysis of LNG as an alternative fuel to diesel in agriculture was conducted. A comparison of different conversion methods (dual-fuel and mono-gas systems) is undertaken. Data was...