Promoter regions required for minus-strand and subgenomic RNA synthesis have been mapped for several plus-strand RNA viruses. In general, the two types of promoters do not share structural features even though they are recognized by the same viral polymerase. The minus-strand promoter of Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), a plant virus of the family Bromoviridae, consists of a triloop hairpin (hpE) wh...

Let k~l be an integer, and let G = (V, E) be a graph. The closed kneighborhood N k[V] of a vertex v E V is the set of vertices within distance k from v. A 3-valued function f defined on V of the form f : V --+ { -1,0, I} is a three-valued k-neighborhood dominating function if the sum of its function values over any closed k-neighborhood is at least 1. The weight of a threevalued k-neighborhood ...

Synthesis of minus-strand DNA of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be divided into three phases: initiation of DNA synthesis, the template switch, and elongation of minus-strand DNA. Although much is known about minus-strand DNA synthesis, the mechanism(s) by which this occurs has not been completely elucidated. Through a deletion analysis, we have identified a cis-acting element involved in mi...

Let G = (V , E) be a simple graph on vertex set V and define a function f : V → {−1,1}. The function f is a signed dominating function if for every vertex x ∈ V , the closed neighborhood of x contains more vertices with function value 1 than with −1. The signed domination number of G, γs(G), is the minimum weight of a signed dominating function on G. We give a sharp lower bound on the signed do...

Synthesis of minus-strand DNA of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be divided into three phases: initiation of DNA synthesis, the template switch, and elongation of minus-strand DNA. Although much is known about minus-strand DNA synthesis, the mechanism(s) by which this occurs has not been completely elucidated. Through a deletion analysis, we have identified a cis-acting element involved in mi...

Let G be a simple graph without isolated vertices with vertex set V (G) and edge set E(G) and let k be a positive integer. A function f : E(G) → {−1, 1} is said to be a signed star k-dominating function on G if ∑ e∈E(v) f(e) ≥ k for every vertex v of G, where E(v) = {uv ∈ E(G) | u ∈ N(v)}. A set {f1, f2, . . . , fd} of signed star k-dominating functions on G with the property that ∑d i=1 fi(e) ...

then done with either placebo (n 21) or salmeterol 42 g twice daily (n 154) for 2 weeks at stable doses. Next was an ICS reduction phase over the next 8 weeks as all 21 patients on triamcinolone plus placebo were assigned to receive half the dose of triamcinolone 200 g twice daily plus continued placebo (placebo–minus group). Patients on full dose ICS plus salmeterol were randomized to either c...