An enzymatic assay for plasma homocysteine was developed that uses a crude lysate of E. coli containing the recombinant enzyme, methionine γ-lyase. The assay uses a commercially available fluorophore and 96-well microtiter plates; it can be performed manually or with the TECAN automated analyzer. The CVs for within-run and between-run precision are <10%. Close correlation (r >0.9) was obtained ...

Although the abundant sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain was originally classified as a protein-protein interaction domain, it has recently been shown that certain SAM domains have the ability to bind RNA, defining a new type of post-transcriptional gene regulator. To further understand the function of SAM-RNA recognition, we determined the solution structures of the SAM domain of the Saccharomyc...

Micrographia is a common symptom in Parkinson’s disease, which manifests as either a consistent or progressive reduction in the size of handwriting or both. Neural correlates underlying micrographia remain unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate micrographia-related neural activity and connectivity modulations. In addition, the effect of attention and dopaminergic ...

Ephrin-Eph signaling is involved in axon guidance during development, but it may also regulate synapse development after the axon has contacted the target cell. Here we report that the activation of ephrin-B reverse signaling in the developing Xenopus laevis optic tectum promotes morphological and functional maturation of retinotectal synapses. Elevation of ephrin-B signaling increased the numb...

Purpose: In the Noise Outcomes in Servicemembers Epidemiology Study, Veterans recently separated from the military undergo comprehensive assessments to initiate longterm monitoring of their auditory function. We developed the Tinnitus Screener, a four-item algorithmic instrument that determines whether tinnitus is present and, if so, whether it is constant or intermittent, or whether only tempo...

Swimming microalgae show various taxes, such as phototaxis and gravitaxis, which sometimes result in the formation of a cell-rich layer or a patch in a suspension. Despite intensive studies on the effects of shear flow and turbulence on the inhomogeneous distribution of microalgae, the effect of a bubble plume has remained unclear. In this study, we used Chlamydomonas as model microalgae, and i...

The intermediate and advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are frequently associated with weight loss (WL), but WL may even precede the onset of cognitive symptoms. This review focuses on the possible aetiologic and temporal relationships between AD and WL. When WL occurs some years before any signs of cognitive impairment, it may be a risk factor for dementia due to deficiency of several...

Cryptographic hash functions are an important tool in cryptography for applications such as digital fingerprinting of messages, message authentication, and key derivation. During the last five years, several fast software hash functions have been proposed; most of them are based on the design principles of Ron Rivest’s MD4. One such proposal was RIPEMD, which was developed in the framework of t...