2. MAIN RESULTS In this paper, subdivision methods for rectangular Bézier A rectangular Bézier surface of degree n 3 m can be surfaces are generalized to subdivide a rectangular Bézier surface patch of degree n 3 m into two rectangular Bézier surrepresented by face patches of degree n 3 (m 1 n), while the parameter domain of the Bézier surface is decomposed into two trapezoids. As an applicatio...

Beamlet measurements show that cone pinholes outperform other types tested with regard to both closure and back reflections. A *I50 prad stainless steel cone remained open for a 15.5 kJ, 10: 1 contrast shaped pulse with Ifi7.5 mad of SSD divergence, which more than meets the requirements for a NIF ignition pulse. Measurements also showed the maximum tolerable pressures in the NIF spatial filter...

Macrophage-migration-inhibition factor (MIF) is an essential stimulator of mammalian T-lymphocyte-dependent adaptive immunity, hence MIF orthologues might be expressed by infectious organisms as an immunosubversive stratagem. Since MIF actively catalyses the tautomerization of the methyl ester of l-dopachrome (using dopachrome tautomerase), the occurrence of MIF orthologues in several parasitic...

The interaction of the polycationic rabbit alveolar macrophage cationic proteins MCP-1 and MCP-2 (or their identical neutrophil equivalents NP-1 and NP-2) with the surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. Both proteins bound avidly to purified lipopolysaccharide, as judged by their ability to competitively displace the probe dansyl polymyxin with 50% inhibition (I50) values of 2 to 3...

A casein kinase II-type protein kinase has been purified from the cytosolic fraction of etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L.) plumules to about 90% purity as judged from Coomassie blue stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. This kinase has a tetrameric [alpha][alpha]'[beta]2 structure with a native molecular mass of 150 kD, and subunit molecular masses of 41 and 40 kD for the two cataly...

Drug resistance occurs through a series of subtle changes that maintain substrate recognition but no longer permit inhibitor binding. In HIV-1 protease, mutations at I50 are associated with such subtle changes that confer differential resistance to specific inhibitors. Residue I50 is located at the protease flap tips, closing the active site upon ligand binding. Under selective drug pressure, I...

Six different 1,2-epoxycycloalkanes, whose rings were constituted of 5 to 12 carbon atoms, were tested as possible inhibitors of epoxide-metabolizing enzymes and substrates for the microsomal and cytosolic epoxide hydrolases (mEH, cEH) in mouse liver. The geometric configurations and the relative steric hindrances of these epoxides were estimated from their ease of hydrolysis in acidic conditio...

The objective of this investigation was to measure the input-output (I-O) properties of chronically implanted nerve cuff electrodes. Silicone rubber spiral nerve cuff electrodes, containing 12 individual platinum electrode contacts, were implanted on the sciatic nerve of seven adult cats for 28-34 weeks. Measurements of the torque generated at the ankle joint by electrical stimulation of the sc...

There is considerable evidence which suggests that the gamma-subunit of cGMP phosphodiesterase (PDE gamma) is a multifunctional protein which may interact directly with both the catalytic subunits of PDE (PDE alpha beta) and the alpha-subunit of transducin (T alpha) (Whalen, M., and Bitensky, M. (1989) Biochem. J. 259, 13-19; Griswold-Prenner, I., Young, J. H., Yamane, H. K., and Fung, B. K.-K....