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Relevant Activities (relevant + activity)
Selected AbstractsRelevant activities of extracts and constituents of animals used in traditional Chinese medicine for central nervous system effects associated with Alzheimer's diseaseJOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACOLOGY: AN INTERNATI ONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE, Issue 7 2006Yuhao Ren The centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans L. Koch (,Wugong'), the beetle Mylabris phalerata Pallas (,Ban mao') and the earthworm Pheretima aspergillum Chen (,DiLong') have a reputation in traditional Chinese medicine for reducing symptoms of central nervous system decline, including memory loss. A series of extracts of all three organisms was tested for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition and copper ion binding effects, the latter likely to reduce oxidative damage caused by excess copper. The beetle and centipede chloroform extracts showed the strongest AChE inhibitory effects (30.6% inhibition at 105 ,g mL,1 and 32.3% inhibition at 167 ,g mL,1, respectively) and, in the case of the centipede, this was traced to the unsaturated fatty acids present using bioassay-guided fractionation. Cantharidin from the beetle was shown to have AChE activity (31% inhibition at 1 ,M, 0.196,g mL,1), making it a major contributor to the activity of the beetle extract. The earthworm showed no AChE inhibitory activity. Since unsaturated fatty acids have not been previously reported to have AChE inhibitory activity, a series of related compounds was tested to determine structure-activity relationships. It was found that activity existed where there was a chain length of more than 16 C atoms with at least one unsaturated bond in the chain. The carboxylic acid group was also necessary for activity. The fatty acids present in the centipede also showed the ability to bind copper ions when tested using a novel thin layer chromatography method designed to detect copper-binding compounds. The activities reported give some support to the use of the beetle and centipede in traditional Chinese medicine for improving cognitive function. [source] Effect of atorvastatin on microRNA 221,/,222 expression in endothelial progenitor cells obtained from patients with coronary artery diseaseEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION, Issue 5 2009Y. Minami Abstract Background, Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in the maintenance of vascular integrity. Lipid lowering therapy (LLT) with statins may contribute to biologically relevant activities including the proliferation of endothelial cells. The physiological role of microRNA (miR)-221/222, a newly discovered class of small RNA, is closely linked to the proliferation of endothelial cells. We therefore investigated whether LLT with statins might affect miR-221/222 expression in EPCs obtained from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Materials and methods, This study included 44 patients with stable CAD and 22 subjects without CAD (non-CAD). Patients with CAD were randomized to 12 months of LLT with atorvastatin (10 mg day,1) or pravastatin (10 mg day,1). EPCs were obtained from peripheral blood at baseline and after 12 months of statin therapy. Levels of miR-221/222 in EPCs were measured by real-time RT-PCR. Results, Levels of miR-221/222 were significantly higher in the CAD group than in the non-CAD group (P < 0·01). Levels of miR-221/222 were weakly negatively correlated with EPC number in the CAD group. After 12 months of therapy, changes in lipid profiles were greater in the atorvastatin group than in the pravastatin group. LLT with atorvastatin markedly increased EPC numbers and decreased miR-221/222 levels (all P < 0·05), whereas LLT with pravastatin did not change EPC numbers or miR-221/222 levels. Conclusions, This study demonstrates that LLT with atorvastatin increases EPC numbers and decreases miR-221/222 levels in patients with CAD, possibly contributing to the beneficial effects of LLT with atorvastatin in this disorder. [source] An intelligent logistics support system for enhancing the airfreight forwarding businessEXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 5 2004H.C.W. Lau Abstract: Recent research related to the aircraft container loading and scheduling problem for airfreight forwarding business has seen significant advances in terms of load plan optimization, taking into account the cost and volume of packed boxes. In today's competitive industrial environment, it is essential that freight forwarders are able to collaborate with carriers (airline companies) to achieve the best possible selection of logistics workflow. However, study of contemporary research publications indicates that there is a dearth of articles related to the design and implementation of an intelligent logistics system to support decision-making on carrier selection, aircraft container loading plans as well as carrier benchmarking. This paper presents an intelligent logistics support system (ILSS) which is able to provide expert advice related to the airfreight forwarding business, enhancing the logistics operations in relevant activities within the value chain of tasks. ILSS comprises a heuristics-based intelligent expert system which supports carrier searching and cargo trading planning as well as load plan generation. The proposed approach is meant to enhance various operations in the airfreight forwarding business, adopting computational intelligence technologies such as rule-based reasoning to provide domain advice and heuristics to support the generation of load plans. After potential outcomes are generated by the heuristics-based intelligent expert system, a neural network engine is applied to support prediction of unexpected events. To validate the viability of this approach, a production system using the ILSS has been developed and subsequently applied in an emulated airfreight forwarding environment. The application results indicate that the operation time from searching for potential carriers to the execution of the order is greatly reduced. In this paper, details related to the structure, design and implementation of the ILSS are also covered with the inclusion of the actual program codes for building the prototype. [source] The iR drop , well-known but often underestimated in electrochemical polarization measurements and corrosion testing,MATERIALS AND CORROSION/WERKSTOFFE UND KORROSION, Issue 6 2006W. Oelßner Abstract At first sight the problem of the iR drop and its compensation in electrochemical polarization measurements seems to have only minor significance, but it has actually troubled electrochemists and corrosion scientists for more than a hundred years. For reducing the iR drop in the electrochemical cell, its computation, experimental determination and numerical or automatic electronic compensation numerous scientific and experimental work has been carried out and appropriate suggestions were submitted. These efforts led to commercially available potentiostats with sophisticated facilities for automatic iR compensation. Nevertheless, to date these possibilities have been utilized with a certain hesitancy. Many users underestimate the iR drop, regarding it often merely as a marginal problem, which only has to be taken into account in experiments with very high currents or extremely low conductivity of the electrolyte. Furthermore, there are also doubts and prejudices regarding modern methods of iR compensation, resulting from previous unpleasant experiences or reports on failed experiments with inappropriate equipment or imperfect methods. Reduction or automatic compensation of the iR drop is necessary more frequently than generally assumed and also in most cases possible. On the other hand the application of the different methods is still not completely uncomplicated and requires special experimental experience and care. The aim of the present work is it therefore to give a comprehensive retrospective overview of the ohmic drop problem and the relevant activities to overcome it. [source] Accurate correlations to estimate refinery fuel gas, natural gas, and fuel oil CO2 emission factors and its uncertaintyAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 9 2010Esteban F. Márquez-Riquelme Abstract The quantification of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories and its associated uncertainty is a relevant activity often requested by authorities. Accurate methods to calculate both inventories and the involved uncertainty are convenient for close monitoring purposes. Using Monte Carlo simulations, correlations of high accuracy between emission factors (EFs), lower heating value (LHV), and density were built for refinery fuel gas, natural gas and fuel/residual oil. In all cases, the data generated by the simulations also served the purpose of building correlations for upper and lower bounds of the EF that can be readily used to estimate the EF estimation uncertainty. The correlations were tested against actual refinery data and the results show that more accurate estimations were obtained compared with EF obtained from laboratory composition methods and from methods that estimate EF as proportional to LHV only. In the case of fuel and residual oils, the correlations developed are a function of LHV only but were improved by using a cubic polynomial. The calculation of upper and lower bounds for EF offer a convenient method to estimate EF uncertainties that are required in official GHG emissions inventory calculations. In conclusion, in addition to LHV, the use of one additional readily available fuel property, namely fuel density is sufficient to reduce uncertainty of estimation of GHG (in this case CO2) from combustion to acceptable levels. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] A mass spectrometry-based strategy for detecting and characterizing endogenous proteinase activities in complex biological samplesPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 3 2008Sarah Robinson Abstract Endogenous proteinases in biological fluids such as human saliva produce a rich peptide repertoire that reflects a unique combination of enzymes, substrates, and inhibitors/activators. Accordingly, this subproteome is an interesting source of biomarkers for disease processes that either directly or indirectly involve proteolysis. However, the relevant proteinases, typically very low abundance molecules, are difficult to classify and identify. We hypothesized that a sensitive technique for monitoring accumulated peptide products in an unbiased, global manner would be very useful for detecting and profiling proteolytic activities in complex biological samples. Building on the longstanding use of 18O isotope-based approaches for the classification of proteolytic and other enzymatic processes we devised a new method for evaluating endogenous proteinases. Specifically, we showed that upon ex vivo incubation endogenous proteinases in human parotid saliva introduced 18O from isotopically enriched water into the C-terminal carboxylic groups of their peptide products. Subsequent peptide sequence determination and inhibitor profiling enabled the detection of discrete subsets of proteolytic products that were generated by different enzymes. As a proof-of-principle we used one of these fingerprints to identify the relevant activity as tissue kallikrein. We termed this technique PALeO. Our results suggest that PALeO is a rapid and highly sensitive method for globally assessing proteinase activities in complex biological samples. [source] China,Intellectual Property Rights: Implications for the TRIPS-Plus Border MeasuresTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2010Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan One of the ground-breaking features of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is its part III on the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights. In early 2009, the first WTO Dispute Settlement Panel Report primarily addressed obligations on IP enforcement. Here, the technical success of the US border measures claim comes with a crucial limitation: those Chinese measures that cover basically all of the commercially relevant activity are ab initio excluded from the panel's findings. Because they go beyond the minimum standards of TRIPS, the panel relied on one of the few TRIPS provisions that specify the relevance of TRIPS for additional "TRIPS-Plus" IP protection and enforcement. Given that such "TRIPS-Plus" measures are increasingly common in national laws and international treaties, it is time to take a closer look at how TRIPS addresses TRIPS-Plus IP protection. With a focus on border measures, I conclude that TRIPS contains not only minimum but also maximum standards or "ceilings" that impose limits on additional IP protection and enforcement. Such ceilings in TRIPS can function as limits for further extensions of IP protection and enforcement,as currently negotiated under a proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or relating to border measures against generic drugs in transit. [source] | |||||||||||||