347 research outputs found
Immunocytochemical staining of Drosophila larval body-wall muscles
No full textFirst author Preethi Ramachandran is a doctoral student in the Neuroscience Program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at UMass Medical School.Over the last two decades, the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) has gained immense popularity as a model system for the study of synaptic development, function, and plasticity. With this model, it is easy to visualize synapses and manipulate the system genetically with a high degree of temporal and spatial control, which makes it ideal for resolving problems in synaptic physiology and development. This article describes a procedure for labeling various proteins with antibodies in dissected larval body-wall muscles and visualizing their localization and distribution in the brain, NMJ, and muscle.Neuroscienc
Dissection of Drosophila larval body-wall muscles
No full textFirst author Preethi Ramachandran is a doctoral student in the Neuroscience Program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at UMass Medical School.Over the last two decades, the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction has gained immense popularity as a model system for the study of synaptic development, function, and plasticity. With this model, it is easy to visualize synapses and manipulate the system genetically with a high degree of temporal and spatial control, which makes it ideal for resolving problems in synaptic physiology and development. A number of different techniques have been used to dissect third-instar larval preparations to expose the body-wall muscles. Here, we describe a procedure that uses magnetic chambers and pins to allow for fine control in spreading the larval body wall.Neuroscienc
Khoo Kay Kim, professor of Malaysian history : a biobibliometric study
No full textPresents an analysis of the publication productivity, authorship pattern, channels of communication, journal preference and language preference of Professor Dato' Khoo Kay Kim, Professor of Malaysian History in the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. The results of this biobibliometric study indicate that he can be a role model for future Malaysian historians to emulate his various achievements especially in the field of history education
Biomechanical signals and the C-type natriuretic peptide counteract catabolic activities induced by IL-1? in chondrocyte/agarose constructs
No full textIntroduction: The present study examined the effect of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) on the anabolic and catabolic activities in chondrocyte/agarose constructs subjected to dynamic compression. Methods: Constructs were cultured under free-swelling conditions or subjected to dynamic compression with low (0.1 to 100 pM) or high concentrations (1 to 1,000 nM) of CNP, interleukin-1? (IL-1?), and/or KT-5823 (inhibits cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase II (PKGII)). Anabolic and catabolic activities were assessed as follows: nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release, and [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation were quantified by using biochemical assays. Gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), aggrecan, and collagen type II were assessed with real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Two-way ANOVA and the post hoc Bonferroni-corrected t tests were used to examine data. Results: CNP reduced NO and PGE2 release and partially restored [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation in constructs cultured with IL-1?. The response was dependent on the concentration of CNP, such that 100 pM increased [3H]-thymidine incorporation (P < 0.001). This is in contrast to 35SO4 incorporation, which was enhanced with 100 or 1000 nM CNP in the presence and absence of IL-1? (P < 0.001). Stimulation by both dynamic compression and CNP and/or the PKGII inhibitor further reduced NO and PGE2 release and restored [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation. In the presence and absence of IL-1?, the magnitude of stimulation for [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation by dynamic compression was dependent on the concentration of CNP and the response was inhibited with the PKGII inhibitor. In addition, stimulation by CNP and/or dynamic compression reduced IL-1?-induced iNOS and COX-2 expression and restored aggrecan and collagen type II expression. The catabolic response was not further influenced with the PKGII inhibitor in IL-1?-treated constructs. Conclusions: Treatment with CNP and dynamic compression increased anabolic activities and blocked catabolic effects induced by IL-1?. The anabolic response was PKGII mediated and raises important questions about the molecular mechanisms of CNP with mechanical signals in cartilage. Therapeutic agents like CNP could be administered in conjunction with controlled exercise therapy to slow the OA disease progression and to repair damaged cartilage. The findings from this research provide the potential for developing novel agents to slow the pathophysiologic mechanisms and to treat OA in the young and old. <br/
Carotenoid accumulation during grain development in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum)
No full textYellow pigment (YP) concentration is an important quality trait in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) and is comprised primarily of carotenoids. The main objective of our study was to measure the accumulation of carotenoids during the grain fill period to improve our understanding of the physiological basis for differences among durum wheat cultivars. Thirteen cultivars and breeding genotypes with large variation in total YP concentration (15 µg g-1) were studied. Spikes were sampled from replicated field plots in 2007 and 2008 near Saskatoon and Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, at 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after heading (DAH). The remainder of each plot was combined at grain maturity for YP and carotenoid analysis. Carotenoids were extracted with 1:1 methanol:dichloromethane (0.1% BHT) and quantified with HPLC. Trans (E)-lutein was the predominant carotenoid at maturity and was detected at 14 DAH in all genotypes. The rate and duration of E-lutein accumulation was variable among genotypes expressing high, intermediate and low YP. The accumulation of all carotenoids was lowest in genotypes expressing low YP, and suggests rate limitations early in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. E-zeaxanthin concentrations were highest in mature grain, but no significant differences were detected among genotypes. However, the ratio of E-zeaxanthin to E-lutein was inversely correlated with total YP, suggesting that the â,å branch of lycopene cyclization is favoured over the â,â branch in high-YP genotypes. These results provide insights to the regulation of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway during grain fill stage in durum wheat and will facilitate breeding for higher carotenoid concentration
Publisher Correction: Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries
No full text© 2018, The Author(s). The original version of this article contained an error in the name of the author Ramachandran S. Vasan, which was incorrectly given as Vasan S. Ramachandran. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article
SmartProvenance
No full textFull text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is restricted to current UTD affiliates (use the provided Link to Article).Blockchain technology has evolved from being an immutable ledger of transactions for cryptocurrencies to a programmable interactive environment for building distributed reliable applications. Although the blockchain technology has been used to address various challenges, to our knowledge none of the previous work focused on using Blockchain to develop a secure and immutable scientific data provenance management framework that automatically verifies the provenance records. In this work, we leverage Blockchain as a platform to facilitate trustworthy data provenance collection, verification, and management. The developed system utilizes smart contracts and open provenance model (OPM) to record immutable data trails. We show that our proposed framework can securely capture and validate provenance data that prevents any malicious modification to the captured data as long as the majority of the participants are honest. ©2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to Association for Computing Machinery.The research reported herein was supported in part by NIH award 1R01HG006844, NSF awards CNS-1111529, CICI-1547324, and IIS- 1633331 and ARO award W911NF-17-1-0356.Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Scienc
Computational chemistry and molecular modeling : principles and applications / K.I. Ramachandran, G. Deepa, K. Namboori.
No full text"An exclusive URL (http://www.amrita.edu/cen/ccmm/) for this book with the required support materials has been provided for readers ..."--Preface.pharmacy bookfair2015Includes bibliographical references and index.xxi, 397 pages
Euler factors of equivariant --functions of Drinfeld modules and beyond
No full textIn \cite{FGHP}, the first author and his collaborators proved an equivariant Tamagawa number formula for the special value at of a Goss--type --function, equivariant with respect to a Galois group , and associated to a Drinfeld module defined on and over a finite, integral extension of . The formula in question was proved provided that the values at of the Euler factors of the equivariant --function in question satisfy certain identities involving Fitting ideals of certain --cohomologically trivial, finite --modules associated to the Drinfeld module. In \cite{FGHP}, we prove these identities in the particular case of the Carlitz module. In this paper, we develop general techniques and prove the identities in question for arbitrary Drinfeld modules. Further, we indicate how these techniques can be extended to the more general case of higher dimensional abelian --modules, which is relevant in the context of the proof of the equivariant Tamagawa number formula for abelian --modules given by N. Green and the first author in \cite{Green-Popescu}. This paper is based on a lecture given by the first author at ICMAT Madrid in May 2023 and builds upon results obtained by the second author in his PhD thesis \cite{Ramachandran-thesis}
Agile and robust resource management in CSMA wireless networks:
No full textWith the recent push towards wireless broadband, and user migration towards mobile devices, it has become imperative for wireless networks to support higher network capacity, increased battery life, and greater mobility. While a combination of both local- and wide-area wireless technologies will be needed to meet these requirements, we believe that carrier-sense multiple-access (CSMA) wireless networks, if designed well, can play an important role in the future. Traditional CSMA wireless networks, which form the basis for today's ubiquitous wireless LAN technology--IEEE 802.11 or WiFi, cannot satisfy the stated requirements mainly because they lack efficient resource management (or resource parameter adaptation) techniques. Several fundamental characteristics of these networks, and practical implementation challenges, also limit the applicability of solutions from other domains. Taken together, these considerations force us to fundamentally re-think the design of resource parameter adaptation for CSMA wireless networks.
In this dissertation, we first identify that, to satisfy the requirements, resource management techniques for CSMA wireless networks should possess two fundamental, but conflicting properties, agility, and robustness. Briefly, to provide increased bandwidth to mobile users, agile solutions are required that exploit opportunities for improved performance; at the same time, solutions cannot afford to compromise on link robustness. In addition, we realize that striking this trade-off effectively calls for different solutions in indoor and outdoor environments. To prove these hypotheses, we present the design and implementation of two resource management frameworks, Symphony and Sonata, for indoor and outdoor environments respectively. Indoors, Symphony increases network capacity and battery life for mobile clients by addressing the classical problem of joint, per-link, transmit power control and rate adaptation. For improved robustness, Symphony uses novel mechanisms based on measuring the expected transmission time (ETT), and the utility of RTS/CTS frames, while relying on a learning approach to converge quickly to the right resource parameter choice. Outdoors, the Sonata framework introduces a novel and fundamental tradeoff between directionality and base station diversity for uplink transmissions. Using a new location-based approach for improved parameter convergence, Sonata is able strike the agility-robustness tradeoff effectively.
Together, these frameworks prove that, achieving the right balance between agility and robustness can enable CSMA wireless networks to transition to the wireless broadband era.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-106)by Kishore Ramachandra
- …
