182,854 research outputs found
James R. Thompson Center (JRTC)
Interior, looking up and southeast; "The building opened in May 1985 as the State of Illinois Center. It was re-dedicated in 1993 to honor former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson. The property takes up the entire block bounded by Randolph, Lake, Clark and LaSalle Streets, one of the 35 full-size city blocks within Chicago's Loop. In front of the Thompson Center is a sculpture, Monument With Standing Beast, by Jean Dubuffet. The JRTC is sometimes referred to as the State Building. The JRTC was designed by Murphy/Helmut Jahn and called "outrageous" or "wonderful" by critics when it opened. The color of the street-level panels was compared to tomato soup. The 17-story, all-glass exterior does not reflect the building's function, and instead conveys an image of pure postmodernism; the effect is striking, especially from the Daley Center. Visitors to the JRTC's interior can see all seventeen floors layered partway around the building's immense skylit atrium. The open-plan offices on each floor are supposed to carry the message of "an open government in action." Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 11/4/2007
James R. Thompson Center (JRTC)
Interior, looking up and east; "The building opened in May 1985 as the State of Illinois Center. It was re-dedicated in 1993 to honor former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson. The property takes up the entire block bounded by Randolph, Lake, Clark and LaSalle Streets, one of the 35 full-size city blocks within Chicago's Loop. In front of the Thompson Center is a sculpture, Monument With Standing Beast, by Jean Dubuffet. The JRTC is sometimes referred to as the State Building. The JRTC was designed by Murphy/Helmut Jahn and called "outrageous" or "wonderful" by critics when it opened. The color of the street-level panels was compared to tomato soup. The 17-story, all-glass exterior does not reflect the building's function, and instead conveys an image of pure postmodernism; the effect is striking, especially from the Daley Center. Visitors to the JRTC's interior can see all seventeen floors layered partway around the building's immense skylit atrium. The open-plan offices on each floor are supposed to carry the message of "an open government in action." Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 11/4/2007
View from the bridge: a pseudo-Jahn-Teller approach to transition metal hydrosilane complexes
The model complex [Cp(CO)(2)Mn(SiH4)] has been studied by time-dependent DFT methods: hence, it is shown to be unstable with respect to a pseudo-Jahn-Teller distortion which brings an equatorial Si-H moiety into contact with the Mn centre.</p
The R-SNARE endobrevin/VAMP-8 mediates homotypic fusion of early endosomes and late endosomes
Endobrevin/VAMP-8 is an R-SNARE localized to endosomes, but it is unknown in which intracellular fusion step it operates. Using subcellular fractionation and quantitative immunogold electron microscopy, we found that endobrevin/VAMP-8 is present on all membranes known to communicate with early endosomes, including the plasma membrane, clathrin-coated pits, late endosomes, and membranes of the trans-Golgi network. Affinity-purified antibodies that block the ability of endobrevin/VAMP-8 to form SNARE core complexes potently inhibit homotypic fusion of both early and late endosomes in vitro. Fab fragments were as active as intact immunoglobulin Gs. Recombinant endobrevin/VAMP-8 inhibited both fusion reactions with similar potency. We conclude that endobrevin/VAMP-8 operates as an R-SNARE in the homotypic fusion of early and late endosomes
The R-SNARE endobrevin/VAMP-8 mediates homotypic fusion of early endosomes and late endosomes
Endobrevin/VAMP-8 is an R-SNARE localized to endosomes, but it is unknown in which intracellular fusion step it operates. Using subcellular fractionation and quantitative immunogold electron microscopy, we found that endobrevin/VAMP-8 is present on all membranes known to communicate with early endosomes, including the plasma membrane, clathrin-coated pits, late endosomes, and membranes of the trans-Golgi network. Affinity-purified antibodies that block the ability of endobrevin/VAMP-8 to form SNARE core complexes potently inhibit homotypic fusion of both early and late endosomes in vitro. Fab fragments were as active as intact immunoglobulin Gs. Recombinant endobrevin/VAMP-8 inhibited both fusion reactions with similar potency. We conclude that endobrevin/VAMP-8 operates as an R-SNARE in the homotypic fusion of early and late endosomes
Estimating the need for antiretroviral treatment and an assessment of a simplified HIV/AIDS case definition in rural Malawi.
BACKGROUND: Surveillance in the era of antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires estimates of HIV prevalence as well as the proportion eligible for ART. We estimated HIV prevalence and assessed field staging of individuals to estimate the burden of HIV disease needing treatment in rural Malawi. METHODS: Adults aged 18-59 years in a demographic surveillance system were interviewed, examined, and HIV counselled and tested. Staging that used a simplified version of the WHO criteria ('field checklist') was compared with staging by a medical assistant using a 'clinic checklist' and to CD4 cell results. RESULTS: A total of 2129 of 2303 eligible adults (92.4%) were traced, and 2047 (96.1%) participated. Of the 1443 participants (70.5%) tested, 11.6% were HIV positive. ART eligibility classification by the field and clinic checklists were concordant in 122 of 133 HIV-positive individuals. Compared with the clinic checklist, the field checklist had a sensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 96%. Including those already known to be on ART, staging by the field and clinic checklists estimated ART eligibility at 16.3 and 17.7% of HIV-positive individuals, respectively. Using CD4 cell count under 250 cells/mul or WHO stage III/IV, the Malawi national programme criteria, 38% of HIV-positive individuals were eligible for ART, compared with 31% based on the 2006 WHO criteria of CD4 cell count under 200 cells/mul or WHO stage IV or CD4 cell count of 200-350 cells/mul and WHO stage III. CONCLUSION: The field checklist was not a suitable tool for individual staging. Criteria for ART eligibility based on clinical staging alone missed two-thirds of those eligible by clinical staging and CD4 cell count
A chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding protein from rat brain. Identification as a ubiquitous constituent of the inner mitochondrial membrane
We have recently solubilized and enriched a chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding protein from rat brain (Brose, N., Halpain, S., Suchanek, C., and Jahn, R. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 9619-9625). The partially purified protein fraction, containing two major protein components of 51,000 Da and 105,000 Da, was used to generate a rabbit antiserum. This serum quantitatively precipitated the binding activity from membrane extracts. Small amounts of the antiserum inhibited glutamate binding when chloride was absent from the incubation medium. Three protein bands were labeled by the serum on immunoblots. From the affinity purified antibody fractions contained in the serum, only the antibodies directed against a 51,000-Da protein were able to immunoprecipitate the binding activity, indicating that this protein is an essential component of the binding site. A survey of a variety of rat tissues by immunoblot analysis revealed a ubiquitous distribution of the protein. After subcellular fractionation of liver and brain, the 51,000-Da protein copurified with mitochondrial markers. Furthermore, exclusive labeling of mitochondria was observed by light and electron microscopy immunocytochemistry. Subfractionation of purified liver mitochondria resulted in a selective association of the protein with inner mitochondrial membranes. Pharmacological characterization of glutamate binding to liver mitochondrial membranes revealed a pattern almost identical to that of the chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding site in rat brain
A chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding protein from rat brain. Identification as a ubiquitous constituent of the inner mitochondrial membrane
We have recently solubilized and enriched a chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding protein from rat brain (Brose, N., Halpain, S., Suchanek, C., and Jahn, R. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 9619-9625). The partially purified protein fraction, containing two major protein components of 51,000 Da and 105,000 Da, was used to generate a rabbit antiserum. This serum quantitatively precipitated the binding activity from membrane extracts. Small amounts of the antiserum inhibited glutamate binding when chloride was absent from the incubation medium. Three protein bands were labeled by the serum on immunoblots. From the affinity purified antibody fractions contained in the serum, only the antibodies directed against a 51,000-Da protein were able to immunoprecipitate the binding activity, indicating that this protein is an essential component of the binding site. A survey of a variety of rat tissues by immunoblot analysis revealed a ubiquitous distribution of the protein. After subcellular fractionation of liver and brain, the 51,000-Da protein copurified with mitochondrial markers. Furthermore, exclusive labeling of mitochondria was observed by light and electron microscopy immunocytochemistry. Subfractionation of purified liver mitochondria resulted in a selective association of the protein with inner mitochondrial membranes. Pharmacological characterization of glutamate binding to liver mitochondrial membranes revealed a pattern almost identical to that of the chloride- and calcium-dependent glutamate-binding site in rat brain
Population-level effect of HIV on adult mortality and early evidence of reversal after introduction of antiretroviral therapy in Malawi.
BACKGROUND: Malawi, which has about 80,000 deaths from AIDS every year, made free antiretroviral therapy available to more than 80 000 patients between 2004 and 2006. We aimed to investigate mortality in a population before and after the introduction of free antiretroviral therapy, and therefore to assess the effects of such programmes on survival at the population level. METHODS: We used a demographic surveillance system to measure mortality in a population of 32,000 in northern Malawi, from August, 2002, when free antiretroviral therapy was not available in the study district, until February, 2006, 8 months after a clinic opened. Causes of death were established through verbal autopsies (retrospective interviews). Patients who registered for antiretroviral therapy at the clinic were identified and linked to the population under surveillance. Trends in mortality were analysed by age, sex, cause of death, and zone of residence. FINDINGS: Before antiretroviral therapy became available in June, 2005, mortality in adults (aged 15-59 years) was 9.8 deaths for 1000 person-years of observation (95% CI 8.9-10.9). The probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 years was 43% (39-49) for men and 43% (38-47) for women; 229 of 352 deaths (65.1%) were attributed to AIDS. 8 months after the clinic that provided antiretroviral therapy opened, 107 adults from the study population had accessed treatment, out of an estimated 334 in need of treatment. Overall mortality in adults had decreased by 10% from 10.2 to 8.7 deaths for 1000 person-years of observation (adjusted rate ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.70-1.14). Mortality was reduced by 35% (adjusted rate ratio 0.65, 0.46-0.92) in adults near the main road, where mortality before antiretroviral therapy was highest (from 13.2 to 8.5 deaths per 1000 person-years of observation before and after antiretroviral therapy). Mortality in adults aged 60 years or older did not change. INTERPRETATION: Our findings of a reduction in mortality in adults aged between 15 and 59 years, with no change in those older than 60 years, suggests that deaths from AIDS were averted by the rapid scale-up of free antiretroviral therapy in rural Malawi, which led to a decline in adult mortality that was detectable at the population level
The low-lying levels of the GR 1 centre in diamond
The structure of the satellite lines of the GR 1 band in diamond is analysed. It is shown to arise from a vibronic splitting, as in the model of Lannoo and Stoneham. Sufficient data are available to extract values of the Jahn-Teller energy, the effective phonon frequency and certain higher order terms characterising the Jahn-Teller behaviour
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