Simple and rapid fluorometric screening methods have been developed based on the competitive binding between the target and an intercalating fluorophore dye to double-stranded-DNA (dsDNA). In this study, the long-wavelength fluorescente dye TOTO-3 was employed as the indicator. Compounds that interact with dsDNA will affect the binding of TOTO-3 to the nucleic acid thereby changing the fluorescenc

Time series analysis of herbivore data with weather included as covariate is commonly used as a mean to shed light on the state and ecology of the studied population. Conclusions about the herbivore population are drawn from statistical parameter values and presence/absence in the most parsimonious model. However, this procedure is only reliable if the statistical parameters have general interpret

We give a simple algorithm that can find biased linear approximations of nonlinear building blocks. The algorithm is useful if the building block is relatively small and exhaustive search is possible. Instead of searching all possible linear relations individually, we show how the most biased relation can be found in just a few steps. As an example we show how we can find a biased relation in the

Objective: To develop calculation models, using Western immunoblot, as a tool for the estimation of proteolytic human aggrecan fragment identity. Method. Seven human aggrecan fragments (calibrators), purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation and identified by Western immunoblot of N- and C-terminals, were used to develop calculation models. The models were used for identification of unknown aggreca

Film formation from latex dispersions with varying concentrations of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and sodium persulfate (NaPS) was studied with a sorption balance. The drying rate decreased significantly at a critical volume fraction of polymer (pc). Under constant drying conditions the pc varied due to differences in particle stabilization. In SDS containing samples, the droplets wetted larger are

We present a fast and accurate method for real-time determination of the absorption coefficient, the scattering coefficient, and the anisotropy factor of thin turbid samples by using simple continuous-wave noncoherent light sources. The three optical properties are extracted from recordings of angularly resolved transmittance in addition to spatially resolved diffuse reflectance and transmittance.

Silicon microchips with immobilized antibodies were used to develop microfluidic enzyme immunoassays using chemiluminescence detection and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as the enzyme label. Polyclonal anti-atrazine antibodies were coupled to the silicon microchip surface with an overall dimension of 13.1 x 3.2 mm, comprising 42 porous flow channels of 235-mum depth and 25-mum width. Different immob

The division operation is essential in many digital signal processing algorithms. For a hardware implementation, the requirements and constraints on the divider circuit differ significantly with different applications. Therefore, it is not possible to design one divider component having optimal performance and cost for all target applications. Instead, the presented divider has a modular architect

In this article experimental and numerical studies of internal frost resistance of self-compacting and normal concrete, with and without fibres, are outlined. For this purpose self-compacting concrete with low water-cement ratio was studied, with varying amounts of filler, crystalline or sedimentary, different pouring pressures and different mixing procedure with two ages at the start of testing.

• Here, cyanobiont selectivity of epiphytic lichen species was examined in an old growth forest area in Finland. • Samples of the eight lichen species were collected from the same aspen (Populus tremula) and adjacent aspens in the same stand. The cyanobionts of these samples were compared with free and symbiotic Nostoc obtained from other habitats and geographic regions. • Our results, based on

To establish the structure of ferric ions in strongly alkaline (pH > 13) environments, aqueous NaOH solutions supersaturated with respect to Fe(III) and the solid ferric-hydroxo complex salts precipitating from them have been characterized with a variety of experimental techniques. From UV measurements, in solutions of pH > 13, only one kind of Fe(III)-hydroxo complex species was found to be prese

There is a need for efficient methods for estimating trends in spatio-temporal Earth Observation data. A suitable model for such data is a space-varying regression model, where the regression coefficients for the spatial locations are dependent. A second order intrinsic Gaussian Markov Random Field prior is used to specify the spatial covariance structure. Model parameters are estimated using the

The aim of this study was to develop a quantitative method to assess viable tumour based on post-operative 201Tl single photon emission tomography (SPET). We studied 15 patients with histologically defined highly malignant gliomas in the post-operative phase before initiation of adjuvant treatment. A 201Tl index was calculated in two ways: maximal counts versus mean counts within a region of inter

The transcriptional events that control T cell tolerance are still poorly understood. To investigate why tolerant T cells fail to produce interleukin (IL)-2, we analyzed the regulation of NFkappaB-mediated transcription in CD4(+) T cells after tolerance induction in vivo. We demonstrate that a predominance of p50-p50 homodimers binding to the IL-2 promoter kappaB site in tolerant T cells correlate

This paper investigates the extent to which differences in information costs can explain the equity home bias puzzle. In a model where information costs are higher for the Foreign asset than for the Home asset, we show that---if cost functions are convex and the assets have identical return characteristics---the expected size of the home bias in terms of differences in expected demands is positive

A Latin hypercube sampling method, including a reduction of spurious correlation in input data, is suggested for stochastic finite element analysis. This sampling procedure strongly improves the representation of stochastic design parameters compared to a standard Monte Carlo sampling. As the correlation control requires the number of realizations to be larger than the number of stochastic variabl

A sulfophenylated polysulfone (PSU-sph), carrying 0.8 sulfonic acid units per repeating unit of the polymer, is evaluated as a membrane electrolyte for DMFC applications. The liquid uptake, methanol transport characteristics, electrolyte conductivity, and fuel cell performance are investigated. The methanol transport and DMFC performance results are compared to those of Nafion® 117. The PSU-sph me