Some studies have shown that stomata in detached epidennis behave differently, both quantitatively and qualitatively, from those in the intact leaf. Stomata in the intact leaf are very sensitive to environmental factors such as light, C 0 2 and osmotic stress, but stomata in detached epidermis are less sensitive to these factors than those in the intact leaf. Stomata in the intact leaf open in the light and close in the dark, whereas previously opened stomata in detached epidermis do not close on transfer to darkness and they are dependent on the KC1 concentration in the incubation medium. Electrophysiological results also demonstrate different responses of guard cells in the intact leaf and detached epidennis. The electrical potential across the membrane of the guard cell in the intact leaf was hyperpolarised in response to light and C02. However, there were no changes in the membrane potential difference in response to light and C 0 2 in detached epidermis. In CCCP-infiltrated leaf discs, the guard cell membrane was conversely depolarised by light, indicating that the guard cell membrane hyperpolarisation was related to the mesophyll cells. These results suggest the participation of the mesophyll in stomatal control. It is possible that stomatal opening in the intact leaf, to a greater or lesser extent. is dependent on an electrical signal or a chemical propagated from the mesophyll.

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One of the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumors is Glioblastoma multiforme. Despite the multimodality treatment such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy (temozolomide: TMZ), the median survival rate of glioblastoma patient is less than 15 months. In this study, we investigated the association between measures of spatial diversity derived from spatial point pattern analysis of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data with molecular status as well as 12-month survival in glioblastoma. We obtained 27 measures of spatial proximity (diversity) via spatial point pattern analysis of multiparametric T1 post-contrast and T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI data. These measures were used to predict 12-month survival status (≤12 or >12 months) in 74 glioblastoma patients. Kaplan-Meier with receiver operating characteristic analyses was used to assess the relationship between derived spatial features and 12-month survival status as well as molecular subtype status in patients with glioblastoma. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that 14 spatial features were capable of stratifying overall survival in a statistically significant manner. For prediction of 12-month survival status based on these diversity indices, sensitivity and specificity were 0.86 and 0.64, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the accuracy were 0.76 and 0.75, respectively. For prediction of molecular subtype status, proneural subtype shows highest accuracy of 0.93 among all molecular subtypes based on receiver operating characteristic analysis. We find that measures of spatial diversity from point pattern analysis of intensity habitats from T1 post-contrast and T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images are associated with both tumor subtype status and 12-month survival status and may therefore be useful indicators of patient prognosis, in addition to providing potential guidance for molecularly-targeted therapies in Glioblastoma multiforme.

A gene encoding cysteine proteinase from Clonorchis sinensis has been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The cysteine proteinase cDNA fragment was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using degenerate oligonucleotide primers derived from conserved active site of cysteine proteinases. The 5' and 3' regions of the gene were amplified using rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The cloned gene has an open reading frame of 696 bp and deduced amino acid sequence of 232. Sequence analysis and alignment showed significant homologies with the eukaryotic cysteine proteinases and conservation of the Cys, His, and Asp residues that form the catalytic triad. Analysis of the expressed protein on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the molecular weight of the protein was approximately 28.5 kDa. Proteolytic activity of the expressed protein was inhibited by cysteine proteinase inhibitors such as L-trans-epoxysuccinyl-leucylamide-(4-guanidino)-butane, iodoacetic acid, and leupeptin. The expressed protein showed biochemical properties similar to those of cysteine proteinases of other parasites. The expressed protein strongly reacted with the sera from patients with clonorchiasis but not with the sera from patients with paragonimiasis, fascioliasis, cysticercosis, and sparganosis, or with sera from normal human controls. These results suggest that the expressed protein may be valuable as a specific diagnostic material for the immunodiagnosis of clonorchiasis.

Roles and role models have received much attention as useful concepts for developing highly reusable and dynamically evolvable systems. Role models belong to the category of collaboration‐based development techniques, but most of the existing approaches to role models do not explicitly incorporate the core principle of collaboration‐based developments as an essential property of their primary design goals. Consequently, the existing approaches still suffer from a problematic phenomenon that the structural and behavioral constraints defined in a role system can be violated during the role‐binding stage. We call such a problematic phenomenon the role‐binding anomaly. In order to alleviate the role‐binding anomaly, we propose an enhanced role model, in which all role instances and core objects can exist by themselves, namely, they can be developed, executed, and tested independently. Roles and core classes can be bound to each other at the instance level. In addition, the role system describes and encapsulates the behavior for dynamic reconfigurations among role instances. The enhanced role model is designed so as to be meaningful with respect to software engineering principles, rather than dynamic evolution. It also facilitates role model implementation using general programming languages (i.e. not supporting dynamic specialization) such as Java. To illustrate how the proposed role model makes such benefits, we develop a set of Java classes necessary for implementing the enhanced role model in the form of a Java package role, and present a simplified automatic teller machine system as an example application. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.