The influence of chronic nicotine treatment on stress-induced gastric ulceration and emptying rate in rats.

Ten-day treatment with nicotine (5, 25 or 50 micrograms/ml drinking water) dose-dependently intensified gastric ulceration induced by cold-restraint, and emptying rate. Stomach contractions produced by graded doses of bethanechol i.v. were elevated further by nicotine treatment. It is suggested that chronic nicotine administration produces hypersensitivity of the gastric muscarinic receptors; stomach hypermotility contributes to the ulcer-worsening action of the alkaloid.     

Efficient and power-awareness query over sensor networks

Sensor networks consisted of low-cost, low-power, multifunctional miniature sensor devices have played an important role in our daily life. Light and humidity monitoring, seismic and animal activity detection, environment and habitat monitoring are the most common applications. However, due to the limited power supply, ordinary query methods and algorithms can not be applied on sensor networks. Queries over sensor networks should be power-aware to guarantee the maximum power savings. The minimal power consumption by avoiding the expensive communication of the redundant sensor nodes is concentrated on. A lot of work have been done to reduce the participated nodes, but none of them have considered the overlapping minimum bounded rectangle (MBR) of sensors which make them impossible to reach the optimization solution. The proposed OMSI-tree and OMR algorithm can efficiently solve this problem by executing a given query only on the sensors involved. Experiments show that there is an obvious improvement compared with TinyDB and other spatial index, adopting the proposed schema and algorithm.     

Oxysterols direct immune cell migration via EBI2

Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 2 (EBI2, also known as GPR183) is a G-protein-coupled receptor that is required for humoral immune responses; polymorphisms in the receptor have been associated with inflammatory autoimmune diseases. The natural ligand for EBI2 has been unknown. Here we describe the identification of 7α,25-dihydroxycholesterol (also called 7α,25-OHC or 5-cholesten-3β,7α,25-triol) as a potent and selective agonist of EBI2. Functional activation of human EBI2 by 7α,25-OHC and closely related oxysterols was verified by monitoring second messenger readouts and saturable, high-affinity radioligand binding. Furthermore, we find that 7α,25-OHC and closely related oxysterols act as chemoattractants for immune cells expressing EBI2 by directing cell migration in vitro and in vivo. A critical enzyme required for the generation of 7α,25-OHC is cholesterol 25-hydroxylase (CH25H). Similar to EBI2 receptor knockout mice, mice deficient in CH25H fail to position activated B cells within the spleen to the outer follicle and mount a reduced plasma cell response after an immune challenge. This demonstrates that CH25H generates EBI2 biological activity in vivo and indicates that the EBI2-oxysterol signalling pathway has an important role in the adaptive immune response.     

A novel architecture for cargos location and safety in networked RFID

Using Networked RFID equipped in warehouse or supermarket distribution, Enterprise information system (EIS) can gather and deal with cargos information. Nevertheless, when cargos are in traffic, the Networked RFID can't monitor the cargos any more as the products tagged aren't within range of a reader. This paper proposes a solution framework which combines Networked RFID and GPS tracking, and then equip with this system in container to make the cargos monitored even if the cargos are in traffic. This solution can solve the accurate consignments, position tracking and advanced theft happening through drilling holes in container. In addition, customhouse and checkpoint can get an electronic shipment manifest rapidly and safely when a vehicle gets through a checkpoint.     

Isolation of human epidermal stem cells by adherence and the reconstruction of skin equivalents

The isolation of human epidermal stem cells is critical for their clinical applications. In the present study, we isolated three populations of epidermal keratinocytes according to their ability to adhere to collagen type IV: i.e., rapidly adhering (RA), slowly adhering (SA), and non-adhering (NA) cells. The aim of this study was to characterize RA cells and to investigate the possibility of using these cells for epidermis reconstruction. To identify RA cells, flow cytometric analysis was performed using anti-₆ integrin and anti-CD71 antibodies. RA cells express high levels of ₆ integrin and low levels of CD71, which are considered as markers of an epidermal stem cell nature. Furthermore, electron microscopy showed that RA cells are small and have a high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio, whereas SA and NA cells have well-developed cellular organelles and abundant tonofilaments. Western blot analysis showed that RA cells are slow cycling and express p63, a putative epidermal stem cell marker, whereas SA and NA cells express c-Myc, which is known to regulate stem cell fate. To compare epidermal regenerative abilities, skin equivalents (SEs) were made using RA, SA, and NA cells. The epidermis constructed from RA cells was well formed compared to those formed from SA or NA cells. In addition, only SEs with RA cells expressed ₆ integrin and ₁ integrin at the basal layer. These results indicate that RA cells represent epidermal stem cells and are predominately comprised of stem cells. Therefore, the isolation of RA cells using a simple technique offers a potential route to their clinical application, because they are easily isolated and provide a high yield of epidermal stem cells.Received 2 July 2004; received after revision 20 August 2004; accepted 10 September 2004     

High Oil-absorptive Composites Prepared from Non-woven Fiber and Sponges with 4-tert- butylstyrene-EPDM-divinylbenzene Graft Polymer

4-tert-butylstyrene-EPDM-divinylbenzene graft terpolym-er (PBED) was prepared by graft cross-polymerization in toluene using BPO as an initiator. The gel-PBED and sol-PBED were isolated from extraction of tetrahydrofuran (THF), and then they were identified by IR spectr-oscopy. The maximum oil-absorptivity of gel-PBED produced from the optimum reaction conditions was 8420% but its swelling rate was very low. The highest oil-absorptivity of photocrosslinked sol-PBED film was 5 800%. Although its oil absorbency was not as high as gel-PBED' s, swelling rate was higher than that of gel-PBED and was suitable for commercial purpose. After swelling in oil, neither gel-PBED nor photocrosslinked sol-PBED film having high oil-absorptivity had sufficient mechanical strength to be taken out of oil wholly. As is known, composite technique is one of the useful methods for reinforcing them. Fibers, sponges and non-woven cloths were used as reinforcers or supporters in this work. Oil-absorptivities and swelling kinetics