BACKGROUND:S-Adenosylmethionine synthetase (AdoMetS) catalyzes the formation of S-Adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), the major methyl group donor in cells. AdoMet-mediated methylation of DNA is known to have regulatory effects on DNA transcription and chromosome structure. Transcription of environmental-responsive genes was demonstrated to be mediated via DNA methylation in dinoflagellates.RESULTS:A full-length cDNA encoding AdoMetS was cloned from the dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the CcAdoMetS gene, is associated with the clade of higher plant orthrologues, and not to the clade of the animal orthrologues. Surprisingly, three extra stretches of residues (8 to 19 amino acids) were found on CcAdoMetS, when compared to other members of this usually conserved protein family. Modeled on the bacterial AdeMetS, two of the extra loops are located close to the methionine binding site. Despite this, the CcAdoMetS was able to rescue the corresponding mutant of budding yeast. Southern analysis, coupled with methylation-sensitive and insensitive enzyme digestion of C. cohnii genomic DNA, demonstrated that the AdoMetS gene is itself methylated. The increase in digestibility of methylation-sensitive enzymes on AdoMet synthetase gene observed following the addition of DNA methylation inhibitors L-ethionine and 5-azacytidine suggests the presence of cytosine methylation sites within CcAdoMetS gene. During the cell cycle, both the transcript and protein levels of CcAdoMetS peaked at the G1 phase. L-ethionine was able to delay the cell cycle at the entry of S phase. A cell cycle delay at the exit of G2/M phase was induced by 5-azacytidine.CONCLUSION:The present study demonstrates a major role of AdoMet-mediated DNA methylation in the regulation of cell proliferation and that the CcAdoMetS gene is itself methylated.

We report here infanticide followed by cannibalism in Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris, which to our knowledge has not been previously been reported in hornbills. In December 2005–January 2006, video cameras were placed in four Oriental Pied Hornbill nest cavities (before they were occupied), in the forests of Pulau Ubin, an island off Singapore, as part of the Singapore Hornbill Project. Pulau Ubin (1°24′N 103°58′E) lies in the Straits of Johor, north-east of the main island of Singapore; it is 8 km in length and 1.3–1.7 km in breadth and has an area of 10.2 km. The habitat is mainly mixed secondary forest with old fruit plantations, primarily durian Durio zibethinus. The nest trees were 0.6–2.7 km apart, at an altitude of 1–5 m. The cavity openings were 7–12.1 m above the ground.

Prokaryotic histone-like proteins (Hlps) are abundant proteins found in bacterial and plastid nucleoids. Hlps are also found in the eukaryotic dinoflagellates and the apicomplexans, two major lineages of the Alveolata. It may be expected that Hlps of both groups were derived from the same ancestral Alveolates. However, our phylogenetic analyses suggest different origins for the dinoflagellate and the apicomplexan Hlps. The apicomplexan Hlps are affiliated with the cyanobacteria and probably originated from Hlps of the plastid genome. The dinoflagellate Hlps and the proteobacterial long Hlps form a clade that branch off from the node with the proteobacterial short Hlps.

PurposeTo show new design methodology of low power circuit design (Low Power Critical Voltage Transition Logic – LPCVTL) over the conventional CVTL methodology. The comparison is in terms of speed, area and power consumption.Design/methodology/approachThe new design employs feedback mechanism with a different clocking methodology to overcome high static power dissipation of conventional CVTL design.FindingsLPCVTL has lower power dissipation property as compared to the conventional CVTL design through the observation of the simulated results of an inverter chain and half adder designs. LPCVTL power dissipation is about eight times smaller than the conventional CVTL.Research limitation/implicationsThe desired clock frequency is limited by the output signal response.Originality/valueLPCVTL is an alternative to dynamic digital IC design methodology which has high speed advantage while maintaining low power consumption.

Background: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is a bariatric surgical procedure that is worldwide accepted. However, it can be very difficult in super obese patients with body mass index (BMI) > 50. Much interest has been paid recently in performing the LAGB operation after an initial programmed weight loss with the use of the very low-calorie diet (VLCD). Aims: We sought to analyze the impact of the VLCD on the technical difficulties during the LAGB. Settings and Design: Randomized controlled trial. Materials and Methods: We evaluated prospectively, the technical difficulties for a single, dedicated bariatric surgeon during the LAGB in two groups of patients - patients operated on after 6 weeks on a VLCD diet (Group A, n = 5) and patients on no diet (Group B, n = 5). The two groups had similar BMI during the operation. The technical difficulties for five-key steps during the LAGB were graded by three individuals who were blinded with regard to the patient group. (1 = first surgeon, 2 = second surgeon, 3 = observer). Statistical methods: Cumulative values for each step and BMI level in the two groups were analyzed by the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results: All three independent observers' grading of technical difficulties were found lower in Group A (P < 0.05) overall, as well as for each BMI value. Conclusion: Preoperative weight reduction with the VLCD made the LAGB technically easier in Group A.

The role of allergy in atopic dermatitis is controversial. The atopy patch test (APT) has been used to investigate the association between atopic dermatitis and aeroallergen allergy. To determine the proportion of patients with atopic dermatitis with positive patch tests to common local aeroallergens and to compare this to controls with and without respiratory atopy, we performed APT, skin-prick tests (SPT) and IgE radioallergosorbent tests (RAST) on 73 patients with atopic dermatitis and on 38 nonatopic controls (13 with and 25 without respiratory atopy). The allergens used were house dust mite, cat dander, Bermuda grass and German cockroach. Only the APT for house dust mite showed a significant difference between the two groups. APT for house dust mite correlated with the RAST test, while APT for cat fur correlated with the SPT. The APT may be useful to evaluate aeroallergens in atopic dermatitis, but further work is needed to make it more reliable.

This paper presents a reliable fingerprint center point (CP) location algorithm for the alignment of fingerprints to construct a shift invariant fingerprint recognition system. The proposed algorithm is based on alteration tracking (AT) and CP estimation (CPE). AT is proposed to extract a track that records the transition from one quantized direction to another. CPE is aimed to find the bending point with highest transition of direction from the transition track. This algorithm is tested against fingerprints captured from SAGEM MSO100 optical scanner and the second database from University of Bologna. Experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm is capable of reliably locating fingerprint CP.

Background and Objectives: The perception of pain is a personal experience influenced by many factors, including genetic, ethnic and cultural issues. Understanding these perceptions is especially important in dermatologic patients undergoing minor surgical operations and who often differ in their pain response to surgical treatments. Little is known about how these differences affect the perception of experimental pain. The purpose of this study was to determine experimental pain perception differences in three distinct East Asian ethnic populations.Methods: Pain thresholds were examined with a psychophysical computerized quantitative thermal sensory testing device (TSA 2001) in healthy volunteers recruited from three different Asian ethnic groups. Using the methods of limits, experimental pain perception threshold was measured on the forehead and volar aspect of the forearm in 49 healthy subjects. The measurements were then repeated after skin barrier perturbation with adhesive tape stripping of the stratum corneum. All three ethnic groups were analyzed separately with respect to age, gender educational level and skin type.Results: A total of 20 Chinese, 14 Malay and 15 Indian subjects completed the study. Thermal pain thresholds were similar in all three ethnic groups before and after tape strippings. No significant differences were noted between genders.Conclusions: Using quantitative sensory thermal testing, we demonstrated that no significant differences in pain occur between different races and genders.

INTRODUCTION In the year 2002, the Society for Emergency Medicine in Singapore Chapter of Paramedics organised the first emergency medical services (EMS) day, to educate the public about basic emergency response skills and to increase public awareness of the local EMS System. METHODS This was an observational, cross-sectional study. A survey was conducted to find out about the knowledge and attitudes of the public and paramedic volunteer instructors towards the local EMS System. RESULTS Two hundred and six (81.4 percent) out of 253 members of the public and 70 paramedics (100 percent) responded. For the public, the majority were females (86 percent), mean age (standard deviation [sd]) was 15.9 (7.9) years, range 11.0 to 67.0 years. For the paramedics, mean (sd) age was 26.6 (3.8) years. 61.9 percent were females. The public showed good knowledge of the emergency ambulance number and the indications for calling an ambulance. Public expectations of ambulance response times were significantly shorter than paramedics. They were also less comfortable with ambulance crews performing advanced life support interventions compared with the paramedics. CONCLUSION Continuing efforts should be made to increase public awareness of the EMS system as well as to manage public expectations regarding response times and the roles of paramedics. EMS day represents one such opportunity.

Purpose: To investigate barrier repair after mild trauma in lesional skin of psoriasis patients with chronic plaque-type disease and to compare this with non-involved psoriatic skin and normal controls.Methods: Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) readings were taken from involved psoriatic skin and non-involved skin of psoriasis patients as well as the skin of normal controls. Three readings were performed at each site: the basal state, immediately after 20 tape strippings and 1 week post stripping.Results: Higher baseline, post-stripping and 1-week recovery TEWL readings in psoriatic-involved skin compared to non-involved and normal control skin. No significant difference in barrier recovery rate in psoriatic-involved skin compared to non-involved and normal control.Conclusion: Although there appears to be a derangement of barrier function in lesional skin of psoriasis patients compared to non-lesional skin and the skin of healthy controls, the barrier recovery function of lesional psoriatic skin is still fully operational.

BACKGROUND:Although pruritus is the predominant and commonest feature of atopic dermatitis, its clinical characteristics have not been explored.OBJECTIVE:To characterize the clinical pattern and sensory and affective dimensions of the itch experience utilizing a comprehensive itch questionnaire.METHODS:A structured itch questionnaire based on the McGill pain questionnaire was given to 102 Chinese patients with known atopic dermatitis.RESULTS:There were 100 patients with atopic dermatitis who fully filled the questionnaire. In 87% of the patients pruritus appeared on a daily basis. It had a prolonged duration (mean duration 10.7 7.3 years). It involved all body areas mostly in the lower limbs (83%), flexures (76%), upper limbs (71%) and neck (65%). Itch intensity during its peak was nearly twice higher than the itch of a mosquito bite. Itching was most frequent at night (65%), and 84% of patients reported of difficulty falling asleep. Daily life activities which increased the severity of itch were sweat in 96%, dryness in 71%, stress in 71% and physical effort in 73%. The major factors which were found to reduce the intensity of pruritus included: bathing with cold water in 55% and cold ambient environment in 56%. Associated symptoms were heat sensation (51%), sweating (40%) and pain in the pruritic area (45%). The various anti-pruritic therapies had limited long-term effect. The pruritus was bothersome (52%) and a major distress to the patient. The affective score correlated to itch intensity during its peak (r = 0.4, P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:The study provided a detailed description of pruritus in atopic dermatitis with new data on affective and sensory dimensions and associated symptoms. The questionnaire was found to be a useful tool in characterization of itch.

Background Although pruritus is a predominant symptom of chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) its clinical characteristics have not been explored.Objectives To characterize the clinical pattern and sensory and affective dimensions of the itch experience, utilizing a comprehensive itch questionnaire.Methods A structured questionnaire based on the McGill pain questionnaire was used in 100 patients suffering from CIU randomly recruited from a tertiary referral centre.Results All 100 patients recruited with CIU completed the questionnaire. In 68 patients pruritus appeared on a daily basis. Most patients experienced their pruritus at night and in the evening (n = 83), and 62 reported difficulty in falling asleep. Pruritus involved all body areas, but mostly the arms (n = 86), back (n = 78) and legs (n = 75). Accompanying symptoms were a sensation of heat in 45 patients and sweating in 15. Most patients (n = 98) were prescribed antihistamines (mainly sedating), of whom 34 experienced long-term relief. The sensation of itch was reported to be stinging (n = 27), tickling (n = 25) and burning (n = 23). Seventy-six patients found their pruritus bothersome, 66 annoying and 14 complained of depression. The itch intensity at its peak was more than double that felt after a mosquito bite. The worst itch scores of those who felt depressed were significantly higher than of those who did not (P = 0.018). There was a positive correlation between the sensory and affective scores during worst itch (P < 0.001).Conclusions This study describes the itch experienced in CIU, highlighting sensory and affective dimensions. The itch questionnaire was found to be a valuable tool for evaluating pruritus in CIU and its unique features.

Saliva coating all oral surfaces has a buffering capacity that neutralizes bacterial and cariogenic acids. The aim of our study was to determine the surface pH in different regions of the oral cavity in healthy volunteers and in patients with diseases affecting the oral mucosa. Oral pH was measured with a flat glass electrode on the anterior third of the ventral surface of the tongue, middle hard palate, buccal mucosa and inner lips in 32 healthy volunteers, 12 patients with Behçet's disease, 23 patients with oral lichen planus, and 11 patients with burning mouth syndrome. The present study showed that there was an uneven distribution of oral surface pH. The palate had a higher pH than most other sites in all groups, and in patients with lichen planus, the palate pH was higher than that in healthy controls. Those with dentures had lower pH values in the hard palate than dentate patients. The relatively high pH in the palate region in all patient groups as well as healthy volunteers needs to be further studied to clarify its mechanisms and clinical relevance.

BACKGROUNDTreatment modalities for keloids, which are commonly found in Asians, include intralesional corticosteroid injections and cryotherapy as well as a combination of these two modalities. Few studies have been performed in a controlled fashion to evaluate the efficacy of these treatments.OBJECTIVEA controlled study, to evaluate the combined effect of intralesional corticosteroid injection with cryotherapy vs. intralesional corticosteroid or cryotherapy alone.METHODSTen patients completed the study: eight patients had at least three keloids and two had two keloids. Patients were treated for at least three sessions 4 weeks apart. The outcome of the lesions was compared between the treatments regarding the thickness of the lesion using a caliper and photographic assessment, and the presence of itch and pain before and after treatment using a visual analogue scale.RESULTSIn terms of thickness, the keloids responded significantly better to combined cryotherapy and triamcinolone vs. triamcinolone alone or cryotherapy alone (P < 0.001). Pain intensity was significantly lowered with all treatment modalities; however, itch was lowered only with the combined treatment and intralesional corticosteroid alone. No significant side effects were noted with any of the treatments and no re-occurrence of keloids was noted with the combined therapy.CONCLUSIONCombined injection of intralesional steroids with cryotherapy appears to be superior to other current modalities.

BACKGROUND:Lichen simplex chronicus is a troublesome intractable itchy dermatosis, which may persist despite intensive topical treatments. Recently it has been demonstrated that topical aspirin solution with dichloromethane has a significant antipruritic effect in an experimentally induced itch.OBJECTIVE:The aim of this double-blind, crossover placebo trial was to evaluate the efficacy of this solution in the treatment of lichen simplex chronicus.METHODS:Twenty-nine patients with lichen simplex chronicus of at least 3 months' duration that did not respond to topical corticosteroids were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive aspirin/dichloromethane solution in treatment period 1 for 2 weeks followed by placebo in treatment period 2 or placebo followed by aspirin in period 2 with a crossover design after a 2-week washout. The patients rated the pruritus intensity before and during therapy with a visual analog scale; a blinded investigator performed photographic assessment.RESULTS:A significant therapeutic response was achieved in 11 (46%) of the patients who completed the study compared with 3 patients (12%) receiving placebo. Overall, aspirin-treated patients experienced an average decrease in the visual analog scale of 2.18 +/- 2.86 versus 0.69 +/- 2.31 of those receiving placebo. The difference between the 2 treatments for week 2 was significant (P =.03).CONCLUSION:The study suggests that topical aspirin/dichloromethane might be a practical treatment for lichen simplex chronicus.

Background Many patients with psoriasis are known to suffer from itch. However, the data available regarding itch and its characteristics in psoriasis are sparse.Objectives To examine the prevalence of pruritus and various related clinical characteristics in 101 patients with extensive psoriasis.Methods A structured questionnaire was used.Results Generalized pruritus was a feature of psoriasis in 84% of the patients. In 77% of these it appeared on a daily basis. It involved all areas of the body, had prolonged duration and appeared mainly in the evening and at night. The pruritus significantly affected quality of life. Important daily factors that were found to exacerbate the itch were ambient heat (81%), skin dryness (80%), sweating (65%) and stress (55%). Important factors that were found to ameliorate itch were sleep (57%) and cold showers (55%). The pruritus was found to be unresponsive to most available antipruritics, including phototherapy. Itch intensity as reflected by a visual analogue scale did not correlate with Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores; however, a highly significant correlation was obtained between the affective descriptors and itch intensity in the worst itch states (r = 0.6, P < 0.001).Conclusions Pruritus is a common feature of psoriasis and affects quality of life.

Background: In a previous study we have found that young patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus had a higher prevalence of keratosis pilaris (KP) than healthy controls, with a high correlation with body mass index (BMI) and ichthyosiform skin changes of the legs. Objectives: To investigate whether BMI, dry scaly legs and atopic conditions could be associated with KP in a healthy population of adolescents. Methods: A total of 202 Jewish adolescents chosen at random among students undergoing a routine medical examination at school participated in the study. The patients filled in a questionnaire for data on ethnic origin, the presence or history of allergic rhinitis, asthma or atopic dermatitis, the presence of thyroid disease, diabetes or dry skin. A similar questionnaire was sent to the family physician for verification. A general inspection of the skin was made for the presence of KP; the lower legs were also examined for dry scaly skin and ichthyosiform skin changes. Results: KP was present in 33 examinees (16%). Factors significantly associated with were dry scaly skin (p < 0.001, odds ratio, OR = 31.3, with 95% confidence interval, CI, 6.4–153.7), BMI >25 (p < 0.001, OR = 4.9, with 95% CI 2.2–11.2) and atopy (p = 0.001, OR = 4.5, with 95% CI 1.8–11.1). Conclusion: It therefore appears that KP is associated with multiple factors, including high BMI, leg skin dryness and atopic conditions.

The main thrust of our present work is the study on the following areas where various problems remain unsolved, not properly solved, or not effectively solved: (1) performance assessment of image restoration; (2) regularization of image restoration; and (3) applications of image restoration technology in the field of image coding. In our study. some major pitfalls of using the SNRI are pinpointed, and an improved measure termed “restoration score” is devised. The proposed measure is based on a metric for pixel fidelity improvement and an incorporation of the main properties of the human visual system. It is shown that this measure is more precise than the SNRI. Another novelty is that it contains clearly-defined and meaningful reference points in its measurements. These reference points are useful in providing users with a better insight into the effectiveness of the restoration method under evaluation. In our study, we propose a more effective scheme for regularizing image restoration. In this scheme, where to emphasize restoration and where to do more regularization are evaluated separately in two independent uncorrelated transform domains, and the utilization of various statistical information concerning the image and the noise are also suggested to improve the regularization. The main advantages of the proposed regularization scheme include: (1) better utilization of a priori information regarding the ideal image and the noise; (2) higher resistance to the estimation error of the regularization weights; and (3) greater capability for a wide range of image restoration applications. In the area of image noise filtering, we derive an uncorrelated transform-domain estimator, which is then shown to be a generalized version of the adaptive LMMSE estimator. In the proposed filtering method, the uncorrelated transform-domain local statistics obtained from the noisy image are exploited. In the proposed deblurring algorithm, the smoothness imposition on the solution is adjusted by means of weighting the decorrelated image components according to their local variances computed from the processed image. It is shown by detailed experimental results that the proposed regularization scheme is more effective in suppressing the various artifacts in image deblurring and provides a better deblurring result, as compared with the conventional spatially adaptive regularization scheme. The proposed image restoration method also leads to a fast and effective deblocking technique for block-transform encoded images at high compression rates. This good performance is achieved because of the following advantages the proposed technique has: (1) efficient incorporation of the solution bound into restoration; and (2) effective exploitation of local image properties and statistical knowledge about the quantizers used. It is encouraging to find that, for all the problems concerned, the various algorithms we devise based on the proposed regularization scheme perform significantly better than many state-of-the-art techniques used to deal with the corresponding problems. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

A microprocessor implementing IBM S/390 architecture operates in a system at up to 400 MHz (2.5 ns). The microprocessor, initially in IBM CMOS5X technology, migrated to CMOS6S by shrinking the FET length dimensions but not shrinking the interconnect dimensions. The chip is 17.35/spl times/17.30 mm/sup 2/ with about 7.8M transistors. The power supply is 2.5 V and measured power dissipation at 300 MHz is 37 W. The microprocessor features two instruction units, two fixed point units, two floating point units, a buffer control element, and a register unit. It dispatches one instruction per cycle. A PLL provides a processor clock at 2/spl times/ the system bus frequency.