Kenneth Olsen, the President of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), points out a paradox associated with the application of network technology to organizational integration: while integration is technologically feasible, it is often resisted for social and psychological reasons. In cases where integration is being achieved, such as airline reservations systems and banking with automated teller...

A total of 52 strains of moderately halophilic bacteria isolated from hypersaline sediment of Lake Tebenquiche on the Atacama Saltern, Chile, were subjected to a taxonomic study. The morphological, physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics of the strains matched those described for the genus Chromohalobacter. Cells were Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and motile. A...

The Least Trimmed Squares (LTS) estimator is a frequently used robust estimator of regression. When it comes to inference for the parameters of the regression model, the asymptotic normality of the LTS estimator can be used. However, this is usually not appropriate in situations where the use of robust estimators is recommended. The bootstrap method constitutes an alternative, but has two major...

Leukotrienes (LTs) are potent biological proinflammatory mediators. LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4 are more frequently involved in chronic inflammatory responses and exert their actions binding to a cysteinyl-LT 1 (CysLT1) receptor and a cysteinyl-LT 2 (CysLT2) receptor. LTs receptor antagonists available for clinical use demonstrate high-affinity binding to the CysLT1 receptor. In this paper the employm...

We introduce G-relative-pushouts (GRPO) which are a 2-categorical generalisation of relative-pushouts (RPO). They are suitable for deriving labelled transition systems (LTS) for process calculi where terms are viewed modulo structural congruence. We develop their basic properties and show that bisimulation on the LTS derived via GRPOs is a congruence, provided that sufficiently many GRPOs exist...

Endogenous opioids generate analgesic signals in the periaqueductal gray (PAG). However, because cell types in the PAG are difficult to identify, its neuronal mechanism has remained poorly understood. To address this issue, we characterized PAG neurons by their electrical properties using differentially labeled GABAergic and output neurons in the PAG. We found that GABAergic neurons were mostly...

Individual genetic background together with environmental effects are thought to be behind many human complex diseases. A number of genetic variants, mainly single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), have been shown to be associated with various pathological and inflammatory conditions, representing potential therapeutic targets. Prostaglandins (PTGs) and leukotrienes (LTs) are eicosanoids derived...

Cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs) are a group of lipid mediators that are potent bronchoconstrictors, powerful inducers of vascular leakage and potentiators of airway hyperresponsiveness. Cys-LTs play an essential role in asthma and are synthesized as well as activated in mast cells (MCs). Cys-LTs relay their effects mainly through two known GPCRs, CysLT1R and CysLT2R. Although protein kinase C ...

OBJECTIVES SSc is a systemic CTD characterized by fibrosis in skin and internal organs. Interstitial lung disease is a frequent complication with fibrosis in the lung parenchyma. The fibrotic process is believed to be influenced by leukotrienes (LTs) and also by oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the amount of LTs and 8-isoprostane, a marker of oxidative stress, in exhal...