In this paper we describe a variant of A* search designed to run on the massively parallel, SIMD Connection Machine (CM-2). The algorithm is designed to run in a limited memory by use of a retraction technique which allows nodes with poor heuristic values to be removed from the open list, until such time as they may need reexpansion, more promising paths having failed. Our algorithm, called PRA...

Accurate prediction of cardiac output (CO), left atrial pressure (PLA), and right atrial pressure (PRA) is a prerequisite for management of patients with compromised hemodynamics. In our previous study (Uemura et al. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 286: H2376-H2385, 2004), we demonstrated a circulatory equilibrium framework, which permits the prediction of CO, PLA, and PRA once the venous retur...

Acute hypercalcemia inhibits plasma renin activity (PRA). How this occurs is unknown. We hypothesized that acute hypercalcemia inhibits PRA via the calcium-sensing receptor because of parathyroid hormone-mediated increases in renal cortical interstitial calcium via TRPV5. To test our hypothesis, acute in vivo protocols were run in sodium-restricted, anesthetized rats. TRPV5 messenger RNA expres...

Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been applied to detect M. leprae in different clinical samples and urine seems to be attractive for this purpose. PCR was used to improve the sensitivity for diagnosing leprosy by amplifying a 151-bp PCR fragment of the M. leprae pra gene (PCR-Pra) in urine samples. Seventy-three leprosy pat...

OBJECTIVE To test if posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy (PRA) is superior to lateral transperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LTLA). BACKGROUND Most popular LTLA has been recently challenged by an increasing popularity of PRA, which is believed by many surgeons (not evidence-based) as superior to LTLA in the treatment of small and benign adrenal tumors. METHODS Participants wer...

OBJECTIVES Age-related changes in the expression of hormonal receptors have not been well examined in the fallopian tube (FT). We herein report the effect of menopause on the hormone receptors in ampullae of the FTs (AFTs), in comparison with cortical inclusion cysts (CICs) of the ovary. METHODS A total of 84 AFTs and 16 fimbriae of FTs, which were obtained from 26 premenopausal and 58 postme...

Previous studies from this laboratory have demonstrated that the redistribution of blood volume and concomitant central hypervolemia induced by water immersion to the neck (NI) produces a prompt and profound suppression of plasma renin (PRA) and plasma aldosterone (PA) without concomitant alterations in serum sodium and potassium concentrations. The NI model was used to assess the responsivenes...

Yanofsky (1) originally proposed N-(5’-phosphoribosyl)anthranilic acid as the first intermediate after anthranilic acid in tryptophan biosynthesis in microorganisms. Evidence was subsequently found which suggested that this compound is formed enzymatically from anthranilic acid and ribosylpyrophosphate 5-phosphate (2, 3). Although the dephosphorylated form of PRA,’ N-ribosylanthranilic acid, ha...

Relationships among plasma renin activities (PRA), plasma angiotensin II (ATII) concentrations, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) concentrations and cardiopulmonary function values were examined in dogs with ascitic pulmonary heartworm disease and acute- and chronic-vena caval syndrome (CS). PRA, plasma ATII concentration and plasma ANP concentration tended to be higher or were significantly hig...

To characterize the renln-angiotensin system in the Aokl-Okamoto spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) more fully, serial measurements of plasma renin activity (PRA), plasma renin concentration (PRC), renin reactivity (as relative index of circulating modifiers of the renin reaction) and renin substrate concentration were made in 6to 64-week-old SHR and in age-matched Wistar-Kyoto normotensive r...