Adjustment to Lancaster's Mid-P

Lancaster's mid-P is increasingly accepted as an adjustment for the P-value when an integer-valued test statistic W is used (as in Fisher's Exact Test), and is recommended for quoting as a measure of significance with the actual P-value. On the basis of distributional properties of the mid-P which resemble those of a P-value of a continuous test statistic, we propose a further adjustment. This gives a significance value h(w) when W=w is observed, such that and Eh(W)=1/2 and Varh(W)=1/12. A computational algorithm to produce h(w) is suggested. Symmetry of the distribution of W is shown to provide substantial simplification. The numerical procedures are illustrated on 3 examples (2 from real life) to which Fisher's Exact Test is applied. The results are compared with an unconditional test in a concluding section.     

Exploring Peptaibol’s Profile,Antifungal, and Antitumor Activity of Emericellipsin A of Emericellopsis Species from Soda and Saline Soils

Features of the biochemical adaptations of alkaliphilic fungi to exist in extreme environments could promote the production of active antibiotic compounds with the potential to control microorganisms, causing infections associated with health care. Thirty-eight alkaliphilic and alkalitolerant Emericellopsis strains (E. alkalina, E. cf. maritima, E. cf. terricola, Emericellopsis sp.) isolated from different saline soda soils and belonging to marine, terrestrial, and soda soil ecological clades were investigated for emericellipsin A (EmiA) biosynthesis, an antifungal peptaibol previously described for Emericellopsis alkalina. The analysis of the Emericellopsis sp. strains belonging to marine and terrestrial clades from chloride soils revealed another novel form with a mass of 1032.7 Da, defined by MALDI-TOF Ms/Ms spectrometers, as the EmiA lacked a hydroxyl (dEmiA). EmiA displayed strong inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and viability of HCT 116 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manners and induced apoptosis.     

Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography of proteins on IDA-Fe3+

Several proteins, selected for their varied isoelectric points within pH range ca. 4 to ca. ll, bind to immobilized (chelated to iminodiacetate) ferric ion, IDA-Fe³⁺, when applied in a 50 mM buffer, pH 6.0. These proteins can be displaced from IDA-Fe³⁺ columns by an increase of pH from 6 to 8, an increase of sodium chloride from 0 to 1 Malar and, in particular, by both. Apotransferrins, in contrast to other proteins, are able to scavenge Fe³⁺ ion from IDA-Fe³⁺. Interestingly, two proteins, both quite acidic, behave quite differently on IDA-Fe³⁺: α₁-acid glycoprotein (sialic acid) does not bind, whereas phosvitin (phosphate 1) binds avidly. IDA-Fe³⁺ sorbent, due to its unusual sorptive properties, represents a new addition of particular significance to the family of chromatographic sorbents available for protein purification.     

Transport properties of boron and aluminum

Transport cross sections and collision integrals are tabulated for a wide range of energies and temperatures for the interactions B–B and Al–Al. For aluminum, a semiclassical approximation was used to determine the scattering phase shifts from which the transport cross sections were calculated. For boron, the smaller reduced mass and the deep potential wells required the phase shifts at lower energies to be determined from a numerical solution of the time-independent Schroedinger equation; the semiclassical approximation was used at higher energies where the two methods agree. The variations of the collision integrals for viscosity and diffusion are presented graphically as a function of temperature. The results are applied to estimate the transport properties of gallium. Received: 9 July 1999 / Accepted: 18 August 1999 / Published online: 2 November 1999     

Multicomponent Equilibrium Adsorption on Heterogeneous Adsorbents

A generalized method for prediction of multicomponent adsorption is suggested based on representing that adsorbent volume as energetically inhomogeneous. The method depends on extending the Polanyi potential theory to mixture adsorption. The main feature of the method is that, at constant partial pressure and temperature the composition of an adsorbed phase is not uniform over its volume. Results of applying this theory to non-porous adsorbents have been considered. The prediction ability of the theory is confirmed for the strongly non-ideal system acetone–chloroform–graphitized carbon black. It was shown that the departure from ideal behavior of adsorbed phase is quite close to that for the liquid mixture. Another system considered was oxygen–nitrogen–anatase at 78 K. Although this mixture is ideal, it has been found that there is significant variation in composition over the adsorbed layer due to the difference in the interactions of the quadrupolar N₂ molecule and nonpolar O₂ molecule with the anatase surface.     

Examining the Effects of a Reformed Junior High School Science Class on Students' Math Achievement

Though national standards emphasize the importance of connections between math and science, few empirical studies exist to support the notion that student achievement increases from such integration. This paper examines an eighth‐grade science class that integrated mathematics into science through the use of technology. In a setting of action research, the effects of such integration were examined. This paper reports that integrating mathematics into the science class positively affected students' achievement in their math class and describes the circumstances under which the integration occurred.     

Evaluation of Neurotropic Activity and Molecular Docking Study of New Derivatives of pyrano[4″,3″:4′,5′]pyrido[3′,2′:4,5]thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines on the Basis of pyrano[3,4-c]pyridines

Background: Heterocyclic compounds and their fused analogs, which contain pharmacophore fragments such as pyridine, thiophene and pyrimidine rings, are of great interest due to their broad spectrum of biological activity. Chemical compounds containing two or more pharmacophore groups due to additional interactions with active receptor centers usually enhance biological activity and can even lead to a new type of activity. The search for new effective neurotropic drugs in the series of derivatives of heterocycles containing pharmacophore groups in organic, bioorganic and medical chemistry is a serious problem. Methods: Modern methodology of drugs involves synthesis, physicochemical study, molecular modeling and selection of active compounds through virtual screening and experimental evaluation of the biological activity of new chimeric compounds with pharmacophore fragments. For the synthesis of new compounds, classical organic methods were used and developed. For the evaluation of neurotropic activity of new synthesized compounds, some biological methods were used according to indicators characterizing anticonvulsant, sedative and antianxiety activity as well as side effects. For docking analysis, various soft ware packages and methods were used. Results: As a result of multistep reactions, 11 new, tri- and tetracyclic heterocyclic systems were obtained. The studied compounds exhibit protection against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) seizures as well as some psychotropic effects. The biological assays evidenced that nine of the eleven studied compounds showed a high anticonvulsant activity by antagonism with pentylenetetrazole. The toxicity of the compounds is low, and they do not induce muscle relaxation in the studied doses. According to the study of psychotropic activity, it was found that the selected compounds have an activating behavior and anxiolytic effects on the “open field” and “elevated plus maze” (EPM) models. The data obtained indicate the anxiolytic (antianxiety) activity of the derivatives of tricyclic thieno[2,3-b]pyridines and tetracyclic pyridothieno[3,2-d]pyrimidin-8-ones, especially pronounced in compounds 3b–f and 4e. The studied compounds increase the latent time of first immobilization on the “forced swimming” (FS) model and exhibit antidepressant effects; compounds 3e and 3f especially exhibit these effects, similarly to diazepam. Docking studies revealed that compounds 3c and 4b bound tightly in the active site of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA_A) receptors with a value of the scoring function that estimates free energy of binding (∆G) at −10.0 ± 5 kcal/mol. Compound 4e showed the best affinity ((∆G) at −11.0 ± 0.54 kcal/mol) and seems to be an inhibitor of serotonin (SERT) transporter. Compounds 3c–f and 4e practically bound with the groove of T4L of 5HT_1A and blocked it completely, while the best affinity observed was in compound 3f ((∆G) at −9.3 ± 0.46 kcal/mol). Conclusions: The selected compounds have an anticonvulsant, activating behavior and anxiolytic effects and at the same time exhibit antidepressant effects.     

The Monodromy Rings of the Necklace Graphs

A necklace graph is a Feynman graph obtained from a single loop graph by replacing each internal line by a multiplet (i.e. a set of one or more internal lines joining the same two vertices). In this paper the monodromy rings of the necklace graphs are determined.     

A Parameter-Uniform Finite Difference Method for a Coupled System of Convection-Diffusion Two-Point Boundary Value Problems

A system of m (≥2) linear convection-diffusion two-point boundary value problems is examined,where the diffusion term in each equation is multiplied by a small parameterεand the equations are coupled through their convective and reactive terms via matrices B and A respectively.This system is in general singularly perturbed. Unlike the case of a single equation,it does not satisfy a conventional maximum princi- ple.Certain hypotheses are placed on the coupling matrices B and A that ensure exis- tence and uniqueness of a solution to the system and also permit boundary layers in the components of this solution at only one endpoint of the domain;these hypotheses can be regarded as a strong form of diagonal dominance of B.This solution is decomposed into a sum of regular and layer components.Bounds are established on these compo- nents and their derivatives to show explicitly their dependence on the small parameterε.Finally,numerical methods consisting of upwinding on piecewise-uniform Shishkin meshes are proved to yield numerical solutions that are essentially first-order conver- gent,uniformly inε,to the true solution in the discrete maximum norm.Numerical results on Shishkin meshes are presented to support these theoretical bounds.