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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Comparison of repair of DNA double-strand breaks in identical sequences in primary human fibroblast and immortal hamster-human hybrid cells harboring a single copy of human chromosome 11

We have optimized a pulsed-field gel electrophoresis assay that measures induction and repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in specific regions of the genome (Lobrich et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 12050-12054, 1995). The increased sensitivity resulting from these improvements makes it possible to analyze the size distribution of broken DNA molecules immediately after the introduction of DSBs and after repair incubation. This analysis shows that the distribution of broken DNA pieces after exposure to sparsely ionizing radiation is consistent with the distribution expected from randomly induced DSBs. It is apparent from the distribution of rejoined DNA pieces after repair incubation that DNA ends continue to rejoin between 3 and 24 h postirradiation and that some of these rejoining events are in fact misrejoining events, since novel restriction fragments both larger and smaller than the original fragment are generated after repair. This improved assay was also used to study the kinetics of DSB rejoining and the extent of misrejoining in identical DNA sequences in human GM38 cells and human-hamster hybrid A(L) cells containing a single human chromosome 11. Despite the numerous differences between these cells, which include species and tissue of origin, levels of TP53, expression of telomerase, and the presence or absence of a homologous chromosome for the restriction fragments examined, the kinetics of rejoining of radiation-induced DSBs and the extent of misrejoining were similar in the two cell lines when studied in the G(1) phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, DSBs were removed from the single-copy human chromosome in the hamster A(L) cells with similar kinetics and misrejoining frequency as at a locus on this hybrid's CHO chromosomes.

NASA Program Biomedical Research and Countermeasur↗

DNA Repair-Protein Relocalization After Heavy Ion Exposure

Ionizing radiation is good at making DNA double strand breaks, and high linear energy transfer (LET) radiations such as heavy ion particles are particularly efficient. For this reason, the proteins belonging to repair systems that deal with double strand breaks are of particular interest. One such protein is Ku, a component in the non-homologous recombination repair system. The Ku protein is an abundant, heterodimeric DNA end-binding complex, composed of one 70 and one 86 kDa subunit. Ku protein binds to DNA ends, nicks, gaps, and regions of transition between single and double-stranded structure. These binding properties suggest an important role in DNA repair. The Ku antigen is important in this study because it is present in relatively large copy numbers and it is part of a double-strand-break repair system. More importantly, we consistently measure an apparent upregulation in situ that is not verified by whole-cell-lysate immunoblot measurements. This apparent upregulation is triggered by very low doses of radiation, thus showing a potentially useful high sensitivity. However, elucidation of the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is still to be done.

Metting, N. F.↗

Washington Double Star Catalog Cross Index (1950 position sort)

A machine-readable version of the Washington Catalog of Visual Double Stars (WDS) was prepared in 1984 on the basis of a data file that was collected and maintained for more than a century by a succession of double-star observers. Although this catalog is being continually updated, a new copy for distribution is not expected to be available for a few years. The WDS contains DM numbers, but many of these are listed only in the notes, which makes it difficult to search for double-star information, except by position. Hence, a cross index that provides complete DM identifications is desirable, and it appears useful to add HD numbers for systems in that catalog. Aitken Double Star (ADS) numbers were retained from the WDS, but no attempt was made to correct these except for obvious errors.

Source record↗

Utilities for master source code distribution: MAX and Friends

MAX is a program for the manipulation of FORTRAN master source code (MSC). This is a technique by which one maintains one and only one master copy of a FORTRAN program under a program developing system, which for MAX is assumed to be VAX/VMS. The master copy is not intended to be directly compiled. Instead it must be pre-processed by MAX to produce compilable instances. These instances may correspond to different code versions (for example, double precision versus single precision), different machines (for example, IBM, CDC, Cray) or different operating systems (i.e., VAX/VMS versus VAX/UNIX). The advantage os using a master source is more pronounced in complex application programs that are developed and maintained over many years and are to be transported and executed on several computer environments. The version lag problem that plagues many such programs is avoided by this approach. MAX is complemented by several auxiliary programs that perform nonessential functions. The ensemble is collectively known as MAX and Friends. All of these programs, including MAX, are executed as foreign VAX/VMS commands and can easily be hidden in customized VMS command procedures.

Felippa, Carlos A.↗

Repair of x-ray-induced DNA double-strand breaks in specific Not I restriction fragments in human fibroblasts: joining of correct and incorrect ends

An assay that allows measurement of absolute induction frequencies for DNA double-strand breaks (dsbs) in defined regions of the genome and that quantitates rejoining of correct DNA ends has been used to study repair of dsbs in normal human fibroblasts after x-irradiation. The approach involves hybridization of single-copy DNA probes to Not I restriction fragments separated according to size by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Induction of dsbs is quantitated from the decrease in the intensity of the hybridizing restriction fragment and an accumulation of a smear below the band. Rejoining of dsbs results in reconstitution of the intact restriction fragment only if correct DNA ends are joined. By comparing results from this technique with results from a conventional electrophoresis assay that detects all rejoining events, it is possible to quantitate the misrejoining frequency. Three Not I fragments on the long arm of chromosome 21 were investigated with regard to dsb induction, yielding an identical induction rate of 5.8 X 10(-3) break per megabase pair per Gy. Correct dsb rejoining was measured for two of these Not I fragments after initial doses of 80 and 160 Gy. The misrejoining frequency was about 25% for both fragments and was independent of dose. This result appears to be representative for the whole genome as shown by analysis of the entire Not I fragment distribution. The correct rejoining events primarily occurred within the first 2 h, while the misrejoining kinetics included a much slower component, with about half of the events occurring between 2 and 24 h. These misrejoining kinetics are similar to those previously reported for production of exchange aberrations in interphase chromosomes.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

Primary Objective Grating Astronomical Telescope

It has been 370 years since a seventeenth century French mathematician, Mersenne, presciently sketched out an astronomical telescope based on dual parabolic reflectors. Since that time the concept of the primary objective has been virtually unchanged. Now a new class of astronomical telescope with a primary objective grating (POG) has been studied as an alternative. The POG competes with mirrors, in part, because diffraction gratings provide the very chromatic dispersion that mirrors defeat. The resulting telescope deals effectively with long-standing restrictions on multiple object spectroscopy (MOS). Other potential benefits include unprecedented apertures and collection areas. The new design also favors space deployment as a gossamer membrane. The inventor, Tom Ditto, first discovered that higher-order diffraction images contain hidden depth cues, for which he was granted a seminal range finding patent in 1987. Subsequently, he invented and patented 3D localizers, profilometers and microscopes using POGs. The POG telescope was placed in the public domain to expedite research. The function of a telescopes primary objective is to collect flux and to deliver images. Both functions dictate that size matters, and bigger is better. For that reason, there has been a steady push over the past century to ramp up the size of the primary mirror. However, for every doubling of mirror diameter, the elapsed time between initial effort and first light has also doubled. Meanwhile, costs escalated beyond the mirror alone, because larger instruments required larger enclosures and better pointing mechanisms. One key catalog of observation, spectrographic data, is far more difficult to amass than two-dimensional imagery. While the number of observable objects has increased with mirror size, the capacity to take spectra has not increased proportionately. In the best of circumstances, spectrograms are available for one per cent of the all objects surveyed. Spectroscopy was a historical afterthought introduced in the nineteenth century shortly after the invention of the diffraction grating and over a century after Newtons 1670 telescope. Spectroscopy is generally accomplished using a diffraction grating as the disperser in the secondary. The light being delivered to the spectrograph is first captured by a primary mirror which provides no chromatic magnification by itself. Sizeable spectrographs could not be deployed while diffraction gratings were rare commodities scribed using mechanical ruling engines that produced one grating line at a time. Today diffraction gratings are commonplace. Their recent availability is a product of both the invention of holography and the mass replication of surface microstructures. Holography permits all lines in a grating to be made simultaneously in a single photographic exposure. Holograms can then be reproduced by embossing processes. The improvement in replication is analogous to how Gutenberg changed the availability of books. The masters may be expensive, but the copies are not. Computer science is another technology that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century without which our proposed spectrographic instrument could not function due to the complexity of image processing required in data reduction. The employment of very large diffraction gratings as primary objectives for astronomical telescopes requires a novel

spectroscopy↗