Latest population projections for the European Union

This article presents the results of Eurostat's latest population projections for the 15 countries of the European Union. Under the Eurostat baseline scenario, the EU population will continue to grow slowly until around the year 2025 before starting to decline. The number of young people will continue to fall, while the number of older people will increase. To greater or lesser extents, all EU countries will experience declining population growth and an ageing population.     

Tactile sensitivity of three endodontic instrument handles

This is a report of a successful pregnancy on a patient that had congenital vaginal aplasia with a functioning uterus. Continuity of the reproductive tract was restored at 12 years of age with transplantation of vaginal wall from the mother. The patient had no problems after initiating intercourse 7 years later and conceived without treatment after 5 years of primary infertility. She was delivered by cesarean section at term.     

Secondary emission of beryllia on beryllium

Thin layers of beryllia (BeO) were formed on beryllium (Be) substrates by oxygen-ion bombardment, heating beryllium in air, and by sputtering BeO. The secondary yield (from both secondary and backscattered electrons) was measured relative to BeO thickness and the contaminants present. The carbon content substantially reduces the yield and an expression was introduced to estimate the effect of other low-yield participants. The voltage for highest yield increased with BeO thickness, the yield versus voltage curves were also shown to be dependent on BeO thickness and exhibited sharp maxima. At greater thicknesses, surface voltage charging was suspected but investigation showed that this was not the case     

Integrated knowledge acquisition architectures

An architecture for knowledge acquisition systems is proposed based upon the integration of existing methodologies, techniques and tools which have been developed within the knowledge acquisition, machine learning, expert systems, hypermedia and knowledge representation research communities. Existing tools are analyzed within a common framework to show that their integration can be achieved in a natural and principled fashion. A system design is synthesized from what already exists, putting a diversity of well-founded and widely used approaches to knowledge acquisition within an integrative framework. The design is intended to be clean and simple, easy to understand, and easy to implement. A detailed architecture for integrated knowledge acquisition systems is proposed that also derives from parallel cognitive and theoretical studies.     

Expression of the sialosyl-Tn epitope on CD45 derived from activated peripheral blood T cells

The cell surface protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 is a major target of IgM anti-T cell autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The autoreactive determinants on CD45 are O-linked glycans expressed on activated T cells and certain T cell lines, rather than linear or conformational polypeptide epitopes or N-linked glycans. To identify oligosaccharide structures that may play a role in the functional interactions of CD45 or are candidate target epitopes of SLE anti-CD45 autoantibodies, autoreactive CD45 purified from Jurkat T cells and non-autoreactive CD45 purified from CLL B cells were tested by ELISA for expression of mucin-type O-glycan structures. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against blood group A, type 1 H chains, type 2 H chains, T, Le(a), sialylated-Le(a), Le(b), sialylated-Le(c), Le(x), sialylated-Le(x), multi-fucosylated Le(x), Le(y), and sialylated-extended Le(v) failed to react with CD45 from either B cells or T cells. However, mAbs directed against Tn (galNAcalpha1-->O-ser/thr) or sialosyl-Tn (neuNAcalpha2-6gaINAcalpha1-->O-ser/thr) structures reacted with CD45 derived from Jurkat T cells, but not from CLL B cells. Anti-Tn mAbs also reacted in western blotting procedures with CD45 isolated from Jurkat T cells, but did not react with CD45 isolated from CEM, MOLT-3, or PEER T cells; Daudi, Raji, or CLL B cells; or resting or Con A-activated PBL. However, anti-sialosyl-Tn mAbs stained blots of CD45 isolated from Jurkat and CEM T cells and Con A-activated PBL, a pattern of reactivity similar to that of the anti-CD45 autoantibodies. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that the sialosyl-Tn epitopes are expressed on a subpopulation of CD4 +/CD8- T cells.     

Investigation of the actions and antagonist activity of some polyamine analogues in vivo

Complete or partial congenital absence of hair (congenital alopecia) may occur either in isolation or with associated defects. The majority of families with isolated congenital alopecia has been reported to follow an autosomal-recessive mode of inheritance (MIM 203655). As yet, no gene has been linked to isolated congenital alopecia, nor has linkage been established to a specific region of the genome. In an attempt to map the gene for the autosomal recessive form of the disorder, we have performed genetic linkage analysis on a large inbred Pakistani family in which affected persons show complete absence of hair development (universal congenital alopecia). We have analyzed individuals of this family, using >175 microsatellite polymorphic markers of the human genome. A maximum LOD score of 7.90 at a recombination fraction of 0 has been obtained with locus D8S258. Haplotype analysis of recombination events localized the disease to a 15-cM region between marker loci D8S261 and D8S1771. We have thus mapped the gene for this hereditary form of isolated congenital alopecia to a locus on chromosome 8p21-22 (ALUNC [alopecia universalis congenitalis]). This will aid future identification of the responsible gene, which will be extremely useful for the understanding of the biochemistry of hair development.     

Collusion-secure fingerprinting for digital data

This paper discusses methods for assigning code-words for the purpose of fingerprinting digital data, e.g., software, documents, music, and video. Fingerprinting consists of uniquely marking and registering each copy of the data. This marking allows a distributor to detect any unauthorized copy and trace it back to the user. This threat of detection will deter users from releasing unauthorized copies. A problem arises when users collude: for digital data, two different fingerprinted objects can be compared and the differences between them detected. Hence, a set of users can collude to detect the location of the fingerprint. They can then alter the fingerprint to mask their identities. We present a general fingerprinting solution which is secure in the context of collusion. In addition, we discuss methods for distributing fingerprinted data     

Soluble L-selectin concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained from infants who develop chronic lung disease of prematurity

AIMS: To explore the changes in neutrophil adhesion molecule expression and release into bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) obtained from infants who developed chronic lung disease (CLD). METHODS: BAL fluid was obtained from 37 infants: 18 (median gestation 26 weeks, birthweight 835 g) who developed CLD, 12 (29 weeks, 1345 g) with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and seven control infants (33 weeks, 2190 g). RESULTS: Soluble L-selectin (sL-selectin) in BAL fluid from the CLD and non-CLD groups was similar immediately after birth, but in infants who subsequently developed CLD, sL-selectin remained persistently increased (at day 7: CLD 42.6 vs RDS 6.0 ng/ml, p < 0.05; CLD vs controls 1.5 ng/ml; p < 0.05). CD11b/CD18 expression on neutrophils obtained by BAL increased with time to reach a maximum at 17 days of age in infants who developed CLD. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that leucocyte traffic persists in infants who develop CLD and may have an important part to play in the pathogenesis of CLD.     

An integral equation approach to diffusion

A method of solution of transient diffusion, e.g. heat conduction, problems in homogeneous and isotropic media with internal sources and arbitrary (including nonlinear) boundary conditions and initial conditions is proposed. The method is based on the reduction of the problem to one only involving surface values of temperature and/or heat flux in the form of an integral equation through the introduction of fundamental solutions and the use of Green's theorem. The integral equation is solved numerically for a specific example.     

Measurement of the repeatability of the prompt flashlamp-induced wavefront aberration on beamlines at the National Ignition Facility

We have undertaken a measurement campaign to determine the repeatability of the prompt flashlamp-induced wavefront aberration on beamlines at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and determine the extent to which shot-to-shot variations in this aberration may degrade the performance of a proposed adaptive optics system for the short-pulse Advanced Radiographic Capability beamline on NIF. In this paper we will describe the unique NIF configuration that was required to make this measurement, present the results of the experiment, and discuss the implications of these results for the adaptive optics system design.