Capture of Airborne Particulate Using Surface Applied Emulsions: Potential for Postdetonation Dirty Bomb Cleanup

Recent research has proposed the use of asphalt and tall-oil-pitch emulsions for stabilizing radioactive contamination deposited on surfaces in urban areas. The objective of this project was to investigate whether surface applied emulsions could capture airborne radioactive particulate. Laboratory experiments included wind-blown particulate capture studies using an acrylic column and particulate retainment experiments using a wind box capable of producing wind speeds of 96?km/h. A probe methodology was developed to relate particulate retainment to a tack force on the emulsion surface. Experiments were also performed to determine the potential for such emulsions to absorb particulate matter into their emulsion matrix. Tall-oil-pitch emulsions outperformed asphalt emulsions in terms of particulate retention, tack force, and the ability to absorb magnesium silicate. Both tall-oil-pitch and asphalt emulsions were capable of extracting 22–24?g?m?2 of powder from particulate-laden airflow. Tall-oil-pitch emulsions were capable of retaining as much as 5–10% of magnesium silicate powder applied (i.e., retainment densities of 10–20?g?m?2) even after seven?days of curing and after applying 96.5?km/h (60?mph) wind. Tall-oil-pitch emulsions were able to absorb surface-applied magnesium silicate (approximately 0.1–0.2?g of magnesium silicate per 1.0?g of emulsion within three?days) into their emulsion matrix, preventing the magnesium silicate from being exposed to the external environment. Initial results with these five different emulsion formulations suggested particulate capture was feasible. Future emulsion formulations (i.e., longer curing times with greater acid concentrations) should be tested to optimize this postdetonation response strategy.     

Effect of race on outcome after kidney and kidney-pancreas transplantation in type 1 diabetic patients

OBJECTIVE: The racial impact on graft outcome is not well defined in diabetic recipients. The purpose of this study is to analyze our experience with kidney-alone (A) and kidney-pancreas (KP) transplantation in type 1 diabetic recipients and evaluate the impact of racial disparity on outcome. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The records of 217 kidney transplants (118 KA, 99 KP) performed on type 1 diabetic patients between 1985 and 1995 at the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Texas Medical Branch were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 53 (31%) white patients and 15 (33%) black patients experienced at least one episode of biopsy-proven acute rejection of the renal graft (NS). Patient survival at 1, 2, and 5 years was similar in white (92, 87, 69%) and black (91, 91, 69%) patients (NS). Kidney graft survival at 1, 2, and 5 years in the KA group was 72, 62, and 42% in blacks, compared with 79, 76, and 53% in whites (NS). Kidney graft survival at 1, 2, and 5 years in the KP group was 92, 92, and 74% in blacks, compared with 83, 77, and 58% in whites (NS). Pancreas graft survival at 1, 2, and 5 years was 81, 81, and 81% in blacks, compared with 81, 75, and 62% in whites (NS). Cox regression analysis revealed that donor age > or = 40 years increased the risk of renal graft failure 6.2-fold (P = 0.0001), whereas the addition of a pancreas transplant to a kidney and a living-related transplant decreased the risk of failure of the kidney graft 0.2 (P = 0.005) and 0.1 times (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that when compared with whites, there may be a trend toward an improved kidney and pancreas graft outcome in blacks undergoing KP transplants. These findings suggest that diabetes may override the risk factors that account for the pronounced disparity in outcome observed between nondiabetic white and black recipients.     

Stereotactic radiosurgery of malignant and benign intracranial lesions utilizing a patient rotator

The objective of this survey was to demonstrate whether a primary care track internal medicine residency program emphasizing community-based health care of the urban sick poor trains physicians who will continue to practice in general internal medicine or similar fields. Thirty-five primary care residents (100% of graduates) who trained from 1976 through 1993 in the Adult Primary Care Track of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Vincent's Hospital, New York were used as participants.     

Outbreak of serogroup C meningococcal disease associated with campus bar patronage

Between February 1991 and April 1992, eight undergraduates at a US residential university and one at a nearby 2-year college contracted serogroup C meningococcal disease. A case-control investigation with 20 controls per case, oropharyngeal carriage surveys, and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) of serogroup C isolates were used to identify factors contributing to the outbreak. All eight sterile-site isolates from cases were closely related by MEE and were similar (though not identical) to the strain associated with the 1991-1992 epidemic of meningococcal disease in eastern Canada. Disease was associated with cigarette smoking (p = 0.012), recent patronage of campus-area bars (p = 0.034), estimated amount of time spent in campus-area bars (p = 0.0003), and, especially, recent patronage of one specific bar, bar A (p = 0.0006; odds ratio = 23.1, 95% confidence interval 3.0-571.5). In carriage surveys, 1,528 throat cultures taken from (primarily student) noncases yielded only five (0.3%) strains that were identical by MEE to those from cases. Two of these were found among 22 cultures obtained from bar A employees in spring 1992. Some cases in this outbreak may have followed transmission of the epidemic strain in bar A. Campus bar environments may facilitate the spread of meningococcal disease among teenagers and young adults.     

Racial aspects of blood pressure in children and adolescents

I have discussed a model of the psyche comprising two different modes of thinking, one non-psychotic and the other psychotic. I have related these modes of thinking to our modern myth of Jekyll and Hyde, the study of which could in my opinion give us some insight into their nature. In my view a non-psychotic state of mind belongs to a person who has a history, with particular parents, a particular development, particular conflicts, and operates in the depressive position. A psychotic state of mind belongs to a person who lives in a still and timeless present, with no origin, no development and no conflict, and operates in the paranoid-schizoid position. On the basis of this model I have subsequently described the life history of a psychotic patient and an analytic session in detail, showing how psychotic and non-psychotic states alternate and interact with each other within the same individual and between patient and therapist. The use of my countertransference, moving from a concrete to a symbolic position, has enabled me to make an interpretation. The result of this interpretation has been double, leading to a negative therapeutic reaction. An upsurge of psychotic fury was followed by increased patient/therapist communication, with a small movement from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position.     

Undersea optical stationkeeping: Improved methods

Submersibles require the capability to accurately maintain their position when they are observing, photographing, or working at a site. The most direct way for an ROV or AUV to maintain position in the near bottom environment is to track or lock onto stationary objects on the ocean floor. A particular advantage of an optical stationkeeping system is its ability to use natural rather than manmade beacons. Several improvements to our previously reported optical flow methods for the detection of vehicle motion have been investigated. Experimental results indicate that an adaptation of Newton-Raphson search combined with the use of a low-noise, high accuracy camera can drastically reduce the number of image points at which computations need be made. Other experiments with an algorithm, which accounts for illumination variations that one may encounter in undersea environments, show significant improvement in the estimation of optical flow and vehicle motion.