Clozapine reduces rehospitalization among schizophrenia patients

Diabetes mellitus positive for antibodies to glutamate decarboxylase is heterogeneous as far as the degree of impairment of endogenous insulin release, though antibodies to glutamate decarboxylase are the most useful marker for future insulin deficiency. To investigate what determines the prognosis of diabetes mellitus positive for antibodies to glutamate decarboxylase, we measured HLA-DRB1 alleles in three groups: 77 cases of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), 44 of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) with secondary failure of oral hypoglycemic therapy, and 22 of NIDDM well controlled by diet and/or sulfonylurea agents. The proportion of susceptible and resistant alleles to IDDM determined the degree of insulin deficiency, and comparison of IDDM to NIDDM well controlled by diet and/or sulfonylurea agents revealed significant differences in DRB1*0405 (P < 0.05; RR = 2.82 and RR = 0.89, respectively) and DRB1*1502 (P < 0.001; RR = 0.02 and RR = 2.19, respectively). This study revealed that HLA-DRB1 alleles contribute to determining the prognosis of Japanese diabetes mellitus positive for antibodies to glutamate decarboxylase.     

Boundary formulations for shape sensitivity of temperature dependent conductivity problems

Used in concert with the Kirchhoff transformation, implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in solids with temperature dependent thermal conductivity is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for computation of shape sensitivities. For problems with specified temperature and heat flux boundary conditions, a linear problem results for both the analysis and sensitivity analysis. In problems with either convection or radiation boundary conditions, a non-linear problem is generated. Several iterative strategies are presented for the solution of the resulting sets of non-linear equations and the computational performances examined in detail. Multi-zone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantive computational economies in this process for models with either localized non-iinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of non-linear example problems is presented that have closed form solutions. Exact anaytical expressions tor the shape sensitivities associated with these problems are developed and these are compared with the sensitivities computed using the boundary element formulation.     

Parvovirus B19 infection in AIDS patients

We report a 16-year-old boy, born to consanguineous parents, with mental retardation, gait disturbances and dysarthria; brain magnetic resonance showed features consistent with rhombencephalosynapsis. This condition is characterised by a hypoplastic single-lobed cerebellum. The interest of this case is the presence of common ancestors, pointing to an autosomal recessive inheritance of the malformation.     

Prenatal diagnosis of an extensive fetal lymphangioma using ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging and cytology

An unusual case of fetal lymphangioma diagnosed before delivery is reported in a second trimester pregnant woman. The lymphangioma was suspected at 28 weeks on the basis of the ultrasound appearances and progression of the lesions with advancing gestation. MRI was used to evaluate the extent and the tissue characteristics of the lesions. Cytology of the fluid aspirated from the cystic lesions showed abundant lymphocytes and macrophages, confirming the diagnosis of a lymphangioma. The parents opted for a pregnancy termination because of the rapid growth of the lesions and the poor prognosis. It is suggested that the combination of these tests could enable the early diagnosis of these tumours at a stage when the lesion is relatively limited and accessible to therapy in utero.     

All-optical nonlinear joint Fourier transform correlator

We present the first all-optical nonlinear joint transform correlator based on a square-law receiver in the Fourier plane. Our device uses a photorefractive limiting quadratic processor. The compressional nonlinearity associated with the transfer function of the limiting quadratic processor enables the correlator to detect signals embedded in Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise. In the limiting region this device correlates the phase-only information of the input. This is the first time to our knowledge that photorefractives or real-time holography has been used in the correlation of the phase-only information. We demonstrate the operation of this device experimentally, and we evaluate its performance throughcomputer simulation for various forms of noise.     

External-cavity diode lasers with different devices and collimating optics

Comparative operating characteristics of external-cavity diode lasers (ECDL's) with either a channel substrate planar device or a multi-quantum-well (MQW) device are presented. These include the output beam profile, which is significantly altered depending on the collimating lens used (either multielement or graded index), power versus injection-current characteristics, and the optical frequency and the rf spectra. The coherence lengths of the different laser diode-collimating-lens combinations in the ECDL are measured, and a new method for calculating the coupling coefficient and the coupled values of the internal quantum efficiency and the internal lumped loss is demonstrated for the MQW device.     

Photo Noise

Like past avant-garde movements, glitch and noise in the twenty-first century are used to reveal the materiality of the medium. But instead of providing insight or clarity into the politics or social conditions of a technology, they demarcate broader conditions of opacity and blockage, contributing to what Jodi Dean has called ‘communicative capitalism’. The work of German photographer Thomas Ruff alongside the Düsseldorf School, New Photography and JPEG technology are used in this article to illustrate this tendency as a move away from meaning and toward visual noise and communicative breakdown. I use three core analytic registers: the deliberate failure to adhere to visual norms, communicative failure and machine failure and breakdown. Ruff’s work uses visual noise as art to at once reaffirm pervasive conditions of breakdown, failure and decline in high-tech global capitalism, while simultaneously providing a temporary reprieve from these conditions through an emergent form of visual beauty.