Cerebrovascular effects of analgosedation

The in vitro drug sensitivity of three dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors (pyrimethamine, cycloguanil, trimethoprim) was determined against 29 strains and isolates of Plasmodium falciparum by an isotopic semi-microtest. Trimethoprim is less active than pyrimethamine or cycloguanil and its activity is correlated with that of two other inhibitors, suggesting cross-resistance in vitro among the dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors.     

Minimal forbidden subwords

Motivated by a study of similar problems stated for factors of words, we study forbidden subwords of a language or a word. A procedure for obtaining the set of all words avoiding a given set of subwords is presented. On the other hand, an algorithm for computing the set of minimal forbidden subwords for a word is given. The case of a two-letter alphabet appears to be particularly interesting and it is considered separately.     

Pretreatment of Highly Polluted Pharmaceutical Waste Broth by Wet Air Oxidation

The preoxidation of a highly polluted waste pharmaceutical fermentation broth using wet air oxidation (WAO) has been studied as a possible method for the effective removal of organics. The applied (pre)treatment method should enhance the biotreatability of the pharmaceutical fermentation broth in terms of reduced initial toxicity and higher biodegradability. Preliminary experiments in the pilot biological treatment plant were successful only at low organic loads, whereas the system collapses at higher ones. The characterization of the fermentation broth was started by common physicochemical analysis, whereas several bioassays were used to determine its impact on biological treatment plants and the environment. Toxicity prior to and after WAO was determined using the acute Vibrio fischeri test, measurement of inhibition of O2 consumption, and the Daphnia magna acute test. Ready biodegradability of the treated and untreated broth has also been assessed. WAO experiments were accomplished in the 2?L batch reactor at different temperatures (240/280°C) and operating pressures. WAO experiments confirmed reduction of the toxicity toward microorganisms, whereas oxidized wastewater was more toxic to daphnids. Biodegradability of the oxidized broth has also been enhanced. Further work has been focused on designing appropriate combination of WAO and biological processes.     

The impact of relative radiometric calibration on the accuracy of kNN-predictions of forest attributes

The k-nearest-neighbour (kNN) algorithm is widely applied for the estimation of forest attributes using remote sensing data. It requires a large amount of reference data to achieve satisfactory results. Usually, the number of available reference plots for the kNN-prediction is limited by the size of the area covered by a terrestrial reference inventory and remotely sensed imagery collected from one overflight. The applicability of kNN could be enhanced if adjacent images of different acquisition dates could be used in the same estimation procedure. Relative radiometric calibration is a prerequisite for this. This study focuses on two empirical calibration methods. They are tested on adjacent LANDSAT TM scenes in Austria. The first, quite conventional one is based on radiometric control points in the overlap area of two images and on the determination of transformation parameters by linear regression. The other, recently developed method exploits the kNN-cross-validation procedure. Performance and applicability of both methods as well as the impact of phenology are discussed.     

The residue of vector sets with applications to decidability problems in Petri nets

Summary A set K of integer vectors is called right-closed, if for any elementmK all vectors mm are also contained in K. In such a case K is a semilinear set of vectors having a minimal generating set res(K), called the residue of K. A general method is given for computing the residue set of a right-closed set, provided it satisfies a certain decidability criterion.Various right-closed sets wich are important for analyzing, constructing, or controlling Petri nets are studied. One such set is the set CONTINUAL(T) of all such markings which have an infinite continuation using each transition infinitely many times. It is shown that the residue set of CONTINUAL(T) can be constructed effectively, solving an open problem of Schroff. The proof also solves problem 24 (iii) in the EATCS-Bulletin. The new methods developed in this paper can also be used to show that it is decidable, whether a signal net is prompt [23] and whether certain -languages of a Petri net are empty or not.It is shown, how the behaviour of a given Petri net can be controlled in a simple way in order to realize its maximal central subbehaviour, thereby solving a problem of Nivat and Arnold, or its maximal live subbehaviour as well. This latter approach is used to give a new solution for the bankers problem described by Dijkstra.Since the restriction imposed on a Petri net by a fact [11] can be formulated as a right closed set, our method also gives a new general approach for implementations of facts.     

Magic Peptide: Unique Properties of the LRR11 Peptide in the Activation of Leukotriene Synthesis in Human Neutrophils

Neutrophil-mediated innate host defense mechanisms include pathogen elimination through bacterial phagocytosis, which activates the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) product synthesis. Here, we studied the effect of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs), which mimic the receptor-recognized sites of bacterial (CpG-ODNs) and genomic (G-rich ODNs) DNAs released from the inflammatory area, on the neutrophil functions after cell stimulation with Salmonella typhimurium. A possible mechanism for ODN recognition by Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and RAGE receptor has been proposed. We found for the first time that the combination of the magic peptide LRR11 from the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) of TLR9 with the CpG-ODNs modulates the uptake and signaling from ODNs, in particular, dramatically stimulates 5-LOX pathway. Using thickness shear mode acoustic method, we confirmed the specific binding of CpG-ODNs, but not G-rich ODN, to LRR11. The RAGE receptor has been shown to play an important role in promoting ODN uptake. Thus, FPS-ZM1, a high-affinity RAGE inhibitor, suppresses the synthesis of 5-LOX products and reduces the uptake of ODNs by neutrophils; the inhibitor effect being abolished by the addition of LRR11. The results obtained revealed that the studied peptide-ODN complexes possess high biological activity and can be promising for the development of effective vaccine adjuvants and antimicrobial therapeutics.     

Effect of low‐temperature plasma and chitosan treatment on wool dyeing with Acid Red 27

This study examines in detail the influence of low‐temperature plasma and biopolymer chitosan treatments on wool dyeability. Wool knitted fabrics were treated and characterized by whiteness and shrink‐resistance measurements. Surface modification was assessed by contact‐angle measurements of human hair fibers, which were used as a model to study the wetting properties of the treated wool knitted fabrics. The dyeing behavior was assessed from the diffusion mechanism point of view. The dyeing kinetics were measured at two different pHs (4.2 and 6.5) and three different temperatures (60, 85, and 100°C) to gain information about the contribution of the surface modification treatment to the dyeing mechanism. The exhaustion and reflectance data were compared, and the apparent diffusion coefficients were calculated. On the basis of the obtained results, a model for the dyeing mechanism of the chitosan treated wool was proposed. When treated with chitosan, the polymer sheath spread on the surface of the fibers acted as a predominant dyeing site in very short dyeing times, thus interacting with the dye and in later stages imparting the dye to the wool fiber. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 2204–2214, 2005     

Characterization of bimetallic NaY-supported Pt-Pd catalyst by EXAFS,TEM and TPR

NaY-supported bimetallic Pt-Pd catalysts have been studied by TEM, TPR and EXAFS. Small, randomly mixed particles are formed in the zeolite cages. When the Pt content is increased, a Pt core structure appears and the dispersion increases. Particle diameters are about 1–2 nm for bimetallic samples.