Thermal performance comparisons between passive solar and conventional housing in an Irish climate

The thermal performance of a passive solar house in Ireland having high energy conservation standards is compared with that of a similar sized conventional dwelling house. In both cases the performance over a meteorological Test Reference Year is assessed using climatically responsive models developed experimentally which predict their internal temperature without heating.

The results indicate that the conventional house required over three times as much auxiliary heating as the passive solar house. Solar gain accounted for over half the gross heat demand in the solar house compared to 13% in the bungalow. An added advantage of the increased utilization of solar gain was the estimated reduction in the heating season from nine to six months.     

MHC class I genes in a New World primate, the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), have evolved by an active process of loci turnover

Lymphocytes of a New World primate, the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), express classical G-related major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules with unusually limited polymorphism and variability. Three G-related loci, an F locus, an E locus, and two pseudogenes (So-N1 and So-N3) have been identified by cDNA library screening and extensive PCR analysis of both cDNA and genomic DNA from the cotton-top tamarin. Furthermore, each genus of the subfamily Callitrichinae (tamarins and marmosets) appears to express its own unique set of MHC class I genes, likely due to a rapid turnover of loci. The rapid emergence of unique MHC class I genes in the Callitrichinae genera, resulting from an active process of duplication and inactivation of loci, may account for the limited diversity of the MHC class I genes in the cotton-top tamarin. To determine the nature of the entire complement of MHC class I genes in the cotton-top tamarin, we synthesized a genomic DNA library and screened it with MHC class I-specific probes. We isolated nine new MHC class I pseudogenes from this library. These newly isolated tamarin G-related MHC class I pseudogenes are not closely related to any of their functional counterparts in the tamarin, suggesting that they do not share a recent common ancestral gene with the tamarin's currently expressed MHC class I loci. In addition, these tamarin sequences display a high rate of nonsynonymous substitutions in their putative peptide binding region. This indicates that the genes from which they have derived were likely subject to positive selection and, therefore, were once functional. Our data support the notion that an extremely high rate of loci turnover is largely responsible for the limited diversity of the MHC class I genes in the cotton-top tamarin.     

丹江口水库汉江干流库区淤积分析

丹江口水库建成后,改变了天然河道的水沙输移条件,入库水沙受人工调度控制,进入了水库淤积重新造床过程,自建库至 2003 年,入库沙量 98 ％以上都淤积在库内,其中有 85 ％的淤积量都分布在干流库区内 , 出库的泥沙也都是异重流冲泻质。根据丹江口水库历史及近期资料,对汉江干流库区纵、横、垂 3 个方向的淤积分布进行了详细的分析研究,为三峡水库的运用提供良好的借鉴。     

不同萎凋时间对枸杞叶茶的影响

以枸杞鲜叶为原料,在杀青工序前增加室温自然摊放萎凋工序,可明显减轻枸杞叶茶的青腥味,增加枸杞叶中的可溶性糖、游离氨基酸和水浸出物含量,改进枸杞叶茶汤的滋味和香气,提高枸杞叶茶品质;但萎凋也降低了枸杞叶中的类黄酮、多酚和VC等活性成分的含量.试验结果表明枸杞叶的最适萎凋时间为7 h.     

Cardiac morphology and left ventricular function in normotensive morbidly obese patients with and without congestive heart failure, and effect of weight loss

BACKGROUND: Prevention of hypothermia during abdominal surgery by insulating or heat-transferring methods has been the subject of numerous investigations. This study approaches the problem from a less discussed point of view, i.e. the effect of different surgical techniques on body temperature changes. METHODS: Body temperature was measured at 3 core and 6 skin points in 40 patients scheduled for cholecystectomy through open laparotomy or laparoscopy with pneumoperitoneum created and maintained with unwarmed carbon dioxide (CO2) insufflation. End-tidal CO2 was kept constant by adjustments of respiratory frequency. Anaesthesia, intravenous infusions, and draping of the patients were standardized. RESULTS: During the first 1 h of anaesthesia core temperatures decreased approximately by 0.7 degrees C and distal skin temperatures increased by 7 degrees C in both groups. At the end of surgery heat balance was similar in both groups. An increase of 2.5 1.min-1 in respiratory minute volume was needed to control end-tidal CO2 levels in the laparoscopy group during pneumoperitoneum which was maintained with a CO2 flow of 1.2 1.min-1 through the abdominal cavity. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic technique with unwarmed carbon dioxide insufflation does not offer any advantage in terms of body temperature changes when compared to open surgery.