Heterogeneity in Youth Symptom Trajectories Following Psychiatric Crisis: Predictors and Placement Outcome.

The authors examined heterogeneity in symptom trajectories among youths following psychiatric crises as well as the psychosocial correlates and placement outcomes associated with identified trajectories. Using semiparametric mixture modeling with 156 youths approved for psychiatric hospitalization, the authors identified 5 trajectories based on symptoms over the 16 months following crisis: high improved, high unimproved, borderline improved, borderline unimproved, and subclinical. Membership in unimproved symptom groups was associated with less suicidality, younger age, more youth hopelessness, and more caregiver empowerment. Improved symptom group membership predicted long-term decreases in days in out-of-home placements. More important, and in contrast with general impressions from the existing literature, findings suggest that a substantive proportion of youths with serious emotional disturbance sustain high levels of symptomatology following intensive mental health services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Profile-Driven Component Placement for Cluster-Based Online Services

The growth of the Internet and of various intranets has spawned a wealth of online services, most of which are implemented on local-area clusters using remote invocation (for example, remote procedure call/remote method invocation) among manually placed application components. Component placement can be a significant challenge for large-scale services, particularly when application resource needs are workload dependent. Automatic component placement has the potential to maximize overall system throughput. The key idea is to construct (offline) a mapping between input workload and individual-component resource consumption. Such mappings, called component profiles, then support high-performance placement. Preliminary results on an online auction benchmark based on J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) suggest that profile-driven tools can identify placements that achieve near-optimal overall throughput.     

Biofeedback improves functional outcome after sphincteroplasty

Pax genes are expressed in specific patterns in the nervous system during development and in the adult. Recent findings suggest a link between the expression of Pax-2 and axonal guidance. Mice with a targeted deletion of Pax-2 are an excellent tool for studying axonal pathfinding at the molecular level, especially with respect to the optic chiasm. The date reviewed here suggest that Pax-2 regulates the expression of surface molecules involved in contact attraction and that the mutual regulation of the expression of Pax-2 and the Sonic hedgehog gene is of importance in the formation of the chiasm region.     

A simple index to assess disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis

Changes in clinical and laboratory measures of disease activity were studied prospectively in 12 European centers. Altogether 282 rheumatoid patients were evaluated during 6 months of therapy with slow-acting drugs. Patients' global assessment was taken to indicate overall response. The number of swollen joints and number of tender joints correlated highly with this. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) correlated less well but was more uniform across centers. Grip strength, C-reactive protein and hemoglobin performed poorly between centers. There were cultural and linguistic difficulties using the Health Assessment Questionnaire in a European setting. Physician's global assessments were similar to the patient's global assessments and provided redundant information. The best measures are: the number of swollen joints, the number of tender joints, the ESR, and the patient's global assessment. It may also help to measure articular pain.     

Structural characterisation of apatite coatings

The current, most frequently employed, commercial route to produce hydroxyapatite prosthetic coatings is plasma spraying. However, this has several important limitations especially for textured surfaces. Low temperature methods of coating fabrication such as cathodic electrodeposition are attractive alternatives. However, quantitative characterisation of the phase composition of thin electrodeposited coatings can be problematic. An X-ray diffraction method, which provides quantitative compositional information without reference to external or internal standards, is introduced and validated. The method can also be applied when Bragg peaks from the supporting substrate are apparent within the data and preferred orientation can be tolerated. This method has been used to examine in detail the microstructure of electrodeposited coatings which are compared directly with those formed by a commercial plasma spraying process.We show that, unlike the plasma sprayed coatings, the electrodeposited material consists of a single crystalline phase (hydroxyapatite) and a significantly reduced amorphous phase. The electrodeposited coatings also possess significantly more microstrain and a smaller crystallite size than the corresponding plasma sprayed material.     

Effect of starting particle size on hot-pressing of magnesium oxide powder prepared by vapour-phase oxidation process

Effect of starting particle size on hot-pressing of magnesium oxide (MgO) powder was examined using seven kinds of MgO powders prepared by a vapour-phase oxidation process; the average primary particle sizes were 11, 25, 32, 44, 57, 107 and 261 nm. These compressed powders (compacts) were hot-pressed at a temperature between 900 and 1300°C. The densifications of these compacts during the hot-pressing proceeded via (i) the sintering of primary particles within secondary particles and the rearrangement of secondary particles/grains (900°C), (ii) the gradual grain growth controlled by the pore migration (900∼1100°C) and (iii) the rapid grain growth due to the active mass transfer (1300°C); the grain sizes of MgO compacts hot-pressed at and below 1100°C were <1 μm, while those at 1300°C attained 20∼30 μm. The transluscent compact with the relative density of 99.7% could be obtained when the compressed powder with the average primary particle size of 44 nm was hot-pressed at a temperature as low as 1100°C for 1 h. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The beta 1 integrin, very late activation antigen-4 on human neutrophils can contribute to neutrophil migration through connective tissue fibroblast barriers

Polymorphonuclear leucocyte (PMNL) accumulation in extravascular tissues and inflammatory exudates is dependent on their migration through blood vessel endothelium and then through connective tissue. Previously we utilized a barrier of human synovial and dermal fibroblasts (HSF or HDF) grown on microporous filters, as a model of PMNL migration through connective tissue. Those studies showed that beta 2 (CD18) and the beta 1 integrins, very late activation antigen-5 (VLA-5) and VLA-6, in part mediate this PMNL migration. Here we report that VLA-4, which can also be expressed at low levels on activated PMNL, is also involved in PMNL migration induced by C5a through fibroblast (HSF and HDF) barriers, because monoclonal antibody (mAb) to VLA-4 significantly inhibited (by 20-30%) PMNL migration. Blocking the function of CD18, VLA-5 or VLA-6 was not required for detection of the VLA-4-mediated migration. Combination treatment with mAb to VLA-4 and with mAb to VLA-5 or to VLA-6 further inhibited PMNL migration, irrespective of whether CD11/CD18 mechanisms were blocked with anti-CD18 mAb or not. Treatment of PMNL with a peptide based on the VLA-4-binding domain in the CS-1 fragment of fibronectin, but not a control peptide, inhibited PMNL migration to a comparable extent to treatment with mAb to VLA-4. A low level of VLA-4 was expressed on C5a-activated PMNL, detected by immunofluorescence flow cytometry. These results suggest that VLA-4 can be mobilized by human peripheral blood PMNL and can, in addition to VLA-5, VLA-6 and CD11/CD18 integrins, mediate PMNL migration through connective tissue. This is in marked contrast to PMNL transendothelial migration, where beta 1 integrins appear to play no significant role.     

Nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive neurons in human and porcine respiratory tract

The presence of nitric oxide synthase (NO-synthase), the enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine, is shown immunocytochemically in the intrinsic neurons of the human and porcine respiratory tract. NO-synthase immunoreactivity is demonstrated in a subpopulation of neurons of the microganglia present in the wall of the extra- and intrapulmonary bronchi as well as in the hilar region of the lung in relation to blood vessels. The immunostaining was also found in some nerve fibers of the respiratory nervous system. Human and porcine lung gave similar results. The possible involvement of NO in the nonadrenergic noncholinergic (NANC) nervous regulation of the lung is discussed.