Secobarbital in humans discriminating triazolam under two-response and novel-response procedures

The percentage of long-term survivors after intensive chemotherapy and the outcome of MDS patients who achieve partial remission (PR) with intensive chemotherapy (IC) are not known. Between 1981 and 1996 we treated 99 patients with de novo MDS who had high-risk MDS or progression to AML, with IC. 41 (41%) achieved CR, 16 (16%) achieved partial remission (PR), 26 (26%) had failure, and 16 (16%) died in aplasia. Eight of the patients who achieved CR were autografted, three were allografted and the remaining cases received moderate consolidation chemotherapy. After IC, the 16 PR patients fulfilled the criteria for RA in 15 cases and CMML in one case. Median PR duration was 17 months, and three PR were > 3 years (39, 50+, 82+ months). Median actuarial survival of patients who achieved PR and CR was 18 months and 20 months from the onset of IC, respectively (difference not significant). Of the 71 patients treated before 1993, with sufficient follow-up, 10 (14%) had survived > 4 years (long-term survivors). Four of them were alive in first CR after 49+ to 110+ months and probably cured, two were alive in PR after 50+ and 82+ months and four had died after 49-78 months. Long-term survivors were characterized by a significantly higher incidence of RAEB-T at diagnosis, and with normal or favourable cytogenetic findings. In patients with RAEB-T at diagnosis included before 1993, 8/23 (35%) cases who had no unfavourable karyotype had survived > 4 years. Our findings suggest that MDS patients who achieve PR with IC, and not only those who achieve CR, can benefit from this type of treatment. The percentage of long-term survivors remains low, however, and is almost restricted to patients with RAEB-T at diagnosis and no unfavourable karyotype.     

The histologic anatomy of the volar plate

The EU Concerted Action Workshop on 11q23 Abnormalities in Hematological Malignancies collected 550 patients with abnormalities involving 11q23. Of these, 53 patients had a translocation involving chromosome 11, breakpoint q23, and chromosome 19, breakpoint p13. Karyogram review enabled each patient to be further defined as t(11;19)(q23;p13.1) (21 patients) or t(11;19)(q23;p13.3) (32 patients). There was a marked difference between the type of banding and the translocation identified: t(11;19)(q23;p13.1) was detected predominantly by R-banding, whereas t(11;19)(q23;p13.3) was detected almost solely by G-banding. Additional change was extremely rare in patients with t(11;19)(q23;p13.1) but occurred in nearly half of the patients with t(11;19)(q23;p13.3). Patients with t(11;19)(q23;p13.1) all had leukemia of a myeloid lineage, mostly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and were predominantly adult. In contrast patients with t(11;19)(q23;p13.3) had malignancies of both myeloid and lymphoid lineage and were mainly infants less than 1 year old. The survival of both groups of patients was generally poor, over 50% of t(11;19)(q23;p13.1) patients died within 2 years of diagnosis and the median survival of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients with t(11;19)(q23;p13.3) was 17.6 months.     

Estimating linear functionals of a PET image

The authors discuss the effect of having a finite number of detectors on the estimation of a bounded linear functional of a PET image. They argue that the functional should be estimated directly from the detector counts and give an estimate of the effect of the binning of the counts to order D(-2), where D is the number of detectors. The authors then suggest an estimator that includes a data determined bias correction reducing the bias to o(D(-2)).     

Dynamic analysis of a motor-integrated method for a higher milling stability

The productivity in High Speed Cutting is often limited by undesirable vibration effects in the main spindle (chatter). In many cases these limits are far below the technically possible cutting parameters provided by the machine technology. This paper presents a new approach to a motor-integrated milling spindle with an embedded electromagnetic actuator to actively reduce chatter vibrations and increase productivity. It is based on the non-contact application of highly-dynamic damping forces on the spindle shaft. That way the process stability can be increased significantly. By measurement and simulation-based analysis of spindle dynamics and transient and analytical approaches to process stability, the efficiency of the damping method is demonstrated in theory. Finally, a new, soft magnetic composite based motor-integrated electromagnetic actuator is introduced in this article.     

The short of it: Abbreviating the temporal discounting procedure.

A typical temporal discounting procedure determines the present, subjective value (indifference point) of a delayed outcome at 5 to 8 different delays to that outcome. These indifference points are used to determine a single index of discounting called a discounting rate. One concern that remains in the collection of this data is the high number of trials or choices, resulting in participant fatigue or other factors that may affect the validity of the data. In this report, we propose an abbreviated alternative to the more comprehensive and time-consuming discounting procedure. Specifically, we propose that fewer indifference points can be used to determine statistically equivalent discount rates with no loss in data sensitivity. We reanalyzed temporal discounting data obtained with 7 indifference points, and estimated discount rates from all combinations of 2, 3, and 4 of the 7 indifference points. Results indicate that valid and sensitive discounting indices can be obtained with fewer indifference points, and the most appropriate sets of indifference points are highlighted. The proposed abbreviated procedure is likely to be particularly useful when time constraints or participant fatigue is a concern as well as in repeated-measures contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Novel models of intertemporal valuation: Past and future outcomes.

Temporal discounting refers to the reduction in the present subjective value of an outcome as a function of the temporal distance to that outcome. Though a number of mathematical models have been proposed to describe this time/value relationship, this search has largely excluded insights from the literature on memory decay. This study examines the utility of memory decay models by comparing the fits of 4 of these models to fits from established temporal discounting models using past and future temporal discounting data. These results (a) suggest that a single model describes valuation of both future and past outcomes; (b) indicate the exponential-power model, from memory decay literature, is statistically superior in fitting discounting data from both past and future outcomes; and (c) support the advancing perspective of the psychological interconnectedness of the future and past. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Angular-scattering characteristics of ferroelectric liquid-crystal electro-optical devices operating in the transient-scattering and the extended-scattering modes

The angular distribution of forward-scattered light in transient-scattering-mode (TSM) and extended-scattering-mode (ESM) ferroelectric liquid-crystal (FLC) devices was evaluated by use of circularly polarized incident light. For both modes the intensity and the distribution of forward-scattered light depended primarily on the FLC birefringence, spontaneous polarization, and the cell path length. In the FLC materials examined, the forward-scattering intensity under ESM drive conditions increased with longer FLC pitch lengths, whereas under TSM conditions stronger forward scattering was observed with increasing FLC spontaneous polarization. Although both TSM and ESM drive conditions displayed a similar angular distribution for forward-scattered light, the intensity of ESM scattering over a 0 degrees -6 degrees range was considerably smaller than that observed in earlier experiments with linearly polarized incident light.     

Two-beam Coupling Modules for Photorefractive Optical Circuits

Modules that perform photorefractive two-beam coupling operations have been built, characterized, and tested. These portable modules, interconnected by fiber optics, dispense with the need for repeated alignment and greatly facilitate the prototyping of complex signal- or image-processing photorefractive circuits. To evaluate the performance of the modules in a photorefractive circuit, we interconnected them in the feature extractor configuration: a ring configuration composed of two modules that selects the strongest signal within the signals presented on its input. With two signals at the input, an output contrast ratio of 45.4 dB is obtained for an input contrast ratio of 5 dB.