Psychopharmacotherapy in pregnancy and breast feeding

The primary purpose of this article is to review critically the literature on the use of psychotropic medications in pregnancy and during breast feeding in order to suggest strategies for the clinical management of these periods. Use of psychotropic medications during pregnancy may cause three complications: 1. teratogenicity, 2. perinatal syndromes (neonatal toxicity), and 3. postnatal behavioural sequelae (behavioural toxicity). The literature features few well-controlled studies concerning these points, so that the available information allows only few conclusions. Exposure to certain psychotropic drugs in utero may increase the risk for some specific congenital anomalies; there is mostly no strong evidence for behavioural toxicity in children exposed to psychotropic medications. Use of psychotropic drugs during pregnancy and breast feeding may be appropriate in many clinical situations and should include thoughtful weighing of risk of pre- and postnatal exposure versus risk of relapse following drug discontinuation. The authors try to present disorder-based guidelines for psychotropic drug use during pregnancy and breast feeding and for psychiatrically ill women who wish to conceive.     

The transfer function and impulse response of photorefractivetwo-beam coupling

The transfer function and impulse response of photorefractive two-beam coupling are derived in the undepleted pump approximation. For sufficiently strong coupling ΓL, the impulse response features a broad delayed output pulse. In the limits of negligible and strong absorption αL, this coupling threshold reads ΓL_thr=4 and Γ_thr=2α, respectively. The time delay and pulse height are functions of the coupling ΓL, the photorefractive time constant τ, and the effective absorption αL. Experiments on a BaTiO₃ crystal measuring the absoluted square of its transfer function and the impulse response are used to determine the coupling and time constant     

Modelling and experimental investigation of a pilot plant for solar wood drying

In northeast Argentina, several species of hard wood, e.g. Algarrobo and Quebracho, are used for building furniture. To obtain high quality products in this and many other climates, artificial drying is required; typically, wood is dried in convection dryers. In this project the drying air is heated by solar energy in a collector resembling a greenhouse tunnel. Then passing through a drying chamber with the wood stapled inside it removes moisture from the product. The air flow in this special system is generated by natural convection in a chimney due to the lower density of hot air with respect to cold air. At the Institute of Agricultural Engineering of the Technical University Munich a TRNSYS simulation model for the wood drying process was developed using the physical properties of the drying product. Further modules developed describe the collector tunnel, the drying chamber and the chimney. Meteorological data and material coefficients are provided from external data files. Modelling of the wood drying process is advantageous for system design, development of control strategies and system optimization. Especially in applications with solar energy supply and its transient availability such a theoretical model is a helpful tool for research and consultancy. The simulation program predicts moisture and temperature within the product, it also calculates energy flows and ideally achievable drying results. In parallel with this theoretical work in Germany an experimental plant was designed and built in Resistencia, Argentina. The system is equipped with a data acquisition system for detailed monitoring of the solar plant and the drying process. The results gained from this project confirm several advantages of solar wood drying techniques. The drying time is marginally longer than with conventional systems but much shorter than with open air drying. Damage of the wood during drying can be avoided as well as external damage. Operating costs are low since neither special control equipment nor fuel is necessary.     

Manufacturing processes of multi-component gearwheels

Forschung im Ingenieurwesen - Gearwheels in automotive applications are usually designed as monolithic parts. Adapting the concept of multi-component design to those applications allows to reduce...     

Conversion of injected waste plastics in blast furnace

Operation of several blast furnaces proved that waste plastic (WP) injection makes recycling of industrial and municipal organic wastes and coke saving possible. However, the extent and reaction kinetics of plastic conversion are hardly explored yet. Therefore, a comprehensive study on WP characteristics and conversion behaviour under simulated raceway, bird's nest and shaft conditions, as well as on its interaction with coke, has been undertaken. Numerous analytical, laboratory and pilot facilities have been used. It has shown that despite favourable chemistry, it is hardly possible to reach a high conversion degree of plastics under the raceway conditions. Consumption of unburned residues in coke bed and in shaft is possible. The effect of this phenomenon on coke reactivity has to be considered as well.     

Determination of thermocouple transfer-functions and fluid-flow velocities by temperature-noise measurements in liquid sodium

The time response of TI-, TM- and intrinsic thermocouples has been investigated in sodium by determination of frequency dependent thermocouple transfer functions and related delay times. Experimentally temperature fluctuations (temperature noise), generated in sodium by heated channels or injection of hot sodium, have been used as driving sources. The measured transfer functions and delay times have been compared to predictions from theoretical models. Good agreement was found. Intrinsic and TM-type thermocouples are best suited if fast response is required. Delay times in the range of one millisecond or upper break frequencies of 1000 Hz were determined for intrinsic thermocouples.

The determination of sodium flow velocities by the transit time correlation technique showed systematic error sources for analysis at low frequencies due to intermediate heat storage between the thermocouple positions. Statistical errors have been determined as function of thermocouple distance, frequency range and time of analysis. Minimum errors are obtained for thermocouple distances from 100 to 150 mm and in the frequency range 90 to 120 Hz. A transit time correlator, which automatically tracks the maximum of the cross-correlation function and displays the velocity, has been successfully used for signals with correlation coefficients greater than 0.3.     

Serial position effects in dementia of the Alzheimer type

We evaluated the usefulness of an automated hematology analyzer (SE-9000) for the identification and counting of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). The samples tested were from 14 patients with hematological malignancies. Peripheral blood samples were collected from the subjects before and after a course of chemotherapy. From the leukapheresis sample, CD34+ cells, assumed to be hematopoietic stem cells, were obtained with an immunomagnetic cell separator. The CD34+ cells obtained accumulated in the gate corresponding to low recurrent frequencies of the automated hematology analyzer. This gate shows results of the 'immature information' (IMI) channel. Software for detection of only the cells that accumulated in this gate was therefore developed. With this trial program, the regression coefficient between the percentage of leukocytes from the blood samples that were CD34+ and the percentage of such leukocytes that appeared on the IMI channel was 0.79. With this analyzer, the number of PBSC could be counted in about 80 s. The identification and counting of cells picked up by the IMI channel should be clinically useful for the monitoring of changes in PBSC after chemotherapy for mobilization.