Hirunorms are true hirudin mimetics. The crystal structure of human alpha-thrombin-hirunorm V complex

OBJECTIVE: Pelvic pain can account for up to 40 percent of laparoscopies performed by gynecologists. This report compares the psychological profiles and efficacy of laparoscopic surgery at long-term follow-up in a series of laparoscopy-positive and laparoscopy-negative patients with chronic pelvic pain. METHOD: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients diagnosed with chronic pelvic pain combined with postoperative written questionnaires and self-rating scales. These questionnaires were used to assess long-term post laparoscopy follow-up of the physical and psychological status of women with positive findings at laparoscopy compared to those women with negative findings. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant demographic differences between respondents and nonrespondents. In the respondents, no statistically significant differences were noted even with long-term follow-up when comparing responses of the laparoscopy-positive and laparoscopy-negative groups on the above questionnaires. CONCLUSION: Though reporting modest improvement in pelvic pain since laparoscopy, both groups reported a high incidence of anxiety, depression, physical worries, and marital/sexual problems.     

FAD-mediated enzymatic conversion of NAD+ to NADH: application to chiral synthesis of L-lactate

Electroenzymatic reduction of NAD+ to NADH for subsequent use in enzymatic synthesis has been carried out at carbon electrodes bearing lipoamide dehydrogenase (LiDH) immobilized under a Nafion film. The self-mediated electron transfer was made possible by an excess of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) entrapped together with LiDH. Results were compared to those obtained with a similar electrode containing both LiDH and a polymeric form of FAD (pFAD) prepared by anodic polymerization of FAD.     

Performance analysis of an adaptive receiver structure for digital mobile communications

In this paper we investigate the performance of a combined estimation/equalization technique for the mobile radio channel, assuming a GSM-recommended transmission format (narrowband TDMA with midamble, recommendation 5.04) and MSK modulation scheme. Channel estimation is performed via correlation of the received signal with a suitably modulated replica of the transmitted midamble. Equalization is then obtained by means of a maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) scheme in the form of a so-called Viterbi equalizer. Our analysis provides theoretical results concerning the bit error rate (BER) attained by the receiver for a given stationary multipath channel model. Simulation results are also presented in order to integrate and validate the theory.     

Long-term and low-dose treatment with cabergoline induces macroprolactinoma shrinkage

Cabergoline (CAB), a long-lasting dopamine-agonist, specific for the D2 receptor, is effective in normalizing serum PRL levels in most patients with microprolactinoma or idiopathic hyperprolactinemia. Because few data are presently available on the effects of CAB treatment in macroprolactinomas, the aim of this open-label study was to investigate whether this drug was effective in producing tumor shrinkage, as well as in normalizing PRL levels. Twenty-three patients with macroprolactinoma entered this study 15 patients had had no treatment, whereas the remaining 8 patients had been previously treated with bromocriptine, which was with-drawn because of intolerance. Three of 23 patients had undergone unsuccessful surgery. Pretreatment serum PRL levels ranged from 100-3860 micrograms/L. CAB was administered at a dose of 0.5-3 mg once or twice a week for 12-24 months. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed before and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after the beginning of treatment, to evaluate tumor shrinkage, defined as a decrease of at least 80% of baseline tumor volume. After 3-6 months of treatment with a low dose (0.5-1 mg/week), serum PRL levels normalized in 18 patients. In the remaining 5 patients, whose serum PRL levels were not normalized, the dose was increased to 2-3 mg/week. This schedule caused the normalization of PRL levels in 1 patient, whereas in the remaining 4 patients, PRL levels were reduced to 30-82 micrograms/L. A tumor volume reduction greater than 80% at MRI occurred in 14 of 23 patients (61%) after CAB treatment (from 2609.4 +/- 534.7 to 530.1 +/- 141.3 mm3 at the 12-24th month follow-up, P < 0.001). A volume reduction of 41.8 +/- 3.4% was already evident after 3 months (1436 +/- 285.9 mm3; P < 0.001). The complete disappearance of the tumor mass at MRI occurred after 6 months of treatment with CAB in 1 patient, and in 5 patients after 1 yr of treatment. An improvement of visual field defects was obtained in 9 of the 10 patients presenting visual impairment before CAB treatment. The drug was tolerated well by all patients. Only 1 patient experienced mild nausea, which disappeared spontaneously after the 2nd day of treatment. Long-term, a low dose of the D2 receptor agonist CAB significantly reduced tumor volume and normalized serum PRL levels in a great majority of patients bearing macroprolactinoma. This treatment met with excellent patient compliance. This study suggests that CAB can be used as a first choice drug treatment in macroprolactinomas, as already shown for microprolactinomas and idiopathic hyperprolactinemia.     

Diramazioni di soluzioni di equazioni differenziali ordinarie non lineari

Sommario In questa nota vengono studiate proprietà delle soluzioni non banaliw(x) (0≤x≤1) del problema non linearew″+λw=g(w) w′ ²,w(0)=w(1)=0, dove λ è reale eg(w) è intera; sono studiati in dettaglio alcuni casi corrispondenti a scelte particolari dig.

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Properties are obtained of the non trrivial solutionsw (x) (0≤x≤1) of the non linear boundary problemw″+λw=g(w)w′ ²,w(0)=w(1)=0, where λ is real andg(w) is entire. Some special cases (corresponding to special choices ofg) are studied in detail.

     

A novel super-potent neurokinin A receptor antagonist containing dehydroalanine

We report here the synthesis and preliminary pharmacological characterization of a novel Neurokinin A receptor antagonist. This molecule contains a dehydroalanine residue. It displays a high conformational rigidity and possesses very high activity. Its pharmacological properties as a neurokinin A receptor antagonist were assessed in in vitro experiments on rat vas deferens and were compared to those of Neuronorm and MEN10627.     

Availability modelling of ring microcomputer systems

A model for the availability of ring systems has been derived using the frequency balancing approach.A computer program has been written to evaluate different microcomputer based architectures by taking into consideration various features such as bus interfaces, number of modules, repair, hardware and software failure interaction, recovery procedure.Isolation and self purging of faulty modules have been proved to be significant factors in the calculation.     

On the Importance of Being Contextual

Unmanned vehicles are an important evolutionary step for increased safety in a range of missions from passive observation to active exploration to aggressive proaction. To achieve this goal, these vehicles must be reliably autonomous, with effective context interpretation - the continuous understanding and monitoring of the external environment being an essential step on this path. In this approach, appropriate accounting for context should increase the system's perception performance by exploiting opportunistic cues in the visual context and leveraging domain-based anticipated cues from the exosystem. Espousing an emerging probabilistic approach to context monitoring in sensory-based vehicle control systems, we account for partial certainties in the operating environment external to the vision system's field of regard. Our results point to the promise of multimodal awareness as the key to improved vehicle control performance across a broad spectrum of future mission spaces