Bone mineral density in pediatric patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria

Between October 1993 and April 1995, a total of 77 neonates requiring mechanical ventilation were enrolled in this study and were randomly divided into two groups. Group A consisted of 31 premature infants (mean birthweight 1.36 +/- 0.29 kg) with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and seven neonates (mean birthweight 3.2 +/- 0.5 kg) with meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). Group B consisted of 31 premature infants (mean birthweight 1.31 +/- 0.3 kg) with RDS and eight neonates (mean birthweight 3.3 +/- 0.5 kg) with MAS. Infants in group A received synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) and infants in group B received conventional intermittent mandatory ventilation (CIMV) therapy. In premature infants with RDS, our data showed: (i) the duration of ventilation was significantly shorter (P < 0.05) in the synchronized group (156 +/- 122 h) compared to the conventional group (242 +/- 175 h); (ii) significantly fewer (P < 0.05) patients required reintubation in the synchronized group than in the conventional group (three vs 11 patients); (iii) incidence of severe intraventricular hemorrhage (grades 3 and 4) was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the synchronized group compared to the conventional group (one vs seven patients); (iv) incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the synchronized group than in the control group (one vs seven patients). In neonates with MAS, our data showed no significant difference (P < 0.05) on duration of ventilation, incidence of reintubation, incidence of pneumothorax or mortality rate between synchronized and control groups.     

Enhancement of leukocyte functions in aged mice supplemented with the antioxidant thioproline

DiGeorge syndrome (DGS) is a developmental field defect, characterised by absent/hypoplastic thymus and parathyroid, and conotruncal heart defects, with haploinsufficiency loci at 22q (DGS1) and 10p (DGS2). We performed fluorescence in situ hybridisations (FISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses in 12 patients with 10p deletions, nine of them with features of DGS, and in a familial translocation 10p;14q associated with midline defects. The critical DGS2 region is defined by two DGS patients, and maps within a 1 cM interval including D10S547 and D10S585. The other seven DGS patients are hemizygous for both loci. The breakpoint of the reciprocal translocation 10p;14q maps at a distance of at least 12 cM distal to the critical DGS2 region. Interstitial and terminal deletions described are in the range of 10-50 cM and enable the tentative mapping of loci for ptosis and hearing loss, features which are not part of the DGS clinical spectrum.     

Ceramer coatings from castor oil or epoxidized castor oil and tetraethoxysilane

New inorganic-organic hybrids were synthesized through the reaction of castor oil (CO) or epoxidized castor oil (ECO) with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). The mass proportions of ECO/TEOS varied from 90∶10 to 60∶40, and films of the material were thermally cured. An IR spectroscopy analysis was performed, and macro- and microscopic properties such as adhesion, hardness, swelling in toluene, microstructure (scanning electron microscopy), and T _g were investigated as a function of the proportion of their inorganic-organic precursor. Morphologic studies showed that the hybrid films were homogeneous when lower proportions of the inorganic precursors were used. Hardness and tensile strength increased with TEOS concentration, whereas swelling in toluene decreased with TEOS concentration. Good adhesion was observed throughout the hybrid series.     

Apertureless scanning near-field magneto-optical microscopy of magnetic multilayers

We imaged magnetic domains in Pt/Co/Pt multilayers using an apertureless scanning near-field optical microscope operating in reflection mode. As the magneto-optical effects are weak for this kind of structure, a polarization modulation technique with a photoelastic modulator was used to reveal the contrast between magnetic domains. In the case of a Pt/Co/Pt trilayer structure, a strong improvement in lateral resolution is observed compared with far-field magneto-optical images and good sensitivity is achieved. In the case of a Pt/[Co/Pt]Pt multilayer structure, stripe domains of 200 nm width could be resolved, in good agreement with images obtained by magnetic force microscopy on the same structure.     

A simplified SPIHT algorithm

Abstract

Based on the SPIHT algorithms, we define two modifications to develop a simpler image coding method. The first concept is obtained from the relationship between the bit‐planes and the target bit‐rate. The second concept is obtained from the relationship between the initial threshold and the target bit‐rate. Based on the abovementioned concepts, we can discard the refinement pass and improve the image quality at different target bit‐rates. The simulation results show that in comparison with the original SPIHT algorithm, the proposed algorithm can reduce memory usage by approximately 50% and computation time by approximately 30% with an acceptable PSNR loss.     

A client–server architecture for remotely controlling a robot using a closed-loop system with a biological neuroprocessor

This paper introduces an open-source real-time system that remotely controls a robot using human neuroblastoma cultures and a client–server architecture. Multielectrode array set-ups have been designed for direct culturing of neural cells over silicon or glass substrates, providing the capability simultaneously to stimulate and record populations of neural cells. However, it is very difficult to attach these neural cells to the robot structure due to the special conditions of the biological material. The main objective of this research is to build a client–server system for remotely connecting a robot to a neural culture in a closed-loop experimentation. The robot sensors will feed the biological neuroprocessor, while the neural activity will be used for guiding the robot, controlling in this way the robotic behaviour.