Accumulation of cadmium in livers and kidneys in Greenlanders

In the Arctic, the traditional diet exposes its people to a very high intake of cadmium because it is highly concentrated in the liver and kidneys of commonly eaten marine mammals. In one study in Greenland, the cadmium intake was estimated to 182 microg/day/person in the fall and 346 in the spring. To determine whether the cadmium is accumulated in humans, we analyzed autopsy samples of liver and kidneys from 95 ethnic Greenlanders (aged 19-89) who died from a wide range of causes. The cadmium concentration in liver (overall mean 1.97 microg/g wet wt) appeared to be unrelated to any particular age group, whereas the concentrations in the kidneys peaked in Greenlanders between 40 and 50 years of age (peak concentration 22.3 microg/g wet wt). Despite the high cadmium levels in the typical Greenlander diet, we found that the cadmium concentrations in livers and kidneys were comparable to those reported from Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Great Britain. Furthermore, even though the mean cadmium intake from the diet was estimated to be 13-25 times higher in Greenlanders than in Danes, we found similar cadmium levels in the kidneys of both. Seal livers and kidneys are the main source of cadmium in the diet of Greenlanders, but these tissues are not eaten in Denmark. Thus, our results suggest that the accumulation of cadmium from Greenlander's marine diet is very low.     

Late-life decline in well-being across adulthood in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Something is seriously wrong at the end of life.

Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. However, evidence is emerging that late in life well-being declines considerably. Using long-term longitudinal data of deceased participants in national samples from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we examined how long this period lasts. In all 3 nations and across the adult age range, well-being was relatively stable over age but declined rapidly with impending death. Articulating notions of terminal decline associated with impending death, we identified prototypical transition points in each study between 3 and 5 years prior to death, after which normative rates of decline steepened by a factor of 3 or more. The findings suggest that mortality-related mechanisms drive late-life changes in well-being and highlight the need for further refinement of psychological concepts about how and when late-life declines in psychosocial functioning prototypically begin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test Time Minimization for Hybrid BIST of Core-Based Systems

This paper presents a solution to the test time minimization problem for core-based systems. We assume a hybrid BIST approach, where a test set is assembled, for each core, from pseudorandom test patterns that are generated online, and deterministic test patterns that are generated off-line and stored in the system. In this paper we propose an iterative algorithm to find the optimal combination of pseudorandom and deterministic test sets of the whole system, consisting of multiple cores, under given memory constraints, so that the total test time is minimized. Our approach employs a fast estimation methodology in order to avoid exhaustive search and to speed-up the calculation process. Experimental results have shown the efficiency of the algorithm to find near optimal solutions.     

Consistent scale-up procedure for the power consumption in agitated non-newtonian fluids

It is shown how a consistent scale-up rule for the power consumption in agitated non-Newtonian liquids can be obtained. The new approach is based on the concept of including the real liquid in a set of liquids with similar rheological properties and of using, in a small scale laboratory system, a suitable member of that set instead of the original liquid. Considerations of similarity lead to simple unique selection rules for the actual test liquid and for the stirrer speed in the laboratory experiment as well as to a prediction of the power requirement in the real system. The theory is tested experimentally by means of different aqueous polyacrylamide solutions. The results are compared with predictions, according to Metzner and Otto as well as Rieger and Novák.     

Properly efficient solutions for vectorial norm approximation

In the present paper a general vectorial best approximation problem using vectorial norms with respect to properly efficient solutions is considered. Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for such solutions are derived. This is done on base of scalarization and studying a corresponding dual problem to the scalar optimization problem. Also optimality conditions in subdifferential form are formulated. For the necessity of the optimality conditions especially convexity assumptions are essential. But under only very weak supposition these conditions are sufficient.     

Laboruntersuchungen zur Korrosion von unlegiertem Stahl in Kühlwässern

Laboratory studies on corrosion of unalloyed steel in cooling waters Corrosion tests were carried out in recycle apparatures to prepare cooling-water treatment. The corrosion behaviour of unalloyed steel St 38b-2 in dependence on m-value of water was tested. The corrosion-inhibiting effect of sodium polyphosphate, zinc sulfate, 1-hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) and the trisodium salt of HEDP and polyacrylate and their combinations in water with m-value 1.0–1.5 mmole per litre was tested in comparison with unalloyed steel. The corrosion rate increases strongly below a m-value of 2.2 mmol per litre. Sodium polyphosphate, sodium polyphosphate/zinc sulfate and zinc sulfate-polyacrylate show good protection features in water with m-value 1.0–1.5 mmole per litre. The trisodium salt of HEDP has an insufficient effect.     

Modeling of transmembrane seven helix bundles

Transmembrane seven helix bundles form a large family of membraneinserted receptors and are responsible for a wide range of biologicalfunctions. Experimental data suggest that their overall structureis similar to bacteriorhodopsin. We describe here a new approachfor the modeling of transmembrane seven helix bundles basedon statistically derived environmental preference parameterscombined with experimentally determined features of the receptors.The method was used to create a model for the human ß₂-adrenoreceptor.This model is physically plausible, is in reasonable agreementwith experimental data and may be helpful in planning new receptorengineering experiments.