Preparation of clean coal by flotation following ultra fine liberation

This paper reports the results of current fundamental research at the Department of Process Engineering, University of Miskolc on the processing of clean coal from Mecsek bituminous coal, Southern Hungary. The theoretical possibility of the separation of different petrographic components was proven experimentally and their liberation degree was determined based on the petrographic composition, flotation kinetic study of isolated components (groups of components), scanning electron microscopy and microprobe analyses. The mill with stirred ball media was chosen for the ultra-fine liberation of the coal components. It was revealed that along with the liberation of coal components, their surface oxidation and spontaneous agglomeration, entrapping the mineral impurities take place in ultra-fine grinding. This paper discusses the interfacial phenomena occurring in the ultra-fine grinding process and their influence on the flotation. The concept for the advanced preparation of clean coal was developed, tested and proved. The main steps of this concept are the ultra-fine liberation in the stirred-media mill, the de-agglomeration of flocs spontaneously formed during the ultra-fine grinding and the induced (hydrophobic) flocculation with the following two-step flotation in a flotation column.     

Updated semi‐discretization method for periodic delay‐differential equations with discrete delay

An updated version of the semi‐discretization method is presented for periodic systems with a single discrete time delay. The delayed term is approximated as a weighted sum of two neighbouring discrete delayed state values and the transition matrix over a single period is determined. Stability charts are constructed for the damped and delayed Mathieu equation for different time‐period/time‐delay ratios. The convergence of the method is investigated by examples. Stability charts are constructed for 1 and 2 degree of freedom milling models. The codes of the algorithm are also attached in the appendix. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An extended panel of hamster-human hybrids for chromosome 2q

A hamster-human hybrid containing only the q arm of chromosome 2 has been used to construct a panel of hybrids bearing reduced regions of chromosome 2 using the technique of irradiation fusion gene transfer. The human chromosome 2 carried the Ecogpt gene and all hybrids were selected using this marker. The integrated Ecogpt gene was localized to the region 2q33-34, resulting in the selective retention of this region in the hybrids. These data were combined with another previously constructed panel of hybrids containing regions of 2q, which were enriched for the region 2q36-37. The combined hybrid panel is useful for the mapping of new markers to defined regions of chromosome 2 and for the cloning of genes located on 2q by a positional strategy.     

BCG vaccination

The author expounds the fairly obscure history of BCG vaccination. Summarises the efficiency of accomplished vaccinations of different geographical areas. He accounts the diversity of results by the distinction of technical and methodical conditions and disparity in virulence of BCG strains. Overviews the Inland and European routine and the risk of possible complications. The favourable position of domestic childhood tuberculosis is due to the effective preventive arrangements. Considering the international and national epidemiology of tuberculosis in adults the administration of BCG vaccine, by chance in modified form, is recommended further on.     

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemolytic uremic syndrome (TTP/HUS). Description of a series of 35 patients

Subsequent to the implementation of a severity marker stamp in case notes, an audit was performed in 86 admissions with acute asthma to a specialist centre over a 12 month period. Compared to previous audit the documentation of severity markers was significantly better (PEFR: 52% vs 83% p = 0.001, Respiratory rate: 44% vs 81% p = 0.001, ABG: 72% vs 80% p = 0.04, air entry: 58% vs 86% p = 0.001, speech: 27% vs 86% p = 0.001, exhaustion: 4% vs 86% p = 0.001). In contrast to the previous audit where no patient received FiO2 > 0.35, 66% of the cases in the repeat audit received FiO2 0.60 (p = 0.001). The mean duration of admission was five days and showed highest partial correlation (r = 0.6) to the time in hours for the pulse to fall to 80/min. Multiple linear regression showed that this was the only variable best predicting the duration of admission (R2 = 0.3). Admission pulse rate (p = 0.04) and serum K+ (p = 0.04) best discriminated between patients admitted for over and under five days. Logistic regression identified only the admission pulse as significant in calculating the odds of the patient staying in the hospital for > 5 days.     

Fetus-in-fetu with malignant recurrence

Fetus-in-fetu is an unusual condition in which a vertebrate fetus is enclosed within the abdomen of another fetus. These occurrences are usually benign. This report describes an instance of malignant recurrence after resection of a fetus-in-fetu.     

RNA movement between the nucleus and the cytoplasm

The past year has seen significant advances in our understanding of the mechanism of RNA movement between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. The emerging view is that proteins bind to and escort RNAs to their proper subcellular location. The discovery of peptide signals that target nuclear export and the identification of novel protein mediators of RNA export are examples of significant recent discoveries.