Human immunodeficiency virus infection and stroke in young patients

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and stroke among young persons. DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study. SETTING: Large, inner-city public hospital. PARTICIPANTS: All patients aged 19 to 44 years with a diagnosis of stroke, whose HIV status was determined, admitted from January 1990 through June 1994. Controls matched for age and sex were selected from patients who were admitted during the same period for status asthmaticus whose HIV status was known. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The associations of HIV infection with all strokes and with cerebral infarction, after adjustment for other cerebrovascular risk factors, were evaluated by Mantel-Haenszel stratified analyses. The subtypes and causes of stroke in HIV-infected patients were compared with HIV-seronegative patients. RESULTS: The HIV infection was associated with stroke (odds ratio [OR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-5.3) and cerebral infarction (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.1-8.9), after adjustment for other cerebrovascular risk factors. Among patients with stroke, cerebral infarction was more frequent in HIV-infected patients than in HIV-seronegative patients (20 [80%] of 25 vs 48 [56%] of 88, P = .04). The frequency of cerebral infarctions associated with meningitis (P < .001) and protein S deficiency (P = .06) was higher in HIV-infected patients than in seronegative patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that HIV infection is associated with an increased risk of stroke, particularly cerebral infarction in young patients. This risk is probably mediated by increased susceptibility of HIV-infected patients to meningitis and protein S deficiency.     

Dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate increases net ultrafiltration in peritoneal dialysis

BACKGROUND: The surface-active substance dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate (DSS) has been reported to increase the peritoneal clearances of urea and creatinine. This study investigated the effects of DSS on the fluid and solute transport characteristics of the peritoneum. DESIGN: A 4-h single-dwell experiment session of peritoneal dialysis using 25 ml of 3.86% glucose dialysis solution with an intraperitoneal volume maker was performed in 16 male Sprague-Dawley rats. In eight rats, 0.005% (50 p.p.m.) DSS was added to the dialysis fluid. No DSS was given to the other eight rats (control group). The transport of fluid, glucose, potassium, sodium, urea, phosphate and urate were analysed. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the intraperitoneal volume in the DSS group. At 240 min, the drain volume in DSS group (33.0 +/- 2.9 ml) was significantly higher compared to the control group (28.8 +/- 2.1 ml, P < 0.01). This increase in the drain volume was mainly due to a decrease in peritoneal fluid absorption rate in the DSS group (0.040 +/- 0.013 ml/min) as compared to the control group (0.054 +/- 0.010 ml/min, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the diffusive permeability and sieving coefficient for the small solutes between these two groups. However, the clearances for urea and sodium were higher in the DSS group, mainly due to the increase in the dialysate volume. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that DSS significantly increases the net ultrafiltration of peritoneal dialysis. This effect, which was mainly due to a decrease in the fluid absorption rate, contributed to the increased clearances for urea and sodium. DSS did not alter the diffusive permeability and sieving coefficient for the small solutes.     

A probabilistic fouling and cost model for plate‐and‐frame heat exchangers

Fouling in plate‐and‐frame heat exchangers (PHEs) may be defined as the deposition of unwanted material on the heat transfer surface that reduces heat‐transfer and increases the resistance to fluid flow. Once the thermal–hydraulic performance decreases to a minimum acceptable level, cleaning of the equipment has to be done to restore the performance. The decision regarding periodic off‐line maintenance of the heat exchangers is generally based on a thermal–economic performance of the process. In this paper, we discuss a probabilistic maintenance model for PHE by incorporating the risk level and scatter parameter of the four random fouling growth models, namely linear, power law, falling rate and asymptotic models, which are integrated in the dimensionless cost model for a heat exchanger used in a steel plant. All the results are presented in terms of non‐dimensional plots. The results show that there is a strong relationship between t_down and the uptime, particularly in the region where the costs of operation and maintenance are minimum. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of fouling on performance evaluation of evaporative coolers and condensers

Fouling of evaporative cooler and condenser tubes is one of the most important factors affecting their thermal performance, which reduces effectiveness and heat transfer capability with time. In this paper, the experimental data on fouling reported in the literature are used to develop a fouling model for this class of heat exchangers. The model predicts the decrease in heat transfer rate with the growth of fouling. A detailed model of evaporative coolers and condensers, in conjunction with the fouling model, is used to study the effect of fouling on the thermal performance of these heat exchangers at different air inlet wet bulb temperatures. The results demonstrate that fouling of tubes reduces gains in performance resulting from decreasing values of air inlet wet bulb temperature. It is found that the maximum decrease in effectiveness due to fouling is about 55 and 78% for the evaporative coolers and condensers, respectively, investigated in this study. For the evaporative cooler, the value of process fluid outlet temperature T_p,out varies by 0.66% only at the clean condition for the ambient wet bulb temperatures considered. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reduction efficiencies of natural substances for reduced graphene oxide synthesis

Journal of Materials Science - Synthesis of graphene by reducing graphene oxide is the most propitious route for bulk graphene production. Reduction using eco-friendly techniques is more feasible...     

Comparative performance evaluation of positive displacement compressors in variable-speed refrigeration applications

This paper presents the results of investigations into the performance of positive-displacement refrigeration compressors for variable-speed capacity control applications. Compressors tested include an open-type reciprocating, a semi-hermetic reciprocating and an open-type rotary vane. All three compressors were tested under constant and variable head-pressure operating conditions. The results indicate that all three compressors were designed for maximum efficiency at nominal speed. At constant head-pressure only the open-type compressor exhibited an improvement in the COP at reduced speeds. With variable head-pressure-control all three compressors showed an increase in the COP with a reduction in speed. The results of an energy analysis carried out based on the experimental results and weather conditions for two locations representing temperate and warm weather conditions showed that all three compressors when operated at variable speed offer energy savings compared to their fixed-speed counterparts. The analysis has shown the open-type reciprocating compressor to be the most efficient system offering 12% savings when operating in a temperate climate and 24% savings when operating in a warm climate.     

Gain Control of Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Using a Bandpass Filter in a Feedback Loop

The authors present a simple configuration of a gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifier (GC-SOA) based on automatic intensity control of a feedback light generated by amplified spontaneous emission, using a narrow bandwidth thin-film-tunable filter. Experimental results show that the proposed amplifier has good gain clamping characteristics and the feedback light dramatically reduces steady and transient gain variations. The feedback light operates satisfactorily with the channel's add-drop frequency up to 20.9 kHz. We also examined the performance of the GC-SOA by employing the feedback light at different wavelengths.     

Triple therapy in duodenal ulcer healing--a follow up study

Thirty-nine Helicobacter pylori (HP) positive chronic duodenal ulcer patients completed the 4 weeks treatment of triple therapy (Denol, Metronidazole and Amoxil). Of these 29 showed healed duodenal ulcer and negative CLO test at 8 weeks (eradication). They were followed at 3,6 and 12 months and at each follow-up, endoscopy and CLO testing were repeated. At 12 weeks, 54% showed a healed ulcer and negative CLO and these figures reached to 69 and 66% at 6 and 12 months respectively. Thirty percent relapsed within 1 year. The present study indicates a prolonged remission of duodenal ulcer following HP eradication.