Association of vitamin K-dependent coagulation proteins and C4b binding protein with triglyceride-rich lipoproteins of human plasma

It has been proposed that females use the symmetry of secondary sexual traits to differentiate between potential mates. The vertical bars on male swordtail fish function as a signal that attracts females and deters rival males in one swordtail species. In addition, male courtship behaviour of most Xiphophorus species incorporates serial lateral presentations, which provide females with a clear opportunity to assess males for bilateral symmetry. We tested the hypothesis that X. cortezi females prefer males with a symmetrical bar number by determining whether females switched their preference between two males when we switched which male had a symmetrical number of bars. The ability to manipulate the bars without influencing other male traits allowed us to control for male characters correlated with bar symmetry that females might prefer. The degree of asymmetry in bar number we used was within the degree of asymmetry found for this trait in nature. Females switched their preference between a pair of males when we switched which male was symmetrical for bar number. We discuss the possibility that females prefer a symmetrical bar number as well as an alternative hypothesis. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Catch-up primary vaccination with acellular pertussis vaccines in 3-4-year-old children--reactogenicity and serological response

Conditions of frontal displacement chromatography were optimized for preparative purification of the polypeptide hormone melittin from bee venom. Melittin was purified to an extent higher than that of a standard preparation described in the biochemical literature.     

Obstetric and perinatal outcome of pregnancies following intracytoplasmic sperm injection

The aim of this study was to describe the obstetric and perinatal outcome for births following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Of 210 infants born, 140 were singletons and 70 were twins. There were no triplets or higher births. The multiple birth frequency was 20%. Overall, 17% of deliveries were preterm, although for singleton pregnancies the incidence was reduced to 9%. The median birth weight of all live born infants was 3168 g and singletons 3470 g. Of all infants, 17% had a low birth weight (<2500 g) and 2% had a very low birth weight (<1500 g). Two major malformations occurred in two singleton children and four minor malformations occurred in four children. This was within the range of expected values in Sweden. Karyotyping was performed in 58 pregnancies. All of them were normal. The perinatal mortality was 0.5%. In conclusion, in this observational study from Sweden of the first infants born after ICSI in our programme, the incidence of multiple births, preterm births, low birth weight babies and congenital malformations was low compared with other series of in-vitro fertilization pregnancies not associated with ICSI.     

Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on the Device Characteristics of Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors

The effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on important detector characteristics such as dark current, absolute response, noise, and detectivity is investigated for quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIP) operating in the 8–12 μm wavelength regime. A comprehensive set of experiments is conducted on QWIPs fabricated from both as-grown and annealed multiple-quantum-well structures. RTA is done at an anneal temperature of 850°C for 30 s using an SiO₂ encapsulant. In general, a decrease in performance is observed for RTA QWIPs when compared to the as-grown detectors. The peak absolute response of the annealed QWIPs is lower by almost a factor of four, which results in a factor of four decrease in quantum efficiency. In addition, a degraded noise performance results in a detectivity which is five times lower than that of QWIPs using asgrown structures. Theoretical calculations of the absorption coefficient spectrum are in excellent agreement with the experimental data.     

Haemophilia prophylaxis in young patients--a long-term follow-up

OBJECTIVES: To review long-term prophylactic factor treatment in young patients with severe haemophilia A and B, focusing on the orthopaedic and radiological outcome. DESIGN: We received 34 patients with severe haemophilia A (n = 29) and B (n = 5), aged 7-22 years. Age at start of treatment was 1-4.5 years. Dosages of factor concentrate (F VIII and F IX, respectively) were 25-40 IU/kg body weight, three times a week for haemophilia A and twice a week for haemophilia B. The patients had been checked annually over a 5-year period (1990-95). Orthopaedic and radiological joint scores were evaluated according to recommendations by the World Federation of Haemophilia. SETTING: All results were obtained at the Department for Coagulation Disorders, University of Lund, Malm? University Hospital, Malm?, Sweden. RESULTS: Orthopaedic and radiological joint scores were found to have remained unchanged during follow-up in almost all patients and to be still zero (i.e. no unaffected joints) in 79% (n = 27) of the patients. CONCLUSION: There is a growing international consensus haemophilic arthropathy can be prevented by administering early high-dose prophylaxis. The results of the present investigation strongly support this opinion.     

Parity among atopic and non-atopic mothers

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of a copper-salicylate gel in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. DESIGN: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. SETTING: Rheumatology Clinic of St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales (a tertiary referral hospital), June 1993 to October 1994. PATIENTS: 116 patients with pain associated with osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee (diagnosed by criteria of the European League against Rheumatism), drawn from patients attending the Clinic or self-referred after newspaper advertisements. INTERVENTION: Copper-salicylate or placebo gel (1.5 g) applied twice daily to the forearm for four weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-assessment of pain before the trial and after two and four weeks of treatment; patient and investigator assessments of efficacy; additional analgesia required; adverse reactions; and withdrawal rates. RESULTS: Pain scores at rest and on movement decreased in both the copper-salicylate and placebo groups by 13%-20%. There was no significant difference between the two groups for decrease in pain score, patient and investigator efficacy ratings, number of patients requiring paracetamol for extra analgesia (active, 77%; placebo, 71%) and average dose of paracetamol (active, 555 mg/day; placebo, 600 mg/day). Significantly more patients in the copper-salicylate group reported adverse reactions (83% versus 52% of the placebo group), most commonly skin reactions, and withdrew from the trial because of these reactions (17% versus 1.7% of the placebo group). CONCLUSION: Copper-salicylate gel applied to the forearm was no better than placebo gel as pain relief for patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, but produced significantly more skin rashes.     

Elastic strain and enhanced light emission in dry etched Si/Si1-xGex quantum dots

Quantum dots of 50 ~ 60 nm diameter fabricated from both Si/Si_1-xGe_x (x = 0.1 ~ 0.3) strained layer superlattices and a strain symmetried Si₉/Ge₆ superlattice were investigated by a combination of Raman scattering, photoluminescence, and electroluminescence spectroscopy. It was found that, in addition to an enhanced luminescence intensity of the dots by over two orders of magnitude and improved luminescence quenching temperature, all of the nanostructure dots have residual built-in elastic strains, which are of the order of ~50% of the values in corresponding pseudomorphic heterostructures. This result suggests a possible mechanism for explaining the huge enhancement of the optical efficiency in our luminescence measurements.     

MODELLING AND CORRELATING THE PERMEABILITY OF PULP AND PAPER

A sheet of paper is modelled as a network of cellulose fibres, either cylindrical or band-shaped. The equations for creeping flow through such structures are solved, and The calculated permeabilities are compared with measured values. Flow through some paper structures such as pulp sheets and handsheets of unbeaten sulphate pulp is adequately described by the structural model involving band-shaped fibres when a fibre aspect ratio of 3.5 is used. For newsprint sheets the measured permeability is lower than that predicted by the models when physically realistic values of the aspect ratio are taken. A total of 19 different paper grades have been characterised by measurement of the total specific surface area and The fibre orientation ratio in addition to the measurements of effective diffusivity, permeability and porosity. Permeability and effective diffusivity correlate with each other and permeability correlates with fibre orientation, so that at constant porosity, permeability decreases with increasing fibre orientation.