Hydrocortisone inhibits granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor production from normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD3+ T cells

Normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs), particularly T lymphocytes (T cells), are a rich source of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Glucocorticoids are known to inhibit GM-CSF production in in vitro cultures of a human fibroblast cell line and in normal human blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages. To determine whether glucocorticoids also inhibit GM-CSF production from normal human MNCs and T cells, we set up cultures of normal human MNCs and T cells in a liquid system in the presence and absence of 5, 50, and 250 microg/dL of hydrocortisone, and an hour later, a constant dose of 50-ng/mL Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or 10-microg/mL phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was added. After three days, cell counts and GM-CSF levels were determined. Administering 50- and 250-microg/dL hydrocortisone decreased lymphocyte recovery from MNC cultures with LPS (p < or = 0.01), and 250 microg/dL of hydrocortisone decreased lymphocyte recovery from MNC and T-cell cultures with PHA (p < or = 0.03). The amount of GM-CSF produced from PHA-stimulated MNCs was about 100-fold higher than that produced from LPS-stimulated MNCs. The magnitude of GM-CSFs produced in MNC and T-cell cultures stimulated by PHA was comparable (p=0.88). Administering hydrocortisone at 5, 50, and 250 pg/dL decreased GM-CSF production (p < 0.003) in LPS- or PHA-stimulated MNC cultures and in PHA-stimulated T-cell cultures. PHA (not tested with LPS)-stimulated GM-CSF messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was blocked by hydrocortisone. These results indicate that lower concentrations of hydrocortisone inhibit GM-CSF production from normal human blood MNCs and T cells entirely by inhibiting the expression of GM-CSF mRNA, and higher concentrations of hydrocortisone inhibit by a combined effect of inhibiting the expression of GM-CSF mRNA and decreasing the lymphocyte count.     

Electronically compensated current transformer modelling

The behaviour of electronically compensated current transformers is examined with reference to a model valid for frequencies ranging from industrial to ultra-acoustic both in steady-state and in transient conditions. The influence of the hysteresis and saturation effects is evidenced. A comparison with other proposed current transducers is also given. A quantitative treatment of the errors is given and a good agreement between simulation results and experimental data is obtained.     

Treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis in pregnancy. A comparative study

A carefully controlled comparative study showed miconazole nitrate 2% vaginal cream (Monistat) to be a highly effective agent in the treatment of vaginal candidiasis in pregnant subjects. Miconazole nitrate was significantly more effective than nystatin (Mycostatin) in the treatment of vaginal candidiasis in all three trimesters of pregnancy, and also more effective regardless of whether the candidal infection was primary or recurrent. Observations relating to the safety of this therapy during pregnancy were made and discussed.     

Suboptimal supervisory control of Petri nets in presence of uncontrollable transitions via monitor places

This paper deals with the problem of enforcing generalized mutual exclusion constraints (GMEC) on place/transition nets with uncontrollable transitions. An efficient control synthesis technique, which has been proposed in the literature, enforces GMEC constraints by introducing monitor places to create suitable place invariants. The method has been shown to be maximally permissive and to give a unique control structure in the case that the set of legal markings is controllable. This paper investigates on and formally shows that the class of controllers obtained by this technique may not have a supremal element for uncontrollable specifications. Moreover, it is shown that the family of monitor places enforcing an uncontrollable specification can be parameterized with respect to the solution of a linear system of equation. An algorithm to obtain such parameterization is presented here.     

Texture evolution of “Amaretti” cookies during storage

The results of a study on texture evolution during 35 days of storage of amaretti, a typical Italian cookie, packaged in two different ways are reported. Amaretti cookies were wrapped in polyvinylchloride (PVC) film or aluminium foil (ALL), to simulate two different permeability conditions and stored at controlled temperature and humidity. Evolution of texture (such as hardness) and a_w were tested instrumentally by a texture analyser and a hygrometer, respectively. Texture was assessed by a cut and puncturing test. Indices for hardening were the area under the curve (N mm) and gradient (N/mm) for the puncturing test and maximum force (N) for the cut test. Both textural tests showed significantly higher hardening of PVC cookies, compared to the ALL cookies. The latter retained good sensorial properties at the end of the storage period, although their internal structure changed from soft and moist to mealy, while the PVC cookies were no longer edible only 10 days after baking. a_w values decreased and increased in PVC and ALL lots, respectively. The results suggest that hardening may be explained by water loss in PVC and moisture redistribution in ALL.     

Chance-corrected measures of reliability and validity in K x K tables

When studying the degree of overall agreement between the nominal responses of two raters, it is customary to use the coefficient kappa. A more detailed analysis requires the evaluation of the degree of agreement category by category, and this is carried out in two different ways: using the value of kappa in the collapsed table for each category or using the agreement index for each category (proportion of agreements observed). Both indices have disadvantages: the former is sensitive to marginal totals; the latter is not chance corrected; and neither distinguishes the case where one of the two raters is a gold standard (an expert) from the case where neither rater is a gold standard. This article suggests five chance-corrected indices which are not sensitive to marginal totals and which differ depending on whether there is a standard rater. The article also justifies the reason for poor performance of kappa when the two marginal totals are unbalanced (especially if they are so in opposite directions) and the reason for its good performance when analysing the various 2 x 2 tables obtained by the collapse of a wider table.     

Spin-rotation invariance and the structure of correlation functions in magnetic systems

We analyze, in the framework of the functional approach to statistical mechanics, general properties of correlation functions in ordered magnetic systems. The aim of this paper is to investigate what consequences can be derived from the requirement of invariance of the theory under local infinitesimal spin rotation. The extension of the method that we introduce, to include anisotropic Hamiltonians, is discussed, and the case of the anisotropy described by an internal field is worked out. Our main results are a set of generalized Ward identities, a microscopic definition of the stiffness constant as a static limit of a local response function, and an exact asymptotic expression for the correlation functions of interest, for zero temperature and small wave length and frequency. Modifications to the hydrodynamic expression for correlation functions in the case where anisotropy is present are also discussed.     

Cultural evolutionary design of adaptive wavelet filters based on lifting scheme for micro-instruments

An evolutionary procedure based on cultural algorithms for the optimal design of adaptive wavelet filters based on lifting scheme is proposed. Numerical results of characterization, based on statistical experiment design, as well as validation, based on the comparison with a genetic optimization algorithm, are presented. Experimental results of the validation on two case studies for reducing uncertainty arising from noise in on-field corrosion rate measurements are highlighted.