Expression of functional MHC class II molecules by a mouse pro-B cell clone

OBJECTIVE: Pooled bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), the return of lavage, contains both bronchial and alveolar material which differ from each other. Artifacts may be created by filtering, centrifuging and washing cells before cytopreparation. This study presents reference values of healthy volunteers for the alveolar sample, ALF, cytopreparation being performed without filtration or centrifugation. METHODS: Eighteen healthy, non-smoking volunteers underwent a standard bronchoalveolar lavage using 10 aliquots of 20 ml of saline. Excluding the return of the first and second aliquots, the rest were pooled and examined cytologically, immunocytochemically and biochemically. The mean, standard deviation, and 95% confidence limits were calculated for the following variables: amount of return, estimated content of epithelial lining fluid (ELF), total and differential cell counts on filter and cytocentrifuge (CCF) preparations, computed cell counts per unit volume of ALF, distribution of lymphocyte subgroups CD3+CD2, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD25 and CD57, and the ratio of CD4 to CD8, the amounts of lymphocytes in the same subgroups per volume of ALF, and the concentrations of total protein, albumin, immunoglobulins A, G and M, hyaluronic acid, eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP), procollagen III aminoterminal propeptide (PCP) and beta 2-microglobulin in ALF and in ELF, as well as the ratios of the concentrations of the solutes in ALF to the same in serum. RESULTS: The 95% confidence limits of means for the most important variables were as follows: estimated ELF content 0.42-0.74%; total cells in ALF 76.6-143.0 x 10(6) l-1; distribution of inflammatory cells on filter and CCF slides: macrophages 74.9-83.6 and 81.4-90.1%, lymphocytes 13.1-22.5 and 8.1-16.4%, and neutrophils 1.0-4.1 and 0.7-2.7%, respectively; distribution of lymphocyte subsets: CD3+CD2 85.6-90.6%, CD4 44.3-53.1%, CD8 26.9-35.8%; concentration of solutes in ALF: total protein 44.8-61.3 mg l-1, albumin 15.4-22.2 mg l-1, IgA 1.8-3.4 mg l-1, IgG 3.1-6.1 mg l-1, IgM 0.05-0.26 mg l-1, hyaluronic acid 8.8-11.1 micrograms l-1, ECP 0.19-0.77 micrograms l-1, PCP 0.005-0.58 micrograms l-1, beta 2-microglobulin 62.2-81.5 micrograms l-1. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that excluding the bronchial sample from ALF of volunteer subjects and omitting filtering and washing before cytopreparation produces cytologic, immunocytochemical and biochemical reference values with reasonable 95% confidence limits to be used in clinical settings.     

Bone SPECT of the jaws after fracture, onlay osteoplasty of insertion of implants

AIM: The aim of this study was early differentiation between uncomplicated and complicated processes of healing in the jaw using bone SPECT. METHODS: Investigations were performed in 40 mandibular fractures and 26 jaws after onlay osteoplasty as well as secondary insertion of implants. Bone SPECT was carried out within 1-2 months and after approximately 4-5 months. The uptake in the jaw was assessed semi-quantitatively using ROI analysis. RESULTS: Fractures with uncomplicated healing showed a decrease of uptake in follow-up, whereas fractures with an infection in the later course showed an increase, resulting in a significantly higher uptake at the follow-up investigation for the latter group. 1-2 months after onlay osteoplasty significantly lower uptake was found in regions with later occurrence of sequestration. In regions with implants in which osseointegration failed, there was significant reduction of uptake initially and significant elevation at the follow-up investigation. CONCLUSION: These results indicate a prognostic relevance of bone SPECT in the evaluation of processes of healing in the jaw.     

Drug therapy of hemiballism. Review of the literature and personal observations

Hemiballism is a rare hyperkinetic disorder which is characterized by irregular vigorous rotatory movements of the limbs of one side of the body. The disabling and exhausting movements with their high risk of severe injuries require an acute drug treatment. However, there are no common guidelines for the treatment of this disorder. Therefore we reviewed the available literature to establish a concept for a rational symptomatic drug treatment. Furthermore, own observations in 6 patients with hemiballism of different origins are reported.     

Biphasic effects of intraaccumbens mu-opioid peptide agonist DAMGO on locomotor activities

The effects of bilateral microinjections of mu-opioid receptor agonist DAMGO (0.00, 0.01, 0.1, or 1.0 microgram/side) were tested in rats for 120 min in activity monitors. The horizontal movement, rearing, and stereotypy times in seconds were measured during 12 consecutive 10-min time blocks. DAMGO (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 microgram) resulted in biphasic effects, inhibition followed by activation for each of the three measures. These data replicate the behavioral effects of ICV DAMGO except that the duration of the behavioral effects were longer with Acb injections.     

Analysis and simulation of substrate coupling in integrated circuits

A technique is presented which allows efficient calculation of substrate-coupling macromodels in integrated circuits. the technique can be used to calculate node-to-node resistances or impedances in substrate models. Examples of the technique applied to several test structures are presented.     

Diagnostic and prognostic relevance of malignancy-associated changes in cervical smears

OBJECTIVE: For approximately 15 years, malignancy-associated changes (MACs) have been consistently found by means of high-resolution cytometry in different tissues, especially in visually normal appearing cervical cells. Their biologic nature is not yet fully understood. The aim of this investigation was to assess the expression of MACs in cervical smears and to evaluate their prognostic relevance. STUDY DESIGN: This study was performed on normal intermediate cells obtained from 53 cytologically positive and 78 cytologically negative cervical smears. From a second sample, 31 cases showing negative cytology were selected for a prospective longitudinal study. Densitometric and texture features were generated, and MACs were described on the basis of multivariate discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Discrimination between positive and negative cases was possible, with a correct classification rate of approximately 80%. After a mean period of 29.5 months, we noted no statistically significant increase in the incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in the group of healthy but MAC-positive women as compared to those who were MAC negative. CONCLUSION: MACs were constantly expressed in the epithelium of the cervix. Although their prognostic relevance remains unclear, MACs play an important role in the effort to automate cervical cytology.     

Adverse environmental conditions in the respiratory and medical ICU settings

Sleep deprivation and fragmentation occurring in the hospital setting may have a negative impact on the respiratory system by decreasing respiratory muscle function and ventilatory response to CO2. Sleep deprivation in a patient with respiratory failure may, therefore, impair recovery and weaning from mechanical ventilation. We postulate that light, sound, and interruption levels in a weaning unit are major factors resulting in sleep disorders and possibly circadian rhythm disruption. As an initial test of this hypothesis, we sampled interruption levels and continuously monitored light and sound levels for a minimum of seven consecutive days in a medical ICU, a multiple bed respiratory care unit (RCU) room, a single-bed RCU room, and a private room. Light levels in all areas maintained a day-night rhythm, with peak levels dependent on window orientation and shading. Peak sound levels were extremely high in all areas representing values significantly higher than those recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency as acceptable for a hospital environment. The number of sound peaks greater than 80 decibels, which may result in sleep arousals, was especially high in the intensive and respiratory care areas, but did show a day-night rhythm in all settings. Patient interruptions tended to be erratic, leaving little time for condensed sleep. We conclude that the potential for environmentally induced sleep disruption is high in all areas, but especially high in the intensive and respiratory care areas where the negative consequences may be the most severe.     

Direct modulation of widely tunable twin-guide lasers

The possibility to directly modulate widely tunable lasers up to several gigahertz is desirable in telecom applications. We discuss the dynamic properties of the recently proposed widely tunable twin-guide laser concept. It has promising prospects with a maximum theoretical bandwidth above 20 GHz and the 3-dB bandwidth at 250 mA indicates that an actual bandwidth of 12 GHz should be possible. The current lasers were not designed for high-speed modulation, so only 1-GHz modulation can be reached at the moment.     

What do we know about innovation in nanotechnology? Some propositions about an emerging field between hype and path-dependency

This contribution formulates a number of propositions about the emergence of novel nanoscience and nanotechnology (N&N). Seeking to complement recent work that aims to define a research agenda and draws on general insights from the innovation literature, this paper aims to synthesize knowledge from innovation-related studies of the N&N field. More specifically, it is suggested that N&N is often misconstrued as either a field of technology or an area of (broadly) converging technologies while evidence to date suggests rather that N&N be considered a set of inter-related and overlapping about not necessarily merging technologies. The role of instrumentation in connecting the various N&N fields is underlined. Finally, the question is raised whether change in N&N tends to be incremental rather than discontinuous, being the result of technological path-dependencies and lock-ins in industry-typical search regimes that are only slowly giving way to more boundary-crossing activities.     

Optical and structural properties of MOVPE grown GaxIn1−xAs/InP strained multiple quantum well atructures

This paper presents a study of the structural and optical properties of strained GaInAs/ InP multiple quantum well (MQW) structures fabricated by LP-MOVPE. The composition of the Ga _x In_1−x As films ranged fromx = 0.17 tox = 1.0 and was determined by sputtered neutral mass spectrometry (SNMS) on thick layers. The structures of the MQW samples with well widths from 1.5 to 5 nm were investigated by high resolution x-ray diffraction (HR-XRD). Simulations of the diffraction patterns showed that transition layers of approximately 2 monolayer (ML) thickness with high lattice mismatch exist at the interfaces. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements indicate well widths of a multiple of a monolayer with local variations of one monolayer. The PL peak energies vary smoothly with the Ga concentration. These results were confirmed by optical absorption measurements.