An association study between a transcriptional polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene and panic disorder in a Japanese population

1. To determine the effects of an acute oral dose of glibenclamide on blood pressure (BP), basal forearm vascular resistance (FVR) and FVR responses to the K+ATP channel activating vasodilator diazoxide, a placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over study was performed in eight male volunteers with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. 2. Changes in vascular responses to progressively increasing concentrations of diazoxide (3.75-30 mg/kg per min) and noradrenaline (25-100 ng/kg per min) were measured by venous occlusion plethysmography. 3. Glibenclamide significantly lowered plasma glucose levels compared with placebo (P < 0.02) and attenuated the decrease in FVR (P < 0.05) and the decrease in systolic BP (P < 0.05) that followed a meal. However, vasodilator responses to diazoxide were potentiated by the administration of oral glibenclamide (P < 0.01). 4. Acute administration of oral glibenclamide attenuates the normal decrease in FVR and systolic BP that follows a meal and potentiates rather than inhibits forearm vasodilator responses to intra-arterial diazoxide, probably via indirect humoral effects. These results suggest that glibenclamide has direct or indirect vasoconstrictor effects that antagonize the normal increase in forearm blood flow that follows a meal and that the inhibition of vascular K+ATP channels following acute oral glibenclamide administration is clinically insignificant compared with other indirect vascular effects of the drug.     

Abnormal branching of left pulmonary artery to the lateral and posterior basal segments

A 70-year-old male, underwent left lower lobectomy due to lung cancer, had an extremely rare form of left pulmonary artery branching. His pulmonary artery supplying to lateral and posterior basal segments (A9 + 10) was arisen anteriorly from the root of the left pulmonary artery in the mediastinum and ran below in the anterior portion of the upper lobe stem bronchus. Embriologically, this abnormality might be due to a derangement of anastomosis between the pulmonary arch system and splanic plexus in primitive lung, and was interpreted as one of the pulmonary sequestration. Clinically, particularly at thoracotomy, the presence of a large vessel in an unexpected location is very hazardous, so that preoperative pulmonary angiography is useful to detect the abnormal branching.     

Femtomolar bradykinin-induced relaxation of isolated bovine coronary arteries, mediated by endothelium-derived nitric oxide

The ideal pleural sclerosing agent should be easily administered, without significant side effects, inexpensive, and widely available. None of the agents presently used meets all of these criteria. Ethanolamine oleate (ETH) is a sclerosing agent used in the sclerotherapy treatment of varicose veins of the legs and esophagus. The objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy of ETH as a pleural sclerosant in rabbits. An additional objective was to assess if better results were obtained when dextrose 50% (D50) as opposed to saline was used as the diluent. Each group of 10 rabbits received a total volume of 2 ml intrapleurally. The eight treatments were as follows: (1) 2 ml saline; (2) 2 ml D50; (3) 25 mg ETH plus 1.5 ml saline; (4) 25 mg ETH plus 1.5 ml D50; (5) 50 mg ETH plus 1.0 ml saline; (6) 50 mg ETH plus 1 ml D50; (7) 75 mg ETH plus 0.5 ml D50, and (8) 100 mg ETH. The rabbits were sacrificed 28 days after the injection. The intrapleural instillation of ETH resulted in evident pleurodesis, which was dose-dependent; 100 mg ETH induced significantly (p<0.05) more adhesions than did any other treatment. The selection of the diluent had no effect on the pleurodesis. The microscopic examination of the right visceral pleura showed that the mean degree of fibrosis after 100 mg ETH was significantly (p<0.05) greater than that after the other solutions. The mean degree of pleural inflammation, lung inflammation and lung fibrosis was minimal in all the groups. From this study we conclude that undiluted ETH produces pleurodesis in our experimental model. At the doses used, the pleurodesis was less than that produced after talc, tetracycline derivatives or silver nitrate in the same model.     

Clinical features of small hepatocellular carcinomas as assessed by histologic grades

This paper outlines three important issues in the clinical management of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Papua New Guinea which have, until now, gone unrecognized or been neglected. Suggestions for possible solutions are made. The high prevalence of both chlamydial and trichomonal infections in women cannot be ignored. Both of these infections have been shown to increase the transmission of HIV. The current algorithm for the treatment of vaginal discharges does not include treatment for trichomonal infection in the first instance, yet trichomoniasis has been shown to be the most common STD in community studies both here and elsewhere. Trichomoniasis is usually asymptomatic in men, but still increases the risk of HIV transmission; furthermore, it causes illness in their female partners and thus needs to be treated. The current recommended regimens for the treatment of gonococcal and chlamydial infection are complex due to the number of drugs recommended for gonorrhoea to combat the problem of drug resistance, and the length of therapy for chlamydia. Compliance with such a regimen is likely to be poor, particularly in asymptomatic partners. We need to consider the relative advantages provided by a drug which could be given as a single oral dose for chlamydia, and perhaps for both infections. Azithromycin is one possibility, as it has been shown to be effective for chlamydial infection in numerous studies, and has been found satisfactory for gonorrhoea where local isolates were susceptible. Testing of a small number of isolates from Papua New Guinea has shown that azithromycin may be suitable for use here, but further susceptibility testing needs to be performed. Utilization of services for STDs, particularly by women, is extremely low. This is due to a combination of factors involving limited knowledge of symptomatology and its significance, the asymptomatic nature of many infections, the structure of the services, health worker behaviour, and social attitudes. To address these issues we must make modifications to STD service provision, as well as provide widespread information about the potentially serious consequences of contracting STDs, including both infertility and AIDS. Possible modifications to the services are discussed, and include making routine screening available for women through currently existing services such as family planning and antenatal clinics and considering the possibility of establishing Women's Health Clinics which would provide all primary reproductive health services in an integrated manner.     

Timing Jitter Measurement of Intrinsic Random Jitter and Sinusoidal Jitter Using Frequency Division

This paper presents a new method for measuring random timing jitter or sinusoidal timing jitter in signals of telecommunication devices. The method uses a divide-by-M circuit to reduce the frequency and the number of clock samples, and applies the Hilbert transform to measure the timing jitter. This new frequency division method is validated with experimental data from a serializer-deserializer device and a modulated signal source generating a 2.5 GHz FM signal.     

Memory-Based Attention Control for Activity Recognition at a Subway Station

We have developed a multicamera system, Digital City Surveillance, which uses a new calibration-free behavior recognition method for monitoring human activity at a subway station. We trained nine support vector machines from operator-classified data to recognize 512 combinations of events. Our method of attention control greatly reduced computation and increased classification accuracy     

Power Generation of a p-Type Ca3Co4O9/n-Type CaMnO3 Module

Thermoelectric modules composed of eight pairs of p -type Ca_2.7Bi_0.3Co₄O₉ (Co-349) and n -type CaMn_0.98Mo_0.02O₃ (Mn-113) bulks were constructed using Ag electrodes and paste including powder of the n -type oxide. The former bulks were prepared by hot pressing. On the other hand, the latter were densified using a cold isostatic pressing technique and sintered in atmospheric pressure. Dimensions of both oxide legs were 5 mm wide and thick and 4.5 mm high. An alumina plate was used as a substrate, and there was no alumina plate on the other side of the modules. When the substrate side was heated, the module could generate up to 1.0 V and 0.17 W of open circuit voltage ( V _O) and maximum power ( P _max), respectively, at a hot-side temperature of 1273 K (furnace temperature as a heat source) and a cold-side temperature of 298 K (circulated water temperature) in air. But internal resistance R _I reached a value of 1.5 Ω, which is about six times higher than the calculated one from resistivity of both p - and n -type bulks. When the substrate side was cooled, V _O and P _max reached 0.7 V and 0.34 W of V _O and P _max, respectively, at a furnace temperature of 1273 K.     

Separation of actinoids from HLW by thiacalix[4]arene compound impregnated silica ion-exchanger

If trivalent actinoids such as Am can be separated from high-level radioactive liquid waste (HLLW) generated by the PUREX process, long-term heat and radiation hazards can be significantly reduced in the disposal of this waste. This paper reports the effective separation of Am through the use of a chelating ion-exchange method that uses an octylphenyl-N,N-diisobutylcarbomoyl phosphine oxide (CMPO) or thiacalix[4]arene compound impregnated silica ion-exchanger. The separation of Cs and Sr from HLLW can be achieved using a CMPO impregnated silica ion-exchanger (CMPO-exchanger). Actinoids and lanthanoids can then be eluted from the CMPO-exchanger, with the resulting solution then treated to separate the actinoids using a thiacalix[4]arene compound impregnated silica ion-exchanger. Thiacalix[4]arene compound impregnated silica ion-exchangers have been shown to effectively separate actinoids from lanthanoids in a weak-acid solution. The influence of gamma ray irradiation on adsorption is also investigated. The adsorption of Am remains high even after irradiation of the ion-exchanger.     

Factors affecting the development of spontaneous recurrence of methamphetamine psychosis

The process triggering spontaneous recurrences of methamphetamine (MAP) psychosis (i.e. flashbacks) was studied in 41 flashbackers, along with 84 non-flashbackers with a history of MAP psychosis. Plasma monoamine metabolite levels were assayed in 25 of the 41 flashbackers, 16 of the 84 non-flashbackers, 9 subjects with persistent MAP psychosis and 28 control subjects. All flashbackers had experienced threatening events or frightening paranoid-hallucinatory states during previous MAP use. The dominant factor triggering flashbacks was a mild fear of other people. Plasma norepinephrine levels were elevated during flashbacks. The results suggest that a mild fear of other people may have elicited memories of MAP psychosis associated with threatening experiences through increased sensitivity to psychosocial stressors. As a result the flashbacks occurred, including an increase in peripheral noradrenergic activity.