Virus load as a marker of disease progression in HIV-infected children

The relationship of virus load to clinical disease progression in HIV-infected children remains to be elucidated. In this study, HIV-1 proviral DNA load was determined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by the quantitative competitive DNA polymerase chain reaction assay (QC-PCR) in 47 HIV-infected children subdivided by age (group I, < or = 2 years; group II, > or = 5 years), who were further categorized to include 12 rapid progressors (RP, age < or = 2 years, Centers for Disease Control [CDC] defined clinical category C and/or immune category 3, or death before age 2 years) and slow progressors (SP, age > or = 5 years, excluding CDC categories C and/or immune category 3). Significantly higher mean proviral copies/10(3) PBMCs were detected in group I versus group II (75.4 +/- 104.3 and 13.0 +/- 17.8 respectively, p < 0.0001) and in RP (158.0 +/- 118.2) as compared to either SP (11.8 +/- 18.8, p < 0.0001) or other age-matched infected children (20.3 +/- 38.8, p < 0.0001). Thus HIV-infected children appear to have a higher cell-associated virus load early in life, especially in association with rapid disease progression.     

Electronic `how things work' articles: two early prototypes

The electronic encyclopedia exploratorium (E³) is a vision of a future computer system-an electronic book describing how thing work. Typical articles in E³ will describe such mechanisms as compression refrigerators, engines, telescopes, and mechanical linkages. Each article will provide simulations, three-dimensional animated graphics that the user can manipulate, laboratory areas that allow a user to modify the device or experiment with related artifacts, and a facility for asking questions and receiving customized, computer-generated English-language explanations. Some of the foundational technology is discussed, focusing on topics in artificial intelligence, graphics, and user interfaces. The initial prototype system and the technical lessons learned from it, as well as the second prototype currently under construction, are described     

Performance of the PAC optical packet network

For multiuser packet communications with unpredictable user demands (e.g., in a local or metropolitan area network), coordination and control of access to the frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) channels are difficult. B. Glance (J. Lightwave Technol., vol.10, pp.1323-1328, Sep 1992) proposed using a simple protection-against-collision (PAC) circuit to solve this media access problem and achieve full optical connectivity. The PAC system has the potential to interconnect hundreds of ports, each transmitting at several gigabits per second. Performance aspects of the PAC optical packet network are discussed here. The delay-throughout performance of this network is analyzed for uniform traffic patterns. The results show that in geographically distributed applications the maximum achievable throughput (normalized to the transmission rate) is typically between 0.4 and 0.5 per channel. In a centralized switch the (normalized) maximum achievable throughput can approach 0.8 per channel     

Planned versus actual duration of drug abuse treatment. Reconciling observational and experimental evidence

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the associations of planned versus actual duration of drug abuse treatment with psychosocial outcomes and drug use at follow-up. A randomized trial was conducted in a modified therapeutic community in which 444 clients were assigned to programs with planned durations of either 3 or 6 months. Outcomes were psychosocial measures assessing changes in mood and in stage of behavior change between admission and exit and return to drug use and patterns of use 2 to 6 months after exit. Planned duration was not associated with any of the outcomes. A longer actual length of stay was, however, associated with greater improvements in the mood variables; lower rates of drug use at follow-up; and, among those using drugs at follow-up, a longer time from exit to first drug use. Intention-to-treat analyses supported these results. Randomized controlled trials are needed to distinguish the effects of planned duration and actual length of stay.     

Spatial retardation of carrier heating in scaled 0.1-μmn-MOSFET's using Monte Carlo simulations

A comprehensive Monte Carlo simulator is employed to investigate nonlocal carrier transport in 0.1 μm n-MOSFET's under low-voltage stress. Specifically, the role of electron-electron (e-e) interactions on hot electron injection is explored for two emerging device designs biased at a drain voltage V_d considerably less than the Si/SiO₂ injection barrier height φ_b. Simulation of both devices reveal that 1) although qV_d<φ_b, carriers can obtain energies greater than φ_b, and 2) the peak for electron injection is displaced approximately 20 nm beyond the peak in the parallel channel electric field. These phenomena constitute a spatial retardation of carrier heating that is strongly influenced by e-e interactions near the drain edge. (Virtually no injection is observed in our simulations when e-e scattering is not considered.) Simulations also show that an aggressive design based on larger dopant atoms, steeper doping gradients, and a self-aligned junction counter-doping process produces a higher peak in the channel electric field, a hotter carrier energy distribution, and a greater total electron injection rate into the oxide when compared to a more conventionally-doped design. The impact of spatially retarded carrier heating on hot-electron-induced device degradation is further examined by coupling an interface state distribution obtained from Monte Carlo simulations with a drift-diffusion simulator. Because of retarded carrier heating, the interface states are mainly generated further over the drain region where interface charge produces minimal degradation. Thus, surprisingly, both 0.1 μm n-MOSFET designs exhibit comparable drain current degradation rates     

Phase I trial of inhaled natural interleukin 2 for treatment of pulmonary malignancy: toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and biological effects

Safety, local and systemic immunomodulation, and tumor response to treatment with aerosolized natural interleukin 2 (nIL-2) applied five times a day were studied in a Phase I trial in 16 patients with pulmonary malignancies refractory to conventional therapy. The toxicity of inhaled nIL-2 was different from that observed after systemic administration. Reversible airway irritation causing a nonproductive cough represented the dose-limiting toxicity. Mild to moderate reduction of the vital capacity and forced expiratory volume (FEV1) with minor effects on relative FEV1, peak expiratory flow, airway resistance, and PaO2 was experienced by individual patients. In 14 patients suffering from pulmonary metastases due to renal cell cancer, one durable complete response, one partial response, and one mixed response were observed. Inhalation of nIL-2 aerosol resulted in a dose-dependent expansion of pulmonary immunocompetent cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Posttreatment bronchoalveolar lavage showed an activated lymphocyte phenotype with increased HLA-DR expression. The only systemic biological effect detectable in peripheral blood was a marked increase of soluble interleukin 2 receptor serum levels. We conclude that treatment with aerosolized nIL-2 is an effective means for site-specific immunomodulation and deserves further investigation for the treatment of malignant and inflammatory lung disease.     

Electrical characterization of very-narrow-gap bulk HgCdTe single crystals by variable magnetic field hall measurements

Variable-magnetic-field Hall measurements (0 to 1.5 T) are performed on very-narrow-gap bulk-grown Hg_1−xCd_xTe single crystals (0.165 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) at various temperatures (10 to 300K). The electron densities and mobilities are obtained within the one-carrier (electrons) approximation of the reduced-con-ductivity-tensor scheme. The present data together with the selected data set reported by other workers exhibit a pronounced peak when the electron mobility is plotted against the alloy composition x-value which has been predicted to be due to the effective-mass minimum at the bandgap-crossing (E_g ≈ 0). The observed position (x ≈ 0.165), height (≈4 x 10² m²Vs), and width (≈0.01 in x) of the mobility-peak can be explained by a simple simulation involving only ionized-impurity scattering. A lower bound of the effective mass is introduced as a fitting parameter to be consistent with the finiteness of the observed electron mobility and is found to be of the order of 10⁻⁴ of the mass of a free electron.