Stressful life events' effects on rheumatoid arthritis disease activity.

A 53-year-old female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient endured 2 unexpected family deaths during a 12-week study investigating the prospective relationships between stressful small life events, negative affect, and disease activity. Her disease went into temporary remission the same week as the deaths. She was identified as a case study participant, and weekly data collection was extended to 1 year. Clinical exams verified a large decrease in disease status immediately after the major losses. In addition to major events, negative affect and small events were found to serve as independent arthritis symptom predictors within this patient. Major events were associated with decreased symptoms. Negative affect and small events related to symptom increased. Subsequent between-subjects analyses conducted on 25 participants from the parent project probed for generalizability. The substantive findings from the case study were supported: Major life events and small life events functioned as opposing predictors of RA disease states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arylsulfonate esters of fatty alcohols as hypocholesterolemic agents. I: Oleyl and linoleyl p-toluenesulfonates

Cholesterol levels of both plasma and liver of cholesterol-fed rats are lowered by feeding linoleyl and oleyl esters of p-toluenesulfonic acid. A structural specificity exists, since the effect is not observed with similar amounts of sodium p-toluenesulfonate nor with linoleyl methanesulfonate. Effective levels of these arylsulfonates do not alter liver to body weight ratios and maturation, nor reduce plasma cholesterol in normocholesterolemic rats. Published as Journal Paper No. 6696, AES, Purdue University     

Six PL/I compilers

This paper describes an experimental evaluation of the execution speed of object programs produced by six PL/I compilers. A set of 139 representative PL/I statements were compiled and executed under the PL/I Optimizing, PL/I(F), PL/C, PL/I Checkout, SP/k and PLUTO compilers. An analysis is made of the relative speed of the object code produced by each compiler and also of the relative execution speed of each statement.     

Referral patterns in ethnic-specific and mainstream programs for ethnic minorities and Whites.

The present study examined the referral patterns of 1,095 African, 2,168 Asian, 1,385 Hispanic, and 2,273 White Americans (18 years of age and older) in a public mental health system to determine whether group differences in help-seeking and referral patterns were related to participation in ethnic-specific versus mainstream programs. Results indicated that (a) ethnic minorities in both mainstream and ethnic-specific programs were more likely than Whites to have been referred by natural help-giving and lay referral sources (e.g., family or friends, health services, and social services) and (b) ethnic minorities in ethnic-specific programs were more likely than ethnic minorities in mainstream programs to have been referred by natural help-giving and lay referral sources if they were Asian and Hispanic Americans and self-referred if they were African Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-chain alkyl phthalic acids and their derivatives

The synthesis of alkyl phthalic acids by the oxidation of alkyl ortho-xylenes is described. The evaluation of their derivatives as detergent actives (surfactants), builders (water softeners), fabric-softeners and as PVC plasticisers is discussed. A brief mention is made of some aspects of their biodegradation.     

Laser Light Diffraction, Spatial Filtering, and Reconstruction of Medical Radiographic Images: A Pilot Study

Using a laser light source, an optical bench, transform lenses, and spatial filters in a system called LaserScan,1 we are studying laser light diffraction, spatial filtering, and reconstruction of medical radiographic images, with the help of GTS Corporation, whose laboratories house the laser computer. Medical radiographs are minified to a 35 mm second-generation transparency, then transilluminated by monochromatic, coherent, collimated light from a helium-neon gas laser. A first transform lens produces a Fourier Transform of the minified image in the form of a diffraction pattern that is photographed on Polaroid film, and/or viewed with a CCTV system. Spatial filtering is accomplished in the plane of the diffraction pattern by using various opaque elements of appropriate geometric form to filter undesired spatial frequencies. Spatial filters take the form of ``wires,' ``sector-wedges,' and circular apertures, as well as other empirically determined shapes. A second lens performs an inverse Fourier transform on the diffraction pattern producing a reconstructed, filtered, real image of the minified film. This reconstructed image is also photographed on Polaroid film or viewed on the CCTV screen. One of our goals is to remove certain unnecessary pattern detail from particular radiographic images so that characteristic patterns of diagnostic picture detail might be more readily identified and diagnosed. Experimental results, including photographs of diffraction patterns and some filtered reconstructed images, are presented.     

Microcolumn liquid analysis of lipids with flame ionization detection

A system for the rapid analysis of compounds which may be either too large or too sensitive to be subjected intact to gas chromatographic or other methods is described. Capillary columns of 0.5 mm and 1 mm I.D. and various lengths are packed with very fine particle size, specially prepared, silica gel and other media. A simple pumping arrangement is employed for either single solvent or gradient elution, and the solute in the effluent is detected by means of a highly sensitive flame ionization detector. The application of this system is illustrated by the separation of microgram and submicrogram amounts of triglycerides, steroids, and other neutral lipids, as well as some phospholipids.     

Identification of Nucleation Center Sites in Thermally Annealed Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

Utilizing the concepts of a critical crystallite size and local film inhomogeneity, it is shown that nucleation in thermally annealed hydrogenated amorphous silicon occurs in the more well ordered spatial regions in the network, which are defined by the initial inhomogeneous H distributions in the as‐grown films. Although the film H evolves very early during annealing, the local film order is largely retained in the still amorphous films even after the vast majority of the H is evolved, and the more well ordered regions which are the nucleation center sites for crystallization are those spatial regions which do not initially contain clustered H, as probed by H NMR spectroscopy. The sizes of these better ordered regions relative to a critical crystallite size determine the film incubation times (the time before the onset of crystallization). Changes in film short range order upon H evolution, and the presence of microvoid type structures in the as grown films play no role in the crystallization process. While the creation of dangling bonds upon H evolution may play a role in the actual phase transformation itself, the film defect densities measured just prior to the onset of crystallization exhibit no trends which can be correlated with the film incubation times.     

Ozonation of oil sands process-affected water accelerates microbial bioremediation

Ozonation can degrade toxic naphthenic acids (NAs) in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), but even after extensive treatment a residual NA fraction remains. Here we hypothesized that mild ozonation would selectively oxidize the most biopersistent NA fraction, thereby accelerating subsequent NA biodegradation and toxicity removal by indigenous microbes. OSPW was ozonated to achieve approximately 50% and 75% NA degradation, and the major ozonation byproducts included oxidized NAs (i.e., hydroxy- or keto-NAs). However, oxidized NAs are already present in untreated OSPW and were shown to be formed during the microbial biodegradation of NAs. Ozonation alone did not affect OSPW toxicity, based on Microtox; however, there was a significant acceleration of toxicity removal in ozonated OSPW following inoculation with native microbes. Furthermore, all residual NAs biodegraded significantly faster in ozonated OSPW. The opposite trend was found for ozonated commercial NAs, which are known to contain no significant biopersistent fraction. Thus, we suggest that ozonation preferentially degraded the most biopersistent OSPW NA fraction, and that ozonation is complementary to the biodegradation capacity of microbial populations in OSPW. The toxicity of ozonated OSPW to higher organisms needs to be assessed, but there is promise that this technique could be applied to accelerate the bioremediation of large volumes of OSPW in Northern Alberta, Canada.