Superoxide dismutase activity in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and alveolar macrophages of protein malnourished rats and guinea pigs

Chronic protein insufficiency in utero was achieved by feeding to rat dams an 8% protein diet beginning before breeding and continuing until weaning. Thereafter, the in utero malnourished pups were fed the 8% protein diet. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), an enzyme which protects against superoxide radical, was quantitated in pellet and supernatant of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and alveolar macrophages (AM). The AM of rats malnourished in utero contained 1.7 times as much protein and 3 times as much total SOD activity as the AM of control rats. In PMN of these rats, the amount of protein and SOD activity was the same. Significantly larger number of Streptococcus mutans were located from the dental plaque of the in utero malnourished rats. AM isolated from female guinea pigs fed a 9% protein diet from weaning at 11 days of age contained 1.5 times as much protein and twice as much SOD activity as AM from normal guinea pigs. However their PMN contained smaller amounts of total protein and SOD activity. The malnourished guinea pigs had a mammary gland infection and a prolonged conjunctival infection following inoculation with Guinea Pig Inclusion Conjunctivitis indicating that these animals were more susceptible to these infections. The increase in total SOD activity and in the total amount of protein in AM suggests that chronic protein insufficiency leads to susceptibility to infection and to macrophage activation but has no similar effects on PMN.     

Electronics takes to the air

The author discusses how European light aircraft manufacturers can take advantage of the slump in the industry in the USA by improving instrumentation and avionics. Using the instrumentation panel of the Piper Warrior as an example, the author discusses how each of the instruments can be improved by using modern electronic systems. Flight and engine instrumentation, and communications and navigational radio avionics are described     

Stress-disorder symptoms in Vietnam and Korean War veterans.

Compared the incidences of stress-disorder and non-stress-disorder "control" symptoms in the records of 58 Vietnam and Korean War veterans (mean age 25.15 yrs) hospitalized for psychiatric problems between 9 and 36 mo after return from their respective war zones. No significant difference in the percentages of symptoms observed in the 2 groups that fell into the stress-disorder category were found. The percentages of Vietnam veterans who qualified or nearly qualified for stress-disorder diagnoses under criteria from the DSM-III were not larger than the percentages of their Korean War counterparts. Results suggest that stress disorder is neither unique to nor inordinately common among Vietnam veteran psychiatric patients. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

User analysis in HCI — the historical lessons from individual differences research

User analysis is a crucial aspect of user-centered systems design, yet Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) has yet to formulate reliable and valid characterizations of users beyond gross distinctions based on task and experience. Individual differences research from mainstream psychology has identified a stable set of characteristics that would appear to offer potential application in the HCI arena. Furthermore, in its evolution over the last 100 years, research on individual differences has faced many of the problems of theoretical status and applicability that are common to HCI. In the present paper, the relationship between work in cognitive and differential psychology and current analyses of users in HCI is examined. It is concluded that HCI could gain significant predictive power if individual differences research was related to the analysis of users in contemporary systems design.     

Influenza surveillance in England and Wales: October 1995 to June 1996

This report summarises information collected for the surveillance of influenza virus infection in England and Wales from October 1995 to June 1996 (weeks 40/95 to 25/96). Total respiratory disease' activity, as reported by the Birmingham Research Unit of the Royal College of General Practitioners, rose to peaks in weeks 48/95, 51/95, and 01/96. The first peak coincided with a peak in "influenza and flu-like illness'. The subsequent peaks were accounted for by an increase in reports of acute bronchitis, including bronchiolitis, and may have been associated with the annual rise in infections with respiratory syncytial virus. Influenza A virus was responsible for most infections, with moderate activity occurring in the early part of the winter, peaking in December (week 48/95). Influenza A subtype H3N2 predominated until week 07/96, after which subtype H1N1 accounted for most infections. Influenza activity was first seen in central and northern England, followed by the south of England, Wales, and Scotland. Circulating influenza viruses were antigenically similar to the components of the 1995/96 vaccine. International surveillance during 1995/96 has led to a different H3N2 component being included in the influenza vaccine recommended for 1996/97.     

A knowledge-based system for operations management in a small to medium sized enterprise

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the mechanisms and structure of scheduling in a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) environment. This has led to the development of new scheduling models, such as Petri nets, time-augmented Petri nets, fuzzy scheduling models and neural net scheduling models. A fundamental objective of any scheduling system is event synchronisation and optimisation of command, communication and control C³ between each active node of the overall CIM structure. CIM scheduling can be regarded as a nonlinear dynamic control process, whereby, the feed forward or feedback elements are the scheduling priorities that enable the manufacturing organisation to remain within a steady-state profit margin. However, in each different hierarchy level of the organisation, randomness phenomena in the C³ environment can be observed, i.e. events in a particular department or organisational level cause a perturbation elsewhere in the manufacturing organisation. Furthermore, these changes are constrained by the framework of rules pre-set by the organisational structure and business corporate strategy. To a first approximation, these cause-and-effect phenomena can be viewed as deterministic changes which may result in deterministic chaos. In this paper, a self-organising compensating information system (SOCIS) is presented. This system is designed utilising knowledge control modelling (KCM) topology with its architecture based on the principles of client-server and a second-order proportional-integral-differential knowledge-based management system (PID-KBMS).     

A graphene pH sensor fabrication process for a nanotechnology laboratory course

A laboratory course experiment is described that combines traditional semiconductor fabrication techniques with the application of a nanotechnology-relevant material, graphene. Sensor devices made with graphene are integrated with a microfluidic device in order to introduce students to new applications of this technology in biology and medicine. The fabrication and test process for a pH sensor is used as a tangible example, exhibiting a changing resistance across graphene strips immersed in different pH buffer solutions. The processing and test equipment required is available in many Si device fabrication educational laboratories.