Applet-based telecollaboration: a network-centric approach

Real-time collaboration systems, in which participants share multimedia documents and applications, have attracted interest for many years. The JETS system provides a generic multimedia telecollaboration framework that enables sharing of Java applets through the Internet. Experimentation with JETS revealed practical design and implementation issues, as well as the essential requirements of such systems     

Proteinuria is still useful for the screening and diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of urinary total protein measurements in timed 24-h urine collection (24-h UP) and in a diurnal random urine specimen (RUS) for the screening and diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 167 diabetic patients (20 type 1 and 147 type 2 diabetic patients; 78 women and 89 men), aged 20-84 years, collected 217 timed 24-h urine specimens. Albumin was measured by immunoturbidimetry, total protein by sulfosalicylic acid technique, and creatinine by Jaffe's method. According to the timed 24-h urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), samples were divided into three groups: normoalbuminuric (NORMO) (UAER < 20 micrograms/min; n = 84), microalbuminuric (MICRO) (UAER 20-200 micrograms/min; n = 78), and macroalbuminuric (MACRO) (UAER > or = 200 micrograms/min; n = 55). Eighty-six patients also collected 105 RUSs (NORMO, n = 47; MICRO, n = 37; MACRO, n = 21), and urinary protein concentration (UPC) and urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPCR) were measured. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve approach was used to analyze the performance of the diagnostic tests. RESULTS: Spearman's coefficient of correlation of 24-h UAER versus 24-h UP was 0.95 (P < 0.001), and of 24-h UAER versus UPC and UPCR were 0.77 and 0.72, respectively (P < 0.001). The calculated areas (+/- SEM) under the ROC curve for the diagnosis of over diabetic nephropathy were 0.9987 +/- 0.001 for 24-h UP, 0.9926 +/- 0.006 for UPC, and 0.9751 +/- 0.014 for UPCR. In the ROC curves, the first points with 100% sensitivity were 541 mg (95.7% specificity) for 24-h UP, 431 mg/l (92.9% specificity) for UPC, and 0.2 (76.2% specificity) for UPCR. CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of proteinuria presented almost perfect accuracy for the screening and diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy. Protein measurement in spot urine is a reliable and simple method for the screening and diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy.     

Analysis of Grinding Strategies Applied to Crankshaft Manufacturing

A critical step in the manufacture of forged crankshafts is the grinding of the sidewalls. The present research investigation was undertaken to evaluate strategies for high-speed CBN grinding of crankshafts sidewalls. Three strategies were analytically and experimentally compared: axial plunge grinding, axial face grinding, and multi-step axial face grinding. While all three strategies could produce acceptable parts, the multi-step face grinding strategy was found to be particularly advantageous for providing flexibility in the process control.     

Poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) grafted natural rubber from seeded emulsion polymerization

The grafting efficiency of dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate (DMAEMA) on to natural rubber (NR) has been studied. Grafting was by ‘topology-controlled’ emulsion polymerization, whereby polymerization is initiated by a redox couple where one component (tetraethylene pentamine) is hydrophilic and the other (cumene hydroperoxide) is hydrophobic. This should promote grafting at the interface between hydrophobic natural rubber particles and the hydrophilic DMAEMA. The effects of different amounts of monomer were examined, with NMR to obtain the percent branching, transmission electron microscopy to obtain information on morphology, gel fraction measurement and dynamic mechanical analysis to obtain information on mechanical properties. Although there will be significant amounts of ungrafted polyDMAEMA present, there is good evidence for the formation of graft copolymers of NR with core-shell morphology, and significant amounts of grafting, at high concentrations of monomer.     

Construction algorithms and approximation bounds for the streaming cache placement problem in multicast networks

The streaming cache placement problem (SCPP) is considered. The SCPP is known to be NP-hard and MAX SNP-hard. It is shown that for the SCPP there is no approximation algorithm with a guarantee better than log k unless NP can be solved in sub-exponential time. Construction algorithms for the SCPP, based on two general techniques, are proposed. The results of computational experiments based on these two algorithms and their modifications are reported. __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 6, pp. 124–137, November–December 2005.     

Paraquat resistance and starvation conditions in the selection of longevity extremes in Drosophila melanogaster populations previously selected for long and short developmental period

This paper analyzes the interaction between resistance to free radicals, development under starvation conditions, sex, and its consequences to the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for developmental time and longevity. Our data suggest that the interaction between these physiological and environmental parameters is modulated largely by the pre-imaginal developmental time, since the response to selection for longevity extremes depends strongly on the previous selection for developmental time extremes.     

Anatomic variations of the coronary arteries

PURPOSE: To study the coronary arteries and their main branches showing the aspects of source, trajectory and anastomoses of these vessels at the subepicardial level. METHODS: The study was carried out on 110 adult human hearts, of both sexes, fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution. The pericardium was removed to expose the coronary arteries and their branches at the subepicardial level. RESULTS: In 38.18% of the cases the left coronary artery presented a trifurcation into anterior interventricular, circunflex and left marginal branches (35.70%) and into anterior interventricular, circunflex and lateral branches (64.30%). In 60% of the hearts examined, the left coronary artery presented a bifurcation into anterior interventricular and circunflex branches. In 1.82% of the cases these two branches arise directly from the aorta. An anastomosis, at the subepicardial level, between the anterior and posterior interventricular branches was observed in 56.36% of the hearts. In 88.18% the posterior interventricular branch arised from the right coronary artery, whereas in 11.82% this vessel arises from the circunflex branch. Anastomoses between the right coronary artery and the circunflex branch were found in 10% of the hearts (crux cordis). The dominance of the right coronary artery was present in 69.09% of the cases, of the left coronary artery in 11.82% and in 19.09% of the hearts had balanced distribution. CONCLUSION: The coronary arteries and their main branches present a great quantity of variations with regard to source, trajectory and anastomoses. This knowledge is important for the interpretation of coronary angiography and surgical myocardial revascularization.     

Antimitochondrial autoantibodies in anti-glomerular basement membrane disease

Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease is characterized by the production of an autoantibody with very restricted specificity, with no evidence of polyclonal B cell activation. It was therefore surprising to find that in a solid-phase ELISA a proportion of anti-GBM sera showed significant binding to pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), a reactivity usually associated with the antimitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA) found in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The specificity of this reactivity was confirmed by inhibition and competition experiments. The AMA found in anti-GBM sera were of much lower affinity than those found in PBC sera, and recognized a more restricted set of species (mainly the 55-kD and occasionally the 74-kD component of PDH). However, it was possible to block the binding in a Western blot of an anti-GBM serum to both the 55-kD and 74-kD species with F(ab')2 fragments prepared from a PBC serum. Although AMA have been found in diseases other than PBC, such diseases have usually been characterized by polyclonal B cell activation. The stimulus to the production of AMA in anti-GBM disease, and their significance in pathogenesis (if any), are unknown.