Oculoplethysmography. Evaluation of patients with transient ischemic attacks from internal carotid artery disease

Oculoplethysmography was used to evaluate 66 patients with transient ischemic attacks prior to cerebral angiography. Fifty-eight (87.9%) symptomatic internal carotid arteries had anatomically significant stenosis. Only 69 per cent of these 58 arteries had positive OPG test. Thirty-one per cent of the arteries were well compensated hemodynamically with collaterals and had a false negative test. A negative OPG test does not rule out an anatomically significant internal carotid artery stenosis.     

Seismic analysis and design of electrical cable trays and support systems

Most cable trays in nuclear power plants are classified as seismic category I components. Current safety requirements dictate that all such components be adequately designed in order to remain functional during and after the most severe possible earthquake, so that a safe and orderly plant shut-down can be ensured. The design aspects of electrical cable trays and support systems are discussed from the seismic and structural standpoint. The effects of the inherent flexibility of commonly used cable trays is considered. A procedure for the selection of trays and the design of their support structure is recommended. The dynamic characteristics of typical trays are determined analytically and also from test results. The advantages of a rigid support system are discussed. Two procedures are presented for the design of the support systems, namely, static loading and spectral analysis. The interaction between trays and supports is discussed.     

Differential metabolic and electrical activity in the somatic sensory cortex of juvenile and adult rats

We have examined relative levels of metabolic and electrical activity across layer IV in the primary somatic sensory cortex (S1) of the rat in relation to regions of differential postnatal cortical growth. Each of several indices used--mitochondrial enzyme histochemistry, microvessel density, Na+/K+ pump activity, action potential frequency, and deoxyglucose uptake--indicate regional variations of metabolic and electrical activity in this part of the brain in both juvenile (1-week-old) and adult (10-12-week-old) animals. At both ages, areas of the somatic sensory map related to special sensors such as whiskers and digital pads showed evidence of the most intense activity. Thus, mitochondrial enzyme staining, blood vessel density, and Na+/K+ ATPase activity were all greatest in the barrels and barrel-like structures within S1, and least in the adjacent interbarrel cortex and the cortex surrounding S1. Multiunit recordings in and around the posteromedial barrel subfield of anesthetized animals also showed that the average ratio of evoked to spontaneous activity was greater in barrels than in the surrounding, metabolically less active cortex. Furthermore, autoradiograms of labeled deoxyglucose accumulation in awake behaving animals indicated systematic differences in neural activity across S1 barrels and barrel-like structures showed more deoxyglucose accumulation than interbarrel, nonbarrel, or peri-S1 cortex. These regional differences in neural activity correspond to regional differences in neocortical growth (Riddle et al., 1992). The correlation of greater electrical activity, increased metabolism, and enhanced cortical growth during postnatal maturation suggests that neural activity foments the elaboration of circuitry in the developing brain.     

Self-deception: A concept in search of a phenomenon.

The concept of self-deception has received little empirical investigation despite its broad implications for theories of personality and consciousness. Four criteria, based on a logico-linguistic analysis, are presented as necessary and sufficient for ascribing self-deception: To be self-deceived an individual must hold 2 contradictory beliefs; these beliefs are held simultaneously; one belief is not subject to awareness; and the nonawareness of this belief is motivated. Two experiments are described that examined whether misidentifications of the voices of oneself and others fulfill these criteria and are, therefore, instances of self-deception. In Exp I, it was found that when Ss (60 undergraduates) were incorrect in their self-report identifications of voices, at some level of processing correct identifications had been made, and these Ss held contradictory beliefs. Obtrusive and unobtrusive measures indicate that Ss were not aware of committing errors. Correlational data supported the contention that the errors were motivated. In Exp II, the hypothesized motivational contexts for the errors were manipulated by giving Ss (60 undergraduates) pretreatments either of success or of failure. As predicted, the failure group committed more misidentifications of self, whereas the success group committed more misidentifications of others. Overall, the findings confirm that some misidentifications of voices of self and others are instances of self-deception. (68 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrochemical reduction of arsenic (III) with cadmium metal

The kinetics of aqueous arsenic (III) reduction to amorphous arsenic with cadmium metal are presented. Two reaction mechanisms are observed in this system. With arsenic concentrations greater than approximately 0.2 gm/1 in solutions containing one molar sulfuric acid, the reduction of arsenyl ion on the cadmium surface is rate controlling. When arsenic concentrations are less than this value, reaction rate is mass-transport controlled. The reduction of arsenic (III) with cadmium powder at pH 2 is also presented.     

Effects of voltage-waveform distortion in TCR-type compensators

The effect of system voltage distortion on the performance of a thyristor controlled reactor (TCR) type of compensator is examined. Toward this end, the real and imaginary values of harmonic current through the TCR, and the optimal gating angle that controls it, are calculated with a view toward minimizing the RMS value of the supply current and to achieving an optimum power factor (PF). The precision of the formulae obtained, assuming an equal conduction angle of the thyristors in the two half periods, is compared with the results achieved using two different methods for simulating the TCR, one by means of a Pascal program and the other with PSPICE. The optimum PF values, calculated by analytical methods that use the conventional formulation (which assumes that the voltage waveform is sinusoidal), are compared with those obtained using the formulation developed here     

Relation between postoperative infections and gallbladder bile leakage during laparoscopic cholecystectomies

BACKGROUND: In 1,577 laparoscopic cholecystectomies, 111 due to acute and 1,466 due to chronic cholecystitis, the incidence of intraoperative gallbladder rupture and its relationship with abdominal wound infections were evaluated. METHODS: A sampling test for binomial proportions and a binomial approximation test for discrete data were employed for statistical analysis. Gallbladder accidental opening took place in 250 (19%) out of the 1,466 chronic and in 44 (40%) out of the 111 acute cholecystitis, disclosing a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01). Postoperatively, there were 32 (2%) surgical wound infections, 17 (1.3%) in the absence of gallbladder injury and 15 (5%) when gallbladder injury was observed, likewise showing a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). RESULTS: It should be pointed out that all 32 wound infections involved the umbilical incision, of which 3 with chronic suppuration required reintervention where remnants of stones were found in the parietal route. The seven with symptomatic abdominal fluid resolved without specific treatment. As regards the seven intraabdominal infections, two remitted with antibiotics and five required percutaneous drainage. There was no significant correlation between the presence of cavity fluid abdominal collections or infections and bile spillage. CONCLUSION: Gallbladder injury proved more frequent in laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed due to acute cholecystitis, while bile spillage increased the incidence of umbilical wound infection, particularly in the presence of remnants of stones, but there was no correlative increase in the incidence of intraabdominal collections or infections.     

Volatile constituents from a guava (Psidium guajava L.) natural flavour concentrate

The volatile constituents of a commercially produced guava natural flavour concentrate were isolated by simultaneous distillation-extraction with diethyl ether. The resultant essence was analyzed by capillary gas chromatography and GC-MS technique. A total of 29 compounds was identified, from which 10 substances could be described for the first time as guave fruit constituents.     

Exemplar driven development of software product lines

The benefits of following a product line approach to develop similar software systems are well documented. Nevertheless, some case studies have revealed significant barriers to adopt such approach. In order to minimize the paradigm shift between conventional software engineering and software product line engineering, this paper presents a new development process where the products of a domain are made by analogy to an existing product. Furthermore, this paper discusses the capabilities and limitations of different techniques to implement the analogy relation and proposes a new language to overcome such limitations.