BCG vaccination policies in Mexico]

The authors report a 110 cervical cerclage operations for cervical incompetence. Shirodkar's technique was used and cerclage was carried out between the 9th and 20th week of amenorrhea. Out of 110 patients submitted to the procedure, 98 gave birth to a live infant weighing more than 1000 g which amounts to a success rate of 89%. Duration of pregnancy ranged between 26 and 41 weeks. If only pregnancies having proceeded to 37 weeks of amenorrhea are considered, the success rate amounts to 68%.     

Characterization of corn proteins of the cultivars Venezuela-1, Arichuna, Obregon and Venezuela-1 Opaque-2

A study is presented on the protein composition of the Venezuelan corn cultivars Venezuela-1, Arichuna, Obregón and Venezuela-1 Opaque-2. The proteins were isolated and analyzed for their molecular weight and lysine and tryptophan content. Protein fractionation showed significant differences between normal corn cultivars and Opaque-2. The latter showed a low level of zein and a high content of alcohol-insoluble reduced glutelins (AIG), albumins and globulins in relation to the normal kernel. The relative increase of these protein fractions, rich in lysine and tryptophan, results in a higher concentration of these amino acids in the Opaque kernel, as revealed by the analysis of these compounds carried out in different cultivars. Electrophoretic analysis showed only small differences in the number and intensity of bands from the protein fractions of the maize cultivars under study.     

Optimal operation of large-scale power systems

A method for optimal operation of large-scale power systems is presented that it is similar to the one utilized by the Houston Lighting and Power Company. The main objective is to minimize the system fuel costs while maintaining an acceptable system performance in terms of limits on generator real and reactive power outputs, transformer tap settings, and bus voltage levels. Minimizing the fuel costs of such large-scale systems enhances the performance of optimal real power generator allocation and of optimal power flow that results in an economic dispatch. To handle large-scale systems of this nature, the problem is decomposed into a real and a reactive power optimization problem. The control variables are generator real power outputs for the real power optimization problem and generator reactive power outputs, compensating capacitors, and transformer tap settings for the reactive power optimization. The gradient projection method (GPM) is utilized to solve the optimization problems. It is an iterative procedure for finding an extremum of a function of several constraint variables without using penalty functions or Lagrange multipliers. Mathematical models are developed to represent the sensitivity relationships between dependent and control variables for both real and reactive-power optimization procedures and thus eliminate the use of B-coefficients     

Plain concrete as a composite material

The purpose of this paper is to study the consequences of the composite nature of concrete. A plausible energy balance equation is postulated and the Green-Rivlin invariance principle is applied to it to derive the linear and angular momentum balance laws. General constitutive equations are discussed with the aid of thermodynamic potentials and Coleman's method. The distribution of the applied stresses between mortar and aggregate is also studied in detail, showing for instance that substantial tensile lateral stresses may appear in mortar under uniaxial compressive loading. These results are used to derive a criterion for the onset of inelasticity in concrete.     

Cells of the perireticular nucleus project to the developing neocortex of the rat

The perireticular nucleus is a recently described thin sheet of small cells among the fibres of the internal capsule, lying lateral to the thalamic reticular nucleus and medial to the globus pallidus (Clemence and Mitrofanis [1992]. J. Comp. Neurol. 322:167-180). During development, the perireticular nucleus is relatively large, lying in the path of the growing corticofugal and thalamocortical axons and filling the area of the internal capsule lateral to the thalamic reticular nucleus. After these axons have formed their connections, the perireticular nucleus rapidly decreases in size, leaving only a few cells in the adult (Mitrofanis [1992] J. Comp. Neurol. 320:161-181). In this study, we aimed to investigate the connections between the developing cortex and thalamus by making injections of tracer into the cortical plate. Injections of Horse Radish Peroxidase (HRP), Wheat Germ Agglutinin bound to HRP (WGA-HRP) and 1'dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3 tetramethycarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) were made in vivo between embryonic day (E) 18 and adult and DiI was placed in the fixed brains of rats aged between E16 and postnatal day (P)1. Between E17 and P10, the retrograde perikaryal labelling resulting from these injections revealed a transient projection from the perireticular nucleus to the ipsilateral cortical plate. No cells were labelled in the thalamic reticular nucleus. This suggests that the perireticular nucleus must be regarded as a group of cells distinct from the thalamic reticular nucleus and having a separate role in development. Comparisons between the perireticular cells and the cells of the cortical subplate suggest that both may be playing comparable roles in early development, possibly guiding fibres towards their end stations or serving to rearrange the complex mapped projections linking the thalamus and cortex.     

X-Ray elastic constants in textured Zr-base materials

A general method for the calculation of the X-ray elastic constants (XREC) for textured hexagonal close-packed (hcp) materials was developed by using the orientation distribution function (ODF) and the Reuss hypothesis. This method was applied to textured zirconium (Zr) sheets and zircaloy 4 (Zry 4) extruded tubes. For these samples, where the elastic anisotropy is not very strong, an “isotropic approximation” method is proposed using the ODF data. In that case, the classical XREC 1/2S₂ and S₁ values are calculated and experimentally verified for {10-14} diffracting planes. Theoretical XREC values are also given for different hkil that could be chosen according to the experimental conditions, considering texture effects on diffracting peak intensities. Formerly with ENSAM