Palatopharyngeal surgery. A study of its effectiveness in the treatment of obstructive apnea syndrome during sleep

Palatopharyngeal surgery is a therapeutic option for obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). This operation is based on the assumption that the soft palate is the principal apneogenic area of the upper airways. The effectiveness of palatopharyngeal surgery and of correcting nasal obstruction (co-adjuvant factor of SAOS), when present, was evaluated. Thirty patients were selected by cephalometry for surgery (3 women, 27 men; age 45.3 +/- 7.5 years). The success rate was 60%, which justifies the inclusion of surgery as a useful option for treating SAOS.     

Quantum phase transitions in 2D antiferromagnets

Quantum Monte Carlo results for the T = 0 order-disorder transition of two-dimensional dimerized quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets are presented. For a two-layer model, with the dimers having one member on each plane, the finite-size scaling of the staggered structure factor and the staggered susceptibility is consistent with the 3D classical Heisenberg universality class, as required if the transition is described by the 2+1-dimensional non-linear sigma-model. However, for models with the dimers in a single plane, the behavior does not appear to be consistent with this universality class.     

石油系油浆与煤系闪蒸油的焦化性能——I．热解条件的影响

通过偏光显微镜观察了石油系油浆（LH）与煤系闪蒸油（SN）焦化后所得焦块的光学结构。结果表明，在较宽条件下两种原料单独焦化均得不到取向度高的流线型结构。将两种原料以一定比例混合后先热解丙焦化所得焦块的光学结构明显好于二者混合后直接焦化所得焦块的光学结构，其中LH和SN以3：2的重量比混合后在440℃、1MPa下热解3．5h然后再在530℃、1MPa下焦化8h所得焦块为具有较高取向度的流线型结构，适合于作为针状焦的起始原料。     

A nonlinear mechanism of the energy transfer by a perturbation front in the course of local high-energy loading

The features of perturbation propagation in a copper crystal grain under local high-energy loading conditions were studied. The process was studied by method of molecular dynamics using multiparticle model potentials calculated within the framework of the embedded atom approximation. It is shown that a nonlinear solitary pulse is formed in the crystal, which is capable (in contrast to the case of a linear perturbation) of transferring the energy at a high density over relatively large distances. The energy transfer range depends both on the area and on the rate of local loading.     

Isolation and preliminary characterization of Pichia pinus mutants insensitive to glucose repression

A new method for the isolation of glucose repression-insensitive mutants in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pinus was developed. The method is based on screening of small suspension samples derived from 2-deoxyglucose-resistant colonies for alcohol oxidase activity. Alcohol oxidase activity was evaluated by determination of formaldehyde excreted by cells. Mutants with glucose non-repressible alcohol oxidase and catalase synthesis were obtained. All mutants grew poorly on D -xylose compared to the wild type, whereas growth on L -arabinose was similar to the wild type. Changes in the glucose transport system were suggested to be responsible for altered growth characteristics and defective glucose repression.     

Correlation between left ventricular hypertrophy and GAA trinucleotide repeat length in Friedreich's ataxia

BACKGROUND: Friedreich's ataxia (FA), the most common inherited ataxia, is associated frequently with cardiac hypertrophy, and death is often cardiac related. Recently, the disease has been associated with a mutation that consists of an unstable expansion of GAA repeats in the first intron of the gene encoding frataxin on chromosome 9. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 44 consecutive patients with FA, determined the size of GAA expansions in the frataxin gene, and examined the relation between the genotype and cardiac phenotype assessed by M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography. All the patients were homozygous for the mutation. The size of the GAA expansion on the smaller allele varied from 270 to 1200. We found a correlation between the size of GAA expansion and the left ventricular wall thickness (r = .51, P < .001) and the left ventricular mass index (r = .45, P = .002). Left ventricular hypertrophy was observed in 81% of patients with a number of GAA repeats above the median value of 770 compared with only 14% in the other group (P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that in FA, the severity of left ventricular hypertrophy is related to the number of GAA repeats. These results suggest that abnormalities of the gene encoding frataxin, a protein of unknown function highly expressed in the normal heart, may play an important role in the modulation of cardiac hypertrophy.     

Compatibility equations for large deformations

Compatibility equations for large deformations are developed on the sole basis of the div and curl concepts.     

北电网络安全路由技术

北电网络提供的Contivity解决方案不仅可以使用户建立各种类型的VPN，而且还可以把这些VPN集成到未来的融合话音和数据的网络中。该方案已实现了安全路由选择；可通过多种技术支持鉴权功能，从而实现安全接入；允许用户使用其各自的安全性配置文件设置；其设计中没有“后门”，重点介绍了Contivity 2700网关的主要特征及其优势。     

Surveillance test policy optimization through genetic algorithms using non-periodic intervention frequencies and considering seasonal constraints

In order to maximize systems average availability during a given period of time, it has recently been developed a non-periodic surveillance test optimization methodology based on genetic algorithms (GA). The fact of allowing non-periodic tests turns the solution space much more flexible and schedules can be better adjusted, providing gains in the overall system average availability, when compared to those obtained by an optimized periodic test scheme. This approach, however, turns the optimization problem more complex. Hence, the use of a powerful optimization technique, such as GA, is required.Considering that some particular features of certain systems can turn it advisable to introduce other specific constraints in the optimization problem, this work investigates the application of seasonal constraints for the set of the Emergency Diesel Generation of a typical four-loop pressurized water reactor in order to planning and optimizing its surveillance test policy. In this analysis, the growth of the blackout accident probability during summer, due to electrical power demand increases, was considered. Here, the used model penalizes surveillance test interventions when the blackout probability is higher.Results demonstrate the ability of the method in adapting the surveillance test policy to seasonal constraints. The knowledge acquired by the GA during the searching process has lead to test schedules that drastically minimize test interventions at periods of high blackout probability. It is compensated by more frequent redistributed tests through the periods of low blackout probability in order to improve on the overall average availability at the system level.