Somatic mosaicism in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1

Using loss of heterozygosity analysis, a method designed to detect moderate to large gene deletions, we have identified a new-mutation neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patient who is somatically mosaic for a large maternally derived deletion in the NF1 gene region. The deletion extends at least from exon 4 near the 5' end of the gene to intron 39 near the 3' end. The gene-coding region is, therefore, mostly or entirely deleted, encompassing a loss of > or = 100 kb. We hypothesize that the deletion occurred at a relatively early developmental timepoint, since signs of NF1 in this patient are not confined to a specific body region, as seen in "segmental" NF, and since both mesodermally and ectodermally derived cells are affected. This report provides the first molecular evidence of somatic mosaicism in NF1 and, taken together with a recent report of germ-line mosaicism in NF1, adds credence to the concept that mosaicism plays an important role in phenotypic and genetic aspects of NF1 and may even be a relatively common phenomenon.     

Influence of hypertonic saline solution infusion on defibrillation efficacy

BACKGROUND: Transplantation of lung allografts from the same donor into 2 recipients ("twinning") provides an opportunity to study recipient and donor factors that influence early allograft function. METHODS: Twenty-seven pairs of recipients were identified and evaluated using multivariate logistic regression analysis (p < 0.05). Four measures of early graft function were analyzed: alveolar-arterial gradient in the operating room, first alveolar-arterial gradient in the intensive care unit, alveolar-arterial gradient at 24 hours, and days of mechanical ventilation. RESULTS: Analysis of the pooled data without regard to pairing showed that alveolar-arterial gradient in the operating room was influenced by donor age, length of donor hospitalization, recipient mean pulmonary artery (PA) pressure at unclamping, and transplantation of a left lung. The alveolar-arterial gradient in the intensive care unit was correlated with donor age, donor cause of death, and mean PA pressure on arrival in that unit. Only mean PA pressure remained significant at 24 hours. Days of mechanical ventilation was determined by mean PA pressure on arrival in the intensive care unit, drop in mean PA pressure during operation, and diagnosis of the recipient. In the paired analysis, receiving a left lung, recipient diagnosis (pulmonary hypertension worse than others), and need of cardiopulmonary bypass were significantly associated with immediate graft dysfunction, although these influences did not persist beyond the immediate postoperative period. Donor arterial oxygen tension and time of ischemia were not significant predictors in any analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Immediate allograft function was associated with donor-related characteristics initially, but these lost importance over the ensuing 24 hours. Recipient PA pressure was an immediate and persisting influence. In the analysis of differences in function between the members of each pair, transplantation of the left lung, recipient diagnosis, and cardiopulmonary bypass were identified, but their influence did not persist beyond the first 6 hours.     

Comparison of disability behavior after different sites and types of injury in a workers' compensation population

In this study, an extensive data set from a regional workers' compensation system was analyzed to determine whether particular sites or types of injury were associated with prolonged disability. This data shows a similar pattern of vocational disability for almost all sites and types of injury. A workers' compensation carrier collects data for financial purposes related to insurance, and such data therefore has several serious potential deficiencies when used for clinical research. However, published data on disablement after nonoccupational trauma shows similar patterns of vocational and nonvocational disability, and also shows dependence on severity of injury. In both settings, head injury is associated with greater occupational disability. Because treatment, policy, and medicolegal decisions are based on the impression of "typical disability" for particular sites and types of injury, there is a need for better documentation of post-traumatic disablement in compensation settings and in noncompensation settings. This should include better classification of the cause, type, and severity of the injury, and of the functional outcome in terms of both the resumption of occupational and nonoccupational roles, and of persistence in these roles.     

Performance evaluation of directory protocols on an optical broadcast-based distributed shared memory multiprocessor

Recent advances in the development of optical technologies suggest the possible emergence of broadcast-based optical interconnects within cache-coherent distributed shared memory (DSM) multiprocessor architectures. It is well known that the cache-coherence protocol is a critical issue in designing such architectures because it directly affects memory latencies. In this paper, we evaluate via simulation the performance of three directory-based cache-coherence protocols; strict request-response, intervention forwarding and reply forwarding on the Simultaneous Optical Multiprocessor Exchange Bus (SOME-Bus), which is a low-latency and high-bandwidth broadcast-based fiber-optic interconnection network supporting DSM. The simulated system contains 64 nodes, each of which has a processor, a cache controller, a directory controller and an output channel. Simulations have been conducted for each protocol to measure average processor utilization, average network latency and average number of packets transferred over the network for varying values of the important DSM parameters such as the ratio of the mean channel service time to mean thread run time (T/R), probability of a cache block being in modified state {P(M)}, the fraction of write misses {P(W)} and home node contention rate. The results reveal that for all cases, except for low values of P(M), intervention forwarding gives the worst performance (lowest processor utilization and highest latency). The performance of strict request-response and reply forwarding is comparable for several values of the DSM parameters and contention rate. For a contention rate of 0%, the increase of P(M) makes reply forwarding perform better than strict request-response. The performance of all protocols decreases with the increase of P(W) and contention rate. However, the performance of strict request-response is the least affected among other protocols due to the negative impact of the increase of P(W) and contention rate. Therefore, for the full contention case (i.e. contention rate of 100%); for low values of P(M), or for mid values of P(M) and high values of P(W), strict request-response performs better than reply forwarding. These results are significant in the sense that they provide an insight to multiprocessor architecture designers for comparing the performance of different directory-based cache-coherence protocols on a broadcast-based interconnection network for different values of the DSM parameters and varying rates of contention.     

带有非线性不确定奇异系统的积分滑模控制

针对一类含有非线性不确定的奇异系统, 提出了一种面向性能的鲁棒控制器. 控制器由3部分组成: 积分滑模控制、附加的非线性控制及复合非线性反馈控制. 积分滑模控制可将匹配不确定完全抵消并使系统轨迹进入理想滑模; 附加的非线性控制用来抑制理想滑动模态上非匹配不确定对系统稳定性和性能的影响; 复合非线性反馈控制则保证闭环系统输出按性能要求渐近地跟踪参考输入信号. 最后通过算例说明所提算法的有效性.     

应用颜色矢量法抑制彩色图象中的噪声干扰

由于消除彩色图象中的噪声比一般的黑白图象更困难,因而针对彩色图象中多个单种颜色目标识别过程中的噪声处理问题,使用了一种新的颜色矢量分析法来进行噪声的抑制。首先定义了颜色矢量和平均颜色矢量,通过计算和分析图象象素与各类训练区平均颜色矢量的欧拉距离,快速地将多个被干扰目标分割出来;然后对多个单色目标图象分别进行平滑处理,以消除各自中的噪声,最后再将它们与背景图象进行“叠加”操作,以达到消除彩色图象中噪声的目的。实际应用的结果表明,这种方法的效果是令人满意的。这种方法主要适用于由多个单色目标和复杂背景等组成的彩色图象的噪声抑制。     

地区级烟草公司管理信息系统的规划与建设

介绍了地区级烟草分公司管理信息系统的设计思想,规划原则和实现的方法。     

基于Internet/Intranet的命令通道机制人人交互与协作系统模型

本文提出了一个降低网络信息传输量、提高交互与协作质量的模型.文中详细描述了模型的组成,并以三个用户节点为例说明了系统的交互与协作过程.最后给出了系统的软件结构图,并说明了各个模块所完成的功能.     

超混沌系统自周期轨道链接式控制

基于混沌同步和周期轨道理论提出一种超混沌系统自周期轨道链接式控制法。从超混沌系统状态变量的时间序列中提取周期轨道并用于对系统的实时控制,可使混沌系统稳定运行于某一周期轨道。将提周期轨道经链接组合后用于系统控制,可得到大量的大周期轨道。对4阶蔡氏电路进行数字仿真实验,获得了满意的结果。     

一类相似广义互联系统的导数-输出反馈鲁棒控制器设计

以广义系统中受限系统等价概念和导数反馈- 输出反馈为基础,定义了一类广义互联系统的相似结构,提出了相似性研究的新方向.这类系 统具有不满足匹配条件的非线性不确定互联项.设计了导数-输出反馈鲁棒分散控制器,使互 联系统在平衡点处渐近稳定.由于控制器本身也具有相似结构,因此易于工程实现.