A comparison of eltanolone and propofol anaesthesia for minor gynaecological surgery

This paper reports a rare case of a 69-year-old man bearing a right parotid lump, measuring near 5 cm diameter, which diagnosis resulted a Warthin's tumor. The used procedure to reach the diagnosis was aspiration through a fine needle. Two months after the laboratory diagnosis--so within the preoperative term--we can corroborate the clinical and radiological missing of the growth. Review and analysis of etiologic and pathogenic mechanisms.     

Application of distance-dependent resolution compensation and post-reconstruction filtering for myocardial SPECT

Compensation for distance-dependent resolution can be directly incorporated in maximum likelihood reconstruction. Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of this compensation using either the standard expectation maximization (EM) algorithm or an accelerated algorithm based on use of ordered subsets (OSEM). We also investigated the application of post-reconstruction filtering in combination with resolution compensation. Using the MCAT phantom, projections were simulated for 360 degrees data, including attenuation and distance-dependent resolution. Projection data were reconstructed using conventional EM and OSEM with subset size 2 and 4, with/without 3D compensation for detector response (CDR). Also post-reconstruction filtering (PRF) was performed using a 3D Butterworth filter of order 5 with various cutoff frequencies (0.2-1.2 cycles cm(-1)). Image quality and reconstruction accuracy were improved when CDR was included. Image noise was lower with CDR for a given iteration number. PRF with cutoff frequency greater than 0.6 cycles cm(-1) improved noise with no reduction in recovery coefficient for myocardium but the effect was less when CDR was incorporated in the reconstruction. CDR alone provided better results than use of PRF without CDR. Results suggest that using CDR without PRF, and stopping at a small number of iterations, may provide sufficiently good results for myocardial SPECT. Similar behaviour was demonstrated for OSEM.     

The effects of the myostatin g+6723G>A mutation on carcass and meat quality of lamb

This study evaluated the effects of the myostatin g + 6723G > A mutation on carcass and meat quality traits of lamb (AA: n = 5; AG: n = 8; GG: n = 9). Dressing percentage was positively affected by the mutation with homozygotes for the mutation having the highest yield. Regarding carcass composition, there was a significant increase in the proportional weights of the loin and hindquarter muscles. Objective meat quality traits of the M. longissimus lumborum (LL) and M. semimembranosus (SM) were not significantly affected. For the SM, toughness (shear force and compression) tended to be lowest for homozygotes for the mutation. The myostatin g + 6723G > A mutation did not affect sensory meat quality traits of grilled steaks for the LL, but resulted in a significant improvement in eating quality for the SM. Given the number of animals in this study, the robustness of the outcome of this study with regard to the effects on meat quality and its causes requires further investigation.     

Progress for on-line acoustic emission monitoring of cracks in reactor systems

This paper reviews accomplishments and planned tasks for the NRC-sponsored research program concerned with “Acoustic Emission/Flaw Relationships for Inservice Monitoring of Nuclear Reactor Pressure Boundaries”. The objective of the acoustic emission (AE) monitoring program is to develop and validate the use of AE methods for continuous surveillance of reactor pressure boundaries to detect flaw growth. Topics discussed include testing AE monitoring on reactors, refinement of an AE signal identification relationship, study of slow crack growth rate effects on AE generation, and activity to produce an ASTM standard for AE monitoring and to gain ASME code acceptance of AE monitoring.     

Computer graphics simulation of a CNC lathe

A software system for simulation of the machining operations of a computerized numerically-controlled lathe is described. The microcomputer-based, BASIC software reads part program instructions from a sequential file, analyzes each instruction for errors and provides printed output describing the machine commands called for by the instruction as well as graphic output for tool motions. In an educational environment, the system can be used as a substitute for the more expensive machine tool or as a diagnostic and preview tool prior to actual machining.     

MRI for arthritis research: current pitfalls and future prospects

Arthritis is intimately associated with the destruction of cartilage. High-resolution (100–200-m)in vivo images of the finger joints have been obtained using a targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The study of asymptomatic subjects has enabled the normal anatomical zones of cartilage as visualised by MRI to be identified. In patients with advanced osteoarthritis features such as osteophytes and loss of cartilage are clearly demonstrated. An obvious question is whether MRI can be used to measure cartilage thickness and then whether this parameter can be utilized to quantify cartilage loss during the evolution of disease processes or response to therapy. However, there are a number of difficulties with this measurement which are discussed. It is possible that more valuable insights may be gained by careful choice of specific arthropathies to be studied—for example, acromegaly, which can lead to osteoarthritis—offers a way of observing subtle early changes that occur in the cartilage and subchondral bone.     

High-speed data paths in host-based routers

In networking today, host workstations are increasingly being used as routers. Host based routers offer a number of advantages, but they suffer from inefficient support for high bandwidth interfaces. The authors' work has focused on the technology's major drawback its inefficiency in supporting high bandwidth interfaces. Their approach is to optimize packet processing by applying techniques that transfer packets directly among host interfaces, thus removing an extra data copy. This technique increases data throughput by 45 percent while reducing the host's CPU load. They found that peer DMA forwarding can increase host based router throughput by up to 45 percent, supporting bandwidths of 480 Mbps. Peer DMA host based forwarding requires network interface cards with substantial shared memory resources, because packet queues are stored on the interfaces themselves, rather than in host RAM. The queuing algorithm remains in the host CPU, supporting advanced queue management. Current systems have limited packet processing. A combination of streamlined forwarding algorithms and aggregate interrupt processing should further increase host based capability. Moving some of the IP processing out to the NIC coprocessor may enable this. It is also apparent that as processor speeds increase, the advantages of peer DMA will aid throughput for small packet sizes     

Cross-section for proton-tritium scattering from 1.4 to 3.4 MeV at the laboratory angle of 165°

The elastic scattering cross-section for proton scattering from tritium was measured at a laboratory angle of 165° and over an incident proton energy range from 1.4 to 3.4 MeV. A thin solid target containing 1.62 × 10¹⁷ T atoms/cm² was prepared by absorption of tritium into a film of titanium on aluminium foil backing. The cross-section increases almost linearly with decreasing energy in the higher energy region of 2-3.4 MeV. The currently measured cross-section data are compared with data available in the literature values and they show a similarly linear trend in a similar higher energy range. The maximum difference in the cross-section at almost the same scattering angle between current data and the previous results is no worse than 2.3%.