Endoneurial localisation of microvascular damage in human diabetic neuropathy

Twenty diabetic patients with neuropathy underwent clinical and neurophysiological evaluation together with a detailed morphometric assessment of capillary pathology in endoneurial and epineurial microvascular beds of the sural nerve. Morphological data were compared with ten non-diabetic control subjects. There were no significant differences in control subjects between basement membrane area, endothelial cell area, endothelial cell profile number or luminal area of endoneurial when compared with epineurial capillaries. In contrast, when compared with epineurial capillaries, endoneurial capillaries from diabetic patients demonstrated a significant increase in basement membrane (p < 0.001) and endothelial cell (p < 0.001) area and a significant reduction in luminal area (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in endothelial cell profile number between endoneurial and epineurial capillaries amongst diabetic patients. Previous studies have demonstrated a good correlation between the degree of microangiopathy and measures of neuropathic severity. In the present study increased endoneurial capillary basement membrane area was significantly related to reduced peroneal nerve conduction velocity (p < 0.001), myelinated fibre density (p < 0.001) and elevated vibration (p < 0.05) and thermal (p < 0.001) perception. Increased endothelial cell area and reduced luminal size were related to a reduced peroneal nerve conduction (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively), reduced myelinated fibre density (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) and elevated thermal perception (p < 0.05, p < 0.001). Epineurial capillary basement membrane, endothelial cell and luminal area failed to relate to measures of neuropathic severity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Centurion syndrome. Idiopathic anterior displacement of the medial canthus

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) using HLA-partially matched family donors has produced disappointing results (25-30% of long-term survivors) in patients with severe aplastic anemia. We describe two children affected by severe aplastic anemia, not responsive to immunosuppressive therapy, who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using a HLA-partially matched family donor. Both cases presented 2 first class HLA-antigens (A and B) disparity between donor and recipient. The pretransplant conditioning regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide, thoracoabdominal irradiation, cytosine-arabinoside, and antilymphocyte globulin. As graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis, Cyclosporine-A was administered at usual dosages for 6 months. A full marrow engraftment was observed in both cases. Only grade I acute GVHD, promptly responsive to corticosteroid therapy, developed with no chronic GVHD. Five months after transplant, both children progressively developed hypertension, renal function impairment, thrombocytopenia, and severe normochromic anemia, with erythropoietin serum levels lower than expected for the haematocrit. After antihypertension treatment and supportive therapy, the clinical picture progressively improved, while treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin completely corrected the long-lasting anemia. The two children are alive and well 28 months after the transplant, with a Karnofsky score of 100% and a normal peripheral blood count. The authors suggest that, once immunosuppressive therapy has failed, BMT from donors other than HLA-identical sibling is a feasible approach in children affected by severe aplastic anemia, not having an HLA-identical donor.     

Sidestream tobacco smoke exposure acutely alters human nasal mucociliary clearance

Nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) is a biomarker of nasal mucosal function. Tobacco smokers have been shown to have abnormal NMC, but the acute effect of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on nonsmokers is unknown. This study evaluated acute tobacco smoke-induced alterations in NMC in 12 healthy adults. Subjects were studied on 2 days, separated by at least 1 week. Subjects underwent a 60-min controlled exposure at rest to air or sidestream tobacco smoke (SS) (15 ppm CO) in a controlled environmental chamber. One hour after the exposure, 99mTc-sulfur colloid was aerosolized throughout the nasal passage and counts were measured with a scintillation detector. Six out of 12 subjects showed more rapid clearance after smoke exposure than after air exposure, and 3/12 had rapid clearance on both days. However, substantial decreases in clearance occurred in 3/12 subjects, all of whom had a history of ETS rhinitis. In two subjects, more than 90% of the tracer remained 1 hr after tracer administration (2 hr after smoke exposure). Understanding the basis for biologic variability in the acute effect of tobacco smoke on NMC may advance our understanding of pathogenesis of chronic effects of ETS.     

粘土矿物对低渗透储层性质的影响——以鄂尔多斯盆地三叠系低渗透储层为例

粘土矿物是低渗砂岩储层的主要胶结物，对储层物性及开发过程中储层物性变化趋势有着重要的影响和控制作用。另外，粘土矿物也蕴含着大量沉积环境介质的物理化学信息，认识其自然规律，可以有效地指导预测有利储层，认识和改造油层。以鄂尔多斯盆地砂岩储层中的粘土矿物为研究对象，探讨分析粘土矿物对低渗储层性质的影响，该研究对含油气盆地低渗储层有效开发具有一定的参考价值。     

MRF: A Framework for Source and Destination Based Bandwidth Differentiation Service

In this paper, we shall generalize the concepts of fairness, TCP-friendliness and TCP-compatibility such that more source adaptation schemes can be designed to support diverse applications over the Internet. A simple but efficient framework, in the form of a monotonic response function (MRF), is proposed for the analysis and the design of memoryless window-based source adaptation protocols by using these concepts. We first derive a necessary and sufficient condition for step-wise convergence to the weighted fairness. It is then used to construct increase-decrease policies. The requirements of our increase-decrease policy are less conservative than those of the CYRF (Choose Your Response Function) that was proposed in . Our MRF is suitable for transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP), and can be used to design TCP-friendly and multimedia-friendly source adaptation schemes. Meanwhile, our MRF can be applied to provide bandwidth differentiation service without any change to the router of the existing Internet.     

海洋石油开发工业污染物产生系数和排放系数研究

污染物产生系数和排放系数是工程环境影响评价的重要指标,但对于海洋石油开发工程环境影响评价来说,迄今尚无具权威性的系数可资使用。在我国近海石油开发工程污染源系统调查的基础上,对海洋石油开发行业污染物产生系数和排放系数的定义、计算方法、应用范围及应用方式进行了探讨,研究结果可为海洋石油开发工程项目环境影响评价及环境保护管理,以及行业或企业有关标准的制定提供参考。     

压裂泵往复密封性能及机理研究

根据流体动压润滑理论，对压裂泵柱塞密封摩擦副的润滑机理进行了理论分析。在排出和吸入行程，柱塞密封摩擦副均能满足流体动压润滑的条件，即在柱塞与密封界面上能形成并保持一定厚度的油膜润滑密封，从而达到减小摩擦提高寿命的目的；建立了摩擦界面油膜厚度和泄漏量的计算公式。利用有限元法理论，对密封圈的压力沿轴向的分布规律、泄漏量与压力变化关系进行了模拟计算。对往复密封圈沿轴向压力分布、泄漏量随压力变化进行了测试；试验结果表明，建立的计算模型具有较高的计算精度，揭示了压裂泵的密封机理。     

Growth and optical property of zinc oxide thornballs

A new microstructure, thornball, of zinc oxide (ZnO) was synthesized by a very simple solid vapor deposition process under lead oxide (PbO) atmosphere. The microthornballs consist of numerous needles, which extend outwards in all directions symmetrically. They have dimensions of 120 μm in diameter, while the average diameter of the needles is about 100-200 nm. The needles on the balls grow along the 〈0 0 0 1〉 orientation and have gradient compositions along radial. Control experiments proved that PbO played an important role in the growth. Additionally, photoluminescence property was observed and provided the evidence that PbO did not deteriorate the optical properties of ZnO thornballs. This kind of microstructures has potential applications in the field of photochemical catalysis.