Increase in urinary calcium and oxalate after fructose infusion

We have previously shown that an oral glucose load increased both calciuria and oxaluria while the ingestion of fructose induced a rise in calciuria and a decrease in oxaluria. This latter effect remains unclear and might be linked to the reduced intestinal oxalate absorption subsequent to digestive intolerance in some subjects. Such a hypothesis could be enlightened by the study of a parenteral fructose load. Therefore in 7 healthy subjects, we compared the effects of fructose infusion (F) (15 min iv infusion at 0.185 mmol/kg BW/min) to a control glucose infusion (G) on urinary calcium and oxalate. In this study, glycemia and insulinemia increased less after (F) than after (G) (respectively + 21% vs + 216%, p < 0.001 and + 230% vs + 402%, p < 0.05) and phosphatemia decreased less after (F) than after (G) (-7% vs -14%, p < 0.05). Urinary calcium and oxalate increased only after (F) (respectively + 64%, p < 0.01 and + 60%, p < 0.05). Urinary uric acid, another urolithiasis factor, increased after both (F) and (G) (respectively + 45%; p < 0.01 and + 42%; p < 0.01) but uricemia increased only after (F) (+ 25%; p < 0.01). Our results suggest an additional reason to avoid the use of fructose in parenteral nutrition, particularly in individuals with a known history of either calcium oxalate or urate urolithiasis.     

Energy-aware wireless networking with directional antennas: the case of session-based broadcasting and multicasting

We consider ad hoc wireless networks that use directional antennas and have limited energy resources. To explore quantitatively the advantage offered by the use of directional antennas over the case of omnidirectional antennas, we consider the case of connection-oriented multicast traffic. Building upon our prior work on multicasting algorithms, we introduce two protocols that exploit the use of directional antennas and evaluate their performance, We observe significant improvement with respect to the omnidirectional case, in terms of both energy efficiency and network lifetime. Additionally, we show that further substantial increase in the network's lifetime can be achieved by incorporating a simple measure of a node's residual energy into the node's cost function.     

A new millimeter-wave step-frequency radar sensor for distancemeasurement

A new compact millimeter-wave distance-measurement sensor prototype has been developed. The sensor is a step-frequency radar implemented using coherent heterodyne technique. It operates in Ka-band (26.5-40 GHz) and is realized using MICs and MMICs. The sensor transmits sinusoidal signals of incremental frequencies and demodulates the received signals into base-band I/Q signals for processing. Experimental results show that the sensor is capable of measuring distance with less than 0.2 inch of absolute error and a low transmitted power of only -20±3 dBm     

A selective CVD tungsten-strapped polysilicon local interconnectiontechnology

A local interconnection technology utilizing polysilicon strapped with selective-chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) tungsten has been developed. Both n- and p-channel MOS transistors have been successfully fabricated using this technology. Tungsten deposited on polysilicon is an attractive gate shunt and local interconnection material because of its low resistivity, immunity to dopant segregation and diffusion, and resistance to electromigration. A potential problem of this technology is the excessive diode leakage current associated with strapping shallow source/drain diodes with tungsten. The leakage is attributed to defects induced by the heavy source/drain implant, which can be effectively eliminated with a proper annealing procedure     

An analysis of multiple parallel coupled quasi-tem transmission lines

A theoretical analysis of general multiple parallel coupled transmission lines in an inhomogeneous medium is presented. The analysis is based on the generalized telegraphists' equation. It is relatively simple and has the advantage of giving explicit solutions for the properties of the coupled-line system. Considerations are also given to a coupled-line structure whose lines have the same characteristic impedance. Results for two and three coupled lines are found in agreement with those published previously.     

X gene and precore region mutations in the hepatitis B virus genome in persons positive for antibody to hepatitis B e antigen: comparison between asymptomatic "healthy" carriers and patients with severe chronic active hepatitis

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers with antibody to hepatitis e antigen comprise asymptomatic carriers (ASCs), who have low replication levels of HBV, and patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH), who have high levels of viral replication. To investigate whether defects in the X protein might be responsible for this difference in the level of viral replication, nucleotide sequences of X and precore gene regions in serum HBV were analyzed in 19 ASCs and 9 CAH patients. All patients had a point mutation creating a stop codon in the precore region. Seventeen ASCs (87.3%) had identical mutations consisting of 4 noncontiguous 1-bp deletions or an 8-bp deletion, both of which truncate the normal X protein, whereas no CAH patient had an X gene mutation (P < .001). Thus, deletion of the X protein might be responsible for the low levels of viral replication in ASCs.     

Development of Online Ultrasound Instructional Module and Comparison to Traditional Teaching Methods

A Web‐based teaching device was constructed to deliver information on fundamentals of ultrasound imaging to approximately one‐half the students in an undergraduate medical imaging course, while the remaining students were taught the same material via traditional lectures and typed notes. The students participating in this study were separated randomly but in such a manner that prior achievement was statistically equivalent for the two groups. After approximately two weeks of instruction, an ultrasound imaging exam was administered. Results indicated no statistically significant difference in scores on homework assigned during the instructional period between the traditional and online groups. Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference in the average exam scores of students in the two groups. The traditional group required significantly more time on learning activities than did the online group. These results indicated that level of understanding was not affected by use of the online device, while efficiency of learning improved dramatically. Reasons reported by the students for the improved efficiency of the online method included flexibility in time usage and ability to cater to the individual, which came with the added responsibility of self‐discipline. The traditional teaching method, meanwhile, allowed interaction with and instant feedback from a professor and other students. In this study we have demonstrated that the nature of an online device yields a higher level of efficiency than traditional lectures, despite the inherent drawbacks of the approach. The effectiveness of this device could potentially be improved by implementing enhancements to increase the level of interaction for the user and to help with discipline and time management.     

New compact wideband bandpass filter using three parallel-coupledlines

A new miniature bandpass filter, comprising three-conductor short-circuited spurline resonators of approximately a quarter-wavelength long, with a very wide bandwidth approaching multioctaves is reported for the first time. The chain matrix of the filter resonator is derived. The new filter has been developed using microstrip line with less than 1 dB insertion loss over a passband from 2 to 8 GHz. Reasonably good agreement between the measured and calculated results is observed     

A quadruple well, quadruple polysilicon BiCMOS process for fast 16Mb SRAM's

An advanced, high-performance, quadruple well, quadruple polysilicon BiCMOS technology has been developed for fast 16 Mb SRAM's. A split word-line bitcell architecture, using four levels of polysilicon and two self-aligned contacts, achieves a cell area of 8.61 μm² with conventional I-line lithography and 7.32 μm² with I-line plus phase-shift or with deep UV lithography. The process features PELOX isolation to provide a 1.0 μm active pitch, MOSFET transistors designed for a 0.80 μm gate poly pitch, a double polysilicon bipolar transistor with aggressively scaled parasitics, and a thin-film polysilicon transistor to enhance bitcell stability. A quadruple-well structure improves soft error rate (SER) and allows simultaneous optimization of MOSFET and bipolar performance