Antiproteinuric effect predicts renal protection by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition in rats with established adriamycin nephrosis

1. The mechanism of renal protection by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition is still the subject of debate. Inhibition of proteinuria might play a role. If so, a good antiproteinuric response to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition should predict subsequent protection against renal structural damage. This hypothesis has not been tested in models where treatment is started after the renal disease is well established, i.e. models that mimic the clinical situation. 2. We therefore investigated this hypothesis in 96 male Wistar rats with established adriamycin nephrosis. Reduction of proteinuria was achieved by lisinopril (0, 2, 5 and 10 mg day-1 kg-1) on two different sodium diets (0.3% and 0.05% NaCl). Therapy started 6 weeks after adriamycin (at stable proteinuria) and was continued for 6 weeks. 3. Lisinopril reduced blood pressure by 32 +/- 4% and proteinuria by an average of 72 +/- 7%, with stabilization after 2 weeks. Considerable interindividual differences in antiproteinuric response was found. Glomerulosclerosis score was reduced by 15 +/- 5%. All the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were enhanced by sodium depletion, but sodium depletion in itself did not affect blood pressure (124 +/- 4 mmHg), proteinuria (664 +/- 68 mg/day) or glomerulosclerosis score (30 +/- 5%). Interestingly, the more proteinuria was reduced initially in an individual rat, the less sclerosis was found in the long term in that rat. 4. In conclusion, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition lowers proteinuria and prevents glomerulosclerosis in established adriamycin nephrosis. These effects are enhanced by sodium depletion. The individual short-term antiproteinuric effect predicts the protection against ultimate glomerular damage. This is consistent with the hypothesis that reduction of proteinuria is a mechanism by which angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors exert renoprotection.     

The application of semantic classification trees to naturallanguage understanding

This article describes a new method for building a natural language understanding (NLU) system, in which the system's rules are learnt automatically from training data. The method has been applied to design of a speech understanding (SU) system. Designers of such systems rely increasingly on robust matchers to perform the task of extracting meaning from one or several word sequence hypotheses generated by a speech recognizer. We describe a new data structure, the semantic classification tree (SCT), that learns semantic rules from training data and can be a building block for robust matchers for NLU tasks. By reducing the need for handcoding and debugging a large number of rules, this approach facilitates rapid construction of an NLU system. In the case of an SU system, the rules learned by an SCT are highly resistant to errors by the speaker or by the speech recognizer because they depend on a small number of words in each utterance. Our work shows that semantic rules can be learned automatically from training data, yielding successful NLU for a realistic application     

A multi-purpose CMOS sensor interface for low-power applications

A dedicated low-power CMOS transponder microchip is presented as part of a novel telemetry implant for biomedical applications. This mixed analog-digital circuit contains an identification code and collects information on physiological parameters, i.e., body temperature and physical activity, and on the status of the battery. To minimize the amount of data to be transmitted, a dedicated signal processing algorithm is embedded within its circuitry. All telemetry functions (encoding, modulation, generation of the carrier) are implemented on the integrated circuit. Emphasis is on a high degree of flexibility towards sensor inputs and internal data management, extreme miniaturization, and low-power consumption to allow a long implantation lifetime     

Gender differences in Scholastic Aptitude Test: Mathematics problem solving among high-ability students.

Examined whether male and female students of high mathematical ability use different solution strategies on math problems that had previously yielded gender differences in correct responding. Structured interviews were conducted with high school students who had scored at least 670 on the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-M). Eight types of solution strategies could be further dichotomized as conventional or unconventional in approach. Female students were more likely than male students to use conventional strategies. SAT-M scores were correlated with positive attitudes (confidence and persistence) toward math: use of conventional strategies was correlated with negative attitudes (dislike, nonrelevance) toward math. Findings may help to explain patterns of gender differences on SAT-M problems among high-ability students in which female students outperform male students on conventional problems and male students outperform female students on unconventional problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New insights into the relation between channel hot carrier degradation and oxide breakdown short channel nMOSFETs

In this letter, we report new findings in the relation between channel hot-carrier (CHC) degradation and gate-oxide breakdown (BD) in short-channel nMOSFETS biased at V/sub G/>V/sub D/. We observe that the time-to-BD is strongly reduced in the hot carrier regime and that although the channel hot-electron injection into the oxide occurs mainly at the drain side, stress-induced leakage current (SILC) generation and oxide BD always occur at the source side. The results of these measurements indicate that not solely the energy of the injected electrons but also the oxide electric field is determinant in the oxide BD process.     

Cimaterol and clenbuterol residue analysis by HPLC-HPTLC in liver.

A method has been developed for the analysis of cimaterol and clenbuterol residues in liver, with detection limits of 0.25 micrograms/kg and 0.5 micrograms/kg, respectively. The recovery varied from 55% to 60%. After extraction, a clean-up procedure with Baker-spe C-18 columns was performed. The two chemical compounds of interest were eluted with methanol. Cimaterol and clenbuterol were quantitatively determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an RP-Select B (5 microns) column and a post-column reaction procedure. The positive results were confirmed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) as this technique reaches the same level of sensitivity as the HPLC method.     

Magnetic resonance findings in skeletal muscle tears

Magnetic resonance (MR) images of skeletal muscle tears can clearly delineate the severity of muscle injury. Although MR imaging is seldom necessary in patients with acute muscle trauma, it can be helpful in deciding on clinical management. The two major MR findings in acute muscle tears are deformity of the muscle and the presence of abnormal signal reflecting hemorrhage and edema. In acute tears, methemoglobin within the extravascular blood causes high-signal areas on both T1- and T2-weighted images. With partial tears, the blood may dissect in a distinctive linear pattern along the muscle bundles and fibers. As healing begins, the muscle signal diminishes, first on the T1-weighted images and then on the T2-weighted images. When there is residual abnormal signal on images obtained more than several months after the injury, it is presumed to represent hemorrhage from recurrent tears. In patients with a questionable history of a remote injury, the clinical presentation may be that of persistent pain or a soft tissue mass. In these cases MR imaging may identify the cause of the pain and can exclude a neoplasm by proving that the mass is a hypertrophied or retracted muscle. Thus, MR imaging has a limited, but occasionally important role in selected patients with skeletal muscle tears.