The content of asbestos bodies in the bronchoalveolar fluid as a parameter of an increased pulmonary asbestos load

Pulmonary asbestos burdens are usually determined by quantitative pulmonary dust analysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for this purpose. First, the upper limit of normal for asbestos bodies (AB) in BAL fluid was established using a reference group of 371 patients with no evidence of increased exposure to asbestos. 99% of these patients had less than 0.5 AB/ml. In order to see whether BAL fluid AB concentration reflected pulmonary tissue content, BAL fluid and lung tissue from a further 64 patients with diverse histories of asbestos exposure were investigated. There was a positive association between AB concentration in BAL fluid and lung tissue only for the overall group of 64 patients (r = 0.86; P < 0.001). Twelve of 13 patients with more than 1 AB/ml and ten patients with more than 5 AB/ml had more than 1000 AB/cm3 lung tissue, a value that is usually exceeded in asbestosis. When the upper concentration limit was set at 0.5 AB/ml for BAL fluid and 50 AB/cm3 for lung tissue, only two out of 64 patients had a false positive value (specificity 95%), but eleven patients had false negative results (sensitivity 58%). These investigations establish that concentrations of > or = 0.5 AB/ml are a reliable indicator of increased asbestos exposure and concentrations > 1 AB/ml are associated with a higher probability of having more than 1000 AB/cm3 lung tissue. However, exclusion of increased asbestos exposure is not possible on the basis of negative BAL findings, since the sensitivity of the method is too low.     

Results of treatment of inferior vena cava syndrome with expandable metallic stents

A 73-year-old male was admitted to our hospital because of detection of Shigella flexneri 2a from his stool. Antimicrobial treatment with levofloxacin (LVFX) was started, but could not eliminate the organism in the stool. In the examination of drug susceptibility, this strain was highly resistant to all new quinolones. The minimal inhibitory concentration of norfloxacin, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin to this strain was 12.5 micrograms/ml, 6.25 micrograms/ml and 6.25 micrograms/ml, respectively. The dual mutations were detected in the codon 83 and 87 of the gyrA gene by sequencing the quinolone-resistance determining region (QRDR). There was, however, no significant difference between the intracellular uptake of ciprofloxacin in this strain and in the ciprofloxacin-sensitive strain. The amount of ciprofloxacin in this strain unchanged when carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) was added. These results suggest that the advanced resistance in Shigella flexneri against new quinolones could be acquired by only this dual mutations without the change of the active efflux mechanism.     

A numerical investigation on the geometry dependence of the crack growth resistance in CT specimens

The influence of the specimen thickness B and the ligament length b on the J _R -curves is numerically investigated for CT specimens. The thickness effect is taken into account with 2-D analyses by dividing a plain sided specimen into a plane stress part and a plane strain part. The fracture process is controlled by experimentally determined critical values of the crack tip opening displacement for crack growth initiation (CTOD_i) and the crack tip opening angle for stable crack growth (CTOA_C). It is shown that for the global behaviour of a plain sided specimen, the B/b ratio is essential. The difference between the geometry dependence of the initiation value of the J-integral and the geometry dependence of the slope of the J _R -curves is also shown.     

Identification of potent P2Y-purinoceptor agonists that are derivatives of adenosine 5'-monophosphate

1. A series of chain-extended 2-thioether derivatives of adenosine monophosphate were synthesized and tested as agonists for activation of the phospholipase C-linked P2Y-purinoceptor of turkey erythrocyte membranes, the adenylyl cyclase-linked P2Y-purinoceptor of C6 rat glioma cells, and the cloned human P2U-receptor stably expressed in 1321N1 human astrocytoma cells. 2. Although adenosine monophosphate itself was not an agonist in the two P2Y-purinoceptor test systems, eleven different 2-thioether-substituted adenosine monophosphate analogues were full agonists. The most potent of these agonists, 2-hexylthio AMP, exhibited an EC50 value of 0.2 nM for activation of the C6 cell receptor. This potency was 16,000 fold greater than that of ATP and was only 10 fold less than the potency of 2-hexylthio ATP in the same system. 2-hexylthio adenosine was inactive. 3. Monophosphate analogues that were the most potent activators of the C6 cell P2Y-purinoceptor were also the most potent activators of the turkey erythrocyte P2Y-purinoceptor. However, agonists were in general more potent at the C6 cell receptor, and potency differences varied between 10 fold and 300 fold between the two receptors. 4. Although 2-thioether derivatives of adenosine monophosphate were potent P2Y-purinoceptor agonists no effect of these analogues on the human P2U-purinoceptor were observed. 5. These results support the view that a single monophosphate is sufficient and necessary for full agonist activity at P2Y-purinoceptors, and provide insight for strategies for development of novel P2Y-purinoceptor agonists of high potency and selectivity.     

Coded differential space-time modulation for flat fading channels

In this paper, powerful coding techniques for differential space-time modulation (DSTM) over Rayleigh flat fading channels and noncoherent detection without channel state information at the receiver are investigated. In particular, multilevel coding, bit-interleaved coded modulation, and so-called hybrid coded modulation (HCM) are devised and compared. For improved noncoherent reception multiple-symbol differential detection (MSDD) is adapted to DSTM. In order to reduce the computational effort required for MSDD, a low-complexity version of MSDD is applied. Evaluating the ergodic channel capacity for the different schemes as appropriate performance measure, HCM with simplified MSDD is shown to offer a favorable tradeoff between complexity and achievable power efficiency. Simulation results employing turbo codes in properly designed HCM schemes confirm the predictions from information theory.     

High quality LTCC resonator for voltage-controlled oscillator

Design and technology of microwave conductor lines embedded in low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) multilayer substrates are summarized with a focus on achieving the highest possible quality (Q) factor for a given line inductance. The work was initiated to test the integrability of base station voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) in ceramic multilayer substrates. This approach leads to a miniaturization of current versions by a factor of 2 to 4. However, base station specifications for phase noise and hence resonator Q are extremely demanding. Therefore, both the design and the processing technology were optimized. By choosing a twin-line design with two parallel lines vertically separated by a single LTCC layer, Q factors of 90 and 180 have been achieved for integrated 5.5 nH inductors at frequencies of 640 MHz and 1650 MHz, respectively. Application of this result to VCO modules in standard LTCC technology already yields low phase noise levels, e.g., -136 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset, which is suitable for base station applications. However, further noise reduction is expected from a dedicated high Q fabrication process that uses conventional via punching and filling steps to replace the ceramic material between the two lines by conductive silver paste. This raises the Q to 120 and 200, respectively, at the two frequencies and adds extra degrees of freedom to LTCC design for low-loss wireless solutions.     

Multiresolution Representation of 2D CSG Models

Multiresolution is currently one of the main schemes used in CAD modeling for representing objects, particularly when large-scale geometric data must be transferred interactively over a network, as in the case of collaborative design. Increasingly complex products and growing competition have turned design into a collaborative team effort. Furthermore, the widespread development of Internet viewers has also necessitated the transfer and display of large-scale CAD models over networks. In order to reduce the volume of transferred data, efforts have been made to transfer CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry) models rather than those based on B_rep (Boundary Representation). This paper presents an original new method for speeding up data transfer by using multiresolution CSG models at different levels of details (LOD). The multiresolution CSG algorithm generates a hierarchy of multiresolution CSG trees; at each level, the shape is further approximated and represented by a smaller number of CSG primitives. The paper analyzes the proposed algorithm, and demonstrates its feasibility.