Surgical treatment of congenital hemolytic anemia in children

In the paper, an experience with surgical treatment of 67 children suffering inherited spherocytosis is summarized. In most patients the first signs of the disease appeared in early age. It is concluded that splenectomy is indicated in all children with inherited spherocytosis irrespective of the form of the disease at the age from 3 to 5 years. In a grave course and the appearance of signs of functional hepatic insufficiency the operation should be accomplished as earlier as posisble.     

A micro computer based information system for administering an academic program

This article describes an information system designed to be used with a micro computer to administer a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Program. This automated system provides timely and accurate information with which to counsel students and to adminster the program. The authors describe the file design, processing requirements and the system programs which allow for file inquiry, file update, and reporting. The system is managed by the MBA program office and is independent of the university computing system.     

External rotational injury of tha ankle joint with displacement of the talus

The mechanism of second-degree external rotational injury of the ankle, with fracture of the lower end of the fibula, is discussed with reference to experiments on an anatomical model. It is concluded that with this type of injury there is lateral displacement of the talus because the deltoid ligament is ruptured, but there is no diastasis of the inferior tibiofibular syndesmosis. The results of conservative treatment of 10 patients with second-degree external rotational injury of tha ankle are reviewed.     

Substrate utilisation by plant-cell cultures

Plant cell cultures have been grown on a wide range of carbon sources in addition to the traditional ones of sucrose and glucose. Biomass yields and growth rates vary greatly between the different carbon sources and there is a variation in response between different cell cultures to individual carbon sources. Some attempts have been made to grow cell cultures on ‘waste’ and related carbon sources, such as lactose, maltose, starch, molasses and milk whey. Only maltose was found to support growth to anything near the levels observed with glucose and sucrose. In the case of molasses carbon source cell growth was either non-existent or only just measurable. All the data point to glucose as being the most suitable carbon source, principally on the grounds of biomass yield and growth rate. It should be noted, however, that other carbon sources do appear to have a major (positive) influence on natural product synthesis. Uptake into the cell is an important aspect of carbohydrate utilisation. There is strong evidence that from disaccharides upwards, major degradation to smaller units occurs before uptake. In some cases the necessary enzymes appear to be excreted into the culture broth, in others they may be located within the cell wall; invertase that hydrolyses sucrose is a good example. Once the products of carbohydrate degradation and mobilisation enter the cell they may suffer one of two fates, oxidation or utilisation for biosynthesis. The precise split between these two varies depending on such factors as cell growth rate, cell size, nutrient broth composition and carbohydrate status of the cells. In general rapidly growing cells have a high rate of oxidation, whereas cells growing more slowly tend to be more directed towards biosynthesis. Carbohydrate utilisation is a key area of study, underpinning as it does both biomass yield and natural product synthesis.     

Development of agro-environmental scenarios to support pesticide risk assessment in Europe

This paper describes work carried out within the EU-funded FOOTPRINT project to characterize the diversity of European agricultural and environmental conditions with respect to parameters which most influence the environmental fate of pesticides. Pan-European datasets for soils, climate, land cover and cropping were intersected, using GIS, to identify the full range of unique combinations of climate, soil and crop types which characterize European agriculture. The resulting FOOTPRINT European agro-environmental dataset constitutes a large number of polygons (approximately 1,700,000) with attribute data files for i) area fractions of annual crops related to each arable-type polygon (as an indicator of its probability of occurrence); and, ii) area fractions of each soil type in each polygon (as an indicator of its probability of occurrence). A total of 25,044 unique combinations of climate zones, agricultural land cover classes, administrative units and soil map units were identified. The same soil/crop combinations occur in many polygons which have the same climate while the fractions of the soils and arable crops are different. The number of unique combinations of climate, soil and agricultural land cover class is therefore only 7961. 26-year daily meteorological data, soil profile characteristics and crop management features were associated with each unique combination. The agro-environmental scenarios developed can be used to underpin the parameterization of environmental fate models for pesticides and should also have relevance for other agricultural pollutants. The implications for the improvement and further development of risk assessment procedures for pesticides are discussed.     

High-efficiency cross-beam magnetic electron-impact source for improved miniature Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrometer performance

We describe a newly designed cross-beam magnetic electron-impact ion source (CBM-EI). We demonstrate its superiority in comparison with a conventional source (CB-EI) when used with a commercial miniature sector-field-type, non-scanning mass spectrometer featuring Mattauch-Herzog geometry (MH-MS) and a permanent sector-field magnet. This paper clearly shows the value of the CBM-EI for enhancing MH-MS sensitivity. Unlike secondary electron-multiplier type detectors, the pixelated detector (IonCCD?) used in the commercial MH-MS has no gain. The MH-MS/IonCCD system is therefore challenged to compete with time-of-flight and quadrupole MS systems due to their higher ion transmissions and detector gains. Using the new CBM-EI, we demonstrate an instrument sensitivity increase of 20-fold to 100-fold relative to the CB-EI-equipped instrument. This remarkable signal increase by the simple addition of the magnet assembly arises from the magnet-induced gyromotion of the thermionic electrons, which vastly increases the effective path length of the electrons through the ionization region, and the collimated nature of the electron flux, which optimizes the ion transmission through the 100-μm object slit of the MH-MS. Some or all of the realized sensitivity increase may be exchanged for an increase in resolution and/or mass range through the use of a narrower object slit, or for a reduction in ion-source pressure to limit quenching. The CBM-EI should facilitate development of a differentially pumped ion source to extend the lifetime of the filament, especially in otherwise intractable applications associated with oxidizing and corrosive samples.     

Reciprocating gait prosthesis for the bilateral hip disarticulation amputee.

This paper describes the design, manufacture and use of a new prosthesis which produced reciprocating gait for a bilateral hip disarticulation amputee. A special mechanism used the hip extension moment during weight bearing to drive the contralateral limb through the swing phase. The user rapidly attained efficient and safe reciprocating gait, together with simple donning and doffing. The success of this project has major implications for hip disarticulation amputees in terms of profound improvements of their independence and self-esteem.     

Use of α-tocopherol acetate to improve fresh pig meat quality of full-fat rapeseed-fed pigs

Thirty-two pigs were allocated to one of four diets, FFRD0 and FFRD200, containing full-fat rapeseed (FFR), 150 g/kg [25–50 kg liveweight (LW)], and 250 g/kg (50–90 kg LW), or CD0 and CD200, containing equivalent quantities of rapeseed meal and 34 g/kg (25–50 kg LW) or 59.2 g/kg (50–90 kg LW) coconut oil and lard (0.5:0.5, w/w). Diets FFRD200 and CD200 were supplemented with 200 mg/kg α-tocopherol acetate (ATA). ATA supplementation significantly (P<0.001) reduced muscle drip loss. The melting point (°C) of subcutaneous fat was significantly lowered by FFR (P<0.001) but increased by ATA supplementation (P<0.05). Tissue α-tocopherol (AT) concentrations were significantly increased by ATA supplementation. Longissimus dorsi AT concentration was positively correlated with AT concentration in subcutaneous fat (r=0.86) and in plasma at 35 (r=0.65) and 77 (r=0.85) days of feeding (P<0.001). In both L. dorsi and subcutaneous adipose tissue lipids, FFRD caused a significant (P<0.001) decrease in the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids and a significant (P<0.001) increase in the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids. AT supplementation significantly reduced the susceptibility of L. dorsi and subcutaneous fat to lipid oxidation during storage at 4°C for up to 16 d. For all dietary treatments and storage times, lipid oxidation [mg malondialdehyde (MDA)/kg muscle] was greater in the surface layer (0–2.5 mm) of L. dorsi than below the surface (2.5–5 mm). Oxidative stability of L. dorsi lipids to iron-induced lipid peroxidation was significantly improved (P<0.001) by AT supplementation. Meat from pigs fed FFRD diets was significantly less stable to iron-induced oxidation (nmoles MDA/mg protein) at the longer incubation periods (100 and 200 min). The susceptibility of L. dorsi to iron-induced lipid oxidation decreased as the ratio of the tissue concentration of AT to unsaturated fatty acid increased.