Experiences with introduction of the UNICEF program "10 steps for successful breast feeding"

Necrotizing fasciitis is a rapidly progressing, synergistic bacterial infection of fascia with a reported average mortality of about 40%. Fournier's disease, necrotizing fasciitis of the genital sphere, is also included in this study. Seven patients were studied over a one-year period between May 1991 and October 1992. Most commonly, they were infected by perineal diseases, medical procedures and cutaneous ulcers. The local clinical signs are cellulitis, oedema, blisters, necrosis and crepitus; general septic symptoms may also be present. Associated chronic diseases were present in 4 patients. Three infections were polymicrobial. Control of this potentially lethal soft-tissue infection is based on early clinical diagnosis, timely, wide surgical debridements and appropriate antibiotic treatment. The overall mortality rate was 1 of 7 (14%). Death was due to persistent wound sepsis and systemic septic complications, but mainly to delay in surgical treatment. The presence of chronic debilitating diseases (diabetes, alcohol abuse, renal insufficiency, ...) contribute to increase rate of both local and systemic infection.     

Fast Determination of Vitamin A Palmitate in Margarines by HPLC

Vitamin A palmitate can be directly determined by HPLC in the margarine fat phase. Omitting saponification leads to a considerable saving in analysis time, and to reduced losses during sample clean-up. The result is obtained ca. 12 min after the HPLC injection, and one analysis incl. sample preparation can be carried out in ca. 30-45 min - when the HPLC equipment is running and calibrated. A similar method can be developed for vitamin A acetate in margarines. Initial results using azobenzene as an internal standard are also reported.     

Acoustic startle response and habituation in freezing and nonfreezing rats.

Divided rats according to their responses to startle-eliciting stimuli into 2 groups with different emotional states. About half of the 54 female Sprague-Dawley rats showed long-lasting freezing behavior after 1–8 stimuli (10 kHz, 110 dB spl). In freezing rats the startle amplitude was higher than in nonfreezing rats, even on the very first startle response. This finding demonstrates that the anxiety state of these animals before the 1st startle-eliciting stimulus, and not just the aversiveness of the stimulus, contributes to freezing behavior. In addition, in freezing rats there was no influence of spontaneous motor activity or of adaptation time on startle amplitude. Only in nonfreezing rats were high motor activities correlated with lowered startle amplitudes, and only in these rats did the course of startle habituation depend on adaptation time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Videokeratoscope for accurate and detailed measurement of the cornea surface

A videokeratoscope based on the imaging of a gridlike pattern is introduced. Unlike conventional videokeratoscopes that rely on Placido disks, the new measurement principle allows an exact reconstruction of the surface and the display of fine details. The experimental instrument was tested on precision glass spheres; the maximum error of the height data was less than 3 microm. The sensitivity and the potential to resolve fine details were demonstrated with irregular surfaces of specially prepared contact lenses. Structures with height deviations of 0.1 microm are well identifiable. The eyes of 18 individuals were investigated, and fine structures were found on these cornea surfaces. Conventional videokeratoscopes do not resolve such detail.     

Biomimetic mineral-organic composite scaffolds with controlled internal architecture

Bone and cartilage generation by three-dimensional scaffolds is one of the promising techniques in tissue engineering. One approach is to generate histologically and functionally normal tissue by delivering healthy cells in biocompatible scaffolds. These scaffolds provide the necessary support for cells to proliferate and maintain their differentiated function, and their architecture defines the ultimate shape. Rapid prototyping (RP) is a technology by which a complex 3-dimensional (3D) structure can be produced indirectly from computer aided design (CAD). The present study aims at developing a 3D organic-inorganic composite scaffold with defined internal architecture by a RP method utilizing a 3D printer to produce wax molds. The composite scaffolds consisting of chitosan and hydroxyapatite were prepared using soluble wax molds. The behaviour and response of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells on the scaffolds was studied. During a culture period of two and three weeks, cell proliferation and in-growth were observed by phase contrast light microscopy, histological staining and electron microscopy. The Giemsa and G?m?ri staining of the cells cultured on scaffolds showed that the cells proliferated not only on the surface, but also filled the micro pores of the scaffolds and produced extracellular matrix within the pores. The electron micrographs showed that the cells covering the surface of the struts were flattened and grew from the periphery into the middle region of the pores.     

On the synthesis of linear control systems with specified characteristics

The Popov invariants are used to define two matrices M_AB and K_AB, which describe the properties of a system $\text{x}\text{?}\text{= Ax + Bu}$ in a basis-independent form. Also a control system with state feedback K and nonsingular input transformation M, $\text{x}\text{?}\text{= (A ? BK)x + BMw = Fx + Gw}$, can be uniquely specified by the corresponding matrices M_FG and K_FG, which may be chosen arbitrarily with the only condition, that (F, G) must have the same unordered set of Kronecker invariants as (A, B). It is shown, how K and M are computed from M_AB, K_AB, M_FG and K_FG. Implications for pole assignment, minimal polynomial assignment and observer design are shown. Also a solution to the minimal realization problem is given, which results in M_AB, K_AB and the output relation y = Cx.     

Sensor fault diagnosis for nonlinear processes with parametric uncertainties

This paper addresses the problem of detecting, discriminating, and reconstructing sensor faults for nonlinear systems with known model structure but uncertainty in the parameters of the process. The convenience of the proposed technique lies in the fact that historical operational data and/or a priori fault information is not required to achieve accurate fault reconstruction except for fixed, short intervals. The overall fault diagnosis algorithm is composed of a series of nonlinear estimators, which estimates parameter and a fault isolation and identification filter. Parameter estimation and fault reconstruction cannot be performed accurately since faults and parametric uncertainty interact with each other. Therefore, these two tasks are performed at different time scales, where the fault diagnosis takes place at a more frequent rate than the parameter estimation. It is shown that the fault can be reconstructed under some realistic assumptions and the performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated on a simulated chemical process exhibiting nonlinear dynamic behavior.     

Microbes versus microbes: control of pathogens in the food chain

Foodborne illness continues as a considerable threat to public health. Despite improved hygiene management systems and increased regulation, pathogenic bacteria still contaminate food, causing sporadic cases of illness and disease outbreaks worldwide. For many centuries, microbial antagonism has been used in food processing to improve food safety. An understanding of the mode of action of this microbial antagonism has been gained in recent years and potential applications in food and feed safety are now being explored. This review focuses on the potential opportunities presented, and the limitations, of using microbial antagonism as a biocontrol mechanism to reduce contamination along the food chain; including animal feed as its first link. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry