Factors affecting image acquisition during scanning laser polarimetry

Prognosis of systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, Ssc) is largely depending on involvement of internal organs. Abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract are found most frequently (85%), especially decreased motility of the oesophagus, which has little impact on the longterm clinical course of Ssc. Pulmonary manifestations can be demonstrated in 40-90% of patients; one must distinguish between pulmonary hypertension or fibrotic lung disease. The heart is affected in 50% of cases. Patchy or diffuse myocardial fibrosis, as well as pericarditis and pericardial effusions can induce symptoms of arrhythmia or congestive heart failure. Renal involvement is associated with increased mortality and occurs in 45% of Ssc, producing proteinuria, hypertension, scleroderma renal crisis and renal failure. In conclusion, involvement of the lungs, heart and kidneys are determining factors for the longterm course of systemic sclerosis.     

Induced pupillary hippus following near vision: increased occurrence in visual display unit workers

Using a quasistatic method, it has been found previously that one-third of normal subjects retained pupillary constriction under empty-field conditions for a substantial period following a near-vision task. This pupil after-effect was dissociated from adaptation of tonic accommodation. In this paper, essentially the same method was used to investigate further the effects of near vision on pupil response in VDU (Visual Display Unit) workers with complaint of general fatigue and/or asthenopia. In some cases, large and slow pupillary oscillation accompanied by miosis was noted after near vision. Pupillary oscillation is a well-established phenomenon that has a broadly spread frequency spectrum with an occasional component 'hippus' at approximately 0.2 Hz. A proportion of subjects (30 out of 100) showed hippus, a consistent oscillation of 0.22 Hz (SD = 0.03 Hz) in VDU workers, while only one out of 24 normal subjects showed this. Occurrence of pupillary hippus following near vision increased in VDU workers. It was suggested that this hippus is concerned with cumulative asthenopia and/or general fatigue although the origin of hippus is still unknown.     

An ultralow-power-consumption, high-speed, GaAs 256/258dual-modulus prescaler IC

A GaAs divide-by-256/258 dual-modulus static prescaler is described. The prescaler has a pulse-swallow counter-type architecture and quasi-differential switch flip-flops as its basic circuit architecture. For the input buffer circuit, a circuit called a source-coupled push-pull circuit has been developed that can generate high-frequency complementary signals from a single-phase signal at a low supply voltage. This IC operates at up to 14.5 GHz with a power consumption of 22 mW. The power consumption is less than 1/50 of the previously reported prescalers that can operate above 10 GHz     

Potent suppressive effects of urocortin on splenic lymphocyte activity in rats

To assess the possible role of urocortin, a recently identified neuropeptide related to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), in modulation of peripheral immune functions, the effects of intracranially administrated urocortin on the proliferative activity of splenic lymphocytes were examined in rats. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of urocortin (1 ng) produced a marked decrease in the proliferative response of splenocytes to a mitogen. The suppressive effect of urocortin was abolished by pretreatment with a ganglionic blocking agent (chlorisondamine) or a beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist (propranolol), but not by adrenalectomy. These results suggest that urocortin is an important neuropeptide involved in the brain control of peripheral immune functions such as stress-induced immunosuppression, and that the suppressive effect of urocortin is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system.     

用氧化镁铝热还原原位产生的镁蒸气改善铁水脱氧效率

提出了一种用氧化镁铝热还原原位产生的镁蒸气进行铁水脱氧的新方法.建立了反应模型来研究控速机理和镁蒸气的脱氧效率.模型计算结果显示,要获得高脱氧效率,必须控制喷吹气泡中的镁蒸气压力.     

Treatment of primary varicose veins: an assessment of the combination of high saphenous ligation and sclerotherapy

Respiratory failure (RF) requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) is a frequent, critical complication of bone marrow transplantation. RF has a global survival rate at 6 months of between 2 and 5%, depending on the patient group. Recently, a type of RF associated with hemoperipheric recovery has been described. This is known as engraftment syndrome. We have documented two cases of RF that follow the engraftment syndrome criteria and needed MV. Both patients had all the features identified for a bad prognosis described in the literature. Both are alive after being discharged from the hospital 20 months ago.     

Multistage network with globally controlled switching stages and its implementation using optical multi-interconnection modules

Plane-to-plane guided-wave-based interconnection modules are proposed as building blocks for scalable optoelectronic multistage interconnection networks (MINs). This approach leads naturally to a MIN paradigm based not on cascading switching stages containing several size-reduced crossbars, as in the shuffle-exchange (SE) networks, but on cascading permutation-reduced crossbars instead, one per stage. The interest of such an architecture lies in the control simplicity and scalability potential. Transparent circuit switching for permutation routing is possible in such an unbuffered "globally switched" multistage interconnection network (GSMIN). Preliminary experiments using fiber-based interconnection modules are presented. Performance analysis and simulation of a buffered GSMIN is also studied for packet routing purposes.     

Obesity-independent hyperinsulinemia in nondiabetic first-degree relatives of individuals with type 2 diabetes

An increased incidence of systemic cancers has been described in some reports of familial atypical multiple mole-melanoma kindreds. If the gene defect underlying the familial atypical multiple mole-melanoma syndrome is not only important for the development of melanoma of the skin, the impact of the defect on life expectancy may be much higher than previously thought. We investigated all-cause mortality from 1830 to the present and causes of death from 1941 to 1994 in proven, obligate, and potential CDKN2 mutation carriers to obtain an estimate of the impact of a hereditary defect of the CDKN2 gene on mortality. From 1830 to 1994 there were 65 deaths, although only 42 deaths were expected [standardized mortality ratio (SMR) 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-2.0] and the SMR doubled with calendar time. Excess mortality was shown in most of the families, but was confined to ages 35-70 y (SMR 2.1, 95%CI 1.5-2.9). Excess mortality could be fully attributed to cancer mortality, especially to pancreatic carcinoma and melanoma of the skin. There appeared to be some heterogeneity among the families, especially due to the specific cancer pattern within a family. The impact of the defect of the CDKN2 gene is rising over calendar time, mainly because the mortality in the general population has been falling. Excess mortality was not only due to melanoma, but also to pancreatic carcinoma. Therefore, follow-up programs of affected family members should not be confined to a regular check of the atypical nevi.     

Y'-Help1, a DNA helicase encoded by the yeast subtelomeric Y' element, is induced in survivors defective for telomerase

The yeast Y' element is a highly polymorphic repetitive sequence present in the subtelomeric regions of many yeast telomeres. The Y' element is classed as either Y'-L or Y'-S, depending on its length. It has been reported that survivors arising from telomerase-deficient yeast mutants compensate for telomere loss by the amplification of Y' elements. The total Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome DNA data base was searched for Y' elements, and 11 Y'-Ls and eight Y'-Ss were identified. As reported previously, many of the sequences were found to contain long open reading frames which potentially encode helicase. We examined the expression of the Y' elements in telomerase-deficient Deltatlc1 survivors, in which the TLC1 gene encoding the yeast telomerase template RNA had been disrupted, and found that the Y' element is highly expressed in the survivors, but not in the wild-type cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that the survivors produce a Y'-encoded protein designated as Y'-Help1 (Y'-helicase protein 1), and that this protein possesses helicase activity. Therefore, we suggest that the Y' element has a novel and potentially important role in trans, in addition to the well characterized role in cis, in telomerase-independent telomere maintenance in yeast.     

Overexpression of myocardial Gsalpha prevents full expression of catecholamine desensitization despite increased beta-adrenergic receptor kinase

Inotropic and chronotropic responses to catecholamines in young adult transgenic mice overexpressing myocardial Gsalpha are enhanced. One might predict that over the life of the animal, this chronically enhanced beta-adrenergic receptor stimulation would result in homologous catecholamine desensitization. To test this hypothesis, old transgenic Gsalpha mice and age-matched controls were studied physiologically in terms of responsiveness of left ventricular function (ejection fraction) to isoproterenol in vivo and in vitro in terms of beta-adrenergic receptor signaling. Old transgenic mice still responded to isoproterenol with augmented (P < 0.05) left ventricular ejection fraction (+44+/-3%) compared with age-matched controls (+24+/-1%). Although total beta-adrenergic receptor density was reduced in the old transgenic mice, and G protein receptor kinase 2 (beta-adrenergic receptor kinase) levels were increased, the fraction of receptors binding agonist with high affinity as well as isoproterenol- and G protein-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities were enhanced. Thus, classical catecholamine desensitization is not effective in attenuation of persistently enhanced responses to sympathetic stimulation in mice overexpressing myocardial Gsalpha. To support this conclusion further, experiments were performed with chronic isoproterenol, which elicited effective desensitization in wild-type controls, but failed to elicit desensitization in overexpressed Gsalpha mice. The results of this study suggest that the lack of protective desensitization mechanisms may be responsible in part for the dilated cardiomyopathy which develops with chronic sympathetic stress over the life of these animals.