Gross periostitis ossificans in mandibular osteomyelitis. Review of the English literature and radiographic variation

BACKGROUND: Although the airway epithelium participates in inflammation and repair, the circadian expression of epithelial cell markers involved in these processes has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether expression of CD51 (vitronectin and fibronectin receptor), CD54 (intercellular adhesion molecule-1), HLA-DR (activation marker), CD29 (beta1 integrin), CD49b (collagen receptor), and CD11b (complement receptor) exhibit a circadian rhythm in asthma. METHODS: Eleven patients with nocturnal asthma (NA), 9 subjects with nonnocturnal asthma (NNA), and 10 control subjects underwent bronchoscopy at 4 PM and 4 AM in a random order 1 week apart, with brushing of the proximal and distal airways. The percentage of cells staining for a particular marker was determined. RESULTS: At 4 PM, HLA-DR in the proximal airways and CD54 in the distal airways was significantly greater in control subjects as compared with asthmatic subjects (HLA-DR, control subjects: 10.0% [range, 5.0% to 21.0%]; NNA: 8.0% [range, 4.0% to 14.5%] NA: 3.5% [range, 2.0% to 6.0%], P = .01; CD54, control subjects: 17.0% [range, 8.0% to 25.0%], NNA: 8.0% [range, 5.3% to 11.5%], NA: 7.0% [range, 4.0% to 15.0%], P = .O;). At 4 AM, CD51 in the distal airways was significantly greater in patients with NA as compared with patients with NNA and control subjects (control subjects, 23.0% [range, 13.8% to 30.5%]; NNA, 32.0% [range, 13.0% to 35.0%]; NA, 40.0% [range, 23.0% to 50.0%], P = .05). Expression of CD51 in the distal airways correlated with the degree of airway obstruction (r = -0.57, P = .001). Control subjects exhibited significant circadian variation in the expression of HLA-DR in the proximal airways and CD54 in the distal airways. CONCLUSION: The increased CD51 at night in patients with NA may be related to increased airway inflammation and repair processes in response to injury. The circadian changes in CD54 and HLA-DR in control subjects require further study to determine their significance. (J Allergy Clin     

Production of Ceramic Green Bodies Using a Microwave-Reactive Organic Binder

Because the pyrolysis of organic substances can result in the emission of harmful pollutant gases, a reduction in the use of organic binders is one aim of today's ceramics industry. A novel ceramic-forming process was developed that requires considerably less organic binder than conventional techniques. The process involves immobilizing reactive molecules on the surfaces of the particles, which on subsequent irradiation with microwaves, form bridges that bind the entire particle assembly together. The chemical forces involved produce strong bonds, resulting in a significant reduction in the amount of organic binder that is required to maintain the shape of the ceramic green body. This method will help to decrease emissions of harmful gases produced from pyrolysis of the binder.     

Microstructure and Thermal Shock Resistance of Molten Glass-Coated Carbon Materials Fabricated by Interfacial Control

Carbon substrates were coated completely with a molten silicate glass, where the wettability of carbon to glass was improved by infiltration and pyrolysis of perhydropolysilazane. Microstructures of the carbon–glass interface were dependent on P n ₂ during coating. Coating at lower P n ₂ induced the formation of cristobalite at the carbon–glass interface. When the coating was performed at higher P n ₂, the glass and carbon were strongly adhered, without the formation of cristobalite. Coating at higher P n ₂ improved the thermal shock resistance of the glass layer, because crack initiation was not induced by the phase transformation of cristobalite during the cooling process. In the case of coating at higher P n ₂, an oxynitride glass layer was formed at the glass subsurface by dissolution of N₂. A porous glass subsurface layer with uniform spherical micro-pores could be produced by soaking near the glass transition temperature in a steam environment. The porous layer with fine and homogeneous microstructure acts as a thermal shock absorbing layer, so that glass-coated carbon with a porous glass layer has excellent thermal shock resistance in addition to steam oxidation resistance.     

Bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate and acyl phosphatidylglycerol isolated from human livers of lipidosis induced by 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol

Bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate and acyl phosphatidylglycerol were isolated from the liver of two patients with lipidosis induced by 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol. Identification was based upon the results of alkaline hydrolysis, acetolysis, IR spectrometry, and upon the determination of molar ratio of phosphorus-glycerol-ester. The contents of the bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate were 10 and 16% total phospholipid phosphorus in them. The bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate contained mainly docosahexaenoic (42%), oleic (29%), and linoleic acid (14%) and had the hemolytic activity of ca. one-eighth lysolecithin from egg yolk. Acidic lipids from the liver also were found to contain a lipid which is less polar than bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate. The results of lipid analysis showed that the lipid possessed the structure of an acyl phosphatidylglycerol, and its content was ca. 2% total phospholipid phosphorus. Accumulation of 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol and its derivatives was found in clinical cases by thin layer chromatography and IR spectrometry. This fact suggested that human liver has an ability to metabolize the drug.     

Radiation-induced polymerization of ethylene in pilot plant. III. Heavy-phase recycling process

Radiation-induced polymerization of ethylene using aqueous tert-butyl alcohol as medium was carried out in a large-scale pilot plant with a 50-liter central source-type reactor at a pressure of 105 to 395 kg/cm², temperature of 30° to 80°C, mean dose rate of 4.5 × 10⁴ to 1.9 × 10⁵ rads/hr, ethylene feed rate of 5.5 to 23.5 kg/hr, and medium feed rate of 21 to 102 l./hr. The space–time yield and molecular weight of the polymer were in the range of 4.7 to 16.8 g/l.-hr and 1.3 × 10⁴ to 8.9 × 10⁴, respectively. The space–time yield and molecular weight increased with mean residence time at 30°C, whereas at 80°C they became almost independent of the time. The space–time yield increased with pressure and dose rate, slightly decreased with temperature, and was maximum at ethylene molar fraction of 0.5. The polymer molecular weight increased with pressure and ethylene molar fraction, and decreased with dose rate and temperature. The total amount of deposited polymer on the reactor wall, source case wall, and scraping blades was usually less than 1 kg, which was negligibly small for the analysis of polymerization. Continuous discharge of the polymer slurry and production of fine-powder polyethylene were successfully carried out. In the central source-type reactor, a dose rate of 1.9 × 10⁵ rads/hr was obtained with a ⁶⁰Co source of ca. 12 kCi.     

Hand shape classification in various pronation angles using a wearable wrist contour sensor

Hand gestures are potentially useful for communications between humans and between a human and a machine. However, existing methods entail several problems for practical use. We have proposed an approach to hand shape recognition based on wrist contour measurement. Especially in this paper, two assignments are addressed. First is the development of a new sensing device in which all elements are installed in a wrist-watch-type device. Second is the development of a new hand shape classifier that can accommodate pronation angle changes. The developed sensing device enables wrist contour data collection under conditions in which the pronation angle varies. The classifier recognizes the hand shape based on statistics produced through data forming and statistics conversion processes. The most important result is that no large difference exists between classification rates that include or those that exclude the independent (preliminary) pronation estimation process using inertia measurement units. This result shows two possible insights: (1) the wrist contour has some features that depend on the hand shape but which do not depend on the pronation angle, or (2) the wrist contour potentially includes pronation angle variation information. These insights indicate the possibility that hand shape can be recognized solely from the wrist contour, even while changing the pronation angle.     

Clonality in hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of methylation pattern of polymorphic X-chromosome-linked phosphoglycerate kinase gene in females

Analysis of X-chromosome inactivation patterns in women has been used to assess the clonality of various tumors. In this report, we analyzed 27 liver tumors in women, including 18 samples obtained by the performance of ultrasonically guided thin-needle biopsies. By analysis of the heterogeneity of phosphoglycerate kinase gene, 11 of 27 (41%) cases were found to be heterozygous at the gene. Of these informative 11 cases with liver tumors, 7 cases were "large" tumors (> 25 mm in diameter) and 4 cases were "small" tumors (< 25 mm in diameter). All 7 large tumors showed monoclonal patterns by the phosphoglycerate kinase gene analysis. Of the 4 small tumors, 2 showed monoclonal, and 2 showed polyclonal patterns. The 2 with monoclonal patterns were pathologically diagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma despite their small sizes (20 mm and 23 mm). Of the two with polyclonal patterns, the smallest one (15 mm) was diagnosed as benign adenomatous hyperplasia, and the other as hepatocellular carcinoma heavily infiltrated by lymphocytes. These data suggest that analysis of the methylation pattern of the phosphoglycerate kinase gene may be helpful on rare occasions in elucidating the nature of liver tumors but must in fact be used in conjunction with histological appearances to avoid errors secondary to inflammatory infiltrates.     

A size effect law for notched tensile strength of woven carbon/epoxy laminates

Specimen-size effect and notch-size effect on the tensile strength of woven fabric carbon/epoxy laminates are evaluated and modeled. For two different layups of [(0/90)₁₂] and [(±45)₂/(0/90)₅]_S, respectively, static tension tests were performed on two-dimensional geometrically similar unnotched and double-edge notched specimens scaled to three different sizes. Experimental results demonstrate that the notched strength of the woven CFRP laminates depend on the size of specimen as well as the size of notch. The ratio of notched strength to unnotched strength decreases as the length of notch increases, regardless of the size of specimen. For a given size of notch, the notch strength ratio becomes larger with decreasing size of specimen. A notch-size effect law is derived by means of the Neuber interpolation method. A specimen-size effect is embedded into the notch sensitivity parameter involved by the notch-size effect law to establish a size effect law that can cope with these two kinds of size effect. The engineering size effect law proposed can adequately describe the specimen-size effect as well as notch-size effect on the tensile strength of the woven CFRP laminates. It is also demonstrated that the size effect law allows determining the size independent fracture toughness on the basis of notched strengths of small specimens that fail in a quasi-brittle manner.     

Effect of resin monomer composition on toothbrush wear resistance

BACKGROUND: The study was carried out to evaluate the correlation between blood-retinal barrier (BRB) permeability and the progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR), defined by development of "need for photocoagulation", over a 7-year period by means of vitreous fluorometry (VF). METHODS: Forty type 2 diabetic patients with minimal or no retinopathy, aged 40-65 years (mean 53.9 + 7.3 years), were followed up prospectively for 7 years. Investigations including standard ophthalmological examination, fundus photography, fluorescein angiography and VF were performed at entry and 1, 4, 5 and 7 years later. Only one eye per patient was included in the study. Need for photocoagulation was based on Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study protocols and decided by the attending ophthalmologist. RESULTS: After 7 years of follow-up a total of 22 of the 40 eyes had received photocoagulation. The eyes that needed photocoagulation were those that had higher VF values at the entry of the study and showed higher rates of deterioration (initial values 5.1 + 1.9 vs 2.8 + 1.5 x 10(-6) min-1, P < 0.001; annual increase in leakage for the first year, 1.5 + 0.8 vs 0.5 + 1.0 x 10(-6) min-1, P < 0.001,). The eyes that did not need photocoagulation during the 7 years of follow-up showed stable VF readings (-0.1 + 1.2 x 10(-6) min-1, difference between initial values and 7 years later). CONCLUSIONS: Abnormally high VF values and their rapid increase over time are good indicators of progression and worsening of the retinopathy in diabetes type 2.