Organisation of the bph gene cluster of transposon Tn4371, encoding enzymes for the degradation of biphenyl and 4-chlorobiphenyl compounds

We have isolated beta-trace protein from cerebrospinal fluid, serum, plasma, and urine samples of normal volunteers and sera and hemofiltrate of patients with chronic renal failure. Blood-derived and urinary beta-trace have significantly higher molecular weights than their cerebrospinal fluid counterpart, the amino acid sequences being identical. Oligosaccharide structural analysis revealed these molecular weight differences to be due to different N-glycosylation. beta-Trace from hemofiltrate and urine has larger sugar chains and concurrently significantly higher sialylation than cerebrospinal fluid-beta-trace which bears truncated "brain-type" oligosaccharide chains (published previously). beta-Trace concentrations were about 40 ng/ml for normal sera and plasma. 2000-6000 ng/ml were measured in sera of dialysis patients whereas in normal human cerebrospinal fluid, beta-trace concentration was about 8000 ng/ml. A reduced amount of 900 ng/ml was found in a single case of hydrocephalus cerebri. The sialylated glycoforms of beta-trace detected in the blood are presumably derived from resorbed cerebrospinal fluid protein whereas beta-TP-molecules bearing asialo-oligosaccharides are absent due to their hepatic clearance. The residual, sialylated beta-TP-species are probably eliminated from the blood via the kidney. This physiological clearance mechanism for the sialylated glycoforms is disturbed in hemodialysis patients resulting in about 100-fold elevated serum concentrations. These results let us suggest beta-trace may become a useful novel diagnostic protein in renal diseases.     

De-nickelification of 70/30 Cupronickel Tubing in a Cooling Heat Exchanger

A cupronickel heat exchanger failed after 10?years of service. The cooling heat exchanger was in service in a marine environment, with water flowing along shellside and natural gas along tubeside. Many tubes showed leakages during a regular maintenance test. A comprehensive failure analysis of the heat exchanger revealed the de-nickelification process on the external side of the damaged tubes (shellside). The de-nickelification originated from a large deposit of sea water scale, over tube lengths, which completely covered the area just outside the internal portion of the tubesheet, and occurred because of a failure of the regular cleaning operation. Stagnant water and possible hot spot formations on the tubes probably caused the phenomenon.     

Dark matter in satellite galaxies: Will future Iimaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes play a role?

Addressing the question about the importance of future Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) for indirect detection of Dark Matter (DM), I will review the results of a paper by Bringmann et al. (2008) in which the authors computed the gamma-ray flux from DM annihilation associated to the halos of two reference dwarf Spheroidal galaxies, Draco and Willman 1. The previously neglected contribution of Virtual Internal Bremsstrahlung is also taken into account, which produces, when present, a bump in the higher part of the energy spectrum. The boost factor is the quantity used to describe how far the experiment is from probing interesting DM scenarios and it is computed for the next generation of IACTs, namely MAGIC-II and CTA. Due to the presence of spectral features, the boost factors can vary, becoming dependent to the characteristics of the particular DM candidate, obstacling a clear statement about prospects of detection. However, at least for the case of Willman 1 observed by CTA, boost factors may be below 10, even without considering the effect of substructures or the Sommerfeld enhancement. This, added to the comparison with the prospects of detection by the Fermi satellite, clearly demonstrate that the answer to the question in the title is an affirmative one.     

Diffusive Behavior of Bedform-Induced Hyporheic Exchange in Rivers

Solute transport in natural streams is a complex phenomenon that involves both in-stream dispersion and mass exchange with the porous zones surrounding the water body. Due to the complex nature of the riverine systems several models may be used to simulate and analyze the transport of solutes with different degrees of complexity. The bedform-induced hyporheic transport is a stream-subsurface exchange mechanism that can be reproduced in controlled systems, such as laboratory flumes. Application of a simple Fickian diffusion model to laboratory data obtained with passive solutes and stationary bedforms proves successful within a range of durations of the contamination process. A dimensionless form of the diffusion coefficient, scaled with dynamic, physical, and geometric properties of the system is derived by comparison with another physically based model. A prediction of the dimensionless diffusion coefficient is obtained as a function of the timescale of the exchange process and is validated with a few sets of results from laboratory tests.     

Diagnostic accuracy of a rural live video telepathology system

Accuracy of diagnoses rendered using a live video telepathology network was assessed for permanent sections of surgical pathology specimens. To determine accuracy, telepathology diagnoses were compared with those obtained by directly viewing the glass slide using a standard microscope. A total of 294 cases were read via both telepathology and glass slide by attending pathologists at a tertiary care medical center. Overall accuracy was defined as exact concordance between diagnoses. Clinically insignificant differences in diagnoses were excluded to determine clinically significant accuracy. For the 285 cases with complete data, the overall accuracy for telepathology was 0.912 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.872-0.941), whereas the overall accuracy for glass slide readings was 0.968 (95% CI, 0.939-0.985). This difference is statistically significant (p = 0.009). When focusing on clinically significant discrepancies, where the difference in diagnosis might affect therapeutic decisions, the video accuracy was only slightly less than the glass slide accuracy (0.965 [95% CI, 0.934-0.982] vs. 0.982 [95% CI, 0.957-0.994], respectively), but this difference is not statistically significant (p = 0.302). Most of the cases with clinically significant differences involved lesions with inherently high interobserver variation. Certainty of diagnosis did not differ between video and glass slide readings (p = 0.911), but there was an association between certainty of diagnosis and diagnostic accuracy for video (p = 0.003 for clinically significant accuracies). Based on these findings, we recommend when using this telepathology system that only preliminary diagnoses should be given in the following situations: for diagnostic areas with known high interobserver variability; when the consultant has any degree of uncertainty about the presence or absence of the lesion in question; and when there is insufficient experience using telepathology as a diagnostic medium.     

Monolithic integration of GaAs/AlGaAs LED and Si driver circuit

A GaAs/AlGaAs LED has been monolithically integrated with a Si driver circuit composed of ten MOSFETs. The LED replaces the output pad of a 2- μm design rule, standard Si output buffer circuit, so that the overall area remains the same. By applying a stream of voltage pulses to the input of the driver circuit, the LED output has been modulated at rates exceeding 100 MHz     

Wetting and adhesion of Ni-Al alloys on α-Al2O3 single crystals

The effect of Al additions on the wetting and adhesion of Ni on an -Al₂O₃ single crystal was studied. Contact angles were measured by the sessile drop technique under vacuum or in He atmosphere. The morphological and chemical features of metal-vapour and metal-oxide interfaces were determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM), microprobe analysis and profilometry. The work of adhesion of Ni-Al alloys on Al₂O₃ substrates was significantly higher than for pure Ni and Al components. This result was explained by co-operative adsorption of aluminium and oxygen atoms at the Ni-Al₂O₃ interface. The influence of oxidation of the alloy on wetting and bonding is also discussed.