Parenteral glutamine infusion alters insulin-mediated glucose metabolism

There is no consensus of opinion on the treatment of hypertensive putaminal hemorrhage (HPH), especially in patients older than 65 years. The purpose of this study was to study the surgical outcome of HPH in patients older than 65 years while considering mortality and activity of daily life. Among eighty-three patients aged 65 or older with HPH, fifty-one patients received only medical treatment and 32 were operated upon to remove the hematoma. Each patient was measured by the intracerebral hemorrhage-intracranial hemorrhage grading scale (ICH Grade) which used the sum of eye opening and motor response scores derived from Glasgow Coma Scale. The cubic content of the HPH was calculated from measurement of maximum width (X), length (Y) and height (Z), and the hematoma volume taken as 1/2 that volume (X. Y. Z/2). The acute mortality in surgically treated group was 40.6% and three patients died during the follow-up period from one to six months after the operation. Determinant for the prognosis was the ICH grade and the volume of the hematoma. Patients who returned to ADL 1 and 2 (good recovery) after surgical treatment were 40.0% in ICH Grade I, 16.7% in ICH Grade II, and 20.0% in ICH Grade III. Among those patients who were in ICH Grade IV, none had good recovery. The acute mortality was zero in ICH Grade I, 16.7% in ICH Grade II, 40.0% in ICH Grade III, and 62.5% in ICH Grade IV. The crucial size was 60 ml with a mortality of 77.8% for hematomas larger and 39.1% for hematomas smaller than that. From our lim ited experience, we learned that operation in elderly patients with HPH was considered only in patients with hematomas between 20 to 60 ml, with a high operative mortality and only one-fourth having a good recovery postoperatively.     

Basic pathogenic mechanisms operating in experimental models of acute anterior uveitis

BACKGROUND: Determining how representative the known structures are of the proteins encoded by a complete genome is important for assessing to what extent our current picture of protein stability and folding is overly influenced by biases in the structure databank (PDB). It is also important for improving database-based methods of structure prediction and genome annotation. RESULTS: The known structures are compared to the proteins encoded by eight complete microbial genomes in terms of simple statistics such as sequence length, composition and secondary structure. The known structures are represented by a collection of nonhomologous domains from the PDB and a smaller list of 'biophysical proteins' on which folding experiments have concentrated. The proteins encoded by the genomes are considered as a whole and divided into various regions, such as known-structure homologue, low complexity (nonglobular), transmembrane or linker. Various tests are performed to assess the significance of the reported differences, in both a practical and a statistical sense. CONCLUSIONS: The proteins encoded by the genomes are significantly different from those in the PDB. Their sequence lengths, which follow an extreme value distribution, are longer than the PDB proteins and much longer than the biophysical proteins. Their composition differs from the PDB proteins in having more Lys, Ile, Asn and Gln and less Cys and Trp. This is true overall and especially for the regions corresponding to soluble proteins of as yet unknown fold. Secondary-structure prediction on these uncharacterized regions indicates that they contain on average more helical structure than the PDB; differences about this mean are small, with yeast having slightly more sheet structure and Haemophilus influenzae and Helicobacter pylori more helical structure. Further information is available through the GeneCensus system at http://bioinfo.mbb.yale.edu/genome.     

Motility in the Hunt-Lawrence pouch after total gastrectomy

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate motility patterns of the Hunt-Lawrence pouch and the jejunal limb of patients reconstructed with a pouch after total gastrectomy, and to compare the findings in symptomatic patients to those without symptoms after the operation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-three patients who had undergone post-gastrectomy pouch reconstruction were studied using a water-perfused motility system. In 21, the pouch was connected by a Roux-en-Y, and, in 12, by a jejunal interposition. Twenty-eight patients were asymptomatic, including 17 connected by a Roux-en-Y and 11 by a jejunal interposition. Five patients were by a jejunal interposition. Five patients were symptomatic, including 4 connected by Roux-en-Y Y and 1 by jejunal interposition. A control group consisted of 5 healthy volunteers who had not undergone operation. RESULTS: The motility phases in the pouch and jejunal limb of asymptomatic patients were of shorter duration than those of controls, and they followed a random sequence instead of a normal progression from phase I to II to III. Motility features were similar in the pouch and the jejunal limb. Orthograde propagation of phase III-like activity was reduced and may contribute to the pouch storage function. Four of the 5 symptomatic patients showed highly abnormal motility with hypomotile or obstructive patterns. The technique of connecting the pouch--jejunal interposition of Roux-en-Y--did not affect the motility findings. CONCLUSIONS: The altered motility occurs after a Hunt-Lawrence pouch reconstruction in asymptomatic patients. Symptoms after gastrectomy are associated with further disturbed motility that can be differentiated from the motility changes in asymptomatic patients.     

The machining of sintered bronze

Orthogonal machining experiments have been conducted on specimens of sintered bronze. At low porosities and low depths of cut, a continuous chip is formed as a result of compaction and shear local to the tip of the tool. At higher porosities, and larger depths of cut, discontinuous chips form due to alternate compaction of the chip and brittle fracture. The transition occurs when the depth of cut is about 0.6 times the size of the plastic zone size associated with brittle fracture.     

Estimating Bounds on Collisional Relaxation Rates of Spin-Polarized 87Rb Atoms at Ultracold Temperatures

We present quantum scattering calculations for the collisional relaxation rate coefficient of spin-polarized ⁸⁷Rb(f = 2,m = 2) atoms, which determines the loss rate of cold Rb atoms from a magnetic trap. Unlike the lighter alkali atoms, spin-polarized ⁸⁷Rb atoms can undergo dipolar relaxation due to both the normal spin-spin dipole interaction and a second-order spin-orbit interaction with distant electronic states of the dimer. We present ab initio calculations for the second-order spin-orbit terms for both Rb₂ and Cs₂. The corrections lead to a reduction in the relaxation rate for ⁸⁷Rb. Our primary concern is to analyze the sensitivity of the ⁸⁷Rb trap loss to the uncertainties in the ground state molecular potentials. Since the scattering length for the a³Σ⁺_u state is already known, the major uncertainties are associated with the X¹Σ⁺_g potential. After testing the effect of systematically modifying the short-range form of the molecular potentials over a reasonable range, and introducing our best estimate of the second-order spin-orbit interaction, we estimate that in the low temperature limit the rate coefficient for loss of Rb atoms from the f = 2,m = 2 state is between 0.4 × 10⁻¹⁵ cm³/s and 2.4 × 10⁻¹⁵ cm³/s (where this number counts two atoms lost per collision). In a pure condensate the rate coefficient would be reduced by 1/2.     

Cascaded frequency domain bandpass filters for multivernier spectra

Passive sonar processing generally consists of many concurrent verniers on each beam or channel which are very narrow bands centered at widely separated, independent frequencies sparsely placed across the total search band. Each is analyzed by a fast Fourier transform (FFT) with extremely narrow coefficients. A cascaded frequency domain filter structure that provides such verniers with fewer computations than other methods is described     

Clinical results of meniscus repair in patients 40 years and older

The critical role that the meniscus plays in the knee along with the advantages of preserving as much of the meniscus as possible have both been well documented. Whenever possible, meniscus repair has become the procedure of choice for treatment of meniscal tears. However, some researchers have reported less favorable results in older patients. To determine the results of meniscus repair in older patients, patients 40 years and older who underwent arthroscopically assisted meniscus repair were prospectively followed up. Thirty-seven patients were included in the study, all of which had a minimum 2-year follow-up (average, 26.5 months). The average age of the patients at the time of the repair was 44.2 years (range, 40 to 52 years); 26 were males and 11 were females. There were 19 left knees and 18 right knees included in the study. Twenty-two patients had associated anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions. Physical examination at follow-up included swelling, joint line tenderness, locking, and McMurray testing and radiographs. Five of 37 menisci repaired (13.5%) were symptomatic at latest follow-up. All of these patients had joint line tenderness and two had a positive McMurray test. Three of these patients had repeat arthroscopy confirming that the meniscus had not healed. Because of the small number of patients with symptoms at follow-up, the authors feel that meniscus repair in patients 40 years and older is an effective treatment for peripherally located meniscus tears. With 86.5% of the patients having good clinical results, these findings are comparable with other studies with a younger population and signify that repair of peripheral tears is indicated in this age group especially in conjunction with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The findings suggest that the location and meniscal tear, rather than the age of the patient, determine the potential for successful repair.     

10Gb XFP光模块的电路板设计

XFP MSA(10Gb小形状因数可插拔多源协议)组织定义了用于数据通信和电信的10Gbps串行收发器,该组织由数据通信行业和电信行业中处于领先地位的网络公司、系统公司、光模块公司、半导体公司以及连接器公司组成(参考文献1).