Effects of ligand priming and multiple-dose injection on tissue uptake of 111In-pentetreotide in rats

In patients undergoing somatostatin receptor scintigraphy, treatment with octreotide (Sandostatin) is usually discontinued 24-48 h before and after injection with the radioligand 111In-pentetreotide ([111In-DTPA(O)]octreotide) (Octreoscan) because octreotide competes with radioligand for the same receptors. However, D?rr et al. and Soresi et al. reported improved visualization of carcinoid and small cell lung cancer lesions, respectively, during continued octreotide treatment. We found that intravenous administration of unlabeled octreotide to rats inhibited the binding of an optimal dose (0.5 microg) of 111In-pentetreotide to somatostatin receptors in pancreas and adrenals in a mass- and time-dependent way. Pretreatment with unlabeled octreotide never increased receptor binding of 111In-pentetreotide. Administration of 100 microg of octreotide decreased receptor-bound radioactivity if given simultaneously with or 10 or 20 min after injection of the radioligand, but had no effect if given 30 min after the radioligand. These findings indicate rapid processing of receptor-bound octreotide and suggest that octreotide treatment of patients undergoing 111In-pentetreotide scintigraphy may be reinitiated as soon as 1 h after radioligand administration.     

Characteristics of body-tied triple-gate pMOSFETs

Body-tied triple-gate pMOSFETs were fabricated using bulk Si wafers and characterized. Process steps to implement the devices are explained briefly. Device characteristics of the triple-gate pMOSFETs were compared with those of the conventional planar channel device. While maintaining low off-leakage currents and threshold voltages similar to those of planar pMOSFETs in the parallel arrayed 30 000 transistors, the body-tied triple-gate MOSFETs showed about 74 mV/dec of subthreshold swing (92 mV/dec for conventional devices) and a drain-induced barrier lowering of 34 mV/V (92 mV/V for conventional devices). It was also addressed that I/sub SUB//I/sub D/ of the body-tied triple-gate is lower than that of the planar channel device.     

A building-transmission model for improved propagation prediction in urban microcells

This paper presents a model for the propagation of radiowaves through buildings. The model can be used as a seamless extension to ray-based propagation prediction models that only consider external reflection and diffraction, as do most current models. This involves the use of so-called transmitted rays, which are traced through building walls. Outdoor-to-indoor propagation (building penetration) is automatically taken into account as a "by-product". The transmission model requires no information about each building's interior other than a specific attenuation factor that describes the global behavior of the field inside the building. This coefficient can be determined for individual buildings by measuring the excess loss associated with the propagation path through the building. It is shown, however, that no large errors are to be expected if all buildings are characterized by the average of the empirical values obtained in this study, at 1.9 GHz. Path loss predictions generated with the aid of the new model are shown and compared with measured data to illustrate the considerable improvement in accuracy that can be achieved in realistic urban microcell scenarios by taking into account building penetration and transmission.     

Predictive model of a reduced surface field p-LDMOSFET using neural network

Due to complex dynamics, it has been extremely difficult to model high power devices. A predictive model is constructed by using a backpropagation neural network (BPNN). The BPNN was applied to predict electrical characteristics of a reduced surface field p-channel lateral double-diffused MOSFET. Drain–source currents for applied drain–source voltages were measured with a HP4156A. Prediction performance of BPNN model was optimized with variations in training factors. With respect to the reference models, the optimized models demonstrated considerably improved predictions. Model predictions were highly consistent with actual measurements. Further improvement was obtained by constructing a modular network comprising multiple BPNNs.     

Local housing-market effects on tenure choice

The main objective of thepresent study is to find out which marketfactors affect homeownership attainment aftercontrolling for individual human capital. The1980 and 1990 individual Census data (PUMS) inthe U.S. are used to investigate the contextualinfluences on choosing two types of housing:single- and multi-family housing. Trichotomoustenure choice models are applied to fourrepresentative age groups. The study takesadvantage of the multi-level design, allowingrelationships between individual and housingmarket characteristics to vary from place toplace. One finding is that market variations aswell as individual characteristics affecttenure choices. The authors argue that researchon homeownership attainment should not onlyconsider individual or household attributes butshould be sensitive to spatiality thatrecognizes market effects. The conclusion isthat housing research needs to be comprehensiveenough to understand the complex interactionbetween the individual's human capital and themetropolitan housing-market characteristics.     

Randomised trial comparing the upright and supine positions for the second stage of labour

OBJECTIVE: To assess the maternal and neonatal effects of upright compared with recumbent positions during delivery, in terms of defined outcome variables. DESIGN: A randomised controlled trial. SETTING: St Monica's Nursing Home, a midwife based maternity unit in Cape Town, South Africa. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred and seventeen women of low obstetrical risk assigned to deliver at the nursing home. RESULTS: The trial showed that women who adopted the upright posture for delivery experienced less pain. perineal trauma and fewer episiotomies than those who delivered in the supine position. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that in women of low obstetrical risk, choice of posture during delivery may be encouraged.     

Rethinking neural efficiency: Effects of controlling for strategy use.

A sentence verification task (SVT) was used to test whether differences in neural activation patterns that have been attributed to IQ may actually depend on differential strategy use between IQ groups. Electroencephalograms were recorded from 14 low (89     

Mechanism of the fatigue life increment due to dynamic strain ageing during hold time

The effect of hold time on the low-cycle fatigue behaviour of AlSl 4140 steel at 303 to 473 K was investigated in air and argon gas. All tests were conducted under a constant total strain amplitude of 0.5, 0.65, 1.0, 1.3 and 1.6×10^–2 with zero mean level. Experimental results show that dynamic strain ageing is occurring during the hold time period and that piled-up dislocations near the carbides are locked by the Cottrell atmosphere. Formation of the Cottrell atmosphere around dislocations near the carbides induces the redistribution of carbon or carbides in the matrix. These randomly dispersed grown up carbides behave like the increased number of dislocation pile-up sites from which fatigue cracks may initiate. Therefore, as the hold time is applied in fatigue cycles under constant strain amplitude the dislocation density at each site will be lowered to retard the fatigue damage or improve the fatigue life.     

Signaling and Control Procedures Using Generalized MPLS Protocol for IP over an Optical Network

This paper reviews the existing research activities on signaling and control procedures for IP over optical networks. We focus on the IP‐centric signaling and control architecture based on the generalized multi‐protocol label switching (GMPLS) protocol and analyze various scenarios and technical issues for deploying the IP over an optical network. We analyze the signaling and operations and administration and maintenance requirements for integrating an IP network and an optical network in order to cope with the high bandwidth and poor resource granularity of the optical network, including the optical cross‐connect system. On the basis of network architecture and a reference configuration model, we investigate the GMPLS‐based control architecture and interconnection model appropriate for controlling IP bandwidth and optical lambda resources. The signaling and control procedure based on GMPLS on optical user‐network interface and network‐network interface are comparatively investigated to provide the optical lightpath. We also study protection and restoration procedures to protect link failure when it applies to GMPLS signaling.     

The optical recording and thermal analysis of compact disc-recordable

Recently various types of optical discs have been developed and used. Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R) is a disc where enormous amounts of digital data can be recorded and played in currently used CD player or CD-ROM drive. The reflection and absorption rate of the laser beam in the layers of CD-R were numerically calculated. The laser beam energy absorbed in the recording layer is converted to heat, and this is transferred to the neighboring layers. The transient temperature distributions in the layers on recording were obtained numerically using ANSYS software. The written spot in the recording layer was heated far above its decomposition temperature and part of the polycarbonate substrate was heated above its glass transition temperature. After optical recording, the image of the recorded area was obtained by using an atomic forces microscope (AFM). The recording mechanism of CD-R was discussed with these numerical calculations and experimental observations.