Invasive group A streptococcal disease in Taiwan is not associated with the presence of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin genes

We reviewed the clinical features of 44 patients with invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) disease who were treated at two teaching hospitals in southern Taiwan from 1991 to 1994. Genes encoding streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin types A (speA), B (speB), C (speC), and F (speF) and serotypes of M1, M6, and M12 were determined by polymerase chain reaction to target specific sequences in the 44 isolates recovered from these patients and in 28 isolates recovered from upper respiratory sites in 28 additional patients during the study period. The protease activity of these isolates was tested by using the casein plate method. Of the 44 patients with invasive diseases, 25 (57%) had no obvious underlying diseases, and 14 (32%) had preexisting neoplastic diseases or had previously used steroids. Twenty-five patients (57%) presented with cellulitis or necrotizing fasciitis, 24 (55%) had bacteremia, and eight (18%) had streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS). Eight patients (18%) died of invasive GAS disease; seven had STSS, and seven had underlying diseases. All eight patients died within 48 hours after hospitalization. The presence of speA, speC, or speF was not implicated in any particular clinical syndrome in patients with invasive GAS disease. High-level protease activity and the M1 serotype of the isolates were significantly associated with the clinical signs of STSS and with mortality. M1 serotype and protease activity, as well as host immune status, might play significant roles in the pathogenesis of invasive GAS disease in Taiwan.     

Effects of applied pressure on the brazing of superplastic INCONEL 718 superalloy

A superplastic INCONEL 718 superalloy was brazed with a Ni-P and a Ni-Cr-P amorphous filler metal. The effects of applied pressure on the bonding strength, microhardness, and corrosion resistance were studied. The results showed that the brazements with Ni-Cr-P filler metal have higher bonding strength and better corrosion resistance than those with Ni-P filler metal using a conventional brazing method without applied pressure. When brazing was conducted under applied pressure, the bonding strength increased with applied pressure for the brazements with both filler metals. This was caused by a decrease of intermetallic phase through ejection of the liquid phase enriched with melting temperature depressants in the molten filler metals from the joint clearance. Corrosion tests show that these brazements failed at the brazed joint and at the grain boundaries in the region adjacent to the brazement.     

Bcl-2 prevents topoisomerase II inhibitor GL331-induced apoptosis is mediated by down-regulation of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase activity

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), a nuclear enzyme responsible for DNA strand breaks, has been recently suggested to be crucial for apoptosis induced by a number chemotherapeutic drugs. In this study, we demonstrated that the PARP activity could be evidently elevated with a peak at 6 h when HL-60 cells were treated with a new anticancer drug GL331. Coincident with the peak of PARP activity, an apparent DNA fragmentation and apoptotic morphology were observed in cells treated with GL331. The subsequent apoptotic DNA fragmentation induced by GL331 could be completely blocked by transfecting cells with anti-sense PARP retroviral vector or by treating cells with PARP inhibitor, 3-aminobenzamide (3-AB). This blocking effect thus suggests that activation of PARP was critically involved in GL331-induced apoptosis. The fact that Bcl-2 has been found to antagonize cell death induced by a wide variety of agents, accounts for why we examined whether if Bcl-2 could antagonize GL331 effects. Interestingly, ectopic overexpression of Bcl-2 in either HL-60 or U937 cells caused in resistance towards GL331-elicited DNA fragmentation and cytotoxic effect. Additionally, Bcl-2 also attenuated the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of PARP itself as well as Histone H1 at the early period of drug treatment. However, Bcl-2 did not influence the extent of DNA strand breaks induced by GL331 in either control or Bcl-2-overexpressing cells. In addition, analysis of basal PARP activity in control and several Bcl-2 overexpressing clones revealed that Bcl-2 down-regulated PARP activity under the condition without DNA damages. Above findings suggest that poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear targets is important for apoptosis induced by DNA-reactive anticancer drugs.     

湖南有色金属工业发展战略评述

概述了湖南有色金属工业发展的基本现状和所存在的主要问题，分析了其面临的战略形势。指出湖南有色金属工业必须走产业结构总体优化、产业全面升级和大集团层面资本运营发展之路，并详细提出了相应的战略措施。     

Effects of Sm-doping on microstructure,magnetic and microwave absorption properties of BiFeO_3

In this paper,polycrystalline samples of Bi_(1-x)Sm_xFeO~3(x=0,0.05,0.1,0.15) were successfully synthesized by sol-gel method.The effects of Sm concentration on the crystal structure,morphology,chemical states,magnetic properties and microwave absorption performance were studied by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),a vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM) and a Vector network analyzer(VNA),respectively.The results show that the rare earth Sm doping causes the crystal structure to change.When x≤0.1,Bi_(1-x)Sm_xFeO_3 is the distorted rhombohedral structure with space group R3 c.With the increase of Sm doping amount to x=0.15,the phase structure of Bi_(1-x)Sm_xFeO_3 changes from rhombohedral structure to cubic structure with the space group Pm3 m.The particle size decreases with the increase of the Sm doping amount.The analysis results show that Sm doping can effectively reduce the oxygen vacancies and significantly improve its magnetic properties.The results exhibit that moderately doped rare earth Sm element can effectively improve microwave absorption properties of Bi_(1-x)Sm_xFeO_3 powders.When Sm doping amount of x is 0.1,the Bi_(0.9)Sm_(0.1) FeO_3 compound has good microwave absorption performance,and the minimum reflection loss value of Bi_(0.9)Sm_(0.1)FeO_3 powder reaches about-32.9 dB at11.7 GHz,and its effective absorption bandwidth(RL -10 dB) is 2.6 GHz with the optimal matching thickness of 2.0 mm.     

两级电力市场环境下考虑条件风险价值的新能源场站最优售电模型EI北大核心CSCD

为充分发挥能源资源优化配置作用,我国正逐步建成“统一市场、两级运作”的两级电力市场。在两级电力市场建设初期,新能源场站参与省间电力现货交易的计划电力缺乏指导性是目前亟须研究的问题。对省间-省内两级电力市场的现行机制进行了深入研究,探讨了其运作框架。考虑省间电力现货交易与辅助服务市场的多时间、多空间耦合特性,构建了两级电力市场下新能源场站的售电决策双层优化模型,并基于条件风险价值法对下层模型进行转化,实现对新能源场站出力不确定性的控制。依托东北某省工程实际数据进行了算例分析,结果表明该模型能够在两级电力市场环境下提高新能源场站的市场收益。     

可编程路由器中基于缓冲队列长度阈值的处理器调度

可编程路由器除了转发IP分组之外,还需要执行计算任务.如何调度可编程路由器中CPU的处理能力是一个需要解决的重要问题.本文首先建立了一种通用的可编程路由器软件体系结构,在此基础上,提出了一种基于缓冲队列长度阈值的CPU调度算法,采用随机Petri网对算法进行了模型分析和计算.结果表明,该调度算法可以同时保证可编程路由器中的尽力发送流和QoS流的计算需求.     

Magnetic contributions to the thermodynamic functions of pure Ni,Co, and Fe

An empirical mathematical equation is proposed for the magnetic contribution to the specific heat of pure metals. The corresponding functions for enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs energy are of simple form. Two parameters used for each element are the critical temperature,T _c, and the total magnetic entropy. The parameters have been determined from a careful separation of magnetic and nonmagnetic contributions to the specific heat. Debye temperatures for Ni, Co, and Fe have been determined considering data to much higher temperatures than other studies. The magnetic specific heats extracted from experimental data agree very well with the proposed equation over the entire temperature range and for all three elements. Comparisons with different mathematical functions found in the literature give agreement only for the case of iron. The total magnetic entropy given by a classical relation is found to be high, and a quantitative correction is given. Various magnetic standard states are discussed. The lattice stabilities of bcc- and fcc-iron are calculated assuming that the difference of the nonmagnetic specific heats is linear from 500 K to 1810 K. A simple equation is obtained in which the anomalous temperature dependence is explained by the independently determined magnetic contribution. The calculated values agree very well with Orr and Chipman’s assessment. The stability of bcc iron at low temperatures is quantitatively rationalized.     

The extraction of platinum from Pt(II) chloride solution by a quaternary ammonium compound

The fundamental aspects of the extraction and stripping of platinum (II) from its chloride solution by Aliquat 336 diluted with toluene have been studied. The extraction and stripping was at 99.5 and 97.6% equilibrium within 30 s and 20 min respectively. The percentage extraction increased slightly with decreasing hydrochloric acid concentration. In 0.1 mol dm^?3 hydrochloric acid, 1.0 volume percent Aliquat 336 in toluene could load 9.8 mmol dm^?3 of platinum (II). The percentage stripping of platinum (II) from Pt(II)-load organic solvent increased with increasing sodium bisulphite concentration. The enthalpy changes of extraction and of stripping were 12.8 and 114.9 kJ mol^?1 respectively. Both of the reactions were endothermic.     

Soft-output equalization and TCM for wireless personalcommunication systems

This paper investigates the use of a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm to realize soft-output equalization in a concatenated equalization and trellis-coded modulation (TCM) decoding-based wireless communication system. Specifically, we first begin with a general MAP algorithm and then focus on studying Bahl's (1974) MAP and Lee's (1974) MAP algorithms. We then propose a modified version of Lee's MAP algorithm which is much simpler than the original, in terms of complexity, and is more practical. In particular, a very simple channel estimation method which employs orthogonal training sequences is proposed. In order to improve the system performance, equal-gain combining and selection diversity are also considered. Finally, we compare the performance of the MAP algorithm-based equalization with our previously proposed equalization scheme, which combines decision feedback equalization and TCM