Sj?gren syndrome: comparison of assessments with MR sialography and conventional sialography

We investigated the effects of genes controlling melanism on levels and patterns of activity, potential nonvisual components of fitness, of adult Mediterranean flour moths, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (1879). Six genotypes of two melanic strains (Ala nigra and black) were used. We monitored continuously the walking or flight activity of 45 mated females per genotype during the third night of their lives, using automatic electrostatic techniques to carry out the measurements. Although there was high individual variation within genotypes, bb (melanic) females were more active than the two nonmelanic genotypes of the black strain (b+, ++) because they tended to show more bouts of activity. There were no differences in the average length of these bouts, or in the timing of initial and final activity. Overall, the females of the black strain were significantly more active than the females of the Ala nigra strain. The results are discussed in the context of the evolution of melanism in moths. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour     

Acute transverse myelitis presenting with syrinx formation associated with anti-sulfated glucuronyl lactosaminyl paragloboside antibody and anticardiolipin antibody

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the multiple intestinal neoplasia (Min) gene, the mouse homologue of the APC gene, result in the development of intestinal tumors. The degree of tumor expression is suppressed by the modifier of Min (MOM). Alterations in the MOM gene result in markedly increased tumor expression in the mouse. The human homologue of the MOM gene has been mapped to a locus on chromosome 1p35-36, but the role of the MOM gene in the development of human sporadic colorectal cancers has not been defined. METHODS: The microsatellite marker D1S199 has been previously mapped to the region of the MOM gene and was used as a primer for PCR amplification. The PCR products were subjected to denaturing electrophoresis and analyzed for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and the mismatch repair phenomenon (RER) of each tumor compared to its mucosal control. RESULTS: 48 consecutive sporadic colorectal cancers and normal adjacent mucosa were analyzed. LOH was noted in 2 of 48 tumors and the RER phenomenon was noted in 6 of 48 tumors. Thus, 8 of 48 tumors (16.7%) showed alterations in the region of the locus of the MOM gene. There was no association between alterations in this region and TNM stage, disease-free survival, overall survival, or p53 mutation. CONCLUSIONS: Although mutation of the APC gene is an integral component of sporadic colorectal carcinogenesis, alteration in the region including the MOM gene does not appear to play a significant role in the development or clinicopathologic behavior of human sporadic colorectal tumors.     

Wide temperature-range Brillouin and Rayleigh optical-time-domain reflectometry in a dispersion-shifted fiber

The temperature dependences of spontaneous Brillouin and Rayleigh scattering intensities in a dispersion-shifted fiber have been measured over a wide temperature range by optical-time-domain reflectometry. It was found that spontaneous Brillouin and Rayleigh intensities normalized by room-temperature values have linear dependences on temperature, with coefficients (0.26 +/- 0.02)%/degrees C and (0.015 +/- 0.002)%/degrees C in temperature ranges -27-819 and 29-827 degrees C, respectively. Experimental results have demonstrated that both kinds of scattering can be used for distributed high-temperature measurement.     

Estimating aboveground biomass of a mangrove plantation on the Northern coast of Vietnam using machine learning techniques with an integration of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and Sentinel-2A data

ABSTRACT

Aboveground biomass (AGB) of mangrove forest plays a crucial role in global carbon cycle by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change impacts. Monitoring mangrove forests biomass accurately still remains challenging compared to other forest ecosystems. We investigated the usability of machine learning techniques for the estimation of AGB of mangrove plantation at a coastal area of Hai Phong city (Vietnam). The study employed a GIS database and support vector regression (SVR) to build and verify a model of AGB, drawing upon data from a survey in 25 sampling plots and an integration of Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 (ALOS-2 PALSAR-2) dual-polarization horizontal transmitting and horizontal receiving (HH) and horizontal transmitting and vertical receiving (HV) and Sentinel-2A multispectral data. The performance of the model was assessed using root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of determination (R²), and leave-one-out cross-validation. Usability of the SVR model was assessed by comparing with four state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, i.e. radial basis function neural networks, multi-layer perceptron neural networks, Gaussian process, and random forest. The SVR model shows a satisfactory result (R² = 0.596, RMSE = 0.187, MAE = 0.123) and outperforms the four machine learning models. The SVR model-estimated AGB ranged between 36.22 and 230.14 Mg ha^?1 (average = 87.67 Mg ha^?1). We conclude that an integration of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and Sentinel-2A data used with SVR model can improve the AGB accuracy estimation of mangrove plantations in tropical areas.     

The Effects of Conventional Stabilizers and Phenol Compounds Used as Antioxidants on the Stabilization of Nitrocellulose

The thermal behavior of nitrocellulose (NC) containing diphenylamine (DPA), 2‐nitrodiphenylamine (2‐NO₂‐DPA), N‐nitrosodiphenylamine (N‐NO‐DPA), ethyl centralite (EC), akardite II (AKII), 1,1,3‐tri‐(2‐methyl‐4‐hydroxy‐5‐tert‐butyl‐phenyl)‐butane (BP_less), 3‐(3,5‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐hydroxy‐phenyl)‐propionic acid octadecyl ester (BP_hin), and 3‐(3‐tert‐butyl‐4‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐phenyl)‐propionic acid 2‐(9‐{2‐[3‐(3‐tert‐butyl‐4‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐phenyl)‐propionyloxy]‐1,1‐dimethyl‐ethyl}‐2,4,8,10‐tetraoxa‐spiro [5.5] undec‐3‐yl)‐2‐methyl‐propyl ester (BP_semi) was observed during isothermal storage at 393 K using a C80 microcalorimeter. The results indicate that each stabilizer decreased NC's maximum heat release rate and increased the induction period of heat release. We also observed that the maximum heat release rate and the induction period were dependent on the amount of stabilizer. DPA decreased the maximum heat release rate to the greatest extent, with the other stabilizers having similar effects on the decrease of maximum heat release rate. AKII prolonged the induction period of heat release most. The order of prolongation of the induction period was AKII>2‐NO₂‐DPA≈DPA>N‐NO‐DPA≈EC>BP_less≈BP_semi≈BP_hin.     

Studies on catalysis by molten metals. 14. Catalytic cracking of asphalts at low temperature

The catalytic effects of liquid metals for low-temperature (336 °C) asphalt-cracking have been examined using a semi-batch reactor. All the liquid metals examined (Bi, Cd, Ga, In, Pb and Sn) effectively catalysed the reduction of molecular weight with minimal gasification (<1 wt%). Gasification had a positive correlation with the reduction in molecular weight in the processed asphalts. The catalytic activities of liquid metals tor these two reactions were proportional to a parameter which represents the interaction between the atoms of the catalyst metal and the radicals formed in the course of the reaction. Mass flow among four fractions (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) had two independent paths: conversion of resins to saturates and of aromatics to asphaltenes. The former path dominated when catalytic dehydrogenation activity was relatively low, whereas the latter dominated when the catalytic activity was high.     

Lightweight Boolean Network Tomography Based on Partition of Managed Networks

Boolean network tomography is a promising technique to achieve fault management in networks where the existing IP-based troubleshooting mechanism cannot be used. Aiming to apply Boolean network tomography to fault management, a variety of heuristic methods for configuring monitoring trails and paths have been proposed to localize link failures in managed networks. However, these existing heuristic methods must be executed in a centralized server that administers the entire managed network and the methods present scalability problems when applied to large-scale managed networks. Thus, this paper proposes a novel scheme for achieving lightweight Boolean network tomography in a decentralized manner. The proposed scheme partitions the managed network into multiple management areas and localizes link failures independently within each area. This paper also proposes a heuristic network partition method with the aim of efficiently implementing the proposed scheme. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified using typical fault management scenarios where all single-link failures and all dual-link failures are localized by the least number of monitoring paths on predetermined routes. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can greatly reduce the computational load on the fault management server when Boolean network tomography is deployed in large-scale managed networks. Furthermore, the degradation of optimality in the proposed scheme can be mitigated in comparison with a centralized scheme that utilizes heuristics to reduce the computational load on the centralized server.     

Long-term results of mitral valvuloplasty for mitral regurgitation

From July 1979 to February 1995, 126 patients, including 4 reoperations, aged between 6 months and 77 years underwent mitral valve repair for mitral regurgitation. The patients were divided in two groups, 46 patients aged less than 16 years in pediatric age group and the other 80 patients in a dult group. The methods consisted of asymmetric annuloplasty (Kay-Reed method) in 98 patient, Carpentier-Edwards ring annuloplasty in 14, quadrangular resection of the posterior leaflet with annuloplasty in 9, and chordal and leaflet repair in 5. There was no hospital nor late death in pediatric age group. Three hospital deaths and one late death were in adult group. Follow-up was 96% complete and totaled 812.1 patient years. Reoperations underwent in 3 pediatric patients and 9 adults. At 15 years' follow-up, freedom from reoperation was 91.5 +/- 4.7% in pediatric age group and 67.1 +/- 12.7% in adults. Freedom from event was 63.5 +/- 12.1% in adult group. These results suggest that mitral repair with Kay-Reed method in pediatric age group is favorable for long-term. In contrast, indications for mitral reconstraction with other methods including ring annuloplasty should be extended for aged patients with severely dilated annuls and degenerated leaflets.     

Measurement of the isotopic abundance of boron-10 by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry

This article describes the method for measuring the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in nuclear grade boron carbide using inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS). The results of investigation revealed that both the integration time and the dwell time have a major influence on the reproducibility of ICP-QMS measurements. As a result of optimization of the measurement conditions, reproducibility below 0.2% relative standard deviation (RSD) (0.17% RSD maximum) was achieved. In addition, the measured value of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B for each sample well agreed with the values measured by the TIMS. Thus, the method described in the present investigation was very effective in the analysis of isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in B₄C or H₃BO₃. The results of this study suggest that ICP-QMS could be applied to the precise analysis of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B required in the field of nuclear applications.