Isotope effect in the binding of tritium and 14C-labelled cortisol to corticosteroid-binding-globulin in serum

We have determined the free cortisol concentration in serum using either the Amicon MPS-1 ultrafiltration-centrifugation method (I) or equilibrium dialysis (II). If procedure I was used we found that [1,2,6,7-3H]-, and [4-14C]cortisol had a lower affinity than unlabelled cortisol for corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG). The binding affinity (Ka) to three separate CBG-containing samples was 8-18 times lower for [1,2,6,7-3H]cortisol and 30-90 times lower for [4-14C]cortisol, when compared with that of unlabelled cortisol. This difference in affinity to CBG was not observed if method II was used for the free cortisol determinations. The observed isotope effect in method I is not caused by unspecific binding to material such as the Amicon MPS-1 chamber or to impurities in the tracer. We suggest that the centrifugation step during ultrafiltration changed the conformation of CBG, thereby reducing its affinity for labelled cortisol. It is concluded that incorrect results will be obtained if radiolabelled is cortisol used for determining the free cortisol content of plasma with the Amicon MPS-1 device.     

The role of the blood-brain barrier transporter PTS-1 in regulating concentrations of methionine enkephalin in blood and brain

The entrainment of the circadian rhythm of locomotor activity was studied in the field mouse Mus booduga in order to examine the relationship between the free-running period (tau) and minimum tolerable light pulse interval of the skeleton photoperiods. The animals were entrained under three different light/dark (LD) schedules, each out of phase with the other. They were then subjected to various skeleton photoperiods created by two repeated light pulses (LPs) interrupting darkness. Animals that selected the shorter interval between the LPs as their "subjective night" had significantly shorter tau (23.13 +/- 0.38 h) as compared to those that selected the longer dark interval as subjective night (tau = 23.87 +/- 0.18 h). When the longer dark interval was 12 h, animals selecting that interval as their subjective night included both long-tau and short-tau individuals. When both intervals of darkness were of equal duration, no difference in the selection of subjective night was seen between short and long-tau animals. When the "dusk" LP for the animals that selected the longer dark interval as subjective night was advanced by 2 h to create a new skeleton photoperiod, the number of transient cycles appearing before steady-state entrainment was found to depend on the duration of the photoperiods. When the night defined by the two LPs was reduced below 6h, a dramatic "phase jump" in the activity rhythm was observed, and the initial phase relationship was restored after a relaxation in the night duration. We observed considerable interindividual variation in the "minimum tolerable light pulse interval of skeleton photoperiods," which we suggest may be due to the observed variation in tau among individuals.     

Tuning the peak position of subwavelength silica nanosphere broadband antireflection coatings

Subwavelength nanostructures are considered as promising building blocks for antireflection and light trapping applications. In this study, we demonstrate excellent broadband antireflection effect from thin films of monolayer silica nanospheres with a diameter of 100 nm prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett method on glass substrates. With a single layer of compact silica nanosphere thin film coated on both sides of a glass, we achieved maximum transmittance of 99% at 560 nm. Furthermore, the optical transmission peak of the nanosphere thin films can be tuned over the UV-visible range by changing processing parameters during Langmuir-Blodgett deposition. The tunable optical transmission peaks of the Langmuir-Blodgett films were correlated with deposition parameters such as surface pressure, surfactant concentration, ageing of suspensions and annealing effect. Such peak-tunable broadband antireflection coating has wide applications in diversified industries such as solar cells, windows, displays and lenses.     

Influence of temperature on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of a compacted bentonite

This paper reports the results on the influence of temperature (between 20 and 80 °C) on some hydro-mechanical properties of a compacted bentonite. The water retention capacity at higher temperature, both in confined and unconfined conditions, is lower, especially when suction is low. At high temperatures, the swelling capacity of clay decreases, although the influence of temperature is less evident when the applied stress is high. Furthermore, a decrease in swelling pressure as a function of temperature was observed. On the other hand, the measured increase in permeability with temperature is lower than expected on the basis of thermal change in water kinematic viscosity. The transfer induced by temperature between intra-aggregate adsorbed water and inter-aggregate free water may explain most of the features observed, taking into account that the physical characteristics (density, viscosity) of water in each one of these two states are different.     

High bandwidth temperature measurement in interrupted cutting of difficult to machine materials

High-speed milling is used across industries from aerospace to electronics. Tool wear can be affected by cutting interruptions in milling that lower tool-chip interface temperatures but also cause thermal and stress cycling. Micro-thermal imaging was used to determine the temperature during interrupted cutting of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V and AISI 4140 steel for percentage of time-in-cut from 100% to 10%. TiAlN/TiN coated carbide milling inserts were used with cutting speeds up to 180 and 640 m min⁻¹. This technique is the first to allow spatial mapping of thermal fluctuations on the tool which may be critical to determining causes for tool failure.     

Videoendoscopic diagnosis of esophageal motility disorders

PURPOSE: Looking for a valid, reliable, and feasible method to collect data on the performances of practicing family physicians, the authors compare the measurement characteristics of a multiple-station examination (MSE) using standardized patients with those of a video assessment of regular consultations in daily practice (practice video assessment, PVA). METHOD: In a cross-sectional study, consultations of 90 family physicians were videotaped both in an MSE and in their daily practices. Peer-observers used a validated instrument (MAAS-Global) to assess the physicians' communication with patients and their medical performances. The physicians were randomly divided into two groups, comparable for demographic characteristics, and half underwent the assessments in reverse order to test for time-order effects. Content validity, criterion validity, reliability, and feasibility of the two methods were compared. RESULTS: Content validity of the PVA was superior to that of the MSE, since the domain of general family practice care was better covered. Observed participants judged the videotaped practice consultations to be "natural," whereas hardly any family physician, after reviewing the videotaped consultations of the MSE, recognized his or her usual working style. Specific criteria made it possible to standardize real practice. Concerning criterion validity, only the medical-performance components of the two methods correlated. No correlation was found for the communication components. Real-practice performance proved to be less influenced by observation than was performance during the MSE. The reliabilities of the two methods, expected to be better in the controlled MSE, were comparable. The administration of the PVA was more flexible, less costly, and better accepted by the family physicians than was that of the MSE. CONCLUSION: Assessment for quality improvement of family physicians' practices by video observation in daily practice is superior to video assessment in a simulated setting using standardized patients.     

Inappropriate use of daily mortality analyses to estimate longer-term mortality effects of air pollution

Identification of enterococci species by hybridization with recently designed species-specific and group-specific 23S rDNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes was superior to results obtained with a common biochemical test panel. Considering these findings, a molecular biological procedure for the detection of enterococci in water samples was developed. A short enrichment is followed by an amplification step and a hybridization reaction in microtiter plate format. The detection limit is about 1 CFU/ml, and results are available within 26 h.     

Serum hyaluronic acid in Down''s syndrome

Changes in the emission intensities of ultraweak biophoton emission during the cell proliferation of human carcinoma cell culture (TE9 cell line) were detected using a highly sensitive and low noise measurement apparatus coupled with a flow culture system. In the sampling period of 93 h, the biophoton emission intensity from the culture followed a similar course as that of the growth curve. Spectral analysis of the biophoton emission from the cell culture demonstrated a significant peak at around 530 nm. Our results suggest that the emission intensity mainly depends on the cell population and that this noninvasive technique has a potential role in cancer diagnosis.     

3D reconstruction of tomographic images applied to largely spaced slices

This paper presents a full reconstruction process of magnetic resonance images. The first step is to bring the acquired data from the frequency domain, using a Fast Fourier Transform algorithm. A Tomographic Image Interpolation is then used to transform a sequence of tomographic slices in an isotropic volume data set, a process also called 3D Reconstruction. This work describes an automatic method whose interpolation stage is based on a previous matching stage using Delaunay Triangulation. The reconstruction approach uses an extrapolation procedure that permits appropriate treatment of the boundaries of the object under analysis.