Investigations of two-stage-pseudospark switches for high-currentapplications

To avoid the lowering of the holdoff voltage due to the electrode erosion in one stage high current pseudospark switches (PSS), a two stage PSS with no axial aperture in the intermediate electrode was tested. For investigations a pulse generator was used generating peak currents up to 120 kA at a maximum voltage of 30 kV with a period length of 5 μs of a weakly damped sine wave with 90% current reversal. In comparison with a one stage PSS the breakdown characteristic was shifted to higher pressure. With a free floating intermediate electrode, the device could not be triggered, however, with additional capacities of a few nF between the three electrodes the discharge was ignited. The discharge in the second gap is triggered by the pseudospark discharge in the cathode gap, discharging the auxiliary capacities. Simultaneously, observation of both gaps with fast shutter photography showed an independent movement of the discharges in the two gaps. In the cathode gap as current increases, the discharge moves away from the center to the plane electrode surface as has been observed in the one stage PSS. However, in the anode gap the discharge moves away from the center after a contraction to the center. The two discharges are transmitted to metal vapor arc type discharges as the erosion patterns prove. With this kind of a two stage PSS holdoff voltages exceeding 35 kV would be possible. The characteristic switch data, i.e., delay and jitter, are nearly equal to a one stage PSS     

Evaluation of RU28318 and RU40555 as selective mineralocorticoid receptor and glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, respectively: receptor measures and functional studies

BACKGROUND: Australia has a high rate of cardiovascular disease mortality and also a significant proportion of migrants. Little is known about the morbidity experience or cardiovascular risk factors among the larger migrant groups, and this is especially true of the Arabic-speaking population. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to identify the health profile of Arabic-speaking people in Sydney, Australia, to explore the relationship between level of acculturation and health indicators and to identify the morbidity profile of patients presenting to Arabic-speaking general practitioners (GPs). DESIGN: Adult Arabic-speaking patients aged 18-70 years attending 20 Arabic-speaking GPs in Canterbury, Sydney, during the 2-week study period were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire in Arabic or English while waiting to see the GP. Data on cardiovascular risk factors, level of acculturation and reasons for seeing the GP were collected. RESULTS: Data were collected from 851 patients (62% response rate). Almost three-quarters (73%) of males and 36% of females were considered overweight or obese (body mass index > 25). Of concern, 37% of males and 28% of females were smokers. Females were significantly less likely to have been tested for diabetes (p < .05) or raised blood pressure (p < 0.05) compared with females in NSW. Respondents consumed less bread per day and more fruits than in NSW overall. Respiratory complaints (flu and colds) were the most frequently reported reasons for patient encounters. Except for the youngest age group, males gave more reasons for encounters than females. CONCLUSIONS: Consecutive sampling of ethnic patients attending a GP who speaks their language holds promise as a method of needs assessment with migrant populations. Further, our results suggest that smoking and weight reduction programs are priorities in the Arabic-speaking community. These risk factors are ideal for intervention by GPs speaking the same language.     

The gill calcium transport cycle in rainbow trout is correlated with plasma levels of bioactive, not immunoreactive, stanniocalcin

The aims of this study were to determine the most appropriate duration for the measurement of the maximal accumulated O2 deficit (MAOD), which is analogous to the anaerobic capacity, to ascertain the effects of mass, fat free mass (FFM), leg volume (Vleg) and lower body volume (V1b) on anaerobic test performance, to examine the reproducibility for peak power output (Wpeak) or maximal anaerobic power using an air-braked cycle ergometer and to produce approximations for the percentages of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism during exercise of short duration but high intensity. A group of 12 endurance trained cyclists [mean age 25.1 (SD 4.6) years; mean body mass 73.43 (SD 7.12) kg; mean maximal oxygen consumption 5.12 (SD 0.35) l.min-1; mean body fat 12.5 (SD 4.1) %] accordingly performed four counterbalanced treatments of 45, 60, 75 and 90 s of maximal cycling on an air-braked ergometer. The mean O2 deficit of 3.52 l for the 45-s treatment was significantly less (P < 0.01) than those for the 60 (3.75 l), 75 (3.80 l) and 90-s (3.75 l) treatments. These data therefore indicate that in predominantly aerobically trained subjects the O2 deficit attains a plateau after 60 s of maximal cycling on an air-braked ergometer. Statistically significant interclass correlation coefficients (P < 0.05) between the anthropometric variables (mass, FFM, Vleg and Vlb) and Wpeak or maximal anaerobic power (0.624-0.748) and MAOD (ml) or anaerobic capacity (0.666-0.772) furthermore would suggest the relevance of taking into account muscle mass during anaerobic tests.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Genetic evidence for the role of isocytochrome c2 in photosynthetic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides Spd mutants

In Rhodobacter sphaeroides, cytochrome c2 (cyt c2)-deficient mutants are photosynthetically incompetent (PS-). However, mutations which suppress the photosynthetic deficiency (spd mutations) of cyt c2 mutants increase the levels of a cyt c2 isoform, isocyt c2. To determine whether isocyt c2 was required for photosynthetic growth of Spd mutants, we used Tn5 mutagenesis to generate a PS- mutant (TP39) that lacks both cyt c2 and isocyt c2. DNA sequence analysis of wild-type DNA that restores isocyt c2 production and photosynthetic growth to TP39 indicates that it encodes the isocyt c2 structural gene, cycI. The Tn5 insertion in TP39 is approximately 1.5 kb upstream of cycI, and our results show that it is polar onto cycI. The cycI gene has been physically mapped to a region of chromosome I that is approximately 700 kb from the R. sphaeroides photosynthetic gene cluster. Construction of a defined cycI null mutant and complementation of several mutants with the cycI gene under the control of the cyt c2 promoter region indicate that an increase in the levels of isocyt c2 alone is necessary and sufficient for photosynthetic growth in the absence of cyt c2. The data are discussed in terms of the obligate role of isocyt c2 in cyt c2-independent photosynthesis of R. sphaeroides.     

Perceptual learning reflects external noise filtering and internal noise reduction through channel reweighting

To investigate the nature of plasticity in the adult visual system, perceptual learning was measured in a peripheral orientation discrimination task with systematically varying amounts of external (environmental) noise. The signal contrasts required to achieve threshold were reduced by a factor or two or more after training at all levels of external noise. The strong quantitative regularities revealed by this novel paradigm ruled out changes in multiplicative internal noise, changes in transducer nonlinearites, and simple attentional tradeoffs. Instead, the regularities specify the mechanisms of perceptual learning at the behavioral level as a combination of external noise exclusion and stimulus enhancement via additive internal noise reduction. The findings also constrain the neural architecture of perceptual learning. Plasticity in the weights between basic visual channels and decision is sufficient to account for perceptual learning without requiring the retuning of visual mechanisms.     

Evaluation of the aortic root by MRI: insights from patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

Hepatitis C chronically infects approximately 1.5% of Americans and is the most common clinical problem facing hepatologists. Since the virus was initially described in 1989, development of an effective therapy has been challenging. Although several different therapeutic agents have been used, no therapy has been shown to reliably eradicate the virus. Interferon-alpha, a cytokine with immunostimulatory and anti-viral properties, has become the therapy of choice for patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. Trials assessing the efficacy of interferon-alpha have characterized host and viral factors predictive of responses to treatment. A thorough understanding of these predictive factors is requisite to providing cost-effective therapeutic decisions for the patient with chronic hepatitis C infection.     

Antibody- and cell-mediated immune responses of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae-infected and bacterin-vaccinated pigs

The number involved in and the rate of migration of donor leucocytes into the following recipient organs (spleen, thymus, bone marrow, lung and mesenteric lymph nodes) were measured in two rat models of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) using donor-specific MHC class I antibodies. The first OLT model is one that does not require immunosuppression in order to achieve tolerance and involved the transplantation of DA (MHC haplotype, RT1a) livers into PVG (RT1c) recipients. The second model was one that required a 7-day (10 mg/kg) treatment with cyclosporin A (CsA) to achieve tolerance and used DA donors into Lewis (RT1(1)) recipients. Recipient organs were biopsied on days 3, 20 and 87 following OLT and donor leucocyte migration was quantified by immunohistochemistry and computer densitometry of immunoblots of detergent-solublized tissues in order to resolve both membrane-bound and soluble donor MHC class I antigen. In a separate experiment, spleen biopsies were taken following OLT on days 3 and 15 from the naturally tolerizing OLT model (DA into PVG), treated with and without CsA for 7 days and compared with the (DA into Lewis) model. The initial rate of leucocyte migration between days 3 and 21 following OLT was found to be the most rapid into the spleen, followed by the bone marrow and mesenteric lymph nodes in the naturally tolerant (DA into PVG) model when compared with the (DA into Lewis) model. The number of donor leucocytes in the spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes in both models was, however, approximately the same by 87 days. No real difference in the rate of leucocyte migration was seen in the thymus or the lung for both transplant models over the time course assayed. CsA was found to lower the rate of donor leucocyte migration only over the period it was administered. The rate of donor leucocyte migration into the spleen was still much lower 15 days after OLT in the (DA into Lewis) model compared with the (DA into PVG) model treated with and without CsA. Thus the differences in the rate of donor leucocyte migration into the spleen, bone marrow and mesenteric lymph nodes immediately following OLT may offer an explanation as to why the (DA into PVG) combination is able to accept a transplanted liver without immunosuppressive therapy.