Transection of the lateral olfactory tract does not produce anosmia

Rats trained in an olfactometer were tested for retention of an odor detection and odor discrimination task after lesions of the olfactory peduncle. Large lesions of the peduncle, including transection of the lateral olfactory tract and anterior commissure resulted in severe deficits in retention and relearning but did not produce anosmia. Discrete lesions of the lateral olfactory tract had little or no effect on retention. The results indicate that the lateral and intermediate olfactory pathways are not essential for smell and suggest that significant olfactory function may be mediated by medial olfactory bulb projections.     

Molecular and pharmacological characterization of GABAA receptors in the rat pituitary

Levels of mRNA for the major subunits of the GABAA receptor were assayed in the rat pituitary anterior and neurointermediate lobes by ribonuclease protection assay. alpha 1, beta 1, beta 2, beta 3, and gamma 2s were found to be the predominant subunits in the anterior lobe, whereas alpha 2, alpha 3, beta 1, beta 3, gamma 2s, and gamma 1 were the predominant subunits expressed in the neurointermediate lobe. alpha 5, alpha 6, and delta subunits were not detectable. Hill and Scatchard analysis of [3H] muscimol binding to anterior and neurointermediate lobe membranes showed high-affinity binding sites with dissociation constants of 5.6 and 4.5 nM, respectively, and Hill coefficients near 1. Muscimol sites were present at a maximum of 126 fmol/mg in the anterior lobe and 138 fmol/mg in the neurointermediate lobe. The central-type benzodiazepine antagonist [3H]Ro 15-1788 bound to a high-affinity site with a dissociation constant of 1.5 nM in both tissues, at a maximum of 60 fmol/mg in anterior pituitary and 72 fmol/mg in neurointermediate lobe. A Hill coefficient of 1 was measured for this site in both tissues. Assays of CL 218,872 displacement of Ro 15-1788 were consistent with a pure type I benzodiazepine site in the anterior lobe and a pure type II site in the intermediate lobe. These results are consistent with both tissue-specific expression of particular GABAA receptor subunits and receptor heterogeneity within individual cells in the pituitary.     

Retargetability and Extensibility in a Parallel Debugger

This paper describes the design and implementation ofPanorama, a parallel debugger for MIMD message-passing computers. Programmers can readily adapt Panorama to new parallel platforms and extended it to include their ownviewsof a target program. The system comes with three built-in graphical program views, and it also includes a software tool to help programmers design and implement new views. Panorama avoids detailed dependence on target architectures by using thebase debuggersupplied by each hardware vendor to carry out low-level debugging tasks such as setting breakpoints and examining data. Since the interfaces and capabilities of base debuggers vary, we have developed a strategy that models interactions between Panorama and base debuggers. The model separates general-purpose code from the special-case functions that handle specific debugger characteristics. The resulting system is easy to adapt and free from the clutter of conditionally-executed, special-case code.     

Most discriminating segment – Longest common subsequence (MDSLCS) algorithm for dynamic hand gesture classification

In this work, we consider the recognition of dynamic gestures based on representative sub-segments of a gesture, which are denoted as most discriminating segments (MDSs). The automatic extraction and recognition of such small representative segments, rather than extracting and recognizing the full gestures themselves, allows for a more discriminative classifier. A MDS is a sub-segment of a gesture that is most dissimilar to all other gesture sub-segments. Gestures are classified using a MDSLCS algorithm, which recognizes the MDSs using a modified longest common subsequence (LCS) measure. The extraction of MDSs from a data stream uses adaptive window parameters, which are driven by the successive results of multiple calls to the LCS classifier. In a preprocessing stage, gestures that have large motion variations are replaced by several forms of lesser variation. We learn these forms by adaptive clustering of a training set of gestures, where we reemploy the LCS to determine similarity between gesture trajectories. The MDSLCS classifier achieved a gesture recognition rate of 92.6% when tested using a set of pre-cut free hand digit (0–9) gestures, while hidden Markov models (HMMs) achieved an accuracy of 89.5%. When the MDSLCS was tested against a set of streamed digit gestures, an accuracy of 89.6% was obtained. At present the HMMs method is considered the state-of-the-art method for classifying motion trajectories. The MDSLCS algorithm had a higher accuracy rate for pre-cut gestures, and is also more suitable for streamed gestures. MDSLCS provides a significant advantage over HMMs by not requiring data re-sampling during run-time and performing well with small training sets.     

Investigation of stressed state of a turbine journal tip loaded with centrifugal forces and turning moment using the space photoelasticity method

Stress concentration factors are presented for a turbine journal tip loaded with centrifugal forces and turning moment. The space elasticity method is used for the investigations.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 11, pp. 105–107, November, 1990.     

Atomic force microscopy investigation of radiation-induced DNA double strand breaks

We have used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study radiation-induced DNA double strand breaks. Double-stranded plasmid DNA was irradiated with 18-MeV electrons in aqueous buffer, using a medical linear accelerator. Doses of 50, 100, 150, and 200 Gy were delivered to DNA samples, and atomic force microscopy was used to measure the length of each DNA fragment. From these measurements, we obtained the average length of the irradiated DNA for each sample and found a linear-quadratic relationship between the average length and radiation dose.     

A client/server system for Internet access to biomedical text/image databanks

Internet access to mixed text/image databanks is finding application in the medical world. An example is a database of medical X-rays and associated data consisting of demographic, socioeconomic, physician's exam, medical laboratory and other information collected as part of a nationwide health survey conducted by the government. Another example is a collection of digitized cryosection images, CT and MR taken of cadavers as part of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. In both cases, the challenge is to provide access to both the image and the associated text for a wide end user community to create atlases, conduct epidemiological studies, to develop image-specific algorithms for compression, enhancement and other types of image processing, among many other applications. The databanks mentioned above are being created in prototype form. This paper describes the prototype system developed for the archiving of the data and the client software to enable a broad range of end users to access the archive, retrieve text and image data, display the data and manipulate the images. System design considerations include; data organization in a relational database management system with object-oriented extensions; a hierarchical organization of the image data by different resolution levels for different user classes; client design based on common hardware and software platforms incorporating SQL search capability, X Window, Motif and TAE (a development environment supporting rapid prototyping and management of graphic-oriented user interfaces); potential to include ultra high resolution display monitors as a user option; intuitive user interface paradigm for building complex queries; and contrast enhancement, magnification and mensuration tools for better viewing by the user.     

Testosterone replacement therapy improves mood in hypogonadal men--a clinical research center study

The effect of testosterone (T) replacement on changes in mood was studied for 60 days in 51 hypogonadal men. All patients were withdrawn from their prior T replacement for at least 6 weeks before enrollment. Of these patients, 18 received T enanthate 200 mg im every 20 days, 16 received sublingual T cyclodextrin (SLT) at a dose of 2.5 mg three times daily, and 17 received SLT at a dose of 5.0 mg three times daily. The total treatment period was 60 days. The patients were asked to respond to a questionnaire on 7 consecutive days before the start of treatment and on 7 consecutive days before their visits to the clinic on days 21, 41, and 60 of treatment. The following mood parameters were assessed using a 7-point Likert rating scale: angry, alert, irritable, full of pep (energy), sad/blue, tired, friendly, nervous, and well/good. When compared with the baseline period, T replacement led to significant decreases in anger (P = 0.0045), irritability (P = 0.0009), sadness (P = 0.0033), tiredness (P = 0.0035), and nervousness (P = 0.0291), and significant improvement in energy level (P = 0.0020), friendliness (P = 0.0072), and sense of well-being (P = 0.024) in all subjects as a group. Analyses of the area under the curve (AUC) of baseline serum T levels before T replacement showed significant positive correlations between serum T (AUC) and friendliness (r = 0.29, P < 0.05) and sense of well-being (r = 0.27, P < 0.05), and significant negative correlations with nervousness (r = -0.27, P < 0.05), irritability (r = -0.29, P < 0.05) and tiredness (r = -0.28, P < 0.05). Similar correlations were found between serum dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and some of the mood parameters. After T replacement in the hypogonadal men, these correlations between AUC of serum T levels and the positive and negative mood scores disappeared. These results were corroborated in a subsequent study in which 30 hypogonadal men were supplemented with SLT 5 mg three times daily for 6 months. The patients were less nervous (P = 0.0025) and more alert (P = 0.0004), friendly (P = 0.042), and energetic (P = 0.0001) during the 6-month treatment period compared with baseline. We conclude that T replacement therapy in hypogonadal men improved their positive mood parameters, such as energy, well/good feelings, and friendliness and decreased negative mood parameters including anger, nervousness, and irritability, and direct correlations between serum T and DHT with mood scores were only observed in the baseline period when serum androgen levels were below the normal range. The latter observation suggests that once a minimally adequate serum T/DHT level was achieved by T replacement therapy, further increases in serum T/DHT levels did not further contribute to the improvement in mood variables.     

Predictors of Chlamydia trachomatis infection among female adolescents: a longitudinal analysis

Screening guidelines recommend testing all sexually active female adolescents for Chlamydia trachomatis during a pelvic examination at each clinic visit. Such criteria have been based on cross-sectional studies; new evaluations should take into account multiple clinic visits and assess whether criteria are appropriate when a prior test is negative and risk factors are absent. Because repeated observations on an individual may be correlated, the authors used the generalized estimating equation method. Little information exists on subsequent risk of infection; as control programs develop, approaches targeting high-risk populations for recurrent infections are needed. Using data on females aged 15-19 years who visited family planning clinics more than once from 1988 to 1992 (n = 26,921) in Region X (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), the authors constructed a retrospective cohort. Teens with chlamydia at their first visit were at high risk for subsequent infection (odds ratio = 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.4-1.7). Among teens uninfected at the first visit and without risk factors at the second, prevalence at the second visit was 6%. When intervisit correlations using the generalized estimating equation method were taken into account, predictors of chlamydial infection were consistent with those in previous cross sectional studies cervicitis, friable cervix, and multiple, new, or symptomatic sex partner(s). These findings support screening sexually active female adolescents at each visit, even if prior tests results are available.     

Clinical assessment of left ventricular regional contraction patterns and ejection fraction by high-resolution gated scintigraphy

An improved, noninvasive, radionuclidic, gated blood-pool imaging technique has been developed for clinical analysis of regional contraction abnormalities of the left ventricle and determination of ejection fraction. The principal innovations include high-resolution collimation, higher information density, improved method for dynamic aortic-mitral-diaphragmatic border delineation, accurate selection of the endsystolic gating interval through the use of the phonocardiogram, and accurate end-diastole by on-line gating immediately following the electrocardiographic QRS. The results of scintigraphic studies were compared with selective radiopaque cineangiographic findings in 27 patients with cardiac disease; excellent correlations of ejection fractions (r = 0.93) and abnormal contraction patterns (17/17 patients) were demonstrated. In addition, the clinical usefulness in evaluating ventricular performance was demonstrated in 79 patients with acute and chronic coronary artery disease. This radionuclidic technique allowed assessment of reversibility of segmental dyssynergy by the response to nitroglycerin in 20 patients. These findings demonstrate the validity of this improved radionuclidic technique in the atraumatic quantification of ventricular function and suggest its usefulness in a variety of clinical conditions.