A second unrelated bone marrow transplant with an unrelated donor marrow: treatment of a patient with relapsed leukemia

To investigate whether statistical parameters used in Down syndrome screening between 15 and 22 weeks of pregnancy can be used at 14 weeks, we assayed alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), unconjugated oestriol (uE3), total human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), free alpha-hCG, free beta-hCG, and inhibin-A in 16 pregnancies with Down syndrome in the 14th week of pregnancy and expressed values in multiples of the normal median. The median and standard deviation values for these 16 pregnancies were not materially different from those published for 15-22 weeks. It is reasonable, therefore, to offer Down syndrome screening using these markers starting at 14 completed weeks of pregnancy instead of 15 weeks. It needs to be recognized, however, that serum AFP measurement for neural tube defect screening is less effective at this time than between 16 and 18 weeks of pregnancy.     

Laser emission from conjugated polymer in fibre waveguide structure

Lasing from a conjugated polymer, poly(9,9-di-(2-ethylhexyl)fluorenyl-2,7'-diyl), incorporated into a glass-clad step index optical fibre structure is reported. The fibre is fabricated by filling a glass capillary with a toluene solution containing polystyrene and the conjugated polymer. Under nanosecond transverse photopumping, the fibre 1.5 cm in length exhibits laser emission at 436 nm from a Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the Fresnel reflections at the fibre end-air interfaces     

Molecular weight effects on the 248-nm photoablation of polystyrene spun films

Photoablation of spun polystyrene films was studied at 248 nm. The etching occurs on a submicrosecond time-scale, is strongly intensity dependent and is preceded by an incubation period. The chemical and photochemical properties of the polymer are not affected by its molecular weight. However the molecular weight changes the incubation behaviour of the samples. This last result is analysed as a physical effect in terms of the volume changes brought about by the ablation process.     

Optimisation of the arc-discharge production of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

The effect of varying current density and pressure during arc generation on the yield and purity of multi-walled nanotube-containing carbon soot has been studied in this work. Various soots were produced and characterised qualitatively using transmission electron microscopy and quantitatively using electron paramagnetic resonance and thermogravimetric analysis. It was found that both yield and purity increase as current density and pressure are increased to the limit of our experimental investigations, i.e. 195 A/cm² and 500 Torr of helium. Under these conditions a yield of 24 mg/min soot containing 48% by mass nanotubes was obtained.     

Battery energy storage for frequency regulation in an island powersystem

Large battery energy storage (BES) facilities may provide significant dynamic operation benefits for electric utilities. One area in which a BES facility could be useful is the frequency regulation requirement. This feature is significantly important for island power systems. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of a 30 MW battery on the frequency regulation in the Israeli isolated power system. The study was performed on a single area model representing the whole power system and containing a first order transfer function that represented the BES performance     

Genetic analysis of alpha 4 integrin functions in the development of mouse skeletal muscle

It has been suggested, on the basis of immunolocalization studies in vivo and antibody blocking experiments in vitro, that alpha 4 integrins interacting with vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) are involved in myogenesis and skeletal muscle development. To test this proposal, we generated embryonic stem (ES) cells homozygous null for the gene encoding the alpha 4 subunit and used them to generate chimeric mice. These chimeric mice showed high contributions of alpha 4-null cells in many tissues, including skeletal muscle, and muscles lacking any detectable (< 2%) alpha 4-positive cells did not reveal any gross morphological abnormalities. Furthermore, assays for in vitro myogenesis using either pure cultures of alpha 4-null myoblasts derived from the chimeras or alpha 4-null ES cells showed conclusively that alpha 4 integrins are not essential for muscle cell fusion and differentiation. Taking these results together, we conclude that alpha 4 integrins appear not to play essential roles in normal skeletal muscle development.     

Death of solid tumor cells induced by Fas ligand expressing primary myoblasts

Anticancer therapy for solid tumors suffers from inadequate methods for the localized administration of cytotoxic agents. Fas ligand (FasL) has been reported to be cytotoxic to a variety of cells, including certain tumor cell lines. We therefore postulated that myoblasts could serve as non-transformed gene therapy vehicles for the continuous localized delivery of cytotoxic anticancer agents such as FasL. However, contrary to previous reports, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analyses revealed that both primary mouse and human myoblasts express Fas, the receptor for FasL. To avoid self-destruction and test the cytotoxic potential of myoblasts, the cells were isolated from mice deficient in Fas (lpr/lpr), the mouse counterpart of human autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS). These primary mouse myoblasts were transduced with a retroviral vector encoding mouse FasL and expression of a biologically active and soluble form of the molecule was confirmed by the apoptotic demise of cocultured Fas-expressing Jurkat cells, the standard in the field. To test whether the lpr myoblasts expressing FasL could be used in anticancer therapy, human rhabdomyosarcoma derived cell lines were assayed for Fas and then tested in the apoptosis coculture assay. The majority of Fas-expressing muscle tumor cells were rapidly killed. Moreover, FasL expressing myoblasts were remarkably potent; indeed well characterized cytotoxic antibodies to Fas were only 20% as efficient at killing rhabdomyosarcoma cells as FasL expressing myoblasts. These findings together with previous findings suggest that primary myoblasts, defective in Fas but genetically engineered to express FasL, could function as potent anticancer agents for use in the localized destruction of solid tumors in vivo by three synergistic mechanisms: (1) directly via Fas/FasL mediated apoptosis, (2) indirectly via neutrophil infiltration and immunodestruction, and (3) as allogeneic inducers of a bystander effect via B and T cells.     

Developing and testing a taxonomy of lateness behavior.

Compared with other physical withdrawal behaviors such as employee turnover and absenteeism, employee lateness has been theoretically neglected. Three categories of lateness behavior (increasing chronic, stable periodic, and unavoidable) were defined on the basis of pattern, frequency, and duration of incidents. Hypothesized antecedents of each lateness category were tested using 2 samples, 353 hospital employees and 402 bank employees. Support was found for the idea that each category exhibits differential relationships to other work behaviors and specific antecedents. Additional empirical results showed that the "never late" subgroup from each sample was significantly different from the lateness subgroups on various antecedents and work behaviors. Results and limitations of the study are further discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)