Peripheral intravenous infusion--another cause of air embolism

We report an unusual complication of intravenous infusion. A 4-week-old baby developed acute cardiopulmonary distress because of air embolism caused by improper preparation of peripheral intravenous set. The estimated amount of infused air was 12 ml (approximately 3.5 ml/kg). The infant recovered promptly after short supportive treatment.     

Induction of early atherosclerosis in LDL-receptor-deficient mice immunized with beta2-glycoprotein I

BACKGROUND: Immunization with beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2GPI), the probable target of autoimmune anticardiolipin antibodies, results in experimental antiphospholipid syndrome in different mouse strains. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of beta2GPI immunization on the progression of atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the first experiment, 3 groups of LDL receptor-deficient (LDL-RD) mice (n=15 per group) were immunized with either beta2GPI or ovalbumin or were not immunized and were fed a chow diet for 12 weeks. In a second experiment, 3 groups of LDL-RD mice (n=10 per group) were immunized similarly and fed an atherogenic diet for 6 weeks. All beta2GPI-immunized mice developed high titers of anti-beta2GPI antibodies as well as a specific lymph node proliferation to beta2GPI. The average cholesterol levels did not differ between the mice fed similar diets, regardless of the immunization protocol. Atherosclerosis was enhanced in the beta2GPI-immunized mice (mean aortic lesion, 26 000+/-5700 microm2) in comparison with their ovalbumin-immunized (mean, 3000+/-1099 microm2; P<0.01) and nonimmunized (mean, 2250+/-700 microm2; P<0.01) littermates. The average lesion size in the beta2GPI-immunized mice fed an atherogenic diet (mean, 98 000+/-8305 microm2) was larger than the ovalbumin-immunized mice (mean, 81 250+/-12 933 microm2; P=NS) or the nonimmunized controls (mean, 75 625+/-7281 microm2; P=NS). The atherosclerotic plaques in the beta2GPI-immunized mice appeared to be more mature, and denser infiltration of CD4 lymphocytes was present in the subendothelium of the aortic sinuses from this group of mice. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study provide the first direct evidence for the proatherogenic effect of ss2GPI immunization and establish a new model for immune-mediated atherosclerosis.     

微处理器功耗性能的测试标准

随着嵌入式系统在消费电子和工业设备中的广泛应用,功耗已经开始像时钟速度和系统性能一样成为微处理器的一个核心特性.为了确定各种微处理器的功耗效率,嵌入式微处理器基准协会开发了一个有力的工具--EnergyBench.     

处理器性能推动车载娱乐系统的发展

以前,汽车还只是一种普通而简单的运输工具.随着电子时代的来临,从防刹车死锁到汽车仪表板,电子和半导体器件在汽车领域的应用变得日益广泛.现在,应用在汽车中的电子娱乐设备将更直接的出现在你面前,比如一个后排座的DVD播放器(其实可以把一个车载收音机也称作娱乐设备,但是它不能像DVD播放器那样令人兴奋).实际上,人们已经有能力在汽车中集成具有无线连接能力的DVD播放器、移动电话、全球定位系统、MP3播放器、卫星电台和因特网浏览器,所有这些都可以通过语音识别和中央控制系统来操控.     

Iterative principal axes registration method for analysis of MR-PETbrain images

Computerized automatic registration of MR-PET images of the brain is of significant interest for multimodality brain image analysis. Here, the authors discuss the principal axes transformation for registration of three-dimensional MR and PET images. A new brain phantom designed to test MR-PET registration accuracy determines that the principal axes registration (PAR) method is accurate to within an average of 1.37 mm with a standard deviation of 0.78 mm. Often the PET scans are not complete in the sense that the PET volume does not match the respective MR volume. The authors have developed an iterative PAR (IPAR) algorithm for such cases. Partial volumes of PET can be accurately registered to the complete MR volume using the new iterative algorithm. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of MR-PET image registration are presented and discussed. Results show that the new PAR algorithm is accurate and practical in MR-PET correlation studies