The onset of liquid entrainment for a system with two parallel slots

The phenomenon of liquid entrainment is investigated theoretically for the condition of simultaneous discharge from two small slots located on the side of a large reservoir containing stratified layers of two immiscible fluids. A model is developed for predicting the critical height while simulating the small slots as two-dimensional line sinks. This model is expressed in terms of two simple algebraic equations suitable for hand calculations. Dependence of the critical height on the two discharge rates and the separating distance between the slots is formulated in terms of new dimensionless groups.     

The hazard of mortality among aging retired- and disabled-worker men: a comparative sociodemographic and health status analysis

This article reports on the hazard of mortality of aging retired- and disabled-worker men over the decade after they became Social Security beneficiaries. Basic patterns of mortality rates are described using data from the 1982 New Beneficiary Survey linked to administrative records. The article examines the association of increasing age, race, socioeconomic status, private health insurance, and other demographic and health characteristics with the duration of life between the two groups of men, using statistical models. Over the decade, the hazard of death for retired workers significantly increased with aging and with lower socioeconomic status. The hazard of death for the disabled was significantly associated with being black.     

The effect of pyrimidines, levamisole and prodigiozan on the antigen-specific regulation of delayed hypersensitivity in relation to the age and strain of the mice

The effect of pyrimidine, levamizol, and prodigiozan on the retarded hypersensitivity (RH) was studied on a model of adoptive transfer of the splenocytes from donors of different ages to young syngeneic recipients. Splenocytes from CBA and BALB/c suckers, receiving pyrimidine, activate the RH suppression. Levamizol and prodigiozan exert the same effect on BALB/c mice and inhibit the RH suppression in CBA mice. In mature CBA mice these preparations potentiate HST. The splenocytes from young and aged BALB/c donors receiving the preparations oppositely induce the RH recipients.     

Using Geographic Plume Analysis to assess community vulnerability to hazardous accidents

This paper describes a methodology that can be used to determine the demographic composition of a population affected by the release of toxic substances at truck accident sites. In this Geographic Plume Analysis (GPA) approach, a chemical dispersion model provides a toxic dispersal “footprint”, given information about local weather conditions and the type of chemical released. This footprint is superimposed on a demographic database to determine the composition of the affected population. The GPA approach is tested in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, to determine whether different racial and income groups are disproportionately affected by the hazards from accidents. The locations of 45 intersections that experienced the highest frequency of truck accidents from 1990 to 1992 were obtained. At each location, a plume footprint was generated, based on the release of chlorine, a commonly transported toxic material in Des Moines. Similar plumes were generated at 50 random locations in the city and similar estimates were made. The results indicated that areas most likely to experience exposure to hazardous materials transported by trucks were those with a higher proportion of minorities and low-income households, as compared to the city as a whole.     

Hepatitis C viral infection in thalassemic children: clinical and molecular studies

The cells that express Steel factor (SLF) in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract were studied using SLF-lacZ transgenic mice. Expression, detected by beta-galactosidase histochemistry, was evident in cells between the circular and longitudinal muscle layers in the GI tract. Double staining with antibodies specific for the neural markers, PGP 9.5, MAP2 and c-Ret, showed that SLF-lacZ positive cells were enteric neurons. Enteroglia did not express SLF-lacZ. The distribution of expressing cells was complimentary to the expression of c-Kit in myenteric interstitial cells.     

Basic fibroblast growth factor enhancement of adenovirus-mediated delivery of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene results in augmented therapeutic benefit in a murine model of ovarian cancer

A number of preclinical and human clinical gene therapy trials using adenoviral vectors have shown that the number of viral particles necessary to give adequate levels of gene transfer can be associated with significant vector-related toxicity. In an effort to reduce the number of adenoviral particles required for a given level of gene transfer, we sought to redirect adenoviral infection via a receptor that is highly expressed on the target cells. By using basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) as the targeting ligand, adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to the human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3.ip1 was significantly enhanced, permitting the transduction of a greater number of target cells to be achieved by a given dose of virus. In a murine model of human ovarian carcinoma, an FGF2-redirected adenoviral vector carrying the gene for herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (AdCMVHSV-TK) was shown to result in a significant prolongation of survival compared with the same number of particles of unmodified AdCMVHSV-TK. In addition, equivalent survival rates were achieved with a 10-fold lower dose of the FGF2-redirected AdCMVHSV-TK compared with the unmodified vector. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating that strategies to enhance the efficiency of in vivo transduction of adenoviral vectors will be of clinical utility.