Carbohydrate chromatography: towards yoctomole sensitivity

Ward atmosphere was assessed with the help of the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) by patients, nurses and physicians on 8 admission units before and after the introduction of the partial open door system. On average, on 45% of the days on which the units could have been potentially open, they were indeed at least temporarily open. Several significant changes in the WAS scores, mostly in desirable direction, were registered. However, close relationship with the partial opening of the units could be substantiated only with regard to the scale "praxis orientation"; still a positive result. No unequivocal relationships could be demonstrated between the introduction of the partial open door system and the changes in the frequency of "special events".     

Human oogenesis in organ culture

The authors compared the extent of development of the germ cells of the human fetus ovaries developing in the organ culture and of control ovaries obtained of fetuses of "equivalent" age. The capacity to enter the meiosis prophase under conditions of the organ culture was expressed by the germ cells of fetuses of 8-9 week of gestation, and older; only individual oocytes reached the leptotene stage in the explants of the ovaries of 7-8 week fetuses. The oocytes at the leptotene, zygotene and pachitene stage appeared in the culture at the same periods as in the organism. However, the percentage of cells of these stages in the explant was as a rule lower than in control ovaries. In case of pulse administration of thymidine-3H into the culture labeled oocytes at the zygotene stage appeared in 4, and at the pachitene stage - in 14 days.     

Human C-peptide. Part I: Radioimmunoassay

Synthetic human C-peptide bearing a Tyrosine group at its amino end is labelled with 125iodine using chloramin T or hydrogen peroxide and lactoperoxidase. The results are compared applying both methods. Antiserum to synthetic human C-peptide (without Tyrosine) which was partially compared to rabbit albumin, is raised in guinea pigs and goats. Goats show to be superior to guinea pigs concerning antibody production. The so-called "hook effect" phenomenon is observed in setting up the standard curves for the radioimmunoassay. Monotonically decreasing standard curves are obtained on dilution of antiserum with a high antibody titer which was produced by repeated immunization in goats. Free C-peptide and C-peptide bound to antiserum are separated with the anxion exchange resin Amberlite. Using this separation technique we excluded unspecific binding of labelled C-peptide to protein fractions in serum of diabetics. The sensitivity of our radioimmunoassay is approx. 0.3 ng C-peptide/ml serum. Intra- and interassay variability are below 10%. Human proinsulin is the only substance found to crossreact with the antiserum.     

Criticality and Environmental Uncertainty in Step-Level Public Goods Dilemmas.

The author examined a public goods (PG) dilemma with environmental uncertainty in a sequential protocol of play paradigm. Using a 5-person game, Experiment 1 examined provision point (PP) uncertainty and found that a certain PP requiring 3 contributors produced the PG more frequently than an uncertain PP of the same expectation that varied uniformly among 2, 3, and 4 contributors. Fixing PP at 3, Experiment 2 showed that PG provision rate was higher with a certain group size of 5 persons than an uncertain group size of the same expectation that varied uniformly among 4, 5. and 6 persons. Further analyses showed that a fear of wasting one's contribution and pessimistic beliefs of environmental uncertainty could have undermined contribution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

REACTION KINETICS PARAMETERS DESCRIBING DISPLACEMENT BY ACIDS OF STRUCTURAL METALLIC IONS FROM CLAY MINERALS

Chemical kinetics parameters describing reactions of naturally-occurring clay minerals with acids were determined using batch reaction and analytical techniques. Clay minerals included sodium montmo-rillonite, kaolinite, and illite, reacting with hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. Two acid concentrations were examined at 50 and 70^°C. Displacement by acids of aluminum and magnesium from clays was found to follow pseudo-first order kinetics. Data analysis verified the batch reaction technique for determining kinetics parameters of acid-clay reactions and demonstrated acid neutralization by naturally-occurring clays. For reactions of sodium montmorillonite with hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, reaction rate coefficients for displacement of aluminum ranged from 1·73 × 10^-4 kg/mol-hr at 50^°C to 3·02 × 10^-3 kg/mol-hr at 70^°C. Displacement of magnesium from sodium montmorillonite by these acids occurred at rates ranging from 3·68 × 10^-4 kg/mol-hr at 50^°C to 1·12 × 10^-2 kg/mol-hr at 70^°C. Activation energies for displacement by acids of aluminum from sodium montmorillonite were calculated to range from 31,000J/mol to 112,000J/mol, while activalion energies for displacement of magnesium from sodium montmorillonite ranged from 36.000 J/mol to 103,000 J/mol. For reactions of illite with acids, reaction rate coefficients for displacement of aluminum were determined to be 1·45×10^-4Kg/mol-hr at 50^°C to 1·7×10^-3kg/mol-hr at 70^°C. Displacement of magneisum by acids from illite occurred at rates from 6·06 × 10^-4 kg/mol-hr at 50^°C to 5·97 × 10^-3 kg/mol-hr. Activation energies for reactions of acids with illite ranged from 33,000 J/mol to 62,000 J/mol for displacement of aluminum and from 9,400 J/mol to 29,000 J/mol for displacement of magnesium.     

FDTD simulation of TE and TM plane waves at nonzero incidence in arbitrary Layered media

Plane wave scattering is an important class of electromagnetic problems that is surprisingly difficult to model with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method if the direction of propagation is not parallel to one of the grid axes. In particular, infinite plane wave interaction with dispersive half-spaces or layers must include careful modeling of the incident field. By using the plane wave solutions of Maxwell's equations to eliminate the transverse field dependence, a modified set of curl equations is derived which can model a "slice" of an oblique plane wave along grid axes. The resulting equations may be used as edge conditions on an FDTD grid. These edge conditions represent the only known way to accurately propagate plane wave pulses into a frequency dependent medium. An examination of grid dispersion between the plane wave and the modeled slice reveals good agreement. Application to arbitrary dispersive media is straightforward for the transverse magnetic (TM) case, but requires the use of an auxiliary equation for the transverse electric case, which increases complexity. In the latter case, a simplified approach, based on formulating the dual of the TM equations, is shown to be quite effective. The strength of the developed approach is illustrated with a comparison with the conventional simulation based on an analytic incident wave specification with half-space, single frequency reflection and transmission for the edges. Finally, an example of a possible biomedical application is given and the implementation of the method in the perfectly matched layer region is discussed.     

Preload assessment in patients with an open abdomen

Health care providers and purchasers of health services have an opportunity to improve patient care and potentially save costs through the wise purchase of interactive health communication applications for patients and employees. Purchasing decisions based on evaluation and evidence should drive the design and development of new systems. The cycle of evaluation includes a needs assessment before system development, usability testing during development, and studies of use and outcomes in natural settings. This type of evidence is critical to our understanding of how best to provide health information and decision assistance to patients, employees, and others.     

Low prevalence of coronary artery spasm in patients with normal coronary angiograms and unexplained ventricular fibrillation

AIMS: The aetiology of ventricular fibrillation in patients without identifiable structural heart disease is unknown. Recently, high prevalence of silent ischaemia due to coronary artery spasm has been reported in such patients. However, in at least one report, all patients had non-critical coronary artery lesions. Identification of coronary artery spasm as the underlying aetiology of ventricular fibrillation has important therapeutic implications. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed ergonovine provocation tests in 18 patients (14 males, and four females; mean age, 36 years) with documented ventricular fibrillation in the absence of identifiable structural heart disease who had undergone aborted sudden death. In group I (n = 7) ergonovine provocation tests were performed at a mean interval of 31 months (range 21-42 months) after the index episode. These patients had already received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, after failed electrophysiologically guided antiarrhythmic therapy. In group II (n = 11) the ergonovine provocation test was performed prospectively as part of the diagnostic evaluation. All patients were off antiarrhythmic drugs, calcium entry or beta-adrenoceptor blockers at the time of the ergonovine provocation test. Ergonovine was administered intravenously as a bolus injection, beginning with 0.05 mg followed every 3 min by incremental doses up to a cumulative maximum dose of 0.45 mg. Predefined end-points were (1) recording of ischaemic ST segment shifts of > or = 1 mm in at least two corresponding leads of the 12-lead electrocardiogram; (2) induction of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation; and (3) administration of a cumulative dose of 0.45 mg. A positive response to ergonovine was seen in only one patient (5%) in group I in whom there developed ST segment elevation without angina and a short burst of rapid ventricular tachycardia. CONCLUSIONS: This study found a low prevalence of coronary artery spasm in patients with aborted sudden death resulting from documented ventricular fibrillation and non-apparent underlying heart disease. All patients had normal coronary angiograms and a negative history for spontaneous episodes of chest pain. The mechanism of arrhythmogenesis in such patients remains largely unknown.     

DNA polymerase of Dictyostelium discoideum

Only one molecular weight species of DNA polymerase was found in different developmental stages of the eukaryotic microorganism Dictyostelium discoideum. The molecular weight of this DNA polymerase is estimated to be about 127 000 by sucrose gradient centrifugation. The enzyme is present in all stages of growth and development, including dormant spores. All DNA polymerase activity is lost upon incubation of the crude extract with N-ethylmaleimide. The reaction properties, molecular weight and N-ethylmaleimide sensitivity of the D. discoideum DNA polymerase are similar to those of the DNA polymerase-alpha from mammalian sources.