Low-frequency vibrations in the treatment of patients with acute maxillary sinusitis and ethmoiditis. Non-specific resistance and immunity

Effect of sodium hypochlorite disinfection of impressions on the size and quality of plaster models is studied. Twenty-minute submerging of silicone impressions in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution did not change their size and did not deteriorate the quality of surface and hardness of plaster models. Stomalgin impressions cannot be disinfected by sodium hypochlorite solution because of expressed destructive effect of this disinfectant on the impressions.     

Thermofluid-neutronic stability of the rotating, fluidized bed, space-power reactor

A rotating fluidized bed nuclear reactor has the potential of being a vary attractive option for ultra-high power space systems, especially for propulsion. Research has already examined fuel bed expansion due to variations in state variables, propellant flow rate, and rotational speed, and has also considered problems related to thermal stress. This paper describes the results of a coupled thermofluid-neutronic analysis where perturbations in fuel bed height caused by maneuvering changes in operating conditions alter power levels due to varying absorption of neutrons which would otherwise leak from the system, mainly through the nozzle. This first analysis was not a detailed stability analysis. Rather, it utilized simplified neutronic methods, and was intended to provide an order-of-magnitude assessment of the stability of the reactor with the intention to determine whether or not stability might be a “concept killer”.Stability was compared with a fixed-fuel-bed reactor of identical geometry for three different cases comprising a set of small, medium and large sizes/powers from 250 MW to 5 GW. It was found that power fluctuations in the fluidized bed reactor were larger by 100 db or more than expected in a packed bed reactor of the same geometry, but never resulted in power excursions. Margins to unit gain in some cases, however, were sufficiently small that the approximations in this quasi-2-dimensional model may not be sufficiently accurate to preclude significant excursions.     

Age-associated alterations in calcium current and its modulation in cardiac myocytes

Stimulatory effects of several types of adjuvants on secondary antibody response to inactivated Newcastle disease virus (iNDV) were examined in chickens. For this purpose, animals were primed with iNDV without adjuvant resulting in a low but significant antibody response, boosted with iNDV plus adjuvant 3 weeks later, and analysed for specific antibody titres in serum 3 weeks after the booster. Water-in-mineral oil emulsion (W/O) caused significant increase in antibody titres measured in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA), haemagglutination inhibition (HI), and virus neutralisation (VN) assay. The adjuvants tested included three oil-in-water emulsions (i.e. mineral oil-in-water, sulpholipo(SL)-Ficoll400/squalane-in-water and sulpholipo-cyclodextrin/squalane-in-water), three negatively-charged polymers with high molecular weight (i.e. polyacrylate, polystyrenesulphonate and sulpho(S)-Ficoll400) and two surface-active agents (i.e. dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA) and Quil A). These adjuvants enhanced significantly the secondary immune response but none reached the titre obtained with W/O. Combinations of adjuvants with distinct physicochemical properties, i.e. polyacrylate and DDA revealed only slight, beneficial effects. We concluded that the various types of adjuvants tested can stimulate secondary immune responses in primed animals but that W/O is superior.     

Multicenter prospective study of the current status of treatment for bleeding ulcer in Germany

The current state of ulcer treatment in Germany was analysed in a prospective multi-centre study. It was based on 1139 consecutive patients admitted to the participating hospitals because of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The source of the bleeding was identified by diagnostic endoscopy in 1075 patients (94%), from a gastric and/or duodenal ulcer in 546 of them (mean age 62 +/- 18 years). Using Forrest's classification, 4% of patients were in bleeding stage Ia, 17% in stage Ib, 16% stage IIa, 30% stage IIb and 33% stage III. An attempt to arrest bleeding through the endoscope was made in 233 patients (43%): more often with tissue-preserving substances (epinephrine +/- NaCl in 36%, fibrin glue +/- epinephrine in 24%) than with tissue-damaging procedures (epinephrine + polidocanol +/- NaCl in 26%, epinephrine + thermocoagulation in 7%). Primary haemostasis was achieved in 219 patients (94%). There was a total of 66 recurrences of bleeding (12%), but the rate was 18% after endoscopic haemostasis. 64 patients (12%) required operative intervention, including initial emergency operations. Severe complications (infections, organic failure) occurred in 82 patients (16%). 114 of the 546 patients were in the high risk group (older than 60 years; high amount of bleeding). Their bleeding recurrence and mortality rates (27 and 22%, respectively) were significantly higher (P < 0.01) than those of the total group. Overall mortality rate was 11% (58 patients). The mortality rate depended on the severity of initial bleeding (26% for Forrest group Ia). After recurrent bleeding the mortality rate was 34% with conservative and 33% with operative treatment. 7% of all deaths were the direct result of bleeding. The following factors prognostically closely correlated with mortality rate: age of patient (P < 0.01); haemoglobin < 8 g/dl on admission (P < 0.05); initial severity of bleeding (Forrest group I; P < 0.05); and recurrence of bleeding (P < 0.001).     

The installation and support of internationally distributed equipment for people with dementia

This paper describes the evaluation and support of assistive technology designed to increase the independence of people with dementia. Devices were evaluated by people with dementia in their own homes. Working with and supporting people with dementia requires relational skills not normally needed by installers and technical supporters.     

Imitation, copying, and the use of models: report writing in an introductory physics course

The article focuses on the use and misuse of models-both appropriate and inappropriate-in the report-writing practices of first year physics students, especially those from non-English speaking backgrounds. It analyzes the students' propensity to use any available text on a given topic as a source of model sentences. Examples of "copying" are provided and analyzed. It is argued that many forms of copying are legitimate learning strategies of novice writers, for the production of certain kinds of texts, but that this can become a problem when inappropriate models are used or when appropriate models are used inappropriately. Copying is discussed in relation to imitative learning and modeling as well as plagiarism, and some suggestions to improve teaching practice are made.     

MIMO Generalized Predictive Control for a Hydroelectric Power Station

In this paper, the approach of generalized predictive control (GPC) is applied to a multivariable model of the Dinorwig pumped-storage hydroelectric power station. The response of the system with constrained predictive control is compared with the classic PI controller as currently implemented. The results show that GPC offers significantly better performance across the plant's operating range. It is shown that fixed-parameter, constrained GPC produces a faster primary response when the station is operating with a single unit while preserving stability as the operating conditions change when multiple units are online     

Visual sharpness contingency in recognition memory for orientation: Mnemonic illusion suppressed by sensory signature.

A striking finding about human memory is that people's level of accuracy in remembering the orientation of heads on coins is often not simply at the chance level but significantly below it. However, S. W. Kelly, A. M. Burton, T. Kato, and S. Akamatsu (2001) reported that this is not so when two-alternative forced-choice visual recognition is employed. The Kelly et al. result could not be replicated here with a copy of their stimuli. However, the result was successfully replicated with newly created stimuli. A series of experiments provided converging evidence that the mnemonic illusion is suppressed when recognition alternatives possess sharp visual detail. The role of a sensory signature in suppressing the mnemonic illusion and in modulating visual recognition performance in general is delineated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Triploidy: antenatal sonographic features with post-mortem correlation

The CD34 antigen is expressed by human hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells. These cells are capable of reconstituting marrow function after marrow-ablative chemo-radiotherapy. Several different technologies have been developed for the separation of CD34+ cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) components. We used an immunomagnetic separation technique to enrich CD34+ cells from PBSC components in anticipation of autologous transplantation for patients with B lymphoid malignancies. Twenty-nine patients enrolled on this study and received mobilization chemotherapy followed by G-CSF. Of these, 21 achieved a peripheral blood CD34+ cell level of at least 2.0 x 10(4)/l required by protocol for separation of the stem cell components. A median of three components per patient was collected for processing. The average CD34+ cell concentration in the components after apheresis was 1.0 +/- 1.2%. After the CD34+ cell selection, the enriched components contained 0.6 +/- 0.6% of the starting nucleated cells. The recovery of CD34+ cells, however, averaged 58.4 +/- 19.2% of the starting cell number, with a purity of 90.8 +/- 6.5%. Overall depletion of CD34- cells was 99.96 +/- 0.06%. Nineteen patients were treated with marrow-ablative conditioning regimens and received an average of 6.2 +/- 2.0 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg body weight. These patients recovered to an ANC >0.5 x 10(9)/l at a median of 11 days (range 8-14), and platelet transfusion independence at a median of 9 days (range 5-13). Four patients died of transplant-related complications or relapse before 100 days after transplantation. No patient required infusion of unseparated cells because of failure of sustained bone marrow function. These data demonstrate that peripheral blood-derived CD34+ cells enriched by use of an immunomagnetic separation technique are capable of rapid engraftment after autologous transplantation.