Survey of impaired drivers, fatally injured or surviving, who caused fatal highway accidents in Alberta in 1970-72

In 1970-72, 456 (53.4%) of 854 drivers responsible for a motor vehicle accident in which either they or other persons were killed had been drinking beforehand. Of surviving culpable drivers tested for blood alcohol concentration 81.7% were found to be legally impaired; however, only 24.8% of these drivers were tested. Because surviving culpable drivers pose a possible future hazard to highway safety it is important that data on this group be collected and analysed.     

Photonitration of hydrocarbons with lasers

The photonitration of isobutane (i-C4H10) has been investigated in the 458-515 nm region with an argon-ion laser as the radiation source, t-nitrobutane (t-C4H9NO2) was the major product. Its rate of production was linear with laser intensity and increased with increasing photon energy. Computer modeling of possible reaction steps indicated that the reaction is initiated by the direct abstraction of hydrogen from i-C4H10by electronically excited NO2.     

Common-Cause Failure Considerations in Predicting HTGR Cooling System Reliability

Probabilistic safety analyses of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor are being performed by the General Atomic Company. The project is sponsored by the Energy Research and Development Administration and is known as Accident Initiation and Progression Analysis. Probabilistic methods are used to estimate the probability of failure of the HTGR cooling systems.     

Very low birth weight children at school age: comparison of neonatal management methods

The outcome of 293 infants born to a geographically defined community and weighing 501-1500 g was investigated. Medical intervention in the newborn period had been avoided. Morbidity was assessed at school age. Of the infants, 236 had been live born in the labour ward of this hospital; of these, 117 (49.6%) died in the neonatal period, one (0.4%) died in the first year, four (1.7%) were untraced, 13 (5.5%) had major handicap, 29 (12.3%) had minor handicap, and 72 (30.5%) were considered to be normal. In terms of survival, handicap, and intellectual with that of infants born over the same period (1963-71) in areas where intensive methods of perinatal care were used. These results imply that postnatal survival and potential of infants of very low birth weight are by no means prejudiced when only experienced nursing care is available.     

Absence of tonic electromyographic activity during sleep in normal and spastic nonmimetic skeletal muscles in man

An electromyographic study of nonmimetic skeletal muscles was carried out in 8 normal adults and 4 patients with spastic hemiparesis during all stages of sleep for a total of 21 nights. All normal subjects showed absence of tonic electromyographic activity in all nonmimetic skeletal muscles in all stages of sleep. Also, during quiet, relaxed wakefulness, tonic muscle discharges disappeared in the normal subjects. Three patients with upper motor neuron spasticity demonstrated results during sleep similar to those obtained in the normal subjects. In the fourth patient, tonic muscle discharges persisted into stage 2 non-REM sleep, disappeared within 30 to 240 seconds following the onset of stage 2 sleep, and were absent during stages 3 and 4 sleep and REM sleep.     

Isolation and characterization of a Lactobacillus plantarum bacteriophage,phiJL-1, from a cucumber fermentation

A virulent Lactobacillus plantarum bacteriophage, PhiJL-1, was isolated from a commercial cucumber fermentation. The phage was specific for two related strains of L. plantarum, BI7 and its mutant (deficient in malolactate fermenting ability) MU45, which have been evaluated as starter cultures for controlled cucumber fermentation and as biocontrol microorganisms for minimally processed vegetable products. The phage genome of PhiJL-1 was sequenced to reveal a linear, double-stranded DNA (36.7 kbp). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacryamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) profiles indicated that PhiJL-1 contains six structural proteins (28, 34, 45, 50, 61, and 76 kDa). Electron microscopy revealed that the phage has an isometric head (59 nm in diameter), a long non-contractile tail (182 nm in length and 11 nm in width), and a complex base plate. The phage belongs to the Bradley group B1 or Siphoviridae family. One-step growth kinetics of the phage showed that the latent period was 35 min, the rise period was 40 min, and the average burst size was 22 phage particles/infected cell. Phage particles (90%) adsorbed to the host cells 20 min after infection. Calcium supplementation (up to 30 mM CaCl(2)) in MRS media did not affect the first cycle of phage adsorption, but promoted rapid phage propagation and cell lysis in the infection cycle subsequent to adsorption. The D values of PhiJL-1 at pH 6.5 were estimated to be 2.7 min at 70 degrees C and 0.2 min at 80 degrees C by a thermal inactivation experiment. Knowledge of the properties of L. plantarum bacteriophage PhiJL-1 may be important for the development of controlled vegetable fermentations.