Immunology and adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy of breast cancer

Antibody against a breast carcinoma antigen was present in patients with breast carcinoma and other cancer more often (P less than .05) than in normal women. The incidence of antibody in women with breast carcinoma correlated with the presence or absence of gross tumor, and the titer of antibody paralleled the clinical course. These results suggest importance of a host-immune response to breast carcinoma. Fifty-seven patients with stage II carcinoma of the breast were entered into a prospective randomized adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy program of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil, and BCG vaccine +/- an irradiated allogeneic tumor cell vaccine. After 24 months of study, metastases occurred in two patients (3.5%) and a new primary carcinoma developed in the contralateral breast in two others, for an overall treatment failure rate of 7%. Adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy can delay early recurrence. Long-term follow-up is needed to assess the significance of these results.     

Sesamin modulation of lipid class and fatty acid profile in early juvenile teleost, Lates calcarifer, fed different dietary oils

Sesamin, a major sesame seed lignan, has diverse biological functions including the modulation of molecular actions in lipid metabolic pathways and reducing cholesterol levels. Vertebrates have different capacities to biosynthesize long-chain PUFA from dietary precursors and sesamin can enhance the biosynthesis of ALA to EPA and DHA in marine teleost. Early juvenile barramundi, Lates calcarifer, were fed for two weeks on diets rich in ALA or SDA derived from linseed or Echium plantagineum, respectively. Both diets contained phytosterols and less cholesterol compared with a standard fish oil-based diet. The growth rates were reduced in the animals receiving sesamin regardless of the dietary oil. However, the relative levels of n-3 LC-PUFA in total lipid, but not the phospholipid, increased in the whole body by up to 25% in animals fed on sesamin with ALA or SDA. Sesamin reduced the relative levels of triacylglycerols and increased polar lipid, and did not affect the relative composition of phospholipid subclasses or sterols. Sesamin is a potent modulator for LC-PUFA biosynthesis in animals, but probably will have more effective impact at advanced ages. By modulating certain lipid metabolic pathways, sesamin has probably disrupted the body growth and development of organs and tissues in early juvenile barramundi.     

Reactions of TATB-Based Explosive with Molten Metal

The reactions of combustion products (CO, H₂O) from the insensitive high explosive LX-17 (92.5 wt% 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB), 7.5 wt% Kel-F 800 binder) with molten metal (75 a%Nd, 25 a% Fe) were studied, to determine their contribution to the energy release rate of deflagrating LX-17, Kinetic data taken with gas mixtures of CO and H₂O, and larger-scale tests with LX-17, showed that the reactions were slow and incomplete and that there was no significant contribution to the energy release rate. From the tests with JX-17, the effective flame temperature and burn velocity were dependent on confinement of gas products. LX-17 preheated to 500 K - 510 K showed effective flame temperatures of 1100 K - 1400 K and burn rates of 0.08–0.11 mm/s, depending on the extent of gas confinement by the molten metal.     

Echium oil is better than rapeseed oil in improving the response of barramundi to a disease challenge

Pathogen infection stimulates the fatty acid (FA) metabolism and the production of pro-inflammatory derivatives of FA. Barramundi, Lates calcarifer, was fed on a diet rich in preformed long-chain (?C₂₀) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) from fish oil (FO), to compare with diets containing high levels of C₁₈ precursors for LC-PUFA – stearidonic (SDA) and γ-linolenic acid (GLA) – from Echium plantagineum (EO), or rapeseed oil (RO) rich in α-linolenic acid (ALA), but a poor source of LC-PUFA and their precursors. After 6 weeks, when growth rates were similar amongst the dietary treatments, a sub-lethal dose of Streptococcus iniae was administered to half of the fish, while the other half were maintained unchallenged and were pair-fed with the infected fish. Under a disease challenge situation, the tissue FA depots depleted at 3 days post-infection (DPI) and were then restored to their previous concentrations at 7 DPI. During the infection period, EO fish had a higher content of n3 and n6 PUFA in their tissues, higher n3:n6 PUFA ratio and reduced levels of the eicosanoids, TXB₂ and 6-keto-PGF_1α, in their plasma compared with RO fish. Fish fed on FO and EO had a longer lasting and enduring response in their FA and eicosanoid concentrations, following a week of bacterial infection, compared with those fed on RO. EO, containing SDA and GLA and with a comparatively higher n3:n6 PUFA ratio, proved more effective than RO in compensating for immunity stress.     

Comparison of unsteady flow calculations in a pipe by the method of characteristics and the two-step differential Lax-Wendroff method

This paper introduces a comparison of two of the methods which are most frequently used, at present, for the solution of an unsteady flow in the pipe system of internal combustion engines. These are (i) the method of characteristics and (ii) the two-step differential Lax-Wendroff method. In the case of homentropic flow a comparison is made between the lattice-point and mesh method of characteristics, and the two-step differential method is shown. In the case of non-homentropic flow the mesh method and two-step differential methods are also compared. The results show that for non-homentropic flow the two-step Lax-Wendroff method is faster and for engineering applications it is easier to implement on the computer.     

Using ROC curves to assess the efficacy of several detectors of damage-induced nonlinearities in a bolted composite structure

We offer a comparison of several different detectors of damage-induced nonlinearities in assessing the connectivity of a composite-to-metal bolted joint. Each detector compares the structure's measured vibrational response to surrogate data, conforming to a general model for the healthy structure. The strength of this approach to detection is that it works in the presence of certain types of varying ambient conditions and is valid for structures excited with any stationary process. Here we employ several such detectors using dynamic strain response data collected near the joint as the structure was driven using simulated wave forcing (taken from the Pierson–Moskowitz frequency distribution for wave height). In an effort to simulate in situ monitoring conditions the experiments were carried out in the presence of strongly varying temperatures. The performance of the detectors was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, a well known method for displaying detection characteristics. The ROC curve is well suited to the problem of vibration-based structural health monitoring applications where quantifying false positive and false negative errors is essential. The results of this work indicate that using the estimated auto-bicoherence of the systems response produced the best overall detection performance when compared to features based on a nonlinear prediction scheme and another based on information theory. For roughly 10% false alarms, the bicoherence detector gives nearly 90% probability of detection (POD). Conversely, for several of the other detectors 5–10% false alarms leads to 70% POD. While the bicoherence (and bispectrum) have been used previously in the context of damage detection, this work represents the first attempt at using them in a surrogate-based detection scheme.     

Power system phase rotation and polarized protective relays

Many common protective relays used in protection of power equipment are sensitive to phase sequence rotation of the utility supply. A method of analyzing the relay response to the respective phase rotation and other possible variables is described. It is demonstrated that phase rotation usually does not affect zero-sequence polarized relays. The technique is an exercise in voltage and current phasors, maximum torque lines of polarized relays, and the possible effect of system power factor. The following relays are discussed: directional power relay (IEEE Protective Device No.32) as used to protect prime movers on induction and synchronous generators from being motored by the generator due to loss of mechanical power; directional VAr relay (IEEE Protective Device No.55) as used to protect synchronous motors and synchronous generators from receiving VArs from the external power system due to loss of field excitation; directional current phase relay (IEEE Protective Device No.67) as used to detect reverse current flow into a power system from another source due to a system phase fault; and directional current ground relay (IEEE Protective Device No.67N) as used to detect reverse ground current flow into a power system from another source due to a system ground fault     

Controlling Home and Office Appliances with Smart Phones

Most home and office appliances contain microprocessors. All these appliances have some user interface, but many users become frustrated with their appliances' difficult, complex functions. However, a new framework, the personal universal controller (PUC), lets users interact with appliances through a separate user interface device that they carry. Smart phones are good candidates for providing interfaces because they're common, their communication capabilities connect users to appliances, and they're already being used for a wide range of applications. The framework includes an abstract specification language for describing appliances, a two-way communication protocol, and automatic interface generation software that customizes user interfaces. This article overviews the PUC system and describes in detail the design and implementation of automatic interface generation for Microsoft's Smartphone platform.     

A 1-Megapixel, progressive-scan image sensor with antibloomingcontrol and lag-free operation

A 1024-pixel×1024-pixel interline charge-coupled device (IL CCD) image sensor has been developed. It incorporates antiblooming and electronic exposure control while eliminating lag and obtaining a high responsivity. The novel features of this device include a noninterlaced, or progressive-scan, architecture and dual-horizontal registers that can be used to clock out the image area by one or two lines at a time. These features make it well suited for applications demanding high-resolution-image capture from a single, high-speed scan. The progressive-scan architecture of this device covers the same resolution in an electronic-camera application as that of a 2-million-element, interlaced device