Heat destruction of Salmonella in poultry feed: effect of time, temperature, and moisture

Presentation of our experience in three cases of urocolpos (acquired pudendal lip fusion), a series numerically equivalent to the total number of cases published until now. All patients in our series were older women and presented complete fusion of the small pudendal lips, with only a small pointed puncture in the lower part of the vulva. The main clinical signs and symptoms in our series were: urinary infection in 100%, false incontinence in 66% due to output of urine retained in the vagina, a symptom that has not been described earlier, and acute urine retention in 33%. All patients were successfully treated by means of surgical loosening of the fusioned lips and application of topical estrogens. An analysis is made of clinical and pathoanatomical features which differentiate this entity from the sclerotic and atrophic lichen. Finally, an etiopathogenic hypothesis is raised to explain the fusion acquired by the small pudendal lips in the urocolpos.     

Determination of tablet coating distribution by deconvolution of uncoated and coated tablet weight distributions

PURPOSE: The purpose of this research is to obtain the tablet coating distribution from weight distributions of uncoated and coated tablets. METHODS: The method of deconvolution with digital smoothing was used to calculate the distribution of coating applied to a tablet population from separate random measurements of individual uncoated and coated tablets. RESULTS: It was demonstrated that the calculated coating weight distribution agrees well with the measured distribution. The effect of the smoothing factor on the solution is illustrated. CONCLUSIONS: This method can be used during development to facilitate process scale-up/optimization. In routine production, the method can assess the reproducibility and consistency of a coating process.     

Performance implications of the thermal-induced frequency drift infast wavelength switched systems with heterodyne detection

The frequency modulation response and tuning dynamics of a two-section DFB laser are determined by carrier and thermal modulation of the active layer refractive index. In response to a step change in the injection current for switching between channels in a wavelength division multiplexed system, the optical frequency changes rapidly due to the carrier effect, and then slowly drifts toward a steady state value due to the thermal effect. For wavelength switched applications with heterodyne detection, the drifting of the optical frequency broadens the spectrum of the IF signal and may impose a limit on the time that the signal remains within the IF passband (residency time). The IF spectral broadening and residency time are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Based upon a minimum mean square error fit between experimental and theoretical FM responses, the dependence of the spectral broadening and residency time on the bias condition of the laser and the optical frequency switching interval is characterized     

X-ray diffraction study of phase transitions in Sr0.39Ba0.61Nb2O6 between 20 and 500 K

X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the ferroelectric mixed crystal Sr_0.39,Ba_0.61Nb₂O₆ (SBN-39) are recorded in Guinier geometry in a temperature range between 20 K and 500 K by means of the film-lift technique. The lattice parameters were refined for a single tetragonal structure in the whole temperature range ignoring the incommensurate (IC) modulation of the structure as well as a temperature dependent small splitting of reflections, most clearly observed for the (001)-type. These values show anomalies in the region of diffuse ferroelectric phase transition as well as below room temperature indicating the three other phase transitions. The splitting may be caused by a two-phase state of a relaxor-like ferroelectric system due to coexistence of polarized regions (clusters) and untransformed remnants of the para-phase.     

Antiarrhythmic effect related to the plasma concentration of pentisomide in vivo and the antiarrhythmic-concentration relationship in vitro

Pentisomide, 2-(2-diisopropylaminoethyl)-4-methyl-2-(pyridyl)- pentanamide, is a novel antiarrhythmic agent structurally related to disopyramide. Using a glass bead arrhythmic model, the authors studied the antiarrhythmic effect of pentisomide in dogs by monitoring the plasma concentrations. When pentisomide was infused at 1 mg/kg/min for 20 min, the ventricular tachycardia was significantly reduced at 5 min after starting the infusion; the arrhythmias were reduced to less than 5% at the end of the 20 min infusion. The plasma-free concentration of pentisomide was about 3 micrograms/ml at 5 min; it increased to about 10 micrograms/ml at the end of 20 min infusion. With 0.3 mg/kg/min infusion, the arrhythmias were reduced to about 60% but were not significant at 20 min of infusion. The plasma-free concentration of pentisomide did not reach 3 micrograms/ml until 20 min of infusion. The 3 micrograms/ml plasma-free concentration for pentisomide seems to be a critical concentration in inducing a significant antiarrhythmic effect. Pentisomide dose-dependently inhibited ischaemia-reperfusion arrhythmia at doses of 30 microM and higher concentrations in vitro. In conclusion, pentisomide inhibits arrhythmias dependent with the plasma concentration or with the concentration of the external solution. The critical plasma-free concentration for inhibition of arrhythmias was 3 micrograms/ml (not equal to 10 microM) and the in vitro effect also had a similar concentration. Therefore, the in vivo and in vitro antiarrhythmic concentrations were well correlated.     

The use of external, noninvasive pacing for the termination of supraventricular tachycardia in the emergency department setting

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the potential feasibility of external cardiac pacing for the termination of sustained supraventricular tachycardia in the emergency department setting. TYPE OF PARTICIPANTS: Three men and two women (mean age, 34 years) who presented to the ED with a narrow-complex, hemodynamically stable tachycardia that was later proven to be supraventricular in origin. INTERVENTION: Each patient underwent external overdrive pacing using a modified external pacemaker at a pulse amplitude of 120 mA and a rate between 240 and 280 pulses per minute. RESULTS: In four patients, external cardiac pacing was able to successfully terminate the tachycardia without complication. In one patient, the pacemaker was not able to terminate the tachycardia. CONCLUSION: We conclude that external, noninvasive pacing is a feasible means of terminating supraventricular tachycardia in the ED setting.     

Use of sea water in the flotation of carbonate rich sedimentary phosphate rock

There is an appreciable amount of carbonaceous sedimentary phosphate deposits in the northern Africa and the Middle East which are expected to gain importance in the near future because of the depletion of the deposits in Florida. In many of the regions where phosphate deposits are found there is a shortage of fresh water, and sea is not very far. The use of sea water instead of fresh water in flotation of carbonaceous phosphate rock is successfully demonstrated. Thus an appreciable reduction in the operating cost and an ample amount of saving in the fresh water resources of the region is expected.