The EMG development of the longissimus and multifidus muscles after plugging the horizontal semicircular canals

The intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expressed by endothelial cells is crucial in promoting adhesion and transmigration of circulating leukocytes across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Migrated immunocompetent cells, in turn, release mediators that stimulate glial and endothelial cells to express ICAM-1 and release cytokines, possibly sustaining cerebral damage. Following activation, proteolytic cleavage of membrane-anchored ICAM-1 results in measurable levels of a soluble form, sICAM-1. The aims of this study were to investigate the changes of sICAM-1 levels in ventricular CSF and serum and to elucidate the influence of structural brain damage as estimated by computerized tomography (CT) as well as the extent of BBB dysfunction as calculated by the CSF/serum albumin ratio (QA) in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). All investigated parameters revealed two subgroups. Patients belonging to group A had sICAM-1 levels in CSF above normal range, presented marked cerebral damage and a disturbance of the BBB (range 0.6-24.7 ng/ml, n = 8). In contrast, patients belonging to group B had no elevation of sICAM-1 values in CSF (range 0.3-3.9 ng/ml, n = 5; p < 0.017) and showed minor cerebral damage with an intact BBB in most cases. In addition, overall analysis showed that sICAM-1 in CSF correlated with the extent of BBB damage as indicated by the QA (r = 0.76; p < 0.001). These results suggest that increased sICAM-1 levels in CSF might depict ongoing immunologic activation and that sICAM-1 correlates with the extent of tissue and BBB damage. The origin of soluble ICAM-1 in CSF and its pathophysiologic role after TBI remains to be clarified.     

Surface and subsurface products of the interaction of O2 with Ag under catalytic conditions

Polycrystalline Ag treated with O₂ at pressures up to 1 bar and at temperatures up to 920 K was examined by TDS. It was found that the peak commonly observed at 595±25 K and assigned to adsorbed atomic oxygen (O_a) is shifted to higher desorption temperatures with rising dosing temperatures. Since saturation of the uptake was not possible either, this peak was identified as dissolved atomic oxygen (O_d). The existence of a maximum for the O₂ uptake after exposure at 820 K was found. Hence, under conditions of formaldehyde synthesis ( 920 K) the ability of the catalyst to dissolve oxygen is near its maximum.     

Preparation and characterization of a model system for the study of monolayers and multilayers of vanadia supported on titania

A model system for the study of structural and chemical properties of monolayers and multilayers of vanadium oxide immobilized on titania is presented. Investigation of the planar oxide-oxide interface by XP, UV and IS spectroscopy indicated that vanadium immobilized by a single impregnation step exists as an incomplete heterogeneous layer containing well dispersed V⁴⁺ species. Increase of the vanadia loading by multiple impregnations led to vanadia agglomerates with higher apparent oxidation state of the vanadium. TD spectroscopy with O₂ and CO₂ as probe molecules revealed that the chemical reactivity of the vanadia surface species depends on their structure. The surface containing well-dispersed vanadia species exchanged oxygen more easily and showed pronounced interactions with CO₂.     

The nature of the active phase of the Fe/K-catalyst for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene

The industrial catalyst for high temperature dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene based on iron and potassium oxides undergoes, under reaction conditions, essentially a transformation into magnetite, Fe₃O₄, and a mixture of ternary oxides containing trivalent iron, viz. K₂Fe₂₂O₃₄ and KFeO₂. The latter compound constitutes the outside of the catalyst particles and is indeed the catalytically active phase.     

On the nature of the active state of silver during catalytic oxidation of methanol

Under the applied high reaction temperatures (900 K) the Ag surface is restructured and a tightly held oxygen species is formed on the surface (O) apart from O atoms dissolved in the bulk (O). Methanol oxidation to formaldehyde proceeds through this O species as demonstrated by application of a variety of spectroscopic techniques.     

Oxidative coupling of methane on silver catalysts

Bulk silver catalysts were found to be active for the oxidative coupling of methane to ethane and ethylene if operated under oxygen-limited conditions at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures above 1020 K. The addition of small amounts of sodium phosphate as promoter increases markedly the C₂ selectivity (to values above 90%) and yield (>10%) by efficient suppression of reaction steps leading to total oxidation. Further improvement of the yields might be achieved by more appropriate reactor design.     

Photoelasticity Raycasting

We present a novel physically‐based method to visualize stress tensor fields. By incorporating photoelasticity into traditional raycasting and extending it with reflection and refraction, taking into account polarization, we obtain the virtual counterpart to traditional experimental polariscopes. This allows us to provide photoelastic analysis of stress tensor fields in arbitrary domains. In our model, the optical material properties, such as stress‐optic coefficient and refractive index, can either be chosen in compliance with the subject under investigation, or, in case of stress problems that do not model optical properties or that are not transparent, be chosen according to known or even new transparent materials. This enables direct application of established polariscope methodology together with respective interpretation. Using a GPU‐based implementation, we compare our technique to experimental data, and demonstrate its utility with several simulated datasets.