Ultrasonography of renal sinus lipomatosis

Gray scale B-scans in renal sinus lipomatosis show a variety of features which must be differentiated from clinically significant pathological processes. Normal kidneys show dense homogeneous central echoes. In renal sinus lipomatosis, however, the central echoes are divided and become more sparse (Type I), interspersed with small relatively echo-free areas (Type II), or outline a single relatively echo-free area resembling a mass (Type III). In contrast to similar features in hydronephrosis or multiple cysts, the relatively echo-free areas in lipomatosis are ill-defined and do present several weak internal echoes.     

Chromosome analysis in patients with sarcoidosis

Chromosome analysis of lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of 20 patients with sarcoidosis and 10 healthy controls showed a significantly greater number of hypomodal cells among the patients. Two patients receiving systemic treatment with glucocorticoids had many chromosomal aberrations.     

Bekämpfung der Computerkriminalität

Die Autoren setzen sich mit dem Gesetzentwurf zur Bek?mpfung der Computerkriminalit?t auseinander, insbesondere mit der Strafbarkeit des Einsatzes von Analysetools.     

Fabrication of Silicon Inverse Woodpile Photonic Crystals

Silicon inverse woodpile photonic crystals are fabricated for the first time. Our approach, which is based on direct laser writing of polymeric templates and a novel silicon single‐inversion procedure, leads to high‐quality structures with gap/midgap ratios of 14.2 %, centered at a wavelength of 2.5 μm. It is shown that gap/midgap ratios as large as 20.5 %, centered at 1.55 μm, may become possible in the future.     

Failures after operation for skeletal metastatic lesions of long bones

This study was based on 192 patients treated surgically for 228 metastatic lesions of the long bones from 1986 through 1995. The survival rate was 0.3 at 1 year after surgery. The surgical treatment consisted of resection and reconstruction of the involved bone (18), intralesional curettage (133), or stabilization only (77). Reconstruction was achieved by an endoprosthesis in 54 cases, by an osteosynthetic device in 162, by cement only in 10. In two cases no reconstruction was performed. The local failure rate was 11% and the median time to failure was 8 months. Local failure was most frequent in patients with kidney cancer (24%) and in diaphyseal and distal femoral lesions (20%). Among 162 operations involving osteosynthetic devices, 22 (14%) were failures as compared with one of 54 (2%) endoprostheses. Sixty percent of the patients received preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy. Five of the six patients who had surgery for local tumor progression had not received radiotherapy. Eight of 10 nonunions and all five patients who developed a stress fracture had been treated with radiotherapy. It is concluded that endoprosthetic reconstructions are preferable to osteosynthetic devices. The skeletal complications associated with radiotherapy may be circumvented by the use of endoprostheses.     

Public attitudes toward political and technological options for biofuels

This paper explores detailed public attitudes regarding the expanding range of biofuels technologies and policy options. Subjects from 34 in-depth focus groups in central Indiana were fairly knowledgeable about biofuels technologies, but uninformed about biofuels policies despite being from a state where biofuels are a salient political issue. A narrow majority was supportive of biofuels in general, but expressed greater enthusiasm about “second generation” biofuels. Subject beliefs about biofuels’ economic and environmental impacts were most important in shaping these opinions, rather than concerns about energy independence or other issues. In terms of policy options, subjects were most supportive of an alternative fuels standard and least supportive of a fixed subsidy and a cap and trade policy. In contrast to arguments about technologies, participants primarily framed their attitudes toward policies in terms of fairness. Although discussion did not substantially change aggregate preferences for most policies, it did increase support significantly for at least one policy proposal—a variable subsidy for ethanol. It is particularly noteworthy that subjects generally did not support the most common biofuel technology—corn-based ethanol—or the most prominent biofuels policy option—the fixed subsidy—despite residing in a state hosting a strong corn industry and staunch political advocates for both positions.     

Severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to Mycobacterium avium complex in a patient receiving immunosuppressive therapy

Intense immunosuppressive therapy is used frequently for treatment of systemic vasculitides, collagenoses, rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, and after organ transplantation. Numerous serious treatment-related side effects include localized or disseminated opportunistic infections, and require careful monitoring of immunosuppressed patients. Gastrointestinal infections with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) or other nontuberculous mycobacteria have been previously identified in HIV seropositive patients only. We now report the first case of an HIV seronegative patient who received immunosuppressive therapy for rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. The patient presented with severe lower gastrointestinal bleeding and was diagnosed to have ulcerative colitis due to infection with MAC. The patient recovered promptly after administration of antimycobacterial therapy. MAC infection should be included in the differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal bleeding in all immunodeficient patients. The significance of repeated colonoscopy to obtain multiple biopsy specimens with histological examination for foam cells and specific staining for acid-fast organisms is emphasized.     

The depolarization near-field scanning optical microscope: comparison of experiment and theory

The depolarization near-field scanning optical microscope allows for sub-wavelength optical resolution with uncoated optical fibre tips. We show by a simple thought experiment, by numerical solution of the Maxwell equations for a realistic geometry, and by direct experiments, that this novel apparatus images gradients of the dielectric function of a sample in the direction of the incident electric field vector. The near-field images obtained from experiment and theory agree well.     

Substitution von Torf durch Holz in Pflanzsubstraten

Ohne Zusammenfassung