Pain threshold values during periodontal probing: assessment of maxillary incisor and molar sites

Probing pain threshold (PPT) assessments were conducted in the facial and oral sulci of maxillary central incisors and first molars of 10 periodontally healthy adults. All subjects were systemically healthy, free of pain, and reported no current medication usage. A computer-linked electronic probe, modified to deliver steadily increasing forces up to 200 grams, was used to collect the data. The system contained a subject operated "off-switch" which, upon activation, signaled the computer to record the subject's PPT. Assessments of each subject's PPTs were conducted on 3 separate occasions at 7-day intervals. Results indicated that the facial sulci of the incisors were the most pain sensitive. They displayed a mean PPT of 50.9 +/- 26.6 grams. The oral sulci of the incisors exhibited a mean PPT of 76.5 +/- 45.2 grams. Facial and oral sulci of the molars evidenced mean PPT values of 102.6 +/- 52.1 grams and 113.5 +/- 51.3 grams, respectively. These data suggest that sulci associated with incisor teeth are nearly twice as pain sensitive as sulci associated with molar teeth. In addition, facial sulci are significantly more pain sensitive than oral sulci. Data did not indicate a visit effect nor a side-of-mouth effect on PPT values.     

Refractory head and neck pain. A difficult problem and a new alternative therapy

Mitral valve repair was performed in six patients by transferring the posterior tricuspid leaflet with its sub-valvular apparatus onto the mitral valve. This new technique considers the tricuspid valve as the patients own tissue bank where the posterior leaflet and eventually the adjacent part of the anterior leaflet is used as a "donor" valve, based on the knowledge that the right atrio-ventricular valve can be efficiently repaired with a very low risk of significant dysfunction. The mitral repair consists of incorporating the tricuspid autograft by securing the tricuspid papillary muscle to the mitral papillary muscle and by suturing the leaflet tissue where required. A mitral annuloplasty ring reinforces the repair. The tricuspid valve is subsequently repaired by annular plication and leaflet suture. A tricuspid ring is necessary to maintain efficient remodeling. The six patients ages ranged from 20 to 70 years. A etiology, was rheumatic in the first case and degenerative in the following. In three cases, sterilised endocarditis was responsible for ruptured chordae and leaflet destruction. The mitral insufficiency was located in a commissural area in 4 cases, and was due to a widespread posterior prolapse in 2. Post-operative control transesophageal echocardiography confirmed the excellent results of the repair and proved that, in selected cases, the tricuspid leaflet inserted onto the mitral apparatus is very efficient in correcting mitral insufficiency, without causing significant tricuspid impairment. With a 3 to 7 month follow-up, the results are stable.     

Community intervention with the elderly: a social network approach

A technique is described for using the advantages of a social systems approach when working with elderly persons in psychiatric distress. The technique is based on the assumption that the solution to a variety of human predicaments lies within the collective instrumental and affective resources of the client's social network. The vehicle for accomplishing this objective is the "Network Session" during which a mental health professional meets with the elderly person and members of his/her social network to help resolve the difficulty. A case report demonstrating use of the technique is included.     

A comparison of As and P-based semiconductors grown at low temperatures by MBE and GSMBE

Materials grown at low temperatures by molecular beam epitaxy techniques have exhibited high resistivity after annealing, and sub-picosecond carrier recombination times. Depending on growth parameters, the nonstoichiometric material can contain a high density of group V antisite defects and precipitates of group V and group III atoms. It is well known that a high density of As antisites and As precipitates formed in GaAs contribute to the high resistance. InP grown at low temperatures was also observed to contain precipitates consisting of both P and In. The latter material however does not exhibit the high resistivity of GaAs. This behavior may be due to the presence of indium or P antisite defects.     

Low resistance pd/ge ohmic contacts to epitaxially lifted-off n-type GaAs film

A low resistance PdGe nonalloyed ohmic contact has been successfully formed to epitaxially lifted-off n-type GaAs films. The contact is made by lifting off partially metallized n-type GaAs films using the epitaxial lift-off method and bonding them to metallized Si substrates by natural intermolecular Van Der Waals forces. Low temperature sintering (200°C) of this contact results in metallurgical bonding and formation of the ohmic contact. We have measured specific contact resistances of 5 × 10⁻⁵ Ω-cm₂ which is almost half the value obtained for pure Pd contacts. Germanium forms a degenerately doped heterojunction interfacial layer to GaAs. Our experimental results show that germanium diffuses to the interface and acts as a dopant layer to n-GaAs film surface. Therefore, for epitaxially lifted-off n-type GaAs films, PdGe is a low resistance ohmic metal contact to use.     

A statistical model of FM-TV spectra for satellite interference and distortion prediction

The requirement for a model of FM-TV spectra in the planning procedure of satellite communication systems is introduced. Based on long-term measurements of live TV channels, statistical properties of video spectra are examined and probability distributions for the luminance and chrominance components are proposed. The spectrum of the frequency-modulated signal is then derived, and signal distortion due to bandlimiting is calculated. Adjacent and cochannel interference effects are also investigated, with example cases illustrating influences of subcarrier loading and energy dispersion. The proposed model, which describes FM-TV spectra in terms of random variables, makes it possible to examine relative effects of system parameters, and will, therefore, be of benefit in the planning of new satellite services.     

Studies of random demands on network costs

When network demands are uncertain, a planner might design a network based on some nominal set of point‐to‐point demands, and later be faced with a different set of offered demands. To accommodate the offered demands, modification of the network may be required. Given this scenario, it seems natural to question how these modification costs might affect the overall cost. To address such questions, we study the effects of random demands on network costs. In this study, we design a network based on nominal demands, generate random demands based on the nominal demands, and then modify the designed network to carry the random demands. We generate the offered demands randomly from four different distributions. For each demand distribution we perform 300 simulations. This paper describes our observations. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A 32-bit PowerPC system-on-a-chip with support for dynamic voltage scaling and dynamic frequency scaling

A PowerPC system-on-a-chip processor which makes use of dynamic voltage scaling and on-the-fly frequency scaling to adapt to the dynamically changing performance demands and power consumption constraints of high-content, battery powered applications is described. The PowerPC core and caches achieve frequencies as high as 380 MHz at a supply of 1.8 V and active power consumption as low as 53 mW at a supply of 1.0 V. The system executes up to 500 MIPS and can achieve standby power as low as 54 /spl mu/W. Logic supply changes as fast as 10 mV//spl mu/s are supported. A low-voltage PLL supplied by an on-chip regulator, which isolates the clock generator from the variable logic supply, allows the SOC to operate continuously while the logic supply voltage is modified. Hardware accelerators for speech recognition, instruction-stream decompression and cryptography are included in the SOC. The SOC occupies 36 mm/sup 2/ in a 0.18 /spl mu/m, 1.8 V nominal supply, bulk CMOS process.