H] Tryptamine and 3H-water as diffusible internal standards for measuring brain extraction of radio-labeled substances following carotid injection

Urinary amino acid excretion was determined in 31 leukemic patients and 29 normal individuals by rapid gas chromatographic analysis of 16 amino acids as their N-acetyl-n-propyl esters. The leukemic patients were concurrently undergoing, or had recently completed, chemotherapy. It was found that aspartic acid, threonine, and serine were of significance in distinguishing between patients "on" therapy and those "off" therapy. Patients with advanced disease have the greatest aminoaciduria, although both the normal and leukemic populations have wide individual ranges. Within both populations, men excrete a greater variety and quantity of amino acids than women. It is concluded that analysis of urinary amino acids represents a history of complex metabolic events, which is potentially useful for evaluating patient response to chemotherapy in leukemia.     

A Strange Application of Kolmogorov Complexity

This paper deals with two similar inequalities: where K denotes simple Kolmogorov entropy (i.e., the very first version of Kolmogorov complexity having been introduced by Kolmogorov himself) and KP denotes prefix entropy (self-delimiting complexity by the terminology of Li and Vitanyi [1]). It turns out that from (1) the following well-known geometric fact can be inferred: where V is a set in three-dimensional space, S _xy , S _yz , S _xz are its three two-dimensional projections, and |W| is the volume (or the area) of W . Inequality (2), in its turn, is a corollary of the well-known Cauchy—Schwarz inequality. So the connection between geometry and Kolmogorov complexity works in both directions. Received April 20, 1993, and in final form December 6, 1993.     

COBRA-STAR, a five frame point-projection x-ray imaging system for 1 MA scale wire-array Z pinches

A new imaging system for 1 MA scale wire-array Z-pinch experiments that produces up to five high-resolution x-ray images per experimental pulse has been developed. Calibrated areal density measurements of the Z-pinch plasma can be obtained from each pulse. The system substitutes five molybdenum (Mo) X pinches for the normal copper return-current conductors to provide point sources of x-rays for point-projection radiography. Each backlighting X pinch consists of four Mo wires, the x-ray burst timing of which was controlled by varying the wire diameter (mass) from 10.2 to 30 microm in the five X pinches. Typical images have a 16x8 mm2 field of view at the wire array and a magnification of about 6.5:1 on the x-ray-sensitive film. Titanium (Ti) filters in front of the films transmit continuum radiation in the spectral range of 3-5 keV. Inclusion on the Ti of a step wedge having known thickness increments of the same material as the wires enables the calibrated areal density measurements to be made of the exploding wire plasmas. Here, we used tungsten (W) step wedges with step thicknesses ranging from 0.015 to 1.1 microm to obtain accurate (+/-10%) areal density measurements of W plasmas from the spatial profile of film exposure. When imaging arrays that produce intense radiation pulses, a plastic monofilament "quencher" is placed on axis to avoid film saturation. Images have subnanosecond temporal resolution and about 7 microm spatial resolution.     

Diamantartige Kohlenstoffschichten steigern die Effizienz

Diamond‐like carbon thin films enhance efficiency — laser arc deposition of ta‐C Rising prices for fossil fuels as well as the increasing effects of the climate change due to the emission of greenhouse gases reveal the necessity of saving energy. Low friction coatings have an enormous potential in saving energy. Carbon based coatings — named as DLC coatings — are especially well suited for low friction coatings. In particular hydrogen‐free tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta‐C) coatings are of great interest due to their extraordinary low wear properties. In addition they show excellent low friction properties and especially in combination with specific lubricants the so‐called super low friction effect. For the deposition of ta‐C coatings PVD methods have to be applied instead of CVD methods as it is the case for conventional DLC coatings. We have developed a deposition method which is based on a pulsed arc steered by a laser (Laser‐Arc). This allows us to use large cathodes resulting in a high long‐term stability. Furthermore, the carbon plasma source can be combined with a filtering unit removing almost all droplets and particles, which usually are characteristic for an arc process. The resulting Laser‐Arc source allows for the deposition of smooth and virtually defect‐free ta‐C coatings with a competitive deposition rate.     

A Comparison of Fresh Frozen vs. Formalin-Fixed,Paraffin-Embedded Specimens of Canine Mammary Tumors via Branched-DNA Assay

Mammary neoplasms are the tumors most affecting female dogs and women. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are an invaluable source of archived biological material. Fresh frozen (FF) tissue is considered ideal for gene expression analysis. However, strategies based on FFPE material offer several advantages. Branched-DNA assays permit a reliable and fast workflow when analyzing gene expression. The aim of this study was to assess the comparability of the branched-DNA assay when analyzing certain gene expression patterns between FF and FFPE samples in canine mammary tumors. RNA was isolated from 109 FFPE samples and from 93 FF samples of different canine mammary tissues. Sixteen (16) target genes (Tp53; Myc; HMGA1; Pik3ca; Mcl1; MAPK3; FOXO3; PTEN; GATA4; PFDN5; HMGB1; MAPK1; BRCA2; BRCA1; HMGA2; and Her2) were analyzed via branched-DNA assay (b-DNA). ACTB, GAPDH, and HPRT1 were used as data normalizers. Overall, the relative gene expression of the two different origins of samples showed an agreement of 63%. Still, care should be taken, as FFPE specimens showed lower expression of the analyzed targets when compared to FF samples. The fact that the gene expression in FFPE proved to be lower than in FF specimens is likely to have been caused by the effect of storage time. ACTB had the best performance as a data normalizer.