SedLog: A shareware program for drawing graphic logs and log data manipulation

SedLog is a free multi-platform software package for creating graphic sediment logs providing an intuitive graphical user interface. The graphic sediment logs generated by SedLog can be exported as PDF, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), or JPEG for use by other drawing applications or for publications. Log data can be imported and exported in Comma Separated Values (CSV) format. The logs can also be printed to any paper size the user wants. Zoom In, Zoom Out, Fit page, Fit Height and Fit Width facilities are also provided to enable the user to customise the workspace size.     

Ensemble data assimilation in the presence of cloud

In numerical weather prediction (NWP) data assimilation (DA) methods are used to combine available observations with numerical model estimates. This is done by minimising measures of error on both observations and model estimates with more weight given to data that can be more trusted. For any DA method an estimate of the initial forecast error covariance matrix is required. For convective scale data assimilation, however, the properties of the error covariances are not well understood.An effective way to investigate covariance properties in the presence of convection is to use an ensemble-based method for which an estimate of the error covariance is readily available at each time step. In this work, we investigate the performance of the ensemble square root filter (EnSRF) in the presence of cloud growth applied to an idealised 1D convective column model of the atmosphere. We show that the EnSRF performs well in capturing cloud growth, but the ensemble does not cope well with discontinuities introduced into the system by parameterised rain. The state estimates lose accuracy, and more importantly the ensemble is unable to capture the spread (variance) of the estimates correctly. We also find, counter-intuitively, that by reducing the spatial frequency of observations and/or the accuracy of the observations, the ensemble is able to capture the states and their variability successfully across all regimes.     

Heroin related overdose problems

During the first ten months of 1992 the Oslo Ambulance Department registered 716 incidences of assumed drug-related intoxications. 80% happened in down town Oslo. 19 cases of asystoly were recorded, 13 of the patients recovered after treatment, without sequelae. Five of these patients left the location after emergency help and they refused hospitalization. 432 of the patients were unconscious when the ambulance personal arrived, 472 were treated with naloxone both by the intramuscular and the intravenous route. Most of the persons refused further observation. A team of specially trained out reach workers offers help after acute medical treatment by means of "streetwork". The intervention is directed at addicts who have experienced an overdose.     

Application of polymerase chain reaction for the correlation of Salmonella serovars recovered from greyhound feces with their diet

The polymerase chain reaction was employed to correlate Salmonella serovars isolated from fecal material of greyhounds suffering from gastroenteritis with those isolated from the diet fed to the greyhounds prior to onset of diarrhea. Kennels around the Abilene, Kansas, area were contacted and supplied with materials needed to collect a portion of the diet each day. With the onset of diarrhea, the kennels were instructed to ship the fecal material and diet from the previous 10 days to the laboratory for testing. Forty-one fecal samples and corresponding diets were screened for Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter jejuni, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus intermedius, and pathogenic (piliated) Escherichia coli by direct culture using standard procedures. The fecal material was also screened for coronavirus and parvovirus using electron microscopy. Thirty-five "normal" fecal samples were screened for all of the above mentioned microorganisms as a control. In addition, the fecal material was screened for E. coli verotoxins I and II and clostridial enterotoxins. A total of 61 Salmonella isolates were recovered from the 41 samples of feces and diet submitted for testing; 31 were recovered from the feces and 30 from the diet. Four Salmonella isolates were recovered from the normal fecal samples. Results obtained by PCR, plasmid profiles, antigenic analysis, and antibiogram profiles indicated that 16 of the 31 isolates recovered from the fecal material were the same strain as that recovered from the diet.     

Acute effect of inorganic iodide after 131I therapy for hyperthyroidism

Patients treated with inorganic iodide weeks to years following 131I therapy for hyperthyroidism do not adapt to its antithyroid effect. To determine whether such adaptation occurs soon after 131I therapy, serum thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations were measured daily for 9-14 days following 131I therapy in seventeen hyperthyroid patients. Nine patients received 150 mg KI daily starting 48 h after 131I administration; eight received only 131I. Serum T4 and T3 concentrations did not change significantly in the patients who received only 131I. In the patients who received 131I and KI, serum T4 and T3 concentrations fell promptly, reaching nadir values 2-10 days after initiation of iodide, and then increased despite continuation of KI therapy. The mean maximal fall in serum T4 was 34% and in serum T3 42%. These results show that "escape" from the acute anti-thyroid effect of iodide occurs when it is given immediately after 131I therapy, thus limiting the utility of iodide as a therapeutic agent at this time.     

Creatine kinase isoenzymes in serum from cord blood and the blood of healthy full-term infants during the first three postnatal days

Isoenzymes of creatine kinase (ATP:creatine phosphotransferase; EC 2.7.3.2; CK) were measured by electrophoresis in serum from cord blood and skin-puncture blood taken from 45 healthy full-term infants during the first three postnatal days. Mean total CK activities (in U/L at 30 degrees C) were 185 in cord samples, 536 in samples taken between 5--8 h postnatally, 494 between 24--33 h, and 288 in the 72-100 h samples. Values for all three isoenzymes increased to a peak over this period, with the highest values generally being found in the samples taken 5--33 h after birth; the subsequent decline was most rapid for CK-BB. Serum CK isoenzymes in cord samples and those taken at 72--100 h in the 11 babies delivered by cesarian section did not differ significantly from those of babies delivered vaginally. However the postnatal increases in total CK, CK-MM, and CK-MB (but not in CK-BB) were significantly greater in those patients born by vaginal delivery. The reasons for the increases in CK isoenzymes after birth are not clear, but our results and reported studies on the ontogeny of CK suggest that CK-MB cannot be regarded as a "cardiac-specific" isoenzyme in the neonatal period.     

Ethics of the distribution of health care

While the concept of a "right to health care" has been evolving in the United States, this should be distinguished from "the right to health," guaranteed in the constitutions of many socialist countries. In an effort to promote "quality of life" for their citizens, governments can, and do provide health care, but this does not always lead to health. In so doing, governments open access to care for those previously underserved--or unserved. For the United States at this time the goal becomes one of assuring equity, which will likely be achieved by locally based private and/or governmental entities, federated for greater efficiency and regulated by federal and state governments. Such programs will be staffed by a new breed of physician, the medical student of today.