Framestore system for map displays

The map displays project was undertaken to investigate techniques for the storage and display of geographical maps and related information and to develop the hardware and software required for a complete working system. Initially most of the project was concerned with the design of graphics hardware to be interfaced to a DEC LSI-11/03 micro-computer which was the main supply of computing power for the project. The development of one of the pieces of specialized hardware, the framestore display, is described.     

Induced piezoelectricity in isotropic biomaterial

Isotropic material can be made to exhibit piezoelectric effects by the application of a constant electric field. For insulators, the piezoelectric strain constant is proportional to the applied electric field and for semiconductors, an additional out-of-phase component of piezoelectricity is proportional to the electric current density in the sample. The two induced coefficients are proportional to the strain-dependent dielectric constant (depsilon/dS + epsilon) and resistivity (drho/dS - rho), respectively. The latter is more important at frequencies such that rhoepsilonomega less than 1, often the case in biopolymers. Signals from induced piezoelectricity in nature may be larger than those from true piezoelectricity.     

A histochemical investigation of catecholamines in spinal cord injury

The catecholamine hypothesis of progressive spinal cord necrosis following mechanical trauma was investigated with the histofluorometric method. Forty-four adult mongrel dog were examined as control, L1 crush-injured, and crush-injured with prior T1 total transection groups. In crush injured dogs, catecholamines were present in a 1 cm length of white matter at the crush site, with the greatest accumulation in the deep lateral and ventral funiculi. Gray matter fluorescence was not enhanced. Prior transection did not abolish the intense accumulation of catecholamines at the site of the cord injury. We propose that the catecholamines accumulating at the cord injured site are not central in origin, but represent an uptake mechanism into white matter as a reflection of cord microperfusion.     

Hospital-associated bacterial meningitis

Eighteen of 349 cases (5.2 per cent) of bacterial meningitis seen between 1949 and 1973 were hospital-associated (developed after admission to the hospital). The patients were adults, usually males, and developed symptoms and signs of meningitis from 2 to 23 days (mean, 10.1 days) after hospital admission. The diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was made from less than 1 day to 15 days (mean, 4.8 days) after the onset of symptoms. Fourteen of the 18 patients had received antibiotics during the week prior to developing meningitis. Nine (50 per cent) had a chronic, noninfection, underlying illness. Diagnostic or surgical procedures involving the neuraxis or adjacent structures preceded the development of meningitis in 10 of the 18 patients (56 per cent). Only 6 of the 18 patients survived their infection. Prompt recognition, diagnosis, and therapy of hospital-associated meningitis in high-risk patients may reduce the significant mortality.     

A diagnostic formula for alcoholism

Clinical pathologies with unusually high morbidities in alcoholic populations were analyzed to determine their capacity to diagnose alcoholism. On the basis of five systemic variables it was possible to diagnose correctly nearly 75% of alcoholic and matched control subjects.     

A multifactorial study of patients with asthma. Part 2: air pollution, animal dander and asthma symptoms

As part of a multifactorial computer-assisted study of patients with asthma, the relationship between air pollution, animal dander and asthma symptoms was evaluated. No association was found between four major air pollutants (carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide) and asthma symptoms. Patients who owned cats and dogs reported more severe asthma symptoms (p less than .01) than patients who did not own cats and dogs. The evaluations completed to date indicate that daily exposure to cats and dogs accounts for more of the asthma symptoms differences between patients than daily exposure to air pollutants.     

Gravimetric determination of soil carbon using the LECO induction furnace

A gravimetric method of determining soil carbon using a LECO high-frequency induction furnace is described. The results obtained using this method were compared with those obtained using two other gravimetric procedures: a wetoxidation method and a dry-combustion (680 °C) method which was taken as the standard. The results showed that the induction furnace method is satisfactory for the determination of soil carbon within the range covered by the 22 soils studied. The method is relatively simple and an operator can perform about 12 determinations/hour.     

Neck masses: diagnosis & treatment. (The occult primary tumor)

Solid dispersions of naltrexone in natural glycerides were used to form injectable implants which continuously release narcotic antagonists in vivo. The dispersions were formed and tested either as small cylindrical pellets, e.g. l x 3.0 mm in size, or as particles with diameters in size ranges between 125-250 mu, that are suspended in an aqueous methyl cellulose solution. Both types of implants delivered naltrexone to mice at rates that were effective in blocking the antiociceptive action of morphine for at least one month. The rate of naltrexone release was controlled by altering its concentration in the dispersion and by varying the glyceride composition. Degradation and absorption of the implants were found to depend on their composition, dimensions and location in the body. No appreciable tissue incompatibility was seen in mice, rats, rabbits, monkeys and swine, even when long-lasting preparations were removed a year after treatment.