Related donor marrow transplant for chronic myeloid leukemia: patient characteristics predictive of outcome

This article presents health expectancy calculations from Bulgaria for 1976-1992. The calculations are based on mortality statistics and data from a national information system from the Expert Medical Commissions on Working Capacity about loss of working capacity. Following internationally accepted terminology, the most appropriate term for the health expectancies presented here is "occupational handicap-free life expectancy' (OHFLE). Life expectancies were calculated as partial life expectancies from ages 16 to 59. Health expectancy calculations followed Sullivan's cross-sectional method with age and sex specific prevalence data on occupational handicap. Around 1985 a three- to four-fold increase in these prevalences occurred. The distribution of occupational handicaps over sexes, age groups and severity levels, however, remained fairly constant. The results show a decrease both in partial life expectancy within the age range 16-59 and in OHFLE at the age of 16 for men. For women a more or less stable partial life expectancy and a decrease in OHFLE at the age of 16 was found around 1985. The introduction of more incentives for people who successfully registered probably caused the decrease around 1985. Major social changes may have acted as confounding factors for the fluctuations after 1985. On the other hand the findings may reflect real changes in population health due to an increasing incidence in some major disease categories. The nation-wide system for assessment and registration of health related working incapacity has proved a useful source for an attempt to calculate OHFLE. Given uncertainties about the population health underlying these changes in OHFLE, however, it is recommended that health interview and health examination surveys should be considered as alternative routes for achieving a more comprehensive picture of population health in Bulgaria.     

Three-dimensional nanometric sub-surface imaging of a silicon flip-chip using the two-photon optical beam induced current method

Two- and three-dimensional sub-surface optical beam induced current imaging of a silicon flip-chip is described and is illustrated by results corresponding to 166 nm lateral resolution and an axial performance capable of localising feature depths to around 100 nm accuracy. The experimental results are compared with theoretically modelled performance based on analytic expressions for the system point spread functions valid for high numerical apertures, and are interpreted using numerical geometric ray tracing calculations. Examples of depth-resolved feature profiling are presented and include depth cross-sections through a matrix of tungsten vias and a depth-resolved image of part of a poly-silicon wire.     

Test method for measuring non-visible set-off from inks and lacquers on the food-contact surface of printed packaging materials

The main objective was to develop a technique to expose spots of invisible set-off of inks and lacquers on the food-contact surface of food-packaging materials. Set-off is the unintentional transfer of components of printing inks from the outer printed surface onto the food-contact surfaces. The target sensitivity was 20 µg cm^-2 and the technique should be capable of examining large areas of printed substrate for no more than 4% coverage by set-off. These requirements equate to an ability to detect a worst-case migration potential of less than 50 µg kg^-1. Other objectives were the industrial requirements that the equipment should be inexpensive, should be easy to use by existing personnel and should preferably be non-destructive with a clear criterion for pass or fail. The approaches investigated included chemical analysis of solvent extracts, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and microbeam analytical techniques, but these were found to be cumbersome and had only limited success. The objectives were achieved using an optical approach to excite and observe luminescence from invisible set-off. In model experiments, resins were applied to different substrates (plastic, paper and cartonboard). For a given resin on a given material, the key to success was to maximize the discrimination between the luminescence from the resin and that from the substrate by selecting the optimal combination of exciting wavelength and viewing goggles with selective wavelength filters. The required level of detection (20 µg cm^-2) was achieved or exceeded for all ten resins tested on three different plastics. It was also achieved for two different papers and in all but four cases of the resins on three different cartonboards. Quantitation was achieved by the use of a calibration palette prepared using different quantities of resin spotted onto the relevant blank packaging material.     

National dermatology manpower requirements: the experience of prepaid group practices

Ten prepaid group health plans across the country were surveyed as part of an effort to estimate the need for dermatologists in the United States. Although generalizing the experiences of prepaid group practices to the general population is at best an imprecise approach, the dramatic shortage suggested by the data cannot be completely ascribed to the method used. Whereas the average ratio in the surveyed plans was 2.8 dermatologists per 100,00 subscribers, there are only about 1.9 dermatologists providing patient care per 100,000 persons in the general population. The difference between prepaid plan subscribers and the general population in annual visits to dermatologists is even more dramatic: 193 per 1,000 subscribers compared to 84 per 1,000 population.     

The water vapour sorption properties of thermally modified and densified wood

The water vapour sorption behaviour of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Scots pine that was densified, thermally-modified, or subjected to a combination of thermal modification and densification has been investigated. It was found that all modifications resulted in a decrease in the equilibrium moisture content of the wood samples throughout the hygroscopic range. The water vapour sorption isotherms were reproducible for the unmodified wood samples, but changed between the first and subsequent sorption cycles for the densified, thermally-modified and for wood subjected to a combination of the two treatments. This is the first time that changes in the sorption isotherm between the first and subsequent cycles have been reported for thermally-modified wood. Irrespective of the wood treatment the difference between the adsorption and desorption isotherm loops (sorption hysteresis) was the same and greater than that observed for the unmodified wood sample. After the first sorption cycle, the hysteresis decreased to the values observed for the unmodified wood, even though the isotherms were different. The sorption kinetic behaviour was also investigated and found to be accurately described using the parallel exponential kinetics (PEK) model. The PEK model describes the dynamic sorption behaviour in terms of a fast and slow kinetic process and this has been interpreted in terms of two Kelvin-Voigt elements coupled in series (i.e. relaxation-limited kinetics).