Interaction of soliton with sinusoidal wave packet

The interaction of a soliton of the Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation (NSE) with a weak sinusoidal wave packet is treated analytically. The second-order soliton solution containing the original soliton and a perturbing soliton is expanded to first order in the amplitude of the perturbating soliton. From this expansion, one obtains the associate function of Gordon (1992) and a continuous change of position and phase of the perturbed soliton. One finds that the soliton experiences a second-order change of velocity under the influence of the perturbation. This result is then used to derive the displacement due to a wave packet of general shape, which is also confirmed by computer simulation     

R.A.P.I.D. Reconstructive alternative for prosthetics in implant dentistry

As stated at the outset, this technique is not for every case. Each case must be selected with great care, consideration and careful planning. In concert with observing the Implant Lighthouses, this technique can produce a successful case. It can be done to save time, without compromising the prescribed techniques and quality.     

An antinociceptive effect of the intraperitoneal injection of nifedipine in rats, measured by tail-flick test

The tail-flick (TF) technique was used to assess the antinociceptive properties of nifedipine (NIF) given intraperitoneally (i.p.). First, the most suitable intensity of the noxious stimulus (temperature of the bulb) has been ascertained and used in the main study. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received NIF, dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at the doses of 0.0, 0.5, 2, 5, 10 and 15 mg/kg, or control with no injection. For the main study, the noxious stimulus was limited to 15 sec (cut-off time) and TF latencies were recorded up to 120 min. The antinociceptive response was expressed as the area under the curve for each rat and analyzed by one-way ANOVA. The antinociceptive response to the lower doses of NIF (0.5 and 2 mg/kg) did not differ from control (no injection) and DMSO alone. Significance was found at 5, 10 and 15 mg NIF with no difference among the doses. However, there was an increasing tendency of the mean values from 0.5 to 15 mg NIF resulting in a positive correlation. The correlation coefficient was 0.32483 (p = 0.015) and regression equation Y = (19.37) x dose + 1320. Our data suggest that spinal mechanisms are involved in NIF-induced antinociception.     

Tripartite hemolysin BL from Bacillus cereus. Hemolytic analysis of component interactions and a model for its characteristic paradoxical zone phenomenon

This study describes the use of the microdialysis technique to elucidate specific properties of the circadian pacemaking system in the hypothalamus, by measurement of melatonin production in the pineal gland. Melatonin has appeared to be a reliable marker of the pacemaker activity, which is influenced by the light/dark cycle. A phase shift in the light/dark cycle was applied to perturb the rhythm generating system. An 8-h phase advance resulted in the disappearance of melatonin production over two days, with basal levels comparable to normal daytime levels. In the subsequent return of rhythmic melatonin production, new clock characteristics could be revealed, due to the high time-resolution measurements of microdialysis. While half of the animals still did not show any rhythmicity, the other half of the animals regained rhythmicity with entrained onset of melatonin production, while the offset was variable and not stably entrained to lights on. Ten days after the shift, the system had completely recovered and all animals regained normal rhythmicity, in phase with the new light/dark cycle. The results are interpreted in terms of the two-oscillator model, with one oscillator reacting with a phase advance and the other with a phase delay to adapt to the phase shift.     

Conserved features of TBE1 transposons in ciliated protozoa

BACKGROUND: Accessory function (AF) is one way antigen presenting cells generate sufficient secondary signals for optimal T-cell proliferation and IL-2 production. In general, alveolar macrophages (AM) are inferior accessory cells in comparison to monocytes whereas in sarcoidosis AF of AM is increased. METHODS: We compared the accessory index (AI) of AM and peripheral blood monocytes (PBM) of 41 patients with inactive sarcoidosis (SAR I, n = 12); active sarcoidosis with new or progressing symptoms (SAR II, n = 19), active sarcoidosis with spontaneous remission (SAR III, n = 10), tuberculosis (TB, n = 12), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP, n = 12), Wegener's disease (WD, n = 2), undefined alveolitis (UA, n = 8) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 6) by employing the histoincompatibility-insensitive Jurkat cells as indicator cells. RESULTS: Compared with the controls (1.08 +/- 0.3) AMs of all groups but SAR I (AI: 0.96 +/- 0.42) exhibited significantly increased AIs (SAR II: 3.6 +/- 3.9; SAR III: 3.2 +/- 2.4; TB: 2.8 +/- 2.2; HP: 3 +/- 2; UA: 2.7 +/- 2.3; COPD: 3.1 +/- 2.2; p < 0.05 for all comparisons). Only in HP, AI of PBM was significantly increased compared with controls (3 +/- 1.5, 1.3 +/- 0.5, respectively; p < 0.001). Alveolar macrophages from patients with arcoidosis, TB, and HB express the costimulatory molecule CD80 on their surface and anti-CD80 antibodies inhibited the IL-2 release of Jurkat cells in this system to 59 +/- 27%. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that AM from patients with various diseases have the capability to act as competent accessory cells and that the reported accessory function of these cells is at least in part mediated by the expression of CD80.     

Dyspnea resulting from phrenic nerve paralysis after interscalene brachial plexus block in an obese male--a case report

While current psychiatric taxonomies recognise a classification of amphetamine dependence, derived from the notion of an alcohol dependence syndrome, little research has validated that such a condition exists for this drug. Current amphetamine users (N = 331), were interviewed using the World Health Organization operationalisation of DSM-III-R substance dependence criteria, and a measure of the psychological components of dependence. Structural analyses indicated that a unidimensional dependence syndrome as assessed by DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria exists for amphetamine, and that physiological, psychological and behavioural indicators were all important in accounting for the variance in responses. It was demonstrated that the concept of a dependence syndrome is applicable to amphetamine, and that the inclusion of the amphetamine dependence syndrome in DSM-III-R and DSM-IV is valid.     

Growth of Helicobacter pylori in candle jars

OBJECTIVES: To examine stability of -glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity in stored serum from neonatal calves. ANIMALS: 10 commercial beef calves between 36 and 60 hours old. PROCEDURE: Serum samples were obtained from the calves, and each sample was divided into 8 aliquots. Serum GGT activity was measured on day 0 (fresh) and days 1, 2, 3, and 4 of refrigerated storage (4 C) and weeks 1, 2, and 3 of frozen storage (-20 C). RESULTS: Serum GGT activities for each of the refrigerated aliquots did not significantly differ from day zero, with serum GGT activity (expressed as a percentage of initial activity) > 99% on all 4 days. Serum GGT activity in frozen aliquots decreased significantly after 1 and 2 weeks of frozen storage, 97 and 98%, respectively; however, this decrease in GGT activity was not biologically significant. The observed GGT activity did not decrease significantly in the samples stored frozen for 3 weeks; these samples retained 99% of initial activity. CONCLUSION: The observed stability of serum GGT activity indicates that serum may be obtained, stored, and batch processed at a later time. This stability during storage is important to the success of a bovine passive transfer monitoring program based on GGT activity.     

An extraction method to determine interconnect parasitic parameters

Interconnect parasitic parameters in integrated circuits have significant impact on circuit speed. An accurate monitoring of these parameters can help to improve interconnect performance during process development, provide information for circuit design, or give useful reference for circuit failure analysis. Existing extraction methods either are destructive (such as SEM measurement) or can determine only partial parasitic parameters (such as large capacitor measurement). In this paper, we present a new method for extracting interconnect parasitic parameters, which can simultaneously determine the interlayer and intralayer capacitances, line resistance, and effective line width. The method is based on two test patterns of the same structure with different dimensions. The structure consumes less wafer area than existing methods. The method shows good agreement with SEM measurement of dielectric thickness in both nonglobal planarized and chemical-mechanical polished processes, and gives accurate prediction of the process spread of a ring oscillator speed over a wafer     

SHARED: An information model for cooperative product development

One fundamental issue in developing collaborative engineering systems is the representation of product information which supports communication and coordination. This product information includes not only the geometric and physical properties of the product and its parts, but also information about functions, constraints and the design rationale. In this paper, we describe an information model, SHARED, which was developed for encoding product information in DICE, a distributed and integrated environment for computer-aided engineering. SHARED provides multiple levels of both functional and geometric abstractions, multiple views and techniques for maintaining consistency between the various abstractions and views. These elements are essential for a good representation model of product information. The use of the SHARED model is illustrated through an example, depicting the various representations of a product as it evolves through the design process. The SHARED model has been implemented over a distributed OODBMS as a toolkit/framework for developing environments which need to model, manipulate and communicate product information between distributed cooperating applications, while supporting coordination between them.