Perfection of methodical approaches to designing vaccines against tick-borne encephalitis

Nine female patients with a urethral diverticulum were admitted to our center over a six period: The clinical symptomatology was not specific. The diagnosis has been performed by voiding and retrograde cysto-uretrogram. The surgical treatment consisted in the excision of the diverticula, with the patient in the supine position. No perioperative morbidity was observed.     

Resonant couplers acting as add-drop filters made withsilica-on-silicon waveguide technology

Add-drop filters are demonstrated using silica-on-silicon optical waveguide technology. This device consists of a full directional coupler subdivided by Mach-Zehnder sections. Tapering of the coupling coefficients is experimentally shown to dramatically reduce the filters' sidelobes. Only one photolithographic step is required using the silica planar waveguide technology, yielding accurate wavelength control of the filters. Excellent agreement between measurement and design was achieved     

The role of dopamine in the mechanism of the regulation of the digestive-transport functions of the enterocyte membrane during stress

The L-DOPA and sulpiridinum effects on the enzymatic transporting function of the enterocytes' membrane, were studied in rats under stress. The L-DOPA was shown to hinder the absorption rate of glucose, whereas sulpiridinum was shown to suppress the main enzymes excepting snerase and alkaline phosphatase, to increase the monomeric and hydrolysate glucose transport. The L-DOPA seems to play a modifying role in the regulation and integration of the digestive-transporting function of the enterocytes' membrane in rats under stress.     

Prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms in three French cities

BACKGROUND: This study is part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS), which uses a common methodology in different areas throughout the world. This paper describes the prevalences of reported asthma, asthma-like symptoms and nasal allergies, their relationships to age group and sex, and the relationships of asthma-like symptoms to current asthma, in the general population aged 20-44 years of three French urban areas. METHODS: The study population of 2804 subjects in Grenoble, 3774 in Montpellier and 3152 in Paris (18th district), randomly selected from electoral rolls, answered a postal questionnaire (stage I of ECRHS). The response rates were 77.8%, 68.6% and 74.4%, respectively. RESULTS: The prevalences were approximately 14% for wheezing, 16% for chest tightness and 4.5% for nocturnal shortness of breath in the three areas. Asthma attacks in the last 12 months were reported by 2.7% of subjects in Grenoble, 3.5% of subjects in Montpellier and 4.0% of subjects in Paris (P = 0.02). For nasal allergies, the prevalences were 28.0%, 34.3% and 30.8%, respectively (P < 0.001). Asthma was inversely correlated to age (higher prevalence in the youngest) but was not related to sex. Neither age distribution nor sex ratio explained the differences between areas. Among the asthma-like symptoms, wheezing and nocturnal shortness of breath correlated strongly with asthma, chest tightness correlated moderately and nocturnal coughing correlated poorly. CONCLUSION: The prevalences observed were higher than expected from previous comparable French studies in young adults. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of a recent increase of asthma and allergies.     

Heuristics for rapidly four-coloring large planar graphs

We present several algorithms for rapidly four-coloring large planar graphs and discuss the results of extensive experimentation with over 140 graphs from two distinct classes of randomly generated instances having up to 128,000 vertices. Although the algorithms can potentially require exponential time, the observed running times of our more sophisticated algorithms are linear in the number of vertices over the range of sizes tested. The use of Kempe chaining and backtracking together with a fast heuristic which usually, but not always, resolves impasses gives us hybrid algorithms that: (1) successfully four-color all our test graphs, and (2) in practice run, on average, only twice as slow as the well-known, nonexact, simple to code, Θ(n) saturation algorithm of Brélaz.     

Electrical and magnetic properties of Polystyrene doped with Iron nanoparticles

Summary Polymer composites have recently received a considerable amount of scientific and technological interest, because their properties can be properly controlled, choosing the adequate doped particles, their size and concentrations, and the synthesis conditions. In this work we report the synthesis and characterization of a polystyrene (PS) matrix doped with different concentrations of iron nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure of the samples. The behaviour of the d.c. electrical conductivity (σ_dc) and the complex permittivity (ε*=ε^′-iε^′′) as a function of frequency (100 Hz–10 MHz) reflects the important effect of the iron nanoparticles concentration in the sample properties. A percolation threshold in the conductivity was observed at a critical concentration of iron nanoparticles. A noticeable increase in the saturation magnetization and coercivity is observed with the rise of the iron nanoparticles concentration, being thisbehaviour also noticed in the remanent magnetization. A rise of the initial a.c. susceptibility with the iron concentration is also observed.     

The use of interference currents and iodobromine baths in the therapy of patients with chronic nonobstructive pyelonephritis

30 patients were exposed to interference currents (IC) alone (group 1) versus 34 patients treated with IC plus iodobromine baths (group 2). After IC action on the region of the kidney projection patients of group 1 experienced positive changes in cellular and humoral immunity providing an antiinflammatory effect. In group 2, the improvement was seen in renal and urinary functions, 24-h urinary excretion of oxalates and calcium diminished. Interference current proved beneficial in chronic pyelonephritis patients with latent inflammation. The combined therapy was effective in patients at high risk of lithogenesis.