Bone marrow transplantation for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a review

High dose chemotherapy and stem-cell rescue (bone marrow transplantation) is used increasingly in the treatment of malignant disorder. Numerous trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, there are many unanswered questions as to the role of high-dose therapy in certain subtypes of lymphoma, the timing of transplant, and even the type of transplant to perform. An attempt will be made to clarify many of these unanswered questions. The utilization of high-dose therapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is recommended for most patients who have relapsed after initial therapy. Transplantation in first remission is not recommended routinely. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation should by reserved for individuals with poorly responding disease or in individuals with bone marrow involvement. The precise roles of purging and transplantation of individuals with low grade lymphoma are being investigated.     

Cyclic fatigue of ceramics

The fatigue behaviour of alumina, zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) and tetragonal zirconia (TZP) have been investigated using three different techniques. Direct push-pull testing has been used to generate both static and cyclic fatigue data. The results clearly show that all the materials studied are susceptible to both static and cyclic fatigue, and that the times to failure under cyclic loading are considerably shorter than under static loads. The fatigue failure origins have been identified and the influence of surface condition on fatigue life has been assessed. The slow propagation of cracks subject to cyclic tensile and compressive loads has been studied using compact tension specimens and tapered double cantilever beam specimens. These investigations have confirmed the existence of cyclic fatigue effects in coarse-grained alumina and have shown the crack increment per cycle (da/dN) to have a power-law dependence on the peak stress intensity factor. A technique, based on repeated indentation, has been used to investigate the propagation of sub-surface cracks subjected to cyclic loading in both fine-grained alumina and ZTA. The results of the investigation suggest that compressive or closure loads on the crack faces are factors which affect the cyclic fatigue crack growth in ceramics. Based on those observations, an explanation is proposed for the mechanical cyclic fatigue effects in the ceramics investigated.     

Cultural Differences in Young Children's Vulnerability to Injuries: A Risk and Protection Perspective.

Interview data from 100 lower income Hispanic and 50 White mothers from a nutritional service clinic extended prior research on cultural differences in the risk for unintentional pediatric injuries. Group differences were expected in reported injury incidence and in the prevalence and impact of contributing factors. As predicted, White mothers reported more injuries for a young child, and among Hispanic mothers, English language preference and use were associated with more reported injuries. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that risky behaviors, mother's judgment about child compliance, and stressful life events were better predictors of injuries than housing quality, but among Hispanics, the impact of certain factors (e.g.. child temperament) was qualified by mother's acculturation level. Stress and child temperament explained injury differences between more- and less-acculturated Hispanic families but only partially accounted for differences between White mothers and less-acculturated Hispanics. Pediatric injury risk and protective factors seemed to operate in concert with cultural processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transmitting, receiving, and scattering properties of antennas

In most modern textbooks on antennas, it is stated that receiving antennas scatter as much as they absorb under matched-load conditions. This is incorrect, as was shown 50 years ago. The reason for this discrepancy is an apparently incorrect use of the equivalent circuits. In this tutorial paper, a simple example of a two-element Yagi antenna and a test dipole in the far field is analyzed for transmission, reception, and scattering, through the use of the symmetric impedance matrix. It is shown that the correct equivalent circuit for the scattering case is more complicated, owing to the existence of more sources than in the transmitting case. Through a numerical example, it is also shown that the scattered power may be larger, equal to, or smaller than the absorbed power.     

Technological and flavour potential of cultures isolated from traditional Greek cheeses – A pool of novel species and starters

This study explored the microbiota of Formaella, Kopanisti, Feta and Mana cheeses. A total of 133 wild lactic acid bacteria were isolated and classified phenotypically. Mesophilic lactobacilli were the most abundant group. Thermophilic lactobacilli and thermophilic cocci were the best milk acidifiers, whereas thermophilic lactobacilli were the most proteolytic isolates. Higher peptidolytic and esterolytic activities were obtained with thermophilic cocci. Only five isolates were lipolytic, whereas none was able to catabolize citrate. Fast gas chromatography−mass spectrometry analysis of the metabolites produced and subsequent principal components analysis revealed segregated groups of isolates in accordance with the phenotypic ones. Electronic nose analysis revealed similar results. Lactobacillus rennini and Lactobacillus acidipiscis were found to be the sole microbial species in Kopanisti cheese and Mana. These isolates produced alcohols and aldehydes as major volatile compounds, as a result of secondary amino acid catabolism.     

Soil-structure interaction in explosive testing of model containments

The SIMQUAKE series of field tests on model containment structures provides a data base which may be used to validate analytic models of soil-structure interaction (SSI). In addition, the test produced significant evidence of nonlinear rocking response of 1/4-embedded model structures due to debonding and rebonding at the soil-structure interface. This paper describes the SIMQUAKE II test and an analytic method for soil-structure interaction based on explicit finite difference techniques, which consider both nonlinear behavior at the soil-structure interface and nonlinear constitutive behavior of the site. The analytic method is applied to two-dimensional analyses of both 1/8- and 1/12-size structures and results are compared with test measurements. Structural rocking response is shown to be sensitive to the inelastic compaction characteristic of the soil adjacent to the structure. A three-dimensional pretest analysis of the SIMQUAKE II test is also briefly reviewed.     

Auditory–visual responsiveness in full-term and preterm infants.

Compared older preterm and full-term infants in their response to objects in a dynamic multimodal context. In Study I, 67 12-wk-old full-term infants and 29 preterm infants (mean age 90 days) served as Ss. After familiarization with a silent moving object, full-term Ss recognized the object when it was stationary. When sound accompanied the moving object during familiarization, full-term Ss showed increased attention to the object but no subsequent recognition of that object. Neither high- nor low-risk preterms, at a comparable conceptional age, recognized the objects under any condition, but the low-risk preterms did show greater attention to the moving objects with sound. In Study II, 43 preterm Ss were tested approximately 6 mo after their estimated term date. The performance of the low-risk preterms was the same as that of full-terms; that is, through differential responding, they demonstrated association of an object and sound. In contrast, the high-risk preterms showed no differential looking. Thus both low- and high-risk preterms showed less differential responding than did normal full-terms at 3 mo, but at 6 mo only the high-risk preterms were different from the full-terms. Results suggest that the high-risk preterms are at a disadvantage for learning about the dynamic and multimodal aspects of their environment. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)