A new approach to rheumatoid arthritis

Slow-acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARDs) are usually prescribed in rheumatoid arthritis only when non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs can no longer suppress the inflammation or when articular damage is radiologically apparent. It was established recently that articular damage occurs in an early phase of RA. This damage is linked to subsequent disability; to prevent it is the purpose of SAARDs. In view of the short-term reduction of arthritis activity and improvement of function as well as the meanwhile established fact that the side effects of SAARDs are not different from those of other antirheumatic agents, SAARDs should be prescribed in an early phase of RA.     

The Role of the γ/ γeutectic and porosity on the tensile behavior of a single-crystal nickel-base superalloy

The microstructure of a single-crystal nickel-base superalloy, PWA 1480, has been varied by heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing in order to study the role of the γ/yγ′ eutectic and porosity on subsequent tensile behavior. The level of porosity was found not to affect any of the tensile properties, while the γ/γ′ eutectic strongly influenced ductility. Eliminating the γ/γ′ eutectic increased ductility which was attributed to the cleavage fracture of this constituent. It is proposed that such cleavage of the γ/γ′ eutectic is initiated by the stress created from impinging slip bands, promoting shear localization, and final fracture along {111} slip planes. The precise nature of this fracture process is discussed with emphasis on the role of the γ/′ micro-structure. The deformation structure of PWA 1480 was also studied, and while different in some respects from many other single-crystal superalloys, its fracture process appears to be similar. Formerly Graduate Student, Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Carnegie Mellon University.     

Age-related changes in cognitive ERPs of attenuation

The purpose of this article is to deliberate the moral and legal dilemma entailed in the weapon of the labour strike as a pressure tactic on the Israeli Finance Ministry regarding job slots, budgets and, in effect, violating the collective agreement signed by the nurses and impairing patients' treatment, as opposed to refraining from striking and suffering the heavy burden of work, the lack of trained personnel, low wages, and the inability to give patients proper, high quality treatment.     

Temporal order and functional analysis of mutations within the Fli-1 and p53 genes during the erythroleukemias induced by F-MuLV

The erythroleukemias induced by Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV) result from the accumulation of a number of genetic changes, including activation of the Fli-1 proto-oncogene and inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene. We have determined the temporal order of mutation of the genes involved in this multistage malignancy, by serial in vivo transplantation of F-MuLV induced primary erythroleukemias into syngenic Balb/c mice. These primary tumors are capable of growing when transplanted into syngenic mice, but die after several days of in vitro culture. From the transplanted tumors grown in syngenic mice, erythropoietin-dependent cell lines were established in culture that are clonally related to cells in the primary tumors. We show that retroviral insertional activation of the Fli-1 ets family member is the first detectable genetic event in F-MuLV induced primary erythroleukemias. Mutations in the p53 gene were observed in the Epo-dependent cell lines but not in the transplanted erythroleukemias used to establish these cell lines in culture. These data suggest that activation of Fli-1 plays an important role in the early stages of F-MuLV-induced leukemia, perhaps by altering the self-renewal probabilities of erythroid progenitor cells and that p53 mutations immortalize these cells, enabling them to grow in vitro in the presence of Epo.     

Decision-making in the treatment of subfoveal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration. An analysis from the patient''s perspective

The human mineralocorticoid receptor of the steroid receptor family contains a modular structure with domain E which is considered to be a hormone binding domain. Recombinant protein approaches enabled us to clearly determine that this domain is also able to interact with F-actin (Kd about 2 microM) and G-actin. Moreover, it was revealed that this mineralocorticoid receptor domain/actin interaction was modulated by specific mineralocorticoid ligands. Agonist (aldosterone) steroid binding almost totally (91%) abolished the interaction with F-actin, while antagonist (progesterone) binding allowed more than 30% of this binding. Steroid modulation of the interaction between domain E and actin indicated that this actin binding is specific and could be essential for cellular mineralocorticoid receptor activity.     

Pulsed-current duty cycle dependence of electromigration-inducedstress generation in aluminum conductors

The effect of duty cycle of pulsed dc currents on the critical length-current density product, (jl_c), was measured using the Blech-Kinsbron edge-displacement technique [Thin Solid Films 25, 327 (1975)]. Unencapsulated Al edge-displacement segments mere stressed at various duty cycles and the critical lengths, the so-called “Blech lengths”, were measured. It was found that jl_c increased with decreasing duty cycle. We measured a factor of 2.6 increase in jl_c for the 25% duty cycle as compared to dc. This duty cycle dependence of Blech length implies that electromigration resistance for an integrated circuit would be increased for small duty cycle operation by increasing the fraction of interconnects which are sub-Blech-length and are not susceptible to EM damage