Internal jugular to axillary vein bypass for subclavian vein thrombosis in the setting of brachial arteriovenous fistula

Relatively little is known about the epidemiology of carcinoid tumours in contrast to the extensive information available on their biochemical effects and natural history. Accordingly, we have used cancer registrations in England from 1979 to 1987, and in Scotland from 1980 to 1989, to estimate the incidence of carcinoid tumours in Britain. Age-standardised incidence rates for England, based on 3,382 registrations, were 0.71 (0.68-0.75) for men and 0.87 (0.83-0.91) for women, per 100,000 per year. The equivalent rates for Scotland, based on 639 registrations, were 1.17 (0.91-1.44) for men and 1.36 (1.09-1.63) for women. There was a consistent female excess of carcinoid tumours in the reproductive years, which was reversed after the age of 50. The female excess was most striking for gastrointestinal carcinoid tumours in women aged 15-19 years (F:M ratio = 2.14). The sex differences are probably due in part to incidental diagnosis of carcinoid tumours during abdominal procedures, which are more common in women than men at ages 15-49 years. However, there is some evidence to suggest a true sex difference in incidence, particularly the fact that the sex ratio for thoracic tumours varies with age in a similar way to that for gastrointestinal tumours. Hormonal factors may, therefore, be important in the aetiology of carcinoid tumours.     

A TiO2‐Binding Protein isolated from Rhodococcus Strain GIN‐1 (NCIMB 40340) – Purification,Properties and Potential Applications

A Rhodocuccus strain (Rh. GIN1, NCIMB 40340), which is capable of adsorption to titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and TiO₂‐containing coal fly ash particles, has been isolated previously in our Lab. Selectivity experiments showed that the bacterium is capable of adsorption to other metal oxides as well (e.g. magnetite and Al₂O₃) but at lower affinities. The bacterium binds tightly both to rutile and anatase TiO₂. In electronmicrograms the formation of “bridge‐like” structures between the bacterium and the oxide is observed. A specific protein fraction, located on the cell wall of the bacterium was isolated from the bacterium. This protein was found to adhere strongly to TiO₂ particles at high salt concentrations, similarly to the binding to TiO₂ of the intact bacteria. TiO₂ (rutile) was found to bind the protein faster, stronger and at a higher capacity than the anatase isoform. The 55 kDa Ti‐Binding Protein (TiBP) was isolated from the bacteria after homogenization by French Press. It was purified by affinity chromatography on TiO₂ particles, hydrophobic chromatography on a Fractogel‐propyl column and gel filtration on a Superdex G‐200 column. The same protein was isolated from the bacteria by treatment with mutanolysin, an enzyme which is commonly used to retrieve cell‐wall proteins from Gram‐positive bacteria, demonstrating the outer cell location of the protein in Rh. GIN1. TiBP exhibits metal oxide binding selectivity similar to that of the intact bacterium, namely TiO₂>ZnO>Al₂O₃ >Fe₂O₃(magnetite). Hydrophobic forces seem to dominate the interactions of the protein with TiO₂ as its binding capability is greatly enhanced in the presence of high concentrations of NaCl and its desorption requires high concentrations of urea and SDS. These features differentiate TiBP from other proteins known to adsorb TiO₂ (such as hemoglobin, cytochrome c and bovine serum albumin), mainly by weak, charge‐based interactions.     

IMPACT OP PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF CONVECTIVELY DRIED GRAINS

The effects of air temperature, air flow rate, residence time and moisture content on selected mechanical, chemical and biological properties of grain were investigated experimentally. It was found that for selection of approprtate conditions for grain drying the two most important foctors are: the moisture content of grain and the drying air temperature. This study suggests the ranges of these parameters depending on the expected utilization of the dried product.     

Digital connectedness: An algebraic approach

Let E be the incidence matrix of a graph G having m nodes; then the number of connected components of G is equal to m ? r, where r is the rank of E. In particular, if G represents an adjacency relation between points in a digital picture (or higher-dimensional array), this shows that the connected components of points can be counted by computing the rank of E. Two proofs of this result are given, one based on results from algebraic topology and the other based on a self-contained graph-theoretic argument. The former proof can be generalized to yield a method of counting holes.     

Some results on fuzzy (digital) convexity

The definition of fuzzy convexity is reviewed and some results on projections of convex and fuzzy convex sets are established. Digital fuzzy convexity is defined and relationships among alternative definitions are investigated.     

Thin-film technology and dc-SQUID instrumentation for a superheated superconducting detector

We report on improvements of the dc-SQUID instrumentation developed to study superheating-supercooling transitions of thin-film indium dots. In previous measurements on ordered arrays of dots with diameters larger than 100µm the flip signal of an individual dot in perpendicular magnetic field has been detected. In order to use these dots as superheated superconducting detectors it is necessary to reduce the dot diameter to lower the energy threshold and to avoid intermediate states. For these reasons, our effort has been to develop small and thick dots with diameter down to10 µm and thickness up to3.5 µm. At the same time the coupling with the dc-SQUID readout was improved using a thin-film niobium pickup coil integrated on the same chip containing the dots. Phase transitions of individual dots were observed. The superheating phase transition spread in temperature of the samples was about 0.15 %.     

Performance index sensitivity of the constrained minimum variance input-output estimator

After some general considerations, the variations of the performance index under different error conditions are investigated. The specific effects discussed are the misestimation of the process parameters and that of the zero-shift noise covariance matrix and also the non-zero mean of the noise. The theoretical considerations are substantiated by simulation results.