Chronotropic response, safety, and accuracy of dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with atrial fibrillation and known or suspected coronary artery disease

Ninety-two consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who underwent dobutamine stress echocardiography were compared with a control group of patients in sinus rhythm matched for age, sex, and resting heart rate. Patients with AF had an increased chronotropic response to dobutamine, but there were no adverse effects and no evidence that the lower doses of dobutamine typically given to patients with AF were insufficient to induce ischemia.     

Modell eines Roboters aus Formgedächtnismetall

Zusammenfassung Im Fahmen diese Beitrags wird des Modell eines Roboters vorgestellt, der seine Bewegung ohne jegliche elektromotorische oder pneumatische Antriebe aufsührt. Entsprechende Bauelemente sind übedflüszig, da der Werkstoff, aus dem der Raboter gefertigt ist, die Greiffunktion selbst durchführt. Dies geschieht über das Signal einer Temperatur?nderung, so da? die Bauteile lediglich erw?rmt oder abgekühll werden müssen, um die Greifbewegung zu realisieren. Diese Eigenschaft von Werkstoffen nennt man ?Formged?chtnis?: Der Werkstoff erinnert sich bei Temperatur?nderungen an seine vorherige Form und nimmt diese selbst?ndig an. Es handelt sich dabei, um eine v?llig neue Werkstoffeigenschaft, nicht um eine lediglich verbesserte. Der Formged?chtniseffekt ist hinsichtlich seiner Ursachen sehr komplex und neu, so da? zum besseren Verst?ndnis die Grundlagen des Effektes vertieft in diesem Bericht beschrieben werden.     

Evaluation of SRD1000 Superconductive Reference Devices

No Heading Recently, a superconductive reference device, SRD1000, with ten reference materials has been developed to enable simplified in situ calibration of interpolating thermometers. We report on the evaluation of SRD1000 prototypes at various laboratories. The devices were built and tested by HDL and KOL, calibrated at NMi-VSL and then distributed to other partners where they were re-calibrated against the local realisations of the PLTS-2000 or laboratory scales. As a result, we obtained data on the superconductive transition temperatures, widths and shapes for four different devices. Reproducibility, sharpness of the transitions, supercooling and sensitivity to magnetic fields are evaluated. This leads to estimates of the uncertainty in determination of the transition midpoint and temperature.PACS numbers: 07.20.Dt, 07.20.Mc, 74.62.–c, 74.70.Ad     

The formation of CuInSe2 thin film solar cell absorbers from electroplated precursors with varying selenium content

We present results from real-time X-ray diffraction experiments on the formation of CuInSe₂ solar cell absorbers by annealing precursors, produced by simultaneous electrodeposition of copper, indium and selenium. The investigations reveal, that a reduced amount of electrochemically deposited selenium is the decisive parameter in order to realise a chalcopyrite formation behaviour as observed for sputtered stacked elemental layer (SEL) precursors. A simultaneous electrodeposition of the elements copper, indium and selenium in the molar ratio 1:1:2 of the chalcopyrite CuInSe₂ leads to the formation of binary copper and indium selenides during the electrodeposition process. The existence of binary selenides besides the intermetallic phase Cu₁₁In₉ as initial phases leads to an unfavourable absorber morphology. This can be explained by the observed semiconductor formation mechanism. A reduction of the deposited amount of selenium favours the formation of the intermetallic compound Cu₁₁In₉ and reduces the amount of binary selenides. These precursors show a formation behaviour and resulting absorber morphology as known for sputtered SEL precursors.     

Index of pretreatment intensity predicts outcome of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous progenitor cell transplantation in chemosensitive relapse of Hodgkin's disease

PURPOSE: To identify prognostic factors in patients with chemosensitive relapsed Hodgkin's disease treated by high-dose chemotherapy with autologous progenitor cell transplantation (HDC) and to compare the duration of treatment-free remission prior to HDC with the progression-free survival after HDC in individual patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-five consecutive patients were analyzed retrospectively. We devised an index of pretreatment intensity (IPTI) based number of different chemo- and radiotherapy regimens given between diagnosis and HDC and on the duration of disease. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 47 months the post-transplant event-free survival (EFS) was 44% and the overall survival (OAS) was 62% at four years. The IPTI allowed to discriminate between a low and a high-risk group with a four-year post-transplant EFS of 66% and 11% and a OAS of 87% and 28%, respectively (P = 0.0001). Of the 39 patients with sufficient follow-up after HDC, post-transplant EFS lasted on average > or = 18.5 months longer than the pretransplant treatment-free remission. CONCLUSIONS: HDC with the CBV regimen confers significant benefit to patients with chemosensitive relapsed Hodgkin's disease. The IPTI may help to select patients with a good response to HDC and to identify poor prognosis patients suitable for experimental protocols or palliative care only.     

Immunochemical isolation and characterization of vitellogenin mRNA from liver of estradiol-treated chicks

Several commercially available samples of galactose oxidase (D-galactose: oxygen 6-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.3.9) were found to contain high proteolytic activity on proteins such as fibrinogen, transferrin, albumin and casein. A simple, efficient method was devised for the purification of galactose oxidase which relies on the affinity of the enzyme for agarose (Sepharose 6B). The purified galactose oxidase was recovered in high yield free from proteolytic activity. The enzymic affinity for Sepharose and Sephadex was investigated to clarify the absorption mechanism.