Completeness of reporting of diagnosed HIV-infected hospital inpatients

To assess the completeness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reporting among hospital inpatients whose records listed diagnostic codes for HIV infection but who did not meet the 1987 AIDS case definition, we conducted a statewide hospital study of admissions between January 1, 1986 and December 31, 1990. Of the 396 HIV-infected hospital inpatients identified, 313 (79%) had been reported to the State HIV Registry. HIV reporting was less complete for patients who were older and/or were blood product recipients. Of the 313 reported patients, 189 (60%) had been reported prior to their first hospital admission. Temporal improvements were noted in the completeness of HIV reporting among the hospital patients (1986: 65%; 1987: 81%; 1988: 64%; 1989: 82%; 1990: 86%; Chi square for linear trend 9.6, p < 0.01) and prior to their first hospital admission (1986: 31%; 1987: 34%; 1988: 49%; 1989: 64%; 1990: 72%; Chi square for linear trend 26.6; p < 0.01). Women were more likely than men to be reported prior rather than during or after their first hospital admission (71% vs. 55%; p < 0.01). Of the 155 patients with CD4+ T-lymphocyte test results, 41 had CD4+ counts < 200 mm3 and met the 1993 but not the 1987 AIDS case definition. In South Carolina most (79%) diagnosed, hospitalized, HIV-infected patients had been reported to the State HIV REgistry, with improvements in reporting occurring over time. Findings suggest that the 1993 AIDS case definition will improve our ability to monitor severe morbidity related to HIV.     

Hydrolysis studies on oleamide in simulated gastrointestinal fluids

Hydrolysis studies using simulated gastrointestinal fluids have been performed on oleamide, an important fatty acid amide slip additive used in plastics food packaging. Experiments have been conducted using the simulated gastrointestinal fluids, specified by the Scientific Committee for Food for hydrolysis studies, and with slightly modified preparations believed to be more representative of the in vivo situation. The degree of hydrolysis in simulated gastric fluids was found to be negligible after incubation for 4 h at 37 degrees C. Addition of 'bile salts' to simulated intestinal fluid was found to significantly increase the degree of hydrolysis to about 95% loss of oleamide after incubation for 4 h at 37 degrees C. Stoichiometric formation of oleic acid, an innocuous substance, was also demonstrated. It has therefore been concluded that ingestion of the very low levels of oleamide expected to migrate into most foods from food packaging is unlikely to pose a threat to the health of the consumer.     

Incorporating fuzzy membership functions into the perceptron algorithm

The perceptron algorithm, one of the class of gradient descent techniques, has been widely used in pattern recognition to determine linear decision boundaries. While this algorithm is guaranteed to converge to a separating hyperplane if the data are linearly separable, it exhibits erratic behavior if the data are not linearly separable. Fuzzy set theory is introduced into the perceptron algorithm to produce a ``fuzzy algorithm' which ameliorates the convergence problem in the nonseparable case. It is shown that the fuzzy perceptron, like its crisp counterpart, converges in the separable case. A method of generating membership functions is developed, and experimental results comparing the crisp to the fuzzy perceptron are presented.     

Characteristics of natural scenes related to the fractal dimension

Many objects in images of natural scenes are so complex and erratic, that describing them by the familiar models of classical geometry is inadequate. In this paper, we exploit the power of fractal geometry to generate global characteristics of natural scenes. In particular we are concerned with the following two questions: 1) Can we develop a measure which can distinguish between different global backgrounds (e.g., mountains and trees)? and 2) Can we develop a measure that is sensitive to change in distance (or scale)? We present a model based on fractional Brownian motion which will allow us to recover two characteristics related to the fractal dimension from silhouettes. The first characteristic is an estimate of the fractal dimension based on a least squares linear fit. We show that this feature is stable under a variety of real image conditions and use it to distinguish silhouettes of trees from silhouettes of mountains. Next we introduce a new theoretical concept called the average Holder constant and relate it mathematically to the fractal dimension. It is shown that this measurement is sensitive to scale in a predictable manner, and hence, provides the potential for use as a range indicator. Corroborating experimental results are presented.     

Energy Metabolites as Biomarkers in Ischemic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy

With more than 25 million people affected, heart failure (HF) is a global threat. As energy production pathways are known to play a pivotal role in HF, we sought here to identify key metabolic changes in ischemic- and non-ischemic HF by using a multi-OMICS approach. Serum metabolites and mRNAseq and epigenetic DNA methylation profiles were analyzed from blood and left ventricular heart biopsy specimens of the same individuals. In total we collected serum from n = 82 patients with Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) and n = 51 controls in the screening stage. We identified several metabolites involved in glycolysis and citric acid cycle to be elevated up to 5.7-fold in DCM (p = 1.7 × 10⁻⁶). Interestingly, cardiac mRNA and epigenetic changes of genes encoding rate-limiting enzymes of these pathways could also be found and validated in our second stage of metabolite assessment in n = 52 DCM, n = 39 ischemic HF and n = 57 controls. In conclusion, we identified a new set of metabolomic biomarkers for HF. We were able to identify underlying biological cascades that potentially represent suitable intervention targets.     

Regional mass flux balancing for controlling gentle soil remediation operations

Extraction of heavy metals by accumulating plants is a method which is currently in development for the "gentle" remediation of contaminated agricultural soils (phytoremediation, see [2]). Areal contaminant mass flux balances are basic criteria for the design of such remediations and their control. A framework for the integration of contaminant balances relating the field scale of remediation with the regional scale of soil monitoring networks is provided by the recently developed method PROTERRA [3]. The objective of the study presented in this paper was to test the suitability of PROTERRA for planning and monitoring gentle soil remediations. For this purpose we applied the PROTERRA method to the contaminated agricultural land in and around Dornach, Switzerland, to assess copper flux balances.The calculations showed that atmospheric deposition and the application of pesticides and manure are important pathways for the inputs of copper. The copper export with a special maize cultivar accumulating heavy metals would be about three times higher than the average metal export with crops. A moderate increase of sewage sludge application would lead to a substantial increase of the copper input. Decisions to remediate the soil should take the uncertainty of mass flux balances both on field scale as well as on regional scale into account. Therefore, an important need of further development of the PROTERRA method is the integration of uncertainty analysis on both scales.     

Online Coloring of Bipartite Graphs with and without Advice

In the online version of the well-known graph coloring problem, the vertices appear one after the other together with the edges to the already known vertices and have to be irrevocably colored immediately after their appearance. We consider this problem on bipartite, i.e., two-colorable graphs. We prove that at least ?1.13746?log₂(n)?0.49887? colors are necessary for any deterministic online algorithm to be able to color any given bipartite graph on n vertices, thus improving on the previously known lower bound of ?log₂ n?+1 for sufficiently large n. Recently, the advice complexity was introduced as a method for a fine-grained analysis of the hardness of online problems. We apply this method to the online coloring problem and prove (almost) tight linear upper and lower bounds on the advice complexity of coloring a bipartite graph online optimally or using 3 colors. Moreover, we prove that \(O(\sqrt{n})\) advice bits are sufficient for coloring any bipartite graph on n vertices with at most ?log₂ n? colors.     

Subcritical crack growth and threshold in borosilicate glass

The crack-growth behaviour of borosilicate glass was investigated by use of lifetime measurements on Knoop-damaged specimens. The threshold behaviour in particular was observed, and the influence of residual wedging stresses and preloading below the threshold value were studied in detail. A threshold ofK _lth = 0.38 MPam^1/2 was found. The residual stress intensity factor caused by the Knoop indentations was found to beK _lres,0 0.1 MPam^1/2. In a static test performed below the threshold, the threshold value was increased by K _lth 0.15MPam^1/2.     

XPS investigations of electrochemically formed passive layers on Fe/Cr-alloys in 0.5 M H2SO4

Passive layers on Fe20Cr and Fe15Cr were prepared by anodic oxidation in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The preparation of the sputter-cleaned samples and their transfer to the ultrahigh vacuum was performed under protection of purified argon without any contact to the laboratory atmosphere. The prepassive layer consists of a homogeneous film with Cr(III)hydroxide and Cr(III)-sulphate with a low content of Fe(II). In the passive potential range a bilayer structure with enrichment of Cr(III)-oxides with an outer hydroxide and an inner oxide part is formed. Iron exists only in a bivalent oxidation state. In the transpassive potential range a pronounced change of the layer composition was observed: The outer part of the transpassive layer is formed predominantly by Fe(III) species whereas the inner part still contains a strong enrichment of Cr₂O₃.     

STUDY OF K_(2)O·6TiO_(2) WHISKER REINFORCED AI COMPOSITES FOR THEIR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND INTERFACIAL STRUCTURES

A newly developed whisker K_2O 6TiO_2 reinforeed 6061Al composite was prepared bysqueeze casting process.The flexural strength of the composite is 518MPa,and deereasesto 490MPa after T6 treatment.The hardness of the composite also shows the similarchange while T6 treating.The results of HRTEMobservation may explaine this property.change.It was considered that there is a continuous TiO layer at the whisker-matrix inter-face,which is easily to react with the segregated Mg and to form MgTi_2O_4,MgAl_2O_4.Thethickening of TiO layer after T6 treatment is the main reason resulting is strength degra-dation of composite.