Review of Depression in the medically ill: An integrated approach.

Reviews the book, Depression in the medically ill: An integrated approach by G. Rodin, J. Craven, and C. Littlefield (see record 1991-97973-000). This book provides an in-depth coverage of current issues in the management of depression in the medically ill. The book is balanced in theoretical perspective and quite comprehensive in coverage of the empirical literature. The authors are well known to the area of depression and physical illness. The book is organized into three main sections dealing with 1) Clinical Presentation, 2) Etiology and Pathogenesis, and 3) Treatment. Numerous case examples are provided throughout to highlight different aspects of symptom presentation, diagnostic problems, and therapeutic management. Notably lacking from the review of prevalence studies is the work examining depression and chronic pain populations. In sum, Rodin et al. have drawn on a vast literature to provide a clear and coherent picture of the current state of knowledge and theory dealing with depression and medical illness. Their book joins a number of recent papers attempting to draw more attention to clinical issues in the management of depression in the medically ill. I would recommend the book to all clinicians who work with medically ill populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relaxation in Powdered Metallic Antimony in Contact with Liquid 3He

The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation in finely powdered antimony metal immersed in liquid ³ He has been studied at low temperatures. For T < 75 mK, a new surface relaxation mechanism becomes significant. This surface relaxation is due to the modulation by the quantum zero-point motion of the dipole-dipole interaction between the Sb spins at the metal surface and the ³ He spins in the solid-like layer on the surface. Replacement of the liquid ³ He by ⁴ He restores the relaxation rates to the bulk value. This work helps explain anomalies found in previous relaxation studies on powdered Pt immersed in liquid ³ He.     

A Multi-Channel Pulse-Coded Multiplexing and Demodulating Telemetry System

A multiplexing, demodulating, and recording telemetry system designed to process multiple pulse-coded temperature channels is described. The system provides complete control of recording and multiplexing sequences and timing, and gives a single analog signal in response to each sample of pulse-coded data. It identifies all channels and indicates to a computer when a new data sample is to be processed. The system is self-calibrating to maintain accuracy over extended data collection periods, and is inexpensive.     

Quantitative31P nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the phospholipids of erythrocyte membranes using detergent

³¹P Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of human erythrocyte lysates dissolved in sodium cholate were acquired. The narrow resonances of phospholipids were mostly well resolved, allowing identification and accurate quantitative analysis of phospholipid classes of the erythrocyte membranes. The ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine components of the erythrocyte membranes were identified, based on the removal of plasmalogens by acidolysis and of diacyl phospholipid species by degradation using phospholipase A₁. It was also shown that the introduction of double bonds on the acyl chains of phosphatidylcholine shifted the³¹P NMR resonances to lower frequencies. Quantitative analyses of phospholipids from the spectra were based on their apparent molar concentrations. The recoveries of phospholipids from erythrocytes were significantly higher than those using conventional extraction procedures.     

Studies of lipoproteins and fatty acids in maternal and cord blood of two racial groups in Trinidad

The high mortality rate from coronary heart disease (CHD) among Indians compared to Negroes in Trinidad led us to test plasma lipid profiles to see whether dietary or genetic factors might be involved. There were no interracial differences in the composition of plasma cholesterol ester fatty acids of the tested women and neonates. This finding suggests that dietary fat does not account for the interracial difference in CHD, nor does the cause appear to be due to genetic differences in lipid profiles, as there was no significant difference between values for plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, apo-I, apo-II, apo B or cholesterol ester fatty acids in the cord blood of each racial group. Blood samples were collected from 69 nonpregnant and 71 postpartum, fasted Negro and Indian women. Also taken were 71 umbilical cord blood samples. The mean triglyceride level was significantly lower in the Negro nonpregnant and postpartum women than in the Indians. HDL cholesterol and apo-I values were lower in the Indian women. There were no significant differences in the total cholesterol and apo B measurements. The triglyceride values for postpartum women were higher than those of the nonpregnant Negroes and Indians (75% and 47%, respectively), whereas the total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol, apo A-I and apo A-II ranged from 9% to 29% higher in the postpartum women. Apo B was about 40% higher postpartum in both ethnic groups. The high CHD rate of Indians in Trinidad cannot be explained by dietary factors, plasma total cholesterol or fatty acid composition. However, the lower level of HDL cholesterol and plasma A-I could play a role in the higher CHD rate in Indians.     

1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane for oilseed extractions: Demonstration of a viscosity effect

Extractions of full fat soy flake and meal were carried out at 5 to 70 C with hexane and 1,1,2-trichloro-l,2,2-trifluoroethane (FC-113) and their corresponding miscellas in order to evaluate FC-113 as a process solvent. In flake extraction, the rate of oil extraction by FC-113 was markedly improved with increasing temperature while extraction by hexane was relatively independent of temperature. In contrast, extraction of flake by the miscellas from both solvents and extraction of meal by fresh solvents gave similar results. A comparison of solvent properties indicates that the differences can be related to the viscosity dependent diffusion into the microporous flakes and suggests similar efficiencies for FC-113 and hexane in countercurrent flow extractors operating at elevated temperatures. Contribution No. 561 of the Research and Development Division, Jackson Laboratory, Organic Chemicals Department, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, DE 19898     

Analysis of nonvolatile material in solvent hexane

The amount and composition of the nonvolatile residue in solvent hexane are important quality criteria. These residue characteristics are particularly significant in the hexane extraction of foods because of the possibility of contaminating edible products. A laboratory evaluation of the residue from a typical hexane was made to find if there was any trace of multi-ring aromatics which might be potential carcinogens. Samples of hexane directly from a refinery and after storage and transportation to two solvent extraction plants were analyzed. All residues were separated by paper chromatography and analyzed by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. In no case, were they found to contain polynuclear aromatic carcinogenic materials. The test method is sensitive to less than 0.01 ppm. In order to verify the accuracy of the test, an analysis was made for the quantitative recovery of a known carcinogen. For this purpose, 0.01 ppm of 3,4 benzpyrene was added to the hexane as an internal standard and the analysis conducted as before. In these tests, the benzpyrene was recovered quantitatively.     

Control policies for an industrial acetylene hydrogenation reactor

This paper addresses the problem of finding optimal operational policies for an acetylene reactor for day to day operation. A lumped parameter model based on four main reactions is developed and used to examine the effects of the reactor manipulated variables on key reaction parameters. An optimal and a sub-optimal operational policy which minimize the ethylene loss over time are formulated and the solution techniques are presented. The results indicate that the reactor model is in good agreement with industrial plant data. The performance of the optimal control policy is very similar to the performance of the sub-optimal control policy. However, the sub-optimal formulation, while retaining the dominant features of the optimal response, reduces the computational requirements. Finally, some issues concerning the real-time implementation of an advanced acetylene reactor control scheme are presented. These include the estimation of the optimum regeneration cycle, a recursive model update algorithm, the process optimizer and their overall coordination. A preliminary analysis of the benefits associated with the advanced control scheme suggests a considerable reduction in the yearly ethylene loss.