EPLOT: a machine-independent graphics system

EPLOT was designed as an inexpensive and interactive small graphics library to be run on workstations, stand-alone microcomputers and mainframes, or microcomputers used as graphics terminals. It started as a minor extension to the machine-independent UNIX PLOT library but now includes capabilities for menu and mouse operations, animation, and other functions required in student projects. EPLOT allows the easy development and transfer of interactive graphics programs between SUN, MSDOS, Amiga, ATARI, and Apple Macintosh systems. It has played an important role in the philosophy of the computer graphics course offered at the authors' institution. The scope of EPLOT is demonstrated through a series of projects and programs     

Comparison of high-temperature-superconductor and metal-basedresonators

A 50-Ω coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator designed for a fundamental frequency of about 4.75 GHz was fabricated on LaAlO₃ . Two versions were fabricated: the first using 1.9-μm-thick gold and the second using 0.6-μm-thick YBa₂Cu₃O ₇. The devices were identically packaged and tested at 77 K. It was found that the high-temperature superconductor (HTS) resonator had a surface resistance, R_s, about six to nine times lower than the Au one. At 45 K, the R_s of the HTS resonator decreases by another factor of 4 compared with its 77 K value. Device characteristics for the HTS resonator are presented     

A THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CONVECTIVE DRYING OF AUSTRALIAN PINUS RADIATA TIMBER

A series of experiments on the convective drying of Pinus radiata has been undertaken at the CSIRO Division of Forest Products in Australia. This paper uses the experimental results to compare predictions from both a comprehensive mathematical model, which includes wood temperature, moisture content and pressure distributions, and a simplified model (two versions) which assumes constant total pressure. From the- simulations, it is seen that both models adequately predict the overall kinetics of the wood drying process. For a complete understanding of the heat and mass transfer phenomena that occur in wood during drying the comprehensive model is necessary. However, it is computationally long and expensive, and as such, does not suit the practical drying needs of the timber industry in Australia. Consequently, the simplified model, which has acceptable computation time and sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes, enables die wood drying process to be optimised from both performance and economic perspectives.     

Prognostic significance of colony-stimulating factor receptor expression in ipsilateral breast cancer recurrence

The macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (CSF-1R), the product of the c-fms proto-oncogene, regulates normal proliferation and differentiation of macrophages and trophoblasts. Recent research found abnormal expression of CSF-1R in human carcinomas of the breast, endometrium, and ovary. Furthermore, activation of CSF-1R by its ligand has been shown to regulate invasiveness and anchorage-independent growth in breast carcinoma cells. To study the significance of CSF-1R expression in breast cancer, we designed a case-controlled immunohistochemical study. We chose 80 patients from a database of 1200 early stage I or II breast cancer patients treated with conservative surgery and radiation therapy. Expression of CSF-1R in the tumors of 40 patients who experienced an ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) as a primary site of relapse were compared with 40 patients who had not experienced an IBTR. The index and control patients were matched by age, clinical stage, nodal status, and follow-up. Paraffin-embedded sections were immunostained with antibodies directed toward CSF-1R. For the CSF-1R antibody, a total of 28 index cases (70%) demonstrated strong staining, whereas only 16 control cases (40%) demonstrated high immunoreactivity (P = 0.007). The CSF-1R antibody showed a positive correlation for local relapse, but no correlation was found between CSF-1R expression and distant metastasis. In summary, our findings provide evidence for the poor prognostic role of CSF-1R in IBTR.     

Views of hospital staff on the management of hypertension

A questionnaire concerning the detection and management of hypertension was presented to 265 hospital doctors, 114 medical students and 59 student nurses. Of these 75% were completed. Although only 76% thought that routine measurement was necessary in outpatients, 92% of respondents thought that blood pressure (BP) should be measured routinely in all in-patients. A total of 17% of all doctors and 11% of physicians indicated that they would not use drug treatment until the diastolic BP exceeded 105 mmHg. Thirty-four per cent of respondents still use diastolic phase IV and 84% felt that BP should be measured 2-4 times before deciding on treatment but the posture of the patient (lying, sitting or standing) during recording was inconsistent. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents indicated that they recorded BP to the nearest 5 mmHg and 4% to the nearest 10 mmHg. Despite the literature on the subject, there are still widely differing opinions amongst medical staff on how to record BP and at what level it should be treated.     

Nonblocking multirate distribution networks

Results for nonblocking distribution networks are generalized for the multirate environment in which different user connections share a switch's internal data paths for arbitrary fractions of the total capacity. Conditions under which network proposed by Y.P. Ofman (1965), C.D. Thompson (1978), and N. Pippenger (1973) lead to multirate distribution networks are derived. The results include both rearrangement and wide-sense nonblocking networks. The complexity of the rearrangement multirate network exceeds that of the corresponding space-division network by a log log factor, while the complexity of the wide-sense nonblocking network is within a factor of two of the corresponding space-division network     

Educational and behavioral interventions for back pain in primary care

STUDY DESIGN AND OBJECTIVES: A review of the literature was undertaken to identify and summarize randomized trials of educational, cognitive, and behavioral interventions for people with chronic low back pain. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Studies of back schools have varied widely in patient characteristics, back school length and content, and comparison treatment. The available evidence suggests that back schools do not affect long-term outcomes of people with back pain. METHODS: MEDLINE and PsycLIT databases were searched to identify randomized trials of cognitive and behavioral treatments for chronic low back pain. Outcome data were extracted from articles that met the meta-analysis inclusion criteria. RESULTS: The meta-analysis found that cognitive and behavioral treatments were superior to control conditions after treatment on measures of chronic low back pain, pain behavior, and disability. Follow-up comparisons of cognitive and behavioral treatments versus control conditions were not available. This meta-analysis did not find cognitive and behavioral therapies to differ from other active treatments on specific outcome measures, although only a few studies were available for each measure. CONCLUSION: It may be useful to incorporate cognitive-behavioral interventions in primary care settings, but additional research is needed to evaluate their efficacy in improving specific outcomes.     

Oxidative stress induces DNA fragmentation and caspase activation via the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase pathway in H9c2 cardiac muscle cells

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress induces apoptosis in the H9c2 cardiac muscle cell line, and that signaling via mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways is involved. Three forms of oxidative stress were utilized: the superoxide generator menadione; hydrogen peroxide; or simulated ischemia followed by reperfusion. Relatively low concentrations of menadione (10 micrometer) or H2O2 (250 micrometer) caused maximal DNA fragmentation and caspase activation, both markers for apoptotic cell death, and preferential activation of the c-Jun NH 2-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 MAPK pathways. In contrast, higher concentrations of menadione or H 2O2 caused less DNA fragmentation, more necrotic cell death and preferential activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Simulated ischemia alone did not induce DNA fragmentation or caspase activation and activated only the p38 MAPK pathway. However, ischemia plus reperfusion resulted in DNA fragmentation, caspase activation, necrotic cell death and activation of all three MAPK pathways. Selective inhibition of the ERK or p38 MAPK pathways (by PD98059 or SB-203580, respectively) had no effect on the extent of oxidative stress-induced DNA fragmentation or caspase activation. In contrast, inhibition of the JNK pathway by transfection of a dominant negative mutant of JNK markedly reduced the extent of DNA fragmentation and caspase activation induced by oxidative stress. In conclusion, these data suggest that the JNK pathway plays an important role in signaling oxidative stress-induced apoptosis of H9c2 cardiac muscle cells.