Nuclear microscopy in biomedical analysis with special emphasis on clinical metal biology

Nuclear microscopy based upon developments in high energy ion beam techniques is by now an accepted technique in many fields of research. The advancements into the biomedical field have, however, been slower than expected. A major factor explaining this tendency is the availability of nuclear microscopy. This paper reviews briefly the biomedical work using nuclear microscopy that has been carried out since the 4^th International Conference on Nuclear Microprobe Technology and Applications held in Shanghai. Nuclear microscopy of isolated individual blood cells from patients adversely affected by metal exposure from dental amalgam has been performed both before and after removal of the metallic fillings. The elemental profile of blood cells was more or less normalised after treatment. Some of these results will be presented to illustrate a medical application. Results from bulk analysis by ICP-MS of erythrocytes and plasma before and after treatment will also be presented to illustrate the difference in information content between these two approaches as well as the need for complementary information in solving biomedical problems. As part of a larger study of acute porphyria, nuclear microscopy of blood cells was included among the 78 laboratory tests. The approach in this study was unbiased in the sense that no hypothesis was formulated as to which laboratory parameters would be the most explanatory for health or disease. Multivariate discriminant analysis was applied to the large amounts of data acquired. This approach led to the hypothesis that oxidative stress increased the synthesis of manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase in the mitochondria of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, explaining the increase of manganese in these cells. Antioxidant therapy was therefore applied to a couple of patients with porphyria, however, without clinical success.     

Wärmetransformatoren für die Chemische Industrie aus der Sicht des Anwenders

Absorption heat transformers for the chemical industry as seen from a user's point of view. Absorption heat transformers can transfer waste heat, that could not hitherto be reused, to a higher temperature level. This is of special interest for the chemical industry, where there is both waste heat available at temperatures below 100°C and a demand for heat at 120 to 150°C. Though absorption heat transformers are able to recycle only a part of the total waste heat, they only need a negligible amount of additional, expensive exergy. The present status of development and advantages and disadvantages of the concept are discussed from a user's point of view. In view of the present low price of energy, special attention is given to economic considerations.     

Wobbling in modern motorcycles

Serious personal injuries have been reported, caused by motorcycles which suddenly began to wobble when ridden at moderate to high speed. A random sample of 1043 owners of 1978–1982 model year motorcycles was interviewed concerning their experience of wobbling in 1982. The response rate was 95%. Wobbling was reported by 45% of the owners, 8% reported at least one incident of severe wobbling. This figure indicates that about 6000 riders in Sweden experienced severe wobbling during 1982. Wobbling increased proportionately both with the distance ridden and engine displacement and was highest among those riders who make heavy use of the engine's power. A statistically significant difference in wobbling was found between Japanese and other manufacturers. The reported average speed where wobbling occurred was 118 .     

Prediction of Pavement Response during Freezing and Thawing Using Finite Element Approach

Although elastic multilayer techniques for pavement analysis have become increasingly popular through advances in software and personal computers, the difficulties of such methods in representing dynamic loading, pavement geometry and nonlinear material response are widely recognized as significant. Particularly in cold regions, where pavement materials are subject to seasonal freezing and thawing, nonlinear material behavior cannot be accurately modeled with these methods. However, many of these difficulties can be overcome by using the finite element method. In this study, an initial attempt to implement a commercially available finite element code in an analysis procedure for pavements in seasonal frost areas is presented. The results, compared with data from an extensively instrumented test road, show that surface deflections and the relative change in pavement stiffness, indicated by the subgrade strength index, are predicted very accurately. Although a time lag between maximum measured and predicted surface deflection is observed during thawing, the procedure is found to be promising and further research is warranted.     

Surface patterns in theoretical geography

This paper describes two variants of a dynamic stochastic model for the generation of landforms. We start from simple but not unreasonable assumptions about the stochastic mechanisms and derive the resulting surface pattern structure and several of its statistical and geometric properties. A computer program simulating the model is included, as well as computer-generated diagrams of the resulting height fields in special instances.     

Temperature Calculation of Insulated Steel Columns Exposed to Natural Fire

A method suitable for design purposes has been developed which allows the approximate post-flashover compartment fire temperature to be plotted versus time in one curve, the general natural fire curve; time is then modified or scaled to take into consideration ventilation conditions and wall properties. In the analysis the common assumptions of constant and ventilation controlled combustion, uniform temperature, and wall losses proportional to the thermal inertia are made.The general natural fire curve is given an analytical expression, which is then used to calculate temperature in fire exposed insulated columns by a simple integration procedure. The results are plotted in handy diagrams, and temperatures obtained in columns exposed to natural fires and standard fires according to ISO 834 are compared.     

Putative association between a new polymorphism in exon 3 (Arg109Cys) of the pancreatic colipase gene and type 2 diabetes mellitus in two independent Caucasian study populations

The protein encoded by the pancreatic colipase (CLPS) gene is an essential cofactor needed by pancreatic triglyceride lipase (PNLIP) for efficient dietary lipid hydrolysis. Since the inhibition of lipase activity was shown to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, we tested the hypothesis that genetic variations in the CLPS and PNLIP genes are associated with type 2 diabetes; 47 unrelated subjects were screened for polymorphisms of the CLPS and PNLIP genes. A nested-case control study of 192 incident type 2 diabetes subjects and 384 sex- and age-matched controls taken from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Potsdam Cohort (EPIC) was employed for association studies. The Metabolic Intervention Cohort Kiel (MICK) consisting of 716 males was used for verification. A novel putative functional polymorphism (Arg109Cys) was identified in the CLPS gene. The frequencies of the Arg/Cys genotype were 2.6% in EPIC and 2.2% in MICK study subjects. No homozygotes for the Cys/Cys genotype were found in either study population. Logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant association of the Arg/Cys genotype with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The odds ratios estimated by the model were 3.75 (95%CI = 1.13-12.49, p = 0.03) in EPIC and 4.86 (95%CI = 1.13-20.95, p = 0.03) in MICK. No comparable associations were found with other traits of the insulin-resistance syndrome (e. g.; body mass index, waist to hip ratio). In conclusion, we obtained evidence in two German Caucasian study populations that the variant of the rare CLPS Arg109Cys polymorphism might contribute to increased susceptibility of type 2 diabetes.