Phase II trial of titanocene dichloride in advanced renal-cell carcinoma

We report on a series of 48 patients, ages 14 to 20 year, with hypophyseal adenomas. Of these, 46 (96%) had secreting tumors, 3 had Cushing's disease, 9 had somatotrophinomas, and 34 (29 females and 5 males) had prolactinomas. Thirty cases were diagnosed as intrasellar adenomas (62%) while the remaining eighteen (38%) presented extrasellar expansion. Of 9 acromegalic patients, 7 had typical clinical and biochemical features 2 were exclusively prognatic with normal basal GH levels, but abnormal dynamic tests. Prolactinomas were noninvasive in women and faster growing and more extensive in men. Forty seven patients underwent surgery. Five of these required craniotomy and the rest approached through the sphenoidal bone (TSE). Remission was achieved in Cushing's disease, acromegaly, and female intrasellar prolactinomas. Larger tumors such as nonsecreting adenomas and male prolactinomas showed poor results after undergoing subtotal resections, with persistence of endocrinological disturbances. From our findings it appears that these tumors are aggressive in youth than in adults. Because there was a close relationship between tumor size, invasiveness, and the patients' final outcome, we conclude that early diagnosis and treatment is essential. Frequent complaints in adolescents such as irregular menses, retarded puberty, and growth disorders should be thoroughly investigated and not merely considered as transient or 'functional'.     

Aerodynamic investigations for the tender design concepts of the Øresund cable-stayed bridge

For the Øresund link project two alternative tender designs were proposed, one single-level box girder solution and a double-level truss girder solution. Aerodynamic investigations, comprising wind tunnel section model tests as well as full-scale predictions, were carried out for the cable-stayed part of the two design alternatives. The section model tests covered static and dynamic tests for various configurations of bridge deck equipment, aiming at the detection of possible instabilities or vortex shedding effects and recording of the buffeting response. Cross-sectional admittance functions and aerodynamic derivatives have been estimated, and employed for full-scale predictions of dynamic displacements at a chosen value of the characteristic mean wind speed.     

Supplying hydrogen vehicles and ferries in Western Norway with locally produced hydrogen from municipal solid waste

Gibbs free energy minimization has been used to estimate the hydrogen production potential of air gasification of the wet organic fractions of municipal solid waste available in the Bergen region in Western Norway. The aim of this work was to obtain an upper limit of the amount of hydrogen that could be produced and to estimate of the number of vehicles: passenger ferries and cars that could be supplied with an alternative fuel. The hydrogen production potential was investigated as function of waste composition, moisture content, heat loss, and carbon conversion factor. The amount of hydrogen annually available for both gasification and gasification combined with water-gas-shift-reaction was calculated for different scenarios. Up to 2700 tonne H₂ per year could be produced in the best case scenario; which would, if only utilised for maritime operations, be enough to supply nine ferries and ten fast passenger boat connections in the Hordaland region in Western Norway with hydrogen.     

Modeling of Sorption Isotherms of Various Kinds of Wood at Different Temperature Conditions

Adsorption and desorption isotherms of pine, spruce, birch, and willow Salix viminalis v. Orm (2-year stem) under three temperature conditions (20, 50, 75°C) in the range of water activity 0.0–0.9 were studied. In order to describe our experimental data, five models were implemented (GAB, Peleg, Chung-Pfost, Oswin, Halsey) and compared. It was found that GAB and Peleg models provide the best fit to the experimental data. On the basis of GAB modeling, the monolayer moisture content for each kind of wood was calculated. Moreover, the hysteresis phenomenon was investigated. The influence of temperature and wood variety on sorption isotherms was also tested.     

Three classes of inhibitors share a common binding domain in mitochondrial complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase)

We have developed two independent methods to measure equilibrium binding of inhibitors to membrane-bound and partially purified NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) to characterize the binding sites for the great variety of hydrophobic compounds acting on this large and complicated enzyme. Taking advantage of a partial quench of fluorescence upon binding of the fenazaquin-type inhibitor 2-decyl-4-quinazolinyl amine to complex I in bovine submitochondrial particles, we determined a Kd of 17 +/- 3 nM and one binding site per complex I. Equilibrium binding studies with [3H]dihydrorotenone and the aminopyrimidine [3H]AE F119209 (4(cis-4-[3H]isopropyl cyclohexylamino)-5-chloro-6-ethyl pyrimidine) using partially purified complex I from Musca domestica exhibited little unspecific binding and allowed reliable determination of dissociation constants. Competition experiments consistently demonstrated that all tested hydrophobic inhibitors of complex I share a common binding domain with partially overlapping sites. Although the rotenone site overlaps with both the piericidin A and the capsaicin site, the latter two sites do not overlap. This is in contrast to the interpretation of enzyme kinetics that have previously been used to define three classes of complex I inhibitors. The existence of only one large inhibitor binding pocket in the hydrophobic part of complex I is discussed in the light of possible mechanisms of proton translocation.     

Characteristics of Bovine Spermatozoa after Immobilization by Dehydration

Extension of storage time of living animal spermatozoa is of great scientific and economical interest for the breeding industry in Norway. The extension of storage time will leave room to maneuver due to the time limit of artificial insemination of the animals. The aim of this study was to dehydrate semen in order to immobilize the spermatozoa, due to the fact that removal of water molecules leads to higher concentrations of cells and thus might contribute to the physical limitation of motility.

Water was removed from diluted semen by air drying in a convection oven at approximately 33°C. The drying process was continued until there were less than 5% motile spermatozoa. The amount of total solids in the samples increased from approximately 14 to 35% during drying. After immobilization, experiments showed that with specific rehydration temperature (20°C), rehydration medium (skim milk diluents or Beltsville thawing solution), and rehydration rate, the spermatozoa recovered so that up to 70% motility was reestablished.

At the female reproductive organ temperature, motile bull spermatozoa, that was dried and rehydrated, was observed for up to 50% longer periods of time compared to the reference sample.

Membrane destruction caused by drying and/or rehydration of the spermatozoa was detected using plasma membrane integrity. The histograms of reference spermatozoa showed two limited populations, one living and one dead. For the dried and rehydrated samples a third population seemed to emerge. It is presumed that the cell membranes of these spermatozoa might be injured.

It has been demonstrated that spermatozoa immobilized by drying and subsequent rehydration before insemination can cause fertilization and normal embryonic development in cattle.     

NEW APPLICATIONS OF HEAT PUMPS IN DRYING PROCESSES

Heat pumps in combination with fluidized bed driers have been investigated extensively at The Norwegian Institute of Technology. A laboratory plant was constructed and a series of experiments on different types of temperature sensitive products were executed. By using heat pump, good temperature and humidity regulation is achieved. Drying temperatures can be regulated from -20°C to 50°C. This gives the possibility of freeze-drying at atmospheric pressure, and drying at temperatures above 0°C in the same plant. By using a temperature program, including an initial period of freeze drying, it is possible to regulate the products' physical properties. Examples are: the sinking velocity of fish fry feed, rehydration ability, colour and taste of dried fish, meat and vegetable products. Further, biotechnological products like bacterial cells and biomolecules/enzymes were dried with improved biological activity of the products compared to traditional drying methods like vacuum freeze drying or spray drying.     

Homogeneous nucleation of iron from supersaturated vapor investigated by molecular dynamics simulation

The nucleation of particles from a supersaturated iron vapor is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The supersaturated iron vapor is embedded in an argon heat bath which removes the heat generated during the nucleation process. The nucleation rates are calculated from the cluster size statistics with a method proposed by Yasuoka and Matsumoto. Within this analysis no assumptions concerning the size of the critical cluster are required. The obtained values are consistent with the experimental data of iron nucleation rates. By applying the first nucleation theorem the size of the critical cluster is determined from nucleation rate data. It is in the order of one to three atoms which agrees with the observations of the cluster size fluctuations during the nucleation process. The excess energy of the critical cluster is estimated by the second nucleation theorem.     

Can Drying Be an Alternative Tissue Preservation Method in Cancer Research Biobanking?

The currently available methods for conservation of biobank material are mainly based on formalin fixation or the use of different freezing techniques. For molecular biological analysis, it is common to use quick freezing and low-temperature storage of the tissue materiel. This is a very energy-intensive and expensive method that requires advanced infrastructure, including monitoring and control procedures. The purpose of this work has been to study drying as an alternative process to cryogenic storage of undried biobank material, especially for use in cancer research groups.

Fast freezing has been shown to be suitable to preserve the integrity of RNAs, while traditional formalin fixation preserves proteins and thus morphology in a good way. Various fresh-harvested murine tissues, such as lung, heart, skeletal muscle, liver, and kidney, were quickly frozen in liquid nitrogen and then subsequently dried at +5°C and ?10°C, respectively, in a heat pump dryer. After drying, the RNA integrity was measured. The dried material was then stored for five months at +4°C and ?20°C in commercial refrigerators, with subsequent measurement of RNA integrity. Dried materials were also evaluated with light microscopy and by electron microscopy with respect to tissue and cell structure. The same pattern was found for all five murine tissues. We conclude that drying at temperatures below 0°C is most careful to preserve the RNA integrity, with approximately the same RIN score of dried and non-dried samples for all five tissues. What characterized the general pattern of stored samples is that drying leads to a preservation of RNA integrity. Moreover, architecture in tissue resembled normal sections prepared from fresh tissue. In some places in the rim of the tissue sample, the lung tissue revealed alveolar-like morphology. In the electron microscope, few organelles other than the nuclei could be identified. Drying of biological material is a promising and cost-effective method for biobanks that store tissue, compared to cryogenic storage of undried material. Degradation of RNA, measured by the RIN number, is a critical factor in storing biobank tissue. In low-temperature dried material, the RIN factor is at the same level as storage of undried material at cryogenic temperatures, which is the common way of storing biobank material today. In this study, a heat pump dryer was used successfully to establish drying temperatures below and above the freezing point of the material. Further work has to be done in order to study different drying methods, drying conditions, and drying costs.     

Effects of Drying Methods on Functionality of a Native Potato Protein Concentrate

Pulp and dilute fruit water (PFW) are by-products from the potato starch processing industry. Potato protein obtained from an expanded bed adsorption (EBA) process is a value-added protein concentrate that can offer special technical properties in food systems. The influence of drying techniques on the physiochemical, quality, and functional properties (color, water content, bulk density, rehydration properties, sorption isotherms, specific enzyme activity, solubility, protein denaturation) of dehydrated potato water effluent was investigated. The results indicate that atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) is a more gentle drying process than spray drying and vacuum freeze drying. Both enthalpy measurements and sorption isotherms indicate reduced protein denaturation of AFD samples, while specific enzyme activity is at the same level for all dried samples.