Manual and computer-aided space analysis: a comparative study

Separate injections of Haemophilus influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide-tetanus conjugate (PRP-T) vaccine and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) reconstitution of freeze-dried PRP-T vaccine with liquid DTP vaccine have been shown to be safe and immunogenic in infants. The present study was conducted to test the safety and immunogenicity of the liquid combination vaccine administered to young infants in the dual-chamber syringe. The study was a monocenter, open clinical trial of 3 month-old infants receiving PRP-T and DTP vaccines in the dual-chamber syringe reconstituted prior to injection. Healthy infants were immunized according to a 3, 4 and 5 months-of-age schedule. The vaccine was administered in a dual-chamber syringe, ready to use with two chambers. The proximal chamber contained freeze-dried PRP-T and the distal chamber contained liquid combination-vaccine DTP. The freeze-dried PRP-T vaccine was reconstituted with the liquid DTP vaccine in the same unidose dual-chamber syringe (0.5 mL) and was injected intramuscularly into the deltoid region. Blood sampling was performed prior to vaccination at 3 months of age and after the third vaccination at 6 months. The primary end-point was the serological response to PRP-T vaccine as expressed by the percentage of infants with an antibody titer greater than or equal to 1 microgram/mL. The reactogenicity was expressed as the percentage of reported local and systemic reactions. A total of 108 infants were included in the study and received the dual-chamber syringe vaccine. After the third injection, all the infants had a PRP antibody titer greater than or equal to 0.15 microgram/mL and 94.4% of infants had a PRP antibody titer greater than or equal to 1 microgram/mL; the pertussis agglutinin titers were over the threshold 40 and 80 in all infants and 98.1% were over the threshold 320. After the third injection, all the infants had diphtheria antibody titers greater than 0.1 IU/mL and 83.3% had titers greater than 1 IU/mL; all the infants had tetanus antibody titers greater than 0.1 IU/mL and 97.2% had results over 1 IU/mL. Thirty-seven infants (34.6%) had local reactions and 64.5% had systemic reactions. The dual-chamber syringe may reduce the cost of vaccine delivery, as well as the workload, and increase the vaccine acceptability and coverage rate of vaccines.     

Effect of Food Ingredients on the Viscosity of Phosphate Monoesters of Corn Starch

The influence of sodium chloride, sucrose and pH on the pasting characteristics of corn starch phosphate monoesters (SPM) with different degrees of substitution (D.S.) were investigated. The SPM with D.S. of 0.055 showed a marked decrease of the initial viscosity with an increase of sucrose concentration up to 55%. The opposite effect was observed for the SPM with D.S. of 0.113 and 0.147. All the SPM presented a higher final viscosity with an increase of sucrose concentration. A significant decrease of the initial viscosity and of all other pasting characteristics of the initial viscosity and of all other pasting characteristics was noted in the presence of sodium chloride. The phosphated starches were not stable in acidic medium and showed some reduction of their pasting characteristics in alkaline medium.     

Isostere Adsorptionswärme des Ethans an Zeolithen vom Typ NaX und NaY

Isosteric Heat of Adsorption of n-Ethane on Zeolites NaX and NaY Using a volumetric method isotherms of adsorption of ethane on zeolites NaX and NaY were measured. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation was used to calculate the isosteric heat of adsorption of the paraffin on both molecular-sieves. These enthalpies show a linear dependence of the amount of adsorbed molecules. The zeolite with the higher charge density shows a larger heat of adsorption. The difference in the heat of adsorption is explained by adsorption on different centers in the cavity of both zeolites.     

Medical target prediction from genome sequence: combining different sequence analysis algorithms with expert knowledge and input from artificial intelligence approaches.

By exploiting the rapid increase in available sequence data, the definition of medically relevant protein targets has been improved by a combination of: (i) differential genome analysis (target list): and (ii) analysis of individual proteins (target analysis). Fast sequence comparisons, data mining, and genetic algorithms further promote these procedures. Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins were chosen as applied examples.     

A new removable resist for high aspect ratio applications

A variety of different photo resists are used for fabrication of MEMS. Presently good results were reported for SU-8, a chemically amplified negative tone photoresist. But SU-8 has a disadvantage for some applications in LIGA technique, especially in the X-ray mask fabrication. After processing the finished resist pattern are hardly soluble from the substrate. This paper will briefly describe the current status of the development of the new negative tone photoresist CAR 44 whose big advantage is the easy removableness of the cross linked pattern. This work widely uses the contents of the presentation “A New Removable Resist for High Aspect Ratio Applications” to the High Aspect Ratio Micro Structure Technology workshop HARMST 2005 held in Gyeongyu (Republic of Korea), June 10–13, 2005.     

Waste incineration plants in the FRG: Construction,materials, investigation on cases of corrosion

The development and future aspects of waste incineration in Germany are described with emphasis to corrosion problems. The heterogeneity of waste and special components are the cause of higher corrosion risk in comparison with other fuels, e.g. coal. The materials used in waste incineration plants are preferably the same as in fossil fuel fired boilers, namely un- and low-alloyed steels. Constructive measures are used to avoid enhanced corrosion. Examples are given for enhanced fire-side corrosion of evaporator and superheater tubes. Corrosion in the combustion chamber is to about 50% caused by local reducing conditions. At the other 50% chlorine compounds play a decisive role. Corrosion in the superheater area is usually caused by “high temperature chlorid corrosion”.