The value of the D-xylose test compared with the differential sugar absorption test in recognizing coeliac disease

Absorbable stapling devices have been described by several groups for the creation of continent urinary diversions. Experience with these devices in the creation of the LeBag ileocecal orthotopic pouch is described. Use of the staplers simplifies pouch construction and yields functional results similar to hand-sewn reservoirs.     

A code tagging approach to software product line development

Software product line engineering seeks to systematise reuse when developing families of similar software systems so as to minimise development time, cost and defects. To realise variability at the code level, product line methods classically advocate usage of inheritance, components, frameworks, aspects or generative techniques. However, these might require unaffordable paradigm shifts for developers if the software was not thought at the outset as a product line. Furthermore, these techniques can be conflicting with a company’s coding practices or external regulations. These concerns were the motivation for the industry–university collaboration described in this paper in which we developed a minimally intrusive coding technique based on tags. The approach was complemented with traceability from code to feature diagrams which were exploited for automated configuration. It is supported by a toolchain and is now in use in the partner company for the development of flight-grade satellite communication software libraries.     

Supporting multiple perspectives in feature-based configuration

Feature diagrams have become commonplace in software product line engineering as a means to document variability early in the life cycle. Over the years, their application has also been extended to assist stakeholders in the configuration of software products. However, existing feature-based configuration techniques offer little support for tailoring configuration views to the profiles of the various stakeholders. In this paper, we propose a lightweight, yet formal and flexible, mechanism to leverage multidimensional separation of concerns in feature-based configuration. We propose a technique to specify concerns in feature diagrams and to generate automatically concern-specific configuration views. Three alternative visualisations are proposed. Our contributions are motivated and illustrated through excerpts from a real web-based meeting management application which was also used for a preliminary evaluation. We also report on the progress made in the development of a tool supporting multi-view feature-based configuration.     

FTIR investigation of structural modifications during low-temperature ageing of polycarbonate

Conformational changes are sought during low-temperature ageing of solution-cast films of BPA-polycarbonate, by observing the conformationally sensitive IR aromatic breathing band at 1600 cm^–1. Preliminary results using the carbonyl band at 1775 cm^–1 had shown some indication of ageing-induced changes in the distribution of conformations. The present results obtained on the 1600 cm^–1 band show no indication whatever of conformational rearrangements. This result, at variance with observations of conformational rearrangements accompanying sub-T _g annealing, lends support to the concept that sub-T _g annealing and low temperature ageing are two distinct processes.     

Dietary treatment for regurgitation--recommendations from a working party

Previous studies established that retrovirally infected young mice produced large amounts of autoantibodies to certain T-cell receptor (TCR) peptides whose administration diminished retrovirus-induced immune abnormalities. C57BL/6 young (4 weeks) and old (16 months) female mice were injected with these same synthetic human TCR V beta 8.1 or 5.2 peptides. Administration of these autoantigenic peptides to old mice prevent immunosenescence, such as age-related reduction in splenocyte proliferation and interleukin-2 (IL-2) secretion. TCR V beta peptide injection into young mice had no effect on T- or B-cell mitogenesis and IL-4 production while modifying tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secreted by mitogen-stimulated spleen cells. TCR V beta injection also retarded the excessive production of IL-4, IL-6 and TNF-alpha induced by ageing. These data suggest that immune dysfunction and abnormal cytokine production, induced by the ageing process, were largely prevented by injection of selected TCR V beta CDR1 peptides.     

In vitro kinetic analysis of carbohydrate and aromatic amino acid metabolism of different members of the human colon

The carbohydrate and aromatic amino acid metabolism of several species related to the human colon was investigated into more detail. Therefore, in vitro fermentations were performed, with different carbohydrate sources, during which several aromatic amino acids were added to the fermentation medium. Shifts in end-product formation in response to the available nutrients were observed for all strains tested. The major part of amino acid degradation occurred after depletion of the carbohydrates. Moreover, it was shown that Bifidobacterium strains are capable of degrading aromatic amino acids in the absence of carbohydrates. The excretion of certain intermediates of the aromatic amino acid metabolism was observed for a strain of Clostridium clostridioforme, after which they were metabolized again during a later stage of fermentation. This implies that cross-feeding on degradation products of aromatic amino acids, albeit within the same species, can occur in the human colon.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the adsorption of pure molecules and binary systems containing methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Application to the syngas generation

This study takes place in the context of the use of a Synthesis Gas in Gas To Liquid process, liquid hydrocarbon production by conversion based on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Our aim is the process improvement by a selective recycling of the tail gas. So, we measure pure component isotherms for four gases (CO₂, CH₄, CO, N₂) of the tail gas until 2000 kPa and binary mixture (CO₂–CH₄; CO₂–N₂; CH₄–N₂) equilibria at 303.15 K and 400 and 950 kPa onto a ZSM-5 zeolite. We also predict the binary mixture equilibria by the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) and the Vacancy Solution Model (VSM, Flory–Huggins and Wilson forms) and we obtain very good results. So not only binary mixture equilibria but also ternary and quaternary mixture adsorption can be predicted. With these data (experimental and simulated), we can conclude that the CO₂ is the most adsorbed component while N₂ is the least one. These two components can be separated from CH₄ and CO which are sent in the Synthesis Gas production step.