Cerebrovascular effects of analgosedation

The in vitro drug sensitivity of three dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors (pyrimethamine, cycloguanil, trimethoprim) was determined against 29 strains and isolates of Plasmodium falciparum by an isotopic semi-microtest. Trimethoprim is less active than pyrimethamine or cycloguanil and its activity is correlated with that of two other inhibitors, suggesting cross-resistance in vitro among the dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors.     

Sequential Decoding of Convolutional Codes for Rayleigh Fading Channels

The performance of sequential decoding of long constraint length convolutional codes is evaluated for Rayleigh fading channels. Sequential decoding is not practical below a certain theoretical signal-to-noise ratio, and these theoretical limits are calculated for a number of modulation methods and code rates. As an example, with BPSK modulation, soft decisions and code rate 1/2, the theoretical signal-to-noise ratio per information bit is 5.7 dB. Above this limit the bit error rate can be made arbitrarily small by increasing the constraint length at no significant complexity cost. Furthermore, it is shown that with carefully chosen quantization steps, 8 level uniform quantization gives a negligible loss also for sequential decoding on a Rayleigh fading channel. Simulation results using 8 level quantization correspond well with the theoretical performance bounds. Also, the performance on a correlated channel with finite interleaving has been obtained. With an interleaver depth of 50×50 and a normalized doppler frequency equal to 0.01 we are only 0.5 dB away from the performance with perfect interleaving. Finally, bit error rate results show this scheme to compete well with Turbo codes.     

Phase behavior of ternary blends containing dimethylpolycarbonate,tetramethylpolycarbonate and poly[styrene‐co‐(methyl methacrylate)] copolymers (or polystyrene)

The miscibility and phase behavior of ternary blends containing dimethylpolycarbonate (DMPC), tetramethylpolycarbonate (TMPC) and poly[styrene‐co‐(methyl methacrylate)] copolymer (SMMA) have been explored. Ternary blends containing polystyrene (PS) instead of SMMA were also examined. Blends of DMPC with SMMA copolymers (or PS) did not form miscible blends regardless of methyl methacrylate (MMA) content in copolymers. However, DMPC blends with SMMA (or PS) blends become miscible by adding TMPC. The miscible region of ternary blends is compared with the previously determined miscibility region of binary blends having the same chemical components and compositions. The region where the ternary blends are miscible is much narrower than that of binary blends. Based on lattice fluid theory, the observed phase behavior of ternary blends was analyzed. Even though the term representing the Gibbs free energy change of mixing for certain ternary blends had a negative value, blends were immiscible. It was revealed that a negative value of the Gibbs free energy change of mixing was not a sufficient condition for miscible ternary blends because of the asymmetry in the binary interactions involved in ternary blends. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Phacoemulsification with a bevel-down phaco tip: phaco-drill

We present a technique for in situ lens nucleus emulsification using low phaco power and high vacuum, a continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis, and hydrodelineation. Emulsification is done with the phaco tip slanted down 30 or 45 degrees. Cutting and aspiration do not cause an undesirable energy loss. This technique can be combined with the nuclear chopping or divide and conquer methods because of its ability to drill and hold the nucleus. Posterior capsular rupture is prevented because the separated epinucleus acts as a barrier between the nucleus and the cortex. The low power used minimizes the energy transfer to the corneal endothelium. This technique is particularly useful in eyes with brunescent cataract.