Transient sex differences in the between-sessions but not in the within-session memory underlying an active place avoidance task in weanling rats.

Spatial abilities were tested in male and female rats by training them to avoid an area in which there was a mild footshock while the arena rotated at 1 revolution/minute. The to-be-avoided area was stable in the coordinates of the room, so extramaze landmarks had to be used for accurate navigation, as the rotation made intramaze cues and substrate-based path integration useless for the avoidance. From Postnatal Day (PD) 19, rats were trained for 22 consecutive days. When the shock area was the same across sessions male rats reached optimal performance on PDs 23–24, 10 days before female rats, but when the location of the shock changed daily there were no sex differences. The results indicate that there are separate memory components underlying spatial competence: a within-session component that develops similarly in male and female rats and a between-sessions component that lasts at least 24 hr and appears earlier in male than in female rats. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recycling of hazardous waste materials in the coking process

Every year the coking industry produces a significant amount of tarry and other wastes in byproducts plants. For the most part these wastes have not been put to any practical use. In addition, an integrated factory produces several waste oils which differ in composition and quantity, e.g., wastes from the steel rolling-mill process. In this work, the possibility of using such waste materials as binders in a partial briquetting process for metallurgical coke production is explored. By means of this coking procedure, a strong metallurgical coke not inferior in quality to coke from conventional coal blends is produced at pilot and semi-industrial scales. The use of such wastes, some of which are classified as hazardous materials, will avoid the need for dumping, thereby contributing to the protection of the environment as well as reducing the costs related to waste disposal.     

Diagnosis of meningoencephalitis caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 using nested PCR in CSF samples

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to achieve the early diagnosis of the neurologic alteration caused by the Herpes Simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) with the nested PCR technique in CSF. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January, 1994 to October, 1995, 140 CSF from 140 patients were studied in our laboratory. Ninety-five were diagnosed with viral meningoencephalitis (Group A) and 45 with other neurologic diseases (Group B). Nested PCR of HSV-1 and conventional viral cultures were carried out in all the cases. RESULTS: Laboratory diagnosis was achieved in 13 (13.68%) of Group A patients: in 12 (12.63%) HSV-1 genome was detected by nested PCR and in one patient adenovirus was isolated. In Group B, the HSV-1 was detected by nested PCR in 2 patients (4.44%). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained demonstrate the usefulness of nested PCR in HSV-1 infection for the diagnosis of herpetic meningoencephalitis in initial stages of the disease, from a single CSF sample.     

An approach to blast furnace coke quality prediction

Although coke cold drum mechanical strength has historically been the most relevant coke quality parameter, currently coke reactivity and post-reaction strength (CRI/CSR) are the most important parameters used to assess blast-furnace coke quality. Many models of coke quality prediction have been proposed, most of which are based on coal characteristics and limited to the same coal geographic origin, but as yet there is no universally applicable prediction formula. The present work describes a simple model of coke CRI/CSR prediction based on the assumption that the CSR of a coke produced from a blend of coals can be predicted from the CSR obtained from the cokes of the individual coals through the application of the additivity law. The additivity law was also applied to the coke cold mechanical strength indices derived from the Irsid test, which are widely employed by the European coke industry as complementary coke quality indicators.