Pheochromocytoma

We present a series of 11 patients with pheochromozytomas. We recommend screening for a catecholamine-producing tumor for every patient with hypertension. Screening and diagnosis are based on demonstration of an increased catecholamine production or -excretion. In our laboratory determination of urinary vanillin-mandelic-acid proved to be quite accurate. As 6 of our 11 pheochromozytomas were found extra-adrenally preoperative evaluation with regard to localization of these tumors appears as sound practice. According to our experience no single examination can be favoured. Therefore localization of these tumors is best accomplished by multiple diagnostic procedures. Morbidity and mortality depend directly upon preoperative recognition of a catecholamine-producing tumor and thus according management. We were able to gather data on 8 of 10 surviving patients 4--13 years postoperatively. Six of these are normotensive without any treatment.     

ON THE SUNSTRUCK FLAVOUR OF BEER

It has been confirmed that sunstruck flavour is due to the formation of 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol formed by photolysis of iso-α-acids in the presence of sulphur-containing amino acids.     

Effect of tidal volume and frequency on airway responsiveness in mechanically ventilated rabbits

We evaluated the effects of the rate and volume of tidal ventilation on airway resistance (Raw) during intravenous methacholine (MCh) challenge in mechanically ventilated rabbits. Five rabbits were challenged at tidal volumes of 5, 10, and 20 ml/kg at a frequency of 15 breaths/min and also under static conditions (0 ml/kg tidal volume). Four rabbits were subjected to MCh challenge at frequencies of 6 and 30 breaths/min with a tidal volume of 10 ml/kg and also under static conditions. In both groups, the increase in Raw with MCh challenge was significantly greater under static conditions than during tidal ventilation at any frequency or volume. Increases in the volume or frequency of tidal ventilation resulted in significant decreases in Raw in response to MCh. We conclude that tidal breathing suppresses airway responsiveness in rabbits in vivo. The suppression of narrowing in response to MCh increases as the magnitude of the volume or the frequency of the tidal oscillations is increased. Our findings suggest that the effect of lung volume changes on airway responsiveness in vivo is primarily related to the stretch of airway smooth muscle.     

Captive-Air Irradiation Experiments on Ozone Formation in Southern California

One phase of an air-pollution study conducted in the Los Angeles basin during the summer of 1987 consisted of outdoor smog-chamber experiments, called captive-air irradiation experiments, intended to study the response of ozone to changes in its main precursors, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. In this article, a total of 249 captive-air irradiation experiments conducted on 33 test days are used to obtain empirical models of ozone formation. These fitted models are used to construct ozone contours as a function of the precursor levels, evaluate proposed control strategies intended to reduce ozone levels, and examine the effects of ambient temperature and ultraviolet radiation on the formation of ozone. An unusual aspect of this environmental study is the use of fractional-factorial experiments to guide the selection of the precursor combinations on approximately one-third of the test days.     

Substrate wetting and topographically induced ordering of amorphous PI-b-PFS block-copolymer domains

The substrate wetting of an amorphous, low-glass-transition-temperature spherical poly(isoprene-block-ferrocenylsilane) (PI-b-PFS) block copolymer and the alignment of the microdomains in grooves of various geometry are studied. Compositional analysis by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling (TOF-SIMS) indicates the presence of both PI and PFS directly at the film-substrate interface on silicon and silica substrates. The TOF-SIMS depth-profiling study indicates a transition in the packing of the domains between the two-dimensional (2D) monolayer and 3D, thicker layers. In a monolayer of domains, a hexagonal packing is adopted. In films of two or three layers, the hexagonal packing reorganizes towards a body-centered cubic (bcc) packing by the extension of the copolymer chains in the direction normal to the substrate, as indicated by an increase in spacing between PFS layers and an increase in domain size. For thicker layers, a bcc morphology with the (110) plane parallel to the substrate is found to extend from the free surface downwards. Films of one monolayer of domains of the copolymer exhibit long-range lateral ordering on the micrometer scale on flat substrates without high-temperature annealing. On topographically patterned silicon substrates the position of the domains of the minority PFS phase directly near the side walls is fixed by the neutral wetting condition. Successful positioning of the block-copolymer spheres in linear and hexagonal grooves is achieved in grooves up to 1.3 microm wide, whereby the hexagonal grooves demonstrate complete 2D alignment. In circular pits, this graphoepitaxial effect is absent.     

The LOFAR Telescope: System Architecture and Signal Processing

The low frequency array (LOFAR) is a large distributed radio telescope, consisting of phased array antenna stations that are combined in an aperture synthesis array. Antenna stations consist of many simple, omnidirectional antennas. Flexible station-based signal processing allows for trading bandwidth against instantaneous sky coverage. Central processing implements a software correlator, which can be reconfigured as a full tied array beamformer, and online calibration functions to handle the large data streams produced by the system. The key science programs for LOFAR challenge the technical specifications in several directions, which resulted in a highly reconfigurable architecture. This paper describes the LOFAR system design, the configuration, and the signal-processing chain. LOFAR has been developed by ASTRON and a consortium of universities and industrial partners. The instrument is currently being deployed in The Netherlands. Additional stations are being built in several other European countries. The telescope is considered an important pathfinder for the square kilometer array (SKA) in demonstrating the potential of (sparse) aperture arrays, in developing solutions to major calibration issues that are directly applicable to the SKA, and in paving the way for the mass-production and operations of such large distributed radio telescope systems.