Simplified method for the measurement of segmental colonic transit time

Segmental colonic transit has been measured in 101 patients. Two MBq of 111Indium absorbed on resin pellets and encapsulated in an enteric coated capsule was given at 7 00 am. Hourly images during the first day, and three images during each subsequent day were acquired for up to three days. Using all scan and patient data the scans were categorised in one of the five patterns of colonic transit: normal, rapid, right delay, left delay, or generalised delay. The geometric centres and per cent activity at each time point was compared between the five groups of colonic transit patients to find the best time for imaging and so to distinguish the five groups. During the first day, early images did not help in diagnosis of patterns of transit, however, in the later images (six hours onwards after the ingestion of the activity) the rapid transit groups could be identified. Images at 27 and 51 hours were both required to distinguish all five groups of patients from each other. Only in the 'normal' transit patients was there some excretion of the activity during the course of the second day, otherwise there was no difference in the images taken in the course of a day (second or third day). A simplified protocol requires a minimum of three images to distinguish all five patterns of colonic transit. The activity should be ingested in the morning (7 00 am) and the first image taken at the end of the working day (8-10 hours after ingestion), the second image on the morning of the second day, and the third image during the course of the third day. This simple protocol would provide all the clinically relevant information necessary for correct classification of the colonic transit.     

Ultrastructural and immunocytochemical features of a case of neuroendocrine carcinoma developing in a prior ileostomy site

A patient who developed a mixed neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma at the site of a previous long-standing ileostomy is reported. The neuroendocrine features are documented by both ultrastructural and immunocytochemical findings. Carcinoma arising in an ileostomy site is rare but has been recorded in patients with long-standing ileostomies after colectomy for chronic inflammatory bowel disease, as in this patient. Neuroendocrine carcinoma developing in this setting apparently has not been described before, however.     

Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor Cluster: communication linkages among stakeholders in a national system of innovation

As the wave of globalization washes over geographical boundaries, the world steps into the era of a new knowledge-based economy with governments striving to encourage innovation in industry especially through national systems of innovation. A national system of innovation (NSI) is considered important because how a nation utilizes and exploits its NSI will determine whether it can compete and ride the wave of globalization or be carried by it and thrashed onto the shores of the new economy. This paper seeks to highlight the linkages developed for enabling communication among the various NSI stakeholders for achieving goals in one such effort, viz. the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cluster of Malaysia. The MSC offers a vision to create a global multimedia climate through an integrated environment of interlinked elements and attributes. The government of Malaysia, realising the significance of the NSI as a way to better utilize, exploit, and enhance systems, is making efforts to this effect. The efforts include bringing together various stakeholder organizations under the "Multimedia Flagship Applications" to develop flagship applications. This is for the development of information technology applications to pave the way toward a knowledge-based economy. The MSC Cluster is presented here as a physical manifestation of the NSI, and it gives an idea as to how policy makers can design linkages for communication among the various stakeholders to further national innovative performance and competitiveness in general.     

Lateral polysilicon pn diodes: current-voltage characteristicssimulation between 200 K and 400 K using a numerical approach

The current-voltage characteristics of lateral pn diodes fabricated in polysilicon layer grown by LPCVD on oxidized silicon substrates are analyzed versus temperature. The simulation proposed by Greve (1985) using the analytical current modeling is applied to forward and reverse junction currents for various temperatures; this modeling shows its limitations. Then to fit the experimental characteristics at low and high temperatures as well as at low and high current levels, a numerical modeling is developed taking into account the local electrical field effect on recombination and generation mechanisms at grain boundaries in the whole of the structure, i.e., quasi-neutral and depleted regions. This modeling allows one to fit the complete I-V experimental curves in the whole of the considered temperature range (200 K-400 K) with physical acceptable parameters     

Biomimetic engineering of non-adhesive glycocalyx-like surfaces using oligosaccharide surfactant polymers

The external region of a cell membrane, known as the glycocalyx, is dominated by glycosylated molecules, which direct specific interactions such as cell-cell recognition and contribute to the steric repulsion that prevents undesirable non-specific adhesion of other molecules and cells. Mimicking the non-adhesive properties of a glycocalyx provides a potential solution to the clinical problems, such as thrombosis, that are associated with implantable devices owing to non-specific adsorption of plasma proteins. Here we describe a biomimetic surface modification of graphite using oligosaccharide surfactant polymers, which, like a glycocalyx, provides a dense and confluent layer of oligosaccharides. The surfactant polymers consist of a flexible poly(vinyl amine) with dextran and alkanoyl side chains. We show that alkanoyl side chains assemble on graphite through hydrophobic interaction and epitaxial adsorption. This constrains the polymer backbone to lie parallel to the substrate, with solvated dextran side chains protruding into the aqueous phase, creating a glycocalyx-like coating. The resulting biomimetic surface is effective in suppressing protein adsorption from human plasma protein solution.     

Gas chromatography in express diagnosis of candidiasis and monitoring of antifungal therapy efficacy by D-arabinitol and mannose levels in pediatric patients]

Methods for preventing and treating Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever are not still available despite the fact that this virus have been studied for 20 years. Methods of immunization of the animals (sheep, goats) non-susceptible to Ebola virus with live virus preparations were developed to obtain the hyperimmune anti-Ebola virus sera required to have highly immune antivirus gamma-globulins. These methods made it possible to obtain the immune sera having high virus-neutralizing antibodies. Caprine immunoglobulins were obtained from sera by fractionation of immune sera by Kohn's method. The neutralization indices of the immunoglobulins obtained were at least Ig. When administered in the first hours of infection, the protective effect of these preparations was shown on guinea pigs infected with LD50 of the strain pathogenic to the animals. Preclinical trials of these immunoglobulins on laboratory animals and clinical trials on volunteers were performed. The preparation was used as a preventive agent when accidents took place at the laboratory working with Ebola virus. The similar preparation from equine sera having high neutralizing and protective properties was elaborated at the Virological Center, Microbiological Institute, Russian Ministry of Defense. Its prophylactic efficiency was also shown in infected gamadrias.     

Systematic relationships of some members of the genera Oesophagostomum and Chabertia (Nematoda: Chabertiidae) based on ribosomal DNA sequence data

The present study characterised seven species of the Chabertiidae (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) belonging to either the subfamily Oesophagostominae (Oesophagostomum radiatum, Oesophagostomum venulosum, Oesophagostomum dentatum, Oesophagostomum quadrispinulatum, Oesophagostomum columbianum, Oesophagostomum bifurcum) or to the subfamily Chabertiinae (Chabertia ovina) by their second internal transcribed spacer rDNA sequence, assessed the extent of intraspecific variation and interspecific differences in the sequence, and inferred the phylogenetic relationship of C. ovina with respect to members of the Oesophagostominae. In both the phenetic and cladistic analyses of the sequence data, Chabertia was nested within Oesophagostomum, suggesting either that the species examined represent members of the same genus, or alternatively, that Oesophagostomum may represent more than one genus.     

Hyperpolarization induces a rise in intracellular sodium concentration in dopamine cells of the substantia nigra pars compacta

We investigated the effect of changes in membrane-voltage on intracellular sodium concentration ([Na+]i) of dopamine-sensitive neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta in a slice preparation of rat mesencephalon. Whole-cell patch-clamp techniques were combined with microfluorometric measurements of [Na+]i using the Na+-sensitive probe, sodium-binding benzofuran isophthalate (SBFI). Hyperpolarization of spontaneously active dopamine neurons (recorded in current-clamp mode) caused the cessation of action potential firing accompanied by an elevation in [Na+]i. In dopamine neurons voltage-clamped at a holding potential of -60 mV elevations of [Na+]i were induced by long-lasting (45-60 s) voltage jumps to more negative membrane potentials (-90 to -120 mV) but not by corresponding voltage jumps to -30 mV. These hyperpolarization-induced elevations of [Na+]i were depressed during inhibition of I(h), a hyperpolarization-activated inward current, by Cs+. Hyperpolarization-induced elevations in [Na+]i might occur also in other cell types which express a powerful I(h) and might signal lack of postsynaptic activity.