An adolescent with suicidal ideas

AIM: To elucidate the role of some renal diseases, pyelonephritis in particular, in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The trial included 150 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 aged over 60 years with DM duration 16.6 +/- 7.8 years. All the patients underwent general clinical examination, Reberg-Tareev test, urine seeding, renal ultrasonography. RESULTS: The diagnoses associated with renal pathology were made in 75% of patients, the specific renal parenchymal damage (diabetic nephropathy-DN) proper was much less common (73 patients with type 2 DM). 16 of them were found to have chronic renal failure. The concurrent abnormalities included pyelonephritis (21%), urolithiasis (14%), renal cysts (19%), their combination (43%). Concomitant pyelonephritis had the most significant impact on renal function. Essential hypertension occurred in 65% of patients. CONCLUSION: In old age, renal damage specific for DM develops in the presence of pyelonephritis, cystic degeneration of the parenchyma, involutional processes, atherosclerotic and hypertensive arteriolosclerosis.     

New Cyclams and Their Copper(II) and Iron(III) Complexes: Synthesis and Potential Application as Anticancer Agents

New cyclam derivatives (HOCH₂CH₂CH₂)₂(PhCH₂)₂Cyclam and (HOCH₂CH₂CH₂)₂( PhCH₂)₂Cyclam, as well as their Cu^II and Fe^III complexes, were synthesized and characterized and their stability in cellular media was assessed. The cytotoxic effect of all compounds was examined on human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells, revealing strong anticancer activity. After 24 h, only complexes with the (HOCH₂CH₂CH₂)₂( PhCH₂)₂Cyclam ligand are cytotoxic, whereas after incubation for 72 h all compounds show significant antiproliferative effects. Notably, compounds containing PhCH₂ pendant arms on the cyclam ring revealed the most activity, with cytotoxicity values up to 12 times higher than those of cisplatin. All metal complexes seem to induce cell death through the formation of reactive oxygen species.     

Characteristics of the populations at the Robert Giffard Psychiatric Hospital Center: people with intellectual deficiencies and people with mental disorders

Within the context of the general reorganization of health care and social services in Québec, the present study aims at describing physical and mental characteristics of persons with mental health problems and who are mentally retarded still hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. In the first study, 146 mentally retarded persons of which 74 formed the community group and 72 the institutionalized group. The results indicate that 84% of the mentally retarded persons still hospitalized manifested sufficiently important needs on the three measured variables (health, deficits and behaviors) to justify intensive care in a structured environment. The Behavior variable is more important in deciding the integration of these people in the community. As most of these persons have a higher level of disabilities and more behavior manifestations, the support required for these people in the community and persons delivering services will have to be more structured and intensive in nature. In the second study, 928 psychiatric patients still hospitalized were studied on the variables, age, sex, diagnostics and the global scores (physical and mental) of the level of care survey and functional autonomy. The results show that the proportion of women in the age group 35 and older were progressively increasing in relation to the men. The primary diagnostic reported more frequently was schizophrenia in 70% of cases. In the evaluation of physical care of the people still hospitalized, age becomes an important factor. Generally speaking, the population within the institution is aging and women are progressively growing in number. As these people expressed more physical ailments and a decline in basic autonomy, more structured and specialized care and support will be required to respond to their needs.     

Porosity of Sol-Gel Derived Silica Coatings on Glass Substrates

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Pyroelectric energy converter for harvesting waste heat: Simulations versus experiments

This paper is concerned with numerical simulations of a pyroelectric converter for direct energy conversion of waste heat into electricity. The simulated prototypical device consisted of a hot and cold source separated by a series of vertical microchannels supporting pyroelectric thin films made of co-polymer P(VDF-TrFE) and undergoing the Olsen cycle. A piston was used to vertically oscillate a working fluid back and forth between the thermal sources. The experimental device was instrumented with thermocouples and a pressure sensor. The two-dimensional transient mass, momentum, and energy equations were solved numerically using finite element methods to determine the local and time-dependent temperature at various locations inside the device microchannels. The operating frequency varied from 0.025 to 0.123 Hz and the working fluid was 1.5 or 50 cSt silicone oil. Good agreement was found between the simulated and experimentally measured local mean temperatures for both working fluids at all operating frequencies considered. The local temperature swings were underestimated slightly for 50 cSt silicone oil and significantly more for 1.5 cSt silicone oil. Overall, this study confirms our previous numerical results. Moreover, this numerical model could be used to design and operate the next generation of pyroelectric energy converters based on oscillatory convective heat transfer.     

Use of Mie theory to analyze experimental data to identify infrared properties of fused quartz containing bubbles

An improved method used to determine the absorption and scattering characteristics of a weakly absorbing substance containing bubbles is suggested. The identification procedure is based on a combination of directional-hemispherical measurements and predictions of Mie-scattering theory including approximate relations for a medium with polydisperse bubbles. A modified two-flux approximation is suggested for the calculation of directional-hemispherical transmittance and reflectance of a refracting and scattering medium. The complete identification procedure gives not only the spectral radiative properties but also the volume fraction of bubbles and the characteristics of possible impurity of the medium. This procedure is used to obtain new data on near-infrared properties of fused-quartz samples containing bubbles.