Border crossing for hospital care and its implications for the use of statewide data

A major concern of researchers using state data sets for population-based analyses and market share studies in the health care sector is the potential bias caused by 'border crossing'--patients receiving care out of state. By using the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) discharge abstract files for 1987 and 1988, we found that 'border crossing' is not a serious problem for the two large states we examined. Only 4.4% of New York patients and 2.15% of California patients received care out of state. At the county and zip code level, 'border crossing' is more frequent but tends to be concentrated in areas adjacent to other states. Even excluding all zips with more than 10% of patients crossing the 'border' results in a small loss of patients (2.2% for New York and 1.0% for California).     

Duration of cell cycle, onset of S phase and induced mitotic synchronisation in seeds of opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L

Primary brain tumors in two dogs were surgically removed followed by postoperative radiation therapy. The two tumors were confirmed histologically to be astrocytoma and meningioma, respectively. After the surgery, the neurological status of each dog improved dramatically and a total dose of 40 Gy was delivered to the surgical site to treat residual tumor tissue. Although the dog with astrocytoma died 6 months after surgery due to unknown causes, the dog with meningioma has lived for over 24 months with a degree of neurological disorder less severe than that before treatment. These results suggested the effectiveness of this type of therapy on brain tumor in dogs and therapeutic modality should be positively planned to treat canine brain tumors.     

Hartstoffauflösung und Gefügeausbildung bei der konvektionsarmen Erzeugung von Hartstoff-Dispersionsschichten auf Stahl mittels Laserstrahlung

Hard Particle Dissolution and Structure of Coarsegrained Dispersion Layers on Steel Produced by Convection-reduced Laser Melting With the aim to produce hard and wear-resistant dispersion layers coarse grained TiC-and TiB₂-particles were incorporated into the surface layers of steels by means of a two-step laser melting process with reduced melt bath convection. The influence of the carbon conent of the steel and content of alloying elements and hard particles in the screen printed layer on solidification structures and particle dissolution was investigated by optical and electron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis. The produced layers were also characterized by hardness measurements.     

The Future of Amorphous Silicon Photovoltaic Technology

Amorphous silicon modules are commercially available. They are the first truly commercial thin-film photovoltaic (PV) devices. Well-defined production processes over very large areas (> 1 m²) have been implemented. There are few environmental issues during manufacturing, deployment in the field or with the eventual disposal of the modules. Manufacturing safety issues are well characterized and controllable. The highest measured initial efficiency to date is 13.7% for a small triple-stacked cell and the highest stabilized module efficiency is 10%, There is a consensus among researchers that in order to achieve a 15% stabilized efficiency, a triple-junction amorphous silicon structure is required. Fundamental improvements in alloys are needed for higher efficiencies. This is being pursued through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory/US Department of Energy (NREL/DOE) Thin-Film Partnership Program. Cost reductions through improved manufacturing processes are being pursued under the NREL/DOE-sponsored research in manufacturing technology (PVMaT). Much of the work in designing a-Si devices is a result of trying to compensate for the Staebler-Wronski effect. Some new deposition techniques hold promise because they have produced materials with lower stabilized defect densities. However, none has yet produced a high-efficiency device and shown it to be more stable than those from standard glow discharge-deposited material.     

Experience of nutritional support in late period of traumatic disease of wounded patients

There are no standards of nutritional support of wounded patients in different periods of disease. Influence of supplementation with Nutrition on dynamic of anthropometric indexes, some biochemical and laboratory parameters in wounded malnourished patients in the last period of disease was examined. The results of investigation indicated that supplementation with Nutrizon increased all tianthropometric indexes, normalized albumin blood level, nitrogen balance, decreased nitrogen of urine.     

Pre-Transplant Serum Leptin Levels and Relapse of Acute Myeloid Leukemia after Allogeneic Transplantation

Weight loss and metabolic activity influence outcome after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT). This study evaluates pre-conditioning Leptin, a peptide hormone involved in metabolism and immune homeostasis, as a prognostic factor for survival, relapse and non-relapse mortality (NRM) following alloSCT. Leptin serum levels prior to conditioning were determined in a cohort of patients transplanted for various hematologic malignancies (n = 524) and correlated retrospectively with clinical outcome. Findings related to patients with acute leukemia (AL) from this sample were validated in an independent cohort. Low pre-conditioning serum Leptin was an independent prognostic marker for increased risk of relapse (but not of NRM and overall mortality) following alloSCT for AL of intermediate and advanced stage (beyond first complete remission). Multivariate analysis revealed a hazard ratio (HR) for relapse of 0.75 per log2 increase (0.59–0.96, p = 0.020). This effect was similar in an independent validation cohort. Pre-conditioning serum Leptin was validated as a prognostic marker for early relapse by fitting the multivariate Cox model to the validation data. Pre-conditioning serum Leptin levels may serve as an independent prognostic marker for relapse following alloSCT in intermediate and advanced stage AL patients. Prospective studies are required to prove whether serum Leptin could be used for guiding nutritional intervention in patients with AL undergoing alloSCT.     

Contrast media-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging visualizes myocardial changes in the course of viral myocarditis

BACKGROUND: The course of tissue changes in acute myocarditis in humans is not well understood. Diagnostic tools currently available are unsatisfactory. We tested the hypothesis that inflammation is reflected by signal changes in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed 44 consecutive patients with symptoms of acute myocarditis. Nineteen patients met the inclusion criteria revealing ECG changes, reduced myocardial function, elevated creatine kinase, positive troponin T, serological evidence for acute viral infection, exclusion of coronary heart disease, and positive antimyosin scintigraphy. We studied these patients on days 2, 7, 14, 28, and 84 after the onset of symptoms. We obtained ECG-triggered, T1-weighted images before and after application of 0.1 mmol/kg gadolinium. We measured the global relative signal enhancement of the left ventricular myocardium related to skeletal muscle and compared it with measurements in 18 volunteers. The global relative enhancement was higher in patients on days 2 (4.8+/-0.3 [mean+/-SE] versus 2.5+/-0.2; P<.0001); 7 (4.7+/-0.5, P<.0001); 14 (4.6+/-0.5, P<.0002); and 28 (3.9+/-0.4, P=.009) but not on day 84 (3.1+/-0.3; P=NS). On day 2, the enhancement was focal, whereas at later time points, the enhancement was diffuse. In patients with evidence of ongoing disease, the values remained elevated. CONCLUSIONS: Acute myocarditis evolves from a focal to a disseminated process during the first 2 weeks after onset of symptoms. Contrast media-enhanced MRI visualizes the localization, activity, and extent of inflammation and may serve as a powerful noninvasive diagnostic tool in acute myocarditis.     

Weißblechkorrosion in nitrathaltigen Medien: Die Rolle des Nitrits

Tinplate corrosion in nitrate containing media: The role fo nitrite The role of nitrite in the corrosion of tinplate in media containing nitrate was examined. If nitrite is initially absent, the corrosion is initially slow, but as nitrite is generated the corrosion, in turn, accelerates. This slow startup does not occur if nitrite is initially present in sufficient concentration. These observations agree with the autocatalytic mechanisms suggested for the reduction of nitrate by Schmid and Vetter.