Perineurioma: an unusual cause of an external auditory canal polyp

BACKGROUND: Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is used to treat intestinal failure. A minority of HPN patients are dependent on opiates and benzodiazepines to control pain and anxiety. The aim of this study was to determine what effects such drug dependence had on patient outcomes. METHODS: Ten dependent patients were prospectively compared with 10 well-matched, nondependent HPN patients for the same 12-month period. Episodes of line sepsis and other complications were documented and the cost of treatment estimated. Health status was measured using the SF36 and EuroQol instruments. RESULTS: The dependent group had significantly more episodes of central line sepsis (p = .0007) as well as other complications (p = .0002). This led to significantly longer periods of inpatient care (p = .0004) and therefore higher costs of treatment. Health status was lower in the dependent group; they reported more pain (p = .04) and less energy (p = .04). CONCLUSIONS: The complication rate and increased cost of treatment for opiate- and sedative-dependent patients receiving HPN significantly detract from the overall outcome of this therapy.     

Rate of seasonal spread of respiratory syncytial virus in a pediatric hospital

The rate of nosocomial respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection was measured in a large pediatric hospital using an incidence density method. The at-risk days for nosocomial RSV were summed during a defined winter period in which there were 54 admissions with community-acquired RSV infection giving a rate of 2.9 cases per 1,000 at-risk days (95% confidence interval, 0.3-5.4 per 1,000).     

A mutation spectra database for bacterial and mammalian genes: 1998

This database consists of over 24 000 mutations in 18 viral, bacterial, yeast or mammalian genes. The data are grouped as sets of DNA base sequence changes or spectra caused by a particular mutagen under defined conditions. The spectra are available on the World Wide Web at http://info.med.yale.edu/mutbase/ in two formats; in text format that can be browsed on-line or downloaded for use with a text editor and in dBASEIII format for use, after downloading, by relational database programs or by spreadsheets. Researchers are encouraged to submit DNA sequence changes to a suitable mutation database such as ours. A data entry program, MUTSIN, can be retrieved from this site. MUTSIN diagrams each mutation on the computer screen and alerts the user to any discrepancies.     

Externalizing psychopathology and marital adjustment in long-term marriages: Results from a large combined sample of married couples.

The current study evaluated the associations between externalizing psychopathology and marital adjustment in a combined sample of 1,805 married couples. We further considered the role of personality in these associations, as personality has been found to predict both the development of externalizing psychopathology as well as marital distress and instability. Diagnostic interviews assessed conduct disorder, adult symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, and alcohol dependence. Personality was assessed using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to measure marital adjustment. Results indicate that more externalizing psychopathology, greater negative emotionality, and lower communal positive emotionality were associated with reduced marital adjustment in both individuals and their spouses. Low constraint was associated with reduced marital adjustment for individuals but not for their spouses. Multivariate analyses indicated externalizing psychopathology continued to predict marital adjustment even when accounting for overlap with personality. These results highlight the importance of examining the presence of externalizing psychopathology and the personality attributes of both members of a dyad when considering psychological predictors of marital adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality development across the life span: Longitudinal analyses with a national sample from Germany.

Longitudinal data from a national sample of Germans (N = 20,434) were used to evaluate stability and change in the Big Five personality traits. Participants completed a brief measure of personality twice, 4 years apart. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to establish measurement invariance over time and across age groups. Substantive questions about differential (or rank-order) and mean-level stability and change were then evaluated. Results showed that differential stability was relatively strong among all age groups but that it increased among young adults, peaked in later life, and then declined among the oldest old. Patterns of mean-level change showed that Extraversion and Openness declined over the life span, whereas Agreeableness increased. Mean levels of Conscientiousness increased among young adults and then decreased among older adults. Trajectories for Neuroticism were relatively flat, with slight increases during middle age and a slight decline in late life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reciprocal influences between parents' marital problems and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior.

The present study examines reciprocal associations between marital functioning and adolescent maladjustment using cross-lagged autoregressive models. The research involved 451 early adolescents and their families and used a prospective, longitudinal research design with multi-informant methods. Results indicate that parental conflicts over child rearing predicted adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquency. In turn, these adolescent problems exacerbated parental conflicts over child rearing. Furthermore, conflict over child rearing served as the nexus through which more generalized marital dissatisfaction and adolescent adjustment problems were reciprocally interrelated. This research replicates earlier observations that marital problems intensify adolescent maladjustment and extends the literature by demonstrating that adolescent problems also predict marital conflict and ultimately marital dissatisfaction. In sum, the present study demonstrates that marital dissatisfaction, conflict over child rearing, and early adolescent adjustment difficulties are interwoven in a dynamic family system marked by reciprocity along these dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurements for Global Trade (WMD 2020 Message from the BIPM and BIML Directors)

Measurement Techniques -     

Ultralow oil-water IFTs using neutralized oxidized hydrocarbons as surfactants

Surfactants that may be suitable for application in enhanced oil recovery have been produced from C₂₂ and C₂₆ paraffinic and naphthenic petroleum fractions by a two-step process. The hydrocarbon feed stocks were first oxidized in the vapor-phase, followed by neutralization of the oxidized products with aqueous alkali. As a result, dilute solutions of organic acid salts were produced that achieved ultralow (<10⁻² dyne/cm) interfacial tensions against a synthetic oil. Surfactant solutions that exhibited the lowest interfacial tensions (IFTs) were prepared from neutralizations that used low concentrations of sodium hydroxide rather than sodium silicate, sodium tripolyphosphate, or sodium carbonate. Neutralizations that used sodium silicate or sodium carbonate resulted in surfactant solutions having IFT profiles that were less sensitive to the electrolyte concentration. When sodium hydroxide was combined with either sodium silicate or sodium tripolyphosphate in the neutralizations, solutions having intermediate IFT properties were produced. The amount of alkali used in the neutralizations was observed to affect the IFT properties of the resultant surfactant solution. The electrolyte concentration at which the minimum IFT occurred was inversely related to the pH of the surfactant solution. For surfactant solutions of common pH prepared from different concentrations of oxidized product, the minimum IFTs all occurred at the same concentration of electrolyte. Surfactant solutions remained interfacially active even in the presence of significant concentrations of calcium chloride. One pore volume of a solution containing only about 1% of active surfactant recovered 42.0% of the residual oil in a tertiary core-flood experiment.     

Development of a continuous evaporation system for an API solution stream prior to crystallization

A bubble column was investigated as a method to achieve a desired and controllable rate of evaporation of a pharmaceutical solution. Applying a thermodynamic model to predict the rate of evaporation, all predicted values were observed to have accuracies within the bounds of instrumentation errors (<5% absolute). The developed model accounted for the measured effect of reduced vapor pressure, caused by the dissolved solids as a function of their concentration. A general method to obtain accurate measurement of this effect is introduced and applied, improving the accuracy of model predictions. Consistent and repeatable evaporation rates ranging from 0.7 to 6.9 g/min were achieved experimentally, and errors between predicted rates and observed ranged from 0.219% to 4.19% absolute. This demonstrates a controllable and flexible method for the evaporation of process streams which can be compared to harsher conventional methods such as boiling. The column was configured in a continuous mode and coupled to a downstream crystallizer (MSMPR). Using the column as a controllable concentrator, the concentration of a dilute feed stream of paracetamol in methanol was increased in a single equilibrium stage. The column demonstrated the ability to concentrate the solution in flow by 179%, delivering a flow of 2 ml/min of concentrated liquor to the MSMPR. The MSMPR achieved steady-state of control, measured by offline dissolved concentration analysis and particle count by FBRM in situ, highlighting the applicablity of the column to perform reliably in a continuous tandem.     

Growth curve models for indistinguishable dyads using multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling: The case of adolescent twins' conflict with their mothers.

Growth modeling is a useful tool for studying change over time, and it is becoming increasingly popular with developmental researchers. There is a considerable methodological literature surrounding growth modeling for individuals; however, far less attention has been focused on growth models for pairs of related individuals (i.e., dyads). In this article, the authors consider dyadic growth models for those cases where there are no relevant variables that can empirically distinguish between dyad members (e.g., same-sex twins or best friends). The authors describe how researchers can estimate growth models for indistinguishable dyads using both multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling. Although both approaches can be used to estimate the same underlying models, the authors focus on practical similarities and differences between the two approaches. They illustrate modeling issues using an overtime study of adolescent twins' conflict with their mothers, a substantively important topic given the enduring interest in parent-child relationships during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)