CT angiography of superior mesenteric artery syndrome

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to describe the use of CT angiography and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction in the diagnosis of superior mesenteric artery syndrome in three patients. CONCLUSION: CT angiography combined with 3D reconstructions is a noninvasive technique that may have a complementary diagnostic role similar to that of angiography in patients with a classic clinical presentation suggestive of superior mesenteric artery syndrome. CT angiography combined with 3D reconstructions should be considered in patients who might otherwise require angiography.     

The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development.

In this study of Oklahoma's universal pre-K program, the authors relied on a strict birthday eligibility criterion to compare "young" kindergarten children who just completed pre-K to "old" pre-K children just beginning pre-K. This regression-discontinuity design reduces the threat of selection bias. Their sample consisted of 1,567 pre-K children and 1,461 kindergarten children who had just completed pre-K. The authors estimated the impact of the pre-K treatment on Woodcock-Johnson Achievement test scores. The authors found test impacts of 3.00 points (0.79 of the standard deviation for the control group) for the Letter-Word Identification score, 1.86 points (0.64 of the standard deviation of the control group) for the Spelling score, and 1.94 points (0.38 of the standard deviation of the control group) for the Applied Problems score. Hispanic, Black, White, and Native American children all benefit from the program, as do children in diverse income brackets, as measured by school lunch eligibility status. The authors conclude that Oklahoma's universal pre-K program has succeeded in enhancing the school readiness of a diverse group of children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A monoclonal antibody to oestradiol potentiates the stimulation of the specific activity of the brain type creatine kinase by oestrogen in vivo and in vitro

We described previously the in vivo immunoneutralization effects of a high affinity anti-oestradiol antibody clone 15 in blocking ovulation and synaptic remodeling in cycling female rats. In the present study we report the enhancing effects of this antibody. Treatment of ovariectomized female rats or female derived skeletal cell cultures in vitro with anti-E2 15 plus oestrogen (E2) potentiated the specific activity of the brain type creatine kinase (CK) response to E2 in the rat tissues or skeletal cells. The enhancing CK response of anti E2 15 plus E2 was time- and dose-dependent in the uterus, thymus, epiphysis and diaphysis of ovariectomized female rats. In the pituitary, on the other hand, anti-E2 15 blocked the stimulatory CK response to E2. Two other high affinity anti-E2 antibodies, clones 8D9 and 11B6, had no effect in augmenting the response of CK to E2 in rat tissues. Moreover, the enhancing CK response in rat tissues was specific to anti-E2 15 plus E2 since the intact anti-E2 in the presence of other oestrogen mimetics, such as oestriol or stilbestrol or tamoxifen did not potentiate the CK response in rat tissues. In this model system the Fab' monomer of anti-E2 15 abolished the CK response to E2 in rat tissues and not to anti-E2 15 plus E2 whereas tamoxifen completely blocked the CK response to anti E2 plus E2. Anti E2 15 may therefore serve as a specific carrier in delivering E2 to oestrogen sensitive rat tissues or cells containing functional oestrogen receptors and thereby increasing the magnitude of E2 effects in vivo and in vitro.     

Porous organic and carbon xerogels derived from alkaline aqueous phenol–formaldehyde solutions

Porous carbons were synthesized from the low cost precursors phenol and formaldehyde in aqueous solution, catalysed with NaOH. The xerogels were ambient pressure dried without prior solvent exchange. For an excess of formaldehyde, the resulting carbon xerogels show porosities up to 90%, with a predominant fraction of macroporosity, specific surface areas up to 768?m²/g and mesopore volumes up to 0.59?cm³/g. Small-angle X-ray scattering reveals fractal behaviour for many samples. Relevant sodium impurities up to 3?C4?wt% in the organic and carbon samples cannot be avoided, even by washing of the samples. As possible reason for the high sodium content, the formation of crown ether like calix [6] arene is assumed. Overall, the sodium impurities detected confine the use of this system to applications, where higher ash contents are uncritical.     

桂中晚二叠世碳酸盐岩型煤系高有机硫煤的矿物学和地球化学研究

应用带能谱的扫描电镜（SEM-EDX）、X射线衍射（XRD）、X射线荧光（XRF）等方法研究了桂中合山煤田合山组灰分小于50%的煤层样品矿物组成、常量和微量元素的地球化学特征.结果表明：合山煤中全硫含量在5.3%~11.6%之间,与惰质组相比,有机硫更易在镜质组中富集;合山煤中的矿物有石英、方解石、白云石等,并有少量的白铁矿、伊/蒙混层黏土矿物、红磷铁矿等,结合电镜观察,认为这些矿物主要形成于泥炭堆积压实前的同生作用;同世界煤相比,W,U,Mo,Cr,V,Zr明显富集.根据微量元素同常量元素、灰分和硫分的相关性,将微量元素分为5种结合态：铝硅酸盐结合态（Ga, Sc, Bi, Pb , REE和Ge）、磷酸盐结合态（Mn）、硫化物结合态（Ni, Tl, Cr, V, As和Mo）、碳酸盐结合态（Zn, Cd, Mo及REE等）和可能的硫酸盐结合态（Ba）     

Organic and carbon xerogels derived from sodium carbonate controlled polymerisation of aqueous phenol-formaldehyde solutions

Porous carbons were synthesized from aqueous sodium carbonate catalysed solutions of the low cost precursors phenol and formaldehyde, applying ambient pressure drying without prior solvent exchange. Many of the samples are found to crack during drying, however, the resulting porous carbons show porosities up to 80%, specific surface areas up to 746 m²/g, and micropore volumes up to 0.29 cm³/g; the mesopore volume and external surface area of the derived carbons, however, is small indicating the dominance of macropores. An unusual gelation kinetic, i.e., the formation of precipitating flakes instead of the classical sol–gel-transition is observed; this is likely due to nuclei growth from a metastable state in the phase diagram and makes it challenging to reproduce samples with well defined properties. Nevertheless mechanically stable macroporous monoliths, that survive the ambient pressure drying without prior solvent exchange can be synthesized; the system presented, however, seems not to be suitable as base system for highly mesoporous carbon samples (aerogels, cryogels, xerogels) or large scale production of porous carbon materials.     

Pyelocalyceal diverticula containing milk of calcium--CT diagnosis

Patients with AIDS are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis infection with a high incidence of extrapulmonary disease and surgical complications. Authors describe a 38-year-old male infected with the human immunodeficiency virus who presented intestinal perforation due to mycobacterium tuberculosis. A resection of jejunum was performed with primary anastomosis. The postoperative course was further compromised by hepatic failure and the patient died 16 days after the initial surgery.     

The measurement of the isoflavone daidzein by time resolved fluorescent immunoassay: a method for assessment of dietary soya exposure

We report a novel method for the measurement of urinary daidzein that is suitable for assessment of dietary soya exposure. The method incorporates the following features: (i) a highly specific monoclonal antibody to daidzein (clone 4E4) raised through the 7 position of daidzein and (ii) a europium labeled ovalbumin daidzein conjugate. In the present format, dilute urine samples of subjects who ingested soy milk are hydrolyzed with beta-glucuronidase for 30 min on rabbit anti-mouse coated plates. Afterwards, the specific monoclonal antibody to daidzein, clone 4E4, and europium labeled ovalbumin daidzein conjugate are added. After 1 h incubation, the wall bound fluorescence of europium is measured by time resolved fluorescence and is inversely proportional to the concentration of daidzein over the range 0.1-10 ng daidzein/well. The method demonstrates good sensitivity, precision and comparability with the chemical method GC-FID. Unlike the chemical method, the present immunoassay technique for daidzein is applicable for the measurement of large amounts of samples in epidemiological studies for the assessment and monitoring of human exposure to soya food.     

Numerical computation of invariant densities of linear control systems driven by multiplicative white noise

For the 3-D linear oscillator with damping and disturbed by multiplicative white noise, we numerically compute the unique invariant density of the associated system obtained by projection onto the unit sphere. We show how varying feedback gains and noise intensities affect the corresponding density and consequently the stability properties.