The ultrasound appearances of neonatal renal vein thrombosis

Renal vein thrombosis (RVT) is the most frequently occurring vascular condition in the new-born kidney. The predisposing factors include dehydration, sepsis, birth asphyxia, maternal diabetes, polycythaemia and the presence of an indwelling umbilical venous catheter. (RVT) may present clinically with a flank mass, haematuria, hypertension or renal failure. Many imaging modalities have been employed, but ultrasound is the technique most commonly used in the evaluation of neonates with suspected RVT. Thrombosis commences in the small renal veins and subsequently propagates via larger interlobar veins to the main renal vein and inferior vena cava (IVC). The ultrasound appearances depend upon the stage at which the examination is performed and extent of the thrombus. Initially, the interlobular and interlobar thrombus appears as highly echogenic streaks. These streaks commence in a peripheral, focal segment of the involved kidney and only persist for a few days. In the first week the affected kidney swells and becomes echogenic with prominent echopoor medullary pyramids. Later, the swelling increases and the kidney becomes heterogenous with loss of corticomedullary differentiation. Grey scale ultrasound readily demonstrates thrombus within the renal vein and IVC. Adrenal haemorrhage is a recognized association and may be identified ultrasonically. Colour Doppler scanning provides additional information. In the early stages of RVT, colour Doppler may demonstrate absent intrarenal and renal venous flow. Ultimately, the kidney may recover, show focal scarring or become atrophic. Thus, ultrasound provides an accessible and reliable tool in the assessment of suspected neonatal RVT.     

Critical Speed Control of a Solar Car

The World Solar Challenge is a 3000 km race for solar powered cars across the Australian continent from Darwin to Adelaide. Each car is powered by a panel of photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight into electrical power. The power can be used directly to drive the car or stored in a battery for later use. Previous papers (P. Howlett, P. Pudney, T. Tarnopolskaya, and D. Gates, IMA Journal of Mathematics Applied in Business and Industry vol. 8, pp. 59–81, 1997; P.G. Howlett and P.J. Pudney, Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems vol. 4, pp. 553–567, 1998) using a simplified model of the battery, have shown that the optimal strategy is essentially a speedholding strategy. In this paper, with a more realistic model of the battery, we show that the optimal driving strategy is a critical speed strategy. For an optimal journey with no beginning and no ending the solar car must always travel at the critical speed. For an optimal journey of finite length the speed must be close to the critical speed for most of the journey. The critical speed depends on the solar power and will normally vary slowly with time.     

Wide frequency range sine wave VCO with a tunable inductor andcapacitor

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with sine wave output has been built using a tunable inductor along with a tunable capacitor to operate at frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to over 20 MHz. The method of tuning the inductor by changing the permeability of its ferrite core and the ability to extend the frequency response of the core are discussed. Dynamic characteristics of the VCO are explained with examples of a parallel and series tank implementation     

Antigen-dependent progression of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-type lymphoma in the stomach. Effects of antimicrobial therapy on gastric MALT lymphoma in mice

In humans, low-grade B-cell mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas of the stomach regress when Helicobacter pylori infection is cured by antimicrobial therapy. Using an animal model of human gastric MALT lymphoma, we observed the effects of Helicobacter felis eradication and the relationship between infection and disease progression. Antimicrobial therapy was given to one-half of the BALB/c mice infected with H. felis for 20 months. Groups of antibiotic-treated and untreated mice were killed 2, 3, and 4 months after antimicrobial therapy (ie, 22, 23, and 24 months after infection). The numbers of mice with MALT decreased after H. felis eradication with no lymphoid follicles seen 4 months after treatment. MALT lymphoma was present in a total of 23% (11/48) of antibiotic-treated infected mice compared with 75% (27/36) in untreated infected mice. These lymphomas were further graded into low-, intermediate-, and high-grade lymphoma. In the untreated mice, lymphoma development was more advanced with 36% low-grade (13/36), 39% intermediate-grade (14/36), and 6% high-grade (large B-cell) lymphoma (2/36) whereas in the treated mice the incidence was 21% (10/48), 6% (3/48), and 0% (0/48), respectively. These observations suggest that antigenic stimulation by H. felis sustained growth and progression of low-grade MALT lymphoma and that primary high-grade gastric lymphomas can evolve from the transformation of these tumors. Eradication of the organism caused low-grade tumors to regress, with inhibition or slowing down of lymphoma development toward high-grade lymphoma. The H. felis mouse model of gastric MALT lymphoma presents an opportunity to address the issues arising from antimicrobial treatment of these tumors in humans.     

Grain-boundary segregation of indium in cobalt monoxide

The composition of the grain boundaries in hot-pressed polycrystalline samples of CoO containing varying levels of indium as a dopant has been investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Segregation of the indium to the grain boundaries has been observed and both the boundary enrichment level and the depth of the segregated layer have been found to vary as functions of additive concentration, annealing temperature and quenching rate. Models based on the existence of space charges or on strain energy terms are both unsatisfactory for the interpretation of the data obtained; it is believed that a contribution to segregation from non-equilibrium processes occurring during cooling must be present.     

An optimal filter of the second order

We present a new technique allowing us to find an optimal filter in the class of so-called second-order filters. The new filter is generated by a best-approximation operator of the second degree and generalizes and improves an optimal linear filter associated with the concept of Wiener filtering. This article provides a strict justification of the technique proposed, demonstrates its advantages, and describes numerous useful extensions and applications