Diagnostic and prognostic relevance of malignancy-associated changes in cervical smears

OBJECTIVE: For approximately 15 years, malignancy-associated changes (MACs) have been consistently found by means of high-resolution cytometry in different tissues, especially in visually normal appearing cervical cells. Their biologic nature is not yet fully understood. The aim of this investigation was to assess the expression of MACs in cervical smears and to evaluate their prognostic relevance. STUDY DESIGN: This study was performed on normal intermediate cells obtained from 53 cytologically positive and 78 cytologically negative cervical smears. From a second sample, 31 cases showing negative cytology were selected for a prospective longitudinal study. Densitometric and texture features were generated, and MACs were described on the basis of multivariate discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Discrimination between positive and negative cases was possible, with a correct classification rate of approximately 80%. After a mean period of 29.5 months, we noted no statistically significant increase in the incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in the group of healthy but MAC-positive women as compared to those who were MAC negative. CONCLUSION: MACs were constantly expressed in the epithelium of the cervix. Although their prognostic relevance remains unclear, MACs play an important role in the effort to automate cervical cytology.     

CMOS on FZ-high resistivity substrate for monolithic integration ofSiGe-RF-circuitry and readout electronics

The choice of a highly resistive substrate for silicon millimeter-wave integrated circuits (SIMMWIC) imposed by the requirement of low RF-substrate losses requires the adaptation of a CMOS process on float zone silicon (FZ). A comparison of n- and p-channel devices realized on high resistivity substrate (p-type, 5000 Ω·cm) and standard CMOS substrates (CZ, n-type, 4-6 Ω·cm) is given. Using careful process design, we obtained device characteristics on FZ-substrates that are closely similar to those on standard material, thus allowing direct transfer of existing circuit designs     

8-Gbit/s transmission experiment over 68 km of optical fiber using a Ti:LiNbO3external modulator

We describe the performance of an experimental 1.5-μm lightwave transmission system operating at 8 Gbit/s over 68.3 km of single-mode fiber. The dispersion penalty is limited to 1 dB through the use of external modulation and is attributable to the intrinsic information bandwidth.     

Coherent lightwave transmission at 2 Gbit/s over 170 km of optical fibre using phase modulation

We report coherent lightwave transmission at a data rate of 2Gbit/s over 170 km of optical fibre. Phase modulation is employed, and a bit error rate lower than 10-9 is achieved. The receiver sensitivity of ?39.0 dBm 10-9 BER) is an improvement of 2.4 dB over the best previously published direct-detection result for non-return-to-zero transmission.     

Experimental study of stable surfaces for anti-slug control in multi-phase flow

Severe slugging flow is always challenging in oil & gas production, especially for the current offshore based production. The slugging flow can cause a lot of problems, such as those relevant to production safety, fatigue as well as capability. As one typical phenomenon in multi-phase flow dynamics, the slug can be avoided or eliminated by proper facility design or control of operational conditions. Based on a testing facility which can emulate a pipeline-riser or a gas-lifted production well in a scaled-down manner, this paper experimentally studies the correlations of key operational parameters with severe slugging flows. These correlations are reflected through an obtained stable surface in the parameter space, which is a natural extension of the bifurcation plot. The maximal production opportunity without compromising the stability is also studied. Relevant studies have already showed that the capability, performance and efficiency of anti-slug control can be dramatically improved if these stable surfaces can be experimentally determined beforehand. The paper concludes that obtaining the stable surface on the new developed map can significantly improve the production rate in a control scheme. Even though the production rate can be further improved by moving the stable surface using advanced control strategies, the constant inputs can in some cases be preferable due to the easier implementation.     

The role of autologous blood transfusion in the the Federal Republic of Germany. Results of a 1993 questionnaire. 1. The reunited Germany

The objective of the study was to evaluate the role of autologous blood transfusion in current clinical practice in the Federal Republic of Germany after reunification. METHODS: Questionnaires were sent to the anaesthesia departments of 684 German hospitals in January 1993. The sample consisted of 400 randomly selected hospitals from the former West Germany ("old federal states") and 284 hospitals from the former German Democratic Republic ("new federal states"). Only hospitals with more than 25 surgical beds were included in the study. The questionnaire contained 36 questions related to (1) general information on the hospital, (2) preoperative autologous blood donation (PABD), (3) preoperative plasmapheresis, (4) isovolaemic haemodilution, (5) perioperative blood salvage, and (6) general management of blood transfusion. RESULTS: A total of 502 completed questionnaires (73%) were returned, 305 from hospitals in the "old federal states" and 197 from hospitals in the former German Democratic Republic. Nine per cent of the responding hospitals were running their own transfusion services, and 56% were located in the vicinity of a regional blood bank. The overall proportion of surgical procedures requiring perioperative blood transfusion ranged from 1% to 90% (median 10%). PABD was performed "not at all" in 18%, "rarely" in 20% "occasionally" in 27%, "frequently" in 17%, and "mostly" in 16% of the responding hospitals. The principal use of PABD was in orthopaedic surgery and cardiac surgery (83% and 70% of the departments in question, respectively). In more than 50% of the hospitals reporting, the PABD service was run by the anaesthesia department. Patients not meeting the established criteria for homologous blood donors were accepted for autologous blood donation "frequently" and "mostly" in 20% and 12% of the hospitals, respectively, but at most "occasionally" in 63% of the hospitals. Preoperative plasmapheresis was performed in 12% of the responding hospitals. Autologous fresh frozen plasma predominantly was used for volume replacement, and for prevention of coagulation disorders when major blood loss was anticipated. Isovolaemic haemodilution was performed "not at all" in 28%, "rarely" in 19%, "occasionally" in 28%, "frequently" in 16%, and "mostly" in 8% of the responding hospitals. The reasons most frequently invoked for not performing haemodilution were "too time consuming" and "too little blood-saving effect". Cell separators for perioperative blood salvage were available in 30% of the responding hospitals. Of the other hospitals not equipped with cell-washing devices, 11% performed perioperative blood salvage of unprocessed blood by means of simple collection devices. Some 80% of those hospitals using intraoperative autotransfusion devices also performed blood salvage postoperatively. The principal use of perioperative blood salvage was in cardiac surgery, orthopaedics, and vascular surgery (90%, 54%, and 54% of departments, respectively). Some 48% of the responding anaesthetists "mostly" considered haemoglobin levels of 8-10 g/dl acceptable in patients without cardiopulmonary disease, but only 18% did so in patients with cardiopulmonary disease. CONCLUSIONS: Although available in the majority of hospitals surveyed, the simple techniques of both PABD and isovolaemic haemodilution are unduly neglected in routine clinical practice. The consistent use of both of these techniques, and the careful weighing up of the indication for every single blood transfusion, would not only effectively reduce homologous blood transfusions, but also enable even small hospitals to run successful autologous transfusion programmes without expensive cell-washing and plasmapheresis devices.     

Prediction of the binding mode of biarylpropylsulfonamide allosteric AMPA receptor modulators based on docking, GRID molecular interaction fields and 3D-QSAR analysis

A novel approach of combining flexible molecular docking, GRID molecular interaction fields, analysis of ligand-protein hydrogen bond interactions, conformational energy penalties and 3D-QSAR analysis was used to propose a binding mode in the dimer interface of the iGluR2 receptor for the biarylpropylsulfonamide class of positive allosteric AMPA modulators. Possible binding poses were generated by flexible molecular docking. GRID molecular interaction fields of the binding site, ligand-protein hydrogen bonding interactions and conformational energy penalties were used to select the most likely binding mode. The selected binding poses were subjected to a 3D-QSAR analysis using previously published activity data. The resulting model (2 LVs, R2=0.89, q2=0.61) predicted the activities of the compounds in the test set with a standard deviation on error of prediction of 0.17. The proposed binding mode was validated by interpretation of the PLS-coefficient regions from the 3D-QSAR analysis in terms of interactions between the receptor and the modulators.     

Participation of Danish and immigrant cleaners in a 1-year worksite intervention preventing physical deterioration

Worksite health promotion is seldom offered to workers who are low-educated and multi-ethnic, possibly due to an assumption that they are more reluctant to participate. Furthermore, little has been done to promote health at female-dominated workplaces. The main aim of this study was to investigate differences in participation among immigrant and Danish cleaners throughout a 1-year randomised controlled study tailored to cleaners and carried out in predominantly female workplaces. No significant differences in ethnicity were found in consent and participation throughout the 1-year intervention. Dropout was equally distributed among Danish and immigrant cleaners. This study indicates that a worksite health promotion intervention among a female-dominated, high-risk occupation such as cleaning can be equally appealing for Danes and immigrants. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: This study provides insight about participation of Danish and immigrant cleaners in a worksite health promotion intervention in a predominantly female occupation. For attaining high participation and low dropout in future worksite health promotion interventions among cleaners, the intervention ought to not only target the ethnic background of the workers, but also to be specifically tailored to the job group.     

Perinatal Obesity Induces Hepatic Growth Restriction with Increased DNA Damage Response,Senescence, and Dysregulated Igf-1-Akt-Foxo1 Signaling in Male Offspring of Obese Mice

Maternal obesity predisposes for hepato-metabolic disorders early in life. However, the underlying mechanisms causing early onset dysfunction of the liver and metabolism remain elusive. Since obesity is associated with subacute chronic inflammation and accelerated aging, we test the hypothesis whether maternal obesity induces aging processes in the developing liver and determines thereby hepatic growth. To this end, maternal obesity was induced with high-fat diet (HFD) in C57BL/6N mice and male offspring were studied at the end of the lactation [postnatal day 21 (P21)]. Maternal obesity induced an obese body composition with metabolic inflammation and a marked hepatic growth restriction in the male offspring at P21. Proteomic and molecular analyses revealed three interrelated mechanisms that might account for the impaired hepatic growth pattern, indicating prematurely induced aging processes: (1) Increased DNA damage response (γH2AX), (2) significant upregulation of hepatocellular senescence markers (Cdnk1a, Cdkn2a); and (3) inhibition of hepatic insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1-AKT-p38-FoxO1 signaling with an insufficient proliferative growth response. In conclusion, our murine data demonstrate that perinatal obesity induces an obese body composition in male offspring with hepatic growth restriction through a possible premature hepatic aging that is indicated by a pathologic sequence of inflammation, DNA damage, senescence, and signs of a possibly insufficient regenerative capacity.