Luminol and lucigenin amplified chemiluminescence and lipidperoxidation with brain microsomes from rats during ontogenetic development

During the 1980s, the ecologic association of conjugated estrogens with endometrial cancer changed from positive to negative in a prepaid health plan. During the same period, use of progestins increased dramatically. We investigated whether the latter increase could explain the reversal of the estrogen-cancer association. Endometrial cancer incidence was estimated from cases recorded in the health plan registry divided by the number of women over age 45 years. Conjugated estrogens usage was measured as milligrams prescribed per woman per year and progestin was measured as tablets per woman per year, both based upon pharmacy records. Graphical and regression methods were used to analyze the resulting ecologic data. In a log-linear regression of incidence on conjugated estrogens and medroxyprogesterone usage, estrogen usage had a strong positive association with incidence, while medroxyprogesterone had a strong negative association with incidence. The change in the direction of the ecologic association between estrogen and endometrial cancer that occurred in 1984 continued until 1993, suggesting that the decline in endometrial cancer incidence and concomitant increase in conjugated estrogens usage since 1984 is explained by the increasing use of progestins. The data are entirely consistent with the hypothesis that progestins can protect against most of the excess risk conferred by conjugated estrogens, although the ecologic nature of the data prohibits drawing further inferences.     

Pitfalls of protein sequence analysis

Thirteen patients who developed restrictive subdeltoid adhesions after rotator cuff repair were identified. These patients underwent second-look arthroscopy and takedown of adhesions at an average of 37 weeks after their index surgery. Clinical findings include pain and restricted motion that does not yield to manipulation under anesthesia. Arthroscopic findings are subdeltoid adhesions and a chondral lesion (companion lesion) of the humeral head articular surface. Patients were reevaluated at 26 weeks after their release of adhesions. Prerelease and postrelease University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) scores average 14.8 and 30.1, respectively. Prerelease and postrelease UCLA pain scores averaged 2.6 and 7.7, respectively. Prerelease and postrelease range of motion was as follows: Flexion, 141/158; abduction, 123/141; internal rotation, 47/69; and external rotation, 53/74. The authors have proposed a theory to explain the clinical and arthroscopic findings in this subgroup of patients who are dissatisfied after rotator cuff repair. A technique for and the results of release of the subdeltoid adhesions also are reported.     

Behaviour of mortar and concrete at extremely low temperatures

The behaviour of hydrated cement paste, mortar and concrete specimens (age ～ 110 days) was investigated at low temperatures and after cyclic temperature-time histories. The relative changes of thermal strains, compressive and tensile splitting strength as well as the alteration of pore structure were studied. The strength in the frozen state increases with decreasing temperature and rising moisture content. If the frozen water-saturated mortar or concrete is reheated to room temperature a loss of strength is registered. The loss of strength increases with the number of temperature cycles. Storing the specimens at rel. hum. below 85% no losses were registered and no irreversible expansion occured. Water-saturated mortar showed after only 12 cycles an irreversible positive strain of 2,7%, indicating internal damage which was also proved by mercury porosimetry. Thus, the moisture content seems to be one of the decisive factors affecting the sensitivity of mortar and concrete subjected to extremely low temperatures.     

Datenschutz-Schutzziele — revisited

Zusammenfassung  Die Arbeit mit Schutzzielen hat sich grunds?tzlich bew?hrt. Sie sind so formuliert, dass sie die Anforderungen an technische und organisatorische Systeme sowohl abstrakt überblickbar als auch in Form von Ma?nahmen hinreichend konkret fa?bar machen. Der Beitrag empfiehlt, sie in Datenschutzgesetze und Vertr?ge aufzunehmen, als Leitlinien für den Entwurf und Betrieb von IT-Infrastrukturen heranzuziehen und in Mechanismen transformiert als WebService-Policies auszudrücken — und unterbreitet einen Strukturierungsvorschlag.     

Production of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids by Mortierella alpina Using Submerse and Solid State Fermentation

A new isolate of Mortierella alpina, > 98 % identical with M. alpina ATCC 16266, was cultivated in a defined glucose‐based medium with three organic nitrogen sources (glycine, urea and Na‐L‐glutamate) at three different concentrations in shaking flasks at 20 °C. The results were compared to the cultivation in complex medium with yeast extract as nitrogen source. In the defined media, high yields of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and arachidonic acid (ARA), respectively, were obtained with Na‐L‐glutamate. However, the absolute highest yields of PUFA and ARA were measured with the yeast extract medium. An optimized yeast extract complex medium was used for a submerse bioreactor cultivation in a 45‐L scale. Furthermore, M. alpina was cultivated in a solid state fermenter, using an oat bran water mixture as substrate.     

Thin film lithium niobate for use in silicon based devices

The incorporation of a thin film of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) in a conventional MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) structure gives the possibility of two fundamentally different types of computer memory architectures. One, based on ferroelectric switching involves the reorganization of charge in the transistor channel to compensate for the change in polarization. Another, based on the bulk photovoltaic effect, involves a shift in the transistor threshold with exposure to differing intensities of incident light. With the use of a molybdenum liftoff process, transistors have been fabricated in which LiNbO3 replaces the usual gate oxide of an MOS transistor. Transistor parameters such as the transconductance, output conductance, and amplification for these devices are reported.     

Impacts of Climate Variables on Residential Water Consumption in the Czech Republic

The paper investigates whether there is a statistically significant impact of short-term climate variables (specifically air temperature and rainfall) on residential water consumption at two selected case sites in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on a unique time series of daily data from 2004–2009. The statistical methods used are CART methodology and a decomposition of these time series based on a locally weighted regression method. Apart from the data analysis results, the investigation raises several methodological questions regarding the use of daily data and the scope of analysis based on such data sets.     

Electrical switching in lithium niobate thin films

The ferroelectric switching properties of thin films of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) on silicon have been investigated. The polarization is shown to be partially reversible with an applied electric field at room temperature. The samples were films of LiNbO3 which were magnetron sputter deposited on silicon substrates. A double pulse method was used to investigate the ferroelectric switching properties of the films. Evidence for partial stable switching of the LiNbO3 film was observed at a field of roughly 500 kV/cm.