Direct and indirect assessment of skeletal muscle blood flow in patients with congestive heart failure

Techniques which are currently used to measure skeletal muscle blood flow (SMBF) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) are neither convenient nor accurate. They have led to discrepant results in patients with congestive heart failure and are, in part, responsible for the ongoing debate regarding the factors which limit the rise in body oxygen consumption during exercise in these patients. However, direct measurement of SMBF may not be needed during exercise in patients with severe CHF. Their skeletal muscles maximally extract oxygen. Consequently, increase in oxygen consumption by the skeletal muscles is only mediated by a concomitant increase in SMBF. In patients with severe CHF, peak body oxygen consumption attained during maximal exercise closely depends on the rise in SMBF, and thus provides an indirect measurement of SMBF.     

Metabolism of 6-chloro n-butyl phthalide in rat

6-Chloro n-butyl phthalide (CBP) was orally administered to healthy, male Wistar rats pretreated with or without 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) by a single dose of 150 mg/kg, and urine samples were collected for 0-24 h. The urine sample was hydrolyzed with beta-glucuronidase, extracted and concentrated for TMS derivatization, and analysed on a GC-MS system for identification of CBP metabolities. Mass spectral analysis suggests that 7 CBP metabolites were present in the urine sample, and similar metabolism patterns were viewed in rats with or without pretreatment with 3-MC. Four main metabolites of CBP in rat urine were identified as alpha-beta oxolate, beta-gamma oxolate, beta-hydroxylate and gamma-hydroxylate, based on their chromatographic and mass spectral properties. Two hydroxylates have been previously identified in CBP metabolism by rat liver microsomes. The other two metabolites with higher polarity were tentatively identified as dihydroxylation products on the n-butyl side chain by the mass spectra of their TMS derivatives. One minor metabolite was found by the isotopic effect of chlorine, but its specific structure was undetermined. The difference between in vivo and in vitro metabolic profiles of CBP is also discussed.     

Small blaze angle gratings with various surface treatments for use in the extreme ultraviolet

Three replica gratings were made from a single master; two were epoxy overcoated with different thicknesses of gold, and one was replicated directly in gold. Their performance in EUV light at grazing incidence angles was measured and compared.     

Signal-to-noise ratio for astronomical imaging by deconvolution from wave-front sensing

One method for improving the quality of astronomical images measured through a atmospheric turbulence uses simultaneous short-exposure measurements of both an image and the output of a wave-front sensor exposed to an image of the telescope pupil. The wave-front sensor measurements are used to reconstruct an estimate of the instantaneous generalized pupil function of the telescope, which is used to compute an estimate of the instantaneous optical transfer function, which is then used in a deconvolution procedure. This imaging method has been called both deconvolution from wave-front sensor (DWFS) measurements and self-referenced speckle holography. We analyze the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) behavior of this imaging method in the spatial frequency domain. The analysis includes effects arising from differences in the correlation properties of the incident and the estimated pupil phases and the fact that the object-spectrum estimator is a randomly filtered doubly stochastic Poisson random process. SNR resultsobtained for the DWFS method are compared with the speckle-imaging powerspectrum SNR for equivalent seeing conditions and light levels. It is shown that for unresolved stars the power-spectrum SNR is superior to the DWFS SNR. However, for extended objects the power-spectrum SNR and the DWFS SNR are similar. Since speckle imaging uses a separate Fourier phasereconstruction process not required by the DWFS method, the DWFS method provides an alternative to speckle imaging that uses simple postprocessing at the cost of a wave-front sensor measurement but with no loss of SNR performance for extended objects.     

Emulsification by the phase inversion temperature method: the role of self-bodying agents and the influence of oil polarity

Oil-in-water emulsions stabilized with nonionic emulsifiers change to water-in-oil emulsions as the temperature rises when the hydrophilic and lipophilic properties of the mixed emulsifier are just balanced. Preparation above the phase inversion temperature followed by rapid cooling yields emulsions that exhibit very fine droplet size and extreme long-term stability. Cosmetic emulsions were prepared by this phase inversion temperature (PIT) method using typical raw materials such as polar oils, e.g. decyl oleate, 2-octyl dodecanol or isopropyl myristate, and nonionic emulsifiers, e.g. ceteareth-12 or polyoxyethylene eicosyl/docosyl ether combined with cetostearyl alcohol as a co-emulsifier. The phase inversion temperature was measured as a function of the oil polarity and the concentration of mixed emulsifier. The relationship between phase inversion temperature, droplet size and emulsion stability was investigated. In addition, self-bodying agents such as cetostearyl alcohol or monoglycerides were added to these thin, fine disperse emulsions to adjust the consistency. The influence of these ingredients on phase inversion temperature, droplet size, yield value and emulsion stability was studied.     

The FLAG cable system

The Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) cable system is a 10 Gb/s synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) based undersea fiber optic network. When fully operational, FLAG will connect 12 countries with over 120000 voice channels via 27000 km of mostly undersea cable. FLAG will incorporate a new generation of undersea fiber optic system that uses erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and will be jointly supplied by AT&T Submarine Systems Incorporated (SSI) and KDD-Submarine Cable Systems (SCS) Inc. When completed, FLAG will meet or exceed all relevant international performance standards, have greater reliability and availability than previous systems in the region, and conform to all ISO 9000 quality standards with respect to design, development, production, installation, and service     

Assessing alcohol problems in female DWI offenders

The severity of alcohol problems in a sample of 812 women driving while intoxicated (DWI) offenders enrolled in a Drinking Driver Program in New York State was assessed through the use of multiple measures. These women voluntarily provided information through a self-administered questionnaire completed at the beginning of the program. Classification of alcohol problems based on DSM-III-R criteria was compared with classification based on the use of alcohol-specific and nonalcohol-specific measures of alcohol-related problems. Greater hostility and a larger number of drinks ever consumed accounted for nearly 12% of the variance between no diagnosis and alcohol abuse women, whereas these two variables plus age, race, depression, and having a relative with alcohol problems accounted for nearly 41% of the variance between alcohol abuse and dependent women. A subsample of women within each DSM-III-R diagnostic group showed high risk for later, more severe alcohol problems. Multiple measures of alcohol problems help to elucidate subtle differences in alcohol problems within each of the broad categories specified by the DSM, and should facilitate more appropriate intervention and treatment plans for women DWI offenders with alcohol-related problems.