Rubella vaccination and congenital rubella syndrome in Western Australia

OBJECTIVE: To review the incidence of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and the acceptance of schoolgirl rubella vaccination in Western Australia (WA), and to determine whether any groups in the community are at increased risk of having a child affected by CRS. DESIGN: Review of records of the WA Birth Defects Registry for cases of CRS; survey of obstetricians for terminations of pregnancy for maternal rubella infection; survey of schoolgirls eligible for the 1991 annual rubella vaccination campaign; review of Perth Immunisation Clinic and rural community and child health records; review of the rubella immune status of women tested antenatally. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The incidence rate of CRS per 10,000 live births in WA 1980-1990; the incidence of rubella-associated terminations of pregnancy during 1990 and 1991; trends in rubella vaccine acceptance among WA schoolgirls between 1971 and 1991; and the proportion of women attending antenatal clinics who showed satisfactory immunity against rubella, stratified by country of birth. RESULTS: The incidence rate of CRS in WA remains below 2 cases per 10,000 live births. Approximately 86% of Perth schoolgirls have been vaccinated against rubella. Rubella vaccine acceptance fell in some country areas during the late 1980s, but is now returning to acceptable levels. Women born in Asia are at greater risk of having a baby affected by CRS than women born in Australia. Babies with CRS may be born to women who have previously been vaccinated against rubella. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of CRS has fallen dramatically since the introduction of the schoolgirl vaccination program, but there is still a need for mechanisms to identify and vaccinate non-immune women.     

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy associated with extraforaminal disc herniation at the L5-S1 level

Physical exercise is known to induce oxidative stress leading to the generation of free radicals. This increased generation of free radicals might lead to lipid peroxidation and tissue damage, more so under deficient/impaired antioxidant states. In the present study, we report the role of vitamin E and selenium (Se) during exercise-induced oxidative stress in the pulmonary tissue. Vitamin E and/or Se deficiency in female albino rats resulted in generation of free radicals as revealed by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra in the lung tissue, indicating the onset of oxidative stress. When these animals were subjected to a single bout of exhaustive exercise, there was an additional increase in the generation of oxy-free radicals, which might lead to tissue damage. However, no such signals were recorded in the lung tissue of vitamin E- and Se-supplemented animals, when subjected to a similar exercise program, suggesting that protection is offered by vitamin E and Se in combating oxidative stress.     

Anomalies as a catalyst for middle school students' knowledge construction and scientific reasoning during science inquiry.

Knowledge construction and scientific reasoning of 7th-grade students were examined during a 3-week inquiry unit in genetics, in which anomalies were used as a catalyst for student learning. Students used genetics simulation software to develop hypotheses and run tests of fruit fly crosses in order to develop mental models of simple dominance trait transmission. Instruction was intended to support discovery of anomalous patterns and development of explanations. Qualitative and quantitative analyses indicated that student explanations showed a significant shift toward greater explanatory power of the anomalous inheritance patterns. However, this shift did not occur evenly. Students were more likely to propose hypotheses and explanations for the more frequently occurring anomaly and more likely to run the test that produced that outcome relative to the less frequently occurring anomaly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Glycerylbisether sulfates. I: Improved synthesis

Sparse literature outlines previous syntheses for glycerylbisether sulfates, which, while giving rise to the desired molecules, are somewhat cumbersome and suffer from undersired by-product formation. We now report an improved synthesis of the title compounds that results in greater simplicity and reduced by-product formation. An hypothesis is advanced to explain the by-product formation.     

Fuel composition and secondary organic aerosol formation: gas-turbine exhaust and alternative aviation fuels

A series of smog chamber experiments were performed to investigate the effects of fuel composition on secondary particulate matter (PM) formation from dilute exhaust from a T63 gas-turbine engine. Tests were performed at idle and cruise loads with the engine fueled on conventional military jet fuel (JP-8), Fischer-Tropsch synthetic jet fuel (FT), and a 50/50 blend of the two fuels. Emissions were sampled into a portable smog chamber and exposed to sunlight or artificial UV light to initiate photo-oxidation. Similar to previous studies, neat FT fuel and a 50/50 FT/JP-8 blend reduced the primary particulate matter emissions compared to neat JP-8. After only one hour of photo-oxidation at typical atmospheric OH levels, the secondary PM production in dilute exhaust exceeded primary PM emissions, except when operating the engine at high load on FT fuel. Therefore, accounting for secondary PM production should be considered when assessing the contribution of gas-turbine engine emissions to ambient PM levels. FT fuel substantially reduced secondary PM formation in dilute exhaust compared to neat JP-8 at both idle and cruise loads. At idle load, the secondary PM formation was reduced by a factor of 20 with the use of neat FT fuel, and a factor of 2 with the use of the blend fuel. At cruise load, the use of FT fuel resulted in no measured formation of secondary PM. In every experiment, the secondary PM was dominated by organics with minor contributions from sulfate when the engine was operated on JP-8 fuel. At both loads, FT fuel produces less secondary organic aerosol than JP-8 because of differences in the composition of the fuels and the resultant emissions. This work indicates that fuel reformulation may be a viable strategy to reduce the contribution of emissions from combustion systems to secondary organic aerosol production and ultimately ambient PM levels.     

Susceptibility of stored product insects to high concentrations of ozone at different exposure intervals

Ozone is a highly reactive gas with insecticidal activity. Past studies have indicated that ozone technology has potential as a management tool to control insect pests in bulk grain storage facilities. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of short periods of exposure to high ozone concentrations to kill all life stages of red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), and Indianmeal moth (Plodia interpunctella (Hübner)) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), adult maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch.)) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and adult rice weevil (S. oryzae (L)) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Insects were treated with six ozone concentrations between 50 and 1800 ppm. The specific objective was to determine minimal time needed to attain 100% mortality. The most ozone-tolerant stages of T. castaneum were pupae and eggs, which required a treatment of 180 min at 1800 ppm ozone to reach 100% mortality. Eggs of P. interpunctella also required 180 min at 1800 ppm ozone to reach 100% mortality. Ozone treatments of 1800 ppm for 120 min and 1800 ppm for 60 min were required to kill all adult S. zeamais and adult S. oryzae, respectively. The results indicate that high ozone concentrations reduce the treatment times significantly over previously described results. Our results also provide new baseline information about insect tolerance to ozone treatment.     

System availability monitoring

A process set up by Digital to monitor and quantify the availability of its systems is described. The reliability data are collected in an automated manner and stored in a database. The breadth of data gathered provides a unique opportunity to correlate hardware andsoftware failures. In addition, several hypotheses have been tested, e.g. the relationship between crash rate and system load, the interdependence of crashes, the cause of crashes, and the effect of new releases in the operating system. It is concluded that the process (in operation since 1988) has yielded worthwhile information on the products monitored. The usual availability metrics are calculated regularly for the machines monitored. Trends in system fault occurrence have been identified, leading to suggestions for both software and hardware improvements. The monitoring process and analysis methodology are revised on an ongoing basis to improve the quality of information obtained and to extend the analysis to Digital's new systems. The recently announced VAX9000 mainframe and fault-tolerant VAXft 3000 are two such systems     

In vitro aging of dental composites in water--effect of degree of conversion, filler volume, and filler/matrix coupling

We report here the role of the CXC chemokine, epithelial neutrophil activating peptide (ENA-78), as an angiogenic factor in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In freshly isolated human specimens of NSCLC, elevated levels of ENA-78 were found that strongly correlated with the vascularity of the tumors. In a SCID mouse model of human NSCLC tumorigenesis, expression of ENA-78 in developing tumors correlated with tumor growth in two different NSCLC cell lines. Furthermore, passive immunization of NSCLC tumor-bearing mice with neutralizing anti-ENA-78 antibodies reduced tumor growth, tumor vascularity, and spontaneous metastases, while having no effect on the proliferation of NSCLC cells either in vitro or in vivo. These findings suggest that ENA-78 is an important angiogenic factor in human NSCLC.     

Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem.

College students in 31 nations (N?=?13,118) completed measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and satisfaction with specific domains (friends, family, and finances). The authors assessed whether cross-cultural variations in the strength of associations were related to societal dimensions including income and individualism. At the national level, individualism correlated –.24 (ns) with heterogeneity and .71 (p?