Analysis of airborne radon in an ultra-low background experiment

The contribution of 222Rn to the background in a low background experiment with a germanium detector has been estimated. We have also checked the efficacy of a standard radon cleaning system. The cleaning reduces the radon concentration two orders of magnitude with respect to the air in the laboratory. The residual 222Rn represents at most 12.5% of the background in the low energy region, a value low enough for the purpose of our experiment. A detailed study of the radioactive background is presented.     

Psychiatric treatment in jail: an experiment in health-care delivery

The author discusses the source of referral, psychiatric diagnosis, and treatment of 539 inmates who were referred for psychiatric treatment in two metropolitan jails. Almost one-third of the patients were evaluated within 24 hours of their being booked into jail. Manifestly disordered and violent behavior accounted for 50 per cent of the referrals; almost half the patients were diagnosed as schizophrenic or manic. The author emphasizes the importance of a close working relationship with the custody staff to facilitate identifying inmates who need psychiatric treatment.     

Topical lomefloxacin twice daily compared with fucidic acid in acute bacterial conjunctivitis

Possible heteromultimer formation between Kv- and Kir-type K+ channels was investigated, in connection with the known functional diversity of K+ channels in vivo. Voltage-clamp experiments were performed on Xenopus oocytes, either injected with concatenated Kir2.1-Kv1.1 mRNA, or co-injected with Kv1.1 and Kir2.1 mRNA. K+ currents could be approximated by the algebraic sum of the 2 K+ current types alone. The tandem construct did not show functional expression, although it could be detected by Western blotting. We conclude that Kv1.1 and Kir2.1 alpha-subunit proteins fail to assemble and do not contribute functional diversity to K+ channels.     

Efficacy of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin in complex therapy of infections in patients with burns]

The experience with lomefloxacin and ofloxacin respectively in the complex therapy of 26 and 40 patients with burns is described. The drugs were shown to be highly active in the treatment of burn wound infections and infectious complications of burn disease. The clinical efficacy of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin amounted to 88 and 77.5 per cent and the bacteriological efficacy amounted to 81 and 80 per cent respectively.     

A model of the inversion process in an arterial inversion experiment

A model of the behavior of spins moving through spatially varying gradient and B1 fields is presented. The model simulates the adiabatic behavior of flowing arterial water during a two-coil arterial inversion experiment. Predictions of the degree of inversion generated by the model are compared with flow phantom results for a wide range of gradient magnitudes, nominal B1 magnitudes, and flow velocities. The high level of agreement between the model and the flow phantom results indicates that the model can be used to help select efficient pulse sequence parameters when setting up an in vivo arterial inversion experiment. In addition, the model provides valuable insights into the adiabatic behavior of arterial spins. These insights could be useful in selecting an efficient surface coil geometry which achieves maximum inversion with a minimum B1 magnitude.     

Efficacy of lomefloxacin in treatment of nonspecific inflammatory diseases and in prophylaxis of postoperative complications in urology

Clinical and bacteriological efficacies of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin were comparatively estimated in the treatment of 104 urologic patients with nonspecific inflammatory diseases and in 36 urologic patients for prophylaxis of inflammatory complications after surgical interventions. The majority of the urinary tract pathogens i.e. Enterobacteriaceae spp. and gramnegative nonfermenting bacteria were highly susceptible to both the fluoroquinolones. The clinical and bacteriological efficacies of lomefloxacin amounted to 94.4 and 80.7 per cent and those of ofloxacin to 92 and 79.2 per cent respectively. The prophylactic use of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin was efficient in 94.7 and 94.1 per cent of the cases respectively. The antibacterial prophylaxis in urologic patients should be applied not only at the period of surgical interventions but also during the early postoperative period.     

Bacterial keratitis therapy in guinea pigs with lomefloxacin by initially high-followed by low-dosage regimen

Lomefloxacin is known to have an excellent corneal penetration. The therapeutic effect of two specific treatment regimens with lomefloxacin 0.3% eye drops was studied in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced keratitis model in guinea pigs. An initial loading dose of 1 drop every 5 min for 5 times was used in all groups. Its purpose was to obtain high bactericidal corneal levels in the two actively treated groups. The follow-up treatment for 7 days was by a twice daily regimen in one group and 3 times daily in the other treated group. There were two control groups - one with no treatment and the other with vehicle treatment (initial loading dose followed by twice daily regimen). Clinical signs of cornea, conjunctiva and eye adnexae improved significantly within 2 days in both lomefloxacin regimens, whereas clinical signs deteriorated with vehicle treatment. Fifty percent of the animals treated with lomefloxacin showed no colonies in the swab culture after 2 days of therapy, while all vehicle-treated animals were positive even at day 6, with 5 out of 9 animals continuing to be positive at day 8. Pseudomonas in the range of 100-2,300 colonies was isolated from the grounded and cultured cornea at the end of the study in 4 out of 9 vehicle-treated animals but in none of the lomefloxacin-treated guinea pigs. The biggest difference in the degree of secondary inflammation between lomefloxacin and vehicle-treated groups was observed in the cornea which was the target tissue of infection. An unexpected observation was the lower degree of corneal inflammation in the twice daily treated animals when compared to the 3 times daily treatment group. This finding may be due to the somewhat lower initial degree of corneal inflammation in this group and suggests that the course of corneal recovery is predominately dependent on the initial degree of infection with both dosage regimens of lomefloxacin capable of eradicating corneal organisms.     

A cross-cultural replication of an experiment involving birth order.

The hypothesis that first born would tend to volunteer for group psychological experiments more often than later born, already found true for Yale freshmen, was also found to be true for 4th-yr. Uruguayan high school students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills.

Addresses methodological issues (related to design and analyses) raised by G. J. Mellenbergh and W. P. Van den Brink (see record 1988-37230-001) and I. S. Schonfeld (1987) concerning the study by the present author and colleagues (see record 1987-08654-001) on teaching thinking skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)