Prednisolone disposition in steroid-dependent asthmatics

A 40-mg intravenous dose of prednisolone was given as prednisolone phosphate to seven severe steroid-dependent asthmatics and to 13 healthy volunteers to determine if the large prednisone requirements of these patients were a function of the disease, cellular response, or rapid clearance of prednisolone. Plasma concentrations of prednisolone, prednisone, and cortisol were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography over an 8-hr test period. Circulating eosinophil concentrations were monitored concurrently. The apparent half-lifes of prednisolone in the asthmatics and normals were 3.33 +/- 0.71 and 3.25 +/- 0.58 hr (mean +/- SD). The apparent plasma clearances of prednisolone were 201 +/- 54 and 198 +/- 38 ml/min/1.73 m2 and the apparent volumes of distribution were 50.8 +/- 11.7 and 53.5 +/- 13.5 L/1.73 m2 for the asthmatic and normal groups, respectively. When the concentration-dependent binding of prednisolone to plasma protein was examined, no differences in the apparent clearances of unbound drug were found between the two groups. The eosinopenic response to prednisolone was similar in the steroid-dependent asthmatics and healthy normal volunteers. These studies indicate that binding, distribution, and clearance of prednisolone are not responsible for the large prednisone requirement of some steroid-dependent asthmatics. Differences in steroid-receptor sensitivity or in severity or pathophysiology of the disease state more likely account for the need for large prednisone dosages in these patients.     

Applications of multidirectional asymmetrical microlens-array light-control films on reflective liquid-crystal displays for image quality enhancement

The multidirectional asymmetrical microlens-array light-control film (MAMA-LCF) is developed for enhancing the image brightness and contrast ratio of various reflective liquid-crystal displays. By use of index-matching material, the interface reflection is greatly reduced. Through optimized designs, the surface-scattering effect is also suppressed; thus the contrast ratio is much enhanced. From experimental results, the MAMA-LCF leads to a approximately 1.5 x gain in brightness over the MgO standard white and a 15:1 contrast ratio for the reflective color super-twist nematic liquid-crystal display, 2.8 x MgO and a 23:1 contrast ratio for the polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal, and 2.8 x MgO and a 13:1 contrast ratio for the cholesteric liquid-crystal display. Potential applications of this low-cost plastic thin film for reflective liquid-crystal displays are foreseeable.     

Performance of a write-once multilayer optical disk that uses transparent recording material with an optical switching layer

A volumetric optical disk that has multiple transparent films with optical switching layers is used as a recording medium to increase the number of recording layers. In the disk the optical switching layer is adapted to reduce decay of laser energy and increase reading and recording sensitivity. Well-defined marks of approximately 100-nm depth can be placed precisely on the transparent films by a focused laser beam. Writing and reading of a four-layer recordable disk, fabricated by molding and spin bonding, have been demonstrated experimentally. The volumetric disk can achieve a high recording capacity with conventional optical pickups.     

The formation of fine relaxation cracks along the compressive maximum shear crack

The formation of fine short relaxation cracks frequently found along the cyclically propagating 45° compressive maximum shear crack were analyzed. Comparison was made of the results computed from two different fracture criteria, the minimum strain energy density (MSED) and the maximum tensile (tangential) stress (MTS). The measured directions θ₀ of the relaxation cracks were in excellent accord with both the theoretical MSED directions and the MTS directions. The computed MSED crack directions were predicated on two conditions: 1) the strain energy density factor was minimum, S _min, and 2) the volume change component S _v of S _min was greater than the distortion component S _d. Such requirements correspond to crack directions with locally maximum tensile tangential stresses.     

Reversal of pretreatment hypotension and control of hemorrhage in trauma patients by a simple device

The injection of a suspension of Walker 256 carcinoma cells into the carotid artery of rats produced a model of hematogenously spread cerebral metastases. Most animals died from massive extracerebral tumors of the head and jaw; brain tumors were present in only one-quarter. External carotid artery ligation prior to tumor inoculation did not increase the incidence of fatal brain tumor. When cyclophosphamide, 15 mg/kg, was injected as a single dose on the fourteenth day after tumor inoculation, most of the extracerebral tumor disappeared. Fifty percent of the animals so treated were cured of tumor, but 90% of the remainder died of large intracerebral tumors. Severe cytopathic changes resulting from cyclophosphamide were present in extracerebral or choroid plexus tumors but were mild or nonexistent in intracerebral tumors. These selective effects of cyclophosphamide suggest that water-soluble agents are less effective against tumor in the brain than against extracerebral tumors despite the fact that metastatic tumor breaks down the blood-brain barrier.     

PMD-Supported Coherent Optical OFDM Systems

Although polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) greatly impairs conventional high-speed single-carrier systems, it is shown that for multicarrier systems such as coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division-multiplexed systems (CO-OFDM), not only does PMD not cause any impairment, but it also provides a benefit of polarization diversity against polarization-dependent-loss-induced fading and consequently improves the system margin. The PMD benefit to fiber nonlinearity reduction in CO-OFDM systems is also predicted     

Linear quadratic Nash game-based tracker for multiparameter singularly perturbed sampled-data systems: digital redesign approach

In this paper, a linear quadratic Nash game-based tracker for multiparameter singularly perturbed sample-data systems is developed. A generalized cross-coupled multiparameter algebraic Riccati equation (GCMARE) with two quadratic cost functions is solved by applying the LQR design methodology for the optimal tracker design. Firstly, the asymptotic expansions of the GCMARE are newly established, and the proposed algorithm is able to effectively solve the GCMARE with the quadratic convergence rate. Then, the low-gain digital controller with a high design performance is realized through the prediction-based digital redesign method. Finally, for further improving the tracking performance, the chaos-evolutionary-programming algorithm (CEPA) is utilized to optimally tune the parameters of the tracker. An example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

Classification of non-vegetated areas using Formosat-2 high spatiotemporal imagery: the case of Tseng-Wen Reservoir catchment area (Taiwan)

The occurrence of landslides in the catchment area is a potential threat to the water quality and the lifespan of a reservoir. Due to the limitations of spatial coverage in ground surveys and of temporal resolution in aerial photos, it is difficult to monitor such events in the entire catchment area at short intervals. Formosat-2 is the first commercial satellite dedicated to site surveillance with a high-spatial-resolution sensor placed in a daily revisit orbit (2 m in panchromatic and 8 m in multi-spectral). In this research, a new approach is proposed to identify the non-vegetated areas in the multi-temporal and multi-spectral images taken by Formosat-2 by integrating the Getis statistic, the spectral index and the unsupervised K-means classification. With this new approach, we analyse a total of 16 pairs of Formosat-2 images, taken in the catchment area of Tseng-Wen Reservoir from February to December 2006 at an interval of three to four weeks. The results show that newly developed non-vegetated areas are closely related to earthquakes and rainfall. Once the slump material is generated by an earthquake, a comparatively low amount of rainfall will trigger its flushing. However, once the slump material has gone, there are no significant changes in the non-vegetated areas, even with severe weather events such as typhoons or storms. This suggests that the most critical time for protecting the reservoir is right after an earthquake and before the next rain. If the slump material is not managed or removed during this crucial period of time, eventually it will fall into the reservoir. Since the catchment area of Tseng-Wen Reservoir is protected and restricted from access, most of the non-vegetated areas should be closely related to landslides caused by natural processes (such as rainfall or earthquake) rather than man-made processes (such as tree cutting or degradation of vegetation). This research demonstrates the potential of Formosat-2 imagery in monitoring the spatial and temporal variations of landslides in the catchment areas of reservoirs.     

An all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL)-based clock recoverycircuit

A new algorithm for all-digital phase-locked loops (ADPLL) with fast acquisition and large pulling range is presented in this paper. Based on the proposed algorithm, portable cell-based implementations for clock recovery with functions of a frequency synthesizer and on-chip clock generator are completed by standard cell. These modules have been designed and verified on a 0.6-μm CMOS process. Test results are summarized as follows: 1) the proposed ADPLL can satisfy full locked bandwidth and fast acquisition within one data transition; 2) the on-chip clock generator can generate any target clock rate f_clock ; and 3) the function of nonreturn-to-zero clock recovery has a maximum f_clock/4 recovering capability with a locking range of (τ_input±τ_input/2)) where τ _input is the input period