Very low birth weight children at school age: comparison of neonatal management methods

The outcome of 293 infants born to a geographically defined community and weighing 501-1500 g was investigated. Medical intervention in the newborn period had been avoided. Morbidity was assessed at school age. Of the infants, 236 had been live born in the labour ward of this hospital; of these, 117 (49.6%) died in the neonatal period, one (0.4%) died in the first year, four (1.7%) were untraced, 13 (5.5%) had major handicap, 29 (12.3%) had minor handicap, and 72 (30.5%) were considered to be normal. In terms of survival, handicap, and intellectual with that of infants born over the same period (1963-71) in areas where intensive methods of perinatal care were used. These results imply that postnatal survival and potential of infants of very low birth weight are by no means prejudiced when only experienced nursing care is available.     

Assessment and evaluation of the radiological situation in the late phase of a nuclear accident

An overview of existing approaches on assessing and evaluating the radiological situation in the late phase of a nuclear accident is given in this paper. Special attention is paid to the weak points of existing approaches and to problems to be solved in the future. Assessment of the radiological situation can be based on both monitoring data and model predictions. Approaches have been developed for many years in both categories and have meanwhile reached some kind of maturity and also operational applicability. Nevertheless, some areas exist where significant improvements could be achieved in the near future, e.g. by combining monitoring data and model predictions, by improving the modelling of urban areas or by improving existing radioecological models.     

COLLATE – A collaboratory supporting research on historic European films

In the COLLATE project, we aim to design and implement a Web-based collaboratory for archives, scientists, and end users working with digitized cultural material. Our example domain is the historic film documentation comprising digitized material about European films of the early 20th century. Designed as a content- and context-based knowledge working environment for distributed user groups, the COLLATE system supports both individual work and collaboration of domain experts who are analyzing, evaluating, indexing, and annotating material in the data repository. The system provides appropriate task-based interfaces for indexing and annotating. As a multifunctional means of in-depth analysis, annotations can be made individually but also collaboratively, for example in the form of annotation of annotations. Combining results from manual and automatic indexing procedures, elaborate content- and context-based information retrieval mechanisms can be applied.     

Supercomputing: What have we learned from the TOP500 Project?

Since 1993 we compile and publish twice a year a list of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. In this article we analyze some major trends in High-Performance Computing (HPC) based on the quantitative data gathered over the years in this TOP500 project (see www.top500.org for a complete access to all data). We start with an overview of the project, including the motivation and rationale behind it. We present the results of the TOP500 project as of November 2003 focusing on the changes over time with respect to the performance levels, the overall dynamics in this market, the manufacturers active in this market-segment, the architectures, and technologies used for these systems, and the major centers using such systems.     

An Analysis of Radio Frequency in Interference Due to Mixer Intermodulation Products

The colocation of high-power communication transmitters and sensitive receivers at a common site frequently causes radio frequency interference due to the generation of spurious intermodulation frequencies in the receiver mixer. These spurious frequencies result from the mixing of the transmitter frequencies with each other and with the receiver local oscillator in the receiver mixer. The problem treated in this paper is that of obtaining an analytical method of predicting the amplitudes of these spurious intermodulation frequencies having been given the amplitude of each of the frequencies at the mixer input.     

Enzymatischer Nachweis von Carbamat-Pesticiden auf impr?gnierten Cellulose-Platten

Zusammenfassung Ein Nachweis für Carbamat-Pesticide mittels Enzym-Inhibition auf imprägnierten Cellulose-Schichten wurde ausgearbeitet. Bei Celluloseschichten, die mit Äthylglykol, Triäthylglykol und,-Ogydipropionitril imprägniert waren, erwies sich die Kombination Schweineleberesterase/Indophenylacetat (als chromogenes Substrat) als besonders empfindlicher Nachweis. Die Nachweisempfindlichkeit wurde in Abhängigkeit von der Art des Enzympräparates, des Substrates, des pH, der Inhibitionszeit und -temperatur, der Schichtdicke und des Impriignierungsmittels untersucht.

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Enzymatic detection of carbamate pesticides on impregnated cellulose plates

Summary The detection of carbamate pesticides by an enzyme-inhibition method on impregnated (ethylene glycol, triethylene glycol,,-ogydipropionitrile) cellulose thin layer plates is described. The enzyme-substrate combination: pig liver esterase-indophenylacetate (chromogenic substrate) was the most sensitive. The following parameters concerning the sensitivity of the method were investigated: enzyme source, substrate, pH, inhibition time, inhibition temperature, thickness of the cellulose layer, stationary phase.

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Herrn o.Univ.-Prof. Dr. O. Hoffmann-Ostenhof, Vorstand des Instituts für Allgemeine Biochemie, Universität Wien, zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet.

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Wir danken dem Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, der uns die Durchführung dieser Arbeit (Projekt Nr. 2161) ermöglichte.

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Ing. B. Rapié dankt der SEA-Stiftung (Scientific Exchange Agreement) für die Gewährung eines Stipendiums.     

Secondary ionization of chemical warfare agent simulants: atmospheric pressure ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry

For the first time, the use of a traditional ionization source for ion mobility spectrometry (radioactive nickel ((63)Ni) beta emission ionization) and three alternative ionization sources (electrospray ionization (ESI), secondary electrospray ionization (SESI), and electrical discharge (corona) ionization (CI)) were employed with an atmospheric pressure ion mobility orthogonal reflector time-of-flight mass spectrometer (IM(tof)MS) to detect chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants from both aqueous- and gas-phase samples. For liquid-phase samples, ESI was used as the sample introduction and ionization method. For the secondary ionization (SESI, CI, and traditional (63)Ni ionization) of vapor-phase samples, two modes of sample volatilization (heated capillary and thermal desorption chamber) were investigated. Simulant reference materials, which closely mimic the characteristic chemical structures of CWA as defined and described by Schedule 1, 2, or 3 of the Chemical Warfare Convention treaty verification, were used in this study. A mixture of four G/V-type nerve simulants (dimethyl methylphosphonate, pinacolyl methylphosphonate, diethyl phosphoramidate, and 2-(butylamino)ethanethiol) and one S-type vesicant simulant (2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide) were found in each case (sample ionization and introduction methods) to be clearly resolved using the IM(tof)MS method. In many cases, reduced mobility constants (K(o)) were determined for the first time. Ion mobility drift times, flight times, relative signal intensities, and fragmentation product signatures for each of the CWA simulants are reported for each of the methods investigated.