Alteration of GABAA receptor alpha 1-subunit mRNA in mouse brain following continuous ethanol inhalation

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate what nursing home medical directors actually do, what they and other nursing home personnel believe would be desirable to do, and what problems and deficiencies are perceived. DESIGN: Mail survey with follow-up telephone interview when necessary. SETTING: Forty-five nursing facilities in upstate New York. PARTICIPANTS: The medical directors, administrators, and directors of nursing of the 45 facilities. MEASUREMENTS: Inventory of what medical directors reported as to their actual activities and time spent, and of what they, the administrators, and the directors of nursing felt should be their responsibilities and activities under ideal circumstances. RESULTS: For part-time medical directors, self-reported time spent on medical directorship activities averaged 12 hours per month; of all directors, 45% spent 8 hours or less per month. Proportion of time spent on various specific activities varied widely. There was general agreement that substantially more time should be spent, in particular, on evaluating and addressing problems of adequacy and quality of care, communicating with attending physicians about problems, and assisting with inservice training programs. CONCLUSIONS: To fill the role adequately, more time should be spent by many part-time medical directors, which will require greater financial commitment by facilities and reimbursement systems. Efforts need to made to better coordinate the expectations of medical directors and facility staff.     

Establishment time of liquid flow in a bath agitated by bottom gas injection

The establishment time of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a cylindrical bath agitated by bottom gas injection through a central single-hole bottom nozzle was investigated. Because the turbulence intensity in the bath was comparable to or larger than the unity, the conventional definition of the flow establishment time based on the history of mean velocity was not suitable for the present case. In fact, it was difficult to determine the flow establishment time based on the well-known 90 or 99 pct criterion for the mean velocity. Accordingly, two methods of determining the flow establishment time by focusing on the turbulence components instead of the mean velocity components were proposed. Velocity measurements were made with a two-channel laser Doppler velocimeter. The flow establishment time was correlated as a function of gas flow rate. Close agreement was obtained by the two methods.     

Body effects on SAR distributions for microwave exposures in a realistic model of the human head.

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations of specific absorption rate (SAR) in a human head exposed to microwaves have, to date, been carried out on models of the head only. This was because it was believed that the body effects on the average SAR of the head could be ignored at high frequencies of around 1 GHz. That opinion, however, was based on inappropriate calculation conditions and is therefore unreliable. In this paper, we have re-examined the body effects on the SAR distributions in a realistic homogeneous model of the adult head exposed to microwaves. We found that the SAR on the eye surface of the head-only model exposed to E-polarized waves was 31% smaller than that of the whole-body model at 900 MHz, and 43% larger at 1.5 GHz. For a size that can practically be considered whole-body, it is necessary to have the top of the head to the belly for 900 MHz and to the chest area for 1.5 GHz. The previously unclear body effects of H-polarized waves were assumed to be less than those of E-polarized waves, suggesting that the chest area would be sufficient for both frequencies.     

Ru-catalyzed anode materials for direct hydrocarbon SOFCs

A solid oxide fuel cell using a thin ceria-based electrolyte film with a Ru-catalyzed anode was directly operated on hydrocarbons, including methane, ethane, and propane, at 600 °C. The role of the Ru catalyst in the anode reaction was to promote the reforming reaction of the unreacted hydrocarbons by the produced steam and CO₂, which avoided interference from steam and CO₂ in the gas-phase diffusion of the fuels. The resulting peak power density reached 750 mW cm⁻² with dry methane, which was comparable to the peak power density of 769 mW cm⁻² with wet (2.9 vol.% H₂O) hydrogen. More important was the fact that the cell performance was maintained at a high level regardless of the change in the methane utilization from 12 to 46% but was significantly reduced by increasing the hydrogen utilization from 13 to 42%. While the anodic reaction of hydrogen was controlled by the slow gas diffusion, the anodic reaction of methane was not subject to the onset of such a gas-diffusion process.     

Analysis of secretion and expression of platelet-derived growth factor in cultured endothelial cells from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat

1. We characterized the endothelial cell-derived growth factors of SHRSP and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY), respectively and found that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-B chain related growth factor constituted a major portion of the mitogenic activity of the conditioned media of endothelial cells from both animals. There were no remarkable qualitative differences between the endothelial cell-derived growth factors of SHRSP and WKY. 2. Northern analysis revealed that the expression of PDGF-B chain was 2-4-fold enhanced in cultured aortic endothelial cells of SHRSP. This enhanced expression of PDGF-B chain, which may be induced under chronic hypertensive conditions, is suggested to contribute to the increase in endothelial cell-derived growth factors reported in this animal.     

Is it possible to differentiate between choledochal cyst and congenital biliary atresia (type I cyst) by antenatal ultrasonography?

Both choledochal cyst and congenital biliary atresia (type I cyst) may share the same ultrasonographic pattern. We report 2 cases which were shown to have cystic structures on the upper abdomen by antenatal ultrasonography. The size of the choledochal cyst found at 24 weeks' gestation increased steadily as gestational age advanced. But the size of the cyst in congenital biliary atresia found at 29 weeks' gestation remained unchanged throughout the remaining pregnancy. Cyst enlargement, therefore, may suggest the possibility of a choledochal cyst.     

Immunoassay method for the determination of immunoglobulin G using bacterial magnetic particles.

We have developed a novel immunoassay method using bacterial magnetic particles for the determination of immunoglobulin G (IgG). Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) conjugated anti IgG-bacterial magnetic particles were prepared. The fluorescence quenching caused by agglutination of FITC-anti IgG antibody-bacterial magnetic particle conjugates was measured by using a fluorescence spectrophotometer. The aggregates based on specific immunoreaction were separated by a gelatin solution. The aggregation of bacterial magnetic particle conjugates was enhanced by application of a magnetic field. The relative fluorescence intensity correlated linearly with a concentration of IgG in the range 0.5-100 ng/mL.     

Characteristics of estrogen decomposition by ozonation.

Since the natural estrogens 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and estron (E1), and the synthetic estrogen 17 alpha-ethynyl estradiol (EE2) have strong endocrine disrupting effects and the tendency to persist in effluent from wastewater treatment plants, effective measures are needed to remove them from wastewater. In this research, to gain an understanding of the characteristics of estrogen decomposition by ozonation, experiments were conducted using effluent from an actual wastewater treatment plant. In this experiment, estrogen was added to effluent at a concentration of 200 ng/l and 20 ng/l before the ozonation experiments. The results showed 90% or more of estrogen concentration and estrogenic activity of E2, El and EE2 to be removed at an ozone dose of 1 mg/l. At an ozone dose of 3 mg/l, the estrogen concentration and estrogenic activity of E2, El and EE2 in the treated water fell below the detection limit. The removal rate was not influenced by the kind of estrogen. No generation of byproducts with estrogenic activity was observed. The authors conclude that estrogen in secondary treated wastewater can be almost entirely removed at the practical ozone dose rate applied for the purpose of disinfection, which is up to about 5 mg/l.