Development of a lightweight cryogenic insulating system Final report, 30 Jun. 1964 - 31 May 1966

Lightweight external panel insulation systems for thermal protection of cryogenic launch vehicle propellant tank

Automated quantification of steatosis: agreement with stereological point counting

Background: Steatosis is routinely assessed histologically in clinical practice and research. Automated image analysis can reduce the effort of quantifying steatosis. Since reproducibility is essential for practical use, we have evaluated different analysis methods in terms of their agreement with stereological point counting (SPC) performed by a hepatologist. Methods: The evaluation was based on a large and representative data set of 970 histological images from human patients with different liver diseases. Three of the evaluated methods were built on previously published approaches. One method incorporated a new approach to improve the robustness to image variability. Results: The new method showed the strongest agreement with the expert. At 20× resolution, it reproduced steatosis area fractions with a mean absolute error of 0.011 for absent or mild steatosis and 0.036 for moderate or severe steatosis. At 10× resolution, it was more accurate than and twice as fast as all other methods at 20× resolution. When compared with SPC performed by two additional human observers, its error was substantially lower than one and only slightly above the other observer. Conclusions: The results suggest that the new method can be a suitable automated replacement for SPC. Before further improvements can be verified, it is necessary to thoroughly assess the variability of SPC between human observers

Spectral-luminescence and magnetic relaxation properties of lanthanide-p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arenes in aqueous solution of surfactants

The influence of nonionogenic, anionic and cationic surfactants on the magnetic relaxation and luminescence properties of gadolinium(III), terbium(III), and dysprosium(III) complexes with p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene (TCAS) was studied. It was shown that the presence of both neutral and anionic surfactant does not influence the magnetic relaxation properties of GdTCAS as well as on the luminescence intensity of the TbTCAS and DyTCAS complexes. The presence of cationic surfactant at the concentration less than critical micellar concentration led to the formation of associates with stoichiometric composition with the Tb (Dy, Gd) TCAS complexes. These associates are characterized by more intensive luminescence, as compared to the initial TbTCAS and DyTCAS complexes. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc

Reactions of heteroaromatic chromophores with lanthanide complexes of p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene

The conditions for the formation of heteroleptic complexes of a lanthanide(iii) ion (Ln = La, Gd, and Tb) with p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene and a heteroaromatic chromophore in water were found using X-ray diffraction analysis, pH-metry, 1H NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic relaxation. In the resulting complexes, the heteroaromatic chromophore is in the calix[4]arene cavity and the lanthanide ion is coordinated by the electron-donating groups of the upper or lower calix[4]arene rim. Emission spectroscopic studies revealed changed emission properties of TbIII ions in the terbium(iii)-p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene-bipy complex. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc

Heterometallic CoIII-LnIII (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) complexes on a p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene platform exhibiting redox-switchable metal-to-metal energy transfer

Nuclear magnetic relaxation along with pH metric data have been used to reveal pH-dependent heterometallic CoIII-LnIII (Ln = Gd, Tb, and Dy) complex formation on a p-sulfonatothiacalix[4]arene (TCAS) platform in aqueous solution. The previously obtained 1D and 2D 1H NMR spectroscopic and X-ray data prove the outer sphere binding of the Co III block with the upper rim of TCAS, whereas the LnIII ion is coordinated with the phenolate groups of the lower rim of TCAS. The inclusive outer-sphere binding of CoIII tris(dipyridyl) and tris(ethylendiaminate) complexes with the upper rim of TCAS favors binding of the inner-sphere lanthanide ions through the lower rim of TCAS, whereas noninclusive binding of CoIII bis(histidinate) provides no effect on the binding of lanthanide ions. The emission properties of [Co(dipy) 3]3+-LnIII (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) complexes indicate the quenching of 4f luminescence by the 3d block. This quenching can be switched off by electrochemical CoIII/CoII reduction with further switching on by reoxidation. © Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2008

Carbon Supported Polyaniline as Anode Catalyst: Pathway to Platinum-Free Fuel Cells

The effectiveness of carbon supported polyaniline as anode catalyst in a fuel cell (FC) with direct formic acid electrooxidation is experimentally demonstrated. A prototype FC with such a platinum-free composite anode exhibited a maximum room-temperature specific power of about 5 mW/cm2Comment: 11 pages, 3 Postscript figures, atricle tex styl

A genetic locus complements resistance to Bordetella pertussis-induced histamine sensitization.

Histamine plays pivotal role in normal physiology and dysregulated production of histamine or signaling through histamine receptors (HRH) can promote pathology. Previously, we showed that Bordetella pertussis or pertussis toxin can induce histamine sensitization in laboratory inbred mice and is genetically controlled by Hrh1/HRH1. HRH1 allotypes differ at three amino acid residues with

Biomaterials Approaches to Combating Oral Biofilms and Dental Disease

Background: Possibilities for biomaterials to impact the dental caries epidemic are reviewed with emphasis placed on novel delivery biomaterials and new therapeutic targets

How Mistimed and Unwanted Pregnancies Affect Timing of Antenatal Care Initiation in three Districts in Tanzania

Early antenatal care (ANC) initiation is a doorway to early detection and management of potential complications associated with pregnancy. Although the literature reports various factors associated with ANC initiation such as parity and age, pregnancy intentions is yet to be recognized as a possible predictor of timing of ANC initiation. Data originate from a cross-sectional household survey on health behaviour and service utilization patterns. The survey was conducted in 2011 in Rufiji, Kilombero and Ulanga districts in Tanzania on 910 women of reproductive age who had given birth in the past two years. ANC initiation was considered to be early only if it occurred in the first trimester of pregnancy gestation. A recently completed pregnancy was defined as mistimed if a woman wanted it later, and if she did not want it at all the pregnancy was termed as unwanted. Chisquare was used to test for associations and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine how mistimed and unwanted pregnancies affect timing of ANC initiation. Although 49.3% of the women intended to become pregnant, 50.7% (34.9% mistimed and 15.8% unwanted) became pregnant unintentionally. While ANC initiation in the 1st trimester was 18.5%, so was 71.7% and 9.9% in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that ANC initiation in the 2nd trimester was 1.68 (95% CI 1.10‒2.58) and 2.00 (95% CI 1.05‒3.82) times more likely for mistimed and unwanted pregnancies respectively compared to intended pregnancies. These estimates rose to 2.81 (95% CI 1.41‒5.59) and 4.10 (95% CI 1.68‒10.00) respectively in the 3rd trimester. We controlled for gravidity, age, education, household wealth, marital status, religion, district of residence and travel time to a health facility. Late ANC initiation is a significant maternal and child health consequence of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies in Tanzania. Women should be empowered to delay or avoid pregnancies whenever they need to do so. Appropriate counseling to women, especially those who happen to conceive unintentionally is needed to minimize the possibility of delaying ANC initiation.\u