Adding low-dose antidepressants to interferon alpha treatment for chronic hepatitis C improved psychiatric tolerability in a patient with schizoaffective psychosis

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C with interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) is relatively contraindicated in patients with psychiatric disorders because of possible severe psychiatric side effects. We report on a case of a female patient with a chronic schizoaffective psychosis, who was treated for 3 months with 3 x 3 mio IE IFN-alpha s.c./week because of a chronic hepatitis C (genotype Ib). Psychosis was stable with flupentixol monotherapy. After 2 months, she developed a severe depressive syndrome which lead to suicidal ideation. Until this time, she was without any antidepressive medication. Depressive symptoms disappeared after interferon therapy was stopped. Under prophylactic treatment with low-dose trimipramine (50 mg) or nefazodone (200 mg/day) therapy with IFN-alpha 3 x 3 mio IE/week was re-established after several months and again 2 years later adding ribavirin 1200 mg/day, a virustaticum. In contrast to the symptoms during monotherapy with IFN-alpha, during the time of both combination treatments, no psychiatric side effects occurred. While for ribavirin antidepressant effects are not known, we suppose that antidepressants may in serotonergic or noradrenergic caused by IFN-alpha. prevent changes neurotransmission caused by IFN-alpha. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone

The Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone looks into all aspects of anthropogeic emissions of black carbon and tropospheric ozone precursors, such as methane. It analyses the trends in emissions of these substances and the drivers of these emissions; summarizes the science of atmospheric processes where these substances are involved; discusses related impacts on the climatic sysem, human health, crops in vulnerable regions and ecosystems; and societal responses to the environmntal changes caused by those impacts. The Assessment examines a large number of potential measures to reduce harmful emissions, identifying a small set of specific measures that would likely produce the greatest benefits, and which could be implemented with currently available technology. An outlook up to 2070 is developed illustrating the benefits of those emission mitigation policies and mesures for human well-being and climate. The Assessment concludes that rapid mitigation of anthropogenic black carbon and tropospheric ozone precursor emissions would complement carbon dioxide reduction measures and would have immediate benefits for human well-being. The Assessment is intended to support informed decision making at all levels as a guide for assessment, planning and management for the future

Combined use of 16S ribosomal DNA and 16S rRNA to study the bacterial community of polychlorinated biphenyl-polluted soil

The bacterial diversity assessed from clone libraries prepared from rRNA (two libraries) and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) (one library) from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-polluted soil has been analyzed. A good correspondence of the community composition found in the two types of library was observed. Nearly 29% of the cloned sequences in the rDNA library were identical to sequences in the rRNA libraries. More than 60% of the total cloned sequence types analyzed were grouped in phylogenetic groups (a clone group with sequence similarity higher than 97% [98% for Burkholderia andPseudomonas-type clones]) represented in both types of libraries. Some of those phylogenetic groups, mostly represented by a single (or pair) of cloned sequence type(s), were observed in only one of the types of library. An important difference between the libraries was the lack of clones representative of the Actinobacteriain the rDNA library. The PCB-polluted soil exhibited a high bacterial diversity which included representatives of two novel lineages. The apparent abundance of bacteria affiliated to the beta-subclass of theProteobacteria, and to the genus Burkholderiain particular, was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. The possible influence on apparent diversity of low template concentrations was assessed by dilution of the RNA template prior to amplification by reverse transcription-PCR. Although differences in the composition of the two rRNA libraries obtained from high and low RNA concentrations were observed, the main components of the bacterial community were represented in both libraries, and therefore their detection was not compromised by the lower concentrations of template used in this study

Phylogenetic affiliation and quantification of psychrophilic sulfate-reducing isolates in marine Arctic sediments

Thirteen psychrophilic sulfate-reducing isolates from two permanently cold fjords of the Arctic island Spitsbergen (Hornsund and Storfjord) were phylogenetically analyzed. They all belonged to the delta subclass of Proteobacteria. and were widely distributed within this group, indicating that psychrophily is a polyphyletic property. A new 16S rRNA-directed oligonucleotide probe was designed against the largest coherent cluster of these isolates. The new probe, as well as a set of available probes,was applied in rRNA slot blot hybridization to investigate the composition of the sulfate-reducing :bacterial community in the sediments. rRNA related to the new cluster of incompletely oxidizing, psychrophilic isolates made up 1.4 to 20.9% of eubacterial rRNA at Storfjord and 0.6 to 3.5% of eubacterial rRNA at Hornsund. This group was the second-most-abundant group of sulfate reducers at these sites. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and hybridization analysis showed bands identical to those produced by our isolates. The data indicate that the psychrophilic isolates are quantitatively important in Svalbard sediments

Intrinsic Pinning in the High Field C-Phase of UPt_3

We report on the a.c. magnetic response of superconducting UPt_3 in a d.c. magnetic field. At low fields (H < H^*), the in-phase susceptibility shows a sharp drop at $T_c$ followed by a gradual decrease with decreasing temperature, while the out-of-phase component shows a large peak at T_c followed by an unusual broad peak. As the B-C phase line is crossed (H>H^*), however, both the in-phase and out-of-phase susceptibilities resemble the zero-field Meissner curves. We interpret these results in terms of a vortex pinning force which, while comparatively small in the A/B-phases, becomes large enough to effectively prevent vortex motion in the C-phase.Comment: Modified discussion, slight changes to figures, accepted in PRB Rapid Communications. RevTex file, 5 figure

Antiphase dynamics in a multimode semiconductor laser with optical injection

A detailed experimental study of antiphase dynamics in a two-mode semiconductor laser with optical injection is presented. The device is a specially designed Fabry-Perot laser that supports two primary modes with a THz frequency spacing. Injection in one of the primary modes of the device leads to a rich variety of single and two-mode dynamical scenarios, which are reproduced with remarkable accuracy by a four dimensional rate equation model. Numerical bifurcation analysis reveals the importance of torus bifurcations in mediating transitions to antiphase dynamics and of saddle-node of limit cycle bifurcations in switching of the dynamics between single and two-mode regimes.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

In situ accessibility of Escherichia coli 23S rRNA to fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide probes

One of the main causes of failure of fluorescence in situ hybridization with rRNA-targeted oligonucleotides, besides low cellular ribosome content and impermeability of cell walls, is the inaccessibility of probe target sites due to higher-order structure of the ribosome. Analogous to a study on the 16S rRNA (B. M. Fuchs, G. Wallner, W. Beisker, I. Schwippl, W. Ludwig, and R. Amann, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:4973–4982, 1998), the accessibility of the 23S rRNA of Escherichia coli DSM 30083T was studied in detail with a set of 184 CY3-labeled oligonucleotide probes. The probe-conferred fluorescence was quantified flow cytometrically. The brightest signal resulted from probe 23S-2018, complementary to positions 2018 to 2035. The distribution of probe-conferred cell fluorescence in six arbitrarily set brightness classes (classes I to VI, 100 to 81%, 80 to 61%, 60 to 41%, 40 to 21%, 20 to 6%, and 5 to 0% of the brightness of 23S-2018, respectively) was as follows: class I, 3%; class II, 21%; class III, 35%; class IV, 18%; class V, 16%; and class VI, 7%. A fine-resolution analysis of selected areas confirmed steep changes in accessibility on the 23S RNA to oligonucleotide probes. This is similar to the situation for the 16S rRNA. Indeed, no significant differences were found between the hybridization of oligonucleotide probes to 16S and 23S rRNA. Interestingly, indications were obtained of an effect of the type of fluorescent dye coupled to a probe on in situ accessibility. The results were translated into an accessibility map for the 23S rRNA ofE. coli, which may be extrapolated to other bacteria. Thereby, it may contribute to a better exploitation of the high potential of the 23S rRNA for identification of bacteria in the future

Techniques for measuring atmospheric aerosols at the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment

We describe several techniques developed by the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment for measuring aerosol vertical optical depth, aerosol horizontal attenuation length, and aerosol phase function. The techniques are based on measurements of side-scattered light generated by a steerable ultraviolet laser and collected by an optical detector designed to measure fluorescence light from cosmic-ray air showers. We also present a technique to cross-check the aerosol optical depth measurement using air showers observed in stereo. These methods can be used by future air fluorescence experiments.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics Journal 16 pages, 9 figure

A hybrid model for chaotic front dynamics: From semiconductors to water tanks

We present a general method for studying front propagation in nonlinear systems with a global constraint in the language of hybrid tank models. The method is illustrated in the case of semiconductor superlattices, where the dynamics of the electron accumulation and depletion fronts shows complex spatio-temporal patterns, including chaos. We show that this behavior may be elegantly explained by a tank model, for which analytical results on the emergence of chaos are available. In particular, for the case of three tanks the bifurcation scenario is characterized by a modified version of the one-dimensional iterated tent-map.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure