Effects of antipsychotics on bone mineral density and prolactin levels in patients with schizophrenia: a 12-month prospective study

Objective: Effects of conventional and atypical antipsychotics on bone mineral density (BMD) and serum prolactin levels (PRL) were examined in patients with schizophrenia.Methods: One hundred and sixty-three first-episode inpatients with schizophrenia were recruited, to whom one of three conventional antipsychotics (perphenazine, sulpiride, and chlorpromazine) or one of three atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, quetiapine, and aripiprazole)was prescribed for 12 months as appropriate. BMD and PRL were tested before and after treatment. Same measures were conducted in 90 matched healthy controls.Results Baseline BMD of postero-anterior L1–L4 range from 1.04 ± 0.17 to 1.42 ± 1.23, and there was no significant difference between the patients group and healthy control group. However, post-treatment BMD values in patients (ranging from 1.02 ± 0.15 to 1.23 ± 0.10) were significantly lower than that in healthy controls (ranging from 1.15 ± 0.12 to 1.42 ± 1.36). The BMD values after conventional antipsychotics were significantly lower than that after atypical antipsychotics. The PRL level after conventional antipsychotics (53.05 ± 30.25 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that after atypical antipsychotics (32.81 ± 17.42 ng/ml). Conditioned relevance analysis revealed significant negative correlations between the PRL level and the BMD values after conventional antipsychotics.Conclusion The increase of PRL might be an important risk factor leading to a high prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with schizophrenia on long-term conventional antipsychotic medication.<br/

Pre-concentration and determination of trace uranium (VI) in environments using ion-imprinted chitosan resin via solid phase extraction

The uranyl-ion-imprinted and non-imprinted cross-linked chitosan resins possessing quinoline-8-ol moiety have been prepared. In all the cases, a significant imprinting effect was noticed on comparing percent extraction of uranium (VI). The resulting ion-imprinted resin was used for solid phase extractive preconcentration of uranium (VI) prior to its determination by spectrophotometry. Experimental variables that influence the quantitative extraction of uranium (VI) were optimized by both static and column methods. The retention capacity found for uranium (VI) was 218 mg g-1 of resin which is higher than the corresponding non-imprinted resins and other solid phase extraction sorbents possessing quinoline-8-ol moiety. The optimum pH range was 4.5-7.0. Uranium adsorbed was easily and quantitatively eluted with 1 mol L-1 HCl (10 mL) at a flow rate of 2 mL min-1. Interference studies showed a high tolerance of diverse ions and electrolyte species. The limit of detection was 2 µg L-1 and the dynamic linear range was 5-100 µg L-1. The accuracy of the developed method was tested with one uranium ore standard reference material. Furthermore, the proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of uranium in contaminated soil and sediment samples

Existence of stationary vortex sheets for the 2D Euler equation

We investigate a steady planar flow of an ideal fluid in a (bounded or unbounded) domain $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^2$. Let $\kappa_i\not=0$, $i=1,\ldots, m$, be $m$ arbitrary fixed constants. For any given non-degenerate critical point $\mathbf{x}_0=(x_{0,1},\ldots,x_{0,m})$ of the Kirchhoff-Routh function defined on $\Omega^m$ corresponding to $(\kappa_1,\ldots, \kappa_m)$, we construct a family of stationary planar flows with vortex sheets that have large vorticity amplitude and are perturbations of small circles centered near $x_i$, $i=1,\ldots,m$. The proof is accomplished via the implicit function theorem with suitable choice of function spaces. This seems to be the first nontrivial result on the existence of stationary vortex sheets in domains

Fatigue Life Prediction of Radial Tire Bead Using a Maximum Strain Energy Density Range Method

The damage that occurs around the tire bead region is one of the critical failure forms of a tire. Generally, the prediction of tire durability is carried out by the experimental method. However, it takes a lot of money and time to conduct experiments. Therefore, to determine the fatigue life of radial tire bead, a reasonable prediction method is proposed in this paper. Fatigue testing of bead rubber compounds to determine the ΔSED-number of the cycle (Nf) was applied. The maximum strain energy density range (ΔSEDmax) of several bead compounds was obtained by steady-state rolling analysis with a finite element method. This quantity is then inserted into a fatigue life equation to estimate the fatigue life. The experimental results of the 175/75R14 tire were compared with the estimated value, which showed a good correlation. It is concluded that the method can be effectively applied to the fatigue life prediction of the tire bead