Spectral and total radiation properties of turbulent carbon monoxide/air diffusion flames

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76724/1/AIAA-1986-294-399.pd

Hepatitis B testing and treatment in HIV patients in The Gambia - compliance with international guidelines and clinical outcomes

Background Compliance with WHO guidelines on HBV screening and treatment in HIV-coinfected patients is often challenging in resource limited countries and has been poorly assessed in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Between 2015 and 2016, we assessed physician’s compliance with WHO guidelines on HIV-HBV coinfection in the largest HIV clinic in The Gambia, and the hepatic outcomes in HIV-HBV coinfected patients as compared to randomly selected HIV-monoinfected controls. Results 870 HIV-infected patients regularly seen in this clinic agreed to participate in our study. Only 187 (21.5%, 95% CI 18.8–24.3) had previously been screened for HBsAg, 23 (12.3%, 95% CI 8.0–17.9) were positive of whom none had liver assessment and only 6 (26.1%) had received Tenofovir. Our HBV testing intervention was accepted by all participants and found 94/870 (10.8%, 95% CI 8.8–13.1) positive, 78 of whom underwent full liver assessment along with 40 HBsAg-negative controls. At the time of liver assessment, 61/78 (78.2%) HIV-HBV coinfected patients received ART with 7 (11.5%) on Tenofovir and 54 (88.5%) on Lamivudine alone. HIV-HBV coinfected patients had higher APRI score compared to controls (0.58 vs 0.42, p = 0.002). HBV DNA was detectable in 52/53 (98.1%) coinfected patients with 14/53 (26.4%) having HBV DNA >20,000 IU/L. 10/12 (83.3%) had at least one detectable 3TC-associated HBV resistance, which tended to be associated with increase in liver fibrosis after adjusting for age and sex (p = 0.05). Conclusions Compliance with HBV testing and treatment guidelines is poor in this Gambian HIV programme putting coinfected patients at risk of liver complications. However, the excellent uptake of HBV screening and linkage to care in our study suggests feasible improvements

Influence of Various Process Parameters on Mechanical Properties and Ballistics of Nitramine-Based Advanced CMDB Propellants

This paper reports the influence of important process parameters, namely mixing time and batch size; on the mechanical properties and ballistics of nitramine-based advanced CMDB propellants. Considerable improvement to the tune of 67 per cent in tensile strength was observed at a mixing time increase of 60-135 min. Scaling up of batch size from 8 to 25 kg resulted in 30 per cent higher tensile strength. Recorded enhancement of burning rate was of the order of 8 per cent in both the sets of experiments. Ballistically modified composition revealed 11-12 per cent increase in burning rate at all the pressure ranges, on combined increase in mixing time (55 to 85 min) and batch size(5-17kg). These findings are in line with those reported for composite and ballistically modified double-base propellants

ChlVPP combination chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease: long-term results.

Two hundred and eighty-four patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease (HD) (stage II with poor prognostic features and stage III/IV) have been treated with the ChlVPP combination chemotherapy regimen (chlorambucil, vinblastine, procarbazine and prednisolone) in a single-centre unselected series. Median follow up is 92 months. Fifty-five patients had previously received radiotherapy but none had received previous chemotherapy. Eighty-five per cent of previously untreated patients and 91% of previously irradiated patients entered complete remission (CR); 71% and 68% of these respectively remain in CR at 10 years and 65% and 64% of each group respectively are alive at 10 years. On univariate analysis, age, stage, site of visceral disease and lymphocyte count predicted survival and on multivariate analysis age, absence of symptoms, absence of lung, liver or bone marrow disease and achieving a CR remained important predictors of survival. Acute toxicity was mild. The 10 year actuarial risk of acute leukaemia was 2.7%. This study adds further support to the view that chlorambucil is as effective and less toxic than mustine in combination chemotherapy for HD. We suggest that MOPP chemotherapy is no longer routinely indicated for HD

High dose melphalan, BCNU and etoposide with autologous bone marrow transplantation for Hodgkin's disease.

Thirty-eight patients with previously treated Hodgkin's disease were given high dose combination chemotherapy using melphalan and BCNU and autologous bone marrow transplantation. In 25 patients etoposide was added in conventional dosage. During the course of the study the dose of melphalan was increased from 80 to 140 mg m-2 and the dose of BCNU from 300 to 600 mg m-2. The response rate was 76% with 53% complete remission. Forty-five per cent of the patients are free of disease at 4-20 months follow-up. There were eight (26%) treatment-related deaths due to lung damage (seven cases) and irreversible cardiac failure (one case). Fatal lung damage occurred only in patients receiving 600 mg m-2 of BCNU with high dose melphalan. The dose of BCNU given with high dose melphalan should not exceed 500 mg m-2. This treatment is effective against relapsed Hodgkin's disease but must be used cautiously. The best time for its use remains to be determined

Synthesis, gene silencing, and molecular modeling studies of 4 '-C-aminomethyl-2 '-O-methyl modified small interfering RNAs.

The linear syntheses of 4′-C-aminomethyl-2′-O-methyl uridine and cytidine nucleoside phosphoramidites were achieved using glucose as the starting material. The modified RNA building blocks were incorporated into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by employing solid phase RNA synthesis. Thermal melting studies showed that the modified siRNA duplexes exhibited slightly lower Tm (1 °C/modification) compared to the unmodified duplex. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the 4′-C-aminomethyl-2′-O-methyl modified nucleotides adopt South-type conformation in a siRNA duplex, thereby altering the stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions. These modified siRNAs were also evaluated for their gene silencing efficiency in HeLa cells using a luciferase-based reporter assay. The results indicate that the modifications are well tolerated in various positions of the passenger strand and at the 3′ end of the guide strand but are less tolerated in the seed region of the guide strand. The modified siRNAs exhibited prolonged stability in human serum compared to unmodified siRNA. This work has implications for the use of 4′-C-aminomethyl-2′-O-methyl modified nucleotides to overcome some of the challenges associated with the therapeutic utilities of siRNAs

Controlling Light Through Optical Disordered Media : Transmission Matrix Approach

We experimentally measure the monochromatic transmission matrix (TM) of an optical multiple scattering medium using a spatial light modulator together with a phase-shifting interferometry measurement method. The TM contains all information needed to shape the scattered output field at will or to detect an image through the medium. We confront theory and experiment for these applications and we study the effect of noise on the reconstruction method. We also extracted from the TM informations about the statistical properties of the medium and the light transport whitin it. In particular, we are able to isolate the contributions of the Memory Effect (ME) and measure its attenuation length

Outcome of ATP-based tumor chemosensitivity assay directed chemotherapy in heavily pre-treated recurrent ovarian carcinoma

BACKGROUND: We wished to evaluate the clinical response following ATP-Tumor Chemosensitivity Assay (ATP-TCA) directed salvage chemotherapy in a series of UK patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The results are compared with that of a similar assay used in a different country in terms of evaluability and clinical endpoints. METHODS: From November 1998 to November 2001, 46 patients with pre-treated, advanced ovarian cancer were given a total of 56 courses of chemotherapy based on in-vitro ATP-TCA responses obtained from fresh tumor samples or ascites. Forty-four patients were evaluable for results. Of these, 18 patients had clinically platinum resistant disease (relapse < 6 months after first course of chemotherapy). There was evidence of cisplatin resistance in 31 patients from their first ATP-TCA. Response to treatment was assessed by radiology, clinical assessment and tumor marker level (CA 125). RESULTS: The overall response rate was 59% (33/56) per course of chemotherapy, including 12 complete responses, 21 partial responses, 6 with stable disease, and 15 with progressive disease. Two patients were not evaluable for response having received just one cycle of chemotherapy: if these were excluded the response rate is 61%. Fifteen patients are still alive. Median progression free survival (PFS) was 6.6 months per course of chemotherapy; median overall survival (OAS) for each patient following the start of TCA-directed therapy was 10.4 months (95% confidence interval 7.9-12.8 months). CONCLUSION: The results show similar response rates to previous studies using ATP-TCA directed therapy in recurrent ovarian cancer. The assay shows high evaluability and this study adds weight to the reproducibility of results from different centre