Pure Red Cell Aplasia with M-Gradient: A Literature Review and Clinical Experience

Background. Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare syndrome characterized by a decrease of erythroid progenitor cell count in the bone marrow. M-gradient with both a light and a heavy chain types in PRCA patients is a rare phenomenon which is considered to be a specific form of the disease. Aim. To review a clinical presentation, diagnostic capabilities, and treatment outcomes of PRCA with M-gradient. Materials & Methods. The analysis included 10 patients. The most effective empirically established treatment program was 200–400 g of cyclophosphamide 2–3 times a week to a total dose of 6–10 g and loading courses of 100–120 mg of oral and 180–240 mg of intravenous prednisone daily within 5 days. On the 6th day prednisone injections were discontinued, and from the 7th day the oral dose of prednisone was gradually reduced to permanent discontinuation in 2–3 days. This treatment course was repeated 1–3 times at intervals of a week. Targeted enzyme immunoassay of M-gradient was performed in 4 patients in order to determine whether M-gradient is the sum of two antibody types, i.e. erythrokaryocyte antibodies and secondary anti-idiotype antibodies against primary antibodies. Results. The total of 6 out of 10 PRCA patients reached complete remission within the period from 9 months to 22 years of follow-up, in 4 patients no remission was achieved. M-gradient contained IgG (n = 9) and IgA (n = 1) oligoclones. In typing it consisted of IgGλ (n = 4), IgGκ (n = 5) and IgAκ (n = 1). M-gradient enzyme immunoassay showed no primary and secondary anti-idiotype antibodies. Conclusion. The obtained results allow to regard gammopathy in PRCA as an effect of oligoclonal hyper-immunoglobulin without any pathogenetic connection between M-gradient and PRCA

Improved measurement of the K+->pi+nu(nu)over-bar branching ratio

An additional event near the upper kinematic limit for K+-->pi(+)nu(nu) over bar has been observed by experiment E949 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Combining previously reported and new data, the branching ratio is B(K+-->pi(+)nu(nu) over bar)=(1.47(-0.89)(+1.30))x10(-10) based on three events observed in the pion momentum region 211<P<229 MeV/c. At the measured central value of the branching ratio, the additional event had a signal-to-background ratio of 0.9

New Measurement of the K+->pi(+)nu nu Branching Ratio

Three events for the decay K+->pi(+)nu have been observed in the pion momentum region below the K+->pi(+)pi(0) peak, 140 pi(+)nu nu)=(1.73(-1.05)(+1.15))x10(-10) consistent with the standard model prediction

Spin reorientation effect in neutron reflection from ferromagnetic films

We demonstrate that the magnetic state of a thin magnetic film can be probed using polarized neutron reflection even when the magnetization in the film plane is at 90° to the polarization direction of the incident neutron beam. For this special case, no magnetic interaction is expected classically, thus the effect is entirely quantum mechanical in origin. We show both theoretically and experimentally that it arises from the independent interaction of each spin component with the magnetization in the film. We demonstrate this effect for a single Co/GaAs(001) film and discuss its application to magnetic measurements using an unpolarized neutron beam. © 1995 The American Physical Society

An improved upper bound for the length of preset distinguishing sequences of distinguished merging finite state machines

In an earlier work, we have studied a special class of Finite State Machines (FSMs) called Distinguished Merging FSMs (DMFSMs) and showed that one can construct a Preset Distinguishing Sequence (PDS) for a DMFSM with n states, p input symbols, and r output symbols in time O(n^4 + pn^2) of length no longer than O(n^3). In this work, we improve the upper bound for the length of a PDS to (n-1)^2, and present an algorithm to construct such a PDS for a DMFSM in time O(n^4 + pn^2) or in time O(rn^3 + pn^2)

Lower bounds on lengths of checking sequences

Lower bounds on the lengths of checking sequences constructed for testing from Finite State Machine-based specifications are established. These bounds consider the case where a distinguishing sequence is used in forming state recognition and transition verification subsequences and identify the effects of overlapping among such subsequences. Empirical results show that the existing methods for construction of checking sequences provide checking sequences with lengths that are within acceptable distance to these lower bounds