As Low Birth Weight Babies Grow, Can 'Good' Parents Buffer this Adverse Factor? A Research Note.

This research note combines two national Taiwanese datasets to investigate the relationship between low birth weight (LBW) babies, their family background and their future academic outcomes. We find that LBW is negatively correlated with the probability of such children attending university at the age of 18; however, when both parents are college or senior high school graduates, such negative effects may be partially offset. We also show that discrimination against daughters does occur, but only in those cases where the daughters were LBW babies. Moreover, high parental education (HPE) can only buffer the LBW shock among moderately-LBW children (as compared to very-LBW children) and full term-LBW children (as compared to preterm-LBW children).

A Novel Contact Resistance Model of Anisotropic Conductive Film for FPD Packaging

In this research, a novel contact resistance model for the flat panel display (FPD) packaging based on the within layer parallel and between layers series resistance concepts was proposed. The FJ2530 anisotropic conductive films (ACF) by Sony Inc. containing the currently smallest 3micron conductive particles was used to conduct the experiments to verify the accuracy of the proposed model. Calculated resistance of the chip-on-glass (COG) packaging by the proposed model is 0.163\Omega. It is found that the gold bump with 0.162\Omega resistance play the major role of the overall resistance. Although the predicted resistance by the proposed model is only one third of the experimentally measured value, it has been three-fold improvement compared to the existing models.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Ultrasonication-Assisted Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Biomolecules in Solution

In this paper, we describe a novel technique—ultrasonication-assisted spray ionization (UASI)—for the generation of singly charged and multiply charged gas-phase ions of biomolecules (e.g., amino acids, peptides, and proteins) from solution; this method employs a low-frequency ultrasonicator (ca. 40 kHz) in place of the high electric field required for electrospray ionization. When a capillary inlet is immersed into a sample solution within a vial subjected to ultrasonication, the solution is continually directed to the capillary outlet as a result of ultrasonication-assisted capillary action; an ultrasonic spray of the sample solution is emitted at the outlet of the tapered capillary, leading to the ready generation of gas-phase ions. Using an ion trap mass spectrometer, we found that singly charged amino acid and multiply charged peptides/proteins ions were generated through this single-step operation, which is both straightforward and extremely simple to perform. The setup is uncomplicated: only a low-frequency ultrasonicator and a tapered capillary are required to perform UASI. The mass spectra of the multiply charged peptides and proteins obtained from sample solutions subjected to UASI resemble those observed in ESI mass spectra

Application of Ultrasonography in Thyroid Cysts

Thyroid ultrasonography has been used to detect thyroid lesions since the 1960s. In early 1970s, thyroid cyst had been reported to present as thyroid nodules. With over one-third of all isolated thyroid nodules being cystic, over half exhibit cystic degeneration and approximately 17–32% of the cystic thyroid nodules are malignant. The pathogenesis of thyroid cysts is unknown. Possible causes include infarcts and other destructive processes including hemorrhaging in the thyroid follicle, clustering of thyroid follicles followed by cystic degeneration, and benign or malignant tumor necrosis. Cystic fluid analysis for amylase, lactate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase reveals substantially higher levels than in the serum. Immunoreactive endothelin, vascular epithelial growth factor and β2-microglobulin were investigated in the cystic fluid of developing and recurrent thyroid nodules. Ultrasound-guided aspiration near the solid part of the thyroid cysts, combined with cytologic study by experienced endocrine cytopathologists, constitutes the best form of preoperative diagnosis of malignant thyroid cysts. Of the malignant cysts, most are papillary thyroid carcinoma. However, medullary cystic carcinoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma with cystic changes are also reported. Observation, repeated aspiration, thyroid hormone therapy, percutaneous ethanol injection, ultrasound-guided interstitial laser photocoagulation and surgical treatment are the most common treatment for thyroid cysts. Depending on the definition of response rate and the period of follow-up, the response rate to ethanol injection for thyroid cysts ranges from 72.1% to 93.9%. In conclusion, the pathogenesis of the thyroid cysts requires further investigation. Recurrent thyroid cysts larger than 3 cm may require surgical treatment