Anger Management Style and Hostility: Predicting Symptom-Specific Physiological Reactivity Among Chronic Low Back Pain Patients

It was hypothesized that anger management style (anger-in or anger-out) and hostility affect the aggravation of chronic low back pain (CLBP) through symptom-specific (i.e., lower paraspinal muscle) reactivity during stress. Subjects were 102 CLBP patients who performed mental arithmetic and an Anger Recall Interview (ARI) while trapezius and lower paraspinal EMG, SBP, DBP, and HR were recorded. Results showed anger-in × hostility and anger-out × gender interactions for lower paraspinal but not trapezius reactivity, and only during the ARI. Further analyses revealed that (1) hostility was related positively to lower paraspinal reactivity among high anger suppressors, (2) hostility was related negatively to lower paraspinal reactivity among low anger suppressors, and (3) anger expression was related positively to lower paraspinal reactivity only among men. Anger management style and hostility may contribute to the exacerbation of CLBP by influencing stress reactivity only in muscles near the site of pain or injury.     

Interphase cytogenetics using biotin and digoxigenin labelled probes II: Simultaneous differential detection of human and papilloma virus nucleic acids in individual nuclei.

A method was developed for the simultaneous detection of viral and human DNA in contrasting colours in routine formalin fixed, paraffin wax embedded biopsy specimens. This was achieved by non-isotopic in situ hybridisation (NISH) with a biotinylated Y chromosome probe and digoxigenin labelled probe for human papilloma virus type 6 (HPV 6). The tissues studied were peripheral lymphocytes, tonsil, and penile warts. The hybridisation signals produced by biotinylated probes were visualised in red using streptavidin peroxidase and those produced by digoxigenin labelled probes as a blue/black colour using anti-digoxigenin alkaline phosphatase. In lymphocytes and tonsil 95-100% of cells had a detectable Y chromosome; in warts only 60-70% of infected keratinocytes near the skin surface had a demonstrable Y chromosome. This suggests that this chromosome is lost or occluded in cell maturation. In simultaneous double hybridisation with both probes, HPV and Y sequences were demonstrable within the same nucleus in penile warts. This technique permits the simultaneous differential detection of two nuclei acid sequences in interphase nuclei and will have application in analysis of putative dual HPV infections and in determining the intranuclear spatial relations between nucleic acids in interphase nuclei.     

The Effect of End Group Modification on the Transparency of Vinyl Addition Norbornene Polymers at 193 nm

Summary: Homopolymers of a bis‐trifluorocarbinol substituted norbornene ( 1 ) (α,α‐bis(trifluoromethyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]hept‐5‐ene‐2‐ethanol or HFANB) and copolymers of 1 with t‐butyl ester of 5‐carboxylic acid ( 2 , t‐BuEsNB) were produced using palladium catalysts and olefinic chain transfer agents such as 1‐hexene and ethylene to control molecular weight. However, these low‐molecular‐weight polymers exhibited relatively low optical transparencies at 193 nm. In fact, the opacity (measured as optical densities in absorbance units per micron) of thin films of these homo‐ and co‐polymers was inversely proportional to their molecular weight. This relationship is consistent with an end group contribution to the film opacity. Spectroscopic analysis of these polymers by ¹H NMR and MALDI‐TOF MS confirmed that 1‐hexene and ethylene chain transfer agents generated olefin‐terminated vinyl addition polymers. The olefinic end group contribution to optical density can be eliminated by appropriate chemical modification. Both epoxidation and hydrogenation of the polymer olefinic end groups generated very low optical density materials, independent of molecular weight, that are suitable as 193‐nm photoresist binder resins.

End group modification of vinyl and hexenyl‐terminated homopolymers of 1 by epoxidation or hydrogenation.     

严重烧伤患者血清IL-18、sFas和sFasL水平的变化规律及其相关性研究

目的 :探讨严重烧伤患者血清IL 18、sFas和sFasL水平间的变化及其与病情的关系。方法 :选择烧伤总面积(TBSA)≥ 30 %的严重烧伤患者 30例 ,其中死亡 3例 ;正常对照组 4 5例。采用ELISA法对不同时相点 (伤后 1、3、5、7、14、2 1、2 8和 35天 )患者血中IL 18、sFas和sFasL水平进行检测。结果 :与正常对照组比较 ,患者血清IL 18、sFas和sFasL水平均呈显著性上升 (P <0 0 1～ 0 0 5 ) ,并分别持续至伤后 2 8,2 1和 2 1天 ;感染组患者血清IL 18、sFas和sFasL水平均显著地高于非感染组 (P <0 0 1～ 0 0 5 ) ;死亡组患者血清IL 18水平下降 ,而sFasL水平则升高。患者血清IL 18和sFasL水平与烧伤面积相关 ;患者血清IL 18、sFas和sFasL之间也呈显著正相关 (P <0 0 1)。结论 :患者血清IL 18、sFas和sFasL水平与烧伤严重程度及伤后感染密切相关 ,在烧伤后免疫功能及凋亡调控中可能起一定作用。     

Modeling a medical environment: an ontology for integrated medical informatics design

Modern medical environments have seen an increase in technological complexity and pressures of handling more patients with fewer resources, resulting in higher demands on medical practitioners. Medical informatics designers will have to focus on the problem of organizing medical information more effectively to enable practitioners to cope with these challenges. This article addresses this research problem for the particular area of medical problem solving in patient care. First, we describe a traditional modeling approach for medical reasoning used as a basis for developing some decision support systems. We argue these models may be faithful to what is known about biomedical knowledge, but they have limitations for human problem solving, especially in unanticipated situations. Second, we present an ontological framework, known as the abstraction hierarchy (Rasmussen, IEEE Trans. Man. Cybernetics 15 (1985) 234-243), for integrating patient representations that are faithful to existing biomedical knowledge and that are consistent with what is known about human problem solving. Through an example of a critical event in the operating room, we reveal how this framework can support medical problem solving in unanticipated situations. Third, we show how to use these representations as a frame of reference for mapping medical roles, responsibilities, sensors, and controls in an operating room context. Finally, we provide some insight for medical informatics designers in using this framework to design novel training programs and human-computer displays.     

Thermal behavior,morphology and the determination of the polymer-polymer interaction parameter of polycarbonate-poly(butylene terephthalate) blends

Blends of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC, poly(oxycarbonyloxy-1,4-phenylene-2-isopropylidene-1,4-phenylene)) and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT, poly(oxytetramethyleneoxy-terephthaloyl)) have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy. Blends were prepared by screw extrusion and solution casting with mass fractions of PC in the blends varying from 0,90 to 0,10. From the measured glass transition temperature (T_g) and apparent mass fractions of PC and PBT dissolved in each phase, it appears that the PBT dissolves more in the PC-rich phase than does the PC in the PBT-rich phase. Also, compatibility is greater in the case of extruded blends than in the case of solutioncast blends. The values of the Flory-Huggins polymer-polymer interaction parameter (χ₁₂) were determined and found to range from 0,042 to 0,033 for extruded blends at 250°C and from 0,054 to 0,039 for solution casting at 25°C. The χ₁₂ decreases with increase of PBT content throughout the investigated composition range. From the T_g's, the microscopy study and the extrudate swell ratios, it is concluded that compatibility is achieved in the blends having mass fractions 0,90, 0,20 and 0,10 of PC, but that these blends are not microscopically homogeneous.     

Characterization of the receptor for IgM present on human B lymphocytes.

The presence of a receptor for the Fc of IgM (muFcR) was demonstrated on the pathological B cells of all of sixteen patients with hairy-cell leukaemia and most, but not all, of twenty-four cases of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, by a rosette method employing ox erythrocytes sensitized with purified IgM (EAm). This muFcR was also demonstrated on a small population of normal human mononuclear cells from peripheral blood. Pathological B cells with this receptor (Bm) simultaneously expressed a different and distinct receptor for the Fc of IgG, and were detectable without preincubation in medium containing foetal calf serum (FCS). The muFcR on B cells was blocked by Fc5mu and IgM, but not by F(ab')2mu fragments, or by IgG, whether monomeric or aggregated. Monomeric IgM and IgM bound to its antigen blocked much more effectively than pentameric IgM. B cells also possessed surface immunoglobulin and the Ia-like P29, 34 antigen, and an antiserum to this antigen blocked the muFcR. The muFcR on B cells differs in a number of ways from the muFcR reported on T cells, and these differential characteristics are discussed in some detail. The muFcR was rapidly shed and resynthesized when washed Bm cells were maintained in medium not containing FCS and the general importance of this phenomenon in any study of muFcR is considered. It is suggested that Bm cells are memory cells and that the muFcR plays a part in the immune response.     

Borrelia burgdorferi and Interleukin-1 Promote the Transendothelial Migration of Monocytes In Vitro by Different Mechanisms

A prominent feature of Lyme disease is the perivascular accumulation of mononuclear leukocytes. Incubation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cultured on amniotic tissue with either interleukin-1 (IL-1) or Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, increased the rate at which human monocytes migrated across the endothelial monolayers. Very late antigen 4 (VLA-4) and CD11/CD18 integrins mediated migration of monocytes across HUVEC exposed to either B. burgdorferi or IL-1 in similar manners. Neutralizing antibodies to the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) inhibited the migration of monocytes across unstimulated, IL-1-treated, or B. burgdorferi-stimulated HUVEC by 91% ± 3%, 65% ± 2%, or 25% ± 22%, respectively. Stimulation of HUVEC with B. burgdorferi also promoted a 6-fold ± 2-fold increase in the migration of human CD4⁺ T lymphocytes. Although MCP-1 played only a limited role in the migration of monocytes across B. burgdorferi-treated HUVEC, migration of CD4⁺ T lymphocytes across HUVEC exposed to spirochetes was highly dependent on this chemokine. The anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 reduced both migration of monocytes and endothelial production of MCP-1 in response to B. burgdorferi by approximately 50%, yet IL-10 inhibited neither migration nor secretion of MCP-1 when HUVEC were stimulated with IL-1. Our results suggest that activation of endothelium by B. burgdorferi may contribute to formation of the chronic inflammatory infiltrates associated with Lyme disease. The transendothelial migration of monocytes that is induced by B. burgdorferi is significantly less dependent on MCP-1 than is migration induced by IL-1. Selective inhibition by IL-10 further indicates that B. burgdorferi and IL-1 employ distinct mechanisms to activate endothelial cells.