Quantification of the disorder in network-modified silicate glasses.

Local order in silicate glasses has been observed by many experimental techniques to be similar to that in crystalline materials. Details of the intermediate-range order are more elusive, but essential for understanding the lack of long-range symmetry in glasses and the effect of composition on glass structure. Two-dimensional 17O dynamic-angle-spinning nuclear magnetic resonance experiments reveal intermediate-range order in the distribution of inter-tetrahedral (Si-O-Si) bond angles and a high degree of order in the disposition of oxygen atoms around the network-modifying cations.     

Lactate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase activities in the circumventricular organs of rat brain following neonatal monosodium glutamate

Glutamate (glu) an excitatory neurotransmitter amino acid, is present in high concentrations in the mammalian central nervous system and is the most abundant amino acid in our daily diet. In the present study the activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) were evaluated in the circumventricular organs (CVO) of the brain in 25-day-old rats following MSG administration at a dose of 4 mg/g b.wt during the first ten days of life. The results show the LDH activity increased to 265% of that in the control (p<0.001), whereas GDH activity was significantly decreased (p<0.05), The great elevation in LDH, a cytoplasmic marker enzyme, is apparently due to cytoskeletal changes brought about as a consequence of glu toxicity, whereas lowered GDH activity indicates altered glu homostasis in the blood-brain-barrier deficient areas following neonatal exposure to glu.     

Determination of cloud-top height from stereoscopic observation

A new and accurate method is presented based on the cloud movement (height and position), the spherical and plane triangular relationships of the spacecraft, the center of the earth, the projected-cloud and the true-cloud for determination of cloud-top height and position. Synthetic stereo images that have spatial resolution of 1.25 km from a single satellite are used to test this method. It is demonstrated that the cloud-top structure can be determined from the stereoscopic measurements of geo-synchronous satellite with vertical accuracy of approximately 500 m. The vertical accuracy can be better with lower orbiters.     

Complete correction of the tetralogy of Fallot without right ventriculotomy

The authors present an improved technique for operative treatment of tetralogy of Fallot. Developed by Edmund's technique it complets and improves it in several ways making it suitable for nearly all forms of tetralogy of Fallot. The transatrial approach is intended by it's author to only selected cases of the malformation, namely with large pulmonary arteries a correct pulmonary annulus and moderate infundibular hypertrophy. The combined approach which we propose (transatrial and transpulmonary) gives us very good post-operative and short term results.     

Volatile constituents of wolf (Canis lupus) urine as related to gender and season

Summary The volatile constituents of wolf urine were examined via capillary gas chromatography and compared among male, female, and castrate male. Several compounds including methyl isopentyl sulfide, 3,5-dimethyl-2-octanone, and acetophenone were clearly associated with the gender of the animal and many displayed a seasonal dependence. In addition, 2 long-chain aldehydes isolated from urine samples by an HPLC procedure also correlated with the endocrine status of the animal.This work was partially funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.We thank Dr Sharon L. Smith of IBM Instruments, Danbury, Connecticut, for recording spectra of some wolf urinary constitutents on an IBM Fourier-transform IR spectrometer.No such compounds were observed in any other animal species during our previous work with several mammals.