Storing keV negative ions for an hour: the lifetime of the metastable ^(2)P((1/2)^(o)) level in ^(32)S^(-).

We use a novel electrostatic ion storage ring to measure the radiative lifetime of the upper level in the 3p^{5} ^{2}P_{1/2}^{o}→3p^{5} ^{2}P_{3/2}^{o} spontaneous radiative decay in ^{32}S^{-} to be 503±54  sec. This is by orders of magnitude the longest lifetime ever measured in a negatively charged ion. Cryogenic cooling of the storage ring gives a residual-gas pressure of a few times 10^{-14} mbar at 13 K and storage of 10 keV sulfur anions for more than an hour.

A bibliometric analysis of the clinical development of drugs in Norway for the year 2000.

Purpose:  Bibliometric analysis of publications was used to investigate the research output relating to the development of drugs in Norway and to evaluate the impact of Norwegian involvement in this research.

Material And Methods: One hundred and nine articles published between 2002 and 2008 were analysed. Bibliometric methods used were as follows: information on peer review, impact factor (IF), the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the representation of Norwegians in the list of authors.

An analysis of the clinical development of drugs in Norway for the year 2000: the completion of research and publication of results.

Objective: In Norway, very little data are available on the relation between the total number of research projects on the clinical development of drugs that have been started, the number of these projects in which the research phase has been completed and the number of projects for which results have been published. The aim of this study was to determine the number of projects in which the research phase had been completed and the results published.

Material And Methods: Information on research projects carried out on the clinical development of drugs during the year 2000 was obtained from the archives of the Norwegian Research Ethical Committee (REC) and subsequently analysed.

An analysis of the clinical development of drugs in Norway for the years 2000 and 2004: the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.

Objective: Little has been published either concerning the total number of research projects in connection with clinical development of drugs or the number of projects financially supported by the industry.

Methods: From the archives of the five regional Norwegian Research Ethical Committees (REC), all research projects in connection with clinical development of drugs for the years 2000 and 2004 were analysed with the intention of finding the number of projects financially supported by the industry, the type of research institution, the industrial company, the topic of the research as classified in the international Anatomic Therapeutic Classification system (ATC), the research phase and the approval status of the drug by the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NMA).

Results: The total number of research projects for the clinical development of drugs for the years 2000 and 2004 was 489, and 75.

Clinical research: the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.

Objective: The aim of the investigation is to throw light on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on clinical research in Norway. The files of the five regional medical research ethics committees, which contain the application forms and the protocols of all the research projects on humans, were used as source for the statistics. The projects were first classified and registered in two groups: pharmacology/pharmacotherapy and others.

Scientific quality of clinical research. An analysis of 40 research projects in pharmacology/pharmacotherapy.

Objective: The scientific quality of research is an important ethical issue. To clarify the quality of research projects in pharmacotherapy/pharmacology, 40 randomly selected research projects in pharmacotherapy/pharmacology submitted to a research ethics committee were reviewed.

Results: Eight of the projects would not have contributed new knowledge nor were they necessary as controls for the results of previous research.

Bioreactor for a larger scale hepatocyte in vitro perfusion.

A bioreactor construction for hepatocytes and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells is described. The reactor is based on capillaries for hepatocyte immobilization. Four discrete capillary membrane systems, each serving different purposes, are woven to create a three-dimensional framework for decentralized cell perfusion with low metabolite gradients and decentralized oxygenation and CO2 removal.

Hybrid liver support system in a short term application on hepatectomized pigs.

A short term application of a hybrid liver support system in circuits with continuous plasma-separation was investigated in a model of hepatectomized pigs under general anesthesia. Primary pig hepatocytes were immobilized in a bioreactor with three independent capillary systems. An immune barrier is achieved by avoiding the direct contact of blood cells with the hepatocytes by a plasmaseparation step and by an outflow filtration within the reactor.

Bioreactor for long-term maintenance of differentiated hepatic cell functions.

A culture model and a bioreactor construction for hepatocyte in vitro culture is described. The reactor is based on capillaries for hepatocyte immobilisation. Four discrete capillary membrane systems, each serving different purposes, are woven to create a three-dimensional framework for decentralized cell perfusion with low metabolite gradients and decentralized oxygenation and CO2 removal.

Side effects of hybrid liver support therapy: TNF-alpha liberation in pigs, associated with extracorporeal bioreactors.

During acute liver failure, hybrid liver support therapy could serve as a bridge to liver transplantation. In this desired temporary use, immune competent cell responses, such as the production of cytokines, might be of limiting relevance. We have investigated the Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF) liberation in two models using pigs, connected with an extracorporeal bioreactor with homologous hepatocytes: TNF liberation was measured in arterial plasma during a 4 day perfusion time in untreated animals, model (i), and during short term perfusion of hepatectomized pigs in model (ii).