Optimizing a direct string magnetic gradiometer for geophysical exploration.

Magnetic gradiometers are tools for geophysical exploration. The magnetic gradient is normally calculated by subtracting the outputs of two total field magnetometers which are separated by a baseline. Here we present a unique device that directly measures magnetic gradients using only a single string as its sensing element.

Graded response to thymectomy in children with myasthenia gravis.

Response to thymectomy in children with juvenile myasthenia gravis was evaluated using severity and response to therapy rating scales and objective measures of hospital, intensive care, and intubation days, prethymectomy and postthymectomy, as markers of morbidity. Records of 50 patients treated for myasthenia gravis at Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, were reviewed. Thymectomy was performed in 13 patients; average age was 10 years.

Mutant telomeric repeats in yeast can disrupt the negative regulation of recombination-mediated telomere maintenance and create an alternative lengthening of telomeres-like phenotype.

Some human cancers maintain telomeres using alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), a process thought to be due to recombination. In Kluyveromyces lactis mutants lacking telomerase, recombinational telomere elongation (RTE) is induced at short telomeres but is suppressed once telomeres are moderately elongated by RTE. Recent work has shown that certain telomere capping defects can trigger a different type of RTE that results in much more extensive telomere elongation that is reminiscent of human ALT cells.

House dust mite allergen levels in university student accommodation in Dunedin.

Aim: To quantify the levels of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p1) in different university student accommodation in Dunedin, and to assess relationships with housing characteristics and housekeeping practices.

Methods: Dwellings (n=178) were randomly selected from a database of first year university students in Dunedin. Dust samples were collected from both bed and the bedroom floor by standardised procedures.

The influence of polymorphism at position 16 of the beta2-adrenoceptor on the development of tolerance to beta-agonist.

Polymorphism at position 16 of the beta2-adrenoceptor alters receptor down-regulation in vitro. Our aim was to compare the development of tolerance to beta-agonist in homozygous Gly-16 patients with patients harboring the "wild" genotype (homozygous Arg-16) during regular treatment with salmeterol. In a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, 20 subjects with mild to moderate asthma (10 Gly-16, 10 Arg-16) received 2 weeks of treatment with inhaled salmeterol 100 microg b.

Specific cleavage of human type III and IV collagens by Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase.

Purified Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase cleaved human type III and IV collagens with the formation of specific cleavage products. Furthermore, type I collagen appeared to be slowly cleaved by both P. aeruginosa elastase and alkaline protease.

Thioglucose interactions with a "gold thioglucose-lesioned glucostat".

Our previous studies suggest a central nervous system regulatory center that adjusts the brain's convulsive response to the insulin hypoglycemia based on decreased sensitivity to insulin hypoglycemic convulsions 24 hr after a single i.p. injection of gold thioglucose (GTG).