Dynamical instability of a doubly quantized vortex in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Doubly quantized vortices were topologically imprinted in /F=1> 23Na condensates, and their time evolution was observed using a tomographic imaging technique. The decay into two singly quantized vortices was characterized and attributed to dynamical instability. The time scale of the splitting process was found to be longer at higher atom density.

Distillation of bose-einstein condensates in a double-well potential.

Bose-Einstein condensates of sodium atoms, prepared in an optical dipole trap, were distilled into a second empty dipole trap adjacent to the first one. The distillation was driven by thermal atoms spilling over the potential barrier separating the two wells and then forming a new condensate. This process serves as a model system for metastability in condensates, provides a test for quantum kinetic theories of condensate formation, and also represents a novel technique for creating or replenishing condensates in new locations.

Supported membrane nanodevices.

Supported membrane nanodevices are based on natural or artificial ion channels embedded in a lipid membrane deposited on a chip wafer. Membrane conductance is modulated by biorecognitive events, with the use of intrinsic binding sites of the ion channel or via artificial sites fused to the channel protein. Artificial ion gates are constructed by coupling a specific ligand for the analyte near the channel entrance or a site important to triggering channel conformation.

Atom interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential.

A trapped-atom interferometer was demonstrated using gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates coherently split by deforming an optical single-well potential into a double-well potential. The relative phase between the two condensates was determined from the spatial phase of the matter wave interference pattern formed upon releasing the condensates from the separated potential wells. Coherent phase evolution was observed for condensates held separated by 13 microm for up to 5 ms and was controlled by applying ac Stark shift potentials to either of the two separated condensates.

Tenofovir-related Fanconi syndrome with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: the role of lopinavir-ritonavir-didanosine.

Tenofovir-related tubular damage, like all other recently reported cases, occurred in patients receiving the protease inhibitor (PI) ritonavir, often with lopinavir. Increased plasma concentrations of didanosine were also observed after the addition of tenofovir. It was suspected that tenofovir with PIs interacted with renal organic anion transporters, leading to nephrotoxic tubular concentrations of tenofovir and systemic accumulation of didanosine.

Coherent control of polariton parametric scattering in semiconductor microcavities.

In a pump-probe experiment, we have been able to control, with phase-locked probe pulses, the ultrafast nonlinear optical emission of a semiconductor microcavity, arising from polariton parametric amplification. This evidences the coherence of the polariton population near k=0, even for delays much longer than the pulse width. The control of a large population at k=0 is possible although the probe pulses are much weaker than the large polarization they control.

Cooling Bose-Einstein condensates below 500 picokelvin.

Spin-polarized gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates were confined by a combination of gravitational and magnetic forces. The partially condensed atomic vapors were adiabatically decompressed by weakening the gravito-magnetic trap to a mean frequency of 1hertz, then evaporatively reduced in size to 2500 atoms. This lowered the peak condensate density to 5 x 10(10) atoms per cubic centimeter and cooled the entire cloud in all three dimensions to a kinetic temperature of 450 +/- 80 picokelvin.

Use of atypical antipsychotics in a Veterans Affairs hospital.

In a retrospective chart review, efficacy and drug costs were compared in 91 consecutive outpatients receiving risperidone (n=70) or olanzapine (n=21) at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Syracuse, NY. Between-group differences in background characteristics, diagnoses (schizophrenia in more than half of each group) and antipsychotic efficacy [Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale scores] were not significant. The mean doses were 3.

[Distal glue embolization in a patient with gastrointestinal hemorrhage].

This is a case report, concerning the endovascular use of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate, for treatment of a digestive hemorrhage from a distal branch of the superior mesenteric artery, leading to a successful outcome. This material, usually used in brain angiomas, constitutes an alternative for digestive embolization, which is quick, precise and definitive, without additional risk in experienced hands.

High-temperature ultrafast polariton parametric amplification in semiconductor microcavities.

Cavity polaritons, the elementary optical excitations of semiconductor microcavities, may be understood as a superposition of excitons and cavity photons. Owing to their composite nature, these bosonic particles have a distinct optical response, at the same time very fast and highly nonlinear. Very efficient light amplification due to polariton-polariton parametric scattering has recently been reported in semiconductor microcavities at liquid-helium temperatures.

Arginine deficiency-induced hyperammonemia in a home total parenteral nutrition-dependent patient: a case report.

Background: Patients with short bowel syndrome and renal dysfunction with TPN dependence are at high risk for developing hyperammonemia if the TPN does not contain sufficient quantities of arginine. Providing proper nutrition support is essential in the management of these patients.

Methods: We report on a patient with short bowel syndrome, TPN dependence, and normal renal function who developed hyperammonemic encephalopathy due to inadvertent lack of arginine in his TPN.

Gender and the relationship between resting heart rate and left ventricular geometry.

Objectives: Heightened mortality is common to both an elevated resting heart rate and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). We examined the relationship between resting heart rate and left ventricular geometry.

Methods: We analysed resting heart rate and echocardiographic data on 1,685 individuals aged 25-93 years, 756 males and 929 females, without heart failure.

Advanced life support: retention of registered nurses' knowledge 18 months after initial training.

In 1996, The Wesley Hospital introduced a 2 day Advanced Life Support (ALS) course, targeted at all critical care registered nurses and medical officers. The purpose of this study was to explore the retention of theoretical knowledge and clinical skills of registered nurses who had successfully completed the 2 day ALS course 18 months previously and to establish effective retesting timeframes. The study utilised a repeated post-test measure design.

Crossover from exciton to biexciton polaritons in semiconductor microcavities.

Pump-probe measurements in a microcavity containing a quantum well show that a population of circularly polarized ( sigma(+)) excitons can completely inhibit the transition to sigma(-) one-exciton states by transferring the oscillator strength to the biexcitonic resonance. With increasing pump intensity the linear exciton-polariton doublet evolves into a triplet polariton structure and finally into a shifted biexciton-polariton doublet. A theoretical model of interacting excitons demonstrates that the crossover from exciton to biexciton polaritons is driven by three-exciton Coulomb correlation.

War-related trauma and stress characteristics of American University of Beirut students.

An investigation of war-trauma was made utilizing an initial pool of 1,268 undergraduates at the American University of Beirut. Based on the number of war events the students had experienced, 400 students were invited to return for further questioning about their present stress characteristics. Inventories measuring anxiety, depression, and PTSD were administered to 273 students responding to the request.

Morphological and biochemical changes following acute unilateral testicular torsion in prepubertal rats.

Purpose: The role played by reactive oxygen species in the effects of testicular torsion and torsion/detorsion on ipsilateral and contralateral testis was investigated.

Materials And Methods: Prepubertal rats were submitted to unilateral testicular torsion alone or followed by detorsion for up to 1 week. Morphology and biochemical parameters (thiobarbituric reactive substances, superoxide dismutase-like and catalase-like activities) were evaluated.

Examination of the damping behavior of IMZ implants.

The damping behavior of 392 IMZ implants with a diameter of 4 mm was examined by performing Periotest measurements during regular implant follow-up. The results were correlated with radiographically assessed peri-implant bone reduction. To guarantee statistical independence, only one randomly chosen implant per patient was considered in the examination.

A pelvic retroperitoneal Schwannoma presenting as an adnexal mass.

Solitary nerve sheath tumors such as benign schwannomas arising in the pelvic retroperitoneum are infrequently reported. We report a case of a benign retroperitoneal pelvic schwannoma that presented with pelvic pain and an adnexal mass. Complete surgical excision was achieved only after transection of the S1 nerve root on the left side.

Gonadotropin secreting pituitary microadenoma.

FSH and LH secreting pituitary adenomas may not be as rare as has been previously thought. Women in their reproductive years with a normal estrogenic state and hypergonadotropic amenorrhea should be suspected to harbor a pituitary microadenoma secreting gonadotropins. A computerized tomogram of the pituitary confirms the diagnosis.

Missile injuries to the brain treated by simple wound closure: results of a protocol during the Lebanese conflict.

This is a prospective study of the treatment of penetrating missile injuries to the brain without intracranial surgery carried out at the American University of Beirut Medical Center between 1981 and 1988. Of 600 patients treated for missile injuries to the head, 32 satisfied the study criteria. There were 27 shrapnel and 5 bullet injuries.

Understanding cerebral edema: implications for oncology nurses.

The nonspecific disorder cerebral edema is potentially a life-threatening complication of cancer and its treatment. Oncology nurses proficient in neurologic assessment can detect subtle changes and identify early stages of cerebral edema. When cerebral edema is suspected, oncology nurses must administer medications, manage side effects associated with these medications, institute safety and seizure precautions, and prevent complications of immobility.

Influence of adenosine cyclic nucleotide analogs on growth of human colon tumor cell lines.

The influence of three analogs of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and theophylline on growth of colon tumor cell lines HT 29, LIM 1215 and COLO 206F was assessed by serial estimates of cell number. Administration of theophylline or analog of cAMP 8-bromo cAMP (8-br-cAMP) to actively replicating cultures resulted in a decrease in cell number of each cell line. In contrast analogs of cAMP, dibutyryl cAMP (db-cAMP) and chlorophenylthio cAMP (cp-cAMP) caused an increase in cell number of each cell line.

Wandering intravascular missiles: report of five cases from the Lebanon war.

From 1980 to 1986, during the Lebanon war, five patients with missile embolization were seen at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. Three had entry in the heart or thoracic aorta with peripheral embolization, and two had entry in the internal carotid artery and inferior vena cava with embolization to the middle cerebral artery and heart, respectively. Embolization was suspected when, in the absence of an exit, routine x-ray films showed the missile in a distant location.