Chronological Evaluation Research Articles

A chronological evaluation of experimental brain infarct by diffusion-mapping and magnetization transfer contrast imaging.

There is a complex system of evolving physiochemical processes in the ischemic brain. The evaluation of this chain of processes is a major challenge of recent stroke studies. Two magnetic resonance imaging techniques: diffusion-weighted (DW) and magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) imaging were introduced in experimental studies and were shown to have sensitivity for different stages of brain infarct. We used a reproducible middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion model in rat to examine infarcts of different time courses. Magnetic resonance T2-weighted (T2). DW, and MTC imaging were performed 3 h, 1 d, 3 d, 5 d, 2 w, 3 w, and 4 w after MCA occlusion. Haematoxylin/eosin (HE) stained sections, which revealed sub regions within infarct lesions, were compared to T2, DW, diffusion-mapping and MTC-mapping images. On DW images 3 hours post occlusion lesions were detected as an area with high signal intensity, while T2 imaging does not raise significant contrast of the lesion at this early stage. Three sub regions of the lesion having different ADCs, are discernible on diffusion-mapping images from 1 day to 7 days. The decrease of MTC effect was measured within the infarct lesion from core to marginal zone, from 7 days to 4 weeks. Diffusion-mapping imaging may help to examine brain infarction from 3 hours to 5 days. MTC imaging recognizes infarcts 7 days after the onset. Following this stage, MTC-mapping images may provide a quantitative method to assess infarct size.

Development of quality of life (QOL) questionnaire for use of lung cancer patients in palliative therapy — Study of validity and reliability no. 2, the effects of chemotherapeutics in QOL: Ishihara Y, Sakai H, Nukariya N, Kobayashi K, Yoneda S, Matsuoka R et al. Department of Hygiene/Public Health, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Tokyo. Jpn J Cancer Chemother 1995;22:1087–1093

The effects of cisplatin and carboplatin in QOL were studied using a QOL questionnaire seeking to conform their validity and reliability in lung cancer patients. The questionnaire was composed of eleven items; appetite, feeling, sleep, mental fatigue, pain, anxiety, daily activity, abdominal and respiratory conditions, linear analog and face scale as global scale. The data were collected from 21 patients treated with cisplatin (Cis group) and 9 patients administered carboplatin (Carbo group). Chronological changes of QOL were measured by AUC (area under the curve) method. 1) The total score of 9 items, linear analog and face scales rose immediately to the highest levels (worse) after treatment and maintained this level for 1 week in the Cis group. The Carbo group levels rose from 3 days and returned to the control level at 9 days after treatment. 2) AUC of the total score, linear analog and face scales in the Cis group increased significantly when compared with those of the Carbo group. 3) When compared with the Cis and Carbo groups the physiological and active scales were not different, but the psychological scale showed a significant difference between the two groups. 4) The total score of the psychological scale correlated the abdominal score in the Cis group, but not in the Carbo group. 5) Sleep and mental fatigue were related to the aggravation of QOL at 5-6 days after Carboplatin treatment. These results suggested that this QOL questionnaire had sufficient sensitivity to reflect any chemotherapeutic side-effects. 6) AUC is useful method in chronological evaluation of QOL.

210Pb and 137Cs chronology of sediments from small, shallow Arctic lakes

Arctic environmental conditions present special difficulties with the use of nuclides 210Pb and 137Cs for measuring lake sediment chronology. Fluxes of these nuclides are lower in the Arctic than in mid-latitudes, shortening the history that can be resolved. Ice prevents atmospheric input of nuclides to sediment during much of the year and can cause redistribution of sediment in shallow lakes. Results from analyses of seven sediment cores from two lakes on the Belcher Islands in southeastern Hudson Bay show that sediment redistribution by ice is a major process in one of the lakes. In order to measure an undisturbed sedimentation rate, it is necessary that a total input or flux of 137Cs and 210Pb be measured or estimated. Total unsupported 210Pb in the area, 14.8 dpm/cm 2, is the average of measurements in three cores from two lakes that have consistent total 137Cs inventories closest to the estimated 137Cs flux. Cores from undisturbed sites have slower sedimentation rates, and 137Cs appears in layers dated before the early 1950s when it would have first appeared in sediment. 137Cs cannot be used for chronological evaluation of these cores. Mixing of surface sediment layers and lower dating resolution than in other cores are responsible for the apparent downward movement of this nuclide. 210Pb measurements of undisturbed sedimentation rates in the lakes range from 0.0044 to 0.0180 g/cm 2/a. The sedimentation rate in a lake used for raw sewage oxidation doubled after the beginning of sewage input. Rates at sites where sediment is redistributed range from 0.0259 to 0.0309 g/cm 2/a with similarly higher total 137Cs and unsupported 210Pb values. Dates of sediment layers measured using the constant rate of supply model are verified by 210Pb profile discontinuities corresponding to major storms in 1958 and in 1940.

Ovarian development in female armyworm moths, Pseudaletia unipuncta: its relationship with pheromone release activities

Following a chronological evaluation of ovarian maturation in virgin females, the temporal relationship between oocyte development and the initiation of calling in Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was investigated. One hundred and sixty females were observed daily during the last 2 h of the scotophase for a period of 2–8 days after emergence. Every day, females that called for the first time were sacrificed at lights-on for pheromone titer analysis and oocyte measurements and egg counts. Concurrently, noncallers of the same age were randomly selected and submitted to the same analyses. Although some females started calling and synthesizing pheromone before their oocytes reached maturity (0.59 mm in width), none with basal oocytes smaller than 0.33 mm in width (N = 17) called and only three had detectable pheromone titers (ca. 2 ng). First-time callers on days 2–5 after emergence had greater (i) numbers of mature eggs, (ii) basal oocyte widths, and (iii) pheromone titers than noncallers of the same age, although differences were not always statistically significant. Ovaries of females that initiated calling on days 3–5 were at a similar developmental stage, but were significantly more mature than those of females calling for the first time on day 2.

Chronological evaluation of the occurrence and growth of the traumatic intracerebral hematoma.

Chronological evaluation of the occurrence and growth of the traumatic intracerebral hematoma.

En hellenistisk møntskat fra Bahrain

En hellenistisk møntskat fra Bahrain