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Background Liver iron content (LIC) in chronic liver disease (CLD) is currently determined by performing an invasive liver biopsy. MRI using R2* relaxometry is a noninvasive alternative for estimating LIC. Fat accumulation in the liver, or proton density fat fraction (PDFF), may be a possible confounder of R2* measurements. Previous studies of the effect of PDFF on R2* have not used quantitative LIC measurement. Purpose To assess the associations between R2*, LIC, PDFF, and liver histology in patients with suspected CLD. Study Type Prospective. Population Eighty-one patients with suspected CLD. Field Strength/Sequence 1.5 T. Multiecho turbo field echo to quantify R2*. PRESS MRS to quantify PDFF. Assessment Each patient underwent an MR examination, followed by two needle biopsies immediately following the MR examination. The first biopsy was used for conventional histological assessment of LIC, whereas the second biopsy was used to quantitatively measure LIC using mass spectrometry. R2* was correlated with both LIC and PDFF. A correction for the influence of fat on R2* was calculated. Statistical Tests Pearson correlation, linear regression, and area under the receiver operating curve. Results There was a positive linear correlation between R2* and PDFF (R = 0.69), after removing data from patients with elevated iron levels, as defined by LIC. R2*, corrected for PDFF, was the best method for identifying patients with elevated iron levels, with a correlation of R = 0.87 and a sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 98.6%, respectively. Data Conclusion PDFF increases R2*. Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019;50:325-333. Funding Agencies|Region Ostergotland; Medical Research council of Southeast Sweden [FORSS #12621]; Swedish Research Council [VR/NT #2014-6157, VR/MH, #2007-2884]; Forskningsradet i Sydostra Sverige; Linkoping University; Linkoping University Hospital Research Foundations; Vinnova [#2013-01314]; Vetenskapsradet

PURPOSE:To quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the water-signal performance of the consistent intensity inhomogeneity correction (CIIC) method to correct for intensity inhomogeneities METHODS ...

It is possible to estimate hepatic triglyceride content by calculating the proton density fat fraction (PDFF), using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS), instead of collecting and analyzing liver biopsy specimens to detect steatosis. However, the current PDFF cut-off value (5%) used to define steatosis by magnetic resonance was derived from studies that did not use histopathology as the reference standard. We performed a prospective study to determine the accuracy of 1 H-MRS PDFF in the measurement of steatosis using histopathology analysis as the standard. We collected clinical, serologic, 1 H-MRS PDFF, and liver biopsy data from 94 adult patients with increased levels of liver enzymes (≥6 mo) referred to the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Linkoping University Hospital in Sweden from 2007 through 2014. Steatosis was graded using the conventional histopathology method and fat content was quantified in biopsy samples using stereologic point counts (SPCs). We correlated the 1 H-MRS PDFF findings with SPCs (r = 0.92; P 1 H-MRS PDFF results correlated with histopathology results (ρ = 0.87; P P

A new variant of human growth hormone was recently found [Pavlu, B. & Gellerfors, P. (1993) Bioseparation 3, 257-265]. We report here the identification and the structural determination of this variant. The variant, which is formed during the expression of human growth hormone in Escherichia coli, was found to be more hydrophobic than rhGH as judged by its prolonged elution time by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The rhGH hydrophobic variant (rhGH-HV) was isolated and subjected to trypsin digestion and RP-HPLC analysis, resulting in an altered retention time of one single tryptic peptide as compared to the corresponding fragment of rhGH. This tryptic peptide constitutes the C-terminus (aa 179-191) of hGH and contains one of the two disulfide bridges in hGH, viz. Cys182-Cys189. Amino acid sequences and composition analyses of the tryptic peptide from rhGH-HV (Tv18-19) and the corresponding tryptic peptide from rhGH (T18+19) were identical. Electrospray mass spectrometry (ES MS) of Tv18+19 isolated from rhGH-HV revealed a monoisotopic mass increase of 32.7, as compared to T18+19 from rhGH. A synthetic Tv18+19 peptide having a trisulfide bridge between Cys182 and Cys189 showed identical fragment in ES/MS compared to Tv18+19 isolated from rhGH-HV, i.e. m/z 617.7 and 682.9. These fragments are formed through a unique cleavage in the trisulfide (Cys182-SSS-Cys189) bridge not found in the corresponding T18+19 disulfide peptide. Furthermore, the synthetic Tv18+19 co-eluted in RP-HPLC with Tv18+19 isolated from rhGH-HV. Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy of the synthetic T18+19 and Tv18+19 peptides were performed. Using these data all protons were assigned. The major chemical shift changes (delta delta > 0.05 ppm) observed were for the beta-protons of Cys182 and Cys189 in Tv18+19 as compared to T18+19. CD spectroscopy data were also in agreement with the above results. Based on these physico-chemical data rhGH-HV has been structurally defined as a trisulfide variant of rhGH. The receptor binding properties of rhGH-HV was studied by a biosensor device, BIAcore. The binding capacity of rhGH-HV was similar to rhGH with a binding stoichiometry to the rhGHBP of 1:1.6 and 1:1.5, respectively, indicating that the trisulfide modification did not affect its receptor binding properties.

31P-MRS using DRESS was used to compare absolute liver metabolite concentrations (PME, Pi, PDE, gammaATP, alphaATP, betaATP) in two distinct groups of patients with chronic diffuse liver disorders, one group with steatosis (NAFLD) and none to moderate inflammation (n=13), and one group with severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (n=16). All patients underwent liver biopsy and extensive biochemical evaluation. A control group (n=13) was also included. Absolute concentrations and the anabolic charge, AC=[PME]/([PME]+[PDE]), were calculated. Comparing the control and cirrhosis groups, lower concentrations of PDE (p=0.025) and a higher AC (p

Purpose: To compare two commercially available computed tomography (CT) colonography systems with respect to interobserver variability, the influence of level of expertise, and the gradual reduction of reviewing time for each system.Material and Methods: Two residents and two radiologists using Siemens CTAPP Colography software and Viatronix V3D-Colon software reviewed supine and prone CT acquisitions from 24 patients in a primary 3D endoluminal view. The observers graded each case with respect to technical quality and diagnostic value, assessed the presence of pathology, and indicated the time spent on the viewing.Results: Significant differences were found in technical quality ( PConclusion: Both the evaluated systems present trustworthy images of the human colon, but in a primary 3D setting the Viatronix software is favored owing to the user-friendly interface, higher experienced technical quality, and better diagnostic value.

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was utilized for the separation of recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) variants on a C18 silica column at 55°C using an isocratic mobile phase which contained 27% 1-propanol in a 25 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 6.5. Three of the obtained peaks were characterized by tryptic mapping and mass spectrometry; two of the peaks were found to contain oxidized hGH (dioxy Met14/Met125 and Met125 sulfoxide) while the third contained a deamidated form (Asn149→Asp149 or Asn152→Asp152). Compared to the European Pharmacopoeia RP-HPLC method of hGH analysis, this new method gives two additional peaks and a 50% reduction in the analysis time.

To quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the water-signal performance of the consistent intensity inhomogeneity correction (CIIC) method to correct for intensity inhomogeneitiesWater-fat volumes were acquired using 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3.0T symmetrically sampled 2-point Dixon three-dimensional MRI. Two datasets: (i) 10 muscle tissue regions of interest (ROIs) from 10 subjects acquired with both 1.5T and 3.0T whole-body MRI. (ii) Seven liver tissue ROIs from 36 patients imaged using 1.5T MRI at six time points after Gd-EOB-DTPA injection. The performance of CIIC was evaluated quantitatively by analyzing its impact on the dispersion and bias of the water image ROI intensities, and qualitatively using side-by-side image comparisons.CIIC significantly ( P1.5T≤2.3×10-4,P3.0T≤1.0×10-6) decreased the nonphysiological intensity variance while preserving the average intensity levels. The side-by-side comparisons showed improved intensity consistency ( Pint⁡≤10-6) while not introducing artifacts ( Part=0.024) nor changed appearances ( Papp≤10-6).CIIC improves the spatiotemporal intensity consistency in regions of a homogenous tissue type.

The aim of this prospective observational study was to investigate the gynecological and defecographic features in women with stress urinary incontinence operated with Burch colposuspension in order to analyze if the findings could predict subsequent development of genital prolapse.Twenty-one women with urodynamically proven genuine stress urinary incontinence were consecutively operated with the Burch colposuspension during 1991-1992. No concomitant prolapse repair surgery was performed.All were carefully examined in the lithotomy position at rest and with the Valsalva maneuver. The pelvic floor laxity was graded semiquantitatively. The defecography and the clinical examination were done preoperatively and repeated one year postoperatively.The clinical examination revealed a significant progression of rectoceles (p = 0.003) after the colposuspension. The colposuspension cured a significant number of cystoceles (p = 0.035). Six women (29%) had subsequent corrective prolapse surgery median 2 years after the colposuspension. The defecographic measurements showed a significant increase of the recto-vaginal distance (RVD) following the operation (p = 0.020). At the postoperative measurement the group with subsequent prolapse surgery had a significantly larger RVD as compared to the group without further surgery (p = 0.004). The kappa reliability test showed poor agreement between the defecographic and clinical assessment of the rectoceles.We failed to find any clinical or defecographic characteristic which could predict the development of surgery-demanding genital prolapse following colposuspension. The colposuspension seemed to accelerate the deterioration of the pelvic floor. However, only a minority of the patients developed symptomatic genital prolapse demanding corrective surgery. We suggest that only women with symptomatic prolapse should be considered for concomitant corrective surgery at the time of the colposuspension.

In a prospective study of 34 patients with active ulcerative colitis, the findings of inflammation on plain abdominal films and air enema films were compared to those at colonoscopy including biopsy within 10 days. The degree of inflammation on X-ray films was graded independently by two radiologists, at colonoscopy by one gastroenterologist and from histological slides from 6 different colon segments by one pathologist for each patient. Air enema films had a high sensitivity for endoscopically confirmed friable or ulcerated mucosa (0.91). There was a high specificity (0.86) when excluding inflammation in individual colon segments. Absence of fecal residue as an indication of active inflammation had the same positive predictive value, 0.95, as an abnormal air enema film, 0.98 for endoscopically confirmed inflamed mucosa. The presence of fecal residue or a normal air enema film excluded a friable or ulcerated mucosa at endoscopy with negative predictive values of 0.83 and 0.86, respectively. Patients who had had a complete colonoscopy (n = 16) were divided into groups with total, extensive or distal colitis. Air enema films underestimated the extent of inflammation in 8 of 16 patients compared to colonoscopy. Of 6 patients with distal disease only on air enema films, 5 had disease above the splenic flexure at endoscopy. In patients with ulcerative colitis (1) the presence of fecal residue and a normal air enema film exclude a friable or ulcerated mucosa with a high degree of certainty, and (2) the absence of fecal residue and an abnormal air enema film are predictors of the presence of endoscopically confirmed inflammation.

To apply dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI on patients presenting with elevated liver enzymes without clinical signs of hepatic decompensation in order to quantitatively compare the hepatocyte-specific uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA with histopathological fibrosis stage.A total of 38 patients were prospectively examined using 1.5-T MRI. Data were acquired from regions of interest in the liver and spleen by using time series of single-breath-hold symmetrically sampled two-point Dixon 3D images (non-enhanced, arterial and venous portal phase; 3, 10, 20 and 30 min) following a bolus injection of Gd-EOB-DTPA (0.025 mmol/kg). The signal intensity (SI) values were reconstructed using a phase-sensitive technique and normalised using multiscale adaptive normalising averaging (MANA). Liver-to-spleen contrast ratios (LSC_N) and the contrast uptake rate (K (Hep)) were calculated. Liver biopsy was performed and classified according to the Batts and Ludwig system.Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values of 0.71, 0.80 and 0.78, respectively, were found for K (Hep), LSC_N10 and LSC_N20 with regard to severe versus mild fibrosis. Significant group differences were found for K (Hep) (borderline), LSC_N10 and LSC_N20.Liver fibrosis stage strongly influences the hepatocyte-specific uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA. Potentially the normalisation technique and K (Hep) will reduce patient and system bias, yielding a robust approach to non-invasive liver function determination.

New display technologies enable the usage of 3D-visualization in a medical context. Even though user performance seems to be enhanced with respect to 2D thanks to the addition of recreated depth cues, human factors, and more particularly visual comfort and visual fatigue can still be a bridle to the widespread use of these systems. This study aimed at evaluating and comparing two different 3D visualization systems (a market stereoscopic display, and a state-of-the-art multi-view display) in terms of quality of experience (QoE), in the context of interactive medical visualization. An adapted methodology was designed in order to subjectively evaluate the experience of users. 14 medical doctors and 15 medical students took part in the experiment. After solving different tasks using the 3D reconstruction of a phantom object, they were asked to judge their quality of the experience, according to specific features. They were also asked to give their opinion about the influence of 3D-systems on their work conditions. Results suggest that medical doctors are opened to 3D-visualization techniques and are confident concerning their beneficial influence on their work. However, visual comfort and visual fatigue are still an issue of 3D-displays. Results obtained with the multi-view display suggest that the use of continuous horizontal parallax might be the future response to these current limitations.

Symmetrical 3, unsymmetrical 1, and intramlecular 2, peptide trisulfides have been prepared in good yields by reacting linear cysteine-containing peptides with N,N′-thiobisphthalimide in a mixture of acetonitrile-water.

Different methods of pair matching both small “clean” wood specimens and structural timber are described. Matching of structural timber according to modulus of elasticity and knots results in pairs that differ in strength by an average of about 15 percent with extremes up to 40 percent. These differences are due to other parameters such as fibre deviation, number of cut fibres, tension strength perpendicular to grain, whose influence is not sufficiently reflected in the deviation of local stiffness.

Symmetrical 3, unsymmetrical 1, and intramlecular 2, peptide trisulfides have been prepared in good yields by reacting linear cysteine-containing peptides with N,N′-thiobisphthalimide in a mixture of acetonitrile-water.

Phosphorus-31 NMR spectroscopy using slice selection (DRESS) was used to investigate the absolute concentrations of metabolites in the human liver. Absolute concentrations provide more specific biochemical information compared to spectrum integral ratios. Nine patients with histopathologically proven diffuse liver disease and 12 healthy individuals were examined in a 1.5-T MR scanner (GE Signa LX Echospeed plus). The metabolite concentration quantification procedures included: (1) determination of optimal depth for the in vivo measurements, (2) mapping the detection coil characteristics, (3) calculation of selected slice and liver volume ratios using simple segmentation procedures and (4) spectral analysis in the time domain. The patients had significantly lower concentrations of phosphodiesters (PDE), 6.3+/-3.9 mM, and ATP-beta, 3.6+/-1.1 mM, (P0.05) compared with the control group (10.0+/-4.2 mM and 4.2+/-0.3 mM, respectively). The concentrations of phosphomonoesters (PME) were higher in the patient group, although this was not significant. Constructing an anabolic charge (AC) based on absolute concentrations, [PME]/([PME] + [PDE]), the patients had a significantly larger AC than the control subjects, 0.29 vs. 0.16 (P0.005). Absolute concentration measurements of phosphorus metabolites in the liver are feasible using a slice selective sequence, and the technique demonstrates significant differences between patients and healthy subjects.

A new strategy for the characterization of Coomassie Brilliant Blue stained SDS-PAGE separated proteins by UV-MALDI-MS is reported. The proteins are extracted directly from the polyacrylamide gel by treatment with an organic solvent mixture consisting of formic acid, acetonitrile, isopropanol and water in an ultrasonic bath. A fraction of the supernatant is then mixed directly with the matrix solution and measured by MALDI-MS. High quality spectra could be obtained from gels which were loaded with 6 pmol of myoglobin. Compared to other methods based on electroblotting or electroelution this method is much simpler and less time consuming. The sensitivity is higher than or comparable to the Coomassie Blue staining procedure for proteins up to about 25 kDa. Another advantage is that mass shifts due to charging effects of the membranes, which are common if membranes are mounted directly on the sample target, can be avoided. However, all proteins studied showed slightly higher masses than expected which reduces mass accuracy to 0.2-0.3%. This is presumably partly due to formylation of serine or threonine residues during incubation in formic acid. Gel electrophoresis induced modifications can contribute as well. The possibility of further characterizing the remaining part of the supernatant after extraction by means of proteolytic digestion is also demonstrated. The knowledge of both molecular weight of the whole protein and of the proteolytic fragments increases specificity for protein identification by searching in sequence databases.

The understanding of the mesorectal spread in rectal cancer has lead to wide acceptance of total mesorectal excision (TME) as the surgical technique of choice for carcinoma in the lower and mid rectum. While oncological results and survival have improved with TME-surgery, morbidity and mortality remain important issues. The most feared complication is symptomatic anastomotic leakage. The aim of this thesis was to focus on the role of the defunctioning stoma, risk factors, and postoperative monitoring in regard to anastomotic leakage in sphincter saving resection of the rectum. Intraoperative adverse events were analysed in a retrospective population based case-control study in which all patients who underwent elective anterior resection in Sweden between 1987 and 1995, and who died within 30 days or during the initial hospital stay (n=140), were compared with patients chosen at random (n=423) who underwent the same operation during the same period, but survived the operation. Intraoperative adverse events were more frequent in those who died, and reconstruction of an anastomosis judged unsatisfactory by the surgeon improved the outcome. In a population based retrospective case-control study, risk factors for symptomatic anastomotic leakage were investigated in randomly chosen sample of patients who underwent anterior resection in Sweden between 1987 and 1995 (n=432). Twelve per cent of the patients developed symptomatic leakage, and 25% of the patients with leakage ended up with a permanent stoma. In multivariate regression analysis, low anastomosis, preoperative radiotherapy, male gender and intraoperative adverse events were independent riskfactors for anastomotic leakage. In a randomised multicentre trial patients operated with sphincter saving TME¨surgery for rectal cancer were randomised to a defunctioning stoma (n=116) or not (n=118). The overall rate symptomatic leakage was 19%. Patienst without a defunctioning stoma leaked in 28% and patients with a defunctioing stoma in 10%, a statistically significant difference (p

Book Review : Atlas of cross-sectional and projective MR cholangiopancreatography; L van Hoe, D Vanbeckevoort and W Van Seenbergen.

Abdel Razek, Ahmed Abdelkarim, Ahmad A Abreu Jr., Murillo JN Agarwal, Nitin Ahmad, Mansur Ahmed, Manzoor Akan, Huseyin Akarslan, Zuhre Al Kaylani, Hussam A Alcaraz, Miguel Alicioglu, Banu Al-Jamal, Ghaida A Alsaadi, Ghada Altug, Hasan A Analoui, Mostafa Aps, Johan KM Ariji, Eiichiro Ariu, Marilu Asaumi, Junichi Auluck, Ajit Aydin, Ulkem Azari, Abbas Baba, Rika Baksi, B Guniz Benavides, Erika Benn, Douglas Benson, Byron W Berkhout, Erwin Beyzadeoglu, Murat Bhagania, Manish Bianchi, Silvio D Bisdas, Sotirios Boffano, Paolo Bohay, Richard Bottenberg, Peter Bourgeois, Martin Bousquet, Frederic Brand, John Briner, Andres Bronoosh, Pegah Brooks, Sharon L Brown, Jacqueline Bruellmann, Dan D Bryant, Jacqueline A Buric, Nikola Cakarer, Sirmahan Calcagnotto, Thiago Campos, Paulo SF Carmichael, Fiona Carter, Laurie Catros, Sylvain Cavalcanti, Marcelo Cavezian, Robert Cederberg, Robert Cevidanes, Lucia Chandak, Rakhi Chandler, Nicholas P Chandwani, Roshan A Chapuis, Jonas Chau, Anson Chaudhary, Arati Chaurasia, Akhilanand Chen, Curtis Chenchen, Feng Chiapasco, Matteo Cho, Shiu-Yin Choi, Soon-Chul Chukwuneke, Felix N Cizmeci, Senel Figen Closs, Luciane Coleman, Gary Colosi, Dan C Corpas, Livia Couto Souza, Paulo H Curvo-Semedo, Luis Dalili Kajan, Zahra Dalton, Jacqueline Damante, Humberto Danforth, Robert Degerliyurt, Mehmet K Delantoni, Antigone Delilbasi, Cagri Deserno, Thomas Diniz, Michele B Dixon, Debra do Espirito Santo, Alexandre R Draenert, Florian G Drage, Nicholas Edwards, Paul C Eggers, Georg Eickholz, Peter Ekram, Mohamed El-Bialy, Tarek Eleazer, Paul D El-Hakim, Ibrahim Eraso, Francisco Ezoddini-Ardakani, Fatemeh Farid, Mary M Farman, Allan G Faustino, Simone ES Ferretti, Fabio Firth, Norman A Flint, Diane J Flores, Paulo Flygare, Lennart Fonseca, Felipe P Fontanella, Vania Forrest, Alex Francis, Ian Gunduz, Kaan Gaviao, Maria BD Geist, James R Geraets, Wil Ghosh, Sujoy Gohel, Anita Gonzalez, Luciano Goodarzi Pour, Daryoush Gordy, Frances Gray, Crawford Gulses, Aydin Gundappa, Mohan Gupta, Siddharth Hadjidekova, Valeria Haiter-Neto, Francisco Harwood, Anne Hashimoto, Koji Hassan, Bassam A Hassfeld, Stefan Heaven, Tim Heiland, Max Hellen-Halme, Kristina Helmrot, Ebba Hersek, Nur Hildebolt, Charles Hintze, Hanne Hisatomi, Miki Honda, Kazuya Horner, Keith Hu, Wang Hubar, Sean Huh, Kyung-Hoe Ida, Mizue Ide, Fumio Ilguy, Dilhan Iwasaki, Hirokazu Izumi, Masahiro Jacobs, Reinhilde Janhom, Apirum Jayaram, Govindaraj Jindal, Sanjeev Joshi, Revan K Kabenge, Catherine A Kaeppler, Gabriele Kaffe, Israel Kalathingal, Sajitha Kambadakone, Ramesh A Kamburoglu, Kivanc Kantarci, Mecit Kantor, Mel L Karjodkar, Freny R Katkar, Rujuta A Katsumata, Akitoshi Kawamata, Ryota Khan, Emad Khanna, Vikram Khedkar, Shivaji A Kilic, Nihat Kim, Seong-Gon Knutsson, Kerstin Koenig, Lisa Kondylidou-Sidira, Athina Kositbowornchai, Suwadee Kotre, John Kozakiewicz, Marcin Kullman, Leif Kumar, Vandana Kurabayashi, Tohru Kurita, Hiroshi Lubbers, Heinz-Theo Lagravere, Manuel O Lam, Ernest Larheim, Tore Lascala, Cesar A Dentomaxillofacial Radiology (2010) 39, 523–524 ’ 2010 The British Institute of Radiology

Nine metabolites of terodiline (N-tert-butyl-4,4-diphenyl-2-butylamine) have been identified in dog urine by various chromatographic techniques and mass spectrometry. The main metabolic pathway is aromatic hydroxylation, leading to the quantitatively most important metabolite, N-tert-butyl-4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butylamine, and to two dihydroxylated metabolites, one mono substituted in both rings (N-tert-butyl-4,4'-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butylamine), and one disubstituted in one ring (N-tert-butyl-4-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butylamine). The latter is further metabolized by methylation, forming N-tert-butyl-4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butylamine, the second most abundant metabolite. Still another metabolite is formed by hydroxylation in the tert-butyl group to N-(2-hydroxymethyl-2-propyl)-4,4-diphenyl-2-butylamine. A very minor dihydroxylated metabolite results from oxidation both in an aromatic ring and in the tert-butyl group, giving N-(2-hydroxymethyl-2-propyl)-4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butylamine. Oxidation of the carbon adjacent to the nitrogen and subsequent deamination gives the two ketones 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butanone and 4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butanone. Reduction of the carbonyl function in the former yields the corresponding alcohol, 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butanol. Some unchanged terodiline is also present. All metabolites formed by functionalization appear to be extensively conjugated, presumably with glucuronic acid.

Die Untersuchungen zeigen, das man eine merkbare Streuung der Ergebnisse bei der Sperrholz-Schubprufung, insbesodere bei der Bestimmung der Schubmodule, erhalt, wenn nach verschiedenen Verfahren gepruft wird.

Die erhohten Forderungen die heute an die Bauwerkstoffe, also auch an Holz, gestellt werden, setzen voraus, das zuverlassige Sortierungsregeln, zweckmasige Verbindungsverfahren und wirtschaftlich richtige Annahmen fur die Konstruktionsberechnungen angewendet werden. Eine unzureichende Holzbauforschung und eine ungenugende Anwendung der Forschungsergebnisse in Normen und anderen Vorschriften, kann den Wettbewerb mit anderen Bauwerkstoffen erschweren. Bei der Bemessung von Holzkonstruktionen sollte der Sicherheitsfaktor so individuell wie moglich auf Grund der wirklichen Bruchgefahr berechnet werden. Um dies zu verwirklichen, ist es notwendig, eingehende Untersuchungen bezuglich der Belastungen, der Festigkeitsstreuung und der Wirkungsart der verschiedenen Konstruktionen zu betreiben. Was die Beurteilung der zulassigen Bruchgefahr besonders erschwert, ist die ungenugende Kenntnis der Streuung verschiedener Einflu\grosen und der Mangel an einer zuverlassigen Bruchstatistik.

Die Einflusse von Belastung und Sorption auf die Verformung des Holzes wurden untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Versuche mit zugbelasteten Proben aus Kiefer ausgefuhrt. Proben mit Abmessungen 0,4 mm×5mm×150mm in Tangential-, Radial- bzw. Faserrichtung wurden einem Wechsel der relativen Luftfeuchtigkeit zwischen 70% und 25% und zwischen 87% und 75% bei konstanter Temperaturvon 23°C unterworfen. Bei der ersten Desorption erhalt man eine betrachtliche Steigerung des «Kriechens», wahrend die nachfolgende Absorption anfangs eine Ruckbildung des «Kriechens» ergibt, die aber bald in anhaltendes Kriechen in ublicher Weise ubergeht. Es ist der Hinweis notwendig, das mit «Kriechen» die Nettoverformung gemeint wird, die zuruckbleibt, wenn das Schwinden bzw. Quellen der unbelasteten Proben subtrahiert wurde. Die Verfasser gehen von der Annahme aus, das die Erklarung dieser Phanomene in Storungen des molekularen Gefuges als Folge aktiver Sorption zu suchen ist, Die Wasserstoffbindungen, die durch die Wassermolekule aufgebrochen werden, werden unter dem Einflus der auseren Belastung in anderen Lagen, entsprechend dem feuchtigkeitsbedingten Verformungsanteil, neu gebildet. Das nettoergebnis der ersten Absorptionsperiode ist eine «Kriech-Abnahme». Alle nachfolgenden Absorptionsperioden zeigen ebenfalls «Kriech-Abnahmen», wahrend alle nachfolgenden Desorptionsperioden anfangs eine schnelle «Kriech-Steigerung» zeigen, die mit der Zeit exponentiell abzunehmen scheint.

1. 1. Aerosols of antihistamine drugs are effective in the prevention of bronchospasm from histamine aerosols in guinea pigs. 2. 2. The evidence indicates that this preventive effect requires much less of the drug by aerosol than by injection. 3. 3. The duration of action of aerosols is considerably shorter than that by injection, averaging about sixty minutes, as compared to several hours. 4. 4. A comparative study of the findings on fourteen antihistamine drugs is presented. These results indicate that this method is a practical means of assaying the antihistaminic potency of a drug. This does not, of course, mean that the value is comparable necessarily to its antiallergic effectiveness. 5. 5. These findings constitute laboratory evidence for our clinical impression that antihistamine aerosols may be effective in asthma and give us encouragement to proceed with our clinical experimentation.

Die Rheologie der Holzverbande ist teils von der Rheologie des Holzes, teils von der Rheologie des Verbinders abhangig. Von besonderem Interesse in dieser Hinsicht sind die Nagelverbande. Diese zeigen schon bei niedriger Belastung eine gekrummte Lastverschiebungskurve. Die Untersuchung der Nagelverbande kann aufgeteilt werden, d. h. es wird einmal untersucht, wie das Holz gegen den Druck einer Langeneinheit des Nagels reagiert, zum anderen, wie der Nagel sich bei einer Momentbelastung krummt. Eine solche Untersuchung fuhrt zu einem Ergebnis, das die verhaltnismasig groste Allgemeingultigkeit besitzt.

Calculation of the sensible and latent heat fluxes according to the energy balance method requires knowledge of the air temperature and air humidity gradients. Equipment with movable transducers is used in order to measure these gradients with sufficient resolution. The main feature of this equipment is that the same set of transducers is used for measurements at the different levels. On evaluation of the gradients the inertia of the transducers and the time difference between the measurements at the different levels are considered. The measurement of temperature and humidity at a fixed level is used to further increase the accuracy. The transducers for air temperature, air humidity, soil and vegetation temperature, wind speed, wind direction and solar radiation are briefly described. The data acquisition system consists of a computerized data logger with 380 analogue inputs and with on-line data processing and presentation capability. Additional index words : Micrometeorological measurements, temperature, humidity, radiation, wind, gradient measurements, movable transducers, computerized logger, on-line data processing, Bowen ratio, evaluation method.

The stereoselective hydroxylation of N-tert-butyl-4,4-diphenyl-2-butylamine (Terodiline) was studied in human liver microsomes. Formation of the two main metabolites, N-tert-butyl-4(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2-butylamine (II) and N-(2-hydroxymethyl-2-propyl)-4,4-diphenyl-2-butylamine (VI), was found to be stereoselective. R-Terodiline was preferentially transformed by phenolic hydroxylation to the 2R,4S-II and 2R,4R-II forms with a pronounced selectivity for the former. The formation rate ratio 2R,4S-II/2R,4R-II was about 6, obtained from two liver preparations. S-Terodiline was mainly hydroxylated to the alcohol 2S-VI although phenolic hydroxylation to the 2S,4S-II and 2S,4R-II also occurred, yielding about equal amounts of the two phenols.

The first part of the paper deals with the principles of quality control of structural timber. Control may be differentiated with respect to grading and jointing but a system based on integrated product responsibility and marking is advocated. The concept of joint efficiency is discussed with regard to performance requirements.