Health damage assessment of commuters and staff in the metro system based on field monitoring-A case study of Nanjing

Introduction

The metro has emerged as a major mode of transportation. A significant number of commuters and staff in the metro system are exposed to air pollutants because of its shielded environment, and substantial health damage requires quantitative assessment. Previous studies have focused on comparing the health impacts among different transportation modes, overlooking the specific population characteristics and pollutant distribution in metro systems.

Methods

To make improvements, this study implements field monitoring of the metro's air environment utilizing specialized instruments and develops a health damage assessment model. The model quantifies health damage of two main groups (commuters and staff) in metro systems at three different areas (station halls, platforms, and metro cabins) due to particulate matter 10 and benzene series pollution.

Conclusion

A case study of Nanjing Metro Line 3 was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the model. Health damage at different metro stations was analyzed, and the health damage of commuters and staff was assessed and compared. This study contributes to enhancing research on health damage in the metro systems by providing a reference for mitigation measures and guiding health subsidy policies.

Truck platooning reshapes greenhouse gas emissions of the integrated vehicle-road infrastructure system

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has turned into a pillar of climate change mitigation. Truck platooning is proposed as a strategy to lower emissions from vehicles on roads. However, the potential interactive impacts of this technology on road infrastructure emissions remain unclear. Here, we evaluate the decarbonization effects of truck platooning on the integrated vehicle-road system at a large-scale road network level, spanning 1457 road sections across North America. We show that truck platooning decreases emissions induced by truck operations, but it degrades faster the durability of road infrastructure and leads to a 27.9% rise in road emissions due to more frequent maintenance work. Overall, truck platooning results in a 5.1% emission reduction of the integrated vehicle-road system. In contrast to the benefits of emission reduction, truck platooning leads to additional financial burdens on car users and transportation agencies, calling for the consideration of tradeoffs between emissions and costs and between agencies and users. Our research provides insights into the potential applications of truck platooning to mitigate climate change.

Use of Hyaluronic Acid Filler in Patients with Secondary Cleft Lip Deformity

METHODS

Retrospective case note review was undertaken of all patients treated in the clinic over a two-year period.

RESULTS

20 patients underwent HA filler injections to the upper lip 26 times. Most were female (F:M = 3:1) and patients were aged 18-58 years. Most patients had a unilateral cleft lip +/- palate (n = 13, 65%). The most common indication was to address upper lip volume (n = 13, 65%). Other indications included vermillion notch (n = 5, 25%), cupid bow peak height asymmetry (n = 4, 20%), scar asymmetry (n = 1, 5%) and nasal sill flattening (n = 1, 5%). Small volumes of filler were used with an average of 0.34 ml (range 0.05-1.2 ml). There were no complications and one patient reported pruritis post procedure.

CONCLUSIONS

HA filler is a safe and reliable treatment for certain aspects of asymmetry following cleft lip repair. It can be used to address volume deficiency and asymmetry, cupid bow peak height discrepancies and a vermillion notch for patients who do not want surgery. Injection of HA to the lips can be performed easily, with appropriate training, in the outpatient setting.

The Impact of Emotional States on Construction Workers’ Recognition Ability of Safety Hazards Based on Social Cognitive Neuroscience

The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries with grave situation owing to high accident rate and mortality rate, which accompanied with a series of security management issues that need to be tackled urgently. The unsafe behavior of construction workers is a critical reason for the high incidence of safety accidents. Affective Events Theory suggests that individual emotional states interfere with individual decisions and behaviors, which means the individual emotional states can significantly influence construction workers’ unsafe behaviors. As the complexity of the construction site environment and the lack of attention to construction workers’ emotions by managers, serious potential emotional problems were planted, resulting in the inability of construction workers to effectively recognize safety hazards, thus leading to safety accidents. Consequently, the study designs a behavioral experiment with E-prime software based on social cognitive neuroscience theories. Forty construction workers’ galvanic skin response signals were collected by a wearable device (HKR-11C+), and the galvanic skin response data were classified into different emotional states with support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. Variance analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to analyze the influence of emotional states on construction workers’ recognition ability of safety hazards. The research findings indicate that the SVM algorithm could effectively classify galvanic skin response data. The construct ion workers’ the reaction time to safety hazards and emotional valence were negatively correlated, while the accuracy of safety hazards recognition and the perception level of safety hazard separately had an inverted “U” type relationship with emotional valence. For construction workers with more than 20 years of working experience, work experience could effectively reduce the influence of emotional fluctuations on the accuracy of safety hazards identification. This study contributes to the application of physiological measurement techniques in construction safety management and shed a light on improving the theoretical system of safety management.

Hyperspectral anomaly detection via super-resolution reconstruction with an attention mechanism

Hyperspectral anomaly detection aims to classify the anomalous objects in the scene. However, the spatial resolution of the hyperspectral images is relatively low, leading to inaccurate detection of abnormal pixels. Existing methods either ignore the low-resolution problem or leverage super-resolution models to reconstruct the global image to detect abnormal pixels. We claim that reconstructing super-resolution of the global image is unnecessary, while the area where the abnormal target is located should be paid more attention to be reconstructed. In this paper, we propose a super-resolution reconstruction with an attention mechanism for hyperspectral anomaly detection. Our method can automatically extract additional high-frequency information from low-spatial-resolution images and detect abnormal pixels simultaneously. Furthermore, the spatial-channel attention mechanism is adopted to select significant features for reconstructing super-resolution images by assigning different weights to different channels and different spatial-spectral locations. Finally, a regularized join loss function is proposed that balances different tasks by adjusting the relative weight. The experimental results on the public hyperspectral real datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

OP0042 BLOCKING OF CD103+ TISSUE RESIDENT MEMORY T CELLS (TRM) AS A THERAPEUTIC STRATEGY IN SJOGREN’S SYNDROME

Background:

Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM), are a recently identified T cells population featuring tissue localization and expression of markers of tissue homing, CD69 and CD103. Recently, the expansion of CD8+ TRMs and their involvement in the sialadenitis was described in a murine model of SS. However, CD4+ and CD8+ TRM’s functional relevance in pSS is still not fully understood, and the TRM therapeutic targeting unexplored.

Objectives:

The study aimed to address the role of CD4+ and CD8+ TRMs in the pathogenesis of pSS and to explore the therapeutic targeting of the tissue residency marker of TRM CD103.

Methods:

An animal model of experimental (ESS) obtained by immunization of female C57BL/6 mice (n=10) with salivary glands (SG) protein extract and Freund’s complete adjuvant used to investigate the dynamic of infiltration of SG by CD4+ and CD8+ TRMs, their frequency, and the impact of CD103 blockade. For the therapeutic intervention, at 10-weeks post-immunization, the salivary gland was cannulated via Wharton’s duct, and an anti-CD103 neutralizing antibody or vehicle-injected. The mice’s saliva flow rate was assessed, and SGs were analyzed by Flow-cytometry and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

The frequency and localization of TRMs was analyzed in minor SG of sicca syndrome (nSS) and pSS patients (n=39) by flow cytometry and IHC. The expression of genes involved in the tissue retention of TRMs was assessed in SG by RT-PCR.

Results:

Upon the ESS progression, a significant progressive increase in CD45+CD103+ cells frequency was observed from 5wk to 20wk post-immunization (p<0.001), where the CD8+ were the most abundant, followed by CD4+. Consistently, CD103+CD8+ T cells were detected within the lymphocytic infiltration of SG from ESS mice. Sorted purified SG CD10+CD3+CD8+ T cells showed higher Granzyme B, TNF-alpha expression compared to CD103-CD3+CD8+ at both mRNA and protein levels. Notably, ESS mice treated with anti-CD103 showed improvement in salivary function (p<0.05) and reduced lymphocytic infiltrations measured as focus score (FS) (p<0.01) and area-fraction (p<0.01). Consistently, anti-CD103 treatment consistently reduced CD103+ cells and IFN-gamma+, Granzyme B+, and TNFa+ CD8+ cells. We next performed phenotypic analysis of CD45+CD103+ immune cells in the SG of pSS patients observing an increase in both with CD8+CD103+CD69+ and CD4+CD103+CD69+ (p<0.05). Finally, IHC showed that the expansion of TRMs in pSS salivary glands was accompanied by a down-regulation of E-cadherin glandular expression and their migration outside the epithelium in the context of inflammatory infiltrates. SG of patients with pSS showed a significant up-regulation of BLIMP1, KFL-2, and S1PR1 and down-regulation of ITGB2. CXCL9 and CXCL10, and IL-15 involved in the tissue recruitment and long-term survival of TRMs were significantly modulated in pSS salivary glands.

Conclusion:

TRM are expanded and activated in the SG of pSS and ESS, participating in the organization of tissue inflammation. Although the mechanisms behind this expansion are still not fully understood, CD103 could be a valuable novel therapeutic target to prevent lymphocytic infiltrations and glandular destruction in Sjogren syndrome.

Disclosure of Interests:

None declared

Hyperspectral deep convolution anomaly detection based on weight adjustment strategy

Hyperspectral anomaly detection has garnered much research in recent years due to the excellent detection ability of hyperspectral remote sensing in agriculture, forestry, geological surveys, environmental monitoring, and battlefield target detection. The traditional anomaly detection method ignores the non-linearity and complexity of the hyperspectral image (HSI), while making use of the effectiveness of spatial information rarely. Besides, the anomalous pixels and the background are mixed, which causes a higher false alarm rate in the detection result. In this paper, a hyperspectral deep net-based anomaly detector using weight adjustment strategy (WAHyperDNet) is proposed to circumvent the above issues. We leverage three-dimensional convolution instead of the two-dimensional convolution to get a better way of handling high-dimensional data. In this study, the determinative spectrum-spatial features are extracted across the correlation between HSI pixels. Moreover, feature weights in the method are automatically generated based on absolute distance and the spectral similarity angle to describe the differences between the background pixels and the pixels to be tested. Experimental results on five public datasets show that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines in both effectiveness and efficiency.

Pan-Asian adapted ESMO consensus guidelines for the management of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: a JSMO-ESMO initiative endorsed by CSCO, KACO, MOS, SSO and TOS

The most recent version of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) consensus guidelines for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) was published in 2016, identifying both a more strategic approach to the administration of the available systemic therapy choices, and a greater emphasis on the use of ablative techniques, including surgery. At the 2016 ESMO Asia Meeting, in December 2016, it was decided by both ESMO and the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology (JSMO) to convene a special guidelines meeting, endorsed by both ESMO and JSMO, immediately after the JSMO 2017 Annual Meeting. The aim was to adapt the ESMO consensus guidelines to take into account the ethnic differences relating to the toxicity as well as other aspects of certain systemic treatments in patients of Asian ethnicity. These guidelines represent the consensus opinions reached by experts in the treatment of patients with mCRC identified by the Presidents of the oncological societies of Japan (JSMO), China (Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology), Korea (Korean Association for Clinical Oncology), Malaysia (Malaysian Oncological Society), Singapore (Singapore Society of Oncology) and Taiwan (Taiwan Oncology Society). The voting was based on scientific evidence and was independent of both the current treatment practices and the drug availability and reimbursement situations in the individual participating Asian countries.

Novel in vitro method for measuring the mass fraction of bioaccessible atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using simulated human lung fluids

The bioaccessibility of organic pollutants is a key factor in human health risk assessments. We developed a novel in vitro method for determining the mass fraction of bioaccessible atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using an air-washing device containing simulated human lung fluid. The experimental parameters were optimized based on the deposition fractions (DFs) of PAHs in human lung fluids. The DFs were measured for PAHs based on the mass of compounds in the mainstream and exhaled cigarette smoke. The mass fractions of bioaccessible PAHs were measured by passing the mainstream cigarette smoke through the air-washing device, and they were calculated via a simple mass balance equation based on the PAHs in the fluid and mainstream cigarette smoke. The DFs of individual PAHs ranged from 20.5% to 78.1%, and the bioaccessible mass fractions varied between 45.5% and 99.8%. The octanol-water partition coefficients (KOW) significantly influenced both the DFs and bioaccessible mass fractions of PAHs, and the optimized in vitro method could be used to estimate the bioavailable atmospheric PAHs. This in vitro method can potentially be used to measure the mass fraction of bioaccessible atmospheric PAHs and to assess the health risk related to human exposure to airborne PAHs.

Screen-detected colorectal cancers show improved cancer-specific survival when compared with cancers diagnosed via the 2-week suspected colorectal cancer referral guidelines

AIM

Biennial screening for colorectal cancer using faecal occult blood testing has been shown to reduce the relative risk of mortality from colorectal cancer. The Norwich screening centre commenced screening in July 2006 and so far has diagnosed over 350 patients with colorectal cancer. We compared the stage at diagnosis and cancer-specific mortality and survival in patients diagnosed through screening with a cohort of symptomatic patients with colorectal cancer within the same age range.

METHOD

A comparative analysis was undertaken of all screen-detected colorectal cancer patients diagnosed between July 2006 and December 2010, with an age-matched group of patients diagnosed in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital through the 2-week suspected colorectal cancer guidelines.

RESULTS

Three hundred and fifty-six cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed through the screening programme, in patients with an age range of 60-79 years. In the same time period, 292 patients in the same age range were diagnosed with colorectal cancer through the 2-week suspected colorectal cancer pathway. Sixteen patients in the screening group had evidence of metastatic disease at presentation compared with 62 in the symptomatic group (χ(2) , P<0.001). The proportion of T1/T2 and Dukes A cancers was significantly greater in the screening group (χ(2) , P < 0.001). There were 21 colorectal cancer-related deaths in the screening group compared with 66 in the symptomatic group. Survival analysis curves showed significantly better survival in the screening group (log-rank analysis P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Screening for colorectal cancer identifies cancers at a significantly earlier stage than in symptomatic patients, with subsequent improvement in cancer-specific survival.

Accuracy of thin section magnetic resonance using phased-array pelvic coil in predicting the T-staging of rectal cancer

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may contribute to staging rectal cancer and inform the decision regarding administration of pre-operative radiotherapy. The accuracy of MR has been debated. The aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy of thin section T2-weighted MR images in rectal cancer patients. MR results were compared with histological assessment of resection specimens. Over a 2-year period, 42 patients were studied. Histological staging was pT2 n = 13, pT3 n = 25 and pT4 n = 4. MR diagnostic accuracy was 74%. MR sensitivity and specificity was 62% and 79% for pT2 lesions, 84% and 59% for pT3 lesions and 50% and 76% for pT4 lesions. Estimation of tumour penetration by thin section MR imaging of rectal cancers using pelvic phased-array coil has moderate diagnostic accuracy. The limitations of MR should be acknowledged when selecting rectal cancer patients for pre-operative radiotherapy.

The extended trochanteric osteotomy in revision hip arthroplasty: a critical review of 166 cases at mean 3-year, 9-month follow-up

We conducted a retrospective review of 192 consecutive revision hip arthroplasties with an extended proximal femoral osteotomy performed from 1992 through January 1998. Of these osteotomies, 166 had a minimum of 2 years of clinical and radiographic follow-up (range, 2-7.5 years; average, 3 years, 9 months). All patients had a femoral reconstruction with an extended trochanteric osteotomy and an extensively porous-coated, cementless femoral component. The average age at revision was 65.8 years (range, 26-84 years). Of the 166 osteotomies, 2 nonunions (1.2%) and 1 malunion (0.6%) were identified. Seventeen hips (10.2%) required reoperation. Pain and walking scores improved from a mean of 6.5 preoperatively to 9.8 postoperatively. The extended trochanteric osteotomy heals predictably and enhances the surgeons' ability to address many difficult issues encountered in revision arthroplasty.

Choice of breastfeeding and physicians' advice: a cohort study of women receiving propylthiouracil

OBJECTIVE

To examine the gap between the current social/medical practice and the evidence-based recommendation in favor of breastfeeding during maternal propylthiouracil (PTU) therapy.

DESIGN

Prospective, observational, cohort study.

SUBJECTS

Women requiring PTU during pregnancy, and endocrinologists and family physicians in Ontario, Canada.

INTERVENTIONS

Questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Women were interviewed postpartum regarding their choice of infant feeding method and relevant advice received from physicians. Physicians were questioned about their advice to nursing women receiving PTU.

RESULTS

Of 78 women, 66 had live births. Thirty-six required PTU postpartum (group 1), and 30 did not (group 2). Thirty-six healthy women served as controls (group 3). Breastfeeding initiation rates for groups 1, 2, and 3 were 44%, 83%, and 83%, respectively. In group 1, 15 women who breastfed received advice from 22 physicians regarding breastfeeding (20 in favor, 1 against, and 1 equivocal). Eleven who formula fed received advice from 17 physicians (4 in favor, 12 against, and 1 equivocal). A logistic regression analysis of group 1 showed that physicians' advice was the only significant predictor of the woman's choice to breastfeed during PTU therapy (relative risk: 5.48; 95% confidence interval: 1.28-23.40). The physician survey showed that 44% of endocrinologists do not recommend breastfeeding during PTU therapy.

CONCLUSIONS

A substantial proportion of the lactating patients on PTU still receive advice against breastfeeding from their physicians. Physicians' advice and attitudes toward breastfeeding during PTU therapy are a major factor in women's final decision to breastfeed. Physicians' compliance with evidence-based data will facilitate breastfeeding in this group.propylthiouracil, breastfeeding, decision-making.

Birth outcome in incarcerated, high-risk pregnant women

OBJECTIVE

To compare birth outcomes in incarcerated women with a recent history of drug use to those of nonincarcerated women in a methadone maintenance program.

STUDY DESIGN

We retrospectively analyzed pregnancy outcome in 149 women who delivered at full term between 1993 and 1996. Thirty-one patients incarcerated during pregnancy (group 1) were compared with 47 patients enrolled in our methadone maintenance program (group 2) and with a control group of 71 randomly chosen patients (group 3). Drug use, age, parity, number of visits, infant birth weight, low birth weight and Apgar scores were compared.

RESULTS

The methadone maintenance group had significantly fewer clinic visits. All the patients in groups 1 and 2 were cigarette smokers, whereas 12.5% of the control group smoked. Over 78% of incarcerated women admitted using drugs immediately prior to imprisonment as compared to 4.11% in group 3 and 100% in group 2 (P < .001). The three groups differed significantly with respect to infant birth weight (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Cessation of drug use followed by adoption of a health-promoting lifestyle and adequate prenatal care of incarcerated women leads to an improvement in birth outcome. Furthermore, provision of prenatal care on site is a suitable alternative for the care of incarcerated pregnant women and eliminates the need to bring patients in chains to outside clinics.

Antitumor effect of vaccinia virus in glioma model

The ability of certain viruses to lyse cancer cells suggests that they may have potential as oncolytic agents. We investigated the effect of vaccinia virus (VV) and its recombinant derivatives (recVV2, rVV-p53) on growth of C6 rat glioma cells that form fast growing tumors in athymic nude mice. VV effectively infected C6 cells in vitro, inducing high level of foreign gene expression. Most of C6 cells infected in vitro with rVV-p53 expressing the tumor suppressor p53 protein showed apoptosis specific morphological changes in DAPI-stained nuclei and DNA fragmentation pattern on gel electrophoresis; infection with VV induced low level of cell apoptosis. In an ex vivo experiment, VV-infected C6 cells were implanted s.c. in athymic nude mice and tumor development was monitored. In contrast to the control PBS group, most of mice implanted with infected cells remained tumor free until the end of the observation period. In an in vivo experiment, injection of VV or rVV-p53 after the C6 cells had been implanted in nude mice induced effective inhibition of tumor growth in comparison with control PBS groups. The oncolytic effect was greater with rVV-p53, apparently due to overexpressed p53 and p53-mediated cell apoptosis. In study of virus virulence we did not observe disease symptoms in athymic mice infected with a high dose of VV. Experimental results indicate that vaccinia virus itself and vaccinia-mediated delivery of therapeutic genes represent novel potential strategies for tumor therapy.

Adenoviral-mediated gene transfer of interleukin-6 in rat lung enhances antiviral immunoglobulin A and G responses in distinct tissue compartments

The effect of IL-6 transgene expression following lung gene transfer on anti-adenovirus humoral responses of immunoglobulin (Ig) G and A both in the lung and peripheral blood was investigated. Lung infection by a control adenovirus caused an increased level of circulating anti-adenoviral IgG antibodies. However, the magnitude of this response was many times higher in the peripheral blood of rats receiving an adenovirus engineered to express IL-6 transgene. In comparison, much lower levels of anti-adenoviral IgG were detected in the bronchoalveolar fluids of rats receiving either virus. In contrast, there was no detectable level of anti-adenoviral IgA in the peripheral blood in any cases, yet significantly detectable levels of anti-adenoviral IgA were measured in the lung. The levels of this IgA were much higher in the lung of rats expressing IL-6 than in the lung of control animals (15 times higher by day 14). Our findings thus provide evidence that IL-6 plays a significant role in enhancing specific airways mucosal IgA and systemic IgG responses during local lung viral infection, and provide the rationale for using IL-6 locally at mucosa sites as an immune adjuvant for antiviral vaccination program.

Attentional processing in hyperthyroid children before and after treatment

To determine whether specific components of attentional processing may be differentially disrupted during thyrotoxicosis, nine children with hyperthyroidism were assessed for intelligence and attention before and after one year of therapy. The attention test allowed for measurement of sustain, disengage, and shift subcomponents of attentional processing. Comparison with pediatric controls revealed lower nonverbal intelligence during thyrotoxicosis, which improved to normal following euthyroidism. On the attention task, an effect was observed during thyrotoxicosis only on the shift and disengage functions of attentional processing but not sustain. Attention results were unrelated to self-reported anxiety at time of testing. Results are discussed in terms of thyroid hormone activation of the prefrontal cortex, which is thought to be the cerebral substrate underlying the shift and disengage functions of attentional processing.

The relationship between glycine and gephyrin in synapses of the rat spinal cord

In order to examine the relationship between gephyrin (the peripheral membrane protein associated with glycine receptors) and glycinergic boutons, we have carried out a post-embedding immunogold study of glycine-like immunoreactivity on sections of rat lumbar spinal cord which had previously been reacted with monoclonal antibody to gephyrin. In all three areas examined (laminae I and II, lamina III and lamina IX) the majority of profiles which were presynaptic at gephyrin-immunoreactive synapses were enriched with glycine-like immunoreactivity. It was estimated that at least 83% of profiles presynaptic to gephyrin-immunoreactive synapses in the superficial dorsal horn (laminae I and II) were glycine-immunoreactive, while for lamina III and the ventral horn (lamina IX) the proportions were at least 91% and 98% respectively. This provides strong evidence that glycine is a transmitter at those synapses where gephyrin- and glycine-like immunoreactivities are both present, but suggests that gephyrin may sometimes be expressed at non-glycinergic synapses and indicates the need for caution in using gephyrin-immunoreactivity as a marker for glycinergic synapses within the spinal cord. By reacting serial sections of dorsal horn with antisera to glycine and GABA, we have shown that many boutons in laminae I-III of the dorsal horn show both types of immunoreactivity and are therefore likely to use both amino acids as inhibitory transmitters. Many of the boutons which were presynaptic at axoaxonic synapses in the ventral part of lamina II and in lamina III were glycine- and GABA-immunoreactive and in many cases the postsynaptic element was the central axon of a type II synaptic glomerulus. Taken together with pharmacological evidence, this suggests that inhibitory interneurons in the dorsal horn which use both GABA and glycine may be important in controlling the flow of information from hair follicle afferents to other spinal neurons.

Serum potassium concentrations in trauma patients

Hypokalemia occurs in 50% to 68% of trauma patients. To investigate the pathophysiology of these changes in serum potassium, we prospectively studied 133 trauma patients. Among the patients who had hypokalemia, the serum potassium usually decreased within 1 hour of trauma and returned to normal within 24 hours without significant potassium replacement. In bivariant analysis, age, admission systolic blood pressure, cardiac injury, and serum epinephrine level were associated with admission serum potassium value (K1), whereas sex, mechanism of injury, number of organ systems injured, blood glucose, serum alcohol, arterial pH, Injury Severity Score, trauma score, estimated blood loss, and urine potassium were not significantly related to K1. But in a multiple regression model, the only significant independent variables were age, arterial pH, and serum epinephrine level.

Polycarbonate membranes: a novel surface for solid-phase determinations with utility in field format serological assays

A dipstick suitable for immunoassay procedures has been developed, and its utility demonstrated by the development of tests for the determination of immunoglobulin levels in newborn bovine blood, and for the detection of bovine antibodies against Brucella abortus. The dipstick is of simple design, consisting of three components: a polycarbonate membrane, an adhesive, and a support material. The polycarbonate membrane is a porous filter material upon which the immunoassay is undertaken. Biomolecules bind to the membrane with sufficient affinity to permit the development of useful immunoassay procedures; however, this membrane exhibits low non-specific binding of reagents. Collectively, these properties make polycarbonate a useful material for solid-phase immunoassay procedures.