Search

Measurement of urinary iodine concentration in 1, 222 healthy children, aged between 10 months and four years, showed that social or educational levels of parents did not reflect on the frequency distribution of iodine excretion. Southeast Asian children had the highest values while West African and Southern European children had the lowest. Young French children carried a risk of mild to moderate iodine deficiency, while older children were associated with a decrease in urinary excretion and high risk of mild to moderate iodine deficiency.

An optical grating has been introduced in a picosecond ultrasonics experiment, in order to vary continuously the duration of the laser beam pulse from 0.1 to 150 ps. The evolution of the measured signal has been observed and analyzed through the comparison with a theoretical approach based on a two-temperature model. The latter allows matching the acoustic echoes together with the thermal background and the coincidence peak, for each pulse duration and at any time scale. The broadening of the acoustic echoes and the disappearing of its Brillouin component, along with the diminishing of the thermal coincidence peak, have been demonstrated when increasing the pulse duration. For a constant incident pulse energy, the efficiency of acoustic generation is optimum for the shortest pulses. Nevertheless, for longer pulses designed to obtain thermal conditions below the ablation threshold, acoustic generation could be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic diamond thin or thick films are suitable materials for many applications because of their weak friction coefficient and their large hardness, Young modulus, and thermal conductivity. A series of diamond thin films of variable quality obtained by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition lying on titanium alloy substrates has been studied by picosecond ultrasonics. Femtosecond laser pulses allow the generation and detection of picosecond acoustic pulses that can be used to study the elastic properties of thin micrometric and submicrometric films. Acoustic fields generated in the substrate and propagating in the transparent diamond film are detected by an interferometric technique; they give rise to oscillations and abrupt step-like changes in the transient reflectivity variations. An analysis of these different features allows the determination of various characteristics of these films, such as longitudinal elastic constant, thickness, and roughness in terms of the diamond quality. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung inflammation is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of lung injury and development of chronic lung disease. However, ontogeny of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the early course of respiratory distress syndrome is not clear. The current study was undertaken to delineate the relationship between pro- (IL-6, TNF [Alpha] and anti- (IL-10) inflammatory cytokines in BAL of preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome in first two weeks of life. Methods: Serial BAL samples (at least 3 x week) were obtained from days 2-14 of life or extubation in preterm infants ([is less than] 32 weeks) with respiratory distress syndrome. BAL, obtained by standardized technique, was analyzed for IL-6, IL-10, TNF -[Alpha] (competitive enzyme immunoassay) and secretory piece of lgA (immunodiffusion). Birthweight, additional diagnoses, use of systemic steroids, mean airway pressure and Fi[O.sub.2] at time of BAL were also recorded. Results: Forty one samples were obtained from 7 infants. Data for cytokines adjusted for secretory piece of lgA (ng/mg slgA, Mean, SD; data for days 4 and 12 not shown): DOL 2 6 8 TNF[Alpha] 26.5 (10.5) 35.4(24.7) 39.8 (28.1) IL-6 8.2 (6.2) 4.9 (2.4) 10.4 (1.3) IL-10 66.8 (63.9) 49.3 (30.1) 92.4 (79.9) DOL 10 14 TNF[Alpha] 13.9 (8.3) 37.1 (30.4) IL-6 3.2 (2.1) 5.7 (2.9) IL-10 24.5 (16.2) 55.1 (41.3) Pro- (TNF[varies] IL-6) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines appear to "balance" each other over the two week period with "parallel" increases and decreases. Significant correlations were present between IL-10 and TNF[varies][[r.sup.2] = 0.43, p [is less than] 0.001], IL-6 and IL-10 [[r.sup.2] = 0.57, P [is less than] 0.001] and IL-6 and TNF[varies] [[r.sup.2] = 0.74, p [is less than] 0.001]. Five of the seven infants received systemic steroids by day 8 of life and the decrease in the concentration of all three cytokines in BAL is apparent by day 10. Conclusions: These data demonstrate a significant correlation between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in BAL in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome. Further, steroid treatment results in a decrease in both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, suggesting a relationship between these cytokines and lung injury/inflammation. D.S. Shan, MD, FAAP. C. Rossignol and J. Bhatia. MBBS. FAAP.; Dept of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia.3, D.S. Shan, MD, FAAP. C. Rossignol and J. Bhatia. MBBS. FAAP.; Dept of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, [...]