Treatment-related central nervous system toxicity: MR imaging evaluation with CT and clinical correlation

Thirteen patients with abnormal brain MR scans attributable to treatment-induced injury were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were treated with radiation therapy and 62% received chemotherapy. Five patients were graded as having severe white matter (WM) changes, four had moderate WM changes, and four had mild WM changes. CT was generally equivalent to MR in evaluation of severe and moderate WM abnormalities, whereas MR was superior to CT in detection of mild WM abnormalities. In general, the severity of changes depicted by MR/CT correlated with the extent of neurologic dysfunction. The most severe changes were seen in those patients treated with combination irradiation and chemotherapy.     

White-light toxicity, resulting from systemically administered 5-aminolevulinic acid, under normal operating conditions

This study has investigated damage to the intraperitoneal organs of the rat after systemic (intraperitoneal and intravenous) administration of low doses of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and illumination with a standard white-light operating-room (o.r.) lamp. The study has been done within the framework of a larger study in which the possibility of using ALA for localization of small-volume macroscopically nonvisible peritoneal metastasis of ovarian tumors is being investigated. Fluorescence diagnostics are done in addition to the standard staging and localization procedures, either through a laparoscope or during laparotomy. In these circumstances, fluorescence diagnostics involve some risk of photosensitization of critical organs since a broad-band (o.r.) light source is used during the surgical procedures for illumination of the operating area. The drug dose and the time interval between administration of ALA and illumination are varied and normal tissues are examined both macroscopically and microscopically for damage. A relationship is demonstrated between the maximum tolerable dose (MTD) of ALA (defined as the dose that does not cause any tissue damage) and the time interval between administration and illumination. The white light that is used for illumination of the operating area is sufficient to induce damage to the peritoneal organs at relatively low ALA doses. The MDTs for 2, 6 and 16 h intervals are found to be respectively 1, 10 and 100 mg kg⁻¹. The results are similar for both intraperitoneal and intravenous administration.     

Pyranocyclopropanyl sugar amino acids,a new class of constrained (di)peptide isosteres

The design, synthesis and application of oxabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane amino acids as conformationally restricted sugar amino acid dipeptide isosteres are reported.     

Measuring the crystallinity index of cellulose by solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance

The crystallinity index of cellulose is an important parameter to establish because of the effect this property has on the utilization of cellulose as a material and as a feedstock for biofuels production. However, it has been found that the crystallinity index varies significantly depending on the choice of instrument and data analysis technique applied to the measurement. We introduce in this study a simple and straightforward method to evaluate the crystallinity index of cellulose. This novel method was developed using solid state ¹³C NMR and subtraction of the spectrum of a standard amorphous cellulose. The crystallinity indexes of twelve different celluloses were measured and the values from this method were compared with the values obtained by other existing methods, including methods based on X-ray diffraction. An interesting observation was that the hydration of the celluloses increased their crystallinity indexes by about 5%, suggesting that addition of water increased cellulose order for all the cellulose samples studied.     

Schur Orthogonality Relations for the Finitary Infinite Symmetric Group

Let S f be the finitary infinite symmetric group. For a certain class of irreducible unitary representations of S f , a version of Schur orthogonality relations is proved. That is, we construct an invariant inner product on the matrix coefficient space of each representation and show that matrix coefficients for distinct representations are orthogonal with respect to these norms.     

The Hurricane Katrina Effect on Mathematics Achievement in Mississippi

Hurricane Katrina caused severe physical damage to the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Homes and businesses were destroyed. Natural habitats were annihilated, and many Americans were displaced for days, weeks, and even years. This study investigated the within‐subject effects and contrasts of poverty, rurality, and location within a Katrina distance impact zone on mathematics achievement in fifth‐grade, eighth‐grade, and Algebra I schools in Mississippi during the 2004–2007 school years. Through an analysis of publicly available school data, all school groups were found to have been impacted by Katrina, but the nonpoor/nonrural Algebra I schools within a 90‐mile radius of Katrina's point of landfall were affected the greatest. Interesting patterns in eighth‐grade mathematics achievement results were additionally found. Rural schools were impacted to a greater extent than their nonrural counterparts. Several findings in this study were startling and counterintuitive, but this initial analysis into the impact of Katrina on mathematics achievement in Mississippi illustrated that catastrophic natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina can cause more than just physical damage.