Comparison of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, immunoglobulin A antibodies reactive with acetaldehyde-modified protein and acetaldehyde-modified albumin with conventional markers of alcohol consumption

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) has emerged as the best new marker for alcohol abuse. Recently plasma immunoglobulin A (IgA) reactivity with acetaldehyde (AcH)-modified proteins, or the modified proteins per se, have been proposed as a markers for high levels of alcohol consumption. In this study, we have compared CDT, IgA reactivity with AcH adducts (IgA ASR), and AcH-modified albumin with conventional markers of high alcohol intake in groups with well-defined drinking histories, The plasma activity of ALT, AST, and gamma-glutamyltransferase increased steadily with increasing alcohol consumption, CDT and AcH-modified albumin showed a similar pattern, whereas IgA ASR appeared only to be elevated after a threshold level of consumption had been reached, Neither CDT IgA ASR or AcH-modified albumin correlated strongly with any of the conventional markers or each other. This study shows that CDT, IgA ASR, AcH-modified albumin, and the conventional markers are not related, but suggests that the concurrent use of CDT and IgA ASR may lead to better identification of high alcohol intake.

Monocular transparency is not a new form of unpaired stereopsis

Howard and Duke (2003) generated stereograms with a grey transparent square offset from a vertical bar in one eye, and a vertical bar with a gap in the other eye. They argued that these displays were 'without conventional disparity' and that the metrical depth experienced was a new form of unpaired stereopsis due to 'transparency rather than occlusion'. Another possibility is that the perceived depth in these displays was obtained from horizontal contours. To test this possibility, we generated three displays that contained similar horizontal contourterminations, but were inconsistent with transparency. Reliable depth was seen in all stimuli. We conclude that in our stimuli, and those of Howard and Duke, transparency is not responsible for the perception of depth, which appears to be based instead on disparate horizontal contour terminations. Our results also show that disparate contours of opposite contrast polarity can generate depth.

High speed versus conventional grinding in high removal rate machining of alumina and alumina-titania

High removal rate (up to 16.6 mm(3)/s per mm) grinding of alumina and alumina-titania was investigated with respect to material removal and basic grinding parameters using a resin-bond 160 mu m grit diamond wheel at the speeds of 40 and 160 m/s, respectively. The results show that the material removal for the single-phase polycrystalline alumina and the two-phase alumina-titania composite revealed identical mechanisms of microfracture and grain dislodgement under the grinding conditioned selected. There were no distinct differences in surface roughness and morphology for both materials ground at either conventional or high speed. An increase in material removal rate did not necessarily worsen the surface toughness for the two materials at both speeds. Also the grinding forces for the two ceramics demonstrated similar characteristics at any grinding speeds and specific removal rates. Both normal and tangential grinding forces and their force ratios at the high speed were lower than those at the conventional speed, regardless of removal rates. An increase in specific removal rate caused more rapid increases in normal and tangential forces obtained at the conventional grinding speed than those at the high speed. Furthermore, it is found that the high speed grinding at all the removal rates exerted a great amount of coolant-induced normal forces in grinding zone, which were 4-6 times higher than the pure normal grinding forces. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Book review of: 'Textual traffic: Colonialism, modernity and the economy of text' by S. Shankar

No abstract

A cost-minimization analysis of the societal costs of realtime teledermatology compared with conventional care: results from a randomized controlled trial in New Zealand

A randomized controlled trial was carried out to measure the societal costs of realtime teledermatology compared with those of conventional hospital care in New Zealand. Two rural health centres were linked to a specialist hospital via ISDN at 128 kbit/s. Over 10 months, 203 patients were referred for a specialist dermatological consultation and 26 were followed up, giving a total of 229 consultations. Fifty-four per cent were randomized to the teledermatology consultation and 46% to the conventional hospital consultation. A cost-minimization analysis was used to calculate the total costs of both types of dermatological consultation. The total cost of the 123 teledermatology consultations was NZ$34,346 and the total cost of the 106 conventional hospital consultations was NZ$30,081. The average societal cost of the teledermatology consultation was therefore NZ$279.23 compared with NZ$283.79 for the conventional hospital consultation. The marginal cost of seeing an additional patient was NZ$135 via teledermatology and NZ$284 via conventional hospital appointment. From a societal viewpoint, and assuming an equal outcome, teledermatology was a more cost-efficient use of resources than conventional hospital care.

A randomized controlled trial assessing the health economics of realtime teledermatology compared with conventional care: an urban versus rural perspective

A randomized controlled trial was carried out to measure the cost-effectiveness of realtime teledermatology compared with conventional outpatient dermatology care for patients from urban and rural areas. One urban and one rural health centre were linked to a regional hospital in Northern Ireland by ISDN at 128 kbit/s. Over two years, 274 patients required a hospital outpatient dermatology referral -126 patients (46%) were randomized to a telemedicine consultation and 148 (54%) to a conventional hospital outpatient consultation. Of those seen by telemedicine, 61% were registered with an urban practice, compared with 71% of those seen conventionally. The clinical outcomes of the two types of consultation were similar - almost half the patients were managed after a single consultation with the dermatologist. The observed marginal cost per patient of the initial realtime teledermatology consultation was f52.85 for those in urban areas and f59.93 per patient for those from rural areas. The observed marginal cost of the initial conventional consultation was f47.13 for urban patients and f48.77 for rural patients. The total observed costs of teledermatology were higher than the costs of conventional care in both urban and rural areas, mainly because of the fixed equipment costs. Sensitivity analysis using a real-world scenario showed that in urban areas the average costs of the telemedicine and conventional consultations were about equal, while in rural areas the average cost of the telemedicine consultation was less than that of the conventional consultation.