New 2,N6-Disubstituted adenosines: Potent and selective A1 adenosine receptor agonists

A number of adenosine analogues substituted in the 2- and N⁶-positions were synthesized and evaluated for affinity, functional potency and intrinsic activity at the A₁ and A_2A adenosine receptors (AR). Three classes of N⁶-substituents were tested; norbornen-2-yl (series 1), norborn-2-yl (series 2) and 5,6-epoxynorborn-2-yl (series 3). The halogens; fluoro, bromo, and iodo were evaluated as C-2 substituents. All compounds showed relatively high affinity (nanomolar) for the A₁AR and high potency for inhibiting (−)isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP accumulation in hamster smooth muscle DDT1 MF-2 cells with the 2-fluoro derivatives from each series having the highest affinity. All of the derivatives showed the same intrinsic activity as CPA. At the A2AAR, all of the derivatives showed relatively low affinity and potency (micromolar) for stimulating cAMP accumulation in rat pheochromocytoma PC-12 cells. The intrinsic activity of the derivatives compared to CGS 21680 was dependent upon the halogen substituent in the C-2 position with most showing partial agonist activity. Of particular interest is 2-iodo-N⁶-(2S-endo-norborn-2-yl)adenosine (5e), which is over 100-fold selective for the A₁AR, is a full agonist at this receptor subtype and has no detectable agonist activity at the A_2AAR.

Selective determination of amino acids using flow injection analysis coupled with chemiluminescence detection

The determination of the amino acids proline, histidine, tyrosine, arginine, phenylalanine and tryptophan using flow injection analysis (FIA) with chemiluminescence detection is described. Proline was the only amino acid to exhibit chemiluminescence with the tris(2,2-bipyridyl)ruthenium(III) reaction at pH 10. While, histidine was found to selectively enhance the reaction of luminol with Mn(II) salts in a basic medium. Acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence was able to selectively determine tyrosine at pH 6.75. Low pressure separations using a C18 guard column allowed the simultaneous determination of tyrosine and tryptophan or phenylalanine and tryptophan with acidic potassium permanganate and copper(II)–amino acid–hydrogen peroxide chemiluminescence, respectively. Precision for each method was less than 3.9% (R.S.D.) for five replicates of a standard (1×10−5 M) and the detection limits ranged between 4×10−9 and 7×10−6 M. Preliminary investigations revealed that the methodology developed was able to selectively determine the individual amino acids in an equimolar mixture of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids.

Comparative analysis of two selective bleaching methods on alpaca fibers

Dark brown Alpaca fiber was reduced in shade via selective bleaching with peroxide. Two selective oxidative bleaching methods were tested on alpaca top to assess their effectiveness for color removal and fiber quality properties. Color change, bundle strength, weight loss, fiber diameter, surface modification, dye-ability and dye wash fastness were assessed for both methods and compared with the original brown top. Bleach method 1 (BL-I) showed little surface modification, 5.8 % weight loss and 2.4 % strength loss. D1925 yellowness index was reduced to 74.3 from 83.1 and provided a good base for the dyeing of medium to deep shades. Bleach method 2 (BL-II) displayed considerable surface modification, 7.8 % weight loss and 18 % strength loss. BL-II also resulted in a mean diameter reduction of 1.9 micron during bleaching. Yellow-ness was reduced to 64.5 from 83.1 and provided a very good base for the dyeing of medium to deep shades. BL-I showed better exhaustion of the pre-metallised dye Lanaset Violet B than BL-II. Wash fastness for BL-II was 1 grey scale unit poorer than BL-I. BL-II showed far better color clarity at pale depths however the wash fastness of the finished product was not good enough to maintain the depth or clarity of the color. BL-I showed poorer clarity of color but exhibited better wash fastness results.

On the production of randomly-oriented recrystallization nuclei for selective growth experiments

The ideal starting condition for selective growth experiments is one having a layer of randomly-oriented nuclei adjacent to a matrix with negligible orientational variation but sufficient stored energy to promote growth. In practice, cutting or deformation processes are used in an attempt to approximate these ideal conditions, but the degree to which this is achieved has not been rigorously quantified. In this work, Fe-3wt%Si single crystals were cut or deformed using six different processes. The variation in texture with distance from the cut or deformed surface was measured using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) in order to assess the ability of each process to create conditions suitable for selective growth experiments. While grooving with a machine tool produced the best spread of orientations at the cut surface, the suitability of this process is diminished by the presence of a differently-textured deformed layer between the cut surface and the single crystal matrix. Grinding produced a less ideal distribution of orientations at the cut surface, but the presence of these orientations in a very thin layer adjacent to the matrix makes this process preferable for preparing crystals for selective growth experiments, provided the results are corrected for the deviation in the distribution of nuclei orientations from a random distribution.

The trouble with woon: the selective answering of police questions and the right to pre-trial silence

The 1964 High Court decision in Woon v The Queen is commonly understood to permit the drawing of an inference of a ‘consciousness of guilt’ when a suspect selectively responds to police questions. It is the author’s contention that, in the light of the emphatic endorsement of the right to pre-trial silence by the High Court in 1993 in Petty v The Queen; Maiden v The Queen, Woon should now be regarded as bad law and should no longer be followed.

Polyhedral combinatorics of the cardinality constrained quadratic knapsack problem and the quadratic selective travelling salesman problem

This paper considers the Cardinality Constrained Quadratic Knapsack Problem (QKP) and the Quadratic Selective Travelling Salesman Problem (QSTSP). The QKP is a generalization of the Knapsack Problem and the QSTSP is a generalization of the Travelling Salesman Problem. Thus, both problems are NP hard. The QSTSP and the QKP can be solved using branch-and-cut methods. Good bounds can be obtained if strong constraints are used. Hence it is important to identify strong or even facet-defining constraints. This paper studies the polyhedral combinatorics of the QSTSP and the QKP, i.e. amongst others we identify facet-defining constraints for the QSTSP and the QKP, and provide mathematical proofs that they do indeed define facets.

Selective feeding centres in refugee settings: evaluation framework protocol

Selective feeding programs are centres for the treatment of persons suffering from acute malnutrition. Unlike chronic malnutrition, acute malnutrition reflects recent problems. In a crisis situation, wasting is preferred above other indicators because it is sensitive to rapid change, indicates present change, can be used to monitor the impact of interventions and is a good predictor of immediate mortality risk. This paper reviews the current approach being used in the field to evaluate the effectiveness of feeding programs. There is no comprehensive evaluation framework in place to assess the impact of feeding programs on mortality due to malnutrition. Some loose outcome measures, such as the number of children enrolled in a feeding centre, are being used to determine if a feeding centre should continue. In addition, malnutrition prevalence and crude mortality rates determined through nutritional and mortality surveys are used to assess the impact of feeding programs. This procedure does not take into account potential confounding factors that impact on malnutrition prevalence, including access to non-relief foods and the general food ration. Therefore, one could not confidently say that the reduction of malnutrition prevalence is a result of feeding programs. This paper presents an alternative approach to evaluating feeding centres.

The case for selective ICT outsourcing : it`s easier for "green field" sites

This paper examines published research on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Outsourcing and uses this as a framework through which to examine the delivery of ICT services at the South West Alliance of Rural Hospitals, an environment not without challenges. Right from the beginning the CIO appointed to the Alliance decided to address these challenges by implementing a high speed telecommunications network to reduce the costs of data, voice and video communications within the Alliance. The emergence of the truly virtual health care network in Victoria’s South West supported by external service providers but managed by a small yet powerful central ICT team holds a number of useful lessons for the delivery of services in start up cooperative organizations, particularly regional, rural and remote (R3) organizations.

Evaluation of selective growth in a Fe-2.8% Si single crystal using Rodrigues-Frank space

A Fe-2.8%Si single crystal was scratched in order to randomise the texture in the neighbourhood of the notch. Annealing resulted in recrystallization and grain growth starting from the deformed zone. Misorientations between the single crystal matrix and the grown grains were gathered and were studied in order to investigate the possibility for selective growth based on a specific misorientation. However, instead of studying the misorientation angle or axis profiles separately in a 1D or 2D projection a full misorientation analysis was carried out in the 3-dimensional Rodrigues-Frank misorientation space, which offers an unambiguous interpretation of the data because no features are hidden or masked by a projection. It is concluded that the selective growth phenomenon following the <110>26.5deg misorientation relationship is strongly supported by the gathered orientation data, after appropriately normalizing these data with respect to a random misorientation distribution.

Cost-effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for major depression in children and adolescents

Objective:
To assess from a health sector perspective the incremental cost-effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in children and adolescents, compared to ‘current practice’.
Method:
The health benefit is measured as a reduction in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), based on effect size calculations from meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. An assessment on second stage filter criteria (‘equity’; ‘strength of evidence’, ‘feasibility’ and ‘acceptability to stakeholders’) is also undertaken to incorporate additional factors that impact on resource allocation decisions. Costs and benefits are tracked for the duration of a new episode of MDD arising in eligible children (age 6–17 years) in the Australian population in the year 2000. Simulation-modelling techniques are used to present a 95% uncertainty interval (UI) around the cost-effectiveness ratios.
Results:
Compared to current practice, CBT by public psychologists is the most costeffective intervention for MDD in children and adolescents at A$9000 per DALY saved (95% UI A$3900 to A$24 000). SSRIs and CBT by other providers are less cost-effective but likely to be less than A$50 000 per DALY saved (> 80% chance). CBT is more effective than SSRIs in children and adolescents, resulting in a greater total health benefit (DALYs saved) than could be achieved with SSRIs. Issues that require attention for the CBT intervention include equity concerns, ensuring an adequate workforce, funding arrangements and acceptability to various stakeholders.
Conclusions:
Cognitive behavioural therapy provided by a public psychologist is the most
effective and cost-effective option for the first-line treatment of MDD in children and adolescents. However, this option is not currently accessible by all patients and will require change in policy to allow more widespread uptake. It will also require ‘start-up’ costs and attention to ensuring an adequate workforce.

Selective oxidation synthesis of MnCr2O4 spinel nanowires from Commercial stainless steel foil

For the first time, MnCr₂O₄ spinel single-crystalline nanowires were simply synthesized by heating commercial stainless steel foil (Cr_0.19Fe_0.70Ni_0.11) under a reducing atmosphere. The nanowires have an average diameter of 50 nm and a length of about 10 μm. Some nanowires are sheathed with a thin layer of amorphous silicon oxide. Photoluminescence measurements revealed that the nanowires exhibit an emission band at 435 nm, which resulted from the oxygen-related defects in the silicon oxide sheath. It was found that the reducing atmosphere plays a key role for the nanowire growth. In the reducing atmosphere, the Mn and Cr elements in the stainless steel could be selectively oxidized because of their higher affinity for oxygen than the Fe and Ni elements. The Fe and Ni elements in the stainless steel, however, acted as the catalyst for the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth of the MnCr₂O₄ nanowires.

Selective hydrogen bonding and hierarchical nanostructures in poly(hydroxyether of bisphenol A)/poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) blends

The phase behavior, hydrogen bonding interactions and morphology of poly(hydroxyether of bisphenol A) (phenoxy) and poly(var epsilon-caprolactone)-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (PCL-b-P2VP) were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this A-b-B/C type block copolymer/homopolymer system, both P2VP and PCL blocks have favorable intermolecular interaction towards phenoxy via hydrogen bonding. However, the hydrogen bonding between P2VP and phenoxy is significantly stronger than that between PCL and phenoxy. Selective hydrogen bonding between phenoxy/P2VP pair at lower phenoxy contents and co-existence of two competitive hydrogen bonding interactions between phenoxy/P2VP and phenoxy/PCL pairs at higher phenoxy contents were observed in the blends. This leads to the formation of a variety of composition dependent nanostructures including wormlike, hierarchical and core–shell morphologies. The blends became homogeneous at 95 wt% phenoxy where both blocks of the PCL-b-P2VP were miscible with phenoxy due to hydrogen bonding. In the end, a model was proposed to explain the microphase morphology of blends based on the experimental results obtained. The swelling of the PCL-b-P2VP block copolymer by phenoxy due to selective hydrogen bonding causes formation of different microphases