Peptones and mycological reproducibility.

The pH reactions, ultraviolet spectra and phosphorus content of solutions of a variety of commercially available peptones all indicated, predictably, considerable differences in the chemical composition of the peptones. The effects of these differences on the outcome of experiments with Candida albicans grown in different peptone media was investigated. The fungus produced germ tubes equally effectively on all such media provided that the inoculum was kept to 10(6) blastospores/ml or less. However, expression of inducible enzyme activities in C. albicans varied extensively from peptone to peptone; there was, for example, an inverse relationship between the inorganic phosphorus content of peptones and the amount of acid phosphomonoesterase detectable in intact blastospores. The results indicated that use of different peptones in "Sabouraud's" media by different laboratories may account for some, but not all, published instances of irreproducibility of experiments with C. albicans.     

Infrared thermography ofArum lily inflorescences

The infrared radiation emitted from the surface of inflorescences of 12 aroid species was monitored with an infrared camera, capable of 0.1°C resolution, and the data were converted to temperature values by means of temperature reference standards. Images representing surface temperatures were obtained forAmorphophallus bulbifer Blume,A. campanulatus Blume,A. forbesii Engl. et Gehrm.,A. rivieri Dur.,Philodendron selloum Koch,Monstera deliciosa Liebm.,Dracunculus vulgaris Schott,Arum italicum Mill.,A. dioscoridis Sibth.,A. creticum Boiss et Heldr.,Caladium sp., andRemusatia vivipara Schott. These images were different among species with respect to temperature, duration of detectable heat development, and organ type (male and female flowers, spathe and appendix) found to be thermogenic. All these species, however, exhibited three common characteristics: 1) production of heat by the male flowers; 2) pollen-shedding immediately after heat production had ceased; and 3) when male flowers were some distance away from female flowers along the spadix, heat was not detected in female flowers. Heat emission was associated with the alternative, cyanide-insensitive pathway that was fully operative.     

After-exercise thermography and prediction of deep vein thrombosis.

A total of 112 patients participated in a prospective study of after-exercise thermography as a screening method for predicting risk of postoperative deep venous thrombosis. The fibrinogen-uptake test was used to detect thrombosis after elective surgery. The incidence of the complication showed no significant difference between patients who had had positive and those who had had negative thermograms. Thermography does not seem to be useful for predicting risk of postoperative thrombosis.     

Electro and acoustic myography for noninvasive assessment of lumbar paraspinal muscle function

In 31 normal subjects (17 male), aged 19-48 years, and 8 patients with chronic low back pain (4 male), aged 37-55 years, the repeatability of surface recordings of acoustic myography (AMG) and electromyography (EMG) were examined in the lumbar paraspinal muscles. Five isometric test positions were examined. In 21 of the normal subjects, four positions tested were: quiet standing, half extension from prone lying, full extension from prone with and without resistance. In 10 of the normal subjects and the 8 back pain patients, a standardised, unsupported horizontal position with the upper body over the end of a couch was tested. The AMG and EMG signals were full-wave rectified and integrated (iAMG and iEMG). The variability of recordings during repeated 5-s isometric contractions was assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated from the ANOVA. Both recording techniques produced the most repeatable results during the unsupported, horizontal hold position. In the normal subjects, CV were, iAMG 5.6%, iEMG 4.9%; and in the patients, iAMG 4.4%, iEMG 2.6%. The CV for the other four isometric test positions ranged from 15.3% to 29.4% for iAMG, and 8% to 15.7% for iEMG. These results demonstrated that a controlled test manoeuvre for examining AMG and EMG of the paraspinal muscles was vital for repeatable recordings. The CV for the standardised, horizontal position were lower than for previously published results.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Presymptomatic visualization of plant-virus interactions by thermography.

Salicylic acid (SA), produced by plants as a signal in defense against pathogens, induces metabolic heating mediated by alternative respiration in flowers of thermogenic plants, and, when exogenously applied, increases leaf temperature in nonthermogenic plants. We have postulated that the latter phenomenon would be detectable when SA is synthesized locally in plant leaves. Here, resistance to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was monitored thermographically before any disease symptoms became visible on tobacco leaves. Spots of elevated temperature that were confined to the place of infection increased in intensity from 8 h before the onset of visible cell death, and remained detectable as a halo around the ongoing necrosis. Salicylic acid accumulates during the prenecrotic phase in TMV-infected tobacco and is known to induce stomatal closure in certain species. We show that the time course of SA accumulation correlates with the evolution of both localized thermal effect and stomatal closure. Since the contribution of leaf respiration is marginal, we concluded that the thermal effect results predominantly from localized, SA-induced stomatal closure. The presymptomatic temperature increase could be of general significance in incompatible plant-pathogen interactions.     

An evaluation of RAPD fragment reproducibility and nature

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fragment reproducibility was assayed in three animal species: red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) and fruit fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ). Ten 10-mer primers (Operon) were tested in two replicate reactions per individual under different stringency conditions (annealing temperatures of 35 °C or 45 °C). Two estimates were generated from the data: autosimilarity, which tests the reproducibility of overall banding patterns, and band repeatability, which tests the reproducibility of specific bands. Autosimilarity (the similarity of individuals with themselves) was lower than 1 for all three species ranging between values of 0.66 for Drosophila at 45 °C and 0.88 for wild boar at 35 °C. Band repeatability was estimated as the proportion of individuals showing homologous bands in both replicates. The fraction of repeatable bands was 23% for deer, 36% for boar and 26% for fruit fly, all at an annealing temperature of 35 °C. Raising the annealing temperature did not improve repeatability. Phage lambda DNA was subjected to amplification and the pattern of bands compared with theoretical expectations based on nucleotide sequence. Observed fragments could not be related to expected ones, even if a 2bp mismatch is allowed. Therefore, the nature of genetic variation uncovered by the RAPD method is unclear. These data demonstrate that prudence should guide inferences about population structure and nucleotide divergence based on RAPD markers.     

The percutaneous assessment of regional and acute coronary hot unstable plaques by thermographic evaluation (PARACHUTE) study: a prospective reproducibility and prognostic clinical study using thermography to predict future ischemic cardiac events

Intravascular thermography is currently being considered as a valuable tool in assessing macrophage-rich plaques. Since it is unknown what the prognostic value is of non-obstructive atherosclerotic plaques showing temperature heterogeneity, we designed the PARACHUTE study, a prospective, reproducibility, and prognostic clinical study using thermography in patients presenting with an unstable coronary syndrome. The primary endpoint of the study is the predictive value of temperature heterogeneity towards the occurrence of ischemic coronary events and hospitalization for ischemia and/or angina. The secondary endpoints are the predictive value of high-risk plaques associated with the development of future cardiac events, assessment of safety of the procedure, assessment of temperature reproducibility and heterogeneity in coronary arteries, as defined by the total thermal burden towards the occurrence of any cardiac event. Based on an event rate of death and myocardial infarction at 1 year of 10%, a sample size of 260 patients with presumed coronary artery disease, and positive troponin level who are scheduled to undergo an intervention will be included. All three main epicardiac vessels will undergo angiography and thermography at baseline after revascularization of the flow-limiting vessel. At 12 months, angiography of all vessels and thermography of the vessel with the highest thermographic burden will be performed. Independent core laboratories will assess outcomes and a clinical endpoint committee will assess clinical events.     

Freezing of barley studied by infrared video thermography

Freezing of barley (Hordeum vulgare), Hordeum murinum, and Holcus lanatus was studied using infrared video thermography. In the field, ice could enter H. lanatus leaves through hydathodes. In laboratory tests with barley, initially 0.4% of the leaf water froze, spreading in alternate strips of high and low freezing intensity longitudinally at 1 to 4 cm s(-1), and simultaneously spreading laterally at 0.3 cm s(-1). Similar results were obtained in the field with H. lanatus. A distinct second, more intense, freezing event spread slowly from the margins of the leaves toward the midrib. Organs of uprooted barley tested in the laboratory froze in this order: nucleated leaf, roots, older leaves, younger leaves, and secondary tillers. When ice spread from one leaf to the rest of the plant the crown delayed spread to the roots and other leaves. There was a longer delay above than below -2 degrees C, helping to protect the crown from freezing during mild frosts. Initial spread of freezing was not damaging. However, the initial spread is a prerequisite for the second freezing event, which can cause damage. The route of the initial spread of ice may be extracellular, drawing water from more gel-like parts of the cell wall.     

Assessment of precision and reproducibility of a new myograph

Background  

The physiological characteristics of muscle activity and the assessment of muscle strength represent important diagnostic information. There are many devices that measure muscle force in humans, but some require voluntary contractions, which are difficult to assess in weak or unconscious patients who are unable to complete a full range of voluntary force assessment tasks. Other devices, which obtain standard muscle contractions by electric stimulations, do not have the technology required to induce and measure reproducible valid contractions at the optimum muscle length.     

Pollen monitoring: minimum requirements and reproducibility of analysis

Training, quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) play an important role in building competence in monitoring and research in aerobiology. The main goals of this paper were to: (a) formulate an updated Minimum Requirements Report for pollen monitoring; (b) carry out a pilot QC exercise of staff involved in pollen counting from various national networks in order to examine between analysts reproducibility and develop a methodology that can be used in future QC exercises. A questionnaire survey was sent to coordinators of participating pollen monitoring networks. In addition, a total of 45 technicians from 15 European countries participated in the pilot QC exercise. All technicians were instructed to analyse two slides containing the following pollen types: (a) Poaceae and Betula pollen grains in the north of Europe; (b) Poaceae and Olea pollen grains in the south of Europe. Minimum Recommendations were produced based on the results of the questionnaire survey, published literature, and the outcomes of a workshop. In the QC exercise, it was noticed that technicians who followed the Minimum Recommendations and examined at least 10 % of the slide tended to have better indicators of precision and accuracy than those technicians who did not follow the Minimum Recommendations. The proposed Minimum Recommendations will help to improve the quality of scientific work, particularly for those who are considering the setting up of new monitoring sites. The results of the pilot QC exercise will help to develop a methodology that can be used again in the future, thereby ensuring data quality.     

The reproducibility of resting and post exercise plasma beta-endorphins

This investigation examined the reproducibility of resting and post exercise plasma beta-endorphin levels. Twenty subjects (10 men and 10 women) had their resting endorphin levels measured under controlled conditions on four separate occasions. Concomitantly, the endorphin response of eight trained runners completing three similar ten mile runs was also determined. For the resting data, there was no significant overall variation among trials, but the intra-subject variability was substantial; the within subject variance was 6.16, and it corresponded to an intra-class reliability coefficient of r = 0.239. No gender effect was noted for the average beta-endorphin values for the four occasions (men = 4.6 +/- 1.7; women = 4.4 +/- 2.1 pM/l); however, the males' within-subject variance of 8.548 (r = 0.080) was significantly larger than that of 3.719 (r = 0.485) for females. Of the runners, one outlier subject had a uniquely high average beta endorphin level of 85.67. Analysis including and excluding the outlier subject yielded within-subject variances of 29.61 (r = 0.960) and 34.47 (r = 0.176), respectively; variances for differences in confidence limits for random variation, they must exceed 7 pM/l at rest, 17 pM/l post exercise, and 20 pM/L difference from rest to post exercise.     

Stability and reproducibility of low-temperature anaerobic biological wastewater treatment

The reproducibility of low-temperature anaerobic biological wastewater treatment trials was evaluated. Two identical anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed bioreactors were used to treat synthetic volatile fatty acid-based industrial wastewater under ambient conditions (18-20 degrees C) and to investigate the effect of various environmental perturbations on reactor performance and microbial community dynamics, which were assessed by chemical oxygen demand removal or effluent volatile fatty acid determination and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, respectively. Methanogenic activity was monitored using specific methanogenic activity assays. Reactor performance and microbial community dynamics were each well replicated between Reactor 1 and Reactor 2. Archaeal dynamics, in particular, were associated with reactor operating parameters. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism data suggested dynamic acetoclastic and hydrogenophilic methanogenic populations and were in agreement with temporal specific methanogenic activity data. Putative psychrophilic populations were observed in anaerobic bioreactor sludge for the first time.     

Evaluation of mean skin temperature formulas by infrared thermography

 To study the reliabiliity of formulas for calculating mean skin temperature (T _sk), values were computed by 18 different techniques and were compared with the mean of 10,841 skin temperatures measured by infrared thermography. One hundred whole-body infrared thermograms were scanned in ten resting males while changing the air temperature from 40° C to 4° C. Local, regional average and mean skin temperatures were obtained using an image processing system. The agreement frequency, defined as the percentage of the calculated T _sk values which agreed with the corresponding infrared thermographic T _sk within ±0.2° C, ranged for with the various formulas from 7% to 80%. In many sites, the local skin temperature did not coincide with the regional average skin temperature. When the local skin temperatures which showed the highest percentage similarity to the regional average skin temperature within ±0.4° C were applied to the formula, the agreement frequency was markedly improved for all formulas. However, the agreement frequency was not affected by changing the weighting factors from specific constants to individually measured values of regional surface area. By applying the physiologically reliable accuracy range of ±0.2° C in the moderate and ±0.4° C in the cool condition, agreement frequencies of at least 95% were observed in formulas involving seven or more skin temperature measurement sites, including the hand and foot. We conclude that calculation of a reliable mean skin temperature must involve more than seven skin temperature measurement sites regardless of ambient temperature. Optimal sites for skin temperature measurement are proposed for various formulas. Received: 2 December 1996 / Accepted: 25 June 1997