Novel computer-based assessment of asthma strategies in inner-city children.

BACKGROUND: Childhood asthma continues to be a growing medical concern in the United States, affecting > 17 million children in 1998. The mortality rate from asthma in children aged 5 to 14 years has nearly doubled, from 1.7 deaths per million to 3.2 deaths per million between 1980 and 1993. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to rate problem-based strategies for asthma management in a defined population of children. METHODS: The participants in our study were recruited from a local inner-city medical facility in Los Angeles. The majority of participants had received the diagnosis of mild-to-moderate-persistent asthma. Each participant was given 10 asthma-based problems and asked to manage them. Each management decision and its order were entered into a database. This database was used to train an artificial neural network (ANN). The trained ANN was then used to cluster the various performances, and outputs were evaluated graphically. RESULTS: Three hundred five performances were analyzed through our trained neural network. Our ANN classified five major clusters representing different approaches to solving an acute asthma case. CONCLUSIONS: ANNs can build rich models of complex phenomena through a training and pattern-recognition process. Such networks can solve classification problems with ill-defined categories in which the patterns are deeply hidden within the data, and models of behavior are not well defined. In our pilot study, we have shown that ANNs can be useful in automating evaluation and improving our understanding of how children manage their asthma.

Long circulating liposomes encapsulating organophosphorus acid anhydrolase in diisopropylfluorophosphate antagonism.

These studies are focused on antagonizing organophosphorous (OP) intoxications by a new conceptual approach using recombinant enzymes encapsulated within sterically stabilized liposomes to enhance diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) degradation. The OP hydrolyzing enzyme, organophosphorous acid anhydrolase (OPAA), encapsulated within the liposomes, was employed either alone or in combination with pralidoxime (2-PAM) and/or atropine. The recombinant OPAA enzyme, from the ALTEROMONAS: strain JD6, has high substrate specificity toward a wide range of OP compounds, e.g., DFP, soman, and sarin. The rate of DFP hydrolysis by liposomes containing OPAA (SL)* was measured by determining the changes in fluoride-ion concentration using a fluoride ion-selective electrode. This enzyme carrier system serves as a biodegradable protective environment for the OP-metabolizing enzyme (OPAA), resulting in an enhanced antidotal protection against the lethal effects of DFP. Free OPAA alone showed some antidotal protection; however, the protection with 2-PAM and/or atropine was greatly enhanced when combined with (SL)*.

The effect of a 'one for the road' drink of hard liquor, beer or wine on peak breath alcohol concentration in a social drinking environment with food consumption.

Thirteen healthy subjects (seven men and six women) participated in three drinking studies to examine the maximum increase of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) and the time taken to reach the maximum BrAC (peak) after a subject finished a 'one for the road' drink in a social environment with food consumption. They consumed hard liquor in the first study, beer in the second and wine in the third. Each study consisted of two days. Day 1 served as a control in which the subjects were monitored by breath tests to establish their basic BrAC curves. Day 2 was a repeat of Day 1 with the addition of the final drink 'for the road' consumed by the subjects once their BrAC started to decline. The average increase in BrAC was 0.017 +/- 0.009% for hard liquor, 0.016 +/- 0.008% for beer, and 0.016 +/- 0.007% for wine. The average time to peak was 18 +/- 8 minutes for hard liquor, 16 +/- 2 minutes for beer, and 20 +/- 10 minutes for wine. The BrAC increase and the time to peak seemed to be independent of the type of alcoholic beverage consumed.

Amino-terminal sequence of the 21 kDa apoprotein of a minor light-harvesting pigment-protein complex of the Photosystem II antenna (LHC IId/CP24).

The 21 kDa apoprotein of LHC IId, a minor light-harvesting antenna component of Photosystem II, has been isolated and subjected to N-terminal protein sequencing. A sequence of 66 residues was obtained which contains regions of considerable homology to both those reported for LHC II and LHC I, but which is obviously distinct from them. The proposed occurrence of an identical 21 kDa LHC subunit in both photosystems I and II is shown to be incorrect.