[en] Blood cells have been widely used to evaluate the status of the insulin receptor in man. The receptors exhibited competitive inhibition curves and nonlinear Scatchard plots similar to those reported for insulin target tissues, such as the hepatocyte and the adipocytes. This study demonstrated specific insulin binding by the erythrocytes (RBC_s) of infants, children and adults. The total insulin bound by the RBCs from both children and adults gave a small difference over the physiologic range of insulin concentrations. blood RBC_s of infants showed greater numbers of insulin receptors per cell and significant increase in the total amount of insulin binding than that in either children (p<0.01) or adults (p<0.05) over the physiologic range of insulin concentrations. The affinities of insulin RBC_s for of infants, children and adults were similar to each other. It is clear that, the measurement of insulin binding by RBC_s may be particularly useful in the study of infants and children with disorders of carbohydrate metabolism to elucidate the role, if any, of abnormal receptor function in their conditions

[en] An improved expression for the nuclear level density is obtained by introducing a higher term in the expansion of the excitation energy in terms of nuclear temperature. The new term leads to better fitting with the experimental results especially at the high excitation energy part of the spectrum. The level density parameters were calculated for the nuclei ⁴⁸Ti, ⁵³Mn, ⁵⁶Fe, ⁵⁸Co, ⁶⁵Zn, ¹¹³Sn, and ¹¹⁶Sb. For the two laser nuclei the spin dependent level density was considered

[en] During acute febrile illness of infections, origin in diabetics is commonly accompanied by deterioration in control of the blood glucose and increased insulin requirements. A similar phenomenon can be demonstrated in nondiabetic individuals during acute infections of bacterial or viral origin. Nondiabetic infections, result in a decrease in carbohydrate intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and the finding is consistent with the presence of insulin resistance. These disturbances were studied in 20 patients suffering typhoid fever during and after the febrile period. In order to access the state of transient insulin resistance, blood glucose, plasma insulin and insulin receptors were estimated estimated. The results revealed a decrease in the number of insulin receptors hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia as recorded during the febrile period, with return to normal levels after drop of fever. The elucidation of the changes in the glucose, insulin levels and insulin receptors seems seems very important in patients with infections in order to achieve good prognosis and to avoid complications especially in cases resistant to specific therapy.4 tab., 4 fig

[en] A macroscopic liquid drop model is considered in order to demonstrate the deep inelastic processes that take place in heavy ion collisions. The colliding nuclei, treated as two liquid drops, are assumed to form a single rotating and vibrating compound drop. This drop will either separate again into the parent nuclei, in addition to some smaller particles (satellites), or will form an equilibrium compound nucleus which decays either by particle evaporation or through fission. The maximum and minimum values of the critical angular momentum between which complete fusion occurs are calculated according to this model for several heavy ion reactions and good agreement with the experimental values is observed

[en] This paper is aimed at investigating the inception voltage of the positive corona in point-to-plane gaps in atmospheric air as influenced by a surrounding dielectric enclosure. First, the method of calculation of the inception voltage is explained. It is based on the criterion of self-sustained growth of onset streamers. This calls for calculating the electric field in the vicinity of the stressed point with and without the surrounding enclosure. Then, the calculated inception voltages are compared with those measured experimentally

[en] Alpine life zones exist at the cold edge above the tree line in mountains where tree species do not grow, however, a large plant diversity thrives due to alpine climate adaptations to short growing seasons and low temperatures. Keeping this phenomenon in view, study was designed to determine the influential environmental variables responsible for structuring the plant communities in the alpine pastures and cold desert of Northwestern Himalayas, Pakistan. The vegetation of the aforementioned study area was quantified by following the Line transect (50 meters) method along the geographic, slope, edaphic and climatic gradients. All the recorded data of plant species and environmental variables were analyzed by various statistical softwares’ (i.e., PCORD, CANOCO and R 3.6.1). Thirty-nine species recorded in 13 stands were grouped into two major plant communities (i.e., Poa-Bistorta-Primula and Bistorta-Poa-Primula). Poa-Bistorta-Primula community has the highest number of plant species (39 species) as well as the highest value of alpha and beta diversity (2.785 and 0.916, respectively) and Pielou’s evenness (0.865) in Bistorta-Poa-Primula community. Due to the high elevation, severe low temperature is the feature throughout the growing season. Such severe climatic environment is worsened by xeric conditions which led to very short growing season from July to September. The recognized indicators of such harsh environment might be useful in monitoring variations in plant communities resulted in response to environmental changes. (author)

[en] We investigate the hindrance of the unfavored α-decay modes to the different daughter states, which have different spin than that of the parent nucleus but of the same parity. The duplicated daughter nucleus states of identical spin-parity (J ^π) are ascendingly ordered according to the sequence of their excitation energy. We found that the hindrance of the unfavored decay modes increases with increasing the difference in spin (ΔJ) between the parent and daughter states. This hindrance slightly increases when the daughter state has less spin than the parent. The preformation probability (S _α) decreases with ΔJ and the decay slows down. Furthermore, the increase of the order (n) of the state to which the decay takes place brings the decay intensity drop significantly and decrease. Consequently, the partial half-life strongly increases with n. The hindrance factor averagely drops from few tenths, for an unfavored decay mode to first appearing state of a certain J ^π, to about 10⁻⁹ for the decay mode to the identical excited state that appear for the sixth time. The associated half-lives accordingly increase with the reciprocal ratios. The value of the corresponding preformation probability drops about 3 orders of magnitude. Simple formulas are given to describe the hindrance of both the unfavored decay intensity and S _α as functions of ΔJ and n. (paper)

[en] The relative importance of atmospheric negative ions in corona formation and breakdown in a radial electric field has been investigated, with special reference to effects occurring at an insulating surface of a cycloaliphatic polyurethane with dolomite filler. The inception times, corona charge, light emission (by UV photography) and sparkover voltages under lightning impulses have been recorded under natural atmospheric conditions and under the influence of negative ions introduced from an auxiliary corona. The presence of excess negative ions on the surface is shown to increase both the charge injected and the mean radius of the corona, attributable to an augmentation of streamer discharges. In similar experiments in air, the excess ions cause a transition to a 'glow' discharge. Effects of negative ions on sparkover are not significant on the insulator surface, but they cause a small increase in air. Comparisons between the two cases lead to the conclusion that the most important effect of the ions on the surface is to provide 'seed' electrons for streamer propagation, following ion detachment in the field of advancing streamer tips

[en] Graft polymerization and crosslinking in radiation processing are attractive techniques for modification of the chemical and physical properties of the conventional polymers. The graft polymerization and subsequent chemical treatment can introduce a chelate agent function into a conventional polymer such as cellulosic fabric. Cellulosic graft copolymers were prepared by the reaction of the fiber with acrylonitrile (AN) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) in DMF initiated by gamma-radiation ⁶⁰Co. The grafted fabric was chemically treated with hydroxyl amine to obtain amidoxime form. Factors affecting on the grafting such as radiation dose, monomer concentration and solvent concentration as well as monomer composition was investigated. The chemically modified graft fabric was applied for recovery of cyanide and dichromate from aqueous solution. The CN show removal percent 89%, whereas dichromate has 65% removal percent

[en] A dc cylindrical coaxial glow discharge with an inner grid anode has been studied. The region between the two electrodes is seen dark, while a brightly glowing region forms inside the grid anode up to the center. The current-voltage characteristic of a dc cylindrical glow discharge in nitrogen is similar to that of a normal glow discharge, while the normal glow discharge voltage decreases with increasing pressure. The minimum plasma potentials are observed in the hollow cathode region due to the accumulation of electrons at the back of the grid anode. At the center, some of the passed electrons are converged, so their potential is decreased. These electrons have a sufficient time to be redistributed to form one group with a Maxwellian electron energy distribution function. The electron temperature measured by electric probes varies from 1.6 to 3.6 eV, while the plasma density varies from 3.9 x 10¹⁶ to 7 x 10¹³ m^-3, depending on the discharge current and probe position. The plasma density increases as the electrons move radially from the grid toward the central region, while their temperature decreases.