Prolonged, continuous absorption of a steroid hormone can be readily accomplished by implantation of the hormone in the form of a compressed pellet or tablet. This study was undertaken in order to determine what plasma levels of progestin result when progesterone is absorbed continuously over long periods. PROCEDURE Pure progesterone, without excipient, was compressed into cylindrical pellets a...

[Purpose] Post-stroke motor recovery consists of both true recovery and compensatory movements. Although compensatory movements are learned more quickly early after stroke, the role of compensatory movement patterns in functional recovery is controversial. We investigated the role of compensatory movement patterns in the long-term functional motor recovery after stroke. [Subjects and Methods] M...

Pellet softening reactors are used in centralized and decentralized drinking water treatment plants for the removal of calcium (hardness) through chemically induced precipitation of calcite. This is accomplished in fluidized pellet reactors, where a strong base is added to the influent to increase the pH and facilitate the process of precipitation on an added seeding material. Here we describe ...

Induration of magnetite pellet involves three important phenomena, namely oxidation, sintering and associate heat transfer; these phenomena are interdependent on determining the final quality of the pellet. In order to study the sintering a novel optical dilatometric method was used. These studies were performed separately for magnetite and completely oxidized magnetite. Further, the sintering ...

Higher steryl ester biosynthetic activities were obtained with Triton X-100-phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol mixed micelles than with Tween 80-phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol mixed micelles when incubated with spinach leaf (Spinacia oleracea L.) acetone powder preparations. The best incorporation of [4-(14)C]cholesterol into [4-(14)C]cholesteryl ester was obtained with a Triton X-100-phosphatidy...

Transcutaneous electrical stimulation is applied in a range of biomedical applications including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS is a non-invasive procedure where a weak direct current (<2 mA) is applied across the scalp to modulate brain function. High-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) is a technique used to increase the spatial focality of tDCS by passing current across the scalp...

Reliability of genotyping is an issue for studies using non-invasive sources of DNA. We emphasize the importance of refining DNA extraction methods to maximize reliability and efficiency of genotyping for such DNA sources. We present a simple and general method to quantitatively compare genotyping reliability of various DNA extraction techniques and sample materials used. For bighorn sheep (Ovi...

Pellet growth of Aspergillus terreus ATCC 20542 in submerged batch fermentations in stirred bioreactors was used to examine the effects of agitation (impeller tip speed u(t) of 1.01-2.71 ms(-1)) and aeration regimens (air or an oxygen-enriched mixture containing 80% oxygen and 20% nitrogen by volume) on the fungal pellet morphology, broth rheology and lovastatin production. The agitation speed ...

The rise in pellet consumption has resulted in a wider variety of materials for pellet manufacture. Thus, pellet industry has started looking for alternative products, such as wastes from agricultural activities, forestry and related industries, along with the combination thereof, obtaining a broad range of these products. In addition, the entry into force of EN ISO 17225 standard makes wood pe...