Compared with conventional procedures, function-preserving surgery for benign parotid tumours improved cosmetic, sensory and salivary functions, and reduced the duration of surgery and operative morbidity.

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The strength and ductility of heavily drawn bundled Cu-Nb filamentary microcomposite was examined as a function of Nb content. In order to predict the variation of the yield strength (YS) with Nb content, the interfilamentary spacing was calculated as a function of Nb content based on the assumption that Nb filaments are distributed regularly along the sides of a triangular unit cell in the transverse section. The yield stress can be described as the sum of the substructure strengthening component due to elongated grains, subgrains and/or cells, the phase boundary strengthening term associated with the Hall-Petch type interaction between dislocations and phase boundaries, and the precipitate strengthening component. The contributions from phase boundary strengthening, PB (Cu-Nb), and precipitate strengthening, ppt , increase with increasing Nb content. However, the contribution from substructure strengthening, sub (Cu-Nb), decreases with increasing Nb content since more grain or subgrain boundaries are absorbed at Cu/Nb phase boundaries with increasing Nb content. The good agreement between the prediction and the experimental data suggests that the increase of the strength in Cu-Nb filamentary microcomposite with increasing Nb content results mostly from an increasing volume fraction of Nb filaments, which act as barriers to plastic flow.

Waterborne outbreaks of enteric viruses are a major public health concern. The present study has been carried out to assess the presence of enteric viruses responsible for human acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in groundwater intended for drinking and produce washing. In total, 62 samples from groundwater for drinking and produce washing collected from Dec 2007 to Dec 2008 in Seoul were tested for enteric viruses using conventional RT-PCR, ELISA, and real-time RT-PCR. Our results showed that enteric viruses were detected in 7 (8.8%) groundwater samples. Rotaviruses were detected in 3 (4.8%) of the samples by ELISA; human adenoviruses were detected in 2 (3.2%) of the samples by ELISA; and nested RT-PCR detected noroviruses in 2 (3.2%) of the samples. In one of the groundwater sample, the norovirus RNA was detected by conventional RT-PCR which was confirmed positive by real-time RT-PCR. Additionally, real-time RT-PCR successfully detected norovirus RNA in five out of 62 water samples (8.1%). The data demonstrate that real-time RT-PCR will be useful as a rapid and sensitive method for detecting norovirus in water samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the noroviruses detected in two of the groundwater samples belonged to GII-4. These studies can provide important information for the prevalence of enteric viruses in Korean groundwater.

Fasciola hepatica, a parasitic flatworm belonging to the Class Trematoda, is one of the first metazoan groups to possess a centralized nervous system. However, the electrophysiological properties of neurones in F. hepatica are largely unknown. In the present study, we acutely isolated viable neurones from F. hepatica and characterized their electrophysiological properties. A hyperpolarization-activated cation current was recorded in the cells using the whole-cell patch-clamp. The current was found to be activated slowly at membrane potentials negative to 0 mV and did not display any time-dependent inactivation. This current was reduced by 1 mM Gd3+ to the level of the leak current, while 3 mM of Cs+ had no effect. However, the current was inhibited by extracellular acidosis in the pH range 7.0-7.8, and the membrane potentials of these cells were depolarized by extracellular alkalosis in the pH range of 5.8 to 8.2. Gd3+ (1 mM), which inhibited the pH-sensitive hyperpolarization-activated cation current, also hyperpolarized the cells. In summary, we isolated single neurones from F. hepatica, and these were found to express a pH-sensitive hyperpolarization-activated cation current. This current may participate in the membrane depolarization of F. hepatica neurones during alkaline challenge.