This is the first study to describe secondary impairments after long-standing spinal cord injury in Quebec. Patients with spinal cord injury still present a high prevalence of secondary impairments many years after their rehabilitation, despite preventive education or medical follow-up visits. Further studies are required to determine the specific impact that these impairments have on the patients' social role and their quality-of-life.

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An extended-field (EF), two dimensional (2D) model formulation is proposed for inductively coupled plasma. By extending the calculating domain of the electromagnetic (EM) field outside of the plasma discharge region, the boundary conditions of vector potential used by the standard (ST) 2D model are replaced by simpler far field boundary conditions. The extended model converges faster than the standard formulation and gives rise to consistent solutions throughout the computational domain. Vector potential equations are solved with corresponding continuity, momentum, and energy transfer equations using the commercial code `FLUENT'. The computational domain for vector potential equations are extended well beyond the induction coil region, while for all the other equations, computations are limited to the discharge region inside the plasma confinement tube. The computational results are compared with those obtained using the ST 2D model. The difference between the results of the two models is noted mostly in the entrance regions of the flow, and close to the induction coil. To validate the EF model, a load with constant electric conductivity is placed centrally in the coil region and the calculated radial profile of the axial magnetic field is compared with existing analytical solutions. The results are in good agreement within an uncertainty of 1%.

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The transfer of energy between the plasma and the iron anode and the evaporation of metal were taken into account in modeling a short free-burning arc in argon at atmospheric pressure. The presence of metal vapor in the plasma modifies the electrical conductivity and the radiated power and leads to arc cooling in the anode region. In return, the arc cooling modifies the rate of vaporization of the anode and thus the calculated concentration of iron vapor in the arc.

A two-temperature model is proposed for the computation of the two-dimensional flow and temperature fields in a rf inductively coupled plasma torch. The model is applicable to monatomic gases. The results obtained for an argon plasma indicate that, while at atmospheric conditions, deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) are relatively small, the situation is different under reduced pressure conditions, where substantial deviations from LTE have been noted, particularly in the energy addition region.

Bestatin, an inhibitor of leucine aminopeptidase (LAPase), significantly decreased HIV infection as reflected by a reduced number of positive immunofluorescent cells, p24 levels, reverse transcriptase activity and the number of proviral copies found in Bestatin-treated cells. Cellular and extracellular LAPase activity in infected cells was higher than the LAPase activity found in uninfected cells. However, cellular and extracellular LAPase activity as well as total protein kinase C activity was lower in Bestatin-treated cells. Conversely, the incubation of human lymphocytic HUT78 cells with LAPase promotes HIV infectivity. The possible role of LAPase in the pathophysiology of HIV was assessed by determining LAPase serum levels in HIV infected patients. LAPase activity levels were three orders of magnitude greater in sera obtained from HIV patients than those detected in sera of uninfected individuals. Although Bestatin reduced HIV infection, a moderate decrease in the reverse transcriptase activity of chronically-infected H9 human T-lymphocytic cells was observed. Based on the higher levels of LAPase present in the serum of HIV patients and on the combined inhibitory effect of Bestatin on LAPase and on protein kinase C activities, we suggest that LAPase may play an important role in the early events of HIV infection such as viral entry.