Nonspecificity index

In several cases, such as shellfish areas and aquatic reserves, the usual water quaUty parameters do not apply because they are nonspecific as to detrimental effects on aquatic life. Eor example, COD is an overall measure of organic content, but it does not differentiate between toxic and nontoxic organics. In these cases, a species diversity index has been employed as related to either free-floating or benthic organisms. The index indicates the overall condition to the aquatic environment. It is related to the number of species in the sample. The higher the species diversity index, the more productive the aquatic system. The species diversity index is computed by the equation K- = (S — 1)/logjg I, where S is the number of species and /the total number of individual organisms counted. 

Epinephrine is a nonspecific a- and P-adrenergic agonist. Epinephrine can increase cardiac index and produce significant peripheral vasoconstriction. However, it can also increase lactate levels and impair blood flow to the splanchnic system. Because of these undesirable effects, epinephrine should be reserved for patients who fail to respond to traditional therapies.24,27-28... 

Creatine kinase, creatine kinase myocardial band Creatine kinase (CK) enzymes are found in many isoforms, with varying concentrations depending on the type of tissue. Creatine kinase is a general term used to describe the nonspecific total release of all types of CK, including that found in skeletal muscle (MM), brain (BB) and heart (MB). CK MB is released into the blood from necrotic myocytes in response to infarction and is a useful laboratory test for diagnosing myocardial infarction. If the total CK is elevated, then the relative index (RI), or fraction of the total that is composed of CK MB, is calculated as follows RI = (CK MB/CK total) x 100. An RI greater than 2 is typically diagnostic of infarction. 

Usually, the most general nonspecific effects of dipole-orientational and electronic polarization of the medium are discussed, and the results of the theory of relaxational shifts developed under the approximation of a continuous dielectric medium may be used.(86 88) The shift of the frequency of the emitted light with time is a function of the dielectric constant e0, the refractive index n, and the relaxation time xR ... 

Skin conductance represents changes in the electrical activity of skin. Resting skin conductance level (SCL) and the number of nonspecific fluctuations (spontaneous skin conductance responses [SCRs] seen in a resting state) are thought to reflect arousal. Skin conductance responses are also seen 1 to 3 seconds after stimulus onset, when they index the orienting reflex, which measures allocation of attention to the stimulus. Although SC arousal studies show some consistency, 4 out of 10 showed underarousal in antisocial-spectrum subjects no specific links to violence are reported (Scarpa and Raine, 1997). 

Apart from nonspecific symptoms, such as pain at the Injection site, subjects appeared unaffected subjectively and objectively. In one sense, this series of experiments provides some index of placebo responsiveness—minimal. Many subjects commented (as recorded In the charts) that they generally enjoyed the experiments, thought well of the staff support, and, In general, had few complaints other than about the food. 

Before the introduction of specific vasopressin receptor antagonists, pharmacological treatments for hyponatremia centered on the use of loop diuretics and nonspecific inhibitors of vasopressin signaling, such as lithium carbonate and demeclocycline.11 The utility of such therapies has been limited by a range of sideeffects. Loop diuretic use can result in electrolyte imbalances and suffers from poor response predictability.11 Lithium carbonate suffers from a low therapeutic index and a risk of renal damage as well as limited effectiveness in many patients. Lithium carbonate has therefore been nearly completely supplanted by demeclocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic, in the treatment of chronic hyponatremia.12 Demeclocycline use is itself limited by its nephrotoxicity (particularly in cirrhotic patients), ability to cause reversible uremia, and ability to induce photosensitivity.1,11... 

A non-specific detector responds to all solutes present in the mobile phase and its catholic performance makes it a very useful and popular type of detector. Unfortunately, non-specific detectors in LC tend to be relatively insensitive. The FID is a nonspecific detector in that (with very few exceptions) it responds to all solutes that contain carbon. As an added advantage the FID also has a very high sensitivity. In LC the refractive index detector is probably the most non-specific detector but as already mentioned it also has the least sensitivity of the commonly used detectors. 

There are numerous reports on good performances of the molecular connectivity index, Randic index [55], and its modifications [44] in predicting retention of congeneric analytes, including isomers. The correlations are good when retention is on non-polar stationary phases, but not good when on polar phases. Whereas on the non-polar phases the nonspecific dispersive interactions determine differences in retention among the analytes, the more specific polar interactions become discriminative in the case of polar phases (and polar solutes) [7]. 

Another means of identification is a two-detector system. One detector should be nonspecific, such as the thermal conductivity cell in gas chromatography, or the refractive-index detector in liquid chromatography, while the other should have... 

Many of the symptoms listed in figure 4-F are fairly nonspecific and may be elicited from many patients, but some particular physical symptoms should raise your index of suspicion, such as when there are several physical complaints, not just a simple nonspecific complaint like fatigue. When in doubt, refer for evaluation. In fact, it is probably advisable that anyone with a significant psychiatric disorder have a medical evaluation. 

Given its rarity, physicians and hospital laboratorians have a low index of suspicion for tularemia infection. Because of the nonspecific symptoms and absence of radiographic findings, physicians and public health authorities would have difficulty distinguishing between a terrorist attack involving tularemia and a natural outbreak of community acquired infection, especially influenza and some atypical pneumonias (43). Several epidemiologic clues that might indicate an intentional cause would include (43) ... 

Koppel-Palm solvent parameters Parameters to measure separately the ability of a solvent to enter into nonspecific solvent-solute interactions (permittivity, , and refractive index, nD) and specific solvent-solute interaction (solvent basicity or NUCLEOPHILICITY B and solvent acidity or ELECTROPHILICITY E) as contributing to overall solvent POLARITY. 

Fig. 7.15 Approach to assess a MIP/NIP library in the SPE mode. After quantitative nonspecific adsorption of the analyte from water the analyte is gradually eluted from the cartridge by increasing the acetonitrile content in the wash steps. The cumulative recovery is plotted against % acetonitrile in the wash step. The hydrophihcity index is defined as the % water present in the wash solvent leading to 50% release of the analyte from the NIP. The cumulative imprinting factor is defined as the ratio of the recovery from the NIP at that point (=50%) over that from the MIP (= Y)...

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