It is a long-standing puzzle that the Sun's photosphere--its visible surface--rotates differentially, with the equatorial regions rotating faster than the poles. It has been suggested that waves analogous to terrestrial Rossby waves, and known as r-mode oscillations, could explain the Sun's differential rotation: Rossby waves are seen in the oceans as large-scale (hundreds of kilometres) variations of sea-surface height (5-cm-high waves), which propagate slowly either east or west (they could take tens of years to cross the Pacific Ocean). Calculations show that the solar r-mode oscillations have properties that should be strongly constrained by differential rotation. Here we report the detection of 100-m-high 'hills' in the photosphere, spaced uniformly over the Sun's surface with a spacing of (8.7 +/- 0.6) x 10(4) km. If convection under the photosphere is organized by the r-modes, the observed corrugated photosphere is a probable surface manifestation of these solar oscillations.

A rebreathing technique was utilized to assess changes in diffusing capacity (DCO), pulmonary capillary blood volume (Vc), pulmonary parenchymal tissue volume (Vt), and cardiac output (Qc), after infusion of 2 liters of 0.9% saline intravenously in 13-25 min in five healthy subjects. Blood hemoglobin concentration decreased an average of 17%. Vc increased strikingly in all five subjects. No significant changes in Vt, or in Vt per unit lung volume were observed. Radiographic evidence of interstitial pulmonary edema was present in four of the five subjects. Radiographic total lung capacity was reduced significantly in four of the five subjects. Significant reductions in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1.0 and 3.0 s, and mean forced expiratory flow during the middle half of the FVC occurred in three of the five subjects. No dyspnea, cough, or physical examination abnormalities of lungs or heart occurred. This noninvasive, ventilation-limited, rebreathing technique appears capable of detecting early changes in pulmonary congestion, at a time when definitive radiographic changes and changes in the physical examination are absent. It appears capable of detecting the increase in Vc associated with hypervolemia in man.

The pulmonary total tissue volume (blood, extravascular water, and dry tissue volume) was measured by finding the difference between the radiographic displacement volume of the thorax (RDVT) and the lung gas volume. Simultaneous determinations of RDVT and gas volume were made in 10 healthy subjects sitting upright. RDVT was determined from posteroanterior and lateral chest radiographs, a computerised modification of the Barnhard method being used; and gas volume was measured by helium dilution with each radiographic exposure. At functional residual capacity pulmonary total tissue volume was 843 + 110 ml (1 SD). The density of the lung (ml tissue per ml tissue and gas) was 0 19 + 0-03 (1 SD). This method, different in principle from indicator-dilution and acetylene rebreathing studies, provides measurements of total tissue volume.

A simple film subtraction technique has been devised that isolates calcium image contrast and mutes tissue image contrast. Two exposures are required. The first is made on XL film using a 65 kVp beam filtered with 2 mm aluminum. The second is made on OG (high contrast) film using a 130 kVp beam filtered with 2 mm copper and 2 mm aluminum. The effective energies of these two beams are approximately 45 keV and 83 keV, respectively. A subtraction image is made, using the low energy image for the mask. With this technique it is possible to detect concentrations of 125 mg/cm3 of diffuse calcification in a chest nodule 1 cm in diameter. If the presence of diffuse calcification is found to be an indicator of benignancy in solitary pulmonary nodules, this technique may have diagnostic value for the detection of such calcification. Computerized tomographic findings are discussed and related to this technique.

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