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Background The difference in diagnostic yield between surgical lung biopsy and transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) in diffuse parenchymal lung diseases (DPLD) has been reported to be due to differences in the rate of interpathologist agreement, specimen size, and specimen adequacy. In TBLC, the specimens containing large airway components are generally believed as inadequate specimens for histological evaluation, but the detailed characteristics of TBLC specimens including the large airway and the impact on histological diagnostic rates of DPLD have not been investigated. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the specimen characteristics of patients with DPLD who underwent TBLC. Results Between February 2018 and January 2020, 74 patients and 177 specimens were included. There were 85 (48.0%) large airway specimens (LAS) that contained bronchial gland or bronchial cartilage. The ideal specimen ratio was significantly lower in the LAS-positive group than that in the LAS-negative group (5.8% vs. 45.6%), and the proportion of bronchioles, alveoli, and perilobular area were similarly lower in the LAS-positive group. The presence of traction bronchiectasis and diaphragm overlap sign on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were also significantly higher in the LAS-positive group than those in the LAS-negative group. We observed a statistically significant trend in histological diagnostic yield (40.7% in LAS positive group; 60.8% in LAS positive and negative group; 91.6% in LAS negative group) (Cochran-Armitage trend test). Conclusion LAS is a specimen often collected in TBLC and contains a low percentage of bronchioles, alveoli, and perilobular area. Since the histological diagnostic yield tends to be higher in cases that do not contain LAS, it may be important to determine the biopsy site that reduces the frequency of LAS collection by referring to the HRCT findings in TBLC.

We theoretically analyzed the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of a CW hemispherical short cavity Yb:YAG laser which pump source is a single-emitter-laser-diode. As a result, the maximum efficiency of 78.6% was obtained by high intensity pumping.

Estimating the effectiveness of waste prevention measures in place is one approach to promote waste prevention and reduce resource use. We estimated the amount of waste reduction induced by the use of refills for shampoo and hair conditioner in Japan using point-of-sales (POS) data collected by retailers. The amount of waste reduction estimated was about 276 in fiscal year 2000, and increased to about 54% in fiscal year 2008, contributing to a waste reduction of 14,700 tonnes in that year. The POS data indicated that the unit prices of refillable products were lower than those of non-refillable products, which would be the main reason for the successful proliferation of refill products. The applicability of using the POS data to estimate the amount of waste prevention for refill and other products was also examined. In cases where detailed product data exist and there is relatively a simple product substitution, the applicability of this methodology would be higher.

The present paper summarises the tests that have been performed on type B packages by CRIEPI in Japan to conditions different from the regulatory test standard for impact, fire and immersion. A drop test of a spent fuel package with transport frame was performed. The drop height was 7·8 m and the target was reinforced concrete floor. Drop tests of spent fuel packages without impact limiters were performed. The drop heights were 1·5, 5·0 and 17 m and the target was a reinforced concrete floor. Dynamic crash tests simulating accidental drop of heavy object onto a spent fuel transport/storage package without impact limiters were performed. The heavy object was a slab made of reinforced concrete. The drop heights were 5 to 17 m. A thermal test was performed using a spent fuel package specimen. During the thermal test in a furnace, the environmental temperature increased up to 1000°C. An immersion test under a head of water at 3000 m for one hour was performed. The specimens were packages of spent fuel...

The present paper gives an overview of Japanese experimental studies of dual-purpose metal casks. The studies included: cask drop without impact limiters, drop of a heavy weight onto a cask due to building collapse, burial of a cask in debris from building collapse, tipping over of a cask during an earthquake, long-term containment of metal gaskets and transportability of casks after long-term storage. Most of the studies employed full-scale casks for the experiments.

The behaviour of dioxin in several arc furnaces was studied in detail in relation with the specifications for various types of organic and inorganic gas. After a pilot plant study has been carried out to know the effect of secondary combustion and rapid cooling on the reduction of dioxin in the arc fumace, ways to lower dioxin below regulation levels were proposed. To understand the reactions, laboratory studies and thermodynamic calculations have been done.

Packet/frame-based communication services have been in general use for utility communications for a number of years with the exception of communications for protection and in particular line current differential protection. Recently, a number of utilities have begun to investigate the possibility of applying packet/frame-based communication supported by Ethernet Layer 2 (L2) for protection signaling between substations because of the high-speed performance, flexibility and maintainability it promises. However, tele-protection communications applications have been retained on legacy circuit-switched services such as PDH or SDH/SONET because of concerns with regard to jitter and channel asymmetry. Currently, dedicated multiplexers are provided for line current differential relays to utilise communication routes provided for power systems. If general communications services such as Ethernet can be applied to communication routes for protection purposes in the same way as for other power system communication services, then we can expect to reduce total system costs including that of the communication infrastructure. Therefore, we have developed a new line differential protection relay system using native Ethernet. In this paper, we will introduce the development specifications and evaluation test results.

Sexual reproduction and larval settlement of Alveopora japonica Eguchi were studied at its northernmost distribution in Tokyo Bay (34°58′03′′N, 139°46′05′′E), where the annual sea temperature ranges from 13 to 27 °C. Alveopora japonica is a hermaphroditic brooding coral with oocytes and spermaries developing on separate mesenteries of the polyp. The oocytes first appeared in October, maturing in late August to early September of the following year, whereas the spermaries were first observed in May, and matured in approximately 4 months. The oocytes reached ca. 800 µm in diameter. Planulae containing zooxanthellae in their endoderm were released during the daytime in September and October. Well-developed planulae were able to settle and metamorphose within 7 h. The polyps started budding about 3 weeks after settlement, and took 3 years to grow to maturity. The population examined was sexually reproductive, indicating that A. japonica maintains local populations in Tokyo Bay by sexual reproduction.

Structural systems with longitudinal mass flow can be seen in belt-conveyers, running magnetic tapes and flexible manipulators, etc. Transverse vibration problems of flexible longitudinally extensible beams are considered as a special class of vibration problems of structural systems with longitudinal mass flow. The optimum design problem to control the dynamic response of such structural systems is very important from engineering and practical viewpoints, but until now it has not been the subject of much study.

This paper deals with stability and stabilization of a deployable flexible beam. It is proved that the motion of the structure is basically stable in station-keeping phase and deploying phase and unstable in retracting phase, if there is no control for it. Boundary controllers are proposed for the structure, which may dissipate the unwanted vibration and rotation energy of the structure, thus stabilize the structure during all the motion phases.

An “exchangeable photovoltaic (PV) shingle” which is a new type of PV module integrated with a shingle tile has been developed. The new PV shingle tile offers many attractive features, such as a lower total cost, simple construction and maintenance, good design, and fire resistance, compared with previous PV modules. The PV shingles were trial tested and evaluated as PV modules and roofing materials, and no problems appeared. This year, the PV shingles were installed on a model house roof to conduct demonstration tests related to various performance levels for a solar cell system and roofing materials.

We have developed a magnetic flux imaging system. The magnetic flux image (MFI) shows the distribution of magnetic flux density over a plate like specimen. The change of the pattern in the MFI by tensile deformation has been investigated in a carbon steel without applying magnetic field using the system. A clear striped pattern appeared after deformation by fine plastic strain between 0.2 and 1.0% before strain-hardening. Luders bands, which are groups of slip bands, appeared on the plate surface and were observed at the corresponding locations of the stripes in the MFIs. This shows that the fine deformation is nondestructively detected using the MFI.

This paper describes a furnace thermal test (888°C, 30 min), and corresponding analysis on a transport packaging to be used for vitrified high level radioactive waste, following a 9 m drop test. The specimen packaging is a full-scale (100 t) hybrid packaging which has structural features of both the BNFL (UK) and COGEMA (France) corresponding packagings. A two-dimensional and an axi-symmetric model were used to represent and analyse the thermal features of the packaging and the combustion of the neutron shielding. It was observed that the maximum temperature during and after the test were both adequately below the regulatory design values and that fairly good agreement between the test results and analysis results was obtained, giving support to the thermal analysis methods.

In this paper, we deal with optimization problems of the number of joints and lengths of multi-jointed rigid arms. We assume target points to yield a path by Spline function and formulate optimization problems with multiple loops to find optimum number of joints and lengths. The objective of the optimum problem can be taken among various functions. The optimal problem is formulated here by multi-objective functions minimizing driving energy and maximizing manipulability measure. It is a difficult problem to find the optimum number of joints and lengths of a multi-jointed rigid robot arm directly by mathematical programing. Then, we utilize an algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) in order to solve inverse dynamic problems and optimization problems. The obtained results are examined from many points of view.

Use of multiply charged ions greatly develops the application of a single-ended electrostatic accelerator for RBS, MEIS and other ion beam analyses. Feasibility of a compact duopigatron, which has been considered to be suitable for generating multiply charged ions, was studied as an ion source for these purposes. At first we investigated proper electrode structure and operating conditions of the source for yielding Ar ions at higher charge states. Performance of the source for He 2+ production was studied by using 3 He gas instead of 4 He because 4 He 2+ ions could hardly be separated from H + 2 originating from the contaminant hydrogen with a 90° analyzing magnet. A mass-analyzed 3 He 2+ ion current of 270 nA was obtained at an extraction voltage of 20 kV. Typical RBS spectra have been observed showing feasibility of the 3 He 2+ ion beam. By 4 He 2+ ions, the spectra were significantly degraded by contaminant H 2 ions.

Training and development programs directed to staff represent an institutional investment in the skills and careers of nonacademic personnel.

Summary A serine protease from mite faecal extract, Dermatophagoides farinae, was purified using DEAE-Sephacel anion exchange chromatography and Supcrdex 75 pg gel chromato-graphy. The molecular weight of this protease was 34 kD on SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. The optimal pH and temperature of the protease were 8-0 and 47 C, respectively. In addition, this protease cleaved arginyl or lysyl residue containing substrates selectively and was only inhibited by aprotinin, PUT-175, tind soy bean trypsin inhibitor and not by chymostatin, E-64 and iodoacetic acid. These results show that our purified serine protease belongs to the trypsin-type. Purified trypsin-like protease was shown to be allergenic by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Antigeni-city of trypsin-like protease was completely different from those of Der f I and Der f II. Both, 20 N-terminal amino acid sequence and amino acid compositions of the purified protease were very similar to those of Der f III. Good similarities were found between trypsin-like protease and Der f III concerning physicochemical properties such as molecular weight on SDS-PAGE and ammonium sulphate solubility. Summarizing the above data, it can be concluded that a trypsin-like protease from mite faecal extract is actually the Der f III allergen and that it may be involved in the digestive process of the mite as it was found not in mite body but in mite faeces.

A scanning reflection electron microscopy-total reflection angle X-ray spectroscopy (SREMTRAXS) system has been newly developed for in situ monitoring of the crystal structure and the chemical composition of film surfaces during molecular beam epitaxy. In this system, the primary electron beam from the microprobe reflection high energy electron diffraction gun is focused on the sample down to below 1 μm in diameter. The SREM image and TRAXS image are simultaneously obtained by monitoring the diffraction spot intensity on the fluorescent screen and by detecting the X-rays emitted from the sample at the critical angle for total reflection respectively. The surfaces of InAs films on GaAs substrates grown under various conditions were observed in situ with this system. The take-off angle dependence of the characteristic X-ray intensity was closely related to the surface morphology of the grown film observed with this system.

To explore the effects of residual impurity gases, such as H 2 O vapor and N 2 gas, in a sputtering environment on the crystallographic texture and grain sizes of Al-1%Si films, a quantitative study was carried out using an ultrahigh vacuum sputtering system. It was found that a small increase in the amount of H 2 O vapor in a sputtering environment reduced the growth of Al-Si film toward a (111) texture and also suppressed grain growth. In contrast, the residual N 2 gas has no indluence on the crystrallographic texture of the Al-Si film up to an N 2 partial pressure of 1.2 × 10 −3 Pa. These results indicate that a bakeable ultrahigh vacuum sputtering system with low-level residual H 2 O vapor is suitable for producing reliable aluminum interconnects.

A compact Joule–Thomson (JT) cooling system was adopted to a new type of cryopump which has three cryopanels. The refrigerator system is composed of a JT loop directly connected to the cryopanels and a Gifford–McMahon (GM) refrigerator for precooling. The cryopanels were cooled to the temperatures of 3, 20, and 80 K with circulating cold helium from the closed JT loop. We made an evaluation test of cooling and pumping capabilities and proved its potential capability for the production of extremely high vacuum. Connecting a test dome made of stainless steel to the pump, the volume has been evacuated to extremely low pressure less than 1×10−10 Pa in 11 h after vacuum bakeout.

When we evacuate a vacuum system with a usual cryopump, temperature of vacuum baking is limited to the value lower than that efficient to reduce the ultimate pressure sufficiently. Especially, a cryopump which can be baked at high temperature (∼200 °C) during regeneration has a potential for the production of extreme high vacuum. We have developed a new type of cryopump with Gifford–McMahon refrigerators which can be baked at such high temperature during regeneration. In order to keep the temperature of refrigerator heads below the maximum sustainable temperature 70 °C, the cryopanels are separated from refrigerators and are cooled with helium gas circulating from refrigerators. Using the new cryopump, an aluminum alloy test dome coated with TiN was pumped down to the pressure less than 1×10−10 Pa in a few days after 150 °C vacuum bakeout. The low pressure of extreme high vacuum could be kept at least for 25 d. Major constituents of the final residual gas were m/e=2 (H2 ) and m/e=28 (N2 and CO).

RHEED-TRAXS (total reflection angle X-ray spectroscopy in RHEED experiments) technique has been focused on an observation of In desorption processes from GaAs(100) substrate surfaces. Results show that In desorption energy sensitively changes along with arsenic partial pressure, PAs4. Furthermore, at 3.0×10−8 Torr of PAs4, ITDS (isothermal desorption spectroscopy) curves have a refraction point below the In Lα line intensity corresponding to one monolayer of InAs. RHEED intensity measurements indicate that the refraction point corresponds to the change of the growth manner, i.e. a single layer growth occurs followed by three-dimensional island growth, the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode, at this PAs4. On the other hand, at 1.0×10−7 Torr of PAs4, InAs grows with the Volmer-Weber growth mode.

A direct search has been made for supermassive relics (heavier than about ${10}^{12}$ GeV/${\mathit{c}}^{2}$) with a 2000-${\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ array of CR-39 track-etch detectors deployed underground for 2.1 yr. The nonobservation of penetrating tracks places a new upper limit for the velocity-dependent flux at 3.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}16}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ ${\mathrm{sr}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$, for magnetic monopoles carrying various magnetic charges, for electrically charged relics, and strange matter. This flux limit corresponds to a limit on the relic abundance of order ${\mathit{n}}_{\mathit{x}}$/${\mathit{n}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$=${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}29}$ relative to the 3-K photons.

A 500 keV ion accelerator system equipped with a DISKTRON high voltage generator and two types of ion source has been developed to provide ion beams for RBS analysis with microbeams and surface modification. H + and He + beams focused to less than 1 μm with a voltage stability of less than 10 −4 have been obtained in a microbeam line. P + As + and other heavy ion beams of sufficient intensity for surface modification are also obtained. Uniformities of P + and As + ions implanted into a 2 in. Si wafer were evaluated to be 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

A new development in the Bogolubov-Mitropolski method for solving nonlinear differential equations of motion for systems with finite degrees of freedom with coupled deflection is presented. A function is introduced which takes into account the influence of small nonlinearities on the amplitude ratio and on the perturbation of the phase angle. The results obtained by the method for several systems of two bodies exhibiting coupled deflection are compared with results obtained by the classical Bogolubov-Mitropolski method and with exact solutions (where possible). The comparison illustrates and confirms the effectiveness of the method.

著者人数：135名, 資料番号: SA1001878000

The survival of whole and bisected rabbit morulae cryopreserved by the vitrification method was investigated. The embryos were loaded in a column of vitrification solution (VS, a mixture of 25% glycerol and 25% 1, 2-propanediol in PBS+16% calf serum), which was located between two columns of 1 M sucrose solution in a plastic straw. The embryos were frozen by being plunged into liquid nitrogen and thawed in a water bath at 20 degrees C. Two methods of loading embryos into straws were used: the single and double column vitrification solution methods. The embryonic survival rates between these two methods were compared. Seventy-one (86.6%) out of 82 morulae vitrified in double column straws developed into the blastocyst stage in vitro. Eleven (18.3%) live fetuses were obtained after the transfer of 60 frozen-thawed morulae to four recipients. By contrast, the survival rate (36.5%, 27 74 ) of embryos vitrified in the single column straws was significantly lower (P

This study has summarised electromagnetic disturbances of control circuits in power stations and substations experienced in Japan for ten years from 1990. Altogether 330 disturbances informed from Japanese utilities are classified by disturbed equipments and causes, and the surge incoming routes and the characteristics of the disturbances are investigated. Also, case studies are demonstrated. Finally, the influence of the disturbances to power system operation, countermeasures carried out and costs are presented.

This paper has presented case studies on electromagnetic disturbances of control circuits in power stations and substations experienced in Japan as a part of a companion paper summarizing the disturbed equipments, the causes and the influences of the disturbances. Cases of the disturbances are demonstrated and the detail of each case is explained. Also a brief explanation has been given in Appendix for Japanese Electrotechnical Commission standard JEC-0103-2004 for test voltages of control circuits which was based on the experiences of disturbances presented in this paper and a companion paper.

This work presents a front-end LSI using 0.13 /spl mu/m-process developed for HD DVD disc drives. HD DVD is a recently proposed format for optical discs, in which a blue laser is adopted and high-density recording of over 15 GB per side is achieved. The LSI chip consists of 3 subsystems: partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) read channel subsystem, servo control subsystem and memory control subsystem. Using this LSI, we have also developed a HD DVD player and verified the performance to be sufficient for high-definition movies or other content. The ability to play back high-definition quality movies proves the basic potential of this LSI.

Extended Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (EPRML) detection outperforms PRML detection on very high-density magnetic recording channels but is much more complex than PRML and is difficult to implement for high data rates. PERD is an alternative to the EPRML detector which gives even better performance. It consists of a conventional PRML detector and a pattern discrimination circuit operating on the error waveform between the waveform estimated from the PRML outputs and the actual playback waveform. A bit-by-bit simulation confirms the expected performance gains over PRML detection.

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films were obtained by RF magnetron sputtering using sintered YSZ targets. Three types of target were used in order to investigate the effect of the amount of Y/sub 2/O/sub 3/. These contained 3, 9, and 20 mol.% Y/sub 2/O/sub 3/ as the stabilizer. The effects of preparation conditions and the physical and electrical properties were examined by X-ray diffraction analysis, I-V measurement of an MOS structure fabricated by evaporating Al electrode on YSZ film in Si, and measurements of photoabsorption characteristics. Crystallinity of the sputtered layer depended on the substrate temperature. For substrate temperatures above 300 degrees C, polycrystalline YSZ film was obtained. The phase of the film was dominated by the amount of doped Y/sub 2/O/sub 3/ in the target. The dielectric constant and optical energy gap were found to be 24.5 approximately 28.6 and approximately 4.4 eV, respectively. Using the YSZ film as a buffer layer on an alumina substrate, superconducting properties of Y-Ba-Cu-O were observed. The gas-sensitive properties of the films were confirmed. >

In this paper, we propose a multi-sensor fusion model using an autoencoder neural network for 3D object recognition, which fuses multiple sensory data to integrate its internal object representation. This model was evaluated using camera images from many viewpoints on a hemisphere around the target. Three images were generated from one camera image by hue and saturation value clusters. After learning the target's images from many viewpoints in an autoencoder neural network, the continuous internal representations which correspond to viewpoints, were constructed in a compress layer of the autoencoder neural network. We found that the internal representation is generalized about the viewpoints which were not in the training sets of the target. The average of the squared errors of the autoencoder neural network is about three times higher when the compared object is unknown than when the object has already been taught as the target but not the learning point. Results of the experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model to 3D object recognition.

This paper deals with stability and stabilization of a deployable flexible beam. It is proved that the motion of the structure is basically stable in the station-keeping phase and deploying phase, but unstable in the retracting phase, if there is no control for it. Boundary controllers are proposed for the structure, which may dissipate the unwanted vibration and rotation energy of the structure, thus stabilize the structure during all the motion phases.

This paper proposes the concept of "agent networks" to realize flexible and unified integration of multi-agent intelligent robot systems. As an example, we developed a hand-to-hand robot on the agent network. Its robust and flexible behaviour proved the effectiveness of the method.

Metal gate CMOS technologies for high speed applications were investigated using the damascene metal gate process (Yagishita et al., 1999). We demonstrated the performance improvement by no gate depletion effect in the metal gate using actual devices. Ti/W was used as a single work function metal gate material and ultra shallow buried channel profile was formed for threshold voltage control. The self-aligned channel structure effectively reduces source/drain junction capacitance. An extremely good metal/SiO/sub 2/ interface with the CVD-TiN gate stack realizes intrinsic channel mobility. The propagation delay time of a CMOS inverter ring oscillator was 20 ps, and projected next generation performance would be better due to the improved technologies.

Three patients with bleeding-type moyamoya disease suffered ischemic complications following their first episode of intracranial bleeding. The patients presented with intraventricular hemorrhage and suffered cerebral infarction on the 14th, 16th, and 11th days after the ictus, respectively. The clinical records revealed no obvious hypotension before progression to infarction and suggested that dehydration accelerated by the administration of hyperosmotic drugs was a contributing factor to the infarction. Two patients underwent superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery anastomoses in the chronic stages and have never experienced further ischemic complications. The other patient died despite receiving intensive care. Hemodynamic reserve may be severely impaired in patients with bleeding-type moyamoya disease. Adequate control of hydration is important to prevent cerebral infarction after intracranial bleeding in patients with moyamoya disease.

We isolated 13 tobacco calmodulin (CaM) genes, NtCaM1-13, and analyzed their expression profile in response to pathogen infection and wounding using specific DNA probes for individual CaM genes and specific antibodies for CaM proteins in groups I (NtCaM1/2), II (NtCaM3/4/5/6/7/8/11/12 and 9/10) and III (NtCaM13), respectively. Synchronous cell death in tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-infected N-gene-containing tobacco leaves accompanied a predominant accumulation of NtCaM1, 2 and 13 transcripts and NtCaM13-type protein, which is a possible ortholog of soybean defense-involved CaM (SCaM-4), preceding induction of PR-1 and PR-3 defense genes. Accumulation of NtCaM1, 2, 3 and 4 transcripts was induced within 30 min after wounding and NtCaM1-type protein accumulated transiently after wounding. NtCaM13-type protein, which was found at a low level in healthy leaves, decreased instantly after wounding. The treatment with a proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin, enhanced wound-induced accumulation of NtCaM1-type protein and inhibited wound-induced decrease of NtCaM13-type protein, suggesting that proteasome activity is involved in the degradation of these CaMs. Thus, our results indicate that levels of individual CaM proteins are differentially regulated both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally in tobacco plants that are exposed to stresses such as pathogen-induced hypersensitive cell death and wounding.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among expression of procollagen alpha 1 type III mRNA, subacromial adhesion, and limited shoulder elevation in rotator cuff tears. Procollagen alpha 1 type III mRNA was analyzed in the torn supraspinatus tendons and synovial tissue of 42 patients with rotator cuff tears. As a control, four normal supraspinatus tendons of patients who had undergone shoulder surgery other than rotator cuff repair served as controls. Cells stained positively for procollagen alpha 1 type III mRNA were more abundant in the adhesive synovium of the subacromial bursa and in the torn supraspinatus tendons than in controls. Patients with complete-thickness tears who had undergone surgery less than 10 months after trauma were found to have more signal-positive cells than those later than 10 months. We conclude that the adhesive synovium of the subacromial bursa contains abundant cells stained positively for procollagen alpha 1 type III mRNA. We suggest that the production of type III collagen by these cells could contribute to the limitation of shoulder motion in patients with rotator cuff tears, and recommend release and excision of the excess adhesive synovium during rotator cuff surgery.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the healing process of partial-thickness tears of the deep pectoral tendon in chickens which is considered to be equivalent to the human rotator cuff. The superior side (bursal-side) and the inferior side (joint-side) layers of the deep pectoral tendon of 80 adult chickens were lacerated in the same manner. The mRNA expression levels of alpha 1 (I) and alpha 1 (III) procollagen was at a level 2 weeks after laceration. The mRNA expression level of procollagen alpha 1 (I) was significantly higher than that of procollagen alpha 1 (III) in all experimental periods (p0.05). The expression levels of procollagen-mRNAs were constitutively higher in bursal-side tears than in joint-side tears throughout the experimental periods (p0.05), even 52nd weeks after laceration. These observations indicate that the bursal-side layer possesses higher healing ability than the joint-side layer in the chicken's deep pectoral tendon where subacromial impingement is absent, and that the remodeling of partial-thickness tears in chicken models needs more than one year.

To study the hypothesis that perforation of the rotator cuff increases the degree of inflammation in the synovium of the glenohumeral joint in rotator cuff diseases.Thirty-five synovial specimens in the glenohumeral joint of patients with rotator cuff diseases were examined. They were obtained during surgery and divided into 2 groups on the basis of the presence or absence of rotator cuff perforation, i.e., perforating and nonperforating tears. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokine mRNA of interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) and 2 forms (secreted type and intracellular type) of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) were measured by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The protein level of IL-1beta was determined by Western blot analysis. IL-1beta producing cells were also identified by in situ RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.In perforating tears cytokine mRNA in the glenohumeral synovium was more significantly expressed than in nonperforating tears. Also, higher levels of IL-1beta protein were detected in perforating tears.Perforation of the rotator cuff increases IL-1beta production in the glenohumeral joint, enhancing inflammatory intensity at the site. These findings suggest the possibility that glenohumeral synovitis in rotator cuff diseases may be a factor for the development of glenohumeral arthropathy.