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We carried out solvent extraction on the trivalent actinides of Am, Cm, Cf, and Fm and the lanthanides (except Pm) using di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) in benzene by a batch method. The extraction constants of the HDEHP complexes for these elements were determined systematically under identical conditions. The tetrad effect was clearly observed in the variation of the extraction constants of the lanthanide series. We found that the extraction constant for Fm(III) is much smaller than that for Dy(III), which have similar ionic radii. The extraction constants for Am(III), Cm(III), and Cf(III) are similar to those for corresponding Ln(III) having similar ionic radii. Two possibilities that account for the lower extraction constant of Fm(III) is suggested.

The impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from cellular base station (BS) antennas on implantable cardiac pacemakers is clarified in this article. The estimation of the impact is based on in vitro experiments that are conducted using simulated multicarrier and multicode signals, which are transmitted from actual BS antennas and dipole antennas as the radiation source of the BS antenna. Critical interference to the electric field strength is revealed with respect to the 800-MHz band second-generation and 2-GHz band third-generation cellular systems. The experimental results show two things. One is that the pacemaker EMI depends on the average power of the transmission signals and does not depend on the peak-to-average power ratios of the transmission signals, which increase with the number of multicarriers and multicodes. The other is that the boundary of the EMI area where malfunctions occur closely approximates the contour of a 25-V/m electric field that is exited from a commercially available collinear array antenna typically used in BSs. Furthermore, no pacemaker EMI is detected in the immediate vicinity under the BS antenna at an input power level for typical operation. Accordingly, it is clear that the pacemaker EMI should not pose a concern in residential environments.

We investigated the possible involvement of apoptosis in the increased germ-cell degeneration in undescended testes (UDT). Experimental unilateral cryptorchidism was induced in 21-day-old rats, and both testes were removed for in-situ TUNEL staining of apoptotic cells at 1, 3, 7, 10, and 14 days postoperation. A gradual increase in the incidence of apoptosis was seen at 21-28 days of age in the control testes, followed by a decrease thereafter. After 10 days postoperation, the weight of the UDT was significantly lower than that of the contralateral descended testis (CDT) and the controls. However, the weight of scrotal testes in each group was similar. UDTs demonstrated a markedly increased incidence of apoptosis. By 7 days postoperation, the percentage of seminiferous tubules containing apoptotic germ cells significantly increased in UDTs compared with that in CDTs and controls (P0.001). Moreover, there was a significant difference in the percentage of seminiferous tubules containing apoptotic germ cells between CDTs and controls (P0.01). In addition, an increased incidence of seminiferous tubules containing 8-10 and10 apoptotic germ cells from 7, 10, and 14 days postoperation in UDTs was detected. In-situ TUNEL analysis demonstrated spermatocytes to be the main type of germ cells affected in all groups. These findings suggest that spermatogenesis decreases not only in the UDT, but also in the CDT, and that the germ-cell degeneration in cryptorchidism took the form of apoptosis.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, GermanyINTRODUCTION: Functional polymorphisms (SNPs) ofthe vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are asso-ciated with the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC). An impact of VEGF-SNPs on prognosis of OSCCpatients seems possible. Therefore, correlations betweenprognostic parameters of OSCC patients and five VEGF-SNPs were determined.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a retrospective long-term study, in 113 OSCC patients that underwentcurative resections, five VEGF-SNPs ( 1154 G/A,+405 G/C, +936 C/T, 2578 C/A, and 460 C/T) wereanalyzed. Associations between SNPs and prognosis(incidence of local recurrent disease, second cancer,metastases, death, total disease-free survival) wereexamined.RESULTS: After a mean follow-up time of 57.6 months,32 patients had local recurrences; 15 patients had secondcancer, 15 patients metastases, and 23 patients died. Themean disease-free survival was 43.1 months. A significantincreased incidence of OSCC in smokers with the VEGF 2578 A/C and 460 C/T SNP was seen (eachP 2orN > 0) together with the 1154 A/Aallele had a significant worse survival and a worse disease-free survival (both P 2) could be confirmed(P = 0.002).DISCUSSION: Possible reciprocal interactions betweensmoking and VEGF-SNP function were observed. Multi-variate analysis confirmed the VEGF +405 G/G genotypeto be associated with poor survival in advanced OSCCs; afurther use of this haplotype as biomarker has to bediscussed.J Oral Pathol Med (2012)Keywords: advanced; long-term; oral squamous cell carcinoma;prognosis; single-nucleotide polymorphisms; smoking; VEGF

The transport of the megadalton protein Pf332 was studied during the asexual bloodstage development of Plasmodium falciparum. Four mouse monoclonal antibodies, produced against a recombinant polypeptide derived from the Pf332 protein, were used to analyze the kinetics of synthesis, the subcellular location, and transport of this giant molecule to the erythrocyte membrane. After parasite invasion of a red brood cell, the Pf332 antigen is first detected in young trophozoites at the parasitophorous vacuole membrane or in the cytoplasm of the erythrocyte as large vesicle-like structures. The number of vesicles increases during maturation of the parasite and thus forms a rim-like immunofluorescence pattern between the erythrocyte membrane and the parasitophorous vacuole at very late stages. The various anti-Pf332 antibodies react with the surface of erythrocytes infected with very mature parasites (segmenter stage 42-46 hr postinvasion). Immunoelectron microscopic analysis shows that the Pf332 antigen is transported in association with Maurer′s clefts in the cytoplasm of the erythrocyte. This transport could be completely blocked by Brefeldin A, resulting in the accumulation of the antigen within the parasite. These data strongly suggest that the Pf332 antigen is exported to the erythrocyte cytoplasm via the classical Golgi secretory pathway.

Inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease represent a promising class of antiviral drugs for the treatment of AIDS, and several are now in clinical trials. Here, we report the in vitro selection of viral variants with decreased sensitivity to a C2-symmetric protease inhibitor (A-77003). We show that a single amino acid substitution (Arg to Gln or Lys) at position 8 of the protease results in a substantial decrease in the inhibitory activity of the drug on the enzyme and a comparable increase in viral resistance. These findings, when analyzed by using the three-dimensional structure of the protease-drug complex, provide a strategic guide for the future development of inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease.

Efficient computational algorithms for the trajectory control of multiarm free-flying space robots are presented. The motion of the aircraft itself during manipulation is considered in order to obtain an accurate trajectory control. The generalized Jacobian of multiarm free-flying space robots is obtained efficiently by regarding the total multilink system as a composite system consisting of two links with a joint. The algorithm can be easily extended to any tree-structured multiarm robot with rotational as well as prismatic joints except for closed-loop structures. An efficient computational algorithm for the resolved acceleration control of the multiarm free-flying robots is also presented. The computational complexities are evaluated and compared to those of fixed-base manipulators. It is shown that the computational complexity for the generalized Jacobian is five times greater than that for fixed-base manipulators whereas the resolved acceleration control requires twice the computation for fixed-base manipulators. >

The current performance of a 10‐m grazing incidence monochromator (GIM) is described. A resolution of 51, 95, and 220 meV (FWHM) has been achieved at 287, 401, and 867 eV, respectively, inferred from the linewidths for the K‐shell resonances of gaseous CO, N2, and Ne. A photon flux of ≂1012 photons/s is obtainable at the first harmonic of undulator radiation with a 1200‐l /mm grating and 50‐μm slit openings, which correspond to Δλ=0.04 A.

Pseudotachylite veins have been found in the mylonite zone of the Hidaka metamorphic belt, Hokkaido, northern Japan. They are associated with faults with WNW-ESE to ENE-WSW or NE-SW trends which make a conjugate set, cutting foliations of the host mylonitic rocks with high obliquity. The mylonitic rocks comprise greenschist facies to prehnite-pumpellyite facies mineral assemblages. The mode of occurrence of the pseudotachylite veins indicates that they were generated on surfaces of the faults and were intruded as injection veins along microfractures in the host rocks during brittle deformation in near-surface environments. An analysis of the deformational and metamorphic history of the Hidaka Main Zone suggests that the ambient rock temperature was 200–300° C immediately before the formation of the Hidaka pseudotachylite. Three textural types of veins are distinguished: cryptocrystalline, microcrystalline and glassy. The cryptocrystalline or glassy type often occupies the marginal zones of the microcrystalline-type veins. The microcrystalline type is largely made up of quench microlites of orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, biotite, plagioclase and opaque minerals with small amounts of amphibole microlites. The interstices of these microlites are occupied by glassy and/or cryptocrystalline materials. The presence of microlites and glasses in the pseudotachylite veins suggests that the pseudotachylites are the products of rapid cooling of silicate melts at depths of less than 5 km. The bulk chemical composition of the pseudotachylite veins is characterized by low SiO2 and a high water content and is very close to that of the host mylonitic rocks. This indicates that the pseudotachylite was formed by virtual total melting of the host rocks with sufficient hydrous mineral phases. Local chemical variation in the glassy parts of the pseudotachylite veins may be due to either crystallization of quench microlites or the disequilibrium nature of melting of mineral fragments and incomplete mixing of the melts. Pyroxene microlites show a crystallization trend from hypersthene through pigeonite to subcalcic augite with unusually high Al contents. The presence of pigeonite and high-Al pyroxene microlites, of hornblende and biotite microlites and rare plagioclase microlites may indicate the high temperature and high water content of the melt which formed the pseudotachylite veins. The melt temperatures were estimated to be up to 1100° C using a two-pyroxene geothermometer. Using published data relating water solubilities in high-temperature andesitic magmas to pressure, a depth estimate of about 4 km is inferred for the Hidaka pseudotachylites. Evidence derived from pseudotachylites in the Hidaka metamorphic belt supports the conclusion that pseudotachylite is formed by frictional melting along fault surfaces at shallow depths from rocks containing hydrous minerals.

We have developed an automatic method that efficiently detects the defect signatures of substrates and identifies possible problems pertaining to LSI/TFT-LCD manufacturing processes and tools. This system, which has no built-in libraries, can be applied to the mass production line of thin film devices. This method is useful to quickly detect problems that have been overlooked thus far.

Recently, solar energy generation and wind power generation have been introduced to electric power system. But, as for this natural energy, influence such as frequency fluctuation is exerted on electric power system, which is a fundamental problem in operation of a small grid system such as micro-grid. These systems should provide appropriate power quality compared to a large grid. However, using the telecommunication line for monitoring and controlling the system devices is costly, as an alternative method, autonomous distribution control which enables local power supply and demand control is also required in design and operational stage. This paper discusses benefits of these methods conducting cost evaluation.

In the recent years, the using of renewable energy power generation method is increasing. For power system stability in installation of renewable energy power generation, the mitigation of influence is very important. A micro-grid is a network system that attempts the coexistence of utility grid and distributed generation. The micro-grid should take a connection system form that adjusts to the area. This paper discusses different interconnections of micro-grid and the interconnection stability. The evaluation models in the micro-grid stability are tie line power flow and frequency deviation.

Recently, solar energy generation and wind power generation have been introduced to electric power system. But, as for this natural energy, influence such as frequency fluctuation is exerted on electric power system, which is a fundamental problem in operation of a small grid system such as micro-grid. These systems should provide appropriate power quality compared to a large grid. However, using the telecommunication line for monitoring and controlling the system devices is costly, as an alternative method, autonomous distribution control that enables local power supply and demand control is also required in design and operational stage. This paper discusses benefits of these methods conducting cost evaluation.

In a clustered micro architecture design, the execution core which has large RAMs, large CAMs and all connected result bypass loops is partitioned into smaller execution cores that are called clusters. Clustered microarchitecture can allow a scalable core design because intra-cluster operation remains fast regardless of entire execution width of the core. But localization of critical memory transfers (store-load-consumer) is still a problem. In this work, we propose a technique named "distributed speculative memory forwarding (DSMF)" that localizes critical memory transfers into a cluster. DSMF learns memory dependences at retire stage, steers dependent pair of the store and the consumer to the same cluster, transfers data locally in the cluster. We show that the IPC improvement of 15% was obtained by this localization on the baseline clustered microarchitecture.

Modern filter systems allow a significant reduction of diesel particulate emissions. The new silicon bonded silicon carbide particulate filters (Si-SiC filters) play an important role in this application, because they provide flexibility in terms of mean pore size and porosity and also have a high thermal shock capability to meet both engineering targets and emission limits for 2005 and beyond. Particulate filters are exposed to high temperatures and a harsh chemical environment in the exhaust gas of diesel vehicles. This paper will present further durability evaluation results of the new Si bonded SiC particulate filters which have been collected in engine bench tests and vehicle durability runs. The Si-SiC filters passed both 100 and 200 regeneration cycles under severe ageing conditions and without any problems. The used filters were subjected to a variety of analytical tests. The back pressure and ash distribution were determined. The filter material was also analysed. In addition vehicle ageing was performed using the European driving cycle. A detailed description of the regeneration conditions and the results from analysis of the used filter will be presented. This investigation proved the high durability performance of the newly developed Si bonded SiC materials. Si bonded SiC filters are making debut on the market in both fuel additive and catalytic soot filter systems.

This paper reviews the in-vitro experiments made to estimate the impact of the EMI from cellular phones on implantable cardiac pacemakers in Japan. The approach of the EMI test system is to directly expose the pacemaker to the near- and far-fields generated by a dipole antenna and/or an actual cellular phone. The results were used by the electric medical equipment study group of Japan to establish guidelines for the use of current Japanese cellular phones. An actual test system of cellular base-station EMI with a pacemaker is presented. To simulate a realistic EMI situation, a torso phantom with an installed pacemaker is newly constructed A multi-carrier generator is used as the base-station RF signal source. A typical commercial base-station antenna is used to generate microwave EMF similar to that emitted from cellular base-stations. The results show that EMI impact is determined by the maximum averaged power, not the peak power, of the base-station RF signal.

We propose an automatic arrhythmia diagnosis system which can distinguish atrial rhythms from ventricular rhythms. This system discriminates the origination of cardiac stimulation by analyzing QRS complex beat by beat with Fourier analysis and neural network pattern recognition, and then diagnoses arrhythmia with measurement of heart-rate. As well as implementation into a conventional single-chip processor, capability for instantaneous diagnosis and applicability to implant devices are demonstrated.

We developed a system which detects life threatening ventricular arrhythmias with respect to each beat. In this paper, we applied the system to human intracardiac electrogram (EGM) data for demonstrating the clinical potential. The system analyzes Fourier spectrum of the EGM signal corresponding to an individual QRS complex, and classifies it to three kinds of rhythm origins using a neural network. In our study, supra-ventricular rhythms were classified from ventricle originated rhythms with high sensitivities and specificities.

The authors developed an arrhythmia diagnosis system which distinguishes supra-ventricular events from ventricular ones. The system uses a power spectrum of QRS complex to discriminate the origin of a rhythm, and then classifies 12 types of arrhythmias based on the heart-rate end its variations. The system was evaluated with human ECG data. Two kinds of origin, supra-ventricular and ventricular, were distinguished with more than 98% sensitivity and specificity. The discrimination was conducted with a simple processing of weighted summation of two power spectrum inputs (4 and 8 Hz). In arrhythmia classification, there were 14 misclassified beats among 2234 beats, but no clinically fatal errors were found.

High performance digital-analog mixed devices are fabricated on a high resistivity MCZ Si substrate with low oxygen in order to suppress substrate noise from digital to analog circuits. The low oxygen prevents substrate resistivity reduction due to thermal donor occurring during device fabrication process. Good characteristics of digital, analog and power amplifiers can be realized by optimizing the process of oxynitride, halo implantation and salicide. In 0.11 /spl mu/m CMOS, high drivability, that is, 770 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m for NMOS and 330 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m for PMOS was achieved at Ioff=10/sup -9/ A//spl mu/m. And fT value of 90 GHz for NMOS and 48 GHz for PMOS can be achieved. Additionally, high efficiency of 68% at 2 GHz operation can be realized in power amplifier with 0.30 /spl mu/m gate length.

The object of this study is to specify features determining meat quality of Berkshire and Duroc and influence of these purebreds on meat quality of crossbred pigs. In total, 37 purebred pigs (Berkshire and Duroc: originating from line breeding in Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture, respectively) and two crossbreeds (LDB and LDD: produced by crossing Berkshire and Duroc boars to Duroc-Landrace sows) were used. Berkshire accumulated more subcutaneous and abdominal fat and had small loin eye muscle area, but accumulated less intramuscular fat than Duroc. There were no differences in meat colour and tenderness between the two purebreds. But Berkshire was less than Duroc in drip loss. As for fatty acid of inner and outer subcutaneous fat, Berkshire contained significantly higher concentration of saturated fatty acids, but had lower concentration of unsaturated fatty acid than Duroc. As a result, the melting point of inner and outer subcutaneous fat and perirenal fat of Berkshire was significantly higher than that of Duroc. Furthermore, though there was no breed difference in concentration of saturated fatty acids of intramuscular fat, Duroc had more oleic acid (C18:1) than Berkshire. Fatty acid concentrations of inner and outer subcutaneous fat and intramuscular fat as well as melting points of both subcutaneous fat layers and perirenal fat were the same in Berkshire and LDB and in Duroc and LDD. These results suggest that there were remarkable differences between Berkshire and Duroc in fat quality traits; also, both breeds as terminal sires influenced crossbred pigs' fat accumulation and fat quality traits.

A 35-year-old woman was hospitalized at 39 weeks 0 days of gestation because of acute left flank pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed bilateral hydronephrosis with peripelvic extravasation of contrast material around the left kidney. The pregnancy ended with a cesarean section and after the cesarean section a left double-J-stent was placed cystoscopically. An excretory urogram following the removal of the ureteral stent showed no extravasation or hydronephrosis in either kidney.

The treatment of patients with aggressive subclasses of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) remains a challenge. In an effort to improve the survival of patients with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB), RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t), or acute myelogenous leukemia transformed from MDS (MDS-AML), we conducted a small trial in which 28 such patients were treated with low-dose cytosine arabinoside (LDAraC) followed by administration of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). The overall rate of response to the treatment was 61%, including 39% with a complete response, which is higher than rates obtained in previous studies in which LDAraC alone was administered to patients with MDS. Median survival was 23.5 months in cases of RAEB, 16.7 months in cases of RAEB-t, and 19.7 months in cases of MDS-AML. The overall survival of the study group appeared to be prolonged in comparison with a historical control group of patients treated with LDAraC alone. It is suggested that M-CSF added to the administration of LDAraC plays an active role in the therapy. No therapy-related death occurred. Some unique actions of M-CSF were suggested in this trial. It is concluded that therapy with LDAraC + M-CSF is a useful treatment option for patients with aggressive subclasses of MDS and MDS-AML to provide better response and survival.

The transition of film boiling modes in He II with the change of the hydrostatic pressure is studied experimentally. Special attention is paid to the pressure dependence of boiling modes around the λ temperature. For this purpose, detailed investigation is carried out with the aid of optical visualization and the pressure oscillation and the temperature oscillation measurements. All the experiments are conducted by using a single cryostat over the entire pressure range from saturated vapor pressure to subcooled states because the excited pressure oscillation is highly affected by the geometrical configuration of the test space in a cryostat. In the case of subcooled boiling, flickering of bulk vapor film is seen on the planar heater instead of repeated growth and crush of a vapor bubble as observed in the noisy film boiling. It is an interesting finding that a regular pressure oscillation is excited at slightly lower temperature than the λ-temperature for a moderate value of the hydrostatic pressure, which is obviously different from rather irregular ones of noisy and subcooled film boiling modes. With the decrease in the temperature and the increase in the heat flux in the temperature range close to the λ-temperature, low frequency spiky oscillations are superposed on the regular oscillation. At still lower temperatures than λ-temperature, the regular oscillation disappears and boiling turns to noisy film boiling.

The authors have developed a method to discriminate life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias by observing the QRS complex of the electrocardiogram (ECG) in each heartbeat. Changes in QRS complexes due to rhythm origination and conduction path were observed with the Fourier transform, and three kinds of rhythms were discriminated by a neural network. In this paper, the potential of the authors' method for clinical uses and real-time detection was examined using human surface ECGs and intracardiac electrograms (EGMs). The method achieved high sensitivity and specificity (>0.98) in discrimination of supraventricular rhythms from ventricular ones. The authors also present a hardware implementation of the algorithm on a commercial single-chip CPU.

Effects of combination use of a second generation cephem and an aminoglycoside antibiotic isepamicin (ISP), for the treatment of post-surgical infections of the lower digestive tract were examined from a laboratory and clinical perspective. Thirty-three out of total 35 cases were included in the analysis of the test, while the other 2 cases did not meet the criteria for analysis. ISP was administered in combination with one of the second generation cephems among cefotiam (CTM), cefmetazole (CMZ), or cefuroxime (CXM) for 26 cases of wound infection and 7 cases of peritonitis. The overall efficacy rate was 88%; 92% in wound infection and 71% in peritonitis individually. There was no significant difference in efficacy among different groups. Bacteriological study showed the combination use of any one of the second generation cephems and ISP was very effective in all 14 cases of infections with a single species of bacterium, the efficacy rate was 100%. It was also effective in 9 out of 10 cases with mixed infections of 2 species of bacteria (90%), but effectiveness was diminished in only 6 out of 9 cases with mixed infections of 3 species (67%). Sixty-nine strains were isolated from the 35 cases, more than half of which (44 strains) were Gram-negative; 14 strains of E. coli (20%), 13 strains of E. faecalis (13%) and 6 strains of P. aeruginosa (9%). The MIC50 and MIC90 were, respectively, 1.56 micrograms/ml and 100 micrograms/ml for ISP, 6.25 micrograms/ml and 100 micrograms/ml for CTM, 12.5 micrograms/ml and 100 micrograms/ml for CMZ, and 25 micrograms/ml and 100 micrograms/ml for CXM. The MICs in any combination uses decreased synergistically according to ISP concentration. Adverse events were observed in 3 out of 35 cases, but they were not severe. The results indicated that the combination use of a second generation cephem and ISP was useful and should be one of the choices for the treatment of post-operative infections of the lower digestive tract.

1. To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of imipenem/cilastatin sodium (IPM/CS) in severe infections associated with hematopoietic disorders, IPM/CS was administered to a total of 105 patients. 2. Out of 96 patients evaluable for efficacy, clinical responses were excellent in 23 patients, good in 30, fair in 15, poor in 19 and unknown in 9, and the overall response rate was 60.9%. 3. The most common underlying hematopoietic disease was acute non-lymphocytic leukemia and the most common infections were sepsis and suspected sepsis. 4. Daily dose, severity of infection and neutrophil count had effects on the clinical response. 5. The overall eradication rate of bacteria was 83.7%. 6. Side effects were observed in 10 patients (9.5%) and abnormal laboratory test results in 12 (11.4%). From the above findings, we have concluded that IPM/CS is very useful for the treatment of severe infections in compromised patients with hematopoietic diseases.

Five patients with advanced extragonadal germ cell tumor (EGGCT) were treated with cisplatinum + vinblastine + bleomycin (BVP) or cisplatinum + etoposide + bleomycin (BEP) chemotherapy as an induction therapy. All patients had high levels of tumor markers and multiple distant metastasis in poor nutritious conditions. Two patients given BVP therapy died 6 and 9 months after the chemotherapy. By contrast, three patients given BEP therapy achieved complete remission and were surviving longer than one year without any evidences of disease. Granulocytopenic fever was seen soon after the first course of BEP therapy. Prophylactic granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment, enabled two of them to receive full dose chemotherapy without any fever attacks. In conclusion, BEP chemotherapy is effective to EGGCT as well as far advanced testicular tumors and G-CSF treatment is useful for achievement of induction chemotherapy to advanced germ cell tumors.

Three kinds of thermoplastic/thermosetting polyimide blends have been prepared using three kinds of commercially available soluble polyimides(AL1051, PI2080, Ultem) and N, N′ – (methylenedi-p-phenylene) bismaleimide(BMI). The DSC thermograms of the polyimide blends showed exotherms at higher temperatures compared to BMI alone. The cure characteristics of the blends changed significantly according to the thermoplastic polyimide component. The fracture surfaces of PI2080 and Ultem blends, examined under a scanning electron microscope, showed distinct nodular morphological features. However, in the case of AL1051, which was derived from a aliphatic acid, this kind of phase separation was not observed. The mechanical properties of the blends were studied by using a thermomechanical analyzer. The blends yielded films with good mechanical properties even at high temperatures. The BMI component did not have any significant effect on the glass transition temperatures. However it showed improved mechanical properties at high temperatures. The blends were brittle compared with the thermoplastic polyimides. The tensile and electrical properties of the blends and their coefficients of thermal expansion were also studied.

A three-channel frequency-modulation telemetry system for the noninvasive measurement of cardiac output, rate of respiration, e.c.g. and basal transthoracic admittance of the unconstrained human subject is described. Tetrapolar admittance plethysmography has been employed to obtain the transthoracic admittance and its variations corresponding to the cardiac cycle and respiratory changes. Pulse duration modulation has been used in the transmitter system. The nonlinearity of the system is less than ±2·0%. The telemetry transmitter has a range of about 100 m, it weights approximately 200 g and is contained in a box measuring 150×100×50 mm. The batteries used provide a continuous life of 20 h. The system has been used to obtain data from normal subjects in different postures with breath hold and during normal respiration.

This research examined the effects of kainic-acid (KA)-induced hippocampal lesions on the acquisition of a jump-box avoidance task in mice. When the hippocampal lesion was unilateral, mice with lesions in the lateral portion of the CA1 region showed deficits in acquisition while those with lesions in the CA3 region and/or the medial portion of the CA1 region did not. When the hippocampal lesion was bilateral, on the other hand, mice with lesions in the CA3 region and/or the lateral portion of the CA1 region were deficient in acquisition while those with lesions in the medial portion of the CA1 region were not. Among the mice with various KA-induced hippocampal lesions avoidance responses were not correlated with the level of open field activity, indicating that acquisition differences observed are not dependent upon, nor secondary to, levels of spontaneous activity. These results strongly suggest that there exist regional differences in the involvement of hippocampal pyramidal cell layers in acquisition of the jump-box avoidance task: both the CA3 region and the lateral portion of the CA1 region are involved in acquisition, while the medial portion of the CA1 region is not.

By means of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, the influence of the red tide species Chattonella antiqua was examined with respect to the surface ultrastructures of chloride cells of the yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata. Conspicuous ultrastructural alterations occurred on the apical surface of these cells. The majority of chloride cells in the control gills showed an apical surface with numerous cellular extensions, while more than half the chloride cells affected by red tide organisms exhibited an apical surface with fewer and smaller extensions, a wrinkled apical surface, or a protruded apical surface. These ultrastructural alterations of chloride cell surface may be due to the partial disturbance of salinity by C. antiqua, and reflect the changes of the ion-transport function in yellowtail gills exposed to red tide water.