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In this paper, we propose a new discrete-time cellular neural network (CNN) model for extracting a particular moving object, based on the CNN paradigm. Since the CNN-type filter has only spatially local interconnections and the number of connections between neurons is relatively few, the required computation in the learning phase is a reasonable amount. Instead, the output/input behavior of designed CNN filters is restrictive. Therefore it is significant that the structure of network model be discussed. The proposed CNN filter is formed by cascade connecting two 3-layer CNNs. In order to train the weighting factors, the backpropagation method is applied. Through simulations, it is shown that the target object is enhanced in the noisy environment.

In mobile satellite communication system, circularly polarized omnidirectional antennas are preferable for vehicle antennas because a satellite tracking system in azimuth direction is not necessary. As one type of these antennas, a quadrifilar helical antenna (QHA) has been proposed. A QHA can radiate a circularly polarized conical beam. It is desired that the elevation angle of the beam direction can become variable corresponding to the attitude of the vehicles. The conical radiation pattern characteristics of a QHA are analyzed numerically and the parameters used to change the beam direction are investigated.

A simple loop antenna without loading is introduced to radiate a circularly-polarized wave with a broad bandwidth. This antenna consists of a rhombic loop with one point opened and located above a ground plane. A proposed technique to control the current distribution is (1) to open one point at an appropriate position on the loop and (2) to change the loop configuration. The antenna characteristics including axial ratio, current distribution, radiation pattern and input impedance are calculated by the method of moments. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured data. >

The received and scattered power of a receiving wire antenna are calculated by the method of moments and the relationship between the scattered and received power is investigated. >

In this paper, we propose an automatic ultramicro manipulation system equipped with visual feedback function, the nano-hand-eye system, and emphasize the necessity of the visual control to execute tasks in the ultramicro world. The constructed nano-hand-eye system proves its effectiveness through the scratching task of a thin line with uniform width in the desired direction. >

An effective evaluation technique for ACF (anisotropic conductive film) was established by measuring viscoelasticity characteristics, peel strength, and connection resistance before and after the ACF pressure cooker test (15 hr). It was confirmed that this technique is a useful method for selecting optimum ACF bonding conditions. It was clarified that an ACF having metal particles as conductive particles was the optimum ACF for 100- mu m-pitch bonding. The intention is to fabricate a high-resolution TFT-LCD (liquid crystal display) by using this evaluation method. >

A nanomanipulator system, called the nanorobot system, which allows humans to experience the nanometer world with their own sensitivities is proposed. The nanorobot system consists of left and right hand robots with highly sensitive force sensors in the chamber of stereo scanning electron microscope (SEM) which gives three-dimensional magnified image of the process site. A prototype of the nanorobot system is described. The effectiveness of the prototype system is demonstrated by the production of a microswitch in an aluminum substrate. >

A single feed dipole antenna to radiate a circularly polarized wave and to have a broad bandwidth has been introduced and its characteristics have been confirmed from both calculation and experiment. It is found that the axial ratio bandwidth (2/spl les/dB) of about 20% and the gain of 9 dB pre obtained.

Two types of circularly polarized linear antenna having a rhombic loop configuration are investigated. One type of circularly polarized antenna is a single feed dual rhombic loop antenna (DRLA). The DRLA consists of two rhombic loops of the same size and is located above an infinite ground plane. The other is a hula hoop antenna (HHA). The HHA is fed from a coaxial cable, of which the inner conductor is connected to the antenna itself and the outer conductor is connected to the ground plane. Two types of feed are introduced for each of the DRLA and the HHA. The antenna characteristics for each feed model are calculated by the method of moments. The results are in good agreement with the measured data.

In this paper, in order to confirm the effectiveness of using the balanced antenna structure, the performance of the balance-fed antenna system for a handset under the influence of a human head or hand is analyzed numerically and experimentally. As a human head model, the COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) 244 model, which has a spherical or cubic form, is used. The hand is simply simulated as the combined rectangular prism on the basis of the average size of human hands. The electromagnetic IE3D simulator by Zeland Software is used to obtain the antenna characteristics such as the current distribution and radiation pattern.

In order to reduce the effect of operator's hand and head on the handset antenna performance, a small NMHDA (normal mode helical dipole antenna), which has balanced terminals and is fed by a balanced line, is introduced and its performance, when it is built in the handset unit, is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The handset body is modeled by a rectangular conducting plate (ground plane), on which the NMHDA is placed, and the current distributions on the ground plane are analyzed by the electromagnetic IE3D simulator. The results are compared with the case of the unbalanced system, where the antenna is fed by an unbalanced line. It has been observed by the calculation that the current flow on the ground plane is very little as compared with the unbalanced system. These results imply that the operator's hand and head may affect very little on the handset antenna performance at the talk position. The radiation patterns are also analyzed.

Complete hydatidiform mole and coexistent fetus (CMCF) is a rare occurrence and is associated with an increased risk of persistent gestational trophoblastic diseases. The aim of this study was to reveal a potential risk factor and to determine optimum management of CMCF cases. Molar tissues are cytogenetically divided into two types, homozygous and heterozygous. The molar tissue of our case showed a 46, XY heterozygous complete mole. Genomic DNA was analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction using sets of unlabelled forward and Cy-5-labelled reverse primers for DNA marker loci. The patient developed persistent trophoblastic disease (PTD) with lung metastasis. Since 1980 there have been 13 reports (including our case) that cytogenetically revealed CMCF and clarified the clinical outcome. Nine of the 16 CMCF cases before 21 weeks of gestation and seven of the 12 CMCF cases after 22 weeks of gestation developed PTD. The incidence of PTD from CMCF was not related to the gestational age at termination or delivery. There were 10 case reports that analyzed the zygosity of a mole, heterozygous or homozygous. Two of six homozygous and three of four heterozygous moles in CMCF cases developed PTD. A heterozygous mole is thought to be a high risk factor for the incidence of PTD. Cytogenetic study is clinically useful for the optimum management of CMCF cases.

Severe pneumococcal pneumonia may precipitate both respiratory failure and neutropenia. The prognoses are considered to be very poor in such cases. We encountered three patients with pneumococcal pneumonia presenting respiratory failure and neutropenia, and successfully treated two. All three patients showed disseminated intravascular coagulation, and respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. Neutropenia was treated with granulyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), with methylpredonisolone administered by pulse therapy for 3 days to treat severe respiratory failure during the clinical course. All 3 patients were relieved of their respiratory failure at least for a few days following treatment. As a result of treatment with antibiotics and G-CSF, pneumococci disappeared from the patients' sputum. However, it has been reported that disintegration of the bacterial cell walls can release inflammatory components capable of causing secondary inflammatory reactions in the lung tissue. This suggested that the worsening respiratory failure experienced by our patients during their clinical course was a result of such reactions, and that methylpredonisolone was effective as the treatment of inflammation.

Cyclophosphamide (CPA)-induced hemorrhagic cystitis is sometimes difficult to manage. We investigated the mucosal changes in patients subjected to CPA therapy in relation to the duration and accumulating dose of CPA.Fifteen patients, all of whom were receiving CPA, were studied. Investigation of the dose and duration of CPA administration, urinalysis and cystoscopy was performed.The total doses of CPA administered ranged from 2.5 to 237.0 g, and the duration of administration ranged from 4 to 130 months. Four patients with hematuria (micro or macro) showed various degrees of mucosal hyperemia and telangiectasia. Of 11 patients without microhematuria, 6 patients also revealed mucosal changes distinctive of CPA-induced hemorrhagic cystitis. CPA-induced cystitis with no hematuria insidiously progressed in the patients who received CPA orally at a total dose of more than 40 g and/or for longer than 36 months.Early mucosal lesion of the urinary bladder, which will most likely be followed by CPA-induced hemorrhagic cystitis, may develop prior to the appearance of microscopic hematuria. Periodic prophylactic cystoscopy is recommend in patients receiving CPA.

A two-stage 4 K Modified-Solvay cycle cryocooler1, which is a pneumatically driven Gifford — McMahon cryocooler and will be used for the conduction-cooled low temperature superconducting magnets, has been optimized by numerical and experimental study. After the optimization, the maximum cooling capacity of 36.5 W at 35 K on the first stage and 1.08 W at 4.2 K on the second stage with 6.7 kW input power has been obtained. This is the world’s first pneumatically driven G-M cryocooler which has over 1 W cooling capacity at 4.2 K. In this paper, experimental and numerical results of the influence of the valve opening timing and the displacer motion concerning the cooling capacity are described. The experimentally obtained optimum P-V diagram and valve timing are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results. And the reliability tests (over 100 times of cool-down and warm-up cycle, and over 3,000 hours continuous operation) were successfully conducted. It can be expected that this 4 K cryocooler has a high reliability equivalent to the commercial G-M cryocoolers which operate above 10 K on the 2nd stage temperature.

The retrospective study was aimed at assessing the usefulness of the application of the criteria of SIRS for identifying a subset of patients with higher mortality in 22 cases (21 patients) of liver cirrhosis with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIH) and 16 cases (14 patients) of liver cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma with upper GIH. The following results were obtained; (1) The incidence of SIRS on upper GIH was 66%. (2) The mortality rate in patients with SIRS on GIH was significantly higher than in patients with non-SIRS on GIH in 60 days after GIH was significantly higher than in patients with non-SIRS on GIH in 60 days after GIH (50% vs. 8%; p0.01). (3) The rate of patients who met four criteria of SIRS on GIH or during admission and of patients whose durations of SIRS was over 5 days was significantly higher in the died patients with SIRS on GIH than in the survived patients with SIRS on GIH (67% vs. 0%; p0.01, 67% vs. 0%; p0.01, respectively). These results suggested that the application of the criteria of SIRS was useful for identifying a subset of patients with higher mortality in chronic liver disease with GIH.

MR spectroscopy(MRS) is a powerful method to evaluate brain metabolism directly and non-invasively. We developed 3D-CSI method as a multi-voxel MRS. It has some advantages or single-voxel MRS; 1) spectra in many voxels can be acquired simultaneously 2) Mapping of metabolites can be acquired 3) A small size voxel can be obtained. It make it possible to evaluate the change of NAA in wide area. In case of cerebral ischemia, we found the tendency that NAA decreases in fatal damage area and is normal in recoverable damage area. Therefore, we suppose that NAA could be a indicator of viability of neuron. It is necessary to coordinate the data from MRI/ MRS and PET/SPECT for analyzing the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia.

A quadrifilar helical antenna (QHA) can radiate a circularity polarized conical beam. In mobile satellite communication system, circularity polarized omnidirectional antennas are preferable for vehicle antennas because no satellite tracking system in the azimuth direction is necessary. The conical radiation pattern characteristics of the QHA with a constant arm length are analyzed numerically and parameters used to change the beam direction are investigated. When the antenna height changes with a constant arm length, the number of helical turns needs to be varied slightly in order to maintain the shape of a helical cylinder. In addition, by adjusting the antenna height, the elevation angle of the beam direction can be controlled with an almost constant gain. Moreover, for the purpose of reducing a backlobe, we proposed that a spiral antenna with one turn is connected to a QHA, which we call a quadrifilar helical-spiral antenna (QHSA), and its radiation pattern characteristics are investigated. Some experimental results are also presented.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the development of two-stage 4K cryocooler with modified Solvay cycle, and examines it by changing the displacer assemblies from conventional 20K cryocooler. It focuses on the regenerator material of 2nd displacer and its packing structure during developing two-stage 4K cryocooler with modified Solvay cycle by computer simulation and experiment. It calculates the cooling capacity by assuming the specific heat model. Maximum cooling capacity of 0.93 W has been achieved at 4.2K. Packing quantity of regenerator in 2nd displacer is approximately half for the reported motor driven cryocooler. By computer simulation for 2nd displacer, specific heat of hot end regenerator doesn't give influence on cooling capacity, but cold end specific heat effects greatly. For the pneumatic driven cryocooler, suitable characteristic of regenerator becomes clear to some degree. This chapter concludes by discussing the investigation results of 2nd regenerator.

Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) established the GPS Regional Array for PrEcise Surveying (the Grapes) and started the operation from October, 1994. Since the start of the operation, three large earthquakes took place in Japan; the 1994 Kurile Islands (Hokkaido-Toho-Oki) earthquake (M8.1), the 1994 Far-Off-Sanriku earthquake (M7.5), and the 1995 Kobe earthquake (M7.2). We applied a post-processing kinematic analysis for the GPS data from these earthquakes to investigate crustal deformations with high temporal resolution. We will discuss the possibility of using a dense GPS array as seismographs for monitoring crustal deformation in a seismo-geodetic band.

Rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed in a 48-year-old woman. She received a gold compound, and 4 weeks after the start of that therapy, interstitial pneumonia appeared. Findings from a muscle biopsy, and high serum CPK and LDH levels indicated that she suffered from polymyositis rather than rheumatoid arthritis. The result of a drug lymphocyte stimulation test (DLST) for the gold compound was more than 200%. Because the usefulness of the DLST for the gold compound in the diagnosis of gold pneumonitis is not thoroughly established, the DLST was also done in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were receiving the gold compound without side effects, and in normal subjects. Many of the rheumatoid arthritis patients and some of the normal subjects had a positive response to the gold compound. Therefore a positive response on the DLST for the gold compound does not always support the diagnosis of gold pneumonitis.

Minimal residual disease (MRD) was prospectively monitored at the 10(-5) level by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of PML-retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) transcripts from 27 acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients who achieved complete remission (CR) with all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy (previously untreated patients, 15; refractory to chemotherapy or relapsed, 12). The RNA quality from bone marrow cells was firstly assessed by gel electrophoresis to avoid false negativity because of the fragility of the APL cells and the PML-RARA transcripts. In 12 of 15 untreated patients, RT-PCR became negative during consolidation and intensification therapy 4-16 months after the initiation of therapy, whereas it remained positive in nine of 12 refractory patients. At the end of therapy, RT-PCR was negative in 14 patients and positive in 13 patients. The former patients remained in CR at median follow-up of 9 months after the end of therapy. In the latter, however, 10 patients relapsed at a median of 5 months after the end of therapy. These results suggest that the RT-PCR assay can evaluate the quality of CR in APL and predict subsequent relapse.

It is reported that a rhombic loop antenna the perimeter of which is about 1.3 lambda /sub 0/( lambda /sub 0/: centre wavelength) can radiate circular polarisation (Morishita and Hirashawa, 1994). This antenna can have a traveling wave type current distribution, which has approximately a constant amplitude and a linearly changing phase. This current distribution is realized by making one point open or loading an infinitely large impedance on the proper position of the loop. In the present paper, two types of single feed dual rhombic loop antennas for circular polarization are proposed. Each antenna consists of two rhombic loops of the same size and is located above an infinite ground plane. The antenna characteristics including axial ratio, current distribution, radiation pattern and input impedance are calculated by the method of moments with respect to the gap position, the rhombus vertex angle and the feed type. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured data.

Removal of adrenal adenoma of Cushing's syndrome is believed to be more troublesome than primary aldosteronism because of large amount of retroperitoneal adipose tissue and bleeding from the fat. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for Cushing's syndrome and comparison of the results of laparoscopic adrenalectomy between primary aldosteronism and Cushing's syndrome.From January 17, 1992, to July 31, 1993, laparoscopic adrenalectomies for functioning adrenal lesions were performed in 14 patients (five men, nine women), three of whom had Cushing's syndrome and 11 of whom had primary aldosteronism.Operative times (mean +/- SD) for primary aldosteronism and Cushing's syndrome were 269.0 +/- 100.9 minutes and 253.7 +/- 57.9 minutes, respectively. No difference was noted in operative time, operative bleeding, and postoperative recovery between them. However, the weight of removed tissue from patients with Cushing's syndrome (20.00 +/- 8.17 gm) was greater than that from those with primary aldosteronism (6.64 +/- 2.01 gm). No operative complications occurred in patients with Cushing's syndrome. Ultrasonic aspiration and argon-beam coagulation were useful for laparoscopic adrenalectomy in patients with Cushing's syndrome.Cushing's syndrome may be a good indication for laparoscopic operation.

SRPX2 (Sushi repeat-containing protein, X-linked 2) has recently emerged as a multifunctional protein that is involved in seizure disorders, angiogenesis and cellular adhesion. Here, we analyzed this protein biochemically. SRPX2 protein was secreted with a highly post-translational modification. Chondroitinase ABC treatment completely decreased the molecular mass of purified SRPX2 protein to its predicted size, whereas heparitinase, keratanase and hyaluroinidase did not. Secreted SRPX2 protein was also detected using an anti-chondroitin sulfate antibody. These results indicate that SRPX2 is a novel chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG). Furthermore, a binding assay revealed that hepatocyte growth factor dose-dependently binds to SRPX2 protein, and a ligand–glycosaminoglycans interaction was speculated to be likely in proteoglycans. Regarding its molecular architecture, SRPX2 has sushi repeat modules similar to four other CSPGs/lecticans; however, the molecular architecture of SRPX2 seems to be quite different from that of the lecticans. Taken together, we found that SRPX2 is a novel CSPG that is overexpressed in gastrointestinal cancer cells. Our findings provide key glycobiological insight into SRPX2 in cancer cells and demonstrate that SRPX2 is a new member of the cancer-related proteoglycan family.

Background Pemetrexed (PEM) to be a multitargeted antifolate agent is effective for non-squamous (non-sq) NSCLC. Functional polymorphisms of thymidylate synthase (TS), the reduced folate carrier (SCL19A1) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which are important enzymes in folate metabolism, have been shown to be correlated with the outcome in patients receiving methotrexate. Recently, the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of MTHFR was reported to be correlated with a good prognosis in patients receiving PEM. Purpose We retrospectively examined the significance of SNP in MTHFR, SCL19A1 or variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) in TS as the prognostic factor or the predictive marker for side-effects of PEM. Method Non-Sq NSCLC patients treated with PEM were included in this study. After the PCR amplification of extracted lymphocyte DNA, analysis of sequencing or VNTR in target region was carried out. This study was approved on IRB (#504). Results The frequency of SNP in 35 cases is A1298C (A/A, 37%; A/C, 57%; C/C, 6%), C677T (C/C, 34%; C/T, 57%; T/T, 9%), SCL19A1 (G/G, 24%; G/A, 55%; A/A, 21%), TS tandem repeat (3R/3R, 63%; 2R/3R, 34%; 2R/2R, 3%). The final result of the correlation between PEM and response, overall survival, progression-free survival or side-effects will be reported in this congress.

Although laparoscopic technique has become popular in the surgical field, the value of laparoscopy in the removal of adrenal gland is unknown. The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of laparoscopic adrenalectomy.Between January 17, 1992, and March 16, 1993, 10 patients (four men, six women; mean, 48.2 years of age) with primary aldosteronism underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy (seven of left adrenal gland and three of right adrenal gland) with almost the same devices as laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Adrenal tumors were successfully removed with adjacent normal adrenal gland in every patient. The operative time ranged from 165 to 572 minutes (mean, 295 minutes), and the operative bleeding ranged from 50 to 920 ml (mean, 270.5 ml) without requiring blood transfusion. Only one patient required open hemostasis because of uncontrollable bleeding complicated by dislocation of vascular clip in spite of successful laparoscopic removal of adrenal tumor. There was no major complication except for this case.Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is a relatively safe, alternative operative method for primary aldosteronism, but application of this technique to other types of adrenal lesions remains to be studied.

A case of double inferior vena cava associated with congenital hydronephrosis is reported. A 6-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with the chief complaint of severe left flank pain of sudden onset which occurred after she fell down some steps. Abdominal computerized tomographic (CT) scan revealed a huge perinephric urinoma, severe left hydronephrosis with obstructive atrophy and double inferior vena cava. Left nephrectomy was performed under a diagnosis of traumatic rupture of the left renal pelvis associated with left congenital hydronephrosis and double inferior vena cava. Rupture of the renal pelvis and ureteropelvic junction obstruction with severe parenchymal thinning were found. The postoperative course was uneventful. Double inferior vena cava is a relatively rare anomaly and most cases in recent years have been incidentally found by ultrasonography and CT scan. Urologists should keep in mind the possibility of this anomaly of the inferior vena cava, especially when reforming left nephrectomy.

This study analyses the reduction of mutual coupling between two L-shaped folded monopole antennas (LFMAs) operating at 2 GHz on the finite ground plane. Firstly, the change in mutual coupling with respect to the spacing between the two elements in two array models is investigated and the effects on the antenna efficiency are studied. Subsequently, the authors proposed an effective method to reduce mutual coupling by using a bridge line that links two antennas. From the viewpoint of mutual coupling and total antenna efficiency, it is desirable to place shorting strips of both LFMA elements in such a manner that they face each other. Moreover, drastically reduced mutual coupling and improved total antenna efficiency can be obtained by linking two feeding strips with a bridge line.

We acquired dynamic images over the whole liver by inversion recovery snap shot FLASH method after a bolus intravenous injection of Gadolinium-DTPA. Each nodule of hepatoma in the liver showed early enhancement and gradually turned to show low intensity. In two cases of hepatoma, small intrahepatic metastases, which were not detected by US, CT and spin-echo image of MRI, were suspected as high intensity nodules on early phase. Also recurrent areas after TAE were enhanced on early phase. This method is practical for improving the detection of lesions and is useful for evaluating the recurrence after TAE.

Urethral stricture following transurethral resection of the prostate (TUR-P) is closely related to the electrical resistance and current leakage of appliances. Electrical resistance and leakage were therefore investigated in 7 old bipolar loops, 3 new bipolar loops (1, 2 and 3) used for TUR-P, 2 new bipolar loops (4 and 5) for TUR-bladder tumor (TUR-Bt), and 4 new monopolar loops (6 through 9) for TUR-P. Two of the 7 old bipolar loops were found to be positive and 5 negative for current leakage. The 2 positive loops had resistances of 4.4 and 17 ohm . Before use, the electrical resistance of the 5 new bipolar loops (1 to 5) ranged from 0.5 to 0.6 ohm. The resistance of loop 1 was less than 5 ohm after the sixth use, and that of loop 3 was 2.8 ohm after the fifth use. By contrast, loop 2 exhibited resistance of 115 ohm after the third use. The average operation time for loops 1, 2 and 3 were 66, 64 and 62 minutes. Loop 4 showed resistance of 14 ohm after the third use, and loop 5 1 ohm even after the sixth use. Furthermore, none of the 5 loops showed current leakage. On the other hand, all 4 monopolar loops (6 through 9) exhibited current leakage after the first use, and showed relatively high electrical resistance. These findings demonstrate the necessity of timely replacement of bipolar loops and the exchange of monopolar loops after the first use.

Bow-tie antennas with folded elements are investigated. Simulations and measurements show that the lowest operation frequency (VSWR≤2) is lowered by the addition of the folded elements. This means that antenna area can be reduced by 49% (with one folded element) and 71% (with two folded elements), if the lowest operation frequency is not changed.

Subcostal transabdominal incision with midline extension is excellent for removal of large renal or adrenal tumors, or bilateral or retroperitoneal tumors. This incision is simple and gives a wide surgical field without involving the pleural cavity. No troublesome complications resulting from this approach have occurred.

1. A novel approach using a Gaussian white noise as stimulus is described which allowed quantitative analysis of neuronal responses in the cercal system of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Cerci were stimulated by air displacement which was modulated by a sinusoidal and a white noise signal. During the stimulation, intracellular recordings were made from a uniquely identifiable, nonspiking, local interneuron which locates within the terminal abdominal ganglion. The white noise stimulation was cross-correlated with the evoked response to compute first- and second-order kernels that could define the cell's response dynamics. 2. The interneuron, cell 101, has an exceptionally large transverse neurite that connects two asymmetrical dendritic arborizations located on both sides of the ganglion. 3. The first-order Wiener kernels in cell 101 were biphasic (differentiating). The waveforms of the kernels produced by the ipsilateral and contralateral stimulations were roughly mirror images of each other: the kernels produced by wind stimuli on the side ipsilateral to the cell body of the interneuron are initially depolarized and then hyperpolarized, whereas those on the other side are initially hyperpolarized. The polarity reversal occurred along the midline of the animal's body, and no well-defined kernel was produced by a stimulus directed head on or from the tail. 4. Mean square error (MSE) between the actual response and the model prediction suggests that the linear component in cell 101 comprises half of the cell's total response (MSEs for the linear models were about 50% at preferred directions), whereas the second-order, non-linear component is insignificant. The linear component of the wind-evoked response was bandpass with the preferred frequency of 70-90 Hz. 5. Accounting for a noise, we reasonably assumed that at high frequencies the graded response in cell 101 is linearly related to a modulation of the air displacement and sensitive to the rate of change of the signal (i.e., wind velocity) and the direction of its source. It is suggested that the dynamics of the first-order kernel simply reflect the dynamics of sensory receptors that respond linearly to wind stimulation.

We treated a 43-year-old man with recurrent malignant fibrous histiocytoma in right distal femur with intra-arterial infusion of cisplatin and caffeine 5 years after wide excision and chemotherapy. At the time of the first recurrence in the lateral aspect of thigh, intra-arterial infusion of CDDP (120 mg/m2) was ineffective. We treated him with radiation (7000 rad), and there was no evidence of tumor by radiological evaluation. The second local recurrence was treated with intra-arterial infusion of CDDP (120 mg/m2/1 hour) and caffeine (1.2 g/m2/24 hours x 3 days), and the tumor disappeared, radiologically and histologically. Caffeine did not increase the nephrotoxicity of CDDP, and no insomnia nor palpitation was seen. Intra-arterial infusion of CDDP and caffeine could be useful to increase the effect of CDDP for regional chemotherapy.

A folded loop antenna for handsets has already been introduced and shown as one of the balance-feed antennas for handsets, which is very effective at mitigating the antenna performance degradation owing to body effects. In order to meet the requirements for the latest handsets such as small size and wideband characteristics, a folded loop antenna is modified to have wider band characteristics. A folded loop antenna has a self-balanced structure so that the current on the ground plane (GP) can be reduced even though an antenna is fed by an unbalanced line such as coaxial cable. The antenna, which is introduced here, is also expected to maintain this effect. In the analysis, the electromagnetic simulator based on the method of moments (MoM) is used. Also design parameters, which are useful in practical operation, are found. An example of a wideband antenna, which has a self-balanced effect, is designed based on these parameters. In addition, antenna characteristics such as VSWR, the current distributions and the radiation patterns are shown. As a result, it has been confirmed that the antenna has wideband characteristics and a self-balanced effect.

A simple and successful design method that yields a wideband and compact antenna without a ground plane is proposed. The antenna, referred to as the folded loop antenna, can, with the right parameters, achieve wideband characteristics. Calculated and measured results agree well and more than 50% bandwidth (return loss ≤−10 dB) is obtained.

A built-in folded monopole antenna for handsets (BFMA) is introduced and investigated. The characteristics of the BFMA are compared with those of a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), which is one of the conventional handset antennas. As a result, it has been confirmed that the BFMA has smaller size and wider bandwidth compared with the PIFA.