Search

Ferroelectric thin film, which is a kind of functional dielectric, especially provided with hysteresis characteristics in P-E curve, has drawn wide attention in the LSI field, because of its ideal features, like nonvolatility and fast programming operation at low voltage. From various points of view, for example, academic, industry and so on, basic studies have been drastically advanced for this decade. Recently, ferroelectric memory, called FeRAM, succeeds practically in volume production. At this stage, interestis in the theoretical prediction of life of the products and their application to logic devices. This paper has described a leading study on reliability physics and some applications of ferroelectric dielectric technology. Finally promising perspectives on the ferroelectric dielectric technology are shown.

The Association of Electronic Technology for Automobile Traffic and Driving (JSK) launched an electric vehicle-sharing demonstration in the Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 (MM21) area in October 1999. JSK aims to develop an EV-sharing system that a company or a local government could operate feasibly on a constant basis. The demonstration EV-sharing system consists of a ration center, EV stations and EVs. Vehicles are linked to the operations center via a cellular phone-based packet data communications service. Some 250 business people took part in the demonstration. The results of a user survey indicate that the system was evaluated satisfactorily for the most part by the participants.

In this paper we present a new technique to restore the 3-D facial shape using a stereo camera and the pseudorandom colored slit ray pattern. Because of the flatness of the forehead and cheeks and changeless complexion on the face, it is rather difficult to find the corresponding points on the left and right stereographic facial images. To overcome this difficulty, we project a red and green slit ray pattern on a face by an overhead projector. From the coordinates of the corresponding colored slits on the left and right images, we acquire the depth information and then restore the facial shape. To verify the exactness of the restored facial shape, we rotate the restored face and extracted the contour line of the profile and compared with the profile of the same subject. The result shows a remarkable coincidence of two images and this proves the usefulness of the proposed technique.

Thrombosis-inducing activity (TIA) is a factor which was recently identified in plasma from patients with advanced lung cancer and acute respiratory tract infection. In the present study, TIA was measured during periods of attack and nonattack in patients with the allergic and nonallergic type of asthma and pulmonary emphysema with an asthmatic component. In the allergic type of asthma, the attack was accompanied by the appearance of TIA, but when the attack ended it disappeared from plasma. In the nonallergic type of asthma and emphysema with an asthmatic component, TIA remained negative even during the attack. These observations indicate that TIA has some correlations with allergic asthma.

Remote lung injury is induced by ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) of the gastrointestinal tract and the liver following hypovolaemic shock. In the present study, the role of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC), a member of the interleukin (IL)-8 family, in neutrophil-mediated remote lung injury following intestinal I/R was investigated in anaesthetized rats.The I/R group was subjected to 60 min of occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery with laparotomy, followed by 240 min of intestinal reperfusion. The sham-operated (sham) group was subjected to the same procedures with the exception of intestinal I/R.In the I/R group, the permeability index of the lung, the neutrophil count in pulmonary vascular lavage fluid and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lung myeloperoxidase activity and neutrophil oxidative production were all significantly greater than those in the sham group. Cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 levels in blood and BALF were significantly increased at 240 min after intestinal reperfusion. There was a significant relationship between neutrophils in BALF and CINC-1 level in BALE CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that intestinal reperfusion was associated with activation and accumulation of neutrophils in the lung and resulted in remote lung injury with increased microvascular permeability. Thus, CINC-1 in BALF may induce neutrophil migration from the pulmonary vessels to the interstitium and alveolar spaces in remote lung injury after intestinal I/R.

The main target organs of myeloperoxidase (MPO) antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-related disease are the kidney and lung. This report describes a 71-year-old man with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) and interstitial pneumonitis associated with MPO ANCA. The patient was admitted to our hospital because of bloody sputum, low grade fever and appetite loss on October, 1998. He was diagnosed as having interstitial pneumonitis from the findings of chest X-ray and CT examinations. Moderate proteinuria and hematuria, renal dysfunction(serum creatinine: 5.6 mg/dl, BUN: 58.0 mg/dl) and positivity for MPO ANCA were noted. He was negative for anti-glomerular antibody and PR3-ANCA. Renal biopsy was performed and revealed crescentic glomerulonephritis without deposition of immunoglobulins. Therefore, the diagnosis of pauci immune type RPGN was made. Pulse therapy with methylprednisolone(1.0 g/day x 3 days) following oral administration of prednisolone (60 mg/day) found marked improvement of renal function maintenance and interstitial pneumonitis, respectively. However, he died because of lung tuberculosis and acute tuberculous pericarditis during treatment with prednisolone. In this case, MPO ANCA might have been directly associated with both RPGN and interstitial pneumonitis. Furthermore, chronic lung disease, such as interstitial pneumonitis, is important as a preceding disease of RPGN. MPO ANCA-related disease is more frequent in aged persons, therefore particular attention should be paid during their treatment with an immunosuppressant.

The dual Ginzburg-Landau (DGL) theory corresponding to the SU(3) gluodynamics in Abelian projection is formulated in a Weyl symmetric way. The Weyl symmetric DGL theory can be regarded as the sum of three types of the U(1) dual Abelian Higgs (DAH) model. As an application of this approach, the hadronic flux-tube solution corresponding to the baryonic state is investigated adopting the similar techniques used in the U(1) DAH model. The string representation of the DGL theory is also discussed in a Weyl symmetric way.

Magnetic moment of a relativistic three-body system of Dirac particles is studied. Special attention is paid to the Lorentz boost of the center of mass coordinate, which allows us to take the correct non-relativistic limit of the matrix element of the electromagnetic interaction.

Using direct measurement, we investigated entrance surface doses of patients for routine radiographs in attempt to develop evaluation methods of patient dose in order to establish the guidance level in Japan. To date, patient doses have been evaluated by calculations based on radiographic conditions, or model experiments using phantoms. Their patient doses are then evaluated based on several assumptions. Direct measurement of patient dose is difficult to perform in many patients due to its time requirement, level of expertise required and difficulty in providing an explanation of the procedure to the patient. However, such direct measurement is essential since it incorporates all aspects of radiography from the radiographic equipment used, to the actual conditions of each patient without assumption. In this study, we examined the (1) need for introducing the guidance level, (2) controversial points in the calculation method for patient dose evaluation, (3) evaluation accuracy required for introducing the guidance level, and (4) necessity for a standardized method.

Early reperfusion and good antegrade flow are essential in restoring better regional left ventricular function in acute myocardial infarction, but they do not always correlate with the extent of recovery. This study evaluated coronary circulation using the new "pressure wire" technique to measure the direct pressure of the coronary circulation including antegrade and collateral flow before and after reperfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction, and to clarify the influence of these variables on recovery of left ventricular function in the convalescent stage. Fifty six consecutive patients with first acute myocardial infarction underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty(PTCA) for totally occluded or severely narrowed infarct-related lesion and evaluation of coronary circulation using pressure wire. Left ventriculography was analyzed at 1 month after the onset in 41 patients. Treatment variables including reperfusion time, reperfusion modality, Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction(TIMI) grade after PTCA, and pressure wire variables were compared with parameters of left ventricular function. Reperfusion time was not related to regional wall motion evaluated by the SD chord of left ventriculography in the infarcted zone. Pressure wire measurements showed a correlation between fractional flow reserve measured after PTCA and infarcted regional wall motion(r = 0.558, p0.01). Patients with infarct-related lesion in the right coronary artery showed the magnitude of left ventricular regional wall motion was related to fractional collateral flow reserve(maxQc/Qn) during PTCA(r = 0.768, p0.05), but no such relationship was observed in patients with infarct-related lesion in the left anterior descending artery. Fractional flow reserve measured after PTCA varied widely in patients with the same TIMI flow grade, so did not vary with it. The pressure wire technique enables assessment of the collateral circulation distal to infarct-related lesion quantitatively before reperfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The fractional flow reserve derived by coronary pressure after reperfusion was significantly related to the recovery of regional wall motion in the infarcted area in the convalescent stage. The fractional flow reserve after reperfusion with PTCA is a better parameter than TIMI flow grade for predicting recovery of regional left ventricular function after myocardial infarction.

We evaluated the feasibility of high-dose CEP (cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2, epirubicin 90 mg/m2, cis-platinum 70 mg/m2) therapy, with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor support every 21 days, in 18 patients with advanced and recurrent ovarian cancer. Ten patients (56%) received 6 cycles of this regimen as planned. Toxicities more than grade 3/4 on' the WHO scale of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were observed in all cases. Nausea, vomiting, mucositis, malaise, alopecia, hepatotoxicity, and fever were common adverse effects. The average relative dose intensity of cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, cis-platinum was 0.77, 0.77, 0.79 respectively, and each RDI decreased in the last two cycles. These data suggest that this regimen could be performed safely with careful consideration on hepatotoxicity and thrombocytopenia.

There have been several case reports, a total of 22 up to the present, of toxoplasma pericarditis. Out of them, in only a few cases the diagnosis was properly made with a proof of the microscopic presence of Toxoplasma gondii. This is the first report of toxoplasma pericarditis in which the presence of Toxoplasma gondii was detected by polymerase chain reaction of pericardial effusion. In addition, the previous reports will be reviewed, and compared to this present case. A 29-year-old woman, without immunosuppressant disorder, suffering from fever and orthopnea was admitted to our hospital. Blood chemistry findings indicated mild liver dysfunction and inflammation. Chest radiography showed cardiac enlargement. Electrocardiography showed sinus tachycardia and ST elevation. Echocardiography revealed a massive pericardial effusion. Pericardiocentesis demonstrated 638 ml of bloody fluid. Cytologic study of the fluid was class II for malignancy, and polymerase chain reaction to tuberculosis was negative. However, a high titer of the anti-toxoplasma antibody of 1: 20,480 (passive hemagglutination) indicated pericarditis caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Subsequently, Toxoplasma gondii was identified in the pericardial effusion by polymerase chain reaction. Clinical symptoms improved after pericardiocentesis, but 2 months later pericarditis recurred. Treatment was started with 800 mg acetylspiramycin daily but failed to improve the symptoms. Because of the development of pleuritis, treatment was changed to sulfadoxine 1,000 mg/pyrimethamine 50 mg. After the treatment with them, her symptoms improved. Only 22 cases of toxoplasma pericarditis have been reported worldwide and 15 of those cases were without immunosuppressant disorder. The usual symptoms at the onset of pericarditis without immunosuppressant disorder are fever, dyspnea and chest pain. Seven patients developed cardiac tamponade. Pericardiocentesis was performed in 8 cases and the pericardial fluid was hemorrhagic in 6. Pericardial thickening was detected in 5 cases. The diagnosis of toxoplasma infection is very difficult, because asymptomatic infection of Toxoplasma gondii is very common. Pericarditis is a disease difficult to confirm the etiology. Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in pericardial effusion by the polymerase chain reaction is very useful for its diagnosis.

A 59-year-old man presented with a left anterior descending coronary artery to left ventricular fistula manifesting as myocardial infarction, representing the coronary steal phenomenon. Electrocardiography showed poor R progression in leads V1 through V3. The biochemical markers of myocardial injury were elevated. Creatine kinase level was 509 IU/l, creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB)47 IU/l, cardiac troponin T 0.62 ng/ml, myosin light chain 6.1 ng/ml, and myoglobin 142 ng/ml. Thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging with dobutamine stress showed a dobutamine-induced perfusion deficit of the anteroseptal wall of the left ventricle with 0.1 mV ST-segment depression in II, III, aVF, V5, and V6. The mean left anterior descending blood flow measured with the Doppler guidewire was increased from 211 to 378 ml/min. Selective coronary arteriography showed dominant left coronary artery with the contrast medium streaming into the left ventricle via a maze of fine vessels from the distal left anterior descending coronary artery. No critical stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery was observed. Administration of acetylcholine 100 micrograms into the left coronary artery did not induce vasoconstriction of that artery. The fistula terminating in the left ventricle was ligated surgically and the patient became free of chest pain. Thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging with dobutamine stress revealed no perfusion deficit of the anteroseptal wall of the left ventricle. The presence of coronary steal phenomenon was detected by dobutamine stress myocardial imaging.

We study electromagnetic transitions of excited baryons in a deformed oscillator quark model, where baryon excited states are described as rotational bands of deformed intrinsic states. We describe all necessary tools to compute transition amplitudes in multipole basis, which are then related to the commonly used helicity amplitudes. We pay a special attention on the sign of the amplitudes as well as their absolute values by computing the photon and pion couplings simultaneously. We have found that the effect of deformation on the transition amplitudes is rather weak. The difficulty in reproducing the empirical amplitude of the Roper state is discussed., 29 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX2e, epsf.sty and AMSLaTeX package are required; typos corrected, published version

Infective endocarditis still presents problems with early diagnosis, selection of antibiotics and timing of surgical procedure despite modern antibiotics and investigative procedures. A retrospective study was performed to clarify the clinical and microbiological spectrum of recent infective endocarditis in the Japanese population in 38 patients with infective endocarditis (mean age 42.7 +/- 12.5 years) treated from March 1986 to March 1996. The portal of entry to bacteremia was unknown in most cases (57.9%), but the commonest identified portal was dental procedure (18.4%). Overall, the aortic valve was infected most frequently (44.7%) and followed by the mitral valve (36.8%). The most common complication of infective endocarditis were emboli (11/38, 28.9%) and congestive heart failure, NYHA class III and IV (14/38, 36.8%). Organisms were isolated from 26 of the 38 (68.4%) patients. Streptococcus viridans was the most frequent organism (34.2%), and then Staphylococcus aureus (13.2%). The blood culture positivity of microorganism was significantly higher in patients not receiving antibiotics than in those the received antibiotics (87.5% vs 50%, p0.05). The prevalence of streptococcal endocarditis decreased in the 1990s (1992-1996) in comparison with those in the 1980s (1986-1988). Multiple antibiotics were used frequently in 1990s and the sensitivity titer to piperacillin reduced from 3.0 in the 1980s to 1.8 in the 1990s. In contrast to reduction of streptococcal endocarditis, Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis has increased recently from 12.5% to 30.8%. The most common clinical features are valve destruction, low sensitivity of penicillin, and significantly higher in-hospital mortality. Surgical treatment was indicated most commonly in cases of uncontrollable heart failure, and infected valves were replaced during the active stage in 11/23 cases (47.8%). In-hospital mortality was higher in the medical treatment group than in the surgical group, but a long-term mortality of mean observation term 4.2 +/- 3.2 years was identical in the chronic phase. In patients with infective endocarditis and successful treatment in the acute stage, a long-term survival rate in medically treated patients was found almost comparable to surgically treated patients in our series. However, it should be emphasized that streptococcal endocarditis is being replaced by infection by Staphylococcus aureus, which is resistant to penicillin and requires intensive chemotherapy and proper decision at suitable timing for surgical therapy in the early stage.

In order to evaluate the reliability of woodceramics when applied to snow heaters, the effect of an epoxy resin coating on the electric resistance and environment-proofing characteristics has been experimentally investigated by the use of heat-cycle tests and high temperature-exposure tests. It is found that in order to obtain a reliable coating on woodceramics, one must use a resin having both small coefficient of thermal expansion and high glass transition temperature, together with sufficient time for curing.

To examine whether primary hypercoagulable states, such as protein C and protein S deficiencies and antiphospholipid antibody, are associated with an increased risk, severity and recurrence of acute pulmonary thromboembolism, the blood levels of antithrombin III, protein C, protein S, lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin antibodies were measured in 23 patients with acute pulmonary thromboembolism, 7 men and 16 women (mean age +/- SD, 52 +/- 5 years), admitted to Nippon Medical School Hospital from January, 1990 through December, 1997. Four patients (17.4%) had protein C deficiency, one had protein S deficiency (4.3%), 10 had lupus anticoagulant (43.5%), and 2 had anticardiolipin antibodies (8.7%). Hemodynamic evaluation by Swan-Ganz catheter and venography of the lower extremity to detect deep venous thrombi were carried out in 20 and 21 patients, respectively. There were no differences between the patients with and without primary hypercoagulable states in age (52 +/- 14 vs 52 +/- 19 years), gender, or percentage of patients with deep venous thrombi in the lower extremity (91.7% vs 88.9%). Mean pulmonary arterial pressure (38 +/- 9 vs 26 +/- 4 mmHg, p0.05) and total pulmonary vascular resistance (10 +/- 5 vs 6 +/- 2 Wood unit, p0.1) were higher in the 13 patients with primary hypercoagulable states compared with the 10 patients without primary hypercoagulable states. Recurrence of pulmonary thromboembolism tended to be higher in the 13 patients with primary hypercoagulable states compared with the 10 patients without primary hypercoagulable states (46.2% vs 10.0%, p0.1). These findings suggest that primary hypercoagulable states, such as protein C and S deficiencies and antiphospholipid antibody, are associated with the severity and increased risk and recurrence of acute pulmonary thromboembolism.

The recently developed whole blood rapid assay for cardiac troponin T (TROP T) was evaluated by a cooperative study of general practitioners and office cardiologists in the Tokyo area (Tokyo TROP T Trial). Seventy patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction treated at 14 medical clinics were enrolled in this study. The diagnostic efficacy of troponin T was compared with that of electrocardiographic evaluations and clinical standards for diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. Twelve of the 70 patients (17.1%) had final diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction or severe unstable angina necessitating emergency coronary intervention. Troponin T was judged as positive when simultaneously measured serum troponin T was more than 0.25 ng/ml. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 100%, 58.6%, 33.3%, and 100% for electrocardiographic evaluation, and 58.3%, 100%, 100%, and 92.1% for troponin T, respectively. Presence of bundle branch block (11/70 cases) or previous myocardial infarction (14/70 cases) caused false positive readings on electrocardiography, and resulted in the lower positive predictive value. In contrast, troponin T was false in patients admitted within 4 hours after the onset, or patients with smaller infarct. The Tokyo TROP T Trial by general practitioners and office cardiologists concluded that the combination of electrocardiographic evaluation and use of troponin T is a rapid and efficient diagnostic method for the evaluation of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction.

We study theoretically the baryon spectra in terms of a deformed oscillator quark (DOQ) model. This model is motivated by confinement of quarks and chiral symmetry breaking, which are the most important non-perturbative phenomena of QCD. The minimization of the DOQ hamiltonian with respect to the deformation for each principal quantum number results in deformations for the intrinsic states of excited baryonic states. We find that the resulting baryon spectra agree very well with the existing experimental data. The spatial deformation of the baryonic excited states carry useful information on the quark confinement and provide a clue to understand the confining mechanism., 9 pages, 4 Postscript figures

Objective: To examine the effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) on the induction of superoxide anion by IL-1 in chondrocytes. ¶Materials and Methods: Bovine articular chondrocytes were treated with different concentrations of IL-1. A chemiluminescent probe (L-012) was added to the medium and chemiluminescence detection was used to measure superoxide anion. ¶Results: IL-1 caused induction of superoxide anions in a dose-dependent manner. HA (10–100 g/ml) countered superoxide induction caused by 20 ng/ml of IL-1. ¶Conclusion: HA can afford protection against cartilage degradation, probably acting as a free-radical scavenger.

A method for detecting the dimer of mono- and oligodeoxynucleotides is presented by using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS). The mass spectrum of a mononucleotide dpC showed an intense peak of the dimeric ion dpC:::dpC, compared with those of dpA, dpG and dpT. The mass spectrum of an equimolar mixture of dpC and dpG showed the highest peak of the dimeric ion dpC:::dpG, compared with all other combinations. The dimeric ion peaks in the mass spectra of dinucleotides d(ApT) and d(CpG) were relatively high and it may reflect the base-pairing energy due to hydrogen bonding. The degradation patterns of each dimers for d(ApT) and d(CpG) obtained by using the collision-induced dissociation (CID) technique which reflected the strength of each base-pairing.

We measured the mechanical characteristics, particularly the strength of various regions of the membranous labyrinth by the penetration test with a specially designed machine. A load-displacement curve was drawn by the tensile test for the Reissner's and basement membranes. Additionally, a stress-strain curve was drawn. The modulus of elasticity was measured showing a straight line in the stress-strain curve: 1.5 x 10(2) mN/mm2 for Reissner's membrane and 9.3 x 10(2)-1.3 x 10(3) mN/mm2 for the basement membrane. Furthermore, the endolymphatic pressure was calculated at the point in time when the maximum strain as the limit of elasticity was 0.2. It was 81 Pa. The displacement of Reissner's membrane was 0.2 mm when the initial tension was taken as 0 in the formula, and that of the basement membrane was 3 to 37 microns when the initial tension was 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3.

Free radicals are known to cause damage to biological tissues. We used histochemical methods to examine the emergence of free radicals in kanamycin (KM)-treated guinea pig cochlea. As a preliminary in vitro study, the emergence of free radicals was observed in guinea pig cochlea incubated with KM. In an in vivo study, KM was placed on the guinea pig round window membrane and the emergence of free radicals was observed over time. The emergence of free radicals was observed along the luminal membrane and hair bundles of outer hair cells. The appearance and disappearance of free radicals in the cochlea coincided with the transport of KM into the inner ear. These findings suggest that the emergence of free radicals could be attributed to the administration of KM.

The presence of ganglio-N-tetraosylceramide (asialo GM1)-positive cells in mouse cochlea was tested for using an immunohistochemical method with an anti-asialo GM1 antibody which reacts with natural killer cells and macrophages in mouse. Only a few asialo GM1-positive cells were present on the surface of the scala tympani of the basal turn near the collecting venules. Transmission electron microscopic study showed the internal structure of these cells to be that of macrophages. These findings suggest that asialo GM1-positive cells function as resident type macrophages against invasion by pathogens of the mouse cochlea.

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of whole viral DNA of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) requires the time-consuming and laborious preparation of a large amount of purified viral DNA. RFLP analysis of small DNA fragments amplified by PCR was developed as an alternative method. However, its use has been limited because of the small number of variations in VZV. To overcome these drawbacks and to identify variations in VZV, we developed an RFLP analysis method combined with the long PCR method which has recently been developed for the amplification of DNA fragments between 5 and 35 kb in length. We amplified three DNA regions ranging from 6.8 to 11.4 kb and demonstrated that RFLP analyses of these regions allowed for the classification of 40 VZV isolates in Japan into 17 groups. One-fourth of the isolates contained a nucleotide difference of C versus T, which abolished the StyI site at position 76530; this alteration was linked to the reported PstI site polymorphism at position 69349 (nucleotide positions are based on those of strain Dumas). Nucleotide sequence variation in the examined regions among VZV isolates in Japan was estimated at roughly less than 0.05%, confirming the previously proposed idea that VZV is genetically stable and not highly diversified. Our method will be useful for studies of the molecular epidemiology of VZV.

Osteoarthritis is a common joint disorder in humans. Although intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (HA) is in widespread clinical use, there are limited data on the effect of HA on degenerated cartilage. When bovine articular cartilage is degraded with interleukin-1, HA penetrates the cartilage and accumulates in the pericellular matrix of chondrocytes. HA also enhances proteoglycan synthesis that has been reduced by interleukin-1. Thus HA seems to have anabolic effects on degraded cartilage.

Serum tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) was measured using a newly developed Prolifigen TPA-M "Daiichi" kit in 1,236 healthy subjects, 2,867 patients with malignant tumors, and 901 with benign diseases. Because 94.0% of healthy subjects had serum TPA under 70 U/l, the cut-off value was set at 70 U/l. Serum TPA was elevated in more than 50% of patients with head and neck cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, gallbladder or bile duct cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer. The overall positive rate in malignant tumors was 55.5%. Serum TPA was higher in advanced cancer than in earlier stage cancer, and decreased after the resection of the tumor. The false positive rate in benign diseases was 31.3%. ROC analysis revealed the usefulness of TPA as a tumor marker in many cancers. The correlation coefficient between TPA and CYFRA 21-1, and between TPA and TPSA, was 0.747 and 0.694, respectively. In conclusion, measurement of serum TPA using the new kit is useful in the management of patients with various malignant tumors.

A combination of the antitumor polysaccharide Sizofiran and rG-CSF was investigated for its effects on peripheral blood counts in ovarian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. We performed the analysis by using variations in peripheral blood counts and the duration of treatment as variables. In the analysis, effects on decreases in both neutrophils and platelets and their recoveries could be assessed. As a result, the decrease in neutrophils was inhibited and its recovery was promoted, suggesting that the combined use of the drugs may be useful for myelosuppression by chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

A cytotrophoblast (CT) infiltrates into the stroma, forming an extravillous trophoblast (EVT) in the placenta early in gestation and the phenomenon is strictly controlled, differing from the infiltration of cancer cells. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), which deeply involve infiltrative metastasis of cancer, and the reactivity to transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF beta 1), which controls the expression of these MMPs and inhibits the growth of epithelial cells, were investigated in CT derived from villi at normal gestational week 6 (early CT) and CT derived from villi at normal gestational week 37 (full-term CT), and also the choriocarcinoma cell line BeWo (BeWo). The ability of normal epithelial cells and BeWo cells to proliferate and infiltrate were evaluated in vitro by northern blotting, gelatin zymography, and invasion assay. It was revealed that early CT had a higher capacity for infiltration than full-term CT as well as BeWo. MMP2 and MMP9 appeared in the early CT, whereas only MMP9 was observed in the full-term CT. MMP2 and MMP9 were more abundantly observed in the early CT and the full-term CT rather than in BeWo. In uterine stroma-derived cells, membrane type matrix metalloproteinase (MT-MMP), which activates MMP2, was observed. These results indicated that the motility of normal villous cells was higher in the early CT than in the full-term CT. The expression of MMP2 in the early CT, which was not observed in the full-term CT, was thought to be related to this difference in motility. As for the responsiveness to TGF beta 1, which is a growth inhibiting factor for epithelial cells, the villous carcinoma cell line was insensitive to the growth inhibiting effect of TGF beta 1, but the early CT was sensitive to this effect. When TGF beta 1 was added, MMP2 and MMP9 increased in the early CT. This response was also seen in BeWo. That is, it was assured that the growth capacity was not inhibited in BeWo, but was certainly inhibited in the early CT. The overall results of these evaluations indicated that the development to EVT by infiltration of the early CT was associated with the increase in the mobility of cells caused by MMP2 and the increase in amounts of MMP2 and MMP9 caused by TGF beta 1, and the predominant inhibitory effect of TGF beta 1 on the growth of normal epithelial cells could explain why normal epithelial cells do not grow as cancer cells do.

We first introduced the abdominal wall lifting method in gynecological laparoscopic operations in 1994. Now we have developed a new one-point lifting technique (Tokyo Medical College method) that enables gynecological laparoscopic operations to be performed more safely, easily and economically. 1. The TMC method provides a sufficiently spacious operative field in the same way as artificial pneumoperitoneum and can overcome the negative influence of obesity on the operative field. 2. Because the abdominal wall is lifted up by means of a single stainless steel wire passed under the skin in this method, the limitations of previous methods are completely overcome. Furthermore setting up for this method is very easy and can be completed in a short time. 3. Because the aperture for the Surgigrip made in the abdominal wall is short and has a large internal diameter, we can manipulate operative instruments freely. Especially suturing and ligation can be carried out simply and accurately. 4. We were able to continue irrigation and suction without deterioration of the operative field and to easily remove resected tissue from the abdominal cavity. 5. The frequency of intracorporeal suture and ligation in this method increased significantly compared with the pneumoperitoneum method in cases of ovarian diseases. As a result, most operative procedures in ovarian diseases became cystectomies, preserving the healthy part of the ovary. This also reduced operative cost by avoiding expensive autosuture equipment. 6. There were no complications such as subcutaneous bleeding with this method. There was no significant difference between this method and pneumoperitoneum in terms of postoperative pain. The TMC method is a new laparoscopic operative technique that allows procedures to be performed under conditions close to laparotomy procedures and solves most of the problems of the pneumoperitoneum method.

We tried to purify pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) from normal term maternal serum in this study by means of a three step chromatographic procedure. At first 30 ml of maternal serum samples were applied to a column for sieve chromatography and eluted according to molecular weight. PAPP-A was detected in the high molecular weight fraction area by radioimmunoassay for PAPP-A, and 91% of the total amount of PAPP-A in the maternal samples was recovered. Secondary PAPP-A containing fractions were applied to a Heparin-Sepharose column and eluted by a stepwise increase in NaCl 0.15, 0.30 and 0.60 M in 0.05 M Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.8. Ninety-three percent of PAPP-A in applied samples was recovered under the 0.6 M NaCl condition. Thirdly the pooled fractions which contained PAPP-A after Heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography were applied to DEAE-Sephacel Chromatography and eluted by a stepwise increase in NaCl 0.15, 0.30 and 0.45 M in 0.01 M acetate buffer, pH 5.5. Ninety-one percent of PAPP-A in applied samples was recovered under the 0.3 M NaCl condition. Finally PAPP-A containing fractions were concentrated 10 times and 3.8 IU (1.7 mg) of PAPP-A was isolated. The purification schedule removed approximately 99% of total protein in the maternal serum while 74% of PAPP-A was recovered. The purification factor (fold), which was calculated as the increase in specific activity (mIU:PAPP-A/mg:protein) in comparison with the starting value in the maternal serum, was 526. And the purity (mg:PAPP-A/mg:protein) of the final product was 68.4%. Analysis of the final purified material by SDS-PAGE showed a single band of 200kDa, and western blot analysis showed that the main purified protein was PAPP-A. The immunological identity of the PAPP-A purified in this study to the PAPP-A donated by Teisner et al., was recognized by crossed immunoelectrophoresis and tandem crossed immunoelectrophoresis. We hope that the new PAPP-A purified in this study can be utilized for the development of a sensitive and convenient assay for PAPP-A and its standard material, and also for basic study to clarify the biological function of PAPP-A in the human body.

In recent years, the localization and function of placental tissue proteins (PPs), extracted by Bohn et al., have been extensively studied, the genetic code has been identified for each of the PPs. The present study was carried out to clarify the mRNA expression and protein localization of PP11, PP12, PP19 at the cell level and also to define PP19 the nature of which has remained obscure. PP19 was said to be placenta-derived S-100P. PP11 mRNA was not expressed in cytotrophoblast-derived normal placental tissue or endometrium-derived normal cells, but was expressed in syncytiotrophoblast-derived normal placental tissue, and in choriocarcinoma and endometrial adenocarcinoma, suggesting its involvement in carcinogenesis. PP12 mRNA was expressed in cytotrophoblast-derived normal placental tissue or endometrium-derived normal cells, but was not expressed in syncytiotrophoblast-derived normal placental tissue, choriocarcinoma or endometrial adenocarcinoma, suggesting that this protein serves in the function of normal cells. PP19 mRNA was expressed in the squamous epithelial cells of the uterine cervix and the villous cells, PP19 was localized in more differentiated regions, where cells tended toward keratinization, in both normal and dysplastic uterine cervices. In squamous cell carcinoma, PP19 was localized in more differentiated cells with a large cytoplasm. PP19 mRNA was not expressed in normal endometrial glands, but was detected in endometrial adenocarcinoma, suggesting its involvement in cell differentiation in cervical epitherial cells.

Tissue or organ doses related to radiological risk were determined for four different types of CT scanners with a spiral scan function. Dose measurements were performed using a Rando phantom and two types of thermoluminescent dosimeters. The effective doses recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection in 1990 were evaluated using the tissue or organ doses determined with the phantom measurement. The resultant effective dose per CT examination ranged from 4.6 to 10.8 mSv for chest examination and from 6.7 to 13.3 mSv for upper abdominal examination. It should be noted that the effective dose from CT examination will be increased by increasing in the frequency of CT examinations and technical development of CT scanners.

A new monoclonal antibody (Moab), 3H2, was produced by immunizing Balb/C mouse with EI, a newly established human cell line from moderately differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma of the uterus. The molecular weight of the Moab 3H2-defined antigen was 36,000 daltons, and suggests that the epitope of the Moab 3H2-defined antigen was protein moiety. Moab 3H2 was of the IgG1, subclass. Using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human tissues and immunohistochemical techniques (ABC method), Moab 3H2 has demonstrated reactivity, Moab 3H2 reacted with well and moderately differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma of the uterus, but did not react with poorly differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma of the uterus, Moab 3H2 did not react with other tissues, malignant or normal, except ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma, suggesting that Moab 3H2 reacts with well and moderately differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma of the uterus with high specificity. To analyze the epitope of the Moab 3H2-defined antigen, it should be useful to make clear the function of carcinogenesis, differentiation and growth of endometrial adenocarcinoma of the uterus.

Three cases of acute massive pulmonary thromboembolism were treated with the superselective infusion of tissue-plasminogen activator. Superselective pulmonary angiography immediately after administration of tissue-plasminogen activator demonstrated angiographic improvement in all patients. No complications were encountered during or after the procedure. It is considered that superselective infusion of tissue-plasminogen activator can be an effective therapy for massive pulmonary thromboembolism.