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This work presents a new type of CPW balun consisting of 3 dB coupled-line sections, which are one eighth wavelength long, and a short redundant transmission line for the applications of the modern wireless communication systems. A set of design equations that can determine the values of the elements of balun is proposed. A new type of coupler constructed with a structure similar to the conventional step impedance resonator is developed to further reduce the size of the balun. An experimental prototype operated at 1.0 GHz was designed and fabricated to verify the proposed design method. The measurement results show quite good correspondences with the theoretical predictions and the EM simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 43-year-old nonleukemic female patient with relapsed granulocytic sarcoma at the vaginal stump after an 11-year complete remission from the uterine cervix. The patient complained of hypermenorrhea and postcoital bleeding for one year. Magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis showed a pear-shaped mass arising from the vagina imitating a normal uterus. The article discusses granulocytic sarcoma and its median survival.

The article explores the value of simultaneous visualization of the cross-sectional view of both atrioventricular (AV) valves, the pulmonary artery and the aorta in the identification of fetuses with transposition of the great arteries (TGA). Results reveal that the en-face view of both AV valves and great vessels in fetuses with TGA manifested the main pulmonary artery located side-by-side with the aorta. Fetuses with normal harts did not have this characteristic sonographic sign.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between clinical factors (including haemoglobin value, chemotherapeutic agents, and corticosteroid use) and changing patterns of fatigue before and for the next 10 days following the start of a new round of chemotherapy in children with cancer. A prospective longitudinal design was used to collect data from 48 paediatric oncology patients who were about to begin a new round of chemotherapy and their parents. Fatigue levels were assessed using multidomain questionnaires with three categories of patient self-report (including 'General Fatigue', 'Sleep/Rest Fatigue', and 'Cognitive Fatigue') and four categories of parent proxy-report (including 'Lack of Energy', 'Unable to Function', 'Altered Sleep', and 'Altered Mood'). The findings suggest that fatigue from both patient self-report and parent proxy-report changed significantly over time. The major findings from this study are that patients have more problems with fatigue in the first few days after the start of a cycle of chemotherapy. Corticosteroid use and haemoglobin value were associated with significant increases in fatigue that were sustained for several days and reached the highest level of fatigue at day 5 for those receiving concurrent steroids. The association of chemotherapeutic agents with fatigue varied between patient self-report and parent report, but the type of chemotherapeutic agents used was not associated with most changes in fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method of synthesising wide-band directional lumped-element couplers with an arbitrary coupling coefficient is presented. The proposed synthesis method can realise a co-directional type lumped-element coupler with a wider operational bandwidth than conventional design methods while maintaining good amplitude and phase relationships of the output ports. Two coupler prototypes with coupling coefficients of 10 and 20 dB are designed and fabricated to verify the design concept. The measurements are very close to the theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological evidence indicates that aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) intake is associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The hepatocarcinogenesis is initiated by covalent binding of AFB1 to cellular DNA. To determine whether nutritional factors and hormonal status may influence the binding of AFB1 to hepatic DNA, a cross-sectional study was performed on a total of 42 male asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers and 43 male non-carriers in a cohort study on the multistage development of HCC in Taiwan. The major AFB1-DNA adduct in vivo, AFB1-N7-guanine, was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography in urine. Urinary AFB1-N7-guanine was detectable in 40% of the subjects. HBsAg carriers had a higher detection rate of urinary AFB1-DNA adducts than non-carriers and the difference was statistically significant after multivariate adjustment. After taking into account the total AFB1 urinary metabolite level, chronic HBsAg carrier status, and other potential confounders, plasma levels of cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol, and alpha- and beta-carotene were positively associated with the detection rate of the AFB1-DNA adducts in a dose-dependent manner, whereas plasma lycopene level was inversely related to the presence of the adducts in urine. The association of urinary AFB1-DNA adducts with the plasma levels of cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol, lycopene, and alpha- and beta-carotene was observed at both low and high exposure levels of AFB1. There was a synergistic interaction of plasma alpha-tocopherol with alpha- and beta-carotene on the adduct levels. No association with the adducts was found for plasma levels of retinol and testosterone. This study demonstrated different associations of antioxidant vitamins with AFB1-DNA adduct formation. The data consistent with our previous finding in cultured woodchuck hepatocytes that alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene enhanced AFB1-DNA adduct formation suggest that prospective investigation of the relationship between plasma micronutrients and risk of AFB1-related HCC is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on report of stem canker of dragon fruit caused by Alternaria spp. in Taiwan. It mentions symptoms on stems inoculated with the greyish and brownish isolates could not be differentiated and pathogenicity tests were done by wounding the stem using a sterilised needle on ten healthy detached stems of dragon fruit. It also mentions significant differences in phylogenetic lineages for red spots appeared on the inoculated stems.

This work presents the design of a CMOS quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) constructed in a totem-pole configuration in order to reuse the bias current and lower the power consumption. A new feature of using four RC delay lines connected at the output ports of an oscillator is adopted in order to obtain the desired quadrature phase shift of the oscillation signals. An experimental chip is designed and fabricated using 0.18-μm CMOS technology to verify the effectiveness of the design concept. The measurement result shows that the center oscillation frequency of the prototype is 6.3 GHz, associated with a 100-MHz tuning range and -108.7-dBc/Hz phase noise at 1-MHz offset. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 44: 202–204, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20587 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-selectivity wideband bandpass filter consisting of a ring resonator and stepped impedance resonators is proposed. A wideband bandpass filter with multiple transmission poles and transmission zeros is obtained. For demonstration, a prototype operating at the frequency band of 4.14-9.56 GHz (with a fractional bandwidth of 79.1%) is designed and fabricated. Good agreements between the simulated and the measured results have been observed, indicating a very sharp out-of-band rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]