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Background “Treating to target (T2T) recommendations” are formulated to improve the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical practice. The following four overarching principles are highlighted: “(A) The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis must be based on a shared decision between patient and rheumatologist, (B) The primary goal of treating the patient with rheumatoid arthritis is to maximise long-term health-related quality of life through control of symptoms, prevention of structural damage, normalisation of function and social participation, (C) Abrogation of inflammation is the most important way to achieve these goals, (D) Treatment to target by measuring disease activity and adjusting therapy accordingly optimises outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis.” However, the T2T recommendations do not specify concrete and effective methods to implement. Objectives We developed an original computerized touch-panel system for facilitating the assessment of RA, called MiRAi.[1] We upgraded MiRAi to allow patients to track their RAPID3 score independently on their monitor even before consulting their physician. We evaluated whether this novel touch-panel system promoted shared decision making between patient and rheumatologist. Methods After obtaining the informed consent, registered nurses asked RA patients to fill out the same questionnaires before, and 6 months after, introduction of the touch-panel system. The questionnaires were anonymous and the physicians were blinded. The questionnaire included six visual analog scales (VAS): agreement to each of the four overarching principles, degree of “shared decision-making”, and degree of satisfaction with the care received. Since the key concept of the T2T is summarized in principle “D” as outlined above, we classified subjects with the lower quartile VAS of “D” (before introduction of this system) in the “poor comprehension group” and the rest in the “fair/good comprehension group”. We then compared the VAS between these two groups. Results The IRB approved this project. The initial evaluation was obtained from 302 patients. Six months after this system was introduced, the second evaluation was collected from 261 patients (86.4%). Whereas the “Poor comprehension group” showed improvement in all VAS except the RAPID3 score, the “fair/good comprehension group” showed improvement in RAPID3 and as well as satisfaction with the medical care they received. Conclusions The novel touch-panel system may promote comprehension and implementation of T2T recommendations. References Kagawa K, et al. Usefulness of touch-panel method for the evaluation of functional ability in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 2012;71(Suppl 3):742 Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Sex differences in flash visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and electroencephalograms (EEGs) were studied in 200 healthy adults (100 females and 100 males). Following results were obtained. (1) Waveforms of Group Mean VEPs of each sex had roughly triphasic contour, consisted of components P1 approximately N8, within 500 msec of latency. (2) Latencies of VEP components by t-test, (3) By analysis of covariance, sex differences in peak-to-peak amplitudes were still significant after eliminating effects of body height, body weight or age, but not those in latencies after eliminating the effect of body height. (4) Quantitative analysis of EEGs resulted in significantly smaller absolute amplitudes, and significantly larger theta, larger beta 1 and smaller alpha 2 power % in females. (5) Peak-to-peak amplitudes of later components in VEPs for 5CH (O1--Cz) were significantly and positively correlated with EEG absolute amplitudes within each sex group. (6) There were few significant differences in VEP components between follicular phase and luteal phase in females. The sex differences in VEPs verified in this study may be attributed to genetically determined sex differences in neuroendocrinological systems.

We describe the application of CT-MRI fusion software for 3D conformal radiotherapy in two patients with localized prostate cancer who had significantly altered pelvic anatomy due to prior surgery. Patient A had a hemipelvectomy for fibrosarcoma and Patient B had an abdominoperineal resection (APR) for rectal carcinoma. Using the Picker AcQSIM 3D treatment planning software equipped with CT-MRI fusion capabilities, we were able to construct 3D conformal treatment plans for the two patients. The CT-MRI fusion was invaluable in the 3D conformal treatment planning of these cases with distorted pelvic anatomy. It allowed for accurate identification of the clinical target volume (CTV) and was also able to better visualize normal structures so that the radiation beams could be placed to minimize toxicity to the normal tissues.

Renal cortical retention (RCR) of contrast medium discovered by delayed X-ray examination is sometimes reported in patients with problems in the urinary system. However, we frequently found RCR even in patients with normal renal function. Therefore, we examined the incidence and factors involved in RCR by delayed computed tomography (CT) 12-24 hours after angiography in 168 patients. RCR was found in 80 of 168 cases (48%). Ioxaglate (60%) and iohexol (60%) showed higher incidences of RCR than diatrizoate (37%) and iopamidol (37%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predisposing factors of RCR. Dose of administered contrast medium by body weight (p = 0.004), age (p = 0.009), sex (p = 0.013), type of contrast medium (p = 0.003), serum albumin (p = 0.011), and serum creatinine (p = 0.002) were identified as significant and independent predisposing factors of RCR. We suggest that RCR is not a rare phenomenon if delayed CT is carried out.

Late local recurrence after radiotherapy for tongue and early glottic carcinoma is rarely discussed. In the head and neck cancer, approximately 90% of local recurrence occurred within 2 years after radiotherapy. However, we found that late local recurrence after radiotherapy for glottic cancer was not rare. Our aim was to evaluate the late local recurrence after radiotherapy for early glottic and tongue cancer.From 1967 through 1982, 633 patients with tongue carcinoma and 330 patients with early (T1T2N0) glottic carcinomas were treated at the Department of Radiology, Osaka University Hospital. Of these 821 patients, 329 patients with tongue carcinoma and 221 patients with early glottic carcinoma survived at 5 years after radiotherapy without local recurrence. For tongue carcinoma, patients were divided by T category. For early glottic carcinoma, patients were divided by the tumor response at 40 Gy.Late local recurrence occurred in 23 of 329 patients (7%) with tongue carcinoma, and in 9 of 221 (4%) with early glottic carcinoma. For tongue carcinoma, late recurrence occurred in 19 of 249 patients (8%) in stage I and II, and 4 of 80 patients (5%) in stage III and IV. For glottic carcinoma, late recurrence occurred in 8 of 137 patients (6%) with tumor clearance at 40 Gy and 1 of 63 patients (2%) with tumor persistence at 40 Gy. The incidence of double cancer was also evaluated. Of 329 5-year survivors with tongue carcinoma, 39 patients (12%) had another malignancy, and 26 patients of 221 5-year survivors with early glottic carcinoma (12%) had also another malignancy. Of 39 double primaries of tongue carcinoma, 10 patients (26%) had head and neck malignancies, and none of 26 double primaries of early glottic carcinoma.Late local recurrence was not rare in tongue and early glottic cancer. Poor prognostic group showed lower incidence of late recurrence than good prognostic group. This result suggests that secondary tumor at the same site of primary tumor is late local recurrence.

Most factor VIII inhibitors are developed at an early age and in patients with severe type of hemophilia A. We report a case of newly developed factor VIII inhibitor in a 60-year-old patient with mild hemophilia A who had been treated with several kinds of factor VIII concentrates. The patient was treated with a total of 103,580 units of recombinant factor VIII concentrate by continuous and bolus infusions for the open surgery of sigmoid colon cancer. On the 95th postoperative day, the patient had right low limb muscle bleeding and was infused with 1,000 units of recombinant factor VIII concentrate for three days. Subsequently, the level of factor VIII inhibitor in the patient's plasma was 2 Bethesda units (BU)/ml. Since then numerous subcutaneous hemorrhages developed, but an adequate hemostatic effect was not obtained even with the administration of a high dose of recombinant factor VIII concentrate. The patient was switched to bypass therapy using human plasma-derived factor VIIa concentrate, which showed a favorable hemostatic effect.

A 3D-simulation model made with a milling system was applied to HDR-brachytherapy. The 3D-simulation model is used to simulate the 3D-structure of the lesion and the surrounding organs before the actual catheterization for brachytherapy. The first case was recurrent prostatic cancer in a 61-year-old man. The other case was lymph node recurrence of a 71-year-old woman's upper gum cancer. In both cases, the 3D-simulation model was very useful to simulate the 3D-conformation, to plan the treatment process and to avoid the risk accompanying treatment.

The occurrence of pneumothorax in patients with compromised lung function or severe pulmonary disease may be fatal. We describe a 77-year-old patient with MRSA pneumonia complicated by pneumothorax and reduced pulmonary function. Although the patient was treated with drainage of the pleural cavity and nonsurgical pleurodesis, the pneumothorax could not be managed successfully. The patient underwent successful surgical treatment of the pneumothorax on 105 days after onset. The following factors must be considered in the surgical treatment of pneumothrax with reduced pulmonary function in patients with MRSA pneumonia: 1) When there is massive air leakage, adequate doses of VCM should be administered to prevent pyothorax, 2) when conservative treatment fails and surgical treatment becomes necessary, the operation should be instituted only when MRSA has been completely or almost completely eradicated so as to prevent the occurrence of postsurgical pyothorax, and 3) surgical intervention should be limited to what is necessary to repair the site of ruptured bulla; care should be exercised to preserve as much lung parenchyma as possible and to shorten the operation time.

We isometrically activated skinned fibers in rigor by flash photolysis of caged ATP at various [Ca2+] at 8 degrees C. On release of ATP, tension initially decreased with the same time course at all [Ca2+]. At high [Ca2+] (pCa < or = 5.8), tension rose to the steady-state plateau after the brief relaxation. When the [Ca2+] was intermediate (7.0 < or = pCa < or = 6.0), tension temporarily overshot the final steady-state level. The half-time during this tension transient was longer at higher [Ca2+]. The transient contractions could be simulated by a simple kinetic model: R + ATP-->Q, and XQA, where R, X, and A are the rigor, relaxed, and active-tension states, respectively; Q is a "pre-active" state where tension is very low; and Ca2+ affects only the X-Q transition. This scheme was also useful for predicting the tension transients in Ca(2+)- and P(i)-jump experiments at various [Ca2+]. ADP enhanced the Ca2+ sensitivity of the ATP-induced transient contraction, which was not in the scope of the model.

The left atrium (LA) stores part of the right ventricular stroke volume during ventricular systole for passive release into the left ventricle (LV) during ventricular early diastole and active release during ventricular late diastole (passive and active contraction). The rest of the right ventricular stroke volume flows through the LA from the pulmonary vascular bed to the LV (LA conduit function). The factors affecting these LA functions were evaluated during ventricular diastole by left atrial angiography and left ventriculography in 21 patients with normal LV ejection fraction (0.53-0.76), but without coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease, aged 40-70 years. LV stroke volume was calculated from left ventriculograms. The maximal LA volume, minimal LA volume, and LA volume at the beginning of the left atrial active contraction were calculated from the left atrial angiograms, and further corrected by a regression equation (true volume = 0.91 x calculated volume -1.1). The LA reservoir volume, LA passive contraction volume, LA active contraction volume, and LA conduit volume were obtained. LA conduit volume correlated significantly with LV stroke volume (r = 0.97), but not with maximal LA volume and LA reservoir volume. LA active contraction volume correlated significantly with LA reservoir volume, LA volume at the beginning of LA active contraction, and maximal LA volume (r = 0.85, 0.60, 0.54, respectively). LA passive contraction volume did not correlate with any factor, and was grossly independent of LV stroke volume. LA conduit volume may be associated with LV diastolic function, and LA active contraction volume appears to increase with increased LA volume.

We examined the equatorial X-ray diffraction of skinned fibers from rat psoas muscle in isometric contraction induced by photorelease of 1.1 mM ATP at 24 degrees C in the absence of Ca2+. At 15-20 ms after release of ATP, tension peaked at 21% of the maximum active tension. From the equatorial intensity ratio (I1,0/I1,1), we estimated the amount of myosin heads associated with actin filaments (A.M) at the tension peak. It was 32% of that in rigor and about half of that in the maximum contraction. ADP (0.7 mM) enhanced the contraction: tension peaked at 47% of the maximum at 25-30 ms. The estimated A.M at this peak was 50% of that in rigor, which was close to that in the maximum contraction. These results indicate that the association of myosin heads with the actin filaments in the Ca(2+)-free contraction is more than expected from the tension size, both in the absence and presence of ADP.

Because of the great interest in developing ambulatory care components within medical school curricula, there is a need for outcome data concerning such changes.In 1991-92, 40 third-year students at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine were assigned to the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center for their core medicine clerkships; ten of these students were exposed to ambulatory care by being assigned to medical residents who worked in a general medicine continuity clinic. The ten students in the continuity clinic and the 30 who were not were evaluated by means of their (1) final clerkship evaluation scores for overall competence, (2) performances on a standardized-patient exercise where the majority of the simulations were of ambulatory care problems, and (3) self-assessment of clinical skills and knowledge and attitudes about primary care. Student's t-test was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between the performances of the two groups. In addition, the students in the clinic kept diaries about their clinic experiences.No significant difference was found between the two groups of students on the objective or subjective measures of evaluation, although the diary narratives of the clinic students revealed that they were extremely enthusiastic about the clinic experience.Because there was no significant difference between the performances of the two student groups, the ambulatory care model in this study, despite its feasibility to implement, was not adequate to teach the students the different problem-solving and therapeutic skills necessary in the ambulatory care setting.

Disopyramide, an antiarrhythmic drug, is known to impair cardiac function, but acute cardiac effects of conventional oral dose of disopyramide are not well known. To examine the extent of acute cardiac effects of daily oral dose of disopyramide, we gave 150 mg of disopyramide to thirteen patients with normal or impaired cardiac function, and observed cardiac function on an hourly basis for 3 hours after baseline period. The serum level of disopyramide reached a therapeutic level (2.0-5.0 micrograms/ml) mostly 1 hour after administration. Doppler-echocardiographically determined left ventricular ejection fraction, and the ratio of the peak early filling velocity to the peak atrial filling velocity in left ventricular inflow velocity remained unchanged throughout the experimental period. Other hemodynamic variables, such as blood pressure and heart rate remained unchanged. We conclude that daily oral dose of disopyramide appears to have no significant effects on cardiac function after administration. Disopyramide seems to be safe and may not be necessarily withheld from patients who need it, when hemodynamic variables are to be measured.

e16018 Background: In the treatment of pharyngeal or oral cancer, surgery causes so severe deterioration of phonation, swallowing function, and cosmesis that radiation therapy is usually preferred to surgery as a primary treatment. However, after curative doses of radiation therapy are administered, surgical procedures often become difficult because of tissue fibrosis and delay of healing, hence its clinical significance is controversial. This study investigated into clinical impacts of salvage surgery on overall survival (OS) of the patients with recurrent pharyngeal or oral cancer after definitive radiation therapy. Methods: Between January 1997 and December 2007, 126 patients with pharyngeal or oral squamous cell carcinoma were treated by radiation therapy with curative intents. Ninety-four patients (75%) had stage III or IV locally-advanced diseases. In 45 patients (36%), doxorubicin- or platinum-based systemic chemotherapy was administered concurrently with radiation therapy. The median radiation dos...

The patient, a 55-year-old male, suffered from malignant lung tumor with complaints of bloody sputum and anterior chest pain. Angina pectoris was detected during neoadjuvant chemotherapy, because of total obstruction at #7 and 99% stenosis at #12, as disclosed by CAG. As he complained frequently anginal chest pain in the course of time, the concomitant cardiac and pulmonary operation was decided via median sternotomy and fourth intercostal thoracotomy. The operating procedure was as follows: 1) mediastinal lymph nodes dissection before extracorporeal circulation, 2) aorto-coronary bypass (#8, #12), 3) final left lower lobectomy. He was histopathologically diagnosed as a rare case of endobronchial type of leiomyosarcoma. He has achieved a remarkable recovery, without tumor recurrence or angina pectoris for ten months postoperatively, and has been allowed to resume a normal life.

A 49-yr-old man with chronic hepatitis B manifested hypergammaglobulinemia, lymphadenopathy, and a high serum interleukin-6 level following treatment with recombinant human alpha-interferon. One month later, when the patient was treated with natural beta-interferon, serum levels of interleukin-6 and gamma-globulin increased again. The serum gamma-globulin decreased to the pretreatment level after discontinuation of interferon therapy. The serum alanine aminotransferase level remained normal for 6 months. In this case, hypergammaglobulinemia and lymphadenopathy, as well as the elevated serum interleukin-6 level, were considered to be signs of highly enhanced humoral immunity related to alpha- and beta-interferon therapy.

With the development of medical ultrasonics, anesthesiologists have recognized the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography as an intraoperative monitoring. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography is now used to monitor left ventricular function and to confirm the result of surgical correction immediately after cardiac operation. In this study, we evaluated the detectability of air embolism and the effect of hemodynamic changes on physiological mitral regurgitant flow by transesophageal Doppler echocardiography (TEDE). TEDE was more sensitive than precordial Doppler ultrasound in detecting intracardiac air. TEDE could detect air inflow to the right atrium earlier than alterations in pulmonary hemodynamics. The monitoring of intracardiac air by TEDE minimized the complication by air embolism. Regarding physiological mitral regurgitation, the degree of regurgitation increased with the elevation of BP in 70% of patients. An increase in afterload seemed to cause accidental volume loading on the left heart resulting in physiological mitral regurgitation. Intraoperative monitoring of regurgitant flow by TEDE was useful for the anesthesiologist as a guide of hemodynamic management. Transesophageal echocardiography is a useful intraoperative monitoring method regardless of its several disadvantages. With further improvement of mechanical device, transesophageal echocardiography will be more often and safely performed in operating room.

To investigate the clinical significance of ascitic fluid in patients with a malignancy, an abdominal paracentesis to evaluate the ascitic fluid was performed in 10 patients with a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in 7 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). The AFP levels in the ascitic fluid and in the serum of the HCC patients was found be significantly higher than that of the LC patients. In addition, the ratio of albumin/total protein in ascitic fluid was also higher in the HCC patients. However, no significant findings were uncovered with regard to the concentration of lipid in ascitic fluid, in either type of patient although 2 HCC patients were found to have a very high concentration of total cholesterol. The cytological findings provided no reliable marker because of significant number of false negatives in the HCC patients. Also, there was no significant difference between the fibronectin levels in the ascitic fluid of either type of patients. This finding differs from previous studies, and suggests that the fibronectin levels in the ascitic fluid may not be a useful marker in determining a malignancy.

Serum complement C3, C4, and C3 proactivator (C3PA) have been evaluated for their diagnostic power in detecting a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). It was found that serum complement levels were lower in LC patients than in HCC patients and that difference of the serum C4 and C3PA levels between LC patients and HCC patients were statistically significant. In addition, serum C3 PA levels were found to correlate significantly with the serum gamma-GTP levels in HCC patients. Thus, using the cutoff values of C4 and C3PA as the mean values for HCC patients, examination of serum complement levels enabled the detection of 38% of the HCC patients with low AFP levels. These findings suggest that the examination of the serum complements may be a useful a tool for the detection of HCCs in LC patients.

To elucidate the cell biological significance of ras oncogene, the expression of ras-p21 was analyzed in 53 cases of liver tissues including 34 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by using immunohistochemical method. In result, 22 (65%) cases of 34 HCC and 34 (79%) cases of 43 liver cirrhosis were positive for p21, whereas all of chronic hepatitis and normal livers were negative. Especially, comparative study between the expression of p21 and clinicopathological background of HCC revealed that p21 was prominently expressed in well differentiated form, nodular type, small liver cancer, and the cases showing AFP levels below 400 ng/ml. From these results, it was indicated that ras oncogene might play an important role in malignant transformation of hepatocytes or differentiation of HCC.

Using male Wister rats, the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity in the fundic mucosa has been determined from the duodenal juice with bile of a reflux model. The activity at 24 hours postoperatively presented a value approximately 18 times higher than the preoperative level. Though this level declined subsequently, it still was approximately two times higher four weeks later. The ODC activity in the corporal mucosa of humans was compared in 25 normal persons, in 21 patients with a gastric adenoma in 29 patients with a gastric cancer, in 20 patients who had undergone a Billroth I operation and in 20 patients who had undergone a Billroth II operation. No differences in ODC activity were observed among those with a gastric adenoma, a gastric cancer, and normal cases but significantly higher values were seen in cases with a remnant stomach, particularly those who had undergone Billroth II reconstructive surgery. Further, this activity tended to be especially high from 5 to 15 years postoperatively in cases with a gastric remnant.

To evaluate the potential of dextran-coated magnetite (DM) particles in enhancing the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, the authors induced liver tumors in rats by oral administration of diethylnitrosamine and examined the rats before and after intravenous injections of DM with various iron concentrations. Because of the intense and preferential T2 relaxativity of DM, use of DM with an iron concentration of 10 mumol/kg yielded effective MR signal reduction in each normal liver at 1 hour after the injection. Because no significant signal change in the tumors was observed on DM-enhanced MR images, the contrast between hepatocellular carcinoma and adjacent uninvolved liver increased remarkably on even relatively T1-weighted images. The detection rate for the 89 tumors, including small tumors less than 2 mm in diameter, increased from 10% (nine of 89) before DM administration to 65% (58 of 89) with DM-enhanced T1-weighted imaging. Iron staining of rat liver performed about 1 hour after DM administration showed sparse deposits of DM selectively in reticuloendothelial cells but not in liver tumors.

Transesophageal Doppler echocardiography (TEDE) was performed to determine the incidence of physiological mitral regurgitation (MR) and the characteristics of regurgitant blood flow in presumably normal subjects. TEDE included color flow mapping, pulsed Doppler echocardiography and M-mode color flow mapping. Sixty-six surgical patients who had no histories or physical evidence of cardiac abnormalities were studied using TEDE under general anesthesia. MR flow was detected in 94% (62/66) of the patients by transesophageal color flow mapping. Transesophageal color flow mapping clearly differentiated physiological MR flow and signals generated from mitral valve closure. In 40% (25/62) of the patients whose MR flow was detected, transesophageal pulsed Doppler echocardiography (TEPD) revealed regurgitant signals lasting less than half of systole. Only 31% (19/62) had peak MR flow velocities greater than 1 m/sec. TEPD could not detect high velocities reflecting the pressure gradients across the mitral valve. Since the regurgitant volume was very small, TEPD may have been incapable of detecting high velocity components of the MR flow. In conclusion, our data suggested that nearly all normal subjects may have mild mitral regurgitation.

We have measured the serum erythropoietin concentrations in 14 patients with liver cirrhosis and in 14 patients with a hepatocellular carcinoma. Among these patients, 2 with liver cirrhosis (14.3%) and 7 with a hepatocellular carcinoma (50.0%) were found to have raised serum erythropoietin concentrations, ranging up to 40 mU/ml. Negative correlations were found between erythropoietin and the RBC, and the Hb and Ht in the cases with liver cirrhosis. In contrast, a positive correlation which was not significant was found only between the erythropoietin and the RBC in cases involving a hepatocellular carcinoma. This has suggested that the relationship between the erythropoietin and the RBC in cases of a hepatocellular carcinoma differs from the relationship seen under the usual physiological circumstances of those with liver cirrhosis.

The current-voltage ( I-V ) characteristics is investigated near the superconductor-insuator transition in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ thin films. It is found that the I–V curves exhibit quasiperiodic structures as a function of the current, which strongly depend on magnetic fields. These results are in good agreement with the prediction of resonant tunneling of the macroscopic variable.

A 256-word/spl times/32-bit associated memory, referred to as the Content Addressable and Reentrant Memory (CARM), with a 100-ns cycle time is described. The high bit density of the device is realized by a small-size associative memory cell (30/spl times/36 /spl mu/m/SUP 2/) with 2-/spl mu/m CMOS technology, while a double-layer metallization technique, new circuits for the control-signal propagation, and a hierarchical structure for the address encoder of the chip allow fast access. This device has reentrant mode operation, where the on-chip garbage collection or data storage is accomplished conditionally. One of the practical applications of this device, a high-speed matching unit for dataflow computers, is also discussed.

A 32-b general-purpose microprocessor has been developed using 1-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The chip, containing 372 K transistors, operates at a 80-ns machine cycle time with a 5-V power supply. For virtual and hierarchical memory system support, a 64-entry full-associative translation lookaside buffer (TLB) and a 2-kbyte instruction cache are implemented on the chip. The internal access times for the TLB and cache are 22 and 18 ns, respectively. The microarchitecture has been designed to reduce the pipeline to three stages, simplifying the control path and obtaining high-speed performance. The data path of this chip is also enhanced with hardware, such as a barrel shifter and multiplier/divider. The chip performance has been measured to be 5.1 million instructions per second (MIPS) and 50-ns-access main memory.

Simultaneous studies on the secretory response of amylase and the neurotransmitter receptors of rat parotid gland, after brief treatment with agonists, showed selective alteration in beta-adrenoceptors with specific change in amylase secretion, suggesting a regulatory role of the receptors in the secretory response. The beta-adrenergic agonist (+/-)-isoprenaline (IPR) stimulated amylase secretion from rat parotid tissues much more than did the same concentration of an alpha-adrenergic or cholinergic agonist. The stimulatory effects of IPR were studied by pre-treating rat parotid tissues with IPR for 10 min and then incubating the tissue in fresh medium for 10 min. Pre-treatment with 10 microM-IPR for 10 min resulted in increased amylase secretion during further incubation with IPR and also in a lower EC50 value of amylase secretion for IPR. This treatment also resulted in selective changes in the number and affinity of beta-adrenoceptors, assessed by measuring binding of [3H]dihydroalprenolol (DHA): the maximal binding sites increased from 286/357 f-mole to mg protein and the IC50 value (the concentration for 50% inhibition of specific [3H]DHA binding) of beta-agonists, not antagonists, decreased significantly. An increase in the period of pre-treatment with IPR to 30 min resulted in a decrease in the maximal binding sites of beta-adrenoceptors and a decrease in amylase secretion during further incubation with IPR. Experiments with other agonists showed that supersensitivity of the secretory response was induced specifically by beta-agonists. Binding studies with [3H]WB-4101 and [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate showed that alpha-adrenoceptors and muscarinic ACh receptors in rat parotid did not change under the conditions tested. The alteration in beta-adrenoceptors was parallel with a change in amylase secretion after IPR pre-treatment, but not with a change in cyclic AMP content.

Formation of Cu- centres due to electrolytic coloration in NaCl crystals containing Cu+ ions together with divalent cations is studied experimentally. It has been found that the presence of divalent cations in a certain amount, regardless of their kind (Ca2+, Sr2+ or Ba2+), is indispensable for the formation of Cu- centres. If the Ca2+ content is less than the optimum value, the yield of Cu- centres increases with the Ca2+ content, but if larger than the optimum value, it decreases with increase in Ca2+ content. The yield of Cu- centres decreases with temperature for electrolytic coloration.

A design of an oscillator-amplifier system in the TE N2 laser is described. Three laser channels: an oscillator, preamplifier and main amplifier, are connected to a common spark gap, and the discharge timing of these channels is adjusted by varying the pressure of the gas in the cavities. The characteristics of the laser light obtained from this laser system are an output power of 400 kW, a pulse width of 5 ns, a single transverse mode and a beam divergence of 1 mrad. Completely polarised laser light is extracted by inserting a polarising prism.