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Intestinal obstruction is a rare complication during pregnancy, and almost all causes are considered to be secondary adhesions in a patient with a surgical history. During pregnancy, there have been only a few reported cases of internal hernia. An internal hernia is formed by the protrusion of a viscus through a peritoneal fossae or anomalous opening in the mesentery leading to its encapsulation within a compartment of the abdominal cavity. The difficulty of diagnosis of the disease associated with pregnancy which limits diagnostic investigation also brings a dangerous combination of bowel obstruction. We present a case of internal hernia caused by anomalous opening in the falciform ligament in a pregnant woman of the 37th week of gestation. She underwent a cesarean section, followed by lapalotomy which revealed intestinal obstruction through the opening in the ligament falciform. The ligament was divided and 40cm of the small intestine was resected. In patients with symptoms suggestive of bowel obstruction during pregnancy, internal hernia must be included in the probable differential diagnoses.

This article addresses the utilization of hyper environments and RFID to track and trace processes and supplies in construction and assembly industries, using networks of sensors/actuators and virtual reality. The concept and tools for development and implementation of hyper environments a represented applied in a study case: shipyard construction for assembly of maritime ships and platforms. In this scenario is used a network of sensors and RFIDs to track management of objects and supplies.

The cellular concentration of Paramecium protein kinase A (PKA) exhibits a bi-modal pattern in a 12-h light and 12-h dark cycle, with peaks around midday and immediately after dusk, in contrast to that measured in constant darkness (DD) which exhibits a mono-phasic pattern with a trough after subjective midday and a peak around subjective midnight. The bi-modal increases in PKA concentration caused by the onset (dawn) and offset (dusk) of illumination might contribute discrete phase-advances of the motility rhythm in P. multimicronucleatum. Fluctuation of PKA concentrations in DD is significantly related to that of frequency of changing moving-direction, on which PKA concentrations elevated during illumination may be additively observed to cause the bi-modal pattern.

We present a case of benign biliary stricture caused by adenitis in the porta hepatis, which was determined tuberculous by diagnostic laparoscopic bioposy and subsequent histologic examiantion. A 22-year-old man, who was previously healthy and no history of suffering from disease, was admitted to our hospital because of general fatigue and jaundice. The laboratory findings revealed obstructive jaundice, and a stricture of the biliary tract was onfirmed by ERCP. Abdominal ultrasonogram and CT scan demonstrated enlarged lymph nodes in the porta hepatis. With a suspecion of malignant involvement, an exploratory laparoscopic biopsy was performed, and, then histologic examination revealed calcified granulomas consistent with tuberculous lymphadenitis. To our knowledge, only 9 cases of biliary stricture caused by tuberculous adenitis have been reported inJapan including our case. Radiographic differential diagnosis of tuberculous adenitis from malignant diseases have been reported to be difficult in the previous cases. They performed an invasive laparotomy to get the diagnosis of tuberculous adenitis. The use of laparoscopic procedure for histological diagnosis could avoid the problem of unnecessary invasive surgery and enable us to perform immediate therapy.

We study the number and the distribution of low mass Pop III stars in the Milky Way. In our numerical model, hierarchical formation of dark matter minihalos and Milky Way sized halos are followed by a high resolution cosmological simulation. We model the Pop III formation in H2 cooling minihalos without metal under UV radiation of the Lyman-Werner bands. Assuming a Kroupa IMF from 0.15 to 1.0 Msun for low mass Pop III stars, as a working hypothesis, we try to constrain the theoretical models in reverse by current and future observations. We find that the survivors tend to concentrate on the center of halo and subhalos. We also evaluate the observability of Pop III survivors in the Milky Way and dwarf galaxies, and constraints on the number of Pop III survivors per minihalo. The higher latitude fields require lower sample sizes because of the high number density of stars in the galactic disk, the required sample sizes are comparable in the high and middle latitude fields by photometrically selecting low metallicity stars with optimized narrow band filters, and the required number of dwarf galaxies to find one Pop III survivor is less than ten at 10 Msun., accepted by ApJ, 11 pages, 8 figures

In populations of the ciliate protozoan, Paramecium multimicronucleatum, the circadian‐clock‐con‐trolled mating reaction expressed by a limited number of cells among them feeds back to contribute to coherence of their circadian rhythms of motility and mating reaction. This eventually causes a decrease in the period of the rhythms from the entrained 24h period to a steady‐state period of about 22h, with the rate of decrease depending on the strength of the mating reaction. These results suggest that the interaction among oscillators may be one of the factors which modulate the period of a circadian clock composed of nearly identical oscillators. The clock‐controlled mating reaction provides a promising inter‐oscillator pathway for obtaining more insight into the mechanism of modulation of the period of such circadian clocks through inter‐oscillator interaction.

We explore the impacts of ultraviolet (UV) radiation feedback on galaxies during the epoch of reionisation by cosmological simulations in which hydrodynamics and the transfer of the H and He ionising photons are consistently coupled. Moreover we take into account H_2 non-equilibrium chemistry, including photo-dissociation. The most striking feature of the simulations is a high spatial resolution for the radiative transfer (RT) calculation which enables us to start considering not only external UV feedback processes but also internal UV feedback processes in each galaxy. We find that the star formation is significantly suppressed due to the internal UV and supernova (SN) feedback. In low mass galaxies with M, 14 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We aim to clarify the impact of ultraviolet (UV) radiation feedback on cosmic reionization history. For the purpose, we perform radiation hydrodynamic simulations in which the formation of galaxies regulated by internal UV feedback and the global ionization of IGM by ionizing photons emitted from these galaxies are consistently solved. As a result, we find that the internal UV feedback severely suppresses the star formation not only in low mass galaxies but also in massive galaxies. One of the reasons for the suppression of the star formation in massive galaxies is smoothing of internal density structures by the internal UV and SN feedback. The smoothing of internal density structures also results in enhancements of the ionizing photon escape fractions. Our simulations well reproduce observed star formation rate densities and neutral hydrogen fractions at z ≤ 7 - 8, but cannot reproduce the optical depth for the Thomson scattering measured by WAMP. These results imply that missing sources, such as Popuplation III stars, are responsible for the reonization in the early Universe.

First, the formation of first objects driven by dark matter is revisited by high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. It is revealed that dark matter haloes of ~10^4M_sun can produce first luminous objects with the aid of dark matter cusps. Therefore, the mass of first objects is smaller by roughly two orders of magnitude than in the previous prediction. This implies that the number of Pop III stars formed in the early universe could be significantly larger than hitherto thought. Secondly, the feedback by photo-ionization and photo-dissociation photons in the first objects is explored with radiation hydrodynamic simulations, and it is demonstrated that multiple stars can form in a 10^5M_sun halo. Thirdly, the fragmentation of an accretion disk around a primordial protostar is explored with photo-dissociation feedback. As a result, it is found that the photo-dissociation can reduce the mass accretion rate onto protostars. Also, protostars as small as 0.8M_sun may be ejected and evolve with keeping their mass, which might be detected as "real first stars" in the Galactic halo. Finally, state-of-the-art radiation hydrodynamic simulations are performed to investigate the internal ionization of first galaxies and the escape of ionizing photons. We find that UV feedback by forming massive stars enhances the escape fraction even in a halo as massive as > 6* 10^9M_sun, while it reduces the star formation rate significantly. This may have a momentous impact on the cosmic reionization., 26 pages, 14 figures

A 510-pixel (H)*492-pixel (V) IT (interline transfer) CCD (charge coupled device) with 3.65-mm (H)*2.73-mm (V) image area, corresponding to a 1/4-in optical format, has been developed. The basic characteristics of this CCD are better than or equal to those of the conventional 1/3-in 250 k CCD. Simplifying the driving circuit (54% of the components of the conventional CCD) and shrinking the package (70% of the size of the conventional CCD) makes possible the downsizing of a camera system. >

Rh(II) acetate effectively catalyzed the hydrosilylation of enamides, N-vinylurea, and imides to give N-(silylalkyl)amide derivatives in moderate to high yields. The silyl group was selectively introduced to the carbon atom adjacent to the nitrogen atom, whereas the efficiency and regioselectivity of the Rh-catalyzed hydrosilylation of vinyl carboxylates, thiocarboxylates, ethers, and thioethers were highly affected by the substitution patterns of the substrates and reaction conditions. The reaction of N-vinylphthalimide (1f) with deuteriosilane suggests that the catalytic process involving the oxidative addition of hydrosilane and migratory insertion of the alkenyl group of 1f is reversible. The molecular structures of the N-(1-silylethyl)phthalimide 2f and N-(1-silylethyl)acetamide 2k species have been determined by X-ray analyses. The results show that there is no intramolecular interaction between the silicon atom and the oxygen atom of the carbonyl groups of 2f and 2k.

TS-1 is an oral anti-tumor drug, which contains 5-chloro-2, 4-dihydroxypyridine (CDHP), a compound mainly excreted in urine. Since the CDHP concentration is increased among patients with impaired renal function, the frequency of side effects of TS-1 increases in such patients. Therefore, we constructed a computer-aided system that enables prompt monitoring of creatinine clearance (Ccr) calculated from the serum creatinine levels of patients prescribed TS-1 at the time pharmacists prepare the medicine. With this system, we found two cases who were prescribed TS-1, despite their decreased Ccr. One was a patient whose estimated Ccr was less than 30 mL/min/m2. With such renal malfunction, pharmacokinetics of the drug was considerably changed compared with normal control, and the dosage should be reduced. The other case presented with severe jaundice and had only a mild decrease of renal function (Ccr: 50 mL/min/m2). So we measured the concentration of uracil in the urine and performed a drug lymphocyte stimulation test for further investigation of concomitant affecting factors. Our system is useful because it can show pharmacists both the dosage TS-1 patients take and their renal function at a glance in real time. This system can be adapted for every medicine which might accumulate in patients with renal dysfunction.

(2000). Robotics applied to sports engineering. Advanced Robotics: Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 377-379.

Individual variations in P-450 activity affect the in vivo pharmacokinetics as well as the efficacy and side effect of drugs. It is proposed that urinary glucaric acid (GA) level may indirectly represent P-450 activity and may therefore be an indicator of P- 450 activity in the clinical setting. However, no standard method has been developed so far. Metabolism of paclitaxel (PTX), an anticancer drug, is mediated by P-450. If P-450 activity could be predicted by measuring urinary GA level during PTX administration and individual blood PTX concentration could be inferred, urinary GA level would be a potent tool to predict the efficacy and side effects of the drug. We therefore measured the urinary GA levels of patients on antiepileptics that are suggested to induce P-450 and those of control subjects, to determine whether urinary GA level could be an indicator of P-450 activity. Then, we examined the relationship between urinary GA level and blood PTX concentration and looked into the possibility of predicting pharmacokinetics based on the relationship between urinary GA level and area under the blood concentration-time curve (AUC). The means+/-S. D. of urinary [(GA level)/(Cr level) x 10] levels of 16 patients on antiepileptic medication and 24 control subjects were 0. 98 mg/mL+/-0. 91 and 0. 19 mg/mL+/-0. 07, respectively. The urinary GA levels of patients on antiepileptic medication were significantly higher than those of control subjects. On the other hand, the relationship between AUC and urinary GA levels in eight patients on PTX showed that AUC tended to become large when urinary GA levels were low. The above results reveal that measuring urinary GA level by the easy and noninvasive way of urine collection would enable us to predict P-450 activity and infer blood PTX concentration.

Irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11) is converted to SN-38 by carboxylesterase, SN-38 is conjugated by UDP-glucuronosyl- transferase (UGT) to SN-38G. Individual differences in enzyme activity influence the efficacy of this anticancer agent and the adverse reactions it induces. In this study, individual differences in the metabolism of this drug were determined by calculating its c 1 on version (CPT-11 to SN-38) and conjugation ratios (SN-38 to SN-38G) from blood concentrations of CPT-11, SN-38, and SN-38G at immediately and 60 min after a 90-min intravenous infusion of CPT-11. Changes in conversion and conjugation during long-term infusion of CPT-11 were also investigated. The median conversion and conjugation ratios were 0.0155 and 2.812, respectively (n=48). Based on these values, the patients were classified into four types: low-low type (10.4%), low-high type (31.2%), high-low type (31.2%), and high high type (27.1%). Prolongation of infusion time resulted in an increase in the conversion ratio in the low-high type and an increase in the conjugation ratio in the high-low type. These changes, however, were very slight in the high-high type. Thus, a longer infusion time made it possible to increase the number of doses in the low-high type and minimize adverse reactions in the high-low type.In patients found to have a low SN-38 conversion ratio or SN-38G conjugation ratio based on simple assessment of data obtained by 2-point blood sampling, modification of infusion time may allow pharmacokinetic changes that confer a clinical benefit.

We present a novel scenario for globular cluster (GC) formation, where the ultraviolet (UV) background radiation effectively works so as to produce compact star clusters. Here, we explore the formation of GCs in UV radiation fields. For this purpose, we calculate baryon and dark matter (DM) dynamics in spherical symmetry, incorporating the self-shielding effects by solving the radiative transfer of UV radiation. In addition, we prescribe the star formation in cooled gas components and pursue the dynamics of formed stars. As a result, we find that the evolution of subgalactic objects in UV background radiation are separated into three types, that is, (1) prompt star formation, where less massive clouds ~10^{5-8} M_sun are promptly self-shielded and undergo star formation, (2) delayed star formation, where photoionized massive clouds >10^8 M_sun collapse despite high thermal pressure and are eventually self-shielded to form stars in a delayed fashion, and (3) supersonic infall, where photoionized less massive clouds ~10^{5-8} M_sun contract with supersonic infall velocity and are self-shielded when a compact core forms. In particular, the type (3) is a novel type found in the present simulations, and eventually produces a very compact star cluster. The resultant mass-to-light ratios, half-mass radii, and velocity dispersions for the three types are compared to the observations of GCs, dwarf spheroidals (dSphs), and ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs). It turns out that the properties of star clusters resulting from supersonic infall match well with those of observed GCs, whereas the other two types are distinct from GCs. Hence, we conclude that supersonic infall in a UV background is a promising mechanism to form GCs., 11pages, 9figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, a few typos are fixed

Individual differences in 5-FU metabolism are mainly attributed to individual differences in the activity of DPD, an enzyme that can metabolize more than 85% of 5-FU. Because urinary uracil is a reflection of DPD activity, it is measured to predict and prevent the occurrence of side effects caused by pyrimidine-type chemotherapeutic agents. From urinary uracil values measured in 84 gastrointestinal cancer patients, 0-60 mmol/g.creatinine was set as a standard. In patients whose urinary uracil values exceeded the standard, 5-FU tended to be accumulated when S-1, a DIF product, was administered and side effects, such as anorexia, vomiting and diarrhea occurred immediately after the start of S-1 administration. If an appropriate DIF product is selected and its dosage set based on the patient's urinary uracil value, the occurrence of side effects would be reduced. Subsequently, a continuation of medication would be possible.

We explore the impact of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from massive Population III (Pop III) stars of 25, 40, 80, and 120 M_sun on the subsequent Pop III star formation. In this paper, particular attention is paid to the dependence of radiative feedback on the mass of source Pop III star. UV radiation from the source star can work to impede the secondary star formation through the photoheating and photodissociation processes. Recently, Susa & Umemura (2006) have shown that the ionizing radiation alleviates the negative effect by H_2-dissociating radiation from 120$M_sun PopIII star, since an H_2 shell formed ahead of an ionizing front can effectively shield H_2-dissociating radiation. On the other hand, it is expected that the negative feedback by H_2-dissociating radiation can be predominant if a source star is less massive, since a ratio of the H_2-dissociating photon number to the ionizing photon number becomes higher. In order to investigate the radiative feedback effects from such less massive stars, we perform three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations, incorporating the radiative transfer effect of ionizing and H_2-dissociating radiation. As a result, we find that if a source star is less massive than ~25M_sun, the ionizing radiation cannot suppress the negative feedback of H_2-dissociating radiation. Therefore, the fate of the neighboring clouds around such less massive stars is determined solely by the flux of H_2-dissociating radiation from source stars. With making analytic estimates of H_2 shell formation and its shielding effect, we derive the criteria for radiation hydrodynamic feedback depending on the source star mass., 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

To study the cyclic deformation and tribological behavior of amorphous alloy films and blocks (powder compacts), two types of fatigue test (cyclic bending) apparatus, wear rate test apparatus and an apparatus for measuring static and kinetic friction coefficients were constructed. From the strain amplitude-lifetime curves obtained, it was found that the fatigue limit of the amorphous films is higher than that of ordinary metal films such as 304 stainless steel films and that the fatigue limit obtained by testing three types of amorphous films, i.e. iron-based, cobalt-based and nickel-based ones, in dry argon gas and in vacuum is even higher than that obtained by testing in air. The wear rate of amorphous iron-based alloy films is much less than that of crystalline specimens tested, and the wear volume tends to saturate above a certain sliding speed of the disc. As regards the static and kinetic friction coefficients of the amorphous specimens (μ s and μ k , respectively), both are lower than those of crystalline specimens, in particular, in the case of μ k for amorphous-amorphous contact ( μ k = 0.04).

Thermolysis of Ru3(CO)12 in the presence of 4,5-bis(dimethylsilyl)-9,9-dimethylxanthene (xantsilH2) (1) at 120 °C afforded cis-Ru(CO)4(xantsil) [2; xantsil = (9,9-dimethylxanthene-4,5-diyl)bis(dimethylsilyl)] as a main product. Isolated 2 reacted with toluene on reflux to give cis-Ru(CO)(xantsil)(η6-C6H5CH3) (3). The η6-toluene ligand of 3 was cleanly replaced with η6-benzene at room temperature by simply dissolving 3 in benzene.

S-1 has been reported good results in the treatment of stomach cancer. However, a DPD activity change has also been reported as one of the causes for a recurrence though some recurrence cases observing a state of tumor being unchanged continuously for more than 1 year. Therefore the urinary uracil value, which could simply be predicted in the DPD activity at the time of a recurrence after having administered S-1 for a long-term, was measured. And the urinary uracil value was examined whether it could become an index of recurrence compared with a healthy 5-person example as reference. In the result, a monthly difference in change of the urinary uracil values of the reference was small. However, the urinary uracil values in patients who were administered S-1 more than 6 months but recurred, were significantly lower comparing with the healthy 5-person example. We concluded from this study that the change in DPD activity due to an induction of DPD by 5-FU and metastasis of cancer caused the recurrence and lower a urinary value. The urinary uracil value reflecting DPD activity of the whole body could be used as an index of recurrence at the time of long-term dosage of S-1. Furthermore, a measurement of the urinary uracil value seems to be promising for estimation and evaluation of the cure.

Although it is recommended that the standard S-1 dosage should be based on how large the body surface area is, an on-site setting of the appropriate dosage is often lower than the standard one, depending on the individual's condition and considering possible side effects and so, on. Here, we investigated usage conditions for S-1 as a part of field training for expert pharmacists at our hospital that performs total clinical treatments. Decreases in dosage per day for elderly patients were although the standard dosage is generally determined according to the amount of a patient's body surface. We conducted a retrospective survey with a total 90 patients by creating a tree-diagram to identify a reduction standard. It was found that the S-1 dosage was decreased when there were side effects, aggravation in performance status, decrease in kidney function, old age, combined injection chemotherapy, and a decrease in radiation therapy performance. The dosage decreases without such medical reasons were seen in only 4 of the 90 patients. The individual target dosage on the basis of daily medical examination.

We investigated the differences in safety and management of adverse events of chemotherapy among three hospitals, Sakai Municipal Hospital, Takarazuka Municipal Hospital and National Hospital Organization Osaka-minami Medical Center. The main purpose of this study was to equalize the spread of breast cancer chemotherapy regimen. The following three regimens were evaluated; epirubicin (75 mg/m(2)) /cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m(2)) (EC75), epirubicin (75 mg/m(2)) /cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m(2)) /5-fluorouracil (500 mg/m(2)) (FEC75) and epirubicin (100 mg/m(2)) / cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m(2)) /5-fluorouracil (500 mg/m(2)) (FEC100). Sixty-three patients were evaluated. We studied the level of myelosuppression after each regimen. As a result, there was no significant difference in neutrocyte counts at nadir after chemotherapy among hospitals and regimens. However, the values tended to be ranked EC75FEC75FEC100. In addition, we examined the risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) according to the multi- national association for supportive care in cancer (MASCC) scoring system. Almost all patients (61/63) were in the low risk group of FN, and only two patients had developed FN. At one hospital, patients receiving chemotherapy were prescribed ciprofloxacin tablets prophylactically for prexia over 38 deg C, and the patients learned from it. Thus, no marked difference in the safety (side effects such as myelosuppression) was recognized. However, management of side effects was different among these hospitals. In conclusion, it is very important to provide patients with adequate information on side effects.

We propose an improved method to measure urinary D-glucaric acid (GA), which might be of value as an indirect index of the activity of cytochrome P450 (CYP). This method was about 20 times more sensitive than existing methods. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range 5.5-66 ng ml(-1) for GA, with the effective molar absorptivity at 533 nm and the relative standard deviation being 9.1 x 10(5) dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.69% (n = 6), respectively. In addition, we introduced the correction value {GA/Cr ratio x10} of urinary GA by measuring urinary creatinine (Cr) at the same time. Based on the proposed method, the GA and Cr values in spot urines of healthy persons and cancer patients were subsequently measured and the correction values of both groups subjected to comparison. As a result, a statistically significant difference was recognized between the two groups.

We present studies for development of an enzymatic diagnostic method for periodontitis. A rapid and sensitive diagnostic method named SK-013 was provided by Sunstar Inc. to evaluate the peptidase activities specifically derived from periodontopathic bacteria such as Bacteroides gingivalis, Bacteroides forsythus and Treponema denticola and some strains of Capnocytophaga species. The results obtained indicated the specificity of the enzymatic reaction in this system.