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To assess the effect of dietary ascorbate on lipid metabolism, 1-year black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii) were reared on a casein-based purified diet and an ascorbate fortified diet (1,100 mg of L: -ascorbyl-2- monophosphate-Mg/kg diet). The fortified ascorbate was effectively incorporated into the fish body and elevated muscle carnitine content. Fortifications of dietary ascorbate depressed activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase as lipogenic enzymes in the hepatopancreas and intraperitoneal fat body. Starvation after feeding experiment activated carnitine palmitoyltransferase as a lipolysis enzyme in the hepatopancreas in both control and vitamin C(VC) groups, while the lipolysis activity was significantly higher in VC group. These results confirmed that dietary ascorbate depressed lipogenesis and activated lipolysis, i.e., influenced the lipid metabolism of black sea bream.

Room temperature Young's modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's ratio were measured by Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) for a total of 29 skutterudite specimens cut from four hot pressed billets: (i) two p-type (Ce 0.9 Fe 3.5 Co 0.5 Sb 12 ) billets, (ii) one n-type (Co 0.95 Pd 0.05 Te 0.05 Sb 3 ) billet with 0.1 atomic% Ce addition and (iii) one n-type billet without Ce addition. Within a given hot pressed billet, the elastic moduli were very uniform from specimen to specimen. Also, Ce-doping of the n-type specimens did not result in a significant shift in the elastic modulus. For n-type specimens with 98% relative density, the mean Young's modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's ratio were 140.6 ± 0.2 GPa, 57.34 ± 0.05 and 0.226 ± 0.001 GPa, respectively. For the p-type specimens of similar relative density, the mean Young's and shear moduli were approximately 7% lower than the n-type, while there was no significant difference between the mean Poisson's ratio values of the n-type and p-type 98% dense specimens. The measured elastic moduli agreed relatively well with the literature values for other Sb-based skutterudite compositions. In addition, nanoindentation measurements on three mutually orthogonal specimen faces showed no appreciable anisotropy in Young's modulus.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Sporobolus virginicus, oxadiazon, oxyfluorfen, sulfosulfuron, native species establishment, roadside re-vegetation, Hawaii SUMMARY. Field experiments were conducted to assess the tolerance of seashore dropseed (Sporobolus virginicus) to pre- and postemergence herbicides labeled for roadside right-of-way use. Dithiopyr (0.25 and 0.50 lb/acre a.i.), trifluralin + isoxaben (2.0 + 0.5 and 4.0 + 1.0 lb/acre a.i.), oxyfluorfen (0.25 and 0.50 lb/acre a.i.), oxadiazon (2.0 and 4.0 lb/acre a.i.), and granular table salt (99% sodium chloride, 1% sodium silicoaluminate; 83% of particles 0.5‐0.25 mm in diameter, 400 lb/acre a.i.) were applied at 2 and 84 days after transplanting (DAT). Preemergence weed control with crop response measures as visual foliar injury ratings and aboveground biomass accumulation were recorded 38 days after the second application of herbicides (DAH2). Crop response to postemergence herbicides aminopyralid (1.10 lb/acre a.i.), triclopyr (3.0 lb/acre a.i.), a prepackaged mix of carfentrazone + (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid + mecoprop + dicamba (0.02 + 1.11 + 0.22 + 0.11 lb/acre a.i.), and sulfosulfuron (0.06 lb/acre a.i.) applied at 70 and 98 DAT included visual foliar injury ratings and aboveground biomass accumulation at 28 DAH2. Although all pre-emergence herbicides (except table salt) exhibited acceptable weed control ratings, only oxadiazon and oxyfluorfen showed exceptional weed control and safety. The postemergence herbicide sulfosulfuron was the least injurious to seashore dropseed. The mixture of carfentrazone + (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid + mecoprop + dicamba and triclopyr were the most injurious to seashore dropseed and should only be used as a directed spray treatment. An unintended overapplication of aminopyralid was phytotoxic, but it did not lead to complete plant death at 28 DAH2. These data identified oxadiazon, oxyfluorfen, and sulfosulfuron as safe and effective for establishing transplanted seashore dropseed plugs.

Annual reports of perinatal statistics in Japan from about 200 registry hospitals are summarized. A gradual decrease in the perinatal mortality rate has been observed from 16.04 in 1974 to 13.50 in 1978. Among the initially registered 129 hospitals, a similar decrease in perinatal mortality has been observed. Among the 18 main clinical causes of death, the percentages of placenta previa and neonatal respiratory distress exhibited a decrease during the last 5 years. Among the cases of perinatal death, in member hospitals of the Committee on Perinatal Statistics, three criteria were used to determine the perinatal stage for purposes of comparison, namely: 1) a gestational age of 28 or more weeks, or alternatively, birthweights of 2) 500 to 999.9 g or 3) 1000 g or more. Perinatal mortality was lowest in the group weighing 1000 g or more (9.87), slightly higher in the group aged 28 weeks or more (10.94) and highest in 500 to 999.9 g group (14.40). Individual case reports of perinatal death in member hospitals of the Committee are analyzed, and an ICD-based investigation elucidated the characteristic patterns of perinatal death.

Hypoxia has been previously linked to the development of both benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. This study investigated the effect of maspin, an extracellular matrix (ECM) tumor suppressor, on the apoptotic response of prostate cancer cells to hypoxia. Gene expression profiling of human benign and malignant prostate epithelial cells after exposure to hypoxia or normoxia revealed dramatic changes in ECM regulators. Maspin was found to be overexpressed in response to hypoxia in prostate cancer cells, but not in benign prostate cells. To dissect the contribution of maspin to tumor cell responses within a hypoxic microenvironment, we used maspin-overexpressing DU-145 human prostate cancer cells. Exposure to hypoxic conditions (1% O(2)) led to a significant increase in apoptosis in the DU-145 maspin cells, compared to DU-145 neo-transfectants without a significant effect on cell migration. This enhanced sensitivity to hypoxia-induced apoptosis leads to a significant suppression of tumor growth and tumor vascularity in vivo by targeting Akt and focal adhesion kinase activation. Our findings implicate maspin in prostate cancer cell response to hypoxia via recruitment of intracellular signaling partners. This study may have significance in the identification of maspin-driven therapeutic targeting in advanced metastatic prostate cancer.

ZnO films were prepared on (1 1 1) YSZ and (0 0 0 1) sapphire by pulsed laser deposition method. Effect of lattice mismatch on the carrier transport properties of ZnO epitaxial thin films was investigated. The carrier mobility of the ZnO films on YSZ was larger than that of ZnO/sapphire due to smaller lattice mismatch when the thickness was below 150 nm. The effect of electrically degenerated layer on the carrier transport property increased with decreasing the film thickness of ZnO film. The carrier density and electron mobility of 20 nm-thick-ZnO film on either substrate were regardless of the temperature. We concluded that the dominant carrier scattering mechanism in ZnO ultra thin films is double Schottky barriers at the grain boundary and that their height depends on the carrier concentration.

The convergence behavior of the Krylov subspace iterative solvers towards the systems with the 3D acoustical BEM is investigated through numerical experiments. The fast multipole BEM, which is an efficient BEM based on the fast multipole method, is used for solving problems with up to about 100,000 DOF. It is verified that the convergence behavior of solvers is much affected by the formulation of the BEM (singular, hypersingular, and Burton-Miller formulation), the complexity of the shape of the problem, and the sound absorption property of the boundaries. In BiCG-like solvers, GPBiCG and BiCGStab2 have more stable convergence than others, and these solvers are useful when solving interior problems in basic singular formulation. When solving exterior problems with greatly complex shape in Burton-Miller formulation, all solvers hardly converge without preconditioning, whereas the convergence behavior is much improved with ILU-type preconditioning. In these cases GMRes is the fastest, whereas CGS is one of the good choices, when taken into account the difficulty of determining the timing of restart for GMRes. As for calculation for rigid thin objects in hypersingular formulation, much more rapid convergence is observed than ordinary interior/exterior problems, especially using BiCG-like solvers.

We numerically investigate electron transfers in nanowires which consist of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules (up to five base pairs for double-strands and seven bases for single-strands) by quantum dynamical calculations. DNA molecules are applied to organic nanodevices and the performance depends on electronic transfer properties. Combining quantum chemical molecular-orbital calculations and stochastic mechanics, we provide an analyzing method of quantum dynamical electron motions. From one-electron wavefunctions or molecular orbitals, we calculate some dynamical properties, such as mean-square displacement and self-diffusion coefficients relating with electron mobility. Our calculation suggests that the electron transfers through the double-strands of GC base pairs while the electrons are localized in the double-strands of AT base pairs nor the single-strands of G bases.

We realized strongly index-coupled membrane buried-heterostructure (BH) distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers fabricated by electron-beam lithography, CH4/H2 reactive-ion etching, and regrowth by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy, using surface corrugation DFB. First, we fabricated narrow stripe membrane BH-DFB lasers with surface corrugation for stable single-mode operation. Under optically pumped room-temperature continuous-wave (RT-CW) operation, a wide stopband width of 68 nm was observed in spite of the narrow stripe width of 0.6 mum. The corresponding index-coupling coefficient of 2950 cm-1 is over two times larger than that of a flat-surface (conventional) membrane BH-DFB laser with a stripe width of 2.0 mum. In addition, we fabricated a short-cavity membrane DFB laser with a surface corrugation structure. A threshold optical pump power of as low as 0.34 mW was realized for a 2.0-mum-wide and 80-mum-long device under RT-CW conditions.

In this work we show that the fiber optic angular displacement sensor is capable of Lamb wave detection, with results comparable to a piezoelectric transducer. Therefore, the fiber optic sensor has a great potential to be used as the Lamb wave ultrasonic receiver and to perform non-destructive and non-contact testing.

The authors proposed the hybrid tuber structure with steel reinforced concrete wall-column and steel beam in order to realize a versatile space in a building. The peripheral frame in this structure consists of a steel reinforced concrete wallcolumn and a peripheral steel beam just embedded to the wall-column, resulting in a rigid connection. In the orthogonal direction of the peripheral frame, a long spanned steel beam is rigidly connected by welding to the H-shaped steel inside the wall-column. This paper investigates the bearing stress transfer mechanism in the in-plane direction of the wall-column. A total number of seven beam-column joint specimens, in half scale of the actual structure, were tested under cyclic loading to simulate the seismic loads. The test parameters include the width and depth, and the embedded length of the steel beam. Based on experimental knowledge, the authors propose the design formula for the structure in terms of

Cu2SnSe3 (CTSe) thin films were fabricated by coevaporation on soda-tune glass substrates at the substrate temperature of 300 °C under rations Co Sd supply ratios. From X-ray diffraction ( XRD) analyses, diffraction peaks of CTSe with a cubic sphalerite structure were observed in all CTSe thin films. In addition, SnSe and SnSe2 phases were also detected in Sn-ricb CTSe thin films. On the other bands, in Cu-rich CTSe thin films, a Cu2Se secondary phase was observed by Raman scattering measurements. Surface and cross-sectional observations revealed that these secondary phases were mostly segregated on the] surface of the thin films. The electrical properties of CTSe thin films changed strongly by Co. Sn ratios in the thin films.

Alginate was studied as a degradable nerve guidance scaffold material in vitro and in vivo. In vitro degradation rates were determined using rheology to measure the change in shear modulus vs time. The shear modulus decreased from 155 kPa to 5 kPa within 2 days; however, alginate samples maintained their superficial geometry for over 28 days. The degradation behavior was supported by materials characterization data showing alginate consisted of high internal surface area (400 m

In this work, we present an analysis of the influence of the geometrical parameters on the sensitivity and linear range of the fiber optic angular displacement sensor, through computational simulations and experiments. The geometrical parameters analyzed were the lens focal length, the gap between fibers, the fibers cladding radii, the emitting fiber critical angle (or, equivalently, the emitting fiber numerical aperture), and the standoff distance (distance between the lens and the reflective surface). Besides, we analyzed the sensor sensitivity regarding any spurious linear displacement. The simulation and experimental results showed that the parameters which play the most important roles are the emitting fiber core radius, the lens focal length, and the light coupling efficiency, while the remaining parameters have little influence on sensor characteristics. This paper was published in Applied Optics and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ao/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-53-36-8436. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures

著者人数: 248名, Accepted: 2015-04-10, 資料番号: SA1150145000

The optical absorption spectra of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films deposited on glass and transparent conductive oxide (TCO) covered glass substrates were measured by using the piezoelectric photothermal (PPT) technique. The effects of the deposition rate on the optical absorption of μc-Si:H thin films were investigated from the nonradiative transition point of view. It was found that increasing the deposition rate resulted in a decrease of optical absorption and a shift of effective energy gap to the higher photon energy side. These changes in the optical properties of μc-Si:H cause the decrease of the number of carriers optically generated by absorbing sunlight, and results in a reduction in the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the solar cells for high deposition rate samples. The usefulness of the PPT method for investigating the optical properties of thin and transparent μc-Si:H films was also demonstrated.

We realized multiple-wavelength laser arrays based on a membrane buried-heterostructure distributed-feedback (BH-DFB) structure fabricated by electron-beam lithography (EBL), CH/sub 4//H/sub 2/ reactive-ion etching, and regrowth by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy (OMVPE), and investigated their wavelength controllability using two different approaches, i.e., a modulation of the DFB grating period and that of the stripe width. Under optically pumped room-temperature continuous-wave (RT-CW) operation, a wavelength fluctuation for a fixed DFB grating period was found to be less than /spl plusmn/1.2 nm for all 75 samples prepared on the same wafer. A total wavelength span of 64 nm and an average channel spacing of 3.4 nm were obtained in the DFB period modulation range of 311.25 to 335.00 nm with 1.25-nm steps. An average channel spacing of 4.1 nm was also obtained in the stripe modulation range of 1.0-2.8 /spl mu/m with 0.2-/spl mu/m steps.

Sunn hemp (Crotolaria juncea L.), a legume plant, has potential in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. as a renewable source of fiber and pulp, due to its biological nitrogen fixation capability that can help reduce/eliminate N pollution of Chesapeake Bay. Most research in this region has focused on kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) and little is known about sunn hemp. We evaluated effects of three planting dates (late-May, mid-June, and late-June) and three row spacings (0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 m) on dry matter yields (DMY) of kenaf and sunn hemp during 1997, and 1998 by using three crop treatments (CT1: kenaf grown with 100 kg N ha−1; CT2: sunn hemp grown without inoculation and with 100 kg N ha−1; and CT3: sunn hemp inoculated with Bradyrhizobium but without N fertilization). DMY following CT1 and CT3 (7.8 and 6.4 Mg ha−1, respectively) during 1997 were similar and greater than that following CT2 (5.7 Mg ha−1). However, DMY following CT1, CT2, and CT3 were similar in 1998 and ranged from 12.6 to 13.4 Mg ha−1. Kenaf planting date did not affect DMY during 1997 but during 1998 the highest DMY was obtained from kenaf planted in late-May. The optimal planting date for sunn hemp during 1997 was mid-June, whereas in 1998 it was late-May. Row spacing effects on kenaf DMY were not significant. Row spacings of 0.3 m were optimal for DMY of N-fertilized sunn hemp during 1997 and 1998, whereas row spacing did not affect DMY of non-fertilized, but affected inoculated sunn hemp. We conclude that both kenaf and sunn hemp could produce similar dry matter yields in the mid-Atlantic region of U.S.

The performance of a new structure plasma display panel (PDP) cell with counter sustain electrodes was diagnosed by optical emission and laser absorption spectroscopic measurements of the spatiotemporal behaviours of the microplasma. Two different types of panels were prepared: one with sustain electrodes only and the other with additional data and auxiliary electrodes on the rear and front plates. By using cells of the former type, the basic performance was measured as the dependences on the Xe concentration in Ne, the total pressure and the applied sustain voltage. It was seen that a higher Xe concentration was advantageous for the luminous efficiency although the required minimum sustain voltage became larger. By using the latter type of cell, the effects of driving schemes were investigated by varying the applied potentials onto the auxiliary and data electrodes. It was found that the role of the auxiliary electrode is remarkable; the discharge expands largely in the cell when the voltage and the width of the pulses applied to the auxiliary electrode are optimized to be 200 V and 0.3 µs, respectively, while the data electrode is grounded. The production efficiency of Xe atoms in the metastable (1s5) and resonance (1s4) states was derived from the measured absolute densities normalized by the input power per cell and the decay rates of those densities. The vacuum ultraviolet emission efficiency estimated from the results was compared between the tested conditions, and a noticeable improvement was recognized in the optimized condition, about 40% larger than a conventional driving condition without additional pulses. It was also seen that this cell structure is potentially superior in luminous efficiency to the conventional coplanar structure currently used in commercial PDPs.

Summary To examine the possibility of dietary α-starch in reducing feed costs in a practical diet, α-starch was supplemented at 10, 20, 30 and 40% in a composed diet having the same protein level. The four diets were fed to ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis (initial weight 9.1 g) for 43 days. Growth and feed efficiency increased with the supplement, with values highest in the 30–40%α-starch diet. The level of dietary α-starch did not affect the proximate muscle composition; although the hepatosomatic index was not affected, liver glycogen increased with increasing dietary α-starch. The dietary α-starch did not influence evacuation time from the gut, and was well digested through passage in the gut, mainly between the stomach and the anterior part of the intestine. Ayu have an ability to adapt their metabolism to high dietary α-starch, and can digest 40% or more in a composed diet. Although the muscle lipid content did not change, the fatty acid composition was influenced by dietary starch. With the elevation of dietary starch, a decrease of C18:2n-6 and an increase of C22:6n-3 occurred. These results indicate that at least 40%α-starch can be used in practical diets for ayu.

The geographical distribution and frequency of rye plants with B chromosomes from Pakistan and China were investigated to examine whether or not rye plants in these areas have B chromosomes and to compare them with those from other countries. Of the six samples of weedy rye (Secale segetale) collected from northwestern Pakistan, two samples, one from Chitral and the other from Parwak, contained plants carrying B chromosomes with frequencies of 16.7 % and 3.3 %, respectively. On the other hand, one sample of cultivated rye (S. cereale) collected from southwestern China carried B chromosomes with a frequency of 41.7 %. The morphology of all detected B chromosomes was of the standard type, i.e., subtelocentric and about two-thirds as long as A chromosomes, and they displayed non-Mendelian inheritance. The present study suggested that B chromosome-carriers occur relatively commonly in weedy rye from northwestern Pakistan and in cultivated rye from southwestern China.

We have demonstrated that carbohydrates in Cry j 1, the major allergen of Cryptomeria japonica pollen, play a major role in promoting Cry j 1-specific Th2 response. However, little is known as to whether the carbohydrates directly participate in allergic responses.We sought to determine whether Cry j 1-related oligosaccharides function as IgE and/or T cell epitopes. In addition, the regulatory effect of Cry j 1-related oligosaccharide on Cry j 1-specific T cell responses was investigated.Two monovalent oligosaccharides largely found on Cry j 1, Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-3)(Xylbeta1-2)Manbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-4(Fucalpha1-3)GlcNAc (M3FX), and GlcNAcbeta1-2Manalpha1-6(GlcNAcbeta1-2Manalpha1-3)(Xylbeta1-2)Manbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-4(Fucalpha1-3)GlcNAc (GN2M3FX) were prepared. Manalpha1-2Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-2Manalpha1-3)Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-2Manalpha1-2Manalpha1-3)Manbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-4GlcNAc (M9A) was used as control. Competitive inhibition ELISA for Cry j 1-specific IgE was performed using these oligosaccharides as inhibitors. In addition, T cell lines specific for Cry j 1 or purified protein derivative of Mycobacterium tubecurosis (PPD) were established, and cellular responses against these oligosaccharides were investigated in the presence or absence of the respective antigens.Overall, neither M3FX nor GN2M3FX displayed inhibitory effect on the binding between IgE and Cry j 1. In addition, M3FX did not by itself stimulate Cry j 1 or PPD-specific T cells. However, M3FX significantly inhibited Cry j 1-induced proliferation and IL-4 production in Cry j 1-specific T cells. Such an inhibitory effect was not seen in PPD-specific T cell responses.These results suggest that Cry j 1-related oligosaccharides are not major epitopes for IgE or T cells. However, these oligosaccharides have a novel potential to inhibit Cry j 1-specific T cell responses selectively.

Fermi coupling constant ( G F ) which is one of the most important parameter in the Standard Model, can be determined by measuring the positive muon lifetime ( τ μ + ). However, its accuracy has not been improved for 15 years. We proposed a new method at the RIKEN-RAL muon facility, called ‘multi-decay per one time window’ in order to realize a higher event rate with a multi-segmented detector to reduce the pile-up effect. We accumulated ∼10 10 muon decay events and the analysis is in progress to achieve 10 ppm accuracy. The exponential decay law was tested for the muon decay at the same time and the preliminary upper-limit was obtained. Future lifetime measurement with the high intense muon source is also discussed.

The Muon Science Facility is one of the experimental arenas of the JAERI/KEK Joint Project, which also includes neutron science, particle and nuclear physics, neutrino physics and nuclear transmutation science. Following the recommendations by the review committees, the Joint Project was finally approved for construction at the end of December, 2000. The approval is for Phase 1 of 1335 Oku Yen out of the total project cost of 1890 Oku Yen. It is planned to locate the muon science experimental area together with the neutron facility in an integrated building, as a facility for materials and life science studies. Because its construction will be started in April 2003, we are now working to complete the detailed design of the building structure, shielding, electrical services, cooling water, primary proton beam line, one muon target and secondary beam lines.

Si 3 N 4 /SiC composite ceramics were sintered and subjected to three-point bending specimens made according to the appropriate JIS standard. A semi-circular surface crack of 100 μm in diameter was made on each specimen. We systematically studied crack-healing behavior, and cyclic and static fatigue strengths at the service temperature (1000 °C) by using three kinds of specimens (smooth, cracked and crack-healed). The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Si 3 N 4 /SiC composite ceramics have the excellent ability to heal a crack at 1000 °C; (2) this sample could heal a crack even under cyclic stress at 1000 °C; (3) a new crack-healing process was proposed. The sample crack-healed at 1000 °C by the process exhibited a sufficient static and cyclic fatigue strength at 1000 °C.

Keggin-type polyoxometalate [SiW12O40]4-, and Cr(III) trinuclear cation [Cr3O (OOCH)6(H2O)3]+, assembled in the presence of K+ to form a novel complex, K3[Cr3O(OOCH)6 (H2O)3]SiW12O40•2H2O (1). The structure was confirmed by single crystal X-ray analysis, FT-IR and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. The investigation with FT-IR, and diffuse reflectance UV-vis measurements revealed that 1 was stable up to 200°C. It was revealed by single crystal X-ray analysis that 1 possesses a straight channel filled with water molecules, which can be removed upon heat treatment without degradation in the structure of the constituent ions.

This paper describes the 32-Mb and the 64-Mb embedded DRAM core with high efficient redundancy, which is fabricated using 0.13-/spl mu/m triple-well 4-level Cu embedded DRAM technology. Core size of 18.9 mm/sup 2/ and cell efficiency of 51.3% for the 32-Mb capacity, and core size of 33.4 mm/sup 2/ and cell efficiency of 58.1% for the 64-Mb capacity are realized. This core can achieve 230-MHz burst access at 1.0-V power-supply condition by adopting a new data bus architecture: merged shift column redundancy. We implemented four test functions to improve the testability of the embedded DRAM core. It realizes the DRAM core test in a logic test environment.

Background: Although the APOE e4 allele is a well-known risk factor for developing AD, the impact of the e4 allele on clinical manifestations in patients with AD is still controversial. One possible reason for this controversy is that previous studies did not consider the effect of patient age at symptom onset. Objective: To investigate the possible impact of patient age at onset of AD on the effect of APOE genotype on regional cerebral glucose metabolism (rCMRglc). Methods: The authors compared rCMRglc between probable AD patients (based on criteria of the National Institute of Neurologic Disease and Stroke/AD and Related Disorders Association) with APOE e4/4 and APOE e3/3 alleles in early-onset (≤65 years old) and late-onset (>65 years old) groups. In each group, the patients with APOE e4/4 and APOE e3/3 alleles were comparable for age at onset, age at examination, sex, disease duration, education level, and severity of dementia. Results: In the early-onset group, the patients with the APOE e4/4 genotype showed a significant decrease of rCMRglc in the medial temporal lobe and a significant increase of rCMRglc in the inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortices as compared with those patients with the APOE e3/3 genotype. In the late-onset group, there were no significant differences in the rCMRglc pattern between the patients with APOE e4/4 and APOE e3/3 alleles. Conclusions: The current findings indicate that the impact of the APOE e4 genotype on cerebral glucose metabolism of patients with AD may be a function of age at symptom onset.

This paper describes two humanoid robots developed in the Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University. Hadaly-2 is intended to realize information interaction with humans by integrating environmental recognition with vision, conversation capability (voice recognition, voice synthesis), and gesture behaviors. It also possesses physical interaction functions for direct contact with humans and behaviors that are gentle and safe for humans. WABIAN is a robot with a complete human configuration that is capable of walking on two legs and carrying things as with humans. Furthermore, it has functions for information interactions suite for uses at home.

Somatic cell nuclei can be reprogrammed by fusion with embryonic stem cells (ESCs). For safe use of reprogrammed cells for regenerative medicine, it is desirable to reprogram somatic cells without gene mixing. In this study, we developed the new electric cell fusion device which enabled one-to-one cell fusion and cell culture after the fusion without gene mixing. The device consisting of slits on a wall separating two feeder channels. The slits had vertically varying width; wider (5μm) at the channel ceiling, and narrower (1μm) at the bottom. The electrofusion was performed on the wider slits where the cell pairs could easily contact. The field constriction induced by the slits enabled both pair formation of each cells and one-to-one electrofusion of the pairs. After the fusion, fusants were brought down toward the channel floor and cultured on the bottom side of slits which narrow enough to prevent nuclear slippage. As a result, electrofusion was successfully achieved in 90% of the aligned cell pairs. In the culture after electrofusion, fusants adhered on the channel floor where the narrow slit width was 1μm and nuclei slippage was prevented. We could culture fusants connected through the slits, preventing nuclear slippage even after culturing fusants for 24hours.

Data from 156 Nellore males were used to develop equations for the prediction of retail beef yield and carcass fat content, expressed as kilograms and as a percentage, from live animal and carcass measurements. Longissimus muscle area and backfat and rump fat thickness were measured by ultrasound up to 5 d before slaughter and fasted live weight was determined 1 d before slaughter. The same traits were obtained after slaughter. The carcass edible portion (CEP in kg and CEP% in percentage; n = 116) was calculated by the sum of the edible portions of primal cuts: hindquarter, forequarter, and spare ribs. Trimmable fat from the carcass boning process, with the standardization of about 3 mm of fat on retail beef, was considered to be representative of carcass fat content. Most of the variation in CEP was explained by fasted live weight or carcass weight (R(2) of 0.92 and 0.96); the same occurred for CEP% (R(2) of 0.15 and 0.13), and for CEP, the inclusion of LM area and fat thickness reduced the equation bias (lower value of Mallow's Cp statistics). For trimmable fat, most variation could be explained by weight or rump fat thickness. In general, the equations developed from live animal measurements showed a predictive power similar to the equations using carcass measurements. In all cases, the traits expressed as kilograms were better predicted (R(2) of 0.39 to 0.96) than traits expressed as a percentage (R(2) of 0.08 to 0.42).

This study evaluates the arthroscopic reduction association scapholunate technique and outcomes. A total of 18 patients with chronic scapholunate instability with mean follow-up of 36 months were reviewed. Postoperatively, the mean visual analogue score was 2.5 and the mean DASH score was 8. The grip strength was 27 kg on the operative side compared with 32 kg on the uninjured side. The mean wrist flexion was 46° and extension was 56°. Seven patients had complications. Six patients had scapholunate joint widening, one had windshield-wipering of the screws with loss of reduction, and two demonstrated progression of scapholunate advanced collapse deformity. Four patients underwent revision surgeries: two revision arthroscopic reduction association scapholunates and two proximal row carpectomies. A preoperative scapholunate gap of greater than 5 mm and the presence of scapholunate advanced collapse Grade I were both predictive of a complication or revision surgery. Patients with a scapholunate gap of greater than 5 mm or scapholunate advanced collapse had statistically higher complications rates. Level of Evidence IV.

Activated Sludge Models (ASMs) assume an unbiodegradable organic particulate fraction in the activated sludge, which is derived from the decay of active microorganisms in the sludge and/or introduced from wastewater. In this study, a seasonal change of such activated sludge constituents in a municipal wastewater treatment plant was monitored for 1.5 years. The chemical oxygen demand ratio of the unbiodegradable particulates to the sludge showed a sinusoidal pattern ranging from 40 to 65% along with the change of water temperature in the plant that affected the decay rate. The biogas production in a laboratory-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) process was also affected by the unbiodegradable fraction in the activated sludge fed. Based on the results a chemical pre-treatment using H2O2 was conducted on the digestate to convert the unbiodegradable fraction to a biodegradable one. Once the pre-treated digestate was returned to the digester, the methane conversion increased up to 80% which was about 2.4 times as much as that of the conventional AD process, whilst 96% of volatile solids in the activated sludge was digested. From the experiment, the additional route of the organic conversion processes for the inert fraction at the pre-treatment stage was modelled on the ASM platform with reasonable simulation accuracy.

To investigate the genetic predisposition toward the accumulation of oral microorganisms, the association between the alleles of HLA-DQA1, -DQB1 and -DRB1 and the salivary numbers of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli were examined in 102 young adults in Japan. HLA-DQA1 * 0102, DQB1 * 0604, DRB1 * 0802, and DRB1 * 1302 were weakly associated with the numbers of lactobacilli in saliva samples (P

We previously found that Mtv-2+ lymph nodes (LN) implanted into Mtv-2− mice underwent marked hyperplasia owing to the influx of lymphocytes. LN grafts infected with exogenous mouse mammary tumour viruses (MMTV), MMTV(FM) transmitted by FM mice and MMTV-2 produced by Mtv-2, also swelled in MMTV-free recipients. Mtv-3 and Mtv-7 also displayed this capability. Mtv-2-induced LN hyperplasia was earlier in onset and greater in extent when major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II I-E was expressed than unexpressed. Mtv-3-induced LN hyperplasia was suppressed completely by Mtv-3 from a different mouse strain and partially by Mtv-6 slightly different from Mtv-3 in superantigen (SAg) Vβ specificity. LN hyperplasia occurred bidirectionally in LN transplantation between mice carrying Mtv-2 and Mtv-3, which are different SAg Vβ specificity. LN hyperplasia induced by MMTV-2 carrying SAg responsive to Vβ14 alone and MMTV(FM) carrying SAg responsive to Vβ14 and Vβ8.2 was completely but partially suppressed by MMTV(FM) and MMTV-2, respectively. CD4+ T cells were essential for MMTV-induced LN hyperplasia. LN in situ also underwent significant hyperplasia when infected with MMTV. Thus, MMTV SAg may entice circulating lymphocytes into lymphoid organs and contribute to more efficient dissemination MMTV in vivo. Secondary lymphoid tissue chemokine (SLC) may not be directly involved in this event.

The lifetime of the positive muon (τμ +) can be directly associated with the Fermi Coupling Constant (G F ), which is one of the most basic parameters of the Standard Model. However, the current experimental accuracy of the τμ + is ∼30 ppm and it has not been improved for more than 15 years. We propose a new experiment for a pulsed muon facility such as RIKEN-RAL to measure the muon lifetime with multi-decay per one time window method. The advantage of our setup, no time window limitation, enables us to test the exponential decay law (EDL) in the long decay time region at the same time. The preliminary analysis set a new upperlimit for the EDL deviation in the muon decay. We accumulated ∼1010 muon decays and analysis is in progress.

This paper describes a 32-Mb embedded DRAM macro fabricated using 0.13-/spl mu/m triple-well 4-level Cu embedded DRAM technology, which is suitable for portable equipment of MPEG applications. This macro can operate 230-MHz random column access even at 1.0-V power supply condition. The peak power consumption is suppressed to 198 mW in burst operation. The power-down standby mode, which suppresses the leakage current consumption of peripheral circuitry, is also prepared for portable equipment. With the collaboration of array circuit design and the fine Cu metallization technology, macro size of 18.9 mm/sup 2/ and cell efficiency of 51.3% are realized even with dual interface and triple test functions implemented.

A large volume scintillation cell (LVSC) for radon activity concentration measurements has been reported at MARC-IV. The present paper describes improvements in the detection efficiency of the LVSC and results of the radon activity concentration measurements for indoor air that were performed using the improved LVSC. The cell is a cylindrical shape and has two photomultiplier tubes that are attached to a condensing lens on the photocathode so as to provide good light collection. Individual counting efficiencies were determined to be 0.48 for 222Rn, 0.55 for 218Po, and 0.61 for 214Po. The average counting efficiency per alpha-particle from the radon and its short half-life progenies was 0.55. This value is smaller than the original value reported by LUCAS of 0.86. However, the sensitivity is approximately eight times higher than that of the Lucas cell, which has a smaller volume. A background counting rate of 0.015 cps was obtained. The lower limit of detection (LLD) for the measurements was estimated using the average background counts, the detection efficiency and measurement time. The LLD at 80% statistics confidence limits was less than 10 Bq/m3 when counted within two hours.

The muon science facility is one of the experimental arenas of the JKJ project, which was recently approved for construction in a period from 2001 to 2006, as well as neutron science, particle and nuclear physics, neutrino physics and nuclear transmutation science. The muon science experimental area is planned to be located in the integrated building of the facility for the materials and life science study. One muon target will be installed upstream of the neutron target in a period of phase 1. The beam line and facility are designed to allow the later installation of a 2nd muon target in a more upstream location. The detailed design for electricity, cooling water, primary proton beam line, one muon target and secondary beam lines (a superconducting solenoid decay muon channel, a dedicated surface muon channel, and an ultra slow muon channel) is underway. In the symposium, a latest status of the muon science facility at JKJ project will be reported.

Three-dimensional particle tracking velocimetry (3-D PTV) measurements with a two-camera system have been conducted for a turbulent water plane Couette flow with an oil droplet in order to understand the modification of shear-dominant turbulence by the droplet. The parameters of the stereogrammetry, which are crucial for calculating the spatial coordinate of tracer particles from 2-D images of two cameras, have been determined with a careful calibration. The experimental results show that the axial and wall-normal turbulence intensities and the turbulent kinetic energy are enhanced locally in the confluence regions where axial main flow over the interface meets the secondary flow along the interface in the wall-normal direction. The secondary flows were observed only around the equator of the droplet. The wall-normal and transverse turbulence intensities are found to increase in the region above the droplet. This is due to the change in the direction of the primary flow over the top of the droplet. The turbulence in the other region is attenuated mainly because of the attenuation of the generation and evolution of the coherent structure in the neighbourhood of the droplet.

We report a unique case of a biopsy-proven rectal cancer exhibiting spontaneous complete regression in an extremely short period of 3 months. An 80-year-old man visited our hospital because of a positive fecal occult blood test. Colonoscopy showed a sessile polyp, about 25 mm in diameter, in the middle part of the rectum. Instead of endoscopic resection, two endoscopic biopsies were taken for histological evaluation, as an invasive cancer was endoscopically suspected.Well-differentiated invasive adenocarcinoma was revealed, and thus surgical resection was planned. At the second colonoscopy for endoscopic tattooing before surgery, the polyp was found to have unexpectedly developed into a flat lesion. Furthermore, the surgically removed specimen showed that the flat lesion had transformed to a depressed lesion, and surprisingly, no cancerous tissue was detected histologically.