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DA-6034 is a synthetic derivative of eupatilin, a flavonoid with anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of DA-6034 on the interactions between IκB kinase (IKK) and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), and activation of the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) signalling pathway in human gastric epithelial cells infected with Helicobacter pylori. MKN-45 gastric epithelial cell line was treated with DA-6034 and H. pylori. DA-6034 significantly inhibited NF-κB activation and upregulated the expressions of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in MKN-45 cells infected with H. pylori. However, DA-6034 did not influence activator protein-1 DNA binding activity in H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells. Pretreatment with DA-6034 attenuated the H. pylori-induced increase in IKK activity, and Hsp90 was associated with IKK-α and IKK-γ in MKN-45 cells. Treatment with DA-6034 dissociated the Hsp90 and IKK-γ complex in H. pylori-infected cells, leading to the inhibition of IL-8 expression. These results suggest that the eupatilin derivative 7-carboxymethyloxy-3',4',5-trimethoxy flavone has anti-inflammatory activity in gastric epithelial cells infected with H. pylori through the promotion of the dissociation of the IKK-γ-Hsp90 complex and suppression of NF-κB signalling.

We have performed Liquid Chromatography-Solid Phase Extraction- NMR (LC-SPE-NMR) analysis for liquid crystalline mixture and elucidated the structures of selected components by NMR spectra. Combining the results of one- dimensional 1H experiments as well as homonuclear and heteronuclear two- dimensional experiments, we could analyze the molecular structure of the liquid crystal singles whose structure had not been interpretable by mass spectrometry alone.

A dual circulating fluidized bed reactor (riser: 0.04 m × 0.11 m × 4.5 m high; bubbling fluidized bed: 0.285 m × 0.11 m × 2.13 m high) was designed and constructed to investigate hydrodynamics on dual fluidized bed gasifier (DFBG) and chemical looping combustion (CLC). Effects of gas velocities to a riser, bubbling fluidized bed, supply chamber, and recycle chamber as well as vertical aeration rate on solid circulation rate and solids flow characteristics in a loop-seal were determined experimentally. Hydrodynamic characteristics were identified by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation where a two-dimensional (2D) multiphase Eulerian model incorporating with the kinetic theory of solid particles was used. The solid circulation rate increases with increasing gas velocity into the loop-seal and the riser. At the same vertical aeration rate, the maximum solid circulation rate was obtained at a loop-seal height/base line (h/l) ratio of 2.5. When the supply chamber was connected to a bubbling fluidized bed, the pressure drop of the loop-seal was found to be affected by fluidizing state of the bubbling fluidized bed.

인도네시아 아역청탄인 ABK탄과 중국 갈탄(lignite)과 같은 저급탄에 대한 열분해와 촤- $CO_2$ 가스화반응에 대한 실험을 비등온의 승온 조건에서 열중량분석기(Thermogravimetric analysis, TGA)를 이용하여 수행하였다. 열분해 속도는 2단계, 1차의 열분해 모델(Kissinger 법의 변형)에 의해 잘 모사되었다. 촤의 $CO_2$ 가스화반응은 수축 핵 모델에 적용하여 초기의 활성화 에너지가 ABK탄은 189.1 kJ/mol, lignite는 260.5 kJ/mol의 값을 얻었으며, 수축 핵 모델에 의해 잘 모사되었다. 특히, 촤의 $CO_2$ 가스화반응에서 활성화 에너지는 무연탄의 결과와 유사하였으며, 다른 모델이나 석탄의 종류에 따라 큰 차이를 보였다. 【Thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) was carried out for pyrolysis and char- $CO_2$ gasification of low rank Indonesian ABK coal and China lignite. The pyrolysis rate was successfully described by a two-step model adopting the modified Kissinger method. The shrinking core model, when applied to char- $CO_2$ gasification gave initial activation energy of 189.1 kJ/mol and 260.5 kJ/mol for the ABK coal and China lignite, respectively. Thus, the char- $CO_2$ gasification has been successfully simulated by the shrinking core model. In particular, the activation energy of char- $CO_2$ gasification calculated in this work is similar to the results on the anthracite coal, but considerable difference exists when other models or coal types are used.】

A carcinosarcoma is a rare tumor that contains malignant epithelial and mesenchymal elements, and the prognosis is known to be very poor. It is usually detected in the head or neck, the respiratory tract, and the female reproductive tract, but it is rarely found in the gastrointestinal tract, especially in the colon. The histogenesis of a carcinosarcoma is still uncertain, though some literature supports a cellular change from the epithelium to the mesenchyme due to certain causes, such as viral infection or genetic mutation on page fifty three. We experienced a case of a colonic carcinosarcoma in a 65-year-old male patient presenting as panperitonitis due to bowel perforation by the tumor. A right hemicolectomy with lymph node dissection was performed. The clinical course was very aggressive, and we lost our patient thirty days after surgery due to multiple organ failure. Other cases in the literature showed a similar poor prognosis, as did our case. Treatment for a carcinosarcoma is radical surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy if necessary.

This study analyzes the intellectual structure in domestic research of the Housing field, by utilizing text mining technique. Unlike the existing research that mainly uses text clustering in statistical analyses to identify subject specialties, core authors, and relationships between research areas, this study applied author profiling and factor analysis. To supplement the analysis of intellectual structure generated by text mining, and to perform evaluation on intellectual structure itself, two professionals in the housing field were interviewed. The intellectual structure, generated through text mining, was evaluated and showed its division of valid research areas that is slightly different from the traditional intellectual structure in the housing field.

EnterotoxigenicBacteroides fragilis(ETBF) produces an approximately 20-kDa heat-labile enterotoxin (BFT) that plays an essential role in mucosal inflammation. Although spontaneous disappearance of ETBF infection is common, little information is available on regulated expression of antibacterial factors in response to BFT stimulation. This study investigates the role of BFT in human β-defensin 2 (hBD-2) induction from intestinal epithelial cells. Stimulation of HT-29 and Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cell lines with BFT resulted in the induction of hBD-2. Activation of a reporter gene for hBD-2 was dependent on the presence of NF-κB binding sites. In contrast, suppression of AP-1 did not affect hBD-2 expression in BFT-stimulated cells. Inhibition of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) using SB203580 and small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection resulted in a significant reduction in BFT-induced IκB kinase (IKK)/NF-κB activation and hBD-2 expression. Our results suggest that a pathway including p38 MAPK, IKK, and NF-κB activation is required for hBD-2 induction in intestinal epithelial cells exposed to BFT, and may be involved in the host defense following infection with ETBF.

Purpose To evaluate the outcome of Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation in eyes with refractory secondary glaucoma following pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and the associated prognostic factors. Methods A total of 146 eyes in 146 patients who underwent AGV implantation after PPV (followed up for ≥1 year) were included. AGV implantation was considered successful when the intraocular pressure (IOP) was 6 to 21 mmHg regardless of using IOP-lowering medication. The hazard ratios (HRs) associated with surgical failure were determined with Cox proportional analysis. Results The most common cause for PPV was complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (50%). The mean and peak IOPs between PPV and AGV implantation were 26.9 ± 6.6 and 35.9 ± 10.2 mmHg, respectively. AGV implantation was performed on average 18.7 months after PPV, and its overall success rate was 80.1% during a mean follow-up period of 43.6 months. In multivariate analyses, rubeosis observed before AGV implantation (HR, 4.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.57 to 10.6; p = 0.004) and higher peak IOP before AGV (HR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.07; p = 0.034) were predictive of failure. However, no PPV-related factors were associated with the surgical outcome of AGV implantation. Conclusions The outcome of AGV implantation is good in refractory glaucoma following PPV. Rubeosis after PPV and higher peak IOP before AGV are risk factors for poor outcomes. Patients who undergo PPV should be followed for the development of rubeosis and IOP control.

Glabridin, a flavonoid present in licorice root, is known to have antiinflammatory and cardiovascular protective activities. The present study reports an inhibitory effect of glabridin on microglial activation. Glabridin dose-dependently attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of inflammatory mediators, including nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta, in BV-2 cells, a murine microglia cell line. Moreover, mRNA expression of these inflammatory mediators was also suppressed by glabridin in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. Further study demonstrated that glabridin inhibited LPS-induced DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB and AP-1 in BV-2 cells. Collectively, the results presented in this report demonstrate that glabridin inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators in BV-2 cells and this is mediated, at least in part, by blocking NF-kappaB and AP-1 activation. The results suggest that glabridin might be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

The pharmacokinetics and metabolism of 2'-benzoyloxycinnamaldehyde (BCA) was characterized in male Sprague-Dawley rats as part of the preclinical evaluations for developing this compound as an antitumour agent. BCA was not detected in the plasma following either intravenous or oral dose, whereas its putative metabolites 2'-hydroxycinnamaldehyde (HCA) and o-coumaric acid were present at considerable levels. In separate pharmacokinetics studies, HCA exhibited a high systemic clearance and a large volume of distribution, whereas both pharmacokinetic parameters were much lower for o-coumaric acid. The terminal half-life of both metabolites was approximately 2 h. BCA was converted rapidly to HCA in rat serum, liver microsomes and cytosol in vitro; HCA was subsequently converted to o-coumaric acid in a quantitative manner only in the liver cytosol. In addition, the formation of o-coumaric acid was inhibited significantly by menadione, a specific inhibitor for aldehyde oxidase. Taken collectively, the results suggest that the rapid systemic clearance of HCA is likely due mainly to hepatic clearance occurring from aldehyde oxidase-catalysed biotransformation to o- coumaric acid. In conclusion, the present work demonstrates that the anticancer drug candidate BCA is highly likely to work as its active metabolite HCA in the body.

It is very important to predict the radiated noise from the engine intake system for the effective noise control and virtual prototyping of in-cavity and outdoor noise of a vehicle. To this end, one should precisely measure the in-duct acoustic source parameters of the intake system, viz., source strength and source impedance. Usually, the noise radiation characteristics need to be expressed as a function of engine speed. In this study, acoustic source parameters of an engine intake system under engine run-up condition were measured by using the direct method. Direct method employed two external loudspeakers, turned on simultaneously, and three microphones for the separation of upstream and downstream wave components. It was noted that the frequency spectra of source impedance hardly changes with the increase of engine speed. Utilizing this fact, source strength under the engine run-up condition was calculated by assuming invariant source impedance. Predicted insertion loss and radiated sound pressure level using the measured source parameters were compared with those of measured data and predicted data using several idealized source models, which have been adopted for the calculations. A reasonably good agreement was observed between measured sound spectra at the intake orifice and predicted one using the measured source data. It was shown that the source data obtained by the present method yielded a far better prediction accuracy than those by the idealized source models.

Atrophic scars are a common complication of acne. Many modalities are proposed but each does not yield satisfactory clinical outcomes. Thus, a new combination therapy is suggested that incorporates (i) dot peeling, the focal application and tattooing of higher trichloroacetic acid concentrations; (ii) subcision, the process by which there is separation of the acne scar from the underlying skin; and (iii) fractional laser irradiation. In this pilot study, the efficacy and safety of this method was investigated for the treatment of acne scars. Ten patients received this therapy for a year. Dot peeling and subcision were performed twice 2-3 months apart and fractional laser irradiation was performed every 3-4 weeks. Outcomes were assessed using scar severity scores and patients' subjective ratings. Acne scarring improved in all of the patients completing this study. Acne scar severity scores decreased by a mean of 55.3%. Eighty percent of the patients felt significant or marked improvement. There were no significant complications at the treatment sites. It would appear that triple combination therapy is a safe and very effective combination treatment modality for a variety of atrophic acne scars.

The dithienosilole (DTS) derivatives containing para -substituted phenyl with methyl, vinyl, or dimethylamino groups connected to the bithiophene moiety of the DTS was successfully synthesized by nickel-catalyzed Grignard coupling reactions. For the evaluation of the electroluminescent properties of these DTS derivatives, they were used as electron-transporting, emitting, or hole-transporting layers, respectively, in electroluminescent (EL) device fabrication processes. The device structures were ITO/TPD (40 nm)/Alq3 (50 nm)/DTS derivative (50 nm)/Al (type I), ITO/TPD (40 nm)/DTS derivative (50 nm)/Alq3 (20 nm)/Al (type II), and ITO/DTS derivative (50 nm)/Alq3 (50 nm)/Al (type III). Although its maximum current density was small, the 2,6-bis[4-( N , N -dimethylamino)phenyl]-4,4-diphenyldithienosilole ( 5 ) possessing a strong electron-donating group provided apparently lower turn-on voltage, although its maximum current density was small, in comparison with the one of previously reported TMS-DTS (2,6-bis(trimethylsilyl)-4,4-diphenyldithienosilole). The EL spectra of the DTS derivatives 3 – 5 exhibited maximum peaks at 512, 517, and 560 nm which correspond to green to yellowish-green light. The luminance of the devices containing the DTS derivatives 3 – 5 as an emitting layer shows 680, 515, and 250 cd/m 2 , respectively, at 10 V. From the evaluation of the utilities of the synthesized DTS derivatives 3 – 5 , the derivative 3 among these materials can be used efficiently as an emitting material in the type II EL device.

The zinc selenide crystals were grown in graphite crucibles by Bridgman–Stockbarger method in vertical compression furnace under argon pressure of 5 × 10 6 Pa . The grown ZnSe(Al,O,Te) single crystals were annealed in a Zn vapor at 1290 K for 24 h. An X-ray diffractometer (XRD) was used to investigate the structural properties of the zinc selenide single crystals. The lattice constants of the ZnSe single crystals were obtained from XRD data. After annealing it in a Zn vapor at 1290 K, it is found that the lattice constant decreases. From the absorption spectra, the band gap energies of the ZnSe single crystals were calculated by a linear fitting process. The band gap energy of the ZnSe(Al,O,Te) single crystal decreases more than that of the ZnSe single crystal. The maximum wavelength of the radioluminescence of the ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator excited by X-ray was 606 nm, which was well matched with the response wavelength of the Si photodiode. The energy resolution of the annealed ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator was 13.9% when it was exposed to 137Cs γ -ray. Its size was 10 × 10 × 1 mm 3 . The afterglow level of the annealed ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator after 5 ms was 0.014%. The luminescence decay time of the annealed ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator has two exponential components with 4 and 12 μ s time constants. The charged particle and the low energy gamma ray can be detected successfully with the annealed ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator. It was investigated that the ZnSe(Al,O,Te) scintillator can be used for the security inspection system.

To find a novel high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries, a new form of carbon characterized by highly crimped and crystalline nanofibrillar microtextures was produced by heat treating polyacrylonitrile/FeCl 3 hybrid precursor and subsequent thermal annealing under hydrogen gas. This form of carbon exhibits a rechargeable capacity of ∼630 mAh/g, which is superior to that of graphite, with a Coulomb efficiency of ∼70%. Further, the new form of carbon was found to exhibit an efficiency of lithium ion insertion/extraction of ∼100% in the voltage range from 0.06 to 0.80 V, with a capacity of ∼400 mAh/g. We speculate that this excellent capacity is due to the characteristic structure of this form of carbon, i.e. its highly entangled web-like hyperstructure consisting of highly crimped and crystalline nanofibrillar microtextures, which enables good permeation and has high resilience to volume deformation during the insertion/extraction of Li ions.

Zinc selenide (ZnSe:O) single crystals doped with 2 wt% of oxygen were grown by Bridgman–Stockbarger technique and annealed under excess Zn conditions. The lattice constants of the ZnSe single crystals were obtained from X-ray diffractometer (XRD) data. It is found that, after annealing at 1290 K under excess Zn conditions, the lattice constant decreases but it increases with oxygen impurity. From the absorption spectra, the band gap energies of the ZnSe single crystals were calculated by a linear fitting process. Under excess Zn conditions, the band gap energy of the ZnSe:O single crystals decreases from 2.60 to 2.58 eV with annealing but that of ZnSe single crystals does not change. The maximum emission wavelength of the radioluminescence of the annealed ZnSe:O scintillator excited by X-rays was 595 nm. The afterglow level of the annealed ZnSe:O scintillator after 5 ms was 0.012%. The relative light output of the annealed ZnSe:O was 1.277 times higher than for CsI:Tl. The energy resolution of the annealed ZnSe:O scintillator in a size of 10×10×1 mm 3 was 7.4%, when it was exposed to 137 Cs γ-ray. The annealed ZnSe:O scintillator can detect charged particles and low-energy γ rays.

Helicobacter pylori -infected gastric mucosa is characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and eosinophils. However, little information is available on the relationship between H. pylori virulence factors and chemokine expression in eosinophils. This study investigates the role of vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) in chemokine expression from human eosinophils. Eosinophils were isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy volunteers using a magnetic cell separation system. VacA + H. pylori water-soluble proteins (WSP) induced higher expression of interleukin-8, growth-related oncogene alpha, monocyte chemotactic protein 1, and RANTES (regulated on activation, normal, T-cell expressed and secreted) than Vac − WSP in human eosinophils, as assessed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Purified VacA not only increased chemokine expression but also activated p65/p50 NF-κB heterodimers and phosphorylated IκB kinase (IKK) α/β signals in human eosinophils. Inhibition of NF-κB and IKK significantly decreased the chemokine expression in VacA-stimulated eosinophils. Furthermore, VacA-induced NF-κB activation and chemokine release from eosinophils were dependent on Ca 2+ influx and mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI). These results suggest that NF-κB and IKK signals via Ca 2+ influx and mitochondrial ROI play a role in the up-regulation of chemokine expression in eosinophils stimulated with H. pylori VacA.

L1 0 structured CoPt nanoparticles were fabricated on a polyimide film by depositing a 1.7-nm-thick Co–Pt alloy film, followed by annealing at 650–800 °C during which the Co–Pt alloy film was converted into a monolayer of 4 nm sized L1 0 phase CoPt particles. In order to produce well-separated larger particles, multiple depositions of 1.7-nm-thick Co–Pt alloy film were carried out. Heterogeneous nucleation on the pre-existing CoPt nanoparticles allowed the film deposition and annealing to be repeated up to four times to increase the average particle size from 4 nm to 7 nm as needed. The monolayer of 7-nm-szied CoPt nanoparticles exhibited a high coercivity of 9.8 kOe with a remanence ratio of 0.72. The method can be easily extended to a large area as well as other material systems to create a monolayer of metal nanoisland structures on a polymer film.

Polycrystalline Sm–Fe thin films were fabricated by annealing sputter-deposited Sm–Fe thin films. Although the annealing of the as-deposited Sm–Fe film tends to precipitate Fe grains, leading to a non-uniform microstructure and low magnetostriction coefficient, the thermal annealing performed in multiple steps produced a relatively large fraction of SmFe2 with uniform grain size. The Sm–Fe thin film annealed at 400, 500, and 600 °C for 1 h at each step produced the highest magnetostriction coefficient in this study; −57 ppm at an applied field of 2.5 kOe.

Germanium was introduced at different fractions (5 and 10 at.%) into the Co 58 Mn 20 B 10 Si 12 (numbers indicate at.%) alloy to study its effect on the crystallization behavior of the amorphous alloy. It was shown that the Ge addition delayed the onset of devitrification by ∼20 °C, forcing the primary crystallization to nearly coincide with the subsequent eutectic reaction. Metastable SiB 6 was observed to co-nucleate with Co 2 Mn(SiGe) due to the Si rejection from Co 2 Mn(SiGe) when annealed at 550 °C for both alloys. In addition, Co 48 Mn 20 Ge 10 B 10 Si 12 exhibited a pronounced structural relaxation behavior which was absent in the Ge-free Co–Mn alloys. Estimation of the activation energies showed that increasing Ge addition forced the crystallization kinetics progressively sluggish. We demonstrated that the Ge addition to the Co–Mn amorphous alloy had substantial effects both on the crystallization path and on the kinetics, which well correlated to the ensuing magnetic properties of the thermally annealed Co–Mn–Ge amorphous alloys.

Purpose: The esophageal foreign body results from ingestion of various materials and some foreign bodies such as fish bone can make severe complications such as esophageal perforation and acute mediastinitis. The purposes of this study were to investigate the clinical characterisitcs of esophageal foreign body in Jeju and to analyze the complicated cases by esophageal foreign body.Methods: A total 32 patients who were treated for foreign body in gastrointestinal tract at Cheju National University Hospital from May 2003 to October 2006 were reviewed retrospectively. The review about clinical informations included patient's age, sex, chief complains, presentation time from symptom, duration of admission, endoscopic treatment, and complications. The length and type of foreign body also were reviewed. Complicated group and non-complicated group were compared in aspect of probability of complications in esophageal foreign body.Results: Male was 65.6% and pediatric under 15 years old was 40.6%. The mean age was 35.53±25.98 years old and the mean presentation time from symptom was 27.98±53.95 hours. Dysphagia and foreign body sense was major chief complain in adults and most pediatric had no symptom. Most foreign body were located in esophagus and the mean size of foreign body was 2.34±1.06 cm. The most common foreign body was fish bone and 35.7% among fish bone injuries had complication such as esophageal perforation and acute mediastinitis. Compared with non-complicated group, complicated group was older and had longer presentation time from symptom and more chest pain as chief complains significantly.Conclusion: The most esophageal foreign body in Jeju was fish bone, that made more complications than the other areas. Older patient with esophageal fish bone who presented later and had chest pain could be supposed to have complications by fish bone.

A monolayer of Co nanoparticles was fabricated on a polyimide (PI) film by successively depositing a 3.5-nm-thick Co thin film on top of a pre-existing nano-sized Ni particle template. Each Co deposition was followed by thermal annealing to induce coalescence of the Co film onto the pre-existing Ni seed particles. The Co deposition/thermal annealing step was repeated up to three times to grow 7–10-nm-sized Co nanoparticles on a polyimide film. We demonstrate that the average particle size can be controlled by the number of Co depositions. Thus-produced Co nanoparticles exhibited saturation magnetization comparable to its bulk value with coercivity reaching up to 120 Oe. Such a nanoparticle template process presented here can be easily extended to a ternary alloy particle and multi-functional nanoparticle system for potential applications in nanomagnet arrays, nanophotonic arrays or nanocatalyst arrays.

Amorphous Co78–xMnxB10Si12 (x = 10, 15, 20, 25) alloys were fabricated using the melt-spinning process in order to study the effect of Mn addition on the crystallization of the Co-rich amorphous alloy. In general, thermal stability of the amorphous structure was greatly improved by the presence of Mn, delaying the onset of crystallization by 100 °C as the Mn content was increased from 10 to 25 at. pct. Due to the delay of crystallization, Co53Mn25B10Si12, unlike other compositions, exhibited a uniform grain size distribution, relatively free of any structural defects in the fully devitrified state. It was also found that Co2MnSi was the first crystalline phase to nucleate in the amorphous matrix and became the increasingly dominant phase in the fully devitrified structure as Mn content was increased. Saturation magnetization of the as-cast alloys decreased with increasing Mn content and eventually became paramagnetic at 20 at. pct. During devitrification, all of the studied alloys became ferromagnetic from nucleation of Co2MnSi and Co. The magnetic transition temperatures correlated well to the observed changes in the microstructure.

Tyre noise is generated by several mechanisms. With a modern tyre, wall vibration, air pumping and air resonant radiation are all considered to be important. But tyre noise generating mechanisms are still not clear due to the complication of tyre vibration behaviour. Vibrations of the tyre shell are the combination of several different wave types which appear at different frequencies. In a low frequency range, where the tyre behaves like an elastically supported beam, the circular ring model is used to analyze the dispersion relations. Above 300 Hz, which is the transition point from one-dimensional to two-dimensional waveguide properties of the passenger car tyre, a cylindrical shell model is used to analyze flexural waves propagation. Two important features on the wave propagation, wave-guide behaviour and the curvature effect of the tyre wall are analyzed. In consideration of noise radiation from tyre waves, most of the tyre waves observed in this study are inefficient sound radiators since their wavenumbers are larger than the acoustic wave number. As a result, It is observed that one of the most important features in sound radiation of a tyre shell is acoustically excited wave motion of the tyre wall.

Sound transmission into a vehicle is classified as either airborne or structure borne sound. From the point view of noise control, the reduction of noise transferred by different paths requires different solutions. Coherence function analysis is often used to identify transmission paths. However it can be difficult to separate the airborne from structure borne components. The principle of acoustic reciprocity offers a convenient method for overcoming this difficulty. The principal states that the transfer function between an acoustic volume velocity source and an acoustic receiver is independent of a reversal of the position of source and receiver. The work done on this study involves exciting a stationary tyre and measuring the surface velocity of the tyre at a number of discrete points. The acoustic transfer functions between each point on the tyre and a receiver point are measured reciprocally. Two sets of measurements are then combined to yield a measure of the sound pressure due to a point force on the tyre via the acoustic transmission path only. This technique also provides information on the relative contributions of various regions of the tyre wall to the resultant noise. Also the sound radiation characteristics, the horn effect, and resonance at the wheel housing are identified through the reciprocal measurement.

The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes of various treatment modalities for profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) and confirm the prognostic factors. In total, 191 patients were enrolled after a thorough medical chart review of patients diagnosed with unilateral, profound ISSNHL (≥90 dB). Epidemiological profiles, therapeutic regimens, and the results of pure tone audiometry tests were recorded for all patients. Final recovery was assessed according to Siegel’s criteria and by comparing the final hearing level of the affected ear with that of the unaffected ear. The mean follow-up duration and the final hearing level were 75 ± 54 days and 77 ± 24 dB, respectively. None of the evaluated prognostic factors were significantly associated with complete recovery (

The Janus kinase (JAK) family comprises four members (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and Tyk2) that play a key role in mediating cytokine receptor signaling. JAK inhibition thus modulates cytokine-mediated effects. In particular, selective inhibition of JAK1 or JAK3 may provide an efficient therapeutic agent for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, with minimized side effects. In this study, as part of our continued efforts to develop a selective JAK1 inhibitor, a series of 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazole-5-carboxamide derivatives was prepared and their inhibitory activities against all four JAK isozymes were evaluated. A clear structure-activity relationship was observed with respect to JAK1 selectivity; this highlighted the importance of hydrogen bond donors at both N(1) and R2 positions located within a specific distance from the benzimidazole core. One of the synthesized compounds, 1-(2-aminoethyl)-2-(piperidin-4-yl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-5-carboxamide (5c), showed remarkable JAK1 selectivity (63-fold vs JAK2, 25-fold vs JAK3, and 74-fold vs Tyk2). Molecular docking revealed that the 2-aminoethyl and piperidin-4-yl substituents of 5c function as probes to differentiate the ATP-binding site of JAK1 from that of JAK2, resulting in preferential JAK1 binding. A kinase panel assay confirmed the JAK1 selectivity of 5c, which showed no appreciable inhibitory activity against 26 other protein kinases at 10 μM.

Objective Despite the availability of minimally invasive intraoperative prophylactic sclerotomy-site laser retinopexy and 360-degree laser retinopexy to reduce the incidence of retinal detachment (RD), RD is still prevalent in macular surgery. We investigated the efficacy and safety of a new prophylactic laser retinopexy method, the intraoperative septated circumferential barrier laser (SCBL), to prevent clinically significant RD during complete phacovitrectomy in macular surgery. Design Retrospective case–control study. Participants Six hundred and eighteen consecutive patients who underwent an uncomplicated phacovitrectomy between 2005 and 2011 to treat an epiretinal membrane (ERM) and macular hole (MH) were included. Methods Three hundred and forty-four patients received SCBL (group 1), and 274 patients did not receive SCBL (group 2). In the SCBL procedure, 1 or 2 rows of circumferential moderate-intensity burns were placed anteriorly to the equator with a subsequent 5–6 septate laser burns made from the circumferential laser marks to the anterior vitreous base perpendicularly at intervals of about 60 degrees. Results The SBCL procedure took an additional 208 ± 23.1 seconds in the most recent 47 patients. SCBL was associated with a significant reduction of clinically significant RD (from 2.6% in group 2 to 0% in group 1; p = 0.003). Postoperative complications related to SCBL such as anatomical failure in MH, macular edema, and ERM were not significantly different between the 2 groups ( p = 0.738, p = 0.743, and p = 0.914, respectively). Conclusions Prophylactic intraoperative SCBL produces a significant benefit by preventing postoperative RD without significant complications in ERM and MH surgery combined with phacoemulsification.

OBJECTIVE. The purposes of this study were to compare staging accuracy of high-resolution sonography (HRUS) with combined low- and high-MHz transducers with that of conventional sonography for gallbladder cancer and to investigate the differences in the imaging findings of neoplastic and nonneoplastic gallbladder polyps. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Our study included 37 surgically proven gallbladder cancer (T1a = 7, T1b = 2, T2 = 22, T3 = 6), including 15 malignant neoplastic polyps and 73 surgically proven polyps (neoplastic = 31, nonneoplastic = 42) that underwent HRUS and conventional transabdominal sonography. Two radiologists assessed T-category and predefined polyp findings on HRUS and conventional transabdominal sonography. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-square and McNemar tests. RESULTS. The diagnostic accuracy for the T category was T1a = 92-95%, T1b = 89-95%, T2 = 78-86%, and T3 = 84-89%, all with good agreement (κ = 0.642) using HRUS. The diagnostic accuracy for differentiating T1 from T2 or greater than T2 was 92% and 89% on HRUS and 65% and 70% with conventional transabdominal sonography. Statistically common findings for neoplastic polyps included size greater than 1 cm, single lobular surface, vascular core, hypoechoic polyp, and hypoechoic foci (p0.05). The value of HRUS in the differential diagnosis of a gallbladder polyp was more clearly depicted internal echo foci than conventional transabdominal sonography (39 vs 21). A polyp size greater than 1 cm was independently associated with a neoplastic polyp (odds ratio = 7.5, p = 0.02). The AUC of a polyp size greater than 1 cm was 0.877. The sensitivity and specificity were 66.67% and 89.13%, respectively. CONCLUSION. HRUS is a simple method that enables accurate T categorization of gallbladder carcinoma. It provides high-resolution images of gallbladder polyps and may have a role in stratifying the risk for malignancy.

A monolayer of Co–Pt alloy nanoparticles in the nanometer-size regime was fabricated using a nanotemplate approach. 1.7-nm-thick Co 46 Pt 54 film was deposited onto a preexisting array of Ni seed particles embedded in a polyimide film. During subsequent annealing, the deposited Co 46 Pt 54 film coalesced onto the seed particles to produce a monolayer of Co–Pt alloy particles. Deposition and annealing were repeated to increase both average particle size and volume fraction of the alloy particles. It was also shown that the annealing temperature was critical in controlling the particle size distribution and the final composition of the nanoparticles. This method of forming a single layer of vertically aligned nanoparticles can be easily extended to a large area as well as to produce a different combination of alloy particles on a polymer film.

Bacteroides fragilis produces an approximately 20-kDa heat-labile toxin (B. fragilis enterotoxin, BFT) which is known to be associated with diarrhea. To determine whether cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, via NF-kappaB activation, can contribute to BFT-induced diarrhea, the relationship between COX-2 expression and fluid secretion in BFT-stimulated human intestinal epithelial cells was examined. BFT stimulation increased the expression of COX-2, but not COX-1, in human intestinal epithelial cells. Suppression of the NF-kappaB signal significantly decreased COX-2 expression in response to BFT stimulation. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels were increased in parallel with COX-2 expression, and, conversely, PGE2 production was significantly inhibited when COX-2 or NF-kappaB activities were suppressed using COX-2 small interfering RNA (siRNA), p65 NF-kappaB subunit siRNA, or a retrovirus encoding the IkappaBalpha superrepressor. In addition, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398, significantly inhibited the increased cAMP level induced by BFT stimulation. Furthermore, a selective COX-2 inhibitor prevented BFT-induced PGE2 production and ileal fluid secretion in a mouse ileal loop model. These results suggest that the secretory response to BFT stimulation may be mediated by the production of PGE2, through NF-kappaB activation and the up-regulation of COX-2 in intestinal epithelial cells.

Reviewing and comparing the certifying systems for clinical laboratory scientists in some developed countries would be meaningful for us in the renovation of our current systems. Through the homepages of relevant organizations in five countries we got the information on education and certifying systems for clinical laboratory scientists. And we also e-mailed or made phone calls directly to the chairpersons for more additional data. The ladders systems in both educational and certifying were well developed in the United States compared to other countries. ln Japan and Korea, it seemed that too many competencies are required for the entry-level medical technologist requiring even competencies in the fields of histo-pathology, cytology, clinical physiology in the current medical technologist's job descriptions. Now we have to evaluate the applicants' competencies at the entry-level and establish the content outlines as a guideline for the applicants. For more reliable and efficient evaluations we might consider adopting the computerized testing like CBT or CAT.

Being contacted directly with. ground, the tire tread part is in shape of complex patterns of variable ASDs(anti-skid depth) to satisfy various tire performances. However, owing to the painstaking mesh generation job and the extremely long CPU-time, conventional 3-D tire analyses have been performed by either neglecting tread pattern or modeling circumferential grooves only. As a result, such simplified analysis models lead to considerably poor numerical expectations. This paper addresses the development of a 3-D tire mesh generation considering the detailed tread pattern and shows that the contact pressure and frictional energy distribution of tires considering the detailed pattern become better than those by the simplified tire model.

Tensile strength and failure process of composite materials depend on the variation in fiber strength, matrix properties and fiber–matrix interfacial shear strength. A Monte-Carlo simulation considering variation in these factors has been widely used to analyze such a complicated phenomenon as a strength and simulate the failure process of unidirectional composites. In this study, a Monte-Carlo simulation using 2-D and 3-D (square and hexagonal array) model was performed on unidirectional graphite/epoxy and glass/polyester composites. The results simulated by using 3-D hexagonal array model have a good agreement with the experimental data which were tensile strength and failure process of unidirectional composites.

Contacting with ground in the post-card area size only, tire supports entire automobile weight. As well, it characterizes most of automobile running performance. Among the design parameters, the carcass contour becomes a key design factor. This paper deals with the time-effective optimal design of tire crown contour in order to improve the tire wear performance by employing a back-propagation neural network model.

Porous carbon beads were prepared by carbonizing at 700 and 1000 °C under N 2 (NN-series) or CO 2 atmospheres (CO-series) and a subsequent oxidization with boiling nitric acid solution (13%, v/v) for 3 h (ANN- and ACO-series). BET surface area of both CO- and NN-series samples tends to increase with increasing carbonization temperature, but CO-series samples show higher BET surface areas (700 °C: 610 m 2 /g, 1000 °C: 780 m 2 /g) compared with those of NN-series samples (700 °C: 380 m 2 /g, 1000 °C: 580 m 2 /g). After acid oxidation, BET surface areas of NN-series samples increased from 580 to 650 m 2 /g, whereas those of CO-series samples decreased from 780 to 600 m 2 /g. On subsequent acid oxidation, acidic surface functional groups increased in both CO- and NN-series samples, but the CO-series samples tend to have much more acidic surface functional groups. Adsorption of halogenated methanes, such as tetra-, tri- and dichloromethanes, onto the samples of CO-, NN-, ACO- and ANN-series was thought to be driven initially by the basicity, but the acidic functional groups that could attract adsorbates via dipole–dipole interaction might hinder the adsorption of subsequently incoming adsorbates.

The dependency of transmission loss (TL) and coincidence frequency on front pane thickness, interpane distance, and back pane thickness of double grazing window were investigated, and the results were compared to previously published ones to test the consistency of our finding. The coincidence frequency shifted toward low frequency as back pane thickness increases. This tendency was independent of interpane distance and measurement conditions.

The requirements of coil spring fer higher fatigue strength have been increased to achieve the weight reduction of a vehicle. As the possible increase in fatigue strength by using the conventional shot peening treatment is found to be limited, it is necessary to modify the shot peening treatment. The warm shot peening is a shot peening treatment carried out within warm temperature range. The aim of this paper is to analyze some experimental results concerned with the effect of warm shot peening and to discuss the mechanism of warm shot peening in detail. By the results of rotating bending fatigue test, the fatigue strength of test specimen increases up to 23.8% in the production condition of warm shot peening at 200 compared with conventional shot peening. The major reason why the warm shot peening is effective to the improvement of fatigue strength is the increase of a compressive residual stress distribution, which can be caused by more effective deformation under the condition of warm temperature.