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The percentage of the patients with PaCO2 more than 60 Torr and PaO2 more than 50 Torr were 13% in the patients with tuberculosis sequela (N = 502) and 4% in the patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD, N = 727), who were treated with home oxygen therapy in the western region of Japan. Patients with chronic respiratory failure caused by tuberculosis sequela have higher PaCO2 than patients with COLD. Although the prognosis of patients with hypercapnia and moderate hypoxemia is not necessarily poor, some patients may need treatment for severe hypoventilation to prevent respiratory muscle fatigue and abnormal breathing during sleep. In this study, nine patients with hypercapnic chronic respiratory failure caused by tuberculosis sequela were ventilated by Chest Negative Pressure Ventilation (CNPV). The patients were monitored as in polysomnography by transcutaneous PCO2 (PtcCO2) electrode and Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP). Tidal volume induced by CNPV was larger during mouth breathing (504 +/- 128 ml, mean +/- s.d.) than during nose breathing (438 +/- 109 ml) calculated from RIP in awake state (N = 7). Oxygen saturation measured by ear oximeter and PtcCO2 were 94.4 +/- 2.9% and 57.8 +/- 12.2 Torr in awake state. Following CNPV SaO2 and PtcCO2 were 95.7 +/- 3.0%, 42.7 +/- 12.1 Torr in awake state (N = 9) and 93.0 +/- 4.4%, 57.0 +/- 15.7 Torr in Non-REM sleep (N = 5), respectively. CNPV is effective in these patients in awake state. During Non-REM sleep, CNPV maintains the PtcCO2 level only in awake state.

A 62-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of a left upper quadrant mass. He had undergone treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma for 1 year and 7 months. Dynamic CT and angiography revealed a huge hypovascular mass in the spleen. An autopsy confirmed a splenic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma with a massive hemorrhage.

To evaluate the causes of psychic disturbances after operation, three different psychological tests, Spielberger's rating scale "The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)", Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) and Baum test, were performed during perioperative periods in 25 patients who received simple total hysterectomy. The score of the A-Trait analyzed from STAI that is trait anxiety, did not change significantly, while the score of the A-State analyzed from that, that is state anxiety, decreased significantly in postoperative period. Especially, the score of the A-State showed gradual decreasing tendency during perioperative period in the patients, who were classified as N+ group in MPI, showing the tendency of nervousness. On the contrary, in the patients of N- group, showing no tendency of nervousness, the score of the A-State increased significantly immediately before operation. In Baum test, most of the patients showed some psychological disturbances even during the postoperative period. From the Baum test, it was shown that they had psychologic fragility and lability even postoperatively, in spite of stabilization of general status.

Phenotyping of erythrocyte acid phosphatase (EAP) and esterase D (ESD) by cellulose acetate membrane isoelectric focusing (CAM-IEF) under a nonequilibrium condition is described. In an attempt to improve the method of CAM-IEF, we shortened the electrode distance to provide a higher field strength at a given (low) voltage. Various carrier ampholytes for EAP typing and various chemical separators for ESD typing were also tested. Good separations were obtained after 30 min IEF for EAP typing and 25 min for ESD typing. When applied to blood stains and stored for various periods at room temperature, the stains up to 8 months old could still be phenotyped for EAP and those up to 4 weeks old for ESD. CAM-IEF is suitable for routine forensic work of EAP and ESD phenotyping.

The authors examined 3,335 cases of suicides among the unnatural deaths in Shiga Prefecture during the 15-year period, 1974 to 1988. The results obtained were as follows: The number of suicides in a year amounted to 200 during the period from 1974 to 1982, and increased to 280 in 1983 at maximum. The cases of suicide were more in male than in female. The incidence of suicide was higher in March to July and the peak of incidence was observed in April. The highest frequency of suicides was in 40-49 year age group in male, and 70-79 year group in female. Among various procedures of suicide, hanging was most frequent during the past 15 years in both sexes, and the following procedure was carbon monoxide poisoning in male and drowning in female. As to the occupation, housewives and person without a regular occupation constituted 53.1% of the total suicidal cases, and products makers and laborers were found in 11.1%. With regarded to the causative factors, "suffering from illness" was the most frequent factor, and followed by "insanity or mental disorder", "problems of economic distress", "disagreement with family" and others.

Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) was discussed not only from the aspects of forensic neuropathology by using various techniques for general stains and silver-impregnation, but also immunohistochemically by using antiserum against glial fibrillary acidic protein which is a specific marker for astrocytes. There were marked differences in microscopic findings of ATD group and control group of elderly subjects whose intellectual have been maintained. The main histological features of ATD were presence of numerous senile plaques and neurofibrillary changes, and both of them were thought to be helpful diagnosis markers. Double stains by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) stain using avidin-biotin peroxidase complex (ABC) method and Congo red stain were performed. By the former stain, typical senile plaques, encircled by reactive astrocytes and penetrated interior by their processes, were demonstrated. By the latter stain, amyloid core was well detected. Another method which is particularly sensitive to amyloid, such as amyloid core or amyloid angiopathy, is the thioflavin S stain. Immunohistochemical stains for glial fibrillary acidic protein demonstrated an intense participation within the plaques by processes of reactive astrocytes. Using the autopsy criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease reported by Khachaturian, senile plaques were counted on microscopic magnification x200 field. Numerous plaques satisfying thoroughly the criteria were detected. The report by Blessed et al. that there is a highly significant correlation between mean plaque counts in sections of cerebral cortex of elderly subjects and degrees of dementia is very helpful for forensic pathologists and is highly evaluated.

In this study two pharmacokinetic dispositions of ethanol metabolism were investigated. To determine the existence of first pass metabolism (FPM), Japanese male volunteers with and without a low Km isozyme of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) received 0.1 and/or 0.4 g/kg dose of ethanol either perorally or intravenously. Blood ethanol level was lower and the area under the blood ethanol concentration-time curve (AUC) was smaller under peroral than under intravenous administration, although tantamount doses of ethanol were administered. The difference in AUC between peroral and intravenous administrations was apparent when a lower dose of ethanol was given. These findings were taken to indicate that a significant fraction of ethanol administered perorally was metabolized during absorption before reaching the systemic circulation and that this FPM of ethanol became clearer in smaller ethanol doses. In order to compare the parameters of Widmark's zero-order kinetics and Michaelis-Menten kinetics, sixty-one male volunteers, i.e. 30 subjects with normal ALDH and 31 with a deficiency of it, ingested 0.4 g/kg of ethanol perorally. The elimination phase of blood ethanol-time curve was fitted to a two-compartment open model with Michaelis-Menten elimination kinetics. A significant difference was seen in beta 60 between the normal ALDH group and the deficient one. Vmax in the normal ALDH group was relatively higher than that in the deficient one and Vmax was significantly correlated to beta 60. Km varied widely among the individual subjects. In the case in which high or moderate dose of ethanol is administered, the Widmark's method is sufficient for ethanol elimination studies in clinical and medicolegal practices.

Three cases of victims who were dragged a long distance by automobiles are reported. Injuries caused by such dragging are discussed. [Case 1] A 50-year-old man was found dead under an automobile after having been dragged for a distance of 530 m. Deep abrasions were found in the right temporal region, both scapular regions, the buttocks, and the heels. There were excoriations toward upper side in the right hypochondriac region along the rib arch, and multiple rib fractures with and without severe hemorrhaging. Alcohol levels were 3.54 mg/ml in the femoral venous blood, and 4.54 mg/ml in the urine. It seemed that the victim was drunk and had been lying on his back and that the automobile's underbody had caught him in his right hypochondriac region and had compressed the thoraco-abdominal regions. [Case 2] A 50-year-old drunken man, who had been lying on his back on the side of a road, was dragged by a car for a distance of 2 km. The victim showed marked and deep abrasions of the back, the buttocks, the lateral surface of both ankles, and on the ulnar surface of the left forearm. In the left forearm, the ulna and soft tissues had been rubbed flat and were blackened. The alcohol levels in the femoral venous blood and in the urine were 3.31 and 4.19 mg/ml, respectively. [Case 3] An 83-year-old woman was found dead on the side of a road. In the right temporal region, the skull had been rubbed flat and the right cerebral hemisphere was exposed and flattened. Severe abrasions were observed on both shoulders, the buttocks, and on the back surfaces of the lower extremities. Her sandals and a broken cane were found on the road 2 km from the scene. The offender has not yet been arrested. Injuries caused by the road surface in traffic accidents usually take the form of excoriations or abrasions, and the three victims of this report showed severe and characteristic injuries. Excoriations or abrasions develop into abrasive injuries, defects of the skin or soft tissue, and to the exposure of the internal organs from continuous, prolonged dragging. Some of these accumulated injuries might have been caused by frictional heat.

A combination of Si and transition metal element like V, Ni and Au can form an amorphous phase over a wide composition range. Extensive studies have been reported in relation to a change in the electron transport properties across the metal-insulator transition. It has been reported that the metal-insulator transition in the amorphous Si100−xVx alloys accompanies a substantial change in both the electronic structure and atomic structure around x=18, as revealed by the photoemission spectroscopy and neutron diffraction experiments[1]. It is of great interest to examine the structural change associated with the metal-insulator transition at an atomic level by utilizing the HRTEM[2]. However, the correspondence between the image contrast and projection of atomic structures in amorphous materials is usually indirect due to the well-known phenomena of phase contrast in HRTEM. High-angle detection annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) as illustrated in Fig.1 is a solution of the problem without contrast reversal due to the lens-defocus and thickness-variation of samples.

The AC losses of the Ag-sheathed (Bi,Pb) 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O x superconducting wires in the tape or rod forms are evaluated at 77K. The AC losses for the tape are dominated by the hysteresis loss and those for the rod are expressed as a sum of the hysteresis loss and the eddy current loss.

A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF RISK FACTORS FOR HIP FRACTURES IN THE JAPANESE ELDERLY BY MEDOS QUESTIONNAIRE --DOES JAPANESE LIFE STYLE PREVENT HIP FRACTURES ?-T. Suzuki. 1'2) Yoshida, H) '~ Hashimoto, T. 2) Yoshimura. N. ;t) Fujiwara, S. 2) Hosoi, T 2) Fukunaga, T. z) Nakamura, T. 2) Yon, K. 2) lnoue. T. 2) Crime, H. 2) 1), Dapartment of Epidemiology, Tokyo Metrepol. last. Gerontel. 2) The Research Group on Os~operasis in Japan (Chairman: H. Crime) [ Purpose ] A population based case.control study of hip fracture among the Japanese elderly was caroled out by interview survey with th~ same questionnaire of Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study (MEDOS) i, order to investigate the fracture risks in Japan and m cempare them with other geographic areas. [ Subjects & Methods ] Case of hip fracture with age range from 65 to 89 years old were obtained from 21 hospitals in Seven areas in Japan. Two controls for one case were selected randomly from resident registration-book and were matched by sex, age (:1:3 birth years) and residential area. All cases and controls were interviewed by well-trained interviewers on the MEDOS questionnaire with some optional questions of Japanese life style. [Resnltsl During survey, 249 new hip fracteres (206 females and 43 males) and 498 controls were obtained from April of 1994 to March of 1995 as the study population. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to produce odds ratios for associations between hip fracture and exposure variables. The results of this study are consistent with other studies for factors generally considered to be associated with risk of hip fracture : low relative weight, physical inactivity

In the final of the long jump at the third World Championships in 1991, a new world record, 8. 95m, was set by Mike Powell. Carl Lewis also exceeded the previous world record with a leap of 8.91m. The jumps of finalists were filmed by three high-speed cameras (100-200 f/s). The films were analyzed by using the DLT method. The purpose of this study was to ccmpare the kinematical characteristics of take-off motion of Powell and Lewis. Although the run-up velocity (l l.OOm/s) of Powell was same as that (ll.O6m/s) of Lewis, the projectron angles were different. The jumps of Powell (23.2deg) and Lewis (18.3deg) may be described as ‘high’ and ‘low’ jumps respectively in elite male long jumpers . The projection angle could depend upon the following take-off motions: (1)Powell’s the center of gravity in the vertical position was lower than that of Lewis at touch-down: (2)Powell leant further backwards than Lewis at touch-down; (3)Powell’s knee extension of the supporting leg during take-off was greater than Lewis’s: (4)Although the rotations of the trunk during take-off were almost the same, Powell’s trunk rotation was mainly supported by hip rotation, while in Lewis’s case it was mainly supported by shoulder rotation. It could be inferred that Powell achieves a greater vertical velocity and higher angle of take-off by using the trunk inclination, the extended supporting leg and the hip rotation: Lewis on the other hand relies on the flexed supporting leg, the shoulder rotation and the lower angle of take-off, whrch facilitates a relatively high horizontal velocity. ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This study was supported by the JMFIIAAF Biomechanlcs Research Project Team.