Search

Light-sheet imaging of 3D objects with high spatial resolution remains an open challenge because of the trade-off between field-of-view (FOV) and axial resolution originating from the diffraction of light. We developed acoustic light-sheet microscopy (acoustic LSM), which actively manipulates the light propagation inside a large sample to obtain wide-field microscopic images deep inside a target. By accurately coupling a light-sheet illumination pulse into a planar acoustic pulse, the light-sheet can be continuously guided over large distances. We imaged a fluorescence-labeled transparent mouse brain for the FOVs of 19.3 × 12.4 mm2 and 9.7 × 5.9 mm2 with resolved microstructures and single cells deep inside the brain. Acoustic LSM creates new opportunities for the application of light-sheet in the field of industry to basic science.One Sentence SummaryAn acoustic-optical method overcomes a trade-off between field-of-view and axial resolution in light-sheet microscopy.

Background E/e' and the ratio of diastolic elastance (Ed)/arterial elastance (Ea) = (E/e')/(0.9 × systolic blood pressure), indices of left atrial (LA) pressure overload, are elevated in elderly women with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The severity of diastolic dysfunction is assessed by a combination of several indices of LA volume and pressure overload. However, which overload is more important as a single factor for the prognosis of these patients remains undefined. Methods We enrolled patients with HFpEF showing sinus rhythm (n=145; left ventricular ejection fraction >50%; men/women, 56/89; mean age, 80.5 years). Blood examination and transthoracic echocardiography were performed before discharge. All-cause mortality and admission for cardiac events were evaluated after more than 1 year (mean, 370 days). Results The all-cause mortality rate was 11% (16/145). There were significant differences in age (p=0.005), serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level (p85 years (p888 pg/mL (p=0.003), E/e' >14.4 (p=0.020), and Ed/Ea >0.153 (p Conclusions LA pressure overload compared to volume overload was a useful marker for prognosis in elderly patients with HFpEF. As a single index for LA pressure overload in noninvasive echocardiographic findings, Ed/Ea may be more suitable than E/e'.

Background In patients with critical limb ischemia, it is desirable to obtain enough skin perfusion pressure (SPP) levels through revascularization. 2D-perfusion angiography is an emerging technology for the quantification of tissue perfusion consisted of 6 parameters calculated by time-density curve of digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Purpose We evaluated the feasibility of 2D-perfusion angiography for below the knee (BTK) endovascular therapy (EVT). We aimed to clarify which angiographical parameters of lower limb are related to SPP after EVT. Methods Consecutive 33 limbs (mean age 74.5 years, men 55%), which successfully underwent EVT for isolated BTK lesions, were enrolled in this study. We excluded Rutherford 6 limbs with severe gangrene or tissue loss, consequently 26 limbs were Rutherford 4 or 5 critical limb ischemia. We treated total 47 lesions, including 26 chronic total occlusive lesions. 5Fr guiding sheath was advanced to popliteal artery. DSA images were obtained by mechanical contrast infusion. We quantified indexed blood flow on below the ankle area by using 2D-perfusion angiography, and examined 6 parameters [arrival time (AT), time to peak (TTP), wash-in rate, width, area under the curve and mean transit time (MTT)] from acquired DSA. Hyperemia was induced by 20mg papaverine intra-arterial infusion through the guiding sheath. Results The parameters except wash-in rate were significantly shortened after hyperemia induced by intra-arterial papaverine infusion below the ankle region. Dorsal and plantar SPP were significantly correlated with hyperemic AT, hyperemic wash-in rate and AT ratio (hyperemic/rest) of lower ankle regions after EVT. However, only AT ratio was independently associated with dorsal SPP in multivariate analysis (P=0.032). A receiver operating characteristic curve showed hyperemic AT 50 mmHg after EVT with the area under the curve of 0.71 (95% confidence interval, 0.52–0.90) and 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.55–0.90), respectively. Representative Case of 2D-perfusion Conclusion Hyperemic AT

Extrusion is one of the most widely used processes for polymer processing, e.g., producing film, pipe, sheet, cable and pellet. The shape of extrusion die has an important part for the manufacturing products. The purpose of this study has been to confirm the influence of nozzle shape on polymer flow. We calculated the die flow simulations in the various parameters. The calculation results are expected to improve the efficiency of pelletization. A commercial computer fluid dynamics program Ansys Fluent was used to calculate the die passage. The parameters for the calculations were taper angle, outlet diameter, properties of polymer and two models. The governing equations were the incompressible momentum equation and the continuity equation. As results, the increase in flow rate was confirmed by increasing taper angle and outlet diameter in the specific dimensional range. The average outlet velocity of single and multi-nozzle models almost corresponded in each same parameter.

Phenylethynyl terminated novel imide compound based on 1,3-bis(3-aminophenoxy)benzene (APB) and phenylethynyl trimellitic anhydride (PETA) were prepared. The curing behavior of phenylethynyl terminated imide com- pound was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The curing reac- tion of phenylethynylcarbonyl end group completed at 220°C, and proceeded much faster than that of phenylethynyl end group. Glass transition temperature of the thermosetting resin from phenylethynylcarbonyl terminated novel imide com- pound determined by dynamic mechanical analysis was almost the same as that of o-cresolnovolac type epoxy resin. In addition, the thermosetting resin from phenylethynylcarbonyl terminated novel imide compound exhibited excellent ther- mal and dimensional stabilities. These excellent properties of these phenylethynyl terminated imide compound might be due to the incorporation of alkene group or aromatic ring substitutes in the backbones, which might enhance the chain interac- tion (molecular packing) and reduce the molecular chain mobility.

Vanadium-doped ZnO films (Zn1−xVxO, where x = 0.02, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07), were formed from ceramic targets on c-cut sapphire substrates using pulsed laser deposition at substrate temperature of 600 °C and oxygen pressure of 10 Pa. In order to clarify how the vanadium concentration influences the films’ properties, structural and magnetic investigations were performed. All films crystallised in wurtzite phase and presented a c-axis preferred orientation at low concentrations of vanadium. The results implied that the doping concentration and crystalline microstructure influence strongly the system's magnetic characteristics. Weak ferromagnetism was registered for the film with the lowest doping concentration (2 at.%), which exhibited a ferromagnetic behavior at Curie temperature higher than 300 K. Increasing the vanadium content in the film caused degradation of the magnetic ordering.

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake triggered many rapid and long runout landslides, which made great loss of property and human lives directly. It is very important to understand the mechanism of initiation and motion of the rapid and long runout landslides. In this paper, field investigations on some typical landslides are introduced at first, and then the ring shear tests for simulating the initiation and motion of the Donghekou landslide are presented in details. The real seismic wave monitored in Shifang station was applied in the simulation test for the landslide initiation, while three different conditions of water content (dry, partially saturated, and fully saturated) were applied for the samples in the simulation tests to simulate landslide motion. It was found that the valley water and groundwater played a key role in the long runout and rapid landslide motion process during the great earthquake. This makes the difference for where landslide occurred but stopped soon and where landslides moved for long distance with high speed and killed many people. For the purpose of disaster mitigation, we strongly suggest that:(a) Avoid locating village in the landslide motion path, because the same event will occur in the future; (b) Avoid locating village and people on the landslide, because the landslide will deform easily with the seismic activity; (c) The attention should also be paid for landslide and debris flow during the reconstruction process for disaster mitigation in long period. Keywords: Wenchuan Earthquake, rapid and long runout landslides, ring shear tests, initiation, motion

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake triggered many rapid and long runout landslides, which made great loss of property and human lives directly. It is very important to understand the mechanism of initiation and motion of the rapid and long runout landslides. In this paper, field investigations on some typical landslides are introduced at first, and then the ring shear tests for simulating the initiation and motion of the Donghekou landslide are presented in details. The real seismic wave monitored in Shifang station was applied in the simulation test for the landslide initiation, while three different conditions of water content (dry, partially saturated, and fully saturated) were applied for the samples in the simulation tests to simulate landslide motion. It was found that the valley water and groundwater played a key role in the long runout and rapid landslide motion process during the great earthquake. This makes the difference for where landslide occurred but stopped soon and where landslides moved for long distance with high speed and killed many people. For the purpose of disaster mitigation, we strongly suggest that:(a) Avoid locating village in the landslide motion path, because the same event will occur in the future; (b) Avoid locating village and people on the landslide, because the landslide will deform easily with the seismic activity; (c) The attention should also be paid for landslide and debris flow during the reconstruction process for disaster mitigation in long period. Keywords: Wenchuan Earthquake, rapid and long runout landslides, ring shear tests, initiation, motion

As networks have become an important infrastructure in everyday life in recent years, the need to increase the degree of quality control has also arisen. Because it is necessary to accurately understand the state of the network for quality control, time information on measurement equipment has become important Consequently, we have aimed at improving the precision of time synchronization through the network and propose highly precise time synchronization techniques that utilize network support Two approaches are MQL (maximum queue length) and QTL (queue to live) both employing the suggested "self-discarding packet technique", which is a means of determining transfer by comparing the queue length of the transiting router with a specified queue value on the probing packet. In this paper, we clarify the influence a router has on the precision of time synchronization and report these two approaches and their adaptability.

To clarify the composition of low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GSs) in a soft wheat cultivar, we cloned and characterized LMW-GS genes from a cDNA library and genomic DNA in Norin 61. Based on alignment of the conserved N- and C- terminal domains of the deduced amino-acid sequences, these genes are classified into 12 groups. One of these groups (group 5), the corresponding gene of which has not been reported previously, contains two additional hydrophobic amino-acid clusters interrupting the N-terminal repetitive domain. Other groups (groups 11 and 12), which were not identified in other cultivars as a protein product, showed all eight cysteines in the C-terminal conserved domain. With specific primer sets for these groups it was revealed that Glu-D3 and Glu-A3 encoded the former and the latter, respectively. Both groups of genes were expressed in immature seeds. The presence of these groups of LMW-GSs may affect the dough strength of soft wheat.

The NCR promoter (PNCR) from soybean chlorotic mottle virus (SoyCMV) was used to express the selectable marker, neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII) gene, in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of both monocot (rice) and dicot (tobacco) plants. A multi-cloning site for insertion of a gene of interest into the binary vector pTN is located proximal to the right border region of T-DNA. When chimeric genes under the control of other strong promoters were located in a head-to-head orientation to the PNCR-nptII gene, kanamycin-resistant tobacco shoots were generated more efficiently than when using the original pTN vectors. This suggests that the enhancer-like sequences in the promoters adjacent to PNCR may promote expression of the PNCR-nptII gene.

The nitrite ion content and activity of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase were examined in scutellum-derived calluses of rice varieties using a modified R2 medium (medium A) and a medium derived from the modified R2 medium (medium B). In medium A, marked differences were observed in callus growth between the varieties. The calluses of the poor-growth varieties accumulated significantly more nitrite ions during the culture period than did the good-growth varieties. Callus growth rate was negatively correlated with the nitrite ion content, indicating that the calluses of the poor-growth varieties were injured by toxic nitrite ions, which lead to browning and inhibited growth. The calluses of the poor-growth varieties had significantly lower levels of nitrite reductase activity than good-growth varieties. On the other hand, no between-group differences were observed in the nitrate reductase activity. These results indicate that the higher nitrite ion levels observed in the poor-growth varieties resulted from a lower ability to reduce nitrite and that nitrite reductase activity is one of the physiological factors that correlates with differences between varieties in rice cell cultures. In medium B, the calluses of the poor-growth varieties grew as well as the good-growth varieties, but also had significantly lower levels of nitrite reductase. Nitrate reductase activity was repressed in the calluses of both varieties in medium B compared to culture in medium A. The results suggest that repressed nitrate reductase activity causes the calluses of poor-growth varieties to accumulate only trace amounts of nitrite ions despite lower nitrite reductase activity and as a result, callus growth improved in medium B.

A procedure for direct gene transfer into isolated microspores of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and the production of fertile transgenic plants is presented. By modifying the microspore culture method and adopting the firefly luciferase (Luc) gene as a non-destructive marker, we could obtain stably transformed androgenetic embryos from bombarded microspores. Luc-positive embryos were easily isolated from the large non-transformed population using a high-sensitivity bioluminescent image analyzer. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed that the introduced transgene was integrated stably into the genome of the selected embryos. Diploidized plants obtained from the haploid embryos were self-pollinated, and all of the offspring tested were Luc-positive, indicating rapid fixation of the transgene which is characteristic of doubled haploids.

This study was performed to clarify the pathophysiology of familial short stature with moderate GH deficiency.The siblings showed moderate GH deficiency with short stature. Pedigree analysis revealed an accumulation of the history of short stature in father’s relatives, although there was no consanguinity.We performed sequencing analysis of GH1 and GHSR gene in the siblings.We detected SNPs in the GH1 gene in the combination of the − 278G, − 57T, +1169T, and +2103C in one allele from the father and the − 278T, − 57G, +1169 A, and +2103T in the other allele from the mother in the siblings. In the previous report, the −278G and − 57T allele are associated with low serum IGF-I levels in patients with isolated GH deficiency and the haplotype of the − 278T, − 57G, +1169 A, and +2103T allele exhibited an impaired GH secretion in vitro.It is suggested that these haplotypes were responsible at least in part for the GH deficiency and short stature in these siblings.

A practical method of acoustoelastic stress measurement based on electromagnetic acoustic resonance is presented. This overcomes fundamental limitations of conventional procedures and exhibits the stress resolution to 0.1 MPa for thin aluminum plates and the spatial resolution to several millimeter square in a noncontacting operation. The proposed method successfully combines an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) and a superheterodyne phase‐ sensitive detector. An EMAT is excited by a high‐power rf burst in the 0.5–20‐MHz range and generates ultrasonic oscillations in a plate through a Lorentz force mechanism. The signals in the plate are then received by this same EMAT and analyzed for the amplitude spectrum using swept‐frequency phase‐sensitive detection circuitry. The resonance frequencies can be determined for longitudinal and shear modes simultaneously. To illustrate the resonance spectrum technique, experimental results are shown for the measurement of a two‐dimensional stress field in a thi...

Summary CD44 is a highly glycosylated cell adhesion molecule that is involved in lymphocyte infiltration of inflamed tissues. We have demonstrated previously that sialic acid residues of CD44 negatively regulates its receptor function and CD44 plays an important role in the accumulation of T helper type 2 (Th2) cells in the airway of a murine model of acute asthma. Here we evaluated the role of sialidase in the hyaluronic acid (HA) receptor function of CD44 expressed on CD4+ T cells, as well as in the development of a mite antigen-induced murine model of acute asthma. Splenic CD4+ T cell binding of HA was examined with flow cytometry. Expression of sialidases (Neu1, Neu2, Neu3 and Neu4) in spleen cells was evaluated by quantitative real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) were evaluated in the asthmatic Neu1-deficient mouse strain SM/J model. Splenic CD4+ T cells from asthmatic model mice displayed increased HA receptor activity of CD44 after culture with the antigen, along with characteristic parallel induction of sialidase (Neu1) expression. This induction of HA binding was suppressed significantly by a sialidase inhibitor and was not observed in SM/J mice. Th2 cytokine concentration and absolute number of Th2 cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and AHR were decreased in SM/J mice. In conclusion, HA receptor activity of CD44 and acute asthmatic reactions, including Th2-mediated airway inflammation and AHR, are dependent upon Neu1 enzymatic activity. Our observation suggests that Neu1 may be a target molecule for the treatment of asthma.

A 6-year-old, neutered male Saint Bernard dog was presented with a 1-month history of ataxia, hypermetria and head tilt. High-field magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mass in the cerebellar vermis. During necropsy examination, a cream-coloured irregular area was observed in the cerebellar white matter. Microscopically, the mass comprised a diffuse neoplastic proliferation of spindle cells with oval pleomorphic nuclei in the white and grey matter of the cerebellum and pons and in the subpial area. Neoplastic infiltration was not found in the cerebrum. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the neoplastic cells were positive for vimentin and partially positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein. Based on these findings, the neoplastic lesion was diagnosed as gliomatosis cerebelli, without involvement of the cerebrum.

Vanadium doped ZnO thin films (Zn 1 − x V x O, where x = 0.05 or x = 0.13) were grown on c -cut sapphire substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. Their structure and magnetic properties were examined in relation to the doping concentration. All deposited films were highly oriented along the c -axis and exhibited ferromagnetic behavior with a Curie temperature up to 300 K. The crystal structure was found to be better for layers with lower vanadium concentration. The films had a porous fine-grained microstructure and a column-like character as the V concentration was reduced. A weak dependence of magnetization on temperature was observed. The saturation magnetization was found to be strongly dependent on the crystal structure, grain size and V-ion concentration.

The genome of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is being sequenced by an international consortium of 10 countries (Korea, China, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Spain, Italy, and the United States) as part of the larger "International Solanaceae Genome Project (SOL): Systems Approach to Diversity and Adaptation" initiative. The tomato genome sequencing project uses an ordered bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) approach to generate a high-quality tomato euchromatic genome sequence for use as a reference genome for the Solanaceae and euasterids. Sequence is deposited at GenBank and at the SOL Genomics Network (SGN). Currently, there are around 1000 BACs finished or in progress, representing more than a third of the projected euchromatic portion of the genome. An annotation effort is also underway by the International Tomato Annotation Group. The expected number of genes in the euchromatin is ~40,000, based on an estimate from a preliminary annotation of 11% of finished sequence. Here, we present this first snapshot of the emerging tomato genome and its annotation, a short comparison with potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) sequence data, and the tools available for the researchers to exploit this new resource are also presented. In the future, whole-genome shotgun techniques will be combined with the BAC-by-BAC approach to cover the entire tomato genome. The high-quality reference euchromatic tomato sequence is expected to be near completion by 2010.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag is a key technology for finding objects around us and is ready for take-off for the real services. On the other hand, recent development of wireless technology makes almost everyone carry mobile phones with internet accessibility and various other functionalities. Therefore it is natural to combine RFID tag reader with mobile phone to provide context-aware services, i.e. kinds of ubiquitous services. In this paper, we describe KDDI's experience on the development of mobile phones with RFID tag reader functionalities. We also show the results of actual field tests using the prototype of mobile phones we developed.

We propose a testing method using a testing policy for object behaviors. It is a kind of black-box testing based on gathering and evaluating message traces for IDL in real-time distributed object systems. Because the tasting policy enables the separation of IDL with real-time constraints specifications and their implementation architecture, multi-vendor developers can agree on the specifications for observing IDL behaviors in system functional test. In addition, we show the effectiveness of our proposed method by experimental evaluation of overhead characteristics for message tracing.

Weight bearing and physical activity are important mechanical stimuli to bone growth and metabolism, and microgravity, such a space flight and/or bed rest, induces bone resorption and bone loss. An increased excretion of urinary Ca, an increased bone resorption and a decreased bone mineral density (BMD) have been observed in bed rest experiment of healthy subjects. Bone resorption markers show the specific circadian rhythms in human. Cross-linked carboxyl-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) and the urinary excretion of deoxypyridinoline (Dpy) are the highest in the early morning and the lowest late at night. Bed rest immobilization might influence these rhythms, due to no mechanical loading with loss of daily life activity. Bone resorption markers in healthy subjects had been compared between before and during bed rest to determine disruption of diurnal rhythms of bone resorption.

This paper describes the system architecture of a successful CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) system built for TFT manufacturing lines, which is adaptable to rapidly changing business environment. The unique features of the system include the dynamic load balancing and dynamic function distribution among several application servers using distributed objects. Each application server acts as an autonomous decentralized system. Yet the system provides the end users with a view of totally integrated single application. The system is flexible because it is easy to change or add new functions without shutting down the whole system. It is also robust since the functions are assigned to the server dynamically by considering the availability and load of the servers. The system has been running online for mass production in 24-hour by 7-day mode continuously for more than a year.

Sharing a virtual space by many users, a distributed virtual environment (DVE) provides high level communication and cooperative design facilities. In a large scale DVE in a wide area network, a reliable and efficient multicast protocol on the Internet is necessary. Since most of the existing reliable multicast protocols aim to send relatively large data (e.g. a file) from a few source sites, it is not suitable to apply the DVE because it has many source sites and the size of the data is relatively small and the amount of data is large. We propose a new multicast protocol that is suitable for DVE. This protocol provides fast retransmission management and an efficient retransmission buffer management based on a local mutual aide region (MAR). In this method, the source site does not have the responsibility of the receipt of all sites, and the retransmission management is distributed in the regions.

Ultrasonic techniques using an EMAT (electromagnetic acoustic transducer) for evaluating material properties were developed. Two items are described. One is the evaluation of the formability in cold-rolled steel sheets by using the S/sub 0/-mode plate-wave EMAT. The other is the measurement by the stress in the rim of railroad wheels by using two polarized SH-waves EMATs. The experimental results obtained in these techniques agree with theoretical predictions, and the techniques are useful for monitoring the material properties. >

A multimedia integration trial for groupware with video-on-demand is described. The integration is realized by association of a groupware server with a video-on-demand server using a video service bridge. The integrated platform enables application developers to develop multimedia application systems supporting both groupware and video-on-demand functions, and provides both real time and stored video naturally synchronized with audio to the group users simultaneously. One particularly interesting example of the platform's possibilities is an automobile sales support system developed on the platform which enables the users to share video images of a running car over an ATM network.

A 6-b digital source driver has been developed. CA (computer application) TFT-LCD (thin-film transistor liquid crystal display) panels driven by this driver can simultaneously display 6-b (64 gray level) images with 262144 colors. A system has been developed that can produce both CA and AV (audio-visual) images by compressing 8-b video data into 6-b data using the interframe modulation method. This study has demonstrated success in developing technology that can generate natural color on a CA TFT-LCD display. Through this technology, it has been shown that conventional CA and AV panel functions can be combined in a single CA-type display. >

A 3-b digital source driver driven by a single +5-V power source has been developed for large TFT-LCD (thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display) panels already under mass production. The maximum sampling speed of this driver is up to 20 MHz, more than three times as fast as the traditional analog sampling driver. The new driver's LSI chip is a square about 30 mm/sup 2/, smaller than half the square made under the hybrid process. A new technology was developed to drive this driver, i.e., alternating the grey level voltage and also alternating the Vcom inversely with the polarity. With this new driver and its driving mechanism, a 10.4-in CA (computer application) TFT-LCD system has been mass-produced that can generate 512 colors simultaneously for every panel pixel. >