Search

We are developing monolithic pixel detectors based on SOI technology for high energy physics, X-ray applications and so on.To employ SOI pixel detector on such radiation environments, we have to solve effects of total ionizing dose (TID) for transistors which are enclosed in oxide layer.The holes which are generated and trapped in the oxide layers after irradiation affect characteristics of near-by transistors due to its positive electric field.Annealing and radiation of ultraviolet are not realistic to remove trapped holes for a fabricated detector due to thermal resistance of components and difficulty of handling. We studied compensation of TID effects by tunneling using a high-voltage. For decrease of trapped holes, applied high-voltage to buried p-well which is under oxide layer to inject the electrons into the oxide layer.In this report, recent progress of this study is shown., 10 pages, 14 figures, Proceedings of International Workshop on SOI Pixel Detector (SOIPIX2015), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 3-6, June, 2015. C15-06-03

We are developing advanced pixel sensors using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. A SOI wafer is used; top silicon is used for electric circuit and bottom silicon is used as a sensor. Target applications are high-energy physics, X-ray astronomy, material science, non-destructive inspection, medical application and so on. We have developed two integration-type pixel sensors, FPIXb and INTPIX7. These sensors were processed on single SOI wafers with various substrates in n- or p-type and double SOI wafers. The development status of double SOI sensors and some up-to-date test results of n-type and p-type SOI sensors are shown.

A new time projection chamber (TPC) was developed for neutron lifetime measurement using a pulsed cold neutron spallation source at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Managing considerable background events from natural sources and the beam radioactivity is a challenging aspect of this measurement. To overcome this problem, the developed TPC has unprecedented features such as the use of polyether-ether-ketone plates in the support structure and internal surfaces covered with $^6$Li-enriched tiles to absorb outlier neutrons. In this paper, the design and performance of the new TPC are reported in detail., 33 pages, 10 figures

The PIENU experiment at TRIUMF is aimed at a measurement of the branching ratio R e / μ = Γ ( ( π + → e + ν e ) + ( π + → e + ν e γ ) ) / Γ ( ( π + → μ + ν μ ) + ( π + → μ + ν μ γ ) ) with precision 0.1 % . Incident pions, delivered at the rate of 60 kHz with momentum 75 MeV/c, were degraded and stopped in a plastic scintillator target. Pions and their decay product positrons were detected with plastic scintillators and tracked with multiwire proportional chambers and silicon strip detectors. The energies of the positrons were measured in a spectrometer consisting of a large NaI(Tl) crystal surrounded by an array of pure CsI crystals. This paper provides a description of the PIENU experimental apparatus and its performance in pursuit of R e / μ .

Truly monolithic pixel detectors were fabricated with 0.2 μ m SOI pixel process technology by collaborating with LAPIS Semiconductor Co., Ltd. for particle tracking experiment, X-ray imaging and medical applications. CMOS circuits were fabricated on a thin SOI layer and connected to diodes formed in the silicon handle wafer through the buried oxide layer. We can choose the handle wafer and therefore high-resistivity silicon is also available. Double SOI (D-SOI) wafers fabricated from Czochralski (CZ)-SOI wafers were newly obtained and successfully processed in 2012. The top SOI layers are used as electric circuits and the middle SOI layers used as a shield layer against the back-gate effect and cross-talk between sensors and CMOS circuits, and as an electrode to compensate for the total ionizing dose (TID) effect. In 2012, we developed two SOI detectors, INTPIX5 and INTPIX3g. A spatial resolution study was done with INTPIX5 and it showed excellent performance. The TID effect study with D-SOI INTPIX3g detectors was done and we confirmed improvement of TID tolerance in D-SOI sensors.

We are developing truly monolithic pixel detectors with a 0.2 μm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS technology, which is intended to be utilized in various research fields, such as high-energy physics, X-ray material analysis, astrophysics and medical sciences. In the development project, KEK has organized several Multi Project Wafer (MPW) runs and the process has been incrementally improved. Czochralski (CZ-) and Float-Zone (FZ-) silicon has been used as a starting material for the detector fabrication. Using FZ-SOI wafers, the detectors worked at full depletion below the breakdown voltage. The up-to-date integration-type pixel detector with 14 μm pixel size has excellent spatial resolution.

著者人数: 50名, 資料番号: SA1002760000

We have developed a pipelined data acquisition (DAQ) system for μSR experiments at the Japan-Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). From September 2008, the J-PARC accelerator will begin the beam delivery to the muon source and the first μSR experiment will be in operation. When fully operable, the muon beam intensity at the Muon Experiment Facility will be two to three orders of magnitude greater than that of the Muon Science Laboratory (KEK-MSL). This will force us to replace the detector and the DAQ system. The new DAQ system must fit the framework for the run automation at J-PARC. We have developed a new DAQ system for this purpose, which will be used in the first experiment and will be ready for new μSR detectors for the full operation of the accelerator.

The PIENU experiment is going to be carried out at TRIUMF to measure the ratio of pion decay rates, R = Gamma(pi+ rarr e+ nue)/Gamma(pi+ rarr mu+ numu), to an accuracy of 0.1%. In order to achieve this goal, a muon identification with waveform analysis in a target scintillator is necessary. Due to the short lifetime of pions, muon pulses tend to overlap onto the tail of pion pulses. Thus waveform analysis with a high frequency flash-ADC is essential for the identification and separation of muon pulses. We use the 500-MHz flash-ADC of the common pipelined platform for electronics readout system, which was developed at KEK, to readout waveforms from the target scintillator. Muon pulse identification capability of this flash-ADC system was investigated by artificial pulses simulating photomultiplier signals.

The purposes of this study were to investigate firstly, the ankle joint stiffness during the eccentric phase in rebound jumps, and secondly, the effect of ankle joint stiffness during the eccentric phase on ankle joint torque at midpoint. Nine active males executed rebound drop jumps from a height of 30 cm (RDJ30) and 50 cm (RDJ50), and 5-repetition rebound jumps (5RJ). Force plate data, limb position and electromyogram (EMG) of the medial head of gastrocnemius (GAS), soleus (SOL), and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were recorded simultaneously during all jumps. When compared with RDJ30 and RDJ50, 5RJ displayed significantly higher jumping height, ankle joint torque at midpoint, ankle joint stiffness during the eccentric phase, and integrated EMG (IEMG) of GAS and SOL. Furthermore, 5RJ displayed significantly lower contact time and IEMG of TA than RDJ30 and RDJ50 did. The ankle joint torque at midpoint showed a significant positive correlation with jumping height but a significant negative correlation with contact time in rebound jumps. There was a significant positive correlation between the ankle joint stiffness during the eccentric phase and ankle joint torque at midpoint in rebound jumps. These results suggested that for the rebound jumps to be effective, it may be important to enhance the ankle joint torque at midpoint by greater ankle joint stiffness during the eccentric phase. These results also suggested that compared to 5RJ, RDJ30 and RDJ50 may reduce ankle joint stiffness in order to protect the tendomuscular system from the stretch load. However, ankle joint stiffness is possibly increased in 5RJ because the restraint to defend the tendomuscular system is reduced by prediction or adaptation to the stretch load because it is a continuous jump.

The J-PARC facility, which will be ready in 2008, is being constructed to perform a number of experiments including nuclear physics, kaon decays and neutrino oscillation. The expected data acquisition rate ranges from 500 Hz to 10 kHz, which is significantly higher than those used in the existing small experiments at KEK. We have developed a new data acquisition system that can be used in a wide range of experiments at J-PARC. The system consists of a KEK-VME crate, a readout platform module and peripheral modules. The readout platform module is highly modularized, having four slots to install daughter cards for digitization and three PCI mezzanine card (PMC) slots for on-board data processing and other purposes. The performance of the platform module and a model setup of the data acquisition system are reported

In order to explore new physics in B-meson decays we plan to upgrade the KEK B-factory to a luminosity of 5/spl times/10/sup 35/ cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/. In parallel we are developing a new pipelined data acquisition system for the Belle detector to cope with higher trigger rates of up to 30 kHz and severe background conditions. In order to reduce development and maintenance costs, we have adopted a modular design for these new readout electronics. The chosen architecture consists of a common readout platform, upon which are mounted subdetector specific parts, customized to meet the readout requirements of each sub detector component. As an example of this new architecture, we present in this paper the design of drift chamber electronics. The drift chamber readout utilizes the AMT-3 time-to-digital converter chip, originally developed for the ATLAS experiment, which satisfies the performance requirement for current and future Belle drift chamber readout. A data transfer performance test with emulation modules, mounted on the common platform, shows that the new readout electronics works well at a more than 30 kHz input trigger rate.

Hydrogen absorption and transport in graphite materials have been studied to obtain fundamental information for a fusion reactor application and for hydrogen storage materials. Two kinds of hydrogen trapping sites should exist. One will be carbon dangling bonds located at the edge surface of a crystallite with an adsorption enthalpy of 2.6 eV, the other will be a solitary carbon dangling bond introduced by ion or neutron irradiation, such as an interstitial cluster loop edge, with an enthalpy of 4.4 eV. The results are compared with thermal desorption spectra of deuterium from graphites which were gas charged, ion irradiated and nano-structured by ball milling. These spectra can be well represented with three kinds of desorption process with activation energies of 1.3, 2.6 and 4.4 eV.

We have developed monolithic CMOS pixel sensor using fully-depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) pixel process technology. The SOI substrates consist of high-resistivity silicon with p-n junctions and low-resistivity silicon layers for forming SOI-CMOS circuitry. Tungsten vias are used to make connections between p-n junctions in the silicon substrate and the first metal layers in the top-layer circuitry. Using this sensor construction, high sensor gain in small pixel areas can be achieved. In 2014, a high-resolution, integrated SOI pixel sensor, called INTPIX8, was developed with two types of substrates: a float-zone, p-type layer on a single SOI (SSOI) wafer and a Czochralski, p-type layer on a double SOI (DSOI) wafer. The X-ray spectra were obtained using Am-241 radiation source. The SSOI-based and DSOI-based sensors exhibited different levels of sensor gain and there were no large differences in the noise levels between them.

The KEK to Kamioka long-baseline neutrino experiment (K2K) has begun its investigation of neutrino oscillations suggested by atmospheric neutrino observations. Twenty-eight neutrino events have been detected in coincidence with the expected arrival time of the beam in the 22.5 kt fiducial volume of Super--Kamiokande, the far detector at 250 km distance. The expectation is 37.8+3.5-3.8, derived using measurements of neutrino interactions in a near detector and extrapolation using a beam simulation validated by a measurement of pion kinematics after production and focusing. The background is of order 10^-3 events., Comment: 6 pages, 3 embedded figures, LaTeX with RevTeX style, submitted to PRL. This version is As Submitted

著者人数: 45名, 資料番号: SA1002753000

We have built a new DAQ (data acquisition) system for μSR experiments at J-PARC. When fully operable, the muon beam intensity delivered at the Muon Experiment Facility would be two or three orders of magnitude greater than that of the Muon Science Laboratory at KEK (KEK-MSL). Under this condition, the DAQ system at KEK-MSL would no longer be usable, due to its high single rate and the pile-up effect of the signal. To overcome this problem, we have to replace both the detector and the DAQ system. As we continue to use the old detector until the planned new detector is installed, the multiplicity will be higher. We have developed a DAQ system that is applicable to high multiplicity, up to 1024 hits per channel, with many channels for the planned new detector.

We have developed two types of fine-mesh photomultiplier tubes for an undoped-CsI endcap photon detector installed in a strong axial magnetic field. These photomultiplier tubes have ultraviolet-transmitting glass windows, backed by large-area bialkali photocathodes, in order to efficiently detect scintillation light from undoped-CsI crystals. A gain of more than 2 × 10 5 , in a magnetic field of 1.0 T, was obtained from these tubes with 19-stage fine-mesh dynodes. Gain drops caused by the magnetic field and by high anode currents were investigated. Several performance criteria of the tubes were studied: gain, quantum efficiency, linearity, noise, and transit time spread.

We examined the responses on blood pressure when the renal vasoactive system such as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) was activated by dietary salt restriction in the congenitally bilateral hydronephrotic rat (BHN). In a low salt diet (LS)-normotensive and normal kidney control rats after 8 weeks from initiating dietary salt restriction, the plasma sodium concentration (PNa) was retained at a level similar to that in the normal diet (ND)-control rats, and plasma renin activity (PRA), plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and urinary kallikrein activity (UKA) were about 1.8-, 9.4-and 1.7-fold higher, respectively, than those in the ND-control rats. In addition, LS-control rats had a significantly (p < 0.001) high systolic blood pressure (163 +/- 2.0 mm Hg) compared with that (136 +/- 5.8) of ND-control rats. These results suggest that the activated renal vasoactive system acted for not only sodium retention but also for elevation of blood pressure in LS-control rats. In LS-BHN at week 8, PNa was also retained at a nearly normal level. However, the renal vasoactive system activation for sodium retention was higher than that of LS-control rats; that is, increase of PRA, PAC and UKA were about 3.8-, 24.7-and 10.0-fold, respectively, than in ND-BHN. The higher activation of RAAS, nevertheless, does not affect blood pressure in BHN; that is, both hypertension of BHN fed LS and ND developed similarly. These findings suggest that dietary salt restriction could markedly activate the renal vasoactive system for sodium retention without elevating blood pressure in BHN different from control rats.

We have constructed an endcap photon detector with undoped cesium iodide (CsI) crystals for K/sup +//spl rarr//spl pi//sup +//spl nu//spl nu. >

High-resolution spectrometers for both incident beams and scattered particles have been constructed at the K1.8 beam line of the Hadron Experimental Facility at J-PARC. A point-to-point optics is realized between the entrance and exit of QQDQQ magnets for the beam spectrometer. Fine-pitch wire chamber trackers and hodoscope counters are installed in the beam spectrometer to accept a high rate beam up to 107 Hz. The superconducting kaon spectrometer for scattered particles was transferred from KEK with modifications to the cryogenic system and detectors. A missing-mass resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 MeV/c2 (FWHM) was achieved for the ∑ peaks of (π±, K+) reactions on a proton target in the first physics run of E19 in 2010.

Prior to use in the ZEUS calorimeter, we measured the performance of 4800 photomultiplier tubes of the R580-12 type. The measurements were carried out under computer control using an automatic test system in which 80 tubes were tested simultaneously. The tests were made regarding the dark current, gain, linearity, long-term stability and gain stability under different intensities of dc background light. The results were used to both select and classify the tubes. Almost all of the tubes were found to be satisfactory.

Focal segmental glomerular hyalinosis and/or sclerosis (FSHS) was observed in five Wistar-Imamichi rats with congenital unilateral hydronephrosis (CUH rats). Marked proteinuria (164.9 +/- 138.4 mg/day) was observed in the CUH rats. Immunoperoxidase staining for IgM, C3 and IgG was positive in the glomeruli, showing in a focal, segmental pattern that corresponded to the areas of FSHS seen by light microscopy. These glomerular findings were extremely similar to those of human focal glomerular sclerosis (FGS). FSHS was found to be common to both the hydronephrotic kidney and the contralateral kidney without hydronephrosis. Morphometry revealed that the glomerular area of the juxtamedullary glomeruli was greater than that of superficial glomeruli in control rats (11,037 micron2 vs. 6,847 microns2). On the other hand, glomerular hypertrophy was observed in non-sclerotic glomeruli of CUH rats (superficial glomeruli; 12,477-16,123 microns2, juxtamedullary glomeruli; 14,635-18,418 microns2). Also, a decreased in the number of glomeruli within the range 1.8-4.1 per unit area (1 mm2) was seen in CUH rats compared with control rats (mean 4.4). These results suggest that the increased rate of development of FSHS is based on hyperfiltration in the remaining functional nephrons.

A laser-pulse shaping system of a high-energy PW laser has been developed for fast ignition of laser fusion. We have demonstrated flat-top pulses of 1 Ops with a rise time of 1 ps.

The J-PARC E56 experiment aims to search for sterile neutrinos at the J-PARC Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). In order to examine the feasibility of the experiment, we measured the background rates of different detector candidate sites, which are located at the third floor of the MLF, using a detector consisting of plastic scintillators with a fiducial mass of 500 kg. The result of the measurements is described in this article. The gammas and neutrons induced by the beam as well as the backgrounds from the cosmic rays were measured., submitted to PTEP. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1502.02255: Revision on 2015-April-22

The KEKB storage ring for a B-factory experiment at KEK, Japan, has been breaking the luminosity record of e+ e? colliders. Now the luminosity reaches 1.6 times larger than the designed luminosity. The Belle detector at KEKB uses a traditional readout method based on the trigger and delay: almost all of the digitizer is the same FASTBUS TDC whose intrinsic deadtime is not negligible in a recent high luminosity condition. To accommodate more higher luminosity, we developed new pipelined TDC module and its intrinsic deadtime is smaller than 10% of the current TDC. We report the performance of this TDC module.

Background Recent reported results of definitive chemoradiotherapy have indicated various advantages against unresectable esophageal cancer. We assessed the effect and feasibility of definitive chemoradiotherapy using intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for unresectable advanced esophageal cancer. Patient and methods Sixteen patients with unresectable advanced esophageal cancer were enrolled. Patient received infusion of fluorouracil 500 mg/body/16 h and cisplatin 5 mg/body bouls on days 1 to 5. IMRT was given to 60 Gy in 30 fractions over 6 weeks with concurrent infusion. Results The median survival time was 18.3 months, and the 2-/3-year survival rate was 58.0/43.5%. Hematologic toxicity was noted in 13 patients, including one hrade 4 leukopenia. Non-hematologic toxicity was noted in 16 patients, including six grade 2 nausea and one grade 3 esophagitis. No toxicity-related death occurred. The overall response rate of all the 16 registered patients was 93.4% (CR/PR/SD = 9/6/1), and the complete response rate was 56.3%. Recurrence at primary lesion was noted in three patients, and other organ was eight patients. Conclusion Despite its relatively constant rate of recurrence at other organ, this definitive chemoradiotheapy using IMRT appears effective and feasible for unresectable advanced esophageal cancer.

Aim: S-1 is an oral fluoropyrimidine agent and widely used for patients with various solid tumors in Asian countries. Few case reports and studies have documented common ocular adverse events including lacrimal canaliculus stenosis (LCS) and cornea epithelium disorder (CED) induced by S-1 administration. LCS causes watery eyes, blurred vision and photophobia, and CED causes vision disorder, as well as corneal ulcers which lead to blindness. Although these symptoms severely affect Quality of Life of cancer patients, the risk has not been clearly recognized by clinicians. We conducted a prospective study to investigate the incidence and severity of ocular adverse events induced by S-1. Methods: Patients who were candidates for S-1 were prospectively examined by 3 ophthalmologists to check their lacrimal canalicules and cornea epithelium before and every 4 weeks during administration of S-1 until cessation of the treatments. The patients underwent slit lamp biomicroscopic examinations to evaluate the incidence and severity of LCS and CED. Results: From December 2012 to December 2013, 40 patients were enrolled in this study (gastric cancer 23 patients, colorectal 8, pancreatic 4, lung 2, and other cancers 3). The ocular adverse events were detected in 17 patients (42.5%) in ophthalmic surveillance. LCS was seen in 13 cases (32.5%) and the median onset time of LCS was 99.6 days (21 to 274 days) after the initiation of S-1. Eight patients (20%) were diagnosed as grade 3 (CTCAE v4.0) and required needle dilatation of lacrimal canaliculus and 5 patients with severe symptoms of LCS needed insertion of drainage tubes in the lacrimal canaliculus. Seven cases (17.5%) were diagnosed as CED, of which 3 cases with grade 3 severe vision disorder required cessation of S-1 treatment. Corneal ulcers were detected in one patient. The mean onset time of CED was 112.7 days (42 to 331 days) after initiation of S-1. After cessation of S-1, recovery from all adverse effects was observed in all patients. Conclusions: This study showed a high incidence of ocular adverse events induced by S-1 treatment, with some patients suffering severe effects requiring ophthalmologic treatment. Oncologists should cooperate with ophthalmologists during S-1 treatment to prevent severe ocular adverse events by detecting disorders at an early stage. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

We are developing monolithic pixel detector using fully-depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) pixel process technology. The SOI substrate is high resistivity silicon with p-n junctions and another layer is a low resistivity silicon for SOI-CMOS circuitry. Tungsten vias are used for the connection between two silicons. Since flip-chip bump bonding process is not used, high sensor gain in a small pixel area can be obtained. In 2010 and 2011, high-resolution integration-type SOI pixel sensors, DIPIX and INTPIX5, have been developed. The characterizations by evaluating pixel-to-pixel crosstalk, quantum efficiency (QE), dark noise, and energy resolution were done. A phase-contrast imaging was demonstrated using the INTPIX5 pixel sensor for an X-ray application. The current issues and future prospect are also discussed.

There is a final purpose of the standardization of the external quality control for the resolution of the difference between facilities. Two solutions are promoted in order to unify the evaluation level. They are that it unifies the reference value and common evaluation method used common display. However, it is the prior settlement that there is some a problem on both method and that absolute value is made to agree using standard substance.

To evaluate the management of malignant ovarian tumors in young women who wish to maintain fertility, we retrospectively reviewed ovarian malignancies in 21 young women who were both nulliparous and under 40 years of age. With stage 1a disease, all 9 patients were treated with conservative surgical therapies, and all of them are still alive, irrespective of histological type. With stage 1c disease, 5 (83%) of 6 patients were treated with conservative surgical therapies. Among them, 2 patients with epithelial tumors, who were treated with conservative surgical therapies and potent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (CDDP)-based combined chemotherapies, are still alive. Furthermore, one of them had a successful pregnancy. On the other hand, 3 out of 4 patients with nonepithelial tumors were treated with conservative surgical therapies. However, 2 (67%) out of 3 died; both of them were treated with non-CDDP-based chemotherapy. In 6 patients with disease beyond stage 2, 4 (67%) were treated with radical surgical therapies, but 2 (33%) were treated with conservative surgery and CDDP-based combined chemotherapy, one of which was followed by a successful pregnancy in spite of nonepithelial tumor. As above, we could obtain some successful pregnancies in cases beyond stage 1c after conservative surgery by adding definite CDDP-based combined chemotherapy. However, we must carefully select the patients with nonepithelial tumors for conservative therapy by adding definite CDDP-based combined chemotherapy and inform them of the risks of therapy.

Patients with carcinoma of the hypopharynx or the cervical esophagus usually undergo total laryngectomy with hypopharyngo-esophagectomy and, consequently, lose the power of speech. Therefore, a reconstruction method which would enable speech rehabilitation is desirable following this type of procedure. Free ileocolon transfer consists of colo-esophagostomy, pharyngo-colostomy, ileo-tracheotomy, vascular anastomosis under a microscope, and permanent tracheostomy. In this method, the colon functions as the alimentary tract, while the ileum and ileocecal valve can produce sounds. We evaluated the results in live patients with free ileocolon transfer following hypopharyngo-laryngo-cervical esophagectomy. Although there was no case of direct operative death, one patient died from cancer progression. Four patients are still alive at from 18 to 36 months after operation. Postoperatively, stenosis of the colo-esophaogostomy appeared in two patients, but there was no case of anastomotic breakdown or any other major complication. Speech rehabilitation was good, and there was no misswallowing into the airway. We think that free ileocolon graft is one of the more preferable procedures following hypopharyngo-laryngo-cervical esophagectomy.

Unreliable results were obtained in an enzymatic assay of total calcium (Ca) in a patient's serum using porcine pancreatic amylase (PPA). Besides, the result was different from that obtained by the atomic absorption analysis. Fractionation of the patient's serum by ultrafiltration and Sephadex G-200 gel filtration revealed the presence of an interference substance with a large molecular size of more than 200kDa. This interference substance was absorbed on a Protein A column. Furthermore, an immune precipitate was observed between the patient's serum and PPA by Ouchterlony double immunodiffusion. An antibody against PPA may exist in the patient's serum and interfere with the enzymatic assay of Ca using PPA.

We examined the involvement of the renin-angiotensin system in the maintenance of hypertension of the rat with congenital hydronephrosis having no urinary tract obstruction. The congenital hydronephrosis rat (HNR) had a significantly higher systolic blood pressure (181 +/- 9.5 mm Hg in the male bilateral hydronephrosis rat, BHN, at 13 weeks of age, n = 10) than control Wistar-Imamichi rats (126 +/- 5.8 mm Hg). The plasma renin activity and plasma angiotensin-II concentration of BHN were decreased to 20.1 and 24.6% of those of control rats, respectively. There was a negative correlation between plasma angiotensin-II concentration and blood pressure. In addition, the effect of captopril and indomethacin on the high blood pressure of BHNs was similar to that of human low-renin essential hypertension. These findings suggest that the renin-angiotensin system activity was markedly lowered and that the involvement of the system in the maintenance of hypertension in HNRs is small.

Background The prognosis of gastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis is extremely poor. Neither systemic chemotherapy nor surgery alone prolongs survival of patients significantly. Methods Patients diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer underwent staging laparoscopy and received chemotherapy when peritoneal dissemination and/or cancer cells on peritoneal cytology were confirmed. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of S-1, weekly intravenous and intraperitoneal paclitaxel, which was verified in our phase II trial (Ann Oncol 2009). S-1 was administered at 80 mg/m2/day for 14 consecutive days, followed by 7 days rest. Paclitaxel was administered intravenously at 50 mg/m2 and intraperitoneally at 20 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8. Clinical response of chemotherapy was assessed by computed tomography, gastroendoscopy, peritoneal cytology and second-look laparoscopy. Radical gastrectomy was carried out when macroscopic curative resection was made achievable by chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was restarted after operation as soon as possible. Overall survival, relapse free survival, morbidity and mortality of gastrectomy were evaluated. Results Out of 100 patients with peritoneal metastasis who received chemotherapy, 60 patients underwent gastrectomy after response to chemotherapy, including 54 with macroscopic metastasis and 6 with positive peritoneal cytology only. A median of three courses were administered preoperatively (range 1–16). Total or distal gastrectomy with lymphnode dissection was carried out in 54 or 6 patients, respectively. The median survival time was 34.5 months. The median relapse-free survival was 16.7 months. The first site of relapse was the peritoneum in 24 patients and the other organ site in 17 patients. Postoperative complications included anastomotic leakage and pancreatic fistula in two patients each, which were healed conservatively. There were no treatment-related deaths. Conclusions Gastrectomy combined with S-1, intravenous and intraperitoneal paclitaxel is safe and active for gastric cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis.

New drugs including molecular therapy prolong the prognosis of cancer patients. On the other side, there are many problems including various toxic effects, supportive care, cancer survivorship, palliative care and psychological support. Appropriate and excellent oncology team is needed to coordinate and resolve these problems. Aizawa Comprehensive Cancer Center consists four individual cancer-related departments, 20 chemotherapy bed, mixing room, IMRT, patient and family center and cancer registration. Four departments are department of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, palliative care and psych oncology. That makes easy to construct comprehensive cancer therapy such as chemo-radiotherapy, palliative care or psychological approach during the cancer therapy. We discussed about all the patients by all staff every day. In the discussion, doctors, nurses, pharmacist and CRC state their opinion equally, and determine the treatment plan concerning disease spread, adverse event, quality of life, and social, economic situations. To be a better oncology team, professionalism, ambition, responsibility, honor, pleasure and respect to the each other in each staff are needed.

Background Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity (CIPN) is a major dose-limiting toxicity of many commonly used chemotherapeutic agents that can limit successful disease control in cancer care. Although some systemic agents have been available, a significant proportion of patients are left with long-term pain and disability which is difficult to treat. Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin-8 (TRPM-8) is distributed in peripheral nerves and has been shown to associate with cold hypersensitivity, noxious cold, sensory disturbance, and impaired thermoregulation. Menthol is a compound derived from mint leaves that functions as an agonist of TRPM-8. Preclinical and clinical works have shown the effect of topical menthol on CIPN. We conducted a phase II study to investigate the effects of menthol on CIPN. Methods 27 patients with CIPN caused by treatment with oxaliplatin (n = 22), paclitaxel (n = 3), capecitabine (n = 1), and irinotecan (n = 1) applied 1% topical menthol, twice daily to affected skin areas. CIPN symptoms were assessed separately for the hands and feet using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and modified Peripheral Neuropathy Scale (PNS) based on patient questionnaires at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment. Responders and good responders were defined as 10% and 30% reduction in NRS respectively. Results Three patients (11%) could not continue the study due to adverse events (skin swelling, desquamation and aggravation of Hand-Foot Syndrome). Efficacy of topical menthol was evaluated in 24 patients. Eighteen patients (75%) showed over 10% decrease of NRS, and 12 patients (50%) showed over 30% decrease of NRS. Median scores of NRS of baseline, 4 and 8weeks were 4.3, 4.1 and3.6 in hands (p = n.s.; paired t test); 5.4, 4.9 and 4.4 in feet respectively (p = 0.03; paired t test). In modified PNS that assessed the severity of neurological symptoms and functional disabilities caused by CIPN, a decrease of score was observed in 19 of 24 patients (79.2%). Conclusions Topical menthol was well tolerated and demonstrated significant therapeutic response for CIPN. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PO) and glutathione S-transferase (GST), class alpha, showing GSH-PO-like enzymatic activity, were localized immunohistochemically in frozen sections of rat intestine in order to elucidate changes in the expression of these antilipoperoxidative enzymes during normal development. The direct immunoperoxidase method was performed using specific rabbit antibodies (Fab fragments) against the enzymes purified from rat liver. Immunoreactive GSH-PO and GST-alpha were demonstrated in the intestinal villous epithelial cells. In the duodenum, GSH-PO was positive during the period from 19 days of gestation to 1 week after birth, while GST-alpha was negative during this period. Two weeks after birth, positivity for GST-alpha appeared, and GSH-PO became undetectable. In the ileum, both of the enzymes were observed until 2 weeks of age, but after weaning their expression disappeared. These immunohistochemical findings were confirmed by immunoblot analysis using intestinal tissue extracts. To evaluate environmental effects on the expression of these enzymes, germ-free animals, common bile duct-ligated rats, and Hank's solution-fed infant rats were prepared. No remarkable alterations in the immunohistochemical localization pattern were observed. Since the switching of enzyme expression around the time of weaning was not influenced by these experimentally induced environmental conditions, it appears that these enzymatic changes are genetically predetermined.

The LFEX laser system is under construction to realize the principle of the fast ignition in the FIREX-I program. The 3.1-kJ output power of the chirped pulse has been obtained with the main disk amplifier. The 3.3-nm (FWHM) spectral width, which is enough wide for less than 2-ps rise time in pulse compression, was obtained by controlling the seed pulse both of temporally and spectrally with a spatial light modulation. The beam aberration with the main amplification was reduced to less than 0.2[03bb] rms in far field pattern by using two deformable mirrors in the main amplifier.

A total of 200 surgically resected esophageal carcinomas were reviewed and 50 cases (25.0%) were identified as "superficial esophageal carcinoma" (depth of invasion limited to mucosa or submucosa). The age, sex, location, tumor size, histological features, and prognosis were studied in 49 of these cases. The carcinomas were classified into four histological groups: 1) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 2) squamous cell carcinoma with basaloid features and expansive growth (BE), 3) squamous cell carcinoma partially mixed with the basaloid type (mixed), and 4) other types of tumors. There were 25 cases (51.0%) of SCC, 14 BE cases (28.6%), 8 mixed cases (16.3%), and 2 (4.1%) other tumors (malignant melanoma, adenoacanthoma). Among 133 advanced cancers (invasion into and beyond the muscularis propria), there were 123 cases (92.4%) of SCC, 9 (6.8%) mixed cases, and one (0.8%) adenoacanthoma. No BE lesions were identified. In superficial carcinoma there was a statistically significant difference between BE and mixed carcinoma by the chi-square test (p less than 0.05) with regard to the maximum longitudinal diameter. None of the BE carcinoma showed nodal metastasis, while 3 (12.0%) of SCC and 5 (62.5%) of mixed lesions had nodal metastases. The difference in cumulative survival rate between BE and mixed carcinoma was statistically significant by the Z and Wilcoxon tests (p less than 0.05). We conclude that the BE type of superficial esophageal carcinoma had a better prognosis, and should be separated from the ordinary SCC with infiltrative growth from a clinicopathological view point.