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Optimization of preoperative nutritional status has been recommended and associated with improved outcomes for other oncologic procedures, but has not been studied in patients undergoing pelvic exenteration.A retrospective chart review of 199 patients was conducted. Overall survival (OS) was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis was performed with Cox proportional hazards.199 patients underwent PE with 61 (31%), 78 (40%) and 58 (29%) patients having colorectal, gynecologic and urologic histological diagnoses, respectively. Median OS following PE was 25 months. Preoperative serum albumin3.5 g/dL was associated with worsened OS (HR 1.661; 95% CI 1.052-2.624) as well as increased incidence of any postoperative complication (85.9% vs 72.3%, p = 0.034), but was not associated with 90-day mortality (11.3% vs 7.9%, p = 0.457).Poor preoperative nutritional status is associated with increased complications and decreased OS. Surgeons should maximize preoperative nutritional status to improve perioperative outcomes and long-term survival.

Objective Pelvic exenteration (PE) is often the only curative option for locally advanced or recurrent pelvic malignancies. Despite radical surgery, recurrence risk and morbidity remain high. In this study, we sought to determine tumor size effect on perioperative outcomes and subsequent survival in patients undergoing PE. Methods Retrospective chart review was performed for female patients who underwent PE at two comprehensive cancer centers from 2000 to 2015. Demographics, complications and outcomes were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-square, student's t -test, logistic regression, non-parametric tests, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards. Results Of 151 women who underwent PE, 144 had available pathologic tumor size. Gynecologic oncology, surgical oncology, and urology performed 84, 29, and 31 exenterations, respectively. Tumor dimensions ranged from 0 to 25.5cm. Perioperative complications, 30-day mortality, reoperation, and readmission rates were not associated with tumor size. Obesity and prior radiation increased risk for major perioperative complication while anterior exenterations decreased risk. Larger tumors were more likely to undergo total pelvic exenteration (OR 1.14; 95%CI 1.03–1.27), have positive margins (OR 1.11; 95%CI 1.02–1.22), and recur (65%, 42% and 20% for tumors >4cm, ≤4cm and no residual tumor respectively, p =0.016). Tumor size >4cm and positive margins were associated with worse overall survival amongst gynecologic oncology patients. Conclusion Tumor size was not associated with perioperative morbidity. Larger tumors were associated with positive margins, more extensive resection, and worse survival in gynecologic oncology patients. Larger studies are needed to further understand tumor size impact on PE outcomes within specific tumor types.

Paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP) is a frequently fatal autoimmune blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes.1 PNP is commonly associated with malignant neoplasms or haematological disorders like Castleman disease (CD). The eruptions may resemble those seen in various other conditions such as lichen planus (LP), graft-versus-host disease, erythema multiforme (EM), bullous pemphigoid and pemphigus vulgaris (PV).2 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Nitrogen incorporation to produce negative fixed charge in Al2O3 gate insulator layers is investigated as a path to achieve enhancement mode GaN device operation. A uniform distribution of nitrogen across the resulting AlOxNy films is obtained using N2 plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD). The flat band voltage (Vfb) increases to a significantly more positive value with increasing nitrogen concentration. Insertion of a 2 nm thick Al2O3 interlayer greatly decreases the trap density of the insulator/GaN interface, and reduces the voltage hysteresis and frequency dispersion of gate capacitance compared to single-layer AlOxNy gate insulators in GaN MOSCAPs.

The preparation of mesoporous silica coated rf-sputterd apatite / titanium substrate and protein adsorptive property is reported. Hydroxyapatite coated titanium implant has been used, and the adsorption of proteins onto implant is very important for bond formation between bone and implant. Mesoporous silica (MPS) materials have been extensively studied as carriers of bio-molecules due to their potential practical applications in medical materials. Pore diameters of 1.5 – 30 nm of the periodic mesoporous materials are close to the diameters of target molecules and high adsorbed amount of proteins onto MPS has been reported, and also enclosure of the protein in a well-defined space may help to prevent denaturation. Previously, we reported the MPS coating on the porous hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramics obtained by dip-coating method, and by the vapor phase synthesis. Protein adsorption on the porous HAp with the MPS coatings was evaluated using UV-VIS spectrometry, and the quantity of adsorbed amount of protein was remarkably improved. In this study, the HAp deposition on Ti substrate (HAp/Ti) was carried out by rf magnetron sputtering and hydrothermal treatment, and MPS coating on HAp/Ti using LB deposition apparatus to improve the protein adsorptive property of HAp/Ti. The quantity of adsorbed protein onto the HAp /Ti was around 12 times high, and that onto the MPS/HAp/Ti was 18 times high compared to that on Ti substrate.

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) and traditional biomarkers in the early diagnosis of acute intestinal ischaemia of different causes. Methods I-FABP, white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein, base deficit, lactate, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase and D-dimer were measured prospectively in consecutive patients suspected of having acute intestinal ischaemia. Biomarker levels were compared in patients with vascular and non-vascular ischaemia. Results Two hundred and eight patients with a clinical suspicion of acute intestinal ischaemia were enrolled. Vascular intestinal ischaemia was diagnosed in 24 patients (11·5 per cent), non-vascular ischaemia in 62 (29·8 per cent) and non-ischaemic disease in 122 (58·7 per cent). The levels of most biomarkers (except WBC count and creatine kinase) were significantly higher in the vascular ischaemia group than in the other groups (P < 0·010). However, none of the biomarker levels differed between patients with non-vascular intestinal ischaemia and those with non-ischaemic disease. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that I-FABP was best at diagnosing vascular intestinal ischaemia (area under the curve 0·88). Conclusion Serum biomarkers may be useful in the diagnosis of vascular, but not non-vascular, intestinal ischaemia. Among them, I-FABP shows promise for detecting vascular ischaemia.

Voltage and torque ripples can reduce control precision and increase vibration and noise in electric vehicles, servo systems, or wind generators. To address this problem, we proposed a novel winding method in which three phase coils are wound around each tooth, with each coil having a different number of turns around a given tooth. The proposed winding scheme may also be applied to toroidal winding. By numerical magnetic analysis, we examined the characteristics of machines using these proposed windings. The results demonstrated a reduction in back-EMF ripple to below 1% of the fundamental components. Torque ripple was reduced by approximately 7% for a four-pole machine and by 2.5% for an eight-pole machine, compared with both the concentrated and toroidal winding schemes. The proposed winding scheme was shown to significantly reduce voltage and torque ripples.

We attempted to develop practical methods for coral reef rehabilitation, by means of the production of juveniles obtained from sexual reproduction, for a remote island where recruit- ment is limited. Adult corals (broodstocks) of Acropora tenuis were transported 1100 km from Okinotorishima, Japan's southernmost island in the Pacific, to a hatchery in Okinawa and main- tained in land tanks. Eggs were obtained from captive spawning and the resulting larvae and juve- nile corals were cultured under laboratory conditions. The present methodology enabled high sur- vivorship and led to the successful mass production of coral juveniles. A total of 564 substrates with ~63 000 juvenile corals at the age of 10 mo were transported to the native reef. They were then transplanted in 3 experimental treatments, in order to evaluate effectiveness of protection by cages and/or hiding the juveniles under other substrates. Additionally, the effects of orientation on coral growth were tested by attaching the juveniles face down. The cages effectively protected the corals from predation and nibbling by fishes. The unshaded, upward facing corals in the cages steadily increased their coverage nearly 4-fold in ~2 yr.

We have conducted both electrical and cryomechanical designs of a superconducting propulsion motor based on field-poles made of twinned double-pancake-coils (DPC) with Bi-2223 superconducting wire. Neither field-poles nor armature coils have an iron core; that way the magnetic flux increases with increasing applied current in the HTS wire. Special attention has been paid to reducing heat from the coils upon excitation. We have fixed a final design with a low energy loss up to 0.25 W maximum excitation of 1.5 T, corresponding to a current of 200 A at 30 K. In the present study, we have assembled these 8 twinned DPCs into the HTS axial-gap type motor. The dimensions of the motor are 850 mm in diameter for 507 mm in length and the weight is 1044 kg for 100 kW at 230 rpm. The HTS field-pole coils were cooled by thermal conduction by using a circulation of condensed neon with a thermal siphon using a GM cryocooler. We report cryomechanical and technical issues. The successful excitation of the HTS rotor made of 8 twinned DPCs and the rotation test under low frequency are described.

High-Tc superconductor (HTS) rotating machine with melt-textured Gd-123 bulk pole-field magnets was assembled and tested. The axial gap type motor with neither brush/slip ring nor iron core was composed of a kind of multiple rotor, i.e., a twinned rotor. On each rotor disk, there are eight Gd-123 HTS bulk magnets. The bulk magnets were cooled down with circulating liquid nitrogen supplied inside the rotors. Separately, triple-layered armature copper coils cooled with liquid nitrogen were fixed for pulsed current magnetization for the bulks. Rotation of the twinned rotor provide a better single-phase waveform in 200 rpm compared to in single rotor operation. Magnetic flux density and its distribution on each bulk are stable with averaged decay of 4% for seven hours continuous synchronous operation. The results give a poof on the realization of strong flux collection motor.

We study a pulsed-field magnetization of HTS bulks and application to rotating synchronous machine of axial-gap type. To increase the output performance of the rotating machine, the multiple rotor structure is designed with the alternation of the rotor with Gd-bulks and the fixed armature. Thus, we obtain a redundancy for rotor magnets operation without additional current leads nor slip rings. To assess the present redundancy, we show the result of the pulsed-field magnetization for Gd-bulks in the above mentioned multiple rotor geometry. Two Gd-bulks with 60 mm in diameter and 19 mm thick were inserted into three vortex-type Cu coils, alternatively. They are immersed into liquid nitrogen. The pulsed current was applied to three vortex-type coils as serial. The maximum applied magnetic filed was 5.7 T with the rise time of 6.6 ms. The trapped field for two Gd-bulk were 0.851 T and 0.835 T, respectively. We evidenced it is possible to perform the pulsed field magnetization for two Gd-bulks sandwiched among three armature vortex-type Cu coils, i.e., double layered rotor assembly.

We employed Gd-bulk HTS magnets as rotating poles for a smaller and lighter axial-gap type rotating machine. The bulk was placed between two vortex-type armature coils and cooled down to 77 K under zero-field. Pulsed current was applied to the vortex-type magnetizing coils. The trapped field distribution and transient flux behaviour strongly depend on the radial dimension of the armature vortex-type coil. In the present study, we show that there is an optimal radial dimension of magnetizing coils to the given bulk disk size to give a homogeneously conical distribution of the trapped flux.

We studied a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) synchronous motor assembled with melt-textured Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk pole-field magnets. The structure of a HTS motor is an axial gap type with neither brushes/slip rings nor iron core. The specific feature is that the rotor pole-field magnets of bulk are magnetized with pulsed current flow through vortex-type armature copper windings. The rotor pole bulks and armature coils are cooled down with liquid nitrogen. Cooling and magnetization of bulk pole field magnets are performed inside of the rotor. The trapped peak magnetic field of more than 0.5 T of the bulk magnets provided the motor performance of 3.1 kW with 720 rpm. In order to attain high output, single rotor plate with 8 bulks was substituted with a twinned rotor plates with 16 bulks together with triple layer armature units. We report on the test results and performance of the present twinned rotor-type HTS synchronous motor.

Progress in pulse magnetization technique for high-temperature superconductor bulks of melt-textured RE-Ba-Cu-O with large diameter is important for the realization of power applications. We studied the pulsed power source and pulsed field waveforms to enhance to improve the magnetization properties for Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk. The risetime and duration of pulse waveform effectively varied distribution of magnetic flux.

We employed a Gd-bulk HTS as rotating field magnet poles aiming for a smaller and lighter axial-gap-type motor. The bulk was inserted in the split-type armature pulsed copper coils and cooled down to 77 K under zero field. Employing the bulk magnet to HTS rotating machinery, the number of pulsed field magnetizations should be reduced for practical use. Thereby, a single pulsed current was applied to the pulsed copper coils to magnetize the bulk. The trapped field distribution and transient flux behaviour strongly depend on the radial dimension of the armature coil with a vortex-type winding. On decreasing the diameter of the pulsed copper armature coil, the distribution of the trapped flux density on the surface of the bulk becomes close to a conical shape. In contrast to the use of a solenoid, the application of vortex-type armature coils to magnetization of Gd-bulk HTS shows a quick intervention of the external magnetic flux into the centre of the bulk. The magnetization to the bulk HTS of the vortex-type copper coils with an optimum radius is useful and may be an effective technique for applied bulk HTS for rotating machines such as motors and/or generators.

Rotating machines with high-temperature superconductors (HTS) usually consist of pole-field magnets having coils wound with Bi-2223 HTS wire. We have successfully used Gd–Ba–Cu–O bulk HTS in pole-field magnets in an axial-gap type rotating machine. These HTS pole-field bulk magnets were assembled in the rotor plate. They are cooled down with a liquid cryogen supplied via a rotary joint and circulated inside the rotor plate. The present design provides a small air gap and a bulk HTS gives a high magnetic field around the armature coils. Successful mechanical design has enabled us to magnetize the pole-field bulk to more than 1 T by using a pulsed current applied to the copper armature coils. These techniques imply the possibility of smaller and lighter rotating motors or generators with a HTS bulk magnet for a sub-megawatt class propulsion system. We report several essential techniques for both mechanical and cryogenic designs, and deduce the characteristic features of the present axial-gap type machine using a HTS bulk magnet.

Pulsed-field magnetization is a useful magnetization technique for high-temperature superconductivity bulk crystals for practical applications. However, the trapped magnetic flux is reduced due to the temperature increase from the mobile flux, and the distribution of the flux density is considerably distorted in the a–b crystallographic axes plane. We present two proposals to improve the trapped magnetic flux and its distribution upon pulsed-field magnetization. Firstly, split-type vortex pulsed copper coils with diameters smaller than that of the bulk disk. Secondly, two HTS bulks are stacked layered with misalignment of their crystal a–b axes to reduce the flux motion in the four-fold growth sectors, since the critical current density Jc in the growth sectors is lower. Combining these techniques, the decayed trapped field distribution was recovered and the total flux was increased up to 30% in comparison with a conventional pulsed-field magnetization.

We studied a high-temperature superconducting synchronous motor assembled with melt-textured Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk field magnets. The motor is an axial gap-type, brushless synchronous motor with eight rotating bulk field magnet poles. Liquid nitrogen is circulated to cool down the rotor components. Pulsed field magnetization was performed to excite the bulk field magnets by using a pair of the vortex-type armature copper windings under the zero-field cooling. The trapped peak field density on the surface of the bulk was varied from 0.5 T to 0.8 T. The trapped peak magnetic field 0.5 T on the surface of the bulk magnets provided the motor performance of 3.1 kW with 720 rpm. The field density distribution on the pole bulk magnet surface is anisotropic and different from the ideal conical shape. The optimized pulsed current waveform applied to the armature and the employing of a composite of bulk crystal magnets leading to a spatially homogeneous flux trapping are promising methods for reinforcement of the field flux from the rotor and the motor torque.

Hydra oligactis, an evolutionarily primitive invertebrate, produced eggs or testes (sexual reproduction) when starved at 10 degrees C, and produced buds (asexual reproduction) when fed at 20 degrees C. Bisphenol A (BPA) at 2-4 mg/L given to male or female hydra had adverse effects on both sexual and asexual reproduction. Despite the estrogenic nature of BPA, testis formation and egg formation were similarly affected. The doses causing these acute toxicities were comparable to those reported earlier in aquatic invertebrates and were much higher than environmentally detected doses, at which the disruption of the endocrine system has been reported in fishes. All these facts indicate that the adverse effects are the results of general toxicity and may not be due to the estrogenic function of the compound. On the other hand, we found that BPA at 1 mg/L (a dose still much higher than environmental doses) stimulated asexual reproduction. No such stimulation of sexual reproduction was seen. When male hydras were fed at 10 degrees C, they produced both buds and testes simultaneously. BPA at 0.5 and 1 mg/L under this condition also stimulated asexual reproduction, whereas it suppressed sexual reproduction more severely than BPA at 2-3 mg/L. There may be some interaction between processes involved in sexual and asexual reproduction under this condition, and the stimulation of asexual reproduction by BPA may cause suppression of sexual reproduction.

Pulsed-field magnetization was studied for field-free cooled high-temperature superconductor (HTS) bulk cylindrical disks of melt-textured Gd–Ba–Cu–O samples at the liquid nitrogen temperature. A bulk sample was inserted in between disks of vortex-type pulsed-field copper coil immersed in the liquid nitrogen. The flux was trapped in the centre of the sample surface under the smaller pulsed peak field than the magnetization with a conventional solenoid coil. With intensifying the pulsed-field, the trapped flux density for the maximum peak remanent value in the field cooling process increases monotonously to the liquid nitrogen temperature. In the samples with strong pinning force, which shows large remanent flux on field cooling, the deviation from the conical profile of trapped field distribution was observed. This is attributed to the transient flux motion, which possibly drives temperature increase resulting in the decrease of the trapped field in the growth sector. However, the subsequent single pulsed-field remarkably compensates the formation of a well-dressed conical field density profile. Employing a couple of vortex-type coils enables us to magnetize the HTS bulk cryo-magnets effectively with reduced electric energy per pulsed-current for the magnetization with a pulsed-field solenoid. The present magnetization geometry is acceptable for application of the HTS bulk to the rotor magnet magnetized with an armature in the synchronous rotating machines.

Electrical properties of a Pt/C60/In/Al Schottky-barrier cell have been studied by an admittance measurement carried out in the frequency range between f=0.2 Hz and 100 kHz, and also by a current density–voltage (J–V) measurement. The J–V measurement shows that the rectification is caused due to the asymmetry of electron injection efficiencies from the electrodes. The conductance Gp and capacitance Cp are significantly affected by the localized charges produced by the injection from the electrodes or by illumination. From the frequency dependence of Gp and Cp, it is estimated that the dielectric relaxation time of the localized charges is ~0.3 s and the value of NLξ2 at zero bias in the dark is of the order of 106 m-1, where NL is the density of the localized charges in the C60 layer and ξ is the distance which determines the electric dipole moment µ of a localized charge by the relationship µ=eξ. NLξ2 increases significantly by the application of a forward bias or by illumination.

Gardenia fruit (Gardenia jasminoides E llis ) is widely used as a natural food colorant and as a traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of hepatic and inflammatory diseases. “Gardenia yellow” is a natural food colorant which is extracted by ethanol from gardenia fruit. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the genotoxicity of gardenia yellow. Genotoxicity of gardenia yellow and its components, crocetin, gentiobiose (a component of crocin), geniposide and genipin (formed by hydrolysis of geniposide), was studied by Ames test, rec-assay, and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) using V79 cells. Gardenia yellow and its components were found not to be mutagenic in the Salmonella reverse mutation assay. Gardenia yellow and genipin caused damage of DNA in rec-assay. Gardenia yellow induced a significant dose-dependent increase of SCE frequency (8.6 times at 1000 μg/ml as the value for the solvent control). Only genipin induced SCEs significantly among the components of gardenia yellow. Moreover, genipin induced a significant increase of tetraploids at all doses tested (95% at 8 μg/ml). Gardenia yellow preparation was analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE), and geniposide was detected. However, genipin was not observed. In conclusion, we have shown that genipin possesses genotoxicity. Furthermore, there were unidentified genotoxicants in gardenia yellow.

A series of AlN/GaN short-period superlattices with monolayer AlN were prepared by hot-wall epitaxy. The superlattice structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction through a comparison between the measured diffraction curves and simulated ones, which indicates good controllability of the HWE technique. Interband photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra were measured. Relatively strong PL emissions compared with conventional AlGaN/GaN superlattices were observed, which can be attributed to the small piezoelectric effect. A small Stokes shift should be noted, which may suggest small interface fluctuation in consistence with the XRD observation. The energy shifts of the band-edge emission with the GaN well thickness agree well with the calculated results within the envelope wave-function framework at least for the well thickness above 2 nm . Optical device applications such as light emitting devices in the ultraviolet and mid-infrared regions via interband and intersubband electron transitions are discussed.

Although silicon substrates for semiconductor devices do not contain any dislocations initially, the thin-film stresses sometimes produce dislocations during fabricating processes. Since the dislocations degrade electrical characteristics, it is important to estimate the critical stress for dislocation generation in order to maintain the integrity and reliability of the device. Therefore, we have developed a method that uses a ball-press test for evaluating the critical stress for dislocation generation. The critical stress is calculated from the critical press load for dislocation generation. We used this test method to determine the temperature dependence of the critical stress, and found that the change of the critical stress with temperature is not so large when compared with that of the reference tensile test data. This is because, since the tensile specimen contains some dislocations or initial damage, the tensile test data probably includes the influence of the movement of these dislocations. Furthermore, the effect of ion implantation was examined and this makes clear that the critical stress of implanted specimen is decreased.

The recording characteristics of perpendicular media with a ring head were investigated experimentally and by simulation to determine their suitability for high-density perpendicular recording. The recording mechanisms of both perpendicular single-layered and double-layered media were clarified by MFM analysis and simulation of the recorded magnetization pattern with a head skew angle. It was found that the effect of the head skew angle on the recording characteristics differs between single-layered and double-layered media.

Urban highway runoff samples collected from four rainfall drains were analyzed for heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The concentrations of constituents varied widely during the history of each storm and appeared to be highest in the first runoff water. Results showed that iron and aluminum were the principal constituents of particulates. Cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, lead and zinc were mainly particulate-bound while nickel was mainly in dissolved form. The higher molecular weight PAHs were more associated with suspended solids in the runoff. Predominant PAHs-phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene-comprised about 50% of fifteen quantified PAHs constituents in each sample. In the events where peak flush occurred during the initial phase, more than half the total load flowed out during the initial phase of runoff flow. In this case, initial runoff water treatment was believed to be effective. In results from Ames assay, mutagenicity was appreciably associated with PAHs in the particulate fraction of runoff water. The dissolved fraction also showed positive mutagenic response by unknown soluble aromatic compounds.

The photocurrent spectrum of Au/H 2 -phthalocyanine (H 2 Pc)/C 60 /metal heterojunction system, where metal=In, Cu, Au and Pt, was measured. When the metal electrode for C 60 is the high work-function metal Pt, negative photocurrent, i.e. the photocurrent from C 60 to H 2 Pc through the external load, is observed, while, with the low work-function metals In and Cu, positive photocurrent is observed. With the intermediate work-function metal Au, the sign of the photocurrent depends on the thickness of C 60 film. Thus, the sign of the photocurrent has a clear correlation with the work function of the metal electrode. The negative photocurrent for the Pt and Au electrodes is explained by the competition of the p–n heterojunction of H 2 Pc/C 60 with the Schottky junctions of C 60 /Pt (or Au) and Au/H 2 Pc.

We have determined the influence of moisture soaking conditions on true adhesion strength measured by our previously developed method. The drop in true adhesion strength of a specimen that absorbed moisture at 50/spl deg/C is about 50% less than that of a specimen at 85/spl deg/C. This result suggests that the true adhesion strength depends on not only the moisture content but also the moisture absorption temperature. Therefore, we think that the general moisture condition (85/spl deg/C/85%) causes more damage to plastic integrated circuit (IC) packages than that of moisture absorption at room temperature. We also evaluated interface delamination in a moisture-absorbed package by considering the swelling of the molding compound due to moisture absorption. The predicted interface delamination agrees well with the experimental data for moisture-soaked packages.

Bit percolation degrades the performance of high-density perpendicular magnetic recording. The magnetic cluster size determines the limit of the recordable bit length. In order to examine the parameter, which influences the high-density recording characteristics, we have investigated the relationship between magnetic cluster size and the recording bit length at which bit percolation begins to occur in a CoPtCr-SiO2 perpendicular magnetic-recording medium to the range of 1500 kfci. Our experimental data indicate that the onset of bit percolation takes place at a recording bit length close to the magnetic cluster size of the medium

Background: Between September 1992 and September 1996, we performed 88 VATS (video-assisted thoracic surgery) lobectomies and two VATS pneumonectomies. Methods: The indications for surgery were 68 cases of lung cancer, nine cases of bronchiectasis, six cases of tuberculosis, and seven cases of benign lesions. Of the 68 cases of lung cancer, 36 were treated by VATS lobectomy with extended lymph node dissection for clinical stage I lung cancer, making full use of recently developed devices for thoracoscopic surgery, such as roticulating endoscissors, miniretractors, endoclips, and harmonic scalpels. Results: Twenty-four lymph nodes were resected on average (range, 10 to 51) by VATS. This number was comparable to lymph nodes resected in open thoracotomy during the same period. Among the 36 patients who underwent extended lymph node dissection, 20 showed no lymph node metastasis postoperatively (stage I), while 16 had N1 or N2 cancer. All patients with stage I cancer have survived 4 to 36 months (median: 17 months) with no signs of recurrence. Conclusions: This survival of stage I lung cancer after VATS is comparable to that of open thoracotomy. We thus believe that VATS lobectomy with extended lymph node dissection can be an alternative to standard posterolateral thoracotomy for stage I lung cancer.

Two types of field potentials were identified in cat visual cortex using contrast reversal of oriented bar gratings: a short-latency fast-local component with a retinotopic organization similar to that seen with single-unit discharges at the same cortical site, and a slow, nonretinotopic component with a longer peak latency. The slow-distributed component had an extensive receptive field mapped by measuring the amplitude of binary kernels and showed strong inhibitory interactions within the receptive field. The peak latency of the slow-local component increased with distance from the retinotopic center, suggesting a possible conduction delay. Both components showed some orientation bias depending on the laminar location, but the bias could be independent of the orientation preferred by single units in the immediate vicinity. The present findings indicate that locally generated field potentials reflect cortical mechanisms for nonlinear integration over wide areas of the visual field.

Poly-L-lactide, a polymer of lactic acid, shows slow degradation in living tissue. Poly-L-lactide plate of high molecular weight maintains more than 90% of its initial mechanical properties for more than 3 months after implantation. Using struts made from poly-L-lactide plate, we performed chest wall reconstruction in 56 patients: for postoperative chronic sternal dehiscence in 23 and sternal elevation for pectus excavatum in 33 cases. The postoperative external appearances of the anterior chest were improved in comparison with the preoperative state in all cases. The internal features were evaluated by computed tomographic scan. Neither postoperative wound infection nor respiratory complication was observed, and no tendency for regression of the anterior chest occurred in any of the patients. In 3 of 56 cases (5.4%; one in the sternal dehiscence group and two in the pectus excavatum group), it was necessary to remove part of the strut because of overgrowth of granulation tissue around the implanted material after 4, 12, and 13 postoperative months, respectively. In the pectus excavatum group, the computed tomographic evaluations showed that poly-L-lactide strut maintained sufficient strength to support the thoracic wall 5 months after implantation. These findings suggest that the bioabsorbable poly-L-lactide strut is a promising material for surgical treatment of chest deformity.

A chemiluminescence (CL) method for the determination of humic acid (HA) based on the oxidation of HA with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of formaldehyde in alkaline solution is described. This method is sensitive and selective for the determination of HA in natural water. HA produces strong CL in the oxidation of HA with MnO 4 − , Br 2 , ClO − , and Cr 2 O 7 2− , and the H 2 O 2 . HA-H 2 O 2 -HCHO system is suitable for the determination of HA because of its high sensitivity and high selectivity. The detection limit was 50 ppb and relative standard deviation for five measurements of 0.5 ppm (w/w) HA was 1.8%. Cations such as Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Fe3 + and anions such as PO 4 3− , NO 3 − , CO 3 2− , SO 4 2− , Cl − , and Y − (EDTA-Na) did not interfere with the determination of HA. Addition of Mn(II) increased the CL intensity. The concentration of HA in natural water determined with this method is in good agreement with that determined by fluorometric analysis.

A self-correcting forward gradient time integration procedure is formulated for the integration of a new unified visco-plastic constitutive model for an eutectic solder alloy using a tensorial internal state variable. The procedure has been implemented numerically into a commercial FE code through a user-material subroutine and is well suited to deal with numerically stiff constitutive equations. This is accomplished through an automatic subincrementation procedure controlled by a maximum allowed equivalent inelastic strain increment per time step. For illustration purposes, two examples are discussed: (i) uniaxial test simulations to reveal the optimum combination of the user-specified tolerance and the prescribed load step size to obtain a desired accuracy at a minimum cost, (ii) a large-scale three-dimensional analysis of an integrated circuit (IC) package's solder joint to show the capability of the proposed procedure to deal with thermomechanical loading.

We present a method to measure the geometric phase defined for three internal states of a photon (polarizations) using a three‐beam interferometer. From the interferogram, we can extract the geometric phase related to the three states as the area of a triangle formed by interference fringes. Unlike the conventional methods, our method does not involve the state evolution. Moreover, the phase calibration of the interferometer and the elimination of the dynamical phase are not required.

A set of soil-track interaction relations was made developed for the morbility simulation of tracked or crawler system vehicles on dry, loose sand. These interaction relations were developed specifically for multibody mobility codes in which the soil-vehicle interaction is represented solely by soil-track interaction forces. By employing plate penetration and shear tests, an average pressure-sinkage relation, a shear force-slippage relation, and a sinkage-slippage relation were measured. These plate test data were sufficient only to describe the soil-track interaction on hard ground. On soft ground, however, it was found that intermittent sinkages induced by each passage of the road wheels become important. This dynamic contribution is called “agitation sinkage.” Based on this observation, the sinkage rate (velocity) was decomposed into elastic and plastic rates; the plastic part consists of normal force-induced, slip-induced, and agitation-induced components. Whereas the elastic and the first two components of the plastic sinkage rate were characterized by the conventional plate penetration and plate shear tests, the last term, agitation sinkage, required a new dynamic test in which the sinkage of the track after successive passages of moving road wheels was measured. It is recommended that this new field measurement technique be adopted to characterize the agitation sinkage for various terrains.

A new unified visco-plastic constitutive model for the 60 Sn-40 Pb alloy used in solder joints of surface-mount IC packages and semiconductor devices is proposed. The model accounts for the measured stress-dependence of the activation energy and for the strong Bauschinger effect exhibited by the solder. The latter is represented by a back stress state variable which, in turn, evolves according to a hardening-recovery equation. Based on the observed hardening behavior, it is assumed that the isotropic resistance to plastic flow does not evolve within the deformation range covered in this study (ε< 3 percent). The deformation phenomena associated with the solder’s monotonic and steady-state cyclic responses are accurately predicted for −55°C≦T≦150°C and 8 x 10−2 s−1 ≦ ε ≦ 8 x 10−5 s−1. The model also predicts well the overall trend of steady-state creep behavior. The constitutive model is formulated within a continuum mechanics framework and is therefore well suited for implementation into finite element or other structural codes.

OECD's activity for the safety evaluation of chemicals is presented with its purpose and strategy. The Updating of OECD guidelines for the ecotoxicological effect assessment is discussed in detail. OECD's approach for ecotoxicological effect assessment is also discussed.