Search

High-power, short-pulse laser-driven fast electrons can rapidly heat and ionize a high-density target before it hydrodynamically expands. The transport of such electrons within a solid target has been studied using two-dimensional (2D) imaging of electron-induced Kα radiation. However, it is currently limited to no or picosecond scale temporal resolutions. Here, we demonstrate femtosecond time-resolved 2D imaging of fast electron transport in a solid copper foil using the SACLA x-ray free electron laser (XFEL). An unfocused collimated x-ray beam produced transmission images with sub-micron and ∼10 fs resolutions. The XFEL beam, tuned to its photon energy slightly above the Cu K-edge, enabled 2D imaging of transmission changes induced by electron isochoric heating. Time-resolved measurements obtained by varying the time delay between the x-ray probe and the optical laser show that the signature of the electron-heated region expands at ∼25% of the speed of light in a picosecond duration. Time-integrated Cu Kα images support the electron energy and propagation distance observed with the transmission imaging. The x-ray near-edge transmission imaging with a tunable XFEL beam could be broadly applicable for imaging isochorically heated targets by laser-driven relativistic electrons, energetic protons, or an intense x-ray beam.

It is an on-going challenge to verify the proton range in situ during proton therapy. Since the protons stop in target tissue, measurement of gamma-rays emitted either promptly from nuclear de-excitation or in pair from positron annihilation is the feasible method to monitor the proton range in-vivo. Using the technique of gamma collimation, we empirically demonstrated that the proton range and prompt gamma distribution are well correlated in the therapy energy range, and that measuring prompt gammas is a viable method for the clinical application. However, this collimation technique appears not to be applicable to passively scattered proton beams. The device chosen for gamma imaging in 2D is an electron tracking Compton camera, which images single-emission photons employing a gas chamber to induce Compton scattering. Images of prompt gammas were attained at the proton beam energy of 140 MeV. Measurements showed that gamma image in the energy range of 800–2000 keV provides a better match with the proton range compared to the image by lower energy gammas.

We have developed an Electron-Tracking Compton Camera (ETCC) for medical imaging and MeV gamma-ray astronomy. The ETCC consists of a gaseous Time Projection Chamber ( μ -TPC) and pixel scintillator arrays. To improve the detection efficiency, we have optimized the gas mixture in the μ -TPC and operated the ETCC at high pressure. Basic characteristics such as the gas gain, drift velocity, energy resolution, and position resolution of the μ -TPC were examined, and using this optimization, both the efficiency and the angular resolution of the ETCC were measured. We achieved a steady gas gain of ∼ 20 , 000 in Ar/CF4/isoC4H10 (54:40:6) at 1.4 atm. The diffusion constant in Ar/CF4/isoC4H10 (54:40:6) at 1.4 atm was ∼ 2 times better than in Ar/C2H6 (90:10) at 1 atm. The efficiency in Ar/CF4/isoC4H10 (54:40:6) at 1.4 atm was also ∼ 2 times higher than in Ar/C2H6 (90:10) at 1 atm.

We have evaluated the possibility of the Electron-Tracking Compton Camera (ETCC) to simultaneously operate as a pair-creation camera. The ETCC consists of a gaseous micro-time projection chamber (micro-TPC) and a scintillation camera. Several prototypes of the camera were developed and their performance was studied. Because the micro-TPC can detect a large number of hit points along one charged particle track, has a good position resolution of about 0.2 mm, and uses the filling gas as the scattering material, the influence of multiple scattering is small. This makes the micro-TPC well-suited to detecting pair-creation events. We have examined the performance of a camera of size 10×10×15 cm3, using the pair-creation mode in the energy range of 10–100 MeV. Using this camera, we performed a proof-of-principle experiment with laser inverse Compton gamma rays at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and we succeeded in tracking electron–positron pairs and in reconstructing 10 and 20 MeV gamma rays. In this paper, we report the fundamental performance of the gamma-ray camera with pair-creation mode.

This paper deals with an analysis of the power efficiency of a multi-oscillated current resonant type DC-DC converter. The current resonant type converter employs generally the pulse frequency modulation. For this reason, the magnetizing current through the converter causes not only a power loss under a light load, but also a loss during stand-by. In order to solve these problems, a multi-oscillated current resonant type DC-DC converter has been proposed, and revealed the advantage of its control method which can reduce power loss under light load and keep low switching noise. An analytical relationship of among states, operating mode and efficiency characteristics of this converter are defined. As a result, it was confirmed that for this converter, the output power depends on the voltage of resonant capacitor, and consequently, it is important to determine constants of resonant capacitor and inductance of transformer. The maximum efficiency is 95.4% with the magnetizing inductance 1.8 mH., 2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference - PESC 2008 : Rhodes, Greece, 2008.06.15-2008.06.19, 2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, pp.1646-1650

Cotton plants, Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Antares, were grown in nutrient solution, under three levels of nitrogen (N) supply, in order to assess their effects on growth and yield, and to evaluate the N status by the following methods: visual symptoms, changes in the leaf ultrastructure, direct and indirect determinations of leaf chlorophyll (SPAD readings); NO3-N in the petiole both, by spot test in vivo and by quantitative determination; total N in the leaf blade and nitrate reductase activity (NO3 R) in the same; total N in the seeds. Low N level in the solution drastically reduced vegetative growth components, number of bolls and seed cotton and fiber yields. Nitrogen deficiency caused yellowing of the leaves beginning in the older ones. The main changes in the ultrastructure of the N deficient leaves were the disruption of the chloroplast membrane and the accumulation of starch granules and lipid globules. The semiquantitative assessment of nitrate in the petiole was unable to differentiate b...

Mao-Bushi-Saishin-To (MBST, Ma-Huang-Fu-Zi-Xin-Tang) and Hochu-Ekki-To (HET, Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang), traditional oriental medicines, were orally administered to 1-year-old C3H/HeN female mice once a day for 5 days. The day after the last administration, the mice were vaccinated with 1 μl of commercial influenza HA vaccine subcutaneously. Three weeks later, the same quantity of vaccine was inoculated. After the 2nd inoculation, blood samples were collected from the jugular vein for 20 weeks, and HI titers to each vaccine strain were measured. In the MBST and HET administered group, the HI titer for B/Mie/1/93 was higher than that of the control group from 1 to 4 weeks after the 2nd inoculation, and it was significantly higher at 2 and 4 weeks after the 2nd inoculation. However, no significant differences were observed for A/Yamagata/32/89 and A/Wuhan/359/95 strains. From these results, it became clear that antibody production to the vaccine B strain was increased by oral administration of MBST or HET before influenza vaccination.

Mao-Bushi-Saishin-To (MBST, Ma-Huang-Fu-Zi-Xin-Tang), a traditional oriental herbal medicine, is frequently used for the treatment of the common cold in Japan. MBST shows particularly good results in elderly patients. We examined the effects of post-infection MBST administration on influenza in aged mice. At 3 and 6 days after infection and MBST administration, the virus was isolated from the lungs of all mice in all groups. However, the average virus quantity correlated inversely with the MBST dose in the 0, 20 and 200 mg/kg administration groups. In addition, the number of mice in each group from which virus was isolated by pharyngo-oral swab decreased in order in the 0, 20 and 200 mg/kg groups. These results show that MBST suppresses the proliferation of influenza virus in the lungs and suppresses the discharge of the virus from the upper respiratory tract. From these results, it became clear that MBST was effective in controlling the infectious expansion of the influenza virus.

At the initial stage of influenza virus infection in aged mice, the oral administration of Mao-Bushi-Saishin-To (MBST, Ma-Huang-Fu-Zi-Xin-Tang) decreased the virus titer in the lung and suppressed the discharge of virus from the upper respiratory tract. In the present work, the activating effect of MBST on the function of alveolar macrophages in aged mice was investigated. MBST was found to increase the phagocytic activities and cytokine production of alveolar lavage cells in aged mice. Therefore, MBST seemed to contribute to protection from influenza virus infection in aged mice through these mechanisms.

Mao-bushi-saishin-to (Ma-huang-fu-zi-xi-xin-tang), a Chinese medicinal herb formula, is composed of three kinds of crude drugs: Mao (Ephedra Herb), Hobushi (Processed Aconiti Root) and Saishin (Asiasarum Root). We have reported that Mao-bushi-saishin-to MBST increases IgM antibody production in mice. In the present study, we evaluated the individual effects of Mao, Hobushi and Saishin on IgM antibody production. In addition, the effects of the following combinations of constituents were also evaluated: Mao+Hobushi, Mao+Saishin and Hobushi+Saishin. In a further experiment, we examined the effects of MBST and its component crude drugs on aged mice. With young mice, neither Mao alone nor Saishin alone increased IgM antibody production; however, the combination of Mao+Saishin did induce an increase of IgM antibody production. Although Hobushi alone increased IgM antibody production, the combination of Hobushi and other constituents showed reduced effects. The effects of MBST were higher in aged mice than in young mice; however, the effects of the constituent crude drugs were weak. These findings suggest that the effect of MBST changes in proportion to host immunoactivities. In addition, the roles of the constituent crude drugs also change.

Mineral deficiency symptoms were observed in leaves of yellow passionfruit plantlets grown in MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) with 1.0 mg l−1 (3.0 μM) gibberellic acid. Initially, leaves showed interveinal chlorosis, followed by bleaching of the leaves and retarded growth. Leaf mineral analysis was done and compared to mineral requirements suggested for passionfruit in the literature. Several modifications were made to the inorganic composition of MS medium, according to mineral deficiencies, mainly of Fe and Ca, and possible toxicity of Cl. The concentration of the elements in the new medium (MSM) was based on the mineral composition of leaves of healthy plants. The chemical equilibrium was checked using the software Geochem (Sposito and Mattigod, 1980) and final adjustments were made to ensure good availability of nutrients. To test the efficiency of the modified medium nodal segments were cultured in both MS and MSM supplemented with 3.0 mg l−1 (13.3 μM) 6-benzyladenine. After three subcultures mineral analysis of the leaves was done. Severe mineral deficiency was observed on the leaves of plantlets cultured in MS, while plantlets cultivated in MSM had green leaves. A comparison of the mineral analysis of plantlets in both media showed a fairly large increase in Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg and S and decrease in levels of B and Cl in plantlets cultivated in MSM. A slight increase or decrease in other elements was also observed. Subculture of the chlorotic plantlets into MSM showed that the visual symptoms of mineral deficiency disappeared in 2–4 wk.

We developed an internal standard-based method to analyze the vapor phase components of mainstream smoke. This method collects vapor phase components from sample cigarettes, which are smoked by a linear automatic smoking machine in a sampling bag. An internal standard gas was introduced to the bag. A 6-port valve with a 2-ml sampling loop was placed between the vapor phase smoke outlet of the smoking machine and the bag to regulate the volume of the internal standard. The mixed gas sample was then introduced, by an automatic injection device developed in-house, to a gas chromatograph (GC) for ten successive analyses. The sample in the bag was analyzed every two hours to assess the time serial changes of vapor phase smoke components as well as of the internal standard. After 18 hours, in the tenth analysis, the amounts of 37 vapor phase components decreased by less than 5 % from those in the first analysis. The repeatability of the sample analysis was assessed and 45 vapor phase components had coefficients of variation of less than 5 %. The overall reproducibility of this method including tobacco samples and instruments was also assessed using five other sampling bags and achieved coefficients of variation of less than 6 % for 42 vapor phase components. The advantages of this method include capability to handle 10 tobacco samples in a serial manner, capability to collect both the vapor phase and semivolatile components, and precise, easy and continuous component analyses. We also present the results of multivariate analyses for the vapor phase and semivolatile components from 59 sample cigarettes.

We have developed an Electron-Tracking Compton Camera (ETCC) as a next-generation MeV gamma-ray telescope. Our detector consists of a gaseous electron tracker as a Compton-scattering target and a position sensitive scintillation camera as a scattered gamma ray absorber. We launched a small size (10 cm cubic) ETCC loaded on a balloon in 2006, and obtained the fluxes of diffuse cosmic and atmospheric gamma rays in the energy range between 125 keV and 1:25 MeV. However, for MeV gamma-ray astronomy, we need to detect the photons at higher energy, thus we must improve the sensitivity of the ETCC in the higher energy range above 1 MeV. For this purpose, we investigate an electron absorber, which is placed between the electron tracker and the photo-absorber. Using Geant4 simulation, we confirmed that the detection energy range is shifted to the range of 0:35–5:0 MeV for the new configuration of the ETCC.

Conventional dispersion-slope compensation filters suffer from a fundamental tradeoff between the amount of dispersion-slope compensation and the compensation bandwidth. A novel multireflection device, composed of two coupled cavity filters in a parallel configuration is proposed that has an adjustable dispersion-slope independent of the compensation bandwidth. The device provides an adjustable dispersion-slope value between -6.7 and -35.7 ps/sup 3/ over a bandwidth of 3 nm. The center wavelength is adjustable over a 10-nm range.

We have developed a sub-MeV and MeV gamma-ray imaging Compton camera for use in gamma-ray astronomy; it consists of a gaseous time-projection chamber (TPC) to convert the Compton scattering events and a scintillator array to absorb photons. The TPC measures the energy and three-dimensional tracks of Compton-recoil electrons, while the pixel scintillator arrays measure the energy and positions of scattered gamma rays. Therefore, our camera can reconstruct the incident gamma rays, event by event, over a wide field of view of approximately 3 str. We are now developing a Compton camera for a balloon-borne experiment.

A direction-sensitive dark matter search experiment at Kamioka underground laboratory with the NEWAGE-0.3a detector was performed. The NEWAGE- 0.3a detector is a gaseous micro-time-projection chamber filled with CF4 gas at 152 Torr. The fiducial volume and target mass are 20*25*31 cm3 and 0.0115 kg, respectively. With an exposure of 0.524 kgdays, improved spin-dependent weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-proton cross section limits by a direction-sensitive method were achieved including a new record of 5400 pb for 150 GeV/c2 WIMPs. We studied the remaining background and found that ambient gamma-rays contributed about one-fifth of the remaining background and radioactive contaminants inside the gas chamber contributed the rest., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Physics Letters B

We present the case for a dark matter detector with directional sensitivity. This document was developed at the 2009 CYGNUS workshop on directional dark matter detection, and contains contributions from theorists and experimental groups in the field. We describe the need for a dark matter detector with directional sensitivity; each directional dark matter experiment presents their project's status; and we close with a feasibility study for scaling up to a one ton directional detector, which would cost around $150M., 48 pages, 37 figures, whitepaper on direct dark matter detection with directional sensitivity

This paper presents the design criteria of a multi-oscillated resonant type DC-DC converter. The current resonant type converter generally employs pulse frequency modulation for control. For this reason, the magnetizing current through the converter not only causes a power loss under a light load, but also a loss during stand-by. In order to solve these problems, a multi-oscillated current resonant type DC-DC converter has been proposed, and revealed the advantage of its control method which can reduce power loss under light load and keep low noise. In this paper, some analyses of the multi-oscillated current resonant type DC-DC converter and some load characteristics are compared and confirmed with calculations and experiments.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the length of the treatment period and the cumulative dose of pegylated interferon alpha-2b (peg-IFN alpha-2b) plus ribavirin (RBV) and their effectiveness in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Methods: Seven hundred and fifteen patients received peg-IFN alpha-2b plus RBV treatment for 48 weeks and 24 weeks for genotypes 1 (n = 586) and 2 (n = 129), respectively. Results: Sustained virological responses (SVR), defined as serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA undetectable at 24 weeks after the end of treatment, were 42.4% and 74.4% in genotypes 1 and 2, respectively, on an intention-to-treat analysis. SVR significantly increased with treatment length (4.7%, 36.4%, and 51.8% for

We examined the cytolytic mechanisms of activated macrophages by using proteose peptone- or thioglycollate broth-induced mouse peritoneal macrophages or mouse macrophage hybridomas as effector cells, L.P3 cells, a clone of L929 cells, and P815 cells as target cells, and IFN-gamma and LPS as activators. It was determined that TNF is the main cytolytic molecule against L.P3 cells from the following results: 1) activated macrophages can produce TNF; 2) TNF shows cytotoxic activity against L.P3 cells; 3) the addition of anti-TNF antibody inhibited most of the cytolytic activity of activated macrophages against L.P3 cells. On the other hand, it was concluded that the main cytolytic mechanism against P815 cells is the production of NO2-/NO3- from L-arginine, from the following results: 1) activated macrophages can produce NO2-; 2) NaNO2 shows high cytotoxic activity against P815 cells; 3) the depletion of L-arginine from the medium inhibited most of the cytolytic activity of activated macrophages against P815 cells and NO2- production by activated macrophages. In this study, however, cytostatic effects of L-arginine-dependent effector mechanism were not studied. Thus, these results show that activated macrophages can express at least two cytolytic mechanisms independently, namely, the one that appears to be mediated by the L-arginine-dependent effector mechanism and the second that appears to be mediated directly by TNF. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that TNF and L-arginine-dependent NO2- production act synergistically as killing mechanisms of activated macrophages. These mechanisms can explain the cytolytic activity of activated macrophages against a variety of target cells.

Many visual inspection systems have been developed and applied into real production lines and proved their effectiveness. But most of the cases were the 2-D Vision systems. In many cases, the 3-D vision systems for industria! applications employ sophisticated optical systems and require precise calibrations by experts. It is specially designed for every application. To make 3-D industrial vision systems more practical and easy to use, it is required to develop generalpiurpose and robust 3-D measurement method for industrial applications. To meet with the requirements, 3-D Visual Measurement Method Using Rotary Yisiorr System has beerr rieveloped In tkis paper, the basic idea, the optical system and the image processing method using motion picture analysis have been introduced,.

In this paper we present particle swarm optimization with Gaussian mutation combining the idea of the particle swarm with concepts from evolutionary algorithms. This method combines the traditional velocity and position update rules with the ideas of Gaussian mutation. This model is tested and compared with the standard PSO and standard GA. The comparative experiments have been conducted on unimodal functions and multimodal functions. PSO with Gaussian mutation is able to obtain a result superior to GA. We also apply the PSO with Gaussian mutation to a gene network. Consequently, it has succeeded in acquiring better results than those by GA and PSO alone.

We studied the optimization of an ESD protection circuit based on MM and HBM test results using a test element group (TEG) created in a fully silicided 0.1 /spl mu/m CMOS process. We concluded that the change in drain area and channel width had different effects on the ESD robustness of different test items because the type of operating ESD protection element was determined by the polarity of the ESD surge applied. In addition, we found that, due to the formation of silicides in a source and drain contact, the dimensions around the contact had less influence on ESD robustness, while the channel width had a large influence on ESD robustness.

Dynamic dispersion-slope compensation is accomplished using two coupled four-cavity all pass filters in a multi-reflection configuration. The dispersion-slope is adjustable between -0.37 ps/sup 3/ and -3.2 ps/sup 3/ over a 10 nm compensation bandwidth and the center wavelength is tuneable over a 10 nm range by adjustment of the input angle.

Although many studies have assumed that the overproduction of cysteinyl- leukotrienes (cys-LTs) and an imbalance of arachidonic acid metabolism may be plausible causes for the pathogenesis of aspirin-intolerant asthma (AIA), there has been little experimental evidence to substantiate this notion in lower airways of patients with AIA.The purpose of this study was to compare the eicosanoid concentrations in sputum and urine from patients with AIA.The concentrations of sputum cys-LTs, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), PGF2alpha, PGD2 and thromboxane B2 were measured to assess local concentrations of eicosanoids in patients with AIA and in those with aspirin-tolerant asthma (ATA). The concentrations of two urinary metabolites, leukotriene E4 (LTE4) and 9alpha11betaPGF2, were also measured to corroborate the relationship between the eicosanoid biosynthesis in the whole body and that in lower airways.The concentration of PGD2 in sputum was significantly higher in patients with AIA than in those with ATA (median, 5.3 pg/mL vs. 3.1 pg/mL, P0.05), but there was no significant difference in the concentration of the corresponding metabolite, 9alpha11betaPGF2, between the two groups. No differences were noted in the concentrations of other prostanoids in sputum between the two groups. The sputum cys-LT concentrations showed no differences between the two groups, in spite of the observation that the concentration of urinary LTE4 was significantly higher in patients with AIA than in those with ATA (median, 195.2 pg/mg-cre vs. 122.1 pg/mg-cre, P0.05). There was a significant correlation among the concentration of cys-LTs, the number of eosinophils and the concentration of eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) in sputum.The urinary concentration of LTE4 does not necessary reflect cys-LT biosynthesis in lower airways. A significantly higher concentration of PGD2 in sputum from patients with AIA suggests the possible ongoing mast cell activation in lower airways.

The fate of 166Ho-chitosan complex, a radiopharmaceutical drug for cancer therapy, was determined by studying its absorption, distribution and excretion in rats and mice.Holmium-166-chitosan complex [0.75 mg of Ho(NO3)3 x 5H2O and 1 mg chitosan/ head] was administered intrahepatically to male rats. Radioactive concentrations in blood, urinary and fecal excretion and radioactive distribution in tissues were examined. To determine the effects of chitosan in 166Ho-chitosan complex, 166Ho alone [0.75 mg of Ho(NO3)3 x 5H2O/head] was intrahepatically administered to male rats, and radioactive concentrations in blood, urinary and fecal excretion and radioactive distribution were examined. In B16 melanoma-transplanted nude mice, radioactive distribution after intratumoral administration of 166Ho-chitosan complex [0.075 mg of Ho(NO3)3 x 5H2O and 0.10 mg chitosan/head] was investigated also.After administration of 166Ho-chitosan complex, the radioactive concentrations in blood were low, and cumulative urinary and fecal excretions over a period of 0-72 hr were 0.53% and 0.54%, respectively. The radioactive concentrations in tissues and the whole-body autoradiography images showed that most of the administered radioactivity was localized at the administration site, and only slight radioactivity was detected from the liver, spleen, lungs and bones. On the other hand, results of intrahepatic administration of 166Ho alone showed high radioactive concentrations in the blood, and the whole-body autoradiographs showed that the administered radioactivity was distributed in many organs and tissues. These results strongly suggest that 166Ho is retained at the administration site only when it forms a chelate complex with chitosan. Autoradiographs after intratumoral administration of 166Ho-chitosan complex showed that radioactivity was localized at the site of administration without distribution to the other organs and tissues.Administered 166Ho-chitosan complex is retained at the administration site after either intrahepatic or intratumoral administration to rats or tumor-transplanted nude mice.

This report describes an anomalous case of nonrotation of the midgut with two superior mesenteric arteries in a 74 year-old Japanese female cadaver at the anatomical laboratory of Kanazawa Medical University. The characteristics of this nonrotation case were as follows: all the small bowel shifted to the right side and all the large bowel to the left side of the abdomen; cecum and appendix vermiform were situated to the left lower abdomen; and ligament of Treiz was absent. There were three arteries originating from the abdominal aorta for blood supply of abdominal organs: 1) the celiacomesenteric trunk with the first superior mesenteric artery, 2) the second superior mesenteric artery, 3) the inferior mesenteric artery. This case had two superior mesenteric arteries. The first one arose from the celiacomesenteric trunk. The second one arose from the left wall of the abdominal aorta about 95.0 mm below the origin of the celiacomesenteric trunk and 23.0 mm above the origin of the inferior mesenteric artery. The first superior mesenteric artery with five branches supplied the inferior portion of the duodenum and the superior portion of the small bowel. The second superior mesenteric artery had five small intestinal arteries supplying the inferior portion of the small bowel, and five large intestinal arteries supplying the cecum, the ascending colon, the transverse colon and the superior portion of the descending colon. The authors believe that the existence of the two superior mesenteric arteries caused the malformation in the nonrotation of the intestinal tracts in this cadaver.

Marked hyperglycaemia (30.9 mmol l(-1)) during interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) therapy for asymptomatic recurrent renal cancer as multiple lung metastases in a 52-year-old man is described. Although the involvement of IFN-gamma has been reported in the development of autoimmune diabetes, in this case, antibodies against pancreatic beta-cells including anti-islet cell antibody (ICA) and anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibody were negative. Moreover, serum level of immunoreactive insulin (IRI) (11 microU ml(-1) at fasting) and urinary excretion of C-peptide (108 microg day(-1), reference range: 20-130) suggested insulin resistance, supported by results of insulin tolerance tests. With insulin therapy and cessation of IFN-gamma, fasting blood glucose concentration returned to 6.2 mmol l(-1), and insulin therapy was discontinued. The injection of IFN-gamma may cause hyperglycaemia because of insulin resistance, rather than beta-cell injury.

A micro pixel chamber (μ-PIC), the development of which started in 2000 as a type of a micro pattern gas detector, has a high gas gain greater than 6000 in stable operation, a large detection area of 900 cm2, and a fine position resolution of about 120 μm. However, for its development, simulation verification has not been very useful, because conventional simulations explain only part of the experimental data. On the other hand, some μ-PIC applications require precise understanding of the fluctuation of the gas avalanche and signal waveform for their improvement; therefore, there is a need to update the μ-PIC simulation. Hence, we adopted Garfield++, which is developed for simulating a microscopic avalanche in an effort to explain experimental data. The simulated avalanche size was well consistent with the experimental gas gain. Moreover, we calculated a signal waveform and successfully explained the pulse height and time-over-threshold. These results clearly indicate that the simulation of μ-PIC applications will improve and that Garfield++ simulation will easily facilitate the μ-PIC development.

The present report describes the dissection of an 81 year-old Japanese female cadaver in the Kanazawa Medical University in which the celiac trunk was not present, that is, the left gastric, the splenic and the common hepatic arteries arose independently from the abdominal aorta in that order. In this case, the left gastric artery arose from the front wall of the abdominal aorta at a level between the 11th intercostal posterior and subcostal arteries. The splenic artery arose from the left front wall of the abdominal aorta about 5.0 mm below the origin of the left gastric artery. The common hepatic artery arose from the right front wall of the abdominal aorta about 4.0 mm below the origin of the splenic artery. The superior mesenteric artery dividing from the front wall of the abdominal aorta about 9.0 mm below the origin of the common hepatic artery, ran about 17.0 mm to give off the right accessory hepatic artery upwards to the right. This case belongs to type V of Morita's classification (1935), but was not described in Adachi's classification (1928). There seems to be only six such cases reported so far in Japan.

The present report describes a case of congenital quadricuspid pulmonary valve, encountered during the dissection of an 84 year-old Japanese female cadaver at Kanazawa Medical University. In this case, no evidence of heart failure was found clinically or pathologically. The semilunar valve on the right posterior was the biggest and that of the left anterior was the smallest.

This report describes anomalous cases having the so-called gastro-lienal and the hepato-mesenteric trunks instead of the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries. These anomalous cases were divided into 4 types and 6 classes according to difference of running form of the hepatic artery as follows. Type I: This hepatic artery arose from an unusual hepato-mesenteric trunk off the aorta immediately inferior to the gastro-lienal trunk. This artery ascended behind the portal vein and splenic vein, passed around in front of the left side of the portal vein, and arrived in the liver. Type II: This hepatic artery arose from an unusual hepato-mesenteric trunk off the aorta immediately inferior to the gastro-lienal trunk. This hepatic artery ascended behind the portal vein, passed around front from the right side of the portal vein, and arrived in the liver. Type III: This hepatic artery arose from an unusual hepato-mesenteric trunk off the aorta immediately inferior to the gastrolienal trunk. This hepatic artery of III-P ascended between the portal vein and pancreas, III-A ascended in front of the pancreas. Type IV: This hepatic artery arose from an unusual hepato-mesenteric trunk off the aorta immediately inferior to the gastro-lienal trunk. This type of hepatic artery ascended behind the superior mesenteric vein, passed around in front from the right side of the portal vein, and arrived in the liver. This hepatic artery of IV-P ascended behind pancreas, IV-A ascended in front of the pancreas.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To elucidate the synaptic transmission in the neural system, we have been developing fundamental studies for intracellular signaling. For clinical application of carbon-11 labeled diacylglycerol (1-[1-11C]butyryl-2-palmitoyl-rac-glycerol: 11C-DAG) using positron emission computed tomography (PET), we evaluated the quality and the safety of 11C-DAG as the solution for injection. As a result, 11C-DAG was synthesized within 50 minutes, including the preparation step for injection. The half life time and energy spectrum of 11C-DAG were the same as the physical character of carbon-11, and other radioisotopes were not detected. In the quality control, 11C-DAG solution was negative in the examination of bacterial contamination and the pyrogen test in three successive synthesis procedures. In the acute toxicity test by administration of 11C-DAG and 100 mumol/kg of non-radioactive DAG to the rat intravenously, the systemic condition of the rat was not changed and no abnormalities were found in any organ 24 hours after administration. These findings indicated the safety of 11C-DAG solution. Clinical application of 11C-DAG using positron emission tomography may be useful to elucidate the dysfunction of intracellular signaling in disorders of higher cortical function such as Alzheimer disease.

We have developed an Electron-Tracking Compton Camera (ETCC) for use onboard a balloon to observe sub-MeV/MeV gamma rays from celestial objects. The ETCC is constructed with a three dimensional gaseous tracker for recoil electrons from Compton scattering, and GSO:Ce pixel scintillator arrays as absorber of the Compton-scattered gamma-ray. By using the ETCC, we can reconstruct the energy and direction of individual gamma rays. We have developed a prototype ETCC with a (30 cm)3 TPC, and tested its performance in the range of 356 - 835 keV in the laboratory. As the result, we succeeded in taking images of gamma ray sources and determined a detection efficiency of 9.0 × 10−6 and an effective area of 8.0 × 10−3 cm2 at 662 keV for the prototype ETCC. Furthermore, we developed a new power saving readout circuit for the scintillators that achieves the electric power consumption of 0.41 W/channel, an energy dynamic range of 81 - 1333 keV, and an energy resolution of 10.3% at full width at half maximum at 662 keV.

Carbon-11 labeled diacylglycerol (11C-DAG) has been developed as a signal transduction imaging agent for the CNS, and it can visualize the second messenger. For clinical application by positron CT (PET), the 11C-DAG solution must be prepared for intravenous injection. However, the 11C-DAG does not dissolve in water because of its lipophilicity and requires a solubilizer such as human serum albumin (HSA) and Tween 80 (TW-80). We examined the influence of these solubilizers on the tissue distribution of 11C-DAG, and estimated the radiation dosimetry. In the brain, uptake of 11C-DAG dissolved with HSA was 1.3-1.8 times higher than that of dissolved with TW-80. On the other hand, the lung and spleen showed a higher uptake of 11C-DAG using TW-80 than when using HSA. Especially, the lungs showed 20-40 times higher uptake than when using HSA. Also, the washout of radioactivity from tissue was slower, and the dose of radiation exposure was estimated to be higher, with TW-80 than with HSA. Therefore, between TW-80 and HSA with different solubilizing mechanisms, the later was suggested to be a better solubilizer of 11C-DAG.

To measure AC losses of dipole magnet by the calorimetric method, the magnets were cooled to 1.8 K with 120 liters of pressurized superfluid helium, using a 1.8 K cryostat. Heat dissipated in the magnet during a ramp cycle was measured by observing the temperature of the superfluid helium. AC losses were evaluated by the production of the heat capacity and temperature rise of helium. The 1.8 K cryostat consisted of a 4.2 K helium vessel, a 1.8 K pressurized superfluid helium vessel, and heat exchangers (1.8 K saturated helium pot and precooler). Liquid helium from the 4.2 K vessel, cooled to 2.5 K in the pre-cooler, expanded in the 1.8 K saturated helium pot. It cooled the magnet and pressurized superfluid helium to 1.8 K. Evaporated helium gas in the pot was evacuated by a pumping unit. The magnets were model dipole magnets fabricated at KEK for SSC dipole magnet R&D. The overall length is 1.3 m and inner aperture of the coil is 50 mm. Two types of magnet were made to study the AC properties: Type 1 with 6 μm NbTi filament cables and Type 2 with 2.5 μm filament cables. AC losses were measured in a ramp cycle from 500 to 5(X)0 A with 5 second duration at the flat top. Ramp rates were varied from 70 to 400 A/s. Results show that the Type 2 magnet had smaller AC loss than the Type 1.

Macrophages are activated by a two-step mechanism involving at least two kinds of factors, a priming and a triggering factor, to become cytotoxic to various tumor cells. In the present study, we purified macrophage-activating factor for cytotoxicity I (MAF-C I), defined as a priming macrophage activating factor (MAF), by about 1,600-fold from the culture supernatant of a human T cell hybridoma, H3-E9-6, by a series of chromatographic procedures. We identified MAF-C I activity released from H3-E9-6 cells as interleukin-2 (IL-2) from the following findings. (i) The physicochemical properties of MAF-C I and IL-2 were almost identical. (ii) Purified MAF-C I active fraction also showed T cell proliferating activity. (iii) MAF-C I activity in the purified fraction was completely neutralized by anti-IL-2 antibodies. (iv) Human recombinant IL-2 (rIL-2), at a suboptimal dose, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synergistically induced monocyte-mediated cytotoxicity.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF, also called TNF-alpha) and lymphotoxin (LT, TNF-beta) have 32% homology in their primary structures, and it has recently been clarified that they also have closely related tertially structures. These two related cytokines share various biological functions, such as cytotoxic effect, immunomodulating effect, etc. although they produce different effects on several lymphoid, endothelial, and other cellular targets. In this paper, the structures of the two cytokines and their receptor binding sites are described. Furthermore, the structures of the two types of TNF receptors, as well as their role in TNF mediated signal transduction, and possible second messengers responsible for TNF action are also discussed.

The fenestration of the vertebral and basilar arteries was investigated macroscopically in 370 human cases. Altogether 43 fenestrations were found in 32 (8.6%) out of 370 cases. The fenestrations could be divided in three groups according to the position where the fenestration appeared. Group I was the fenestration observed along the vertebral artery (Fig. 1), and 7 such fenestrations were found in 6 (1.6%) out of 370 cases; 3 fenestrations among them were located on the right side, 2 were located on the left side and 1 was found on the bilateral vertebral arteries. In 4 out of 7 fenestrations in this group, the hypoglossal nerve was found passing through the fenestration. Group II was the fenestration observed along the basilar artery (Fig. 2), and 26 fenestrations of this type were found in 20 (5.4%) out of 370 cases: 23 fenestrations (88.5%) were located at the caudal half, 3 (11.5%) were located on the rostral half of the basilar artery (Fig. 5). A close relation was indicated between the side on which the fenestration appeared in the basilar artery and the largeness in caliber of the vertebral artery of either side. Group III was the fenestration observed at the lateral area of the vertebral and basilar arteries (Fig. 3), and 10 fenestrations of this type were found in 9 (2.4%) out of 370 cases; all the fenestrations were located on the right side. In this group, the hypoglossal nerve was observed passing through the fenestratin in 4 out of the 10 fenestrations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)