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The goal of the ASACUSA (Atomic Spectroscopy And Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons) CUSP experiment at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator is to measure the ground state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen in order to test whether CPT invariance is broken. The ASACUSA hodoscope is a detector consisting of two layers of 32 plastic scintillator bars individually read out by two serially connected silicon photo multipliers (SiPMs) on each end. Two additional layers for position resolution along the beam axis were scintillator fibres, which will now be replaced by scintillating tiles placed onto the existing bars and also read out by SiPMs. If the antiproton of antihydrogen annihilates in the center of the hodoscope, particles (mostly pions) are produced and travel through the various layers of the detector and produce signals. The hodoscope was successfully used during the last data taking period at CERN. The necessary time resolution to discriminate between particles travelling through the detector from outside and particles produced in the center of the detector was achieved by the use of waveform digitisers and software constant fraction discrimination. The disadvantage of this readout scheme was the slow readout speed, which was improved by two orders of magnitude. This was done by omitting the digitisers and replacing them with TDCs reading out the digital time-over-threshold (ToT) signal using leading edge discrimination., Submitted to VCI2022 Proceedings in NIM A

We present a description of the GBAR positron (e+) trapping apparatus, which consists of a three stage Buffer Gas Trap (BGT) followed by a High Field Penning Trap (HFT), and discuss its performance. The overall goal of the GBAR experiment is to measure the acceleration of the neutral antihydrogen (H¯) atom in the terrestrial gravitational field by neutralising a positive antihydrogen ion (H¯+), which has been cooled to a low temperature, and observing the subsequent H¯ annihilation following free fall. To produce one H¯+ ion, about 1010 positrons, efficiently converted into positronium (Ps), together with about 107 antiprotons (p¯), are required. The positrons, produced from an electron linac-based system, are accumulated first in the BGT whereafter they are stacked in the ultra-high vacuum HFT, where we have been able to trap 1.4(2) × 109 positrons in 1100 s. We present a description of the GBAR positron (e+) trapping apparatus, which consists of a three stage Buffer Gas Trap (BGT) followed by a High Field Penning Trap (HFT), and discuss its performance. The overall goal of the GBAR experiment is to measure the acceleration of the neutral antihydrogen (H) atom in the terrestrial gravitational field by neutralising a positive antihydrogen ion (H+), which has been cooled to a low temperature, and observing the subsequent H annihilation following free fall. To produce one H+ ion, about 10^10 positrons, efficiently converted into positronium (Ps), together with about 10^7 antiprotons (p), are required. The positrons, produced from an electron linac-based system, are accumulated first in the BGT whereafter they are stacked in the ultra-high vacuum HFT, where we have been able to trap 1.4(2) x 10^9 positrons in 1100 seconds.

Magnetized nonneutral plasma composed of electrons or positrons couples to the local microwave environment via cyclotron radiation. The equilibrium plasma temperature depends on the microwave energy density near the cyclotron frequency. Fine copper meshes and cryogenic microwave absorbing material were used to lower the effective temperature of the radiation environment in ASACUSA's Cusp trap, resulting in significantly reduced plasma temperature.

International audience; The aim of the GBAR (Gravitational Behavior of Antimatter at Rest) experiment is to measure the free fall acceleration of an antihydrogen atom, in the terrestrial gravitational field at CERN and therefore test the Weak Equivalence Principle with antimatter. The aim is to measure the local gravity with a 1% uncertainty which can be reduced to few parts of 10-3.

Background Although Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) has the potential to cause Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), it is also found in the normal skin of healthy individuals. However, the mechanism for transformation of MCPyV to an oncogenic form is unknown. Objectives To investigate the levels of MCPyV infection in the normal skin patients with MCC compared with those in a control cohort. Study design We studied a total of six Japanese patients with cutaneous MCC. Sun-exposed and sun-unexposed skin swabs were obtained and analyzed for MCPyV loads using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results At first, we found a patient with MCC carrying an extremely high load of MCPyV DNA in normal skin. This unique case prompted us to further explore the levels of MCPyV as skin microbiota in patients with MCC. We showed that MCPyV DNA levels were significantly higher in swabs obtained from normal skin samples of six patients with MCC compared with those from 30 age-matched healthy individuals and 19 patients with other cutaneous cancers. Whereas MCPyV strains obtained from the normal skin of patients with MCC had gene sequences without structural alterations, sequences of the tumor-derived strains showed truncating mutations or deletions. Conclusions Although the number of patients with MCC studied was small, our findings suggest that MCC may occur with a background of high MCPyV load in the skin, and are expected to stimulate further studies on whether such skin virome levels could be one of predictive markers for the development of MCC.

Cast aluminium alloy has sometimes been utilised for various products after applying plastic working combining with heat treatment. The thermomechanical treatment will bring not only positive effects (workhardening and grain refinement) but also negative effects (damage on particles and increase of porosity) on the mechanical properties in the cast aluminium alloy. In this study, the relation between microstructures and fatigue properties has been investigated in hot forged and heat treated Al–Si–Mg casting alloys with different Si contents. An ex situ observation of fatigue crack propagation showed different crack behaviours depending on the microstructures arising from the different Si contents. The crack in the α phase propagated quickly in comparison with the crack located in the eutectic and grain boundaries in the Al–3·1Si–0·4Mg alloy. The crack propagation rate was not constant in the Al–7·7Si–0·4Mg alloy due to the agglomerated Si particles in the eutectic region.

The conventional method for rat islet isolation was improved by injection of collagenase solution (1.3 mg/ml) into the bile duct and the concomitant dissection of the inferior vena cava, static incubation of the removed distended pancreas for 15 min at 37 degrees C and filtration of the digested tissue through two different meshes of 1190 and 590 micron in pore size. This new technique led to about 2.5 times higher yield of viable islets than the conventional method.

The effect of the flow-forming process on the fatigue behavior of an Al-Si-Mg alloy was investigated using synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The fatigue life of the flow-formed-T6 specimen was found to be longer than that of the as-cast-T6 in all the selected stress amplitudes. The X-ray-scanned radiographs of a flow-formed-T6 specimen were reconstructed to allow three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of distribution of micropores and pore-crack interactions. Observations were performed on different tomographic slices to investigate the interaction between the micropores and the crack. Micropores have been associated with deflections of the crack path. Mode I and Mode II stress-intensity factors (SIFs) were calculated at each position along the fatigue-crack path using a micromechanics model. The SIF increased rapidly when the fatigue crack came close to a micropore. It was found that the average value of SIFs along entire crack paths was slightly higher than the remotely applied stress intensity, although the level of antishielding was pronounced in some local regions. Crystallographic texture is proposed to be the important factor for the observed higher fatigue resistance in flow-formed-T6 material.

We here present a rare case of intravascular lymphoma (IVL) in a Japanese man. 4 months after cholecystectomy due to cholecystitis, a diagnosis of intravascular lymphoma (IVL) was strongly suspected. Lymphoma cells were diffusely observed in the bone marrow parenchyma, but were absent in the vascular spaces. The patient died of respiratory failure and at autopsy a small number of lymphoma cells in the extravascular parenchyma of the adrenal gland and bone marrow were seen. Serial sections of the surgically resected gallbladder retrospectively confirmed the diagnosis of IVL. In addition, congestion and edema were observed in the connective tissue layer. It is possible that edema or ischemia in the gallbladder wall or at other anatomic sites due to the circulation disturbance induced by the intravascular obstruction of lymphoma cells may have caused the initial symptoms. In conclusion, clinicians and pathologists should keep in mind that the gallbladder may be initially involved in IVL.

Lung adenocarcinoma with a micropapillary pattern has recently been described, but its biological behavior is as yet uncertain. In this article we present a clinicopathological study of lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary morphology. We selected 25 patients with lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary morphology from the 2001-2004 pathology files (age range 54 to 81 years; mean 64.5 years). Micropapillary carcinoma is predominantly located at the periphery of the tumor nodule or mass and occurs irrespective of the subtype of the adenocarcinoma. A micropapillary component was seen against a mucinous background in three cases and microcalcifications resembling psammoma bodies were seen in one case. Four cases showed intensive invasive growth such as micropapillary adenocarcinoma of the breast and 21 showed alveolar type morphology with piling-up of the neoplastic cells with or without stromal invasion. Seven of twenty-three (30.4%) showed lymph node metastases at time of operation. Twelve of twenty-five (48%) showed pleural invasion. Regarding clinical outcome, 14 patients were alive without disease, 5 were alive with disease, and 5 died of the lung adenocarcinoma. No significant relationship was found between the extent of the micropapillary component and prognosis. However, the carcinoma seen in the five patients who died showed breast type histology with intensive invasive growth in three cases and alveolar type histology with intensive stromal invasion in two. Lung micropapillary carcinoma of breast type may behave more aggressively than the alveolar type.

We here report a very rare case of female urethral adenocarcinoma. A 77-year-old woman presented with urinary retention. Cystoscopy showed a urethral tumor and the biopsy material showed adenocarcinoma. Macroscopically, the tumor measuring 3.0 x 3.0 x 2.4 cm was predominantly observed around the periurethral area on the proximal side. Histologically, patterns of columnar/mucinous adenocarcinoma, clear cell adenocarcinoma and papillary/micropapillary carcinoma were observed, but there was no evidence of a cribriform pattern. Immunohistochemically, neoplastic cells of at least one of three components were positive for CK7 and CK20 or CA125. We suggest that female urethral adenocarcinoma with a histologically and immunohistochemically heterogeneous phenotype may originate from cells within urethral or paraurethral tissue, such as urethritis glandularis or intestinal metaplastic epithelium and Mullerian tissue.

Synchrotron X-ray microtomography has been used for the three-dimensional characterization of microstructure in the cell walls of aluminum foams. A combination of high-resolution phase contrast imaging technique and several application techniques has enabled the quantitative image analyses of microstructures as well as the assessment of their effects on deformation behaviors. The application techniques include local area tomography, microstructural gauging and in-situ observation using a specially designed material test rig. It has been clarified that ductile buckling of a cell wall occurs regardless of any of the microstructural factors in the case of a pure aluminum foam, while rather brittle fracture of a cell wall is induced by the existence of coarse micropores and their distribution independently of the intermetallic particles and the grain boundary in the case of aluminum foams alloyed with Zn and Mg. It has also been confirmed that coarse TiH2 particles, which are a residual foaming agent added to alloy melts, remain intact during the deformation. When cooling rate during foaming is high, however, lower energy absorption might be attributable to the significant amount of residual TiH2 particle and its inhomogeneous distribution. These tendencies are also confirmed by three-dimensional strain mapping by tracking internal microstructural features.

Gastric carcinosarcoma with neuroendocrine differentiation is a very rare neoplasm. In this article we present such a case. The gastroendoscopic examination of a 59-year-old Japanese man disclosed gastric cancer during follow-up after operation for rectal cancer. Subsequently, total gastrectomy was carried out because of gastric cancer. A large tumor measuring 9.2 x 8.4 cm was observed in the posterior wall of the upper portion of the stomach. The tumor was composed of carcinoma and sarcomatous cells, and the histological transition of both components was observed. Immunohistochemically, carcinoma and sarcomatous cells were positive for cytokeratin CAM5.2. The carcinoma contained adenocarcinoma and malignant cells with neuroendocrine differentiation. The sarcomatous component showed leiomyosarcomatous and myofibroblastic differentiation. The present tumor is the fifth case of gastric carcinosarcoma with neuroendocrine differentiation and the first case of gastric carcinosarcoma with myofibroblastic differentiation. Pathologists should bear in mind that gastric carcinosarcoma may show various types of differentiation.

Magnetic field effects on the photoelectrochemical reactions of photosensitive electrodes modified with C60 nanoclusters were examined, intended for the development of nanodevices where photofunctions were controllable with magnetic field. Mixed clusters of a C60 derivative (C60N+) containing a positive charge and methylphenothiazine (MePH) were prepared by dissolving them in the THF–H2O mixed solvent. Diameters of the clusters were estimated to be ca. 100 nm from dynamic light scattering and AFM measurements. Photofunctional electrodes with the nanoclusters of C60N+ and MePH were fabricated on the electrodes modified with a self-assembled monolayer of HS(CH2)2SO3−Na+ on a gold substrate. The photocurrent action spectrum of the cluster-modified electrode strongly indicates that the photocurrents are ascribed to the photoexcitation of the nanoclusters of C60N+. Furthermore, the photocurrents increased with increasing an external magnetic field, typically 3% at 0.5 T. The profile of magnetic field dependence on the photocurrents is in good agreement with the results on the dynamics of radical pair in the nanoclusters of C60N+ and MePH in the THF–H2O mixed solvent. This is suggested that the magnetic field effects are ascribable to the contribution of triplet radical pair that are generated by photoinduced intermolecular electron-transfer from MePH to triplet excited state of nanocluster of C60N+, and are explained in terms of spin-lattice relaxation mechanism in radical pair mechanism.

Various immunohistochemical studies using cocktail antibodies to elucidate atypical glands in prostatic biopsy specimens have been previously tried. However, there is scanty information on combined cocktail antibodies and other basal cell markers. We investigated the utility of an immunohistochemical panel of AMACR/p63, cytokeratin 5(CK5) and D2-40 for atypical glands in twenty lesions of fourteen patients obtained from prostatic needle biopsy specimens. The final diagnosis of all lesions, including 13 adenocarcinoma demonstrating AMACR+/basal cell(p63, CK5 and D2-40)- pattern, 5 benign lesions noting AMACR-/basal cell+ pattern, and 2 high grade PIN with AMACR+/basal cell+ pattern, were resolved. The immunohistochemical panel of AMACR(P504S)/ p63 cocktail, CK5 and D2-40 is useful in deciding the final diagnosis for atypical gland foci in the prostatic needle biopsy specimens and is helpful in the reduction of opportunity of further followup or re-biopsy.

A 16 Mb embedded DRAM macro in a fully CMOS logic compatible 90 nm process with a low noise core architecture and a high-accuracy post-fabrication tuning scheme has been developed. Based on the proposed techniques, 61% improvement of the sensing accuracy is realized. Even with the smallest 5 fF/cell capacitance, a 322 MHz random-cycle access while 32 ms data retention time which contributes to save the data retention power down to 60 /spl mu/W are achieved.

This paper describes a standard CMOS process based on embedded DRAM macro with dual-port interleaved DRAM architecture (D/sup 2/RAM), which is suitable for the leading edge CMOS LSIs with both high-speed and large-scale memories on a chip. This macro exploits three key technologies: fully sense-signal-loss compensating technology based on the whole detailed noise element breakdowns, the novel striped trench capacitor (STC) cell, and the write-before-sensing (WBS) circuit by decoded write-bus. A 400-MHz random cycle access has been verified for D/sup 2/RAM fabricated by a 0.15-/spl mu/m standard CMOS process.

Regrettably, a criticality accident occurred at a uranium conversion facility in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan, on 30 September 1999. Radioactivities of 32 P in urine, blood and bone samples of the victims, who were severely exposed to neutrons, were measured. 32 P was induced in their whole bodies at the moment of the first nuclear release by the reaction 31 P (n,γ) 32 P and 32 S (n, p) 32 P. A realistic biokinetic model was assumed, as the exchange of 32 P between the extracellular fluid compartment and the soft tissue compartment occurs only through the intracellular compartment, and the model was used for preliminary calculations. Some acute excretion of 32 P. caused by decomposition or elution of tissues which occurred at the time of the accident, may have happened in the victims' bodies in the first few days. The working hypotheses in the present work should initiate renewed discussion of 32 P biokineties.

The transfer of 14 C through placenta or milk was investigated and the radiation dose to fetal and newborn rats was estimated. Female rats at different gestationat stages or after delivery were exposed to 14 C in the form of sodium bicarbonate, thymidine and lysine by a single ingestion. Radioactivity in maternal tissues and conceptuses (placenta, fetal membrane and fetus) and in the newborn was determined at various times after ingestion. After exposure to these 14 C compounds, there was no significant difference between the 14 C concentration in the fetus and that in the maternal tissues, suggesting that the placenta has no effect in preventing or accelerating the placental transfer of 14 C. The concentration and content of 14 C in the fetus and newborn were, however, dependent on the chemical form of 14 C and on the prenatal or neonatal stage at the time of ingestion. The result of the dose estimation showed that 14 C-lysine gave significantly higher prenatal and neonatal doses than 14 C-sodium bicarhonate or 14 C-thymidine.

A comparison between two different irradiation effects was accomplished on bulk YBCO samples synthesized with the quenched and melt growth method (QMG-YBCO) to investigate strong pinning properties. High-energy proton-irradiation introduces small defects comparable to unit cell size into the sample, and they act as effective pinning centers for all temperature range in low field around 1 T. No enhancement, however, can be seen in higher field range. The defects introduced with the irradiation reinforce the pinning properties of preexisting pinning centers randomly distributing in the sample. Column-like defects with 3.5 GeV Xe-irradiation were introduced but the pinning properties show no significant enhancement except higher temperature region. This indicates that pre-existing pinning centers are strong enough than the columnar defects. In higher field region, the contribution of columnar defects for pinning becomes relatively large. For both irradiation cases, almost pinning properties are determined by the pre-existing pinning centers.

Recent multimedia applications and personal computers require enhanced memory systems. 3D-graphics and networking require faster random cycle and lower latency megabit-scale RAMs. However, the random cycle time of conventional DRAM is too slow and embedded SRAM area is too large to integrate high-density RAM on a chip. The fast random cycle low-latency embedded RAM macro reported here uses a dual-port interleaved DRAM architecture (D/sup 2/RAM). D/sup 2/RAM reduces random cycle time from 50 ns (20 MHz) of conventional DRAM to 8 ns (125 MHz) on a test chip with a 0.25 /spl mu/m embedded DRAM process. Key technologies are (1) interleaved open bitline operation with dual-port memory cell architecture, (2) two-stage pipelined circuit operation and (3) write before sensing (WBS).

The interactions between energetic particles and iron target have been studied. Polycrystalline iron thin films were irradiated at ∼77 K with ∼1 MeV ions, ∼100 MeV heavy ions and GeV heavy ions. Defect accumulation behavior during irradiation was observed by measuring the increment in electrical resistivity of the specimen as a function of ion fluence. The defect annihilation cross-section for each irradiation was derived from the defect accumulation behavior. After irradiation, the defect recovery spectrum for each irradiation was obtained by raising the specimen temperature up to ∼300 K at a constant heating rate (∼2 K/min). Focussing on the radiation annealing, i.e. annihilation of defects during irradiation, the effects of electronic excitation in iron are discussed.

Polyethylene glycol-plasticized films were cast from alkaline (pH 11.25), heated (45 °C for 20 min), aqueous egg white (EW) solutions, with or without (10% or 20% w/w of EW) milkfat (two fractions), oleic acid, or egg yolk lysophospho-lipid (LPL). The lipids did not reduce (P > 0.05) film water vapor permeability. Oleic acid increased (P < 0.05) tensile strength and elongation, and surface sulfhydryl group (SH) concentrations in EW solutions. Oleic acid probably increased negative charges on EW proteins, unfolding protein chains, and exposing SH groups. LPL also slightly increased (P < 0.05) surface SH concentrations in non-heated mixtures. Electrophoretic patterns suggested oleic acid interactions with ovalbumin, ovotransferrin, and lysozyme. No lysinoalanine was in film-forming mixtures based on lysine measurements.

Vortex dynamics is studied in La-substituted Bi 2 Sr 2 CuO 6+ δ (Bi-2201) and Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ δ (Bi-2212) single crystals irradiated with 3.8 GeV 181 Ta 37+ ions through the relation between the frequency and the loss peak temperature in the temperature dependence of the imaginary part of AC magnetic susceptibility χ ″. In unirradiated Bi-2201 and Bi-2212, the behavior of thermally activated flux flow or creep is observed. The Bose-glass behavior is observed at fields below the matching field B Φ in irradiated Bi-2212. On the other hand, the Bose-glass behavior is not observed in irradiated Bi-2201. This difference is due to the extremely weak coupling between pancake vortices along the c -axis in Bi-2201 even under the presence of columnar defects. The vortices in Bi-2201 irradiated with heavy ions are almost decoupled, resulting in the occurrence of thermally activated vortex creep.

This paper treats error spectrum shaping for two-dimensional recursive digital filters, described by a rational transfer function as well as the Roesser local state-space model. For each description of the filter, a technique is developed for obtaining the optimal error-feedback (EF) coefficients that minimize the noise variance at the filter output. The optimal solution can be characterized in a closed form which minimizes a quadratic form subject to constraints such as symmetry, antisymmetry, quadrantal symmetry, or quadrantal antisymmetry of the EF coefficients. In an unconstrained case, the optimal EF corresponds to a special case of the above optimal solution. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the utility of the proposed technique. In the numerical examples, the discrete sub-optimal coefficients of the EF are obtained by applying an existing procedure for the least-squares discrete-space optimization.

Vortex dynamics is investigated in Bi2+xSr2−(x+y)LayCuO6+δ (Bi-2201) and Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy (Bi-2212) irradiated with 3.5 GeV 136Xe31+ ions through the relation between the frequency and the loss peak temperature in ac susceptibility in order to seek the Bose-glass transition. The Bose-glass behavior is observed at fields below about half of matching filed, BΦ/2 in irradiated Bi-2212. On the contrary to irradiated Bi-2212, the Bose-glass behavior is not observed in irradiated Bi-2201. This is due to the extremely weak coupling of pancake vortices along the c axis in Bi-2201 in spite of the presence of columnar defects. The pancake vortices in Bi-2201 irradiated with heavy-ions are almost decoupled, resulting in the occurrence of thermally activated flux flow or creep.

Ultrathin ZnSe quantum structures embedded in ZnS are investigated in a wide range of atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) growth conditions. The optical properties of the grown ZnSe/ZnS quantum structures are studied by photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE), and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. A sharp PL emission is observed at around 3.05 eV, which reveals exciton localization tentatively associated with quasi-0D ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) formed on a wetting layer of 1 monolayer (ML) ZnSe.

A technique for minimizing the normalized noise variance at the output of two-dimensional (2-D) recursive digital filters is developed where error spectrum shaping of the filter is performed by means of higher-order feed-back. First, the optimal solution of error feedback coefficients is derived. Then suboptimal error feedback coefficients are found in which the error feedback coefficients are symmetric. Here, both the optimal and suboptimal solutions are found analytically by solving the minimization problem of a quadratic form. Finally, a numerical example is given to check the validity of the proposed algorithm and it is shown that the proposed technique is effective even if the optimal or suboptimal coefficients are rounded to a power of 2.

8-Amino-5-chloro-7-phenylpyrido[3,4-d]pyridazine-1,4(2H,3H)dione (L-012) was recently synthesized as a new chemiluminescence (CL) probe; the light intensity and the sensitivity of L-012 are higher than those of other CL probes such as luminol. Previously, our group developed four lophine-based CL enhancers of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-catalyzed CL oxidation of luminol, namely 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-diphenylimidazole (HDI), 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-di(2-pyridyl)imidazole (HPI), 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)phenylboronic acid (DPA), and 4-[4,5-di(2-pyridyl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl]phenylboronic acid (DPPA), and showed that DPPA was suitable for the photographic detection of HRP. In this study, we replaced luminol with L-012 and evaluated these as L-012-dependent CL enhancers. In addition, to detect HRP and/or H2O2 with higher sensitivity, each detection condition for the L-012-HRP-H2O2 enhanced CL was optimized. All the derivatives enhanced the L-012-dependent CL as well as luminol CL; HPI generated the highest enhanced luminescence. Under optimized conditions for HRP detection, the detection limit of HRP was 0.08 fmol. By contrast, the detection limit of HRP with the enhanced L-012-dependent CL using 4-iodophenol, which is a common enhancer of luminol CL, was 1.1 fmol. With regard to H2O2 detection, the detection limits for enhanced CL with HPI and 4-iodophenol were 0.29 and 1.5 pmol, respectively. Therefore, it is demonstrated that HPI is the most superior L-012-dependent CL enhancer.

To assess whether the morphology of urine erythrocytes can be an effective tool for distinguishing glomerular disease from lower urinary tract disease in SurePath™ liquid-based cytology (SP-LBC).We examined four morphological parameters of erythrocytes: (1) irregular erythrocytes (of all types including fragmented forms) comprising greater than or equal to 20% of erythrocytes; (2) uniform erythrocytes (80%); (3) doughnut or target-like shaped (D/T) erythrocytes (≥1%); and (4) acanthocytes (≥1%) in glomerular disease (n = 32) and lower urinary tract disease (n = 20) with SP-LBC slides in cases that had also been assessed by fresh urine sediment examination.Sensitivity of D/T erythrocytes and acanthocytes (dysmorphic erythrocytes) for glomerular disease were 100% and 87.5%, respectively, with urine sediment examination, and 81.3% and 46.9%, respectively, in SP-LBC slides. Specificity was 100% for D/T erythrocytes and acanthocytes using either procedure. While irregular erythrocytes were specific for glomerular disease using urine sediment examination, they were seen in 70% of those with lower urinary tract disease using SP-LBC slides as a result of the deformation of erythrocytes by the fixative.Although the sensitivity of D/T erythrocytes and acanthocytes for glomerular disease was lower in SP-LBC slides than fresh urine sediment examination, their specificity was equally high. Therefore, urine erythrocyte morphology is useful in the detection of glomerular disease with the SP-LBC slides. However, morphological features apart from D/T erythrocytes and acanthocytes are not useful in SP-LBC slides.

An advanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system has been developed for rapid formation of a superconducting oxide tape on long metal substrates. In this system, a mixed fine powder of source materials was slowly fed to a vaporizer with a carrier gas by a fine powder feeder, and the source gas from the vaporizer was continuously introduced to the reactor with oxygen gas. This system has a long substrate conveying equipment. By this system, using Hastelloy C-276 tapes with YSZ buffer as substrates, 1 meter long superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) tapes could be obtained. These tapes had a critical temperature (Tc) with zero resistivity above 77.3 K and the best part of the tape had a Tc at 84 K and a critical current density (Jc) of 330 A/cm2 (77.3 K, 0 T).

Nine peptides derived from the transmembrane domain of band 3 were purified and sequenced. All of the sequences agreed completely with deduced sequences from cDNA of human erythroid band 3. Five peptides, KS-1 to KS-5, were released from the band 3 molecule when alkali-stripped membranes were digested with trypsin, while four other peptides, KM-6 to KM-9, were obtained following subsequent urea treatment. This indicates that at least 13 new in situ cleavage sites were demonstrable by these procedures, that the released peptides are parts of hydrophilic connector loops, and that the other peptide portions constitute membrane-spanning helices. The topological designations are consistent with the hydropathy prediction of murine band 3 according to Passow ((1986) Rev. Physiol. Biochem. Pharmacol. 103, 61-203). One mol of histidine residue was found/mole of KS-1, KS-2, KS-4, and KM-6. The conformation of band 3 in situ was apparently changed by alkali treatment of erythrocyte membranes, i.e. the amount of KS-1, KS-2, and KS-4 peptides released by trypsin treatment increased as NaOH concentration was raised from 10 to 100 mM. Similarly, [3H]dihydro-4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid was found to bind to band 3 in membranes treated with 10 mM NaOH as well as to band 3 in white ghosts, but not to membranes treated with 100 mM NaOH. In addition, alkali treatment of membranes tended to increase the amount of band 3 cross-linked by 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS). The conformational change in band 3 by alkali treatment was also supported by the interaction of antibodies against peptides released by trypsin. The release of KS-1, KS-2, and KS-4 from the membrane was strongly inhibited by pretreating the erythrocyte membrane with DIDS, suggesting that the DIDS-band 3 complex which is in the outward facing form, is more compact and becomes resistant to trypsin compared to band 3 without DIDS.

Inheritance studies were conducted to determine the genetic basis of adult-plant resistance in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) to Phytophthora capsici. F1, backcrosses and F2 populations were developed using the resistant parent Criollo de Morellos 334 and susceptible parents Agronomico 10-G and Yolo Wonder. Pepper plants, at 36 days post-emergence, were inoculated near the base of the stem with an inoculum suspension of 5×104 zoospores/ml. Segregation ratios in the F2 generation of 13 resistant to 3 susceptible plants fit a 2-gene model for resistance with dominant and recessive epistasis.

We report here the radial compression of a large number of antiprotons under ultrahigh vacuum conditions by applying a rotating electric field. The radial compression is a key technique for production of ultraslow antiproton beam extracting from an electromagnetic traps. Such beam will be applicable to synthesizing antiprotonic atoms and antihydrogen atoms.

In this study, we identified a region in the human parvovirus structural protein which involves the neutralization of the virus by a monoclonal antibody and site-specific synthetic peptides. A newly established monoclonal antibody reacted with both viral capsid proteins VP1 and VP2. The epitope was found in six strains of independently isolated human parvovirus B19. The monoclonal antibody could protect colony-forming unit erythroid in human bone marrow cell culture from injury by the virus. The monoclonal antibody reacted with only 1 of 12 peptides that were synthesized according to a predicted amino acid sequence based on nucleotide sequences of the coding region for the structural protein of B19 virus. The sequence recognized by the antibody was a site corresponding to amino acids 328 to 344 from the amino-terminal portion of VP2. This evidence suggests that the epitope of the viral capsid protein is located on the surface of the virus and may be recognized by virus-neutralizing antibodies.