Search

Typhoon Hagibis struck Japan on October 12–13, 2019. There was substantial damage over a wide area including the Tohoku region. In particular, Marumori Town, an urban area in Miyagi Prefecture that includes a town hall, was flooded due to heavy rain. The maximum cumulative rainfall and hourly rainfall measured in the town were over 600 and 70 mm, respectively. Heavy rain caused river flooding and landslides throughout the town, resulting in 10 deaths and one missing person. There was also substantial damage to the infrastructure, such as roads, railways, and river levees. The authors performed a field survey immediately after the disaster, and analyzed the observed data. Most levee breaches occurred due to overflow. A breached levee that failed in an unusual direction, namely, a failure which took place from the landside toward the waterside, was also observed. Landslides were not only caused by the amount of rainfall, but also by geological and topographical factors. Roads and railways were damaged by both river flooding and landslides. While both river flooding and landslides occurred in the Usudaira community, which is in the middle reaches of the Gofukuya River, there were no deaths or missing persons. This should be an important case for future disaster mitigation.

The Kansai BNCT Medical Center has a cyclotron based epithermal neutron source for clinical Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. The system accelerates a proton to an energy of 30 MeV which strikes a beryllium target producing fast neutrons which are moderated down to epithermal neutrons for BNCT use. While clinical studies in the past have shown BNCT to be highly effective for malignant melanoma of the skin, to apply BNCT for superficial lesions using this system it is necessary to shift the thermal neutron distribution so that the maximum dose occurs near the surface. A dose distribution shifter was designed to fit inside the collimator to further moderate the neutrons to increase the surface dose and reduce the dose to the underlying normal tissue. Pure polyethylene was selected, and a Monte Carlo simulation was performed to determine the optimum thickness of the polyethylene slab. Compared with the original neutron beam, the shifter increased the thermal neutron flux at the skin by approximately 4 times. The measured and simulated central axis depth distribution and off axis distribution of the thermal neutron flux were found to be in good agreement. Compared with a 2 cm thick water equivalent bolus, a 26% increase in the thermal neutron flux at the surface was obtained, which would reduce the treatment time by approximately 29%. The DDS is a safe, simple and an effective tool for the treatment of superficial tumours for BNCT if an initially fast neutron beam requires moderation to maximise the thermal neutron flux at the tissue surface.

Emotion regulation processes, such as mindfulness, self-compassion, and acceptance, have been discussed as modifiable psychological factors related to middle-aged women's psychological distress and adjustment. Although these emotion regulation factors have been discussed separately, the question remains of which factors reflect the most variance in middle-aged women's health. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the most relevant explanatory variable for middle-aged women's health: mindfulness, self-compassion, or acceptance.A total of 200 middle-aged women completed self-reported measures of depressive symptoms, menopausal symptoms, physical quality of life, mental quality of life, and well-being.Correlation analysis showed that mindfulness, self-compassion, and acceptance were significantly associated with all variables of psychological distress and adjustment. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that acceptance significantly explained the most variance of depressive symptoms, menopausal symptoms, and mental quality of life. On the other hand, self-compassion significantly explained the greatest variance in well-being.These findings suggest that, for middle-aged women, 'acceptance' is an important explanatory variable of psychological distress and 'self-compassion' is an important variable of psychological adjustment.

Completion lymph node dissection (CLND) has long been the standard treatment for stage III melanomas identified as metastasis on the sentinel node (SN-positive). Two major changes occurred in 2017 and 2018, the change in the CLND criteria for SN-positive patients and the approval of several adjuvant therapies could revolutionize such management approach. However, their effects have not been fully investigated on the real-world outcomes of stage III melanoma patients. Therefore, we investigated the impact of these changes on the prognosis of Japanese stage III melanoma patients. Totally, 119 stage III, SN-positive melanoma patients were included. They were categorized into those diagnosed as SN-positive between January 2015 and June 2017 (pre-June 2017 group) and between July 2017 and December 2019 (post-July 2017 group). Recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival, and prognostic factors were analyzed. The frequency of patients who received CLND was significantly higher in the pre-June 2017 group (p = 0.001), and those who received adjuvant therapy were significantly higher in the post-July 2017 group (p

Acral melanoma (AM) is an epidemiologically and molecularly distinct entity that is underrepresented in clinical trials on immunotherapy in melanoma. We aimed to analyze the efficacy of anti-programmed cell death 1 (anti-PD-1) antibodies in advanced AM.We retrospectively evaluated unresectable stage III or stage IV AM patients treated with an anti-PD-1 antibody in any line at 21 Japanese institutions between 2014 and 2018. The clinicobiologic characteristics, objective response rate (ORR, RECIST), survival estimated using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and toxicity (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 4.0.) were analyzed to estimate the efficacy of the anti-PD-1 antibodies.In total, 193 patients (nail apparatus, 70; palm and sole, 123) were included in the study. Anti-PD-1 antibody was used as first-line therapy in 143 patients (74.1%). Baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was within the normal concentration in 102 patients (52.8%). The ORR of all patients was 16.6% (complete response, 3.1%; partial response, 13.5%), and the median overall survival (OS) was 18.1 months. Normal LDH concentrations showed a significantly stronger association with better OS than abnormal concentrations (median OS 24.9 versus 10.7 months; P0.001). Although baseline characteristics were similar between the nail apparatus and the palm and sole groups, ORR was significantly lower in the nail apparatus group [6/70 patients (8.6%) versus 26/123 patients (21.1%); P = 0.026]. Moreover, the median OS in this group was significantly poorer (12.8 versus 22.3 months; P = 0.03).Anti-PD-1 antibodies have limited efficacy in AM patients. Notably, patients with nail apparatus melanoma had poorer response and survival, making nail apparatus melanoma a strong candidate for further research on the efficacy of novel combination therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Background Anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody monotherapy (PD1) has led to favorable responses in advanced non-acral cutaneous melanoma among Caucasian populations; however, recent studies suggest that this therapy has limited efficacy in mucosal melanoma (MCM). Thus, advanced MCM patients are candidates for PD1 plus anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) combination therapy (PD1 + CTLA4). Data on the efficacy of immunotherapy in MCM, however, are limited. We aimed to compare the efficacies of PD1 and PD1 + CTLA4 in Japanese advanced MCM patients. Patients and methods We retrospectively assessed advanced MCM patients treated with PD1 or PD1 + CTLA4 at 24 Japanese institutions. Patient baseline characteristics, clinical responses (RECIST), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were estimated using Kaplan–Meier analysis, and toxicity was assessed to estimate the efficacy and safety of PD1 and PD1 + CTLA4. Results Altogether, 329 patients with advanced MCM were included in this study. PD1 and PD1 + CTLA4 were used in 263 and 66 patients, respectively. Baseline characteristics were similar between both treatment groups, except for age (median age 71 versus 65 years; P < 0.001). No significant differences were observed between the PD1 and PD1 + CTLA4 groups with respect to objective response rate (26% versus 29%; P = 0.26) or PFS and OS (median PFS 5.9 months versus 6.8 months; P = 0.55, median OS 20.4 months versus 20.1 months; P = 0.55). Cox multivariate survival analysis revealed that PD1 + CTLA4 did not prolong PFS and OS (PFS: hazard ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.58-1.19, P = 0.30; OS: HR 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.57-1.38, P = 0.59). The rate of ≥grade 3 immune-related adverse events was higher in the PD1 + CTLA4 group than in the PD1 group (53% versus 17%; P < 0.001). Conclusions First-line PD1 + CTLA4 demonstrated comparable clinical efficacy to PD1 in Japanese MCM patients, but with a higher rate of immune-related adverse events., Highlights • Anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4 antibody therapy (PD1 + CTLA4) is an option for patients with advanced mucosal melanoma (MCM). • Data on the efficacy of PD1 + CTLA4 compared with PD-1 monotherapy (PD1) for MCM, however, are limited. • We retrospectively analyzed data from 329 Japanese patients with advanced MCM treated with PD1 or PD1 + CTLA4. • No significant differences in objective response rate, progression-free survival, or overall survival were observed. • Immune-related adverse events resulting in treatment cessation were higher in the PD1 + CTLA4 group.

Complete excision of the primary lesion has long been considered the standard treatment for extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD). However, the presence of lymph node metastases has been reported as an important prognostic factor. We evaluated the association between lymph node metastasis and prognosis for EMPD using sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. This retrospective study included 59 patients with histopathologically-confirmed primary EMPD. A total of 45 patients with microinvasion to the papillary dermis and deep invasion into the reticular dermis or subcutaneous tissue were included in the analysis. The survival curves of the SLN-negative group and the SLN-positive group were compared and we examined the risk factors for SLN positivity. A total of 139 SLNs were excised from one (28 patients) or both inguinal regions (31 patients). The average number of detected SLNs was 2.4. The incidence of SLN metastases was 16.9%. SLN positivity rates according to level of invasion were 0% for intraepithelial lesions, 4.1% for microinvasion, and 42.8% for dermal invasion. The five-year survival rates were 100% in the SLN-negative and 24% in the SLN-positive groups (p = 0.0001). Reticular dermis or subcutaneous tissue invasion was a significant independent risk factor for SLN positivity according to multivariate analysis. The result of SLN biopsy affected prognosis. It is extremely important to accurately ascertain the presence, i.e. the number, or absence of regional lymph node metastases in patients with EMPD. We conclude that SLN biopsy may be appropriate for cases where invasion is suspected.

3637 Background: At ESMO2019, we reported the primary results of a randomized controlled trial (FAEISS study) investigating the efficacy of topical corticosteroid treatment to facial acneiform rash (AR) by EGFR inhibitors comparing groups starting with a very strong topical corticosteroid and the standard weak topical corticosteroid. As an ancillary analysis, we investigated the association between AR and the pre-treatment skin types, as well as between the skin types and therapeutic effects of EGFR inhibitors on the primary disease. Methods: Utilizing pre-treatment clinical photos of the face taken according to the method determined by FAEISS study protocol, we divided the skin types into categories including enlarged pore, oiliness, xerosis, wrinkles, skin color/redness, and allocated the score (1-3) by central review. The severity of AR occurred during the study was graded and was evaluated the association with the specific skin type by Fisher’s exact test. We also investigated the association between the skin types and the best overall response (RECISTv1.1) to EGFR inhibitor therapy on the primary disease using the Cochran-Armitage trend test. Results: Of the registered 172 cases of RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer [104 men and 68 women, median age = 68 (26-79)], omitting the cases with unevaluable data, finally we analyzed 146 cases for associations between the skin types and AR and 147 cases for best overall response. Interestingly, AR developed 13.6% of enlarged pore score 1, 29% of score 2 and 45.8% of score 3, and patients with enlarged pore tended to have more AR (p = 0.058). Surprisingly, the response(CR/PR/SD) of the primary disease were 59.1% of the enlarged pore score 1, 70.6% of score 2 and 87.0% of score 3, and showed statistically significant trend(p < 0.038). Conclusions: This study suggested that a skin type (enlarged pore) is a possible marker predicting AR risk in EGFR inhibitor therapy for RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer, and better therapeutic effects of EGFR inhibitors.

Using a controlled association test, Japanese expressions describing texture were collected in response to 97 food stimulus words. Results were compared with those obtained by Szczesniak in the United States. Frequencies of response were well balanced for some but not for all words with opposite meanings. There were many onomatopoeic words. The median frequency of mention per subject per food was about 3.5 texture words. This became about 7 when words which were mentioned only once were omitted. In the descending order of frequency, the most important words were: hard, soft, juicy, chewy, greasy, viscous, slippery, creamy, crisp (kori-kori), crunchy (kari-kari), and brittle.

A correlation matrix was computed from the rating score matrix of texture profiles of 79 foods. Multivariate analysis yielded eight orthogonal factors. The most important dimensions were: hard ↔ soft, cold ↔ warm, oily ↔ juicy, elastic ↔ flaky, heavy, viscous, smooth.

Aims: Excess manure accumulated in livestock areas has been a concern in Japan where a great amount of nutrients such as nitrogen (N) has been imported from abroad contained in various agricultural commodities especially feeds for livestock animals. Aims of the present study is to look into the effects of planting sugarcane and napier grass on nitrate leaching from fields overdosed with excessive amount of manure application. Study Design: A lysimeter experiment of 3 treatments with 2 replicates. Place and Duration of Study: NARO-Shikoku Research Center (Kagawa, Japan), three years. Methodology: (1) Monitoring of water samples drained from lysimeters during study period, (2) Sampling of planted crops and soils. Results: The plots planted with either sugarcane or napier grass showed less drainage of water as well as less leaching of mineral N compared to control plots after summer when canopy was fully established. However, leaching of mineral N could not be completely prevented at the events of severe rainfalls except for the plots planted with napier grass. Original Research Article American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 4(5): 497-514, 2014 498 The reduced amount of drainage water for the plots planted with either sugarcane/napier grass was considered to be attributable to evapotranspiration of these crops. Both sugarcane and napier grass recovered a great amount of N in the above-ground part by the time of harvest. Yet, total N concentration of soil layers did not appear to have been affected by the presence of these crops compared to control plots. Conclusion: It was concluded that planting sugarcane/napier grass was effective in the studied area in reducing leaching of mineral N especially by reducing drainage water.

Background The management strategies regarding the strength of reactive topical corticosteroids have not been well evaluated in clinical trials. This FAEISS study is designed to confirm the superior efficacy of reactive topical corticosteroid strategies with serially ranking-DOWN from very strong levels compared with those with serially ranking-UP from weak levels for facial acneiform rash induced by EGFRI. Methods Pts with RAS wt mCRC were enrolled in the first registration. All pts received pre-emptive therapy with oral minocycline 100 or 200 mg/day and heparinoid moisturizer from the initiation of EGFRIs. Enrolled pts who developed facial acneiform rash within 8 weeks were randomized either to ranking-UP group (UP group) or ranking-DOWN group (DOWN group) (second registration) using minimization method for balancing institution, type of EGFRIs, and sex. Primary endpoint was incidence of Grade2 (moderate) or higher facial acneiform rash during 8 weeks after randomization. Results 172 RAS wt mCRC pts, of whom 22 pts and 84 pts received cetuximab and panitumumab, respectively, were enrolled and 106 pts were randomized. There was no significant difference in the incidence of Grade 2 ≧ facial acneiform rash between UP group (18 times) and DOWN group (20 times) (stratified Wilcoxon’s rank sum test, one-sided: p = 0.86221). As for secondary end points, proportion of Grade3 or higher facial acneiform rash was 13.2% for UP group and 11.3% for DOWN group, showing no significant difference between the groups (Fisher’s exact test: p = 1.0000). There was no problem of safety concern in both groups. Conclusions Topical corticosteroids ranking UP from weak levels was confirmed to be standard therapy for the management of facial acneiform rash in pts with RAS wt mCRC. It would follow that minocycline and heparinoid moisturizer have a prophylactic efficacy while topical corticosteroids have a therapeutic efficacy for facial acneiform rash. Clinical trial identification UMIN000024113. Legal entity responsible for the study FAEISS Study Group. Funding AMED. Disclosure N. Yamazaki: Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Takarabio; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (institution): Ono; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (institution): Bristol-Myers Squibb; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (institution): MSD; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (institution): Novartis. K. Kikuchi: Research grant / Funding (institution): POLA; Research grant / Funding (institution): Maruho. H. Fukuda: Honoraria (self): Taiho/chugai; Research grant / Funding (self): National Cancer Center. T. Hamaguchi: Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Ono; Honoraria (self): Takeda; Honoraria (self): Bayer. N. Boku: Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Taiho; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Ono; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Bristol-Myers Squibb. T. Takenouchi: Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Ono; Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: MSD; Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Novartis . T. Nishina: Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Taiho; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Chugai; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): Merck Serono. S. Yoshikawa: Honoraria (self): Ono; Honoraria (self): Novertis; Honoraria (self): Bristol-Myers Squibb. K. Yamazaki: Honoraria (self): Chugai; Honoraria (self): Daiichi Sankyo. M. Takahashi: Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Ono; Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Daiichi Sankyo. T. Masuishi: Honoraria (self): Taiho; Honoraria (self): Merck Serono; Honoraria (self): Yakult Honsha. Y. Kiyohara: Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): MSD; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Ono; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (institution): BMS. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Although there have been a large number of reports on the effects of opioids on the bispectral index (BIS) during anesthesia, the effects of pentazocine on the BIS have not been reported. In this study, 60 patients scheduled for elective oral surgery [30 females, 30 males; all American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA PS) category 1] were enrolled in the trials. Maintaining gender parity, we randomly assigned the patients to one of three groups: pentazocine group (0.3 mg/kg; n = 20), fentanyl group (1 μg/kg; n = 20), or saline group (n = 20); these opioids were administered intravenously 15 min after the intubation. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental and vecuronium bromide and maintained with nitrous oxide (4 l/min)–oxygen (2 l/min)–sevoflurane (1%). At 15 min after the intubation, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and BIS index were recorded as baseline values. MAP, HR, and BIS values were measured at 2.5-min after the intubation up to 30 min. All data were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. Differences in BIS values, MAP, and HR among the three groups throughout the experiment were analyzed using two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), and demographic data among the three groups were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Post hoc comparisons were performed using Fisher’s protected least significant difference test. A P value of

Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) can be separated from fragmented honeycombed cashew shell material without employing thermal techniques with a pressure profile method that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent. In the method, materials are contacted with CO 2 at elevated pressure (ca. 30 MPa) for a given period of time (ca. 1 h) and then pressure is released before the separation process is begun. Using the method, extraction yields of CNSL of up to 10 times those obtained by usual supercritical fluid extraction were achieved. The CNSL obtained was clear with a yellow-light brown color. Analysis with liquid chromatography of the extracts contained approximately 50 mol% anacardic acids, 29 mol% cardols, and 21 mol% cardanols including mono-, di-, and tri-ene constituents. Phase equilibrium data of the extracted CNSL with CO 2 were measured at temperatures from 25 to 98 °C, at pressures from 1.7 to 11 MPa, and at CO 2 weight fractions from 0.0329 to 0.1139. Liquid–liquid–vapor equilibria occurs and the CO 2 –CNSL system has an upper critical end point at 31.13 °C and 7.402 MPa. Liquid–vapor equilibrium data were used to develop a model for describing the solubility of the CO 2 in the CNSL phase. Based on calculations with the model, it was found that the temperature has different effects on the solubility depending on the pressure. At low pressures ( 2 solubility in the CNSL phase. At pressures higher than 20 MPa, increasing temperature results in an increase in CO 2 solubility in the CNSL phase. Conditions that resulted in higher CO 2 solubilities in the CNSL gave high extraction yields. The extraction mechanism of pressure profile method seems to occur by (i) penetration of the CO 2 through the shell material, (ii) dissolution of the CO 2 into the CNSL, (iii) expansion and rupture of the shell matrix due to depressurization that increases mass transfer and phase contact area.

A 16 Gb 16-level-cell (16LC) NAND flash memory using 70 nm design rule has been developed . This 16LC NAND flash memory can store 4 bits in a cell which enabled double bit density comparing to 4-level-cell (4LC) NAND flash, and quadruple bit density comparing to single-bit (SLC) NAND flash memory with the same design rule. New programming method suppresses the floating gate coupling effect and enabled the narrow distribution for 16LC. The cache-program function can be achievable without any additional latches. Optimization of programming sequence achieves 0.62 MB/s programming throughput. This 16-level NAND flash memory technology reduces the cost per bit and improves the memory density even more.

横行結腸原発mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue(以下MALT）リンパ腫に対する腹腔鏡下手術の1例を報告する.大腸MALTリンパ腫はまれな疾患であり,治療法が確立されていないが,外科的治療が選択されることが多い.そのなかで,腹腔鏡下手術の報告例は,検索した限りでは自験例を含めて5例のみであった.症例は64歳男性.主訴は便潜血反応陽性精査.大腸内視鏡検査にて,横行結腸に粘膜下腫瘍様の腫瘤の集簇を認めた.生検にてMALTリンパ腫を疑い,腹腔鏡補助下横行結腸部分切除術を施行した.病理組織学的検索では小型から中型の異型リンパ球の増殖を認めた.免疫染色にてCD79a陽性，CD20陽性,bcl-2陽性でMALTリンパ腫と診断.術後15カ月現在再発兆候を認めていない.

Thermal environment is one of the important factors to affect the benthic communities, material cycle and water purification capability of tidal flats. To understand the function of tidal flats, it is necessary to understand its thermal environmental properties. However, there are still few biogeochemical models that consider heat transfer in tidal flats. Therefore, we have developed a sea surface, sediment surface and atmosphere heat transfer model based on field observations at “Yacho-no-ike” artificial muddy tidal flat in Ariake Bay. In addition, we investigated the applicability of publicly available meteorological data such as: AMeDAS (Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System) and SYNOP (surface synoptic observations) to the model, instead of detailed local meteorological data.

We have studied the microstructural evolution in a wrought low-carbon steel (ASTM-A105), containing 0.21 mass% C and subjected to tension–compression cyclic loading, through in situ monitoring of the attenuation and velocity of a surface shear-wave with the electromagnetic acoustic resonance (EMAR) technique. This technique is a combination of the resonant technique and a non-contacting electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). The EMAT operates with a magnetostrictive mechanism and it is the key to establishing a non-contacting monitoring of microstructural change in a material's surface region with high sensitivity. The attenuation coefficient is sensitive to the accumulated fatigue damage, showing two peaks around 2% and 90% of life. This novel phenomenon is interpreted in terms of dislocation mobility change and dislocation rearrangement. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation has supported this view. This technique has a potential to assess damage and predict the fatigue life of steels.

An international round-robin study was undertaken under the auspices of ISO TC201/SC6 to determine the best analytical conditions and the level of interlaboratory agreement for the determination of the implantation dose of arsenic in silicon by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Fifteen SIMS laboratories, as well as two laboratories that performed low energy electron-induced X-ray emission spectrometry (LEXES) and one that made measurements by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) were asked to determine the implanted arsenic doses in three unknown samples using as a comparator NIST Standard Reference Material® 2134. The use of a common reference material by all laboratories resulted in better interlaboratory agreement than was seen in a previous round-robin that lacked a common comparator. The relative standard deviation among laboratories was less than 4% for the medium-dose sample, but several percent larger for the low- and high-dose samples. The high-dose sample showed a significant difference between point-by-point and average matrix normalization because the matrix signal decreased in the vicinity of the implant peak, as observed in a previous study. The dose from point-by-point normalization was in close agreement with that determined by INAA. No clear difference in measurement repeatability was seen when comparing Si2− and Si3− as matrix references with AsSi−.

An 8-Gb multi-level NAND Flash memory with 4-level programmed cells has been developed successfully. The cost-effective small chip has been fabricated in 70-nm CMOS technology. To decrease the chip size, a one-sided pad arrangement with compacted core architecture and a block address expansion scheme without block redundancy replacement have been introduced. With these methods, the chip size has been reduced to 146 mm/sup 2/, which is 4.9% smaller than the conventional chip. In terms of performance, the program throughput reaches 6 MB/s at 4-KB page operation, which is significantly faster than previously reported and very competitive with binary Flash memories. This high performance has been achieved by the combination of the multi-level cell (MLC) programming with write caches and with the program voltage compensation technique for neighboring select transistors. The read throughput reaches 60 MB/s using 16I/O configuration.

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether sonoporation with doxorubicin enhances suppression of intimal hyperplasia (IH) in a vein graft model.After the administration of 1.5 mg/kg doxorubicin intravenously, the right external jugular vein of six rabbits was exposed at 2 W/cm2 and 1 MHz of ultrasound for 2 min (Sonoporation group). Tissue doxorubicin concentration was measured. In 48 rabbits, the right common carotid artery was ligated after performing a vein graft bypass. The animals were divided into the following four groups: the C0 group (surgical procedure only); the C0S (sonoporation without doxorubicin); the C1 (doxorubicin administration only); the C1S (sonoporation with doxorubicin). Twenty-four grafts were subjected to Elastic van Gieson staining for morphometric analysis 4 weeks after the operation; others were subjected to TdT-mediated X-dUTP nick end-labeling for detection of apoptic cells and to staining with a monoclonal antibody against the proliferating cell nuclear antigen for assessment of cell proliferation 1 week after.The tissue doxorubicin concentration was significantly higher in the Sonoporation group than in the Control group. Compared with the C0 group, IH was not suppressed in the C1 group but was significantly suppressed in the C1S group. Sonoporation with doxorubicin administration suppressed IH significantly (C1 group versusC1S group: P0.05). Cell apoptosis was induced and cell proliferation was suppressed significantly in the C1S group.Sonoporation with doxorubicin suppressed IH of the vein graft. Sonoporation may be effective in coronary or peripheral revascularization using vein grafts.

To determine the influence of experimental model and strain differences on the relationship of vascular permeability to inflammatory cytokine production after high peak inflation pressure (PIP) ventilation, we used isolated perfused mouse lung and intact mouse preparations of Balb/c and B6/129 mice ventilated at high and low PIP. Filtration coefficients in isolated lungs and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) albumin in intact mice increased within 20–30 min after initiation of high PIP in isolated Balb/c lungs and intact Balb/c, B6/129 wild-type, and p55 and p75 tumor necrosis factor (TNF) dual-receptor null mice. In contrast, the cytokine response was delayed and variable compared with the permeability response. In isolated Balb/c lungs ventilated with 25–27 cmH2O PIP, TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1α, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2, and IL-6 concentrations in perfusate were markedly increased in perfusate at 2 and 4 h, but only MIP-2 was detectable in intact Balb/c mice using the same PIP. In intact wild-type and TNF dual-receptor null mice with ventilation at 45 cmH2O PIP, the MIP-2 and IL-6 levels in BAL were significantly increased after 2 h in both groups, but there were no differences between groups in the BAL albumin and cytokine concentrations or in lung wet-to-dry weight ratios. TNF-α was not be detected in BAL fluids in any group of intact mice. These results suggest that the alveolar hyperpermeability induced by high PIP ventilation occurs very rapidly and is initially independent of TNF-α participation and unlikely to depend on MIP-2 or IL-6.

SIMS with low energy (down to 250 eV) primary ions has been widely used for ultra-shallow dopant profiling for ULSI device development. In spite of its high performance in depth resolution, there still remain ambiguities to be overcome in SIMS technique for accurate depth and concentration calibrations in the shallow depth regions. In order to get accurate ultra-shallow boron depth profiles, BN-delta-doped multilayer reference materials were developed and evaluated in a round-robin study using low energy SIMS. Those delta-doped layers were used to measure the sputter rate change in the initial stage of oxygen–ion bombardment.

Magnetic-field-induced strains in Ni-Mn-Ga alloys have shown promise since their recent discovery. Large, free strains and moderate AC strains that provide mechanical work have already been demonstrated by this author and others. If the development of this ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) is to continue towards application, its preparation and processing need to routinized so that its properties are as consistent as possible. Here, a first look into the AC stiffness, susceptibility, magneto-mechanical coefficient and coupling coefficient properties will be shown and their dependencies interpreted. Close to the austenite start temperature, results shown here may indicate better AC actuation performance 10-20°C below the martensite transformation temperature due to lattice softening. Through these results, an engineer will start to understand some of the technical issues necessary for designing FSMAs into applications.

The response of segmental filtration coefficients ( K f) to high peak inflation pressure (PIP) injury was determined in isolated perfused rat lungs. Total ( K f,t), arterial ( K f,a), and venous ( K f,v) filtration coefficients were measured under baseline conditions and after ventilation with 40–45 cmH2O PIP. K f,a and K f,v were measured under zone I conditions by increasing airway pressure to 25–27 cmH2O. The microvascular segment K f ( K f,mv) was then calculated by: K f,mv = K f,t − K f,a − K f,v. The baseline K f,twas 0.090 ± 0.022 ml · min−1 · cmH2O−1 · 100 g−1 and segmentally distributed 18% arterial, 41% venous, and 41% microvascular. After high PIP injury, K f,t increased by 680%, whereas K f,a, K f,v, and K f,mv increased by 398, 589, and 975%, respectively. Pretreatment with 50 μM gadolinium chloride prevented the high PIP-induced increase in K f in all vascular segments. These data imply a lower hydraulic conductance for microvascular endothelium due to its large surface area and a gadolinium-sensitive high-PIP injury, produced in both alveolar and extra-alveolar vessel segments.

By mixing germanium dioxide with the Sc 3+ ion-conducting Sc 2 (WO 4 ) 3 solid electrolyte, the mechanical strength was greatly enhanced from 40 before mixing to 197 after the addition in Vickers hardness ( H V ). The microscopic GeO 2 dispersion in the tungstate electrolyte was successfully accomplished by decomposing the (NH 4 ) 3 HGe 7 O 16 ·6H 2 O precursor. The GeO 2 microscopic mixing contributes greatly to precipitate the added GeO 2 as a glassy state in the grain boundaries and makes a superior effect on improving not only the sinterability of the electrolyte ceramics but also a considerable enhancement in the trivalent ion-conducting characteristics.

Our method for synthesizing the mesoporous silica hollow capsules (MSHCs) was combined with the Layer-by-Layer method to integrate the magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) onto the core template for the MSHC synthesis. The resultant magnetic MSHCs (mMSHCs) were monodisperse as the conventional MSHCs, and the mNPs were embedded on the inner surface of the mesoporous silica shell. The same mesoporous structure as in the MSHCs was confirmed in the mMSHCs and the properties of the mNPs were maintained even after being incorporated into the mMSHCs.