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Background Ectopic thymomas often occur in the upper mediastinum; however, they rarely arise in the middle mediastinum, especially on the dorsal side of the innominate vein and superior vena cava in the peribronchial region. Case presentation Six years prior, a 27-year-old female presented to our department and was diagnosed with locally advanced left breast cancer. First, we administered chemotherapy including an anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 antibody. The size of the tumor was markedly reduced, and a radical operation involving mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection was then performed. The patient underwent radiotherapy after the mastectomy, followed by trastuzumab therapy; she continued to receive endocrine therapy thereafter. She underwent computed tomography once a year after the surgery, and a nodule in the middle mediastinum on the dorsal side of the innominate vein and superior vena cava in the parabronchial region was detected at 4 years. We speculated that the nodule was a solitary mediastinal lymph node metastasis from her breast cancer; therefore, we performed thoracoscopic resection of the tumor. We diagnosed the tumor as a thymoma. Currently, the patient visits our hospital to receive continuous hormone therapy for her breast cancer, and the latest computed tomography scan demonstrated no metastases from or recurrence of her breast cancer or thymoma. Conclusions We report a case of ectopic thymoma in the middle mediastinum. The tumor, which was detected during systemic therapy for locally advanced breast cancer, was located on the dorsal side of the innominate vein and superior vena cava in the parabronchial region and was indistinguishable from a lymph node metastasis from breast cancer.

Background: Spinal hemangioblastomas account for 1–3% of all spinal cord tumors and are mostly intramedullary in location. Here, we report an intradural extramedullary hemangioblastoma of the thoracic spine, occurring in in a patient without von Hippel-Lindau disease. Case Description: A 58-year-old female had a 5-year history of progressive left lower extremity weakness. When the MR demonstrated an intradural/extramedullary lesion with a syrinx at the T2-3 level, she successfully underwent gross total tumor excision following which she neurologically improved. Conclusion: Here, we report a rare case of an intradural/extramedullary thoracic hemangioblastoma successfully excised at the T 2-3 level in a patient without von Hippel-Lindau disease.

An 80-year-old woman visited a previous hospital complaining of a lump in the right axillary region. Because it was suspected of accessory breast cancer from the findings of image inspection, she was referred for surgery. Based on mammography and ultrasonography, both bilateral mammary glands were reported normal, but an irregular mass was found in the right axillary region. Resection biopsy showed adenocarcinoma like invasive ductal carcinoma. In addition, ER and PgR were positive. With a preoperative diagnosis of accessory breast cancer, she underwent wide local resection of the right axillary region with lymph-node dissection(Level Ⅰ), and local pedicle flap formation. Histopathological findings revealed that the tumor was composed of invasive ductal carcinoma. The center of tumor was consisted of ductal tissue discontinuous with normal mammary gland. So, a diagnosis of accessory breast cancer in the right axillary region was confirmed. She is currently in recurrence-free survival. Accessory breast cancer is relatively rare. We report a case of accessory breast cancer in the axillary region with some review of the literature.

The patient was a 75-year-old woman who had experienced left breast cancer(BT plus AX)in 1988. Local recurrences in the skin of the left chest wall appeared and were treated with operation, radiotherapy, and systemic therapy. Twenty-four years later, she developed continuous bleeding due to skin metastasis of the breast cancer and received Mohs chemosurgery and continued systemic therapy. After using Mohs paste 10 times, the skin surface healed and dried up. Improving the quality of life of patients with several symptoms such as skin cancer or metastatic skin lesions is essential in multidisciplinary therapy and Mohs paste was useful for the local control of the unresectable skin lesion.

We report $^{31}$P NMR studies of an oriented polycrystalline superconductor of Ba$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$Fe$_{2}$(As$_{1-x}$P$_{x}$)$_{2}$ with $x\sim$ 0.4 ($T_\mathrm{c}$ = 29 K) at $T$ = 14$-$325 K and $B_{0}$ = 1 and 5 T. The $^{31}$P Knight shift $K_{ab}$ at $B_{0}\perp c$ shows a nearly $T$-independent uniform spin susceptibility above $T_\mathrm{c}$ and a spin singlet decrease below $T_\mathrm{c}$. The $^{31}$P nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/$T_{1}$ shows an asymptotic behavior of $a+bT$ ($a$ and $b$ are constants) at $T >$ 100 K and the minimum at 40 K with an upturn toward $T_\mathrm{c}$. The $a$ term in 1/$T_{1}$ indicates the presence of two-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations. The negative $\theta$ = $-$15 K of the Curie-Weiss-type antiferromagnetic spin susceptibility $\chi$($Q$) $\propto$ 1/($T$+$\theta$) in the analysis of 1/$T_{1}T$ suggests antiferromagnetic instability in the superconducting state. Discussions are made from the self-consistent renormalization (SCR) theory for the spin fluctuations with interlayer correlation., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 2020

A 68-year-old man presented with malaise and abdominal swelling.Lower gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a type 2 circumferential sigmoid colon cancer.Computed tomography suggested the cancer infiltrating bladder and abdominal wall with abscess.Because of locally advanced infiltration, the patient was treated with capecitabine plus oxaliplatin(CapeOX) plus bevacizumab therapy after loop-colostomy.After 2 courses of chemotherapy, a CT revealed tumor reduction and increased abscess, which was punctured drainage.After 4 courses of chemotherapy, a CT revealed abscess reduction, we tried to operation.Sigmoidectomy with combined resection of abdominal wall and bladder total hysterectomy and fascia lata grafting were performed.The pathological diagnosis was tub1, T4b, ly2, v2, PN0, N0, M0, Stage II, pR0, Grade I a.We reported a case of curative resection of locally advanced sigmoid colon cancer treated with combined resection of bladder and abdominal wall after CapeOX therapy.

We studied the hole concentration dependences of 63Cu Knight shifts in single-CuO2-layer high-Tc cuprate superconductors HgBa2CuO4+d and double-layer HgBa2CaCu2O6+d. We found that the spin Knight shift at room temperature as a function of the hole concentration in the single-layer superconductor is different from that in the double-layer superconductor. Two type relations between the spin Knight shift and the hole doping level serve to estimate the individual hole concentrations of the non-equivalent CuO2 planes in a unit cell., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physics Procedia, ISS2014 (27th International Symposium on Superconductivity, Tokyo)

The magnitude of the powder spin susceptibility of an optimally doped superconductor HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ (Hg1201) in the normal state is found to be nearly the same as that of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ near the optimally doped level. The Stoner enhancement factor of Hg1201 is larger than that of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$. The magnitude correlation of the Stoner enhancement factor is inconsistent with the effect of the recent theoretical Coulomb repulsion between 3$d$ electrons and that of the superexchange intereraction of a charge transfer type., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We report the transverse relaxation rates $1/{T}_{2}$'s of the $^{63}\mathrm{Cu}$ nuclear spin-echo envelope for double-layer high-${T}_{\mathrm{c}}$ cuprate superconductors ${\mathrm{HgBa}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{6+\ensuremath{\delta}}$ from underdoped to overdoped. The relaxation rate $1/{T}_{2\mathrm{L}}$ of the exponential function (Lorentzian component) shows a peak at $220--240$ K in the underdoped (${T}_{\mathrm{c}}=103$ K) and the optimally doped (${T}_{\mathrm{c}}=127$ K) samples but no peak in the overdoped (${T}_{\mathrm{c}}=93$ K) sample. The enhancement in $1/{T}_{2\mathrm{L}}$ suggests a development of the zero frequency components of local field fluctuations. Ultraslow fluctuations are hidden in the pseudogap states.

We studied the clinical efficacy of pre-operative combination chemotherapy using S-1 plus oxaliplatin for advanced gastric cancer. Four patients hadclinical Stage IV disease, 1 patient had clinical Stage III C disease, 2 patients had clinical Stage III B disease, and 1 patient had clinical Stage III A disease. The patients received 2-8 courses of oxaliplatin(130mg/m2)on day 1, andS -1 on days 1-14 every 3 weeks. The response rate was 56%(5 PR, 1 PD, and2 SD), andthe disease control rate was 88%. Toxicities were Grade 2 anemia, Grade 1 peripheral neuropathy, Grade 1 fatigue, and anorexia. Five of the 8 patients underwent R0 surgery after SOX chemotherapy, and no severe complications occurred. Histological responses were Grade 3 for 2 cases, Grade 2 for 2 cases, andGrad e 1a for 1 case. The SOX regimen showeda high objective tumor response, andis one of the promising regimens in the neoadjuvant setting for well-advanced gastric cancer.

A 65-year-old man had been receiving hemodialysis for chronic renal failure. We diagnosed colonic ileus with transverse colon cancer and synchronous multiple liver metastases(liver segments 4 and 6)based on symptoms of abdominal pain and distension. After stent placement in the region of the colonic stenosis, left hemicolectomy was performed for transverse colon cancer. After surgery, the patient received capecitabine plus oxaliplatin(CapeOX)therapy. The dose of capecitabine was 1,250mg/m2, and the dose of oxaliplatin was 70 mg/m2 until the second course, after which it was increased to 100 mg/m2 for the third course. Peripheral neuropathy(Grade 1)was the only adverse event observed. After 6 courses of treatment, the size of the liver metastases and the levels of tumor markers had reduced. For control of liver metastases, partial hepatectomy (liver segments 4 and 6)was performed. We report this case with a review of the literature.

We studied the significance of gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel(GnP)therapy for locally progressive pancreatic cancer. We enrolled 10 patients with local progression without distant metastasis. We used GnP therapy for the ablative borderline resectable(BR)and unresectable(UR)cases based on images that followed NCCN pancreatic cancer treatment guidelines. In 1 case of resectable(R)pancreatic cancer, the tumor was located in the pancreas body but we determined that surgery was impossible because of the underlying disease detected on imaging analysis. The 10 cases involved R(n=1), UR(n=5), and BR(n=4). Treatment toxicities were reported in all cases. We withheld treatment in the R case because of toxicities. The objective response rate was 40%, and the tumor control rate was 70% with CR 0, PR 4, SD 3, and PD 2. Resection was possible in 5 cases. The response rate to the GnP therapy was 40%, with a tumor control rate of 70%, allowing excision of 50%. We believe GnP therapy is feasible for operative resistant cases.

A 63-year-old man was seen by his family doctor for epigastric distress, and he was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of gastric cancer. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed type 3 gastric cancer(por1tub2tub1)at the lesser curvature of the stomach. Computed tomography suggested thickening of the wall of the stomach at the lesser curvature and bulky lymph node swelling. After a diagnosis of cT4a cN2M0, cStage III B advanced gastric cancer, we treated him with neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of 3 courses of SOX(oxaliplatin 100mg/m / 2 on day 1, S-1 120mg/day on day 1-14, followed by 7 days of rest). After the chemotherapy, because the primary tumor and lymph nodes were reduced, we performed distal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection. Histopathological examination revealed no residual cancer cells, indicating a pathological complete response(Grade 3). We report a case of advanced gastric cancer with a pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

We studied local magnetic properties of triple-CuO$_2$-layer superconductors HgBa$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{8+\delta}$ with rich $^{63}$Cu isotope (underdoped $T_\mathrm{c}$ = 124 K and optimally doped $T_\mathrm{c}$ = 134 K) by $^{63}$Cu NMR spin-echo techniques. The temperature dependences of the $^{63}$Cu nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $^{63}$(1/$T_1$) and the spin Knight shift $^{63}K_\mathrm{spin}$ of the inner plane Cu(1) site were nearly the same as those of the outer plane Cu(2) site in the normal states. The pseudogap temperature $T^*$ defined as the maximum temperature of $^{63}$(1/$T_1T$) was 190 K for the underdoped $T_\mathrm{c}$ = 124 sample and 143 K for the optimally doped $T_\mathrm{c}$ = 134 K sample. The NMR results indicate the uniform hole distribution in the three layers, which is consistent with a coalescence of three-derived Fermi surfaces predicted by a band theory. The room temperature in-plane $^{63}K_\mathrm{spin}^{ab}$ depends on whether the number of CuO$_2$ planes per unit cell is even or odd for the Hg-based multilayer cuprate superconductors., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, to be published in J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (2019)

TPS474 Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 in patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) improved the 5-year survival rate to 44.1% and therefore has been a standard of care in Japan. Recent epidemiologic data has revealed possibility of metformin (a drug for type II diabetes) improving the prognosis of PDAC. In this context, we compare the efficacy and safety of S-1 plus metformin with S-1 alone as adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with resected PDAC. Methods: This multicenter-randomized-phase II study is conducted at 29 institutions in Japan (Registry Number; UMIN000020681). Key eligibility criteria are age 20 years or more with good performance status; histologically proven PDAC of stage I-II without macroscopic residual tumor. Patients receiving preoperative treatment for PDAC and previously treated with DPP-4 inhibitor, GLP-1, and metformin are excluded. After giving written consent to the study, patients are randomly assigned either study group (S-1 plus metformin) or control group (S-1 alone), balancing residual tumor status, nodal status, and institutions. S-1 is given orally for 2 weeks in a 3-week cycle. Cycles are lasted for 6 months. In the study group, metformin is administrated together with S-1 for 2 years. The treatment would be discontinued when the patient has either recurrence or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint is 2-year OS, and the secondary endpoints are relapse-free survival and incidence rate of adverse events. Sample size was calculated based on the data in previous trials, with an expected 2-year survival rate in the control group of 65%. An improvement in 2-year-survival rate from 65% in the control group to 78% in the study group, yielding a hazard ratio of 0.58, is considered clinically relevant in this population. A total of 73 events in each group were required for a power of 80% at a two-sided alpha 20% to detect a difference in OS using an unstratified log-rank test. A total of 160 patients (80 per group) were estimated to achieve the specified number of events in the scheduled follow-up. Duration of this study would be 5 years and it has been started from January 2018. Until September 2018, 17 patients have been enrolled. Clinical trial information: UMIN000020681.

The purpose of this study was to determine the minimum attributes for display of intraoral (IO) radiographic digital images, on the basis of results of a survey completed by the Japanese Society for Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (JSOMR). These attributes could then be used to develop proposals for the DICOM Standards Committee. In December 2010, the JSOMR Task Group carried out a survey on display mapping and viewing solutions for IO images in university dental hospitals in Japan. The survey showed that a finite number of templates were in use at Japanese university dental hospitals. However, these templates were too complex for proposals to DICOM, and we thus believed that further simplification of the layout format was necessary to improve operating system efficiency, data transferability, and patient welfare. The JSOMR survey found that eight types of layout format were used at university dental hospitals across Japan; using these data as a starting point, we tested whether reducing the number of formats to three patterns was a viable option. During the reduction of the number of formats, we determined the following discrete imaging attributes: examination classification; image aspect; image size; image location; and projection style. Furthermore, for foreign countries, two patterns, 18 and 22, were added to image location for further clarity. Five attributes are necessary for an effective new layout of IO images using a reference system.

Objectives The purposes of this study were to identify the problems encountered during the operation of a hospital-based intra-oral (IO) image viewing system and to discuss measures for improvements required for its replacement with a more functional and standardized system.

We estimated the ratios of $^{63}$Cu hyperfine coupling constants in the double-layer high-$T_\mathrm{c}$ superconductor HgBa$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{6+\delta}$ from the anisotropies in Cu nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates and spin Knight shifts to study the nature of the ultraslow fluctuations causing the $T_2$ anomaly in the Cu nuclear spin-echo decay. The ultraslow fluctuations may come from uniform magnetic fluctuations spread around the wave vector $q$ = 0, otherwise the electric origins., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

サンマ資源量の推定精度の向上のためには，調査漁具である中層トロールの採集効率の推定精度を高めることが重要である。2005 および 2006 年 10 月に岩手県沖のサンマ漁場において，サイドスキャンソナーを用いた音響調査と中層トロール網（ニチモウ NST-99 型）による漁獲試験を同時に実施した。サイドスキャンソナーの画像解析から推定した単位面積当たりのサンマの分布尾数とトロール網による掃海面積当りのサンマ採集尾数の比較結果から，採集効率を 0.179（現行は 0.144）と推定した。

We succeeded in synthesizing the bi layer hydrated superconducting Na x CoO 2 · y H 2 O powder samples with different T c 's by systematically changing the duration in a high humidity atmosphere after intercalation of water molecules. From the results of 59Co nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements, it was found that resonance frequency ν Q monotonically decreased with increasing the duration after filtration. The electronic states of samples were found being well characterized by the ν Q , and we succeeded in drawing the electronic phase diagram in which there exist two superconducting phases and an in-between magnetic phase. On the other hand, a lattice parameter along c-axis was found to decrease monotonically with increasing the time duration. This result indicates that shrinkage of CoO 2 planes is caused by changes of arrangements and/or contents of ions between CoO 2 planes which evolve during kept in a high humidity atmosphere.

Ni3AlCx was synthesized by two methods, argon arc melting and solid state reaction methods. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the samples prepared by the arc-melting method are in a single phase with the Cu3Au type crystal structure. In x >0.02, all the samples do not show the ferromagnetism but show Pauli paramagnetism while the samples prepared by the solid state reaction method show a tendency of ferromagnetism at about 280 K in the temperature derivative magnetization. From the 27Al NMR measurements, we found the absence of the magnetic phase transition for the samples with x =0.1 prepared by both methods. We conclude that for the samples prepared by the solid state reaction, the enhancement of the magnetization with a tendency of the ferromagnetism is extrinsic, which may be attributed to the possible deposition of Ni-based alloy.

We report site-selective 63 Cu NMR studies of the vortex core states of an overdoped Tl 2 Ba 2 CuO 6 + δ with T c = 85 K . We observed a relatively high density of low-energy quasi-particle excitations at the vortex cores in a magnetic field of 7.4847 T along the c -axis, in contrast to YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 - δ .

We found two components of the in-plane Co 59 NMR Knight shift K and different nuclear spin–lattice relaxation rates 1 / T 1 in bilayer hydrated superconductor Na x CoO 2 · y H 2 O , an oriented powder sample by a magnetic field in Fluorinert FC70. Distinguishable two peaks in the central transition line of the Co 59 NMR spectrum at 10 K can be explained by an anisotropic Knight shift in a triangular plane. The hyperfine coupling constants seem to change around 150 K, in which the bulk susceptibility χ shows a broad minimum, suggesting a change of the electronic state in the CoO 2 plane.

We report a $^{205}$Tl NMR study of vortex state for an aligned polycrystalline sample of an overdoped high-$T_c$ superconductor Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+\delta}$ ($T_{c}\sim$85 K) with magnetic field 2 T along the c axis. We observed an imperfect vortex lattice, so-called Bragg glass at $T$=5 K, coexistence of vortex solid with liquid between 10 and 60 K, and vortex melting between 65 and 85 K. No evidence for local antiferromagnetic ordering at vortex cores was found for our sample.

The doping effect of magnetic impurities on the lightly hole-doped antiferromagnetic state was investigated by neutron diffraction techniques using single crystals of La 1.99 Sr 0.01 Cu 1- y Ni y O 4 (0.01≤ y ≤0.10). Dilute Ni-doping between y =0.02 and 0.05 dramatically changes the Q -dependence of the antiferromagnetic Bragg intensity, corresponding to a switch of spin structure from the La 2 CuO 4 type (Cu type) to the La 2 NiO 4 type (Ni type) triggered by a spin rotation in CuO 2 planes. Upon Ni-doping, the Neel temperature ( T N ) increases and rapidly approaches that of nondoped La 2 CuO 4 in the Cu-type phase due to the strong localization of doped carriers, whereas T N gradually decreases in the Ni-type phase. More interestingly, between the Cu- and Ni-type structures, there exists an intermediate region where the spin direction is between those of Cu- and Ni-types. In this region, we found an unusual temperature dependence of magnetic intensities, which suggests a temperature dependence of the s...

We report a 205 Tl NMR study of vortex state for an oriented polycrystalline sample of an overdoped high- T c superconductor Tl 2 Ba 2 CuO 6+δ ( T c ∼85 K) with magnetic field 2 T along the c -axis. An obvious Redfield pattern of the 205 Tl NMR spectrum for our sample at T =5 K indicates the vortex lattice state without local antiferromagnetic order at vortex cores. We emphasize that nonexponential nuclear spin-lattice relaxation curves indicate an imperfect vortex lattice or Bragg glass phase.

The management of vertebral hemangiomas remains controversial. This report describes the successful management of spinal cord compression caused by an intraosseous and extraosseous vertebral hemangioma with the percutaneous injection of absolute alcohol. A 71-year-old woman presented with lower extremity weakness and sensory disturbance. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (CT) confirmed the presence of a vertebral hemangioma involving the Th11 vertebral body. A CT-guided percutaneous transpedicular injection of absolute alcohol into the affected vertebral body resulted in symptomatic and imaging improvement. CT-guided percutaneous transpedicular injection of absolute alcohol into symptomatic vertebral hemangiomas is a simple, safe, and effective technique for relieving compression and devascularizing the hemangioma.

The management of vertebral hemangiomas remains controversial. This report describes the successful management of a spinal cord compression caused by an intra and extra-osseous vertebral hemangioma, with a percutaneous injection of absolute alcohol. A 71-year-old woman presented with lower-extremity weakness and sensory disturbance. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computed Tomogoraphy confirmed the presence of vertebral hemangioma involving the Th 11 vertebral body. CT-guided percutaneous transpedicular injection of absolute alcohol into the affected vertebral body resulted in symptomatic and imaging improvement. CT-guided percutaneous transpedicular injection of absolute alcohol into symptomatic vertebral hemangiomas is a simple, safe and effective technique for relieving compression and devascularising the hemangioma.

The temperature dependence of Cu nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate ( T 1 T ) −1 and frequency spectra have been measured in Y 1− x Ca x Ba 2 Cu 4 O 8 ( x =0, 0.05 and 0.075) and YBa 2− y La y Cu 4 O 8 ( y =0.05) by a zero field Cu nuclear quadruple resonance (NQR) spin-echo technique. The carrier doping dependence of pseudo-spin-gap was observed through ( T 1 T ) −1 at the planar Cu site but no appreciable change in ( T 1 T ) −1 at the chain site Cu. Cation substitution without oxygen deficiency is demonstrated to result in substantial carrier doping on the CuO 2 plane.

We revisited the Cu nuclear spin–lattice relaxation of 63 Cu-enriched high- T c superconductors La 2− x Sr x CuO 4 with x =0.13 (an underdoped sample) and 0.18 (an overdoped sample). From application of the impurity-induced NMR relaxation theory, we observed a remnant of the pseudo-spin-gap effect on the host Cu nuclear spin–lattice relaxation rate 63 (1/T 1 T) host and the inhomogeneous slow fluctuation effect via the impurity-induced relaxation rate 63 (1/τ 1 ) . The magnetic phase diagram with the pseudo-spin-gap temperatures T s is presented.

We studied the main and the satellite signals of plane-site Cu(2) nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectra in optimally doped YBa 2 (Cu 1− x Zn x ) 3 O 7− δ . The Cu nuclear spin–lattice relaxation time is found to distribute in the broadened Cu(2) NQR spectra. This is in contrast to nearly frequency independent relaxation in slightly oxygen-deficient YBa 2 Cu 3 O y . The Cu nuclear spin–lattice relaxation time of the Zn-induced satellite signal is shorter than that of the main signal, suggesting a locally enhanced magnetic correlation by Zn. From the analysis of Zn-induced Cu NQR relaxation, the origin of pair-breaking mechanism due to Zn impurity is discussed.

In the presence of a midline-crossed internal thoracic artery graft, a median sternotomy may jeopardize the graft and compromise hemodynamics. We report successful aortic valve replacement using a "staircase" thoracotomy and hypothermic axillary perfusion with balloon aortic occlusion in 2 men who had patent right internal thoracic artery grafts that was previously anastomosed to the left anterior descending coronary artery.

We report the out-of-plane and in-plane magnetic susceptibility and resistivity of Ni-doped La1.99Sr0.01CuO4 single crystals grown by Traveling-Solvent Floating-Zone technique. Our data shows that in lightly Sr-doped compounds the Neel temperature TN increased with increasing Ni concentration. At high temperatures, the resistivity is described within the impurity band conduction model. As the temperature is lowered, the resistivity behavior change to the variable range hopping model associated with the evolving of antiferromagnetic ordering.