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Background: Hypertension is a common complication in patients with gout and/or hyperuricemia. Besides, hyperuricemia is a risk factor of gout as well as ischemic heart disease in hypertensive patients. Moreover, the risk of gout is modified by antihypertensive drugs. However, it remains unclear how antihypertensive agents affect uric acid metabolism. Purpose: In the present study, we investigated the uric acid metabolism in treated hypertensive patients to find out whether any of them would influence serum levels of uric acid. Patients and methods: 751 hypertensive patients (313 men and 438 women) under antihypertensive treatment were selected. Blood pressure (BP), serum uric acid (SUA) and serum creatinine (Scr) were measured and evaluated statistically. Results: In patients treated with diuretics, beta-blockers and/or alpha-1 blockers SUA levels were significantly higher than in patients who were not taking these drugs. Besides, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in patients treated with diuretics, beta-blockers and/or alpha-1 blockers was negatively correlated with SUA level. There were gender differences in the effects of beta-blockers and alpha-1 blockers. Multiple regression analysis indicated that both diuretics and beta-blockers significantly contributed to hyperuricemia in patients with medication for hypertension. Conclusion: Diuretics, beta-blockers and alpha-1 blockers reduced glomerular filtration rate and raised SUA levels. Calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, including losartan, did not increase SUA levels.

Hydrogen isotope separation effect by electrolysis of water was theoretically investigated and was compared with experimental results. The separation mechanism was analyzed as the hydrogen isotope exchange reaction between water and diatomic hydride that consists of hydrogen and cathode material. The equilibrium constants of the isotope exchange reaction were calculated from reduced partition function ratio. Using the constants, the separation factor (SF) of the isotopes was calculated according to the two-phase distribution theory for isotopes. Experimentally, light or heavy water spiked with tritiated water was electrolyzed by a device with a solid polymer electrolyte, which equipped with SUS, Ni, or carbon cathode. Thus, the SFs were experimentally obtained. Calculated SFs were well agreed with the experimentally values for SUS and Ni cathodes, and that for carbon cathode was somewhat small then the experimental value.

We developed a new strong Rutherford cable using Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O y (Bi-2212) high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, which consisted of 427 superconducting filaments and AgMgSb alloy outer sheath. This wire exhibited excellent critical current (I c ) and critical current density (J c ) values at 4.2 K in self-field (285 A and 340000 A/cm 2 , respectively) and a room temperature tensile strength of 180 MPa. The Rutherford cable was prepared with a NiCr alloy strip as a cable core. The degradation of full cable I c induced by Ni diffusion was reduced by introducing a ceramic barrier layer between the Bi-2212 superconducting wires and the NiCr cable core. A full cable I c value of 3500 A at 4.2 K in self-field was obtained in short sample fabricated by using a cable core with a ZrO 2 film barrier layer. Finally, we fabricated an 80-m-long Rutherford cable by using a cable core with a MgO tape as a barrier layer and evaluated its full cable I c . I c values of 17-m-long sections cut from a continuous 80-m-long cable were greater than 2700 A at 4.2 K in self-field.

High critical density (Jc ) over 500 kA cm-2 (at 4.2 K and 10 T) was obtained in Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 Ox multilayer superconducting tapes processed by the pre-annealing and intermediate rolling (PAIR) technique. The PAIR process was effective in creating a dense core with lower carbon content, resulting in homogeneous chemical reactions, small amount of impurity phases and good alignment of superconducting grains. In production of long tapes, reducing the carbon content was the most serious challenge. A Jc value of 7.1 ×105 A cm-2 at 4.2 K in self-field was obtained in a 100 m long tape when the carbon content could be controlled to be 0.002 wt%. We fabricated a double-pancake coil using a 100 m long tape and tested it at 4.2 K in backup fields. The coil generated 2 T in a backup field of 4 T.

A tritium separation from heavy water by electrolysis using a solid polymer electrode layer was specified. The cathode was made of stainless steel or nickel. The electrolysis was performed for 1 hour at 5, 10, 20, and 30 °C. Using a palladium catalyst, generated hydrogen and oxygen gases were recombined, which was collected with a cold trap. The activities of the samples were measured by a liquid scintillation counter. The apparent tritium separation factors of the heavy and light water at 20 °C were ∽2 and ∽12, respectively.

The relaxation dynamics of an exciton in rubrene was investigated by femtosecond absorption spectroscopy. Exciton relaxation to a self-trapped state occurs via the coherent oscillation with 78 cm(-1) due to a coupled mode of molecular deformations with phenyl-side-group motions and molecular displacements. From the temperature dependence of the decay time of excitons, the energy necessary for an exciton to escape from a self-trapped state is evaluated to be ~35 meV (~400 K). As a result, a self-trapped exciton is stable at low temperatures. At room temperature, excitons can escape from a self-trapped state and, subsequently, they are dissociated to charged species. The exciton dissociation mechanism is discussed on the basis of the results.

Subband-resonance oscillations have been observed in photoexcited, undoped type-II GaAsAlAs superlattices. The frequency can be tuned over a wide range either by the applied voltage or the photoexcited carrier density. The oscillations are due to an oscillating domain boundary between two electric-field domains.

At Wakasa-wan Energy Research Center, Fukui, Japan, the accelerator system is now under construction. The system consists of a 200 keV ion implanter, a 5 MV Schenckel type tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron. The ion implanter is for the improvement of the surface of the material. By using the tandem accelerator, we can perform the element analysis, the improvement of the bio-species and ion-implantation into various materials. The tandem accelerator works as an injector for the synchrotron and the synchrotron is for the cancer therapy and also bio and material science.

Effects of structure and electrochemical properties on transgranular stress corrosion susceptibility of various copper and silver alloys and austenitic stainless steels have been examined....