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Objectives The objective of this study was to test the correlation of urinary podocyte number (U-Pod) and urinary podocalyxin levels (U-PCX) with histology of lupus nephritis. Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional study. Sixty-four patients were enrolled: 40 with lupus nephritis and 24 without lupus nephritis (12 lupus nephritis patients in complete remission and 12 systemic lupus erythematosus patients without lupus nephritis). Urine samples were collected before initiating treatment. U-Pod was determined by counting podocalyxin-positive cells, and U-PCX was measured by sandwich ELISA, normalized to urinary creatinine levels (U-Pod/Cr, U-PCX/Cr). Results Lupus nephritis patients showed significantly higher U-Pod/Cr and U-PCX/Cr compared with patients without lupus nephritis. U-Pod/Cr was high in proliferative lupus nephritis (class III±V/IV±V), especially in pure class IV (4.57 (2.02–16.75)), but low in pure class V (0.30 (0.00–0.71)). U-Pod/Cr showed a positive correlation with activity index ( r=0.50, P=0.0012) and was independently associated with cellular crescent formation. In contrast, U-PCX/Cr was high in both proliferative and membranous lupus nephritis. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed significant correlation of U-Pod/Cr with pure class IV, class IV±V and cellular crescent formation, and the combined values of U-Pod/Cr and U-PCX/Cr were shown to be associated with pure class V. Conclusions U-Pod/Cr and U-PCX/Cr correlate with histological features of lupus nephritis.

Introduction/Background Endothelial dysfunction occurs in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction seem to evolve throughout kidney disease progression. In the present study, we investigate short-term and long-term effects of the vascular endothelium of intra-dialytic exercise for patients with end stage renal disease. Material and method Total 15 of subjects, included seven patients (32–89 years) with CKD and eight healthy adults participated in this study. The subjects were exercised handgrip training for the 2weeks home-based training program consisted of 7 daily handgrip session of 12 minutes each at the Borg rating of perceived exertion (RPE) for 11–13. The primary outcome was peripheral endothelial function. Secondary outcomes were physical function and biochemical tests such as cholesterol, IL6 and TNF-alpha. Results After the first intervention as the short-term effects, the patients in CKD group and healthy adults had significant improvement in peripheral endothelial function (P Conclusion In this study, the safety and efficacy of conventional handgrip training were confirmed without a sudden drop of blood pressure or any other side effects. Exercise training for handgrip is very convenient, has the potential to improve endothelial dysfunction. These results indicate that the exercise for handgrip training may improve the patient's condition equally to the lower limb exercise.

International audience; Production of neutron-rich nuclei around N = 126 by multinucleon transfer reactions has recently gained a renewal of interest both theoretically and experimentally. We are now advancing the KISS project at RIKEN to produce those nuclei by multinucleon transfer reactions and measure their lifetimes to investigate the astrophysical environments of the r-process. To investigate the relevance of the production mechanism, we performed measurements for the reaction system 136Xe + 198Pt, using the spectrometer VAMOS++ and the gamma-ray array EXOGAM at GANIL. Cross sections deduced from the measurements for neutron-rich nuclei around N = 126 show a modest enhancement when compared with the GRAZING calculations, indicating the advantage of the multinucleon transfer reactions as compared with fragmentation for production of N = 126 neutron-rich isotones. The possibility for production of neutron-rich nuclei around uranium beyond N = 126 by multinucleon transfer reactions is also discussed.

Background and purpose: Although both microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES)-1 and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 are critical factors in stroke injury, but the interactions between these enzymes in the ischaemic brain is still obscure. This study examines the hypothesis that mPGES-1 activity is required for COX-2 to cause neuronal damage in ischaemic injury. Experimental approach: We used a glutamate-induced excitotoxicity model in cultures of rat or mouse hippocampal slices and a mouse middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion model in vivo. The effect of a COX-2 inhibitor on neuronal damage in mPGES-1 knockout (KO) mice was compared with that in wild-type (WT) mice. Key results: In rat hippocampal slices, glutamate-induced excitotoxicity, as well as prostaglandin (PG) E2 production and PGES activation, was significantly attenuated by either MK-886 or NS-398, inhibitors of mPGES-1 and COX-2 respectively; however, co-application of these inhibitors had neither an additive nor a synergistic effect. The protective effect of NS-398 on the excitotoxicity observed in WT slices was completely abolished in mPGES-1 KO slices, which showed less excitotoxicity than WT slices. In the transient focal ischaemia model, mPGES-1 and COX-2 were co-localized in the infarct region of the cortex. Injection of NS-398 reduced not only ischaemic PGE2 production, but also ischaemic injuries in WT mice, but not in mPGES-1 KO mice, which showed less dysfunction than WT mice. Conclusion and implications: Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 and COX-2 are co-induced by excess glutamate in ischaemic brain. These enzymes are co-localized and act together to exacerbate stroke injury, by excessive PGE2 production.

Japanese experience of steam oxidation behavior of advanced heat-resistant steel tubes in power boilers is discussed. Severe scale separation, cracking, and exfoliation were observed in T91 pendant reheater tubing in a Japanese utility boiler after around 40,000 hours of operation. Separation occurred at the interface between the inner and outer layers of scale. A high-pressure steam oxidation test rig in which the steam conditions could be controlled in a similar manner to that of an actual boiler was developed and T91 steel samples were tested up to 10,269 hours. The scale separation behavior of T91 was reproduced in the steam oxidation test. The growth rate of T91 was lower than that for conventional 9Cr-1Mo steel reported by EPRI. The scale separation was related to void formation at the interface between the inner and outer layers of scale, as well as the transformation of magnetite into hematite in the outer layer. Field exposure testing was carried out for T23 and T122 for 80,000 hours, and...

A spectrometer for β-detected nuclear magnetic resonance (β-NMR) has been commissioned at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF. A beam of low energy highly spin polarized 8Li+ can be decelerated and implanted into ultra-thin structures 6–400 nm thick. β-NMR provides local information on the electronic and magnetic properties of materials which is similar to conventional NMR but can be used as a sensitive probe of ultra-thin films, interfaces and other nanostructures. We report here on the status of the spectrometer and preliminary results on a simple metal film.

The polarized beam line at ISAC relies on the well known technique of collinear optical pumping to polarize the nuclear spins of a low energy (10–60 keV) radioactive beam. Alkali-metal beams are longitudinally polarized by optical pumping of a fast atomic beam, which is created by charge exchange of the incident ion beam in a Na vapour cell. At ISAC, the beam is then reionized in a He gas target and directed to the experiments. To date, 30 keV beams of 8Li and 9Li have been polarized, and 11Li and 20Na beams are scheduled immediately following this conference. The polarization of the 8Li beam, using a dual frequency, standing wave Ti:sapphire laser, is up to ∼80%. High polarization is achieved by matching the laser bandwidth to the energy spread in the beam. The status of the facility is reported.

The β-decay properties of nuclei with N = 126, which are believed to act as progenitors in the rapid neutron capture (r-) process path forming the third peak (A ∼ 195) in the observed r-abundance element distribution, are considered critical for understanding the production of heavy elements such as gold and platinum at astrophysical sites. We have constructed the KEK Isotope Separation System (KISS), which consists of a gas cell based laser ion source (atomic number selection) and an isotope separation on-line (ISOL) (mass number selection), to produce pure low-energy beams of neutron-rich isotopes around N = 126 and to study their β-decay properties, which are also of interest for astrophysics. The isotopes of interest will be produced by multi-nucleon transfer reactions in heavy ion collisions (e.g. 136Xe projectile on 198Pt target). KISS will allow us to study unknown isotopes produced in weak reaction channels under low background conditions. We successfully extracted the stable 56Fe beam from KISS a...

Novel back-gate devices, in which the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the heterointerface is controlled by a voltage applied to the underlying Be-implanted p-type region, are successfully fabricated by using focused Be-ion-beam scanning and MBE overgrowth of an AlGaAs/GaAs modulation-doped structure. For the pn-junction-type back-gate structure, the control of the 2DEG is realized without inserting an AlGaAs barrier layer between the 2DEG and the back gate. The Be out-diffusion into the overgrown layer increases with increasing Be ion dose. However, the sharp front of the Be out-diffusion enables us to fabricate the devices with a small separation between the 2DEG and the p-type back gate. Even for a separation less than 150 nm, the damage due to Be out-diffusion is negligibly small. The gate leakage current is small when the back-gate voltage is less than 1.5 V where a forward current starts to flow through the pn junction. Within this voltage limit, the carrier density of the 2DEG was well modified in the range of (1 - 6. Trap-filling effects due to a large forward current through the pn-junction-type gates are also discussed.

The separation of carbon dioxide through the facilitated transport membrane has been investigated. The membrane remains to be effective for more than a month under reduced pressure by using a gel membrane as a support for the liquid membrane. Moreover, carbon dioxide permeation rate and selectivity increase by adding crown ether analogous to potassium carbonate aqueous solution.

Compressively strained GaInAs-AlGaInAs multiquantum-well (MQW) lasers (LD's) operating at 1.5-/spl mu/m-wavelength were fabricated with a multiquantum barrier (MQB) structure at the p-side of the optical confinement layer, using molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth technology. The effect of loading MQB is demonstrated from both laser performances and electro-luminescence (EL) spectra from LD's. As evidence of the suppression of carrier overflow by loading of MQB, it was confirmed from the laser performances that 1) the temperature dependence of slope efficiency was improved so that the efficiency was increased at high temperature and the maximum operating temperature was raised about 15/spl deg/C, 2) the temperature dependence of the K factor was improved, and the K factor was reduced more than 30% at high temperature. More direct evidence was observed in EL spectra from LD's. Reduction of about one magnitude was confirmed in the peak intensity of EL from the optical confinement layer. The rate of suppression of carrier overflow is discussed from above EL reduction rate. >

We previously showed (Frace, A.M. and H.C. Hartzell. 1993. Journal of Physiology. 472:305-326) that internal perfusion of frog atrial myocytes with the nonselective protein phosphatase inhibitors microcystin or okadaic acid produced an increase in the L-type Ca current (ICa) and a decrease in the delayed rectifier K current (IK). We hypothesized that microcystin revealed the activity of a protein kinase (PKX) that was basally active in the cardiac myocyte that could phosphorylate the Ca and K channels or regulators of the channels. The present studies were aimed at determining the nature of PKX and its phosphorylation target. The effect of internal perfusion with microcystin on ICa or IK was not attenuated by inhibitors of protein kinase A (PKA). However, the effect of microcystin on ICa was largely blocked by the nonselective protein kinase inhibitors staurosporine (10-30 nM), K252a (250 nM), and H-7 (10 microM). Staurosporine and H-7 also decreased the stimulation of ICa by isoproterenol, but K252a was more selective and blocked the ability of microcystin to stimulate ICa without significantly reducing isoproterenol-stimulated current. Internal perfusion with selective inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC), including the autoinhibitory pseudosubstrate PKC peptide (PKC(19-31)) and a myristoylated derivative of this peptide had no effect. External application of several PKC inhibitors had negative side effects that prevented their use as selective PKC inhibitors. Nevertheless, we conclude that PKX is not PKC. PKA and PKX phosphorylate sites with different sensitivities to the phosphatase inhibitors calyculin A and microcystin. In contrast to the results with ICa, the effect of microcystin on IK was not blocked by any of the kinase inhibitors tested, suggesting that the effect of microcystin on IK may not be mediated by a protein kinase but may be due to a direct effect of microcystin on the IK channel.

International audience; Multinucleon transfer reactions between two heavy ions are an important tool for production and investigation of exotic neutron-rich nuclei, which are difficult to access by other methods. The 136Xe + 198Pt system is a candidate to efficiently produce neutron-rich nuclei around the neutron magic number N=126 for the KEK isotope separation project. In order to confirm this, measurements of the production cross sections with the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer VAMOS++ and de-excitation gamma rays from target-like fragments using the high efficiency germanium array EXOGAM at GANIL are reported. The measured isotopic distributions of the projectile-like fragments are compared with GRAZING calculations. The proton stripping channels show rough agreements between measurements and calculations. For the proton pick-up channels, the measured distributions are shifted toward the heavier masses and show enhanced cross sections in transfers of two or more protons.

The tilted-foil method for producing spin-polarized radioactive isotope beams has been studied for the application to nuclear physics and materials science, using the radioactive nucleus 8Li ( $\ensuremath I^{\pi}=2^+$ , g = 0.82678(9) , $\ensuremath T_{1/2}=0.838(6)$ s) produced at the Tokai Radioactive Ion Accelerator Complex (TRIAC). We successfully produced polarization in a 8Li beam of $\ensuremath 7.3\pm0.5$ % using 15 thin polystyrene foils (4.2 $\ensuremath \mu \mathrm{g/cm}^2$ fabricated especially for this purpose. A systematic study of the nuclear polarization as a function of the number of foils, beam energy, tilt angle and foil material has been performed, confirming the features of the tilted-foil technique experimentally. The contributions made to the nuclear polarization of 8Li nuclei by the atomic states was investigated.

A new laser ion source configuration based on resonant photoionization in a gas cell has been developed at RIBF RIKEN. This system is intended for the future PArasitic RI-beam production by Laser Ion-Source (PALIS) project which will be installed at RIKEN’s fragment separator, BigRIPS. A novel implementation of differential pumping, in combination with a sextupole ion beam guide (SPIG), has been developed. A few small scroll pumps create a pressure difference from 1000 hPa–10−3 Pa within a geometry drastically miniaturized compared to conventional systems. This system can utilize a large exit hole for fast evacuation times, minimizing the decay loss for short-lived nuclei during extraction from a buffer gas cell, while sufficient gas cell pressure is maintained for stopping high energy RI-beams. In spite of the motion in a dense pressure gradient, the photo-ionized ions inside the gas cell are ejected with an assisting force gas jet and successfully transported to a high-vacuum region via SPIG followed by a quadrupole mass separator. Observed behaviors agree with the results of gas flow and Monte Carlo simulations.

Nuclear spins interact with surrounding electrical environment and electron spins interact with surrounding nuclear spin environment. These interactions lead to a small shift and/or splitting of energy levels and are called hyperfine interactions. Especially, contact hyperfine interaction between nuclei and conductive carriers plays an essential role in manipulating nuclear spins (electron spins). Understanding and precise control of contact hyperfine interaction provide us with new possibilities to establish a highly sensitive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and a coherent control of small quantity of nuclear spins in semiconductor hetero- and nanostructures. In this chapter, fundamental features of contact hyperfine interaction are overviewed together with related phenomena, such as electrical (optical) control, NMR based on hyperfine interactions, and coherent control of nuclear spins.

The physical properties (transition energy, oscillator strength, linewidth, binding energy, and reduced effective mass) of room temperature excitons in compressively strained InGaAs/InGaAlAs multiquantum‐well (MQW) structures as a function of the well width have been investigated for the first time by both absorption measurements and photomodulated transmittance measurements. Photomodulated transmittance spectroscopy has been successfully applied to clearly reveal critical transition points. Measured transition energies are in good agreement with a model which includes the heavy hole and light hole splitting due to the strain. For well widths of 2.5–7.5 nm, oscillator strengths are smaller for the strained layer MQWs than for the lattice‐matched MQWs by 35%–45%. This is due to the larger exciton radius for the strained MQWs resulting from smaller in‐plane reduced effective masses (0.031–0.038m0), which are 65% of those of the lattice‐matched MQWs.

Microstructure and magnetic properties of Mn‐Al multilayered films are studied by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x‐ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometry to investigate the origin of ferromagnetism. High‐resolution TEM images show that the Mn‐Al interface is sharp and that the crystal lattice is continuous across the interface. The possibility of ferromagnetic alloy formation is ruled out for explaining the origin of ferromagnetism. The magnetic measurements are made on films with various layer thicknesses and numbers of layers. The saturation magnetization increased as the number of interfaces increased. Magnetic anisotropy differs between films with odd and even numbers of layers. These results suggest that the ferromagnetic regions are located around the Mn‐Al interfaces, where large strain and/or stress exists.

One problem caused by high temperature during ripening in Japonica rice cultivars is a reduction in the amount of starch in the endosperm. To better understand this deleterious effect, we compared the accumulation of the two components of starch, amylose and amylopectin in grains ripened at high (32/28 °C) and low (22/18 °C) day/night temperatures in a set of lines of Japonica cultivar Taichung 65 (T65Wx b ) that are near-isogenic for the Wx locus, which encodes granule-bound starch synthase I. In T65Wx b ripened at high temperature, the amount of starch per grain decreased. However, amylose per grain significantly decreased while amylopectin per grain significantly increased. On the other hand, the amount of amylopectin in T65wx, the amylose-free line, did not differ significantly at the high and low temperatures. These data indicated that high temperatures during ripening did not directly affect amylopectin accumulation in T65Wx b and that the reduction in starch in T65Wx b from the high temperatures was caused by a decrease only of amylose. The results for T65Wx a and T65Wx op were also consistent with this conclusion. As a result of the decrease in amylose, the outer region of starch granules from T65Wx b ripened at the high temperatures also had less I 2 KI staining. Because this fact might suggest that a portion of amylose was synthesized inside the developing granules after amylopectin synthesis in rice, the effect of amylose deposition in increasing of the density of starch granules is also discussed.

The transport characteristics of in‐plane‐gated wires, in which the conducting two‐dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel and the 2DEG gates are separated by focused Ga‐ion‐beam scanned lines, are studied at low temperature (1.5 K). They are understood as a combination of the normal field‐effect‐transistor (FET) characteristics and a peculiar resistance jump at the channel pinch‐off threshold. In the normal FET region, the depletion region spreading is gradually controlled by a gate voltage applied to the in‐plane gates. The channel conductance variation by the gate voltage is explained by the change of the effective channel width rather than by the change of the carrier density. The variable range of the effective wire width is equal to or less than 0.6 μm in the experiments. In spite of this small controllable value, the channel can be pinched off up to W=10 μm with a gate leakage current of less than 1 nA. The pinch off of the wide wires always occurs together with a resistance jump at the threshold. ...

We report a recent experiment about the measurement of wall distribution of ions externally injected for charge‐breeding in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source. The ions, radioactive and singly charged 111In, were injected into the ECR ion source (ECRIS) for breeding their charge states at the Tokai Radioactive Ion Accelerator Complex (TRIAC). The residual radioactivity on the wall of the ECR plasma chamber of the source was measured, giving a two‐dimensional distribution of the ions failed to be re‐extracted during charge breeding. The distribution was decomposed, according to azimuthal symmetry, into three components, asymmetric, 120‐degree symmetric, and isotropic ones, whose origins were qualitatively discussed for clarifying ion‐losses in the course of charge breeding in ECRIS.

In order to study the nucleus‐nucleus interaction in Pb‐based cold fusion, we have measured excitation functions for quasi‐elastic scattering of 48Ti, 54Cr, 56Fe, 64Ni, 70Zn and 86Kr projectiles on 208Pb target at backward angles. The barrier distributions were derived from the first derivative of measured quasi‐elastic scattering cross sections relative to the Rutherford scattering cross section. The centroids of the barrier distributions show a deviation from several predicted barrier heights toward the low energy side. The shape of the barrier distributions is well reproduced by the results of a coupled‐channel calculation taking account of the coupling effects of two phonon excitations of the quadrupole vibration for the projectiles and of the octupole vibration for the 208Pb target.

An ISOL‐based radioactive nuclear beam facility, Tokai Radioactive Ion Accelerator Complex (TRIAC), has been jointly constructed by High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The facility started to provide RNBs for experiments in 2005. RNBs, including fission fragments with energies up to 1.1 MeV/nucleon, are available. The experiments were performed with accelerated 8Li beams of various energies. Current status of the equipments and preliminary results on these experimental studies are presented.

In this paper, we would like to report on the heat-affected zone of metallic bulk crystal of Cu ablated with femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. Due to the heat effects induced by laser pulses, the ablated bottom area is partially converted into the amorphous metals from the crystalline metals. The laser-ablated area etched using argon ion etching apparatus is measured by XRD.

In this paper, we would like to report on the heat-affected zone measurement of copper and iron bulk metals ablated with 100 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses. The thickness of the heat-affected zone in the bottom area ablated is evaluated.

A high differential gain of 9.3/spl times/10/sup -16/ cm/sup 2/ is obtained in GaInAs-AlGaInAs 1.55-/spl mu/m multiquantum-well lasers with 1% compressive strain grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. This is the highest ever achieved in this material system. The model-solid theory and an approximate k.p method are incorporated in the theoretical gain calculation that provides a detailed understanding of the experimental results and guidance to further improvement. >

A CPU is produced on a glass substrate using continuous-gain silicon TFTs. Corning 1737 glass with a distortion point of 640/spl deg/C forms the glass substrate and the process temperature never exceeds 550/spl deg/C. The 8b CPU contains 13,000 TFTs and the chip area is 13/spl times/13mm/sup 2/. Operation at a frequency of 3MHz was confirmed at 5V.

The authors have fabricated 1.55 /spl mu/m strained GaInAs/AlGaInAs MQW lasers with a multiquantum barrier (MQB). A reduction of carrier leakage upon incorporation of the MQB structure was demonstrated experimentally in long-wavelength lasers for the first time.

In order to reduce electrical power usage and the consumption of PFCs, we have researched three kinds of techniques. The first is intermittent operation of dry pumps. The next is chiller with a new refrigeration system. The technique is a gas circulation system. The first technique, intermittent pump operation, results in 51.6% reduction in carbon dioxide to be emitted for the use of energy, which includes electrical energy, nitrogen and cooling water. Next, the new Chiller conserves 68% of the electrical energy at maximum. The gas circulation system can mark 50-70% reduction in the usage of process gases, and this leads to approximately 75% reduction in PFCs emissions.

SRPX2 (Sushi repeat-containing protein, X-linked 2) has recently emerged as a multifunctional protein that is involved in seizure disorders, angiogenesis and cellular adhesion. Here, we analyzed this protein biochemically. SRPX2 protein was secreted with a highly post-translational modification. Chondroitinase ABC treatment completely decreased the molecular mass of purified SRPX2 protein to its predicted size, whereas heparitinase, keratanase and hyaluroinidase did not. Secreted SRPX2 protein was also detected using an anti-chondroitin sulfate antibody. These results indicate that SRPX2 is a novel chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG). Furthermore, a binding assay revealed that hepatocyte growth factor dose-dependently binds to SRPX2 protein, and a ligand–glycosaminoglycans interaction was speculated to be likely in proteoglycans. Regarding its molecular architecture, SRPX2 has sushi repeat modules similar to four other CSPGs/lecticans; however, the molecular architecture of SRPX2 seems to be quite different from that of the lecticans. Taken together, we found that SRPX2 is a novel CSPG that is overexpressed in gastrointestinal cancer cells. Our findings provide key glycobiological insight into SRPX2 in cancer cells and demonstrate that SRPX2 is a new member of the cancer-related proteoglycan family.

We report on green polymer light emitting diodes with improved efficiency and lifetime using a cross-linked hole transporting layer in this study. The poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorene)-alt-(triphenylamine)], which was used as a hole transporting material, was cross-linked by UV irradiation. The emitting layer of a green copolymer, poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorene)-co-(benzodiathiazole)], was spin coated from its solution on the top of the cross-linked hole transporting layer to prepare a multilayer device. By introducing the cross-linked hole transporting layer, the maximum luminance, efficiency, external quantum efficiency, and, especially, the lifetime of the multilayer green device were greatly increased compared with those of a single layer device. These were supposed to be caused by an improvement of carrier injection balance in the emitting layer, a decrease in the reduction-oxidation degradation of the emitting material, and fewer impurities entering the emitting layer due to the function of the cross-linked hol...

Novel structures, in which an AlGaAs/GaAs modulation doped structure is overgrown on an underlying Be-implanted p-type region, are successfully fabricated using a system in which focused-ion-beam (FIB) implantation and molecular-beam epitaxy chambers are connected through a high vacuum tunnel. The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the heterointerface is well controlled by a voltage applied to the Be-FIB written backgate. Though Be out diffusion into the overgrown layer is observed, the sharp front of the out diffusion enables us to fabricate devices with a small separation between the 2DEG and p-type backgate. The three-dimensional hole gas (3DHG) formed by the Be-FIB implantation is used not only as a backgate but also for measuring the interaction between 2DEG and 3DHG.

In a rigid disk a very smooth surface is desirable for high density recording, while it tends to stick to the magnetic head. To avoid this difficulty, the mechanical texturing (M/T) is widely used. Unfortunately very low flying height can’t be achieved with the M/T. To improve the flying height, authors have developed a new texturing process using anodically oxidized aluminum substrates named chemical texturing (C/T).1 Aluminum anodic oxide films have a regularly arranged honeycomb structure and uniform and roughness‐controlled surfaces were formed by etching process of chemical texturing. In the present research, the relation between the recording and tribological properties and the etching conditions were investigated. On C/T substrates Cr, a longitudinal magnetic layer CoNi, C were sputtered in an inline sputtering equipment. The surface of the sputtered layer was flat (Ra

Aluminium oxide-InP structures were fabricated by plasma anodization of evaporated Al-InP systems with intention of fabricating InP MISFETS. It was found that the resistivity and break-down strength of the A12O3 film were influenced by the selection of the end point of the anodization. At appropriate conditions the resistivity of 5 × 1010 − 1012Ω cm for the anodic Al2O3 and the minimum density of the interface trap states of 4 × 1011 cm−2 ev−1 for Al2 O3 -InP systems were obtained.

Aims/objective Nephropathy, a major complication of diabetes, is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease. Recent studies have demonstrated that podocyte injury is involved in the onset of and progression to renal insufficiency. Here, we describe a novel, highly sensitive ELISA for detecting urinary podocalyxin, a glycoconjugate on the podocyte apical surface that indicates podocyte injury, particularly in the early phase of diabetic nephropathy. Methods Urine samples from patients with glomerular diseases (n = 142) and type 2 diabetes (n = 71) were used to quantify urinary podocalyxin by ELISA. Urine samples were obtained from 69 healthy controls for whom laboratory data were within normal values. Podocalyxin was detected in urine by immunofluorescence, immunoelectron microscopy and western blotting. Results Morphologically, urinary podocalyxin was present as a vesicular structure; western blotting showed it as a positive band at 165–170 kDa. Levels of urinary podocalyxin were elevated in patients with various glomerular diseases and patients with diabetes. In patients with diabetes, urinary podocalyxin was higher than the cut-off value in 53.8% patients at the normoalbuminuric stage, 64.7% at the microalbuminuric stage and 66.7% at the macroalbuminuric stage. Positive correlations were observed between urinary podocalyxin levels and HbA1c, urinary β2 microglobulin, α1 microglobulin and urinary N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase, although urinary podocalyxin levels were not correlated with other laboratory markers such as blood pressure, lipid level, serum creatinine, estimated GFR or proteinuria. Conclusions/interpretation Urinary podocalyxin may be a useful biomarker for detecting early podocyte injury in patients with diabetes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-012-2661-7) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.

Metal‐insulator‐semiconductor diodes were fabricated on an n‐type GaAs substrate by means of plasma anodic oxidation of aluminum film evaporated on the GaAs substrate. The capacitance‐voltage (C‐V) characteristics of these diodes were significantly affected by the deposition rate of the aluminum onto the GaAs substrate. Depth profiles revealed by Auger electron spectroscopy show that the amount of gallium atoms migrated from the GaAs surface through the aluminum oxide film increases with decreasing the deposition rate of the aluminum. At the appropriate deposition rate, the C‐V curves show the increase of capacitance in negative‐bias (polarity of inversion) region at low frequency.

InP MISFET's, with native oxide film interlayed between plasma anodic Al 2 O 3 film and the InP substrate, has been fabricated and showed the instability of the drain current reduced less than ± 4 percent for the period of 5 µs ∼ 5 × 104s. The effective electron mobility is 2100 ∼ 2600 cm2/V.s at room temperature. The CV characteristics of MIS diodes and AES in-depth profiles are also discussed with respect to effects of interlaying native oxide film on device characteristics.

Enhancement type InP metal‐insulator‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors were fabricated using plasma anodic aluminium oxide as the gate insulator. The effective electron mobilities in the surface channel are 1250 cm2/Vs and 2000 cm2/Vs at 300 and 80 K, respectively. The drift of the drain current at 300 K ceases a few minutes after applying a gate voltage and stable dc operation is observed over several hours.