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Increased plasma levels of von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF:Ag) are regarded as reflecting the release reaction by vascular endothelial cells and/or endothelial cell injury, and increased levels of thrombomodulin (TM) antigen as reflecting damage to endothelial cells. We investigated changes in plasma vWF:Ag and TM antigen levels during the course of regular hemodialysis treatment (RDT) in 14 patients undergoing RDT in order to evaluate the effect of hemodialysis (HD) on endothelial cells. vWF:Ag and TM were both measured by the sandwich EIA method. Predialysis levels of vWF:Ag and TM in RDT patients were both significantly higher than normal control values. Neither patient age nor blood pressure was not correlated with predialysis vWF:Ag and TM levels. Both vWF:Ag and TM levels significantly increased during a single HD session. There was a positive correlation between predialysis TM levels and duration of HD and an inverse correlation between the amount of vWF:Ag released during HD and duration of HD. It appears that HD procedures induce stimulation and damage of endothelial cells and that long-term, recurrent HD treatment may predispose to vascular disorders.

The aerobic bacterial flora of larval swimming crabs (Zoea-I to Crab-I) cultured in three hatcheries were investigated in relation to the microflora of rearing pond water and diets. The external and internal bacterial counts of the crab on ZoBell's 2216 e agar ranged from 102 to 104 and 101 to 104 CFU/animal, respectively. The number of the bacterial counts increased as the developmental stages progressed. In respect of constitution, Vibrio and Pseudomonas predominated both in external and internal bacterial flora.The total bacterial counts for rearing pond water, live diets (rotifer and brine shrimp) and minced/artificial foods ranged 104105, 106108, and 103105 CFU/ml or g, respectively. The bacterial flora of rearing pond water and live diets consisted of mainly Vibrio and Pseudomonas, while from the minced food and artificial food only Pseudomonas was predominantly isolated.

A super-precision evaluation method of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of ultra-low expansion glasses was developed using the line-focus-beam ultrasonic material characterization (LFB-UMC) system. Evaluation was demonstrated for TiO2-SiO2 glass. The sensitivity and resolution in the velocity measurement of leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAWs) in CTE were estimated to be 4.40 (ppb/K)/(m/s) and ±0.77 ppb/K for ±2σ (σ: standard deviation) at 225 MHz. LSAW velocity differences caused by different TiO2 concentrations and distributions or striae in the specimens were successfully detected and evaluated, providing two-dimensional information under the nondestructive and noncontact measurement condition. This ultrasonic method is much more accurate than conventional methods, for evaluating CTE on the surface of ultra-low-expansion glass materials needed for extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL) systems.

Background: The present study was conducted to investigate how patients with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated in the Hokuriku District, Japan. Methods: Medical records of 536 patients with stage B prostate cancer were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were diagnosed and treated at four university hospitals and 32 collaborating hospitals in the Hokuriku District. Results: Because their medical records were incomplete and/or they not available for follow up, 79 cases were excluded from this study. Conservative treatment with hormone therapy was used for 248 cases. Radical prostatectomy was performed in 199 cases, only 27 of whom underwent surgical monotherapy. There was no significant difference in disease-specific survival rates between the hormone (69.0%) and surgery group (83.2%) after 110 months. Results of the analysis of disease-specific survival rates according to histologic grade showed that patients with poorly differentiated cancers treated with hormone therapy were the only subset with significant differences when compared against the other patients. Conclusion: The value of prostatectomy alone or added was marginal in terms of survival. Only patients with poorly differentiated cancer might benefit from prostatectomy.

We used an 8987-EST collection to construct a cDNA microarray system with various genomics information (full-length cDNA, expression profile, high accuracy genome sequence, phenotype, genetic map, and physical map) in rice. This array was used as a probe to hybridize target RNAs prepared from normally grown callus of rice and from callus treated for 6 hr or 3 days with the hormones abscisic acid (ABA) or gibberellin (GA). We identified 509 clones, including many clones that had never been annotated as ABA-or GA-responsive. These genes included not only ABA- or GA-responsive genes but also genes responsive to other physiological conditions such as pathogen infection, heat shock, and metal ion stress. Comparison of ABA- and GA-responsive genes revealed antagonistic regulation for these genes by both hormones except for one defense-related gene, thionin. The gene for thionin was up-regulated by both hormone treatments for 3 days. The upstream regions of all the genes that were regulated by both hormones had cis-elements for ABA and GA response. We performed a clustering analysis of genes regulated by both hormones and various expression profiles that showed three notable clusters (seed tissues, low temperature and sugar starvation, and thionin-gene related). A comparison of the cis-elements for hormone response genes between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana, we identified cis-elements for dehydration-stress response or for expression of amylase gene as Arabidopsis gene-specific or rice gene-specific, respectively.

Superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2 is successfully induced by an electrochemical reaction using an ionic liquid solution. A clear correlation between the Fe concentration in the solution and the manifestation of superconductivity was confirmed, suggesting that superconductivity was induced by the deintercalation of excess iron., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

Purpose To study the effect of cyclosporin on steroid-induced cataract in patients after renal transplantation. Subjects and methods 140 patients who received renal transplantation and ophthalmological examinations before and over 12 months after surgery at Kanazawa Medical University were investigated retrospectively. The subjects were divided into the following two groups: the conventional therapy group(Group C) who were administered azathioprin and methylprednisolone and the triple therapy group(Group T) who were administered azathioprin, methylprednisolone and cyclosporin. There were 73 subjects in group C and 67 in group T. Judgement of steroid cataract followed Crew's classification and steroid cataract was diagnosed when vacuoles or opacity were seen in the posterior subcapsular region. Subjects that had any lens opacity before renal transplantation were excluded. Results The total dose of systemic steroid during the first year and in the final observation period in group T was significantly higher than in group C. The prevalence of steroid cataract was 55% and 63% for the 1st year, 72% and 89% for the 2nd year, 74% and 92% for the 3rd year and 83% and 96% for the 5th year in groups C and T, respectively. By the third year, the rate of subjects whose corrected visual acuity was less than 0.8 or who received cataract surgery was significantly higher in group T than in group C. There was no significant difference in the total dose between the subjects with cataract over grade I and those of grade 0 and I in both groups C and T. In group C, the total dose of steroid pulse therapy was significantly higher in the subjects with steroid cataract over grade I than in those with grade 0 and I. Conclusions Using cyclosporin, although the total dose of systemic steroid was decreased, the rate of steroid cataract increased. Cyclosporin may accelerate the development of steroid cataract. Steroid pulse therapy is considered to be a risk factor for developing steroid cataract.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a rare but serious complication following renal transplantation. It usually develops early after transplantation, and ciclosporin treatment is the most common triggering factor. We report the case of a 35-year-old male with posttransplant HUS which developed 1 year after renal transplantation. He became febrile 4 days before the onset of HUS, and the significant rise in viral titer confirmed the diagnosis of influenza A virus infection. The association of ciclosporin treatment with HUS was unlikely, because of the late onset of HUS and the low ciclosporin trough levels. The patient was treated successfully without a dose reduction of ciclosporin. An etiologic relationship between influenza A virus and HUS was highly probable in our patient. We also review a total of 156 adult cases with HUS after renal transplantation described in the literature. The prognosis of posttransplant HUS differs according to the cause. The advent of ciclosporin has improved the graft survival rate and mortality of patients with rejection-induced HUS.

Among various requirements for the a-Si TFT-LCD gate electrode, low resistivity is becoming more emphasized with the increase of display size and information content as well as process feasibility. We have developed a low resistivity Mo-W alloy as a material for gate buslines.The Mo-W film was formed by DC magnetron sputtering using Ar or Kr as the working gas. The resistivity of the fabricated film was 16 μΩ-cm when deposited with Ar, and decreased to a value as low as 13 μΩ-cm with Kr, which was less than a half that of the conventional Mo-Ta film. Inverted staggered a-Si TFTs having Mo-W gate electrodes formed with Kr were fabricated, and good transfer performance with thermal- and electrical stability was obtained. The applicability of the new alloy to LCDs with large area and high resolution was shown.

The gate/source overlap distance (ΔLs) is an important factor in fabricating self-aligned TFT with passivating layer. Six types of TFT were fabricated using thin intrinsic a-Si layers such as 20 nm,50 nm and 100 nm and a n+:a-Si or a n+:μc-Si were used as the contact layer. The least required gate/source overlap distance, ΔLsC is the critical overlap where the TFT performance is not limited by the contact. This ΔLsc was determined experimentally. ΔLsC was found to be significantly affected by the intrinsic a-Si layer thickness and the ΔLsc can be small by depositing a thin intrinsic layer. The intrinsic layer thickness dependence of ΔLsC in the linear region can be explained from a existing model. However, the behavior in the saturation region suggests the need of another model, which will be discussed here. The variation of n'contact layer shown to have a small effect on ΔLsc. In order to determine appropriate ΔLs for self-alignment TFT, the magnitude of field effect mobility, threshold voltage and drain current as well as ΔLscmust be considered.

The evaluation of periodic striae layers in TiO2–SiO2 ultra-low-expansion glasses, formed during production, is discussed through the measurement of leaky surface acoustic-wave (LSAW) velocities by the line-focus-beam (LFB) ultrasonic material-characterization system. The averaging effect associated with an LSAW propagation region interacting with periodic striae on a specimen surface was examined at 225 MHz, taking several specimens prepared with inclination angles of θ=0, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 90° to the plane of striae layers with a periodicity of 0.16 mm. LSAW velocities corresponding to TiO2 concentrations in the glass were properly measured for the specimens with θ less than 10°, and the perpendicular specimen (θ=90°) was suitable for accurate determination of the striae periodicities for LSAW propagation perpendicular to the striae plane.

A super-precise method of evaluating the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of ultra-low-expansion glasses for future extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL) systems was developed using the line-focus-beam ultrasonic material characterization (LFB-UMC) system. Evaluation was demonstrated for two commercial glasses, TiO2-SiO2 glass (C-7971) and Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 glass ceramic (Zerodur). For the C-7971 specimens, the sensitivity and resolution in the velocity measurement of leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAWs) for the CTE were estimated to be 4.40 (ppb/K)/(m/s) and ±0.77 ppb/K for ±2σ (σ: standard deviation). LSAW velocity differences caused by different TiO2 concentrations and distributions or striae in each specimen were successfully detected and evaluated. For the Zerodur specimens, LSAW velocity differences associated with the chemical compositions and crystallization conditions were observed among different ingots and specimens. This ultrasonic method is expected to be an extremely useful and effective CTE evaluation technology and to contribute to improving and developing EUVL-grade glass materials.

Lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin films were prepared on non-alkaline glass substrates widely used in liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, by plasma-assisted magnetron RF sputtering with an immersed coil. After preparation of the PZT thin film, the glass was available for use in LCD device processing. No mutual diffusion of the elements was recognized between the glass substrate and the bottom electrode. The PZT layer had a dense film structure with rectangular and columnar grains, and only its perovskite phase was crystalline. PZT thin films on a glass substrate had leakage current densities of about 10-8 A/cm2, acceptable hysteresis loop shapes with the remanent polarization (P r ) of 45 µC/cm2 and the coercive field (E c ) of 90 kV/cm. Ferroelectric properties on a glass substrate almost conform with those on a Si-based substrate.

A novel plasma-assisted RF magnetron sputtering system with an immersed coil antenna between a target and a substrate was applied for preparing Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 (PZT) thin films. The antenna enabled the generation of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) independently of the target RF source. The plasma assisted by the antenna resulted in the changes of ion fluxes and these energy distributions irradiating to the substrate. The crystalline phase of the deposited PZT thin films was occupied by the perovskite phase depending on the antenna power. In addition, a high deposition rate, modified uniformity of film thickness, and a dense film structure with large columnar grains were obtained as a result of effects of the assisted plasma. The application of the plasma-assisted sputtering method may enable the preparation of PZT thin films that have excellent properties.

A novel image-memory LCD using ferroelectric film for memory elements with gray-scale capability and ultra-low-power consumption has been proposed. We have demonstrated the operation of image-memory function by using an LC cell with discrete ferroelectric devices. A gray-scale image without any power consumption for more than several seconds has been obtained.

We have developed a multi-field driving method for TFT-LCDs in which a displayed image was divided into at least three interlaced sub-field images where visible flicker did not occur as the image refresh rate was decreased. This method made it possible not only to reduce driving-power consumption in the case of still images to less than half, compared to that of conventional methods, but also to ensure that large-area flicker and line flicker were invisible to the human eye.

— The repair of pixel defects on TFT-LCDs, which is generally carried out with laser processing or by adopting a redundant structure, is very effective for high-yield production. However, repair may result in abnormal pixel performance, usually due to the asymmetry of the applied pixel voltage. In this study, based on consideration of the dependence of the threshold contrast on the background luminance, the authors are able to determine the visibility of a repaired pixel. As a result, good agreement between measured and calculated visibility was obtained. Based on these results, we have proposed a new pixel design rule which enables complete repair of pixel defects that cannot be detected by the human eye. This design can also suppress the reduction of the aperture for TFT-LCD panels. Furthermore, we demonstrate a new redundant structure which reduces the change in pixel performance after repair to a lower level than is attainable with any other reported technique.

Resist pattern transformation by backside exposure, which is a key process for a self-alignment technique is investigated. The light intensity and a-Si:H thickness markedly affect the pattern transformation, while the effect of gate insulator thickness is small. Numerical simulations based on Fresnel diffraction showed fairly good agreement with the experimental results.

A fairly reliable capacity of 300 Mbytes has been achieved on a single side of a 90 mm high-density phase-change optical disk, using a 0.6-mm-thick disk and an optical head which had a 690 nm laser diode and a 0.6 numerical aperture objective lens. The carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR), erasability, and the bit error rate (BER) of the optical disk were investigated. It has been confirmed that these parameters have a wide laser power tolerance for most inner and outer tracks.

Thin films of Bi2Sr2CuO y were grown with MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) by the separated evaporation/oxidation/crystallization technique on a MgO (100) substrate. The proposed technique is the unit-by-unit process consisting of three steps: multilayer deposition of (Bi-Sr-Cu-Sr-Bi)×2, low-temperature oxidation (300°C) in low concentration O3 (O2/O3(0.3%)) atmosphere (5×10-5 Torr) and crystallization (750°C, 1×10-8 Torr). After growth of ten units, clear streaks on the RHEED pattern showing the twin structure and a fairly fine X-ray diffraction pattern were observed.

微結晶の配向分布関数の評価法が, 微結晶ブロック中の主軸の一つにラメラ軸をとり, 滑りが0-x2軸まわりで最大剪断方向及びラメラ内滑りとして導入されるモデルにより提示される. この方法をロール延伸高密度ポリエチレンフィルムの場合に適用し, 実測の極図と比較した. この報告では, 極図の計算精度を向上すべく, 展開係数を8次まで拡張して行った.

It has been studied about the induction of experimental disease of thrombosis or disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) using small animals. The blood coagulation or fibrinolysis system in small animals are different from that of human.In present study, we investigated the coagulation and fibrinolysis systems of Japanese and Rhesus monkeys as compared with human.These monkey's coagulation system was very similar to that of human from the results of prothrombin time test, partial thromboplastin time test, thrombin time test and the level of fibrinogen, whereas the fibrinolysis system of these monkeys were different from that of human. That is, the plasma lysis time and euglobulin lysis time were extremely prolonged in comparison with that of human.The level of plasmin inhibitor (including antiactivator), however, was same as the human. And the concentration of plasminogen in plasma from monkeys was higher significantly (p

The concept of energy height has been usually applied to estimate the energy level of aircraft and birds and to analyze their flight even in general non-uniform wind without any clear definition. In this paper, the physical meaning of the energy height is clarified. The energy height in non-uniform wind is the margin of the mechanical energy defined in a particuler non-inertial system, but not in the inertial system, and is useful for the systematic analyses of the flight; in particular, the soaring in general conditions of wind.

直交二軸延伸系の場合の非結晶鎖セグメントの配向分布関数が, 一軸延伸フィルムの非結晶鎖セグメント及びゴム状網目の配向分布関数の誘導法を拡張して確立された. この方法は一軸拘束一軸延伸PETフィルムの偏光螢光法で測定された非結晶鎖の2次及び4次モーメント評価の場合に適用された. 計算のモーメントが測定値に一致する各延伸試料の分布関数が極図法を用いて示された.