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T R dependence of the electrical characteristics have systematically been investigated by fabricating PVD-TiN gate FinFETs. It was found that optimal T R is 915 °C for setting symmetrical V th with a higher I ON and the smallest σV th . It was also confirmed that carrier mobilities are independet of T R and comparable to those in the case of n+-poly-Si gate. The n+-poly-Si capping on PVD-TiN gate is very useful to set symmetrical V th for undoped FinFETs without mobility degradation.

PVD-TiN gate FinFET SRAM half-cells with different β-ratios and fin-height controlled transistors have successfully been fabricated using orientation-dependent wet etching and selective recess RIE. It was found that read static noise margin (SNM) increases significantly by controlling β from 1 to 2. With further increasing β, read SNM increases slightly. On the other hand, write margin shows weak dependence on β. By controlling the fin-heights of pass-gate (PG) and pull-up (PU) transistors to one-half pull-down (PD) transistors, i.e., β = 2, the read SNM was enhanced from 133 to 185 mV at V DD = 1 V. Scaled recess areas down to 103 nm square for low-fins have successfully been fabricated by optimized electron-beam lithography and RIE. The developed fin-height controlled technology is very useful for the fabrication of scaled SRAM without cell area increment.

We have demonstrated the effect of the resistivity reduction of the ALD-TiN film using TDMAT precursor by modifying the NH 3 process (both initial exposure and PDA processes). It was found that the resistivity of the ALD TiN was significantly reduced by extending t NH3 and increasing T PDA by 700°C. Moreover, by employing the NH 3 PDA, an increase in TiN peak intensity was detected from Ti 2p by XPS analysis and Ti : N ratio of approximately 1∶1 was achieved. As a result of the evaluation of the electrical characteristics of TiN-gate MOSFETs, superior performance was achieved in the case of ALD TiN.

The V t variability in scaled FinFETs with gate length (L g ) down to 25 nm was systematically investigated, for the first time. By investigating the gate oxide thickness (T ox ) dependence of V t variation (VTV), the gate-stack origin, i.e., work-function variation (WFV) and gate oxide charge (Q ox ) variation (OCV) origin VTV were successfully separated. It was found that the atomically flat Si-fin sidewall channels fabricated by using the orientation dependent wet etching contribute to, not only the reduction of fin thickness (T Si ) fluctuations, but also the reduction of gate-stack origin VTV. Moreover, it was experimentally found that the V t of multi-FinFETs with the same gate area reduces with increasing the number of fins.

It is well known that the PVD TiN is a promising gate material to set symmetrical threshold voltage (V th ) for nondoped channel FinFET CMOS thanks to its midgap work function [1–4]. One of the most important issues in the TiN gate FinFET fabrication is the TiN gate formation especially the TiN etching on the sidewalls of the tall fin channels by using conventional RIE. Hence, an isotropic TiN etching technique is strongly required in the tall FinFET fabrication. In this paper, we experimentally investigate nanoscale TiN side-etching by wet process and demonstrate the FinFET CMOS fabricated by using the developed TiN wet etching technique.

An olfactory function test in 18 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 10 age-matched control subjects was performed. Both detection and recognition thresholds were measured with five kinds of synthesized odorants (T&T olfactometry). Before each test, rhinoscopic inspections were performed to exclude subjects who could have respiratory hyposmia. Both detection and recognition thresholds in patients with PD were significantly elevated in comparison with those of control subjects. Auditory acuity of PD patients, however, was well preserved and there was no significant correlation between auditory and olfactory threshold. On the basis of the present study, the authors conclude that olfactory dysfunction is one of the characteristic symptoms of PD and it may be attributed to lesions in the olfactory neural pathway including olfactory neuroepithelium.

The logic gate threshold voltage controllable single metal gate FinFET CMOS inverter constructed by the 3T-PMOS and 4T-NMOS have successfully been fabricated. The accurate current matching and the logic gate threshold voltage tuning by Vg2 in the 4T-NMOS have been demonstrated. A higher WF metal would be more suitable for the proposed FinFET CMOS.

TiN gate FinFET SRAM half-cells with different s-ratios from 1-3 have successfully been fabricated by using the orientation dependent wet etching and conventional reactive sputtering, for the first time. It is experimentally found that static noise margin (SNM)at read condition increases with increasing s-ratio due to the strength of pull-down transistor. To overcome SRAM cell size increment with increasing s, a fin-height controlled pass-gate (PG) SRAM structure is proposed.

As one of promising metal gate materials, PVD TiN has widely been studied for conventional bulk-planar CMOS devices due to its high purity [1, 2]. However, there have been no systematical studies regarding the PVD TiN gate work function (tin) control using the nitrogen gas flow ratio (Rfrac12 = N2/(Ar+N2)) in the sputtering. In this paper, we present the Rfrac12 controlled tunable work function PVD TiN gate technology and its application for FinFET CMOS.

This paper presents a framework of age-group classification using facial images under various lighting conditions. Our method is based on the appearance-based approach that projects images from the original image space into a face-subspace. We propose a two-phased approach (2DLDA+LDA), which is based on 2DPCA and LDA. Our experimental results show that the new 2DLDA+LDA-based approach improves classification accuracy more than the conventional PCA-based and LDA-based approach. Moreover, the effectiveness of eliminating dimensions that do not contain important discriminative information is confirmed. The accuracy rates are 46.3%, 67.8% and 78.1% for age-groups that are in the 5-year, 10-year and 15-year range respectively.

With the aim of creating a highly sensitive solid-state image sensor we developed a new CMOS image sensor that was made by overlaying a HARP (high-gain avalanche rushing amorphous photoconductor) photoconversion film on to the CMOS readout circuit. Prototype sensors were fabricated that used a new MOS transistor to increase breakdown voltage in the readout circuit. We developed connecting processes that were used to connect the HARP film to the readout circuit. Stable operation of the sensor was observed when the target voltage of 60 V was applied.

A second-moment turbulence closure and a third-order nonlinear eddy-viscosity model, which are expected to show better performance than the linear eddy-viscosity model (the standard k-e model) in swirling and tumbling flows in engine cylinders, have been incorporated to the engine CFD code KIVA-3V [1,2,3]. Test calculations have been carried out in order to compare characteristics of these models.

A controlled displacement mechanical fatigue test machine for specimens of flip-chip solder joints has been developed using PZT actuators. The extension response of the PZT exhibits good linearity using a charge control circuit. As a result of this control, errors in the strain of the specimen caused by the deflection of the test machine frame can be corrected by measuring the load. This test machine produces a cycle constant strain range in the solder joints. A fatigue test is conducted for specimens of flip-chip solder joints, and the fatigue strength of the joints is obtained. The strength of the joints seems to be higher than that of bulk solder. >

The authors consider the effect of crosspath resistance between adjacent rotor bars on the rotor slot design of an inverter-fed high-speed cage induction motor for good steady-state performance. The performance of the induction motor for various crosspath resistances for 28 and 44 rotor slots, with trapezoidal bar is examined on the basis of theoretical and experimental results for a 2.2 kW, 500 Hz, 15000 RPM, 36 stator slot three-phase induction motor. Also investigated is the equivalent rotor resistance and leakage reactance change with crosspath resistance between adjacent rotor bars for various values of fundamental supply frequency, slip, time harmonics, and rotor slot height. >

This paper discusses the effects of element length, installation of fins and exhaust gas flow rate on the power output and the conversion efficiency of a thermoelectric generation system using the exhaust gas of an internal combustion plant. The thermoelectric module consists of bismuth-tellurium based thermoelectric elements, electrodes, insulators, etc. A thermoelectric generation system consists of thermoelectric generation modules sandwiched by two square heat transfer tubes inside which exhaust gas and cooling water flow in a counter-current. It is supposed that the thermoelectric generation system recovers the heat of the exhaust gas of 60000 Nm/sup 3//h at 370/spl deg/C of an internal-combustion plant whose declared power is 10000 kW until it falls to 180/spl deg/C, and converts it into electricity. The power generation performance is obtained by the heat balance equations in the steady status between fluids and thermoelectric elements for each thermoelectric element inside the system and performing interactive calculations repeatedly. The power generation performance depends on the element length, the heat transfer area inside the hear transfer tube and the exhaust gas flow rate. As the difference between the temperature applied on the upper portion of the element and the temperature applied on the lower portion of the element becomes larger, the power generation performance is improved. The power output of 184 kW is recovered from the heat of exhaust gas of an internal-combustion plant whose declared output is 10000 kW when the element length is 15.2 mm, the fin efficiency is 4 and the exhaust gas flow rate per tube is 1212 Nm/sup 3//h.

A unique approach for bare die testing is introduced which utilizes the combination of the Au-stud-bumping technology on a die pad and the TAB technology commonly used for packaging. The proposed technique here bumps Au stud bumps on Al bonding pads on a die using the common wire-bonding technology and makes contact between the Au stud bumps and the Au-plated terminals formed on the TAB film. The Au-to-Au touch can attain the small and stable contact resistance between them. The prototype bare die carrier of this approach has been completed and the result of the first-stage evaluation is described.

Summary form only given. A new method for repetitive operation of a virtual cathode oscillator is presented. In this scheme, a virtual cathode diode in an external axial magnetic field consists of an anode (1 mm in thickness) with a hole in the center and a knife-edged annular cathode. The diameter of anode hole is typically 32 mm that is slightly larger than the cathode diameter of 30 mm. The gap between the anode and the cathode is typically 38 mm. The concept is similar to the reditron except no center part of anode. The radiated microwave travels along a circular waveguide (45 mm in diameter and 2 m in length) and is emitted into free space through a conical horn. An open-ended rectangular waveguide antenna detects microwave signals. The total microwave power is determined by integrating the radiation pattern. The microwave frequency is determined with a long waveguide dispersive delay line. With the axial magnetic field of 0.74 T, we have observed repetitive microwave radiations more than thirty times. The microwave peak power and the pulse duration is typically several MW and 20 ns, respectively, for the diode voltage of 500 kV, the electron beam current of 8 kA at the upstream and 4 kA at the downstream. The microwave frequency of each shot is almost constant, that is, 12.5/spl plusmn/1 GHz. The radiation power of microwave reduces rapidly after 30 operations.

A large-scale IBAD system with the world largest ion source was employed to fabricate ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) MgO films. Finally, we successfully fabricated a 1 km-length IBAD-MgO film at a production rate of 1 km/h. We also studied pulsed laser deposited (PLD) CeO 2 films directly on IBAD-MgO films. An observation at the interface between MgO and CeO 2 films by a transmission electron microscope (TEM), showed that a CeO 2 film was finely textured on an IBAD-MgO film though a lattice mismatch was large (28.5%). Then we fabricated PLD–GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− x (GdBCO) film on the CeO 2 /MgO substrate. Critical currents ( I c ) and critical current density ( J c ) of the films were over 300 A and 3 MA/cm 2 at 77 K, self-field.

To identify lesions responsible for vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) in multiple system atrophy (MSA), we performed a morphometric study of the nucleus ambiguus which innervates the intrinsic laryngeal muscles.Two autopsied cases of MSA presenting with VCAP and one control were examined. Both cases of MSA showed selective neurogenic atrophy of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscles among the intrinsic laryngeal muscles, while no abnormalities were seen in the control. From a block of the medulla oblongata, sections 10 microm thickness were cut serially without spacing and stained with cresyl violet. The ambiguus neurons were counted in all the sections to make a histogram.In the control case, ambiguus neurons showed densely populated areas and sparsely populated areas alternately with significant difference in the mean neuronal density between two areas. In MSA, ambiguus neurons were significantly decreased in number at all levels. It indicates that the neurogenic atrophy of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle is derived from the neuronal loss of the nucleus ambiguus.Though it has still been controversial whether or not the ambiguus neurons are decreased in number in MSA with VCAP, we speculated possible reasons for the disagreement on the involvement of the nucleus ambiguus as follows: different mechanism of VCAP are playing role, and histometric data have been disturbed by factors such as split-cell counting error and marked variation in the distribution of the ambiguus neurons.

Disrupted imprinting is implicated in certain tumorigenesis. Since aberrant methylation has been described for a majority of microsatellite instability (MSI)-positive sporadic colorectal cancers, we have investigated alteration to the imprinting in 55 sporadic colorectal cancers with or without MSI. Loss of imprinting (LOI) of IGF2 and PEG1/MEST was observed in 42% and 35% of informative cancers, respectively. H19 expression was not detected in 24% of informative cancers. SNRPN and NDN retained monoallelic expression in all the cancers examined. These findings indicate no simultaneous disruption of the imprinted genes. LOI of IGF2 and PEG1/MEST was also observed in colorectal mucosa from almost all the patients with LOI in tumor tissue. Moreover, MSI-positive colorectal cancers exhibit LOI of IGF2 with a high frequency compared to MSI-negative cancers (P=0.013). These observations, consistent with a previous report, establish an association between LOI of IGF2 and MSI in colorectal cancers and provide insight into susceptibility of tumor development.

A 10-year-old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) underwent uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and tonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). He has snored loudly during nocturnal sleep since infancy, and OSA developed one and a half years after he was wheel chair-bound at 8 years. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), conventional spirometry and overnight polysomnography were performed before and after the surgery. MRI before surgery revealed moderate tonsillar hypertrophy and a long uvula which narrowed the upper airway. After the surgery, his vital capacity (VC) was not changed (% VC; from 77 to 78%), but forced expiratory volume (FEV) was improved (FEV 1.0%; from 75 to 86%). A preoperative apnea index of 32.8/hour decreased to 0.8/hour postoperatively. REM-related falls in HbSaO2 improved remarkably. The present case suggests that subjects with DMD with tonsillar hypertrophy and a redundant uvula tend to develop noctrurnal OSA earlier than DMD cases with a normal tonsil and uvula. Assessment of respiratory function, particularly FEV 1.0%, is important for determining surgical indication of OSA in patients with DMD.

To investigate the mechanism of the vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) in the neurodegenerative diseases, the intrinsic laryngeal muscles (the crycothyroid, the interarytenoid, and the posterior crycoarytenoid muscles) from 41 autopsied cases were histologically examined: 10 cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 10 of Parkinson's disease (PD), 9 of multiple system atrophy (MSA), 4 of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), 4 of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 1 of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP), and 3 of cerebrovascular diseases as a control. According to the distribution of the neurogenic changes among above-described three intrinsic laryngeal muscles, three forms were raised: 1. The totally paralytic form showing that all the three muscles developed neurogenic atrophy. This form includes ALS, MJD, and FAP. 2. The posterior muscle-paralytic form showing that only the posterior crycoarytenoid muscle was selectively involved. This form includes MSA. 3. The nonparalytic form showing no morphological abnormalities in any of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. This type includes PD and PSP. In this nonparalytic form, supranuclear mechanism such as pyramidal or extrapyramidal tract involvement may cause VCAP through the increased laryngeal muscles tone. Considering that VCAP can be seen in any of the above-described forms, our results indicate that the mechanism of VCAP is different among the neurological disorders.

Methylation of CpG sites in the control regions of tumor suppressor genes may be an important mechanism for their heritable, yet reversible, transcriptional inactivation. These changes in methylation may impair the proper expression and/or function of cell cycle regulatory genes and confer a selective growth advantage to affected cells. Detailed methylation analysis using genomic bisulfite sequencing was performed on a series of subclones of a bladder cancer cell line in which a hypermethylated p16 gene had been reactivated by transient treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Methylation of the CpG island in the promoter of the p16 gene in human bladder cancer cells did not stop the formation of a transcript initiated 20 kb upstream by the p19 promoter but did prevent the expression of a p16 transcript. Furthermore, we show that reactivant clones that expressed p16 at varying levels contained heterogeneous methylation patterns, suggesting that p16 expression can occur even in the presence of a relatively heavily methylated coding region. We also present the first functional evidence that methylation of only a small number of CpG sites can significantly down-regulate p16 promoter activity, thus providing support for the model of progressive inactivation of this tumor suppressor gene by DNA methylation.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) show near-infrared photoluminescence (PL) when they are individually isolated. This was an obstacle to use photonic properties of SWNTs on a solid surface. We show that SWNTs wrapped with DNA maintain intense PL under the dry conditions. SWNTs are well isolated individually by DNA even when the DNA-SWNT hybrids are agglomerated. This finding opens up application of SWNTs to photonic devices.

Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) fin-channel tri-gate (TG)- and double-gate (DG)-type flash memories with a thin n+-poly-Si floating gate (FG) and different control-gate (CG) lengths (L CG's) from 76 to 256 nm have been fabricated and their electrical characteristics including statistical threshold voltage (V t) and subthreshold slope (S-slope) have been comparatively investigated before and after one program/erase (P/E) cycle. It was experimentally found that better short-channel effect (SCE) immunity, a smaller V t variation, and a higher program speed are obtained in TG-type flash memories than in DG-type memories. The higher performance of TG-type flash memories is contributed by the additional top gate and recessed bottom silicon dioxide (SiO2) regions, which strengthen the controllability of the channel potential and increase the coupling ratio of the FG to the CG. Therefore, the developed poly-Si fin-channel TG structure is expected to be very useful for the fabrication of high-density and low-cost flash memories.

To investigate the role of sodium in obesity induced hypertension, Wistar fatty rats (WFR) were employed. This rat has the following characteristics: (1) hyperglycemia, (2) hyperinsulinemia, and (3) hypertriglycemia. Four percent sodium chloride with constant amount of food intake was administered to these rats from 8 to 16 weeks. During this period, body wt, food intake, water consumption, urine volume, systolic blood pressure, urinary excretion of sodium and potassium, urinary albumin excretion, plasma sodium and potassium, and plasma glucose and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) were measured before, and twice more during eight weeks. No remarkable changes were observed in plasma glucose level during these periods between the two groups. On the other hand, in group 1 IRI significantly increased compared with group 2. Mean blood pressure was increased from 110 +/- 5 to 130 +/- 8 mm Hg (P0.01). To ascertain whether this salt sensitivity relates to the abnormalities in pressure-natriuresis responses, the pressure-natriuresis (P-N) was characterized. The P-N curve in WFR was shifted to the right and its slope was flattened compared to its control Wistar lean rats. In conclusion, an excess of dietary sodium intake may contribute to an elevation of blood pressure in Wistar fatty rat with hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. This salt sensitivity may change the abnormal pressure-natriuresis responses.

Bilateral vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) is frequently associated with multiple system atrophy (MSA) and the early clinical manifestation of VCAP is nocturnal inspiratory stridor simulating heavy snoring observed in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. We examined six MSA patients with nocturnal stridor and four disease controls including sleep apnea syndrome. Vocal cord movements were analyzed by laryngofiberscopy during both wakefulness and sleep induced by intravenous administration of diazepam. The results were as follows: First, the stenotic portion in the upper airway tract was the larynx (the vocal cords) in MSA patients with stridor, while the soft palate or the pharynx in the disease controls. Second, in the MSA patients, while awake-laryngofiberscopy showed abduction restriction suggestive of VCAP in only one of the six patients, sleep-laryngofiberscopy showed obvious paradoxical movement of the vocal cord in all the rests, where the vocal cords abducted in expiration and adducted in inspiration. In addition, there were two patterns in the inspiratory vocal cord position during sleep: one pattern where vocal glottis was still opening at the posterior one-third area and the other pattern where vocal glottis was almost completely closed through total length of the cords. Tracheostomy should be considered in the latter stage of VCAP.

To investigate the roles of extracellular matrix produced by hepatic mesenchymal cells in the organization of hepatic cell cords, perinatal rat livers were examined with immunocytochemistry of fibronectin (FN) and laminin (LM). Some hepatocytes in a free state at prenatal day 15 actively produced FN and LM in the rough endoplasmic reticulum but lost this synthetic activity when such cells were incorporated into hepatic cell cords. On the other hand, hepatic mesenchymal cells, especially those associated with the perisinusoidal space, retained this synthetic activity throughout the stages examined. In the differentiating hepatic cell cords, positive immunoreactions for FN and LM were preferentially seen on the cell surface facing both sinusoidal space and differentiating bile canaliculus concomitant with the expression of the tight junction protein, ZO-1, from prenatal day 17. Since such hepatocytes have lost or reduced their synthetic activities of both glycoproteins in the rER, the immunoreactions appear to be mainly due to hepatic mesenchymal cells which seem to play a role in the formation of the hepatic cell cords and the bile canaliculi.

Floating-gate (FG)-type tri-gate flash memories with an improved inter-poly dielectric (IPD) layer have been successfully fabricated by introducing a newly developed rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) process, and their NOR-mode operation including threshold voltage (V t) variations before and after one program/erase (P/E) cycle have been systematically investigated. It was experimentally confirmed that the gate breakdown voltage (BVg) is greatly increased from 12 to 19 V by introducing the RTO process thanks to the high quality and thin thermal silicon dioxide (SiO2) formation on the FG surface and etched edge regions, which effectively blocks the leakage pass of the IPD layer. A source–drain (SD) breakdown voltage (BVDS) as high as 4.5 V was obtained even when the gate length (L g) was as small as 117 nm. It was also experimentally confirmed that the memory window increases with increasing gate voltage (V g) in NOR-mode programming thanks to the increased efficiency of channel hot electron (CHE) injection. The developed tri-gate flash memory with improved IPD layer is useful for the further scaling of NOR-type flash memory.

The floating-gate (FG)-type metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with planar (planar-MOS) and three-dimensional (3D) nanosize triangular cross-sectional tunnel areas (3D-MOS) have successfully been fabricated by introducing rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) and postdeposition annealing (PDA), and their electrical characteristics between the control gate (CG) and FG have been systematically compared. It was experimentally found in both planar- and 3D-MOS capacitors that the uniform and higher breakdown voltages are obtained by introducing RTO owing to the high-quality thermal oxide formation on the surface and etched edge regions of the n+ polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) FG, and the leakage current is highly suppressed after PDA owing to the improved quality of the tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) silicon dioxide (SiO2) between CG and FG. Moreover, a lower breakdown voltage between CG and FG was obtained in the fabricated 3D-MOS capacitors as compared with that of planar-MOS capacitors thanks to the enhanced local electric field at the tips of triangular tunnel areas. The developed nanosize triangular cross-sectional tunnel area is useful for the fabrication of low operating voltage flash memories.

In this study, we successfully introduced an atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) titanium nitride (TiN) gate grown with a tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium (TDMAT) precursor into fin-type metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (FinFET) fabrication for the first time, and comparatively investigated the electrical characteristics, including mobility and threshold voltage (V th) variation, of the fabricated ALD and physical-vapor-deposited (PVD)-TiN gate FinFETs. The ALD-TiN gate FinFETs showed superior conformality to the PVD-TiN gate FinFETs. The electron mobilities of the ALD- and PVD-TiN gate FinFETs were comparable in the small L g region. It was also confirmed that the ALD-TiN gate FinFETs showed a smaller V th variation than the PVD-TiN gate FinFETs.

Floating-gate (FG)-type fin-channel double-gate (DG) and tri-gate (TG) flash memories with different control-gate (CG) lengths (L CG) from 76 to 256 nm have successfully been fabricated by using (110)-oriented silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers, and their electrical characteristics have been comparatively investigated. It was experimentally found that better short channel effect (SCE) immunity, smaller threshold voltage (V t) variations, and a higher program speed are obtained in the TG-type flash memories than in the DG-type memories. The higher performance of the TG-type flash memory is partly due to the additional top gate and recessed buried oxide (BOX) region, which strengthen the controllability of the channel potential and increase the coupling ratio of the FG to CG. Moreover, it was also found that the measured source–drain (SD) breakdown voltage (BV DS) is higher than 3.2 V even when L CG was reduced to 76 nm. Therefore, the developed fin-channel TG structure is expected to be very useful for the fabrication of scaled NOR-type flash memory.

Southern blot analysis showed that ATP1 and ATP2 map on chromosomes II and X, respectively. Physical mapping of ATP1 and ATP2 by chromosome fragmentation showed that ATP1 is at the left end of chromosome II and ATP2 is at the right end of chromosome X. Both are located close to telomere sequences of each chromosome; ATP1 and ATP2 being approximately 30 kb and 85 kb from the respective telomeres.

A 65-year-old male with hepatocellular carcinoma was admitted to our hospital. Hepatic angiography showed a hypervascular tumor 8 cm in diameter in the right lobe of the liver with tumor emboli in the inferior vena cava and right atrium. Then, two chemoembolization treatments using gelform and cisplatin suspended in Lipiodol were performed. Although the size of the main tumor in the liver and tumor emboli was reduced, 6 months after the initial chemoembolization the serum levels of alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) and plasma des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) rose to 14,000 ng/ml and 6.4 AU/ml, respectively, and multiple lung metastases were detected by CT scan. Then, 200 mg/day of UFT was administered orally. Four months after the administration, the levels of AFP and DCP markedly decreased to 95 ng/ml and 0.0 AU/ml, respectively, and the lung metastases and tumor emboli disappeared. Moreover, there were no side-effects including liver dysfunction.

We investigated the postcaloric nystagmus that is related to positional change in 24 patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD) and compared it with that in normal subjects. Six ears of 3 patients exhibited no evaluable caloric response. In 42 ears of 21 patients, the primary phase of caloric nystagmus was definitely observed. In 37 of 42 (88%) ears, postcaloric nystagmus was observed. The postcaloric nystagmus from a positional change in patients with SCD was significantly larger than that in control subjects. Furthermore, it was significantly exaggerated in patients with brainstem and cerebellar lesions in comparison with patients with pure cerebellar lesions. The degree of disturbance coming from visual suppression had only a limited correlation with the exaggerated postcaloric nystagmus. Also discussed are possible other factors affecting the exaggerated postcaloric nystagmus.

283 Background: Neoadjuvant paclitaxel plus trastuzumab followed by 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide plus trastuzumab revealed the high pathologic complete response (pCR) rate of up to 60% in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. However, combination of trastuzumab and anthracycline has been associated with an increased incidence of cardiac dysfunction. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of concurrent administration of trastuzumab and paclitaxel without anthracycline as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Predictive factors of pCR including deregulation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway were also investigated. Methods: Patients with HER2-positive operable breast cancer received 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel (80 mg/m2 IV) plus weekly trastuzumab (4mg/kg loading dose followed by 2 mg/kg IV) before surgery. PTEN status was evaluated by IHC with PTEN antibody (Thermo Scientific, CA). PTEN expression level was scored semiquantitatively based on staining intensity (0; no staining , 1+; reduced staining, and 2+; equal staining as compared to the internal control). PIK3CA mutation status was evaluated by sequencing of PIK3CA exons 9 and 20 using PCR amplification and direct sequencing. pCR was defined as no residual invasive carcinoma in the breast. Results: Among 37 patients enrolled, ER and PgR were positive in 18 (48.6%) and 16 (43.2%) patients, respectively. The overall response rate was 86.5% (32/37) and the pCR rate was 48.6% (18/37). pCR rate was significantly correlated with PgR negativity (p=0.004) and higher Ki67 (p=0.01). PTEN loss was observed in 33.3% (8/24) of the tumor examined. PIK3CA sequence analysis of the 13 tumors identified 2 mutations in exon 20 and 2 mutations in exon 9, corresponding to a PIK3CA mutation frequency of 30.8%. PTEN loss and/or PIK3CA mutation were not significantly associated with pCR rate. Conclusions: These data indicate that the combination of trastuzumab and paclitaxel without anthracycline is effective neoadjuvant chemotherapy with high pCR rate. PTEN loss and/or PIK3CA mutation were not useful predictors of resistance to trastuzumab.

We have comparatively investigated the electrical characteristics including threshold voltage (V th) variability and mobility by fabricating n+-polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) gate and physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) titanium nitride (TiN) gate fin-type double-gate metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (FinFETs), and demonstrated 20-nm-thick PVD-TiN gate FinFETs with a symmetrical V th. It is experimentally found that the gate stack of a 20-nm-thick PVD-TiN layer capped with a 100-nm-thick n+-poly-Si layer is very effective for setting a symmetrical V th for undoped FinFETs keeping almost the same V th variability and mobility as those in the case of the n+-poly-Si gate only. On the other hand, mobility degradation was observed in the case of pure 50-nm-thick PVD-TiN gates. These results indicate that mobility degradation probably caused by the thick metal gate induced mechanical stress can be effectively suppressed by reducing the PVD-TiN thickness to 20 nm or less.

A high-resolution magnetoencephalographic mapping method using a 64-channel SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) system and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is described. The brain magnetic field is considered to be produced by current sources. The localization of current sources is performed via computation using Biot-Savart's equation based on MEG. After matching the coordinate of the SQUID system to the coordinate of MRI, each current source location is mapped into the anatomical MRI data. >

The nanoscale wet etching of physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) titanium nitride (TiN) and its application to sub-30-nm-gate-length fin-type double-gate metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (FinFET) fabrication are systematically investigated. It is experimentally found that PVD-TiN side-etching depth can be controlled to be one-half of PVD-TiN thickness with precise time control using an ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) : hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) : deionized water (H2O) = 1 : 2 : 5 solution at 60 °C. Using the developed nanoscale PVD-TiN wet etching technique, sub-30-nm-physical-gate-length FinFETs, 100-nm-tall fin-channel complementary MOS (CMOS) inverters and static random access memory (SRAM) half-cells have successfully been fabricated and demonstrated. These experimental results indicate that the developed nanoscale PVD-TiN wet etching technique is very useful for tall fin-channel CMOS fabrication.

Increase of production rate and improvement of quality for RE123 coated conductors have been tried. In-plane texturing of MgO was attempted by the IBAD system with the world largest ion source. As a result of optimizing condition in large deposition area, the dramatically high throughput of 1000 m / h was realized to obtain the IBAD-MgO with Δ 600 A except some locations was obtained at the throughput of 15 m / h. In addition to the speed-up, the very high Ic of 1040 A was also achieved by the hot-wall heating PLD system.

In this paper, we describe the superiority of the titanium nitride (TiN) film formed by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using a tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium (TDMAT) precursor for metal-gate electrodes of planar metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). It was demonstrated that the resistivity of the ALD TiN was significantly reduced by NH3 post deposition annealing (PDA). The electrical characteristics of the ALD-TiN-gate MOS capacitors and planar MOSFETs were evaluated and compared with those of the physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) TiN. The performance of the ALD-TiN-gate cases was confirmed to be superior to that of the PVD-TiN-gate cases, which was explained by the lower interface trap density (D it) of the ALD TiN/SiO2 gate stack.

We present a case of acute monocytic leukemia presenting with extramedullary disease clinically resembling lymphoma. A 36 year-old man presented with arthralgia and was found to have skin eruption, nasopharyngeal mass, hepatosplenomegaly and superficial lymphadenopathy. The biopsies of those lesions as well as bone marrow revealed infiltration of CD45 positive large atypical cells and were interpreted as malignant lymphoma. At that time blood film showed leuko-erythroblastic picture, but no atypical cells were noted. He was treated with CHOP followed by VEPA chemotherapy and achieved partial remission. Four months later headache and double vision occurred with the same atypical cell in the cerebrospinal fluid. The cells were identified as monoblasts by cytochemistry and immunophenotype. The diagnosis of aleukemic acute monocytic leukemia was made and its CNS involvement was successfully treated with chemotherapy with DHAP and intrathecal MTX. However, two months later, blasts finally appeared in the peripheral blood and the patient died of multiorgan failure eight months after presentation. The blasts were positive for T cell markers (CD2, 4, 8) and NK marker (NKH-1) as well as monocytic markers. This finding, together with those by other investigators, may indicate the association between these immunophenotypes and extramedullary manifestations of acute monocytic leukemia.

A 72-year-old man developed supranuclear ophthalmoplegia, bradykinesia, rigidity, unsteady gait, dementia, dysphagia, retrocollis, grasp reflex and apraxia of eyelid opening. These findings were compatible with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). At the age of 66, he presented a peculiar phenomenon characterized by simultaneous tonic contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle (OOM) and the palatal muscles elicited by pronouncing "pa", which resulted in difficulty of voluntary opening of the mouth and the rhinopharynx. Therefore, the respiration air reciprocated between the lung and the closed mouth. The expiratory pressure puffed out the cheeks, while the lips remained tightly closed. While the respiratory movements and the pressure increased by degree, the OOM contracted more strongly in proportion to the pressure. Sixty to ninety seconds after the elicitation, the pressure overcame the contraction of the OOM and the course of the phenomenon was completed. The electromyograms showed that the OOM activity was prolonged after initial voluntary contraction, remaining thus after a tracheostomy for pneumonia at the age of 72, and that it increased in response to the pressure. Apraxia of eyelid opening, one of the other symptoms, resembled this phenomenon in terms of the aspect of difficulty of voluntary mouth opening. The "holding" phase of grasp reflex, yet another symptom, resembled it in the recruitment of the OOM activity. The phenomenon is not common in patients with PSP. However, we concluded that it may be included among the symptoms of PSP because it has similar characteristics to apraxia of eyelid opening and grasp reflex, which are not uncommon in patients with PSP.

Hawaii's rapidly aging population is a challenge for Hawaii's health care providers. What with the high cost of care, limited health care resources, and a rapidly increasing population of frail elderly patients living in the community, will our medical practices be able to adapt to the care of patients who require more time and who will have not only multiple medical illnesses but complicated psychosocial conditions as well? Will our health care facilities be prepared for the typically longer stay and more expensive older patient? Will the cost of care in Hawaii keep on rising? Who will pay? Will this challenge turn into a crisis?