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The phase behavior and component composition of the coexisting phases in the tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBABr)/benzene/water/NaBr four-component system were strongly influenced by the temperature, TBABr content, and NaBr concentration. The phase-transfer catalytic activity of TBABr for the reaction of decyl methanesulfonate with sodium bromide was closely related to the phase behavior. Under O (oil-rich phase) + L (TBABr-rich liquid phase) + W (aqueous phase) triphase conditions, the influences of temperature and stirring speed on the phase-transfer catalytic activity were small compared with those under O + W biphase conditions. The addition of other quaternary salts that were able to form w/o aggregates in the O phase enhanced the TBABr catalytic activity even under O + W conditions. The relationship between phase behavior and catalytic activity of tetrabutylammonium chloride or iodide (TBACl or TBAI) was also examined. The results strongly suggested that the catalysis of TBAX was attributable to the interfacial reactions of TBAX with the substrate. The interface includes the water−oil microinterface formed in the microemulsion-like L phase as well as the bulk water−oil interface.

Plastic microchannel-microheater chips were fabricated on the basis of imprinting and photolithography/etching techniques. Knowing the temperature-dependent fluorescence lifetime of Rhodamine B in water, the temperature profile of the solution phase in the microchannel in the vicinity of the heater was evaluated by space- and time-resolved fluorescence microspectroscopies. The fabricated chip was then applied to control the thermal phase transition of an aqueous poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) solution. PNIPAM particle formation by the phase transition was controlled by both the applied voltage to the heater and the solution-flow rate. The temperature profile showing below or above the phase-transition temperature (i.e., 32 °C) and solution-flow profile in the microchannel were visualized successfully on the basis of the PNIPAM particle formation. The continuous and automated concentration of a hydrophobic solute by the PNIPAM particles produced by the phase transition was also explored under solution-flow conditions by using the fabricated chip.

The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (formerly, Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission; ABCC) was established in April 1975 as a private non-profit Japanese Foundation, supported equally by the Government of Japan through the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Government of the United States through the National Academy of Sciences under contract with the United States Department of Energy. Accepted 4 December 1988.In a review of the chest radiographs of 1 152 consecutively examined subjects, 10 cases (0.87%) of extensive tracheobronchial calcification were identified. In addition, 51 subjects having this coded diagnosis were identified among 11758 members of a fixed population sample. Sixty of these 61 subjects were women. Tracheobronchial calcification usually appeared after the age of 60. The subjects' clinical and other radiologic diagnoses were reviewed and tracheobronchial calcification appeared to have no clinical significance. Histologic findings in autopsied cases showed the calcifications and ossificiations to be in the cartilaginous rings themselves. However, the reason for the overwhelming prevalence of this entity in women remains to be resolved.

Hip fracture incidence rates among men and women of Japanese ancestry living on Oahu, Hawaii, from 1979 to 1981 were compared with rates for Japanese living on Okinawa, Japan, from 1984 to 1985. Both rates were further compared with those for various American Caucasian populations, including that of Rochester, Minnesota, from 1978 to 1982. Age-specific and cumulative (age 50-84 years) hip fracture rates among persons of Japanese ancestry were approximately half that of Caucasians for both sexes. Although diet and other cultural attributes of the Oahu group have become more westernized than the Okinawan population, there were no detectable differences in hip fracture rates between Oahu and Okinawa Japanese. Additional studies are needed to determine whether the observed differences in fracture rates between Caucasians and Japanese might be related to differences in bone mass, body size, frequency of falls, or other factors.

We have recently found that left antero-axillary thoracotomy provides an ideal view of aortic arch and makes the direct cannulation to superior vena cava possible for retrograde cerebral perfusion during circulatory arrest.

Associations of smoking habit with serum levels of total protein as well as protein fractions were studied in a population consisting of 4,739 atomic-bomb survivors and unexposed control subjects in Hiroshima, Japan who participated in the 1979-1981 period of the Adult Health Study, an ongoing health follow-up program of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Smoking was strongly related to serum protein concentration after correction for age, sex, and body mass index. Among current smokers, levels of total protein, beta globulin, and gamma globulin were significantly lower and levels of alpha-1 and alpha-2 globulin were significantly higher, when compared with nonsmokers. For serum albumin levels a decrease was also noted, but it failed to attain statistical significance. Ex-smokers were indistinguishable from nonsmokers in terms of the serum protein levels analyzed. With an increase of the amount of daily cigarette consumption, monotonic increases of serum levels were observed only in alpha-1 globulin. Duration of smoking was related to increased alpha-1 and alpha-2 globulin. Smoking duration was also associated with albumin level, but the trend was not monotonic. The radiation exposure effect on serum protein level was significant in several instances but was in general much smaller than the smoking effect, and its inclusion in the regression models did not noticeably affect the association between smoking and serum proteins.

The Reformatsky reaction of 2-phenylpropanal (I) with methyl α-bromopropionate gave the diastereomeric methyl 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4-phenylvalerates, IIa, IIb, IIe, and IId, in a 5 : 24 : 16 : 55 ratio. The configurations of these β-hydroxy esters were assigned by the following experiments. The reduction of IIa–IId with LiAlH4gave the corresponding diols, IIIa–IIId, which were then converted to the monotosylates, IVa–IVd. The further reduction of IVa or IVc and IVb or IVd with LiAlH4gave the epimeric 2-methyl-4-phenyl-3-pentanols, V and VI respectively. Since V and VI were also obtained as minor and major products (20 : 80 ratio) of the Grignard reaction of I with isopropylmagnesium iodide, the configurations of the C-3 and C-4 positions in IIa–IId were assigned. The Wittig reaction of I with carbomethoxyethylidenetriphenylphosphorane gave methyl 2-methyl-4-phenyl-2-cis-pentenoate (VII) and its trans-isomer (VIII), which were then reduced to the corresponding alcohols, IX and X respectively. The cis-hydration of IX gave IIIc and IIId, while a similar treatment of X gave IIIa and IIIb. From this experiments, the relative configurations from the C-2 position to the C-3 position in IIa–IId were also assigned. These configurational assignments of IIa–IId were further confirmed by the ozonization of IIa–IId.