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The effect of internal flow in symmetric and asymmetric micro regenerative pump impellers on their pressure performance was studied. It was found that the shut off head of the pump with the symmetric impeller was about 2.5 times as that with the asymmetric impeller. The computation of the internal flow was performed to clarify the cause of the increase of the head. It was found that the contribution of the angular momentum supply was larger than that of shear stress for the head development for both cases. The larger head and momentum supply with the symmetric impeller were caused by larger recirculated flow rate and larger angular momentum difference between the inlet and outlet to the impeller. The larger recirculated flow rate was caused by smaller pressure gradient in the direction of recirculated flow. The decrease of the circumferential velocity in the casing was attributed to the smaller local flow rate in the casing.

Phenyleneethynylene macrocycle-substituted acetylenes were synthesized by repetition of the Sonogashira coupling reaction, and the elimination reaction of the terminal acetylene protecting group. The monomers were polymerized with a rhodium catalyst, [Rh(nbd)Cl] 2 , at the terminal acetylene unit, and the polymerization mixtures were purified by precipitating into methanol to yield the corresponding poly(phenylacetylene) derivatives as yellow-red powders, which had a high degree of polymerization (DP≈ 500) in spite of their steric bulkiness. The trimethylsilyl and pentamethyldisiloxanyl groups of polymers improved their solubility, and the polymers were soluble in common organic solvents, such as toluene, chloroform and tetrahydrofuran.

44歳，女性．突然の頭痛，その後短時間の意識消失のため救急搬送された．頭部CT検査にて右シルビウス裂にくも膜下出血を認め，脳血管撮影検査では右内頚動脈の後交通動脈と前脈絡叢動脈の間に窓形成を認め，その外側部に2個の動脈瘤様膨隆を認めたため，開頭によるクリッピング術を施行した．術後特に合併症なく，約1カ月後に左側内頚動脈の未破裂動脈瘤に対してもクリッピング術を施行しその後退院した．頭蓋内内頚動脈に窓形成を認める症例はまれであり，これに動脈瘤を合併した症例は極めてまれである．窓形成部では血管壁が菲薄化し，これに伴い動脈瘤が形成される可能性があるためその処置においては注意が必要と思われる．

A 13-year-old girl presented with an exceedingly rare case of primary yolk sac tumor located within the lateral ventricle, manifesting as headache, nausea, and diplopia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 4-cm-diameter solid enhanced mass within the left inferior horn of the lateral ventricle. The tumor was removed subtotally via left middle temporal corticotomy. The histological and immunohistochemical diagnosis was pure yolk sac tumor. The serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was elevated at 1957.2 ng/ml and the serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin level was 4 mIU/ml after surgery. The patient underwent radiotherapy (whole brain, 30 Gy; tumor bed, 21 Gy; whole spinal axis, 30 Gy) and chemotherapy (ifosfamide, cisplatin, etoposide). After three treatment cycles, the serum AFP level had decreased to 4.5 ng/ml. However, the tumor recurred with cerebrospinal fluid dissemination after nine cycles of chemotherapy. She died 18 months after surgery. The possibility of germ cell tumor should be considered in pediatric patients with brain tumors occurring outside the pineal or suprasellar region.

The Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) and the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials collaborated on the design study of a 50 T-class hybrid magnet. The highest fields of the hybrid magnet were examined with the existing 15 MW DC source at the TML used for the resistive insert magnet. The strength of the Cu-Ag wire exceeds 1400 MPa in ultimate tensile strength (UTS). Several upper-design stresses corresponding to the Cu-Ag wire strength were placed on Bitter disks to evaluate the resistive insert. The design was conducted with two inner radii, 29 mm and 19 mm. Resistive insert magnets are consist of three-layered coaxial Bitter coils operated with the 20 T outer superconducting magnet with a room temperature bore of 400 mm. In this hybrid magnet, a UTS of 1200 MPa is needed for the Bitter disks of the resistive insert to generate 46 T.

Although high-temperature superconductors (HTS) are very promising for high-field generation over 25 T, it is difficult to apply them to an NMR magnet because of their low index values and the difficulty caused by superconducting joints. The properties of HTS appear to cause poor magnetic field stability in the persistent-mode operation. Therefore, in this study, a high-field NMR magnet including HTS coils will be operated in the driven-mode. In order to evaluate the magnetic field stability in the driven-mode, we modified a 14 Tesla (600 MHz) vertical NMR magnet. With regard to the magnet, persistent switches for axial shim coils (z0, Z1, Z2) as well as the main coil were removed for constant operation with a power supply. In addition, a 1 W Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocooler at 4 K and HTS current leads were installed in the cryostat to re-condense boiled helium gas. As a result, there was a long-term change of about 6 ppm in the magnetic field stability, but, in the short-term (a few hours), a change of about 2 ppm was observed. By the z0 shim control, in combination with the NMR field measurement, an averaged magnetic field drift of less than 0.0001 ppm/h was achieved.

An NMR spectrometer over 1 GHz requires the contribution of high-Tc superconductors(HTS). However, a persistent-mode operation with HTS cannot satisfy the field stability of 0.01 ppm/h at present. This is a great barrier for applying HTS to an NMR magnet. To overcome this problem, a new project was undertaken in Japan in October 2006. In the course of the project, we will develop a highly stabilized power supply, field-compensation methods, and measurement techniques that allow a certain field fluctuation. By integrating them, the feasibility of HTS to NMR will be demonstrated. We performed a long-term operation of a 600 MHz NMR magnet in the driven-mode. Allowable field fluctuation of the existing internal lock system for solution NMR was evaluated by a model experiment. As the next step, the innermost Nb3Sn coil of the 600 MHz NMR magnet will be replaced with a Bi-2223 coil, and the field homogeneity, as well as the field stability, will be evaluated. In the final step of the project, the replacement of the innermost coil of the existing 920 MHz NMR magnet will be planned. The targeting field is 24.7 T (1.05 GHz for 1H NMR resonance frequency). The solid-state NMR on 17O nuclei in a labeled peptide will be demonstrated using a magic angle spinning probe; the probe has a 1H decoupling frequency of 1.05 GHz.

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) are considered to be indispensable to realize NMR magnets that exceed 1 GHz owing to their high critical current densities even in high magnetic fields exceeding 20 T. Feasibility studies of the 1-GHz NMR magnet with the HTS inner coil have been reported. HTS conductors are brittle, and it is not easy to apply to superconducting coils such as the inner coils of the 1-GHz NMR magnet. Investigations into the mechanical properties of HTS coils are quite important. The hoop stress is an important factor in magnet design. Bi-2223 conductors are most promising because they are commercially available and can be obtained with lengths of more than 1,000 m. Double pancake coils with an inner diameter of 260 mm wound from Bi-2223/Ag conductors of the Sumitomo DI-BSCCO (high- type and high-strength type) were fabricated to evaluate the hoop stress dependence of the critical current of the coil. The double pancake coils were tested using the 14-T superconducting magnet with a room temperature bore of 400mm in diameter at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML). The critical current of the high- test coil was 164 A, where the hoop stress was estimated at 323 MPa. The critical current decreased to 140 A after energizing the coil above a hoop stress of 300 MPa. The high-strength test coil burst at a hoop stress of approximately 200 MPa.

In a focused library of glycolipid-based hydrogelators bearing fumaric amide as a trans-cis photoswitching module, several new photoresponsive supramolecular hydrogelators were discovered, the gel-sol/sol-gel transition of which was pseudo-reversibly induced by light. Studying the optimal hydrogel by NMR spectroscopy and various microscopy techniques showed that the trans-cis photoisomerization of the double bond of the fumaric amide unit effectively caused assembly or disassembly of the self-assembled supramolecular fibers to yield the macroscopic hydrogel or the corresponding sol, respectively. The entanglement of the supramolecular fibers produced nanomeshes, the void space of which was roughly evaluated to be 250 nm based on confocal laser scanning microscopy observations of the size-dependent Brownian motion of nanobeads embedded in the supramolecular hydrogel. It was clearly shown that such nanomeshes become a physical obstacle that captures submicro- to micrometer-sized substrates such as beads or bacteria. By exploiting the photoresponsive property of the supramolecular nanomeshes, we succeeded in off/on switching of bacterial movement and rotary motion of bead-tethered F 1 -ATPase, a biomolecular motor protein, in the supramolecular hydrogel. Furthermore, by using the photolithographic technique, gel-sol photopatterning was successfully conducted to produce sol spots within the gel matrix. The fabricated gel-sol pattern not only allowed regulation of bacterial motility in a limited area, but also off/on switching of F 1 -ATPase rotary motion at the single-molecule level. These results demonstrated that the photoresponsive supramolecular hydrogel and the resulting nanomeshes may provide unique biomaterials for the spatiotemporal manipulation of various biomolecules and live bacteria.

SUMMARY This paper provides the theoretical calculation results of thermodynamic and transport properties of CO2, CO2– O2 mixture, CO2–H2 mixture under thermal equilibrium condition at temperatures of 300 to 30,000 K and at pressures of 0.1 to 10 MPa. The gas CO2 is one of the candidates for the environmentally benign arc-quenching medium in a circuit breaker. Furthermore, the effect of additional gases O2 and H2 on the thermodynamic and transport properties of CO2 was also investigated in this paper. The hydrogen atom included CO2 is similar to the polymer ablated vapor in switching devices. First, equilibrium compositions of CO2, CO2–O2 mixture, CO2–H2 mixture were calculated through the Gibbs free energy minimization method. Second, thermodynamic properties were computed using the calculated composition. Finally, transport properties were calculated by the first-order approximation of Chapman– Enskog method using the collision integrals between species. Inclusion of H2 increases the electrical conductivity of CO2 in the range 3000 to 6000 K because CHO molecules produced in this temperature range emit more electrons due to the lower ionization potential of CHO. It also increases the thermal conductivity of CO2 especially due to dissociation reactions of H2 around 3900 K and ionization of H around 15,000 K. These properties provided here can be used for CO2 thermal plasma simulation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 163(4): 18–29, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience. wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20467

From a library of glyco-lipid mimics with muconic amide as the spacer, we found that 1, a glyco-lipid that has N-acetyl glucosamine and methyl cyclohexyl groups as its hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tails, respectively, formed a stable hydrogel (0.05 wt %) through hierarchical self-assembly of the lipid molecules into supramolecular nanofibers. The formation of the supramolecular hydrogel was verified by rheological measurements, and the supramolecular nanofiber was characterized as the structural element by transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy observations. Absorption and circular dichroism spectroscopic measurements revealed that the muconic amide moieties of 1 are arranged in a helical, stacked fashion in the self-assembled nanofibers. Moreover, we unexpectedly found that the homogeneous distribution of the supramolecular nanofibers of 1 was greatly facilitated by the addition of polystyrene nanobeads (100-500 nm in diameter), as evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscopic observations. It is interesting that the obtained supramolecular hybrid matrix can efficiently encapsulate and distribute live Jurkat cells in three dimensions under physiological conditions. This supramolecular hybrid matrix is intriguing as a unique biomaterial.

For the development of high magnetic field application using high temperature superconductor (HTS), Bi-2223/Ag tape is one of the promising materials because of its high current capacity and upper critical field. However, Bi-2223/Ag tape shows very strong anisotropy and significant deterioration of critical current in the magnetic field. To explore the possibility of HTS in high field applications, we evaluated the critical current and index value of Bi-2223/Ag conductor in high magnetic field. The Bi-2223/Ag tape was characterized as a function of increasing and decreasing field. The temperature dependence was also examined lower than 4.2 K. All measurements were carried out with hybrid magnet system up to 30 T and the experimental results are reported.

In order to obtain a large magnetic force environment using a commercially available superconducting magnet with a room-temperature bore, a new cryostat cooling a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) bulk cylinder with a G-M cryocooler down to approximately 20 K was developed. The cryostat was inserted so that the bulk cylinder might be located at the mid-plane of a 12-T cryocooler-cooled magnet. In the first experiment, the cylinder was cooled from room temperature to 21 K at 5.0 T. The backup field was then decreased to 0 T. A field of 4.9 T was maintained along the Z-axis inside the cylinder. The second experiment was carried out from a backup field of 11.5 T. The HTS bulk cylinder maintained the magnetic flux down to about a backup field of 7.6 T, at which point the superconducting state of the cylinder was lost in a brief period. The experimental data exhibit good accordance with the calculation results. In the calculation, the minimum BdB /dz of -1029 T2/m was estimated to be generated along the Z-axis. As that of the magnet is -564 T2/m at 12 T, the enhancement of the magnetic force with the HTS bulk cylinder was confirmed.

A workbench magnet that generates magnetic fields on a room-temperature (RT) plate was developed. The magnet did not have a RT bore. The improvement of accessibility to magnetic fields has made several types of processing and measurement easier. The magnet provides external fields, magnetic fields in the vicinity of the top of a winding, of a solenoid coil on the RT plate. The external fields depend strongly on the gap between the RT plate and the top of the winding. The magnet was a cryocooled superconducting magnet with a 1-W GM cryocooler at 4 K. The magnet successfully generated magnetic fields of over 3 T at the center of the RT plate. The magnet could generate magnetic fields more than twice the surface magnetic fields of permanent magnets with the same accessibility.

Although high-temperature superconductors (HTS) are very promising for high-field generation over 25 T, it is difficult to apply them to an NMR magnet because of their low index values and the difficulty caused by superconducting joints. We have developed a drift compensation technique to apply HTS to a high-resolution NMR using a 14 T (600 MHz) vertical NMR magnet. The magnet had a poor magnetic field stability of about -0.7 ppm/hour, so a drift compensation unit based upon a flux pump method was added. The unit consisted of nested inner (secondary) and outer (primary) coils. The inner coil was connected in series to the main coil circuits, and the outer coil was connected to the auxiliary power supply to sweep the output current very slowly. While the current of the outer coil was changed at an adequate sweep rate by the power supply, the current was induced by inductive coupling in the inner coil. The induced current canceled out the decay of the main coil current that caused the poor drift of the magnet. With the drift compensation unit, the magnetic field drift was improved to less than 0.0001 ppm/hour for 3 days at 14 T. This period was long enough for one NMR measurement.

Wnt5a, which regulates various cellular functions in Wnt signaling, is involved in inflammatory responses, however the mechanism is not well understood. We examined the role of Wnt5a signaling in intestinal immunity using conditional knockout mice for Wnt5a and its receptor Ror2. Removing Wnt5a or Ror2 in adult mice suppressed dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis. It also attenuated the DSS-dependent increase in inflammatory cytokine production and decreased interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-producing CD4+ Th1 cell numbers in the colon. Wnt5a was highly expressed in stromal fibroblasts in ulcerative lesions in the DSS-treated mice and inflammatory bowel disease patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) isolated from the colon of Wnt5a and Ror2 deficient mice reduced the ability to differentiate naïve CD4+ T cells to IFN-γ-producing CD4+ Th1 cells. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the Wnt5a-Ror2 signaling axis augmented the DCs priming effect of IFN-γ, leading to enhanced lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced interleukin (IL)-12 expression. Taken together, these results suggest that Wnt5a promotes IFN-γ signaling, leading to IL-12 expression in DCs and thereby inducing Th1 differentiation in colitis.

Objectives: It can be difficult to differentiate diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (DMPM) from reactive mesothelial hyperplasia (RMH) or peritoneal dissemination of gynecologic malignancies, such as epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), which cause a large amount of ascites. Detection of the homozygous deletion of p16/CDKN2A (p16) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is an effective adjunct in the diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of the p16 FISH assay to differentiate DMPM from RMH and EOC. Methods: p16 FISH was performed in 28 DMPMs (successful in 19), 30 RMHs, and 40 EOC cases. The cutoff values of p16 FISH were more than 10% for homozygous deletion and more than 40% for heterozygous deletion. Results: According to the above criteria, nine (47.4%) of 19 successful DMPM cases were homozygous deletion positive, and three (15.8%) of 19 were heterozygous deletion positive, whereas all RMH cases were negative for the p16 deletion. In all four major histologic subtypes of EOC, neither p16 homozygous nor heterozygous deletions were detected. To differentiate DMPM from RMH or EOC, the sensitivity of the p16 homozygous deletion was 32% (9/28), and the specificity was 100%. Conclusions: Our study suggests that p16 FISH analysis is useful in differentiating DMPM from RMH and EOC when homozygous deletion is detected.

We have successfully developed a 1020MHz (24.0T) NMR magnet, establishing the world's highest magnetic field in high resolution NMR superconducting magnets. The magnet is a series connection of LTS (low-Tc superconductors NbTi and Nb3Sn) outer coils and an HTS (high-Tc superconductor, Bi-2223) innermost coil, being operated at superfluid liquid helium temperature such as around 1.8K and in a driven-mode by an external DC power supply. The drift of the magnetic field was initially ±0.8ppm/10h without the (2)H lock operation; it was then stabilized to be less than 1ppb/10h by using an NMR internal lock operation. The full-width at half maximum of a (1)H spectrum taken for 1% CHCl3 in acetone-d6 was as low as 0.7Hz (0.7ppb), which was sufficient for solution NMR. On the contrary, the temporal field stability under the external lock operation for solid-state NMR was 170ppb/10h, sufficient for NMR measurements for quadrupolar nuclei such as (17)O; a (17)O NMR measurement for labeled tri-peptide clearly demonstrated the effect of high magnetic field on solid-state NMR spectra.

Wnt5a regulates planar cell polarity in epithelial cells, but it remains to be determined whether Wnt5a and its receptors are sorted apically or basolaterally, and how Wnt5a signaling is involved in apical and basolateral polarization. We found that Wnt5a was secreted basolaterally in polarized kidney epithelial cells. The basolateral secretion of Wnt5a required Wntless (Wls), clathrin and adaptor protein 1 (AP-1). Wnt5a receptors were also localized to the basolateral membranes, but their sorting did not require Wls. Wnt5a-induced signaling was stimulated more efficiently at the basolateral side than the apical side of epithelial cells. Knockdown of Wnt5a delayed apical lumen formation of the epithelial cyst, and these phenotypes were rescued by wild-type Wnt5a, but not by a Wnt5a mutant that is secreted apically. Although apoptosis was not required for apical lumen formation in a wild-type cyst, apoptosis was necessary for eliminating luminal cells in a Wnt5a-depleted cyst. These results suggest that Wnt5a and its receptors are sorted to their correct destination by different mechanisms and that the basolateral secretion of Wnt5a is necessary for apical lumen formation in the epithelial cyst.

The hybrid magnet (HM) at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) generates 35 T in a 52-mm warm bore with a field uniformity of about 6500 ppm in a 10 mm diameter sphere volume (DSV). A new resistive insert magnet with the same bore was designed to provide the higher field uniformity in the HM operation and the construction was started. This emagnet is composed of three concentric Bitter coils. The height of the outer coil is almost equal to that of present insert, . Tand the middle coil is made of a split-paired winding; . Tthe split gap is 53 mm. The A uniformity better than 10 ppm in a 10 mm DSV will be achieved at a themagnetic field of 34.0 T in a backup field of 14 T. This eimprovement in uniformity, in conjuncllaboration with theimprovements of the DC power supply already in progress at the TML, will make it possible to expand the application fields of the HM of the TML.

The Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) has been a user facility for external users since April 1998 and contracted 91 collaborative studies with external research groups in the 2005 fiscal year. Internal and external researchers use high magnetic fields for magnetic processing as well as extreme-environment measurements. In 2006, two major changes were made to expand the experimental possibilities. One was the replacement of the helium liquefaction system, and the other was the remodelling of the 15 MW DC power supply. TML has also built an NMR complex including a 930 MHz and a 920 MHz NMR spectrometer. We have also started a collaborative study on high-field magnet development with the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials. The projects include the development of a 30 T class superconducting magnet and a 50 T class hybrid magnet.

It is the time resource that one deals with in scheduling. The task is how one can achieve the optimal allocation of a given time resource over a set of assigned activities. Most of the existing scheduling methods use a parametric time by which the activities are orderly allocated in accordance with the order of events. The parametric methods however fail in incorporating a dynamic aspect of scheduling that unfolds itself as the project proceeds as well as inerasable uncertainty in activities whose starting and ending nodes fluctuate. This paper reformulates the concept of time to match to a dynamic scheduling through a non-deterministic modeling of scheduling as a “mapped/represented” and “transformed/processed” temporal movement. It will be shown that an elastic interpretation of activity fluctuation can be derived naturally from the model, which allows us to develop an elastic network method for scheduling.

The water-cooled insert magnet of the TML hybrid magnet successfully generated 37.9 T in a 32-mm room- temperature bore with a 14.02 T buckup field generated by a superconducting outsert magnet. At that magnetic field, the maximum electric power for the insert magnet was 13.35 MW. This Bitter-type insert magnet is divided into three coaxial coils, and the innermost coil consists of two coaxial coils. The inner coil is connected in series with the outer two coils connected in parallel. The Bitter plates for the outermost coil were made of GlidCop AL-25, and those for the other coils were made of hard-worked Cu-Ag plates. The thickness of the Cu-Ag plates was 0.40 mm, and the average 0.2% yield strength was about 810 MPa at 373 K

A magnet that allows horizontal as well as vertical access to the magnet center is suitable for industrial applications. We designed and fabricated a split-paired magnet cooled with two G-M refrigerators. The magnet has a vertical room-temperature bore of 400 mm in diameter and a horizontal room-temperature gap of 73 mm. Its design value of field uniformity around the magnet center is 0.53% in a space 200 mm in diameter and 50 mm in height. The magnet successfully operated up to 3 T. It was applied to produce anisotropic conductive sheets. Anisotropic conductive materials that are composed of dispersed contacts in polymer film are indispensable for electrical connections in multimedia devices. The magnet was combined with a sheet-forming machine that could press a mold up to 5 tons and 473 K. By using the mold with finely arranged ferromagnetic pins, the production of anisotropic conductive sheets with highly dense contacts and high reliability was successfully achieved

A new 52-mm warm-bore resistive insert for a hybrid magnet was designed and constructed at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). This magnet successfully generated a peak magnetic flux density of 35.5 T at the operating current of 34.88 kA and 367.5 V with a background field of 14.05 T. To supply the high magnetic fields for more time in the 52-mm warm bore, an axially cooled three-coaxial-coil structure and a staggered layout of the elongated cooling holes were adopted for Bitter disks after a parameter survey that was conducted to consider a reduction in the operating electric power. Disks were stacked in a modified Weggel scheme on a turntable with a rotating angle controlled by the stacking data of each coil. The innermost coil was connected electrically in series with the two outer coils connected in parallel. The Bitter disks used in the coils were made from two kinds of Cu-Ag plates. The magnet is now in operation for users

Liver negative-strand hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is the most direct indicator of active viral replication but has only been examined in a few semiquantitative studies.Positive- and negative-strand HCV RNA in the right (R) and left (L) liver lobes was quantified by rTth-based strand-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction for 48 chronic hepatitis C patients.Close correlations between lobes were seen for positive- and negative-strand amounts (r = 0.950; P0.001 and r = 0.920; P0.001, respectively). The ratio of negative to positive strands (median, 0.14 for R and 0.13 for L) varied by 2 log directly in relation to HCV replication assessed by liver negative strands but had no relation to liver positive strands and circulating HCV. Only negative-strand quantitation was inversely correlated with age (r = -0.322; P = 0.026 for R and r = -0.340; P = 0.018 for L), while liver tissues with hepatitis B virus DNA contained larger amounts of each strand. In 27 patients treated with enhanced interferon monotherapy, the amounts of liver negative strands (4 log copies/100 ng RNA) were the only independent predictor of a sustained virologic response.Negative-strand quantitation is uniform in the liver and bears distinct relevance to the disease.

A 67-year-old male with a history of asbestos exposure presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea and was found to have diffuse granular shadowing in both lungs, right pleural effusion, and hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy upon chest computed tomography. For definitive diagnosis, a thoracoscopic lung biopsy was performed. Intraoperative findings showed no remarkable macroscopic changes in the visceral and parietal pleura, although a high level of hyaluronic acid in the pleural effusion was noted. Histological findings showed proliferation of atypical cells with round-to-oval nuclei, prominent nucleoli, and eosinophilic cytoplasms. These cells were arranged into sheets or tubules and were located predominantly in the lung parenchyma. Lymphovascular invasion was conspicuous. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for calretinin, D2-40, and CK5/6, focally positive for Ber-EP4, but negative for WT-1, TTF-1, CEA, and MOC31. Fluorescence in situ hybridization for the tumor suppressor p16 revealed homozygous deletion in the tumor cells. Therefore, we diagnosed the tumor as diffuse intrapulmonary malignant mesothelioma (DIMM). The patient had a poor response to chemotherapy and died 1 year after diagnosis. Although rare, DIMM should be considered when patients present with multiple, tiny intrapulmonary nodules, regardless of macroscopic pleural changes. Furthermore, this is the first report on p16 status in DIMM.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a neoplastic disease with a poor prognosis. The complete resection of tumor with extra-pleural pneumonectomy is effective only for early stage epithelioid-type MPM. An accurate pathological diagnosis including the histological subtype and also clinical staging are crucial to decide on the therapeutic approach. However, the pathological diagnosis is difficult when the amount of biopsy sample is small. We performed a comparative analysis of the miR-31 expression in MPM and reactive mesothelial proliferations (RMPs), by RT-qPCR of formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded samples, and compared the expression levels of miR-31 with the results of a survival analysis for the diagnosis and prognosis of MPM. The expression of miR-31 was found to be significantly reduced in MPMs compared with RMPs (P < 0.01). The pathological subtype of four among five cases with upregulated miR-31 levels was MPM with a sarcomatoid component. (i.e., biphasic or sarcomatoid type). Furthermore, these four cases were significantly associated with a worse prognosis compared with the five cases of biphasic or sarcomatoid MPM without upregulated miR-31 expression (P = 0.0027). In conclusion, the analysis of miR-31 expression levels may be a good biomarker for diagnosis of MPM histological typing and predicting the prognosis.

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate T 1 −1 has been measured for the ladder sites of two single crystals Sr14Cu24O41 (Sr14-A,B) by 63Cu NMR/NQR. The hole localization around 100 K appears as a peak in the T variation of T 1 −1 (NQR). On the other hand, it is suppressed in the T 1 −1 (NMR) data under the magnetic field H ∼ 11 T, and a new peak appears around 20 K. T 1 −1 (NMR) around the peak is more enlarged for Sr14-B than for Sr14-A. Hence, holes on the ladders of Sr14-B tend to be more localized. This is considered to be an origin for the occurrence of the magnetic order in Sr14-B under H ∼ 11 T.

We developed an apparatus for the measurement of thermal expansion using double extensometers between 290 K and 5 K. The sample was set vertically in a variable temperature cryostat and its expansion or contraction was measured using the extensometers directly attached to the sample. The temperatures of the samples were controlled with He gas from the cryostat and a heater wounded around the sample chamber. In order to ensure the validity of this system, we measured the thermal expansion of Ag plates with different thicknesses. As a result, the measured thermal expansion curves were confirmed to show good agreement with each other for Ag plates with thickness of 3 mm, 1 mm and 0.2 mm. Good agreement was also ensured for the curves measured during both the cooling and warming processes. These results suggest that our system will be applicable for superconducting composites with a cross-section as small as 1 mm 2 .

A 920-MHz high-resolution NMR spectrometer has been operating at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) since April 2002. It has proved its effectiveness by determining the 3-D structures of protein molecules. To accelerate studies in structural biology and solid-state NMR, a second high-field NMR magnet was developed and installed at TML. Although its basic design was the same as that of the first magnet, some improvements were made. For the innermost coil, a 16%Sn-bronze-processed (Nb,Ti)/sub 3/Sn conductor was employed. The increase in the critical current density above that of a 15%Sn-bronze-processed (Nb,Ti)/sub 3/Sn conductor made it possible to reduce the conductor size from 3.5 mm /spl times/ 1.75 mm in the first magnet to 2.80 mm /spl times/ 1.83 mm in the second. At the same operating current of the first magnet, the second magnet is expected to operate at 930 MHz. The liquid helium reservoir and the superfluid helium cooler, which were separated in the first system, were united in the same chamber in the new magnet. The latter magnet was energized up to 21.9 T without quenching in March 2004 and has operated in a persistent-mode at that field. It will be utilized mainly for solid-state NMR measurements.

A direct measurement has been carried out of the upper critical magnetic field (B/sub c2/) of bronze-processed Nb/sub 3/Sn wires with and without the addition of various third-elements to the Cu-Sn matrix using a hybrid-magnet at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory at fields up to 30 T. The B/sub c2/ of pure Nb/sub 3/Sn rose with increasing heat treatment temperature up to 880/spl deg/C (B/sub c2/=24.7 T at 4.2 K), above which point it decreased rapidly. Its value was independent of the Sn content in the bronze. In the Ti addition samples, the optimum value of B/sub c2/ (=26 T at 4.2 K) depended on both Ti content and heat treatment temperature. When Sb was added, B/sub c2/ showed a sharp fall below a heat treatment of 700/spl deg/C due to the replacement at the Sn site by a Sb atom.

The performance of a flux concentrator using an YBCO oxide superconductor was tested to raise the steady state magnetic field generated by the existing magnet. This concentrator was composed of an outside hollow cylinder and a pair of half cylinders that goes in and out in the outside cylinder. This flux concentrator generated additional magnetic field more than 1.6 T for an applied magnetic field 28 T.

Cyclic loading tests were conducted basically under completely reversed strain controlled conditions with a strain rate of 1.1×10^2〜10^4 and a strain amplitude of 0.1 at 25℃ for polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polycarbonate (PC) and polyphenylen-ether (PPE). The experimental results show that stress-strain hysteresis loops of such solid polymers have a different shape than those of metallic materials. PE, PP and PC have a small acute angle between the tangents to the loading and unloading branches and PPE has a boomerang-like shape. The viscoplastic constitutive model based on overstress (VBO) has been shown to reproduce various experimental hysteresis loops of most metallic materials but the original model is not so flexible enough to represent these shapes of polymeric materials. This paper suggests a modification method, which enable the modeling of hysteresis loops with a cusp applying to simulate the cyclic motion behavior of PE in extensive experiments within the framework of the VBO model.

Monotonic compressive loading and relaxation tests were conducted under constant and time-varying strain rate conditions of 1.1×10^-10^ and 10-40℃ for polyphenylen-ether (PPE), an amorphous polymer. The observed stress-strain responses were similar to those of other engineering plastics showing notable effects of the strain rates and temperature, but the strain-rate change tests revealed predominant overshoot phenomena in the stress transfer processes. The experimental results indicated that the concept of time-temperature equivalence is also applicable to PPE and the comparative investigation on the effect of crystallinity and the material constants which control the time-temperature scale shift was carried out for five polymeric materials. The viscoplastic constitutive model based on overstress successfully reproduced the observed stress-strain responses including the overshoot phenomena using a newly proposed additional function which control the viscosity in the model.

症例は33歳,女性で,婦人科にて骨盤腹膜炎に対し抗生剤治療が行われた後より右鼠径部に落痛を伴う硬結が出現したため当科へ紹介となった.検査にて,骨盤内と右鼠径部の硬結の部に4カ月前の子宮卵管造影に使用されたリピオドールの沈着を認めた.手術時,ヘルニア嚢と周囲組織に強い炎症を認め,ヘルニア嚢の全切除と高位結紮,内鼠径輪縫縮を行った.病理診断はヘルニア嚢の黄色肉芽腫性炎症であった.リピオドールによる異物性の肉芽腫性変化を起こしたヘルニア嚢内に骨盤腹膜炎の炎症が波及して症状を呈した症例で,稀ではあるが油性造影剤の使用時の合併症として考慮する必要があると思われた.

We have proposed new applications of bulk high-temperature superconductors in high magnetic fields. High-temperature superconductors, such as BSCCO or YBCO, maintain their superconductivity over 30 T at 4.2 K. A field-cooled superconducting hollow cylinder traps the magnetic flux inside itself. A field-cooled superconducting solid cylinder traps in the interior of it. An increase of the applied magnetic field induces shielding current in the interior of the cylinder to maintain the magnetic flux constant. By suitably arranging the cylinders, we can concentrate the magnetic flux and enhance the gradient of the magnetic field. In order to confirm these concepts, we performed experiments using bulk YBCO cylinders. The cylinders are made of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ quasisingle crystals containing Y/sub 2/BaCuO/sub 5/ particles. Hollow and solid cylinders were employed to concentrate the magnetic flux. Using three hollow cylinders, the concentrated magnetic field of 0.49 T was observed in the applied magnetic field of 10.14 T. The concentrated magnetic field of 0.64 T was observed for the solid cylinders in the applied magnetic field of 10.24 T. The magnetic flux concentration was observed even in the high magnetic field over 20 T.

Magnetic field direction often greatly influences material properties, such as critical current densities of tape-shaped superconductors. To determine the influence of this parameter, an object is usually rotated in a fixed magnetic field, which is not always effective. We are developing a variable-field-direction superconducting magnet that can change its field direction continuously in a 2D plane. Two sets of split-pair coils are placed perpendicular to each other, and the perpendicular magnetic fields generated by each split-pair coil are superimposed. By independently controlling the operating current of each split-pair coil, we can continuously change the direction of the superimposed magnetic field. Four solenoid coils were wound with Nb-Ti conductors. This magnet is designed to rotate a field of 1 T. The field homogeneity is estimated to be less than 1% in a 10 mm-diameter sphere volume. This is a conduction-cooled superconducting magnet employing 4K-GM refrigerators. We constructed a cryostat with two types of room-temperature bores and conducted a cooling test without solenoid coils and supporting structures was conducted.

The first 920 MHz high-resolution NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) magnet was successfully installed at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory of the National Institute for Materials Science. A persistent operation at 21.6 T has continued since April 2002 without any problems. Excellent field stability of 0.31 Hz/h was observed from December 2002 to January 2003. Since July 2002, the magnet was used as an essential part of the only 920 MHz high-resolution NMR spectrometer in the world. The signal-to-noise ratio of 0.1% ethylbenzene using a proton-selective probe was as high as 2981. An HCN triple-resonance probe is now attached to the spectrometer to contribute to the National Project on Protein Structural and Functional Analysis in Japan. The completion of the second 920 MHz-class NMR spectrometer is scheduled for spring 2004.

The Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) of the National Institute for Materials Science has been producing epoch-making achievements in the history of high-field magnets. TML is also known as one of the largest high magnetic field facilities in the world and opened to domestic and international users. As a milestone in the 1-GHz NMR project, a 920-MHz high-resolution NMR magnet using Nb 3 Sn innermost coil was developed in order to accelerate studies to obtain stereoscopic protein structures. Measurements for analyzing the stereoscopic structure of protein molecules using 920 MHz NMR magnet have been performed since July 2002.

症例は51歳の男性で, 心窩部痛, 右下腹部痛を訴えて受診した. 右下腹部に腹膜刺激症状を認め, 白血球12,400/μl, CRP10.3mg/dlと炎症所見を呈していた. CT検査では, 回腸末端, 盲腸, 上行結腸の腸管壁の肥厚を認めた. 急性虫垂炎穿孔, 腹腔内膿瘍の疑いで開腹手術を施行した. 開腹すると回腸末端と上行結腸の間の腸間膜に手拳大の腫瘤を認めたため, 回盲部切除を行った. 切除標本では回腸末端に潰瘍性病変を認め, その部から穿通し, 回腸末端と上行結腸の間の腸間膜内に膿瘍を形成していた. 病理組織検査で潰瘍性病変は中分化腺癌と診断された. 盲腸周囲膿瘍の原因として極めてまれな回腸癌穿通の1例を報告した.

The first 920 MHz high-resolution NMR magnet has been operating at the Tsukuba Magnet Laboratory (TML) of the National Institute for Materials Science since April 2002. It has proved its effectiveness by determining the three-dimensional structures of protein molecules. To accelerate studies in structural biology and solid-state NMR, a second high-field NMR magnet was developed and installed at TML. Although its basic design was based on that of the 920 MHz NMR magnet, some parts have been improved. We applied a 16 wt.% Sn bronze-processed (Nb,Ti)3Sn conductor for the innermost coil, replacing the 15 wt.% Sn conductor. This enabled a size reduction of 3.50 mm x 1.75 mm in the first magnet to 2.80 mm x 1.83 mm in the second because of an improvement of more than 20% in critical current density. As the magnetic field generated by the innermost coil was increased, at the same operating current of the first magnet, operation at 930 MHz was expected. The magnet was energized up to 21.6 T without any quenching and operated in a persistent mode at 920 MHz for more than one month. On March 24, 2004, it was excited up to 930 MHz. After the central field was increased to 21.89 T once, it was decreased to 21.86 T, and the persistent-mode operation started from a frequency of 930.7 MHz. This is the highest field that the magnets made of NbTi and Nb3Sn coils have ever achieved. The field stability and the field homogeneity were measured and it was confirmed that this magnet can be applied as an NMR magnet.

90歳以上の超高齢者の大腸癌手術症例における術後経過について検討し, 75～79歳症例22例と比較した.症例は男性2例,女性3例で,年齢は92歳3例, 90歳2例であった.術前, 3例(60%)に腸閉塞を認め,術前のヘモグロビン値は75～79歳症例に比し有意(p

Recently, we have successfully developed a 1020-MHz (24.0 T) NMR system. The NMR magnet consists of superconducting coils having low critical temperature and high critical temperature. It was confi...

Copolymers consisting of acrylic acid (AA) and 12-acryloyldodecanoic acid (ADA) [poly(ADA-co-AA)] were synthesized, and their dissociation behaviors and binding characteristics with ionic surfactant, dodecylpyridinium chloride, were investigated. The dissociation is strongly suppressed in the presence of ADA, and when the ADA molar fraction (FADA) is 0.5, the copolymer exhibits a distinct two-stage dissociation associated with AA and ADA. The binding process is also changed by the presence of ADA. When the ADA content is low, the surfactants bind cooperatively to form a stoichiometric complex. An increase in ADA content brings about noncooperative and nonstoichiometric complexion. The initiation constant (K0) for an isolated surfactant binding to poly(ADA(FADA = 1.0)) is more than 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of poly(AA(FADA = 0)), indicating that the initiation of the binding is associated not only with the electrostatic interaction but also with the hydrophobic interaction between the alkyl ch...