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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with cerebral aneurysms often undergo MR imaging after microsurgical clipping. Ultra-high-field MR imaging at 7T may provide high diagnostic capability in such clinical situations. However, titanium alloy clips have safety issues such as adverse interactions with static magnetic fields and radiofrequency-induced heating during 7T MR imaging. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively assess temperature increases on various types of titanium alloy aneurysm clips during 7T MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five types of titanium alloy aneurysm clips were tested, including combinations of short, long, straight, angled, and fenestrated types. Each clip was set in a phantom filled with gelled saline mixed with polyacrylic acid and underwent 7T MR imaging with 3D T1WI with a spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in the steady-state technique. Temperature was chronologically measured at the tips of the clip blade and head, angled part of the clip, and 5 mm from the tip of the clip head using MR imaging–compatible fiber-optic thermometers. RESULTS: Temperature increases at all locations for right-angled and short straight clips were 1°C. Temperature increases at all locations for the long straight clip were >2°C. CONCLUSIONS: Temperature increases on the right-angled and short straight clips remained below the regulatory limit during 7T MR imaging, but temperature increases on the 45° angled, straight fenestrated, and long straight clips exceeded this limit.

We determined whether a major Japanese cedar pollen allergen (Cry j 1) conjugated with CpG oligodeoxynucleotide would enhance allergen-specific Th1 responses in mice. Cry j 1 conjugated with CpG (Cry j 1-CpG) induced IL-12 in the spleen cells of naïve mice. Cry j 1-CpG immunization of BALB/c mice suppressed anti-Cry j 1 IgE response and enhanced anti-Cry j 1 IgG(2a) to subsequent Cry j 1 and alum adjuvant injection. CD4(+)T cells isolated from the spleens in mice immunized with Cry j 1-CpG produced higher IFN-γ levels than did CD4(+)T cells obtained from mice as negative controls. Our results suggested that Cry j 1-CpG immunization can induce Cry j 1-specific Th1 immune responses, thereby inhibiting IgE response to the pollen allergen.

Aims: Desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) is a rare pattern of diffuse parenchymal lung disease known to overlap with respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease (RB-ILD). The aim was to review biopsy-proven cases of DIP to investigate further the clinical, imaging and histological features of this disease. Methods and results: Twenty patients fulfilled the pathological criteria: 19 men and one woman with a mean age of 54 years. Clinical features, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) data, radiological findings, pathological findings other than criteria, effect of therapy and outcome were examined. The BAL data for 17 cases revealed marked eosinophilia (mean 18%) and moderate neutrophilia (mean 11%). Computed tomography in 17 patients showed peripheral involvement in all cases with a clear margin in 64% and thin-walled cysts in 35% of cases. Additional pathological features were a distinct lobular distribution (70%) and architectural destruction (70%) with cyst formation (55%). Eighteen of the 19 patients (95%) improved under steroid pulse and/or oral therapy. Sixteen subjects (80%) are alive, three died of other diseases and one died of DIP 74 months after the diagnosis. Percent vital capacity increased significantly and new thin-walled cysts appeared in one case. Conclusions: BAL eosinophilia, lobular distribution and architectural destruction with cyst formation are characteristic features of DIP.

The development of anthropomorphic ("humanoid") robots is inspired by the ancient dream of humans' replicating themselves. However, human behaviors are difficult to explain and model. Owing to the evolution of computers, electronics, and signal processing, this ancient dream is becoming a reality. In fact, current humanoid robots are able to perform activities such as dancing (Ogura et al. 2004) and playing musical instruments (Kato et al. 1987; Kajitani 1989), etc. However, these mechanical devices are still far from understanding and processing emotional states as humans do.

The development of the flutist robot at Waseda University since 1990 has enabled a better understanding of the motor control functions required for playing the flute. Moreover, it has introduced novel ways of interaction between human beings and humanoid robots such as: performing a musical score together in real time and transferring skills to flutist beginners. In this paper, the development of the Waseda Flutist Robot No. 4 Refined (WF-4R) is presented. The mechanical design of the components of the robot and the control architecture are detailed. In order to efficiently control and coordinate the motion of each of the simulated organs of the robot, an algorithm was proposed to extract the features required to perform a score based on human performance. This algorithm was divided into two phases: sound calibration and music score performance. Finally, an experimental setup was done to verify the effectiveness of each of the phases by analyzing the time and frequency domain responses from recordings of the robot performances. The WF-4R is able to perform from musical scores quite similar to human.

Background: Distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles (DMRV) is an autosomal-recessive disorder with preferential involvement of the tibialis anterior muscle that starts in young adulthood and spares quadriceps muscles. The disease locus has been mapped to chromosome 9p1-q1, the same region as the hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM) locus. HIBM was originally described as rimmed vacuole myopathy sparing the quadriceps; therefore, the two diseases have been suspected to be allelic. Recently, HIBM was shown to be associated with the mutations in the gene encoding the bifunctional enzyme, UDP- N -acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/ N -acetylmannosamine kinase ( GNE ). Objective: To determine whether DMRV and HIBM are allelic. Methods: The GNE gene was sequenced in 34 patients with DMRV. The epimerase activity in lymphocytes from eight DMRV patients was also measured. Results: The authors identified 27 unrelated DMRV patients with homozygous or compound-heterozygous mutations in the GNE gene. DMRV patients had markedly decreased epimerase activity. Conclusions: DMRV is allelic to HIBM. Various mutations are associated with DMRV in Japan. The loss-of-function mutations in the GNE gene appear to cause DMRV/HIBM.

An electrostatic storage ring with a circumference of 8.1 m was designed for the research of atomic and molecular science. The race-track ring consists of two 160° deflectors, four 10° deflectors and four quadrupole doublets. For the 160° deflectors, a cylindrical shape has been adopted. In this ring, there are four types of stable regions with and without waists of the beam envelope in the middle of the deflectors. A beam test was performed with 20-keV ion beams from an ECR ion source. The observed lifetimes of beams stored in each stable region were different under the same conditions, except for the tune values. The lifetimes did not depend much on the injected beam intensity for a current of less than about 100 nA. The design and performance of the electrostatic storage ring are presented.

A total of 24 pieces of NbTi CICC with outer dimension of 14.8 mm/spl times/14.8 mm and a piece length of 600 m each have been successfully fabricated for building TF and PF coils. The CICC is made through the roll forming and welding process. The insert cable with a scheme of 3/spl times/3/spl times/3/spl times/5 is made from 0.86 mm diameter multifilamentary NbTi/Cu strand with 10 /spl mu/m diameter NbTi filaments embedded in Cu matrix at a Cu ratio of 4.9. No treatment is applied to the strand surface. A 0.025 mm thick SS304 tape is wrapped on the finished fourth stage cable. A 15 mm thick SS304L strip is then roll formed around the wrapped fourth stage cable and TIG welding 6 applied continuously at the top longitudinal seam. The welded conduit is finished to the final square dimension, by passing it through sizing rolls and turks head rolls set at the end of the jacketing line. The critical current for a CICC, estimated through multiplying an average I/sub c/ (without self-field correction) for the 10 extracted strands by the number of strands of 135 in a CICC, is approximately 38 kA at 5 T, 4.2 K. This means that there is: no significant degradation of I/sub c/'s for the strands due to the cabling and jacketing process. It is confirmed that the finished CICC pieces of 600 m each show a He leakage level well below 0.2/spl times/10/sup -3/ Toll 1/s.

A superconducting electron cooler with an adiabatic expansion factor of 100 was designed for high-precision experiments and high-speed cooling. The gun solenoid is a liquid-helium-free superconducting magnet with a 20-cm room-temperature bore, which can produce a magnetic field of up to 3.5 T. An electron beam is expanded from a diameter of 5 to 50 mm in a gradually decreasing solenoid field from 3.5 T to 35 mT. With this cooler, a transverse electron temperature on the order of 1 meV was attained. The longitudinal cooling force was measured with an induction accelerator as functions of the ion and electron currents, and the expansion factor. The longitudinal cooling force does not depend much on the expansion factor.

In cooler-ring experiments, an accurate and non-destructive current measurement is essential for determining the reaction cross sections. The lowest current which can be measured by the DC current transformer commonly used so far is some μA. In order to measure a low-beam current from nA to μA, we made a cryogenic current-measuring device using a superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID), and measured the circulating ion current at the cooler ring TARN II. This paper gives the design and performance of the device.

Jun and Fos, b-ZIP transcription factors, form a heterodimer and bind to DNA enhancer elements, thereby regulating the expression of target genes. The present study was undertaken to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying nuclear translocation of the Jun/Fos complex. For this purpose, normal rat kidney cells were microinjected with a DNA expression vector containing wild-type or mutant c- or v-jun together with c- or v-fos, followed by detection of the subcellular localization of Jun or Fos by immunofluorescence staining. The nuclear accumulation of Fos was markedly enhanced by the presence of wild-type Jun, but not by Jun mutants lacking nuclear targeting or zipper dimerization functions, implying that Jun and Fos mutually interact via their leucine zippers and translocate from the cytoplasm to the nucleus using the markedly stronger nuclear localization signal of Jun.

Cystic tumor (endodermal heterotopia) of the atrioventricular (AV) node in a 95-year-old female is described. Electrocardiograms showed complete AV blockage with a narrow QRS morphology resulting from the long-standing first degree of AV blockage since age 61. A cardiac pacemaker was implanted at age 83. The patient died of pneumonia at age 95. Autopsy demonstrated a normal heart weight (320 g), normal coronary artery and normal myocardium. Histological examination of the conduction system revealed a marked fibrotic sinoatrial (SA) node and a cystic lesion in the lower right atrium, including the approaches to the AV node. The bundle of His and its branches were completely intact. Cellular nests and cystically dilated tubules were scattered within a loose tissue stroma, which measured 18 x 12 x 5 mm. There were several mitotic figures among the tubules, as well as nuclear fragments similar to apoptotic bodies and exfoliation of the tumor cells. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated a positive reaction for epithelial membrane antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen, CA19-9, cytokeratin and secretory component in the tubular cells, and a negative reaction for thrombomodulin. Endocrine cells among the tubules were positive only for calcitonin and serotonin. Ultrastructurally, sparse microvilli and desmosome-like structures between the tumor cells were observed. These findings support that this lesion originates from the endoderm. Moreover, it is likely that progression in the degree of AV block may be explained by the cell proliferation activity of the tumor.

Pulmonary dendritic cells (DCs) are key regulators of immune responses. An increased accumulation of DCs was reported in the lungs of patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP).This study aimed to investigate the number of pulmonary DCs in patients with collagen vascular disease associated interstitial lung diseases (CVD-ILDs).Lung tissue samples obtained from 27 patients with IIP and 39 patients with CVD-ILD were detected using monoclonal antibodies against CD1a, CD1c, CD83, Langerin and DC-specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3-grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN).No significant differences in the number or distribution of DCs were observed between patients with IIP and CVD-ILDs. When DC marker expression was analyzed according to pathological subgroup, patients with idiopathic usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) showed increased DC-SIGN staining when compared with CVD-UIP (p0.05).Both mature and immature DCs accumulate in CVD-ILDs. The number of DCs expressing DC-SIGN in CVD-UIP was decreased compared with that in idiopathic UIP. The variation in accumulated DC-SIGN-positive cells might help to explain the differences in the development and maintenance of lung inflammation between idiopathic UIP and CVD-UIP.

Electron-impact detachment of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ was studied with the TARN II storage ring (at the Institute for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo) and the associated high-resolution electron beam. The relative cross sections were measured for the relative energies between electron and ion from 0 to 60 eV in search of the ${\mathrm{H}}^{2\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ resonances that were reported earlier. No evidence was found for the existence of these resonance states. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

At the cooler-synchrotron TARN II, light- and heavy-ion beams are stored, electron-cooled and accelerated for the research of atomic physics and accelerator studies. In these experiments, the closed orbit distortion (COD) correction system plays an important role for improving the beam currents and lifetimes. In order to measure the position of a circulating faint beam in the ring, we developed beam diagnostic devices of high sensitivity and low noise. The beam positions can be measured with an accuracy of 0.3 mm at a circulating beam current of 1 μA. It is the purpose of the present paper to describe details concerning the beam position monitor (BPM) system, an investigation of the sensitivities of the BPM from the point of view the S N ratio, the experimental results of a COD correction and measurements of the accelerator parameters, such as the chromaticity and dispersion using this system.

A light and heavy ion synchrotron with an electron cooling system, TARN-II, has been operated for the studies of atomic physics and accelerator technology. After the upgrading of the pump system by adding ion pumps and titanium getter pumps in 1991, and non-evaporable getter pumps based on St 707 in 1994, an average pressure of the order of 10 −9 Pa has been achieved. Molecular ion beams such as H 2 + , H 3 + , HD + , HD 2 + , HeH + and HeD + have been stored in the ring for the experiments of collision between molecular ions and electrons. A beam life time of 5 s was measured for HD + ions at an average pressure of 7 × 10 −9 Pa. The performance of the system is presented.

Dissociative recombination of ${\mathrm{HD}}^{+}$ was studied with an adiabatically expanded low-temperature electron beam in a cooler ring TARN II. Measurements were performed over a wide energy range from 0 to 40 eV in the center of mass system. The spectrum at low electron energies less than 1 eV clearly shows structures even in the energy region of the order of 1 meV. The results agree well with the theoretical calculations based on a multichannel quantum defect theory including rotational motions and off-the-energy-shell effects.

This study was initiated to clarify the relationship between ovarian hormones and the granulomatous inflammatory process in the lung. To assess whether ovarian dysfunction influences the granulomatous inflammatory process, we compared immunological alterations in ovariectomized rats and in sham-operated rats. After a heat-killed, bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-elicited granulomatous reaction, the lung-body weight ratios, the number of lymphocytes and activated T-cells, and the interferon-gamma levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the ovariectomized rats were significantly higher than those of the sham-operated rats. Moreover, exogenous ovarian steroids supplemented in vivo suppressed not only the granulomatous inflammatory process in the lungs, but also the parameters measured in the bronchoalveolar fluid. These results indicate that ovarian dysfunction may adversely affect the formation of granulomas in the lung.

Although serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) levels are reported to increase in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients according to disease activity, the relationship between serum KL-6 levels and prognosis remains unclear. In this study, we prospectively examined serum KL-6 levels in 188 PTB patients and assessed 60-day mortality. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that serum KL-6 levels were not significantly associated with prognosis. For receiver operating characteristic analysis, the area under the curve had low accuracy for predicting mortality. These findings indicate that serum KL-6 levels do not perform adequately for use as a prognostic marker in patients with PTB.

We report the resistively‐detected nuclear magnetic resonance (RDNMR) study for a quantum wire (QW) made of the two‐dimensional electron gas in the quantum Hall (QH) regime. The lineshapes of RDNMR vary as the radio‐frequency power and the bias voltage. We found that the observed peculiar lineshapes similar to those known as the ‘dispersive’ ones emerge near Landau level filling v∼1 QH regime.

The heavy ion cooler synchrotron, TARN-II, has been operated for studies of accelerator technology and atomic physics since 1989 at the Institute for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo. The ring has a circumference of 78 m and the vacuum pipe is made of SUS 316L stainless steel. The vacuum system consists of ion pumps, titanium sublimation pumps and turbo-molecular pumps. Beam experiments like acceleration, electron cooling, and extraction have been carried out at a mean pressure of the order of 10 −10 torr. In 1991, the upgrading of TARN-II vacuum system had been performed by adding ion pumps and titanium sublimation pumps in order to promote the experiments using heavy ion beams. Ion beams such as p, D, H 2 + , H 3 + , 3 He + , 4 He 2+ , HD 2 + , 4 HeH + , 14 N 5+ and 14 N 7+ have been injected and circulated in the ring so far.

A slow beam extraction system using the third order resonance has been constructed at TARN II and beam extraction tests have been performed. By the ordinary scheme where the tune is shifted to the resonance with ramping the excitation strength of the lattice quadrupole magnets, an extraction efficiency of 90% is attained. A new scheme increasing the horizontal emittance of the circulating beam is applied to extract the beam. A very long beam spill of 800 s is obtained by this scheme. A method using a transverse rf field is also studied experimentally, resulting in an extracted beam with smaller emittance.

Dissociative recombination of ${\mathrm{HeH}}^{+}$ has been studied for the ${\mathrm{HeH}}^{+}$ ion stored in a storage ring. A strong recombination resonance having a peak at around 20 eV center-of-mass energy has been found for the first time in addition to the known recombination at around 0 eV center-of-mass energy. The strength of the recombination rate changes depending on the storage time of ${\mathrm{HeH}}^{+}$ ions.

An electron cooling device with a maximum energy of 110 keV was designed and constructed. The device was installed in the TARN II storage ring and electron cooling experiments have been performed for light ions. In this article, the design, construction and off-line electron beam test of the cooling device are presented. Then the electron cooling experiments on proton and the electron capture studies on H 2 + are described.

Systolic anterior motion of the anterior mitral leaflet and asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) are characteristic features of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) on an echocardiogram. Among 9,670 patients over 60 years old examined by echocardiography from January, 1984 to October, 1990, 55 patients showed systolic anterior motion of the anterior mitral leaflet and/or the chordae tendinae (SAM). We investigated clinical features and morphological features of the left ventricle on an echocardiogram in the 55 patients with SAM. They were classified into three groups according to the degree of SAM. Thirty eight cases (group I) had no mitral and/or chordal-septal contact, 10 (group II) had brief contact (less than 30% on the echocardiographic systole) and 7 (group III) had prolonged contact (greater than or equal to 30%). Ages ranged from 60 to 99 with a mean age of 78.2 years. There were 19 males and 36 females and there was a predominance of females in each group. Thirty five cases had hypertension and 34 left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiograms. One case of group I, 3 of group II and 7 of group III had a clinical diagnosis of HOCM. In comparison with each group, the incidence of LVH (SV1 + RV5 greater than or equal to 35 mm) was 52% in group I, 90% in group II and 83% in group III and that of LVH (SV1 + RV5 greater than or equal to 70 mm) was 29%, 20% and 67%, respectively. On echocardiographic examination, the diastolic descent rate of the anterior mitral leaflet in the 3 groups was 36.1 +/- 13.1 mm/sec, 19.4 +/- 13.1 mm/sec and 10.7 +/- 11.8 mm/sec (p less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) is a rare pattern of diffuse parenchymal lung disease known to overlap with respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease (RB-ILD). The aim was to review biopsy-proven cases of DIP to investigate further the clinical, imaging and histological features of this disease.Twenty patients fulfilled the pathological criteria: 19 men and one woman with a mean age of 54 years. Clinical features, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) data, radiological findings, pathological findings other than criteria, effect of therapy and outcome were examined. The BAL data for 17 cases revealed marked eosinophilia (mean 18%) and moderate neutrophilia (mean 11%). Computed tomography in 17 patients showed peripheral involvement in all cases with a clear margin in 64% and thin-walled cysts in 35% of cases. Additional pathological features were a distinct lobular distribution (70%) and architectural destruction (70%) with cyst formation (55%). Eighteen of the 19 patients (95%) improved under steroid pulse and/or oral therapy. Sixteen subjects (80%) are alive, three died of other diseases and one died of DIP 74 months after the diagnosis. Percent vital capacity increased significantly and new thin-walled cysts appeared in one case.BAL eosinophilia, lobular distribution and architectural destruction with cyst formation are characteristic features of DIP.

Various topological factors governing the electronic properties of infinitely large periodic polycyclic benzenoids are analyzed graph-theoretically by drawing the density of states (DS). The existence or non-existence of NBMO's in the hypothetical cyclic dimer of the network are shown to be crucial for the profile of DS.

A novel pulse-width tunable waveform conversion, which converts a NRZ signal to RZ signal with an arbitrary pulse- width is proposed and demonstrated by combination of fiber- and semiconductor-based switches.

The preparation of piezoelectric AIN thin films of high quality onto diamond substrates using DC-TFTS method and its application to SHF SAW devices are discussed. FWHM (=3.4deg) of the rocking curve of XRD suggested that the c-axes of AIN films may well align perpendicular to the film surface. Transversal filters based on Sezawa wave were fabricated to verify whether the prepared AIN/diamond structure can be applied to low loss SAW devices in an SHF range. The propagation loss was experimentally estimated to be 0.08 dB/lambda at the centre frequency of 6.12 GHz. Further reduction in the propagation loss was attempted by using small-grain-diamond substrates.

The development of the anthropomorphic flutist robot, at Waseda University, has demonstrated how the robot can communicate with humans at emotional level by performing musical scores with expressiveness and by transferring basic skills from robot to beginners. However, the interaction among humans is characterized by a highly interactive process of analyzing and responding to incoming stimuli from the partner. Even that flutist robot has successfully imitated the flute playing quite similar to human performance; the way of processing and analyzing the music as human does still requires further improvements. In this paper, we would describe how we implemented a human like sound processing system to enable robot to interact with humans at the same level of perception. An experimental setup was done to verify the validity of the developed system.

There is sparse epidemiologic information regarding the role of dietary factors in the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).To examine the relationship between specific types of fatty acids and selected foods high in fat and IPF in Japan.Included were 104 cases agedor = 40 years who had been diagnosed in the last 2 years in accordance with the most recent criteria. Controls agedor = 40 years consisted of 56 hospitalised patients diagnosed as having acute bacterial pneumonia and four out-patients with common cold.Intake of saturated fatty acids, mono-unsaturated fatty acids, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and meat was independently associated with an increased risk of IPF. Specifically, the multivariate OR for comparison of the highest with the lowest quartile of intake of saturated fatty acids was 6.26 (95%CI 1.79-24.96, P for trend = 0.01) and for meat it was 7.19 (95%CI 2.15-27.07, P for trend = 0.02). Intake of cholesterol, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish, eggs and dairy products was not related to the risk.These findings suggest that consumption of saturated fatty acids and meat may increase the risk of IPF.

The development of the anthropomorphic flutist robot was started since 1990. The aim of this research has been to reproduce the functionality of human organs to interact musically with humans and to clarify the mechanism involved in human flute playing from an engineering view point. The newest version of the flutist robot (WF-4) has improved considerably the functionality and human-like shape of the organs involved in the flute playing. Up to now, the flutist robot has been used to reproduce as best as possible the human performance, although it is desirable to be also useful to improve some of the required skills that beginner flutists must acquire; in this case, the sound quality. The robot could demonstrate several times the correct way of playing and provide useful feedback based on the analysis of the harmonic structure of the student's performance. Therefore, it becomes necessary to find performance indexes that enable the robot to classify and evaluate quantitatively learners' performances to provide feedback (verbal and/or visual) to correct their executions. In this paper, we briefly describe some of the improvements done on the newest version of the flutist robot and we present different ways how the robot can evaluate the human performance by an experimental setup.

One of the earliest motivations for developing humanoid robots centered on creating robots that may coexist with humans in environments created for human beings. For several years, at Waseda University, the development of the anthropomorphic flutist player has been focused on improving the musical interaction between the human and the robot to clarify the human flute playing and to propose novel assisted music teaching tools. In this paper, a new architecture for autonomously transferring skills from robot to human using the flutist robot is introduced. Furthermore, the new version of the flutist robot, the WF-4R (Waseda Flutist No.4 Refined) is presented; where the arm system was added to assure the positioning accuracy of the flute and the development of a melody recognition system to enable the robot to interact with students at the same logical level of perception. An experimental setup has been performed in order to verify the effectiveness of both mechanical and perceptual systems. As a result, using the arms system, we have assured the repetitiveness of the flute positioning. Furthermore, the implemented music recognition system was able to recognize the melody of flutist players (an overall recognition rate of 90%); demonstrating that HMM (usually used for speech recognition) is also effective for flute melody identification.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to enhance the symptoms of food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (1, 2). We report a rare case of wheat-induced anaphylaxis not related to exercise in which oral challenges with wheat and gluten-induced whole blood histamine release were enhanced by NSAIDs. A 59-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for investigation of recurrent food-induced anaphylaxis. He first developed urticaria after eating noodles at age 58. Since then he frequently had urticaria andoccasionally experienced anaphylaxis, including dyspnoea, wheezing, angioedema, and loss of consciousness after ingesting wheat, including noodles, bread, breaded cutlets, and tempura (Japanese deep-fried foods). It was determined that he had these episodes of anaphylaxis without exercise. Total IgE was 160 IU/ml. Skin-prick testing and specific IgEwere positive for wheat and gluten, the major allergen in wheat-induced allergy. To determine an elimination diet and to instruct the patient, open oral challenges were performed. Oral challenges with bread, noodles, cutlets, and tempura were all negative. However, when 30 mg of diclofenac sodium, an NSAID, was taken just before the challenge, he developed urticaria 1 h after eating noodles or tempura.He developed no symptoms after taking diclofenac sodium only. To clarify the effect of NSAIDs on wheat-induced anaphylaxis, we measured histamine release after in vitro exposure to gluten with or without tolmetin sodium, an NSAID, in this patient and a normal control subject. Heparinized whole blood samples were taken and incubated with gluten at concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 2500 lg/ml and with tolmetin sodium at concentrations ranging from 0.125 to 12.5 mg/ml for 30 min at 37 C. After centrifugation, histamine was measured in the cell-free supernatants by radioimmunoassay. Histamine release was found to be positive with gluten at the concentration of 2500 lg/ml in the patient. With tolmetin sodium at concentrations of 0.125 and 1.25 mg/ml, gluten-induced histamine release was not affected. However, tolmetin sodium at the concentration of 12.5 mg/ml enhanced the gluten-induced histamine release at all concentraions of gluten. Interestingly, tolmetin sodium enhanced histamine release even in the absence of gluten in the control subject as well as in the patient. Histamine release was not found in other conditions in the control subject. At follow-up 1 year after the discharge, he remained asymptomatic after strict elimination of wheat. The results of our in vitro study indicate that the induction of positive oral challenges with wheat after pretreatment with an NSAID is, at least partly, because of enhancement of histamine release. To our knowledge, this is the first report of wheatinduced anaphylaxis not related to exercise confirming thatNSAIDs enhance type I allergic reactions. Previous studies demonstrated that NSAIDs enhance in vitro histamine release induced by IgEor nonIgE-mediated mechanisms (3). In our study, histamine release was induced by tolmetin sodium even in the absence of allergen. In this regard, we speculate that the extent of enhancement of histamine releasemaydependon the type anddose of the NSAIDs as our patient developed no symptoms after taking diclofenac sodium only. We found that enhancement of the allergic symptoms induced by NSAIDs is not a specific phenomenon in fooddependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, but can occur in other type I allergic diseases. Furthermore, pretreatment with NSAIDs under controlled conditions is useful for confirming the diagnosis of food-induced allergy when food challenge tests fail to induce positive reactions.

The relationships between immunological reactivity and bronchial responsiveness to allergen and non-specific bronchial responsiveness are unclear in occupational asthma caused by low molecular weight substances.We assessed the above relationships in green tea-induced asthma, an occupational asthma of green tea factory workers, in which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), a low molecular weight component of green tea leaves, is the causative agent.Subjects consisted of 21 patients suspected of having green tea-induced asthma, on whom skin test and inhalation challenge with EGCg were performed. The skin sensitivity or end-point titration to EGCg as a measure of immunological reactivity, together with the provocative concentrations causing a 20% or greater fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (PC20) of EGCg and methacholine, were determined.We found that 11 patients had green tea-induced asthma, with immediate asthmatic reactions in eight and dual asthmatic reactions in three. We also found that 11 of 13 patients (85%) with immunological reactivity and bronchial hyper-responsiveness to methacholine experienced an asthmatic reaction and that no subject without immunological reactivity reacted. There were significant correlations among skin sensitivity, EGCg PC20 and methacholine PC20. Multiple linear regression analysis showed the relationship: log (EGCg PC20)=0.42 log (skin sensitivity)+1.17 log (methacholine PC20)+0.93 (r=0.796, P0.05).It is concluded that bronchial responsiveness to EGCg can be highly satisfactorily predicted by skin sensitivity to EGCg and bronchial responsiveness to methacholine.

Eosinophilic tracheobronchitis with cough hypersensitivity, abbreviated as atopic cough, is an important cause of chronic cough. The reason for the absence of airway hyper-responsiveness is unknown, differing from asthma, a Th2 cytokine-mediated disorder.To compare the type 1 helper T cell (Th1)/Th2 balance in the peripheral blood from subjects with atopic cough and atopic asthma, we assessed the intracellular cytokine production at the single-cell level.Thirty-six subjects (10 patients with atopic cough, 18 with atopic asthma, and eight control subjects) were included. Intracellular IL-4 and IFN-gamma were detected in CD4+ T cells by flow cytometry.A significantly lower ratio of IFN-gamma-/IL-4-producing CD4+ T cells after phorbol 12-myristate acetate/ionomycin stimulation was found in patients with atopic cough and atopic asthma compared with normal subjects. In comparison between atopic patients, the ratio of IFN-gamma-/IL-4-producing cells was significantly higher in atopic cough than in atopic asthma. However, the proportion of IL-4-producing CD4+ T cells was significantly higher in patients with atopic asthma than in normal control subjects and no significant difference was detected between patients with atopic cough and normal subjects. No significant difference in the proportion of IFN-gamma-producing cells was found between the subjects. Overall, the total IgE levels were positively correlated to the IL-4-producing cells and inversely correlated to the ratio of IFN-gamma-/IL-4-producing cells.These results show the lower degree of Th2 cytokine predominance in atopic cough compared with atopic asthma and suggest the relation between the Th1/Th2 balance and atopic status.