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Background: Hypertension is a common complication in patients with gout and/or hyperuricemia. Besides, hyperuricemia is a risk factor of gout as well as ischemic heart disease in hypertensive patients. Moreover, the risk of gout is modified by antihypertensive drugs. However, it remains unclear how antihypertensive agents affect uric acid metabolism. Purpose: In the present study, we investigated the uric acid metabolism in treated hypertensive patients to find out whether any of them would influence serum levels of uric acid. Patients and methods: 751 hypertensive patients (313 men and 438 women) under antihypertensive treatment were selected. Blood pressure (BP), serum uric acid (SUA) and serum creatinine (Scr) were measured and evaluated statistically. Results: In patients treated with diuretics, beta-blockers and/or alpha-1 blockers SUA levels were significantly higher than in patients who were not taking these drugs. Besides, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in patients treated with diuretics, beta-blockers and/or alpha-1 blockers was negatively correlated with SUA level. There were gender differences in the effects of beta-blockers and alpha-1 blockers. Multiple regression analysis indicated that both diuretics and beta-blockers significantly contributed to hyperuricemia in patients with medication for hypertension. Conclusion: Diuretics, beta-blockers and alpha-1 blockers reduced glomerular filtration rate and raised SUA levels. Calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, including losartan, did not increase SUA levels.

At the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center (WERC), an accelerator system with a 5 MV tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron is used for ion beam analyses and irradiation experiments. The study of cancer therapy with a proton beam is also performed. Therefore, the stable operation and efficient sharing of beam time of the system are required, based on the treatment standard. Recent developments and the operation status of the system put stress on the tandem accelerator operation, magnifying the problems.

Hydrogen isotope separation effect by electrolysis of water was theoretically investigated and was compared with experimental results. The separation mechanism was analyzed as the hydrogen isotope exchange reaction between water and diatomic hydride that consists of hydrogen and cathode material. The equilibrium constants of the isotope exchange reaction were calculated from reduced partition function ratio. Using the constants, the separation factor (SF) of the isotopes was calculated according to the two-phase distribution theory for isotopes. Experimentally, light or heavy water spiked with tritiated water was electrolyzed by a device with a solid polymer electrolyte, which equipped with SUS, Ni, or carbon cathode. Thus, the SFs were experimentally obtained. Calculated SFs were well agreed with the experimentally values for SUS and Ni cathodes, and that for carbon cathode was somewhat small then the experimental value.

One of the advantages of Bi-2212 is that a high J/sub c/ value can be obtained in wires with various shapes and filament configurations. Realization of a high J/sub c/ round wire made it possible to fabricate many kinds of cable developed for applications of low temperature superconductors (LTC). We successfully fabricated a 30-strand Rutherford cable using 0.8 mm/sup d/ round wire. Optimization of cabling factor enables to reduce the I/sub c/ degradation at the cable edge. I/sub c/ values were about 650-750 A at 65 K in a noninductive winding condition, which corresponds to 11-13 kA at 4.2 K in self-field.

We developed rectangular-shaped Bi-2212 conductors. At 4.2 K and 30 T, the 37- and 349-filament conductors exhibited J C values of 151 and 125 kA/cm 2 , respectively. Moreover, we measured the distribution of I C for a 25 m-class 349-filament conductor. The end-to-end I C value was 66 A at 63 K, self-field, and the variation in I C was about ±10%. We also fabricated a test coil with 50 m-class, 349-filament conductor. The test coil carried 510 A (using a criterion of 10 −13 Ω m) and generated B 0 =0.95 T at 4.2 K without backup field, resulting in a current density in the test coil of 150 A/mm 2 . The coil performance was almost 80% that of a short sample with a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the tape surface.

Recently, superconducting properties of high Tc superconductors (HTS) have been highly improved and using performance of HTS a conceptual design of a fusion device was performed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). HTS has a capability to produce a magnetic field of higher than 16 T, which is required in such a fusion power reactor. Aiming at development of the conductor, a trial fabrication of a 10-kA 12-T conductor was started using round Ag-alloy sheathed Bi-2212 strands, which has best performance at 4.2 K, 16 T at present. The conductor has about 34-mm diameter, and is composed of 729 HTS strands. Operating temperature is designed at not only 4 K but also 20 K. The cable of the conductor is solder-coated on the surface to use specific heat of the lead as much as possible, which at 20 K is almost comparable with specific heat of SHe at 4.5 K, 0.6 MPa. From the tests of the conductor, the fabrication of large HTS conductor and 10 kA operation at 12 T, 18 K /spl sim/ 20 K were successfully performed and the first step of developing work of HTS conductor for fusion application was achieved.

To survey the applicability of existing HTS wires for SMES, five kinds of cryocooler-cooled HTS coils were fabricated and tested to estimate fundamental characteristics of HTS wires. Critical current, run-away current, and ac losses were measured. To confirm the effect of electromagnetic force to the coil performances, critical currents were measured under high magnetic fleld of 14 T with liquid helium cooling. The HTS wires used for the coils are three types of Bi2212 wire and two types of Bi2223 wires. We have wound these wires to little coils of 14 cm outside diameter, 10 cm height with cryocooling. As a result, a difference of critical current characteristic of a Bi2212 wire and a Bi2223 wire was not big at the temperature of 20 K, but a critical current of a Bi2212 wire fell at 50 K greatly, and the HTS-SMES design that utilized a temperature margin by cryocooler-cooled system understood what a Bi2223 wire was suited for.

We have developed HTS cables using Bi-2212 round wires, which have high mechanical strength and an average J/sub c/ of 200 kA/cm/sup 2/ at 4.2 K in self-field. Four designs of cables were fabricated in this work and those tables could carry I/sub c/ values from 1 kA to 10 kA at 4.2 K and self-field depending on the number of strands. A 70m-long 20-strand Rutherford cable was successfully manufactured. Optimization of heat treatment conditions was effective to reduce I/sub c/ degradation observed in the case of heat treatment with a long length. I/sub c/ values of a Rutherford cable were measured under loading at 4.2 K in 4 T. The critical values of the stress on face loading and edge loading were 60 MPa and 100 MPa, respectively. We successfully obtained high J/sub c/ value of 500 kA/cm/sup 2/, which was almost double that of the conventional wires capitalize "Rutherford".

An 80 meter long Rutherford cable was fabricated with 20 strands of 0.8 mm diameter Bi-2212 wire. The conductor utilized in this cable was a double stack design (7 × 61) comprising 427 filaments. The critical current (Ic) of the cable was measured at liquid helium in applied magnetic field up to 4T. The Ic results of the cable show no degradation when normalized to the strand. The cable was sectioned into four 17-meter lengths and one 10-meter piece. These sections were heat treated and the ends cut and tested. The average Ic of all cable pieces tested was 2990 A ± 10% in self field. The bending strain of Rutherford cables with a ceramic coated Ni-alloy core showed little or no degradation up to 6%. In contrast, cables manufactured without a Ni-alloy core showed critical bending strains of about 2%.

We developed a new strong Rutherford cable using Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O y (Bi-2212) high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, which consisted of 427 superconducting filaments and AgMgSb alloy outer sheath. This wire exhibited excellent critical current (I c ) and critical current density (J c ) values at 4.2 K in self-field (285 A and 340000 A/cm 2 , respectively) and a room temperature tensile strength of 180 MPa. The Rutherford cable was prepared with a NiCr alloy strip as a cable core. The degradation of full cable I c induced by Ni diffusion was reduced by introducing a ceramic barrier layer between the Bi-2212 superconducting wires and the NiCr cable core. A full cable I c value of 3500 A at 4.2 K in self-field was obtained in short sample fabricated by using a cable core with a ZrO 2 film barrier layer. Finally, we fabricated an 80-m-long Rutherford cable by using a cable core with a MgO tape as a barrier layer and evaluated its full cable I c . I c values of 17-m-long sections cut from a continuous 80-m-long cable were greater than 2700 A at 4.2 K in self-field.

High critical density (Jc ) over 500 kA cm-2 (at 4.2 K and 10 T) was obtained in Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 Ox multilayer superconducting tapes processed by the pre-annealing and intermediate rolling (PAIR) technique. The PAIR process was effective in creating a dense core with lower carbon content, resulting in homogeneous chemical reactions, small amount of impurity phases and good alignment of superconducting grains. In production of long tapes, reducing the carbon content was the most serious challenge. A Jc value of 7.1 ×105 A cm-2 at 4.2 K in self-field was obtained in a 100 m long tape when the carbon content could be controlled to be 0.002 wt%. We fabricated a double-pancake coil using a 100 m long tape and tested it at 4.2 K in backup fields. The coil generated 2 T in a backup field of 4 T.

A stacked pancake coil was fabricated by Ag-alloy sheathed Bi-2212 multilayer tapes and tested using a refrigerator. The magnet consisted of ten double pancakes wound with 100 m class tapes. The I/sub c/ values of the tapes varied from 80 A to 150 A at 4.2 K and 10 T because of the scattering of the thickness in the superconducting layers. The magnet carried a critical current of 57 A at 12 K and generated B/sub max/ of 1.4 T in a 60 mm bore. At 12 K, the magnet could operate with an operating current of 45 A which corresponded to about 80% of I/sub c/. Thermal runaway was not observed even with a ramp rate of 10 T/min.

We report on the effects of field-induced Γ–X resonances on carrier transport and optical properties of GaAs/AlAs type-I short-period superlattices (SLs). We have observed an anomalously delayed photocurrent and Γ2-hh1 photoluminescence originating from X1–Γ2 mixing. These observations clearly suggest that electrical conductivity and optical properties even in type-I SLs are seriously affected by X states in the applied electric field.

An easy way of preparing highly N-doped rutile photocatalysts (N-TiO 2 /R) in tubular furnace in a constant ammonia (NH 3 ) flow at 800-1000 °C temperature range is presented. New materials were compared to TiO 2 samples prepared at the same temperatures in air atmosphere as well as to the starting material. Complete transformation of amorphous and anatase phases to rutile was confirmed by XRD method. Successful incorporation of relatively high amounts of nitrogen (up to 17% at.), in form of either TiO 2 (N), TiO x N y or TiN, on photocatalysts' surface and in their lattice was confirmed using XPS and XRD analysis. Also presence of Ti 3+ was revealed by EPR studies. In contrast to pristine TiO 2 , the UV-vis/DR absorption spectra of N-modified photocatalysts extended significantly into the visible light region. Whereas nitrogen concentration as well as visible light absorption were found to increase with increasing modification temperature, photocatalytic activity was, on the contrary decreasing. This may be due to the very high nitrogen concentration, obtained at higher modification temperature, as well as the presence of small amount of conductive TiN phase on the N-TiO 2 /1000 °C photocatalyst surface. The artificial solar light activity of new photocatalysts after thermal treatment in NH 3 increased in comparison to starting material, due to nitrogen modification and presence of Ti 3+ ions. Activity under UV(-vis) light, though, decreased after modification procedure, probably due to smaller surface areas of new photocatalysts and complete anatase to rutile transformation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A tritium separation from heavy water by electrolysis using a solid polymer electrode layer was specified. The cathode was made of stainless steel or nickel. The electrolysis was performed for 1 hour at 5, 10, 20, and 30 °C. Using a palladium catalyst, generated hydrogen and oxygen gases were recombined, which was collected with a cold trap. The activities of the samples were measured by a liquid scintillation counter. The apparent tritium separation factors of the heavy and light water at 20 °C were ∽2 and ∽12, respectively.

The relaxation dynamics of an exciton in rubrene was investigated by femtosecond absorption spectroscopy. Exciton relaxation to a self-trapped state occurs via the coherent oscillation with 78 cm(-1) due to a coupled mode of molecular deformations with phenyl-side-group motions and molecular displacements. From the temperature dependence of the decay time of excitons, the energy necessary for an exciton to escape from a self-trapped state is evaluated to be ~35 meV (~400 K). As a result, a self-trapped exciton is stable at low temperatures. At room temperature, excitons can escape from a self-trapped state and, subsequently, they are dissociated to charged species. The exciton dissociation mechanism is discussed on the basis of the results.

Hole transport properties of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a thin hole‐blocking layer (HBL) were evaluated by time‐of‐flight measurement. Electroluminescence (EL) spectra of OLEDs with various HBL thicknesses were also evaluated. The results clearly show that the time‐resolved photocurrent response and the emission color strongly depend on HBL thickness. This can be attributed to hole‐tunneling through the thin HBL. We successfully fabricated a white OLED by controlling the thickness of HBL.

Optical properties in single‐layer InGaAlAs/GaAlAs semiconductor quantum dots were studied by two‐pulse photon echo technique. From the decay time, the optical coherence time of the excitons was estimated to be 2.5 ns, which is independent of the excitation intensity. We also observed the excitonic Rabi oscillations by measuring the photon echo intensity as a function of the excitation pulse area. The observed oscillatory structure is not expected from two‐level systems.

The left atrial (LA) function during coronary artery occlusion followed by reperfusion using densitometric analysis of digital atrioventriculographic images was evaluated. Eight anesthetized dogs underwent atrioventriculography at baseline, 10 and 60 min after left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) occlusion and 5, 30, 60, and 120 min of reperfusion. Time-density curves were obtained for LA and left ventricle (LV). The ratios of passive atrial video-densitometric change (VC) to total VC (Passive Ratio), and active VC to total VC (Active Ratio) were calculated. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), peak ejection rate (PER), and peak filling rate (PFR) were derived. Active Ratio, an index of atrial contraction, increased to 144%, and Passive Ratio decreased to 75% of baseline at 60 min of LCX occlusion. Two hours after reperfusion, both Active and Passive Ratios returned to control level. While LVEF reduced to 70%, PER to 67%, LV peak positive dP/dt to 88% of baseline at 60 min after occlusion, and remained depressed at 2 h after reperfusion. However, PFR, LV peak negative dP/dt and LV isovolumic pressure decay rate showed recovery at 2 h after reperfusion. There were significant correlations between PFR and Passive Ratio (r = 0.41), and between Active and Passive Ratios (r = 0.55). Thus, time-course of recovery of LV post-ischemic systolic and diastolic function was different. Return of LA function to control level during 2 h after reperfusion may be depend on recovery of LV diastolic function.

An energy supply system for initial manned lunar bases was studied. A 300 kWe plant was considered combining a liquid metal fast reactor with a potassium Rankine cycle. The reactor vessel is buried under ground and a regolith layer works as shielding. The settling and starting procedures on the Moon are also discussed.

Step bunching of vicinal GaN(0001) surface during epitaxial growth is observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Large step stiffness and repulsive step-step interaction are suggested based on step morphology observations. The size of the bunch changes with time, depending on the direction in which the substrate is heated by a direct current. This observation provides evidence for the electromigration effect causing the step bunching, and from the field dependence we infer that adatoms, which are likely N, have effective positive charges.

A study has been made of the crack initiation and propagation in a low cycle fatigue of annealed carbon steel including extremely short fatigue life (N f < 100), with an emphasis on the establishment of the relation between the microfracture behavior and the damage accumulation process depending on the plastic strain range, Δ∈ p , as well as the mean strain, ∈ m . It was found that at the small Δ∈ P the surface damage due to the initiation and propagation of surface microcracks is predominant, while at the very large Δ∈ P giving fatigue life less than N f = 10, the internal cracking originated from the fracture of a pearlite becomes a primary source of the damage which results in the reduction of the residual ductility, ∈ F R . The transition from the surface damage to the internal one takes place when Δ∈ P becomes so large that the pearlite cracking may start inside the material at each level of ∈ m Good correlation was obtained between the reduction of residual ductility and the cracked pearlite ratio newly defined as a parameter for the evaluation of the internal microfracture behavior.

We report a case of tricuspid valve endocarditis with a ventricular septal defect (VSD). A 54-year-old female who had a history of dental therapy admitted to our hospital with a fever of unknown origin. Echocardiography showed vegetation attached to the tricuspid valve and small VSD. The direct closure of VSD and tricuspid valve replacement was performed. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful.

We previously reported intercostal duplex scanning ultrasonography to be a reliable technique for the evaluation of the internal thoracic artery (ITA). The purpose of this study was to determine the flow characteristics of the ITA graft using this technique.We evaluated the flow characteristics of 69 ITA grafts who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting by this technique. The internal diameter, mean systolic and diastolic velocity, total flow volume and diastolic fraction were all thus obtained.One occluded graft was found during the follow-up. The mean systolic velocity significantly decreased after the operation (P=0.0001) and the mean diastolic velocity significantly increased both just after the operation (P=0.0002) and 1 year later (P=0.0283). The average diameter of the ITA graft after the operation (1.70+/-0.39), at 1 year (1.73+/-0.29) and at 2 years thereafter (1.66+/-0.27 mm) all significantly decreased in comparison to the preoperative value (2.30+/-0.35 mm) (P=0.0001). The average total flow volume after the operation (35.8+/-22.2), and at 1 year (29.4+/-16.5) and 2 years thereafter (23.4+/-12.7), respectively, were significantly decreased in comparison to the preoperative value (59.4+/-28.6 mL/min) (P=0.0001). However, the average diastolic fraction which was 25.1+/-10.5% before the operation significantly increased after the operation (54.5+/-12.0, 53.2+/-11.2 at 1 year and 50.4+/-9.3 at 2 years) (P=0.0001).This technique is thus considered to be a useful noninvasive for the postoperative follow-up of the graft function. A significant increase in the diastolic fraction is thought to be important for maintaining long term graft patency.

Aberrant methylation of CpG islands in the promoter regions of cancer-related genes has been demonstrated in many human tumours. However, the methylation profile of these regions in cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) has not been well studied.To examine epigenetic abnormalities of a wide range of cancer-related genes in SCCs.We investigated the methylation status of 11 candidate cancer-related genes (CDH1, p16(INK4a), p14(ARF), DAPK1, MGMT, RB1, RASSF1, p15(INK4b), PTEN, PRDM2 and p53) in 20 cases of SCC by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, and comparatively examined the protein production of E-cadherin (CDH1), p16, RB1, p14, BMI1 and cyclin A by immunohistochemical analysis.The frequency of cancer-related gene methylation in SCCs was: CDH1 (95%), p16 (20%), p14 (15%), DAPK1 (15%), MGMT (15%), RB1 (5%), RASSF1 (5%), p15 (0%), PTEN (0%), PRDM2 (0%) and p53 (0%). Almost all cases with hypermethylation of CDH1, p16, RB1 and p14 showed no obvious production of each protein, suggesting that promoter hypermethylation of these genes contributes to the loss of protein production. The results of methylation analysis, in combination with the results of our previous mutation analysis of CDKN2A locus and p53, revealed that 70% of SCCs have alterations in the RB1/p16 or p53 pathway.Our findings indicate that the promoter hypermethylation of cancer-related genes, especially CDH1, is frequently shown in SCCs, and dysregulation of the RB1/p16 and/or p53 pathway through either genetic or epigenetic mechanisms, except for epigenetic abnormalities of p53 itself, should contribute to the carcinogenesis of SCCs.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes AC loss properties of Bi-2212 multifilamentary round wires and their Rutherford-type cables, which may be one of candidates for large-capacity windings in the electrical devices such as future superconducting magnetic energy storages (SMES) and so on, from a viewpoint of feasibility study. The strands are not twisted. Their AC loss properties in a transverse magnetic field are to be like those of monofilamentary wires in spite of the multifilamentary structure. The experimental results partially support the prediction that the AC loss is hysteretic. The experiments also give unexpected results that the effective diameters of the filamentary region evaluated from the measured AC losses are much smaller than the actual ones. The AC losses obtained for the strands were scarcely dependent upon the frequency of the external field in the range from 0.02 Hz to 10 Hz. This suggests that the hysteresis loss in a tightly coupled filament bundle be dominant. A remarkable improvement in the AC loss characteristic by reducing an effective diameter of the filament bundle are observed, while twisting the filaments itself does not contribute to the reduction in the AC loss. It is also found from the comparison between the AC losses in the strands and the cables that the AC losses in the cables mainly came from the individual strands.

Continuous-wave laser operation at wavelengths of over 1.3-/spl mu/m at room temperature was successfully demonstrated using an edge-emitting Sb-based InGaSb quantum dot laser diode (QD-LD) and an InGaSb-QD vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (QD-VCSEL) fabricated on GaAs substrates.

At the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center (WERC), we had constructed an accelerator system with a 5 MV tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron. The tandem machine has 5 beam lines for the MeV order beam experiments. Also the tandem beam is injected to the synchrotron. The beam accelerated by the synchrotron is used at three experimental beam lines. After the completion of the construction in 2000, we have been performing experiments using the system for the ion beam analyses (RBS, ERDA, PIXE) and irradiations for the material and biological sciences. In 2002, the study of the cancer therapy with a proton beam from the synchrotron was started. In this paper, the layout of the accelerator facility, recent development for the accelerators and experiments will be reported.

Subband-resonance oscillations have been observed in photoexcited, undoped type-II GaAsAlAs superlattices. The frequency can be tuned over a wide range either by the applied voltage or the photoexcited carrier density. The oscillations are due to an oscillating domain boundary between two electric-field domains.

In prostate cancer, we previously reported that a marked decrease of serum alpha 2 macroglobulin (alpha 2M) to less than approximately 50 mg/dl was associated with the presence of bone metastases. In order to investigate the relationship between bone metastases and alpha 2M, we assessed these two parameters in 128 patients with prostatic diseases.66 patients with untreated benign prostatic hypertrophy and 62 with untreated prostate cancer were included in the study. Measurement of alpha 2M concentration was performed by Laser-Nephelometry, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) by EIA.The serum alpha 2M levels in prostate cancer with bone metastases showed a significantly lower level compared with the group without bone metastases (p0.01). Cases with serum alpha 2M levels of less than 50 mg/dl all had bone metastases. Serum alpha 2M levels were inversely related to PSA levels in stage M1b disease.Measurement of serum alpha 2M levels may be useful for the diagnosis and follow up of bone metastases in prostate cancer.

The gadd45 gene, a growth arrest and DNA damage (gadd)-induced gene, is transcriptionally activated by UV irradiation through two distinct pathways. One requires the sequence-specific binding of the p53 tumor suppressor protein to a responsive element within the third intron of the gadd45 gene, and the other is p53-independent activation of the gadd45 promoter region, although the UV-response element that mediates this has yet to be defined. To investigate the sequences involved in induction of gadd45 by UV irradiation in a p53-independent pathway, we performed mutation analyses of the human gadd45 promoter fused to the luciferase reporter gene in cell lines in which p53 was inactivated. We found that the UV-responsive element was involved in the Oct-1 binding site at -99 bp relative to the transcription start site. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that Oct-1, a transcription factor, bound this element on the gadd45 gene, although the intensity and mobility pattern of the retarded bands were not altered by UV irradiation. These results suggest that the Oct-1 regulatory element might be one of the essential elements involved in the activation of the gadd45 promoter by UV irradiation in a p53-independent pathway.

At Wakasa-wan Energy Research Center, Fukui, Japan, the accelerator system is now under construction. The system consists of a 200 keV ion implanter, a 5 MV Schenckel type tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron. The ion implanter is for the improvement of the surface of the material. By using the tandem accelerator, we can perform the element analysis, the improvement of the bio-species and ion-implantation into various materials. The tandem accelerator works as an injector for the synchrotron and the synchrotron is for the cancer therapy and also bio and material science.

Mitral valve aneurysm is a rare disease and in Japan, cases of perforation which is considered to be mainly caused by infectious endocarditis is usually only encountered through case reports. We experienced a case who received aortic valve replacement and mitral valve annuloplasty for combined valvular heart disease of aortic insufficiency and mitral insufficiency followed by mitral valve replacement for severe mitral valve regurgitation subsequent to perforation of the anterior mitral cusp, leading to recovery.

Smads are signal transducers for members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily. Upon ligand stimulation, receptor-regulated Smads (R-Smads) are phosphorylated by serine/threonine kinase receptors, form complexes with common-partner Smad, and translocate into the nucleus, where they regulate the transcription of target genes together with other transcription factors. Polyomavirus enhancer binding protein 2/core binding factor (PEBP2/CBF) is a transcription factor complex composed of alpha and beta subunits. The alpha subunits of PEBP2/CBF, which contain the highly conserved Runt domain, play essential roles in hematopoiesis and osteogenesis. Here we show that three mammalian alpha subunits of PEBP2/CBF form complexes with R-Smads that act in TGF-beta/activin pathways as well as those acting in bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathways. Among them, PEBP2alphaC/CBFA3/AML2 forms a complex with Smad3 and stimulates transcription of the germline Ig Calpha promoter in a cooperative manner, for which binding of both factors to their specific binding sites is essential. PEBP2 may thus be a nuclear target of TGF-beta/BMP signaling.

A new technique to detect gate oxide defects has been developed. This method is based on electrochemical wet (ECW) etching of Si in KOH:H 20 electrolyte. Using this method, only leaky poly-Si gates caused by gate oxide defects can be clearly observed. When applying a certain voltage to a Si substrate in KOH:H20 after exposing the polySi gates, normal poly-Si gates can be etched, but poly-Si gates shorted to the Si substrate through gate oxide defects remain unetched because of the anodic oxide which covers the leaky gate. This method has proved to be very effective in obtaining information concerning gate oxide integrity without direct observation of gate oxides, which requires complicated deprocessing and a lot of time. This technique also reveals electrical characteristics of gate oxides which may be difficult to identify by conventional physical analysis.

p27Kip1 is an inhibitor of multiple cyclin-dependent kinases (cdk), and can arrest the cell-cycle progression by inhibiting the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma gene family products. Tumor formation in p27Kip1 knockout mice clearly shows that p27Kip1 plays an important role in inhibiting tumor formation and progression. To investigate the mechanism of transcriptional p27Kip1 gene expression, we isolated the genomic DNA fragment of the 5' flanking region of the human p27Kip1 gene and characterized its promoter region. The human p27Kip1 promoter is TATA-less, and the sequence is highly homologous to the murine p27Kip1 promoter sequence. In the promoter assay, deletion from -774 to -435 relative to the initiating codon resulted in a 15-20-fold reduction of the p27Kip1 promoter activity, suggesting that the elements for basal promoter activity exist in this highly conserved 340 bp region, where putative CTF and ATF sites are conserved.

The ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm is still a dramatic even with very poor outcome, whereby its survival depends largely on early diagnosis and operation. We report a successful case of aortic arch replacement for ruptured aortic arch aneurysm with cardiac tamponade. Lethal hemopericardium causing cardiac tamponade is most commonly seen as a complication of acute myocardial infarction or acute aortic dissection, and subsequent rupture of the heart or ascending aorta leads to the rapid accumulation of blood within the poorly distensible pericardial sac. Our case was operated upon emergency basis due to hemopericardium. On operative findings, the aortic aneurysm located the minor curvature of aortic arch and was a huge saccular shape. In surgical procedure, the total arch replacement was completed using selective cerebral antegrade perfusion with deep hypothermia. Postoperative course was uneventful and no cerebral complication was observed after surgery.

We report here a unique case of acute-onset dementia caused by a posterior fossa dural arteriovenous fistula (AVF), which was successfully treated by surgical resection of the isolated transverse-sigmoid sinus combined with endovascular procedures. A 70-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with acute-onset dementia and pulsatile tinnitus on the left side. CT scan revealed a low-density area in the parieto-temporal region. Cerebral angiography revealed a dural AVF of the transverse-sigmoid sinus with retrograde drainage into cerebral cortical veins. After transarterial endovascular embolization of the dural AVF, a xenon-CT scan revealed increased cerebral blood flow. Four months postoperatively, however, she was admitted to our hospital again with seizure and aphasia due to recanalizaion of the dural AVF. After trans-arterial embolization, transvenous embolization was attempted, but was unsuccessful due to inaccessibility of the isolated sinus segment. Since this patient could not be cured by endovascular embolization, an open surgical resection of the isolated sinus segment was performed. Following this, CT scans revealed that the low density area present on the first admission had disappeared. The patient's dementia resolved postoperatively. We discuss the pathophysiological mechanism by which venous ischemia due to dural AVF can cause reversible dementia.

In order to develop a non-invasive monitor of cerebral blood flow during aortic arch surgery, reliability of the laser Doppler flowmetry of the bulbar conjunctiva was evaluated. The blood flow of the bulbar conjunctiva may represent the cerebral blood flow because the ophthalmic artery originating from the internal carotid artery supplies the blood to the bulbar conjunctiva. A laser Doppler flowmeter (Advance Co., ALF201) and a specially designed probe was prepared to measure the blood flow of the bulbar conjunctiva. The probe was designed to stay in a fixed position on the bulbar conjunctiva when the eye lid is closed, so that it can maintain a stable measurement. The shape of probe is a small box, 7.5 x 4.0 x 2.0 mm connected to a glass fiber cable 2 mm in diameter, as the signal to convey to the flowmeter. Eight mongrel dogs were used for the experimental study. The brachiocephalic vessels were exposed to measure the pressure and the blood flow of the carotid arteries. The blood flow of the cerebral cortex and the bulbar conjunctiva was measured by the laser Doppler flowmetry. When the carotid artery was clamped, the blood flow of the bulbar conjunctiva fell instantaneously in 1.35 +/- 0.85 seconds and reached the plateau in 9.60 +/- 4.15 seconds. The flow returned to the previous value in 7.70 +/- 3.75 seconds after the clamp was removed. A significant positive correlation between the blood flow of the bulbar conjunctiva and that of the cerebral cortex was observed (r = 0.78, p0.001, n = 2). When the extracorporeal circulation was used, the waveform of the bulbar conjunctival blood flow was synchronized to the small pulse wave generated by the pump. Although the measurement of the bulbar conjunctival blood flow by laser Doppler flowmetry is an indirect method of monitoring the cerebral blood flow, it can provide non-invasive, continuous, and reliable measurement. We conclude that this is a useful method to monitor the cerebral blood flow during aortic arch surgery.