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A new type of two-dimensional dynamic vibration absorber which has a simple construction and low height has developed. The dynamic absorber is composed of a mass, semicircular arc springs, rare-earth magnets and free bears, and is able to move in every horizontal direction. The dynamic absorber is suitable for suppressing the vibration of small structures, such as three-story wooden houses, due to an earthquake, a wind or a ground motion. The modal mass and stiffness were calculated, and the optimum condition of the dynamic absorber was calculated using the fixed points theory and the area under the acceleration curve. The trial dynamic absorber was made and its resisting force characteristics were discussed experimentally and theoretically. The trial dynamic absorber was attached to the third story of a 3-story building model, and the frequency and seismic responses of the building model were measured using a permanent magnet type vibration table. The experimental results were compared with the calculated results, and the effects of vibration suppression of the dynamic absorber and the propriety of the calculations were confirmed.

The structural damages of buildings have gradually decreased in recent earthquake disasters. However, during strong earthquakes, human damages were caused by the overturning of furniture on the floor or the falling of the ceiling. We carried out questionnaire surveys to grasp consciousness of inhabitants and the actual circumstances of measures about the indoor damages. It is analyzed on the questionnaire results of the number more than 600 parts. The consciousness of inhabitants has examined for reduction of the human damages with the indoor damages. For disaster-prevention in strong earthquakes, it also summarized the present problems in measures about the indoor damages.

The major requirement for the hospital pharmacist is the practice of good pharmaceutical care. In this study, we examined the content of such pharmaceutical care and whether the average number of drugs, drug costs and the incidence of adverse drug events was reduced by the presence of the pharmacist in the neurology ward of Nagoya Daini Red Cross Hospital. We also considered ways of improving the function of clinical pharmacists in the future.The number of the clinical pharmacy practices for the month of September 2000 was 762 broken down into dispensing of drugs, consultation with patients and other clinical pharmacy practices, with 198, 338 and 226 practices each, respectively. The greatest proportion of other clinical pharmacy practices involved supplying drug information, with advice on prescription changes and amending prescriptions coming next. The number of the clinical pharmacy practices increased from 762 in 2000 to 893 in 2003, with practices covering a broad range of functions, all needing specialist pharmaceutical knowledge. Over this period, the average number of drugs in prescriptions, drug costs and incidence of adverse drug events decreased, which resulted from pharmacists ensuring that drugs were used properly by amending prescriptions.A major goal of clinical pharmacists is to ensure that drugs are used properly and this can be achieved through their active involvement in all aspects of pharmaceutical care as an active member of the health care team. Their role should not be limited to instructing patients on how to take drugs.

Full-scale data on damping of buildings in Japan have been collected by the Damping Evaluation Committee of the Architectural Institute of Japan. Reliable data on 137 steel-framed buildings, 25 reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, 43 steel-framed reinforced concrete (SRC) buildings have been compiled in a database. Most of these data have been evaluated from vibration tests in a small amplitude region. This paper describes damping ratio characteristics of steel-framed buildings and RC/SRC buildings based on analyses of the database, including effects of several building factors. It is shown that the higher the building, the smaller the first-mode damping ratio. Furthermore, the damping ratios seem to be affected by building use: Those of hotels and apartments are generally larger than those of other buildings. However, damping ratios are more widely scattered than natural periods, because they are also affected by vibration amplitude, foundation type, and so on. Frequency and amplitude dependencies of damp...

Salazosulfapyridine (SASP) is widely used orally and rectally in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. SASP is mainly metabolized by hydrolysis and the main active metabolite, 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), has an antiinflammatory effect. In the present study, we prepared suppositories containing 6.5 mmol of SASP and an enema containing 6.5 mmol of 5-ASA. We measured the concentrations of SASP and its various metabolites, 5-ASA, sulfapyridine (SP), acetylated metabolite of SP (Ac-SP), and N-acetyl-5-ASA (Ac-5-ASA), in the serum and urine after a single administration of each preparation to healthy male volunteers. When the SASP suppository was administered, the maximum concentration (Cmax) of SASP and Ac-5-ASA was 2.5+/-0.4 and 0.5+/-0.2 microM and the time to Cmax (Tmax) was 5 and 12 h, respectively. The Cmax value of SP, which causes side effects, was one-half of that of the parent compound. No 5-ASA in the serum was observed. When the 5-ASA enema was administered, Cmax and Tmax values of 5-ASA and Ac-5-ASA were 5.8+/-2.0 and 13.3+/-3.6 microM and 1 and 7 h, respectively. The area under the serum concentration-time curve (AUC) of SASP was 27.4+/-4.8 microM x h, a finding similar to that of 5-ASA after the administration of the 5-ASA enema (29.4+/-11.1 microM x h). The percentage of urinary recovery of SASP 24 h after administration of the SASP suppository was approximately 0.2%. These results indicate that SASP administered rectally is almost completely hydrolyzed in the colon and that 5-ASA is partially absorbed from the small intestine in unchanged form. On the other hand, approximately 0.3% of 5-ASA was recovered in the urine in unchanged form after the administration of the 5-ASA enema, whereas the urinary recovery of Ac-5-ASA was more than 10%. The present findings suggest that 5-ASA has favorable absorptive properties and can be expected to have systemic action after rectal administration of a 5-ASA enema.

When inpatients are transferred to other medical facilities after discharge, we often have inquiries regarding patient medications from the medical staff of medical facilities or community pharmacies.To pharmacists of medical facilities and community pharmacies, “Information of pharmaceutical care for inpatients” was issued by hospital pharmacists when patients were discharged. The “Information” included the pharmaceutical care records : any adverse reaction history, medical history in admission, the final prescription at discharge and so on.A questionnaire survey evaluating the “Information” to pharmacists of medical facilities and community pharmacies was carried out by mail from April 1998 to March 1999. The response rate was 85. 1 % (80/94) : 26 were from pharmacists, 53 from physicians and one from a nurse. All of the pharmacists evaluated the “In-formation” as useful, good and understandable. The physicians evaluated as follows : 46/53; 45/53; and 44/ 53, respectively.They indicated that the greatest necessity was the adverse reaction history, the prescription at discharge and the pharmaceutical care course. These results showed that the “Information” from hospital pharmacists to the pharmacists was generally considered to be good. It is necessary to improve the “Information” from hospital pharmacists to the other medical staffs because there are few clinical pharmacists and many doctors receive “Information” from hospital pharmacists.It is therefore improvement to provide consistent and appropriate medications to assist hospital pharmacists, the medical staff of medical facilities and community pharmacies by sharing accurate patient information with them.

In the previous paper, an elastoplastic damper utilizing continuous plastic bending of thin metal rods was developed. In this paper, an improved damper that is improved a winding mechanism of the metal rods of the elastoplastic damper for a larger resisting force and a compound damper that is added a friction mechanism as a fale-safe mechanism to the elastoplastic damper are proposed. The trial dampers were made and the resisting force characteristics and fatigue strength of the dampers were measured. The seismic responses of an L-shaped pipe supported by the dampers were also measured using an electrohydraulic shaking table.

Caffeine-containing agar-jelly was considered as a therapy for a patient suffering from severe headache and serious tremors on the upper extremites. However, no reliable information on the release of caffeine from agar was obtainable from a literatur-search. The present study was focused on examining the intactness of caffeine in jelly, the extent of release of caffeine from jelly and the assurance of its bacteria free condition.Caffeine (50mg) was embedded in 15 ml agar-jelly. The jellies were either kept at room temperature (25°C) or stored in refrigerator (4°C) for a maximum of 7 days, depending on the experiments. The jellies were disintegrated in either the first disintegration test fl uid (pH 1.2) or the second disintegration test fluid (pH 6.8) at 37°C by a mechanical stirring. The extent of dissociation and the recovery of caffeine were then examined by HPLC. Bacterial contamination was examined by a culture.The preparation of caffeine-containing agar-jelly was simple and easy to use. The intrajelly distribution of caffeine was superb. The release was rapid and plateaued to nearly 100% before 60 min in the two disintegration test fluids. The release took place before its disintegration proceeded. Neither the quantity nor the quality of caffeine was affected by the storage length. In addition no bacterial contamination was observed under the tested conditions.These results are thus considered to provide a rational biophysical background for the use of caffeine in agar-jelly.