Calculations of heats of formation for nitroaromatics with PM3 and MM2

Abstract

We have attempted to calculate heats of formation (Δ H _f °) for various aromatic nitro compounds with the semi-empirical molecular orbital theory and the molecular mechanics. As the results we may say that PM3, a semi-empirical MO method, and MM2, molecular mechanics, can estimate Δ H _f ° of energetic materials with accuracy enough to use Δ H_f° for energy hazards prediction. In case of aromatic polynitro compounds, both methods may be able to calculate accurate Δ H_f°.     

Surgical management of late esophageal perforation

A simple and rapid high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method for the determination of 2-mercaptopyridine-1-oxide (pyrithione) was developed. After addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), pyrithione was determined in the form of the free anion using 50 mM borate (pH 9.2) as background electrolyte and was detected at 244 nm with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.636 ppm (S/N = 3). The method was used to check the purity of pyrithione preparations and for the determination of pyrithione in shampoo.     

Correction of instrument measurement data for improving the visual color match between monitor and hardcopy

Abstract— Soft proofing, which can confirm the color reproduction of printed matter on a monitor, is coming into wide use in the field of graphic arts. However, there is a problem in that the color on the monitor looks different from that of printed matter, even though the L*a*b* value of the monitor's white point has been adjusted to that of the paper by using a spectroradiometer. After the color rendition of an LCD is visually adjusted to that of the paper, the measured color of the LCD shows color with L*a*b* values corresponding to a more greenish‐blue white than that of paper. For CRTs, this corresponds to a more bluish‐white. In this paper, it was assumed that bright lines in the measured spectrums of the monitors and the illuminations spread to the next wavelength band by the optical systems of the spectroradiometer. To solve the problem, a method is proposed to enhance the bright line by using a three‐tap digital filter. The effect of this method on two types of monitors under three types of illumination is also reported. After enhancing the bright lines, ΔE between the monitor and paper becomes smaller than that for the original one.     

Interstitial pneumonia treated with intermittent cyclophosphamide pulse therapy

A 52-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of polyarthralgia and dry coughing. A chest X-ray film showed bilateral diffuse reticulo-nodular shadows. A specimen obtained by transbronchial lung biopsy revealed alveolar septal thickening and infiltration by mononuclear cells. Interstitial pneumonia associated with rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed. Interstitial pneumonia relapsed soon after the first pulse of corticosteroid therapy. Cyclophosphamide pulse therapy was given in addition to a second pulse of corticosteroid therapy; 700 mg of cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m2) was administered intravenously every month and the dose of steroids was gradually reduced. Cyclophosphamide pulse therapy was repeated three times and the dose of oral corticosteroids was reduced from 60 mg to 35 mg. There was no bone marrow suppression or hemorrhagic cystitis after the cyclophosphamide pulses. Eventually, corticosteroid therapy was stopped with no clinical deterioration. This case suggests that intermittent cyclophosphamide pulse therapy can be effective for treatment of interstitial pneumonia unresponsive to corticosteroids.     

Nasal insulin delivery in rabbits using soybean-derived sterylglucoside and sterol mixtures as novel enhancers in suspension dosage forms

We describe herein the first successful implementation of intraportal stent placement combined with right portal vein embolization as preoperative management against far advanced gallbladder carcinoma. The patient was a 66-year-old woman with obstructive jaundice, in whom computed tomography confirmed that gallbladder carcinoma had invaded the liver and that massive lymph node metastases involved the hepatoduodenal ligament. Portography also revealed severe stenosis of the main portal trunk to less than 2 mm in diameter. To prevent the contribution of intraportal thrombosis and ensure postoperative liver functional reserve, an intraportal metallic stent implantation was conducted simultaneously with right portal vein embolization via a single route using the percutaneous transhepatic approach. There were no complications following this technique, and the patient subsequently underwent hepato-ligament-pancreatoduodenectomy. The resected specimen disclosed a well-expanded stent containing no thrombus. This method could therefore be an amenable strategy for the preoperative treatment of far advanced biliary malignancies in selected patients.     

Segmental liver resections, present and future-caudate lobe resection for liver tumors

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Resection of the caudate lobe of the liver is difficult to perform because of a deep location and an adjacency to the major vessels. METHODOLOGY: A total of 30 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) originating in the caudate lobe underwent hepatic resection. The lobe was classified to Spiegel's portion, the process portion, and the caval portion. The operative procedure undertaken was chosen on the basis of tumor location as well as hepatic function of each patient. RESULTS: In 14 patients who had an HCC located at Spiegel's portion or the process portion, the tumor was removed by local resection of the caudate lobe (n = 10), or by resection combined with lobectomy (n = 2) or subsegmentectomy (n = 2). In 16 patients with an HCC at the caval portion, caudate lobe resections with preparatory lobectomy (n = 6), segmentectomy (n = 1), or subsegmentectomy (n = 4) were performed. In the other 5, isolated total or partial resection of the caudate lobe was carried out because of the presence of severe cirrhosis. All operations were defined as curative, but produced two operative deaths due to liver failure. The cumulative rate of overall survival was 41% at 5 years after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Caudate lobe resection for HCC can be performed even in cirrhotic patients with a favorable surgical outcome.     

Compact solid-State switched pulsed power and its applications

Power semiconductor devices, such as insulated-gate bipolar transistors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, and static-induction thyristors, are used in different kinds of pulsed power generators developed for different applications. In addition, the semiconductor opening switch is found to have very effective applications in pulsed power generation by inductive energy storage. Semiconductor switches have greatly extended the scales of pulsed power parameters, especially in repetition rate and lifetime. They have also enabled new areas of pulsed power applications, such as accelerators, flue-gas treatment, and gas lasers.     

A spectrometric method for determining the capability of intermolecular interaction: mono- and dideoxynucleotides

A method for detecting the dimer of mono- and oligodeoxynucleotides is presented by using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS). The mass spectrum of a mononucleotide dpC showed an intense peak of the dimeric ion dpC:::dpC, compared with those of dpA, dpG and dpT. The mass spectrum of an equimolar mixture of dpC and dpG showed the highest peak of the dimeric ion dpC:::dpG, compared with all other combinations. The dimeric ion peaks in the mass spectra of dinucleotides d(ApT) and d(CpG) were relatively high and it may reflect the base-pairing energy due to hydrogen bonding. The degradation patterns of each dimers for d(ApT) and d(CpG) obtained by using the collision-induced dissociation (CID) technique which reflected the strength of each base-pairing.