Structural study of amorphous Pd41Ni41Si18 alloy associated with structural relaxation by anomalous X-ray scattering

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cyclin-D1-gene amplification is a more potent prognostic factor than its protein over-expression in human head-and-neck squamous-cell carcinoma

Endothelins (ETs) are potent bronchoconstrictor agents postulated to contribute to the pathophysiology of asthma and other respiratory disorders. An increase in both the expression and release of immunoreactive (ir) ETs was reported in bronchial epithelial cells and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of asthmatic patients. We investigated whether dexamethasone (DEX), a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-asthmatic drug, regulates the basal and stimulated release of ETs from guinea-pig cultured tracheal epithelial cells. These airway epithelial cells spontaneously release ET-1 over 24 h. When incubated in the presence of 10(-7) and 10(-6) M DEX for 24 h, basal production of ET-1 decreased by 32 and 29%. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1, 5, 10 micrograms/mL), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha; 5, 10 ng/mL), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta; 1, 5 ng/mL) significantly increased the basal release of ET-1 after 24 h. When these cells were pretreated with DEX (10(-7) M) for a 24-h period, then incubated in the presence of LPS (10 micrograms/mL), TNF alpha (10 ng/mL), or IL-1 beta (1 ng/mL) for another 24 h, the stimulated release of ET-1 was inhibited by 48, 31, and 38%, respectively. At 10(-6) M, DEX decreased the stimulated release by 45, 37, and 46%, respectively. The present results show that DEX can regulate the basal release and inhibit the pro-inflammatory cytokine-stimulated production of ET-1 from guinea-pig cultured tracheal epithelial cells. They suggest that the beneficial effect of glucocorticoids in asthma may be related to the inhibition of ET synthesis.     

Infrared focal plane array incorporating silicon IC processcompatible bolometer

A 128×128 element bolometer infrared image sensor using thin film titanium is proposed. The device is a monolithically integrated structure with a titanium bolometer detector located over a CMOS circuit that reads out the bolometer's signals. By employing a metallic material like titanium and refining the CMOS readout circuit, it is possible to minimize 1/f noise. It is demonstrated that the use of low 1/f noise material will help increase bias current and improve the S/N ratio. Since the fabrication process is silicon-process compatible, costs can be kept low     

Trends in sexually transmitted diseases and condom use patterns among commercial sex workers in Fukuoka City, Japan 1990-93

OBJECTIVE: To investigate trends in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among female commercial sex workers and in their condom use patterns during the period from 1990 to 1993 in Fukuoka, Japan. METHODS: The study group consisted of a total of 824 commercial sex workers who attended an STD clinic to undergo screening for STDs including chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, hepatitis B and HIV-1 infection during the period from 1990 to 1993. For detection of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, endocervical smear specimens were taken from the women. Blood samples were obtained for serological diagnosis of syphilis, hepatitis B and HIV-1. Commercial sex workers who visited the clinic during the period from November to December of 1993 were interviewed concerning past (1990 and 1991) and recent (1992 and 1993) condom use patterns. RESULTS: The annual detection rates of C trachomatis and N gonorrhoeae declined significantly from 16.3% in 1990 to 12.2% in 1993 (P < 0.0001) and from 1.5% in 1990 to 0.8% in 1993 (P = 0.0096), respectively. There was a remarkable reduction in the annual syphilis infection rate, from 7.5% in 1990 to 0.5% in 1993 (P = 0.0011). The positive rate for the hepatitis B surface antigen in the women ranged from only 0.6% to 1.9% and none were found to be positive for HIV-1 during the 4-year period. During the same period, there was a significant increase in the proportion of commercial sex workers always using condoms from 6.3% in 1990-91 to 25.3% in 1992-93 (P = 0.0023). CONCLUSION: The prevalences of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis infections decreased significantly among commercial sex workers in Fukuoka from 1990 through 1993, and no commercial sex workers were HIV-1 seropositive. The reductions in the prevalence of major STDs may be related to the increased use of condoms.     

A forward gradient time integration procedure for an internal variable constitutive model of Sn–Pb solder

A self-correcting forward gradient time integration procedure is formulated for the integration of a new unified visco-plastic constitutive model for an eutectic solder alloy using a tensorial internal state variable. The procedure has been implemented numerically into a commercial FE code through a user-material subroutine and is well suited to deal with numerically stiff constitutive equations. This is accomplished through an automatic subincrementation procedure controlled by a maximum allowed equivalent inelastic strain increment per time step. For illustration purposes, two examples are discussed: (i) uniaxial test simulations to reveal the optimum combination of the user-specified tolerance and the prescribed load step size to obtain a desired accuracy at a minimum cost, (ii) a large-scale three-dimensional analysis of an integrated circuit (IC) package's solder joint to show the capability of the proposed procedure to deal with thermomechanical loading.     

Recent technical advances in thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cells

CdS/CdTe solar cells have attracted attention recently for their potential as low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells of the future. It is because the CdTe layer (used for photoelectric conversion) has a bandgap energy of 1. 51 eV, which corresponds well to sunlight spectra, and the direct transition type energy band structure enables formation of thinner films.We have already industrialized CdS/CdTe solar cells in mass production stage using a printing-sintering process, as large-area modules for electric power generation(Higuchi , 1993, Omura , 1991), and as cells for indoor applications (primarily in calculators. Suyama , 1986). However, this solar cell has a conversion efficiency of approximately 6%.Recently, there has been considerable research into thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cells which have a thinner CdS film formed by CVD or CBD (Britt , 1993) process, and thus are photosensitive to light with wavelengths of 500 nm or less. At present stage of our art, in solar cells formed by the CSS with a CdTe film on CVD CdS, a conversion efficiency of 15. 05% has been obtained in cells with an area of 1 cm² (verified at JQA).     

Antioxidant Activity of Phenolic Compounds from Fava Bean Sprouts

Fava beans are eaten all over the world and recently, marketing for their sprouts began in Japan. Fava bean sprouts contain more polyphenols and l ‐3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine (l ‐DOPA) than the bean itself. Our antioxidant screening program has shown that fava bean sprouts also possess a higher antioxidant activity than other commercially available sprouts and mature beans. However, the individual constituents of fava bean sprouts are not entirely known. In the present study, we investigated the phenolic compounds of fava bean sprouts and their antioxidant activity. Air‐dried fava bean sprouts were treated with 80% methanol and the extract was partitioned in water with chloroform and ethyl acetate. HPLC analysis had shown that the ethyl acetate‐soluble parts contained phenolic compounds, separated by preparative HPLC to yield 5 compounds ( 1 ? 5 ). Structural analysis using NMR and MS revealed that the compounds isolated were kaempferol glycosides. All isolated compounds had an α‐rhamnose at the C‐7 position with different sugars attached at the C‐3 position. Compounds 1 ? 5 had β‐galactose, β‐glucose, α‐rhamnose, 6‐acetyl‐β‐galactose and 6‐acetyl‐β‐glucose, respectively, at the C‐3 position. The amount of l ‐DOPA in fava bean sprouts was determined by the quantitative ¹H NMR technique. The l ‐DOPA content was 550.45 mg ± 11.34 /100 g of the raw sprouts. The antioxidant activities of compounds 2 ? 5 and l ‐DOPA were evaluated using the 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl scavenging assay. l ‐DOPA showed high antioxidant activity, but the isolated kaempferol glycosides showed weak activity. Therefore, it can be suggested that l ‐DOPA contributed to the antioxidant activity of fava bean sprouts.