The relationship of IL-6 to hormonal mediators, fuel utilization, and systemic hypermetabolism after surgical trauma

OBJECTIVES: To define the relationship between inflammatory cytokines, hormonal mediators, alteration of energy substrate and hypermetabolism during the early phase after surgical trauma. DESIGN: A prospective case-control study of 13 patients underwent elective surgery for carcinoma between November 1993 and January 1995. MATERIALS AND METHODS: They received parenteral supply of adequate glucose and amino acids through central venous catheter after surgery equally. Inflammatory cytokines such as TNF- alpha, IL-1 and IL-6, stress hormones such as norepinephrine, glucagon and insulin, and fuel utilization and hypermetabolism variables such as resting energy expenditure (REE), CRP, free fatty acid, respiratory quotient, the calculated rates of glucose and fat oxidation using indirect calorimetry were measured serially (the day before operation, the end of surgery, and postoperative day (POD) 1, 2 and 5). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: TNF- alpha and IL-1 were not detected during the study period. Initial elevation and steady decline of IL-6 concentrations were seen after surgical injury, and this response related significantly to post-operative norepinephrine and glucagon levels throughout the study period, and to insulin levels only at the end of surgery. %REE (REE/BEEHB; basal energy expenditure according to the Harris-Benedict equation) on POD 2 and 5, and all CRP levels after surgery were significantly related to IL-6 levels more than hormone levels. Fuel utilization variables on POD 2 were related to both IL-6 and hormone levels. CONCLUSIONS: Initial elevation of IL-6 concentration might induce stress hormones such as norepinephrine and glucagon, but not insulin after surgical trauma. Moreover not only hormonal mediators but also cytokine such as IL-6 are responsible for the development of the stress response of the alteration of energy substrate and hypermetabolism.     

Automated low-power technique exploiting multiple supply voltagesapplied to a media processor

This paper describes an automated design technique to reduce power by making use of two supply voltages. The technique consists of structure synthesis, placement, and routing. The structure synthesizer clusters the gates off the critical paths so as to supply the reduced voltage to save power. The placement and routing tool assigns either the reduced voltage or the unreduced one to each row so as to minimize the area overhead. The reduced supply, voltage is also exploited in a clock tree to reduce power. Combining these techniques together, we applied it to a media processor chip. The combined technique reduced the power by 47% in random-logic modules and by 73% in the clock tree, while keeping the performance     

Electrical properties of N2O/NH3 plasma grownoxynitride on strained-Si

Growth of ultrathin (<100 Å) oxynitride on strained-Si using microwave N₂O and NH₃ plasma is reported. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicate a nitrogen-rich layer at the strained-Si/SiO₂ interface. The electrical properties of oxynitrides have been characterized using a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. A moderately low value of insulator charge density (6.1×10¹⁰ cm^-2) has been obtained for NH₃ plasma treated N₂O oxide sample. Nitrided oxide shows a larger breakdown voltage and an improved charge trapping properties under Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) constant current stress     

Induction of necrosis by zinc in prostate carcinoma cells and identification of proteins increased in association with this induction

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a cardiovascular peptide that binds to two distinct receptors, ET(A) and ET(B), resulting in systemic and regional vasoconstriction, alteration in sodium excretion, mitogenesis, and release of other vasoactive peptides such as atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). A role for ET-1 has been proposed in congestive heart failure (CHF) based on the increase in circulating ET-1 in this cardiovascular disease state. The present study determined the cardiorenal and endocrine responses to chronic selective oral ETA antagonism in experimental CHF. Two groups of conscious dogs underwent 21 days of pacing-induced CHF. These groups included a control untreated group (n = 6) and a group that received an orally active ET(A) receptor antagonist (A-127722, Abbott Pharmaceuticals, 5 mg/kg PO bid, n = 6). Each group was studied at baseline before the onset of CHF and after 14 and 21 days of CHF. Compared with the CHF control group, the ET(A) receptor antagonism group at 14 days of CHF showed lower mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance. Similarly, ET(A) receptor antagonism markedly attenuated the increase in circulating ANP despite similar atrial pressures. At 21 days of CHF, ET(A) receptor antagonism lowered pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance, and systemic vascular resistance in association with a higher cardiac output. Plasma ANP remained suppressed. Despite the lower mean arterial pressure and circulating ANP in the ET(A) receptor antagonist group, the absolute decrease in sodium excretion from baseline was less compared with the untreated CHF control group. The present investigation supports the conclusion that endogenous ET-1 participates in the systemic and pulmonary vasoconstriction, the elevation of ANP, and the sodium retention that characterize this model of experimental CHF, suggesting a potential therapeutic role for ET(A) receptor antagonism in CHF.     

Estimation of corrosion conditions of a phosphoric acid fuel cell

The changes in the anode and cathode potentials in the horizontal plane of a phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), under various conditions of reactant gas pressure and its utilization, were studied using a single cell with twelve reference electrodes located around the cathode. Pressure-utilization (P-U) potential maps were obtained from the data at various reactant gas partial pressures (PO₂, PH₂) and their utilization (UO₂, UH₂). These maps show the corrosion conditions clearly. A PO₂-UO₂ potential map of maximum cathode potential showed that the cathode is corroded at high oxygen partial pressures and at low oxygen utilization. Cathode corrosion can occur over the entire cell surface. A PH₂-UH₂ potential map of maximum cathode potential showed that the cathode is corroded at high hydrogen utilization and at any hydrogen partial pressure. However, in this case, cathode materials corrodes at the fuel outlet; the potential does not climb to high values at the fuel inlet area. Fuel gas flowing in series resulted in a lower possibility for corrosion than parallel gas flow.     

KDDI：基于下一代网络的固定、移动和广电融合业务

在全球的CDMA运营商中,日本KDDI是非常突出的一家。KDDI于2002年4月推出了自己的3G业务,采用的是cdma20001x技术。与NTTDoCoMo的3G业务一开始缓慢发展相比,KDDI虽晚半年推出3G业务,但其3G业务一起步就进入了快速发展阶段,业务开展才84天,用户数就突破百万大关。到2004年10月,用户数突破1600万的KDDI。那么,到底是什么使KDDI后来居上的呢？本文试图从分析KDDI的业务人手,破解KDDI的成功密码.     

Preparation of Pt-loaded TiO2 nanofibers by electrospinning and their application for WGS reactions

Preparation of Pt-loaded TiO₂ nanofibers and their catalytic performance for water gas shift (WGS) reactions have been explained in this work. The Pt-loaded TiO₂ nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning poly-ethylene oxide (PEO) aqueous solutions containing Ti(OH)_n slurry and Pt nanoparticles at room temperature, followed by calcination at 773 K for 4 h. The calcined nanofibers were rougher than the nanofibers of PEO/Ti(OH)_n/Pt due to the PEO degradation and oxidation of Ti(OH)_n to TiO₂. Diameters of the Pt-loaded TiO₂ nanofibers ranged between 200 and 900 nm. Catalytic activity of the Pt-loaded TiO₂ nanofibers for water gas shift (WGS) reactions was evaluated and it was observed that their activity was 5–7 times higher than that of a bulk catalyst. Such improvement is attributed to the larger surface area of the nanofiber catalyst compared to that of the bulk catalyst. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a synthesis of Pt-loaded TiO₂ nanofibers from a Ti(OH)_n nanoparticle slurry using electrospinning and its application to WGS reactions.     

Cloning and characterization of a β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (BmFDL) from silkworm Bombyx mori

In insects, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (GlcNAcase) participates in critical physiological processes such as fertilization, metamorphosis, and glycoconjugate degradation. Insects produce glycoproteins carrying paucimannosidic-type N-glycans, the terminal GlcNAc residue of which is cleaved by a GlcNAc-linkage specific GlcNAcase, also known as the fused lobes (FDL) protein. To obtain information on the structure of GlcNAcases and insight into their contribution to physiological processes, we cloned Bombyx mori FDL (BmFDL) from silkworm larvae. The full-length cDNA (1.9 kb) encoded a protein of 633 amino acids with 42% amino acid sequence identity to Drosophila melanogaster FDL (DmFDL). Recombinant BmFDL cleaved only β-1,2-linked GlcNAc residues from the α-1,3 branch of biantennary N-glycan. This substrate specificity was similar to that of DmFDL. Microsomal FDL activity was inhibited by anti-BmFDL antibodies. Taken together, our results suggest that BmFDL is a N-glycan-processing GlcNAcase in B. mori.     

Bidirectional Data Injection Operation of Hybrid Integrated SOA–MZI All-Optical Wavelength Converter

A bidirectional data signal input scheme of a semiconductor optical amplifier--Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) wavelength converter was proposed and experimentally verified for a nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)-format signal. Theoretical analyses reveal that it is possible to mitigate the patterning effect induced by cross-gain modulation (XGM) by utilizing the difference of the ratio between the XGM and cross-phase modulation on the injection directions of data signals. A hybrid integrated SOA-MZI all-optical wavelength converter, in which the coupling loss between the SOA and the silica waveguide was as small as 1 dB owing to a unique active alignment technique, was used for the experiment. We have verified the superior characteristics of the proposed operation scheme for the first time. Error-free wavelength-conversion operation for an NRZ signal at 40 Gb/s was confirmed