Successful weaning from mechanical ventilation in an aged subject with severe apneas due to brain damage

A 73-year-old male was admitted to Tokyo University Hospital due to cardiac arrest secondary to ventricular arrhythmias. Although the patient survived after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, he needed mechanical ventilation. When we tried to wean the patient from mechanical ventilation, we found that he suffered from frequent sleep apneas of over 40 times/hour. To evaluate the severity and frequency of the apneas, we performed polysomnographic study on the patient under assist ventilation. The polysomnographic study revealed that frequency of apneas was very high but the magnitude of desaturation was not so severe during the night. Since we confirmed the lowest SaO2 in this patients was over 90% during day and night, we tried to wean from the patient from the ventilator again and succeeded. The clinical application and usefulness of nocturnal ventilatory monitoring for patients with mechanical ventilation was discussed.     

Preparation of oxidized 6-O-glycolchitosan,pH sensitivity of its aqueous solution and of its cross-linked hydrogel

Chitosan and 6-O-glycolchitosan, a water-soluble chitosan derivative, were oxidized by periodate. In the case of chitosan, only degradation products were obtained. With 6-O-glycolchitosan, however, water-soluble amphoteric polyelectrolyte derivatives of chitosan having higher molecular weight were obtained. The oxidized 6-O-glycolchitosan (OX-GC) showed a pH sensitive change of viscosity in aqueous solution. Moreover, the OX-GC hydrogel, cross-linked with glutaraldehyde, showed a pH sensitive swelling behavior. The OX-GC showed biodegradation behavior by lysozyme after acetylation.     

Improvement in fracture toughness of Ti-4.5Al-3V-2Mo-2Fe through microstructural optimization

In order to improve the observed low fracture toughness of β-rich α+β-type Ti-4.5Al-3V-2Mo-2Fe annealed at the temperature of 1123 K, a two-step cooling (TSC) after solution treatment at that temperature was proposed instead of air cooling. Solution treatment plus aging (STA) and slow furnace-cooling (SFC) treatments were also carried out on the same alloy for comparison. It was found that the relatively higher fracture toughness (J _IC ) is obtained by the TSC treatment, that is, by slow cooling the alloy at a cooling rate of 0.075 Ks⁻¹ from a temperature of 1123 to 723 K and, subsequently, water quenching to room temperature. The J _IC of the two-step-cooled alloy has the same value as that of the alloy annealed at 993 K after having first been annealed at 1123 K (duplex annealing (DA)), which has been previously observed to have high fracture toughness. The J _IC value can also be improved by STA, but it is still lower than that of two-step-cooled alloy. The relatively lower J _IC is obtained in slow-furnace-cooled alloys. The J _IC of slow-furnace-cooled alloys decreases monotonously with decreasing cooling rate for cooling rates less than 0.075 Ks⁻¹. It is suggested that the factors responsible for increasing J _IC> in two-step-cooled and solution treated-and-aged alloys are the plate-like α and secondary α, respectively, which appears in the β phase during cooling and aging, respectively. The presence of such kinds of transformation products increases the crackdeflection effect and, thus, increases fracture toughness.     

Charge–discharge and high temperature reaction of LiCoO2 in ionic liquid electrolytes based on cyano-substituted quaternary ammonium cation

The charge–discharge performance of LiCoO₂ positive electrode was observed in a mixed electrolyte system consisting of two ionic liquids: cyano-substituted quaternary ammonium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfoneimide (TFSI) and a same-anion salt of 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium (EMI). The positive electrode exhibited a discharge capacity rather close to the theoretical one when N,N,N,N-cyanoethyl trimethyl ammonium salt was applied. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies revealed that these electrolytes exhibited exotherm only around 260 °C, 50 °C higher than conventional carbonate-based electrolytes. This is the first attempt to reveal the thermal stability of ionic liquid electrolyte under a practical situation.     

Revealing the formation mechanism of granules by drying simulation of slurry droplet

The formation mechanism of granules in spray drying process was investigated by DEM-CIP method simulation coupled with a new binder segregation model. To confirm the validity of proposed binder segregation model, experiment on drying of aqueous slurry containing fine particles and binder was performed. The experimental concentration distribution of binder in a dried powder bed agreed well with the simulated one and this result shows that the proposed segregation model is valid to represent segregation phenomenon in the dried granule. Spherical hollow granules were formed with increasing of binder concentration, and the granules were depressed in higher concentration of binder. When the binder concentration in the surface region of a slurry droplet increased during drying, a crust of granule was formed because particle migration was hindered by high fluid viscosity. For the rigid crust layer, granules were hollow. When the crust layer was formed early in drying and its thickness was thin, granule surface partially collapsed inward, whereas the granule resulted in depression granules.     

CoNiP electroless deposition process for fabricating ferromagnetic nanodot arrays

An electroless deposition process for fabricating CoNiP nanodot arrays (less than 50 nm in height) with high magnetic coercivities was investigated. To fabricate such nanostructures, we improved the crystallinity of the CoNiP deposits in the initial deposition stage by applying an fcc-Cu(1 1 1) underlayer with low lattice mismatch to hcp-Co(0 0 0 2), and an autocatalytic electroless deposition process at the Cu surface was carried out by using dual reducing agents, H₂PO₂⁻ and N₂H₄. CoNiP films demonstrated high perpendicular magnetic coercivities in the initial deposition stage since the highly crystalline hcp(0 0 0 2) CoNiP layers were grown parallel to the Cu underlayers. Nanopatterned substrates were formed by UV-nanoimprint lithography. CoNiP was electroless deposited on the nanopatterned substrates. As a result, CoNiP was deposited selectively from the bottom of the nanopores with few defects in a large area. Perpendicular coercivities higher than 3000 Oe were obtained for nanodots even with heights of 50 nm. Thus, an electroless deposition process that can be used to form nanostructures with high crystallinities in the initial stage without any anomalous deposition was demonstrated.     

Effect of blood deposition phenomenon on flesh quality of yellowtail (Seriola quinqueradiata) during storage

We examined the influence of blood deposition on flesh quality of ordinary muscle in yellowtail. This study compared the flesh quality changes in upper and under‐sides of yellowtails killed by two different methods: spinal‐cord destruction (SCD) with blood removal and suffocation in air without blood removal (SA). The under‐sides of the SA group showed the highest values for a*, cathepsin B and B + L activities, the lowest value in breaking strength and the greatest degradation of myosin heavy chain (MHC) among the four groups. However, the values of the SCD‐upper group indicated the best flesh quality. In addition, the white blood cells presented the highest cathepsin B and B + L activities among the blood components. These results indicate that blood has the tendency to deposit downward in accordance with the direction of placement. This phenomenon influences the distribution of white blood cells which contain enzymes that accelerate the deterioration of flesh quality. The texture of fish muscle is an important part of the flesh quality. In captured fishery (purse‐seine fishery and dragnet fishery), it is impossible to immediately and completely remove blood. Therefore, suffocation in air is the common method after the fish is caught. The commercial value of fish is decreased and the price varies greatly when these fish enter market circulation. In our study, we examined the influence of blood deposition on the flesh quality of yellowtail during storage. The degradation of structural proteins accelerated in the deposited blood which contain proteases. The movement and deposition of blood caused the difference of quality on both sides, which seriously affected the quality of fish during preservation. Our study has some theoretical guidance for muscle softening and give a better understanding of the adverse effect of blood during preservation.     

The development and characteristics of a high-speed EELS mapping system for a dedicated STEM

A new EELS (electron energy loss spectroscopy) real-time elemental mapping system has been developed for a dedicated scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The previous two-window-based jump-ratio system has been improved by a three-window-based system. It is shown here that the three-window imaging method has less artificial intensity in elemental maps than the two-window-based method. Using the new three-window system, the dependence of spatial resolution on the energy window width was studied experimentally and also compared with TEM-based EELS. Here it is shown experimentally that the spatial resolution of STEM-based EELS is independent of the energy window width in a range from 10 eV to 60 eV.     

Some compounds separated from depolymerized brown coal

The petroleum ether-soluble fraction of the methylated depolymerized product was fractionated by liquid and gas chromatography and the chemical formulae of nine crystalline substances that were isolated were determined completely or partially. Another two compounds (Figure 6, peaks 18, 23, 0.42%) were also separated and their structure was approximately determined. Seven other peaks (4.11%) were also identified as similar to fractions from liquid chromatography already discussed. Because of over lapping yields in Table 1 and text, the total characterized was only 4.8% of the depoly merized coal, and the total separated about 6.0% (Table 1). From these compounds, suggestions are made for the course of the depolymerization process and for the structure of the coal.