Chronic urticaria associated with aseptic meningitis: an atypical urticarial vasculitis?

OBJECTIVE: This study is based on promising results using the ratio of free/ total (F/T) prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) for discrimination between benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer. We tried to determine the value of F/T PSA in different clinical situations at a certain time point during follow-up of luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonist treatment and to correlate it to T-PSA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 182 patients followed-up for different periods in the last 3 years were routinely monitored for serum T-PSA. During the last 11 months, F-PSA was also measured together with T-PSA, and the ratio of F/T PSA was calculated. In 26 patients, the ratio of F/T PSA was monitored sequentially in several samples. RESULTS: Although 5 patterns of clinical response to LH-RH agonists were identified according to previous T-PSA, the F/T ratio could significantly (p < 0.05) discriminate between patients responding to treatment in contrast to patients escaping, fluctuating or not responding to hormonal ablation. Those patients responding to hormones showed a higher F/T PSA ratio (36.5 +/- 33.1%) compared to the nonresponding group (12.0 +/- 10.1%). CONCLUSIONS: During individual follow-ups, the pattern of response to LH-RH treatment is reflected by the F/T PSA ratio: while successful treatment causes an F/T PSA increase, relapse is accompanied by a decrease in this ratio. However, the changes in the F/T PSA ratio did not precede the indicative changes in T-PSA. It seems that increased values of F/T PSA ratios are intrinsic features of 'benign' prostatic disease, and the molecular events resulting in different PSA molecules in various clinical situations have to be elucidated.     

Structures and vapor-sorption characteristics of sputtered polychlorotrifluoroethylene films treated by hydrogen-plasma

Hydrogen-plasma treatment of the polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) film produced by radio-frequency sputtering induces considerable elimination of halogen (fluorine and chlorine) atoms. This dehalogenation produces some noteworthy structural features: surface densification (crosslinks), trapped radicals, and incorporation of oxygen in the carbon networks. These structural changes modify the vapor-sorption properties of the sputtered PCTFE film, producing a molecular-sieving effect and enhancing the polar character of solubility properties of organic vapors.     

Conductivity of Tazheranite Ceramics Synthesized by Controlling Composition

Tazheranite ceramics with controlled compositions were synthesized by solid-phase reaction, and their conductivity was measured using the complex impedance method. The CaO content in tazheranite compositions showed the highest conductivity at around 15 mol%. In particular, Ca_0.81Ti_0.04O_y sintered bodies revealed the highest conductivity, and this value agreed very closely with that of 15 mol% CaO-stabilized ZrO₂.     

Effect of Cl ion implantation on electrical properties of CuInSe2 thin films

The effects of Cl ion implantation on the properties of CuInSe₂ epitaxial thin films have been investigated. Using five kinds of accelerating energies, the doped layer with a constant profile of Cl concentration along the depth direction was fabricated. From the results of reflection of high-energy electron diffraction, the damages due to implantation were removed by annealing at 400°C in N₂. The conductivity type in all implanted films was n-type, and the carrier concentration was increased with increasing Cl concentration in the thin films. Consequently, it is considered that Cl acts as a donor in CuInSe₂.     

Acid lipase inhibitor in chicken plasma identified as apolipoprotein A-I

We have reported a inhibitor of acid lipases in liver lysosomes and erythrocytes from chickens [M. Fujii et al., Int. J. Biochem., 22, 895-898 (1990)]. In this paper, the properties of the inhibitor were described in comparison with those of apo A-I of chicken. The purified inhibitor migrated with the same mobility on SDS-PAGE as apo A-I, and had a molecular weight of 27,000. The peptide map from the lipase inhibitor was similar to that of apo A-I. Antibodies to the acid lipase inhibitor also reacted with apo A-I. Apo A-I inhibited the acid lipase activities of liver lysosomes and erythrocytes from chickens as strongly as the lipase inhibitor. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of lipase inhibitor was identical to that of apo A-I as far as residue 20. The amino acid sequence of peptides obtained from the inhibitor by cleavage with CNBr corresponded to internal sequence of apo A-I, and so the CNBr-peptides were derived by cleavage after the methionine residues in apo A-I. The findings showed that the inhibitor of the acid lipases in liver lysosomes and erythrocytes from chickens was identical to apo A-I.     

Fabrication of 60 nm pitch ordered InP pillars by EB-lithography and anodization

We obtained ordered 60 nm pitch InP triangular vertical pillars with a high density of approximately 50% by combining electron-beam lithography and anodization techniques. For the lower dose condition of 2.3 × 10⁻⁶ nC/dot, triangular pillars of 70% density were observed within 5% of the average pillar size (Fig. 2). Furthermore, using dry etching transfer onto SiO₂, we obtained ordered 40 nm pitch pillars and observed photoluminescence intensity compa-rable to that from bulk InP substrates, indicating negligible nonradiative recombination.     

High electronic-optical conversion efficiency in avertical-to-surface transmission electro-photonic device with a verticalcavity

Electronic-optical conversion efficiency of 11.4% in a vertical-to-surface-transmission electrophotonic device with a vertical cavity is reported. Reduction of the electrical resistance by the double mesa structure, efficient confinement of carriers in the active region by the proton implanted structure, and photon recycling by sidewall reflectors lead to this high conversion efficiency. Efficiency over 10% is achieved for the first time in surface-emitting devices     

Optimal scheduling of hydraulically coupled power plants with runoff prediction

This paper discusses an optimal short-range scheduling of multireservoir hydrothermal power systems considering runoff prediction. Using Prasad's rainfall-runoff model and the Kalman filter-based, second-order filtering technique, the hour-by-hour characteristic is estimated for a given short-range forecasted rainfall pattern. Unlike the usual hydroscheduling problem in which a single-reservoir operating condition is specified at the end of the scheduling period, various end point conditions are examined to deal with the predicted runoff characteristic and to avoid possible water spillages from reservoirs. Dynamic Programming Successive Approximations are applied successfully to obtain optimum operating strategies for many end point conditions at a time. A rapid convergence characteristic coupled with a simple computation algorithm makes the proposed method one of the attractive approaches for scheduling of complicated multireservoir hydrothermal systems considering runoff prediction.