Relief of hemiballism from a basal ganglia arteriovenous malformation after radiosurgery

A patient with a 3-year history of progressive hemiballism presented with an unruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the contralateral caudate nucleus and putamen. PET demonstrated a matched reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) in the basal ganglia and adjacent frontal lobe. The patient underwent radiosurgery for the AVM. After a period of no clinical change for 6 months, the movement disorder resolved by month 7 post-treatment. The AVM was successfully obliterated 2 years after irradiation without any significant change in the regional CBF or CMRO2.     

Effects of Ti addition on via reliability in Cu dual damascene interconnects

We investigated the effects of a Ti addition on the reliability and the electrical performance of Cu interconnects, comparing three different ways of Ti addition such as A) Ti layer insertion under Ta-TaN stacked barrier metal, B) Ti layer insertion between a Ta-TaN barrier and Cu, and C) the Ti doping from the surface of the electrochemical-plated (ECP) Cu film. The structure-A drastically suppresses the stress-induced voiding (SIV) under the via connected to a wide lower line due to adhesion improvement by Ti at the via-bottom, while the electromigration (EM) is not improved. In the structure-B, by contrast, the EM is improved but the SIV resistance is degraded. The Ti doping from the bottom surface of Cu film restricts the grain growth and increases the tensile stress, enhancing the SIV. The structure-C improves not only the SIV but also the EM resistance. The oxygen gettering effect of Ti during the ECP-Cu annealing is a reason for the reliability improvements of the SIV and the EM. The improvement of adhesiveness at the interface between the via and the lower Cu line, and the oxygen gettering from Cu by Ti play an important role in suppressing the SIV and the EM.     

Ti-content and annealing temperature dependence of transformation behavior of TiXNi(92-XCu8 shape memory alloys

Ti-content and annealing temperature dependence of the transformation behavior of Ti_XNi_(92-X)Cu_8.0 (at,%) (X = 49.0–5l.0) alloys was investigated by varying the annealing temperature from 573 to 1273 K. It was found that the peak temperature of B2–B19 transformation (O^*) increases with increasing annealing temperature from 673 to 873 K for all of the alloys. With annealing at temperatures above 873 K, the influence of annealing on O^* depends on Ti-content. In the range of 50.4–51.0 at.% Ti, O^* shows little dependence on annealing temperature. In the range of 49.3–50.2 at.% Ti, O^* firstly decreases and then keeps constant with increasing annealing temperature. For the alloy of 49.0 at.% Ti, O^* continuously decreases with increasing annealing temperature from 873 to 1273 K. On the basis of the above data, a partial phase diagram of Ti-Ni-8.0Cu (at.%) was proposed. The transformation hysteresis also showed unique Ti-content and annealing temperature dependence.     

The hydration of Ras p21 in solution during GTP hydrolysis based on solution X-ray scattering profile

The small-angle X-ray scattering technique was used to characterize the structure in solution of wild type ras p21 as well as the oncogenic proteins mutated at residue 12, 59, or 61. In the presence of GDP, the radius of gyration, Rg, determined for wild type ras p21 was 16.89 +/- 0.01 A, while the wild type ras p21 bound to the GTP analogue GDPNHP (5'-guanyl imido diphosphate beta-gamma-imidoguanosine 5'-triphosphate) showed an Rg value of 17.46 +/- 0.01 A, which is 3.3% larger. The result shows that ras p21 expands upon GTP binding. The Rgs of mutated proteins were 17.04 +/- 0.01, 16.98 +/- 0.01, and 17.03 +/- 0.01 A for the Gly-12 to Val, Ala-59 to Thr, and Gln-61 to Leu mutants, respectively. The scattering profiles were analyzed by simulation of hydrated ras p21, based on the crystal atomic coordinates, and it was concluded that the ras p21 molecule incorporates 20% more bulk water upon GTP binding. The increase of bulk water is especially conspicuous around the interface between switch I (residues 32-40) and switch II (residues 60-66) regions. This suggests that hydration plays an important role in the interaction with GAP.     

A case of rheumatoid pachymeningitis

Here we present a 53-year-old woman with rheumatoid pachymeningitis. The subject had rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for 15 years. In April, 1996 she began to experience intermittent headaches. In September, her headaches became severe and continuous. In October, she suddenly developed ptosis of the left eye and diplopia. She also started to have dysphagia and she found it increasingly difficult to eat. She was admitted to our hospital on November 1, 1996. Neurological examinations revealed palsies of the left IIIrd, IVth, and VIth, and bilateral IXth, and Xth cranial nerves. Laboratory findings showed leukocytosis, elevated blood sedimentation rate, and positive CRP. Serum RA titer was positive (30x). The cerebrospinal fluid was normal and bacteriological examination was negative. T1-weighted MRI demonstrated hypertrophic cranial dura extending from the falx cerebri to tentorium cerebelli, which was enhanced markedly by Gd-DTPA. The dura adjacent to the cavernous sinus and the clivus were also thickened, which probably caused her cranial polyneuropathies. The dural biopsy showed massive infiltration of the inflammatory cells throughout the dura, proliferation of collagen fibers, and necrotic granuloma with neutrophilic infiltrations. Neither rheumatoid nodules, nor vasculitis were found. Despite the absence of rheumatoid nodules in the dural biopsy, the clinical features, pathologic specimens, and MRI findings of the thickened dura were most consistent with rheumatoid pachymeningitis. Administration of dexamethason ameliorated her headache on the 4th hospital day, and the cranial polyneuropathies completely disappeared on the 35th hospital day. The dural enhancement previously seen on the contrast T1-weighted MRI was diminished. Serum RA titer was also normalized (10x). Rheumatoid pachymeningitis is an extremely rare disease, and only 16 cases were reported in the literatures. Hypertrophic pachymeningitis should be considered as a diagnostic possibility in RA patients who have prolonged headache, and Gd-DTPA MRI is recommended to demonstrate the dural involvement.     

A H∞ optimal theory-based generatorcontrol system

A generator control system is designed on the basis of H _∞ control theory, and the control performance of the system is investigated. A Riccati equation approach is first introduced. How to apply this approach to designing the generator control system is then presented. The control performance of the system based on H_∞ control design is studied by numerical examples and is compared with that based on linear-quadratic control design. Some advantages and disadvantages of the generator control system based on the H_∞ design are clarified     

Evaluation of mycobacteria growth indicator tube for recovery and drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from respiratory specimens

The new BBL mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) was evaluated for its ability to detect mycobacteria directly from patient specimens and to determine the drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. A total of 85 respiratory specimens were tested. Specimens were digested, concentrated, examined microscopically for acid-fast bacilli, and inoculated into MGITs and onto Lowenstein-Jensen slants by standard procedures. The tubes were incubated at 37 degrees C and were examined daily for fluorescence to 365-nm UV light. All 25 specimens smear positive for acid-fast bacilli were tested for drug susceptibility in MGITs containing 1.0 mu g of rifampin per ml, 0.1 mu g of isoniazid per ml, 2.0 mu g of streptomycin per ml, and 2.0 mu g of ofloxacin per ml. These results were compared with those obtained by testing the same M. tuberculosis isolates by the indirect proportion method at drug concentrations of 4.0 mu g of rifampin per ml, 0.2 mu g of isoniazid per ml, 2.0 mu g of ethambutol per ml. 4.0 mu g of streptomycin per ml, and 2.0 mu g of ofloxacin per ml. No significant difference in the sensitivity of detection of M. tuberculosis isolates was found between the two methods. However, the time to detection was significantly shorter in MGITs. Drug susceptibility test results for M. tuberculosis isolates by the two methods demonstrated an excellent correlation. The mean time to reporting of drug susceptibility results was 5 days for MGITs versus 16 days for Lowenstein-Jensen slants. The results of this preliminary study indicate that the MGIT system appears to have potential for routine use in mycobacteriology for both the detection and the drug susceptibility testing of M. tuberculosis isolates. However, it is important to emphasize that simple nonautomated equipment should be developed to improve the accuracy of fluorescence detection.     

Development of an expert system for analyzing faults in power systems based on waveform recognition by artificial neural networks

In restoration of a power system, appropriate steps need to be taken in early stages to avoid damage to the public caused by insufficient power supply. The first step in the restoration is the analysis of the fault that has produced the power failure. Today, a large amount of data will be available at the occurrence of a fault due to the use of advanced communication systems using digital relays and optical fibers. Such systems are intended to obtain data from the relays and circuit breakers (CBs) under operation and the voltage and current during operation and the prefault and postfault periods. This paper presents a hybrid fault analyzing expert system using data based on protective devices and phasor measurement. This system is a combination of an artificial neural network (ANN) and an expert system (ES). The ANN is used to simplify the analysis of current and voltage waveforms, which is considered difficult due to the presence of a fault resistance and the line impedance. Since a fault waveforms contains various ambiguous factors depending on the nature of the fault resistance, load current and other system parameters, the use of ANN is effective making such determinations.