Cytokine-induced production of macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha) in cultured human astrocytes

The human cytotoxic T cell line TALL-104 displays potent anti-tumor effects in animals with spontaneous and induced malignancies. We investigated the biodistribution of TALL-104 cells in tumor bearing and healthy mice. 111In-labeled TALL-104 cells, injected intravenously, localized primarily in the lungs for the first 2 h, and redistributed to liver, spleen, and kidneys in the following 24 h both in immunodeficient and immunocompetent mice. TALL-104 cells consistently accumulated in the tumor and at sites of metastases. In animals injected with free 111In-oxine, most of the radioactivity remained in the blood pool with no significant organ accumulation. These data support the tumor homing properties of TALL-104 cells, information which is crucial to their therapeutic efficacy in forthcoming clinical trials.     

Wide bandwidth of over 50 GHz travelling-wave electrodeelectroabsorption modulator integrated DFB lasers

A travelling-wave electrode electroabsorption modulator integrated distributed feedback laser to overcome the CR-induced bandwidth limitation is developed. A bandwidth much wider than 50 GHz is achieved. A 40 Gbit/s eye-diagram is observed. The device has a potentiality for future 100 Gbit/s transmission     

Application of chip-interleaving and blanker for DS-SS system undermicrowave oven interference environment

The application of chip-interleaving and a blanker for improving the bit error rate performance of a direct-sequence-spread-spectrum (DS-SS) system under microwave oven interference is described. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed DS-SS system performs well even in the presence of the microwave oven interference     

Tribological Properties and Film Formation Behavior of Thermoreversible Gel Lubricants

The tribological properties of a new and unique thermoreversible gel lubricant (TR gel lube) were investigated. TR gel lube, which includes 10–40% of amide-type gelling agent in base fluid, is able to repeatedly alter or convert phase from gel state to liquid state at the melting point of the gelling agent. High-pressure rheological tests were performed in order to characterize the behavior of base oil and TR gel lube as a function of pressure and temperature. The effect of TR gel lube on ball bearing fatigue life was carried out by systematic tests using thrust ball bearings. The results of L ₁₀ life tests of TR gel lube showed a longer life than the conventional greases. This result was investigated from the oil film formation. It was found that the gelling agent played a key role in the lubricating properties. Some mechanisms such as adsorbed film formation and solid-like formation are proposed.     

FIDAS: Detailed subchannel analysis code based on the three-fluid and three-field model

The Film Dryout Analysis Code in Subchannels, FIDAS, has been developed with the main objective of predicting dryout and post-dryout heat transfer in a channel and in rod bundles. In FIDAS, two-phase flow consisting of continuous liquid film, continuous vapor and entrained droplets is modeled by a three-fluid, three-field representation of 12 field equations, i.e. three continuity, three energy and six momentum equations. FIDAS can predict dryout without any empirical CHF correlations by introducing annular flow modeling and the ‘film dryout criterion’. Experiments on film flow characteristics, subchannel flow and enthalpy distributions, dryout and post-dryout heat transfer in tubes and rod bundles were analyzed to demonstrate the performance of FIDAS. The predictions of FIDAS are in close agreement with the experiments.     

Preparation of 1,3-diacylglycerols and 1-alkyl-3-acylglycerols in the presence of quaternary ammonium salt

A series of symmetrical and racemic 1,3-diacylglycerols and 1-alkyl-3-acylglycerols were prepared simply, and in high yields, by the reaction of carboxylic acids with glycidyl esters or glycidyl ethers in the presence of quaternary ammonium salt. The effect of reaction conditions on the yield, the ratio of 1,3- and 1,2-diacylglycerols, and the stability of 1,3-diglycerides are also discussed.     

10-W/mm AlGaN-GaN HFET with a field modulating plate

AlGaN-GaN heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs) with a field modulating plate (FP) were fabricated on an SiC substrate. The gate-drain breakdown voltage (BV/sub gd/) was significantly improved by employing an FP electrode, and the highest BV/sub gd/ of 160 V was obtained with an FP length (L/sub FP/) of 1 /spl mu/m. The maximum drain current achieved was 750 mA/mm, together with negligibly small current collapse. A 1-mm-wide FP-FET (L/sub FP/=1 /spl mu/m) biased at a drain voltage of 65 V demonstrated a continuous wave saturated output power of 10.3 W with a linear gain of 18.0 dB and a power-added efficiency of 47.3% at 2 GHz. To our knowledge, the power density of 10.3 W/mm is the highest ever achieved for any FET of the same gate size.     

Contemporary percutaneous treatment of unprotected left main coronary stenoses: initial results from a multicenter registry analysis 1994-1996

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) has been considered the therapy of choice for patients with unprotected left main (ULMT) coronary stenoses. Selected single-center reports suggest that the results of percutaneous intervention may now approach those of CABG. METHODS AND RESULTS: To assess the results of percutaneous ULMT treatment from a wide variety of experienced interventional centers, we requested data on consecutive patients treated after January 1, 1994, from 25 centers. One hundred seven patients were identified who were treated either electively (n=91) or for acute myocardial infarction (n=16). Of patients treated electively, 25% were considered inoperable, and 27% were considered high risk for bypass surgery. Primary treatment included stents (50%), directional atherectomy (24%), and balloon angioplasty (20%). Follow-up was 98.8% complete at 15+/-8 months. Results varied considerably, depending on presentation and treatment. For patients with acute myocardial infarction, technical success was achieved in 75%, and survival to hospital discharge was 31%. For elective patients, technical success was achieved in 98.9%, and in-hospital survival was strongly correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (P=.003). Longer-term event (death, infarction, or bypass surgery) -free survival was correlated with ejection fraction (P<.001) and was inversely related to presentation with progressive or rest angina (P<.001). Surgical candidates with ejection fractions > or = 40% had an in-hospital survival of 98% and a 9-month event-free survival of 86+/-5%, whereas patients with ejection fractions < 40% had 67% and 22+/-12% in-hospital and 9-month event-free survivals, respectively. Nine hospital survivors (10.6%) experienced cardiac death within 6 months of hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: While results for selected patients appear promising, until early post-hospital discharge cardiac death can be better understood and minimized, percutaneous revascularization of ULMT stenosis should not be considered an alternative to bypass surgery for most patients. When percutaneous revascularization of ULMT is required, directional atherectomy and stenting appear to be the preferred techniques, and follow-up angiography 6 to 8 weeks after treatment is probably advisable.     

Glutamate-stimulated proliferation of rat retinal pigment epithelial cells

We investigated the effects of glutamate on cell proliferation and the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and its receptor (FGF-R1) mRNA in cultured rat retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The number of primary RPE cells was significantly higher after treatment with 0.2 to 1.0 mM glutamate (maximum at 1.0 mM) for 7 days than in controls. Glutamate-stimulated cell proliferation was abolished by (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine (MK-801), but not by 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione or L(+)-2-amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid. Proliferation was increased to a similar extent by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), but not by kainate, alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid or trans-(+/-)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedicarboxylic acid. NMDA-receptor-like immunoreactivity was detected in most cells cultured. Treatment of cells with glutamate increased the level of bFGF mRNA and, to a lesser extent, that of FGF-R1 mRNA, which peaked 2 and 4 days, respectively, after glutamate was added. The increase in bFGF mRNA induced by glutamate was inhibited by MK-801. These findings suggest that glutamate might stimulate proliferation of RPE cells through activation of NMDA receptors and expression of bFGF and further suggest that glutamate may be involved in the proliferative changes of RPE cells in retinal wound healing.     

Long Time Behaviour of Unstable Multilevel Systems in Presence of Zero Energy Resonance

Long time behaviour of the survival probability for unstable multilevel systems is studied based on the N-level Friedrichs model in the presence of zero energy resonance, that means the divergence of the resolvent at zero energy. With resort to the technique developed by Jensen and Kato [Duke Math. J. 46, 583 (1979)], the zero energy resonance of this model is characterized by the zero energy eigenstate that does not belong to the Hilbert space. It is then shown that for some kinds of the form factors, logarithmically slower decay of the survival probability can be realized.