The in vitro and in vivo indomethacin release from self-setting bioactive glass bone cement

The in vivo and in vitro drug release profiles from a self-setting bioactive CaO-SiO2-P2O5 glass bone cement containing indomethacin as a model drug were investigated. The cement containing 2% and 5% indomethacin (IMC) powder hardened within 5 min after mixing with ammonium phosphate buffer. After setting, in vitro drug release from drug-loaded cement pellets in a simulated body fluid (SBF) at pH 7.25 and 37 degrees C continued for two weeks. The hardened cement gradually formed low-crystallinity hydroxyapatite during the drug release test in SBF. An IMC-loaded cement device (2% and 5% drug) was implanted in the subcutaneous tissue on the back of rats. The in vivo IMC release from the cement increased and attained maximum levels (Cmax of 2% and 5% drug-loaded cements was 0.27 and 3.37 micrograms/ml, respectively) at Tmax, 3 and 0.5 d, respectively, upon subcutaneous (s.c.) administration in rats. This suggested that the s.c. administration of the cement provided IMC release for a much longer period than s.c. administration of the solution, and the plasma IMC concentration was dependent on the drug concentration in the cement. The plasma IMC concentration and the area under the curve from 2% and 5% IMC-loaded cements in rats were dependent on the concentration of IMC in the cements. The in vivo IMC concentration in plasma obtained by the deconvolution method was much lower than that delivered in SBF in vitro. Scanning electron microscopy and photomicrographs of cross sections showed that the bioactive bone cement had excellent biocompatibility with the surrounding soft tissues.     

Memory array architecture and decoding scheme for 3 V only sectorerasable DINOR flash memory

A memory array architecture and row decoding scheme for a 3 V only DINOR (divided bit line NOR) flash memory has been designed. A new sector organization realizes one word line driver per two word lines, which is conformable to tight word line pitch. A hierarchical negative voltage switching row decoder and a compact source line driver have been developed for 1 K byte sector erase without increasing the chip size. A bit-by-bit programming control and a low threshold voltage detection circuit provide a high speed random access time at low V_cc and a narrow program threshold voltage distribution. A 4 Mb DINOR flash memory test device was fabricated from 0.5 μm, double-layer metal, triple polysilicon, triple well CMOS process. The cell measures 1.8×1.6 μm² and the chip measures 5.8×5.0 mm ². The divided bit line structure realizes a small NOR type memory cell     

Methanol synthesis and reverse water-gas shift kinetics over clean polycrystalline copper

The kinetics of simultaneous methanol synthesis and reverse water-gas shift from CO₂/H₂ mixtures have been measured at low conversions over a clean polycrystalline Cu foil at pressures of 5 bar. An absolute rate of 1.2 × 10^–3 methanol molecules produced per second per Cu surface atom was observed at 510 K, with an activation energy of 77 ± 10 kJ/mol. The rate of CO production was 0.12 molecules per second per Cu surface atom at this temperature, with an activation energy of 135 ± 5 kJ/mol. The rates, normalized to the metallic Cu surface area, are equal to those measured over real, high-area Cu/ZnO catalysts. The surface after reaction was examined by XPS and TPD. It was covered by almost a full monolayer of adsorbed formate, but no other species like carbon or oxygen in measurable amounts. These results prove that a highly active site for methanol synthesis on real Cu/ZnO catalysts is metallic Cu, and suggest that the rate-determining step in methanol synthesis is one of the several steps in the further hydrogenation of adsorbed formate to methanol.     

MUC-1 expression as a predictor of the curative endoscopic treatment of submucosally invasive colorectal carcinoma

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to clarify the clinical significance of MUC-1 expression in the endoscopic treatment of colorectal carcinoma with submucosal invasion. METHODS: One hundred eighty-four colorectal carcinomas with submucosal invasion were examined. The depth of submucosal invasion was classified as scanty or massive. The histologic subclassification at the deepest invasive portion was defined as well-differentiated, moderately well-differentiated, moderately to poorly differentiated, poorly differentiated, or mucinous adenocarcinoma. MUC-1 expression was examined immunohistochemically at the deepest invasive portion. In addition, the Ki67 labeling index was also examined immunohistochemically. RESULTS: Lymph node metastases were detected in 28 (15.2 percent) of 184 lesions. Lesions with both scanty submucosal invasion and well-differentiated or moderately well-differentiated adenocarcinomas had no lymph node metastases. MUC-1 expression was detected in 88 (47.8 percent) of 184 lesions and correlated significantly with the presence of lymph node metastases. The Ki67 labeling index also correlated significantly with lymph node metastases. Furthermore, lesions with both MUC-1-negative and low Ki67 labeling index showed no lymph node metastases, even in lesions with massive submucosal invasion. Multivariate analysis indicated that MUC-1 expression was one of the most important risk factors for lymph node metastases and histologic grade among the clinicopathologic factors usually examined. CONCLUSION: MUC-1 expression is one of the accurate predictors of the presence of lymph node metastases among the clinicopathologic factors commonly used. Combined analysis of MUC-1 expression and Ki67 labeling index may be a useful indicator of lymph node metastases and may broaden the indications for the curative endoscopic treatment of carcinoma with massive submucosal invasion.     

Low-power design approach of 11FO4 256-Kbyte embedded SRAM for the synergistic processor element of a Cell processor

The synergistic processor element is a new architecture oriented for multimedia and streaming processing. In this architecture, the memory is not a cache but a private or scratch pad memory. Such a memory is simple and needs to be high-frequency and large space in low-power. This design uses an 11 fan-out of four (11FO4), six-cycle, fully pipelined, embedded 256-Kbyte SRAM for this purpose. The design's memory is not one hard macro, but a group of custom macros physically distributed to optimize the pipeline.     

Sterilization of hepatitis B surface antigen-contaminated materials

The sterilizing conditions of HBs Ag-contaminated materials were studied by means of the inactivation of the antigenicity (infectivity being thought to be lost when HBs Ag is inactivated). HBs Ag-coated beads and the serum from an HBs Ag-positive patient were used. After each sterilizing procedure, the antigenicity was studied by radioimmunoassay. HBs Ag-positive serum is easily inactivated by boiling and by steam under pressure; however, HBs Ag-coated beads require increased steam under pressure. For sterilizing HBs Ag-contaminated materials, 30 minutes at 132 degrees C is recommended.     

Feasibility of Estimation Methods for Measuring Young's Modulus of Wood by Three-Point Bending Test

We examined the feasibility of estimation methods for measuring Young's modulus of wood by the three-point bending test using spruce specimens (Picea sitchensis Carr.). By measuring the deflections at the midspan and at the midpoint between the loading and supporting points, Young's moduli were determined according to elementary and Timoshenko's beam theory. Additionally, longitudinal strain at the midspan was measured independently of measuring the deflections, and Young's modulus was also determined from the load-strain relation. The values of Young's modulus obtained by the different procedures were compared with each other, and the following results were obtained: (1) Measurement of two-point deflections was effective for obtaining Young's modulus while reducing the influence of shear deformation when the specimen had a small depth. (2) In the measurement of two-point deflections, the specimen configuration should be regarded as more important than the contact at the loading and supporting points. (3) The use of strain gauges should be taken into account as a standardized method for measuring Young's modulus by bending.     

Thermal and mechanical properties of sorbitol‐based epoxy resin cured with quercetin and the biocomposites with wood flour

After a bio‐based epoxy resin, sorbitol polyglycidyl ether (SPE) was mixed with a flavonoid, quercetin (QC) in tetrahydrofuran at an optimized epoxy/hydroxy ratio 1/1.2, the obtained SPE/QC solution was mixed with wood flour (WF), prepolymerized at 150°C, and subsequently compressed at 170°C for 3 h to give SPE‐QC/WF biocomposites (WF content:0, 20, 30, 40 wt %). The tan δ peak temperature of SPE‐QC without WF (85.5°C) was higher than that of SPE cured with conventional phenol novolac (81.0°C). In addition, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A cured with QC had a higher tan δ peak temperature (145.1°C) than that cured with PN (90.8°C). The tan δ peak temperatures (106–113°C) of SPE‐QC/WF biocomposites were significantly higher than that of SPE‐QC. The tensile modulus of SPE‐QC/WF biocomposites increased with increasing WF content. A lower wavenumber shift of carbonyl stretching absorption peak in the FTIR spectrum of SPE‐QC/WF as compared with that of SPE‐QC suggested that hydroxy group of woody component forms hydrogen bonding with carbonyl group of quercetin moiety. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Prediction of the off-axis stress-strain relation of wood under compression loading

Uniaxial compression tests were conducted using specimens of agathis (Agathis sp.) and katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum Sieb. et Zucc.) with various values of off-axis angle, defined as the angle between the grain axis and the axis along the loading direction. The obtained stress-strain relation was regressed into Ramberg–Osgood’s equation, and it was predicted by approximating the relationship between the parameters contained in the regressed equation and off-axis angle into Hankinson’s formula. The comparisons between the stress-strain relations obtained by the experiment and prediction revealed that the off-axis compression stress-strain relation can be predicted effectively using the relations in the orthotropic axes.     

Designing current collector/composite electrode interfacial structure of organic radical battery

Charge/discharge processes of organic radical batteries based on the radical polymer's redox reaction should be largely influenced by the structure and the composition of the composite electrodes. AC impedance measurement of the composite electrodes reveals a strong correlation between the overall electron transfer resistance of the composite electrode and the material of the current collector, and suggests that the electric conduction to the current collector through the contact resistance should be crucial. We also find that the adhesion and the contact area between the composite electrode and the current collector strongly influence the contact resistance rather than the work functions and the volume resistivities of the composite electrode and the current collector. It is also confirmed that the charge/discharge performance of the composite electrode is related to the overall electron transfer resistance of the composite electrode. These results indicate that the charge/discharge performance of the radical battery is dominated by the interfacial electron transfer processes at the current collector/carbon fiber interface. In fact, the composite electrode which has a high adhesion to the current collector shows a small overall electron transfer resistance and an excellent charge/discharge performance. The rate performance would be much improved by suitably designing the interfacial structure including adhesion and contact area.