Semiautomatic leakage analyzing system for time series fluorescein ocular fundus angiography

An algorithm for measuring an index of leakage in fluorescein fundus angiography is presented. The number of pixels whose gray level exceeds an automatically determined slice level is calculated. An automatic blood vessel elimination technique is introduced. Further, a method of measuring the short term change of leakage from a time series of the fluorescein fundus angiographs is described. Our system can also deal with the time series images obtained on different occasions (long term change).The features of this paper are: (1) this paper deals with double time sequence images (short and long term); (2) an automatic blood vessel recognition algorithm is employed.     

Characterization of a mutation responsible for an alkali-sensitive mutant, 18224, of alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. strain C-125

An alkali-sensitive mutant, 18224, of the alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. strain C-125 was characterized. The nucleotide sequence of the PvuI-NlaIV DNA fragment that recovers the alkaliphily of 18224 has been cloned from the mutant and sequenced. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the corresponding regions found a G to A substitution in the mutant. The mutation resulted in an amino acid substitution from 82Gly to Glu of the putative ORF3 product, which consisted a gene cluster of at least four tandemly located open reading frames. The ORF3 product was deduced to be an 112 amino acid polypeptide with hydrophobic properties, which was expressed using an in vitro translation system.     

Selective Ion Permeation Across Membranes Prepared from Steroidal Crown Ethers

Five crown ethers covalently-linked to the cholesterol skeleton were synthesized. Thermal analysis established that four of them have a cholesteric liquid-crystal phase. In particular, the monobenzo-13–crown-4 covalently-linked through an ethylene spacer to the cholesterol skeleton shows a stable cholesteric mesophase even at room temperature. The stable cholesteric mesophase at room temperature was also obtained by mixing two steroidal crown compounds. These mixed systems were embedded in a polymer matrix and the polymer/liquid-crystal composite membranes were subjected to ion-permeation experiments. It was found that the permeation selectivity is basically explained by the hole-size selectivity in the crown-metal interaction. In particular, composite membranes containing a monobenzo-13–crown-4 unit showed the remarkably high Li⁺ selectivity. It was concluded on the basis of examination of activation parameters that ion permeation occurs across channel-like stacks of crown ether rings.     

Measurement of heat of mixing for ammonium chloride + ammonia system at 25 °c

Heat of mixing for ammonium chloride in liquid ammonia at 25°C was determined in the concentration range 0-50 wt% NH₄Cl. It was calculated from the differential heat of solution observed in this work and the differential heat of dilution estimated from activities of solvent. A twin isoperibol calorimeter consisting of two stainless Dewar vessels was used at a relatively high pressure (up to 1.5 MPa). The accuracy of this calorimetry was examined by measuring the heat of solution for tris-(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane(THAM) in 0.1 kmol/m³ HCl at 25°C, and satisfactory agreement within 1.1% between experimental and literature value was obtained. The reproducibility for the experiment was within 2.8%.     

Epitaxial synthesis of poly(p-xylylene)

When poly(p-xylylene) is synthesized from gaseous monomers, it grows epitaxially on substrates. The effects of the substrate and annealing on the epitaxy are examined by growing the polymer on cleavage (001) surfaces of four kinds of alkali halides (NaCl, KCl, KBr and Kl). The polymer crystallizes with its chains oriented along the 〈100〉 and 〈010〉 directions of the substrates and the faster growth planes are parallel to the (001) plane of substrate, i.e., the (010) plane of the α-form crystal and the (100) plane of the β-form. The degree of orientation is the highest on KBr and the lowest on NaCl. The lattice matching requirement is important in the epitaxial synthesis. The observed orientation of the polymer chain on each substrate is compared with the orientation expected from a minimum of interfacial potential energy calculated on the basis of dispersion-repulsive forces between atoms in the polymer and ions in the substrate. The orientational angle of polymer chain on the substrates and the degree of its orientation are qualitatively explained in terms of the processes of monomer deposition, polymerization and crystallization under the directive influence of the substrate.     

Photoresponsive Crown Ethers. Part 11. Azobenzene-Pillared Cylindrical Macrocycle As a Photoresponsive Receptor

A cylindrical ionophore (1) in which two diaza-crown ethers are linked by two azobenzene pillars serves as a photoresponsive host molecule. In alkaline solution containing K⁺, (1) forms a cascade complex with dianionic guest molecules, but photoirradiated (1) which has a shortened cylinder cannot bind the guest molecules so effectively as (1). (1) solubilised in acidic aqueous solution by protonation of four tertiary nitrogens provides a hydrophobic cavity to bind several anionic azo dyes. The association is also suppressed by photoirradiation. The results indicate that parallel array of the azobenzene segments in (1) provides a host cavity and the photoinduced structural change is readily reflected by the association tendency. This is the first example for the photoresponsive inclusion complex.     

Sensorineural hearing loss caused by mitochondrial DNA mutations: special reference to the A1555G mutation

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA, which are maternally inherited, have been thought to be one of the causes of sensorineural hearing loss. Two mitochondrial mutational sites (A1555G, A7445G) have been reported to be responsible for non-syndromic hearing impairments. The A1555G mutation causes increased susceptibility to aminoglycoside antibiotic-induced hearing loss as well as non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss. Our wide screening study showed that there may be a great number of subjects within the Japanese population who have the A1555G mutation. Recent reports suggest that high-risk populations may exist throughout the world. The aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss associated with a mitochondrial mutation is commonly bilateral, symmetric, high frequency involved, and is sometimes associated with progressive sensorineural hearing loss.     

Robot language from the standpoint of FA system development—An outline of FA-BASIC

A new unified FA (Factory Automation) language has been developed. The language is suited for robot control, vision system control and programmable controller (PC) control and enables a unified means for programming. The language is called FA-BASIC and has common functions such as expression, control structure and input/output statement based on BASIC language.

FA-BASIC is composed of three subsystems: FA-BASIC/R for robot control, FA-BASIC/V for vision system control and FA-BASIC/C for PCs.

Many languages have been developed up to now, but most of them were aimed at single purposes. These single purpose languages were too limited when developing an integrated FA system, because several languages and different program-making methods must be mastered.

Using FA-BASIC, programming with mutual interconnections between robots, PCs and vision devices is done by the one common method.

In this paper, the basic design concept and functions of FA-BASIC will be presented, along with the features of FA-BASIC/R and on outline of a robot control system using a standard mechanism-independent intermediate language and standard fundamental modules. Also, for easy programming, an off-line programming system with graphical aids and a menu-selection method which require no special effort to master will be introduced as the only present-day universal robot programming method.