Electronic nature of vanadium nitride-carbon cluster composite materials obtained by the calcination of oxovanadylphthalocyanine

Calcination of oxovanadylphthalocyanine at 500-1000 °C under an argon atmosphere was performed. Elemental analyses, XRD and TEM measurements revealed that the calcined materials are composed of nano-sized vanadium nitride and carbon clusters. ESR spectral examinations suggested that the calcined materials have a photo-responsive charge separation feature. The decomposition of methylene blue and trimethylhydroquinone in the presence of the material calcined at 900 °C was accelerated by visible light irradiation. H₂ evolution was detected from a mixture of the calcined material and water under the visible light irradiation.     

Fast and selective cell isolation from blood sample by microfiber fabric system with vacuum aspiration

Since circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells which are found in the blood of cancer patients, CTCs are potential tumor markers, so a rapid isolation of CTCs is desirable for clinical applications. In this paper, a three-dimensional polystyrene (PS) microfiber fabric with vacuum aspiration system was developed for capturing CTCs within a short time. Various microfiber fabrics with different diameters were prepared by the electrospinning method and optimized for contact frequency with cells. Vacuum aspiration utilizing these microfiber fabrics could filter all cells within seconds without mechanical damage. The microfiber fabric with immobilized anti-EpCAM antibodies was able to specifically capture MCF-7 cells that express EpCAM on their surfaces. The specificity of the system was confirmed by monitoring the ability to isolate MCF-7 cells from a mixture containing CCRF-CEM cells that do not express EpCAM. Furthermore, the selective capture ability of the microfiber was retained even when the microfiber was exposed to the whole blood of pigs spiked with MCF-7 cells. The specific cell capture ratio of the vacuum aspiration system utilizing microfiber fabric could be improved by increasing the thickness of the microfiber fabric through electrospinning time.     

A monolithic computational approach to thermo‐structure interaction

In the present work, a monolithic solution approach for thermo‐structure interaction problems motivated by the challenging application of the behaviour of rocket nozzles is proposed. Structural and thermal fields are independently discretised via finite elements. The resulting system of equations is solved via a monolithic thermo‐structure interaction scheme, which is constructed by a block Gauss–Seidel preconditioner in combination with algebraic multigrid methods. The proposed method is tested for four numerical examples, the second Danilovskaya problem, a simplified rocket nozzle configuration, an internally loaded hollow sphere, and a fully three‐dimensional nozzle configuration of a subscale thrust chamber. Good agreement of the numerical results with results from the literature is observed. Furthermore, it is shown that the monolithic solution algorithm can handle the complete range of the parameter spectrum, whereas partitioned algorithms are limited to a certain parameter range only. Moreover, the monolithic algorithm exhibits improved efficiency and robustness compared to partitioned algorithms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 600-MHz 54×54-bit multiplier with rectangular-styledWallace tree

This paper presents an efficient layout method for a high-speed multiplier. The Wallace-tree method is generally used for high-speed multipliers. In the conventional Wallace tree, however, every partial product is added in a single direction from top to bottom. Therefore, the number of adders increases as the adding stage moves forward. As a result, it generates a dead area when the multiplier is laid out in a rectangle. To solve this problem, we propose a rectangular Wallace-tree construction method. In our method, the partial products are divided into two groups and added in the opposite direction. The partial products in the first group are added downward, and the partial products in the second group are added upward. Using this method, we eliminate the dead area. Also, we optimized the carry propagation between the two groups to realize high speed and a simple layout, We applied it to a 54×54-bit multiplier. The 980 μm×1000 μm area size and the 600 MHz clock speed have been achieved using 0.18 μm CMOS technology     

Reduced incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in young Japanese persons between the 1970s and the 1990s

The activity of eight topoisomerase inhibitors was investigated against five clinical isolates of Pneumocystis carinii. Susceptibility tests were performed by inoculation of the organisms on to a cell monolayer and parasites were counted after 72 h incubation at 37 degrees C. Culture plates were added with Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing serial dilutions of lomefloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, pefloxacin, rufloxacin, camptothecin, amsacrine and etoposide. Atovaquone, pentamide isethionate and co-trimoxazole were used as control drugs. Etoposide gave inhibition comparable to that observed with atovaquone. Poor activity was demonstrated by pefloxacin, while the other topoisomerase inhibitors had no significant effect.     

Syntheses and Electronic Behaviors of Networked Alternating Aluminum-organic Moiety Hybrid Copolymers

Hybrid copolymers with aluminum-organic moiety frameworks were successfully prepared by reacting aluminum tri-sec-butoxide with several organic diols. The compositions of the resulting copolymers were determined using IR spectroscopy, ICP, elemental analysis and CP/MASS ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. The UV-VIS spectra of the copolymers were also obtained. ESR spectral examinations of the copolymers and ab-initio calculations of the copolymer models indicate that an electron transfer takes place from the organic moiety to the aluminum atom in the framework.     

Study on dominant mechanism of high-cycle fatigue life in 6061-T6 aluminum alloy through microanalyses of microstructurally small cracks

The mechanism controlling the fatigue life of a precipitation-hardened Al–Mg–Si alloy (6061-T6) at a high-cycle fatigue (HCF) regime of over 10⁷ cycles was investigated in detail. It was found that over 90% of the total fatigue life was occupied by the growth process of a microstructurally small crack at relatively low stress amplitude. The small crack was often found to be arrested and halted for a long period (more than 10⁶ cycles) before it began to grow again, which resulted in a significantly slow growth process. The small crack was then analyzed not only by the conventional fractography but also by the cross-sectional observation of the crack tip region using a focused ion beam and transmission electron microscopy. These observations, supplemented also by a grain orientation analysis using electron backscattered diffraction, explicitly revealed the following points: (i) the small crack growth observed on the specimen surface is primarily related to facet-type cracking that occurs exclusively at the specimen surface; (ii) the growth direction of the small crack has strong anisotropy (i.e. surface-induced growth); (iii) the facet-type cracking is related to the formation of persistent fine slip bands that accompany no structural change of the matrix. On the basis of these results, the micromechanism of small crack growth and its relation to the concept of fatigue limit at the HCF regime is discussed in detail.     

A 0.18-μm 256-Mb DDR-SDRAM with low-cost post-mold tuning methodfor DLL replica

A 200-MHz double-data-rate synchronous-DRAM (DDR-SDRAM) was developed. The chip contains a delay-locked loop (DLL) which performs over a wide range of operating conditions. Post-mold-tuning allows precise replica programming. A 200-MHz intra-chip data bus is suitable for DDR operation     

Detection of CpG Methylation in G-Quadruplex Forming Sequences Using G-Quadruplex Ligands

Genomic DNA methylation is involved in many diseases and is expected to be a specific biomarker for even the pre-symptomatic diagnosis of many diseases. Thus, a rapid and inexpensive detection method is required for disease diagnosis. We have previously reported that cytosine methylation in G-quadruplex (G4)-forming oligonucleotides develops different G4 topologies. In this study, we developed a method for detecting CpG methylation in G4-forming oligonucleotides based on the structural differences between methylated and unmethylated G4 DNAs. The differences in G4 topologies due to CpG methylation can be discriminated by G4 ligands. We performed a binding assay between methylated or unmethylated G4 DNAs and G4 ligands. The binding abilities of fluorescent G4 ligands to BCL-2, HRAS1, HRAS2, VEGF G4-forming sequences were examined by fluorescence-based microtiter plate assay. The differences in fluorescence intensities between methylated and unmethylated G4 DNAs were statistically significant. In addition to fluorescence detection, the binding of G4 ligand to DNA was detected by chemiluminescence. A significant difference was also detected in chemiluminescence intensity between methylated and unmethylated DNA. This is the first study on the detection of CpG methylation in G4 structures, focusing on structural changes using G4 ligands.     

Plasma levels of natriuretic peptides and adrenomedullin in elderly hypertensive patients: relationships to 24 h blood pressure

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between levels of natriuretic peptides and adrenomedullin and 24 h blood pressure levels in elderly hypertensives. DESIGN AND METHODS: We performed both 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and measurement of plasma levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and adrenomedullin in 118 asymptomatic hypertensive elderly (> 60 years old) patients. We classified the subjects into groups with isolated clinic hypertension (n = 40) and sustained hypertension (n = 78). We also measured the levels of these peptides in 37 elderly normotensive subjects. RESULTS: Plasma ANP and BNP levels were slightly increased in patients with isolated clinic hypertension compared with elderly normotensives. Among the hypertensives, plasma ANP and BNP levels were more closely related to 24 h blood pressure levels than to office blood pressure levels. Sustained hypertensives showed significantly increased plasma levels of ANP and BNP compared with isolated clinic hypertensives, while adrenomedullin levels were similar in the two groups. Elderly hypertensives with left ventricular hypertrophy detected by electrocardiography had significantly higher levels of ANP and BNP, and higher BNP/ANP ratios than those without left ventricular hypertrophy, while there was no significant difference in adrenomedullin levels between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that measurements of ANP and BNP may be useful in detecting left ventricular hypertrophy and in differentiating isolated clinic hypertension from sustained hypertension in elderly hypertensive patients.