Postoperative stability after sagittal split ramus osteotomy with condylar-positioning appliance and screw fixation: asymmetric versus symmetric cases

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Myelodysplastic syndrome progenitor cells can be grown and expanded in long term bone marrow liquid cultures in the presence of multiple cytokines. In this study we investigated the pattern of differentiation and response to growth factors in six cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with well-defined cytogenetic abnormalities by means of conventional cytogenetics and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). METHODS: Bone marrow cells were grown in stroma-free liquid cultures in the presence of SCF, IL-3, IL-6 and GM-CSF. RESULTS: IN three cases a CFU-GM expansion comparable to normal controls was observed, together with a decrease or increase of cells with abnormal karyotype. Two cases showed no response to growth factor stimulation, morphological signs of terminal myeloid differentiation and increase (one case) or decrease (one case) in the percentage of abnormal FISH signals along the cultures. In one additional case, while CFU-C expansion was present, clearcut leukemic transformation was observed in the culture, together with a sharp decrease in the percentage of abnormal FISH signals, indicating a leukemic transformation of MDS progenitor cells with a normal karyotype. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that FISH analysis is generally a poor indicator of clonality in MDS; nevertheless, determining the kinetics of cytogenetically abnormal clones in liquid bone marrow cultures may provide insight as to the growth abnormalities of MDS progenitor cells and may be useful prior to in vivo growth factor administration.     

Energy absorption capacity of thermally sprayed aluminum friction dampers

When buildings are subjected to earthquakes, dampers are effective in decreasing their failure by absorbing the input energy. An objective of this study is to develop a new type of friction damper, on whose faying surface aluminum is sprayed, and the double friction joint is tightened with a high-strength bolt. When slip occurs on this friction damper, the slip coefficient is high and comparatively stable. Specimens of the friction damper were tested under static and dynamic cyclic loading conditions to investigate the effect of the condition of the faying surface on the hysteresis characteristics. The parameters of the test are thickness of sprayed aluminum, initial clamping force (contact pressure), loading program, type of sprayed metal, and sprayed side of the plate. Results indicate that relationships exist between the thickness of sprayed aluminum and the clamping force to obtain stable slip load.     

Perspective for super-high definition image systems

The authors are developing a super-high-definition image system with the aim of integrating all existing media without any distinction between still and moving images. This article describes JPEG and MPEG-2 as compression encoding methods required for the efficient transport and storage of SHD images with their vast amounts of data, and relates the results of investigations of their characteristics. While the characteristics of such encoding algorithms depend on the nature of the image data, using enhanced MPEG-2 algorithms on SHD images can compress a 6 Gb/s original to 150 Mb/s with nearly no loss in quality. The authors also point out the technical issues involved in implementing a system for SHD moving images and describe their actual approaches     

Provirus load in patients with human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 uveitis correlates with precedent Graves' disease and disease activities

We previously demonstrated the increased provirus load in the peripheral blood of patients with human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) uveitis (HU). To delineate the relevance of the increased provirus load to clinical and immunologic parameters, we studied the correlation between them. Seventy-nine HU patients (24 male and 55 female) were included in the study, with their informed consent. Plasma samples and genomic DNA of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and the provirus load was estimated by semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction of the gag region sequence. Serum levels of anti-HTLV-1 antibodies and soluble IL-2R were determined by electrochemiluminescence immuno assay and by ELISA, respectively. Disease activities were assessed and graded 0 to 4 according to the evaluation system. Recurrence of the disease during the follow-up period was diagnosed ophthalmologically. The provirus load was significantly higher in the HU patients after Graves' disease (GD) than in those without GD (P<0.05). It correlated with disease activities assessed in terms of vitreous inflammation and interval to recurrence (both P<0.05). In the HU patients without GD, it correlated with the serum levels of soluble IL-2 receptor (P<0.01), and nearly with those of HTLV-1 antibody (P=0.063). These correlations were not found in the HU patients after GD under methimazole treatment. The results suggested a direct involvement of HTLV-1-infected cells in the pathogenesis of uveitis, and raise the possibility that hyperthyroidism may contribute to the clonal expansion of HTLV-1-infected cells.     

High-quality oxide formed by evaporation of SiO nanopowder: Application to MOSFETs on plastic substrates and GaN epilayers

Although good gate oxide of SiO₂ is usually formed by high-temperature thermal oxidation, lowering the temperature for formation of SiO₂ is mandatory for future Si VLSIs, in particular, for flexible ICs, the demand for which has been increasing every year. Vacuum evaporation of SiO powder is an ideal technique not only to form oxide at low temperature but also to form an abrupt interface with the substrate. The latter feature of evaporation is suitable to form thin gate oxide for Si MOSFETs and gate oxide on compound semiconductors. High-quality SiO₂ on compound semiconductors helps development of MOSFETs made of compound semiconductors, which were longed for to be commercially available. The evaporation is not much used to form SiO₂ for MOSFETs in spite of its many advantages, because quality of SiO₂ formed by evaporation of SiO is too poor to be used as gate oxide. Unlike the commercial SiO powder, the newly developed SiO nanopowder, made by thermal CVD using SiH₄ and O₂, consists of spherical particles with sizes less than 50 nm. It does not contain any Si nanocrystals but small molecular Si networks. Such molecular Si networks are easily thermally or optically decomposed. This makes the deposited oxide more free from Si nanocrystals, which usually degrade the insulating property of the oxide. The SiO₂ thin films formed by evaporation of the SiO nanopowder have demonstrated great potential for application to MOSFETs on plastic substrates and GaN epilayers.     

Venous system playing a key role in transpetrosal approach

A new secondary metabolite was detected in the culture filtrate and extracts of Streptomyces violaceusniger Tü 4113 by HPLC-diode-array and HPLC-electrospray-mass-spectrometry screening. The compound named spirofungin has a polyketide-spiroketal structure and shows various antifungal activities, particularly against yeasts.     

Infantile perianal pyramidal protrusion

BACKGROUND: The number of reported cases of infantile perianal eruption has been increasing. However, infantile pyramidal protrusion located in the midline anterior to the anus has apparently been reported mainly as acrochordons or skinfolds. OBSERVATIONS: Fifteen infants (14 girls and 1 boy) had a pyramidal protrusion located only in the midline anterior to the anus. Histological examination revealed acanthosis in the epidermis, marked edema in the upper dermis, and mild infiltrates in the dermis. The patients had been brought to the hospital because of swelling of the protrusion. However, all protrusions showed reduction without any treatment. CONCLUSION: Infantile pyramidal protrusion located only in the midline anterior to the anus should be distinguished from acrochordons or skinfolds based on the characteristic clinical features.     

Clinical evaluation of ultrasound hyperthermia system

The plasma membrane represents an impermeable barrier to proteins and other macromolecules. However, certain exogenous proteins are able to cross cellular membranes and gain access to the cytosol. The best examples are bacterial and plant protein toxins, acting on intracellular targets. During last few years the number of known proteins possessing the capability to cross cellular membranes in the reverse direction and reach the nucleus has increased (acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor, interleukin 1, angiogenin, Schwannoma derived growth factor, homeoprotein Antennapedia, HIV-1 Tat protein are some examples). Here, the role of transport of exogenous acidic fibroblast growth factor to the nuclear location as a part of the growth factor signaling is discussed, and the current knowledge on this issue is reviewed.