Two patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis complicated with massive pleural effusion

Two patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) complicated with massive pleural effusion are reported here. Both patients presented a high-grade fever, pleural effusion prominent on the right, and good response to steroid therapy. In a 50-year-old woman with PM, combined process of pleural inflammation, cardiomyopathy and coexisting hypothyroidism were considered to be responsible for the accumulation of the massive pleural effusion. However, in a 34-year-old man with DM, pleural inflammation associated with interstitial pneumonia or pleural microvasculopathy in DM was considered to be responsible for the accumulation of the massive pleural effusion.     

Evidence that angiotensin II, endothelins and nitric oxide regulate mitogen-activated protein kinase activity in rat aorta

We measured the activity of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, enzymes believed to be involved in the pathway for cell proliferation, in rat aortic strips with or without endothelium, and examined effects of angiotensin receptor antagonists, endothelin receptor antagonists and nitric oxide (NO)-related agents. Endothelium removal produced an activation of MAP kinase activity in the strips, whereas the enzyme activity was not affected in the adventitia. The MAP kinase activation was inhibited by either the angiotensin AT1 receptor antagonist losartan or the endothelin ETA receptor antagonist BQ 123. The combination of both antagonists caused an additive inhibition. The angiotensin AT2 receptor antagonist PD 123,319 and the endothelin ETB receptor antagonist BQ 788 did not affect the MAP kinase activation. The NO synthase inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) caused an activation of MAP kinase in the endothelium-intact aorta and the MAP kinase activation was inhibited by losartan or BQ123. The NO releaser nitroprusside inhibited the MAP kinase activation induced by endothelium removal or angiotensin II. These results suggest that even in isolated arteries, NO of endothelial origin tonically exert MAP kinase-inhibiting effects and endogenous angiotensin II and endothelins in the media are tonically released to cause MAP kinase-stimulating effects in medial smooth muscle.     

On the method-independent lower bound (MILB) to the variance of attenuation estimation in random reflection

Based on the Cramer-Rao inequality, the MILB is calculated for the problem of estimating the frequency slope of the attenuation coefficient of tissue from random reflections of ultrasonic waves. Under typical signal conditions, this bound for a 1-cm x 1-cm region was found to be about 0.08 db/(MHz-cm), rather close to the clinical requirement of 0.1 dB/(MHz-cm). Comparison to existing methods (including an autoregressive deconvolution method) shows room for further improvement.     

Bilateral polynomial matrix equations in two indeterminates

Two special cases of the bilateral 2-D polynomial matrix equationDU +VN=C whenC=I andC=I with being a -stable 2-D polynomial, which are related respectively to deadbeat and asymptotic control problems of 2-D systems, are first considered. By generalizing the concepts of factor coprimeness, zero coprimeness and zero skew primeness in the 2-D polynomial ring to the ring of causal -stable 2-D rational functions, a constructive solution of these two problems mentioned is proposed. Based on these results, we derive a solvability condition for the bilateral equiation whereC is a general 2-D polynomial matrix. The general solutions are investigated as well.     

A multistep iterative proportional fitting procedure to estimate cohortwise interregional migration tables where only inconsistent marginals are known

Some problems concerning the application of the interregional cohort survival model developed by Andrei Rogers to the analysis of regional population dynamics are first discussed. The author then develops an iterative proportional fitting procedure in order to estimate a complete migration table where only inconsistent marginals are available. The procedure is applied to 1988 data for Kanagawa prefecture in Japan.     

Growth of Al2O3 whiskers by vapour-phase reactions

Needle-like or wool-like Al₂O₃ whiskers can be grown on a substrate by the hydrolysis of aluminium fluoride vapour. Effects of the growth conditions on the morphology of the crystals and growth processes of the whisker were investigated, and the optimum growth condition of whiskers was examined. Adequate vapour pressure conditions of the reactant gases for the growth of the wool-like whisker were found to be . Aluminium oxyfluoride was assumed to be the most probable intermediate species for the growth of Al₂O₃ whiskers. A variety of crystal morphologies are also shown and described with respect to the experimental conditions.     

Adsorption of urea,creatinine, and uric acid from three solution types using spherical activated carbon and its recyclability

In this paper, we propose that the urinary toxins from the wastewater be adsorbed on an adsorbent such as spherical activated carbon and the latter be regenerated by subjecting it to high temperatures to recycle activated carbon and also to recycle the water used in dialysis. We studied the adsorption of artificial waste dialysate, which is a mixed solution of urea, creatinine, and uric acid, and the separate solutions for each of these and found that their extents of adsorption onto the spherical activated carbon material were nearly identical. The amount of adsorption was approximately 1.4 mg·g^-1 for urea, 18 mg·g^-1 for creatinine, and 20 mg·g^-1 for uric acid. The urea, creatinine, and uric acid adsorbed onto the spherical activated carbon decomposed on heat treatment at 500℃, and the adsorption capacity of the spherical activated carbon was regenerated. Our study successfully demonstrated that the spherical activated carbon can be recycled in the waste dialysate treatment process.