Hemorrhage into a simple liver cyst: diagnostic implications of a recent case

Hemorrhage complicating simple liver cyst is rare. On imaging studies, the differential diagnosis between intracystic hemorrhage and cystadenocarcinoma of the liver is unreliable, and hepatectomy has been performed for benign liver cyst in this situation. We describe the characteristics of hemorrhage into a liver cyst in a patient who underwent dome resection of the cyst. In our patient, important diagnostic findings included benign cytologic features in a cyst fluid specimen aspirated with ultrasonographic guidance and a fall in hemoglobin and hematocrit, suggestive of hemorrhage. Other informative features were absence of communication between the intrahepatic bile ducts and the cystic liver lesion upon endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, as well as benign intraoperative frozen-section histology.     

Neutronics and burnup analysis of an accelerator-based tru-nitride fuel transmutation system with the ATRAS code

The neutronics and burnup analyses of an accelerator-based transmutation system with tungsten target and TRU-nitride fuel were performed with a newly developed code system named ATRAS (Accelerator-based Transmutation Reactor Analysis System). The ATRAS code is an integrated code system which can perform the hadronic cascade process above 20 MeV and neutron transport and core burnup process below 20 MeV with the spallation neutron source.

The specifications of the transmutation system are investigated. The core consists of the central spallation target region and the surrounding TRU-mononitride fuel region. The core is driven by protons at an energy of 1.0 GeV. This system was also proposed as a benchmark problem in the “OECD NEA/NSC Benchmark on Physics aspects of Different Transmutation Concepts”.

According to the calculation results by the ATRAS code, higher power density and transmutation rate were achieved with nitride fuel, and the neutron spectrum was slightly harder than that of the metallic fuel system. The burnup calculation for thermal power 800 MW was also performed with the ATRAS code. It is shown that about 300 kg of TRU are transmuted annually.     

EFFECTS OF THE COOKING PROCESS ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AROMATIC RED RICE WINE

Fermentation tests were performed with cooked and/or uncooked, polished aromatic red rice (Oryza sativa var. Indica, Tapol) and aromatic red rice bran using compressed baker's yeast and a preparation of glucoamylase produced by Rhizopus, sp. as saccharifying agent. The quality in terms of both aroma and taste of the red rice wine made with uncooked, unpolished aromatic red rice was much higher than that of rice wine made with cooked, unpolished aromatic red rice. However, the bran fraction of aromatic red rice was fairly resistant to the cooking process and this fraction was hardly affected or degraded by the cooking process. Furthermore, the bran fraction improved the quality of rice wine made from mash that contained cooked, polished rice which had a rather lower-quality aroma. In red rice wine brewing, the polished rice fraction of aromatic red rice may suffer from undesirable effects during the cooking process.     

Dimerization of midkine by tissue transglutaminase and its functional implication

Midkine (MK), a retinoic acid-inducible growth/differentiation factor, serves as a substrate for tissue transglutaminase (Kojima, S. , Muramatsu, H., Amanuma, H., and Muramatsu, T. 1995. J. Biol. Chem. 270, 9590-9596). Upon incubation with transglutaminase MK forms multimers through cross-linkages. Here, we report the following results. 1) Heparin potentiated the multimer formation by MK. 2) The N- and C-terminal half domains each formed a dimer through the action of transglutaminase. 3) Gln42 or Gln44 in the N-terminal half and Gln95 in the C-terminal half served as amine acceptors in the cross-linking reaction, as judged from the incorporation of putrescine into whole MK or each half domain, and the competitive inhibition of the cross-linking by MK-derived peptides containing Gln residue(s). The strongest inhibition was obtained with Ala41-Pro51. 4) This peptide abolished the biological activity of MK to enhance the plasminogen activator activity in bovine aortic endothelial cells. The inhibition was limited against the MK monomer, and not seen against the MK dimer, separated by gel filtration chromatography. These results suggest that dimer formation through transglutaminase-mediated cross-linking is an important step as to the biological activity of MK.     

Clinical observations on adoptive immunotherapy with vaccine-primed T-lymphocytes secondarily sensitized to tumor in vitro

The adoptive immunotherapy of human malignancy requires reliable methods to sensitize and expand patients' T-cells reactive to autologous tumors. In animal studies, we have generated therapeutic effector cells against a poorly immunogenic tumor by a two-step procedure: vaccination of the host followed by the secondary stimulation of vaccine-primed lymph node (LN) cells by in vitro sensitization (IVS) with tumor in the presence of interleukin 2 (IL-2). Based on these observations, we performed a clinical trial in patients with advanced cancer to evaluate the antitumor efficacy of vaccine-primed LN cells which were similarly activated in vitro. Patients were vaccinated with irradiated autologous tumor admixed with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin and had draining LN excised 10 days later for IVS culture. During IVS culture, LN cells expanded up to 14-fold (average of 8.4-fold). A mean of 6.7 x 10(9) cells was infused in ten patients (seven melanoma, three renal cell cancer) along with the concomitant i.v. administration of IL-2 (180,000 IU/kg every 8 h for 5 days). Phenotype analysis of IVS-LN cells revealed 78 +/- 4% CD3+ T-cells which were predominantly CD4+ (67 +/- 5%) with expression of HLA-DR and IL-2 receptor. IVS-LN cells displayed relative specificity of autologous tumor lysis in four of ten cases compared to zero of seven IVS-peripheral blood lymphocytes derived from the same patients as measured by the 51Cr release assay. One mo after therapy, seven of nine patients treated with IVS-LN cells and IL-2 developed delayed-type hypersensitivity reactivity to autologous tumor compared to zero of nine patients treated with tumor vaccination and IL-2 only (P < 0.002). These observations suggest that antitumor reactivity was passively transferred with the IVS-LN cells. Major toxic side effects including fever, hepatic dysfunction, and weight gain associated with the capillary leak syndrome were associated with exogenous IL-2 administration. Tumor vaccination and cell transfer were well tolerated without significant complications. Of the ten patients treated with IVS-LN cells and IL-2, there were one partial and one minor response, and one patient has had stable disease for 27+ mo. There was no evidence of tumor response in ten patients treated with tumor vaccination and IL-2 only. Further clinical studies evaluating the antitumor reactivity of vaccine-primed LN cells are warranted.     

Application of the spe method to organic electrochemistry—II. Electrochemical hydrogenation of olefinic double bonds

The electrochemical hydrogenation of some olefinic compounds in both polar and non-polar solvent was undertaken to confirm the feasibility of the spe electrolysis method. The olefinic double bonds of cyclo-octene, -methyl stylene and diethyl maleate were electrochemically hydrogenated on spe composite electrodes in n-hexane without the need to add supporting electrolyte. The location of the hydrogenation reaction sites was also discussed by using Au---spe, Au---Pt---spe, Pt---spe and Pt---Au---spe composite electrodes and it was revealed that the reaction took place on the solution side of the spe composite.     

The metastable two-phase region in the zirconia-rich part of the ZrO2-Y2O3 system

ZrO₂-Y₂O₃ alloys with yttria contents between 2.0 and 6.3 mol% were prepared by arcmelting. The microstructure of the alloys after isothermal ageing was examined by electron microscopy. It was found that a modulated structure was formed in alloys aged at appropriate temperatures. The modulated structure resembles the structure of spinodally decomposed metallic alloys and ceramics. The range in which the modulated structure is developed is inside the cubic-tetragonal two-phase region of the ZrO₂-Y₂O₃ system. The modulated structure is associated with metastable phase decomposition.     

A new method for the electrolysis of sodium chloride using a β-alumina-molten salt system

This paper is concerned with a new process for NaCl electrolysis. The catholyte is molten sodium hydroxide, containing a small quantity of water. The anolyte is the molten mixture of sodium chloride and zinc chloride. As a diaphragm, sodium ion conducting -alumina is used. By the electrolysis, chlorine, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen are obtained almost quantitatively from sodium chloride and water. The operating temperature is about 330° C. A terminal voltage of 5 V at 40 A dm^–2 is estimated from the experimental data and by numerical calculation. This process is very promising on the basis of the current efficiency and estimated voltage balance data.     

A Channel-Select Filter With Agile Blocker Detection and Adaptive Power Dissipation

A dynamic biasing scheme that reduces the average DC power of channel-select filters in wireless receivers is presented. A blocker detection technique makes it possible to automatically adjust the power dissipation depending on the absence of presence of blockers, with low overhead in power consumption and circuit complexity. The scheme achieves a fast ramp-up, avoiding diminution of the desired signal response that could otherwise be caused by abruptly appearing large blockers. To ensure the stability of the dynamically biased class-AB opamp employed, a cascode Miller/feedforward compensation technique is used. A fifth-order Butterworth low-pass filter with adaptive IIP3 and adaptive power dissipation is demonstrated, with a test chip implemented in a 0.18-mum CMOS process with a 1.8-V supply. The filter quiescent current is 1.2 mA in the absence of blockers, with a -5 dBV out-of-channel IIP3. The current increases to 2.7 mA, with the IIP3 of +20 dBV, when the blocker level rises to -13 dBV