A case of untreatable progressive bladder carcinoma effectively treated by single administration of tegafur and uracil

Bloody urine was grossly observed and multinodular shadow confirmed in both lungs of an 81-year-old male, who had been referred to our department. The diagnosis was bladder cancer (TCC, G3, T4N3M1) from detailed examination. With his advanced age and lowered ADL, the family did not wish for aggressive treatment, so no combination multidrug chemotherapy was attempted. Instead he was given 300 mg/day UFT per os. After 4 weeks administration, the metastatic focus decreased and tended to contract; at the same time gross observation revealed no more bloody urine. Moreover, following 7 weeks of administration, the bladder tumor disappeared, the lung metastatic focus showed overall shrinkage of over 50%, the lymph node metastasis also was more than 50% less, and the case was considered to be PR. The literature reveals UFT was efficacious in only 2 other cases of progressive bladder carcinoma. Since UFT has fewer complications, such as myelosuppression, among antitumor agent, it is considered worth trying in cases where intensive treatment is not feasible.     

Green electroluminescence from AlN:Tb thin film devices on glass

Electroluminescence (EL) properties of AlN:Tb thin film EL device (TFELD) prepared on a glass substrate by a rf-magnetron sputtering method have been studied. The AlN:Tb emission layer consists of hexagonal (110)-oriented poly-crystals of AlN with a high transparency in visible region. Four emission peaks originating from ⁵D₄ → ⁷F _j (j = 6, 5, 4, 3) transitions of Tb³⁺ were found in both photoluminescence (PL) and EL spectra of the AlN:Tb thin film. The peak emission intensity of the ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₆ transitions is almost the same magnitude with that of the ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₅ transitions, being largely different from the intensity ratio of Tb³⁺in other host materials.     

Very high-density and low-cost perpendicular magnetic recording media including new layer-structure "U-Mag"

We have fabricated a new layered structure, named "U-mag," for perpendicular magnetic recording media, in terms of stacked films including a very thin (2 nm) ferromagnetic (Co) intermediate layer and lattice spacing control layers. The formed medium having a 100-nm soft magnetic underlayer with high coercivity over 6 kOe and sufficient nucleation field (-1.5 kOe) shows higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than a medium with a conventional Ru underlayer. The detailed microstructures of the U-mag medium were also revealed by a transmission electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer. A double Co intermediate layer gave a significant improvement in the SNR compared to a single Co layer.     

Atomic and electronic structure of Si dangling bonds in quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene

Nano Research - Si dangling bonds at the interface of quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene (QFMLG) are known to act as scattering centers that can severely affect carrier mobility. Herein, we...     

Fabrication of a submicron patterned electrode using an electrospun single fiber as a shadow-mask

We realize a uniform submicron-gap electrode by using an electrospun single fiber as a shadow-mask. By stretching an electrospun fiber, we can decrease the diameter of the fiber from 2 μm to 564 nm with its standard deviation of 57.7 nm. We place the fiber on the center of a Si/SiO₂ substrate followed by the deposition of a molybdenum trioxide adhesion layer and Au electrode. After removing the fiber from the Si/SiO₂ substrate, the submicron-gap gold electrode is formed. Characterization of the gap with scanning electron microscope revealed that the gap has a good uniformity; the average gap length is 865 nm throughout 2 mm gap width.     

Thermal expansion of ZrP2O7 and related solid solutions

The effect of solute ions on the thermal expansion of ZrP₂O₇ solid solutions was studied. The abrupt thermal expansion at the high-low inversion can be interpreted as due to the rotation of the polyhedra from the low-temperature form in the partially collapsed state to the high-temperature form in the fully expanded state. The replacement of zirconium ions by larger ions and/or the stuffing of cations into the cavities of the framework stabilized the expanded structure, and then depressed the abruptness of the expansion. Consequently the thermal expansion was reduced in Ce _x Zr_1-x P₂O₇ or (Li, Y) _x Zr_1-x P₂O₇ solid solutions.     

High-damping and high-rigidity composites of Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>TiO<Subscript>5</Subscript>–MgTi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>5</Subscript> ceramics and acrylic resin

High-damping materials are widely used in engineering fields. In order to increase the precision of vibration control to different levels, high-damping materials with high-rigidity are required. This study attempts to develop a new high-damping high-rigidity material using ductile ceramics based on the Al₂TiO₅–MgTi₂O₅ system, which has many continuous microcracks along the grain boundaries. Ductile ceramics have high internal friction (Q ⁻¹ = 0.01–0.037), but very low rigidity (<10 GPa). The rigidity of Al₂TiO₅–MgTi₂O₅ ceramics was improved by combining them with a polymer such as acrylic resin. The Young’s modulus and internal friction of the composites of Al₂TiO₅–MgTi₂O₅ ceramics and acrylic resin are investigated. They show high-damping capacity (Q ⁻¹ = 0.03–0.04) with high rigidity (E = 50–60 GPa), and their properties depend on those of the polymer. Thus, the composites fabricated using the above method can serve as high-damping high-rigidity materials.     

Wideband design of nonreciprocal phase shift magneto-optical isolators using phase adjustment in Mach-Zehnder interferometers

A wideband design is proposed for nonreciprocal phase shift magneto-optical isolators based on Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The wavelength dependence of nonreciprocal phase difference between the backward waves propagating in two interferometer arms is compensated for by that of reciprocal phase difference. This is realized by introducing an appropriate phase bias in one of interferometer arms. Two design examples are presented with a backward loss of >30 dB in the wavelength range of 1.40-1.63 microm for a magnetic garnet waveguide isolator and of 1.485-1.630 microm for a Si-wire waveguide isolator.     

装配面点云特征增强的去噪算法研究

为了去除与法兰装配面数据点混合在一起的噪声并更好地保留装配面的特征,将装配面点云数据中的噪声分为 2 类。利用空间栅格划分将点云数据栅格化,使用 K 领域搜索的方法筛选出第 1 类噪声点,运用采样点邻域点数统计法删除第 1 类噪声点;采用改进的双边滤波法对第 2 类噪声点进行去噪。通过与各类算法进行比较,实验结果表明,该去噪算法在达到预期去噪效果的同时还可以增加装配面特征的保持度,并且能够避免传统双边滤波在去噪后产生光顺过度的现象。     

Fabrication of tin-filled carbon nanofibres by microwave plasma vapour deposition and their in situ heating observation by environmental transmission electron microscopy

Sn-filled carbon nanofibres (CNFs) are fabricated by microwave plasma chemical deposition. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed the existence of a Sn island under the CNFs. The structure of the CNFs is investigated, and the behaviour of Sn in the internal space of CNFs is revealed by performing in situ heating observations by environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM). ETEM observations reveal that they have low-crystallized carbon wall and Sn occupies not only the CNF’s internal space but also its carbon wall. The Sn inside the CNF is completely covered by the carbon wall. Further, the in situ heating observations reveal that Sn within the internal space and the carbon wall of the CNFs diffused to the outside during heating. Moreover, it is found that higher membered carbon rings and defects in the graphite layer act as diffusion routes between disordered carbon layers.