Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy on patients with spinal cord injury with special reference to autonomic hyperreflexia

We performed treatment of urolithiasis on 7 patients with spinal cord injury (6 males and one female, with a mean age of 41 years old) by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) using a Lithostar (Siemens). The level of injury was cervical in 3 patients and lower thoracic in 4. The treated stones were renal in 6 patients, including one staghorn caliculus, ureteral in 2, and bladder stones in 2 patients. ESWL was performed under general anesthesia in 2 patients, and in another patient, epidural anaesthesia was employed in the first several sessions, but thereafter treatment was safely continued with no anesthesia. The other 4 patients were treated without anesthesia. In most patients, the stones (9 stones in 6 cases) were easily disintegrated after treatment of from one to 14 sessions, except one case of staghorn caliculus, and the clearance of fragments was also satisfactory. In one patient, hypertension and bradycardia due to autonomic hyperreflexia were observed during ESWL, and the treatment was discontinued, but the stone was successfully disintegrated and the fragments were voided. In another patient, autonomic hyperreflexia was observed while the fragments passed through the ureter, although no signs of this reflexia were seen during the ESWL procedure.     

New chemical etching solution for InP and GaInAsP gratings

A new chemical etching solution of bromine-water system, which is suitable for transforming the fine resist grating mask pattern onto InP and GaInAsP surfaces, is reported. The Br2:H2O:H3PO4 (or HCl) solution does not dissolve AZ 1350 photoresist and exhibits both moderate etching rate and a pit-free etched surface.     

Fabry-Perot cavity type 1.5 ?m InGaAsP BH-laser amplifier with small optical-mode confinement

A 1.5 ?m InGaAsP buried-heterostructure laser amplifier having small optical-mode confinement was fabricated with a Fabry-Perot cavity configuration. Its signal gain, saturation output power and noise characteristics were studied and found to be superior to those for AlGaAs amplifiers, as a result of small optical-mode confinement.     

Application of tritium radioluminography to the detection of hydrogen diffusion in Ti-Cr alloy

Tritium radioluminography has been applied to determine the hydrogen (H) diffusion coefficients in Ti₅₀Cr₅₀ and Ti₄₀Cr₆₀ alloys, both with two-phase structures of a body-centered cubic (bcc) phase and a Laves phase. Using radioluminography, H distributions in those phases have been observed, and H penetration profiles have been measured. The tritium diffusion coefficients in the Ti₅₀Cr₅₀ and Ti₄₀Cr₆₀ alloys have been successfully determined by analyzing the tritium penetration profiles to be 3.3±0.3 × 10^?12 and 1.4±0.1×10^?12 m²/s, respectively. These values suggest that the H diffusion in the Laves phase is slower than that in the bcc phase. It is also suggested that H diffuses by short-circuiting diffusion through the interface between the bcc phase and the Laves phase.     

Isochronal map of chest wall vibration with cardiokymography

Mapping analysis of cardiokymography is helpful in clarifying the relationship between vibratory pattern and recording sites, but needs a highly stable recording technique. We have therefore studied the stability of recording cardiokymograms, and present here a new method for creating stable maps which enables diagnosis of chest-wall vibration abnormalities. Cardiokymograms were recorded on 16 points of the chest wall located at regular intervals horizontally and vertically. The time interval between a R-wave peak of the electrocardiograms and an E-point of the cardiokymograms were measured for all the 16 records. Isochronal maps in 23 healthy subjects were classified into four types. The map of a patient with myocardial infarction was quite different from any one of the four normal patterns and seemed to show a paradoxical movement of the chest wall.