A case-control study on the efficacy and the optimum interval of mass screening for prostatic cancer

PURPOSE: The efficacy and the optimum interval of mass screening for prostatic cancer were investigated by a case-control study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A matched pairs analysis by 1:5 was conducted between 31 cases of advanced prostatic cancer in stage C and D detected by mass screening and 155 controls of normal subjects selected at random. In all cases and controls, the history of taking part of the mass screening for last 3 years, then the estimates of odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated on discordant pairs of the matched analysis. RESULTS: OR to suffer from advanced prostatic cancer was 0.22 (95% CI: 0.07-0.70) in the group to submit to mass screening 1 year ago in comparison with the group not to submit once for 3 years. According to the analysis on the interval of submission to mass screening, the effect of screening to prevent the progression to advanced stages might be valied for 1 year. CONCLUSION: Mass screening for prostatic cancer every year might be efficient to reduce the number of patients progressing to advanced stages.     

Optimal planning for introducing dispersed generating sources in power systems based on an economical viewpoint

This paper discusses optimal planning problems for dispersed generating sources so as to provide a guideline for their introduction to power systems. First, a recursive method is developed from the viewpoint of supplying electric power only where solutions for one unit are superposed. The computational loads are decreased by selecting alternatives of buses based on the so-called penalty factor. However, for effective utilization of dispersed generating sources, it is indispensable to consider their thermal merits in addition to electric power. After applying the Kuhn-Tucker theory to the optimal dispatching problem including boiler fuel costs, thermal values of the dispersed generating units are evaluated quantitatively. Finally, the above-mentioned technique for the optimal planning basically is also effective and is extended into this case. The validity of the proposed algorithms are demonstrated using a real-scale model system.     

Preparation and characterization of the new quaternary chalcogenides Tl-III-IV-S4 (III = Al,Ga, In; IV = Si,Ge)

Five new chalcogenides: TlInSiS₄, TlInGeS₄, TlGaSiS₄, TlGaGeS₄, TlAlGeS₄ were synthesized by the evacuated silica tube method. The crystals are isotypic and belong to the orthorhombic system with space group Pbnm and lattice parameters in the range of, a: 11.53 –11.74, b: 16.50–17.04, c: 7.036–7.353 Å. Infrared and photoacoustic spectra of those compounds are also reported.     

Examining the strange-situation procedure with Japanese mothers and 12-month-old infants.

Applied the strange-situation procedure to 60 pairs of Japanese infants (mean age 12 mo) and their mothers and compared their results with those reported by M. S. Ainsworth et al (1978). As in the Ainsworth et al study, infants were classified into A, B, and C types. Findings show no significant differences in proportions of securely attached (68%) and insecurely attached (32%) infants between the countries. Degrees and patterns of interactive behaviors in each type were also similar. However, the Japanese insecure group consisted of only C (no A) types. About half of the C-type infants behaved inconsistently: They behaved like B-type infants in Episodes 2–5 and like C-type infants thereafter. Findings are interpreted in terms of the excessive stress caused by the procedure and Japanese childrearing customs fostering the attachment to the mother. Two strategies are proposed for getting richer information from the procedure in different cultures, including a multiple classification of varying stress levels and a cultural examination of the diagnostic value of each behavior as a classificatory cue. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Network management in a local computer network

The functions and structure of the network management subsystem of the GAMMA-NET, a local computer network at the University of Tsukuba, are presented. The network management subsystem is an integrated subsystem that offers a convenient man-machine interface for the network users during the execution of required jobs, and levels the workload throughout the system, as well as managing the network operations.     

An 85 mW, 10 b, 40 Msample/s CMOS parallel-pipelined ADC

The design of a low-power 10 b, 40 Msample/s ADC integrated in a 0.8 μm multithreshold CMOS process is presented. The fully differential design employs parallel-pipelined ADC each using a combination of single- and multibit-per-stage pipelined architectures. The ADC, targeted for high-resolution video terminals and ultrasound scanning applications, achieves a nonlinearity-plus-quantization-error of ±1 LSB at 10 b, dissipates 85 mW from a single 2.7 V supply, and occupies an area of 1.9 mm by 2.1 mm     

Countermeasure against explosion of gas insulated porcelain bushing

In order to investigate countermeasures against the explosion of gas-insulated porcelain bushings, full-scale explosion tests using actual porcelain bushing shells were conducted. Suitable countermeasures are gas volume reduction, gas pressure reduction, and elastic lining methods. The effectiveness of each was demonstrated by the full-scale explosion tests. An equation on the scattering distance of fragments of the porcelain shell was derived from the test results. A prototype explosion-proof gas-insulated porcelain bushing was developed, and its mechanical and electrical performance were confirmed     

Primary structure of the novel bacterial rhodopsin from extremely halophilic archaeon Haloarcula japonica strain TR-1

A novel bacterial rhodopsin was identified in Haloarcula japonica strain TR-1. The gene encoding the bacterial rhodopsin was cloned and sequenced. The structural gene consisted of an open reading frame of 750 nucleotides encoding 250 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of the Ha. japonica bacterial rhodopsin showed the highest homology to those of cruxrhodopsins.