Clinical evaluation of combined use of miconazole and G-CSF on deep-seated mycoses in patients with gynecological cancers

DFGF-R1 (breathless), a Drosophila FGF receptor homolog, is required for the migration of tracheal cells and the posterior midline glial cells during embryonic development. To define the role of this receptor in cell migration, we have monitored the biological effects of a deregulated receptor containing the extracellular and transmembrane regions of the torso dominant allele and the cytoplasmic domain of DFGF-R1. Ubiquitous expression of the chimeric receptor at the time of tracheal cell migration did not disrupt migration in wild-type embryos. However, induction of the chimeric receptor corrected the tracheal defects of breathless (btl) mutant embryos, allowing the tracheal cells to migrate along their normal tracts. This result indicates that the normal activity of DFGF-R1 in promoting cell migration does not require spatially restricted cues. Late inductions of the chimeric construct, after the normal initiation of tracheal migration, allowed the definition of a broad time window during which the external signals guiding migration persist and the tracheal cells retain the capacity to respond to these cues. Rescue of tracheal migration in btl mutant embryos by the chimeric construct provides a sensitive biological assay for the activity of other Drosophila receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Deregulated receptors containing the cytoplasmic domains of DFGF-R2, DER, torso, and sevenless were all able to partially rescue the migration defects. Consistent with the notion that these RTKs share a common signaling pathway, constructs containing the activated downstream elements Dras1 and Draf were also able to rescue tracheal migration, demonstrating that these two proteins are key players in the DFGF-R1 signaling pathway.     

A procedure to obtain a fully stressed shape of elastic continuum

In this paper, a procedure for obtaining a fully stresses shape of elastic continuum under arbitrary design conditions is proposed, by using the optimum distribution of the material properties such as the Young's modulus or the plate thickness. By using this technique, the optimum multiple-connected shape can be created from the original shape of simply body. The optimum shape of a road-pole subjected to an uniformly distributed load is determined by using the technique, and from the results the effectiveness of the technique is examined numerically.     

Mitochondrial sulfhydryl groups. A possible endogenous probe of conformational changes in the mitochondrial membrane

The protein-bound sulfhydryl (SH) groups of the mitochondrial membrane were determined with Ellman's reagent in energized and non-energized configurational states of mitochondria and submitochondrial particles. When beef heart mitochondria were energized by respiration, there was a decrease in titratable protein-bound SH groups which varied according to substrate: NADH-linked substrates induced a decrease of about 10 nmol per mg of protein,succinate about 7, and ascorbate-tetramethyl-p-phenylene-diamine about 3. Similar changes occurred in phosphorylating submitochondrial particles. A decrease in SH titer was also observed in non-energized conditions, induced by hypotonic treatment and by some reagents inhibiting electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation and inducing orthodox configuration. These changes in protein-bound SH groups might be useful in analyzing the conformational states of mitochondrial membranes.     

Thermal resistance in Speer carbon resistors below 1 K

Temperature dependences of Speer carbon resistors between 30 mK and 4.2 K have been measured. The applied electric power at which the resistance decreases by 1% was measured accurately over the same temperature range. From these data, discussions of the thermal resistance of the resistors are made in detail. Some techniques to measure carbon resistance below 1 K, including the method to remove heat leaks, are described.     

Incidence of tics in the offspring of childhood tiquers: a controlled follow-up study

A five-year follow-up study of children whose parents had manifested tic in their childhood was carried out to see if they are more prone to develop tic than control children. The prevalence of tics was 20 per cent in the index group and 10 per cent in the controls, a statistically significant difference. This result could not be explained by the children's imitation of their parents. The mothers of the index children and 1000 unselected mothers were also compared for the prevalence of psychological and psychosomatic symptoms when their children were three years of age. There was no indication that the former were more psychologically distressed. It is suggested that there is a genetic basis for the susceptibility to develop tic.     

Adsorption of aromatic amines and o-substituted derivatives of phenol from organic solutions by activated carbons-effect of surface acidity

In order to study the effect of surface acidity of activated carbons on their adsorption characteristics, three kinds of aromatic amines and four kinds of o-substituted phenols were adsorbed from organic solutions by twelve kinds of activated carbons of different acidity and of known pore-structure. It was demonstrated that the surface acidity had a marked effect on the adsorption characteristics and that the effect was linked with the polarity of the solvents.     

Fourier synthesis image reconstruction by use of one-dimensional position-sensitive detectors

An improvement of Fourier synthesis optics for hard x-ray imaging is described, and the basic performance of the new optics is confirmed through numerical simulations. The original concept of the Fourier synthesis imager utilizes nonposition-sensitive hard x-ray detectors coupled to individual bigrid modulation collimators. The improved concept employs a one-dimensional position-sensitive detector (such as a CdTe strip detector) instead of the second grid layer of each bigrid modulation collimator. This improves the imaging performance in several respects over the original design. One performance improvement is a two-fold increase in the average transmission, from 1/4 to 1/2. The second merit is that both the sine and cosine components can be derived from a single grid-detector module, and hence the number of imaging modules can be halved. Furthermore, it provides information along the depth direction simultaneously. This in turn enables a three-dimensional imaging hard x-ray microscope for medical diagnostics, incorporating radioactive tracers. A conceptual design of such a microscope is presented, designed to provide a field of view of 4 mm and a spatial resolution of 400 microm.     

Defective bone remodelling in osteoprotegerin-deficient mice

Previous studies have reported enhanced osteoclastogenesis, increased bone resorption and osteoporosis in osteoprotegerin (OPG)-deficient mice. In the present study, we show that the tibial epiphyses contain abundant, thin trabeculae lined with numerous osteoclasts and cuboidal osteoblasts. The increase in osteoblasts and osteoclasts was associated with a dramatic increase in calcein labelling of the mineralization fronts and replacement of much of the intertrabecular marrow with numerous alkaline phosphatase-positive preosteoblasts. Furthermore, the discrete, linear cement lines seen in wild-type mice were replaced by a randomly oriented meshwork of cement lines that were stained intensely for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and osteopontin in the OPG-/- mice. These indices of accelerated bone remodelling in mutant bone were associated with irregular trabecular surfaces, a disorganized collagen matrix interspersed with amorphous ground substance and numerous fissures between old and new bone. In total, these observations indicate that enhanced osteoclastic activity in OPG-/- epiphyses led to a coupled increase in osteoblast differentiation and activity and an increase in bone remodelling. The high bone turnover, disorganized matrix and impaired attachment of new to old bone in the cement lines in OPG-/- mice appear to cause bone fragility.