Contrast echo imaging on the breast and thyroid cancers

The utility of ultrasound color Doppler flow mapping imaging for the differential diagnosis on the breast and thyroid tumors had already reported in 1991. Ultrasound contrast agent, SH/TA 508 (Levovist; Schering AG, Germany), had already finished clinical trials in Japan and reported the result phase II, III. On the breast and thyroid lesions, the utility of this contrast agent are safety and usefulness for the accurate diagnosis by the ultrasound color Doppler examination. Throughout of these clinical trials, a quit new ultrasound Doppler imaging methods had been developed, Harmonic Imaging and acoustic emission mode. As the result, ultrasound contrast agent is useful not only for the conventional color Doppler diagnosis but also for the developing of new diagnostic imaging methods.     

Homozygous beta(+)-thalassemia due to -31 A to G mutation

The cells of Martinotti are unique neurons of the cerebral cortex with ascending axons. Giovanni Martinotti (1857-1928), professor of anatomic pathology at the University of Bologna, has been claimed to be the discoverer of such cells. Nevertheless, no papers specifically concerning neuroanatomy have been found in his curriculum. The authors have been able to establish that Carlo Martinotti (1859-1918), a pupil of Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) was the legitimate discoverer of the nerve cells carrying his own name.     

Hot photo-carrier and hot electron effects in p-n junctions

When a p-n junction of semiconductor (with bandgap energy E_g) is illuminated by light beam (with photon energy hv) in the condition of E_g>hv, such as in Ge p-n junction illuminated by CO₂ laser beam, an electromotive force (emf) was induced between the terminals of the p-n junction, which indicated the opposite polarity to the ordinary photovoltaic effect like a solar cell. Such an anomalous photovoltaic phenomenon was explained by an optically excited hot carrier effect, through the following experiment with electrical excitation. Using a rod of n- or p-type Ge with a p-n junction at the surface of its center and an ohmic contact at each terminal of the rod, the same kind of phenomena was observed when electric field is applied along the length of the rod. The perpendicularly induced voltage or current had the same polarity instead of the reverse change of the applied electric field, and increases with increasing the applied field strength. The perpendicularly induced emf was caused by warm or hot carriers crossing the potential barrier of the p-n junction, which is very sensitive to the departure from thermally equilibrium velocity distribution of carriers.     

EFFECT OF BAFFLE ON TRAY UNDER OSCILLATING CONDITION

Effect of baffle on a tray under oscillating conditions has been examined experimentally. To reduce the degree of liquid mixing and liquid channeling under oscillating conditions, it is necessary to install the baffles on tray.

Experiments were conducted with the air-water system, ft was found that the pressure drop change can be expressed as a sinusoidal function and the period coincides with tray oscillation. The degree of liquid mixing decreases when the baffles are installed on tray and it also decreases with the increase of liquid flow rate. The pressure drop increases with the installation of baffle on tray.

The suitable baffle number on tray is from 4 to 8 and in this region, the degree of liquid mixing reaches minimum and the liquid holdup takes a maximum value. @KEYWORDS: Tray, Oscillating, Liquid mixing, Baffle, Pressure drop, Liquid holdup.     

Dynamic regulation of striatal dopaminergic grafts during locomotor activity

In addition to CD4+ T lymphocytes, cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage are a major target for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. In vitro studies of HIV-1 infection in human monocyte-derived macrophages can be undertaken by a reproducible cell-based assay. A macrophage-based infectivity assay was developed based on the semi-quantitative scoring of HIV-1 induced cytopathology in monolayer macrophage cultures. The assay exhibited dilution-dependent linearity with all three primary macrophage-tropic isolates tested. The end-point infectivity titers determined by this assay correlated with the results obtained by detecting viral p24 antigen in the culture supernatant. The applications of the assay in both neutralization and anti-viral protocols yielded identical results with the more time-consuming and costly p24 formats. Since the assay offers a simple and low-cost method of measuring HIV-1 infectivity in human primary macrophages, it can be used quite easily for large-scale screening or evaluation of candidate vaccines and anti-viral agents.     

Estimation and characterisation of major royal jelly proteins obtained from the honeybee Apis merifera

Royal jelly (RJ) contains many components, including proteins. We focused on major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) under natural conditions, and attempted to determine the content ratios and molecular forms of MRJPs by size-exclusion HPLC, SDS–PAGE, 2-DE and MALDI TOF/TOF MS. Soluble RJ proteins were extracted by dialysis followed by several centrifugation techniques. Soluble RJ proteins were universally separated into five peaks (640 kDa, 280 kDa, 100 kDa, 72 kDa and 4.5 kDa) by size-exclusion HPLC on a Superose 12 column. Among these peaks, both the 280 kDa and 72 kDa peaks were major, but the intensity of the 280 kDa peak differed markedly among original RJ samples (n = 70). The main 280 kDa protein was separated into a 55 kDa band by reducing and non-reducing SDS–PAGE. This protein was also separated into multiple spots ranging from pH 4.2 to 6.5 by 2-DE. These spots were identified as MRJP 1 by MALDI TOF/TOF MS. From these results, MRJP 1 was thought to comprise an oligomer complex linked by non-covalent bonds under natural conditions. Another major protein, the 72 kDa peak on Superose 12 HPLC, was identified as MRJP 2.