Dynamic behavior of an all-optical inverter using transverse-mode switching in 1.55-/spl mu/m vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

An all-optical inverter using transverse-mode switching of a 1.55-/spl mu/m vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is demonstrated. When an external light is injected to a first high-order mode, the output power of the fundamental mode is strongly suppressed due to injection locking resulting in a large extinction ratio of over 20 dB. Waveform inversion is demonstrated for the input signal of a 5-GHz sinusoidal wave.     

Single-wavelength operation of 1.53 ?m GaInAsP/InP buried-heterostructure integrated twin-guide laser with distributed Bragg reflector under direct modulation up to 1 GHz

1.53 ?m GaInAsP/InP buried-heterostructure integrated twin-guide laser with distributed Bragg reflector (BH-DBR-ITG laser) was directly modulated with microwave modulation current superimposed on a DC bias which was fixed at 1.1 times the threshold current, and single-wavelength operation was experimentally confirmed with a modulation frequency up to 1 GHz and a modulation depth of 100%.     

Planar Gunn-effect logic device with two separated cathodes

Experimental results are presented for fundamental logic performances in a planner Gunn-effect device with two separated cathodes, which was fabricated on an epitaxial GaAs grown on a semi-insulating substrate. By selecting the polarity of input trigger pulses with respect to that of the biasing voltage, two functions, exclusive-OR (comparator) and inclusive-OR can be realised, as found by our computer simulation.     

The molecular basis for the absence of N-glycolylneuraminic acid in humans

N-Glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc) is abundantly expressed in most mammals, but it is not detectable in humans. The expression of NeuGc is controlled by cytidine monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-NeuAc) hydroxylase activity. We previously cloned a cDNA for mouse CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase and found that the human genome contains a homologue. We report here the molecular basis for the absence of NeuGc in humans. We cloned a cDNA for human CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase from a HeLa cell cDNA library. The cDNA encodes a 486-amino acid protein, and its deduced amino acid sequence lacks a domain corresponding to the N-terminal 104 amino acids of the mouse CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase protein, although the human protein is highly identical (93%) to the rest of the mouse hydroxylase protein. The N-terminal truncation of the human hydroxylase is caused by deletion of a 92-base pair-long exon in human genomic DNA. The human hydroxylase expressed in COS-7 cells exhibited no enzymatic activity, and a mouse hydroxylase mutant, which lacks the N-terminal domain, was also inactive. A chimera composed of the human hydroxylase and the N-terminal domain of the mouse hydroxylase displayed the enzyme activity. These results indicate that the human homologue of CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase is inactive because it lacks an N-terminal domain that is essential for enzyme activity. The absence of NeuGc in human glycoconjugates is due to a partial deletion in the gene that encodes CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase.     

New methods for measuring atlanto-axial vertical subluxation in rheumatoid arthritis by MR imaging]

This communication describes one pediatric neurosurgeon's personal view of the neurosurgical perspectives in pediatric neurooncology. Various roles of surgery, including histological verification, maximum cytoreduction, neurodecompression and restoration of the cerebrospinal fluid pathway, are emphasized. A pediatric neurosurgeon, who is the first person to make decisions on diagnosis and treatment relating to children with brain tumors, should be up to date with advances in diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Particularly, he or she should be familiar with both the efficacy and the side effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy to allow selection of the optimum treatment for such children.     

Frequent development of murine T-cell lymphomas with TcR alpha/beta+, CD4-/8- phenotype after implantation of human inflammatory breast cancer cells in BALB/c nude mice

Tumors developed quite frequently in some of the visceral organs, including spleen and liver, in BALB/c nude mice upon subcutaneously xenografting surgical specimens from five different inflammatory breast cancer patients. All of these tumors developed within two and a half months to one year after the subcutaneous inoculation of surgical specimens. From these tumors, five independent transplantable tumors, including tMK-2, tHK-1, tYK-1, tYK-2 and tTY-1 have been established. Chromosome analysis, morphologic studies by light and electron microscopy and phenotype analysis indicated that these tumors are of mouse origin. The tMK-2 tumor was highly metastatic to the spleen and liver when it was subcutaneously transplanted into the right scapular region. In addition, the region where the tMK-2 tumor cells were subcutaneously inoculated showed an apparently inflammatory process represented by erythema. After subcutaneous inoculation into the right scapular region, tHK-1, tYK-1, 2, and tTY-1 tumors also metastasized to some of the visceral organs, including spleen and liver. From these tumors, in vitro cell lines were established. The cells grew in a stromal-cell dependent manner under in vitro culture conditions. The cells were again tumorigenic at the inoculated region and metastasized to various organs, including liver and spleen, of BABL/c nude mice. Histological examination revealed that the tumors showed features of malignant lymphoma. Phenotypically, these five tumors expressed early T lymphocyte markers as revealed by anti-mouse anti-TcR alpha/beta, anti-CD3, CD4 and CD8 monoclonal antibodies. To our knowledge, these cell lines are the first T-cell lines showing the phenotype of extrathymically differentiated T-cells in the liver.     

Effect of water-Insoluble Powder Addition on Physical Properties of Gelatin Gel

Water-insoluble powder is often dispersed in shells of commercial soft capsules for various reasons, but little reports have been published about the effect of powder addition on the physical properties of the gelatin gel. Glass powder, titanium oxide, calcium carbonate and γ-orizanol were used as model of powder. Changes of Young modulus obtained from the tensile test showed that any powder addition to the gelatin sheet made the gelatin sheet hard not by the surface effect of powder but by the volumetric effect of it. In this test, any powders had no effect on the tensile strength of the gelatin sheet because there was little interaction between each powder and the gelatin gel in the break point. The limiting strain was decreased a little up to the specific amount of each powder and then beyond the specific amount that decreased steeply in the case of glass powder and γ-orizanol. There might be a suitable range of the amount of powder for the gelatin sheet to keep the plastic flow similar to the gelatin sheet containing no powder. In this work, it was shown that the physical properties of the gelatin shell would be regulated by powder addition to the gelatin sheet.     

1.5 ?m phase-shifted DFB lasers for single-mode operation

Fabrication and single-mode laser oscillation were demonstrated for modified DFB lasers where the phase of the corrugations was shifted at the centre by a quarter guided-wavelength and which, in principle, provided a resonance at the Bragg wavelength and stable single-mode oscillation. Phase-shifted corrugations were fabricated using electron-beam lithography.