Preparation of yttrium-90-labeled human macroaggregated albumin for regional radiotherapy

Helicobacter pylori and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are two of the most common causes of peptic ulceration. The aim of this review is to assess the possible inter-relationships between Helicobacter pylori and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the pathogenesis of gastric and duodenal erosions and ulcers, with the aim of assessing if the presence of Helicobacter pylori is likely to increase the likelihood of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related gastroduodenal symptoms and lesions, and if eradication of Helicobacter pylori may reduce or prevent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug lesions. There appears to be more likelihood of dyspeptic symptoms in patients on long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs when Helicobacter pylori is present. The balance of evidence also suggests that peptic ulcers and erosions in patients on long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be more likely to occur in patients who are Helicobacter pylori positive compared to those who are Helicobacter pylori negative. Although Helicobacter pylori and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs both increase the risk of peptic ulcer bleeding, the risk does not appear to be additive. There is increasing evidence from prospective studies that eradication of Helicobacter pylori may reduce the incidence of ulcers in patients on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. More prospective long-term studies are required. If Helicobacter pylori is confirmed to be a factor in this respect, it will aid in the targeting of patients at greatest risk of developing ulcers in patients on long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Those at greatest risk are elderly patients, especially females, smokers, patients with a previous ulcer history, severe or debilitating arthritis or who have other chronic diseases. The addition of Helicobacter pylori to this list and its subsequent eradication may improve the outlook for these patients and help in the effective targeting of patients at greatest risk who are on long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.     

Hypervelocity impact testing of the utility distribution system for the space station freedom

The Utility Distribution System (UDS) of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) is responsible for routing avionic harnesses and fluid line utilities along the pre-integrated truss segments. These harnesses and lines are housed in a rectangular aluminum carrier that provides a functional level of protection from the impacts of meteoroid and orbital debris (M/OD) particles. An analysis completed by McDonnell Douglas Corporation-Space Station Division (MDC-SSD) estimated that the avionics and fluid utilities in the UDS carrier could experience approximately 5600 failures over the 30 year life of the SSF--of which only 2 were failures of fluid lines. This large number was based mostly on a very conservative avionic conductor failure criteria that had to be used because little is known about the affects of M/OD on avionic conductors, especially behind a protective carrier over. As a result, a two-phase joint NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) and MDC-SSD hypervelocity impact (HVI) test program was initiated. From this test program, it was determined that the expected number of M/OD impacts that would cause an avionic conductor/cable failure is 28 over a 30 year period. For the fluid lines, the data indicate the number of predicted fluid line failures increased slightly from the initial analysis to as many as 15 for the entire 30 year life of SSF.     

A New Approach to Humanitarian Demining

Humanitarian demining is an application in which the use of tele-operated machines and mechanisms has been gaining acceptance recently. Actually, demining is just one among many other field applications that require a high degree of mobility, manipulation of loads, robustness and, above all, high efficiency in terms of energy consumption. This paper will present the development and analysis of Field Arm, a pantographic manipulator especially designed for field works, focusing on its kinematic, static and dynamic properties. The novel features of Field Arm will be presented and discussed with results of simulations and experiments.     

Control of percolation curve by filler particle shape in Cu- SBR composites

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Utilization of adzuki bean extract as a natural antioxidant in cured and uncured cooked pork sausages

A commercial adzuki bean extract (AE) was evaluated for antioxidant effectiveness in cured and uncured cooked pork sausages. TBARS values, instrumental color evaluation and sensory panel scores were assessed. For uncured sausages, AE at 0.2% was equally effective as 0.1% butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in reducing TBARS values. Similarly, AE at 0.2% significantly (P<0.01) reduced the TBARS in cured sausages. Incorporation of 0.2% AE into sausages produced higher (P<0.05) CIE lab color a* value and lower (P<0.05) L* and b* values. Sensory panels did not detect any difference in color, odor, taste, flavor, and overall acceptance in uncured pork sausages with addition of 0.2% AE. However, there were adverse changes in the color and odor of cured sausages, even though the taste, flavor, and overall acceptance were similar. Therefore, the results suggest that AE is a potential antioxidant.     

Arteriovenous malformation associated with moyamoya disease

The first case of a child with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) associated with moyamoya disease is reported. The patient presented ischemic symptoms and underwent indirect bypass surgery on both sides when she was 5 years old. Four years later she suffered from headache, and a small AVM of the left frontal lobe associated with the moyamoya vessels was detected. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed at age 11 and demonstrated low local cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the left frontal lobe and right temporal lobe, although the revascularization after the bypass surgery seemed to be effective, as judged on pancerebral angiography. We feel that brain ischemia due to the moyamoya disease may have played a causative role in the development of the AVM.     

Compressively strained 1.3 μm InAsP/InP and GaInAsP/InP multiplequantum well lasers for high-speed parallel data transmission systems

Turn-on delay times in the pulse response of compressively strained InAsP/InP double-quantum-well (DOW) lasers and GaInAsP/InP multiple-quantum-well (MQW) lasers emitting at 1.3 μm were investigated. DQW lasers with 200-μm cavity length and high-reflection coating achieved both a very low threshold current (1.8 mA) and a small turn-on delay time (200 ps), even under a biasless 30-mA pulse current. Compressively strained or lattice-matched GaInAsP MQW lasers and GaInAsP double-heterostructure (DH) lasers were also fabricated and compared. It was observed that the carrier lifetime was enhanced for InAsP DQW lasers and strained GaInAsP MQW lasers compared to the lattice-matched GaInAsP MQW lasers and conventional double-heterostructure lasers. To explain this increase in the carrier lifetime, the effect of the carrier transport on the carrier lifetime was studied. The additional power penalty due to the laser turn-on delay was simulated and is discussed     

Invention of a tumor-selective 5-fluorouracil derivative named S-1 by biochemical modulation of 5-fluorouracil

A new oral type of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) derivative possessed of both potent antitumor activity and less gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity was investigated and developed in the form of a combination of tegafur (FT), a masked form of 5-FU, and its two peculiar biochemical modulators. One is 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine (CDHP), a new potent inhibitor of 5-FU degradation in vivo, and another is potassium oxonate (Oxo), a characteristic inhibitor of 5-FU phosphorylation, which distributes much higher in GI tract after p.o. administration. 5-FU levels in blood of rats following administration of FT, were markedly elevated and persisted for a long-time by co-oral CDHP corresponding to over 0.4 molar ratio to FT, like the case in continuous infusion of 5-FU, which resulted in an augmentation of antitumor efficacy in Yoshida sarcoma-bearing rats, although severe GI toxicity simultaneously occurred. To reduce 5-FU-induced toxicities such as diarrhea and body weight loss and to maintain the augmented antitumor activity, 0.5 to 2 molar Oxo was orally given to rats with one molar FT plus 0.4 molar CDHP. As a result, both severe GI injury and body weight loss were markedly inhibited by coadministration of 0.5 to 1.0 molar Oxo while high antitumor efficacy (about 90% inhibition of tumor growth) was maintained. However, such almost complete antitumor effect was reduced to about 50% inhibition of tumor growth by over 2 molar Oxo combined with one molar FT plus 0.4 molar CDHP. Based on these results, a novel 5-FU derivative, named S-1, was composed of one molar FT, 0.4 molar CDHP and one molar Oxo. S-1 showed an antitumor activity over 3-fold stronger than UFT (one molar FT plus 4 molar uracil) against Yoshida sarcoma and Sato lung carcinoma in rats and human colon carcinoma (KM12C) xenografted in nude rats when its minimum toxic dose was administered. Co-oral Oxo also significantly reduced the incidence of diarrhea and stomatitis induced by administration of FT-CDHP in beagle dogs. These results suggest that high antitumor activity and less GI toxicity of S-1 was brought about by the elevation in blood and tumor tissues and by selective decrease of 5-fluoronucleotides, an active metabolite of 5-FU, in GI tract.     

A new antitumor agent amrubicin induces cell growth inhibition by stabilizing topoisomerase II-DNA complex

Amrubicin is a novel, completely synthetic 9-aminoanthracycline derivative. Amrubicin and its C-13 alcohol metabolite, amrubicinol, inhibited purified human DNA topoisomerase II (topo II). Compared with doxorubicin (DXR), amrubicin and amrubicinol induced extensive DNA-protein complex formation and double-strand DNA breaks in CCRF-CEM cells and KU-2 cells. In this study, we found that ICRF-193, a topo II catalytic inhibitor, antagonized both DNA-protein complex formation and double-strand DNA breaks induced by amrubicin and amrubicinol. Coordinately, cell growth inhibition induced by amrubicin and amrubicinol, but not that induced by DXR, was antagonized by ICRF-193. Taken together, these findings indicate that the cell growth-inhibitory effects of amrubicin and amrubicinol are due to DNA-protein complex formation followed by double-strand DNA breaks, which are mediated by topo II.