Isolation and characterization of apoptosis-resistant mutants from a radiosensitive mouse lymphoma cell line

This paper reports the findings of a research study funded by the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (ENB), which explored the impact of community care reforms on mental health and learning disability nurses and their practice. In this study we were struck by the divergent views of our respondents about the nature of mental health and learning disability nursing as practice disciplines and the implications of these views for the future shape of preregistration educational preparation. We noted, in particular, the debate between those who advocate what is referred to as specialist educational preparation and others who favour generic preparation. The specialist-generic debate is relevant to nursing as a whole but was magnified in the context of our study because genericism was perceived by many of our respondents as a threat to the minority branches and especially to those (arguably mental health and learning disability) that are not rooted in the biomedical tradition of general nursing. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate as it impinges on the two nursing specialties by developing models of future nurse education grounded in the empirical data from our research and interrogating them to draw out their central features. Two models are clearly independent: the 'specialist' and the 'generic' models. Another three models are partial in that they draw upon the first two: the 'pragmatic' model, the 'unity-of-nursing' model, and the 'social care' model. A common feature of the pragmatic and unity-of-nursing models is that they support the existing DipHE programme, which is now the dominant form of preregistration nurse preparation in the UK. The social care model is applicable principally to learning disability nursing.     

Shunt patency after creation of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt: evaluation with Doppler ultrasound

The presence of lactic acidosis in the cerebral spinal fluid of 50 patients with severe head injury was studied. The GCS scores of these patients were < or = 8. The patients were divided into two groups. We treated 25 patients with a dose of 4 to 5 ml/kg of THAM infused intravenously 2 to 3 times for daily administration. Other 25 patients who were not treated with THAM served as a control group. In each case, a ventricular pressure monitoring device was installed. The ICP was the contineously recorded. In addition, laboratory study, including lactate, pH, HCO-3 and BE in CSF was performed. THAM infusion was associated with improved survival, decreased ICP as compared to that in the control group. We believe that THAM treatment may significantly improve the prognosis of presence of lactic acidosis as a result of severe head injury.     

Anatomic site‐specific proteomic signatures of gastrointestinal stromal tumors

The gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. Its clinical course ranges widely from a curable disorder to a highly malignant disease. Although its clinical and molecular characteristics depend on the anatomic site of origin, the molecular background of GIST arising in different anatomical site has not been studied yet. To investigate the proteomic background of GIST, we examined the proteomic features corresponding to the anatomic site of tumor origin. Comparison of the proteomic profile of gastric (23 cases) and small intestinal (9 cases) GIST by 2‐DE revealed 105 protein spots with significantly different intensity (p <0.01) between the two groups. Mass spectrometric study identified 68 distinct proteins for these 105 protein spots, including cancer‐associated ones such as prohibitin, pigment epithelium‐derived factor, and alpha‐actinin 4. The intensity of 37/105 (35.2%) protein spots was significantly concordant with the corresponding mRNA levels (p <0.01). Although both 2‐D DIGE and microarray experiments showed significant up‐regulation of vimentin expression in small intestinal GIST, Western blotting did not show a significant difference between the two groups. In conclusion, our study demonstrates the proteins specially expressed in GIST depending on their site of origin, as well as the unique advantage offered by use of proteomics to acquire such data. The identified proteins may provide clues to understanding the different characteristics of GIST depending on their site of origin.     

Measurements of stretch lengths of gold mono-atomic wires covered with 1,6-hexanedithiol in 0.1 M NaClO4 with an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope

Stretch lengths of pure gold mono-atomic wires have been studied recently with an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Here, we will report a study of stretch lengths of gold mono-atomic wires with and without 1,6-hexanedithiol (HDT) using the STM break-junction method. First, the stretch length was measured as a function of electrode potentials of a bare Au(111) substrate and a gold STM tip in a 0.1M NaClO(4) aqueous solution. Second, a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was fabricated on an Au(111) substrate by dipping the substrate into a 1mM HDT ethanol solution. At last, we measured the stretch length of gold mono-atomic wires on a substrate covered with the SAM in place of the bare Au(111) substrate. We compared the electrode potential dependence of the stretch lengths of gold mono-atomic wires covered with and without HDT. We will discuss the effect of the electrode potential on the stretch lengths by taking account of electrocapillarity of gold mono-atomic wires.     

Non-adhesive direct bonding of tiny parts by means of ultraprecision trapezoid microgrooves

 The study proposes a new method of bonding two small parts without the use of any adhesive by making use of ultraprecision trapezoid microgrooves on the surfaces of each part. These trapezoid microgrooves allow small parts to be bonded together with high positioning accuracy due to a wedge effect and an adhesion phenomenon between the mating surfaces. Ultraprecision trapezoid microgrooves are created by using an ultraprecision machining center having 1 nm positioning resolution and a diamond milling cutter. From experimental and simulated results, it is found that the bonding strength in general increases with decreasing wedge angle. The effect of the wedge length on bonding strength varies with the wedge angle where the strength increases with increasing length for wedge angles greater than 8° but increases with decreasing length for wedge angles less than 8°. Received: 5 May 2000/Accepted: 30 May 2000     

Reactivity of oxygen-deficient Mn(II)-bearing ferrites (Mn x Fe3-x O4-δ, O⩽x⩽1, δ>0) toward CO2 decomposition to carbon

The reduction of CO₂ to carbon was studied in oxygen-deficient Mn(II)-bearing ferrites (Mn _x Fe_3-x O_4-, Ox1, >0) at 300 °C. They were prepared by reducing Mn(II)-bearing ferrites with H₂ gas at 300°C. The oxygen-deficient Mn(II)-bearing ferrites showed a single phase with a spinel structure having an oxygen deficiency. The decomposition reaction of CO₂ to carbon was accompanied by oxidation of the oxygen-deficient Mn(II)-bearing ferrites. The decomposition rate slowed when the Mn(II) content in the Mn(II)-bearing ferrites increased. A Mössbauer study of the phase changes of the solid samples during the H₂ reduction and CO₂ decomposition indicated the following. Increases in the Mn(II) content lowered the electron conductivity of the Mn(II)-bearing ferrites. Increases in the oxygen deficiency, , contributed to an increase in electron conductivity and suggested that electron conduction due to the electron hopping determines the reductivity of CO₂ to carbon by the donation of an electron at adsorption sites.     

Comparison of tensile stress relaxation behavior of graft copolymer of poly(vinyl acetate) with styrene and mechanical mixture of poly(vinyl acetate) with polystyrene

As one in a series of studies relating the rheological behavior of mechanical mixtures of two polymer components to the degree of mixing, the tensile stress relaxation behavior of a graft copolymer of poly(vinyl acetate) with styrene, obtained by ⁶⁰Co γ-irradiation of poly(vinyl acetate) in styrene solution and extraction of homopolymers, was investigated as a function of the fraction of styrene component and compared with that of a mechanical mixture of poly(vinyl acetate) with polystyrene, one of the typical combinations of incompatible components. The results obtained may classify the graft copolymer as a sort of mechanical mixture giving stable mixing even for incompatible components.     

Methane-water redox reaction on A2SnO4 (A=Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) oxide to produce C2 hydrocarbons

A₂BO₄ type oxides consisting of an alkali earth metal and tin showed high selectivity (>99%) and activity for the oxidative coupling of methane at 1023 K in a methane-water redox system where active oxygen species were regenerated by water. The products were C₂ hydrocarbons and hydrogen. Repeated reaction-oxidation cycles showed that the oxide is stable under both oxidative and reductive atmosphere. Doping of Bi to the oxide was found to enhance the activity for the oxidative coupling of methane. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Detection of cyclone-induced rapid increases in chlorophyll-a with sea surface cooling in the northwestern Pacific Ocean from a MODIS/SeaWiFS merged satellite chlorophyll product

We performed a comprehensive analysis of satellite chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) data to detect all events in which chl-a rapidly increased on a time scale of 10 days or less. Our analysis could successfully detect cases in which chl-a increased and sea surface temperature (SST) decreased rapidly after the passages of tropical and extratropical cyclones. The events with large SST decreases tended to occur south of Japan, in the Sea of Okhotsk, and in the regions between 35° and 45° N, especially the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE) region. Although the contribution of cyclones on the yearly total chl-a increase was basically small, the cyclone-induced chl-a increases accounted for a few tens of per cent of the total chl-a increase in some areas. In oligotrophic regions, the increases in chl-a tended to become larger as the corresponding SST decrease became larger, although the relationship between them is opposite in mesotrophic and eutrophic regions.