Monitoring of cerebrospinal fluid pressure during embolization of AVM

We experienced that therapeutic embolization of a large cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) led to venous outflow obstruction resulting in intracranial hypertension in a patient who had undergone external decompression. To evaluate hemodynamic changes after embolization, we monitored the cerebrospinal fluid pressure in the next four patients who underwent endovascular treatment. The embolization of a medium AVM resulted in a slight increase in the cerebrospinal fluid pressure. In two medium AVMs, embolization produced slight decreases in the cerebrospinal fluid pressure. In a small AVM, we did not observe any changes in the cerebrospinal fluid pressure during the endovascular treatment. We discuss the mechanism of changes in the intracranial pressure after embolization and conclude that monitoring of the cerebrospinal fluid pressure immediately yields useful information for hemodynamic changes during endovascular treatment.     

Evaluating the protective effects of radon inhalation or ascorbic acid treatment after transient global cerebral ischemic injury in gerbils

In this study, we compared the protective effects of radon inhalation and ascorbic acid administration on transient global cerebral ischemic injury in gerbils. Gerbils were treated with radon inhalation (2000 Bq/m³, 24 hours) or ascorbic acid (100, 300, or 500 mg/kg body weight). Then, transient global cerebral ischemia was induced by bilateral occlusion of the common carotid artery. Results showed that the number of damaged neurons was significantly increased in gerbils that underwent ischemia compared with that in control gerbils. However, the number of damaged neurons in gerbils treated with radon or 500 mg/kg of ascorbic acid before ischemia was significantly lower than gerbils who were subjected to ischemia without any pretreatment, and the protective effects of radon inhalation were similar to the effects of administering 500 mg/kg ascorbic acid. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total glutathione (t-GSH) in brain tissue were increased to a similar extent by pretreatment with radon inhalation or 500 mg/kg of ascorbic acid. These findings suggested that radon inhalation has a protective antioxidative effect against transient global cerebral ischemic injury similar to 500 mg/kg ascorbic acid treatment.     

Application of microchip electrophoresis for clinical tests

Microchip electrophoresis has recently attracted much attention in the field of nuclear acid analysis due to its high efficiency, ease of operation, low consumption of samples and reagents, and relatively low costs. In addition, the analysis has expanded to analytical fields, including the analysis not only of DNA but also of RNA, proteins, sugar chains, cellular functions, etc. In this paper we describe the creation of high‐performance monitoring systems for human blood glucose levels and α‐amylase activity in human plasma using microchip electrophoresis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 177(1): 19–25, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21158     

The Sliding Friction of Hybrid Composite Journal Bearing Under Various Test Conditions

The friction and wear behaviour of SiC, Si₃N₄ and SiC/Si₃N₄ composite ceramics were investigated with oscillating sliding (gross slip fretting) at room temperature. The influence of counter body material and the humidity of the surrounding air was studied with a ball-on-disc configuration with different ball materials (1000Cr6, Al₂O₃ SiC and Si₃N₄). The effect of RH on friction is marginal with exception of SiC (low friction) as counter body material. The wear behaviour, however, is strongly affected by humidity, showing inverse trends for different counter body materials. Consequently, the wear behaviour of a tribo couple can be improved by selecting an adequate mating material. The results reveal the necessity to control RH in tribological tests. For estimation of the performance of tribo couples under varying environmental conditions, a variation of RH is required. In tribo couples with single phase SiC, either as ball or disc, the tribological behaviour of the system is dominated by SiC. The friction behaviour of the composite material is in between the behaviour of the two single phase materials, Si₃N₄ and SiC, whereas the wear behaviour is very similar to that of single phase Si₃N₄.     

Magnetic leakage field due to sub-surface defects in ferromagnetic specimens

This paper describes analytical expressions for the magnetic leakage field of two types of internal defects: two dimensional rectangular and elliptical defects as functions of the applied magnetic field strength, the defect size and the distance below the surface. In this study, the magnetic image effects from the spatial boundary and the defect boundary are taken into consideration. That is, the leakage field of rectangular-like defects or elliptically shaped defects ‘below the surface’ are derived by using the modified dipole model and image theory. The profiles and strengths of leakage fields calculated from the proposed analytical forms are presented under various conditions and compared with experimentally measured ones.     

Site-specific electronic structure analysis by channeling EELS and first-principles calculations

Site-specific electronic structures were investigated by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) under electron channeling conditions. The Al-K and Mn-L(2,3) electron energy loss near-edge structure (ELNES) of, respectively, NiAl2O4 and Mn3O4 were measured. Deconvolution of the raw spectra with the instrumental resolution function restored the blunt and hidden fine features, which allowed us to interpret the experimental spectral features by comparing with theoretical spectra obtained by first-principles calculations. The present method successfully revealed the electronic structures specific to the differently coordinated cationic sites.     

Peak assignments of ELNES and XANES using overlap population diagrams

The usefulness of overlap population (OP) diagrams for peak assignments of an electron energy loss near-edge structure (ELNES) and an X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) is demonstrated. Mg-K, L(2,3), and O-K edges of MgO are taken as examples. Theoretical calculations are performed using a first-principles orthogonalized linear combination of atomic orbitals (OLCAO) method. A core-hole is included explicitly, and a large supercell is used to minimize artificial interactions among the core-holes in adjacent cells. All experimental spectra are quantitatively reproduced by the calculations. The OP diagrams for a selected pair of atomic orbitals are computed in order to provide proper assignments for each peak in ELNES and XANES. They are interpreted in terms of interactions among Mg-Mg and Mg-O bonds. Results are found to be consistent to our previous conclusion, which was obtained using a cluster method [T. Mizoguchi, et al., Phys. Rev. B 61 (2000) 2180]. The powerful combination of the OP diagram and a high-energy resolution ELNES to obtain fine electronic structures is also demonstrated.     

Development of RF magnetron sputtering method to fabricate PZT thin film actuator

PZT piezoelectric very thin films suitable for a microactuator have been deposited onto Invar alloy substrate using a high-temperature RF magnetron sputtering technique. PZT thin films must be deposited onto conductive substrate for a monomorph or a bimorph actuator. The chemical composition and the crystalline structure of these films were measured by ESCA and XRD, respectively. The chemical composition of PZT deposited stoichiometrically was almost the same as commercially-produced bulk PZT. Crystal planes (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) of PZT perovskite structure were observed in XRD analysis. When the substrate was heated to above 600 °C, SEM revealed only a very small number of pinholes on the surface. A thin (500 nm) film actuator has been characterized by measuring the piezoelectric property using a Laser Doppler Vibrograph. It was confirmed that the piezoelectric property has a linear relationship with the grain size, which also increased with the substrate temperature. The piezoelectric property of deposited PZT thin films showed a good agreement with a quoted value of bulk PZT, when the substrates were heated to 600 °C.     

Configurational Observation of Titanium Oxide Pigment Particles

The physical and chemical configuration of anatase-form titanium dioxide pigment particles was investigated with a field-emission gun using transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). The particle was ∼0.2 µm in average size and had an amorphous-surface-layer thickness of 1-2 nm around the single-crystallized matrix. Niobium that had segregated in the amorphous surface layer was detected via EDX analysis.