Treatment of metastatic liver tumors by intermittent repetitive injection of an angiogenesis inhibitor using an implantable port system in a rabbit model

Horse heart apomyoglobin traps the heme released from Aplysia californica myoglobin. The kinetics fit a triangular mechanism for a bipbasic reaction. Laplacian solutions for differential equations appropriate to triangular kinetic schemes involving up to four rate constants are elaborated and confirmed. Two general schemes and two special cases are considered. In the first scheme, a rearrangement of the starting material is concurrent with product formation. In the second scheme, the starting material forms two products in equilibrium at two different rates. A general equation for the absorbance-time curve is derived for these triangular schemes, from which rate constants can be estimated. Changes in instantaneous rate versus time are employed to analyze the absorption versus time plots and the curvature of a first-order rate analysis. Aplysia metmyoglobin equilibrates between slow donor (pentacoordinate, which lacks the axial water molecule) and fast donor (bexacoordinate). No heme release was observed for deoxy, oxy, carbonyl, or azide derivatives of the Aplysia myoglobin, or when the distal HisE7 of the apohemoprotein is replaced by leucine or valine. This suggest a role for hydrophobicity of the active site, and for a trans effect of the axial ligand in determining the stability of the embedded prosthetic heme.     

A study for serodiagnosis of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (enterohemorrhagic E. coli) O157 by the bacterial agglutination technique

We evaluated the usefulness of bacterial agglutination antibodies for serodiagnosis of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (enterohemorrhagic E. coli) O157 infections. We examined 50 serum samples from 50 control children (whiout diarrhea 31, with diarrhea 19), 24 samples from 8 diarrhea cases due to O157:H7, 37 samples from 14 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) for antibodies to heat-killed E. coli E32511 (O157:H.-) strain using the bacterial agglutination technique. Of the control sera all but one (x80) showed 20 > or = in the antibody. All the diarrhea patients due to O157:H7 showed a significant rise (x160-x5120) of the titers in the sera at 5-7 days on illness, after that the titers fell rapidly. Significant antibody rise (x160-x5120) was detected in twelve out of 14 HUS patients at the early stage of the illness which fell in the convalescent phase. The assay appeared to be a useful serodiagnostic technique because of its easiness and simplicity as well as because of its high sensitivity and specificity.     

An echocardiographic study of interactions between pindolol and epinephrine contained in a local anesthetic solution

An increasing number of dental patients are taking beta-adrenergic blockers for the treatment of hypertension or angina pectoris. If epinephrine-containing local anesthetics are administered to such patients, interactions between epinephrine and the beta-blocking agent may induce cardiovascular complications. We assessed in volunteers the effects of intraoral injection with 2% lidocaine containing 1:80,000 epinephrine (L-E) on cardiac function after pretreatment with the beta-blocking agent pindolol. M-Mode echocardiography was used for the assessment. The injection of L-E after administration of pindolol did not alter cardiac preload, whereas it reduced the stroke volume, due to an increase in afterload and a decrease in myocardial contractility. Reductions in stroke volume and heart rate led to a decrease in cardiac output. Because total peripheral vascular resistance increased markedly, blood pressure was elevated despite the reduced cardiac output. These results suggest that cardiac function of dental patients on beta-blocker therapy can be adversely affected by epinephrine-containing local anesthetics. Therefore, when such an anesthetic solution has to be used in patients on beta-blocker therapy, careful systemic monitoring is needed.     

Wetting Transition in a Molten Metal and Solid Substrate System in High Magnetic Fields

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Wetting transitions between molten metals and different solid substrates were investigated using the sessile drop method to evaluate the possibilities...     

Super-low friction and lightweight hydraulic cylinder using multi-directional forging magnesium alloy and its application to robotic leg

Abstract

One of the most important missions for robots is to operate in severe environments, and these situations require robots to have ‘toughness’ which can overcome large shocks, degraded communication quality, unexpected condition, and other critical accidents. Although there are many kinds of approaches to realize tough robotic systems, developing a tough actuators is one of the key technologies for them. We focus on hydraulic actuators and attempt to develop a tough robotic actuator with greater toughness than the electromagnetic actuators used in conventional robotic systems. In general, hydraulic actuators have enough toughness for severe environments, but their controllability and lightness are insufficient for robot systems. Herein, we propose novel hydraulic actuators that realizes lightweight with a multidirectional-forging magnesium alloy and have high controllability by low friction pistons. Prototypes were developed to examine the fundamental characteristics of the actuators and compare the two approaches for the low-friction pistons: one is based on a packing mechanism using an elastic restoring pressure, and the other utilizes a fluid-bearing technology. After basic experiments, the prototype was applied to a robotic leg to verify their potential in actual robotic systems. The robotic leg successfully jumped 260 mm in height with 21 MPa.     

Recovery of sterols as fatty acid steryl esters from waste material after purification of tocopherols

Tocopherols are purified industrially from soybean oil deodorizer distillate by a process comprising distillation and ethanol fractionation. The waste material after ethanol fractionation (TC waste) contains 75% sterols, but a purification process has not yet been developed. We thus attempted to purify sterols by a process including a lipase-catalyzed reaction. Candida rugosa lipase efficiently esterified sterols in TC waste with oleic acid (OA). After studying several factors affecting esterification, the reaction conditions were determined as follows: ratio of TC waste/OA, 1∶2 (wt/wt); water content, 30%; amount of lipase, 120 U/g-reaction mixture; temperature, 40°C. Under these conditions, the degree of esterification reached 82.7% after 24 h. FA steryl esters (steryl esters) in the oil layer were purified successfully by short-path distillation (purity, 94.9%; recovery, 73.1%). When sterols in TC waste were esterified with FFA originating from olive, soybean, rapeseed, safflower, sunflower, and linseed oils, the FA compositions of the steryl esters differed somewhat from those of the original oils: The content of saturated FA was lower and that of unsaturated FA was higher. The m.p. of the steryl esters synthesized (21.7–36.5°C) were remarkably low compared with those of the steryl esters purified from high-b.p. soybean oil deodorizer distillate substances (56.5°C; JAOCS 80, 341–346, 2003). The low-m.p. steryl esters were soluble in rapeseed oil even at a final concentration of 10%.     

Mechanical Properties of Hot Isostatically Pressed Zirconia-Toughened Alumina Ceramics Prepared from Coprecipitated Powders

Amorphous Al₂O₃–ZrO₂ composite powders with 5–30 mol% ZrO₂ have been prepared by adding aqueous ammonia to the mixed solution of aqueous aluminum sulfate and zirconium alkoxide containing 2-propanol. Simultaneous crystallization of γ-Al₂O₃ and t -ZrO₂ occurs at 870°–980°C. The γ-Al₂O₃ transforms to α-Al₂O₃ at 1160°–1220°C. Hot isostatic pressing has been performed for 1 h at 1400°C under 196 MPa using α-Al₂O₃– t -ZrO₂ composite powders. Dense ZrO₂-toughened Al₂O₃ (ZTA) ceramics with homogeneous-dispersed ZrO₂ particles show excellent mechanical properties. The toughening mechanism is discussed. The microstructures and t / m ratios of ZTA are examined, with emphasis on the relation between strength and fracture toughness.