CD7 positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia successfully treated with high dose cytosine arabinoside and mitoxantrone: a case report

Primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) is a common autoimmune connective tissue disease in China yet without a universally accepted diagnostic criteria. In this study a new criteria was proposed and compared with other six sets of criteria. Fifty-five items in 112 pSS and 185 controls were evaluated. Results show the criteria we proposed contained one major and nine minor items. For the purpose of identifying patients in clinical studies, a major with at least three of the nine minor items or at least five of the minor items should be presented. The major item is anti-SSA/SSB(+) and the minors are, (1) dry eyes or dry mouth (> 3 months, persistently), (2) swollen salivary glands (recurrently or persistently), (3) rampant dental caries, (4) Schirmer test (< 5 mm in 5 min.) or corneal staining(+), (5) unstimulated salivary flow (< 0.03 ml/min) or abornal parotid sialography, (6) minor salivary gland biopsy (> or = 1 focus), (7) renal tubular acidosis, (8) hypergammaglobuminemia (gamma globulin > or = 30%) or hypergammaglobuminemic purpura, (9) RF > 1 : 20 or ANA > 1 : 20. Other connective tissure diseases, pre-existing lymphoma, AIDS, sarcoidosis, graft vs host disease must be excluded. The criteria we proposed had a high specificity of 98.2% and sensitivity of 94.1%.     

A new family of sugar-inducible expression vectors for Escherichia coli

A set of 11 expression vectors was constructed, each of themharbouring a cloning cassette under the control of the promoter.Some of these vectors enable expression of foreign proteinsin the cytoplasm, while others include a synthetic sequencecoding for a very efficient secretion signal sequence. Otherfeatures are an fl origin of replication (in plus or minus orientation)and a promoter^up mutation that enhances the already very highlevel of expression from these vectors. With such a versatilevector family, cloning, sequencing and sitedirected mutagenesiscan be performed on the same vector, and the level of expressioncan be defined according to the specific constraints of a givenprotein.     

An IR study on ion-specific and solvent-specific swelling of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) gel

Swelling degrees of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) gel were measured in aqueous salt solutions and in water/organic solvent mixtures to find marked ion- and solvent-specificities. In order to investigate any correlation of those specificities with hydration or solvation of PVP, IR spectra band of the CO group was monitored by means of ATR method both for PVP gel and the relevant solution systems. Dependence of the peak frequency on the swelling ratio suggested that hydration of PVP carbonyl group in deswollen gel systems is different from that in the corresponding solution systems. In the solution systems, PVP carbonyl band showed a high-wavenumber shift for deswollen systems, which can be well correlated with changes in water proton charge through ionic hydration and with Gutmann's acceptor number of organic solvents. In the deswollen gel systems, the CO band showed a low-wavenumber shift, suggesting a strong hydration or doubly hydrated state. This unexpected behavior was interpreted by assuming an intermolecular hydrogen bond of two carbonyl groups intermediated by water molecules.     

10 Gbit/s optical BPSK homodyne detection experiment with solitaryDFB laser diodes

Solitary DFB laser diodes with 174 kHz beat linewidth are applied to a 10 Gbit/s optical BPSK homodyne detection system for the first time: a sensitivity of -38.9 dBm was achieved. A three-electrode laser forms the local oscillator and is modulated with a partial push-pull scheme to improve its frequency response     

The use of phase diagrams and thermodynamic databases for electronic materials

Phase diagrams and a thermodynamic database constructed by the Calculation of Phase Diagrams approach offer powerful tools for alloy design and materials development. This article presents recent progress on the thermodynamic database for microsolders and copper-based alloys, which is useful for the development of lead-free solders and prediction of interfacial phenomena between solders and the copper substrate in electronic packaging technology. In addition, examples of phase diagram applications are presented to facilitate the development of Co-Cr-based magnetic recording media in hard disks and new ferromagnetic shape-memory alloys. For more information, contact K. Ishida, Tohoku University, Department of Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Aoba-yama 02, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.     

Characterization of C-S-H from Highly Reactive β-Dicalcium Silicate Prepared from Hillebrandite

β-dicalcium silicate synthesized by thermal dissociation of hydrothermally prepared hillebrandite (Ca₂(SiO₃)(OH)₂) exhibits extremely high hydration activity. Characterization of the hydrates obtained and investigation of the hydration mechanism was carried out with the aid of trimethylsilylation analysis, ²⁹Si magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, transmission electron microscopy selected area electron diffraction, and XRD. The silicate anion structure of C-S-H consisted mainly of a dimer and a single-chain polymer. Polymerization advances with increasing curing temperature and curing time. The C-S-H has an oriented fibrous structure and exhibits a 0.73-nm dreierketten in the longitudinal direction. On heating, the C-S-H dissociates to form β-C₂S. The temperature at which βC₂S begins to form decreases with increasing chain length of the C-S-H or as the Ca/Si ratio becomes higher. The high activity of β-C₂S is due to its large specific surface area and the fact that the hydration is chemical-reaction-rate-controlled until its completion. As a result, the hydration progresses in situ and C-S-H with a high Ca/Si ratio is formed.