Association between bleomycin hydrolase and Alzheimer's disease in caucasians

A recent study showed modest evidence for an increased frequency of the bleomycin hydrolase (BH) V/V genotype in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients compared with non-demented controls. To test this hypothesis, we examined this polymorphism in 621 rigorously evaluated patients and 502 control subjects (all caucasian) but were unable to detect an association between BH and AD even after controlling for age, gender, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype. We conclude that this polymorphism does not account for inherited susceptibility to AD in the populations represented in this sample.     

A system LSI memory redundancy technique using an ie-flash(inverse-gate-electrode flash) programming circuit

A new memory redundancy technique using inverse-gate-electrode flash (ie-flash) memory cells has been developed. The ie-flash can be fabricated by the conventional logic CMOS process, so no additional processes are necessary in using it in system LSIs, and it can be programmed by logic testers. We enhanced the reliability of ie-flash by using some circuits, increasing reliability to endure practical use. This new redundancy technique was successfully implemented in the cache memories of a 32-b RISC microprocessor     

Oxidation of trichloroethylene and dimethyl sulfide by a marine Methylomicrobium strain containing soluble methane monooxygenase

Sixteen marine methanotrophic bacteria were isolated and 14 marine methanotrophic mixed cultures were obtained. They were assayed for soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) by naphthalene oxidation and only one isolate (strain NI) was positive. Strain NI degraded trichloroehylene (TCE) more efficiently than other methanotrophic isolates containing no sMMO only under copper limiting conditions. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), one of the radiatively important trace gases released from the sea, was transformed to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) by methanotrophs and the efficiency for the transformation of DMS to DMSO was not as much affected by the presence of sMMO as that of TCE. The taxonomical properties of strain NI and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA genes indicated that strain NI was a type I methanotroph belonging to the genus Methylomicrobium, and closely related to Methylomicrobium pelagicum. The partial mmoX gene of strain NI was amplified by the primers common to three other mmoX genes and its 270 bp were sequenced. 77 residues out of the 89 amino acids derived from the sequences were common among the four mmoX genes.     

Etching of diamond octahedrons at high temperatures and pressure with controlled oxygen partial pressure

Etching of a natural diamond octahedron was carried out at temperatures of 800 to 1400° C and at pressures of 15 and 40 kbar under controlled oxygen partial pressure in the range 10⁻¹⁷ to 10⁴ atm by use of oxygen buffers. Well-defined etch pits of equiangular triangule outline were formed. When the results were plotted based on logP _{O 2} versus 1/T, reversal of the pit orientation clearly occurred on a boundary curve expressed by an equation, logP _{O 2}=−9.0×10⁴/T+63, whereP _{O 2} (atm) andT (K) are oxygen partial pressure and temperature, respectively. Etch pits with the same orientation as an octahedral face were produced in a low temperature and highP _{O 2} region, and those with the opposite orientation, i.e. the same as for natural “trigon”, were produced in the other region.     

Dynamic mechanical properties of photopolymerizable poly(vinyl alcohol)–acrylate monomer blends

Dynamic mechanical properties of photopolymerizable poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)–monoacrylate blends were investigated by measuring dynamic shear modulus G′ and loss tangent, tan δ. The dynamic mechanical properties of the blends before being exposed to UV irradiation were governed by the weight percent of the monomers which act as plasticizers. On the other hand, the UV-irradiated blends seemed to be typical two-phase materials since they revealed two tan δ maxima whose positions were independent of the monomer content. Those two maxima were assigned to PVA and photopolymerized acrylates with reference to the dynamic mechanical data of PVA and a PVA-polyacrylamide polyblend. Those dynamic mechanical data suggested that insolubilization of the blend type photopolymers should be caused by a decrease in solubility due to graft polymerization of acrylate monomers onto PVA.     

SRAM Circuit With Expanded Operating Margin and Reduced Stand-By Leakage Current Using Thin-BOX FD-SOI Transistors

The deterioration of operating margin and increasing leakage current in SRAM are becoming critical problems with the advance of process scaling. To solve these problems, we propose a low-power SRAM circuit using thin buried-oxide fully depleted silicon-on-insulator transistors. The back-gate bias is introduced to the SRAM circuits and acquires high operating margin and high-speed operation under low supply voltage. The leakage current in stand-by state is reduced. This SRAM achieves 30% faster writing time under low-voltage operation and 90% less stand-by power     

High-performance genetic analysis on microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis plastic chips fabricated by injection molding

We have developed a novel technique for mass production of microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis (mu-CAE) plastic chips for high-speed, high-throughput genetic analysis. The mu-CAE chips, containing 10 individual separation channels of 50-microm width, 50-microm depth, and a 100-microm lane-to-lane spacing at the detection region and a sacrificial channel network, were fabricated on a poly(methyl methacrylate) substrate by injection molding and then bonded manually using a pressure-sensitive sealing tape within several seconds at room temperature. The conditions for injection molding and bonding were carefully characterized to yield mu-CAE chips with well-defined channel and injection structures. A CCD camera equipped with an image intensifier was used to monitor simultaneously the separation in a 10-channel array with laser-induced fluorescence detection. High-performance electrophoretic separations of phiX174 HaeIII DNA restriction fragments and PCR products related to the human beta-globin gene and SP-B gene (the surfactant protein B) have been demonstrated on mu-CAE plastic chips using a methylcellulose sieving matrix in individual channels. The current work demonstrated greatly simplified the fabrication process as well as a detection scheme for mu-CAE chips and will bring the low-cost mass production and application of mu-CAE plastic chips for genetic analysis.     

Boiling two-phase flow under microgravity

To study the effects of reduced gravity on the flow regime and the heat transfer characteristics of a boiling two-phase horizontal flow, parabolic flight experiments were performed by using an aircraft. The gravity level during the parabolic flight and the duration time were about −0.01g_e +0.01g_e and 20 s, respectively. Under earth gravity, many small bubbles are detached very frequently from the heater rod surface, flowing into the upper stream due to the buoyancy and resulting in a stratified flow in the cases of lower inlet fluid velocity and higher heat flux. Under microgravity conditions, bubbles are hardly detached from the heater rod, growing and coalescing to become much larger along the heater rod, surrounding the heater rod in the downstream. This tendency was more noticeable in the cases of lower inlet fluid velocity, higher heat flux and lower inlet fluid subcooling. The local heat transfer coefficients at the bottom of the heater rod tend to decrease slightly under microgravity compared with those under earth gravity because of the reduction of the heat removal due to natural convection. On the other hand, the local heat transfer coefficients at the top of the heater rod tend to increase slightly under microgravity. However, the differences of the local heat transfer coefficients are very small in spite of large differences of the flow regimes under earth gravity and microgravity.     

Plasma amino acid profile in relation to arterial ketone body ratio in surgical patients

A total of 357 plasma amino acid profiles from 93 surgical patients were statistically analyzed in relation to the changes in arterial ketone body ratio, which reflects the hepatic mitochondrial redox state. When the arterial ketone body ratio was above 0.7, all plasma amino acid levels were within the normal range. When it was between 0.7 and 0.4, plasma levels of aspartate, glutamate, valine, isoleucine, leucine, ornithine, and arginine decreased, and plasma levels of tyrosine, phenylalanine, proline, and methionine increased. Furthermore, when it was below 0.4, almost all plasma amino acids markedly increased. These results indicate that arterial ketone body ratio accurately reflects the alterations in plasma amino acid profile, and can serve as an indicator for providing nutritional support by amino acid supplement in surgical patients.     

Bending fatigue strength of case-carburized helical gears with large helix angles up to 40 degrees

Case-carburizing of helical gears with large helix angles may form too large hardened layers near the tooth width end on the acute angle side (ACUTE-END), and adversely affect the bending fatigue strength. We investigated the bending fatigue strength of casecarburized helical gears with large helix angles up to approximately 40° through a bending fatigue test, hardness test, and residual stress measurement. We found that the case-carburizing formed large hardened layers near ACUTE-END, reduced the compressive residual stress near ACUTE-END, and restricted the improvement of the bending fatigue strength in a meshing state where tooth root stress became large near ACUTE-END. Based on the obtained bending fatigue limits, we revealed that ISO 6336-3:2006 overestimated the rate of increase of the permissible circumferential loads for helix angles exceeding approximately 30°, and ISO/DIS 6336-3:2018 underestimated this rate for helix angles near 30°.