Study on purple pigmentation in five cases with purple urine bag syndrome

We reported five patients with purple urine bag syndrome (PUBS). Four patients had indicanuria, and, in three of them, purple pigmentation was reproduced by inoculating urinary isolates, in the broth with indoxyl sulfate. Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus avium were considered to produce the purple pigment in three patients. However, attempts to reproduce the purple pigment failed in two patients, and one of them did not have indicanuria. These results suggest that indicanuria is not necessarily required for the development of PUBS.     

Boundary type finite element method for surface wave motion based on trigonometric function interpolation

There are many physical phenomena which can be handled by the Helmholtz equation. The equation explains certain phenomena of wave propagation. This paper presents a new finite element method to analyse surface wave motion. The characteristic point of this method is that the interpolation equation is chosen to satisfy the governing Helmholtz equation using trigonometric functions. This follows that the variational functional to be minimized can be formulated such that the integration is limited to the boundary of the element. The numerical solutions obtained are compared with analytical and experimental solutions. From these comparative studies, it is concluded that the present method provides a useful tool for the analysis of surface wave motion.     

90-nm process-variation adaptive embedded SRAM modules with power-line-floating write technique

The power consumption of a low-power system-on-a-chip (SoC) has a large impact on the battery life of mobile appliances. General SoCs have large on-chip SRAMs, which consume a large proportion of the whole LSI power. To achieve a low-power SoC, we have developed embedded SRAM modules, which use some low-power SRAM techniques. One technique involves expanding the write margin; another is a power-line-floating write technique, which enables low-voltage write operation. The power-line-floating write technique makes it possible to lower the minimum operating supply voltage by 100 mV. The other techniques involve using a process-variation-adaptive write replica circuit and reducing leakage current. These techniques reduce active power during write operations by 18% and reduce active leakage of the word-line driver by 64%. The prototype SRAM modules achieve 0.8-V operation, and a 512-kb SRAM module achieves 48.4-/spl mu/A active leakage and 7.8-/spl mu/A standby leakage with worst-leakage devices.     

The effects of ArginMax, a natural dietary supplement for enhancement of male sexual function

This study examines the role of ArginMax, a natural daily dietary supplement, on male sexual function. 25 subjects diagnosed with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction were evaluated over a 4-week period while on ArginMax. Of the 21 subjects that completed the study, 88.9% improved in ability to maintain erection during sexual intercourse and 75.0% improved in satisfaction with their overall sex life. No significant side effects were noted.     

Cisplatin plus oral etoposide in the treatment of patients with advanced small cell lung cancer. Japan Clinical Oncology Group

BACKGROUND: Etoposide is a highly schedule-dependent drug. We investigated combination chemotherapy of oral etoposide and intravenous cisplatin for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). METHODS: Fifty-seven patients with SCLC with extensive disease (ED) or limited disease (LD) with pleural effusion registered in the 21 institutions of the Japan Clinical Oncology Group were treated with oral etoposide 40 mg/m2/d for 21 days and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on day 1 of every 28-period day. The entry period was between February 1992 and August 1995. The actual percentages of patients treated with etoposide were 93.6, 89.5, 92.3 and 96.9% in the first, second, third and fourth cycles, respectively. RESULTS: Nine patients (15.8%) achieved a complete response resulting in an overall response rate of 82.5% (95% confidence interval, 70.1-91.3%). Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia of grade 3 or 4 were observed in 36 (49.1%) and 8 (14.0%) patients, respectively. Anemia of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 28 (49.1%) patients. Nausea, vomiting, anorexia and alopecia were common adverse events. One patient died of hemoptysis due to grade 4 thrombocytopenia. The mean survival time was 47.0 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This dose and schedule of administration of etoposide in combination with cisplatin are considered to be clinically active. However, prolonged gastrointestinal toxicity of oral etoposide was a problem in comparison with the standard etoposide platinum regimen given by intravenous administration.     

Novel method of preparing Ag–Hg alloy on polyacrylamide films and their structure

A novel method is proposed of preparing thin Ag–Hg alloy on PAAm film surface at room temperature: The film of interest is formed by holding PAAm aqueous solution with AgNO₃ in Hg-saturated atmosphere. Two kinds of films, one of which is a conductor and the other an insulator, can be selectively formed with pH-controlled PAAm solution by ammonia. The conducting surface is assigned to the α phase of Ag–Hg alloy by means of X-ray analysis. Potentiometric titration and IR spectral studies suggest the existence of PAAm–Ag⁺ complexes. On the basis of their structure and the oxidation and reduction potential of Ag⁺ and Hg²⁺, the mechanism of film formation is also discussed.     

Morphological study by TEM on uniaxially oriented thin films of PET, PEN and their blends

Uniaxially oriented thin films of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate) (PEN) and their blends were prepared by applying shear strain to their respective melts, and the resulting morphologies were studied by transmission electron microscopy. Selected-area electron diffraction of each film revealed well-defined uniaxial orientation of polymer chains in the shearing direction. In the uniaxially oriented thin film of PEN, stacked-lamellar structure with the average long period of 27 nm consisting of a crystalline region about 15 nm thick and an amorphous one about 12 nm thick was found here and there in the dark-field image: PEN-type. On the other hand, stacked-lamellar structure was rarely observed in the case of PET: PET-type. In PET/PEN blends, the morphologies changed from the PET-type to the PEN-type with increasing content of PEN.     

Characteristic properties of cutting fluid additives derived from the adducts of diamines and acid chlorides

A number of N,N′-diacylalkyldiamines were prepared from the reaction of acid chlorides with 1,8-diaminooctane and 1,12-diaminododecane and screened for anti-rust properties and antimicrobial activity in spent coolants of water-based cutting fluids. Aqueous solutions of N,N′-dihexanoyl-1,8-diaminooctane and N,N′-isobutyroyl-1,12-diaminododecane showed good anti-rust properties for water-based cutting fluids. Aqueous emulsions of N,N′-dibutyroyl-, dipentanoyl-, dihexanoyl- and dioctanoyl-1,12-diaminododecane showed good lubricities and antimicrobial activity for water-based cutting fluids.     

Effect of fatty acids on the strain‐induced crystallization of natural rubber detected by tear energy measurements

The strain‐induced crystallization of natural rubber (NR) was investigated by the measurement of the tear energy of a crosslinked blend consisting of NR and noncrystalline styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR). When NR was dispersed into the SBR matrix, the tear energy of SBR increased at various temperatures and tear rates. After the application of the principle of time–temperature superposition to the tear energy according to the Williams–Landel–Ferry equation, two distinct curves were found for the NR/SBR blend with respect to the reduced tear rate, despite the fact that the tear energy of SBR or the SBR/SBR blend gave its own single composite curve. When the fatty acid in the NR/SBR blend was removed by acetone extraction, the tear energy of the blend drew a single composite curve. The conversion of the two curves into the single composite curve for the NR/SBR blend suggested that the tear energy depended on the strain‐induced crystallization of NR dispersed in the SBR matrix, which was suppressed by the removal of the fatty acid. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 613–619, 2005     

水相酶促酯化法拆分dl－薄荷醇的连续操作

对影响脂肪酶活性、稳定性和对映选择性的因素，如有机溶剂和反应温度等首先进行了优化。其次，使用悬浮于环已烷的粉末状游离脂肪酶（ＣａｎｄｉｄａｃｙｌｉｎｄｒａｃｅａｌｉｐａｓｅＯＦ３６０）作生物催化剂，成功地构建了一个高效的非水相游离酶连续搅拌釜反应器。当使用高度反应性的丙酸酐作为薄荷醇的酰基给体，进行连续的酶促对映选择性酯化反应时，醇的转化率在两周内可保持４０％以上，所生成酯的光学纯度超过９５％ｅ．ｅ。但是，当使用相应的游离丙酸（而不是酸酐）作酰基给体时，薄荷醇的转化率在连续操作开始后迅速下降，表明使用酸酐时的生产力要比使用游离酸时高。最后，对底物溶液的浓度和流速进行了进一步优化；同时对反应器系统的含水量进行了监测，并通过对酸酐料液的浓度或流速进行微调的方法，有效地将有机溶液相的水分浓度控制在一定的范围（２～４ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ）之内，结果，ｄｌ－薄荷醇对映选择性连续酯化反应非常稳定地运行了两个月之久（转化率４７～３５％，光学纯度９５～９８％ｅ．ｅ．），酶反应器的半衰期超过２００天。