Radiation therapy for stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer in patients aged 75 years and older

Vaccination with peptides that induce a specific immune response is a potential prophylactic or therapeutic strategy against viral infections and tumors. Because of the extensive polymorphism of the HLA loci, synthetic peptide vaccines must consist of a cocktail of peptides that bind specifically to different HLA molecules. Such cocktails should be optimized for the target population as each population has its specific HLA gene frequencies. To achieve maximum population coverage with a minimum number of peptides, information is needed on the ranking of the most frequent HLA phenotypes. We introduce the minimal phenotype panel, which is the smallest combination of HLA antigens selected so that the proportion of individuals in a population that express at least one of the antigens in the panel exceeds a desired minimum value. We developed a method for assembling minimal phenotype panels based on known HLA class I gene frequencies. We give an example based on a set of 2446 well-defined HLA-typed, random, healthy, unrelated, Dutch Caucasoid individuals. In addition, we discuss the possibility of assembling minimal phenotype panels based on two-locus haplotypes, which enables the assembly of phenotype panels from the antigens of both loci.     

Long-term follow-up (8 to 17 years) after thromboexclusion operation for thoracic aortic aneurysms

Forty-eight Russell's viper bite patients (40 males, 8 females), age ranging from 16-76 years were studied. Out of 48 patients, 14 were found to have a prolonged whole blood clotting time test (WBCT) (i.e. incoagulable blood) (Group 1); 23 had a normal WBCT (i.e. clotted blood) (Group II); and 11 patients had a normal WBCT on admission which changed to non-clotting during the clinical course (Group III). Four patients from group I developed hypotension and 2 expired. The serum cortisol concentration (mean +/- SEM) on admission among groups I and II were 639 +/- 45.6 and 424 +/- 33.2 nmol/l respectively. The blood cortisol level in 35 subjects (controls) were 370.7 +/- 17.7 nmol/l (mean +/- SEM). There was a significant rise of blood cortisol in patients with incoagulable blood when compared to controls at the time of admission to the hospital (p < 0.05); but there was no significant difference among those patients with clotted blood. A much higher mean serum cortisol level was observed in 4 patients with hypotension as compared to 10 patients without shock. These patients with hypotension according to our study shown to have a favorable response to steroid therapy and eventually recovered. Whether higher doses of steroid in addition to antiserum confer extra benefit in suppressing nonspecific venom effects on the pituitary and/or adrenal is not known.     

一种独特和可靠的厚/薄铜复合PWB

本文论述一种厚/薄铜复合PWB(及其可靠性),它允许PWB设计者在厚铜和薄铜之间以任何希望的图形进行随意选择,以使电源模块/分配电路可以和精细图形特征一起集成,从而适应离I/O数半导体封装的要求。     

370 W output power GaN-FET amplifier for W-CDMA cellular base stations

A single-ended amplifier using small packaged GaN-FETs exhibits a record 2.14 GHz W-CDMA output power. The amplifier, composed of paralleled 48 mm gate periphery FET die, delivers a peak saturated output power of 371 W with a linear gain of 11.2 dB at a drain voltage of 45 V under 2.14 GHz 3GPP W-CDMA signal input. The output power density (output power/package size) of 1.1 W/mm/sup 2/ is twice as high as that of the existing over 300 W GaAs-FET amplifiers. A low 5 MHz offset ACLR of -36 dBc with a drain efficiency of 24% is also obtained at 8 dB power back off from the saturated output power.     

Hardware system of the Earth Simulator

The Earth Simulator (ES), developed under the Japanese government’s initiative “Earth Simulator project”, is a highly parallel vector supercomputer system. In this paper, an overview of ES, its architectural features, hardware technology and the result of performance evaluation are described.

In May 2002, the ES was acknowledged to be the most powerful computer in the world: 35.86 teraflop/s for the LINPACK HPC benchmark and 26.58 teraflop/s for an atmospheric general circulation code (AFES). Such a remarkable performance may be attributed to the following three architectural features; vector processor, shared-memory and high-bandwidth non-blocking interconnection crossbar network.

The ES consists of 640 processor nodes (PN) and an interconnection network (IN), which are housed in 320 PN cabinets and 65 IN cabinets. The ES is installed in a specially designed building, 65 m long, 50 m wide and 17 m high. In order to accomplish this advanced system, many kinds of hardware technologies have been developed, such as a high-density and high-frequency LSI, a high-frequency signal transmission, a high-density packaging, and a high-efficiency cooling and power supply system with low noise so as to reduce whole volume of the ES and total power consumption.

For highly parallel processing, a special synchronization means connecting all nodes, Global Barrier Counter (GBC), has been introduced.     

Wave propagation in two-phase flow of magnetic fluid under a nonuniform magnetic field

The effect of nonuniform magnetic field on the linear and nonlinear wave propagation phenomena in two-phase pipe flow of magnetic fluid is investigated theoretically to realize the effective energy conversion system using boiling two-phase flow of magnetic fluid. Firstly, the governing equations of two-phase flow based on the unsteady thermal nonequilibrium two-fluid model are presented and the linear void wave propagation phenomena in boiling two-phase flow are numerically analyzed by using the finite volume method. Next, the nonlinear pressure wave propagation in gas-liquid two-phase flow is numerically analyzed by using the finite different method. According to these theoretical studies on the wave propagation phenomena in two-phase flow of magnetic fluid, it seems to be a reasonable proposal that the precise control of the wave propagation in two-phase flow is possible by effective use of the magnetic force.     

Abnormal development and differentiation of macrophages and dendritic cells in viable motheaten mutant mice deficient in haematopoietic cell phosphatase

In mice homozygous for the 'viable motheaten' (mev) mutation, numbers of macrophage progenitor cells, particularly monocytes, were markedly increased in the bone marrow and spleen. Increased mobilization of these precursor cells to peripheral tissues and their differentiation to macrophages were evidenced by striking increases in macrophage numbers. Immunohistochemical double staining of tissue sections and flow cytometry analyses of single cell suspensions from these mice demonstrated CD5 (Ly-1)-positive macrophages in the peritoneal cavity, spleen and other tissues. Ly-1-positive macrophage precursor cells were demonstrated in the peritoneal cavity of the mev mice and developed in the omental milky spots. The development of marginal metallophilic and marginal zone macrophages was poor in the splenic white pulp and related macrophage populations were absent in the other lymphoid tissues. The numbers of epidermal Langerhans cells in the skin and T cell-associated dendritic cells in the thymic medulla, lymph nodes, and the other peripheral lymphoid tissues were decreased. However, increased numbers of dendritic cells accumulated in the lungs, liver, and kidneys. These abnormalities in development and differentiation of macrophages and dendritic cells may be ascribed to the deficiency in haematopoietic cell SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase or may be a secondary consequence of abnormal microenvironments, (either constitutive or in response to inflammatory stimuli) in the haematopoietic and lymphopoietic organs and tissues of these mice.     

Another language for describing motions of mechatronics systems: a nonlinear position-dependent circuit theory

Dynamics and control of nonlinear mechanical systems and advanced mechatronic systems can be investigated more vividly and efficiently by using corresponding nonlinear position-dependent circuits that describe Lagrange's equations of motions and interactions with objects or/and task environments. Such expressions of Lagrange's equations via nonlinear circuits are indebted to lumped-parameter discretization of mechanical systems as a set of rigid bodies through equations of motion due to Newton's second law. This observation is quite analogous to validity of electric circuits that can be derived as lumped parameter versions of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetic waves. Couplings of nonlinear mechanical circuits with electrical circuits through actuator dynamics are also discussed. In such electromechanical circuits the passivity should be a generalization of impedance concept in order to cope with general nonlinear position-dependent circuits and play a crucial role in their related motion control problems. In particular, it is shown that the passivity as an input-output property gives rise to a necessary and sufficient characterization of H/sub /spl infin//-tuning for disturbance attenuation of robotic systems, which can give another system theoretic interpretation of the energy conservation law.     

ON THE IMPACT FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH BEHAVIOUR OF METALLIC MATERIALS

The impact fatigue crack growth characteristics of a low carbon steel and an aluminium alloy were studied. An impact fatigue testing machine of the Hopkinson bar type was used in these experiments to conduct a series of crack growth tests under simple impact stresses. The following characteristics of impact fatigue crack growth behaviour were revealed: (1) crack growth rate is higher in impact fatigue than in non-impact fatigue; (2) crack opening ratio in impact fatigue takes a higher value than in non-impact fatigue; (3) crack tip plastic zone size is smaller in impact fatigue than in non-impact fatigue.