A video codec LSI for high-definition TV systems withone-transistor DRAM line memories

A video codec LSI for high-definition television (HDTV) systems has been developed. By using a time-compressed integration encoding technique, it converts a 20.0-MHz bandwidth luminance signal and two 5.0-MHz chrominance signals into a compressed image signal at 48.6-MHz sampling frequency. It is useful in many HDTV application systems, such as 400-Mb/s digital transmission system, a video disk player system, or an analog transmission system. Over 288000 elements, including a 52-kb one-transistor DRAM (dynamic random access memory) line memory specially developed for this LSI, were integrated on a 12.16×12.10-mm² chip. A standard cell layout method and a 1.2-μm CMOS logic LSI process were used     

Preparation of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide)/poly(vinyl chloride) molecular composite and its thermal and mechanical properties

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) was blended with poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) by solution-blending method. PPTA was metalated for dissolving in dimethyl sulfoxide. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used as a common solvent. In PPTA/PVC composite, PPTA accelerated the thermal degradation of PVC. PPTA molecules are aggregated as microfibrillar form in PVC matrix. Such microfibrils are dispersed homogeneously in PVC matrix, according to polarizing microscopic observation. The average diameter of the microfibrils becomes smaller in the composite with lower content of PPTA. In the surface region of PPTA microfibrils the intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C? Cl of PVC and N? H of PPTA are formed. Young's modulus and the yield stress at room temperature were higher in the composites than those in PVC. The modulus of the composites was higher, especially at the high temperatures above their glass transition temperatures, than that in PVC. The temperature dependence of modulus can be calculated by using the mechanical model equivalent to the quasi-3-dimensional microfibrillar model which will be approximately applied to the composite structure. It becomes apparent that the modulus of the PPTA microfibrils evaluated by using the mechanical model is higher in the higher molecular weight PPTA.     

Interactions oftrans-cinnamic acid,its related phenolic allelochemicals,and abscisic acid in seedling growth and seed germination of lettuce

Phenolic compounds have been identified as the most common allelochemicals produced by higher plants. Inhibitions of cinnamic acid, its related phenolic derivatives, and abscisic acid (ABA) on seedling growth and seed germination of lettuce were studied.trans-Cinnamic acid, ando-,m-, andp-coumaric acids inhibited the growth of etiolated seedlings of lettuce at concentrations higher than 10^–4 M and seed germination above 10^–3 M. Coumarin inhibited seedling growth and seed germination at 10^–5 M or above. Chlorogenic acid inhibited seedling growth above 10^–4 M, but did not inhibit seed germination at 10^–5–5×10^–3 M. Low concentrations (below 10^–3 M) of caffeic and ferulic acids promoted the elongation of hypocotyls, but higher concentrations (over 10^–3 M) inhibited seedling growth and seed germination. These phenolic compounds and abscisic acid had additive inhibitory effects both on seedling growth and seed germination. The inhibition on lettuce was reversed by caffeic and ferulic acids at concentrations lower than 10^–3 M except for the inhibition of germination by coumarin. These results suggest that in naturetrans-cinnamic acid,o-, m-, p-coumaric acids, coumarin, and chlorogenic acid inhibit plant growth regardless of their concentration. However, caffeic and ferulic acids can either promote or inhibit plant growth according to their concentration.     

Bile Acid–Drug Interaction via Organic Anion-Transporting Polypeptide 4C1 Is a Potential Mechanism of Altered Pharmacokinetics of Renally Excreted Drugs

Patients with liver diseases not only experience the adverse effects of liver-metabolized drugs, but also the unexpected adverse effects of renally excreted drugs. Bile acids alter the expression of renal drug transporters, however, the direct effects of bile acids on drug transport remain unknown. Renal drug transporter organic anion-transporting polypeptide 4C1 (OATP4C1) was reported to be inhibited by chenodeoxycholic acid. Therefore, we predicted that the inhibition of OATP4C1-mediated transport by bile acids might be a potential mechanism for the altered pharmacokinetics of renally excreted drugs. We screened 45 types of bile acids and calculated the IC₅₀, K_i values, and bile acid–drug interaction (BDI) indices of bile acids whose inhibitory effect on OATP4C1 was >50%. From the screening results, lithocholic acid (LCA), glycine-conjugated lithocholic acid (GLCA), and taurine-conjugated lithocholic acid (TLCA) were newly identified as inhibitors of OATP4C1. Since the BDI index of LCA was 0.278, LCA is likely to inhibit OATP4C1-mediated transport in clinical settings. Our findings suggest that dose adjustment of renally excreted drugs may be required in patients with renal failure as well as in patients with hepatic failure. We believe that our findings provide essential information for drug development and safe drug treatment in clinics.     

An Antisense Oligonucleotide against a Splicing Enhancer Sequence within Exon 1 of the MSTN Gene Inhibits Pre-mRNA Maturation to Act as a Novel Myostatin Inhibitor

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are agents that modulate gene function. ASO-mediated out-of-frame exon skipping has been employed to suppress gene function. Myostatin, encoded by the MSTN gene, is a potent negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. ASOs that induce skipping of out-of-frame exon 2 of the MSTN gene have been studied for their use in increasing muscle mass. However, no ASOs are currently available for clinical use. We hypothesized that ASOs against the splicing enhancer sequence within exon 1 of the MSTN gene would inhibit maturation of pre-mRNA, thereby suppressing gene function. To explore this hypothesis, ASOs against sequences of exon 1 of the MSTN gene were screened for their ability to reduce mature MSTN mRNA levels. One screened ASO, named KMM001, decreased MSTN mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner and reciprocally increased MSTN pre-mRNA levels. Accordingly, KMM001 decreased myostatin protein levels. KMM001 inhibited SMAD-mediated myostatin signaling in rhabdomyosarcoma cells. Remarkably, it did not decrease GDF11 mRNA levels, indicating myostatin-specific inhibition. As expected, KMM001 enhanced the proliferation of human myoblasts. We conclude that KMM001 is a novel myostatin inhibitor that inhibits pre-mRNA maturation. KMM001 has great promise for clinical applications and should be examined for its ability to treat various muscle-wasting conditions.     

Connection structures between type-I and type-II defects in neutron irradiated beta-Si3N4

High-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) observation clarified that various types of interstitial dislocations were induced into beta-Si3N4 by high-dose neutron irradiation, and two of them have been analysed and reported in our previous papers. These two defective structures are called type-I and type-II. They are interstitial dislocation loops introduced into [100] and [110] planes, respectively. In this study, it was found that some of these dislocation loops connected with each other. The connections of type-I-L2-type-II-B and type-I-R2-type-II-A dislocations were observed by HREM. Tetrahedral arrangements of the connected parts are proposed, based on the simplified crystal structure model of beta-Si3N4. In addition, a new type of defect, type-III, was found. Type-III is an interstitial dislocation loop introduced into [100] planes. It was also found that type-I-A and type-III dislocations connected with each other.     

Synthesis of Nanohole‐Structured Single‐Crystalline Platinum Nanosheets Using Surfactant‐Liquid‐Crystals and their Electrochemical Characterization

Nanohole‐structured single‐crystalline Pt nanosheets have been synthesized by the borohydride reduction of Na₂PtCl₆ confined to the lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) of polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80) with or without nonaethylene‐glycol (C₁₂EO₉). The Pt nanosheets of around 4–10 nm in central thickness and up to 500 nm or above in diameter have a number of hexagonal‐shaped nanoholes ∼1.8 nm wide. High‐resolution electron microscope images of the nanosheets showed atomic fringes with a spacing of 0.22 nm indicating that the nanosheets are crystallographically continuous through the nanoholed and non‐holed areas. The inner‐angle distributions for the hexagonal nanoholes indicate that the six sides of the nanoholes are walled with each two Pt (111), Pt (1 1) and Pt (010) planes. The formation mechanism of nanoholed Pt nanosheets is discussed on the basis of structural and compositional data for the resulting solids and their precursory LLCs, with the aid of similar nanohole growth observed for a Tween 80 free but oleic acid‐incorporated system. It is also demonstrated that the nanoholed Pt nanostructures loaded on carbon exhibit fairly high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction and a high performance as a cathode material for polymer‐electrolyte fuel cells, along with their extremely high thermostability revealed through the effect of electron‐irradiation.     

Optical properties of C60/a-C superlattice structures for solar cell applications

C₆₀/amorphous carbon superlattice structures were fabricated by shutter-controlled molecular beam deposition. The periodic structure of resulted films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements. From the UV–vis reflectance/transmittance measurements, the energy shift of absorption edge was observed in the superlattice structures as a function of their well width. The carbon-based superlattice structure is the useful technique to control the band gap energy of carbon materials.     

Describing head shape with surface harmonic expansions

Surface harmonic expansions are used to represent boundaries between regions of different conductivity in the human head. This facilitates calculation of the electric potential and magnetic field generated by neural current sources using discretized integral equations.     

An Improvement Method of Matrix Converter Drives Under Input Voltage Disturbances

While the matrix converter has many advantages that include bidirectional power flow, a size reduction, a long lifetime, and sinusoidal input currents, it is vulnerable to the input voltage disturbances, because it directly exchanges the input voltage to the output voltage. The instantaneous effective power control (IEPC) method has been proposed to compensate the input voltage disturbances, in which the instantaneous effective power is kept constant by controlling input current. However, to date, no method has been proposed to maintain the stability of the system with the IEPC. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to control the stability of the system with IEPC. First, this paper explains the IEPC theoretically. Next, a model of the system with the IEPC is developed, and stability analyses are conducted. Then, based on the results of the analyses, a stability control method for the system with the IEPC is proposed. Furthermore, the validities of the proposed method are demonstrated by simulation and experiments. Finally, a restart performance of the system after momentary power interruption is discussed. Because the IEPC does not need phase-locked-loop to detect the phase angle of the input voltage, fast restart is expected