A new family of heparin-binding growth/differentiation factors: increased midkine expression in Wilms' tumor and other human carcinomas

Midkine (MK) and heparin-binding growth-associated molecule/pleiotrophin form a new family of heparin-binding growth/differentiation factors. We studied MK gene expression in human tumors. In normal human reference tissues, MK was highly expressed in the mucosal tissue of the small intestine, moderately in the thyroid, weakly in the tissues of the lung, colon, stomach, kidney, and spleen, and not at all in the liver. All of 6 surgically removed specimens of Wilms' tumor highly expressed MK. Also, a moderate to intense level of MK expression was noted in the majority of surgically removed hepatocellular carcinomas. The MK mRNA level was analyzed in a number of cultured and nude mice-transplanted lines of human tumors. In stomach, colon, pancreatic, lung, and esophageal carcinomas, a moderate to high level of MK expression was found in the majority of them. These results suggest an important role of MK in the development and/or biological behavior of tumors and raised a possibility to use MK as a diagnostic marker. Heparin-binding growth associated molecule/pleiotrophin mRNA was low or scarcely detectable in samples analyzed thus far except for significant levels of the expression that were observed in PA-1 teratocarcinoma cells and in some surgical specimens of Wilms' tumor.     

Small PWRs using coated particle fuel for district heating, PFPWR50

It has been said that nuclear energy is an important option for especially developing countries to satisfy their increasing energy demand. However, it will be difficult to deploy first of a kind nuclear power plant in developing countries because extensive safety demonstration has to be conducted in industrialized countries. On the other hand, it will be essential to present rigid proof of reliable operational experience to develop proper understanding of the safety features of new reactor systems among the people around the demonstration plant sites. One of the ways to solve the issue is to integrate existing technologies supported by a great deal of data and experience into a new reactor design. Based on the consideration, a small-sized district heating reactor system based on the pressurized water reactor (PWR) technologies combined with the fuel concept of high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs) has been studied. The purpose of the combination of these two existing concepts is to take the best advantages of both excellent operational experience of PWRs and the integrity of HTGR fuel, coated particle fuel, against fission products release even at high temperature. We expect that this approach will help create a breakthrough to the current stagnation of nuclear power deployment.     

Improving phrase-based statistical machine translation with morphosyntactic transformation

We present a phrase-based statistical machine translation approach which uses linguistic analysis in the preprocessing phase. The linguistic analysis includes morphological transformation and syntactic transformation. Since the word-order problem is solved using syntactic transformation, there is no reordering in the decoding phase. For morphological transformation, we use hand-crafted transformational rules. For syntactic transformation, we propose a transformational model based on a probabilistic context-free grammar. This model is trained using a bilingual corpus and a broad-coverage parser of the source language. This approach is applicable to language pairs in which the target language is poor in resources. We considered translation from English to Vietnamese and from English to French. Our experiments showed significant BLEU-score improvements in comparison with Pharaoh, a state-of-the-art phrase-based SMT system.     

High-Speed Time Switch Using GaAs LSI Technology

A high-speed time switch using GaAs LSI technology is discussed. A new high-speed time switch structure consisting primarily of shift registers is proposed. This structure requires relatively minimal hardware in designing LSI. As the first stage of study, a GaAs 4-channel time switch LSI is manufactured using this structure. Switching speed of the LSI is 2 Gbits/s and the power consumption 0.64 W/chip. Largecapacity switch configurations using this time switch are proposed. This high-speed time switch makes possible the time-division switching of such services as T.V. and high-definition T.V.     

Noninvasive Measurement of the Volume Elastic Modulus in Finger Arteries Using Photoelectric Plethysmography

A method for the nonivasive measurement of the volume elastic modulus (Ev) in human finger arteries was developed. The volume change ratio and pulse pressure in the arteries were simultaneously determined by a transmittance type infrared photoelectric plethysmograph and a volume oscillometric sphygmomanometer using an occlusive cuff. The Ev values could be obtained at a desired transmural pressure level of the arteries which was controlled by the cuff. A clear difference was revealed between the Ev values obtained in the fingers of two male subjects of 33 and 65 years old. The values determined by this method were compared to those calculated from pulse wave propagation velocity (Evp) obtained simultaneously in the fingers of 11 subjects. The linear regression equation was Ev = 1.31 Evp ?0.117 with a correlation coefficient r = 0.893 (n = 39). These results suggest that this should be a useful and noninvasive method of evaluating changes in arterial elasticity accompanying aging and perhaps influenced by accompanying hypertension or arteriosclerosis.     

Demonstration of packet switching through an integrated-optic tree switch using photo-conductive logic gates

Optical routing control of 10 Gbit/s data through a tree-structured photonic switch is experimentally demonstrated. A binary route address within a header is optically processed to control the switch.<>     

A case of Kartagener's syndrome associated with pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumothorax and pulmonary aspergilloma

A case of Kartagener's syndrome associated with multiple pulmonary complication was presented. A 19-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of pulmonary tuberculosis in May 1972. He had been diagnosed as Kartagener's syndrome because of the presence of chronic parasinusitis, bronchiectasis and complete situs inversus. His chest radiographs in Dec 1972 revealed left pneumothorax. Chest radiographs in Aug 1975 appeared aspergilloma in the right middle lung field. He was administrated intravenous and oral anti-fungal agent and transbronchial installation of Amphotericin-B because of hemoptysis. Chest radiographs in July 1980 resolved the aspergilloma and his symptom were also resolved. In 1996, he had no pulmonary symptoms and respiratory failure. We consider that the Kartagener's syndrome was good prognosis with adequate pulmonary therapy.     

Fluid resuscitation and systemic complications in crush syndrome: 14 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake patients

BACKGROUND: Crush syndrome is a form of traumatic rhabdomyolysis characterized by systemic involvement, in which acute renal failure is potentially life-threatening. METHODS: Clinical and laboratory data of 14 crush-syndrome patients transferred to a tertiary emergency department after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake were analyzed. The patients were buried under collapsed houses for the average of 6.7 +/- 5.7 (SD) hours (range, 1 to 24 hours). They were referred to us 6 to 250 hours after the earthquake. RESULTS: Of those who arrived at our institution within 40 hours, 25% (two of eight) developed renal failure, whereas all six patients who arrived after 40 hours developed renal failure. Peak serum creatine kinase ranged from 6,677 to 134,200 U/L (51,674 +/- 41,776). Renal failure was highly associated with massive muscle damage (serum creatine kinase above 25,000 U/L) and insufficient initial fluid resuscitation (below 10,000 mL/2 days). CONCLUSIONS: Prompt and adequate, if not massive, fluid resuscitation is the key to preventing renal failure after such injury.     

Syndecan-3, tenascin-C, and the development of cartilaginous skeletal elements and joints in chick limbs

Since the European frogs (Rana spp.) have fallen under the German endangered species regulation, Xenopus laevis (South African Clawed Frog) is being used increasingly in animal research and education. Optimal growth rates and homogeneity of groups have not necessarily been attained as little statistical analysis of growth data has been available. Following metamorphosis, an as yet not understood variability of growth is exhibited by X. laevis. In this study the effect of environmental factors on this variability was determined. Feeding, population density, background colouring, water temperature, the availability of hiding places, water level and water care were each examined separately. Development of body weight and body length were recorded. A definite correlation between the feeding programme, population density, cover and water care on the one hand and growth on the other were seen. Of lesser importance were water temperature, water level and background colouring. The observed variability of growth is assumed to also be of ethological origin.