Malignant lymphoma of the testis: report of two cases

Two cases on non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma (NHL) of the testis are reported. A 63-year-old man with left painless scrotal swelling underwent orchiectomy. Although prophylactic irradiation was performed under the diagnosis of seminoma, subsequent immunohistochemistry revealed NHL, large diffuse cell type (B type). He had stage IEA disease. Chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin vincristine and prednisolone was performed. The second case was in a 63-year old man with right painless scrotal swelling. Orchiectomy revealed NHL, diffuse medium cell type (B type). Because of tumor in the retrosternum, he had stage IIIEA disease. Chemotherapy and irradiation to the contralateral testis was performed.     

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), NASDA's contribution to the EOS for global energy and water cycle studies

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) was developed and provided to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's EOS Aqua satellite by the National Space Development Agency of Japan, as one of the indispensable instruments for Aqua's mission. AMSR-E is a modified version of AMSR that was launched December 2002 aboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II). It is a six-frequency dual-polarized total-power passive microwave radiometer that observes water-related geophysical parameters supporting global change science and monitoring efforts. The hardware improvements over existing spaceborne microwave radiometers for Earth imaging include the largest main reflector of its kind and addition of 6.925-GHz channels. These improvements provide finer spatial resolution and the capability to retrieve sea surface temperature and soil moisture information on a global basis. This paper provides an overview of the instrument characteristics, mission objectives, and data products.     

Effects of transforming growth factors on dopaminergic neurons in culture

It was recently reported that TGF-beta 1 either had no significant effect on or increased the survival of dopaminergic neurons in culture. TGF-beta 2 and TGF-beta 3 were reported to cause increased survival or to greatly inhibit survival. The transforming growth factors are a highly pleiotropic group of compounds, and the above results suggest that their actions may be critically dependent on the conditions of the assay. We have therefore tested these compounds under optimal conditions of culture, in a medium containing a low (2.5%) concentration of fetal bovine serum. TGF-beta 2 and 3 inhibited neuronal (MAP2-pos) survival only at the highest concentration (10 ng/ml) tested, while inhibition of survival of dopaminergic neurons was observed at 1.0 and 10 ng/ml. These results therefore suggest that the inhibitory action of TGF-beta 2 and 3 on the survival of dopaminergic neurons in culture, under the experimental conditions outlined, may be relatively specific.     

The flow characteristics of an upward gas‐liquid two‐phase flow in a vertical tube with a wire coil: Part 1. Experimental results of flow pattern,void fraction,and pressure drop

Experiments were carried out to investigate the flow pattern, average void fraction, and pressure drop of an upward air‐water two‐phase flow in vertical tubes of 25‐mm inside diameter with wire coils of varying wire diameter, pitch, and number of coils in cross section. Five kinds of flow patterns—bubble, slug, churn, semiannular, and annular flow—were defined based on the observation of flow behavior in the experiments. At higher water flowrates, the bubble‐to‐slug transition occurred at lower air flowrates in tubes with wire coils than in smooth tubes. The average void fraction was found by using the drift flux model. Further, the experimental results of the friction pressure drop were compared with the Lockhart‐Martinelli correlation. As a result, a correlation with the constant C in Chisholm's equation was obtained as a function of the wire coil pitch‐to‐diameter ratio. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 639–651, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10066     

A 98 mm2 die size 3.3-V 64-Mb flash memory with FN-NORtype four-level cell

In order to realize high-capacity and low-cost flash memory, we have developed a 64-Mb flash memory with multilevel cell operation scheme. The 64-Mb flash memory has been achieved in a 98 mm² die size by using four-level per cell operation scheme, NOR type cell array, and 0.4-μm CMOS technology. Using an FN type program/erase cell allows a single 3.3 V supply voltage. In order to establish fast programming operation using Fowler-Nordheim (FN)-NOR type memory cell, we have developed a highly parallel multilevel programming technology. The drain voltage controlled multilevel programming (DCMP) scheme, the parallel multilevel verify (PMV) circuit, and the compact multilevel sense-amplifier (CMS) have been implemented to achieve 128 b parallel programming and 6.3 μs/Byte programming speed     

The involvement of calpain-dependent proteolysis of the tumor suppressor NF2 (merlin) in schwannomas and meningiomas

Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) protein, also known as merlin or schwannomin, is a tumor suppressor, and NF2 is mutated in most schwannomas and meningiomas. Although these tumors are dependent on NF2, some lack detectable NF2 mutations, which indicates that alternative mechanisms exist for inactivating merlin. Here, we demonstrate cleavage of merlin by the ubiquitous protease calpain and considerable activation of the calpain system resulting in the loss of merlin expression in these tumors. Increased proteolysis of merlin by calpain in some schwannomas and meningiomas exemplifies tumorigenesis linked to the calpain-mediated proteolytic pathway.     

Effect of UFT on treatment of urological cancer--effect of UFT on treatment of invasive bladder cancer and advanced prostate cancer. Ibaraki Urological Cancer Chemotherapy Study Group

A prospective randomized joint study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of UFT 1) as a postoperative adjuvant therapy in patients with invasive bladder cancer who had undergone curative combination therapy with operation and/or chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, 2) as an endocrine chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed stage C/D prostate cancer, for a period of 3 years from January, 1992. For bladder cancer, of 36 patients with invasive bladder cancer, clinically cured by combination therapy, 20 patients were treated with UFT as an adjuvant chemotherapy over 12 months, and they were compared to 16 patients with no adjuvant therapy. After excluding 10 inappropriate patients, 12 patients in the UFT treatment group and 14 patients with no adjuvant treatment group were observed. For prostate cancer, of 29 patients with clinically stage C/D prostate cancer, 13 were treated with endocrine therapy in combination with UFT, and 16 patients were treated with endocrine therapy alone. After excluding 7 inappropriate patients, 10 patients with endocrine chemotherapy and 12 patients with hormonal therapy were observed. The non-recurrence rate, survival rate and side effects of UFT were evaluated. In the study of bladder cancer, neither a significant difference of non-recurrent rate nor of survival rate was seen between the two groups. In the study of prostate cancer, neither a significant difference of non-recurrent rate nor of survival rate was seen between the two groups. These findings suggest UFT is less useful as an adjuvant therapy for the invasive bladder cancer and as an endocrine chemotherapy for newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer.     

Hydraulic pressure buckling in plastic coated optical fibre

Buckling was observed under hydraulic pressure in a multi-mode plastic-coated optical fibre with a buffer layer. The optical loss increase by buckling was examined. It was found that the occurrence of buckling can be estimated from the relationship between compressibility and Young's modulus of the coating materials.