Anatase Sol Prepared from Peroxotitanium Complex Aqueous Solution Containing Niobium or Vanadium

Niobium- or vanadium-doped anatase sols were prepared by hydrothermal treatment of 0.1 mol/dm³ peroxotitanium complex aqueous solutions dissolving 0–10 mol% niobium or vanadium at 100°C for 8 h. Niobium-doping caused the increase of lattice constants of anatase and the shape change of anatase crystal from spindle-like to cubic-like structure, but no change of the optical absorbance. Vanadium-doping caused the decrease of lattice constant of c -axis, the miniaturization of anatase crystal and the increase of optical absorbance at the wavelength from 350–700 nm.     

A redundant multivalued logic for a 10-Gb/s CMOS demultiplexer IC

A redundant multivalued logic is proposed for high-speed communication ICs. In this logic, serial binary data are received and converted into parallel redundant multivalued data. Then they are restored into parallel binary data. Because of the multivalued data conversion, this logic makes it possible to achieve higher operating speeds than that of a conventional binary logic. Using this logic, a 1:4 demultiplexer (DEMUX, serial-parallel converter) IC was fabricated using a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process. The IC achieved an operating speed of 10 Gb/s with a supply voltage of only 1.3 V and with power consumption of 38 mW. This logic may achieve CMOS communication ICs with an operating speed several times greater than 10 Gb/s.     

An optically clocked transistor array with dual serial-to-parallel and parallel-to-serial conversion capability for optical label swapping

We propose an optically clocked transistor array optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) for both serial-to-parallel and parallel-to-serial conversion (demux/mux), enabling an interface between high-speed asynchronous burst optical labels and CMOS circuitry for optical label swapping. Dual functionality of the OEIC reduces size, power, and cost of the optical label swapper. The capability for greater than 20-Gb/s conversion operation is demonstrated.     

Aminoglycosides prevent and dissociate the aggregation of platelets in patients with EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia

Although EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia (EDTA-PTCP) is of practical importance because failure to recognize this clinical entity may result in misdiagnosis and subsequent mismanagement of the patients, the pathophysiological nature of EDTA-PTCP remains unknown. To develop an effective way to evaluate the platelet counts in patients with EDTA-PTCP, we introduced aminoglycosides-supplemented anticoagulating agents. When kanamycin was pre-supplemented with EDTA for anticoagulating blood samples from EDTA-PTCP patients there was no significant change in the platelet counts and the morphology of blood cells after 150 min of incubation at room temperature. Furthermore, when kanamycin was added to EDTA-anticoagulated blood samples from EDTA-PTCP patients within 30 min after blood withdrawal, rapid dissociation of platelets without apparent morphological changes of blood cells was observed, and complete blood cell counts as well as the histogram patterns were almost the same as those examined immediately after blood sampling. The dissociation of aggregated platelets was also detected when other antibiotics were used, although it was associated with some extent of morphological changes of blood cells. These findings indicate that the supplementation of aminoglycosides either before or after blood sampling is a useful method for the diagnosis EDTA-PTCP and for the evaluation of platelet counts in patients with EDTA-PTCP.     

Microbial sensor for preliminary screening of mutagens utilizing a phage induction test

For the preliminary screening of mutagens, a novel microbial sensor system was developed utilizing a phage induction test. Escherichia coli lysogenic strain GY5027 and nonlysogenic strain GY5026 were used in this study. The number of living cells was determined by measuring the respiration of cells immobilized onto an oxygen electrode. The injection of a mutagen, such as AF-2 and MNNG, caused the phage induction in the lysogenic strain, resulting in the decreased respiration of only the lysogenic strain immobilized onto the oxygen electrode but not of nonlysogenic strain. The rate of current increase correlated well with the concentration of mutagens. The sensor responses to the antibiotics and bactericides were definitely different from those of mutagens. Therefore, utilization of this microbial sensor system makes possible the estimation of a substrate's mutagenicity.     

Acetazolamide challenge and technetium-99m-ECD versus iodine-123-IMP SPECT in chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease

We compared the acetazolamide challenge test using 99mTc-ECD SPECT and 123I-IMP SPECT images in patients with chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease. We also evaluated the usefulness of linearization correction for acetazolamide challenge test of 99mTc-ECD SPECT. METHODS: Twenty patients with unilateral chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease (10 patients had middle cerebral arterial lesion and 10 had internal carotid lesion) were included in the study. Split-dose (a dose fractioning was 1:2), and sequential SPECT technique was used for 99mTc-ECD SPECT studies while only acetazolamide challenge test studies for 123I-IMP SPECT were performed. Permeability surface area product model (PS model) and back-diffusion model (Lassen's correction) were used for linearization correction of acetazolamide challenge with 99mTc-ECD SPECT. RESULTS: Six of 16 patients with reduced vasodilatory capacity in 123I-IMP SPECT were underestimated by 99mTc-ECD SPECT acetazolamide challenge test. Relative ECD uptake normalized by cerebellar uptake compared with IMP uptake showed a nonlinear relationship, indicating relatively less uptake in high flow range. The underestimations of limited vasodilatory capacity observed in 99mTc-ECD SPECT without linearization correction was modified by linearization algorithm. However, the effect of correction based on PS model was superior than that of Lassen's correction. The corrected 99mTc-ECD uptake ratio, based on PS model, and IMP uptake ratio demonstrated a better linear relationship than that of Lassen's correction. CONCLUSION: Technetium-99m ECD SPECT corrected based on the PS model is a better method of linearization for evaluating cerebrovascular reserve using acetazolamide challenge.     

Hair analysis for drugs of abuse. VI. The excretion of methoxyphenamine and methamphetamine into beards of human subjects

The excretion of methoxyphenamine (MOP) and methamphetamine (MA) into beards has been studied. Six healthy male subjects orally took 50 mg of MOP at a single dose and 7 doses for a successive 7 days. Their beard hairs were collected by an electric shaver every morning until MOP disappeared from the beard. After washing with 0.1% SDS, the beard samples were extracted with methanol-5 N HCl (20:1) under ultra-sonication for 1 h and the solution was kept overnight. MOP in the extract was determined by GC/MS using deuterium labelled MOP as an internal standard after trifluoroacetyl-derivatization. The drug concentrations in beard and the reproducibility of analysis were compared with the three procedures, unwashed, 0.1% SDS (wash I) and the additional ethanol (wash II) wash. The drug concentration in beard after SDS wash was 0.5-2.5 ng/mg lower than that in unwashed beard during the first 5-6 days. The drug concentration in beard after ethanol wash was much lower than that in the unwashed beard. The drug excreted into beard was detected 10 approximately 12 days for a single dose and 12-14 days for 7 doses after the last dosage at the cut off level of 1 ng/mg. On the contrary, the drug excreted in urine was not detected after more than 3 days after use. O-Desmethyl MOP, a major metabolite of MOP, was also detected in beard. The procedures were applied to the detection of MA in beard of MA abusers. It was realized that a beard sample was more useful than a urine sample assuming a longer detection.     

Hepatoblastoma in an adult associated with c-met proto-oncogene imbalance

A rare case of hepatoblastoma in a 61-year-old Japanese housewife is described. This liver tumor mainly consisted of two tissue components: embryonal hepatocytes and primitive mesenchymal tissue. Fetal hepatocytes with alpha-fetoprotein production, gland formation, cartilage and osteoid were also found in a small portion. Molecular analysis by slot blot method revealed increased copy numbers of c-met and K-sam proto-oncogenes and cyclin D1 genes. These findings suggest that alterations of these oncogenes might play a role in the development of adult hepatoblastoma.     

Color registration error reduction method compensating the influence of belt thickness variation in electrophotographic process

This paper proposes a new belt drive control method for reducing a belt velocity-fluctuation that is caused by a belt thickness-variation in the circumferential direction. A belt driving system performs feedback control with a rotary encoder-output mounted on a driven roller. This proposed method correct the reference value of the feedback control for the purpose of the belt velocity regulation. The correction includes two steps. The first step acquires the encoder-output of the driven roller and calculates the rotational angular velocity-fluctuation with one cycle of the belt rotation. The second step converts from the velocity-fluctuation to the correction value of the feedback reference. The correction value cancels a detection error of the driven roller caused by the belt thickness-variation. After these steps, the belt driving system controls the belt velocity as compensating the belt velocity-fluctuation. Experimental result showed the significant fluctuation reduction on a typical tandem-engine printer.     

Electron transport in InGaO3(ZnO)m (m=integer) studied using single-crystalline thin films and transparent MISFETs

We have investigated the characteristics of transparent metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MISFETs) fabricated using InGaO₃(ZnO)_m (m=integer) single-crystalline thin films as n-channel layers and amorphous alumina as gate insulator films. The MISFETs exhibit good characteristics such as insensitivity to visible light illumination, off-current as low as ∼1 nA with a positive threshold voltage of ∼3 V and on/off current ratio of 10⁵. The field-effect mobility increased from ∼1 to ∼10 cm² (V s)⁻¹ as the m-value increased. Room temperature Hall mobility also increased. However, unexpectedly these values were lower than the field-effect mobility. It is explained by existence of shallow localized state in the homologous compounds.