Disaster-readiness of medical facilities in Aichi Prefecture

One month following the Great Hanshin Earthquake of January 17, 1995, we conducted a survey of 173 hospitals in Aichi Prefecture to pinpoint problems related to their actual disaster-readiness and the medical backup systems in place to deal with such disasters. This study revealed that staff at 50% of the surveyed hospitals could reach the hospital within an hour, but that communication is almost entirely dependent on phone lines, suggesting that cordless/portable/mobile phones, radio systems, Internet, communications satellites and the like should be studied in the days to come for possible use as effective communication alternatives in times of disaster. Whereas 92% of the surveyed hospitals had manuals dealing with fire outbreaks, other areas were less well represented. For example, only 36.9% of surveyed hospitals had manuals for earthquakes, 31.7% had manuals for power outages and 14.2% had manuals to deal with flooding and water disasters. New manuals must be developed incorporating the key points garnered from experience (especially Hanshin) and be ready for use immediately. It is the time for each hospital to seriously rethink the measures it should take to deal with disasters.     

A new approach to rheumatoid arthritis

Slow-acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARDs) are usually prescribed in rheumatoid arthritis only when non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs can no longer suppress the inflammation or when articular damage is radiologically apparent. It was established recently that articular damage occurs in an early phase of RA. This damage is linked to subsequent disability; to prevent it is the purpose of SAARDs. In view of the short-term reduction of arthritis activity and improvement of function as well as the meanwhile established fact that the side effects of SAARDs are not different from those of other antirheumatic agents, SAARDs should be prescribed in an early phase of RA.     

A 322 MHz random-cycle embedded DRAM with high-accuracy sensing and tuning

A 16 Mb embedded DRAM macro in a fully CMOS logic compatible 90 nm process with a low noise core architecture and a high-accuracy post-fabrication tuning scheme has been developed. Based on the proposed techniques, 61% improvement of the sensing accuracy is realized. Even with the smallest 5 fF/cell capacitance, a 322 MHz random-cycle access while 32 ms data retention time which contributes to save the data retention power down to 60 /spl mu/W are achieved.     

Age-related changes in cognitive ERPs of attenuation

The purpose of this article is to deliberate the moral and legal dilemma entailed in the weapon of the labour strike as a pressure tactic on the Israeli Finance Ministry regarding job slots, budgets and, in effect, violating the collective agreement signed by the nurses and impairing patients' treatment, as opposed to refraining from striking and suffering the heavy burden of work, the lack of trained personnel, low wages, and the inability to give patients proper, high quality treatment.     

KGa-priderite and related compound for the selective reduction of nitrogen monoxide with propylene

The catalytic activity of KGa-priderite, K_1.6Ga_1.6Ti_6.4O₁₆, and its related compound KGa₈Ga₉Ti₁₅O₅₆ was investigated for the selective reduction of nitrogen monoxide (NO) with propylene (C₃H₆) in the presence of high oxygen concentrations. The KGa-priderite showed significant activity during this reaction, but the related compound showed only a little activity. These compounds are quite different from the conventional catalysts for NO_x selective reduction and are characterized by the fact that their properties are free from the effects of solid acidity and support metals. This difference was attributable to the NO desorption rate at the surface of these compounds. It has become clear that the KGa-priderite catalyst remarkably adsorbed NO, and it is suggested that the amount of NO adsorbed and the amount of catalytic activity are able to be increased by the design of priderite structure.     

Annual changes in serum vitellogenin concentrations in viviparous eelpout, Zoarces elongatus

Vitellogenin of matrotrophic viviparous eelpout (Zoarces elongatus) was purified from estradiol-17 beta (E2) treated immature male sera by gel chromatography and anion exchange chromatography. Isolated vitellogenin has a molecular weight of 540 kDa estimated by gel chromatography. Serum levels of vitellogenin in females were measured during oocyte development and gestation by single radial immunodiffusion. Serum vitellogenin level was low (less than 0.2 mg/ml) during the early vitellogenic period, increased in the late vitellogenic period to a peak level (6.4 +/- 2.1 mg/ml) at the beginning of gestation. After that it rapidly decreased to a low level (0.1 +/- 0.1 mg/ml) during the early gestation period. Levels of vitellogenin remained low throughout the gestation period. Serum E2 levels in females showed increased from 1.3 to 3.0 ng/ml during the late vitellogenic period, and declined to 0.4 ng/ml during the early gestation period. Serum levels of E2 showed good correlation with serum vitellogenin levels, suggesting that the vitellogenin synthesis is controlled by E2 in this species. These results combined with the matrotrophic growth of embryo during gestation suggest that there is a shift in the synthesis of maternal nutritional products for embryos from the yolk to other nutrients.     

Effect of postischemic reperfusion on microcirculation and lipid metabolism of skeletal muscle

To study the effect of ischemia reperfusion injury on microvascular reactivity and tissue metabolism in skeletal muscle, a Sprague-Dawley rat cremaster muscle was prepared as a tourniquet ischemia model and subjected to 2 hr ischemia followed by 1 hr reperfusion to simulate the timing of ischemia during microvascular surgery. The dose-response curve of arteriolar reactivity to norepinephrine, lipid peroxidation, and ultrastructure of capillaries was determined in both the control and postischemic reperfusion stages. Judging from the results, we summarize our observations as follows: (1) Postischemic reperfusion significantly increased arteriolar reactivity to norepinephrine, in which the EC50 for vasoconstriction decreased in all three orders of arterioles. These results suggest that reperfusion could have impaired the vasodilation control mechanism, possibly being endothelium dependent. (2) Lipid peroxidation increased sixfold in the reperfusion group, suggesting that oxygen free radicals have produced significant tissue damage under the created conditions. (3) Significant endothelial damage in the capillaries shown by electron microscope observation supports these studies, indicating that ischemia/reperfusion in clinically transplanted skeletal muscles could cause significant damage to the tissue microcirculation both physiologically and metabolically.