Precise Measurement of Differential Cross Sections of the Σ

The differential cross sections of the Σ^{-}p→Λn reaction were measured accurately for the Σ^{-} momentum (p_{Σ}) ranging from 470 to 650 MeV/c at the J-PARC Hadron Experimental Facility. Precise angular information about the Σ^{-}p→Λn reaction was obtained for the first time by detecting approximately 100 reaction events at each angular step of Δcosθ=0.1. The obtained differential cross sections show a slightly forward-peaking structure in the measured momentum regions. The cross sections integrated for -0.7≤cosθ≤1.0 were obtained as 22.5±0.68 [statistical error(stat.)] ±0.65 [systematic error(syst.)] mb and 15.8±0.83(stat)±0.52(syst) mb for 470

Evidence for Alfvén waves in solar x-ray jets.

Coronal magnetic fields are dynamic, and field lines may misalign, reassemble, and release energy by means of magnetic reconnection. Giant releases may generate solar flares and coronal mass ejections and, on a smaller scale, produce x-ray jets. Hinode observations of polar coronal holes reveal that x-ray jets have two distinct velocities: one near the Alfvén speed ( approximately 800 kilometers per second) and another near the sound speed (200 kilometers per second). Many more jets were seen than have been reported previously; we detected an average of 10 events per hour up to these speeds, whereas previous observations documented only a handful per day with lower average speeds of 200 kilometers per second. The x-ray jets are about 2 x 10(3) to 2 x 10(4) kilometers wide and 1 x 10(5) kilometers long and last from 100 to 2500 seconds. The large number of events, coupled with the high velocities of the apparent outflows, indicates that the jets may contribute to the high-speed solar wind.

[Covering with absorbable mesh for treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax by thoracoscopic surgery].

It became a severe problem that the rate of recurrence after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for spontaneous pneumothorax was higher than open surgery. It has been reported that the newly bullae formation near the stapled line was one of reasons. From December 1997, We have performed the method of covering the stapled line with both adsorbable mesh and the fibrin glue. The additional utility of the mesh was assessed by comparing with the method using fibrin glue only for the reinforcement of the stapled line. Rate of recurrence is 2.1% in the mesh group and 14.6% in the only fibrin glue group. These results suggested usefulness of covering with absorbable mesh.

[Ruptured saccular aneurysm of a coronary artery to pulmonary artery fistula associated with cardiac tamponade].

We reported a case of ruptured saccular aneurysm of coronary artery to pulmonary artery fistula. The patient was a 59-year-old woman who was admitted for loss of consciousness and cardiogenic shock. Echocardiogram and computed tomography revealed cardiac tamponade. Rupture of saccular aneurysm of a coronary artery to pulmonary artery fistula was diagnosed by coronary angiography. Emergent pericardial drainage was performed, but she developed shock due to cardiac tamponade. The aneurysm was resected on a beating heart. The postoperative course was uneventful.

Narrow-bandpass multilayer mirrors for an extreme-ultraviolet Doppler telescope.

We have developed narrow-bandpass MoSi/Si multilayer mirrors for a Japanese sounding-rocket program. A high spectral resolution lambda/Deltalambda exceeding 40 was achieved by a two-mirror telescope with a multilayer coating. The single telescope had two bandpasses in the extreme-UV range for detecting a coronal high-velocity flow; the wavelength at peak reflectance (hereafter peak wavelength) in one of the bandpasses was 210.2 A, situated on the blue side of the target's Fe XIV 211.3-A coronal emission line, and the peak wavelength in the other was 213.3 A on the red side. A high uniformity in a peak wavelength of less than 1 A was achieved over a primary (secondary) mirror surface 158 (96) mm in diameter. The ratio of the reflectance for the Fe XIV line at 211 A to that for an intense He II line as a contaminant at 304 A in the telescope system became 2 x 10(5) owing to a wave trap consisting of a single Si layer on the MoSi/Si multilayer. The narrow-bandpass (approximately 5-A) telescope was launched on 31 January 1998 by sounding rocket S520CN-22, and images of the whole-Sun corona at Fe XIV 211 A were successfully obtained.

Overweight as another nutritional risk factor for the long-term survival of non-diabetic hemodialysis patients.

OBJECTIVE: Studies were performed to investigate the association of the body mass index (BMI) with long-term survival of non-diabetic hemodialysis patients who were monitored for up to 12 years. METHODS: In 116 patients having undergone hemodialysis in 1984, a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed, and a proportional hazard model was applied to calculate the relative risk of mortality in body mass index quintiles. RESULTS: Those patients with BMI of less than 16.9 kg/m2 and more than 23.0 kg/m2 showed lowered survival relative to the patients with BMI of 17.0-18.9 kg/m2. A proportional hazard model revealed that the patients with BMI of less than 16.9 kg/m2 had the highest risk of mortality independent of age, gender, smoking, duration of hemodialysis, serum albumin, blood pressure and urea reduction rate. Those patients with BMI of over 19.0 kg/m2 also had a high risk of mortality which was progressively elevated with increasing BMI. This higher risk of mortality in those patients with high BMI was associated with such atherosclerotic risk factors as low HDL-cholesterol and high total-/HDL-cholesterol ratio. The number of hospitalizations showed a similar trend to mortality in the body mass index quintiles. The survivors lost their body weight slightly but significantly for 12 years, although there were no significant changes in serum albumin and creatinine. Serum albumin, prealbumin and IGF-1 were within normal range in 1996, suggesting that the survivors did not exhibit severe malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that long-term survival could be attained by patients with relatively low BMI who have no serious nutritional problems. Nutritional intervention might be required in the overweight patients, in addition to extremely lean patients.

High-wavelength-resolution extreme-ultraviolet multilayer mirror.

Multilayer mirrors with a system wavelength resolution (lambda/Dlambda) as high as 30-50 are required for the diagnostics of cosmic plasmas with temperatures of 1-20 MK. Such a high wavelength resolution can be realized by increasing the number of layer pairs contributing to the reflectance, by selecting less-absorbing materials for both the reflector and the spacer, and by decreasing the thickness of the reflector. We have fabricated a multilayer mirror tuned to 284 A with a silicon carbide reflector (20% thickness of the layer period) and an aluminum spacer and achieved lambda/Dlambda ~26.8 with a peak reflectivity of ~13.0%. This wavelength resolution is close to the value obtained with a numerical simulation and is considerably higher than the value obtained with the conventional Mo/Si multilayer.

[A case of chylomediastinum following open heart surgery via median sternotomy].

The case was a 17-year-old woman on whom open heart surgery was performed for ASD. Anterior mediastinal drainage alone revealed chyloid liquid, leading to diagnosis as chylomediastium. Ramification of thoracic duct and direct injuries of thymus and lymphoduct were presumed to be responsible for the occurrence of this complication. Operative treatment was positively performed because of its unimprovement by conservative treatment. Re-operation led to its healing in a comparatively short period of time. Idea of disease, cause of occurrence, and plan of treatment of this complication were examined for reporting below.

[Neurilemmoma of the neck; a report of 35 cases].

We reported 35 cases of neurilemmoma of the neck. All cases had a tumor and 12 cases had neurogenic symptoms or signs such as tenderness, radiating pain, coughing at pressure of the tumor and Horner's syndrome. Tumors originated from the vagus nerve in 10, brachial plexus in 5 and cervical sympathetic chain in 3 cases. The nerve of the origin could not be identified in 17 cases. We classified tumors into 4 types based upon macroscopic nature. Type 1 is that the nerve of the origin could not be identified. Type 2 is that normal nerve passes on the surface of the tumor. Type 3 is that nerve fibers slightly dilated on the tumor surface. Type 4 is that tumor originated from major nerve and tumor surface is covered by the nerve fibers. Postoperative functional deficit of the nerve is rare in type 1 and occurred in the most of type 4 although intracapsular excision was performed. Although neurilemmoma of the neck is rare, postoperative functional deficit can often occur in some types. At the diagnosis of the tumors of the neck we must take the neurilemmoma into consideration. We recommend careful intracapsular excision at the surgery of the neurilemmoma originated from major nerves.