Measurements of Strong-Interaction Effects in Kaonic-Helium Isotopes at Sub-eV Precision with X-Ray Microcalorimeters.

We have measured the 3d→2p transition x rays of kaonic ^{3}He and ^{4}He atoms using superconducting transition-edge-sensor microcalorimeters with an energy resolution better than 6 eV (FWHM). We determined the energies to be 6224.5±0.4(stat)±0.2(syst) eV and 6463.7±0.3(stat)±0.1(syst) eV, and widths to be 2.5±1.0(stat)±0.4(syst) eV and 1.0±0.6(stat)±0.3(stat) eV, for kaonic ^{3}He and ^{4}He, respectively. These values are nearly 10 times more precise than in previous measurements. Our results exclude the large strong-interaction shifts and widths that are suggested by a coupled-channel approach and agree with calculations based on optical-potential models.

Suppression of Common Scab of Potato Caused by Streptomyces turgidiscabies Using Lopsided Oat Green Manure.

Field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of green manure as fallow on common scab of potato caused by Streptomyces turgidiscabies. Significantly fewer diseased tubers were harvested from soil incorporated with lopsided oat or woolly pod vetch compared with those from oat and continuous potato cultivation in a planter experiment. Each field experiment consisted of lopsided oat cultivated during the spring and summer prior to the potato planting. Comparisons were also made with several other treatments, including cultivation of woolly pod vetch, oat, soybean, sugar beet, and potato ('Yukirasya', which is resistant to potato common potato scab) and soil application of Ferosand (Fe, mainly FeSO4, to decrease the soil pH). In field experiments conducted during 1999-2000, treatment with lopsided oat followed by lopsided oat or woolly pod vetch was significantly more effective at suppressing the disease severity than oat and continuous potato cultivation (P < 0.001). An increase in the marketable tuber ratio was also more significant than for oat and continuous potato cultivation (P < 0.001). In field experiments conducted during 2000-01, lopsided oat cultivation alone and with the application of Ferosand (1.8 t/ha) or resistant potato cultivar treatment were significantly more effective at suppressing the disease severity and incidence than sugar beet cultivation (P < 0.001), even under high disease intensity in the field. However, potato yield had a tendency to reduce after lopsided oat treatment with an application of Ferosand (1.8 t/ha) compared with lopsided oat alone or the application of Ferosand at 600 kg/ha, due to low pH conditions. In field experiments conducted during 2001-02, the lowest severity and incidence of common scab of potato were observed in soil treated with lopsided oat than with other treatments (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively). These findings suggest that lopsided oat used as fallow green manure can reduce the severity of common scab and increase potato yield.

Method to determine temperature distribution and intrinsic emissivity of a cavity

A method is presented to determine simultaneously the temperature distribution and the intrinsic emissivities of a cavity surface when radiance distributions along the cavity wall for two wavelengths are given. The intrinsic emissivity and reflection characteristics are assumed not to depend on position on the cavity wall. The intrinsic emissivity and reflection characteristics giving the smallest difference between calculated temperature distributions for the two wavelengths are found. The values found and thus the temperature distributions are verified to be close to the true ones. The method is examined on a cylindrocone by a simulation and applied to radiance temperature distributions measured on a commercially available double cone.

A patient with Wegener's granulomatosis with initial clinical presentations of Henoch-Schönlein purpura.

The initial presentation of a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis was indistinguishable from that of Henoch-Schönlein purpura. The patient presented with skin purpura and pulmonary hemorrhage followed by purpura in the colon. The diagnosis of this patient at that time was Henoch-Schönlein purpura. With time, massive lesions in the sinus and those with cavities in the lung became apparent, and a specimen obtained from the sinus massive lesion was disclosed to be granulomatous inflammation. Retrospectively, the proteinase 3 antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody turned out to be strongly positive in her stored serum from the time of the initial presentation.

Radiometric Measurement Comparison Using the Ocean Color Temperature Scanner (OCTS) Visible and Near Infrared Integrating Sphere.

As a part of the pre-flight calibration and validation activities for the Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) and the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color satellite instruments, a radiometric measurement comparison was held in February 1995 at the NEC Corporation in Yokohama, Japan. Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC), the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center (UA), and the National Research Laboratory of Metrology (NRLM) in Tsukuba, Japan used their portable radiometers to measure the spectral radiance of the OCTS visible and near-infrared integrating sphere at four radiance levels. These four levels corresponded to the configuration of the OCTS integrating sphere when the calibration coefficients for five of the eight spectral channels, or bands, of the OCTS instrument were determined. The measurements of the four radiometers differed by -2.7 % to 3.9 % when compared to the NEC calibration of the sphere and the overall agreement was within the combined measurement uncertainties. A comparison of the measurements from the participating radiometers also resulted in agreement within the combined measurement uncertainties. These results are encouraging and demonstrate the utility of comparisons using laboratory calibration integrating sphere sources. Other comparisons will focus on instruments that are scheduled for spacecraft in the NASA study of climate change, the Earth Observing System (EOS).

[Chagas' disease among blood donors in Bolivia].

A questionnaire survey of blood donors at Santa Cruz General Hospital, Bolivia, showed that while there were no seropositive cases of syphilis, HBsAg, and HIV, the prevalence of Chagas' disease was very high (23%) among the 225 blood donors who responded to this questionnaire. Actual cases of Chagasic seropositive blood being used for blood transfusion were seen, including the urgent need for a program for Chagas' disease in Bolivia. From the results of this study, it is recommended that for blood donors from South American countries, the presence/absence of Chagas' disease should be confirmed.

[2 cases with unusual lid-jaw co-movements].

General review of the literature makes it apparent that there exist various combinations of associated movements between cranial nerves. Most of them involve four of nerves, the oculomotor, the abducens, the facial, and the motor potion of the trigeminal nerve. We report two patients in whom left upper eyelids produced peculior up and down movements in accompany with mastication. The one was a 9-year-old female who had shown left eye-lid retraction since 3 months; the other, a 4-year-old male, had produced the synkinesis one year since. Either children showed contraction of left palpebral levators associated with volitional mouth opening, deviation of the mandible toward the right, and sucking. Their pupils were normal and their upper eye-lids showed no ptosis on the affected side. The EEG showed high voltage rhythmic slow waves in parieto-occipital areas bilaterally. Head injuries or hereditary defects not being recorded in their histories, their synkinesis is assumed to be congenital in orgin. Abnormal neural connections have been presumed to be affected in the course of the development between the trigeminal and the oculomotor nuclei within the midbrain. In triggering the synkinesis, however, stretched muscle-spindles of the masseter muscle most play an important role. After all, synchronizing lid-jaw co-movements as observed in our two children represent an unusual pattern of the Marcus Gunn phenomenon.

[Evaluation of chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin in advanced non-small cell lung cancer].

Clinical study has been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin in six patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Treatment schedule consisted of docetaxel 60 mg/m2 and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on day 1 and repeated every 4 weeks. Eligible patients had histologically proven locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, PS < or = 2, age < or = 74, normal hematological, hepatic and renal functions and informed consent in writing. Six patients have been included; all were males, median age 64 (range 47-74), histology; adenocarcinoma 4, squamous cell carcinoma 2, stage III B 4, stage IV 2. Among these 6 patients, 3 PR (50%) were observed. Neutropenia was the most common adverse event (83%). The lowest granulocyte counts were most frequently seen on day 9.4 (range: 6-14). Non hematologic adverse events included alopecia (6 cases), general fatigue (5 cases), anorexia (5 cases) and emesis (3 cases). These events were recovered rapidly with no therapy. The results suggest that combination chemotherapy of docetaxel and cisplatin will be effective and safe under careful observation.

[Polyarteritis nodosa].

The following points on polyarteritis nodosa (PN) were presented: definition, difference between PN and vascular lesions in other collagen disease, diagnostic criteria, clinical symptoms and laboratory findings, clinical type, histologic stage, therapy and three case reports with two active vasculitis and one scarred vasculitis.

Evidence for in-medium modification of the phi meson at normal nuclear density.

Invariant mass spectra of e(+) e(-) pairs have been measured in 12 GeV p + A reactions to detect possible in-medium modification of vector mesons. Copper and carbon targets are used to study the nuclear-size dependence of e(+) e(-) invariant mass distributions. A significant excess on the low-mass side of the phi meson peak is observed in the low betagamma(= beta/square root(1-beta(2))) region of phi mesons (betagamma < 1.25) with copper targets. However, in the high betagamma region (betagamma > 1.25), spectral shapes of phi mesons are well described by the Breit-Wigner shape when experimental effects are considered. Thus, in addition to our earlier publications on rho/omega modification, this study has experimentally verified vector meson mass modification at normal nuclear density.

Nuclear-matter modification of decay widths in the phi-->e+e- and phi-->K+K- channels.

The invariant mass spectra of phi-->K+K- are measured in 12 GeV p+A reactions in order to search for the in-medium modification of phi mesons. The observed K+K- spectra are well reproduced by the relativistic Breit-Wigner function with a combinatorial background shape in three betagamma regions between 1.0 and 3.5. The nuclear mass number dependence of the yields of the K+K- decay channel is compared to the simultaneously measured e+e- decay channel for carbon and copper targets. We parameterize the production yields as sigma(A)=sigma0Aalpha and obtain alphaphi-->K+K- -alphaphi-->e+e- to be 0.14+/-0.12. Limits are obtained for the partial decay widths of the phi mesons in nuclear matter.

Experimental signature of medium modifications for rho and omega mesons in the 12 GeV p+A reactions.

The invariant mass spectra of e+e- pairs produced in 12 GeV proton-induced nuclear reactions are measured at the KEK Proton Synchrotron. On the low-mass side of the meson peak, a significant enhancement over the known hadronic sources has been observed. The mass spectra, including the excess, are well reproduced by a model that takes into account the density dependence of the vector meson mass modification, as theoretically predicted.

Suppressive effect of prostaglandin E1 on pulmonary hypertension induced by monocrotaline in rats.

The effect of administering prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) on the extent of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension and cytokine production [interleukins (IL) 1 and 6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)] by macrophages during MCT induction of pulmonary hypertension was studied. Right ventricle/left ventricle plus septum weight ratios (RV/LV + S) were used as an index of the development of pulmonary hypertension. Administering PGE1 at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks reduced significantly the RV/LV + S ratio from 0.428 +/- 0.070 to 0.243 +/- 0.059 (p < 0.01) and decreased the production of these cytokines: IL-1, from 4.675 +/- 3.558 to 1.800 +/- 0.722 units; IL-6, from 0.322 +/- 0.121 to 0.060 +/- 0.039 units; and TNF, from 0.578 +/- 0.369 to 0.004 +/- 0.004 units. In another series of experiments, a significant reduction of the RV/LV + S ratio was noted for only 1 week when we administered PGE1 immediately after the injection of MCT. We confirmed that histopathologic improvements of lungs were noted by administering 0. 2 mg/kg PGE1 for 4 weeks. In another experiment, PGE1 at a concentration of 2 microg/ml suppressed a rise in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peritoneal macrophages of rats in vitro, suggesting that PGE1 suppressed cytokine production by macrophages through the suppression of the Ca2+ influx. These results suggest that administering PGE1 may be effective in the treatment of some forms of pulmonary hypertension in humans.