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Notes: A high precision atomic polarimeter system for the use in beam-foil spectroscopy experiments with a few keV/amu heavy-ion beams has been developed. The polarimeter measures the circular polarization of fluorescences from the beam ion in-flight after the beam–foil interaction. The present system has two identical such polarimeters in both sides of the beam axis to reduce the systematic errors such due to the fluctuations of beam current, background and so on. A successful use of an ultrathin carbon foil (1.5 μg/cm2), which was durable for several hours against a few hundred nA beam irradiation, enabled the beam–foil experiments with such low energy heavy-ion beams. A performance test of the polarimeter system was carried out in the tilted foil experiments with a 1.7 keV/amu 14N+ beam. The atomic polarization was observed for the transition 1s22s22p3p 1D→1s22s22p3p 1P, whose fluorescence wavelength is 399.5 nm, in the N+ ion (N II). The polarization was approximately −2% for the tilt angle of −40° and showed monotone increasing with increasing tilt angle up to +2% for +40°. The polarization at 0° was (0.002±0.25)%, which is highly consistent with the expected polarization of 0%. This result indicates the high reliability of the present polarimeter system. This is the first tilted-foil experiment at such low beam energy. The present experimental technique will be very useful for studies of the polarization mechanism of the beam–foil interaction. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: By core level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using an x-ray tube, ultrathin films of FexNi1−x alloys deposited epitaxially on a Cu(001) substrate have been investigated. Structural information is obtained by means of core level photoelectron diffraction. The angular dependent intensity scans reveal peaks corresponding to a face-centered-cubic lattice in the covered concentration range 0.08〈x〈0.9. Information on the local magnetic moments is obtained by observing the intensity asymmetry occurring when switching between directions of opposite magnetization (MLDAD). Both the Fe 2p3/2 and Ni 2p3/2 asymmetries show a maximum at about 50% Fe concentration. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The T-cell regulatory function has been evaluated in lines of mice genetically selected according to the High (H) and Low (L) antibody responsiveness to heterologous erythrocytes. The inhibition of antibody production following CD4+ subset depletion was stronger in L than in H mice. The dose of CD4-specific monoclonal antibody (MoAb) needed for a 50% inhibition of the anti-sheep erythrocyle antibody response was much lower in L mice, even when their responsiveness was improved by repeated antigen injections or by co-injection of lipopolysaccharide as an adjuvant. Lymph-node cells from L mice responded normally or even better than those from H mice to in vitro non-specific triggering via lectins, exogenous superantigens or CD3-specific MoAb. In contrast, the antigen-specific responses of the lymph-node cells from protein-primed mice were consistently lower in the Low responder mice. Altogether the results suggest that a defective stimulation of T helper lymphocytes by the antigen contributes to the weak antibody response of L mice.

Notes: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is known to commonly cause of end-stage renal failure in Japan. The glomerular lesions of IgAN have histological variations. The determination of prognosis and therapeutic strategy should be carefully done by experts because morphological information from renal biopsies using ordinary optical microscopy is usually qualitative and subjective. Moreover, the histological items for the evaluation of glomerular lesions seems to be unsatisfactory for expression of the disease condition of IgAN. The beneficial properties of scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) include not only observation of microstructure but also quantitative measurement of acoustic propagation speed (APS), indicating the tissue elasticity. In the present study we compared the APS of glomeruli with the pathological scores that were determined by ordinary light microscopy. We used stocked human renal biopsy specimens diagnosed as IgAN (n = 12) and normal/minimal changes (n = 5). All samples were taken by renal biopsy in Kagawa Medical University Hospital during 1997–2000 under informed consent of the patients. The obtained renal tissue were immersed in 10% formalin and embedded in paraffin. A fixed specimen was consecutively cut into 4 μm slices. One of the deparaffinized 4 μm-specimens was directly utilized for SAM without any staining, and the others were stained with haematoxylin-eosin and Masson Trichrome for counting cell number and evaluation of collagen accumulation. For the measurement of glomerular APS, the sample line was set on the equator of the glomerulus and then scanning of the X–Z axis was carried out to obtain the interference fringes that were analysed with a computer imaging software in order to calculate the APS. In light microscopic study, pathological scores were evaluated semiquantitatively by two independent investigators who were unaware of the sample number. Glomerular lesions were scored into five grades and glomerular cell number was also counted in individual glomerulus. The computer-assisted imaging analyser Win ROOF (Mitani, Fukui, Japan) was also used for the determination of glomerular collagen content in specimens stained by Masson Trichrome. A two-dimensional image (C-mode scanning) of SAM enabled imaging of glomerulus in renal biopsy specimen compatible with findings of ordinary light microscopy without staining dye. The glomerular APS in IgAN was significantly higher than in normal/minimal changes. This alteration of glomerular APS in IgAN was positively correlated to both semiquantitative pathological scores and glomerular collagen content determined by light microscopy. However, the cell number of glomelurus did not change between IgAN and normal/minimal change. As a result, we conclude that the glomerular lesion, especially matrix expansion in IgAN, was comparable with the absolute value among specimens. Therefore, it is suggested that SAM method is a novel and useful technique for quantitative evaluation of glomerular lesion in IgAN.

Notes: Background A recent report provided evidence that a disintegrin and metalloprotease domain 33 (ADAM33), a member of the ADAM family, is a novel susceptibility gene in asthma linked to bronchial hyper-responsiveness. However, there has been no investigation of the genetic role of ADAM33 variants in nasal allergy.Objective The purpose of this study was to test the association between ADAM33 polymorphisms and Japanese cedar pollinosis (JCPsis), a most common seasonal allergic rhinitis in Japan.Methods We conducted a case–control association study among a Japanese population, involving 95 adult individuals with JCPsis and 95 normal healthy controls. A total of 22 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ADAM33 were genotyped using PCR-based molecular methods.Results Six SNPs of ADAM33 gene, three in introns (7575G/A, 9073G/A and 12540C/T) and three in the coding region (10918G/C, 12433T/C and 12462C/T), were strongly associated with JCPsis (P=0.0002−0.022 for absolute allele frequencies) and most of the SNPs were in linkage disequilibrium with each other. A higher frequency of the common alleles of these SNPs was noted for the subjects with JCPsis in comparison with healthy controls. We also identified a haplotype associated with the disease susceptibility. In addition, associations were found between ADAM33 polymorphisms and various cedar pollinosis phenotypes including clinical severity, eosinophil counts in nasal secretion and allergen-specific IgE levels in sera, but not total serum IgE levels.Conclusion These results indicate that polymorphisms in the ADAM33 gene are associated with susceptibility to allergic rhinitis due to Japanese cedar pollen, but the functional relationship still needs clarification.

Notes: Abstract. From January 1973 through December 1992, a total of 302 patients (183 males, 119 females) with Kawasaki disease (KD) underwent coronary angiography. The age at onset of KD ranged from 2 months to 12.3 years (median 1.4 years). The age at the first angiographic evaluation ranged from 6 months to 17 years (median 3.5 years). Most of the patients (85%) had suffered from KD before 1985 and thus were treated without benefit of γ-globulin. Follow-up varied from 6 months to 25.8 years (median 13.6 years). Coronary abnormalities were confirmed in 71 (23.5%) of 302 patients; the left coronary artery (LCA) alone was involved in 36 cases, the right coronary artery (RCA) alone in 10 cases, and both arteries in 25 cases. Serial angiographic evaluation of the 42 cases revealed different attitudes in the progress of coronary abnormalities. All large aneurysms showed a tendency to regress, although some progressed to stenotic lesions. Moderate aneurysms stayed unchanged, regressed, or progressed to stenosis or obstruction. Small aneurysm never became stenotic and frequently regressed to normal internal diameter. Aneurysms of the RCA tended to regress relatively early during the follow-up period, whereas those of the LCA gradually progressed to stenotic lesions. In 7 of 35 patients with RCA lesions, aneurysms progressed to complete obstruction and subsequent recanalization within 0.5 to 7.7 years (median 3.6 years) after the onset of KD. Most of the patients with coronary artery sequelae after KD remain asymptomatic. Serial angiographic observation is indicated for those patients who develop large coronary aneurysms during the acute phase of KD. The standard 12-lead electrocardiogram, chest roentgenogram, and exercise stress test are less sensitive for detecting and evaluating patients with coronary sequelae. For the screening of myocardial ischemia after KD, stress thallium 201 scintigraphy with dipyridamole infusion is recommended.

Notes: Factors affecting convergence of the simulated annealing method are investigated using an actual model. The convergence characteristics of various optimization methods are examined using the contour line of objective function. Two kinds of combination methods with the simulated annealing method and the Rosenbrock's method are investigated.

Notes: The algorithm of parallelized conjugate gradient method for solving large-scale linear equations is investigated. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated by solving sparse and full matrices on distributed memory type of parallel computer containing 296PUs. It is shown that the speed-up ratio of the parallel computation of sparse matrix is saturated at several ten PUs due to large broadcasting time of data among PUs.