A case of macrocystic cervical neurinoma diagnosed by MRI with Gd-DTPA

The authors report a rare case of a large cystic cervical neurinoma. A 45-year-old female was admitted to our clinic because of motor weakness of the right upper extremity, numbness of the right fingers and right posterior cervical pain. Metrizamide CT myelography demonstrated the outline of a low density mass. MRI showed a mass revealing low signal intensity on T1-weighted image, high signal intensity on T2-weighted image and marginal enhancement on contrast image with Gd-DTPA. The mass which was diagnosed as cystic tumor, was located in the intradural extramedullary space between C4 to C5 segments. After C4 through C5 laminectomy, the tumor was found to originate from the C5 anterior motor root. The tumor consisted mostly of a cystic part with a very thin solid compartment beneath the capsule. Postoperative course of the patient was uneventful. Although spinal neurinoma is one of the most common spinal tumors, an almost completely degenerated large cystic spinal neurinoma is extremely rare. MRI with Gd-DTPA was useful for the diagnosis of the cystic neurinoma by clearly enhancing the margin of the tumor.     

Beam test of the CsI(Tl) calorimeter for the BELLE detector at the KEK-B factory

We studied the performance of a prototype electromagnetic calorimeter for the BELLE detector at the KEK proton synchrotron for an energy range of 0.25–3.5 GeV. The prototype consisted of an array of 6 × 5 CsI(Tl) crystals with 30 cm length (16.2 radiation lengths) and about 6 cm × 6 cm cross section. The scintillation light of each CsI(Tl) crystal was read out by two large-area PIN photodiodes and charge-sensitive preamplifiers attached at the rear face of the crystal. We measured the energy and position resolution for electrons and the e/π separation for two sets of matrix configurations: one corresponded to the center and the other to the edge of the barrel calorimeter. The overall performance measured by the test proves that the prototype calorimeter is satisfactory for the use in the BELLE detector.     

Dyeing properties of oxygen low-temperature plasma-treated wool and nylon 6 fibres with acid and basic dyes

Wool and nylon 6 fibres treated with oxygen low-temperature plasma were dyed with acid and basic dyes. Despite the increase of electronegativity of the fibre surface caused by the plasma treatment, the rate of dyeing of wool was increased with both dyes, while that of nylon 6 was decreased with the acid dye and increased with the basic dye.     

A cross-sectional analysis on relationships between maximum oxygen uptake and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

We examined the relationships between maximum oxygen uptake (Vo2max) and cardiovascular risk factors including age (year), systolic blood pressure (mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (mmHg), serum total cholesterol level (mg/dl), serum high-density lipoprotein level (mg/dl), serum triglyceride level (mg/dl), blood glucose level (mg/dl), serum uric acid level (mg/dl), body fat (%bw), Body Mass Index (BMI), alcohol (points/day), cigarettes (/day), and physical activity (METs.exercise time/30 days). The alcohol point was defined as follows: beer 633ml = a glass of whiskey and water - sake 180ml = 1 point, and totaled at 30 days. The subjects of our study were 162 males (aged 40.6 +/- 13.1) and 133 females (aged 41.3 +/- 11.1) who underwent medical and physical examinations at the Fukui Industrial Health Center from April, 1991 to June, 1992. As a result of simple correlation analysis in males, Vo2max had significantly negative correlations with age (r = -0.223, p < 0.01), systolic blood pressure (r = -0.228, p < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure (r = -0.239, p < 0.01), or serum triglyceride level (r = -0.258, p < 0.001), serum uric acid level (p < 0.05), body fat (r = -0.230, p < 0.01), and BMI (r = -0.312, p < 0.001), and was positively correlated with physical activity (r = -0.249, p < 0.01). On the other hand, in females, age (r = -0.224, p < 0.01), systolic blood pressure (r = -0.222, p < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure (r = -0.267, p < 0.01), serum triglyceride level (r = -0.261, p < 0.001), body fat (r = -0.280, p < 0.01), and BMI (r = -302, p < 0.001), had significantly negative correlations with VO2max. However, partial correlations were tested after controlling body fat, BMI, cigarette, alcohol, physical activity, and age, none of the factors correlated with VO2max significantly. These findings suggest that the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are related to VO2max, and the life style has an influence on these correlations. Thus, VO2max may be a comprehensive indicator for health promotion among the working population. Furthermore a longitudinal study is required to determine whether the increase in VO2max is related to the improvement in the risk of cardiovascular diseases.     

Elastic, anelastic, and piezoelectric coefficients of langasite: resonance ultrasound spectroscopy with laser-Doppler interferometry

This paper presents advanced techniques to determine all independent elastic-stiffness coefficients C/sub ij/, the associated internal friction Q/sub ij//sup -1/, and piezoelectric coefficients e/sub ij/ of monocrystal langasite (La/sub 3/Ga/sub 5/SiO/sub 14/) using a single rectangular parallelepiped specimen. Langasite's crystal structure belongs to the trigonal system with point group 32, and thus possesses six independent C/sub ij/, two e/sub ij/, and two dielectric coefficients /spl epsiv//sub ij/. All of the elastic and piezoelectric coefficients affect the mechanical resonance frequencies of the solid specimen, and measuring them very accurately permits one to determine the C/sub ij/ and e/sub ij/ with known density, dimensions, and e/sub ij/. We developed a piezoelectric tripod to support the specimen upward and measured the free-vibration resonance frequencies with minimum load from its own weight. This weak and stable acoustic coupling ensures accuracy of the frequency measurement better than 10/sup -5/, enough to determine the coefficients reliably. Our C/sub ij/ fall in the range of results measured with previous (conventional) methods. Our e/sub 11/ is smaller than the reported values by 1.2-13%, and e/sub 14/ is larger by 44-97%. For the internal friction measurement, we used a solenoid coil to vibrate the specimen without any contact. The longitudinal-wave internal friction considerably exceeds the shear-wave internal friction, which can be explained by phonon-phonon interactions.     

Dependence of the efficiency-bandwidth product on electrical volumeof small dielectric loaded antennas

The efficiency fractional efficiency bandwidth product (EB) that is expressed as a ratio of the radiation resistance to the absolute value of an input reactance of an antenna is used as a performance measure for small dielectric-loaded monopole antennas (DLMAs). The dependence of the efficiency bandwidth (EB) on the permittivity of the dielectric loading (i.e., the electrical volume) is experimentally investigated for the first time after we succeeded in measuring the small radiation resistance of the DLMAs precisely on the basis of the Wheeler cap method. As a result, it was found that the EBs of some DLMAs were enhanced over a bare monopole antenna and an EB characteristic curve has a maximum point. This result suggests the presence of the optimum electrical volume for the dielectric loading in order to obtain the best EB performance. A calculation by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was also conducted to confirm the presence of the maximum EB value under a certain condition. A general reason for the existence of the peak value is also explained using a mathematical deduction     

Recovery retardation in equal channel angular pressed Al–Zr alloy during friction stir welding

The effect of Zr on reduction of hardness and microstructure in an FS weld of equal channel angular-pressed Al alloy was investigated. Zr addition to Al suppressed dynamic recovery in the thermomechanically affected zone and enabled retention of the high hardness of the ECA-pressed material throughout the weld.     

Dynamic properties of an all solid-state frequency-shifted feedbacklaser

Frequency-shifted feedback (FSF) laser exhibits outstanding features in its oscillation spectrum. We analyze build-up dynamic properties of the FSF laser by means of rate equation and analyze steady-state dynamic properties of the FSF laser by means of Wigner-Ville distribution of intracavity electric field. Furthermore, we analyze instantaneous oscillation frequency at peak spectral intensity and oscillation bandwidth of its spectrum using the formula of instantaneous spectral intensity derived from Wigner-Ville distribution of intracavity electric field. These analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones which have been observed by a diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ FSF laser. It becomes clear that the FSF laser supports many frequency components simultaneously even though the gain medium is homogeneously broadened and has a continuously chirped frequency components of comb in which the creation of chirped frequency components are strongly correlated in phase because of a replica of the preceding components. Also, the instantaneous oscillation frequency is closely related to the detuning frequency which depends on the total net gain in the cavity and the gain bandwidth of atomic transition. The oscillation bandwidth is defined as the product of the saturation-broadened bandwidth and the total resonant modes contributing to FSF operation