Fabrication of curved micro structures on photoresist layer

A novel fabrication process for micro patterns with curvature was introduced. The curved structures were made by compensating rectangular micro structures with liquid photoresist layer. Because of the surface tension of the liquid in micro scale, various shapes of meniscus can be made on the micro channels. The micro channels were made on the silicon substrate in advance, and then the liquid layer was coated on the micro channels. From the nature of liquid behavior, the curved patterns with smooth surface are obtained, which cannot be made easily with the conventional mechanical machining, as well as with the microfabrication processes, such as wet and dry etching. With this principle, it is expected that the smooth and curved surfaces can be made by simple processes and the results can be applied widely, such as optical patterns.     

Using fluorescence-based human androgen receptor gene assay to analyze the clonality of microdissected dendritic cell tumors

The AGT1 permease is a alpha-glucoside-H+ symporter responsible for the active transport of maltose, trehalose, maltotriose, alpha-methylglucoside, melezitose and sucrose. In wild-type as well as in MAL constitutive strains, alpha-methylglucoside seemed to be the best inducer of transport activity, while trehalose had no inducing effect. Based on the initial rates of transport it seems that the sugar preferentially transported by this permease is trehalose, followed by sucrose.     

Limited myocardial contractile reserve and chronotropic incompetence in patients with chronic Chagas' disease: assessment by dobutamine stress echocardiography

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether dobutamine stimulation in patients with Chagas' disease may uncover abnormal contractile responses as seen in ischemic myocardium. BACKGROUND: Segmental left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in the absence of coronary atherosclerosis is frequently seen in patients with chronic Chagas' heart disease. Myocardial ischemia and coronary microcirculation abnormalities have been found in animal models and in humans with Chagas' disease. In addition, chagasic sera may contain autoantibodies against human beta-adrenergic receptors. METHODS: Two groups of patients with Chagas' disease were studied by echocardiography: group 1 (n = 12) without and group 2 (n = 14) with LV segmental wall motion abnormalities (mostly apical aneurysm). Ten normal subjects served as control subjects. We performed qualitative assessment of wall motion and quantitative evaluation of LV cavity under baseline conditions and after dobutamine stimulation. RESULTS: Patients with Chagas' disease exhibited a blunted inotropic and chronotropic response to dobutamine stimulation. After dobutamine, fractional area change in Chagas' group 1 (54.7+/-6.6%; SD) and in group 2 (35.1+/-12.1%) were significantly lower than control group (66.7+/-2.5%; p < 0.001). In addition, in 6 of 14 group 2 patients, dobutamine induced a biphasic response with improvement at low dose and deterioration at peak dose, as seen in patients with coronary artery disease. Although the three groups had similar basal mean heart rates and attained a similar mean peak dobutamine doses, both groups of patients with Chagas' disease had a significantly blunted mean heart rate effect after dobutamine (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Thus, dobutamine stimulation unmasks a chronotropic incompetence and a blunted myocardial contractile response in chagasic patients, even in those with no overt manifestation of heart disease.     

cDNA fingerprinting of osteoprogenitor cells to isolate differentiation stage-specific genes

A cDNA fingerprinting strategy was developed to identify genes based on their differential expression pattern during osteoblast development. Preliminary biological and molecular staging of cDNA pools prepared by global amplification PCR allowed discrim-inating choices to be made in selection of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to be isolated. Sequencing of selected ESTs confirmed that both known and novel genes can be isolated from any developmental stage of interest, e.g. from primitive progenitors, intermediate precursors or mature osteoblasts. EST expression provides insight into possible interrelated physiological functions and putative interacting molecules during differentiation. This method offers a functional genomics approach to isolate differentiation stage-specific genes in samples as small as a single cell.     

Effects of honing treatment on AIP-TiN and TiAlN coated end-mill for high speed machining

The objective of this work is to compare the tool performance of TiN and TiAlN coated carbides end-mills deposited by an arc ion plating (AIP) method, using honing treatment to polish the cutting edge surface sleekly. The curve of surface roughness versus honing time showed a rapid improvement initially and thereafter became steady, manifesting a saturation effect. The optimal honing time related to surface roughness was determined to be approximately 20 s. As the surface roughness increased, the critical loads reduced. At an average surface roughness (Ra) of 0.028 μm, the highest critical loads of TiN and TiAlN coating layers were 98 and 114 N, respectively. Tool performances of uncoated and coated tools were conducted under high speed machining (HSM) of AISI D2 cold-worked die steel (62 HRC). Consequently, the TiAlN coated end-mill using honing treatment showed excellent tool life under HSM conditions.