Nonlinear Energy Response of Glass Forming Materials

A theory for the nonlinear energy response of a system subjected to a heat bath is developed when the temperature of the heat bath is modulated sinusoidally. The theory is applied to a model glass forming system, where the landscape is assumed to have 20 basins and transition rates between basins obey a power law distribution. It is shown that the statistics of eigenvalues of the transition rate matrix, the glass transition temperature $T_g$, the Vogel-Fulcher temperature $T_0$ and the crossover temperature $T_x$ can be determined from the 1st- and 2nd-order ac specific heats, which are defined as coefficients of the 1st- and 2nd-order energy responses. The imaginary part of the 1st-order ac specific heat has a broad peak corresponding to the distribution of the eigenvalues. When the temperature is decreased below $T_g$, the frequency of the peak decreases and the width increases. Furthermore, the statistics of eigenvalues can be obtained from the frequency dependence of the 1st-order ac specific heat. The 2nd-order ac specific heat shows extrema as a function of the frequency. The extrema diverge at the Vogel-Fulcher temperature $T_0$. The temperature dependence of the extrema changes significantly near $T_g$ and some extrema vanish near $T_x$.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure

Clinical Analysis of Perforated Intestinal Behcet Disease

Clinical pattern of perforated intestinal Behcet disease was analyzed in the five patients who underwent surgery in terms of preoperative symptoms, the condition of perforation, the extent of resection and recurrence. In the experienced patients, recurrences were included in four of the five patients in spite of treatment. Perforation was based on deep multiple ulcers, characteristic of the punchedout type. It is emphasized that intestinal Behcet disease is more likely to occur as a catastrophic event of perforation which requires an urgent operation, and more extensive resection is mandatory for prevention of recurrence

Esophageal Carcinomas with Synchronous and Metachronous Primary Malignant Carcinomas in Other Organs

Seventeen patients with 10 synchronous and 7 metachronous double cancers with carcinomas of the esophagus were surgically treated in the First Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine. All patients were men with an average of age 68.5. The incidence of double cancers with carcinoma of the esophagus accounted for 12.7% in a total of 134 of this series. The three triple cancers were included. Of the three, one was synchronous triple cancers in the esophagus, the stomach and the colon. The outcome was not necessarily satisfactory. Two had recurrence 3 and 5 months after surgery, but one is still alive for 33 months, free from carcinoma

Significance of Needle Aspiration Biopsy for Breast Cancer

The results of aspiration biopsy cytology were clinically evaluated on the basis of clinical experience with 608 patients with breast cancer at the First Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine. Aspiration biopsy is of clinical value in making a diagnosis of small-sized tumors. There was no detrimental outcome to promote tumor-cell spread locally as well as to give rise to distant metastasis into the other organ. One should be aware of a no cell finding in relation to scirrhous carcinoma and intraductal papillomatosis. Emphasis is placed on recommendation of open biopsy without repeated aspiration maneuver

A Study of Cytocidal Effects According to the Type of Anticancer Agent Combined with OK-432

This study was performed for the evaluation of combined effects of OK-432 and anticancer agents on K562 cells in vitro. On the growth curve, an increase of cytocidl effects was not observed by co-operative action of OK-432 and Cisplatin, but such increase was found with OK-432 and VP-16. It was evident than there are the difference depending on the type of anticancer agent combined with OK-432. When this difference was investigated on the cell cycle, G2M phase accumulation was delayed with OK-432 and Cisplatin. On the other hand, this delay was not observed with OK-432 and VP-16. It was suggested that the degree of this G2M phase accumulation might affect the cytocidal effects on cancer cells

Protein H--a surface protein of Streptococcus pyogenes with separate binding sites for IgG and albumin

Protein H, a molecule expressed at the surface of some strains of Streptococcus pyogenes, has affinity for the constant (IgGFc) region of immunoglobulin (Ig) G. In absorption experiments with human plasma, protein H-sepharose could absorb not only IgG but also albumin from plasma. The affinity constant for the reaction between albumin and protein H was 7.8 x 10(9) M-1, which is higher than the affinity between IgG and protein H (Ka = 1.6 x 10(9) M-1). Fragments of protein H were generated with deletion plasmids and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. Using these fragments in various protein-protein interaction assays, the binding of albumin was mapped to three repeats (C1-C3) in the C-terminal half of protein H. On the albumin molecule, the binding site for protein H was found to overlap the site for protein G, another albumin- and IgGFc-binding bacterial surface protein. Also IgGFc-binding could be mapped with the protein H fragments and the region was found N-terminally of the C repeats. A synthetic peptide (25 amino acid residues long) based on a sequence in this region was shown to inhibit the binding of protein H to immobilized IgG or IgGFc. This sequence was not found in previously described IgGFc-binding proteins. However, two other cell surface proteins of S. pyogenes exhibited highly homologous regions. The results identify IgGFc- and albumin-binding regions of protein H and further define and emphasize the convergent evolution among bacterial surface proteins interacting with human plasma proteins