SWAN-TYPE DOUBLE-BENDING GASTROFIBERSCOPE

The invention of the swan type double bending gastrofiberscope solved the pending problem of observing the posterior wall of the upper part of the body of the stomach and the frontal view just below the cardia. It also made possible the close observation of the pyloric region which was another old pending wish of those using the gastrofiberscope. Moreover, this new scope can be inserted into the pyloric ring closely along the lesser curvature because the new scope had a lower bending part This fact is an unexpected fruit for the inventor and is now expected to form the basis of the development of the typical duodenofiberscope

Radiochemical Study on the Mechanism of Target Fragmentation of Cu, Nb, Pr and Au Targets Induced by 12C and 40Ar Projectiles

A thick-target thick-catcher experiment was performed to measure the formation cross sections and recoil momenta of products from target fragmentation of Cu, Nb, Pr, and Au by using gamma-ray spectrometry. Bombardments of C ions (180, 290, and 400 MeV/u) and Ar ions (290 and 650 MeV/u) were performed at the HIMAC facility in Japan. The results were discussed in comparison with systematics of fragmentation and used to deduce the prefragments in fragmentation process of the measured systems

β-1,3-d-Glucan Schizophyllan/Poly(dA) Triple-Helical Complex in Dilute Solution

A certain length of poly(deoxyadenylic acid) (dA_<i>X</i>) can form a novel complex with β-1,3-d-glucan schizophyllan (SPG) with a stoichiometric composition of one dA binding two main chain glucoses. We measured dilute solution properties for the complex with light and small-angle X-ray scattering as well as intrinsic viscosity and found that the complex behaves as a semiflexible rod without branching or cross-linking. We analyzed the data with the wormlike cylinder model, and the chain dimensions and the persistence length for the complexes were consistently determined. The chain flexibility was reduced to almost 25% upon complexation for dA/SPG and to 15% for S-dA/SPG, where S-dA denotes the phosphorothioated DNA analogue. The changes in the molar mass per unit length and the diameter indicated that the helix was elongated or stretched along the axis direction upon the complexation