Studies on the System Nitric Acid―Water―Tri-n-butyl Phosphate

It is intended in this study to determine the composition of species formed in the equilibrated organic phase and to clarify the extraction mechanism in the system of HNO₃-H₂O-TBP. Similarly as the previous papers on the systems of mineral acid-H₂O-TBP, physico-chemical measurements of volume swelling, density, viscosity and electrical conductivity were carried out on the equilibrated organic phase, in addition to the conventional distribution measurement of HNO₃ and water between organic and aqueous phases. It was found that the major extracted species are (TBP)₂·HNO₃·H₂O and (TBP)₂·H₂O·H₃0⁺···NO₃－ in the medium acidity region and TBP·HNO₃ and TBP·HNO₃·H₃O⁺··· NO₃－ in the higher acidity region. Apparent degree of dissociation in the organic phase is below 0.05 over the whole range of nitric acid concentration studied, and the extracted species are almost undissociated or ion-paired

Studies on the System Perchloric Acid-Water-Tri-n-Butyl Phosphate

It is intended in this study on the system HClO₄-H₂O-TBP to determine the species formed in the equilibrated organic phase and to clarify the extraction equilibrium in a part of the system. On the same line as the previous papers published in this Memoir, physico-chemical measurements of volume swelling, density, viscosity and electrical conductivity were carried out on the organic phase in addition to the distribution measurements of perchloric acid and water between organic and aqueous phases. The extracting species determined are summarized in Table 1. The species at lower acidity regions are supposed to be almost completely ionized. Dehydration of the organic phase occurs at higher acidity regions. The activities and activity coefficients of the two species [TBP·H₂O] and [(TBP)₂₀H₃O+(H₂O)₂₃]+[ClO₄⁻] stable at the lowest acidity region were determined with Redlich-Kister equations

California USA P V P 2 0 0 4 -2 8 3 0 EVALUATION OF FATIGUE D A M A G E IN COARSE-GRAINED ALUMINUM WITH SCANNING X- RAY E N E R G Y DISPERSIVE DIFFRACTION M I C R O S C O P E

ABSTRACT Based on the Berg-Barrett method, Scanning Energy Dispersive X-ray Diffraction Microscopy (SEDXDM) has been developed for nondestructively evaluating both the surface and subsurface of poly-erystallized materials. The SEDXDM includes an X-ray source generating continuous X-ray spectrum as a key component to form a highly resolved 2-D horizontal cross-sectional digital image. This article presents the evaluation of the fatigue damage (e.g., slip line and slip band caused by fatigue deformation) of the coarse-grained aluminum, which is made by means of annealing and has been repeatedly bent to generate the stress and make the slope of the stress created in the thickness direction of the plate specimen, under fully reversed anti-plane bending condition with the SEDXDM

Jejunal interposition reconstruction with a stomach preserving esophagectomy improves postoperative weight loss and reflux symptoms for esophageal cancer patients

Background: Conventional reconstruction after an esophagectomy uses a gastric tube, which commonly causes several postoperative complaints such as gastric acid reflux in long-term survival cases. Intestinal interposition between the remnant esophagus and the stomach is an option to reduce complaints, and in this study, the advantages of jejunal interposition reconstruction with a stomach preserving esophagectomy (SPE) were assessed. Materials and methods: Eleven cases of jejunal interposition with an SPE and 16 cases with gastric tube reconstruction as a control were subject to a comparison of operation time, amount of bleeding, postoperative quality of life, and endoscopic findings. Results: The SPE group had a longer operation time (SPE: 560 +/- 121 min, control 414 +/- 83 min, P = 0.038), whereas there was no significant difference in blood loss. Postoperative weight loss was significantly recovered in the SPE group (SPE versus control = 94.0 +/- 5.4% versus 87.5 +/- 4.7% at 3 mo, P = 0.017; 97.2 +/- 7.5% versus 85.0 +/- 5.2% at 6 mo, P = 0.010), and there was a significant decrease in the occurrence of reflux symptoms such as heartburn, odynophagia, and cough when jejunal interposition with an SPE was done. Furthermore, reflux esophagitis and Barrett's epithelium were found in six out of 12 cases (50%) of the control group by postoperative endoscopy, while no cases in the SPE group had either condition (P < 0.01). Conclusions: This reconstruction method is a promising option to improve postoperative quality of life, mainly due to the long-term elimination of reflux esophagitis, which assists in the recovery of postoperative weight loss

Role of Neuroimaging on Differentiation of Parkinson’s Disease and Its Related Diseases

An accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prerequisite for therapeutic management. In spite of recent advances in the diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders, PD is misdiagnosed in between 6 and 25% of patients, even in specialized movement disorder centers. Although the gold standard for the diagnosis of PD is a neuropathological assessment, neuroimaging has been playing an important role in the differential diagnosis of PD and is used for clinical diagnostic criteria. In clinical practice, differential diagnoses of PD include atypical parkinsonian syndromes such as dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, caused by a striatal dopamine deficiency following nigrostrial degeneration. PD may also be mimicked by syndromes not associated with a striatal dopamine deficiency such as essential tremor, drug-induced parkinsonism, and vascular parkinsonism. Moreover, difficulties are associated with the clinical differentiation of patients with parkinsonism from those with Alzheimer’s disease. In this review, we summarize the typical imaging findings of PD and its related diseases described above using morphological imaging modalities (conventional MR imaging and neuromelanin MR imaging) and functional imaging modalities (99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer perfusion single photon emission computed tomography, 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy, and 123I-FP-CIT dopamine transporter single photon emission computed tomography) that are clinically available in most hospitals. We also attempt to provide a diagnostic approach for the differential diagnosis of PD and its related diseases in clinical practice