Cytotoxic acetylenes from Panax quinquefolium

Three new cytotoxic polyacetylenes, PQ-1 (1), PQ-2 (2) and PQ-3 (3), have been isolated from Panax quinquefolium. The structures of these acetylenes were determined by analyses of their 1H-1H and 1H-13C COSY spectra. All these compounds exhibited strong cytotoxic activities against leukemia cells (L 1210) in tissue culture.     

Results from GRACE/SUSY at one-loop

We report the recent development on the SUSY calculations with the help of GRACE system. GRACE/SUSY/1LOOP is the computer code which can generate Feynman diagrams in the MSSM automatically and compute one-loop amplitudes in the numerical way. We present new results of various two-body decay widths and chargino pair production at ILC (international linear collider) at one-loop level.      

Identifying Linking-Pin Organizations in Inter-Organizational Networks

Within the large literature on inter-organizational networks, there has been some discussion of linking-pin organizations and the role they play in integrating these networks. Based on this verbal specification of linking-pin organizations, we construct operational criteria and empirical methods for identifying these structurally important organizations in potentially large and complex inter-organizational networks. These methods are based on ideas drawn from blockmodeling, structural holes, centrality and centralization of networks, and identifying cut-points in networks. These methods are applied to a constructed example and then to real empirical inter-organizational networks. Implications and contrasts with other methods are discussed, together with some open problems.     

Comparative studies of femtosecond to microsecond laser pulses on selective pigmented cell injury in skin

Threshold radiant exposures for grossly apparent immediate whitening and ultrastructural alterations of melanosomes in black guinea pig skin were determined for a series of red visible laser pulses ranging from 4 x 10(-4) to 6.5 x 10(-14) s. Threshold exposures for melanosomal injury were found to be independent of pulsewidth when the pulsewidths were below the estimated thermal relaxation time of melanosomes. Threshold radiant exposures for melanosomal injury were found to increase when the pulsewidths were approximately equal to or above the thermal relaxation time of melanosomes. At longer pulse durations, fracturing of melanosomes was not observed despite the longer exposures necessary for injury. Instead, perimelanosomal vacuoles were noted. These findings are consistent with the theory of selective photothermolysis and provide evidence for the thermal initiation of melanosomal disruption.     

Endoscopic Observation of Tissue by Narrowband Illumination

We propose a new illumination method for a medical endoscope: narrow band imaging (NBI), in which the spectral bandwidth of the filtered light is narrowed. To confirm how the spectral specifications of the filtered light influence a reproduced image, an experiment was conducted observing the endoscopic images of the back mucosa of a human tongue. In addition, the effect of NBI on endoscopic images was investigated through preliminary clinical tests in colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. It has been shown that NBI can enhance the capillary pattern and the crypt pattern on the mucosa. These patterns are useful features for diagnosing an early cancer.     

A New Method for Rotation and Brightness Invariant Pattern Recognition Based on Modified Multiple Circular Harmonic Expansions

A new method for rotation and brightness invariant pattern recognition was proposed by applying multiple circular harmonic expansions to the joint transform correlator. The amplitudes of the multiple orders of circular harmonic expansions made from a detecting image were synthetically modified to respond to the same auto-correlation peaks. These modified circular harmonic expansions were arranged in the input plane as reference patterns together with an arbitrary target pattern, and the correlation signals between them were calculated in the subtracted joint transform correlator. The fraction of the correlation-peak intensities between the target and the references were extracted as a new discrimination parameter. This new parameter performs pattern recognition under rotation and brightness invariance with good discriminability. Its high discriminability has been proved in computer simulations using the face image patterns of many individuals.     

Primary dependence of 7-aryl-2,5-di-t-butyl-1,3,5-cycloheptatriene valence tautomerism on the π-acceptor strength of the 7-aryl substituent

¹³C NMR studies showed that the population of the norcaradiene form of the title systems containing p-CH₃O, H, and p-CF₃ on the 7-aryl group increases in this order. The result is consistent with the prediction from the π-acceptor strength of the aryl group estimated by INDO calculations.     

Constructive and Destructive Two-Pulse Excitation Investigated with a White-Light Michelson Interferometer

Linear propagation of two pulses through methanol solution of aluminum phthalocyanine chloride is investigated using a modified white-light Michelson interferometer. The observed coherence time of the white light is 6 fs, and the separation between the two-excitation pulses is set to about 10 fs. The excitation is dependent on the phase-relation between the two pulses. We have observed an enhancement of the excitation when the two pulses are in-phase and strong suppression of the excitation when the two pulses are out of phase by π.