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 -series identity and the arithmetic of Hurwitz zeta functions

Using a single variable theta identity, which is similar to the Jacobi Triple Product identity, we produce the generating functions for values of certain expressions of Hurwitz zeta functions at non-positive integers.     

Re-entrant phase transitions of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model

We have investigated the spin-1 Ising model on the simple cubic lattice with bilinear, biquadratic interaction and anisotropic energy (BEG model). We have been specially interested in the case of antiferro biquadratic interaction, because the interaction will cause the competition with bilinear interaction and anisotropy. A two-sublattice ordering, so called the staggered quadrupole (SQ) phase, occurs as long as biquadratic interaction is negative large enough. We have obtained a full phase diagram in the whole interaction parameter space (for the positive bilinear interaction) by the Bethe approximation, and found several kinds of phase transitions, such as successive, re-entrant and double re-entrant transitions. These transitions are also confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations on simple cubic lattices.     

Synthesis and biological activities of analogs of a lipid A biosynthetic precursor: 1-O-phosphonooxyethyl-4'-O-phosphono-disaccharides with (R)-3-hydroxytetradecanoyl or tetradecanoyl groups at positions 2, 3, 2' and 3'.

Two novel analogs of a biosynthetic precursor of lipid A (2) were synthesized. The one analog (3) has acyl groups identical to those of 2, and the other (4) has tetradecanoyl groups in place of the (R)-3-hydroxytetradecanoyl groups of 2. Both 3 and 4 possess an alpha-glycosidically-bound phosphonooxyethyl group in place of the alpha-glycosyl phosphate group of 2. Compounds 3 and 4 exhibited definite antitumor activity against Meth A fibrosarcoma and low toxicity in rabbits, as the original compound 2 does. The replacement of the hydroxytetradecanoyl groups with tetradecanoyl groups barely affected the antitumor activity, but slightly enhanced the toxicity in rabbits.     

Analysis of Spectral Reflectance Using Normalization Method from Endoscopic Spectroscopy System

Objective assessment of gastrointestinal mucosal color is extremely important in the endoscopic diagnosis of digestive tract disease. In this paper, we propose a method to clarify the spectral characteristics of gastric and colon cancer. A large number of spectral reflectance data of mucous membrane are measured by the endoscopic spectroscopy system (ESS) in the National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan and the Department of Internal Medicine, Self-Defense Force Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. We assume that early cancer appears primarily in the spectral data of short wavelength, because it is usually present in a superficial cell where short wavelength light is scattered more strongly than long wavelength light. To identify the features in the short wavelength components, the spectral reflectance was divided by the reflectance of a long wavelength. We investigated the possibility of distinguishing early cancer from normal spectral data through statistical analysis, employing the projection axis as the mean difference between them. Early cancer and normal spectral data were projected on the projection axis, and the Student’s T-test was applied to evaluate the mean of the distribution between these data.     

A fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric analysis of crown ether complexes [1]

Analyses of crown ether complexes of alkali metal ions and characterization of the complexes formed inm-nitrobenzyl alcohol have been carried out by fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. By using m-nitrobenzyl alcohol as a matrix for measurements, the stoichiometry of the complexes was assessed on the basis of the observed FAB peaks. In addition, the formation of crown ether-alkali metal complexes at a 2 : 1 molar ratio was enhanced by increasing the ionic radius of the metal ion in agreement with previous observations. On these grounds, FAB mass spectrometry may provide a rapid means for investigation of the complexation behavior of crown ethers and the stoichiometry of the complexes.     

Synthesis of self‐photosensitizing polyesters containing donor–acceptor norbornadiene moieties and benzophenone groups and their photochemical reactions

The ring‐opening copolymerization of a glycidyl ester derivative having a benzophenone group and the donor–acceptor norbornadiene (D‐A NBD) dicarboxylic acid, 5‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐1,4,6,7,7‐pentamethyl‐2,5‐norbornadiene‐2,3‐dicarboxylic acid, monoglycidyl ester derivatives with D‐A NBD dicarboxylic anhydride using tetraphenylphosphonium bromide as a catalyst proceeded smoothly to give novel self‐photosensitizing NBD polymers in good yields. The molecular weight of these polyesters was about 4,000, and lower than that of analogous NBD polymers having no benzophenone group. All the synthesized NBD polymers isomerized smoothly to the corresponding quadricyclane (QC) polymers upon UV irradiation in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution and in the film state. The rate of the photoisomerization of the D‐A NBD moieties in these polymers was higher than that of the D‐A NBD moieties in the polymer having no photosensitizing group. Furthermore, the rate of the photoisomerization of the D‐A NBD moieties in these polymers was also higher than that of the NBD polymer with low molecular weight photosensitizer in dilute solution. The photo‐irradiated polymers having QC moieties released thermal energies of 146–180 J/g. The D‐A NBD moieties contained in these NBD polymers possessed fair to good fatigue resistance. The degradation of the NBD moieties in these polymers was 15–30% after 50 repeated cycles of interconversion. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 2978–2988, 2007