The dynamic behavior of the interface between a Pt electrode and a Nafion membrane has been demonstrated using in situ Fourier transform infrared ͑FTIR͒ spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy ͑AFM͒ combined with surface potential measurement ͑SPoM͒. The Nafion membrane consists of hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, both in contact with Pt electrodes. The interface region became more hydrophilic due to an increase of H 2 O when an electrolyte was dropped on the Nafion membrane. Ion channels on the membrane surface were detected with AFM-SPoM. The size of the ion channels was 40-100 nm. Several tens of channels were observed in a 10 ϫ 10 m region. The ratio of two domains for the dry Nafion membrane was smaller than that for the wet Nafion membrane that was expected from the FTIR measurement. From these results, it can be said that an electrochemical reaction site at the interface between the Nafion membrane and the Pt electrode was extremely extended by humidity. These results exhibit a dynamic behavior of interfaces between Pt and ion-exchange polymer.

This procedure was effective for treating gastric fundal varices. However, type Ib patients are likely to develop high risk esophageal varices after occlusion of the gastrorenal shunt.

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SummaryThe RCK gene is a target of the t(11;14)(q23;q32) chromosomal translocation observed in human B-cell lymphoma, and the overexpression of its protein (rck/p54) by the translocation was shown to cause malignant transformation. The rck/p54 protein belongs to the DEAD box protein/RNA helicase family, which has a variety of functions such as translation initiation, pre-mRNA splicing and ribosome assembly. The expression of rck p54 in colorectal adenocarcinoma cells was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. The rck/p54 protein was found to be overexpressed in tumour tissues resected from 13 (50%) out of 26 cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas and two out of two (100%) cases of colonic severe dysplastic adenomas. In view of activities of rck/p54 determined in other tissue types, we suggest that rck/p54 may contribute to the cell proliferation and carcinogenesis at the translational level in the development of colorectal tumours.

The RCK gene was cloned through a study of the breakpoint of the t(11;14)(q23;q32) chromosomal translocation observed in a human B-cell lymphoma and overexpression of the protein (rck/p54) due to the translocation was shown to be associated with malignant transformation. The rck/p54 protein belongs to the DEAD box protein/RNA helicase family, which has a variety of functions such as translation initiation, pre-mRNA splicing and ribosome assembly. It is considered that rck/p54 protein may have significant effects on the mRNA structure of genes associated with cell proliferation, facilitating protein synthesis. Expression of rck/p54 in colorectal adenomas, which are a premalignant lesion of colorectal cancer, was examined by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. The rck/p54 protein was found to be overexpressed in tumor tissues resected from 17 of 26 cases (65.4%) of colorectal adenomas and 13 of 14 c-myc-positive cases (92.8%) also co-overexpressed rck/p54 protein. Thus, a significant correlation between rck/p54 and c-myc co-overexpression was found (Spearman's rank correlation, P = 0.0018). We demonstrate that overexpression of rck/p54 in two different cell lines, COS 7 and human colorectal cancer cell line SW480, caused an increase in c-myc protein levels by enhancement of its translation efficiency and/or stabilization of its mRNA. These results suggest that rck/p54 of the DEAD box protein/RNA helicase family may contribute to cell proliferation and carcinogenesis in the development of human colorectal tumors at the translational level by increasing synthesis of c-myc protein.

Statistical amphiphilic copolymers of polymethacrylate having a lilial-derived acetal moiety as a hydrophobic side chain and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a hydrophilic side chain were synthesized with different unit ratios (3a (x:y ) 100:0), 3b (x:y ) 73:27), and 3c (x:y ) 24:76)). In aqueous media the polymer 3c (x:y ) 24:76) formed its micelles, whose particle diameter was ranged mainly from 10 to 220 nm and averaged diameter was 35 nm. Polymer 3c in aqueous media exhibited aggregation-dissociation behavior which was dependent sharply and reversibly on temperature in the presence of NaCl. The aggregation of the polymer micelles inhibited hydrolysis of the acid-labile acetal side chain and release of the resulting lilial, while its dissociation removed the inhibition. This responsive behavior by simply heating and cooling could control hydrolysis of the acid-labile acetal side chain and release of the resulting lilial.

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We systematically studied structural and magnetic characteristics of size- monodispersed Fe and oxide-coated Fe cluster assemblies with the mean cluster sizes of 7–16 nm. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations show that the Fe clusters in the assemblies maintain their original size at room temperature. In the SEM images, a random stacking of the Fe clusters and a porous structure with a low cluster packing fraction of about 25% are observed. For the Fe cluster assemblies, magnetic coercivity (Hc) at room temperature increases from 4×101 to 4×102 Oe by increasing the mean cluster size from 7.3 to 16.3 nm. Using the experimental values of the coercivity at T⩾100 K and the fitting values of blocking temperature TB from Hc=Hc0[1−(T/TB)1/2], we estimated the values of magnetic anisotropy constant K of the order of 106 erg/cm3 from TB=KV/25kB, which is larger by an order of magnitude than the bulk Fe value (5×105 erg/cm3). Such a large effective anisotropy at T⩾100 K is ascribed to the large surface anisotropy effects of the small clusters and the low cluster-packing fraction of the Fe cluster assemblies. For the oxide-coated Fe cluster samples, the coercivity strongly depends on the oxygen gas flow rate during deposition, cluster size, and temperature. In the case of a high oxygen gas flow rate (namely high surface-oxidized clusters), the ferrimagnetic oxide shell crystallites also affect the coercivity at T>50 K: The hysteresis loop shift disappears, leading to a complex change in the coercivity and an enhancement of the effective anisotropy constant.