In order to improve the diagnosis of gastric disorders on the basis of biopsy material, we devised larger biopsy forceps (5 mm X 2.5 mm in inside dimensions) which fit into the newer fibergastroscope, GIF-1T (Olympus). Samples from 116 cases yielded 276 specimens; 179 specimens (64.8%) showed the full-thickness of the mucosa with muscularis mucosae, and approximately one-third of the total specimens included a considerable amount of submucosal tissue, but none of them contained parts of muscularis propria. In 4 out of 36 gastric carcinoma cases there was inconsistency between endoscopic and histological recognition of the proximal border of carcinomatous infiltration. Differentiation between adenoma and IIa, and benign and malignant lymphoma were more feasible with our forceps. No complications apart from minor bleeding were seen.

One crucial issue in genetic programming (GP) is how to acquire promising building blocks efficiently. In this paper, we propose a GP method (called GPTM, GP with Tree Mining) which protects the subtrees repeatedly appearing in superior individuals. Currently GPTM utilizes a FREQT-like efficient data mining method to find such subtrees. GPTM is evaluated by three benchmark problems, and the results indicate that GPTM is comparable to or better than POLE, one of the most advanced probabilistic model building GP methods, and finds the optimal individual earlier than the standard GP and POLE.

It has recently been found that so-called native colicin E3, which has been used for studies of its mode of action, is a complex of two kinds of proteins. The complex could be dissociated into the two components in SDS. These components were isolated by gel filtration of 1% SDS followed by treatment with Sowex-2 to remove bounds SDS. One component, characterized by its low molecular weight, prevented colicin E3-induced inhibition of poly(U)-dependent protein synthesis and was designated as immunity substance. The other component (protein A), which was of high molecular weight, had 100-fold higher in vitro ribosome-inactivating activity than native colicin E3, but had lower bacteriocidal activity. Colicin E3 was reconstituted from the two isolated protein components. The reconstituted colicin E3, when compared with protein A, showed a decrease in in vitro activity (inhibition of poly(U)-dependent protein synthesis), but had higher bacteriocidal activity in vivo. Thus complex formation of protein A with immunity substance should play and important role in the bacteriocidal action, but protein A itself might inactivate ribosomes in the interior of the sensitive cells.

The contact resistances of multilayered Sn/Ag electroplating with a 50 nm-thick Ag-Sn alloy film as Ag 3 Sn nano-flakes in 50-200 nm across on copper alloys were investigated after aging at ambient temperatures of 150, 175, and 200 ℃ for 120 h to 3000 h in air. The microstructures and surface characteristics of the Sn/Ag coatings after aging at different temperatures and periods were elaborated using SEM, FE-SEM, XRD, TEM, GDOES, and AES. The Sn/Ag coatings exhibited low and stable contact resistances equivalent to that of as-plated sample even after aging at 200 ℃ for 3000 h, compared to the ever-increasing contact resistances for conventional reflowed Sn coatings without Ag plating, especially at the low-load side. The excellent stability of the contact resistance of the multilayered Sn/Ag coatings can be ascribed mainly to Ag 3 Sn microparticles that are agglutinated on the coating surfaces, and to their good oxidizing resistance, irrespective of the oxidation of Cu-Sn alloys during aging. Moreover, the oxide films on the Sn/Ag coatings after aging were much thinner than those on the reflowed Sn coatings. In particular, a tiny amount of Ag was included the Cu-Sn intermetallic compounds and agglutinated at the Cu 3 Sn/Cu interface with aging. This phenomenon can be attributed to the inward Ag diffusion countered against the outward Cu diffusion from the base materials, which enhanced the anti-oxidation and adhesion characteristics of the coatings, thus leading to a high reliability under high-temperature circumstance for electrical devices in automotive applications.