In Japanese children, INVM can be found by screening examinations at asymptomatic stage, and it might have a longer dinical course with gradually depressed left ventricular function and restrictive hemodynamics. The pattern of familial recurrence we observed implies that INVM is a distinctive clinical entity with a heterogeneous genetic background.

Design: The aim of this study was to determine the association between aging and adiponectin level from the aspect of the influence of renal function and sex hormones in humans. Methods: Serum adiponectin and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were measured in 964 subjects (372 males) aged 60.3^12.5 years. Testosterone and free testosterone levels were measured in 123 males, and estrone and estradiol levels were measured in 114 females. The subjects were divided into two age groups; 65 years of age or older (Age $65 group) and less than 65 years of age (Age , 65 group). Results: Adiponectin level increased linearly with aging in males, whereas it increased dramatically in females until their 50s. The patterns of changes in adiponectin were similar to those in BUN. In multiple-regression analysis using adiponectin as a dependent variable BUN was selected as a significant independent variable in all subjects and in subjects in the Age $ 65 group, whereas bioactive sex hormones were not selected. Conclusions: A decrease in adiponectin clearance in the kidney may be the cause of high levels of adiponectin in the elderly. Adiponectin level seems to be influenced more strongly by BUN than by sex hormones and to be increased by a decline in renal function with aging. European Journal of Endocrinology 153 91-98

OBJECTIVE -Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), as an indicator of atherosclerosis in impaired fasting glucose (IFG), was studied in 232 subjects randomly selected from inhabitants of two rural communities in Japan.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting blood glucose (FBS), lipid parameters, ankle brachial pressure index (ABI), and baPWV were measured in each subject. ABI and baPWV were measured using the recently developed device, form ABI/PWV. The subjects were divided into three groups according FBS level: a normal group consisting of subjects with FBS Ͻ110 mg/dl, an IFG group consisting of subjects with FBS 110 -125 mg/dl, and a diabetic group consisting of subjects with FBS Ն126 mg/dl and subjects taking hypoglycemic agents. The parameters in the three groups were compared.RESULTS -It was found that the baPWV value increased with increasing plasma glucose level. Significant differences were found between the baPWV values in the normal and IFG groups (1,518 vs. 1,673 cm/s, P ϭ 0.01) and in the normal and diabetic groups (1,518 vs. 1,771 cm/s, P Ͻ 0.0001). The results of multiple regression analysis showed that FBS was closely related to baPWV as well as to age and SBP. CONCLUSIONS -The relationship between IFG and atherosclerosis remains controversial. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether strict control of blood glucose level in patients with IFG will result in the prevention of atherosclerosis progression. Diabetes Care 26:437-440, 2003M uch interest has been shown over the past few decades in aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a noninvasive method for assessing atherosclerosis, and there have been many recent reports on PWV and the development of atherosclerotic disease (1-4). In this study, we investigated the usefulness of PWV as an indicator of early-stage atherosclerosis in impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in inhabitants of two rural communities in Japan by using a new device for measuring PWV.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -The subjects included 232 men (mean age 65.2 Ϯ 9.5 years) selected from 1,479 inhabitants of the towns of Tanno and Sobetsu in Hokkaido who underwent medical examinations in 2000. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, BMI, and levels of fasting blood glucose (FBS), HbA 1c , total cholesterol, triglyceride, and HDL were measured in all subjects. Bilateral brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) was measured in all subjects using a new device, form ABI/ PWV (BP-203RPE; Nihon Colin).Form ABI/PWV is a device with four cuffs that can simultaneously measure blood pressure levels in both arms and both legs and automatically calculate the ankle brachial pressure index (ABI). This device can also record pulse waves by sensors in the cuffs, store data on the start point of each pulse wave in the right arm and both legs in memory, record the time difference between transmission time to arm and transmission time to ankle as "transmission time," calculate the transmission distance from the right arm to each ankle according to body height, and...

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Results of a 6-year follow-up study were used to determine whether the concept of and the criteria for met-

Surface plasmon resonance excitation of gold nanoparticle-loaded on titanium(IV) dioxide (Au/TiO(2)) by visible light (lambda > 420 nm) has led to selective oxidation of thiol to disulfide, whereas the reaction is reversed by UV light irradiation (lambda > 300 nm).

Abstract. We have investigated type II radio bursts in the solar corona using data from ground-based radio telescopes (>18 MHz) and from the Radio and Plasma Wave experiment (WAVES) on board the WIND spacecraft (<14 MHz). The wavelength range of the WAVES experiment includes the 2-to 14-MHz band, previously unobserved from space. We found that all 34 coronal type II bursts observed over a period of 18 months (November 1, 1994, to April 30, 1996), decayed within a few solar radii and did not propagate into the interplanetary medium. On the other hand, most of the accompanying type III radio bursts observed by the ground-based instruments were observed to continue into the interplanetary medium as the electron beams propagated freely along open magnetic field lines. Over the same period of time, other instruments on board the WIND spacecraft detected about 18 interplanetary shock candidates, which seem to be unrelated to the coronal type II bursts. This result confirms the idea that the coronal and interplanetary shocks are two different populations and are of independent origin. We reexamine the data and conclusions of Gosling et al. [1976], Munro et al. [1979], and Sheeley et al. [1984] and find that their data are consistent with our result that the coronal type II bursts are due to flares. We also briefly discuss the implications of our result to the modeling studies of interplanetary shocks based on input from coronal type II radio bursts. IntroductionCoronal type II radio bursts have long been known [14qM and McCready, 1950]. On the basis of their slow frequency drifts, they were inferred to be due to the propagation of MHD shocks [Uchida, 1960]. Early statistical studies showed that most type II bursts were associated with relatively small Ha flares [e.g., Wright, 1980]. When the first coronal mass ejection (CME) observations were made by the OSO 7 coronagraph, attempts were made to find the spatial relationships between CMEs and the assumed positions of type II radio bursts in order to look for a shock driver. Stewart et al. [1974a, b] were able to study three of the OSO 7 CMEs in conjunction with type II radio bursts. Assuming a coronal density model, those authors converted the observed drift rate of type II bursts into speeds and compared the estimated heights of the type II bursts with those of the OSO 7 CMEs. They found that the type II burst location was ahead of or in the vicinity of the leading edge of the CME. This led to the conclusion that the shocks responsible for type II bursts were piston driven by the CMEs. However, in another CME event, Kosugi The view of the CME-type II relationship began to change after the launch of the CP coronagraph on the SMM satellite. Using SMM/CP data for the April 27, 1980, CME, Stewart et al. [1982] found that the type II burst was located within the CME loop. On the basis of published comparisons of type II burst positions with leading edges of SMM/CP CMEs, Wagner and MacQueen [1983] proposed that the type II burst is produced by a flare shock, independent ...

We study some basic analytical problems for nonlinear Dirac equations involving critical Sobolev exponents on compact spin manifolds. Their solutions are obtained as critical points of certain strongly indefinite functionals defined on H 1/2 -spinors with critical growth. We prove the existence of a non-trivial solution for the Brezis-Nirenberg type problem when the dimension m of the manifold is larger than 3. We also prove a global compactness result for the associated Palais-Smale sequences and the regularity of L 2m m−1 -weak solutions.