A sensitive, precise and practical assay for thyroid stimulating antibodies was developed in which poorly differentiated rat thyroid cells (FRTL-5) were exposed to crude immunoglobulin fractions precipitated from serum with 15% polyethylene glycol under hypotonic conditions. After the incubation at 37\s=deg\Cfor 2 h, cAMP released into Hank's medium without NaCl was determined by radioimmunoassay. The removal of NaCl from the isotonic Hank's medium greatly enhanced cAMP production in response to both TSH and thyroid stimulating antibodies. The assay was sensitive enough to elicit an approximately 30-fold increase in cAMP at 10 mU/l bovine TSH. Thyroid stimulating activities measured using FRTL-5 cells significantly correlated with those measured using cultured porcine (r = 0.918, N = 72) or human (r = 0.830, N = 23) thyroid cells. Thyroid stimulating activities were detected in all of the 50 patients with hyperthyroid Graves' disease, the 14 patients with recurrent hyperthyroid Graves' disease, and the 25 patients with ophthalmic Graves' disease. Thyroid stimulating activity was also detected in some patients (9/24, 37.5%) with Hashimoto's thyroiditis whose serum TSH concentrations were higher than 30 mU/l. However, it was completely abolished by pre-treatment of the sera with anti-TSH antibodies. Although thyroid stimulating activities were detected in one of the patients with simple goitre (N = 10) and in one with thyroid cancer (N = 10), none of the patients with silent thyroiditis (N = 7), adenomatous goitre (N = 11), and thyroid adenoma (N = 9) were positive for thyroid stimulating antibodies.

Although the number of cases is limited and there is a bias because cases without clinical effects are less likely to be reported, this regimen might be considered a relatively effective option for advanced EPD.

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Ruddlesden-Popper (R.P.) type faults have been investigated for Sr-excess SrTiO3 (STO) homoepitaxial thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and tuning of the laser fluence. The R.P. type fault structures were found to depend on the amount of excess Sr. The growth direction of the planer faults changed from normal to normal and parallel to the substrate surface with an increase in excess Sr. Due to the directional change of the planer faults, the out-of-plane lattice shows lattice expansion. The results suggest that we can control the planer fault structures in STO thin films simply by changing the laser fluence in the PLD method.