[en] The heavy metal cadmium is a xenobiotic toxicant of environmental and occupational concern and it has been classified as a human carcinogen. Inhalation of cadmium has been implicated in the development of emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, but, the detailed mechanism by which cadmium induces adverse biological effects is not yet known. Therefore, we undertook the investigation of genes that are induced after cadmium exposure to illustrate the mechanism of cadmium toxicity. For this purpose, we employed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique. We identified 29 different cadmium-inducible genes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), such as macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase-α, enolase-1α, VEGF, Bax, and neuron-derived orphan receptor-1 (Nor-1), which are known to be associated with inflammation, cell survival, and apoptosis. Induction of these genes by cadmium treatment was further confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. Further, we found that these genes were also induced after cadmium exposure in normal human lung fibroblast cell line, WI-38, suggesting potential use of this induction profile to monitor cadmium toxicity in the lung

[en] A novel insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) structure, which employs the self aligned deep p⁺ buried region enveloping all the area under the n⁺ source, is proposed and verified by SUPREM IV and PISCES-IIB simulation. The simulation results show that the latch-up current is found to increase up to about 10 times compared with the conventional structure when the implantation dose of the p⁺ buried region and the p-body are 1x10¹⁵ cm^-2 and 1x10¹⁴ cm^-2, respectively. The variation of the threshold voltage is within 0.1 V although the implantation dose of the p⁺ buried region increases from 1x10¹⁴ cm^-2 to 1x10¹⁵ cm^-2. (author)

[en] We report a case of surgically confirmed internal hernia through a peritoneal defect of the pouch of Douglas in a 25 year old woman. This type of internal hernia is extremely rare, and to the best of our knowledge, only two cases have been reported in the English literature. Computed tomography (CT) showed a cluster of dilated small bowel loops on the posterior portion of the uterus and right side of the rectum, with a closely located proximal and distal transitional zone. We present the CT findings of this case and a literature review about the differential diagnosis of this condition

[en] Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation (BPOP) is a rare osseous lesion occurring in the long bones of distal extremities. Typical imaging findings of BPOP show a well-defined calcified osseous mass without soft tissue swelling, cortical destruction, and medullary involvement. We experienced rare aggressive magnetic resonance imaging findings of BPOP with cortical erosion, bone marrow edema, and adjacent soft tissue enhancement, which was misdiagnosed as a malignancy or inflammatory lesion.

[en] Florid reactive periostitis is a benign periosteal reaction that rarely occurs in the long bones of the forearm. A 43-year-old woman presented with a case of florid reactive periostitis, which affects the distal ulna and radius. Computed tomography and plain radiography showed smooth, uniformed periosteal reaction along the interosseous margins of the distal ulna and radius, without underlying bony cortical erosion or destruction. Magnetic resonance imaging also revealed diffuse edema and enhancement in the subperiosteal area and the adjacent soft tissues.

[en] We proposed a method to reduce the operating voltage and the grey-to-grey switching time of a vertically aligned liquid crystal display using a mixture of planar and vertical polyimide alignment materials. The surface anchoring energy of the two-polyimide mixture was smaller than that of the pure vertical polyimide and consequently, liquid crystal molecules were easily switched to a planar state with an electric field, resulting in a greater maximum retardation than that of the pure polyimide at the same applied voltage. Rising time was also significantly reduced due to the suppressed optical bouncing effect in the mixed planar polyimide, and the decaying time showed negligible change. With the proposed approach, we can reduce the cell gap to obtain half-wave retardation allowing for faster response time while keeping a low operating voltage. (paper)

[en] A polymer-stabilized vertical alignment (PS-VA) mode using a new type of photoreactive monomer for polymer stabilization of the liquid crystal (LC) director was developed. Conventional reactive mesogens having a higher molecular weight than those of the host LC tend to aggregate and form large-sized polymer grains when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, subsequently deteriorating the quality of the dark state. To address these problems, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) diacrylates were synthesized with four different linking groups as stabilizing monomers (SMs) which have molecular weights similar to that of the host LC. Their stabilizing characteristics with respect to the molecular size and polarity of SMs were evaluated by examining the electro-optic characteristics of LC cells after UV irradiation. The results showed that the SM containing a small linking group in size between biphenyls with high polarity was favored to achieve excellent polymer stabilization. The SM containing an ether linkage showed excellent electro-optic characteristics with no large-sized polymer grains even in the absence of a photo-initiator. Consequently, we anticipate that SMs, polar and smaller in size, can improve the electro-optic characteristics in PS-VA mode. (paper)