Measurement of tear volume by phenol red thread tear test (PRT), Schirmer's tear test (STT-1) and Schirmer's tear test with topical anesthesia (STT-2), and vital staining with a combination of fluorescein and rose Bengal of the cornea were performed in dogs with normal eyes and those with epiphora. The breeds included the Shih-Tzu (n = 26), and five other breeds (n = 50). The PRT, STT-1 and STT-2 results from the five breeds of normal dogs were 26.9 +/- 3.0 mm, 17.4 +/- 4.3 mm, and 8.8 +/- 3.2 mm, respectively. The PRT, STT-1, and STT-2 results for the Shih-Tzu eyes were (mean +/- standard deviation): 28.2 +/- 4.3 mm, 19.5 +/- 4.1 mm, and 9.2 +/- 4.5 mm, respectively. In the five breeds, corneal epitheliopathy, as evidenced by the retention of topical fluorescein and rose Bengal, occurred in 97% of dogs with epiphora and in 55% of the dogs without epiphora. Also in the dogs with corneal epitheliopathy the STT-2-value was low (4.0 +/- 2.8 mm) compared with those eyes without corneal epitheliopathy (8.8 +/- 3.1 mm). In the Shih-Tzu breed the STT-2 results were not significantly different between those dogs with corneal epitheliopathy and those with normal corneas. In the non-Shih-Tzu breeds the decrease in basic tear secretion, as measured by the STT-2, is associated with the corneal epitheliopathy.

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BackgroundLimited studies have shown inconsistent data about the association between the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) gene A-3826G polymorphism and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. The present study investigated the association between the A-3826G polymorphism and low HDL-cholesterolemia in non-obese and obese subjects.MethodsAnthropometric and biochemical factors, in addition to genotyping by an allele-specific DNA assay, were measured in 294 community-dwelling Japanese subjects (male/female: 127/167, mean age: 65 years). Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2, and low HDL-cholesterolemia was defined as < 1.04 mmol/L of HDL-cholesterol.ResultsThe subjects with the G/G genotype (n = 27) showed a significantly higher prevalence of low HDL-cholesterolemia (37%) than those with the A/A + A/G genotype (13%) in the obese group (n = 102). There was a non-significant difference in the prevalence of low HDL-cholesterolemia between subjects with the G/G genotype (n = 45, 13%) and with the A/A + A/G genotype (15%) in the non-obese group (n = 192). A multivariate-adjusted logistic regression analysis of the presence of low HDL-cholesterolemia revealed that carrying the G/G genotype was an independent and significant factor positively associated with low HDL-cholesterolemia [odds ratio (OR): 6.85, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.65-28.49] in the obese group, while carrying the G/G genotype exhibited a non-significant but reduced OR, by one-half, for low HDL-cholesterolemia (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.13-1.96) in the non-obese group.ConclusionsThe obesity status could have opposing impacts on the relationship between the G/G genotype and low HDL-cholesterolemia, providing insight into the need to consider the obesity levels when studying the association between the UCP-1 gene A-3826G polymorphism and HDL-cholesterol.KeywordsObesity; Body mass index; HDL-C; Atherosclerotic risk

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THIS PAPER WILL COVER A 16Mb DRAM with a 6511s RAS access time and 5.4mm x 17.38mm (93.85mm2) chip in a 300mil dual-in-line package. The chip was fabricated in 0 . 5~ N-well CMOS technology with double-poly, single-polycide and double-metal. To package a 16Mb DRAM in a 300mil DIP, the memory cell size has t o be less than 4pm2 maintaining a capacitance large enough for alpha-particle-induced soft error tolerance and the stable operation. Open bit-line architecture can provide a small geometry memory cell, resulting in a high density cell array'. However, in conventional open bit-line architectures, total packing density of 16Mb DRAM cannot be improved, since the scaling of cell size is limited by the layout pitch of the sense amplifiers. To overcome this problem, we developed an open bit-line architecture based o n a double layer bit-line and a surrounding Hi-capacitance trench cell s t r n c t~r e ' '~'~. Figure 1 shows the circuit configuration of the relaxedsense-amplifier-pitch open bit-line architcture. Memory cells were arranged at all the cross points of word lines and segmented bit lines. The pitch of the sense amplifier is equal to double pitch of the segmented bit lines. The segmented bit lines are connected alternately to either side of the sense amplifiers. The sense amplifiers are connected t o two staggered segmented bit lines of adjacent segments. Further, two sense amplifiers were arranged in between a pair of global bit lines. A word-line selects four memory cells for every pair of global bit lines. In concurrence with the word-line selection, four sense amplifiers on both sides of the selected word-line are activated by SE. The complementary outputs of one of the four sense amplifiers are selectively connected to global bit lines via the segment-select switches controlled by column addresses. inferior to that of the folded bit-line architectures. This problem was solved b y adopting a reversal dummy word-line technique5. To date, the noise immunity of open bit-line architecture has been ' S h a h , A.H., e t al., "A 4Mb DRAM ., 1987. ' K o t a n i , H., e t al., "4Mb DRAM Design Including 1 6 b C o n c u r r e n t ECC", S y m p o s i u m o n V L S I Circuits Digest o f Technical Papers, p. 87-88; May, 1987. 4Fuse, G., e t al., "SCC(Surrounded Capacitor Cell) Strue ture for DRAM", E x t e n d e d A b s t r aOne reversal dummy word-line is arranged in each segment which has 256 word lines. Only a dummy word-line, which belongs to the segment lhaving an accessed word-line, goes t o low level. Other dummy word lines of non-selected segments are kept normally high level. Consequently, the noise that occurs by coupling between the word-line and the bit-line is canceled. Figures 2 and 3 show a physical layout and cross-sectionalviews of the memory cell. Minimum cell size can be achieved in the open bit-line architecture b y adopting the Surrounding Hi-Capacitance cell (SCC) structure. The storage capacitor is formed on the side-walls of the trench, which completely surrounds the hi-channel switching tr...