A novel hydrogel composite is reported in this study, which was derived from oxidized alginate, gelatin and tricalcium phosphate (TCP). The physical and biological properties of these hydrogel composites prepared with oxidized sodium alginate with different oxidation degrees were investigated. The drug delivery potential of this hydrogel composite as a carrier was evaluated by using Vitamin B2 as a model drug as well. An in vitro investigation with encapsulation of osteoblast revealed that these composites were biocompatible. This hydrogel composite presented here may be utilized for the fabrication of potential injectable systems for tissue engineering, drug delivery and other medical applications.

A survey was performed to search for TeV gamma-ray sources in the northern sky. In the search for steadily emitting sources 3TeV air shower data obtained by the Tibet-HD array and Tibet-III(Phase 1) array are analyzed. Nineteen prominent directions, including the direction of Crab Nebula, were found to have ∗M.Amenomori and H.Nanjo Dept. of Phys., Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan S.Ayabe and K.Mizutani Dept. of Phys., Saitama University, Saitama, Japan S.H.Cui, L.K.Ding, H.B.Hu, C.L.Lan, H. Lu, S.L.Lu, J.R.Ren,Y.H.Tan, B.S.Wang, H.Wang, H.M.Danzengloubu, X.H.Ding, H.W.Zhang and J.L.Zhang Laboratory of Cosmic Ray and High Energy Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China Guo, Labaciren, X.R.Meng, A.F.Yuan and Zhaxisangzhu Department of Math. and Phys., Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China C.F.Feng, M.He, J.Y.Li, Y.G.Wang, L.Xue, N.J.Zhang and X.Y.Zhang Dept. of Phys., Shangdong University, Jinan 250100, China Z.Y.Feng, Q.Huang, H.Y.Jia, G.C.Yu and X.X.Zhou Institute of Modern Physics, South West Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China X.Y.Gao, Q.X.Geng, J.Mu and X.C.Yang Dept. of Phy., Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China K.Hibino, T.Sasaki, T.Shirai, N.Tateyama, S.Torii and T.Utsugi Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan N.Hotta, J.Huang, I.Ohta and S.Ozawa Faculty of Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya 321-8505, Japan F.Kajino, K.Kawata, M.Sakata, M.Takashima and Y.Yamamoto Dept. of Phys., Konan University, Kobe, Japan K.Kasahara Faculty of Systems Engineering, Shibaura Insti. of Tech., Saitama, Japan Y.Katayose and M.Shibata Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan G.M.Le and Z.H.Ye Center of Space Science and Application Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China M. Nishizawa National Institute for Informatics, Tokyo,Japan M.Ohnishi, T.Ouchi, A.Shiomi, M.Takita and H.Tsuchiya Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan T.Saito Tokyo Metropolitan College of Aeronautical Engineering, Tokyo, Japan H.Sugimoto and K.Taira Shonan Institute of Technology, Fujisawa, Japan T.Yuda Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan pp. 1–?? c ©2002 by Universal Academy Press, Inc.

In order to know the prognosis of dermatomyositis, 119 patients with dermatomyositis were investigated from June to September 1995 by Shanghai Medical Cooperation Center on Dermatomyositis. Ten prognostic factors were studied with Lifereg Procedure multiple factor analysis. The results showed that 2 and 5-year survival rates were 75.3% and 53.2% respectively. The most common cause of death was lung infection and then was malignant tumor. Unfavorable prognostic factors were old age, malignant tumor, interstitial lung disease, dysphagia, cardiac involvement, fever, failure of remission and steroid therapy alone. The survival curve showed that mortality rate was high in the first three years, less between three and seven years and none after seven years. The results showed that dermatomyositis is a disease with poor prognosis. Patients with dermatomyositis can be adversely affected by many factors and should be treated regularly with steroid and immunosuppresive drugs as early as possible.