Short telomeres in an oral precancerous lesion: Q-FISH analysis of leukoplakia.

OBJECTIVES: A precancerous condition is a lesion that, if left untreated, leads to cancer or can be induced to become malignant. In the oral region, leukoplakia is a lesion that has been regarded as precancerous. In cases of oral carcinoma, we have frequently noticed that a type of leukoplakia histologically demonstrating hyper-orthokeratosis and mild atypia (ortho-keratotic dysplasia; OKD) is often associated with carcinoma, either synchronously or metachronously. Therefore, we consider OKD-type leukoplakia to be a true precancerous lesion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In an attempt to clarify the relationship between OKD as a precancerous condition in the oral mucosa and telomere length, we estimated telomere lengths in this type of leukoplakia using quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization, and also quantified the frequency of anaphase-telophase bridges (ATBs) in comparison with squamous cell carcinoma in situ (CIS) and the background tissues of CIS and OKD. RESULTS: Ortho-keratotic dysplasia was frequently associated with squamous cell carcinoma (45.0%) and showed significantly shorter telomeres than normal control epithelium, CIS, or the background of CIS or OKD. The frequency of ATBs was much higher in OKD than in control epithelium or CIS. CONCLUSION: Ortho-keratotic dysplasia appears to be frequently associated with carcinoma, chromosomal instability, and excessively shortened telomeres, not only in the lesion itself but also in the surrounding background. Therefore, when this type of leukoplakia is recognized in the oral region, strict follow-up for oral squamous cell carcinoma is necessary, focusing not only on the areas of leukoplakia, but also the surrounding background.

Analysis of piezoelectric boundary acoustic wave in Cu electrode/Y-cut X-propagating LiNbO3 substrate structure partially covered with SiO2.

This paper describes the existence of piezoelectric boundary acoustic wave (PBAW) propagating in a Cu electrode/Y-cut X-propagating (YX) LiNbO(3) substrate structure partially covered with a SiO2 layer. In the analysis, two types of structures are taken into consideration: one is the so-called slotted structure with SiO2 pillars placed in the grating slots; the other is the so-called topped structure with SiO(2) pillars placed on the top of grating electrodes. The top surface could be fully covered with an additional layer (like epoxy) to bridge the grating slots for encapsulation. Results show that SH-type PBAW begins to propagate in the slotted structure when the SiO(2) thickness exceeds 0.3 wavelength. Strong electromechanical coupling factor K(2) of 21%, and temperature coefficient of velocity (TCV) of -33 ppm/°C are obtained. In the topped structure, on the other hand, the boundary acoustic wave mode is not supported. Instead, the thickness resonance modes in the SiO2 pillar do exist. Comparison of the obtained results with those in the structure fully covered with the SiO(2) layer indicates that, as for the PBAW mode, the slotted structure offers improved K(2) but with worse TCV compared with the fully covered SiO(2) structure.

A laser probe based on a Sagnac interferometer with fast mechanical scan for RF surface and bulk acoustic wave devices.

This paper describes the development of a phasesensitive laser probe with fast mechanical scan for RF surface and bulk acoustic wave (SAW/BAW) devices. The Sagnac interferometer composed of micro-optic elements was introduced for the selective detection of RF vertical motion associated with RF SAW/BAW propagation and vibration. A high-pass characteristic of the interferometer makes the measurement very insensitive to low-frequency vibration. This feature allows us to apply the fast mechanical scan to the interferometric measurement without badly sacrificing its SNR and spatial resolution. The system was applied to the visualization of a field pattern on the vibrating surface of an RF BAW resonator operating in the 2 GHz range. The field pattern was obtained in 17 min as a 2-D image (500 × 750 pixel with 0.4 µm resolution and SNR of 40 dB). The system was also applied to the characterization of an RF SAW resonator operating in the 1 GHz range, and the applicability of the system was demonstrated.

Plate mode propagation losses in solidly mounted resonators.

This paper investigates the acoustic losses of propagating eigenmodes through the acoustic mirror of a solidly mounted resonator (SMR) to clarify how resonator properties are influenced by reflection coefficients for the thickness shear (TS) wave as well as that for the thickness extensional (TE) wave. To this end, we analyze the effective acoustic admittance for several test structures with different mirror properties. Leaky modes are distinguished from plate-like modes and the propagation losses are quantified by calculating mode quality factors. The dependence of the propagation properties of leaky eigenmodes is compared with the mirror properties in terms of bulk wave transmission coefficients obtained by the one-dimensional Mason¿s model. It is shown that the TE-like main mode couples with TS-like spurious modes, which then influence the leaky loss of the main mode as well. The coupling strength is strongly frequency-dependent and drastically changes with the mirror design. This result explains previous experimental results reported on SMR design.

Frequency domain analysis of lamb wave scattering and application to film bulk acoustic wave resonators.

This paper demonstrates a novel frequency domain analysis (FDA) to evaluate the scattering behavior of a waveguide mode at arbitrary scattering geometries by a time harmonic simulation based on the finite element method (FEM). To this end, we add an injection-damping mechanism (IDM) to avoid interference at the acoustic input port. The IDM can be easily constructed by a numerical operation. Our approach offers improved time consumption and calculation power necessary over the established method in the time domain. After checking the validity of the proposed method, we discuss the importance of considering wave scattering phenomena in film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) devices by applying the proposed method to two simplified models of an FBAR device.

A wideband multi-mode SAW filter employing pitch-modulated IDTs on Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO3-substrate structure.

This paper describes an attempt to develop extremely wideband multi-mode surface acoustic wave (MMS) filters in the gigahertz range. The Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO3 (15-LN)-substrate structure is employed. First, a design tool developed for the present purpose is detailed. Precise simulation is performed using a modified coupling-of-modes model, in which the coupling between propagating surface and bulk acoustic waves is taken into account. Parameters necessary for the simulation are determined experimentally. Next, this simulation tool is used to design a wideband MMS filter employing pitch-modulated IDTs proposed by the authors. It is shown that a fractional bandwidth of more than 12% is achievable by successfully using six SAW resonances supported in the MMS structure. The designed MMS filter was fabricated on a Cu-grating/15-LN-substrate structure. The passband width of 12.6% and the minimum insertion loss of 1.2 dB were experimentally obtained around 850 MHz. The measured result was in good agreement with the simulation.

Power deduction from surface fields in multilayer waveguides.

This paper proposes a method to estimate power carried by a propagating Lamb mode in an arbitrary multilayer waveguide from calculated or measured surface displacements. To this end, we calculate the so-called mode power coefficient relating the surface amplitude of the mode to the total power flow toward the lateral direction. The coefficient is given by the gradient of the effective acoustic admittance with respect to the lateral wavenumber, and can be readily calculated by slightly modifying software codes developed for calculating the dispersion relation of Lamb waves. This calculation procedure is simpler and more efficient than the conventional technique based on the estimation of total power flow passing through the waveguide cross section. We apply this technique to the quantitative evaluation of acoustic losses in a thin-film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR), and the effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated.

Change in piezoelectric boundary acoustic wave characteristics with overlay and metal grating materials.

This paper describes how the characteristics of shear-horizontal type piezoelectric boundary acoustic waves (PBAWs) change with combination of different overlay and metal grating materials. It is shown that PBAWs are supported in various structures provided that highly piezoelectric material(s) are employed as structural member(s). For verification, numerical simulation of different material combinations is done. The results are in good agreement with the qualitative prediction. That is, large electromechanical coupling factor K(2) is obtainable when materials having small mass densities shear modulus c(44) and shear velocity VBS; and materials having extremely large shear modulus c(44) are chosen, respectively, for overlay and metallic grating. When YX-LiNbO(3) is assumed as a substrate, for example, the best choice seems to be SiO(2) and Au for overlay and metallic grating, respectively. Although metals with extremely large rho and c(44) such as W and Ta offer large K(2), they may not be acceptable for practical PBAW applications because of their large electric resistivity.

Characterization of surface acoustic wave propagation in multi-layered structures using extended FEM/SDA software.

This paper describes the characterization of SAW propagation in layered substrate and overlayered structures. The software based on the finite element method and spectral domain analysis was newly developed and applied to the characterization of SAW propagation under an infinitely-long Al interdigital transducer on a rotated Y-cut LiTaO(3)/sapphire substrate. Because of the finite LiTaO(3) thickness, a series of spurious resonances appears. It is shown that the excitation strength of the spurious resonances changes with frequency as well as the rotation angle, which reflects the frequency and rotation angle dependence of the energy leakage. Next, the analysis was carried out for SAWs propagating in a SiO(2) layer/Al IDT/42 degrees YX-LiTaO(3) structure. It is shown that the influence of the SiO(2) layer is significantly dependent on the location where the SiO(2) layer is deposited. In particular, it is shown that when the SiO(2) layer is deposited only on top of the electrodes, the SAW reflectivity increases compared with when the SiO(2) layer is deposited between and on top of electrodes.

Design of narrow bandwidth ladder-type filters with sharp transition bands using mutually connected resonator elements.

This paper proposes a new design technique for a ladder-type filter to reduce the passband width without sacrificing the insertion loss, out-of-band rejection, and steepness of the transition bands. First, it is shown that 2 transmission zeros can be generated by connecting an additional resonator in either series or parallel arm of the ladder filter topology. This new filter topology can be designed systematically by the derived-m transformation. Second, it is demonstrated that the narrow bandwidth, sharp transition bands, and large out-of- band rejection are simultaneously realized by applying the present technique to specifically designed ladder-type filters. Finally, this technique is applied to the design of a SAW filter fabricated on the Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO3 structure.

Full-wave analysis of piezoelectric boundary waves propagating along metallic grating sandwiched between two semi-infinite layers.

This paper describes full-wave analysis of piezoelectric boundary acoustic waves (PBAWs) propagating along a metallic grating sandwiched between 2 semi-infinite layers. In the analysis, the finite element method (FEM) is used for the grating region while the spectral domain analysis (SDA) is applied for an isotropic overlay region as well as a piezoelectric substrate region. The combination of the FEM and SDA makes the numerical analysis very fast and precise. As an example, the analysis was made on the PBAWs propagating in an SiO2 overlay/Cu grating/rotated Y-cut LiNbO(3) structure. It is shown that both the shear-horizontal (SH) type and Rayleigh-type PBAWs are supported in the structure, and that their velocities are very close to each other. Thus spurious responses due to the Rayleigh-type PBAW should completely be suppressed for device implementation. Discussions are made in detail on the influence of Cu grating thickness, substrate rotation angle, and metallization ratio on excitation and propagation characteristics of the SH- and Rayleigh-type PBAWs.

Suppression of transverse mode responses in ultra-wideband SAW resonators fabricated on a Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-linbO3 structure.

This paper discusses a technique to suppress spurious transverse mode responses appearing in ultra-wideband SAW resonators fabricated on a Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO3 structure. The basic idea of the technique is inserting length- and width-weighted dummy electrodes between a bus-bar and interdigital electrodes. For practical device design, an analysis was made to show how the profile (field distribution) of both dominant and spurious transverse modes depends on the length and width (equivalent to SAW velocity) of the dummy electrodes. IDT-type SAW resonators were fabricated on a Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO3 structure using the length- and width-weighted dummy electrodes. The experimental results were in good agreement with the theoretical analysis and prediction, showing that the proposed technique is effective in suppressing the spurious responses caused by the transverse modes.

Optimal design of an RSPUDT-based SAW filter with constant group delay.

This paper describes the application of resonant single-phase unidirectional transducers (RSPUDTs) to the development of low-loss SAW filters with constant group delay in transition bands as well as in the passband. A low-loss SAW filter with constant group delay was designed and fabricated on a 128 degrees YX-LiNbO3 substrate. Experimental results were in good agreement with the design; the group delay deviation of 20 ns was realized over the range of +/-8 MHz at the center frequency of 512 MHz. The minimum insertion loss and -3 dB bandwidth were 4.3 dB and 8.5 MHz, respectively. The application of this technique is also extended to develop high-performance wideband filters employing quasi-slanted interdigital transducers.

Operation mechanism of double-mode surface acoustic wave filters with pitch-modulated IDTs and reflectors.

One of the authors (KH) previously proposed pitch-modulated interdigital transducers (IDTs) and reflectors for developing low-loss and wideband longitudinally coupled double-mode SAW (DMS) filters. This paper discusses how a wide and flat passband is realized by applying the pitch-modulated IDTs and reflectors to DMS filters. It is shown that the pitch-modulated structure enables one to adjust the location of multiple resonance frequencies simultaneously by varying an effective reflective position with frequency. That is, the IDTs are pitch-modulated so that the outer portion has slightly larger pitch than the inside, and the pitch of the outermost reflectors is made largest. Accordingly, higher-order SAW resonances occur between the two pitch-modulated IDTs. The outer portion of each IDT acts as a reflector, and the inner portion is mainly responsible for SAW excitation. Lower-order SAW resonances occur between the two reflectors.

Wavenumber domain analysis of two-dimensional SAW images captured by phase-sensitive laser probe system.

This paper is aimed at demonstrating how the wavenumber domain analysis of two-dimensional (2-D) images captured by phase-sensitive laser probe systems is applied in the characterization of RF SAW devices. Effectiveness is demonstrated through the selective characterization of spurious resonance modes and scattered, nonguided modes appearing in SAW resonators.

Suppression of reflection coefficients of surface acoustic wave filters using quadrature hybrids.

This paper proposes a simple technique to suppress the reflection coefficients S11 and S22 of surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters. Two identical SAW filters are sandwiched in between two quadrature hybrids, where their two ports are used as input and output, and others are terminated by matched loads. First, it is shown by simulation that both [S11] and [S22] are suppressed to be less than -20 dB without deteriorating the transmission characteristics. Next, two hybrids using microstrip lines were fabricated, and two RF SAW filters for GSM850 were sandwiched in between them. The result showed that the maximum [S11] within the passband was improved from -12.5 dB to -21.7 dB, i.e., 9.2 dB suppression of [S11] was achieved by sacrificing only the insertion loss of less than 0.6 dB. We also attempted to replace the microstrip lines with lumped elements. In this case, the maximum [S11] within the passband was improved more than 7.5 dB with the increased insertion loss of less than 1.5 dB. Finally, simple discussion is given on the inclusion of the transformer function in the quadrature hybrid.

Development of fast-scanning laser probe system based on knife-edge method for diagnosis of RF surface acoustic wave devices.

This paper describes the development of a high-speed laser probe system for surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. A fast scanning rate of 2.5 kS/s is realized by continuous stage translation and successive acquisition of the detector output by a high-speed data-logger. Trigger pulses are generated from the output of a high-precision linear-scale installed in the translation stage and fed to the data-logger for the synchronization with the stage movement. The phase-sensitive, knife-edge method is used for the optical detection. This makes the system very unsusceptible to low-frequency mechanical vibration caused by the fast stage translation. The system is applied for the characterization of spurious resonance modes in SAW devices. In conjunction with skillful use of image processing in wavenumber domain, it is shown how the present system is effective in the diagnosis and development of SAW devices.

A novel matching network employing surface acoustic wave devices for W-CDMA power amplifiers.

This paper describes a new approach of designing high Q surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators as an inductive element in the matching network for W-CDMA power amplifiers (PAs). Spiral inductors based on CMOS/BiCMOS technologies presently possess relatively low Q (typically <10) and occupy a considerably large area. In order to break through the limitations of the spiral inductors, the authors attempt to apply higher Q and wideband SAW resonators employing Cu-grating/15 degrees YX-LiNbO(3)-substrate structure to the matching network for improved PA performance. An analysis was made on SAW resonators in detail, and an SAW resonator having a very small capacitance ratio of 3.28 and moderate Q of 147.8 was developed. After discussing the frequency dependence of the effective inductances, SAW resonators, which are used to be as inductive elements in the matching networks of PAs, were designed and fabricated. The PA including the matching circuit was simulated using the characteristics of the fabricated SAW resonators. The result showed that with better shape factor and good out-of-rejection, the SAW resonators definitely work as an inductive element and could replace widely used spiral inductors.

Design considerations on surface acoustic wave resonators with significant internal reflection in interdigital transducers.

This paper discusses, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the operation and the design principle of current surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators in which the internal reflection within interdigital transducers (IDTs) is not negligible and lower capacitance ratio is necessary. For the purpose, the p-matrix expression is used with the help of the coupling-of-modes theory. The internal reflection causes: deformation of the IDT passband shape, frequency dependence of the effective SAW velocity within IDTs, and suppression of higher-order resonances. It is shown that these features can be effectively used to enhance performances of both one-port SAW resonators and two-port double-mode SAW (DMS) filters. In addition, under proper designs accounting for the internal reflection, most of all structural discontinuities can be removed, and is most preferable for the reduced scattering loss at the discontinuity. Design criteria also are presented for DMS filters of wide bandwidth, and it is demonstrated how device performances are improved by proper design accounting for the criteria.

Association of natural tooth loss with genetic variation at the human matrix Gla protein locus in elderly women.

Natural tooth loss represents a major medical issue within the elderly population, since it impairs masticatory function critical for oral intake of essential nutrition. Contribution of genetic factors has been implicated in the determination of natural tooth loss; degree of reduction in number of natural teeth remaining intact (NTI) varies among individuals; thus, heterogeneity in NTI might reflect genetic variation within the population. One candidate gene, the matrix Gla protein gene (MGP), has been implicated in the pathogenesis of bone loss through a repression of bone/tooth formation. We have investigated a possible association between the CA repeat polymorphism at the human MGP gene locus and the NTI in 458 elderly Japanese women. In 916 chromosomes tested, ten alleles of the polymorphic nucleotide repeat were observed (designated A1-A10), among which five alleles were regarded as major alleles to be tested for the association. Twenty-seven women who possessed an A6 allele (164 bp) had significantly higher NTI than the remaining participants (n=431), who did not carry an allele of that size (mean: 10.0 teeth vs 5.6 teeth; P=0.007, Mann-Whitney test). An eight-year longitudinal follow-up study of NTI suggested that the genetic variations at the MGP locus did not affect the rate of tooth loss in the elderly period. These results suggest that genetic variation at the MGP gene locus is associated with some determinants for tooth loss in elderly women.