It is known that the apparent film flow rate
j
0
of superfluid
4
He increases significantly when the container wall is contaminated by a thin layer of solid air. However, its microscopic mechanism ...has not yet been clarified enough. We have measured
j
0
under largely different conditions for the container wall in terms of surface area (0.77–6.15 m
2
) and surface morphology using sintered silver fine powders (particle size: 0.10
μ
m) and porous glass (pore size: 0.5, 1
μ
m). We could increase
j
0
by more than two orders of magnitude compared to non-treated smooth glass walls, where liquid helium flows down from the bottom of the container as a continuous stream rather than discrete drips. By modeling the surface morphology, we estimated the effective perimeter of the container
L
eff
and calculated the flow rate
j
(
=
j
0
L
0
/
L
eff
)
, where
L
0
is the apparent perimeter without considering the microscopic surface structures. The resultant
j
values for the various containers are constant within a factor of four, suggesting that the enhancement of
L
eff
plays a major role to change
j
0
to such a huge extent and that the superfluid critical velocity,
v
c
, does not change appreciably. The measured temperature dependence of
j
revealed that
v
c
values in our experiments are determined by the vortex depinning model of Schwarz (Phys Rev B 31(9):5782,
1985
.
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.31.5782
) with several nm size pinning sites.
Functional constipation (FC), a functional bowel disorder with symptoms of constipation, has considerable impact on quality of life. As data regarding its prevalence and epidemiology are lacking, ...this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, population composition, lifestyle, quality of life, and clinical characteristics of these individuals by comparing people with and without FC. These parameters were also compared among individuals with strong and weak awareness of constipation.
An internet survey was conducted among 10,000 individuals aged 20-69 years from the general Japanese population; they were registered with an internet survey company. The following data were obtained: age, sex, educational history, occupation, residence, history of other diseases, lifestyle (including smoking/drinking habits using the Japanese Health Practice Index, medication use, symptoms of constipation according to the Rome III criteria, stool types according to the Bristol stool scale, and use of laxatives, including the place of purchase and cost per month or acceptable cost per month. The 8-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire was also used; FC was diagnosed based on Rome III criteria. All respondents were classified according to their awareness of constipation (i.e. strong or weak), and their characteristic features were compared.
The data of 3000 respondents were evaluated; 262 (8.7%) had FC, which was common among older adults, women, and homemakers. FC was associated with changes in the frequency of bowel movement, sensation of incomplete or scanty evacuation, and the use of manual maneuvers; these are consequential clinical symptoms of FC. These individuals frequently skipped breakfast, had insufficient sleep, had more severe constipation, and had purchased laxatives in pharmacies or online more often than those without FC. A strong awareness of constipation was significantly more prevalent among women and homemakers. A history of anemia and cardiovascular disease was significantly more frequent in the strong awareness group, whereas a history of hypertension was more frequent in the weak awareness group.
Appropriate and comprehensive management should be provided for FC, based on the understanding of its characteristic features and considering the symptoms and lifestyle.
A 71-year-old male patient was transferred to the authors’ hospital with Stanford type A acute aortic dissection (TAAD) as diagnosed by his previous physician, which extended into the arch branch. ...Although there were no problems such as consciousness disorder, or paralysis of the left upper and lower limbs, previous computed tomography (CT) scan revealed occlusion from the brachiocephalic artery (BCA) to the proximal side of the right common carotid artery (RCCA). Preoperative carotid ultrasonography showed thrombus on the distal side of the RCCA. In order to avoid arteriogenic cerebral embolism, selective cerebral perfusion was initiated from the left subclavian artery and left common carotid artery after circulatory arrest, and the distal RCCA thrombus was removed by cross flow from the left cerebral perfusion. End-to-end anastomosis of the RCCA and artificial blood vessel was then performed, and RCCA antegrade cerebral perfusion was initiated. A preoperative diagnosis of distal RCCA thrombus was made on the basis of total occlusion of the central part of the RCCA, and a selective cerebral perfusion sequence was devised, as a result of which extensive cerebral embolism was avoided.
In the natural gas field located in central Japan, high concentrations of natural gases and iodide ions are dissolved in formation water and commercially produced in deep aquifers. In the iodine ...recovery process, the produced formation water is amended with sulfate, and this fluid is injected into gas-bearing aquifers, which may lead to infrastructure corrosion by hydrogen sulfide. In this study, we examined the microbial community in aquifers subjected to sulfate-containing fluid injection. Formation water samples were collected from production wells located at different distances from the injection wells. The chemical analysis showed that the injection fluid contained oxygen, nitrate, nitrite and sulfate, in contrast to the formation water, which had previously been shown to be depleted in these components. Sulfur isotopic analysis indicated that sulfate derived from the injection fluid was present in the sample collected from near the injection wells. Quantitative and sequencing analysis of dissimilatory sulfite reductase and 16S rRNA genes revealed that sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, and anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) in the wells located near injection wells were more abundant than those in wells located far from the injection wells, suggesting that fluid injection stimulated these microorganisms through the addition of oxygen, nitrate, nitrite and sulfate to the methane-rich aquifers. The predominant taxa were assigned to the ANME-2 group, its sulfate-reducing partner SEEP-SRB1 cluster and sulfur-oxidizing Epsilonproteobacteria. These results provide important insights for future studies to support the development of natural gas and iodine resources in Japan.
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A mesophilic, slightly halophilic, obligately methylotrophic, methanogenic archaeon, designated strain GTA13T, was isolated from natural gas-bearing confined aquifers in the Minami-Kanto gas field, ...Japan. The cells were non-motile, slightly irregular cocci, 0.7–1.0 µm in diameter and occurred singly, in pairs or as small aggregates. The cells grew with tri- or dimethylamine but not with H2/CO2, formate, acetate, methanol or dimethyl sulphide. Vitamins, sodium and magnesium were required for growth. Optimal growth occurred at pH 7.0–7.5, 35 °C, 0.35–0.40 M NaCl and 15–50 mM MgCl2. The NaCl range for growth was 0.2–1.3 M. The DNA G+C content was 43.7 mol%. Strain GTA13T showed highest levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Methanohalophilus portucalensis FDF-1T (96.4 % sequence similarity) and Methanohalophilus halophilus DSM 3094T (96.0 %). On the basis of physiological and phylogenetic features, strain GTA13T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Methanohalophilus, for which the name Methanohalophilus levihalophilus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GTA13T ( = NBRC 110099T = DSM 28452T). An emended description of the genus Methanohalophilus is also proposed.
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