A synthesis route was successfully established to reliably synthesize the high temperature thermoelectric material REB66 (RE = Y, Sm, Ho, Tm, Yb) much more readily than the typical single crystal ...growth. Thermoelectric properties of HoB66 and TmB66 are also investigated for the first time. The REB66 samples synthesized by spark plasma sintering showed thermoelectric properties equivalent to those measured on single crystals. A figure of merit ZT around 0.1 at 973 K was obtained with a sharply increasing trend toward higher temperatures. Strikingly, the thermoelectric properties of these compounds appear to be almost independent of the microstructure. The nature of the rare earth does not seem to strongly affect the thermoelectric properties, differences originating mainly from different compositions or the presence of secondary phases. Relatively large negative Curie-Weiss temperatures θ were observed, and an increasing coupling indicated from HoB66 to YbB66. This could be indicative of an unusual coupling mechanism.
This meta-analysis addresses the use of mandibular computed tomography (CT) scans for age and/or sex determination in forensic science.
Six databases were searched until June 2023, using the keyword ..."mandible" combined with keywords related to "multislice computed tomography" (MCT) or "cone-beam computed tomography" (CBCT) and keywords related to "skeletal age determination" or "sex determination analysis."
Among the 23 studies included, 11 used MCT and 12 used CBCT to perform forensic assessments. Age determination was the aim of a single study, sex and agedeterminations were the objective of five studies, and the other studies investigated the determination of sex only. Metaanalysis could be performed only for sex determination.
Mandible measurements are useful in sex determination, as the bicondylar and bigonial breadth are larger in males than in females. For the mandible angle, the meta-analysis results confirm sex dimorphism in CBCT scans but not in MCT scans. For age estimation, further studies are needed to prove that the mandible hole is a reliable parameter for age estimation. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021260967.
Some colon cancer (CC) patients present synchronous cancers at diagnosis and others develop metachronous neoplasms, but the risk factors are unclear for non-hereditary CC. We showed previously that ...global DNA demethylation increased with aging and correlated with genomic damage in CC, and we show now that preferentially associates to CCs with wild-type p53. This study aimed to elucidate the extent of DNA hypomethylation in patients with single and multiple CC, its relationship with aging, and its potential as predictive tool. We compared by real-time methylation-specific PCR the relative demethylation level (RDL) of long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) sequences in matched cancer tissues and non-cancerous colonic mucosa (NCM) from patients with single and multiple right-sided CCs. Although no RDL difference was found in NCM from single CC patients and healthy volunteers (P=0.5), there was more demethylation (higher RDL) in NCM from synchronous cancer patients (P=1.1 × 10(-5)) multiple CCs also were more demethylated than single CCs (P=0.0014). High NCM demethylation was predictive for metachronous neoplasms (P=0.003). In multivariate logistic regression analyses RDL was the only independent predictor for metachronous (P=0.02) and multiple (P=4.9 × 10(-5)) tumors. The higher LINE-1 demethylation in NCM from patients with multiple (synchronous and metachronous) tumors (P=9.6 × 10(-7)) was also very significant in patients with tumors without (P=3.8 × 10(-6)), but not with (P=0.16) microsatellite instability. NCM demethylation increased with aging in patients with single tumors, but decreased in those with multiple tumors. Moreover, the demethylation difference between patients with single vs multiple tumors appeared higher in younger (P=3.6 × 10(-4)) than in older (P=0.0016) patients. These results predict that LINE-1 hypomethylation in NCM can be used as an epigenetic predictive biomarker for multiple CC risk. The stronger association of demethylation in NCM with multiple CC risk from younger patients also suggests an inherited predisposition for the apparent field cancerization effect of somatic demethylation.
•Kiwifruit leaf extracts inhibited the test plant growth in a dose dependent manner.•The kiwifruit roots were more sensitive to the leaf extracts than the hypocotyls.•(-)-Epicatechin was identified ...as a phytotoxic substance in kiwifruit leaves.•(-)-Epicatechin inhibited seedling growth of kiwifruit in a dose dependent manner.
When aged kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson) plants are replaced with young ones, the growth and productivity of the young plants were occasionally lower than expected. This symptom is typical of the replant problems reported in several fruit trees. Phytotoxic substances released from the plant are assumed to be involved in the replant problems. Although some substances contained in kiwifruit leaves have been reported to have phytotoxic activity, little is known about phytotoxicity and phytotoxic substances in kiwifruit leaves on the growth of the kiwifruit itself. Therefore, this study determined the phytotoxic activity of kiwifruit leaf extracts and soil extracts and identified a phytotoxic substance in kiwifruit leaves. Extracts of kiwifruit leaves inhibited the growth of Lepidium sativum, Lactuca sativa, Medicago sativa, Phleum pratense, Lolium multiflorum, Echinochloa crus-galli, and kiwifruit seedlings. The soil extracts also inhibited the growth of L. sativum. These results suggest that kiwifruit leaf extracts and soil extracts may possess phytotoxic substances. (-)-Epicatechin was isolated from the extracts with bioassay-guided separations using chromatography. The concentrations of (-)-epicatechin required for 50% growth inhibition of the hypocotyls and radicles of L. sativum were 27.9 and 10.7 mM, respectively, and those for the hypocotyls and radicles of kiwifruit were 13.9 and 7.6 mM, respectively. This substance may contribute to the phytotoxic activity of kiwifruit leaf extracts and may be involved in the kiwifruit replant problem.
Objectives: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis of early childhood. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is the standard treatment for KD. However, IVIG is not effective in approximately 15% ...of children with KD, and the mechanisms for this are unclear. We investigated changes in monocyte and T-cell activation from pre- to post-IVIG in IVIG-effective and IVIG-resistant KD.
Method: We analysed peripheral CD14
+
CD16
+
cells and human leucocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) expression on CD4
+
and CD8
+
cells in 46 children with KD who were admitted to Yamaguchi University Hospital between January 2011 and May 2016. We compared the kinetics in the absolute numbers of CD14
+
CD16
+
cells, CD4
+
HLA-DR
+
cells, and CD8
+
HLA-DR
+
cells before and after IVIG treatment between IVIG-effective and IVIG-resistant groups.
Results: Among the 46 subjects, 30 had IVIG-effective KD and 16 had IVIG-resistant KD. The absolute number of CD14
+
CD16
+
cells in the IVIG-effective group decreased significantly after IVIG, while that in the IVIG-resistant group showed no change after IVIG. The absolute number of CD4
+
HLA-DR
+
cells increased significantly after IVIG in both groups. The absolute number of CD8
+
HLA-DR
+
cells before IVIG was low and significantly increased after IVIG in the IVIG-resistant group, while that in the IVIG-effective group showed no change after IVIG.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that insufficient control of monocyte suppression and T-cell activation, especially in terms of the CD8-related immune system, are associated with IVIG resistance. The restoration of T-cell suppression may be important for KD recovery. These findings provide insight into the mechanism of IVIG resistance.
Abstract Stress is one of the important factors to activate the sympathetic nervous system. We recently reported that central administration of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), known as a ...stress-related neuropeptide, increases the expression of both cyclooxygenase (COX) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in presympathetic neurons in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN). In the present study, therefore, we investigated whether brain COX and NOS can also mediate restraint stress (RS)-induced sympathetic activation by assessing the plasma catecholamine levels and neuronal activation of presympathetic neurons in the PVN. In addition, we examined effects of RS on the expression of both COX and NOS isozymes in the presympathetic PVN neurons. Intraperitoneal administration of an inhibitor for COX-1, COX-2 or inducible NOS (iNOS), but not for neuronal NOS (nNOS), reduced RS-induced elevation of plasma catecholamine levels and Fos expression in the presympathetic PVN neurons. Moreover, RS increased the expression of COX-1, COX-2 and iNOS in the presympathetic PVN neurons, whereas nNOS expression did not change. These results suggest that COX-1, COX-2 and iNOS in the presympathetic PVN neurons mediate acute RS-induced sympathetic activation.
With aim to design safety and high electrochemical-stability electrolytes, mixtures ionic liquids (ILs) – ethylene carbonate have been prepared and investigated for lithium-ion cell using LiMn2O4 ...(LMO) and LiFePO4 (LFP) as cathode materials. The addition of 20 vol% ethylene carbonate (EC) could decrease significantly the viscosity as well as improve ionic conductivity and cycling performance of the electrolyte at room temperature. In the electrolyte containing 20 vol% EC, lithium-ion diffusion coefficient is still lower than commercial one based on conventional solvents. However, the stable charge - discharge behavior with N,N‑dimethyl‑N‑ethyl‑N‑propylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (N1123TFSI) based mixtures was achieved up to 120 mAh·g−1 in the first cycle and remaining round 100 mAh·g−1 within 20 cycles without any noticeable capacity loss, and a little bit lower with respect to 1‑ethyl‑3‑methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonul)imide (EMITFSI) and N,N‑dimethyl‑N‑ethyl‑N‑butylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (N1124TFSI). The results also showed that the solvent addition up to 25 vol% maintained homogenous solution and good electrochemical stability of the electrolytes.
•Thermal properties of ILs-EC relate primarily to the intermolecular interactions.•Lithium transport properties (DLi+) have been evaluated for different electrolytes.•Viscosity-conductivity and its relation of ILs-EC mixtures + Li salt were investigated.•ILs-EC mixed electrolytes showed stable cycling performance with LiMn2O4, LiFePO4.
An electrostatic time-of-flight detector named E-MCP has been developed for quick diagnostics of circulating beam and timing measurement in mass spectrometry at the Rare-RI Ring in RIKEN. The E-MCP ...detector consists of a conversion foil, potential grids, and a microchannel plate. Secondary electrons are released from the surface of the foil when a heavy ion hits it. The electrons are accelerated and deflected by 90∘ toward the microchannel plate by electrostatic potentials. A thin carbon foil and a thin aluminum-coated mylar foil were used as conversion foils. We obtained time resolutions of 69(1) ps and 43(1) ps (standard deviation) for a 84Kr beam at an energy of 170 MeV/u when using the carbon and the aluminum-coated mylar foils, respectively. A detection efficiency of approximately 90% was obtained for both foils. The E-MCP detector equipped with the carbon foil was installed inside the Rare-RI Ring to confirm particle circulation within a demonstration experiment on mass measurements of nuclei around 78Ge produced by in-flight fission of uranium beam at the RI Beam Factory in RIKEN. Periodic time signals from circulating ions were clearly observed. Revolution times for 78Ge, 77Ga, and 76Zn were obtained. The results confirmed successful circulation of the short-lived nuclei inside the Rare-RI Ring.
Cytokinesis is essential for development and survival of all organisms by increasing cell number and diversity. It is a highly regulated process that requires spatiotemporal coordination of hundreds ...of proteins functioning in the assembly, constriction, and disassembly of a contractile actomyosin ring, targeted vesicle fusion, and localized extracellular matrix remodeling. Cytokinesis has been studied in multiple systems with a wide range of technologies to learn the common principles. In this chapter, we describe the analysis of protein dynamics during cytokinesis in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by several live-cell imaging methods. This, in combination with the power of yeast genetics, has yielded novel insights into the mechanism of cytokinesis. Similar approaches are increasingly used to study this fundamental process in more complex systems.
Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), which causes adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in humans, establishes a life-long latent infection. Current therapies are not very effective against ...HTLV-1-associated disorders. A novel therapeutic approach may help to combat HTLV-1 infection. A molecular therapy that targets the proviral genome is favorable because the therapeutic effect occurs specifically in HTLV-1-infected cells, regardless of whether they express viral genes. In this proof-of-concept study, we developed a therapeutic molecule based on zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) to achieve this goal. We designed a ZFN that specifically recognized conserved region of HTLV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) and introduced it into various HTLV-1-positive human T-cell lines, including HTLV-1-transformed and ATL-derived cell lines. The ZFN disrupted the promoter function of HTLV-1 LTR and specifically killed HTLV-1-infected cells. We also showed a potential approach of this therapeutic molecule to remove the proviral genome from HTLV-1-infected cells, something that has not been possible before. The therapeutic effect of ZFN was confirmed in an in vivo model of ATL. This strategy may form the basis of a therapy that can eradicate HTLV-1 infection. Similar approaches can be used to target other malignancy-associated viruses.
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