FT-NMR Detection of 45Sc, 49Ti and 93Nb in TiO2 Single Crystal

In order to determine the electric quadrupole moment of the short-lived β-emitter 41Sc from the quadrupole coupling constant in TiO2 , we measured the field gradient by detecting the Fourier-Transformed-NMR of stable isotope 45Sc doped in TiO2. Also, in order to study the electronic structure of impurities systematically, EFGs were measured for 45Sc, 49Ti and 93Nb in a TiO2 ingle single crystal.

Electric Quadrupole Interactions of the Short-Lived β-Emitter 12N in Insulator Crystals (12N Implanted in Single Crystal TiO2)

The electronic structure of nitrogen atoms as impurities in an ionic TiO2 crystal has been investigated by analyzing electric field gradients (EFGs) measured by use of short-lived β-emitting 12N implant-ed following nuclear reactions. Conventional β-NMR and its modification, suitable for the detection of quadrupole effects in the NMR spectra, were used for the investigation of hyperfine interactions of 12N located in substitutional sites of O atoms and interstitial sites in the crystal. In order to deduce absolute values of the EFGs from the obtained eqQ/h, the quadrupole moment of 12N has been determined from the NMR detection of 12N implanted in BN(hexagonal) crystal. Here the EFG at the N atom in BN was measured by detecting the FT-NMR of 14N in the crystal. The EFGs in TiO2 are compared with the theoretical predictions based on the ab initio band-structure calculation in the framework of the KKR method.

Attitudes toward cervical cancer screening among women receiving human papillomavirus vaccination in a university-hospital-based community: interim 2-year follow-up results

AIM

This study investigated the status of cervical cancer screening among women in a university hospital-based community who received catch-up human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations as a basic element of our community-based cervical cancer prevention advocacy.

METHODS

Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 173 women working or studying in the community at their first HPV vaccination in 2010, at the third vaccination, and 2 years later. Their demographics and attitudes toward the Pap test were analyzed.

RESULTS

The median age of the participants was 27.5 years and 88.2% were sexually active. Before the first vaccination, 38.5% (57/148) of the screening targets had never had a Pap test. Among the women who completed the third vaccination, Pap test experiences within the recent 2 years increased from 45.3% (63/139) at the first vaccination to 71.2% (99/137) at the third vaccination, and 67.5% (54/80) 2 years later. In 45.3% of the screening targets who had never had a Pap test at the time of their first HPV vaccination, their first Pap test was followed by their vaccination.

CONCLUSIONS

Having biennial Pap tests in accordance with the Japanese national cancer screening guideline was shown to be difficult even for the women in the medical community; however, education about the Pap test and the efficacy of HPV vaccination in providing opportunistic screening encouraged them to have their first or suspended Pap test. Our interim data suggest the need for urgently changing the cervical cancer prevention strategy for young adult women who are excluded from the national HPV vaccine program.

Acute Type-A aortic dissection with patent false lumen through to the abdominal aorta: effects of a conventional elephant trunk on malperfusion syndromes and narrowed true lumen

Background:

Narrowed true lumen and patent false lumen through to the terminal aorta is a high-risk condition for malperfusion syndromes (MS) in acute type-A aortic dissection. It is important to ascertain how the true and false lumens behave after surgery.

Patients and Methods:

We retrospectively investigated 45 patients with this pathology. The true lumen sizes at the narrowest levels above and below the superior mesenteric artery were followed by computed tomography after surgery (0-36 months).

Results:

Thirty-seven MS were seen in 23 patients. Hospital mortality was 8.9%. The narrowed true lumen was not enlarged in the first 6 months with a patent false lumen. The elephant trunk procedure did not improve the true lumen size. An extremely narrowed (≤3mm) true lumen was associated with a significantly high incidence of MS and mortality.

Conclusions:

High incidences of MS were observed in this particular pathology. An extremely narrowed true lumen was accompanied by a high incidence of MS and mortality.

Salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol responsiveness following electrical stimulation stress in patients with the generalized type of social anxiety disorder

INTRODUCTION

Social anxiety disorder is believed to be a stress-induced disease. Although it can be inferred from the symptoms during attacks that there exists some abnormality of autonomic nervous system in any of the stress systems in social anxiety disorder, little evidence has been reported. This study focused on comparing the reactivity of 2 stress systems, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in patients with social anxiety disorder.

METHODS

32 patients with the generalized type of social anxiety disorder were compared with 80 age- and gender-matched controls. We collected saliva samples from patients and controls before and after electrical stimulation to measure the concentrations of salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and salivary cortisol. Profile of Mood State (POMS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) were also determined following stimulation.

RESULTS

SAA in patients displayed a significantly higher level at baseline and a significantly larger response to electrical stimulation as compared to controls, whereas no group differences were seen in any HRV. Neither within-subject nor group differences were seen in salivary cortisol levels.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that SAD patients displayed enhanced ANS (but not HPA axis) activity vs. healthy controls.

Single-molecule imaging and spectroscopy using fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman scattering

We extended single molecule fluorescence imaging and time-resolved fluorometry from the green to the violet-excitation regime to find feasibility of detecting and identifying fluorescent analogs of nucleic-acid bases at the single-molecule level. Using violet excitation, we observed fluorescent spotsfrom single complexes composed of a nucleotide analogue and the Klenow fragmentof DNA polymerase I. Also, we implemented Raman imaging and spectroscopy of adenine molecules adsorbed on Ag colloidal nanoparticles to find feasibility of identifying nucleic-acid bases at the single-molecule level. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of adenine molecules showed an intermittent on-and-off behavior called blinking. The observation of blinking provides substantial evidence for detecting single adenine molecules.

Voltage-dependent biphasic effects of chloroquine on delayed rectifier K(+)-channel currents in murine thymocytes

Lymphocytes are of rich in delayed rectifier K(+)-channels (Kv1.3) in their plasma membranes, and the channels play crucial roles in the lymphocyte activation and proliferation. Since chloroquine, a widely used anti-malarial drug, exerts immunosuppressive effects, it will affect the channel currents in lymphocytes. In the present study, employing the standard patch-clamp whole-cell recording technique, we examined the effects of chloroquine on the channels expressed in murine thymocytes. Published papers report that chloroquine will inhibit voltage-dependent K(+)-channel currents by plugging into the open-pore. We observed, indeed, that chloroquine suppressed the pulse-end currents of Kv1.3-channels at higher voltage steps. Surprisingly, however, we found that the drug enhanced the peak currents at both higher and lower voltage steps. Since chloroquine showed such biphasic effects on the thymocyte K(+)-channels, and since those effects were voltage dependent, we examined the effects of chloroquine on the activation and the inactivation of the channel currents. We noted that chloroquine shifted both the activation and the inactivation curves toward the hyperpolarizing potential, and that those shifts were more emphasized at lower voltage steps. We conclude that chloroquine facilitates both the activation and the inactivation of Kv1.3-channel currents in thymocytes, and that those effects are voltage dependent.

Midrapidity antiproton-to-proton ratio in pp collisons at sqrt[s]=0.9 and 7 TeV measured by the ALICE experiment

The ratio of the yields of antiprotons to protons in pp collisions has been measured by the ALICE experiment at sqrt[s]=0.9 and 7 TeV during the initial running periods of the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement covers the transverse momentum interval 0.45<p_{t}<1.05  GeV/c and rapidity |y|<0.5. The ratio is measured to be R_{|y|<0.5}=0.957±0.006(stat)±0.014(syst) at 0.9 TeV and R_{|y|<0.5}=0.991±0.005(stat)±0.014(syst) at 7 TeV and it is independent of both rapidity and transverse momentum. The results are consistent with the conventional model of baryon-number transport and set stringent limits on any additional contributions to baryon-number transfer over very large rapidity intervals in pp collisions.

Confirmation of the anxiolytic-like effect of dihydrohonokiol following behavioural and biochemical assessments

Previous studies in this laboratory revealed that dihydrohonokiol-B (DHH-B; 3′-(2 propenyl)-5-propyl-(1,1′-biphenyl)-2,4′-diol), a partially reduced derivative of honokiol, was an effective anxiolytic-like agent in mice at an oral dose of 0.04 mg kg−1, and at higher doses, when evaluated by the elevated plus-maze test. The aim of this study was to further confirm the anxiolytic-like effect of DHH-B using an additional behavioural procedure (Vogel's conflict test in mice) and a biochemical assessment (in-vitro determination of muscimol-stimulated 36Cl− uptake into mouse cortical synaptoneurosomes). As in earlier experiments, DHH-B (0.04–1 mg kg−1, p.o.) was shown to prolong the time spent in the open-sided arms of the elevated plus-maze in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, in the Vogel's conflict test, DHH-B (5 mg kg−1, p.o.) significantly increased punished water intake. In tests with mouse cerebral cortical synaptoneurosomes, 10 and 30 μm of DHH-B significantly increased 36Cl− influx in the absence of muscimol. In the presence of 25 μm muscimol, the addition of 1 μm DHH-B led to significant enhancement of 36Cl− uptake, while 30 μm DHH-B was required to further stimulate the 36Cl− uptake induced by 250 μm muscimol. The results of these studies confirm that DHH-B is a potent anxiolytic-like agent and that GABAA receptor-gated Cl−-channel complex is involved in the anxiolytic-like efficacy of DHH-B.

Radiographic findings of diaphragmatic hernia and hypoplastic lung

OBJECTIVE

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) has a poor prognosis, despite intensive management. The prognosis of CDH is correlated with hypoplastic lung, but it is difficult to measure the degree of hypoplasia. The aims of this study were, therefore, to examine the relationship between chest X-ray and prognosis, and to assess whether the radiographic findings were a good indicator of hypoplastic lungs in patients with CDH.

STUDY DESIGN

Fifty neonates with CDH were classified radiographically into apex and hilar types. To assess the differences in clinical course between these two groups, gestational age, birth weight, prenatal diagnosis, survival rate, requirement of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy and lung area on X-rays were analyzed.

RESULTS

In all, 32 cases were of the apex type and 18 were hilar. The survival rate of the hilar group (33%) was significantly worse than that of the apex group (81%) (P<0.001). The hilar group required ECMO therapy more frequently than did the apex group.

CONCLUSIONS

The present results show a significant correlation between survival rate and the findings of chest X-rays in CDH. Radiographic findings are thus a good clinical indicator of the prognosis of CDH in neonates.