An Autopsy Case of Drowning Under the Influence of Etizolam: A Case Report

A fatal case of drowning under the influence of etizolam is presented. Quantitative toxicological analysis revealed etizolam concentrations of 0.50 µg/mL and 0.068 µg/mL in femoral venous blood and urine, respectively. According to the autopsy findings, the results of toxicological examinations, and the investigation by the authorities, it is concluded that the cause of death is drowning under the influence of etizolam

Chromosome-scale genome assembly of the transformation-amenable common wheat cultivar ‘Fielder’

We have established a high-quality, chromosome-level genome assembly for the hexaploid common wheat cultivar ‘Fielder’, an American, soft, white, pastry-type wheat released in 1974 and known for its amenability to Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation and genome editing. Accurate, long-read sequences were obtained using PacBio circular consensus sequencing with the HiFi approach. Sequence reads from 16 SMRT cells assembled using the hifiasm assembler produced assemblies with N50 greater than 20 Mb. We used the Omni-C chromosome conformation capture technique to order contigs into chromosome-level assemblies, resulting in 21 pseudomolecules with a cumulative size of 14.7 and 0.3 Gb of unanchored contigs. Mapping of published short reads from a transgenic wheat plant with an edited seed-dormancy gene, TaQsd1, identified four positions of transgene insertion into wheat chromosomes. Detection of guide RNA sequences in pseudomolecules provided candidates for off-target mutation induction. These results demonstrate the efficiency of chromosome-scale assembly using PacBio HiFi reads and their application in wheat genome-editing studies

地直しに関する研究(第1報) : 表地について

地直しは被服構成の中で無視することの出来ない重要な工程の一つである。能率的で効果の高い地直しの究明を目的としこの研究を行った。婦人用ジャケットの表地として多く用いられる10種の表地を試料とし,無処理布と縮絨店処理,霧吹処理,水浸6時間処理の地直しをした布がドライクリーニング,湿式洗濯,水浸30分操作により如何なる収縮性を現わすか,又この3つの処理が如何なる効果があるかを実験し,2,3の考察を得たので報告する。各地直し後のたての収縮率はフラノ,ギャバジンは,4.5%～7%で最大,ツィード,ヘリンボーン,オットマン,ジャージが3%前後,アムンゼン2%前後,よこは殆どの物が1.5%以内である。タータンチェック,ハイニット,デニムは0.5%前後で,たてよこ同程度の収縮率である。湿式洗濯に対してはフラノ,ギャバジン,ヘリンボーン,ジャージは処理布でもたて1回目で平均2%～5%の収縮率を示すので,その服は着用不能になると思われる。たゞしオットマン,アムゼンの処理布及びタータンチェック,ハイニット,デニムでは1～2回の湿式洗濯ではたてでも収縮率1%以下に止るので,薄色の服でドライクーニングでは汚れが落ちにくい物等は湿式洗濯をしてもそう悪影響はないものと思われる。ドライクリーニングに対して処理布は5回目でも大部分の試料が1.2%以下であるが,無処理布は回を重ねるごとに上昇し2%～3%にもなるのでやはり何れかの地直しをすることが必要である。同一試料においては3種の地直し後の収縮率とその後の洗濯操作による収縮率との関係は見られないが,各試料間の収縮率は,前者と後者は大体同傾向を示す。問題の多い湿式洗濯のたて地について3種の地直しを比べて見ると霧吹処理は比較的効果は少なく,平均して良いのは縮絨店処理である。今回の水浸処理は6時間にしたが,水縮30分浸せき実験の収縮進行状態を見ると殆どの試験布が1～2回の操作で急激に収縮し,それ以後は横ばいか極くわずか上昇するだけなので水浸時間は2～5時間で充分だと思われる。今後の課題として他の地直しの方法や,芯地,裏地の収縮性も合せて研究し,ワンピース,ジャケット等裏付の物を製作する場合の地直しと縫製方法の関係を究明してゆきたいと思っている。この研究にあたり文化女子大学成瀬信子先生の御親切な御指導御助言に深く感謝致します

On-The-Fly Observing System of the Nobeyama 45-m and ASTE 10-m Telescopes

We have developed spectral line On-The-Fly (OTF) observing mode for the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45-m and the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment 10-m telescopes. Sets of digital autocorrelation spectrometers are available for OTF with heterodyne receivers mounted on the telescopes, including the focal-plane 5 x 5 array receiver, BEARS, on the 45-m. During OTF observations, the antenna is continuously driven to cover the mapped region rapidly, resulting in high observing efficiency and accuracy. Pointing of the antenna and readouts from the spectrometer are recorded as fast as 0.1 second. In this paper we report improvements made on software and instruments, requirements and optimization of observing parameters, data reduction process, and verification of the system. It is confirmed that, using optimal parameters, the OTF is about twice as efficient as conventional position-switch observing method.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Spectral evolution of GRB 060904A observed with Swift and Suzaku -- Possibility of Inefficient Electron Acceleration

We observed an X-ray afterglow of GRB 060904A with the Swift and Suzaku satellites. We found rapid spectral softening during both the prompt tail phase and the decline phase of an X-ray flare in the BAT and XRT data. The observed spectra were fit by power-law photon indices which rapidly changed from $\Gamma = 1.51^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ to $\Gamma = 5.30^{+0.69}_{-0.59}$ within a few hundred seconds in the prompt tail. This is one of the steepest X-ray spectra ever observed, making it quite difficult to explain by simple electron acceleration and synchrotron radiation. Then, we applied an alternative spectral fitting using a broken power-law with exponential cutoff (BPEC) model. It is valid to consider the situation that the cutoff energy is equivalent to the synchrotron frequency of the maximum energy electrons in their energy distribution. Since the spectral cutoff appears in the soft X-ray band, we conclude the electron acceleration has been inefficient in the internal shocks of GRB 060904A. These cutoff spectra suddenly disappeared at the transition time from the prompt tail phase to the shallow decay one. After that, typical afterglow spectra with the photon indices of 2.0 are continuously and preciously monitored by both XRT and Suzaku/XIS up to 1 day since the burst trigger time. We could successfully trace the temporal history of two characteristic break energies (peak energy and cutoff energy) and they show the time dependence of $\propto t^{-3} \sim t^{-4}$ while the following afterglow spectra are quite stable. This fact indicates that the emitting material of prompt tail is due to completely different dynamics from the shallow decay component. Therefore we conclude the emission sites of two distinct phenomena obviously differ from each other.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku 2nd Special Issue

Case report: Fatal poisoning caused by additive effects of two barbiturates

A case of fatal poisoning involving multiple psychotropic drugs is presented. Quantitative toxicological analysis showed femoral blood concentrations of pentobarbital, phenobarbital, duloxetine, acetaminophen and tramadol were 10.39, 22.57, 0.22, 0.61 and 0.22 μg/ml, respectively. We concluded that the death was due to the additive effects of two barbiturates. As both pentobarbital and phenobarbital act on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, central nervous system activity was suppressed, causing respiratory depression. Additive pharmacological effects should be considered in cases of massive ingestion of multiple drugs

Surrounding Gastric Mucosa Findings Facilitate Diagnosis of Gastric Neoplasm as Gastric Adenoma or Early Gastric Cancer

Background and Aim. It is difficult to master the skill of discriminating gastric adenoma from early gastric cancer by conventional endoscopy or magnifying endoscopy combined with narrow-band imaging, because the colors and morphologies of these neoplasms are occasionally similar. We focused on the surrounding gastric mucosa findings in order to determine how to discriminate between early gastric cancer and gastric adenoma by analyzing the characteristics of the gastric background mucosa. Methods. We retrospectively examined 146 patients who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric neoplasm between October 2009 and January 2015. The boundary of atrophic gastritis was classified endoscopically according to the Kimura-Takemoto classification system. Of 146 lesions, 63 early gastric cancers and 21 gastric adenomas were ultimately evaluated and assessed. Results. Almost all gastric adenomas were accompanied by open-type gastritis, whereas 47 and 16 early gastric cancers were accompanied by open-type and closed-type gastritis, respectively (p = 0.037). Conclusions. The evaluation of the boundary of atrophic gastritis associated with gastric neoplasms appears to be useful for discrimination between early gastric cancer and gastric adenoma. When gastric neoplasm is present in the context of surrounding localized gastric atrophy, gastric cancer is probable but not certain

Polyphenols prevent clinorotation-induced expression of atrogenes in mouse C2C12 skeletal myotubes

Oxidative stress is a key factor in stimulating the expression of atrogenes, which are muscle atrophy-related ubiquitin ligases, in skeletal muscle, and it induces muscle atrophy during unloading. However, the effects of antioxidative nutrients on atrogene expression have not been demonstrated. We report on the inhibitory effects of polyphenols, such as epicatechin (EC), epicatechin gallate (ECg) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) and quercetin, on atrogene expression up-regulated by three dimensional (3D)-clinorotation or glucocorticoid. These treatments markedly elevated the expression of atrogenes, including atrogin-1 and MuRF-1, in mouse C2C12 myoblasts and myotubes. Interestingly, EC, ECg, EGCg and quercetin significantly decreased the expression of atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 up-regulated by 3D-clinorotation, whereas they hardly affected atrogene expression induced by dexamethasone. ERK signaling is a well known MAPK pathway to mediate oxidative stress. Therefore, we also investigated the effect of these polyphenols on phosphorylation of ERK in C2C12 myotubes. As expected, EC, ECg, EGCg, and quercetin significantly suppressed phosphorylation of ERK, corresponding to the up-regulation of atrogenes induced by 3D-clinorotation. These results suggest that antioxidative nutrients, such as catechins and quercetin, suppress atrogene expression in skeletal muscle cells, possibly through the inhibition of ERK signaling. Thus, catechins and quercetin may prevent unloading-mediated muscle atrophy