Development of a visible-light-responsive rutile rod by site-selective modification of iron(III) ion on {1 1 1} exposed crystal faces

{1 1 1} exposed crystal faces of shape-controlled rutile titanium(IV) oxide (TiO2) were site-selectively modified with trivalent iron(III) (Fe3+) ions by utilizing adsorption property of iron(III)/iron(II) (Fe3+/Fe2+) ions. The rutile TiO2 with site-selective modification of Fe3+ ions showed high photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation as a result of separation of redox sites, i.e., oxidation and reduction proceed over Fe3+ ions on {1 1 1} faces and the bare TiO2 surface on {1 1 0} faces, respectively. Double-beam photoacoustic spectroscopic analyses suggest that the high activity of TiO2 with site-selective modification of Fe3+ ions is attributed to not efficient electron injection from Fe3+ ions but efficient reduction by injected electrons on {1 1 0} faces

Improvement of visible light responsivity of rutile TiO2 nanorods by site-selective modification of iron(III) ion on newly exposed faces formed by chemical etching treatment

Site-selective modification of trivalent iron(III) (Fe3+) ions was applied to rutile titanium(IV) oxide (TiO2) nanorods after chemical etching treatment in order to improve photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation. Chemical etching of rutile nanorods with {1 1 0} and {1 1 1} faces using aqueous sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or hydrogen (H2O2)–ammonia (NH3) solution exposed {0 0 1} and {1 1 n} (n < 1) faces, respectively. Fe3+-modified rutile nanorods after chemical etching exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of toluene in gas phase than that before chemical etching. This improvement of photocatalytic activity was attributed to a large amount of site-selectively-modified Fe3+ ions, resulting in an increase in photoabsorption. Moreover, our results indicate that a rutile nanorod with large {0 0 1} and {1 1 0} exposed crystal faces is the most suitable structure for visible light response by site-selective modification of Fe3+ ions

Subaru high-z exploration of low-luminosity quasars (SHELLQs). I. Discovery of 15 quasars and bright galaxies at 5.7 < z < 6.9

We report the discovery of 15 quasars and bright galaxies at 5.7 < z < 6.9. This is the initial result from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, which exploits the exquisite multiband imaging data produced by the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Strategic Program survey. The candidate selection is performed by combining several photometric approaches including a Bayesian probabilistic algorithm to reject stars and dwarfs. The spectroscopic identification was carried out with the Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Subaru Telescope for the first 80 deg2 of the survey footprint. The success rate of our photometric selection is quite high, approaching 100 % at the brighter magnitudes (zAB < 23.5 mag). Our selection also recovered all the known high-z quasars on the HSC images. Among the 15 discovered objects, six are likely quasars, while the other six with interstellar absorption lines and in some cases narrow emission lines are likely bright Lyman-break galaxies. The remaining three objects have weak continua and very strong and narrow Ly alpha lines, which may be excited by ultraviolet light from both young stars and quasars. These results indicate that we are starting to see the steep rise of the luminosity function of z > 6 galaxies, compared with that of quasars, at magnitudes fainter than M1450 ~ -22 mag or zAB ~24 mag. Follow-up studies of the discovered objects as well as further survey observations are ongoing.Comment: Published in ApJ (828:26, 2016

Discovery of the First Low-Luminosity Quasar at z > 7

We report the discovery of a quasar at z = 7.07, which was selected from the deep multi-band imaging data collected by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. This quasar, HSC J124353.93+010038.5, has an order of magnitude lower luminosity than do the other known quasars at z > 7. The rest-frame ultraviolet absolute magnitude is M1450 = -24.13 +/- 0.08 mag and the bolometric luminosity is Lbol = (1.4 +/- 0.1) x 10^{46} erg/s. Its spectrum in the optical to near-infrared shows strong emission lines, and shows evidence for a fast gas outflow, as the C IV line is blueshifted and there is indication of broad absorption lines. The Mg II-based black hole mass is Mbh = (3.3 +/- 2.0) x 10^8 Msun, thus indicating a moderate mass accretion rate with an Eddington ratio 0.34 +/- 0.20. It is the first z > 7 quasar with sub-Eddington accretion, besides being the third most distant quasar, known to date. The luminosity and black hole mass are comparable to, or even lower than, those measured for the majority of low-z quasars discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and thus this quasar likely represents a z > 7 counterpart to quasars commonly observed in the low-z universe.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Open-label clinical trial of bezafibrate treatment in patients with fatty acid oxidation disorders in Japan

IntroductionFatty acid oxidation disorders (FAODs) are rare diseases caused by defects in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO) enzymes. While the efficacy of bezafibrate, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonist, on the in vitro FAO capacity has been reported, the in vivo efficacy remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted a clinical trial of bezafibrate in Japanese patients with FAODs.Materials and methodsThis trial was an open-label, non-randomized, and multicenter study of bezafibrate treatment in 6 patients with very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency and 2 patients with carnitine palmitoyltransferase-II (CPT-2) deficiency (median age, 8.2 years; ranging from 5.8 to 26.4 years). Bezafibrate was administered for 6 months following a 6-month observation period. The primary endpoint was the frequency of myopathic attacks, and the secondary endpoints were serum acylcarnitines (ACs, C14:1 or C16 + C18:1), creatine kinase (CK) levels, degree of muscle pain (VAS; visual analog scale) during myopathic attacks, and quality of life (QOL; evaluated using validated questionnaires).ResultsThe frequency of myopathic attacks after bezafibrate administration decreased in 3 patients, increased in 3, and did not change in 2. The CK, AC, and VAS values during attacks could be estimated in only three or four patients, but a half of the patients did not experience attacks before or after treatment. Changes in CK, AC, and VAS values varied across individuals. In contrast, three components of QOL, namely, physical functioning, role limitation due to physical problems (role physical), and social functioning, were significantly elevated. No adverse drug reactions were observed.ConclusionIn this study, the frequency of myopathic attacks and CK, AC, and VAS values during the attacks could not be evaluated due to several limitations, such as a small trial population. Our findings indicate that bezafibrate improves the QOL of patients with FAODs, but its efficacy must be examined in future investigations

Harmonizing solubility measurement to lower inter-laboratory variance – progress of consortium of biopharmaceutical tools (CoBiTo) in Japan

The purpose of the present study was to harmonize the protocol of equilibrium solubility measurements for poorly water-soluble drugs to lower inter-laboratory variance. The “mandatory” and “recommended” procedures for the shake-flask method were harmonized based on the knowledge and experiences of each company and information from the literature. The solubility of model drugs was measured by the harmonized protocol (HP) and the non-harmonized proprietary protocol of each company (nonHP). Albendazole, griseofulvin, dipyridamole, and glibenclamide were used as model drugs. When using the nonHP, the solubility values showed large inter-laboratory variance. In contrast, inter-laboratory variance was markedly reduced when using the HP

Chemically-synthesised, atomically-precise gold clusters deposited and activated on titania

Synchrotron XPS was used to investigate a series of chemically-synthesised, atomically-precise gold clusters Au(n)(PPh₃)(y) (n = 8, 9, 11 and 101, with y depending on cluster size) immobilized on titania nanoparticles. The gold clusters were washed with toluene at 100 °C or calcined at 200 °C to remove the organic ligand. From the position of the Au 4f₇/₂ peak it is concluded that cluster size is not altered through the deposition. From the analysis of the phosphorous spectra, it can be concluded that the applied heat treatment removes the organic ligands. Washing and calcination leads to partial oxidation and partial agglomeration of the clusters. Oxidation of the clusters is most likely due to the interaction of the cluster core with the oxygen of the titania surface after removal of ligands. The position of the Au 4f₇/₂ peak indicates that the size of the agglomerated clusters is still smaller than that of Au₁₀₁.David P. Anderson, Jason F. Alvino, Alexander Gentleman, Hassan Al Qahtani, Lars Thomsen, Matthew I. J. Polson, Gregory F. Metha, Vladimir B. Golovko and Gunther G. Andersso

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). X. Discovery of 35 Quasars and Luminous Galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0

The American Astronomical Society, find out more The Institute of Physics, find out more THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ISOPEN ACCESS Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). X. Discovery of 35 Quasars and Luminous Galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0 Yoshiki Matsuoka1, Kazushi Iwasawa2, Masafusa Onoue3, Nobunari Kashikawa4,5,6, Michael A. Strauss7, Chien-Hsiu Lee8, Masatoshi Imanishi5,6, Tohru Nagao1, Masayuki Akiyama9, Naoko Asami10Show full author list Published 2019 October 3 © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 883, Number 2 DownloadArticle PDF DownloadArticle ePub Figures Tables References Download PDFDownload ePub 674 Total downloads 99 total citations on Dimensions. Turn on MathJax Share this article Share this content via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Mendeley Article information Abstract We report the discovery of 28 quasars and 7 luminous galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0. This is the tenth in a series of papers from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, which exploits the deep multiband imaging data produced by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. The total number of spectroscopically identified objects in SHELLQs has now grown to 93 high-z quasars, 31 high-z luminous galaxies, 16 [O iii] emitters at z ~ 0.8, and 65 Galactic cool dwarfs (low-mass stars and brown dwarfs). These objects were found over 900 deg2, surveyed by HSC between 2014 March and 2018 January. The full quasar sample includes 18 objects with very strong and narrow Lyα emission, whose stacked spectrum is clearly different from that of other quasars or galaxies. While the stacked spectrum shows N v λ1240 emission and resembles that of lower-z narrow-line quasars, the small Lyα width may suggest a significant contribution from the host galaxies. Thus, these objects may be composites of quasars and star-forming galaxies

Discovery of the First Low-luminosity Quasar at z > 7

We report the discovery of a quasar at z = 7.07, which was selected from the deep multi-band imaging data collected by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. This quasar, HSC J124353.93+010038.5, has an order of magnitude lower luminosity than do the other known quasars at z > 7. The rest-frame ultraviolet absolute magnitude is M1450 = −24.13 ± 0.08 mag and the bolometric luminosity is ${L}_{\mathrm{bol}}\,=(1.4\pm 0.1)\,\times \,{10}^{46}$ erg s−1. Its spectrum in the optical to near-infrared shows strong emission lines, and shows evidence for a fast gas outflow, as the C iv line is blueshifted and there is indication of broad absorption lines. The Mg ii-based black hole mass is ${M}_{\mathrm{BH}}=(3.3\pm 2.0)\times {10}^{8}{M}_{\odot }$, thus indicating a moderate mass accretion rate with an Eddington ratio ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{Edd}}=0.34\pm 0.20$. It is the first z > 7 quasar with sub-Eddington accretion, besides being the third most distant quasar known to date. The luminosity and black hole mass are comparable to, or even lower than, those measured for the majority of low-z quasars discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and thus this quasar likely represents a z > 7 counterpart to quasars commonly observed in the low-z universe