Construction Of Biologically Productive Artificial Tidal Flats With Solidified Sea Bottom Sediments

Ago Bay is a typical enclosed coastal sea that is connected to the Pacific Ocean via a very narrow and shallow entrance. The bay has been contaminated by the practice of culturing pearls, which has been occurring for the past 110 years. To address this problem, a new technology — the Hi-Biah-System (HBS) — was introduced in 2005. This product of this system, which dewaters muddy dredged sediments and reduces them to their raw materials, was used to construct a tidal flat. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental conditions of the constructed tidal flat 2 years after it was built. We monitored the physico-chemical (oxidation–reduction potential, acid volatile sulphide, loss on ignition, water content, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, chlorophyll a, and particle size) and biological characteristics of five constructed tidal flats and a natural tidal flat. At the same tidal level, the physico-chemical parameters were similar among the five constructed tidal flats and the natural one. However, the biomass and macrobenthic population were higher in the constructed flat compared to the natural one. We suggest that the muddy dredged sediments generated by the HBS could provide useful materials for enhancing the productivity of the tidal coastal environment

A Large Majorana-Mass From Calabi-Yau Superstring Models

In Calabi-Yau superstring models it is found that two large intermediate energy scales of symmetry breaking can be induced for special types of the nonrenormalizable interactions. In the models one set of $SO(10)$-singlet, right-handed neutrino and their mirror chiral superfields is needed. Through the study of the minimization of the scalarpotential, the conditions for the presence of two large intermediate scales are obtained. In this scheme a Majorana-mass possibly amounts to O(10^{9 \sim 10}\gev). This large Majorana-mass solves the solar neutrino problem and also is compatible with the cosmological bound for stable light neutrinos.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, DPNU-93-41, AUE-06-9

Pneumococcal polyarticular septic arthritis after a single infusion of infliximab in a rheumatoid arthritis patient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We present a case of <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>polyarticular septic arthritis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis receiving a single infusion of infliximab.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 38-year-old Japanese man with a 5-year history of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis had previously received sulphasalazine and methotrexate therapies and was on regular low-dose prednisolone therapy. Despite these treatments, his disease activity remained high and infliximab was introduced in addition to methotrexate, prednisolone, and folic acid. However, he was admitted to hospital with a fever of 40.6°C, chills, and polyarthralgia eight days after the first infusion of infliximab. His joints were swollen, painful, and warm. Laboratory data showed marked acute inflammation. He was diagnosed with bacterial septic polyarthritis, and emergency surgical joint lavage and drainage was performed at the knees along with needle aspiration and lavage of the ankles and right wrist. He was then given intravenous antibiotic therapy for 31 days. He made a good recovery and was discharged on day 37.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We believe this is the first reported case of severe pneumococcal septic arthritis requiring hospitalization in a patient treated with infliximab. <it>S. pneumonia </it>is now a well-recognized but uncommon cause of polyarticular septic arthritis that can lead to cessation of therapy, as in our patient's case.</p

Construction of Biologically Productive Artificial Tidal Flats with Solidified Sea Bottom Sediments

Ago Bay is a typical enclosed coastal sea that is connected to the Pacific Ocean via a very narrow and shallow entrance. The bay has been organically contaminated by the practice of culturing pearls, which has been ongoing for the past 110 years. To address this problem, a new technology — the Hi-Biah-System (HBS) —, which dewaters muddy dredged sediments and changes the muddy sediments for raw materials of tidal flat, was introduced in 2005. The solidified product from the sediments with the HBS was used to construct the tidal flat. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental conditions of the constructed tidal flat 2 years after its construction. We monitored the physico-chemical (oxidation−reduction potential, acid volatile sulphide, loss on ignition, water content, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, chlorophyll a, and particle size) and biological characteristics of a constructed tidal flat (five sections) and a natural tidal flat (six points). At the same tidal level, the physico-chemical parameters were similar among the constructed and the natural tidal flats. However, the biomass and macrobenthic population were higher in the constructed flat compared to the natural one. According to the findings of this study it can be concluded that the solidified products from the sediments with the HBS could provide useful materials for constructing the tidal coastal environment