The time variation of dose rate artificially increased by the Fukushima nuclear crisis

A car-borne survey for dose rate in air was carried out in March and April 2011 along an expressway passing northwest of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station which released radionuclides starting after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, and in an area closer to the Fukushima NPS which is known to have been strongly affected. Dose rates along the expressway, i.e. relatively far from the power station were higher after than before March 11, in some places by several orders of magnitude, implying that there were some additional releases from Fukushima NPS. The maximum dose rate in air within the high level contamination area was 36 μGy h−1, and the estimated maximum cumulative external dose for evacuees who came from Namie Town to evacuation sites (e.g. Fukushima, Koriyama and Nihonmatsu Cities) was 68 mSv. The evacuation is justified from the viewpoint of radiation protection

Radionuclide Analysis on Bamboos following the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

In response to contamination from the recent Fukushima nuclear accident, we conducted radionuclide analysis on bamboos sampled from six sites within a 25 to 980 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Maximum activity concentrations of radiocesium 134Cs and 137Cs in samples from Fukushima city, 65 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, were in excess of 71 and 79 kBq/kg, dry weight (DW), respectively. In Kashiwa city, 195 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi, the sample concentrations were in excess of 3.4 and 4.3 kBq/kg DW, respectively. In Toyohashi city, 440 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi, the concentrations were below the measurable limits of up to 4.5 Bq/kg DW. In the radiocesium contaminated samples, the radiocesium activity was higher in mature and fallen leaves than in young leaves, branches and culms

Eco-friendly one-pot synthesis of Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads for the removal of cesium from water

A simple one-step approach to fabricating Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads (PBMHBs) was fabricated for the effective magnetic removal of radioactive cesium (Cs-137) from water. Through the simple dropwise addition of a mixed aqueous solution of iron salts, commercial PB and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to an ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) solution, the formation of hydrogel beads and the encapsulation of PB in beads were achieved in one pot through the gelation of PVA with in situ-formed iron oxide nanoparticles as the cross-linker. The obtained PB-MHBs, with 43.77 weight %of PB, were stable without releasing PB for up to 2 weeks and could be effectively separated from aqueous solutions by an external magnetic field, which is convenient for the large-scale treatment of Cs-contaminated water. Detailed Cs adsorption studies revealed that the adsorption isotherms and kinetics could be effectively described by the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order model, respectively. Most importantly, the PB-MHBs exhibited excellent selectivity for Cs-137 in (137)Cscontaminated simulated groundwater (55 Bq/g) with a high removal efficiency (>99.5%), and the effective removal of Cs-137 from real seawater by these PB-MHBs demonstrated the excellent potential of this material for practical application in the decontamination of Cs-137-contaminated seawate

Climate drives community-wide divergence within species over a limited spatial scale: evidence from an oceanic island

Geographic isolation substantially contributes to species endemism on oceanic islands when speciation involves the colonisation of a new island. However, less is understood about the drivers of speciation within islands. What is lacking is a general understanding of the geographic scale of gene flow limitation within islands, and thus the spatial scale and drivers of geographical speciation within insular contexts. Using a community of beetle species, we show that when dispersal ability and climate tolerance are restricted, microclimatic variation over distances of only a few kilometres can maintain strong geographic isolation extending back several millions of years. Further to this, we demonstrate congruent diversification with gene flow across species, mediated by Quaternary climate oscillations that have facilitated a dynamic of isolation and secondary contact. The unprecedented scale of parallel species responses to a common environmental driver for evolutionary change has profound consequences for understanding past and future species responses to climate variation

The XMM cluster survey: Testing chameleon gravity using the profiles of clusters

The chameleon gravity model postulates the existence of a scalar field that couples with matter to mediate a fifth force. If it exists, this fifth force would influence the hot X-ray emitting gas filling the potential wells of galaxy clusters. However, it would not influence the clusters weak lensing signal. Therefore, by comparing X-ray and weak lensing profiles, one can place upper limits on the strength of a fifth force. This technique has been attempted before using a single, nearby cluster (Coma, z = 0.02). Here we apply the technique to the stacked profiles of 58 clusters at higher redshifts (0.1 R0| R0| on cosmological scales. We hope to improve this constraint in future by extending the study to hundreds of clusters using data from the Dark Energy Survey

Designed Inhibitors of Insulin-Degrading Enzyme Regulate the Catabolism and Activity of Insulin

Background: Insulin is a vital peptide hormone that is a central regulator of glucose homeostasis, and impairments in insulin signaling cause diabetes mellitus. In principle, it should be possible to enhance the activity of insulin by inhibiting its catabolism, which is mediated primarily by insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE), a structurally and evolutionarily distinctive zinc-metalloprotease. Despite interest in pharmacological inhibition of IDE as an attractive anti-diabetic approach dating to the 1950s, potent and selective inhibitors of IDE have not yet emerged. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a rational design approach based on analysis of combinatorial peptide mixtures and focused compound libraries to develop novel peptide hydroxamic acid inhibitors of IDE. The resulting compounds are ∼106 times more potent than existing inhibitors, non-toxic, and surprisingly selective for IDE vis-à-vis conventional zinc-metalloproteases. Crystallographic analysis of an IDE-inhibitor complex reveals a novel mode of inhibition based on stabilization of IDE's “closed,” inactive conformation. We show further that pharmacological inhibition of IDE potentiates insulin signaling by a mechanism involving reduced catabolism of internalized insulin. Conclusions/Significance: The inhibitors we describe are the first to potently and selectively inhibit IDE or indeed any member of this atypical zinc-metalloprotease superfamily. The distinctive structure of IDE's active site, and the mode of action of our inhibitors, suggests that it may be possible to develop inhibitors that cross-react minimally with conventional zinc-metalloproteases. Significantly, our results reveal that insulin signaling is normally regulated by IDE activity not only extracellularly but also within cells, supporting the longstanding view that IDE inhibitors could hold therapeutic value for the treatment of diabetes

Identification of the Allosteric Regulatory Site of Insulysin

Background: Insulin degrading enzyme (IDE) is responsible for the metabolism of insulin and plays a role in clearance of the Ab peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease. Unlike most proteolytic enzymes, IDE, which consists of four structurally related domains and exists primarily as a dimer, exhibits allosteric kinetics, being activated by both small substrate peptides and polyphosphates such as ATP.Principal Findings: the crystal structure of a catalytically compromised mutant of IDE has electron density for peptide ligands bound at the active site in domain 1 and a distal site in domain 2. Mutating residues in the distal site eliminates allosteric kinetics and activation by a small peptide, as well as greatly reducing activation by ATP, demonstrating that this site plays a key role in allostery. Comparison of the peptide bound IDE structure (using a low activity E111F IDE mutant) with unliganded wild type IDE shows a change in the interface between two halves of the clamshell-like molecule, which may enhance enzyme activity by altering the equilibrium between closed and open conformations. in addition, changes in the dimer interface suggest a basis for communication between subunits.Conclusions/Significance: Our findings indicate that a region remote from the active site mediates allosteric activation of insulysin by peptides. Activation may involve a small conformational change that weakens the interface between two halves of the enzyme.United States Public Health ServicesUniv Kentucky, Dept Mol & Cellular Biochem, Lexington, KY 40536 USAUniv Kentucky, Struct Biol Ctr, Lexington, KY USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Biophys, Escola Paulista Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Biophys, Escola Paulista Med, São Paulo, BrazilUnited States Public Health Services: NS38041United States Public Health Services: DA02243United States Public Health Services: DA016176United States Public Health Services: P20 RR20171United States Public Health Services: T32 DA016176Web of Scienc

About the first experiment at JINR nuclotron deuteron beam with energy 2.52 gev on investigation of transmutation of I-129, NP-237, PU-238 and PU-239 in the field of neutrons generated in pbtarget with U-blanket

The experiment described in this communication is a part of the scientific program „Investigations of physical aspects of electronuclear method of energy production and transmutation of radioactive waste of atomic energetic using relativistic beams from the JINR Synchrophasotron/Nuclotron“ - the project „Energy plus Transmutation“. The performing of the first experiment at deuteron beam with energy 2.52 GeV at the electronuclear setup which consists of Pb-target with U-blanket (206.4 kg of natural uranium) and transmutation samples and its preliminary results are described. The hermetic samples of isotopes of I-129, Np-237, Pu-238 and Pu-239 which are produced in atomic reactors and industry setups which use nuclear materials and nuclear technologies were irradiated in the field of electronuclear neutrons produced in the Pbtarget surrounded with the U-blanket setup “Energy plus transmutation”. The estimations of its transmutations (radioecological aspect) were obtained in result of measurements of gamma activities of these samples. The information about space-energy distribution of neutrons in the volume of the Pb-target and the U-blanket was obtained with help of sets of activation threshold detectors (Al, V, Cu, Co, Y, In, I, Ta, Au, W, Bi and other), solid state nuclear track detectors, He-3 neutron detectors and nuclear emulsions