External antigen uptake by Langerhans cells with reorganization of epidermal tight junction barriers

Outermost barriers are critical for terrestrial animals to avoid desiccation and to protect their bodies from foreign insults. Mammalian skin consists of two sets of barriers: stratum corneum (SC) and tight junctions (TJs). How acquisition of external antigens (Ags) by epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) occur despite these barriers has remained unknown. We show that activation-induced LCs elongate their dendrites to penetrate keratinocyte (KC) TJs and survey the extra-TJ environment located outside of the TJ barrier, just beneath the SC. Penetrated dendrites uptake Ags from the tip where Ags colocalize with langerin/Birbeck granules. TJs at KC–KC contacts allow penetration of LC dendrites by dynamically forming new claudin-dependent bicellular- and tricellulin-dependent tricellular TJs at LC–KC contacts, thereby maintaining TJ integrity during Ag uptake. Thus, covertly under keratinized SC barriers, LCs and KCs demonstrate remarkable cooperation that enables LCs to gain access to external Ags that have violated the SC barrier while concomitantly retaining TJ barriers to protect intra-TJ environment

A Theoretical Model for Multiphase Flow with Solidified Particles : Conservation Equations and Hydrodynamical Evaluation

The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy for a molten liquid flow of two chemical constituents with their solidified particles were derived by means of the averaging method. The drift flux model equations for the fine particles were also derived under a locally homogeneous approximation. The present model suggests that the energy equation should have energy transport terms corresponding to the heat conduction, the migration of particles and the diffusion of chemical constituents. As representative examples, these energy transports were evaluated quantitatively for binary molten salt and liquid alloy under the assumption of a locally thermal equilibrium. The results show that the energy conservation equation for solidified particles and melt flow should include an energy transport term due to particle migration

A Theoretical Model for Multiphase Flow with Solidified Particles : Physical Signification of Constitutive Equations and Evaluation of Latent Heat Effect

Constitutive equations regarding the drift flux model for a multiphase flow consisting of molten material and its solidified particles were thermodynamically derived under a condition of local quasiequilibrium. The basic equations, including the conservation equations and the constitutive equations for the multiphase flow, were expressed in dimensionless forms. The theory developed here confirmed that the temperature fields closely depended on the Lagrangian derivative of the solid fraction accompanying the latent heat effect, and was characterized by the Stefan number. It was also suggested that the simplified basic equations corresponding to the phase equilibrium diagram were useful in the analysis of multiphase flow with solid-liquid phase change

Rotational Temperature Measurement of NO Molecule in a Flame through Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectrum

Rotational temperature of NO molecule in methane/air premixed flame was estimated by a spectral matching method. A tunable narrow band ArF excimer laser was used to excite the D^2Σ^+ ← X^2∏(0,1) band system of NO. Laser beam was introduced in a flame, and the laser-induced fluorescence was resolved into a spectrum by using a spectrograph. On this spectrum, e and δ bands of upper vibrational level of v'=0 were analyzed. In order to use a spectral matching method, profiles of ε and δ band spectra were calculated theoretically in detail with reliable molecular constants and exact equations, and they were modulated by an experimental slit function. Since the profile of band spectrum was determined as a function of a rotational temperature, a rotational temperature could be estimated using the temperature where the profile of every band spectrum obtained theoretically is fitted to that of experimentally obtained. Applying a spectral matching method on the ε(0,3), ε(0,4) and δ(0,2) band of NO, it was obtained that the rotational temperature is about 1000 K. The obtained rotational temperature is almost agreed with the thermocouple temperature

Retrospective Study to Reduce Blood Transfusion Waste in Remote Island Healthcare Settings

Background. Tokunoshima is a remote island in the Amami Islands, 470 km southwest of the Kagoshima mainland. It has a population of 23,000 and consists of three towns: Tokunoshima, Isen, and Amagi. Three medical institutions on the island are responsible for blood transfusion medicine, but there is no blood stockpiling station on the island, and blood is stockpiled in each of the hospitals. Although Tokunoshima Tokushukai Hospital is responsible for 70% of transfusion medicine on Tokunoshima, it is difficult to maintain a sufficient amount of blood in stock considering disposal. Aim. To determine whether changing the distribution of blood types in a hospital’s stockpile would reduce the transfusion disposal rate. Methods. This was a retrospective survey. By changing the in-house stock of blood products for transfusions delivered to our hospital over 10 years from January 2013 to December 2017 (preintervention) and from January 2018 to December 2022 (postintervention), we compared the cost-saving effects of these two intervention strategies on disposal rates and blood inventories, as well as the survival rates of case profiles requiring transfusion interventions in hospital-donated transfusion and ABO-incompatible transfusion between two periods. The hospital's stock of RBC had changes that storage of type (A, B, O, AB) RBC from (4, 4, 4, 2) units in the pre-interventon to (2, 2, 6, 0) units in the postintervention. Results. The annual blood product waste rate decreased from 23.4% in the preintervention period to 17.9% in the post-intervention period. Conclusion. By changing the blood products stockpiled for transfusion medicine in Tokunoshima, the transfusion disposal rate can be reduced