Whole body counter surveys of Miharu-town school children for four consecutive years after the Fukushima NPP accident

Comprehensive whole-body counter surveys of Miharu town school children have been conducted for four consecutive years, in 2011-2014. This represents the only long-term sampling-bias-free study of its type conducted after the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident. For the first time in 2014, a new device called the Babyscan, which has a low $^{134/137}$Cs MDA of $< 50$ Bq/body, was used to screen the children shorter than 130 cm. No child in this group was found to have detectable level of radiocesium. Using the MDAs, upper limits of daily intake of radiocesium were estimated for each child. For those screened with the Babyscan, the upper intake limits were found to be <1 Bq/day for $^{137}$Cs. Analysis of a questionnaire filled out by the children's parents regarding their food and water consumption shows that the majority of Miharu children regularly consume local and/or home-grown rice and vegetables. This however does not increase the body burden.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Optical properties of poly[(disilanylene)oligophenylenes]

Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United StatesKatsumi Yoshino, Masaharu Hirohata, Kazuya Tada, Akihiko Fujii, Masanori Ozaki, Akinobu Naka, and Mitsuo Ishikawa "Optical properties of poly(disilanylene oligophenylenes)", Proc. SPIE 3145, Optical Probes of Conjugated Polymers, (1 December 1997). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.28414

Optical properties of di-substituted acetylene polymers

Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United StatesKazuya Tada, Rahmat Hidayat, Masaharu Hirohata, Hirotake Kajii, Satoshi Tatsuhara, Akihiko Fujii, Masanori Ozaki, Masahiro Teraguchi, Toshio Masuda, and Katsumi Yoshino "Optical properties of disubstituted acetylene polymers", Proc. SPIE 3145, Optical Probes of Conjugated Polymers, (1 December 1997). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.28414

Complete Genetic Correction of iPS Cells From Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Human artificial chromosome (HAC) has several advantages as a gene therapy vector, including stable episomal maintenance that avoids insertional mutations and the ability to carry large gene inserts including the regulatory elements. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have great potential for gene therapy, as such cells can be generated from the individual's own tissues, and when reintroduced can contribute to the specialized function of any tissue. As a proof of concept, we show herein the complete correction of a genetic deficiency in iPS cells derived from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) model (mdx) mice and a human DMD patient using a HAC with a complete genomic dystrophin sequence (DYS-HAC). Deletion or mutation of dystrophin in iPS cells was corrected by transferring the DYS-HAC via microcell-mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT). DMD patient- and mdx-specific iPS cells with the DYS-HAC gave rise to differentiation of three germ layers in the teratoma, and human dystrophin expression was detected in muscle-like tissues. Furthermore, chimeric mice from mdx-iPS (DYS-HAC) cells were produced and DYS-HAC was detected in all tissues examined, with tissue-specific expression of dystrophin. Therefore, the combination of patient-specific iPS cells and HAC-containing defective genes represents a powerful tool for gene and cell therapies