A Raman Lidar with a Deep Ultraviolet Laser for Continuous Water Vapor Profiling in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

A Raman lidar with a deep ultraviolet laser was constructed to continuously monitor water vapor distributions in the atmospheric boundary layer for twenty-four hours. We employ a laser at a wavelength of 266 nm and detects the light separated into an elastic backscatter signal and vibrational Raman signals of oxygen, nitrogen, and water vapor. The lidar was encased in a temperature-controlled and vibration-isolated compact container, resistant to a variety of environmental conditions. Water vapor profile observations were made for twelve months from November 24, 2017, to November 29, 2018. These observations were compared with collocated radiosonde measurements for daytime and nighttime conditions

Pulse Duration Dependence of Novel Metal Alloying on Fe/Cr/Ni Thin Films by Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Irradiation

We examined the possibility of suppressing elemental segregation of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) using femtosecond laser irradiation. Thin films of iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni) were deposited on the surfaces of n-type SiC and p-type GaN substrates. The thicknesses of the Fe, Cr, and Ni films were 12, 7, and 11 nm, respectively. Laser irradiation was performed from the substrate side by focusing on the interface between the Fe film and substrate. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) bright-field images superimposed on the elemental maps of Fe, Cr, and Ni showed a more homogenous mixing of Fe, Cr, and Ni in the femtosecond-laser-modified region than in the picosecond-laser-modified region. In particular, the Ni distribution showed a significant improvement in homogeneity. In other words, the Ni mixture was more homogeneous in the femtosecond laser-modified region than in the picosecond laser-modified region. Although the duration of the picosecond laser pulse was sufficiently long for atomic diffusion, segregation still occurred during the cooling process following laser irradiation

A case of biopsy-proven cardiac sarcoidosis without any other extracardiac manifestations

SummaryA 49-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for uncontrollable heart failure. She had never been diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. Chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly without bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy. Echocardiography showed diffuse hypokinesis of the left ventricle mimicking idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. No specific manifestations implying sarcoidosis were observed. On cardiac catheterization, coronary angiograms were normal, whereas concurrent routine endomyocardial biopsy showed foci of non-caseating granuloma, indicating sarcoidosis. Pathological finding was the only clue to diagnose cardiac sarcoidosis among our standard examinations for heart failure. No other additional investigations found any extracardiac features of sarcoidosis. All serological and immunological examinations were within normal range. This is a challenging case of biopsy-proven cardiac sarcoidosis without any other extracardiac involvement

Sulfur assimilation using gaseous carbonyl sulfideby the soil fungus Trichoderma harzianum

Fungi have the capacity to assimilate a diverse range of both inorganic and organic sulfur compounds. It has been recognized that all sulfur sources taken up by fungi are in soluble forms. In this study, we present evidence that fungi can utilize gaseous carbonyl sulfide(COS) for the assimilation of a sulfur compound. We found that the filamentousfungus Trichoderma harzianum strain THIF08, which has constitutively high COS-degrading activity, was able to grow with COS as the sole sulfur source. Cultivation with 34S-labeled COS revealed that sulfur atom from COS was incorporated into intracellular metabolites such as glutathione and ergothioneine. COS degradation by strain THIF08, in which as much of the moisture derived from the agar medium as possible was removed, indicated that gaseous COS was taken up directly into the cell. Escherichia coli transformed with a COS hydrolase (COSase) gene, which is clade D of the β-class carbonic anhydrase subfamily enzyme with high specificity for COS but low activity for CO2 hydration, showed that the COSase is involved in COS assimilation. Comparison of sulfur metabolites of strain THIF08 revealed a higher relative abundance of reduced sulfur compounds under the COS-supplemented condition than the sulfate-supplemented condition, suggesting that sulfur assimilation is more energetically efficient with COS than with sulfate because there is no redox change of sulfur. Phylogenetic analysis of the genes encoding COSase, which are distributed in a wide range of fungal taxa, suggests that the common ancestor of Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Mucoromycota acquired COSase at about 790-670 Ma. © 2024 Iizuka et al

Construction of microbial platform for an energy-requiring bioprocess: practical 2′-deoxyribonucleoside production involving a C−C coupling reaction with high energy substrates

BACKGROUND: Reproduction and sustainability are important for future society, and bioprocesses are one technology that can be used to realize these concepts. However, there is still limited variation in bioprocesses and there are several challenges, especially in the operation of energy-requiring bioprocesses. As an example of a microbial platform for an energy-requiring bioprocess, we established a process that efficiently and enzymatically synthesizes 2′-deoxyribonucleoside from glucose, acetaldehyde, and a nucleobase. This method consists of the coupling reactions of the reversible nucleoside degradation pathway and energy generation through the yeast glycolytic pathway. RESULTS: Using E. coli that co-express deoxyriboaldolase and phosphopentomutase, a high amount of 2′-deoxyribonucleoside was produced with efficient energy transfer under phosphate-limiting reaction conditions. Keeping the nucleobase concentration low and the mixture at a low reaction temperature increased the yield of 2′-deoxyribonucleoside relative to the amount of added nucleobase, indicating that energy was efficiently generated from glucose via the yeast glycolytic pathway under these reaction conditions. Using a one-pot reaction in which small amounts of adenine, adenosine, and acetone-dried yeast were fed into the reaction, 75 mM of 2′-deoxyinosine, the deaminated product of 2′-deoxyadenosine, was produced from glucose (600 mM), acetaldehyde (250 mM), adenine (70 mM), and adenosine (20 mM) with a high yield relative to the total base moiety input (83%). Moreover, a variety of natural dNSs were further synthesized by introducing a base-exchange reaction into the process. CONCLUSION: A critical common issue in energy-requiring bioprocess is fine control of phosphate concentration. We tried to resolve this problem, and provide the convenient recipe for establishment of energy-requiring bioprocesses. It is anticipated that the commercial demand for dNSs, which are primary metabolites that accumulate at very low levels in the metabolic pool, will grow. The development of an efficient production method for these compounds will have a great impact in both fields of applied microbiology and industry and will also serve as a good example of a microbial platform for energy-requiring bioprocesses

A method for assessing metabolic information on liver and bone marrow by use of double gradient-echo with spectral fat suppression

Our aim in this study was to create a noninvasive and practical method for evaluating metabolic information on the liver (iron content and lipid infiltration) and spine (bone mineral density and marrow fat degeneration) using double gradient-echo with and without the spectral fat suppression technique (double-GRE-FS). We arranged phantoms made of various concentrations of superparamagnetic iron oxide solution adjacent to neutral fat to obtain slice planes with various fat fractions using the partial volume effect. We obtained double-GRE-FS images and calculated the T2* values. The fat fraction was calculated from signal intensities of double-GRE-FS images after T2* decay, baseline, and slope corrections. We assessed the fat fraction and the relationship between R2* of the water component and the iron concentration. In addition, we evaluated those values in human bone marrow and liver, including a patient with liver steatosis. The actual fat fraction value was consistent with the fat fraction obtained with the double-GRE-FS method, and the calculated fat fraction was unaffected by the iron concentration. There was a strong positive correlation between R 2* of the water component and the iron concentration. There was a negative correlation between the fat fraction and the bone mineral density, and the R2* was correlated with the bone mineral density. The calculated fat fraction in the liver steatosis patient was significantly higher than that in healthy volunteers. The double-GRE-FS makes it possible to assess the fat fraction and R2* simultaneously, and to obtain metabolic information on the liver and bone marrow. © 2014 Japanese Society of Radiological Technology and Japan Society of Medical Physics