Disposable collection kit for rapid and reliable collection of saliva.

ObjectivesTo describe and evaluate disposable saliva collection kit for rapid, reliable, and reproducible collection of saliva samples.MethodsThe saliva collection kit comprised of a saliva absorbent swab and an extractor unit was used to retrieve whole saliva samples from 10 subjects. The accuracy and precision of the extracted volumes (3, 10, and 30 μl) were compared to similar volumes drawn from control samples obtained by passive drool. Additionally, the impact of kit collection method on subsequent immunoassay results was verified by assessing salivary cortisol levels in the samples and comparing them to controls.ResultsThe recovered volumes for the whole saliva samples were 3.85 ± 0.28, 10.79 ± 0.95, and 31.18 ± 1.72 μl, respectively (CV = 8.76%) and 2.91 ± 0.19, 9.75 ± 0.43, and 29.64 ± 0.91 μl, respectively, (CV = 6.36%) for the controls. There was a close correspondence between the salivary cortisol levels from the saliva samples obtained by the collection kit and the controls (R(2)  > 0.96).ConclusionsThe disposable saliva collection kit allows accurate and repeatable collection of fixed amounts of whole saliva and does not interfere with subsequent measurements of salivary cortisol. The simple collection process, lack of elaborate specimen recovery steps, and the short turnaround time (<3 min) should render the kit attractive to test subjects and researchers alike

Diffusion of water in thermally fractured granite rock cores studied by PFG NMR and MRI: Diffusion of water in thermally fractured granite rock coresstudied by PFG NMR and MRI

Diffusion of water in thermally fractured granite was studied by using pulsed field gradient NMR (PFGNMR) and MRI methods. Two different approaches gave consistent results, indicating that these methods can be applied for materials of low porosity with fracture networks

非正規母集団に対する統計的推測法の研究

1 Introduction 2 Model for Association in Bivariate Survival Data 3 Linear Model with Heavy-tailed Error Distributions 4 Analysis of Repeated Measures Data with Outliers 5 Robust Factor AnalysisMade available in DSpace on 2012-09-06T02:19:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 yamaguchi.pdf: 15147462 bytes, checksum: d5686268b936f4dc1f12d2ea7815bf6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 1991-02-25主1-参

Long-term stability of ubiquinol-10 in natural miso without artificial antioxidants

　　Ubiquinol-10, the reduced form of coenzyme Q10, has higher bioavailability but lower stability than ubiquinone-10, the oxidized form of coenzyme Q10. During the development of ubiquinol-fortified foods, ensuring a long shelf life of the ubiquinol content without sacrificing the flavor of the food is crucial. In this study, we determined the stability of ubiquinol-10 in natural miso, a fermented food made from soybean, salt, and koji, matured at 20–25 °C and stored in a refrigerator for up to three months. Three types of natural miso were developed, differing in their composition and the duration of maturation, using three different forms of ubiquinol-10: raw powder, stabilized powder, and stabilized granules. The ratio of ubiquinol-10 to total coenzyme Q10 was more than 90% during the maturation and storage of natural miso under standard conditions, regardless of the ubiquinol form and type of natural miso. Contrary to expectations, the ubiquinol-10 ratio in a more pigmented natural miso seemed to increase during the maturation period, one month after preparation, when an unstabilized bulk ubiquinol powder was used. These results suggest that naturally occurring antioxidants, which are constituents of miso ingredients and are produced during the maturation process of natural miso, could maintain the reduced state of ubiquinol-10, without the addition of artificial antioxidants or the preservation of anaerobic conditions

Neutralino Dark Matter from Heavy Gravitino Decay

We propose a new scenario of non-thermal production of neutralino cold dark matter, in which the overproduction problem of lightest supersymmetric particles (LSPs) in the standard thermal history is naturally solved. The mechanism requires a heavy modulus field which decays mainly to ordinary particles releasing large entropy to dilute gravitinos produced just after inflation and thermal relics of LSPs. Significant amount of gravitinos are also pair-produced at the decay, which subsequently decay into the neutralinos. We identify the regions of the parameter space in which the requisite abundance of the neutralino dark matter is obtained without spoiling the big-bang nucleosynthesis by injection of hadronic showers from gravitino decay. The neutralino abundance obtained in this mechanism is insensitive to the details of the superparticle mass spectrum, unlike the standard thermal abundance. We also briefly mention the testability of the scenario in future experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

<ORIGINAL ARTICLE>Long-term follow-up of combined maxillary protraction appliance and chincap treatment

著しい骨格性反対咬合症例の治療において,我々は上顎前方牽引装置とchin capの併用により,顎関係の改善を行うことを含めた長期的管理を行っている。今回我々は骨格性反対咬合と診断され,治療を行った女子3症例の長期的観察を通し検討,考察を行った。これらの症例において,第一段階では上顎前方牽引装置とchin capにより顎関係を改善した。上顎前方牽引装置除去後,上顎は成長期間中位置変化を殆ど示さなかった。その間,下顎は予測よりも大きな成長を示した。咬合関係はすべての症例において成人期まで維持されていた。しかしこれらの症例は思春期成長の後も,下顎の前方成長により,わずかな後戻引頃向を示した。以上のことから,後戻りを予防するために反対咬合の治療においてはオーバーコレクションと第一段階後の下顎の成長のコントロールが必要であると考えられた。In an attempt to distinguish between long-term treatment effects and growth change, the present study evaluates the real post-treatment changes following maxillary protraction treatment after correction for the orthopedic effects which three female patients were investigated. Our proposed treatment plan for skeletal Class III patients consists of 3 stages. In the firststage, a maxillary protraction appliance and a chincap are used together to correct the intermaxillary relationship. After removal of the maxillary protraction appliance, the maxilla remains relatively stable during the growth stage. However, the mandible tends to experience overgrowth, which results in a relapse. The occlusal relationship was maintained until the adultstage in all cases. However, they experienced slight relapse, manifested by mandibular forward growth following removal of the maxillary protraction appliance. Therefore, overcorrection of reversed occlusion and control of mandibular growth after the first stage must be performed in order to prevent relapse

Activation of Satellite Glial Cells in Rat Trigeminal Ganglion after Upper Molar Extraction

The neurons in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) are surrounded by satellite glial cells (SGCs), which passively support the function of the neurons, but little is known about the interactions between SGCs and TG neurons after peripheral nerve injury. To examine the effect of nerve injury on SGCs, we investigated the activation of SGCs after neuronal damage due to the extraction of the upper molars in rats. Three, 7, and 10 days after extraction, animals were fixed and the TG was removed. Cryosections of the ganglia were immunostained with antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of activated SGCs, and ATF3, a marker of damaged neurons. After tooth extraction, the number of ATF3-immunoreactive (IR) neurons enclosed by GFAP-IR SGCs had increased in a time-dependent manner in the maxillary nerve region of the TG. Although ATF3-IR neurons were not detected in the mandibular nerve region, the number of GFAP-IR SGCs increased in both the maxillary and mandibular nerve regions. Our results suggest that peripheral nerve injury affects the activation of TG neurons and the SGCs around the injured neurons. Moreover, our data suggest the existence of a neuronal interaction between maxillary and mandibular neurons via SGC activation