Polyiodide Production Triggered by Acidic Phase of Aqueous Solution Confined in Carbon Nanospace

Polyiodide species were synthesized by the acceleration of an acidic environment in the nanospace of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) with light irradiation. Raman and EXAFS results strongly support the production of polyiodide species after the adsorption of CsI on SWCNT from aqueous solution. Interestingly, the reaction was initiated by the nano-confined acidic phase formed in a basic environment. The acidic phase plays an essential role as an oxidant for the production of the diiodine that is a source of polyiodide

Neural Induction in Xenopus: Requirement for Ectodermal and Endomesodermal Signals via Chordin, Noggin, β-Catenin, and Cerberus

The origin of the signals that induce the differentiation of the central nervous system (CNS) is a long-standing question in vertebrate embryology. Here we show that Xenopus neural induction starts earlier than previously thought, at the blastula stage, and requires the combined activity of two distinct signaling centers. One is the well-known Nieuwkoop center, located in dorsal-vegetal cells, which expresses Nodal-related endomesodermal inducers. The other is a blastula Chordin- and Noggin-expressing (BCNE) center located in dorsal animal cells that contains both prospective neuroectoderm and Spemann organizer precursor cells. Both centers are downstream of the early β-Catenin signal. Molecular analyses demonstrated that the BCNE center was distinct from the Nieuwkoop center, and that the Nieuwkoop center expressed the secreted protein Cerberus (Cer). We found that explanted blastula dorsal animal cap cells that have not yet contacted a mesodermal substratum can, when cultured in saline solution, express definitive neural markers and differentiate histologically into CNS tissue. Transplantation experiments showed that the BCNE region was required for brain formation, even though it lacked CNS-inducing activity when transplanted ventrally. Cell-lineage studies demonstrated that BCNE cells give rise to a large part of the brain and retina and, in more posterior regions of the embryo, to floor plate and notochord. Loss-of-function experiments with antisense morpholino oligos (MO) showed that the CNS that forms in mesoderm-less Xenopus embryos (generated by injection with Cerberus-Short [CerS] mRNA) required Chordin (Chd), Noggin (Nog), and their upstream regulator β-Catenin. When mesoderm involution was prevented in dorsal marginal-zone explants, the anterior neural tissue formed in ectoderm was derived from BCNE cells and had a complete requirement for Chd. By injecting Chd morpholino oligos (Chd-MO) into prospective neuroectoderm and Cerberus morpholino oligos (Cer-MO) into prospective endomesoderm at the 8-cell stage, we showed that both layers cooperate in CNS formation. The results suggest a model for neural induction in Xenopus in which an early blastula β-Catenin signal predisposes the prospective neuroectoderm to neural induction by endomesodermal signals emanating from Spemann's organizer

Development of a system for the assessment of a dual-task performance based on a motion-capture device

The authors produced a dual task (DT) that provided a dynamic balance task and a cognitive task in a game system using motion sensors and virtual images. There had been no DT where a cognitive task needs a dynamic balance task that requires full-body motions. We developed and evaluated a game system to assess the performance of the DT. The DT was to solve a Sudoku puzzle using full-body motions like Tái Chi. An ability to perform a DT is intimately related to risk of falls. To evaluate the developed system, we compared the performance of elderly people and young people. Generally, elderly people are at a higher risk of falls. Twenty elderly community-dwelling adults (mean age, 73.0±6.2 years) and 16 young adults (mean age, 21.8±1.0 years) participated in this study. To compare the two groups, we applied an independent-samples t-test. The time taken for the elderly people was 60.6±43.2 s, whereas the time taken for the young people was 16.0±4.8 s. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). This result suggests that the developed game system is useful for the evaluation of the DT performance

Optical resolution via catalytic generation of chiral auxiliary

A new catalytic method for separating enantiomers of racemic compounds is proposed. Catalytic asymmetric addition of chiral trans-2-substituted cyclohexanols to imines provided diastereomeric mixtures of aminals, and the subsequent separation of the enantiomers by silicagel column chromatography and the hydrolysis of the aminals produced the alcohols in an optically active form

Desymmetrization of acid anhydride with asymmetric esterification catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid

Asymmetric desymmetrization of σ-symmetric acid anhydrides was achieved with chiral phosphoric acid as a Brønsted acid catalyst. The key of success was finding of benzhydrol and 2,2-diphenylethanol as the nucleophiles of choice. The corresponding half esters were obtained in good yields with high selectivity

A CG Generation Method of Wash Drawing

The opportunity of process the image increases, the research on generating the image like the painting became on important in recent years. Generally individual image blog shape contents open to the public chance is increase. In the painting, the drawing in ink and wash has the feature with a framing of the outline of the Iras key of G and an especially light color. Generally, it is a technique for coloring in the watercolor with a high transparency after it sketches with the pencil etc. and the brush. The outline of the image is extracted to reproduce this technique, and the stroke of the brush is reproduced. Coloring segments the area according to the inclination, and smoothes the inside.2009 International Conference on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS) : Fukuoka, Japan, 2009.03.16-2009.03.1

Stability of existing bridges improved by structural integration and nailing

AbstractTo examine whether and how the seismic stability of existing bridges can be substantially improved by integrating the girder, the abutments and the backfill, a series of shaking table tests were performed in 1 g. The tested small bridge models are (1) a conventional-type comprising a girder, supported by a pair of gravity-type abutments (without pile foundation) via bearings (fixed and movable), and unreinforced backfill, (2) the girder and the abutments of the above are integrated (without using bearings), (3) the backfill of the above is reinforced with two layers of large-diameter nails connected to the abutment top and the toe or the heel of the abutment footing and (4) the bottom nails of the above are replaced with longer ones connected to the toe of the abutment footing. Their dynamic behavior was analyzed as a damped single-degree-of-freedom system. The dynamic stability of the bridge was found to increase with an increase in (i) the dynamic strength against the response acceleration, (ii) the initial stiffness, (iii) the dynamic ductility (i.e., a smaller decreasing rate of stiffness during dynamic loading) and (iv) the damping ratio. When factors (ii) and (iii) are high enough, the natural frequency of a bridge can be kept much higher than the input frequency, and thus, the response acceleration can be kept low. All these factors can be improved by integrating the girder, the abutments and the backfill together with part of the supporting ground. In a series of static model tests, lateral cyclic displacements, caused by the seasonal thermal deformation of the girders with prototypes, were applied to the top of a small abutment model. The active failure in the backfill and the detrimental effects of large passive pressure, both developing due to the dual ratchet mechanism, can be effectively restrained by reinforcing the backfill and supporting the ground with nails connected to the top and the bottom of the abutments

Consistently low levels of histidine-rich glycoprotein as a new prognostic biomarker for sepsis: A multicenter prospective observational study

Background Few sepsis biomarkers accurately predict severity and mortality. Previously, we had reported that first-day histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) levels were significantly lower in patients with sepsis and were associated with mortality. Since the time trends of HRG are unknown, this study focused on the time course of HRG in patients with sepsis and evaluated the differences between survivors and non-survivors. Methods A multicenter prospective observational study was conducted involving 200 patients with sepsis in 16 Japanese hospitals. Blood samples were collected on days 1, 3, 5, and 7, and 28-day mortality was used for survival analysis. Plasma HRG levels were determined using a modified quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results First-day HRG levels in non-survivors were significantly lower than those in survivors (mean, 15.7 [95% confidence interval (CI), 13.4-18.1] vs 20.7 [19.5-21.9] mu g/mL; P = 0.006). Although there was no time x survivors/non-survivors interaction in the time courses of HRG (P = 0.34), the main effect of generalized linear mixed models was significant (P Conclusions HRG levels in non-survivors were consistently lower than those in survivors during the first seven days of sepsis. Repeatedly measured HRG levels were significantly associated with mortality. Furthermore, the predictive power of HRG for mortality may be superior to that of other singular biomarkers, including presepsin, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein