Inferior oblique muscle thickness in Asians

The purpose of this study was to examine the inferior oblique muscle (IOM) thickness in Asians by the quasi-sagittal plane of the orbits. Specimens were examined from 23 orbits of 18 Asians (9 orbits in males, 14 in females), aged 63 to 97 years at death. All specimens were fixed in 10% buffered formalin before use. The orbital contents were incised parallel to the optic nerve, after which the lengths of both short and long axes of the IOM were measured and the ratio of short to long axes was calculated. The mean lengths of each short or long axis of the IOM were 2.27 ± 0.49 mm and 7.23 ± 0.97 mm, respectively. The average ratio was 0.32 ± 0.07. There were no significant differences in laterality or gender. This study determined the normal IOM thickness in Asian cadavers, the outcome of which could be useful for detection of IOM involvement in Graves’ orbitopathy

Course of the vertical portion of the lower lacrimal canaliculus

The nomenclature of each part of the lacrimal canaliculus, for example the vertical portion, does not always reflect the true course. Since we have sometimes observed findings suggesting the so called vertical portion of the lower lacrimal canaliculus inclined laterally, we re-examined the course of the vertical portion. Twenty-eight postmortem lower eyelids in 16 Japanese were examined and divided into 2 groups. The first group was 14 lower eyelids of 7 cadavers. Eyelids were incised sagittally from the lower lacrimal punctum. The second group was 14 lower eyelids of 9 cadavers; these were incised from the lower lacrimal punctum with 5 degrees lateral inclination to the sagittal plane. In the first group, 10 canaliculi of 7 cadavers were interrupted at the halfway point of the vertical portion. Four canaliculi of 4 cadavers included the whole length of the vertical portion. In the second group, all specimens included the whole length of the vertical portion. Most vertical portions of the lower lacrimal canaliculus demonstrated a laterally inclined course of approximately 5 degrees, although some took a completely vertical course

Discriminating the Progenitor Type of Supernova Remnants with Iron K-Shell Emission

Supernova remnants (SNRs) retain crucial information about both their parent explosion and circumstellar material left behind by their progenitor. However, the complexity of the interaction between supernova ejecta and ambient medium often blurs this information, and it is not uncommon for the basic progenitor type (Ia or core-collapse) of well-studied remnants to remain uncertain. Here we present a powerful new observational diagnostic to discriminate between progenitor types and constrain the ambient medium density of SNRs solely using Fe K-shell X-ray emission. We analyze all extant Suzaku observations of SNRs and detect Fe K alpha emission from 23 young or middle-aged remnants, including five first detections (IC 443, G292.0+1.8, G337.2-0.7, N49, and N63A). The Fe K alpha centroids clearly separate progenitor types, with the Fe-rich ejecta in Type Ia remnants being significantly less ionized than in core-collapse SNRs. Within each progenitor group, the Fe K alpha luminosity and centroid are well correlated, with more luminous objects having more highly ionized Fe. Our results indicate that there is a strong connection between explosion type and ambient medium density, and suggest that Type Ia supernova progenitors do not substantially modify their surroundings at radii of up to several parsecs. We also detect a K-shell radiative recombination continuum of Fe in W49B and IC 443, implying a strong circumstellar interaction in the early evolutionary phases of these core-collapse remnants.Comment: Accepted by ApJL; 5 pages with just 1 table and 1 figur

Selective separation of arsenic species from aqueous solutions with immobilized macrocyclic material containing solid phase extraction columns

金沢大学理工研究域物質化学系A combination of solid phase extraction (SPE) columns was used for selective separation of water-soluble arsenic species: arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA). The SPE columns, namely AnaLig TE-01 (TE-01), AnaLig AN-01 Si (AN-01) and AnaLig As-01 PA (As-01), contain immobilized macrocyclic material as the sorbent and commonly known as molecular recognition technology (MRT) gel. The retention, extraction and recovery behavior of the MRT gel SPE columns were studied at pH 4-10. Fortified deionized water spiked with 100μM of arsenic species were treated at the flow rate of 0.2mLmin-1. HNO3 (1.0 and 6.0M) was used as eluent to recover the retained arsenic species from TE-01 and AN-01 SPE columns. Arsenic species retained in the As-01 column were eluted with HNO3 (0.1M) followed by NaOH (2.0M). Likely interference from the various coexisting ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, NO3-, CH3COO-, PO43-, SO42-, ClO4-) (10mM) were negligible. Quantitative separation of As(III), As(V), MMA and DMA was achieved based on the differences in extraction and recovery behavior of the MRT gel SPE columns with pH for different arsenic species. Complexation between arsenic species and MRT gel is the core phenomenon of the proposed technique as the complexation of MRT gels is expected to be stronger than the resin-based separation processes. MRT gel SPE columns are advantageous as compared with other reported SPE columns in terms of its performance with As(III). Effortless regeneration and unaltered separation performance of the sorbent materials for more than 100 loading and elution cycles are other sturdy characteristics to consider the MRT gel SPE columns for sensitive and selective arsenic species separation. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd