Application of chitosan functionalized with 3,4-dihydroxy benzoic acid moiety for on-line preconcentration and determination of trace elements in water samples

Chitosan resin functionalized with 3,4-dihydroxy benzoic acid (CCTS-DHBA resin) was used as a packing material for flow injection (FI) on-line mini-column preconcentration in combination with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) for the determination of trace elements such as silver, bismuth, copper, gallium, indium, molybdenum, nickel, uranium, and vanadium in environmental waters. A 5-mL aliquot of sample (pH 5.5) was introduced to the minicolumn for the adsorption/preconcentration of the metal ions, and the collected analytes on the mini-column were eluted with 2 M HNO3, and the eluates was subsequently transported via direct injection to the nebulizer of ICP-AES for quantification. The parameters affecting on the sensitivity, such as sample pH, sample flow rate, eluent concentration, and eluent flow rate, were carefully examined. Alkali and alkaline earth metal ions commonly existing in river water and seawater did not affect the analysis of metals. Under the optimum conditions, the method allowed the determination of metal ions with detection limits of 0.08 ng mL(-1) (Ag), 0.9 ng mL(-1) (Bi), 0.07 ng mL(-1) (Cu), 0.9 ng mL(-1) (Ga), 0.9 ng mL(-1) (In), 0.08 ng mL(-1) (Mo), 0.09 ng mL(-1) (Ni), 0.9 ng mL(-1) (U), and 0.08 ng mL(-1) (V). By using 5 mL of sample solution, the enrichment factor and collection efficiency were 8-12 fold and 96-102%, respectively, whereas the sample throughput was 7 samples/hour. The method was validated by determining metal ions in certified reference material of river water (SLRS-4) and nearshore seawater (CASS-4), and its applicability was further demonstrated to river water and seawater samples.</p

Gender differences in dietary behaviors among Japanese adolescents

Unhealthy dietary behaviors in adolescence are an important public health problem. Gender differences in dietary behaviors have already appeared during adolescence. However, few studies have assessed a variety of adolescent dietary behaviors in Japan. We aimed to clarify gender differences in unhealthy dietary behaviors among Japanese adolescents. The participants consisted of 84,988 participants from seventh to 12th grades. Unhealthy dietary behaviors were defined according to the National Health and Nutrition Survey. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze a nationally representative sample of Japanese adolescents from the 2014 to 2015 Lifestyle Survey. The effective response rate was 51.4%. The prevalence of unhealthy dietary behaviors (skipping breakfast, snacking, eating out, skipping meals, eating alone at dinner, and subjectively poor diet quality) among boys and girls was 14.2% versus 12.4%, 19.6% versus 14.1%, 10.6% versus 7.0%, 7.9% versus 5.6%, 13.3% versus 12.1%, and 12.3% versus 15.8%, respectively. Compared with boys, girls were more negatively associated with skipping breakfast [OR = 0.76 (95% CI 0.73–0.79)], snacking [OR = 0.67 (95% CI 0.65–0.70)], eating out [OR = 0.62 (95% CI 0.59–0.66)], skipping meals [OR = 0.61 (95% CI 0.58–0.65)], and eating alone at dinner [OR = 0.79 (95% CI 0.76–0.83)]. However, girls were more positively associated with subjectively poor diet quality [OR = 1.19 (95% CI 1.14.1.24)]. The findings suggest that gender differences existed in dietary behaviors. Gender differences in dietary behaviors suggest opportunities for tailoring interventions related to dietary education in schools

Performance of segment type switched reluctance motor using grain-oriented

Authors developed a segment type switched reluctance motor (SRM) as a rare earth less motor. The object is to reduce the acoustic noise and vibration as well as improve the torque characteristics. In this paper, we propose the performance improve method using grain-oriented electric steel as the segment core. The validity is confirmed experimentally.15th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems, ICEMS 2012; Sapporo; Japan; 21 October 2012 ～ 24 October 201

On the Number of Discrete Eigenvalues of a Discrete Schrödinger Operator with a Finitely Supported Potential

On the d-dimensional lattice (Formula presented.) and the r-regular tree (Formula presented.), an exact expression for the number of discrete eigenvalues of a discrete Laplacian with a finitely supported potential is described in terms of the support and the intensities of the potential on each case. In particular, the number of eigenvalues less than the infimum of the essential spectrum is bounded by the number of negative intensities. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media DordrechtEmbargo Period 12 month

Simultaneous staining of Ki-67 and chromosome 8 in invasive ductal carcinoma: association with prognosis

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate an approach that uses simultaneous staining to estimate malignant potential. This approach combines immunofluorescence (IF) staining for Ki-67 expression with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for copy number aberrations (CNA) of chromosome 8 in breast cancer cells.Methods: In 50 specimens of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), we examined a method that simultaneously combined immunostaining (Ki-67) and FISH with a chromosome 8 centromere-specific probe. Breast cancer cells were classified into Group 1, Ki-67 positive and chromosomal aberrant; Group 2, Ki-67 negative and chromosomal aberrant; Group 3, Ki-67 positive and chromosomal wild; Group 4, Ki-67 negative and chromosomal wild.Results: The frequency of Group 1 was significantly associated with nodal metastasis (p<0.05) and patient prognosis (p<0.05); however, it was not associated with age, tumor size, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, or histological type. Furthermore, Group 1-positive cases showed a significantly worse prognosis, as shown by the Kaplan-Meier method.Conclusions: We successfully stained for Ki-67 expression and CNA of chromosome 8 in breast tumor sections (n=50). This approach indicated that Ki-67-positive cells with aberrant chromosome 8 were associated with malignant potential in IDC