Broccoli consumption and chronic atrophic gastritis among Japanese males: an epidemiological investigation.

Previous in vitro and animal experiments have shown that sulforaphane, which is abundant in broccoli, inhibits Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and blocks gastric tumor formation. This suggests that broccoli consumption prevents chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) introduced by H. pylori infection and, therefore, gastric cancer. For an epidemiological investigation of the relationship between the broccoli consumption and CAG, a cross-sectional study of 438 male employees, aged 39 to 60 years, of a Japanese steel company was conducted. CAG was serologically determined with serum cut-off values set at pepsinogen I &#60; or = 70 ng/ml and a ratio of serum pepsinogen I/pepsinogen II &#60; or = 3.0. Broccoli consumption (weekly frequency) and diet were monitored by using a 31-item food frequency questionnaire. The prevalence of CAG among men who ate broccoli once or more weekly was twice as high as that among men who consumed a negligible amount (P &#60; 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that broccoli consumption once or more weekly significantly increased the risk for CAG (odds ratio, 3.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-8.38; P &#60; 0.05), after controlling for age, education, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption. The present study failed to show an expected association between frequent broccoli consumption and a low prevalence of CAG.</p

Diffusion mechanism of sodium ions in compacted montmorillonite under different NaCl concentration

Compacted bentonite, the major mineral being montmorillonite, is a candidate buffer material for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The diffusion behavior of radionuclides in the compacted montmorillonite is an important issue to be clarified for the safety assessment of geological disposal. In this study, one-dimensional, non-steady diffusion experiments using 22Na at different diffusion temperatures and the measurement of the basal spacings by XRD were conducted for Na-montmorillonite saturated with NaCl solutions of different concentrations. Some basal spacings of the montmorillonite were found to decrease from 1.88 to 1.56 nm as the NaCl concentration increased from 0 to 0.1 M. The apparent self-diffusion coefficients at 298 K obtained in this study slightly increased as the NaCl concentration increased from 0 to 0.5 M, while the activation energies, calculated from the temperature dependences of the diffusion coefficients, were found to be 14, 22, and 17 kJ mol^[-1] at NaCl concentrations of 0, 0.1, and 0.5 M, respectively. These NaCl concentration dependences of the diffusion coefficients and their activation energies can be explained by assuming three independent diffusion processes (diffusion in pore water, on external surface of montmorillonite, and in interlayer of montmorillonite)

Effects of water-to-cement ratio and temperature on diffusion of water in hardened cement pastes

Apparent diffusion coefficients (D-a) of water and activation energies (E-a) of diffusion in hardened cement pastes (HCPs) were determined as a function of water-to-cement (w/c) ratio (0.36-0.60) and temperature (293-323K) using HTO and (H2O)-O-18 as tracers. The values of D-a and E-a ranged from 1.1x10(-11) to 1.7x10(-10) m(2) s(-1) and from 21.5 to 31.3 kJ mol(-1), respectively. No significant difference between the D-a values of HTO and (H2O)-O-18 suggests that water predominantly diffuses as H2O molecule and dissociation of water is not significant even at high pH range in HCP. The values of E-a at low w/c ratio were higher than in bulk liquid water, suggesting a contribution of a different water regime, such as supercooled bulk water. Two simple models consisting of capillary and gel pores were considered to estimate the volume ratio of gel pores to total pores by optimizing the model to fit with the experimental data. The result suggests that HCP has a pore network mostly consisting of capillary pores with some very narrow pores plugged with hydrates, where HTO must diffuse through gel pores. This view of the HCP pore network was made available through analysis of E-a values

Activation Energy for Diffusion of Helium in Water-Saturated, Compacted Na-Montmorillonite

It is important to clarify the migration behavior of hydrogen gas dissolved in water-saturated, compacted bentonite, which is a promising material for geologic disposal of high-level waste and TRU waste disposal. The diffusion coefficients of helium, which can be detected under extremely low background conditions, in water-saturated, compacted Na-montmorillonite were determined as a function of temperature by a transient diffusion method. The activation energies for diffusion of helium were then obtained. The activation energies were from 6.9 ± 4.8 to 19 ± 2.8 kJ mol^-1 and were regarded to be independent of dry density. The activation energies of helium in water-saturated Na-montmorillonite were roughly equal to those in bulk water, 14.9 kJ mol^-1, and in ice, from 11 to 13 kJ mol^-1. It is possible that helium diffuses not only in pore water but also in interlayer water