Polydactyly of the Foot Diagnosed from a Minor Nail Problem

Polydactyly is one of the most common foot congenital anomalies. It is often detected immediately after birth, but the diagnosis can sometimes be delayed if the symptoms are less evident. A 2-year-old girl with a complaint of recurrent bleeding from the right toenail was diagnosed with foot polydactyly. She underwent corrective surgery, and her family was satisfied with the outcome. Although the diagnosis of polydactyly may be difficult in cases with minor nail problems, further radiographic evaluation will be needed for the improvement of the patient’s quality of life

Neutron Biological Effects Research at NIRS

The fifth Japan-France Workshop on Radiobiology and Medical Imagin

Postnatal Changes in Mice Exposed In Utero to Fast Neutrons

Exposure to radiation during brain development stage cause microcephaly or mental retardation. Although X- and gamma-rays induced cerebral hypoplasia in rodents has been well characterized, little is known about such effects of neutrons. To examine the effects of prenatal exposure to neutrons on the brain and other organs development, B6C3F1 mice both sexes were irradiated with fast neutrons (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1Gy) or gamma-rays (0.8, 1.5Gy) at embryonic day 13.5, and the animals were examined histopathologically 56 days after birth. Both types of radiation mainly caused hypoplasia of the cerebral cortex and lowered brain absolute weight. No sex differences were seen. These changes were remarkable in each highest dose group. The weight loss of the brain was noted at the lowest dose group of neutrons. In addition, the weight loss of the thymus, atrophy of the seminiferous tubules, and a decrease in follicles of the ovary were also noted in the higher dose groups of neutrons and gamma-rays. The degrees of these changes were larger for neutrons

Synthesis and Fluorescence of 2-pyrone Derivatives for Electroluminescence Devices(SPECIAL ISSUE CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF ESTABLISHMENT OF FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES)

A convenient method of synthesizing 6-aryl- and 6-styryl-4-methylsulfanyl-2-oxo-2H-pyran derivatives through the reactions of various active methylene compounds with ketene dithioacetals and investigation of the fluorescence of the products in the solid state are described. The structure-activity relationships of various 2-pyrone derivatives and the effects of different aryl and styryl substituents on the aryl group were clarified. Materials which are strongly fluorescent in the primary colors (red, green, and blue) are the most important materials in the field of organic electroluminescence (EL). The 2-pyrone derivatives synthesized in this work emitted light at 447～620 nm in the solid state