The time variation of dose rate artificially increased by the Fukushima nuclear crisis

A car-borne survey for dose rate in air was carried out in March and April 2011 along an expressway passing northwest of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station which released radionuclides starting after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, and in an area closer to the Fukushima NPS which is known to have been strongly affected. Dose rates along the expressway, i.e. relatively far from the power station were higher after than before March 11, in some places by several orders of magnitude, implying that there were some additional releases from Fukushima NPS. The maximum dose rate in air within the high level contamination area was 36 μGy h−1, and the estimated maximum cumulative external dose for evacuees who came from Namie Town to evacuation sites (e.g. Fukushima, Koriyama and Nihonmatsu Cities) was 68 mSv. The evacuation is justified from the viewpoint of radiation protection

Malonate Inhibits Virulence Gene Expression in Vibrio cholerae

We previously found that inhibition of the TCA cycle, either through mutations or chemical inhibition, increased toxT transcription in Vibrio cholerae. In this study, we found that the addition of malonate, an inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), decreased toxT transcription in V. cholerae, an observation inconsistent with the previous pattern observed. Unlike another SDH inhibitor, 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTFA), which increased toxT transcription and slightly inhibited V. cholerae growth, malonate inhibited toxT transcription in both the wild-type strain and TCA cycle mutants, suggesting malonate-mediated inhibition of virulence gene expression is independent to TCA cycle activity. Addition of malonate also inhibited ctxB and tcpA expressions but did not affect aphA, aphB, tcpP and toxR expressions. Malonate inhibited cholera toxin (CT) production in both V. cholerae classical biotype strains O395N1 and CA401, and El Tor biotype strain, N16961. Consistent with previous reports, we confirmed that these strains of V. cholerae did not utilize malonate as a primary carbon source. However, we found that the addition of malonate to the growth medium stimulated V. cholerae growth. All together, these results suggest that metabolizing malonate as a nutrient source negatively affects virulence gene expression in V. cholerae

Inhibition of the sodium-translocating NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase [Na⁺-NQR] decreases cholera toxin production in Vibrio cholerae O1 at the late exponential growth phase

Two virulence factors produced by Vibrio cholerae, cholera toxin (CT) and toxin-corregulated pilus (TCP), are indispensable for cholera infection. ToxT is the central regulatory protein involved in activation of CT and TCP expression. We previously reported that lack of a respiration-linked sodium-translocating NADH–ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Na⁺-NQR) significantly increases toxT transcription. In this study, we further characterized this link and found that Na⁺-NQR affects toxT expression only at the early-log growth phase, whereas lack of Na⁺-NQR decreases CT production after the mid-log growth phase. Such decreased CT production was independent of toxT and ctxB transcription. Supplementing a respiratory substrate, L-lactate, into the growth media restored CT production in the nqrA-F mutant, suggesting that decreased CT production in the Na⁺-NQR mutant is dependent on electron transport chain (ETC) activity. This notion was supported by the observations that two chemical inhibitors, a Na⁺-NQR specific inhibitor 2-n-Heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide (HQNO) and a succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) inhibitor, thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTFA), strongly inhibited CT production in both classical and El Tor biotype strains of V. cholerae. Accordingly, we propose the main respiratory enzyme of V. cholerae, as a potential drug target to treat cholera because human mitochondria do not contain Na⁺-NQR orthologs.Keywords: Anti-virulence drug, Electron transport chain, Na⁺-NQR, Vibrio cholerae, Cholera toxinKeywords: Anti-virulence drug, Electron transport chain, Na⁺-NQR, Vibrio cholerae, Cholera toxi

Trends in incidence and mortality of tuberculosis in Japan : a population-based study, 1997–2016

Japan is still a medium-burden tuberculosis (TB) country. We aimed to examine trends in newly notified active TB incidence and TB-related mortality in the last two decades in Japan. This is a population-based study using Japanese Vital Statistics and Japan Tuberculosis Surveillance from 1997 to 2016. We determined active TB incidence and mortality rates (per 100 000 population) by sex, age and disease categories. Joinpoint regression was applied to calculate the annual percentage change (APC) in age-adjusted mortality rates and to identify the years showing significant trend changes. Crude and age-adjusted incidence rates reduced from 33.9 to 13.9 and 37.3 to 11.3 per 100 000 population, respectively. Also, crude and age-adjusted mortality rates reduced from 2.2 to 1.5 and 2.8 to 1.0 per 100 000 population, respectively. Average APC in the incidence and mortality rates showed significant decline both in men (−6.2% and −5.4%, respectively) and women (−5.7% and −4.6%, respectively). Age-specific analysis demonstrated decreases in incidence and mortality rates for every age category, except for the incidence trend in the younger population. Although trends in active TB incidence and mortality rates in Japan have favourably decreased, the rate of decline is far from achieving TB elimination by 2035

Characterisation and categorisation of the diversity in viscoelastic vibrational properties between 98 wood types

International audienceContext Increased knowledge on diversity in wood properties would have implications both for fundamental research and for promoting a diversification of uses as material. *Aims The objective is to contribute to overcoming the critical lack of data on the diversity of wood dynamic mechanical/viscoelastic vibrational properties, by testing lesser-known species and categorizing sources of variability. *Methods Air-dry axial specific dynamic modulus of elasticity (E'/γ) and damping coefficient (tanδ) were measured on a wide sampling (1792 specimens) of 98 wood types from 79 species. An experimental device and protocol was designed for conducting systematic (i.e. rapid and reproducible) characterizations. *Results Diversity at the specimens' level corroborates the "standard" relationship between tanδ and E'/γ, which is discussed in terms of orientation of wood elements and of chemical composition. Diversity at the species level is expressed on the basis of results for normal heartwood, with specific gravity (γ) ranging from 0.2 to 1.3. Axial E'/γ ranges from 9 to 32 GPa and tanδ from 4×10-3 to 19×10-3. Properties distribution follows a continuum, but with group characteristics. The lowest values of tanδ are only found in certain tropical hardwoods. Results can also suggest alternative species for musical instruments making

Rapid Surface Oxidation as a Source of Surface Degradation Factor for Bi2Se3

Bi2Se3 is a topological insulator with metallic surface states residing in a large bulk bandgap. It is believed that Bi2Se3 gets additional n-type doping after exposure to atmosphere, thereby reducing the relative contribution of surface states in total conductivity. In this letter, transport measurements on Bi2Se3 nanoribbons provide additional evidence of such environmental doping process. Systematic surface composition analyses by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal fast formation and continuous growth of native oxide on Bi2Se3 under ambient conditions. In addition to n-type doping at the surface, such surface oxidation is likely the material origin of the degradation of topological surface states. Appropriate surface passivation or encapsulation may be required to probe topological surface states of Bi2Se3 by transport measurements

Quasiparticle interfacial level alignment of highly hybridized frontier levels: H2_2O on TiO2_2(110)

Knowledge of the frontier levels' alignment prior to photo-irradiation is necessary to achieve a complete quantitative description of H$_2$O photocatalysis on TiO$_2$(110). Although H$_2$O on rutile TiO$_2$(110) has been thoroughly studied both experimentally and theoretically, a quantitative value for the energy of the highest H$_2$O occupied levels is still lacking. For experiment, this is due to the H$_2$O levels being obscured by hybridization with TiO$_2$(110) levels in the difference spectra obtained via ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). For theory, this is due to inherent difficulties in properly describing many-body effects at the H$_2$O-TiO$_2$(110) interface. Using the projected density of states (DOS) from state-of-the-art quasiparticle (QP) $G_0W_0$, we disentangle the adsorbate and surface contributions to the complex UPS spectra of H$_2$O on TiO$_2$(110). We perform this separation as a function of H$_2$O coverage and dissociation on stoichiometric and reduced surfaces. Due to hybridization with the TiO$_2$(110) surface, the H$_2$O 3a$_1$ and 1b$_1$ levels are broadened into several peaks between 5 and 1 eV below the TiO$_2$(110) valence band maximum (VBM). These peaks have both intermolecular and interfacial bonding and antibonding character. We find the highest occupied levels of H$_2$O adsorbed intact and dissociated on stoichiometric TiO$_2$(110) are 1.1 and 0.9 eV below the VBM. We also find a similar energy of 1.1 eV for the highest occupied levels of H$_2$O when adsorbed dissociatively on a bridging O vacancy of the reduced surface. In both cases, these energies are significantly higher (by 0.6 to 2.6 eV) than those estimated from UPS difference spectra, which are inconclusive in this energy region. Finally, we apply self-consistent QP$GW$ (scQP$GW$1) to obtain the ionization potential of the H$_2$O-TiO$_2$(110) interface.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl

Observation of Hadronic W Decays in t-tbar Events with the Collider Detector at Fermilab

We observe hadronic W decays in t-tbar -> W (-> l nu) + >= 4 jet events using a 109 pb-1 data sample of p-pbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). A peak in the dijet invariant mass distribution is obtained that is consistent with W decay and inconsistent with the background prediction by 3.3 standard deviations. From this peak we measure the W mass to be 77.2 +- 4.6 (stat+syst) GeV/c^2. This result demonstrates the presence of two W bosons in t-tbar candidates in the W (-> l nu) + >= 4 jet channel.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Search for Chargino-Neutralino Associated Production at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider

We have searched in $p \bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV for events with three charged leptons and missing transverse energy. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, we expect trilepton events from chargino-neutralino (\chione \chitwo) pair production, with subsequent decay into leptons. We observe no candidate $e^+e^-e^\pm$, $e^+e^-\mu^\pm$, $e^\pm\mu^+\mu^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-\mu^\pm$ events in 106 pb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. We present limits on the sum of the branching ratios times cross section for the four channels: \sigma_{\chione\chitwo}\cdot BR(\chione\chitwo\to 3\ell+X) 81.5 \mgev\sp and M_\chitwo > 82.2 \mgev\sp for $\tan\beta=2$, $\mu =-600$~\mgev\sp and M_\squark= M_\gluino.Comment: 9 pages and 3 figure