Epitaxially stabilized iridium spinel oxide without cations in the tetrahedral site

Single-crystalline thin film of an iridium dioxide polymorph Ir2O4 has been fabricated by the pulsed laser deposition of LixIr2O4 precursor and the subsequent Li-deintercalation using soft chemistry. Ir2O4 crystallizes in a spinel (AB2O4) without A cations in the tetrahedral site, which is isostructural to lambda-MnO2. Ir ions form a pyrochlore sublattice, which is known to give rise to a strong geometrical frustration. This Ir spinel was found to be a narrow gap insulator, in remarkable contrast to the metallic ground state of rutile-type IrO2. We argue that an interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling and a Coulomb repulsion gives rise to an insulating ground state as in a layered perovskite Sr2IrO4.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Retropharyngeal hematoma presenting airway obstruction: A case report

Introduction Blunt neck trauma patients can suffer from an airway emergency and are necessary to careful observation. Presentation of case A 79-year-old man under anticoagulation therapy presented to our hospital three hours after a fall. Shortly after arrival, he developed dyspnea. Oral intubation was attempted, but with no success; therefore, an emergency tracheotomy was performed. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and subsequent angiography revealed active bleeding from a branch of the right ascending cervical artery. Subsequently, the right thyrocervical trunk, which is upstream from the ascending cervical artery, was embolized and hemostasis was achieved. He was discharged 52 days after the emergency admission. Discussion This is the first case report of an ascending cervical artery injury due to blunt trauma that resulted in an airway emergency. Contrast-enhanced CT and cervical angiography are useful for confirming the area of injury and size of the hematoma. Half of patients with respiratory distress accompanied by a cervical spine injury require definitive airway management within five hours of the injury and all by 24 h. Neck trauma can lead to fatal airway obstruction and careful monitoring is warranted to detect any signs of impeding respiratory obstruction. Conclusion All emergency physicians need to keep their airway management skills updated in order to perform reliably and rapidly in difficult and urgent situations

Quantitative environmental DNA metabarcoding shows high potential as a novel approach to quantitatively assess fish community

水に含まれる環境DNAから「どんな魚」が「どれだけいるか」を同時に推定 --定量的な魚類群集モニタリングを容易に実現--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-01-20.The simultaneous conservation of species richness and evenness is important to effectively reduce biodiversity loss and keep ecosystem health. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has been used as a powerful tool for identifying community composition, but it does not necessarily provide quantitative information due to several methodological limitations. Thus, the quantification of eDNA through metabarcoding is an important frontier of eDNA-based biomonitoring. Particularly, the qMiSeq approach has recently been developed as a quantitative metabarcoding method and has attracted much attention due to its usefulness. The aim here was to evaluate the performance of the qMiSeq approach as a quantitative monitoring tool for fish communities by comparing the quantified eDNA concentrations with the results of fish capture surveys. The eDNA water sampling and the capture surveys using the electrical shocker were conducted at a total of 21 sites in four rivers in Japan. As a result, we found significant positive relationships between the eDNA concentrations of each species quantified by qMiSeq and both the abundance and biomass of each captured taxon at each site. Furthermore, for seven out of eleven taxa, a significant positive relationship was observed between quantified DNA concentrations by sample and the abundance and/or biomass. In total, our results demonstrated that eDNA metabarcoding with the qMiSeq approach is a suitable and useful tool for quantitative monitoring of fish communities. Due to the simplicity of the eDNA analysis, the eDNA metabarcoding with qMiSeq approach would promote further growth of quantitative monitoring of biodiversity

Facile Photo-Oxidation of Alcohols by a Flavin with a Metal-Chelation Site

A new flavin molecule with a metal-chelation site has been applied to photo-oxidation of alcohols: it is 2, 4, 7-trimethyl-10-benzylquino [8, 7-g] pteridine-9, 11 (7H, 10H) -dione (1) which has both an isoalloxazine structure and a phenathroline-like structure within a molecule. In contrast to conventional flavins which do not exhibit any measurable affinity toward redox-inactive transition metal ions, 1 formed stable complexes with most heavy metal ions in acetonitrile probably by means of a flavin → metal charge transfer. Photooxidation of alcohols by 1 was efficiently accelerated in the presence of Mg(II) and Zn(II), the k1 (pseudo-first-order rate constant) being greater by 5.1-7l fold than those in the absence of metal ions. Such a marked rate increase was not observed for 3-methyl-10-ethylisoalloxazine used as a reference flavin. The aerobic photo-oxidation of benzyl alcohol by the 1・Zn(II) complex served as a light-mediated recycle oxidation catalyst. These results indicate that the flavin with a metal-chelation site is not only useful synthetically as a recycle-type oxidation catalyst but also capable of mimicking the flavin-metal interactions important in metalloflavoproteins

Clinical evaluation of presepsin considering renal function

Presepsin, a glycoprotein produced during bacterial phagocytosis, is used as a sepsis marker for bacterial infections. However, presepsin levels are affected by renal function, and the evaluation criteria according to kidney function or in chronic kidney diseases remain controversial. Furthermore, presepsin may be increased by sample stirring, but no studies have evaluated this effect.In this study, we excluded the effect of stirring by standardizing the blood collection conditions, analyzed the influence of kidney function on presepsin concentrations, and recalculated the reference range based on the findings. EDTA-whole blood from 47 healthy subjects and 85 patients with chronic kidney disease was collected to measure presepsin by PATHFAST. Presepsin was found to be significantly correlated with the levels of creatinine (r = 0.834), eGFRcreat (r = 0.837), cystatin-C (r = 0.845), and eGFRcys (r = 0.879). Furthermore, in patients with CKD, presepsin levels stratified by eGFRcys showed a significant increase in the CKD G2 patient group and with advancing glomerular filtration rate stage. The following values were obtained: Normal: 97.6 ± 27.4 pg/mL, CKD G1: 100.2 ± 27.6 pg/mL, CKD G2: 129.7 ± 40.7 pg/mL, CKD G3: 208.1 ± 70.2 pg/mL, CKD G4: 320.2 ± 170.1 pg/mL, CKD G5: 712.8 ± 336.3 pg/mL. The reference range, calculated by a nonparametric method using 67 cases of healthy volunteers and patients with chronic kidney disease G1, was found to be 59–153 pg/mL, which was notably lower than the standard reference range currently used. Presepsin concentrations were positively correlated with a few biomarkers of renal function, indicating the necessity to consider the effect of renal function in patients with renal impairment. Using the recalculated reference range considering kidney function may improve the accuracy of evaluating presepsin for diagnosis of sepsis compared to the standard reference currently in use

An Anti-apoptotic Role of NF-κB in TNFα-induced Apoptosis in an Ameloblastoma Cell Line

AbstractNuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is involved in the promotion of cell survival in a variety of cell types. The present study focused on the role of NF-κB in TNFα-induced apoptosis in an ameloblastoma. Immunohistochemical staining revealed p65 NF-κB protein to be expressed in ameloblastoma tissues. Furthermore, immunoblotting and immunocytochemistry analyses showed that the stimulation of TNFα in an ameloblastoma cell line (AM-1) induced p65 NF-κB translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, indicating NF-κB activation. These findings were confirmed by an NF-κB luciferase reporter assay, which detected enhanced NF-κB transcription activity of AM-1 cells by TNFα stimulation. Moreover, pretreatment with SN50, a nuclear translocation inhibitor, prior to TNFα stimulation, effectively inhibited TNFα-induced NF-κB activation in AM-1 cells. In order to reveal the role of NF-κB activation during TNFα-induced apoptosis in AM-1 cells, an apoptosis assay was performed, and showed that the potential of TNFα in inducing apoptosis in AM-1 cells was significantly elevated by inhibiting the NF-κB activation. These results suggest that NF-κB plays an anti-apoptotic role in TNFα-induced apoptosis in AM-1 cells

The Mikabu and Chichibu belts in the Iya-gawa area, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku, SW Japan : An integrated research of geology and geomorphology

The Mikabu and Chichibu belts in the Iya-gawa area are studied with respect to their composition, boundaries and the relation with landslides. The Kyobashira-Sugeoi Fault bound the Mikabu Greenstone Belt from the Sambagawa Belt. The Kubo Greenstone body, a part of the Mikabu Greenstone, distributes as an axial part of antiform in the southern margin of the Sambagawa Belt. The Mikabu Greenstone of the area is composed of tholeiitic and alkaline rocks. The Mikabu Greenstone thrust to the south with the Okoyatoko-Nagoro Fault upon the Jurassic accretionary complex of the North Chichibu Belt. Even the phillite generally dipping towards the north in the northern part of the North Chichibu Belt, the oceanic-plate successions of chert-mudstone sequences are stratigraphically upper towards the south. The radiolarian age, estimated at the lithological transition from chert to mudstone in the oceanic-plate sequences, is Early Jurassic. The landslides concentrate in the areas of the Mikabu Greenstone and valley walls along the Iya-gawa River. The linear depressions and ponds, arrange on the mountain ridge between the Miune and Tengu-Zuka along the southern border of the Mikabu Greenstone, are regarded as a sign of large-scale collapse by long-period gravitational mass rock deformation of the mountain body. The weathered zone of the Mikabu Greenstone often includes swelling clay that causes landslides in the area

地域経営学におけるPBL教育のフレームワーク -福知山公立大学での教育実践をもとに-

福知山公立大学では、地域社会の課題解決を主眼とした地域経営学の学問的な構築とそ れに基づく教育手法の確立に向け、様々な挑戦を行っている。本稿では、地域経営学分野に おけるいわゆる課題解決型学習（PBL=Problem-BasedLearning)に基づく教育手法につ いて、先行研究レビューに基づきながら理論的な枠組み（フレームワーク）の構築を試みた。 本稿では、実際に大学1年次から3年次までのPBL教育プログラムの試案も作成し、実際 に教育実践してきた結果について簡単な効果検証も行った。今後、この種の教育の理論的枠 組みの構築が更に進展し、同時に実際の教育実践によって厳しく鍛えられ、より有効な手法 が確立されるための布石として、今回の3年間の実践を通じ得られた示唆などをまとめる

Aplastic anemia successfully treated with rituximab: The possible role of aplastic anemia-associated autoantibodies as a marker for response

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系A 1-yr-old Japanese male infant developed hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (AA), and anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine A (CsA) was administered without any appreciable effects. Laboratory examination of the patient\u27s serum obtained before therapy revealed various autoantibodies, such as PA-IgG, anti-platelets, anti-single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), and anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies (Abs) in addition to anti-DRS-1 Abs and anti-moesin Abs, both of which are known to be detectable in approximately 40% of all patients presenting with AA. He was therefore treated with 17.5mg/kg/d rituximab 5.5months after ATG/CsA therapy. The same rituximab therapy was repeated three times once a month thereafter. His neutrophil counts started to increase 50d after the first rituximab therapy and he achieved a complete remission at 16months after the last rituximab administration. All of the autoantibodies including anti-ssDNA, dsDNA, DRS-1, and moesin became undetectable when he attained the remission. Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy may be effective in a subset of patients with AA characterized by the presence of autoantibodies. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S