Dynamic Behavior of Foundations (Studies on the Failure and the Settlement of Foundations)

In this paper, studies on certain dynamic behavior concerning various kinds of foundation and a device of vibration measuring are reported in four separate sections. The first section is a theoretical research on the consolidation settlement of a clayey ground, assuming the clay constitution to be a visco-elastic body constructed of an elastic element and a Voigt element in series. Though this assumption is adopted to solve the secondary time effect, sufficient experiments to examine this assumption are still left to the future. So this report can be described chiefly as a mathematical solution of the onedimmensional consolidation of a clayey foundation due to such an oscillating load applied on the boundary as the periodical change of ground water pressure, machine vibration etc. The second section is an experimental study on the gravel layer placed on the surface of the soft ground. The purpose of this study is to get some engineering information for designing such a gravel layer. One of the most important problems of the gravel layer lies in the railroad ballast bed, which is subjected to a heavy dynamic traffic load, especially in the case of the narrow gauge. The remarkable point which is cleared by this experiments is that the modulus of the ballast bed by the dynamic load varies with the vibration amplitude and differs from that by the static load. The third section is a study on the free vibration of the foundation pile, which is an important element in earthquake-proof construction. In this section a newly devised method for numerical solution is introduced. With this method it is possible not only to calculate the eigenfrequency of the foundation pile subjected to any form of soil reaction pressure but also to solve general eigenvalue problems. Results by this method are checked with the rigorous solution and applied to the investigation of the field experiment of a reinforced concrete pile. In the experiment, the pile supports no vertical load, but the numerical solution may be developed to solve an actual foundation pile loaded with a heavy structure. The fourth section is a report on an accelerometer made on trial to measure the low frequency vibration (5-50 c. p. s.) expected on the measurement in soil. This accelerometer is made with a small cantilever of a barium titanate ceramic bar as a vibration transducer, and has many merits such as good sensitivity, flat characteristics, small volume, same unit weight with soils and cheap cost. After amplified, the excited piezoelectricity is recorded electro-optically by a galvanometer on bromide paper. With this accelerometer, the vibration displacement may be obtained by integrating the record of acceleration using a suitable integraph

Low-Dose-Rate Irradiation Suppresses the Expression of Cell Cycle-Related Genes, Resulting in Modification of Sensitivity to Anti-Cancer Drugs

The biological effects of low-dose-rate (LDR) radiation exposure in nuclear power plant accidents and medical uses of ionizing radiation (IR), although being a social concern, remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the effects of LDR-IR on global gene expression in human cells and aimed to clarify the mechanisms. RNA-seq analyses demonstrated that relatively low dose rates of IR modify gene expression levels in TIG-3 cells under normoxic conditions, but those effects were attenuated under hypoxia-mimicking conditions. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that LDR-IR significantly decreased gene expression related to cell division, cell cycle, mitosis, and the Aurora kinase B and FOXM1 pathways. Quantitative RT-PCR confirmed the down-regulation of AURKB and FOXM1 genes in TIG-3 cells with LDR-IR or hypoxia-mimicking treatments without any dose-rate effect. Knock-down experiments suggested that HIF-1α and HIF-2α, as well as DEC1, participated in down-regulation of AURKB and FOXM1 under DFOM treatments, but to a lesser extent under LDR-IR treatment. FACS and microscopic analyses demonstrated that LDR-IR induced G0/G1 arrest and increased micronucleus or chromosome condensation. Finally, MTT assays demonstrated that LDR-IR decreased sensitivity to paclitaxel or barasertib in TIG-3 cells but not in A549 cells. In conclusion, LDR-IR modifies global gene expression and cell cycle control, resulting in a reduction of sensitivity to anti-cancer chemotherapy in non-cancer cells and thus a reduction in untoward effects (GA)

UCHL1 provides diagnostic and antimetastatic strategies due to its deubiquitinating effect on HIF-1α

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays a role in tumour metastases; however, the genes that activate HIF-1 and subsequently promote metastases have yet to be identified. Here we show that ​Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (​UCHL1) abrogates the ​von Hippel–Lindau-mediated ubiquitination of ​HIF-1α, the regulatory subunit of HIF-1, and consequently promotes metastasis. The aberrant overexpression of ​UCHL1 facilitates distant tumour metastases in a HIF-1-dependent manner in murine models of pulmonary metastasis. Meanwhile, blockade of the ​UCHL1–HIF-1 axis suppresses the formation of metastatic tumours. The expression levels of ​UCHL1 correlate with those of ​HIF-1α and are strongly associated with the poor prognosis of breast and lung cancer patients. These results indicate that ​UCHL1 promotes metastases as a deubiquitinating enzyme for ​HIF-1α, which justifies exploiting it as a prognostic marker and therapeutic target of cancers