Effects of Wall Length and Vent on Attaching Jet and Its Switching

The effects of some geometries peculiar to the wallattachment fluidic devices on the attaching jet flow and the switching mechanism were experimentally made clear. And the propriety of the analytical mOdel, which has been used for the theoretical study of these devices, was investigated. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) The existing analytical model of the attaching jet flow is not applicable to the case of relatively short wall length of vent distance. 2) The attaching jet flow never detaches from a sufficiently long side wall with vent. 3) The switching mechanism of the vent type device is always the opposite wall switching. 4) From the viewpoint of the output characteristics of the device, the vent distance has a lower limit in relation to the vent width

Domain distributions in tetragonal Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films probed by polarized Raman spectroscopy

We have investigated polarized Raman spectra of (001)/(100)-oriented tetragonal epitaxial Pb(ZrxTi1–x)O3 (PZT) thin films (x=~0.35) in which the volume fraction of the polar c domain is systematically varied from 4% to 96%. From polarization analyses using high epitaxial quality films, we have successfully isolated the A1 and B1 phonons from the E phonons, thus offering a distinctive evaluation of the c domains. As increasing c-domain volume, the A1(TO) modes linearly increase in their intensity. A remarkable correlation is found between the A1(1TO)-mode intensity and the c-domain volume for PZT films. We suggest that this correlation as well as the A1(1TO)-mode intensity provide a simple and useful probe for characterization of c-domain volume and ferroelectric properties in PZT-based devices

Pueraria mirifica, an estrogenic tropical herb, unveiled the severity of Type 1 LQTS caused by KCNQ1-T587M

After taking an estrogen-containing supplement derived from a tropical plant Pueraria mirifica, a 24-year-old woman presented marked QT prolongation and repetitive torsade de pointes. The patient was found to carry a heterozygous KCNQ1-T587M mutation. This is the first report on Pueraria mirifica-related acquired long QT syndrome

Potential oxygen consumption and community composition of sediment bacteria in a seasonally hypoxic enclosed bay

The dynamics of potential oxygen consumption at the sediment surface in a seasonally hypoxic bay were monitored monthly by applying a tetrazolium dye (2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride [INT]) reduction assay to intact sediment core samples for two consecutive years (2012–2013). Based on the empirically determined correlation between INT reduction (INT-formazan formation) and actual oxygen consumption of sediment samples, we inferred the relative contribution of biological and non-biological (chemical) processes to the potential whole oxygen consumption in the collected sediment samples. It was demonstrated that both potentials consistently increased and reached a maximum during summer hypoxia in each year. For samples collected in 2012, amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of the bacterial 16S rRNA genes derived from the sediment surface revealed a sharp increase in the relative abundance of sulfate reducing bacteria toward hypoxia. In addition, a notable shift in other bacterial compositions was observed before and after the INT assay incubation. It was Arcobacter (Arcobacteraceae, Campylobacteria), a putative sulfur-oxidizing bacterial genus, that increased markedly during the assay period in the summer samples. These findings have implications not only for members of Delta- and Gammaproteobacteria that are consistently responsible for the consumption of dissolved oxygen (DO) year-round in the sediment, but also for those that might grow rapidly in response to episodic DO supply on the sediment surface during midst of seasonal hypoxia

Clonal expansion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected γδ T cells in patients with chronic active EBV disease and hydroa vacciniforme-like eruptions

Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) disease (CAEBV) is a systemic EBV-positive lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by fever, lymphadenopathy, and splenomegaly. Patients with CAEBV may present with cutaneous symptoms, including hypersensitivity to mosquito bites and hydroa vacciniforme (HV)-like eruptions. HV is a rare photodermatosis characterized by vesicles and crust formation after exposure to sunlight, with onset in childhood, and is associated with latent EBV infection. While γδ T cells have recently been demonstrated to be the major EBV-infected cell population in HV, the immunophenotypic features of EBV-infected γδ T cells in CAEBV with HV-like eruptions or HV remain largely undetermined. We describe three patients with CAEBV whose γδ T cells were found to be the major cellular target of EBV. HV-like eruptions were observed in two of these patients. A clonally expanded subpopulation of γδ T cells that were highly activated and T cell receptor Vγ9- and Vδ2-positive cells was demonstrated in all patients. We also show that the clonally expanded γδ T cells infiltrated into the HV-like eruptions in one patient from whom skin biopsy specimens were available. These results suggest the pathogenic roles of clonally expanded γδ T cells infected by EBV in patients with CAEBV and HV-like eruptions. © 2012 The Japanese Society of Hematology

Non-missense variants of KCNH2 show better outcomes in type 2 long QT syndrome

AIMS: More than one-third of type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2) patients carry KCNH2 non-missense variants that can result in haploinsufficiency (HI), leading to mechanistic loss-of-function. However, their clinical phenotypes have not been fully investigated. The remaining two-thirds of patients harbour missense variants, and past studies uncovered that most of these variants cause trafficking deficiency, resulting in different functional changes: either HI or dominant-negative (DN) effects. In this study, we examined the impact of altered molecular mechanisms on clinical outcomes in LQT2 patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 429 LQT2 patients (234 probands) carrying a rare KCNH2 variant from our patient cohort undergoing genetic testing. Non-missense variants showed shorter corrected QT (QTc) and less arrhythmic events (AEs) than missense variants. We found that 40% of missense variants in this study were previously reported as HI or DN. Non-missense and HI-groups had similar phenotypes, while both exhibited shorter QTc and less AEs than the DN-group. Based on previous work, we predicted the functional change of the unreported variants-whether they cause HI or DN via altered functional domains-and stratified them as predicted HI (pHI)- or pDN-group. The pHI-group including non-missense variants exhibited milder phenotypes compared to the pDN-group. Multivariable Cox model showed that the functional change was an independent risk of AEs (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Stratification based on molecular biological studies enables us to better predict clinical outcomes in the patients with LQT2

On the Treatment of Rayons with Synthetic Resins by Means of an Improved Method.(VIII)：Some Basic Studies on the Properties of Fibers as Revealed by the New Poly-functional wear Tester Already Reported

In one of the foregoing papers on the present title, i.e. in the series(VI), The authors introduced a newly contrived poly-functional, versatile wear tester, together with the data on many kinds of samples and the interpretations thereof. With a view to establishing a more rational evaluation of fivers as to an over-all wear rating if possible, and also obtaining some information which might give suggestions for the improvement of treatment of fivers and fabrics, the authors tried to start with basic studies on the properties of unspun fibers, and especially with those of the behaviours when the fibers are subjected to the so-called “T.N.S. Universal Tester”, the poly-functional versatile one mentioned above. A tensile fatigue tester was also used in parallel with the Tester. Comparisons were made with the results of tasting from 3 different kinds of testing mechanisms , and confirmed the former findings that in the long fiber (the unspunn fiber) the mechanism of breaking the fiber structure is not always the same accrding as, and is particularly related to, the range of the strength of stress absorption of stress by the fiber is quite specifically proper to itself according as the mode of structure of each fiber. These conditions determine each own characteristic curve as tested by the Tester. The cycle n and the strength of (starting) stress f are in the relation N=Ne-Kl2, where N and k are constant. And k is a constant so far the mechanism of breaking the fiber is unchanged. The nature of the meaning of k in the rheological or other physical sense is not well elucidated, but for the time being, under the present testing condition, a soft of theoretical over-all wear capacity can be expressed by the 3 dimentional model, taking ln n, f, 1/k, or ln n, f, f, as factors, and assuming the smallest f, which is practically significant in breaking fivers in common Some practical consideration and discussion concerning discrimination of the results together with some suggestions are also given

Transcriptional repression induces a slowly progressive atypical neuronal death associated with changes of YAP isoforms and p73

Transcriptional disturbance is implicated in the pathology of polyglutamine diseases, including Huntington's disease (HD). However, it is unknown whether transcriptional repression leads to neuronal death or what forms that death might take. We found transcriptional repression-induced atypical death (TRIAD) of neurons to be distinct from apoptosis, necrosis, or autophagy. The progression of TRIAD was extremely slow in comparison with other types of cell death. Gene expression profiling revealed the reduction of full-length yes-associated protein (YAP), a p73 cofactor to promote apoptosis, as specific to TRIAD. Furthermore, novel neuron-specific YAP isoforms (YAPΔCs) were sustained during TRIAD to suppress neuronal death in a dominant-negative fashion. YAPΔCs and activated p73 were colocalized in the striatal neurons of HD patients and mutant huntingtin (htt) transgenic mice. YAPΔCs also markedly attenuated Htt-induced neuronal death in primary neuron and Drosophila melanogaster models. Collectively, transcriptional repression induces a novel prototype of neuronal death associated with the changes of YAP isoforms and p73, which might be relevant to the HD pathology