Role of residual transition-metal atoms in oxygen reduction reaction in cobalt phthalocyanine-based carbon cathode catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

The electronic structure of Co atoms in cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc)-based carbon catalysts, which were prepared by pyrolyzing a mixture of CoPc and phenol resin polymer up to 1000 °C, has been investigated using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES). The CoK XAFS spectra show that most of the Co atoms are in the metallic state and small quantities of oxidized Co components are present in the samples even after acid washing to remove Co atoms. Based on the difference in probing depth between XAFS and HXPES, it was found that after acid washing, the surface region with the aggregated Co clusters observed by transmission electron microscopy is primarily composed of metallic Co. Since the electrochemical properties remain almost unchanged even after the acid washing process, the residual metallic and oxidized Co atoms themselves will hardly contribute to the oxygen reduction reaction activity of the CoPc-based carbon cathode catalysts, implying that the active sites of the CoPc-based catalysts primarily consist of light elements such as C and N.     

A photoelectrocatalytic process that disinfects water contaminated with Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium avium

Nontuberculous mycobacteria are resistant to conventional water treatment; indeed, they have been recovered from a wide variety of environmental sources. Here, we applied the photoelectrocatalytic technique using a Ti/TiO₂–Ag photoanode to inactivate mycobacteria. For a mycobacteria population of 5 × 10⁸ CFU mL⁻¹, we achieved 99.9 and 99.8% inactivation of Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium avium with rate constant of 6.2 × 10⁻³ and 4.2 × 10⁻³ min⁻¹, respectively, after 240 min. We compared the proposed method with the photolytic and photocatalytic methods. Using a mycobacteria population of 7.5 × 10⁴ CFU mL⁻¹, the proposed Ti/TiO₂–Ag photoanode elicited total mycobacteria inactivation within 3 min of treatment; the presence of Ag nanoparticles in the electrode provided 1.5 larger degradation rate constant as compared with the Ti/TiO₂ anode (1.75 × 10⁻² for M. kansassi and 1.98 × 10⁻² for M. avium). We monitored the degradation of the metabolites released during cellular lysis by TOC removal, sugar release, chromatography, and mass spectrometry measurements; photoelectrocatalysis and Ti/TiO₂–Ag photoanodes furnished the best results.     

Nanostructural characterization of YBCO films on metal tape with textured buffer layer fabricated by pulsed-laser deposition

Thick YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x (YBCO) films with high critical current density (J_c) values were deposited by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) on Hastelloy with a textured CeO₂/Gd₂Zr₂O₇ buffer layer. Both cross-sectional and plan-view TEM specimens of the YBCO films were prepared, and then the nanostructural characterization of the films was performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The YBCO films less than 1 μm thick were predominantly composed of c-axis-oriented grains, however, many a-axis-oriented grains, which grew larger with the increase of the thickness of the YBCO film, were formed beyond about 1 μm from the CeO₂ interface. We found Y₂O₃ and copper oxides between a- and c-axes-oriented grains. In particular, Y₂O₃ grains were formed between the {001} plane of an a-axis-oriented grain and the {100} or {010} plane of a c-axis-oriented grain. The orientation relationships between Y₂O₃ and YBCO are found to be; (001)YBCO//(001)Y₂O₃ and (100)YBCO//(110)Y₂O₃. In addition, we also found gaps between YBCO grains. Since a-axis-oriented grain growth and the formation of Y₂O₃, copper oxides and the gaps are considered to reduce the J_c values of the YBCO film, it is important to determine the optimum process conditions to suppress the nucleation of a-axis-oriented grains, impurity oxides and gaps.     

Leukocyte kinetics in the pulmonary microcirculation: observations using real-time confocal luminescence microscopy coupled with high-speed video analysis

To quantitatively assess blood cell kinetics in the intact pulmonary microcirculation, in which arterioles, venules, and capillaries are exceedingly intricate and densely convoluted, we recently developed a real-time confocal laser luminescence microscope with a high-speed analysis component. The system has the capacity to yield confocal images of rapidly moving cells at a rate of 1000 frames/second and at sufficiently high degrees of magnification. Applying this novel method to isolated perfused rat lungs, we estimated the endothelial distributions of constitutively expressed intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and P-selectin and also studied leukocyte hemodynamic behavior in the pulmonary microvasculature under conditions in which ICAM-1, P-selectin, and L-selectin were inhibited, respectively, by 1A29 (monoclonal antibody to rat ICAM-1), ARP2-4 (monoclonal antibody to rat P-selectin), and fucoidin (competitive inhibitor of both P- and L-selectin). The results were compared with those obtained with a nonconfocal microscope using conventional epiluminescence. Intertwined microvessel networks in the lung were clearly distinguishable in confocal images but not in conventional nonconfocal views. ICAM-1 was perceptibly expressed along venular and capillary but not arteriolar endothelium, whereas P-selectin was undetectable in all microvessels examined. Leukocytes were not firmly adhered to venular or arteriolar endothelial cells. Leukocyte rolling was recognized more frequently along arteriolar walls than along venular walls and was suppressed in arterioles by L-selectin inhibition but not by either ICAM-1 or P-selectin inhibition. In capillaries, transient and sustained arrest of leukocytes occurred at physiologic shear rates. Inhibition of ICAM-1 or P-selectin had no remarkable effect upon either transient or sustained entrapment of leukocytes in capillaries. In conclusion, physiologic and biologic characteristics of pulmonary microvessels appear to be quite different from those of the systemic microcirculation.     

Alterations of synovial tissue and their potential role in the deposition of beta2-microglobulin-associated amyloid

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is thought to involve the activity of the clathrin adaptor protein AP180. However, the role of this protein in endocytosis in vivo remains unknown. Here, we show that a mutation that eliminates an AP180 homolog (LAP) in Drosophila severely impairs the efficiency of synaptic vesicle endocytosis and alters the normal localization of clathrin in nerve terminals. Most importantly, the size of both synaptic vesicles and quanta is significantly increased in lap mutants. These results provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism of endocytosis and reveal a role for AP180 in regulating vesicle size through a clathrin-dependent reassembly process.     

Long-term effects of pharmacological therapy for vasovagal syncope on the basis of reproducibility during head-up tilt testing

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of long-term pharmacological therapy selected on the basis of a head-up tilt test (HUT) in patients in whom reproducibility of the HUT response was demonstrable in the initial study. The HUT (80 degrees upright) was performed for 15 min with or without an infusion of isoproterenol (0.01-0.03 microgram/kg per min) in 54 patients with recurrent unexplained syncope. When vasovagal syncope was induced (positive response), the HUT was repeated to examine the test reproducibility. Vasovagal syncope was induced in 24 patients during HUT alone, and in 30 patients during the HUT with isoproterenol. Acute reproducibility was observed in 49/54 (91%) patients. In the tilt-positive patients, HUT was repeated after an intravenous administration of propranolol (0.1 mg/kg) or disopyramide (1 mg/kg) (acute test). Propranolol proved effective in 21 (80%) of 26 patients, and disopyramide in 13 (56%) of 23 patients. Thereafter, evaluation was done on the long-term clinical follow-up of the pharmacological intervention selected on the basis of the acute test in the 34 patients in whom the HUT could not induce vasovagal syncope after the oral administration of the pharmacological agent (propranolol 60 mg/day, disopyramide 300 mg/day). Thirty-two of 34 patients (94%) did not develop syncopal attacks during a 44 +/- 12-month period. Thus, in patients with unexplained syncope, HUT appears to have a high degree of acute reproducibility, and the acute drug response guided by HUT may be used to develop an effective long-term pharmacological therapy.     

Simple preparation of TiO2 particles dispersed activated carbons and their photo-sterilization activity

We report a simple preparation method for TiO₂ particles dispersed activated carbons and their photo-sterilization activity for E. coli and B. subtilis. The TiO₂ particles dispersed activated carbons were readily prepared by steam activation of pitch containing titanium isopropoxide Ti(OiPr)₄ or titanium acetylacetonate TiO(acac)₃. The resulting activated carbons have high BET surface area and fine TiO₂ particles are uniformly dispersed. The photo-sterilization activities for E. coli and B. subtilis were estimated by the sterilization activity for bacteria spores by irradiation of black light to the solutions containing activated carbons. The obtained activated carbons exhibited high photo-sterilization activity for E. coli and B. subtilis with short irradiation time of 15 min.     

Parallelization of genetic algorithm with sexual selection

We propose a parallel genetic algorithm with sexual selection. In genetic algorithms with sexual selection with one population, females keep their traits around local optima by using a lower mutation rate than that of the males, while the males change their traits actively. When a runaway process takes place, the transitions of the males' traits are biased toward a certain direction which depends on the bias of the females' preferences. If the population size is large, the search converges quickly. However, the large population size causes a decrease in search performance. In the proposed method with parallelization, the population size of each subpopulation is maintained adequately, and each subpopulation seeks its own direction of evolution independently. As a result, the proposed method makes a search converge quickly because the runaway process which leads to intermittent evolution tends to take place more quickly than one population model. We applied the proposed method to some test problems. In these problems, while the performance of conventional genetic algorithms was decreased by parallelization, the proposed method exhibited better performance with parallelization. Moreover, the performance of the proposed method is better than that of conventional methods. This capability of parallelization is a remarkable characteristic of sexual selection. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(1): 42–49, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20029