CoCl(2) inhibits neural differentiation of retinoic acid-treated embryoid bodies

The effects of CoCl(2) on retinoic acid (RA)-treated embryoid bodies (EBs) were investigated. Four-day EBs were treated with 5x10(-6) M of RA for 4 d, then subjected to attached culturing for 7 d in the presence of CoCl(2) at 0, 20, and 100 microM. Differentiation into MAP2- and GFAP-immunopositive cells was inhibited by CoCl(2) in a dose-dependent manner. Next, RA-treated EBs were dissociated into single cells and cultured for 7 d at an initial cell density of 1x10(3)/cm(2). The number of cells increased in a CoCl(2)-dose dependent fashion. In cultures with 100 microM of CoCl(2), more than 90% of the cells were immunopositive for nestin and nestin-immunopositive cells formed clusters, while there were few cells immunopositive for MAP2 or GFAP. These results suggest that CoCl(2) inhibits neural differentiation of RA-treated EB cells and promotes the proliferation of nestin-immunopositive cells, i.e., embryonic stem (ES)-derived neural stem-like cells.     

Genetic variation of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from domestic and imported foods in Japan

Phylogenetic analyses were carried out on a total of 118 Listeria monocytogenes isolates from foods or food processing environments, and 7 isolates from listeriosis patients in Japan to evaluate the genetic variation in the pathogen in this country. Isolates of serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b were mainly examined to assess the risk of exposure of humans to L. monocytogenes from foods in Japan. The nucleotide sequences of the part of the iap gene that contains the region encoding the threonine-asparagine repeat units were determined in order to construct phylogenetic trees of the isolates investigated. A phylogram showed high genetic diversity among lineage 2 isolates, while the lineage 1 isolates showed clonal characteristics. The results of the genetic analyses suggested the presence of rare putative lineage 3 isolates and epidemic clone I (ECI) isolates in foods in Japan. The results showed that ECI was also isolated from listeriosis patients. The genetic variation in L. monocytogenes in Japan reported here suggests the necessity of monitoring the pathogen in foods and environments in addition to surveillance of listeriosis patients.     

Obui-himo syndrome

Normal variants of the venous system are relatively common and rarely cause severe symptoms. We report the case of a 5-month-old baby who displayed cyanotic color and swelling of arms whenever she was carried on the mother's back with a special band "Obui-himo". It was demonstrated by venography that the symptoms were caused by the absence of a cephalic vein and compression of axillary veins with the Obui-himo. In any country with a custom similar to the Obui-himo, these symptoms, if clinically encountered, are an indication that venography should be performed.     

Adaptive removable visible watermarking technique using dual watermarking for digital color images

This paper proposes a removable visible watermarking system based on a dual watermark technique and blind removal. A visible watermark pattern is embedded in the cosine discrete transform (DCT) domain, taking into consideration the texture and luminance features of the watermark and host images to create a visible watermarked image. To prevent illegal visible watermark removal, the original watermark is embedded in an invisible manner in the visible watermarked image by employing the Quantization Index Modulation-Dither Modulation (QIM-DM) technique, thus ensuring that the original watermark cannot be obtained by malicious attacks. The visible watermark removal process is carried out using only the correct user’s keys, without the need for additional information, such as the original watermark or the original host image, which allows a high-quality image to be obtained; however, if the user’s keys used in the removal process are wrong, the visible watermarked image suffers higher distortion in its content, even in non-visible watermarked regions. The experimental results show that the proposed system outperforms previous related works in terms of blind removal, preservation of the quality of the unmarked recovered image, and higher visual degradation of the content in the recovered image if an illegal removal attempt is performed.     

A view-invariant gait recognition algorithm based on a joint-direct linear discriminant analysis

This paper proposes a view-invariant gait recognition algorithm, which builds a unique view invariant model taking advantage of the dimensionality reduction provided by the Direct Linear Discriminant Analysis (DLDA). Proposed scheme is able to reduce the under-sampling problem (USP) that appears usually when the number of training samples is much smaller than the dimension of the feature space. Proposed approach uses the Gait Energy Images (GEIs) and DLDA to create a view invariant model that is able to determine with high accuracy the identity of the person under analysis independently of incoming angles. Evaluation results show that the proposed scheme provides a recognition performance quite independent of the view angles and higher accuracy compared with other previously proposed gait recognition methods, in terms of computational complexity and recognition accuracy.     

Separation of endocrine disruptors from aqueous solutions by pervaporation: Dioctylphthalate and butylated hydroxytoluene in mineral water

We examined the existence of endocrine disruptors in mineral water, ultrapure water, and tap water. GC/MS analysis revealed that dioctylphthalate (di‐n‐octylphthalate and di(2‐ethylhexyl)phthalate) in the water was found to be on the order of parts per billion. The dioctylphthalate concentration remained consistent for mineral water of the same brand, regardless of whether it was bottled in a PET bottle or a glass bottle. Therefore, the dioctylphthalate contamination in mineral water originated from the manufacturing line of the mineral water and not as a result of leaching from PET bottles. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), an oxidization prevention agent in plastics, was detected at 2.05 ± 0.1 ppb in the mineral water bottled in glass bottles, but was not detected in the mineral water bottled in PET bottles. BHT contamination in the mineral water in the glass bottles is likely to have originated from the cap of the glass bottles, as the caps were sealed with polyethylene. We further investigated the feasibility of separating dioctylphthalate and BHT from the mineral water by pervaporation using hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane membranes. We found that trace amounts (on the order of parts per billion) of organic chemicals such as dioctylphthalate and BHT in aqueous solutions can be removed and concentrated by the pervaporation using polydimethylsiloxane membranes. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 1737–1742, 2004     

Development of ultra-deep HDS catalyst for production of clean diesel fuels

Cosmo Oil has successfully developed a new CoMo HDS catalyst, C-606A, for production of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels. This catalyst was prepared by an impregnation method using a solution containing Co, Mo, P, and citric acid on a HY-Al₂O₃. The resulting catalyst air-dried only without calcination. The HDS activity was measured with straight-run light gas oil feedstocks under industrial hydrotreating conditions. C-606A had a three times higher HDS activity compared with the conventional CoMoP/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Commercial operation with C-606A has successfully demonstrated high performance. This catalyst has superior activity, which enables <10-ppm sulfur content in products in a commercial hydrotreater designed to produce 500-ppm sulfur diesel fuels.     

Effects of isocyanuric acid on the monochlorodimedone chlorinating rates with free chlorine and ammonia chloramine in water

Changes in monochlorodimedone (MCD) chlorinating rates with free chlorine (mixture of HOCl and OCl-) and ammonia monochloramine (NH2Cl) in water at pH 7 by the addition of isocyanuric acid (H3Cy) were determined at room temperature. Decreases in MCD absorbance at 290nm in equimolar (0.04mM) reactions of MCD and free available chlorine solutions containing H3Cy (0.01-1.60 mM) were recorded in a stopped-flow spectrophotometer. The rates indicate second-order reactions. Since the rate with free chlorine was high (> 7.6 x 10(6) M(-1) s(-1)), the amounts of free chlorine in the solutions could be distinguished from that of chlorinated cyanurates. The chlorinating rates with chlorinated cyanurates decreased with an increase in H3Cy concentrations. Plotting the rates against the molar ratio of chlorine to H3Cy showed a linear correlation and the rates with chlorinated cyanurates (H2ClCy) was estimated at 0.5 x 10(5) M(-1) s(-1). In contrast, the rates with the NH2Cl solution containing H3Cy increased with an increase in H3Cy concentrations, increasing from 1.2 x 10 to 2.7 x 10 M(-1) s(-1) by the addition of 1.55 mM H3Cy. The DPD color development rates (OD512/t1/2/M) with free available chlorine (0.015mM) declined from 1.3 x 10(5) to 0.9 x 10(5)M(-1) by the addition of 0.61 mM H3Cy.