Hexaphyrin as a Potential Theranostic Dye for Photothermal Therapy and 19F Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Two features of meso‐Aryl‐substituted expanded porphyrins suggest suitability as theranostic agents. They have excellent absorption in near infrared (NIR) region, and they offer the possibility of introduction of multiple fluorine atoms at structurally equivalent positions. Here, hexaphyrin (hexa) was synthesized from 2,6‐bis(trifluoromethyl)‐4‐formyl benzoate and pyrrole and evaluated as a novel expanded porphyrin with the above features. Under NIR illumination hexa showed intense photothermal and weak photodynamic effects, which were most likely due to its low excited states, close to singlet oxygen. The sustained photothermal effect caused ablation of cancer cells more effectively than the photodynamic effect of indocyanine green (a clinical dye). In addition, hexa showed potential for use in the visualization of tumors by ¹⁹F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), because of the multiple fluorine atoms. Our results strongly support the utility of expanded porphyrins as theranostic agents in both photothermal therapy and ¹⁹F MRI.     

Bending fatigue strength of case-carburized helical gears (In the case of large helix angles)

Case-carburizing enlarges the depth of the hardened layer at the tooth width end on the acute angle side of helical gears. For the helical gears with large helix angles (Exceeding 25°), this hardened layer may lower their bending fatigue strength. Therefore, we investigated the influence of this hardened layer on their bending fatigue strength through the bending fatigue tests. Our results suggest that this hardened layer might reduce the case-carburizing’s effect to enhance their bending fatigue strength. Thus, using only the maximum tooth root stress would be inadequate for evaluating their bending fatigue strength, and it would be necessary to consider the relationship between the hardened layer and the tooth root stress distribution (Especially, the stress applied at the tooth width end on the acute angle side) from the beginning of meshing to the end.     

Shielding performance of newly developed boron-loaded concrete for DT neutrons

In order to enhance the neutron-shielding performance of concrete in neutron-generation facilities from the viewpoint of reduction of effective dose rates in operation and radioactive wastes in decommission, we developed concrete with boron of more than 10 wt%. We performed a neutron-shielding experiment using the mockup of the newly developed boron-loaded concrete and Deuterium Tritium (DT)neutrons at the Fusion Neutronics Source in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and measured the reaction rates of ⁹³Nb(n,2n)^92mNb and ¹⁹⁷Au(n,γ)¹⁹⁸Au reactions in the mockup. The calculations were conducted using MCNP-5.14 and FENDL-2.1. The calculation results agreed well with the measured ones, and we confirmed that the accuracy was very good on the atomic composition data of boron-loaded concrete and their nuclear data. In addition, we calculated the neutron and photon effective dose rates and reaction rates of ⁵⁹Co(n,γ)⁶⁰Co and ¹⁵¹Eu(n,γ)¹⁵²Eu reactions, which produce critical radioisotopes in decommission, in boron-loaded concrete and other concretes with DT neutrons, and the experimental condition presently used. The dose rates and reaction rates were drastically reduced by using boron-loaded concrete and it was concluded that boron-loaded concrete had very good shielding performance for DT neutrons.     

化学有序及磁有序在铁基合金相平衡影响方面的交互作用

It is well known that the magnetic properties such as the Curie temperature TmagC and the mean magnetic moment β of ordered compounds have different values from those of the disordered solutions. For instance, both Tcmag and β of the Ni3 Pt (L12) and NiPt (L10) and Tcmag of the CoPt (L10) and CoPt3 (L12) ordered compounds are strongly depressed due to the ordering compared with those of the metastable disordered Ni-Pt and Co-Pt alloys. On the other hand, the γ-FeNi3(L12) and the α-FeCo (B2) ordered compounds have higher Tcmag and β values comparing with the disordered solution phases, γ (A1) and α (A2), respectively. In consequence, the stability of the ordered phase is depressed or enhanced due to the interaction between the chemical and magnetic ordering caused by the decrease or increase of Tcmag and β values. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the interaction between the chemical and the magnetic ordering on the phase equilibria in the Fe-X(X=Al, Co, Ni, Rh, Si) binary systems.The Gibbs energy of the α(A2), γ(A1) and liquid phases is described by a sub-regular solution approximatior. The ordering contribution to the Gibbs energy ,ΔGmorder, and deviations of magnetic properties, ΔTcmag and Δβ, of the ordered compounds, FeAl(B2), Fe3 Al (D03), FeCo (B2), FeRh (B2), FeSi (B2), Fe3 Si (D03) and FeNi3 (L12) is introduced by the split compound energy formalism. Effect of the interaction between the chemical ordering, B2, D03 and L12 and the magnetic ordering on the phase equilibria will be discussed according to the calculated phase diagrams of the Fe-X binary systems.     

Heat transfer on tube bundles embedded horizontally in a liquid‐fluidized bed: 2nd report: On tube bundles of fundamental layouts including in‐line layouts

Heat transfer coefficients were measured on tube bundles of fundamental layouts including in‐line layouts embedded horizontally in a liquid‐fluidized bed. Tested tube layouts were single tubes, transverse single tube rows, longitudinal single tube rows, and in‐line arranged tube bundles. A total of 7 kinds of particles were used. Comparisons of the experimental data showed a good agreement with the heat transfer correlation developed for staggered layouts, when the average liquid velocity through each tube bundle was used as the reference velocity for the particle Reynolds number. Distribution of the local heat transfer coefficient was also investigated around tubes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20245     

Chemical-Labeling-Assisted Detection of Nucleobase Modifications by Quantum-Tunneling-Based Single-Molecule Sensing

Quantum-tunneling-based DNA sensing is a single-molecule technique that promises direct mapping of nucleobase modifications. However, its applicability is seriously limited because of the small difference in conductivity between modified and unmodified nucleobases. Herein, a chemical labeling strategy is presented that facilitates the detection of modified nucleotides by quantum tunneling. We used 5-Formyl-2′-deoxyuridine as a model compound and demonstrated that chemical labeling dramatically alters its molecular conductance compared with that of canonical nucleotides; thus, facilitating statistical discrimination, which is impeded in the unlabeled state. This work introduces a chemical strategy that overcomes the intrinsic difficulty in quantum-tunneling-based modification analysis—the similarity of the molecular conductance of the nucleobases of interest.     

Preliminary design study of a simple neutron energy spectrometer using a CsI self-activation method for daily QA of accelerator-based BNCT

ABSTRACT

For recent boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), accelerator-based neutron sources have been actively developed in place of reactor-based neutron sources. In this study, a novel neutron energy spectrometer for the daily quality assurance (QA) of BNCT was designed on the basis of a CsI self-activation method for accelerator-based neutron sources. The spectrometer design was optimized in terms of its energy resolution. To verify its applicability to high-intensity BNCT neutron fields, some practical simulations were performed. It was shown that the designed spectrometer was able to evaluate a neutron energy spectrum in approximately 900 s after an instantaneous neutron irradiation. In addition, its energy resolution was sufficient for detecting an unexpected distortion in the spectrum. The results confirm that the designed spectrometer can be employed for the daily QA of BNCT to check that the expected spectrum remains unchanged.     

Orientational control of pentacene crystals on SiO2 by graphoepitaxy to improve lateral carrier transport

We controlled the in-plane orientation of pentacene grains by graphoepitaxy using patterned amorphous-SiO₂/Si substrates on which periodic grooves with slope edges had been formed. Pentacene crystals exhibited a clear tendency to align their b-axes perpendicular to the groove edges. Organic thin-film transistors were fabricated on the patterned and flat substrates and their transistor characteristics were compared. Although the patterned substrates increased the apparent mobility by only 10–20%, the number of grain boundaries with high potential barriers to carrier transport was reduced to half of that on flat substrates. This improvement is expected to enhance the response speed of pentacene organic thin-film transistors and suppress the sensitivity of their characteristics to the operating temperature.