Porphyromonas gingivalis Fimbriae Induce Osteoclastogenesis via Toll-like Receptors in RAW264 Cells

The effect of Mfa1 fimbriae of Porphyromonas gingivalis on the progression of bone resorption remains unclear, especially compared with another fimbriae, FimA. We investigated the effect of Mfa1 on osteoclastogenesis together with FimA. We also investigated the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in Mfa1 recognition during osteoclast differentiation. Receptor activator of nuclear factor κβ ligand (RANKL)-prestimulated RAW264 cells were used to examine the effects of purified Mfa1 fimbriae. The number of osteoclasts was examined by tartrate-resistant acid phosphate (TRAP) staining, osteoclast activation was investigated by bone resorption assays, and gene expression of differentiation markers was examined by quantitative real-time PCR. Transfection of Tlr2 and Tlr4 siRNAs into RAW264 cells was also employed and their role in Mfa1 recognition was investigated. Mfa1 effectively induced the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated cells and activated osteoclasts. Mfa1 also increased gene expression of Acp5, Mmp9, and Ctsk in RANKL-prestimulated RAW264 cells compared with the control. The osteoclastogenesis induced by Mfa1 was significantly decreased in cells transfected with Tlr2 or Tlr4 siRNAs compared with control siRNA. Our results revealed the role of Mfa1 fimbriae in osteoclastogenesis that may contribute to the partial elucidation of the mechanisms of periodontal disease progression and the development of new therapeutic strategies.     

Evaluation of prophylactic hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy after hepatectomy for metastases from colorectal cancer--the second report

We followed 18 patients who underwent curative hepatectomy for metastatic carcinoma of the colon from March 1993 to March 1995, and investigated their survival and the effect of treatment on recurrence. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group A (n = 9) was given continuous 5-FU (500 mg x 4 days/week) for six weeks from 2 weeks after surgery via the hepatic artery and Group B (n = 9) was given 5-FU orally from 2 weeks after surgery. The cumulative one-, two-, and three-year survival was 88.9, 88.9, and 76.2% in Group A, while the one- and two-year survival was 100 and 80% in Group B. The one-, two-, and three-year disease-free survival was 77.8% in Group A, while the one- and two-year disease-free survival was 55.6 and 29.6% in Group B (p = 0.0369: Mantel-Cox). These findings suggest that continuous hepatic artery infusion of 5-FU is effective against post-hepatectomy recurrence of metastatic carcinoma of the colon.     

High‐resolution and high‐brightness full‐colour “Silicon Display” for augmented and mixed reality

High‐brightness micro‐LED display bonded onto silicon backplane has been successfully demonstrated. The 0.38‐inch full‐colour active matrix LED microdisplay system consists of 352 × 198 pixels. Each pixel is 24 μm square composed of red, green, and blue (RGB) subpixels corresponding to a pixel resolution of 1053 ppi. Quantum‐dot materials are formed on III‐nitride blue micro‐LED array to convert blue light into red and green for full‐colour operation. We have confirmed that this microdisplay, which we call “Silicon Display” has wide colour gamut exceeding 120% of sRGB. We describe the advantage of this colour‐converting approach for the full‐colour micro‐LEDs. Progress toward higher resolution is also described. Brightness of more than 30 000 cd/m² has been confirmed at a driving current density of 4 A/cm² for 3000 ppi blue monochrome micro‐LED prepared for full‐colour Silicon Display. We believe our “Silicon Display” is ideally suited for near‐to‐eye displays for augmented and mixed reality.     

Development of a control system for pulsed-electron spin resonance spectrometers

A pulse control and data acquisition system with high time resolution of 300 ps and data-averaging rate of 100 kHz for a pulsed-ESR spectrometer was constructed. The system consists of two sets of 3.34 GHz data timing generator and a dual-channel analog-to-digital converter with 1 GHz samples, both of which are commercially available. We developed a scheme and software to control these equipments with high efficiency in pulsing design, data acquisition, and accurate synchronization of the devices. The system was developed at Ku band (17.5 GHz) and demonstrated some examples of electron spin echo and double quantum measurements.     

Experimental Evidence of Anisotropic and Stable Charged Excitons (Trions) in Atomically Thin 2D ReS2

Experimentally observed, stable trions with large binding energy (≈25 meV) in atomically thin monolayer 2D transition metal dichalcogenides MX₂ (M = Mo, W, X = S, Se, and Te) with an isotropic crystal structure have been extensively studied. In contrast, the characteristics of trions in atomically thin 2D materials with an anisotropic crystal structure are not completely understood. Low‐temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy in few‐layer ReS₂ with an anisotropic crystal structure by applying a gate voltage is described. A new PL peak that emerges below the lower‐energy side of neutral excitons obtained by tuning the gate voltages is attributed to emission from negative trions. Furthermore, the trion binding energy that is strongly dependent on the layer thickness reaches a large value of ≈60 meV in 1L–ReS₂, which is ≈2 times larger than that in other isotropic 2D materials (MX₂). The enhancement of the binding energy reflects the quasi‐1D nature of the trions in anisotropic atomically thin ReS₂. These experimental observations will promote a better understanding of the optical response and applications in new categories of the anisotropic atomically thin 2D materials with a quasi‐1D nature.     

RAFT‐mediated emulsion polymerization of chloroprene and impact of chain‐end structure on chloroprene rubbers

The reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of chloroprene (CP) in an emulsion system using a dithiocarbamate‐type RAFT agent was studied. The controlled RAFT‐mediated emulsion polymerization was achieved by the appropriate combination of a RAFT agent and nonionic surfactant (polyoxyethylene phenyl ether) using a water‐soluble initiator (VA‐044) at 35 °C. An almost linear first‐order kinetic plot was observed until relatively high conversion (>80%) with molecular weights between 22,300 and 33,100 and relatively narrow molecular weight distributions (M_w/M_n ≦ 1.5) were achieved. The amount of the emulsifier used and the pH of the system were found to affect the controlled character, polymerization rate, and induction period, which are related to the size of the emulsion particles. Large‐scale RAFT‐mediated emulsion polymerization was also employed to afford industrially applicable poly(CP) (M_w > 25 × 10⁴, resulting product > 2300 g). The vulcanized CP rubber obtained from the RAFT‐synthesized poly(CP) exhibited better physical properties, particularly tensile modulus and compression set, which may be due to the presence of the reactive end groups and the absence of low‐molecular‐weight products. We also evaluated the impact of the chain‐end structure on the mechanical and physical properties of these industrially important CP rubbers with carbon black. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46008.     

A simulation model of nitrogen transformation in reed constructed wetlands

Nitrogen has been considered as one of important elements in domestic wastewater and resulted in frequent algal blooms over a wide range of water body. In this study, a dynamic system was constructed to simulate nitrogen transformation in reed constructed wetlands. The various nitrogen forms in the system were considered as the parameters. The effects of mineralization, nitrification, denitrification, plant uptake and plant decay were investigated. The overall performance of the model was validated with different data sets of parameters from the case study spanning 3 years. The results indicated a good fit between the simulated and observed data. It appears that the model can give a reliable prediction for nitrogen removal performance in reed constructed wetland.     

Evaluation of hydrogen and methane production from municipal solid wastes with different compositions of fat,protein, cellulosic materials and the other carbohydrates

Municipal solid wastes (MSW) collected in Kyoto city were carefully separated, and the waste-type proportion in MSW was surveyed. A hydrogen/methane fermentation batch experiment was conducted under thermophilic condition using twenty different types of MSW components. Biodegradable wastes in the MSW almost consist of vegetable kitchen waste, and the characteristics of hydrogen and methane fermentation of MSW were similar to that of vegetable kitchen waste. Hydrogen production per g VS added was considerably positively correlated with easily degradable carbohydrates concentration and negatively correlated with cellulosic materials concentration. The various feedstocks could be classified into four groups according to nutrient composition (protein, fat, cellulosic materials and easily degradable carbohydrates), and the feedstocks belonging to carbohydrates rich group showed higher hydrogen yields than the other feedstocks. Rough hydrogen yield could be easily predicted by concentration of easily degradable carbohydrates.     

Selective Detection of Target Proteins by Peptide‐Enabled Graphene Biosensor

Direct molecular detection of biomarkers is a promising approach for diagnosis and monitoring of numerous diseases, as well as a cornerstone of modern molecular medicine and drug discovery. Currently, clinical applications of biomarkers are limited by the sensitivity, complexity and low selectivity of available indirect detection methods. Electronic 1D and 2D nano‐materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, respectively, offer unique advantages as sensing substrates for simple, fast and ultrasensitive detection of biomolecular binding. Versatile methods, however, have yet to be developed for simultaneous functionalization and passivation of the sensor surface to allow for enhanced detection and selectivity of the device. Herein, we demonstrate selective detection of a model protein against a background of serum protein using a graphene sensor functionalized via self‐assembling multifunctional short peptides. The two peptides are engineered to bind to graphene and undergo co‐assembly in the form of an ordered monomolecular film on the substrate. While the probe peptide displays the bioactive molecule, the passivating peptide prevents non‐specific protein adsorption onto the device surface, ensuring target selectivity. In particular, we demonstrate a graphene field effect transistor (gFET) biosensor which can detect streptavidin against a background of serum bovine albumin at less than 50 ng/ml. Our nano‐sensor design, allows us to restore the graphene surface and utilize each sensor in multiple experiments. The peptide‐enabled gFET device has great potential to address a variety of bio‐sensing problems, such as studying ligand‐receptor interactions, or detection of biomarkers in a clinical setting.     

Study on design of molten salt solar receivers for beam-down solar concentrator

Systems using molten salt as thermal media have been proposed for solar thermal power generation and for synthetic fuel production. We have been developing molten salt solar receivers, in which molten salt is heated by concentrated solar radiation, in the Solar Hybrid Fuel Project of Japan. A cavity shaped receiver, which is suitable for a beam-down type solar concentration system, was considered. In order to design molten salt solar receivers, a numerical simulation program for the prediction of characteristics of receivers was developed. The simulation program presents temperature distributions of a receiver and molten salt with the use of heat flux distribution of solar radiation and properties of composing materials as input data. Radiation to heat conversion efficiency is calculated from input solar power and heat transferred to molten salt. The thermal resistance of molten salt and the maximum discharge pressure of molten salt pumps were taken into account as restrictions for the design of receivers. These restrictions require control of maximum receiver temperature and pressure drop in the molten salt channel. Based on the incident heat flux distribution formed with a 100 MWth class beam-down type solar concentration system, we proposed a shape of solar receiver that satisfies the requirements. The radiation to heat conversion efficiency of the designed receiver was calculated to be about 90%.