High‐luminance 1‐m‐long plasma tubes for wall displays

Abstract— The plasma‐tube array is expected to realize a wall‐sized display. This method will realize an emissive‐type display with a flexible screen shape and an expandable screen size. The shape of the plasma tube was investigated to realize high luminance, high luminance efficacy, and high flexural strength. As the result, a cylindroid tube is proposed to satisfy these demands. An experimental display of 1 m × 128 mm has been developed with these cylindroid tubes and it demonstrated a high luminous efficacy of 3.1 lm/W.     

A fibre-optic 3-D microscope with high depth sensitivity

A new fibre-optic microscope with high depth resolution is proposed and experimentally realized. In this microscope, a pair of monomode optical fibre couplers are used to form a six-port all-fibre Michelson interferometer. A lock-in amplifier is used to improve the depth sensitivity and to simplify the optical and electronic circuits. The phase sensing signal is applied to a mirror at one arm of the interferometer. The optimum resolution was about 0?4 nm. The transverse resolution of this microscope is determined by the core diameter of the monomode fibre (9 μm). This 3-D microscope is quite stable to ambient mechanical disturbances, and can be applied to the 3-D microscopy of various biological objects.     

Determination of γ-glutamyl-valyl-glycine in raw scallop and processed scallop products using high pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

The determination of the kokumi peptide, γ-glutamyl-valyl-glycine (γ-Glu-Val-Gly) in raw scallop and processed scallop products was carried out using high pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The detection of γ-Glu-Val-Gly was achieved using a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method. The optimised condition enabled the precise determination of γ-Glu-Val-Gly. Raw scallop contained 0.08 μg/g γ-Glu-Val-Gly, and the γ-Glu-Val-Gly levels in processed scallop products, such as dried-scallop and scallop extract, were measured to be 0.64 and 0.77 μg/g, respectively. This is the first report to confirm the existence of γ-Glu-Val-Gly in foodstuff.     

Traversable Region Estimation for Mobile Robots in an Outdoor Image

This paper describes a novel method to estimate appropriate traversable regions from an outdoor scene image. The traversable regions output by the proposed method reflect the common sense of people. For example, a candidate traversable region is “a paved road somewhat distant from the side ditch.” The input to the traversable region estimation is one color image. First, category is assigned to each pixel in the image. The categorization result is then input to the region estimator. Finally, the traversable region are estimated on the input image. An important aspect of this method is the application of two score functions in region estimation process. One score function places high value on categories selected as traversable paths by subjects. The other function places high value on categories that are not selected as traversable regions but are adjacent to categories with traversable paths. A combination of these two functions produces feasible estimation results. The effectiveness of the combined score functions was evaluated by experiments and a questionnaire.     

Concentration of Antifouling Biocides and Metals in Sediment Core Samples in the Northern Part of Hiroshima Bay

Accumulation of Ot alternative antifoulants in sediment is the focus of this research. Much research had been done on surface sediment, but in this report, the accumulation in the sediment core was studied. The Ot alternative antifoulants, Diuron, Sea-Nine211, and Irgarol 1051, and the latter’s degradation product, M1, were investigated in five samples from the northern part of Hiroshima Bay. Ot compounds (tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT)) were also investigated for comparison. In addition, metal (Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn) levels and chronology were measured to better understand what happens after accumulation on the sea floor. It was discovered that Ot alternative antifoulant accumulation characteristics in sediment were like Ot compounds, with the concentration in the sediment core being much higher than surface sediment. The concentration in sediment seems to have been affected by the regulation of Ot compounds in 1990, due to the concentration of Ot alternative antifoulants and Ot compounds at the survey point in front of the dock, showing an increase from almost the same layer after the regulation.     

Development of gap sensing system for narrow gap laser welding

Narrow gap welding with an oscillation laser beam is one of the effective processes for thick plate welding. To put this welding process into practical manufacturing, a groove-sensing system using image processing for narrow gap welding with an oscillation laser beam is used. This developed system uses still images of the weld zone taken by a coaxial CMOS camera. It can recognize the position of the groove wall by analysing the brightness distribution in the still image. It can then control the oscillation width and the laser-irradiated area by calculating the groove width and the groove centre position. Some narrow gap welding experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the developed system. The results revealed that the developed system is effective for narrow gap welding with an oscillation laser beam. Using this system, the narrow gap groove can be welded even if the groove width has changed during the welding process.     

MicroRNA-331-3p Suppresses Cervical Cancer Cell Proliferation and E6/E7 Expression by Targeting NRP2

Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in the development and progression of various types of cancers. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-331-3p in cell proliferation and the expression of keratinocyte differentiation markers of uterine cervical cancer cells. Moreover, we evaluated whether neuropilin 2 (NRP2) are putative target molecules that regulate the human papillomavirus (HPV) related oncoproteins E6 and E7. Cell proliferation in the human cervical cancer cell lines SKG-II, HCS-2, and HeLa was assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt (MTS) assay. Cellular apoptosis was measured using the TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and Annexin V assays. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the NRP2, E6, E7, p63, and involucrin (IVL) genes. A functional assay for cell growth was performed using cell cycle analyses. Overexpression of miR-331-3p inhibited cell proliferation, and induced G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis in SKG-II, HCS-2 and HeLa cells. The luciferase reporter assay of the NRP2 3′-untranslated region revealed the direct regulation of NRP2 by miR-331-3p. Gene expression analyses using quantitative RT-PCR in SKG-II, HCS-2, and HeLa cells overexpressing miR-331-3p or suppressing NRP2 revealed down-regulation of E6, E7, and p63 mRNA and up-regulation of IVL mRNA. Moreover, miR-331-3p overexpression was suppressed NRP2 expression in protein level. We showed that miR-331-3p and NRP2 were key effectors of cell proliferation by regulating the cell cycle, apoptosis. NRP-2 also regulates the expression of E6/E7 and keratinocyte differentiation markers. Our findings suggest that miR-331-3p has an important role in regulating cervical cancer cell proliferation, and that miR-331-3p may contribute to keratinocyte differentiation through NRP2 suppression. miR-331-3p and NRP2 may contribute to anti-cancer effects.     

The Association of Cholesterol Uptake and Synthesis with Histology and Genotype in Cortisol-Producing Adenoma (CPA)

Cortisol-producing adenoma (CPA) is composed of clear and compact cells. Clear cells are lipid abundant, and compact ones lipid poor but associated with higher production of steroid hormones. PRKACA mutation (PRKACA mt) in CPA patients was reported to be associated with more pronounced clinical manifestation of Cushing’s syndrome. In this study, we examined the association of histological features and genotypes with cholesterol uptake receptors and synthetic enzymes in 40 CPA cases, and with the quantitative results obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis in 33 cases to explore their biological and clinical significance. Both cholesterol uptake receptors and synthetic enzymes were more abundant in compact cells. GC-MS analysis demonstrated that the percentage of compact cells was inversely correlated with the concentrations of cholesterol and cholesterol esters, and positively with the activity of cholesterol biosynthesis from cholesterol esters. In addition, hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which catalyzes cholesterol biosynthesis from cholesterol esters, tended to be more abundant in compact cells of PRKACA mt CPAs. These results demonstrated that both cholesterol uptake and biosynthesis were more pronounced in compact cells in CPA. In addition, more pronounced HSL expression in compact cells of PRKACA mt CPA could contribute to their more pronounced clinical manifestation.