Magnetic-Pole Flip by Millimeter Wave

In the era of Big Data and the Internet of Things, data archiving is a key technology. From this viewpoint, magnetic recordings are drawing attention because they guarantee long-term data storage. To archive an enormous amount of data, further increase of the recording density is necessary. Herein a new magnetic recording methodology, “focused-millimeter-wave-assisted magnetic recording (F-MIMR),” is proposed. To test this methodology, magnetic films based on epsilon iron oxide nanoparticles are prepared and a focused-millimeter-wave generator is constructed using terahertz (THz) light. Irradiating the focused millimeter wave to epsilon iron oxide instantly switches its magnetic pole direction. The spin dynamics of F-MIMR are also calculated using the stochastic Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert model considering all of the spins in an epsilon iron oxide nanoparticle. In F-MIMR, the heat-up effect of the recording media is expected to be suppressed. Thus, F-MIMR can be applied to high-density magnetic recordings.     

Effect of mild conjunctivitis complication on tear balance in dry eye

Inflammation of the ocular surface influences the stability of tear fluid. Mild conjunctivitis is often associated with dry-eye patients. The effect of mild conjunctivitis complication on tear break-up time (BUT) in patients with dry eyes was investigated. A total of 93 patients with dry eyes, excluding those having moderate to severe conjunctivitis, atopic keratoconjunctivitis, vernal conjunctivitis, previous ocular surgery, or who use contact lenses, were divided into those with and without mild conjunctivitis, and the BUT was compared. Fifty-four cases were complicated by mild conjunctivitis, conjunctival papilla formation was observed in 40 of these, and the mean BUT was 3.54±1.02s. The mean BUT in 39 patients without conjunctivitis was 3.41±1.04s, showing no significant difference between the groups (p=0.56). Allergic conjunctivitis was frequently observed in patients with dry eyes, but the complication of mild conjunctivitis had no influence on BUT.     

Improvement of the growth defect in salt- and ethanol-tolerant yeast mutagenized with error-prone DNA polymerization by using backcross cell fusion

Salt- and ethanol-tolerant mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, isolated from the uracil-requiring mutant derived from Taiken No. 396 by proofreading-deficient DNA polymerization, showed less growth than their parent strain. The fusants, between these tolerant mutants and the lysine-requiring mutant from Taiken No. 396 obtained by the protoplast fusion, indicated improved growth.     

Bacteriogenic Fe(III) (oxyhydr)oxides characterized by synchrotron microprobe coupled with spatially resolved phylogenetic analysis

Ubiquitous presence of microbes in aquatic systems and their inherent ability of biomineralization make them extremely important agents in the geochemical cycling of inorganic elements. However, the detailed mechanisms of environmental biomineralization (e.g., the actual reaction rates, the temporal and spatial dynamics of these processes) are largely unknown, because there are few adequate analytical techniques to observe the biogenic oxidation/reduction reactions in situ. Here, we report a novel technical approach to characterize specific biominerals associated with a target microbe on high spatial resolution. The technique was developed by combining directly in situ phylogenetic analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), with a synchrotron microprobe method, micro X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (μ-XAFS), and was applied to iron mineral deposition by iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) in environmental samples. In situ visualization of microbes revealed that in natural iron mats, Betaproteobacteria dominated by IOB were dominantly localized within 10 μm of the surface. Furthermore, in situ chemical speciation by the synchrotron microprobe suggested that the Fe local structure at the IOB accumulating parts was dominantly composed of short-ordered Fe-O(6) linkage, which is not observed in bulk iron mat samples. The present study indicates that coupled XAFS-FISH could be a potential technique to provide direct information on specific biogenic reaction mediated by target microorganism.     

Denaturation of egg antigens by cooking

Changes in egg protein contents by cooking were measured with an ELISA kit using Tris-HCl buffer in model foods including cake, meatballs, pasta and pudding made with whole egg, egg-white and egg-yolk. The egg protein contents were lowest in the deep-fried model foods of cakes and meatballs. Ovalbumin (OVA) was undetectable (<1 μg/g) and ovomucoid (OVM) was lowest in pouched meatballs, suggesting that processing temperature and uniform heat-treatment affect the detection of egg protein. Furthermore, egg protein contents were below 6 μg/g in the pouched meatballs and pasta made with egg-yolk, and OVA and OVM were not detected by Western blotting analysis with human IgE from patients' serum. On the other hand, processed egg proteins were detected with an ELISA kit using a surfactant and reductant in the extract buffer.     

Interlaboratory study of LC-UV and LC-MS methods for the simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in wheat

To evaluate LC methods with UV or MS detection for simultaneous analysis of deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV) in wheat, an interlaboratory study was conducted in 11 laboratories. DON and NIV were purified using a multifunctional column, and their concentrations were determined using LC-UV or LC-MS(/MS). No internal standards were used. Three fortified wheat samples (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg), one naturally contaminated wheat sample, and one blank wheat sample were used. The recoveries ranged from 90% to 110% for DON and from 76% to 83% for NIV. For DON, the relative standard deviations for repeatability (RSDr) ranged from 1.1% to 7.6%. The relative standard deviations for reproducibility (RSDr) ranged from 7.2% to 25.2%. For NIV, the RSDr ranged from 2.0% to 10.7%, and the RSDr ranged from 7.0% to 31.4%. Regardless of sample and detector, the HorRat values for DON and NIV ranged from 0.4 to 1.4. Both LC-UV and LC-MS(/MS) methods were considered to be suitable for application as an official method.     

Synthesis and evaluation of anticancer natural product analogues based on angelmarin: targeting the tolerance towards nutrient deprivation

Inspired by nature: Angelmarin is an anticancer natural product with potent antiausterity activity, that is, selective cytotoxicity towards nutrient-deprived, resistant cancer cells. Through structure-activity relationship studies, three analogues were identified as lead compounds for the develpoment of molecular probes for the investigation of the mode of action and biological targets of the antiausterity compounds.     

Dry galloping characteristics and its mechanism of inclined/yawed cables

Mechanism of dry galloping of inclined cable of cable-stayed bridges is described in relation to Karman vortex mitigation. Furthermore, the role of Scruton number Sc on reduced critical velocity Vrcr of the dry galloping is investigated for practical use basing on wind tunnel tests and field observations of dry galloping or pseudo-galloping, which is classified as cable vibration with rain-state but response amplitude is abnormally large. It is verified that as far as the divergent-type of dry galloping, the design criterion subject to Sc-Vrcr proposed by FHWA (Federal Highway Administration of U.S.) seems to be reasonable for practical use, on the other hand, for the unsteady dry galloping, the Saito criterion for Sc-Vrcr diagram seems to be reasonable.