Apatite crystal in hard tissue of conodont fossils

The present study was aimed at examining the nature of apatite crystal in the tooth apparatus of a conodont fossil using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser Raman microprobe spectrometry and electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA). The hard tissue of the condont consisted of 2 layers and the organization varied with the size of the crystal. Higher magnification showed that the crystals were observed in the lattice of (100) and the central dark lines were not present. Ca, P, and F were detected in the crystal using EPMA. Our results indicate that the apatite crystal in conodont fossils is not hydroxyapatite but fluorapatite.     

Development of a high‐definition 32‐in. PDP

We developed the world's smallest‐profile 32‐in. HDTV PDP. By improving the luminous efficiency, a luminance of 650 cd/m² and power consumption (discharge and driving circuit) of 200 W or less was achieved. Moreover, incorporating an advanced color compensating (ACC) filter improved the PDP's color‐reproduction capability, better than that of CRTs.     

Acute non-cancer mortality excess after polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzofurans mixed exposure from contaminated rice oil: Yusho

In Japan in 1968, rice-oil contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzofurans caused severe food poisoning, termed “Yusho” (oil disease). Several previous studies attempted to evaluate the effects targeting officially-certified Yusho patients. However, these studies have several limitations such as the left-truncated nature of the registry or residual confounding arising from the referent population selection. We thus conducted an area-based standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) study using vital statistics. A severely affected area (Tamanoura area) was adopted as the exposure group, with a reference population from Nagasaki prefecture in Kyushu, which included the Tamanoura. A large number of residents in Tamanoura were exposed to the rice-oil (28% of all the certified cases as of 2009). We estimated SMRs of non-cancer and cancer diseases for the years 1968-2002. Shortly after the exposure, SMRs of all causes, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, pneumonia/bronchitis, and bronchus/lung cancer were elevated. In particular, SMRs of heart disease were 1.97 [95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.09-3.56] in 1968, 2.05 (95% CI: 1.16-3.60) in 1969, and 1.89 (95% CI: 1.05-3.41) in 1975. However, we did not observe clear increase in SMRs more than 10 years after the exposure. This study provides further evidence in Yusho, especially on acute effects on non-cancer mortality.     

Wireless network coding in slotted aloha with two-hop unbalanced traffic

This paper deals with two representative unbalanced traffic cases for two-hop wireless relay access systems employing network coding and a slotted ALOHA protocol. Network coding is a recent and highly regarded technology for capacity enhancement with multiple unicast and multisource multicast networks. We have analyzed the performance of network coding on a two-hop wireless relay access system employing the slotted ALOHA under a balanced bidirectional traffic. The relay nodes will generally undergo this unbalanced multidirectional traffic but the impact of this unbalanced traffic on network coding has not been analyzed. This paper provides closed-form expressions for the throughput and packet delay for two-hop unbalanced bidirectional traffic cases both with and without network coding even if the buffers on nodes are unsaturated. The analytical results are mainly derived by solving queueing systems for the buffer behavior at the relay node. The results show that the transmission probability of the relay node is a design parameter that is crucial to maximizing the achievable throughput of wireless network coding in slotted ALOHA on two-hop unbalanced traffic cases. Furthermore, we show that the throughput is enhanced even if the traffic at the relay node is unbalanced.     

Development of Novel Inhibitors for Histone Methyltransferase SET7/9 based on Cyproheptadine

The histone methyltransferase SET7/9 methylates not only histone but also non‐histone proteins as substrates, and therefore, SET7/9 inhibitors are considered candidates for the treatment of diseases. Previously, our group identified cyproheptadine, used clinically as a serotonin receptor antagonist and histamine receptor (H1) antagonist, as a novel scaffold of the SET7/9 inhibitor. In this work, we focused on dibenzosuberene as a substructure of cyproheptadine and synthesized derivatives with various functional groups. Among them, the compound bearing a 2‐hydroxy group showed the most potent activity. On the other hand, a 3‐hydroxy group or another hydrophilic functional group such as acetamide decreased the activity. Structural analysis clarified a rationale for the improved potency only by tightly restricted location and type of the hydrophilic group. In addition, a SET7/9 loop, which was only partially visible in the complex with cyproheptadine, became more clearly visible in the complex with 2‐hydroxycyproheptadine. These results are expected to be helpful for further structure‐based development of SET7/9 inhibitors.     

Engineering surface and development of a new DNA micro array chip

This paper proposes a new concept of the ‘engineering surface’, which extends the conventional idea of a functional surface by combining it with micro/nano manufacturing technology. Characteristic features and possibilities of the engineering surface are discussed in detail. This paper reviews studies on micro/nano fabrication technologies for advanced materials and evaluation technology for surface function. New fabrication technologies, micro machining and nano forming, are introduced, which will be basic manufacturing processes of the engineering surface. Also, a new surface evaluation technique is introduced for the surface energy of the nano fabricated surface. Design of a new DNA micro array chip is introduced as an example of applications of the engineering surface. Controllability of surface property by nano fabrication is studied.