Epitope analysis of staphylococcal enterotoxin A using different synthetic peptides

The antigenic determinants (or epitopes) of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) were analyzed using synthetic peptides and rabbit antibodies to their corresponding peptides. Of 12 different synthetic peptides tested, peptides A-1 (corresponding to the amino acid sequence 1-20), A-5 (81-100), and A-8 (141-160) were reactive with anti-SEA antibodies. However, all synthetic peptides were found to elicit antibodies reactive with native SEA molecule. These findings suggest that native SEA molecule contains at least 3 different antigenic determinants.     

Design and performance of clock recovery GaAs ICs for high-speedoptical communication systems

Design and performance of clock-recovery GaAs ICs are presented. Four kinds of ICs were developed: a limiting amplifier, a tuning amplifier, a rectifier, and a differentiator. The cascaded limiting amplifier together with a tuning amplifier achieved a 58-dB gain and a 10-degree phase deviation with 20-dB input dynamic range at 10 GHz. A clock-recovery circuit successfully extracts a low-jitter 10-GHz clock signal of 1-dBm constant power from 10-Gb/s NRZ pseudorandom bit streams using a pulse pattern generator     

Improved flowability and compactibility of spherically agglomerated crystals of ascorbic acid for direct tableting designed by spherical crystallization process

Spherically agglomerated crystals of ascorbic acid with improved compactibility for direct tableting were successfully engineered by the spherical crystallization technique. In this process, ascorbic acid crystals were precipitated by a solvent change method, followed by their agglomerations with the emulsion solvent diffusion (ESD) or spherical agglomeration (SA) mechanism. The micromeritic properties, such as flowability and packability of the spherically agglomerated crystals were preferably improved for direct tableting. Under static compression, the acceptable compact (tablet) with a sufficient strength was produced successfully without capping, although the capping occurred with the original unagglomerated crystals. The improved compaction properties of the agglomerated crystals were due to their fragmentation and plastic deformation occurred significantly during compression. This mechanism was supported by higher stress relaxation and less elastic recovery of the compact of agglomerated crystals. It was also found that the spherically agglomerated crystals were tableted directly without capping using a single punch machine under dynamic compression, although the tensile strength of resultant tablet decreased in tolerable degree with increasing punch velocity.     

SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Significance of Oral Health Management in the Era of “the New Normal with COVID-19”

More than a year ago, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, with the world approaching its fourth wave. During this period, vaccines were developed in a much shorter period than thought possible, with the initiation of the pertinent vaccination. However, oral cavities have come under renewed scrutiny worldwide because saliva, a mixture of salivary secretions, pharyngeal secretions, and gingival crevicular fluid, have not only been shown to contain infective viral loads, mediating the route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via droplet, aerosol, or contagion, but also used as a sample for viral RNA testing with a usefulness comparable to the nasopharyngeal swab. The oral cavity is an important portal for ingress of SARS-CoV-2, being an entryway to the bronchi, alveoli, and rest of the lower respiratory tract, causing inflammation by viral infection. Moreover, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, a host receptor for SARS-CoV-2, coupled with proteases responsible for viral entry have been found to be expressed on the tongue and other oral mucosae, suggesting that the oral cavity is the site of virus replication and propagation. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the aspiration of oral bacteria (such as periodontal pathogens) along with saliva into the lower respiratory tract may be a complicating factor for COVID-19 because chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes are known COVID-19 comorbidities with a greater risk of disease aggravation and higher death rate. These comorbidities have a strong connection to chronic periodontitis and periodontal pathogens, and an oral health management is an effective measure to prevent these comorbidities. In addition, oral bacteria, particularly periodontal pathogens, could be proinflammatory stimulants to respiratory epithelia upon its exposure to aspirated bacteria. Therefore, it may be expected that oral health management not only prevents comorbidities involved in aggravating COVID-19 but also has an effect against COVID-19 progression. This review discusses the significance of oral health management in SARS-CoV-2 infection in the era of “the new normal with COVID-19” and COVID-19 prevention with reference to the hypothetical mechanisms that the authors and the other researchers have proposed.     

Enhanced partial discharge resistance of epoxy/clay nanocomposite prepared by newly developed organic modification and solubilization methods

Frequency accelerated partial discharge (PD) aging of epoxy nanocomposite with 5 wt % additions of clay was investigated in comparison with that of epoxy without clay in terms of PD erosion depth. It was found that the change in the erosion depth is far smaller in specimens with clay than those without clay. The newly developed organic modification and solubilization methods give comparable PD resistance characteristics. The latter would be more resistant to PD's than the former, if specimens were prepared properly. It was clarified that nano-micro mixed composites were superior to the single nanocomposite. Nano segmentation with some interaction zone effect is proposed as a mechanism of improvement in PD resistance.     

Effect of the extractives of yellow meranti wood on the manufacture of plywood

Shorea spp.) collected in Sarawak, the extractives stick on press boards and on plywood panels in some cases. The stuck material is phenolic and has low solubility in organic and inorganic solvents. Investigation of the methanol extracts of yellow meranti wood suggested that the material is a mixture of biosynthetic compounds and/or their secondary oxidative polymers of resveratrol and its related stilbenes.

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Clinical application of the Personal Dialysis Capacity (PDC) test: serial analysis of peritoneal function in CAPD patients

BACKGROUND: Peritoneal damage has been reported since the beginning of CAPD therapy. METHODS: To clarify the change of peritoneal function in CAPD patients, we used the Personal Dialysis Capacity (PDC) test in 22 patients with 49 serial studies and 14 patients with single studies. The data were expressed at the condition of 2.5% (2.27 g/dl of glucose), four times at 2,000 ml/day. RESULTS: In the mass analysis, the urea generation rate, creatinine generation rate, PNA/PCR, and water removal via the peritoneum (PD) were kept at the same level for almost eight years, and then gradually decreased. Urine volume and residual renal creatinine clearance (CCr) became zero at six years. On the other hand, PD CCr increased gradually with the time course of CAPD, and therefore the total CCr remained at the level of 6.0 ml/min even after six years. Weekly urea KT/V decreased gradually from almost 2.800 to 2.000. The protein loss remained approximately 7.0 g/day for the initial five years, then became 6.0 g/day, except in five patients who showed levels above 10.0 g/day on the first test of PDC. Weekly urea KT/V was correlated with residual renal CCr (P < 0.005), and significantly correlated with total CCr (weekly urea KT/V = -0.2798 + 0.3720 x total CCr; r = 0.915, P < 0.001). In the serial analysis, when the first and the last tests were compared, the urea generation rate increased significantly (mean +/- SD, 2.800 +/- 3.204 vs. 3.882 +/- 3.382; P < 0.0001); however, water removal via PD (1364 +/- 887 vs. 813 +/- 609; P = 0.021), total ultrafiltration (1762 +/- 841 vs. 1124 +/- 843; P = 0.042), and weekly urea KT/V (2.285 +/- 0.486 vs. 2.112 +/- 0.512; P = 0.026) decreased significantly. The delta water removal via PD/ duration became negative (-10.03 +/- 6.59 ml/week) in all 7 patients after more than four years, however, it was positive (+14.40 +/- 7.84 ml/week) in 6 of 10 patients after less than one year. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that water removal via PD increases within one year, then decreases after four years. The PDC test is useful to evaluate the change of peritoneal function in mass and serial analyses.     

Low-temperature preparation of dye-sensitized solar cells through crystal growth of anatase titania in aqueous solutions

Crystal growth of anatase-type titania in aqueous solutions of titanium tetrafluoride and titanyl sulfate at 60 °C was applied for low-temperature preparation of dye-sensitized solar cells. Crystalline titania films grown on a transparent conducting substrate were directly utilized as a photoelectrode for the solar cells. The improvement of porous electrodes consisting of titania nanoparticles was also achieved through subsequent grain growth and neck formation in the solutions. The maximum efficiency of the photovoltaic performance obtained by the low-temperature processes was almost equal to that with a conventional heating procedure.     

Finite‐dimensional approximate modeling with error bounds of flexible vibrating systems based on partial eigenstructures

An approach to control‐oriented uncertainty modeling is presented for a class of elastic vibrating systems such as flexible structures, beams and strings, described by partial differential equations. Uncertainty bounding techniques are developed using the upper and lower bounds of the unknown eigenparameters. The result forms a basis for a finite‐dimensional controller design in which closed loop stability and performance are guaranteed. A feasible set of systems is defined of all systems governed by a class of differential equations with certain norm bounds of the unknown input and output operators and with partially known bounds of the eigenparameters. Then the perturbation magnitude covering the feasible set is evaluated in the frequency domain where a standard truncated modal model is chosen as the nominal one. An upper bound to the truncated error magnitude which is calculated by linear programming is proposed. It is demonstrated that all the parameters formulating a feasible set are derived by finite element analysis for a flexible beam example, and feasibility of the proposed scheme is also illustrated by numerical bounding results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(2): 36–44, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20272