γH2AX,a DNA Double-Strand Break Marker,Correlates with PD-L1 Expression in Smoking-Related Lung Adenocarcinoma

In recent years, the choice of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as a treatment based on high expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in lung cancers has been increasing in prevalence. The high expression of PD-L1 could be a predictor of ICI efficacy as well as high tumor mutation burden (TMB), which is determined using next-generation sequencing (NGS). However, a great deal of effort is required to perform NGS to determine TMB. The present study focused on γH2AX, a double-strand DNA break marker, and the suspected positive relation between TMB and γH2AX was investigated. We assessed the possibility of γH2AX being an alternative marker of TMB or PD-L1. One hundred formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of lung cancer were examined. All of the patients in the study received thoracic surgery, having been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. The expressions of γH2AX and PD-L1 (clone: SP142) were evaluated immunohistochemically. Other immunohistochemical indicators, p53 and Ki-67, were also used to estimate the relationships of γH2AX. Positive relationships between γH2AX and PD-L1 were proven, especially in lung adenocarcinoma. Tobacco consumption was associated with higher expression of γH2AX, PD-L1, Ki-67, and p53. In conclusion, the immunoexpression of γH2AX could be a predictor for the adaptation of ICIs as well of as PD-L1 and TMB.     

Linearly focused acoustic beams for acoustic microscopy

A linearly focused acoustic beam is investigated to be introduced into acoustic microscopy for characterising materials in the nonscanning version. The new acoustic beam enables us to detect acoustic anisotropies of materials to be measured successfully. For forming the acoustic beam, an acoustic sapphire lens with a cylindrical concave surface of 1.0 mm in radius is made and the acoustic field distributions are investigated at 200 MHz.     

Delayed block transfer function in the frequency domain

When the impulse response of a transfer system is long, it is difficult for the standard cross spectrum method to obtain an accurate estimate of the transfer function by applying the fast Fourier transform (FFT) with a finite length window. The bias error in the estimate is large especially around the resonant frequency of the transfer system. In the paper, therefore, the authors propose an alternative new method to obtain an accurate estimate of the transfer function. The delayed block transfer function is introduced to detect the components that are correlated to the signal in the input window but leak from the output window. Based on these transfer functions, the total characteristics of the transfer system are estimated accurately. In the latter half of the paper, the authors derive the theoretical expressions for the bias errors in the transfer functions estimated by the proposed and the standard methods. By thoroughly comparing the resultant expressions, the superiority and the usefulness of the proposed method are theoretically confirmed. Finally, the simulation experiments show the advantages of the proposed method     

Acoustic emission measurement of geothermal reservoir cracks in Takinoue (Kakkonda) field, Japan

Crack extension caused by a shut-down operation in production wells (build-up test) in Takinoue (Kakkonda) geothermal power plant, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, has been successfully measured by an acceleration-sensitive long-distance acoustic emission measurement technique. The distribution and activity of subsurface cracks in a geothermal reservoir can be determined by the combined procedure of the pressure build-up test and AE measurements. The feasibility and importance of the measurements are demonstrated by AE data and their interpretation.     

VHF/UHF range bioultrasonic spectroscopy system and method

A new system and method for characterizing biological tissues in vitro and liquids in the VHF and UHF ranges is described. Bulk acoustic properties such as the sound velocity, attenuation, acoustic impedance, and density are determined in reflection and transmission modes, with the biological tissue/liquid specimen sandwiched between the parallel surfaces of synthetic silica glass buffer rods having ZnO piezoelectric film transducers on their opposite ends. The method is an ultrasonic transmission line comparison method wherein the reference medium is distilled water, for which all acoustic properties are known. Measurement errors due to diffraction losses in the acoustic media and to mode conversion at the buffer/sample interfaces are corrected. Special techniques for achieving precise parallelism between the two rod surfaces, for movement to adjust the gap distance, and for signal processing are employed in order to obtain high measurement accuracy. Attenuation and reflection coefficients are determined using the gated pulse echo method. The sound velocity is determined with the gated pulse interference method by sweeping the ultrasonic frequency, or by changing the gap distance. Results of measurements on castor oil, cottonseed oil, silicone oil, and bovine liver, in the frequency range from 10 to 500 MHz, are presented and compared with results of earlier reports     

Thickness dependence of effective coupling factors of ZnO thin-film surface-wave transducers

The effective coupling factors of ZnO thin-film surface-wave transducers are described for the various transducer arrangements; the factors are estimated from the motional conductance measurement, and their thickness dependence is shown in relation to the theoretically calculated values.     

Optimization of fuel consumption and NOx emission for mild HEV via hierarchical model predictive control

In this paper, we consider the fuel economy optimization problem for a mild hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) using hierarchical model predictive control. In the proposed algorithm, two problems are addressed: eco-driving and torque distribution. In the eco-driving problem, vehicle speed was controlled. Considering the reduction in fuel consumption and NOx emissions, the torque required to follow the target speed was calculated. Subsequently, in the torque distribution problem, the distribution between the engine and motor torques were calculated. In this phase, engine characteristics were considered. These problems differ in terms of time scales; therefore, a hierarchical model predictive control is proposed. Lastly, the numerical simulation results demonstrated the efficacy of this research.     

Enhancement of visible light-induced hydrophilicity on nitrogen and sulfur-codoped TiO2 thin films

We fabricated N, S-codoped, N-doped, S-doped TiO₂ anatase thin films by a radio-frequency (RF) sputtering method and evaluated the photoelectrochemical and photoinduced hydrophilic activities. The N, S-codoped TiO₂ thin film showed obviously higher activities than either the N-doped or S-doped TiO₂ under visible light irradiation. The photoinduced hydrophilic activity of the N, S-codoped TiO₂ was also greater than that of the undoped TiO₂ even under fluorescent light bulb, which contained both visible and UV lights. The high activities of the N, S-codoped TiO₂ could be attributed to the hybridization of the introduced N 2p and S 3p, which was supported by the results of ab initio calculations.     

Long-term subculture of human keratinocytes under an anoxic condition

The serial subculturing of human keratinocyte cells under the anoxic and normoxic conditions was examined. The cumulative number of population doublings in the subcultures under the former condition increased 2.1-fold while maintaining an appreciable growth rate of cells, as compared with that under the latter condition. Moreover, the migration ability, which was estimated by the rotation rate of paired cells, was maintained accompanied by fully developed filopodia of F-actin filaments under the anoxic condition, despite of the poor development of stress fibers at the center of the cellular body. The cells passaged under the anoxic condition possessed the sufficient clonogenic potential to form epithelial sheets, supporting the view that the long-term subculture of keratinocytes under the anoxic condition can be applied for cell expansion in the practical production of epithelial sheets.