The World robot summit disaster robotics category – achievements of the 2018 preliminary competition

The World Robot Summit is a robot Olympics and aims to be held in a different country every four years from 2020. The concept of the Plant Disaster Prevention challenge is daily inspections, checks, and emergency response in industrial plants, and in this competition, robots must carry out these types of missions in a mock-up plant. The concept of the Tunnel Disaster Response and Recovery challenge is emergency response to tunnel disasters, and is a simulation competition whereby teams compete to show their ability to deal with disasters, by collecting information and removing debris. The Standard Disaster Robotics challenge assesses, in the form of a contest, the standard performance levels of a robot that are necessary for disaster prevention and emergency response. The World Robot Summit Preliminary Competition was held at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2018, and 36 teams participated in the Disaster Robotics Category. UGVs and UAVs contended the merits of new technology for solving complex problems, using core technologies such as mobility, sensing, recognition, performing operations, human interface, autonomous intelligence etc., as well as system integration and implementation of strategies for completing missions, gaining high-level results.     

Supramolecular Assembly of Aminoethylene‐Lipopeptide PMO Conjugates into RNA Splice‐Switching Nanomicelles

Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are oligonucleotide analogs that can be used for therapeutic modulation of pre‐mRNA splicing. Similar to other classes of nucleic acid‐based therapeutics, PMOs require delivery systems for efficient transport to the intracellular target sites. Here, artificial peptides based on the oligo(ethylenamino) acid succinyl‐tetraethylenpentamine (Stp), hydrophobic modifications, and an azide group are presented, which are used for strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition conjugation with splice‐switching PMOs. By systematically varying the lead structure and formulation, it is determined that the type of contained fatty acid and supramolecular assembly have a critical impact on the delivery efficacy. A compound containing linolenic acid with three cis double bonds exhibits the highest splice‐switching activity and significantly increases functional protein expression in pLuc/705 reporter cells in vitro and after local administration in vivo. Structural and mechanistic studies reveal that the lipopeptide PMO conjugates form nanoparticles, which accelerate cellular uptake and that the content of unsaturated fatty acids enhances endosomal escape. In an in vitro Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon skipping model using H2K‐mdx52 dystrophic skeletal myotubes, the highly potent PMO conjugates mediate significant splice‐switching at very low nanomolar concentrations. The presented aminoethylene‐lipopeptides are thus a promising platform for the generation of PMO‐therapeutics with a favorable activity/toxicity profile.     

A new lateral MOS-gated thyristor with controlling base-current

A new lateral MOS-gated thyristor, called the Base-Current-Controlled Thyristor, is described. This device is designed so that most holes at the on-stage reach the P base through the floating P⁺ region adjacent to the P base and the on-state MOSFET. At the turn-off stage, the interruption of the hole current to the P base due to switching off the above MOSFET occurs simultaneously with the conventional turn-off operation. The concept of this device is verified experimentally by using the fabricated lateral device with the external MOSFET. This device exhibits a better trade-off relation between the on-state voltage and the turn-off time compared uith the conventional MOS-gated thyristor     

Iodine-123-BMIPP myocardial washout and cardiac work during exercise in normal and ischemic hearts

Due to the changes in the frequency of penicillin-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae, it is necessary to perform surveillance studies of bacterial resistance. Isolates from the upper respiratory tract of asymptomatic children have been useful. There is no information about the difference between isolates from children with and without upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). The objective of the authors in this paper is to establish the prevalence of carrier-state, serotype and antimicrobial resistance of S. pneumoniae isolates from children with and without acute upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in a rural area in Mexico. A cross-sectional comparative study was performed in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Children from one month 5 years of age were included. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained. Identification was done by international microbiology standards. Serotyping was done by the capsular Quellung test. The susceptibility testing was performed by the agar dilution method. Four-hundred and fifty patients were included. S. pneumoniae was isolated in 134 children (29.7%). Frequency of carriers was greater in patients with URTI (107/323) than without URTI (27/127) (33.1% vs. 21.1% p = 0.012, OR 1.84, IC 95% 1.1-3.08). The six most frequent serotypes were: 6B (16.4%); 19F (11.9%); 19A (6.7%); 14, 23F, and 35 (5.2% each), with no difference among the groups. Only 3% of the strains had high level resistance to penicillin, and 12.6% had intermediate resistance, and for ampicillin 4%, amoxicillin 4%, amoxicillin-clavulanate 4%, ceftriaxone 3%, cefotaxime 1.5%, erythromycin 6%, miocamycin 3%, chloramphenicol 4%, and vancomycin 0%. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance was very high (42%). In conclusion, colonization is higher in children with URTI. Five of the most frequent serotypes identified in this study were the same as those identified in patients with S. pneumoniae invasive diseases in Mexico City. In Tlaxcala, Mexico, beta-lactams could be the drug of choice for the treatment of S. pneumoniae lower respiratory tract infections. It is necessary to perform clinical assays to evaluate the efficacy of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole due to the high resistance in vitro.     

Active sites of Cu-ZSM-5 for the decomposition of acrylonitrile

The catalytic decomposition of acrylonitrile (AN) over Cu-ZSM-5 prepared with various Cu loadings was investigated. AN conversion, during which the nitrogen atoms in AN were mainly converted to N₂, increased as Cu loading increased. N₂ selectivities as high as 90–95% were attained. X-ray diffraction measurements (XRD) and temperature-programmed reduction by H₂ (H₂-TPR) showed the existence of bulk CuO in Cu-ZSM-5 with a Cu loading of 6.4 wt% and the existence of highly dispersed CuO in Cu-ZSM-5 with a Cu loading of 3.3 wt%. Electron spin resonance measurements revealed that Cu-ZSM-5 contains three forms of isolated Cu²⁺ ions (square-planar, square-pyramidal, and distorted square-pyramidal). The H₂-TPR results suggested that in Cu-ZSM-5 with a Cu loading of 2.9 wt% and below, Cu⁺ existed even after oxidizing pretreatment. The activity of AN decomposition over Cu/SiO₂ suggested that CuO could form N₂, but, independent of the CuO dispersion, nitrogen oxides (NO_x) were formed above 350 °C. Cu⁺ and the square-pyramidal and distorted square-pyramidal forms of Cu²⁺ showed low activity for AN decomposition. Temperature-programmed desorption of NH₃ suggested that N₂ formation from NH₃ proceeded on Cu²⁺, resulting in the formation of Cu⁺. The Cu⁺ ions were oxidized to Cu²⁺ at around 300 °C. Thus, high N₂ selectivity over Cu-ZSM-5 with a wide range of temperature was probably attained by the reaction over the square-planar Cu²⁺, which can be reversibly reduced and oxidized.     

Superconductivity in the tetragonal phase of La1.9Bi0.1CuO4+δ annealed under high oxygen pressure

We have investigated the relation between the crystal structure and superconductivity in La_1.9Bi_0.1CuO_4+δ , in which the phase separation observed in La₂CuO_4+δ is suppressed. A phase diagram in theT?δ plane is given for La_1.9Bi_0.1CuO_4+δ with excess oxygen. For very smallδ values, the crystal structure is orthorhombic, and an orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition occurs markedly atδ ～ 0.03 in the measured temperature range between 13 and 293 K. Superconductivity is observed in the range of 0.04<δ<0.11. This is clear evidence thathigh-T _c superconductivity also appears in the tetragonal phase.     

Diversity of pituitary cells in primary cell culture. An immunocytochemical study

A bioassay system for rapid detection of carcinogenic agents has been developed using male Fischer 344 rats to bridge the gap between long-term carcinogenicity tests and short-term screening assays. The system, called the medium-term liver bioassay, is fundamentally based on the 2-stage hypothesis of tumor production, employing initiation by diethylnitrosamine (200 mg/kg, i.p.) in the first stage and test chemical administration during the second, in combination with two-thirds partial hepatectomy. It requires only 8 wk for animal experimentation and a further few weeks for quantitative analysis of immunohistochemically demonstrated glutathione S-transferase placental form positive hepatic foci. A total of 291 chemicals/substances have already been analyzed in our laboratory. Among 63 chemicals that were proved to be carcinogenic in the liver of rat and/or mouse, 57 (90%) gave positive results irrespective of their mutagenicity. Negative compounds include peroxisome proliferators and tamoxifen. Even nonhepatocarcinogens were positive at a rate of 24%. Eighty-six percent (12/14) of mouse liver carcinogens were also positive. On the other hand, only 2 out of 45 noncarcinogens showed very weak positivity. Thus, the efficacy of the system for hepatocarcinogens has been well established. This bioassay is increasingly regarded as an appropriate alternative test for carcinogenicity risk assessment and is practically used for a rapid evaluation of hepatocarcinogenicity of chemicals.     

Anti beta 2glycoprotein I antibodies and lupus anticoagulant in patients with recurrent pregnancy loss: prevalence and clinical significance

Over 2000 electrocution deaths were identified among U.S. construction workers from 1980 to 1991, with the highest mean annual crude mortality rate (2.5 per 100,000 people), and second highest mean age-adjusted rate (2.7 per 100,000 people) of all industries. Although the crude fatality rates showed a downward trend, construction workers are still about four times more likely to be electrocuted at work than are workers in all industries combined. Nearly 40% of the 5083 fatal electrocutions in all industries combined occurred in construction, and 80% were associated with industrial wiring, appliances, and transmission lines. Electrocutions ranked as the second leading cause of death among construction workers, accounting for an average of 15% of traumatic deaths in the industry from 1980 to 1991. The study indicates that the workers most at risk of electrical injury are male, young, nonwhite, and electricians, structural metal workers, and laborers. The most likely time of injury is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. from June to August. Focusing prevention on these populations and characteristics through better methods of worker and supervisor electrical safety training, use of adequate protective clothing, and compliance with established procedures could minimize the average annual loss of 168 U.S. construction workers.     

Ulcerative colitis with skip lesions at the mouth of the appendix: a clinical study

OBJECTIVE: We examined the clinical characteristics of ulcerative colitis patients who demonstrated endoscopically discontinuous lesions at the mouth of the appendix. METHODS: Of patients with initial or recurrent active ulcerative colitis who underwent total colonoscopy during the past 3 yr at Osaka City General Hospital, we selected those who had skip lesions in the mouth of the appendix before treatment, and examined their gender, age, disease type, sites of lesions, inflammatory reaction, severity of disease, effects of treatment, and posttreatment course. RESULTS: Discontinuous lesions at the mouth of the appendix were found in 10 patients, who had the following common clinical features: the major lesion was usually present in the lower part of the large bowel including the rectum, many of the patients had suffered an initial attack only, all patients had mild disease, and many of the patients responded quite satisfactorily to treatment with salicylazosulfapyridine. CONCLUSION: Numerous patients with ulcerative colitis with discontinuous lesions at the mouth of the appendix were observed and their clinical characteristics were examined. Determination of the clinical significance of skip lesions in the appendix will contribute to elucidation of the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis.