Objectives: We evaluated the disinfecting efficacy of atomized ionless hypochlorous acid water (CLFine) against pathogenic microorganisms in an isolation room. Methods: The study was conducted in an isolation room of Kurume University Hospital. CLFine with available chlorine concentrations of 40 ppm and 300 ppm as test substances and purified water as control were atomized with an ultrasonic atomizer (CLmistL). The 40 ppm and 300 ppm of CLFine were atomized at the atmospheric available chlorine concentrations of ~0.03 ppm and 0.1~0.2 ppm, respectively, and purified water was atomized in the same manner as CLFine. Petri dishes with Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus spores, Bacillus subtilis spores and Aspergillus ruber were allocated in the room, then CLFine or purified water was atomized. Sampling was performed at 3 and 5 hours after the start of atomization, and the bacterial counts were measured. The study was carried out either with air conditioning turned “on” or “off” because atmospherically available chlorine concentration is affected by ventilation. Results: When the air conditioning was turned on, purified water showed a slight reduction of bacterial counts by 0.9 log or less at 5 hours after the atomization. When CLFine was used, 40 ppm greatly reduced the counts of Staphylococcus aureus by 5.1~5.4 logs reduction at 5 hours after the atomization, but no distinctive efficacy was observed against other microorganisms. On the other hand, 300 ppm caused a significant reduction of the bacterial counts for all the microorganisms at 5 hours after the atomization (P < .001 vs purified water). The same results were observed in the environment with the air conditioning turned off. Conclusions: Our data suggest that CLFine effectively disinfects pathogenic microorganisms and can contribute to maintaining the hygienic environment of hospital rooms. This study was funded as contracted research by NIPRO Corporation with the approval of the ethics committee (study no. 21229).

We have previously shown that the C-terminal region of the intermediate subunit of Entamoeba histolytica galactose- and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine-inhibitable lectin (C-Igl) is a useful antigen for serodiagnosis of amebiasis. An immunochromatographic kit was developed using fluorescent silica nanoparticles coated with C-Igl prepared in Escherichia coli. Samples for examination were added to the freeze-dried particles and then applied to the immunochromatographic device, in which a test line on the membrane was also coated with C-Igl. Fluorescent intensity was measured using a hand-held reader. In an evaluation of the kit using a human monoclonal antibody, the minimum amount of C-Igl specific antibody showing positive results was 100 pg. In the evaluation of serum samples with different antibody titers in indirect immunofluorescent antibody tests in the kit, 20 µL of serum was sufficient to obtain positive results at 30 min. Serum samples from symptomatic patients with amebic colitis and amebic liver abscess and those from asymptomatic E. histolytica-cyst carriers showed positive results in the kit. Based on evaluation using sera from healthy controls and patients with other infectious diseases, the sensitivity and specificity of the kit were 100 and 97.6%, respectively. Therefore, we conclude that the newly developed kit is useful for rapid serodiagnosis of amebiasis.

Laboratory experiments were done to better understand the electrical conduction mechanisms of impure, polycrystalline ice as represented by the 2503 m Dome Fuji (Antarctica) ice core. Also, two electrical measurement techniques for ice cores were compared and their usefulness for determining the acidity of ice cores was studied. We measured the electrical conductivity and complex permittivity of 167 slab-ice samples at frequencies from 20 Hz to 1 MHz. Measurements were performed at –21˚C for all samples, and at –110˚ to –20˚C for several samples, to examine the effects of temperature. We found linear relations between the AC loss factor and the molarity of sulfuric acid, and between the high-frequency-limit conductivity and the AC loss factor. Thus, the acidity levels can be determined from the AC loss factor. In contrast, the electrical conductivity measurement (ECM) current correlated weakly with the other parameters; furthermore, the correlation worsens at larger signal. In several samples containing high acidity, the dielectric properties had distinct changes near –81˚C. We argue that these changes were caused by a change from a liquid-vein-mediated conduction mechanism above the eutectic point of the solute/water/ ice system to a solid-phase conduction mechanism at lower temperatures.

Uniaxial compression tests were performed on samples of the Greenland Ice Gore Project (GRIP) deep ice core, both in the field and later in a cold-room laboratory, in order to understand the ice-flow behavior of large ice sheets. Experiments were conducted under conditions of constant strain rate (type A) and constant load (type B). Fifty-four uniaxial-compression test specimens from 1327-2922 m were selected. Each test specimen (25 mm x 25 mm x 90 mm) was prepared with its uniaxial stress axis inclined 45° from the core axis in order to examine the flow behavior of strong single-maximum ice-core samples with basal planes parallel to the horizontal plane of the ice sheet. The ice-flow enhancement factors show a gradual increase with depth down to approximately 2000 m. These results can be interpreted in terms of an increase in the fourth-order Schmid factor. Below 2000 m depth, the flow-enhancement factor increases to about 20-30 with a relatively high variability When the Schmid factor was > 0.46, the enhancement factor obtained was higher than expected from the .-axis concentrations measured. The higher values of flow-enhancement factor were obtained from specimens with a cloudy band structure. It was revealed that cloudy bands affect ice-deformation processes, but the details remain unclear.

Air bubbles trapped near the surface of an ice sheet are transformed into air hydrates below a certain depth Their volume and number varies partly with environment and climate. Air bubbles and hydrates at 120-2200 m depth in the Dome Fuji (Dome F) ice core were examined with a microscope. This depth range covers the Holocene/Last Glacial/Last Interglacial/Previous Glacial periods. No air bubbles were seen below about 1100 m depth, and air hydrates began to appear from about 600 m. The observed number of air bubbles and hydrates was similar to that found in the Vostok ice core. For the ice covering the Last Glacial Maximum period, however the hydrate concentration in the Dome F core is about half that of the Vostok core. Reference to snow metamorphism and packing does not explain this finding.

The 320 kyr climatic record from the 2503 m Dome Fuji (Antarctica) ice core was analyzed using two electrical methods: AC-ECM and ECM (electrical conductivity measurements). AC-ECM is a method to detect the complex admittance between electrodes dragged on the ice surface with mm-scale resolution and uses 1V and 1 MHz. the ratio of the real to imaginary part of the admittance is the AC loss factor, which responds linearly to the amount of sulfuric acid and hydrogen ions. Both the AC loss factor and the ECM current respond to acid, but the ECM signal tends to saturate at high acidities. Dome Fuji ice was measured to be highly acidic, with background values of 2–7 μM, and had 4500 major peaks with acidities of up to 90 μM. This ice-core evidence and earlier snow-chemistry survey around the dome region indicates that Dome F may have a better connection to the stratosphere than have sites at lower altitude, which allows more stratospheric aerosol and gases to reach the snow surface. Acidity tends to be high in interglacial periods, but correlation between acidity and δ18O is not straightforward. Electrical signals decreased and smoothed out with increasing depth; the diffusion coefficients deduced from this smoothing were 10–102 times greater than in solid ice. the ice core exhibited electromechanical effects and expelling effects from sulfate peaks.

Preliminary results of the analyses on 700 m ice cores retrieved from Mizuho Station, Antarctica, in 1983 and 1984 are presented. The majority of the physical properties, density, grain-size and shape, and total gas content, were measured at the drilling site. Fabrics, microparticle concentration, electrical conductivity, and stable-isotope concentration δ18O were measured in laboratories after the cores had been taken to Japan.

In spite of inaccuracy in measuring both density and total gas content in the ice, due to interlocking cracks in cores, several attempts were made to correct the data. The coincidence between the incremental peaks in the depth profile of the microparticle concentration, as well as in the electrical conductivity and the warm trend indicated by the δ18O profile is discussed. The shape of the δ18O profile is characterized by two inflection points and is compared with results obtained from the Byrd Station, Dome C and Vostok cores. From this comparison, it is tentatively concluded that the bottom of the Mizuho core may be an age of the order of 10 ka B.P.

The majority of neural tube defects were believed to be folic acid (FA)-preventable in the 1990s. The Japanese government recommended women planning pregnancy to take FA supplements of 400 μg/d in 2000, but the incidence of spina bifida has not decreased. We aimed to evaluate the OR of having an infant with spina bifida for women who periconceptionally took FA supplements and the association between an increase in supplement use and possible promoters for the increase. This is a case–control study which used 360 case women who gave birth to newborns afflicted with spina bifida, and 2333 control women who gave birth to healthy newborns during the first 12 years of this century. They were divided into two 6-year periods; from 2001 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2012. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to compute OR between cases and controls. The adjusted OR of having an infant with spina bifida for supplement users was 0·48 in the first period, and 0·53 in the second period. The proportion of women who periconceptionally consumed supplements significantly increased from 10 % in the first period to 30 % in the second period. Awareness of the preventive role of FA was a promoter for an increase in supplement use, and thus an FA campaign in high school seems rational and effective. The failure of the current public health policy is responsible for an epidemic of spina bifida. Mandatory food fortification with FA is urgent and long overdue in Japan.

We present the water column profiles (surface to 2000 m depth) for dissolved inorganic radiocarbon (14CDIC) from 2 stations in the Kuroshio region including the Kuroshio large meander (LM) of 2004–2005. Surprisingly, the Δ14CDIC value varied up to 125‰ in the intermediate layer, especially near 600 m depth. In addition, the Δ14CDIC value was approximately − 150‰ at 200 m depth at the northern station of Kuroshio in August 2005. This value is ∼100‰ less than other Δ14CDIC values for the same depth. In comparison, the Δ14CDIC water column profiles for the southern station of Kuroshio and GEOSECS station 224 decrease down to 600 m depth and were similar below 600 m depth. Our results suggest that strong upwelling associated with the Kuroshio LM has a powerful influence on the Δ14CDIC water column profiles in the study region.

Recently, we selected the antibody fragment with high affinity for the biopolymer film of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from human antibody fragment libraries. In this study, we functionalized CdSe quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles by orderly conjugating the anti-PHB antibody fragments to perform spontaneous and selective stacking of inorganic particles on PHB-coated plates in neutral solutions at room temperature. Surface plasmon resonance analysis showed that the orderly clustering of anti-PHB antibody fragment on QD particles led to no dissociation of QD on PHB-coated plates, indicating the availability of avidity effect. The strong spontaneous immobilization using biomolecular recognition enabled stepwise stacking of inorganic particles on PHB-coated plates only by mixing operation in neutral solutions at room temperature. We show the potential of recombinant anti-material antibody fragments for the bottom-up stacking procedures for hybrid assembly.

We have measured excess carrier lifetimes in GaN with various doping concentrations and surface conditions by the microwave photoconductivity decay method. GaN samples were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) without intentional doping and with Si doping or Mg doping on a-face sapphire substrates. By using the microwave photoconductivity decay method, we obtained 1/e excess carrier lifetimes of larger than 50 μs for the Si doped and undoped GaN and of less than 10 μs for the Mg doped GaN. We changed surface conditions for the samples by the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching and investigated effects of surface conditions on the carrier recombination behavior. The ICP etching has negligible effects on carrier lifetime in the Si doped GaN. On the other hand, in the undoped GaN, the ICP etching lengthened the carrier lifetime compared with the as-grown sample. On the contrary, the ICP etching shortened the carrier lifetime in the Mg doped GaN. The ICP etching seems to form hole traps and recombination centers at GaN surfaces and thus the carrier lifetime became longer in the undoped GaN and shorter in the Mg doped GaN.

The band-A emission (around 2.8 eV) observed in high quality (device-grade) homoepitaxial diamond films grown by microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was studied by means of scanning cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Recent progress in our study on homoepitaxial diamond films was obtained through the low CH4/H2 conditions by CVD. These showed atomically flat surfaces and the excitonic emission at room temperature, while the band-A emission (2.95 eV) decreased. Using these samples, we found that the band-A emission only appeared at unepitaxial crystallites (UC) sites, while other flat surface parts still showed the excitonic emission. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that there were grain boundaries which contained π-bonds in UC. This indicates that one of the origin of the band-A emission in diamond films is attributed to π bonds of grain boundaries.

Ir should be used as an effective oxygen diffusion barrier (ODB) for ultrahigh temperature structural materials since If exhibits extremely low oxygen diffusivity. Oxidation resistance of Ir is, however, not good due to formation of gaseous oxide, IrO3, over 1390K. In this study, the improvement of oxidation resistance was aimed through alloy design of alloying with Al. IrAl is expected to form a self-healing multifunctional layered structure composed of Ir layer as ODB and A12O3 layer as a protective oxide (PO) on the Ir layer. Ar arc-melted IrAl alloy was crushed into powder, followed by hot pressing and heat treatment to remove Ir formed by eutectic reaction. Oxidation behavior was measured using thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) under the conditions of (1) dynamic heating of 0.167K/s and (2) isotherms at 1273K to 1673K in O2 environment. It was found that oxidation resistance is much improved by alloying with At and that the designed structure (PO/ODB) is formed on the IrAl substrate. Compressive mechanical properties were investigated from RT to 1873K: both the strength as a function of normalized temperature and specific strength are higher than those of pure Ir, NiAl, TiAl and Ni3A1. IrAl is promising as a advanced smart coating material equipping good oxidation resistance as well as high temperature strength.