A third nationally representative serosurvey was performed to study the changes in Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) seroprevalence in the Netherlands over a 20-year time span and to identify and confirm risk factors for acquired toxoplasmosis. This cross-sectional study (conducted in 2016/2017) was designed similarly to the previous two studies (1995/1996 and 2006/2007) and included a questionnaire and serum sampling among Dutch residents. Factors associated with seropositivity for T. gondii were determined using multivariable analysis of the questionnaire-derived data. The earlier observed decrease in T. gondii seroprevalence between 1995/1996 and 2006/2007 (from 40.5% to 26.0%) did not continue into 2016/2017 (29.9%). Similarly to the previous studies, the seroprevalence increased with age and varied among regions. In all studies, higher T. gondii seropositivity was associated with increasing age, lower educational level, not living in the Southeast, and eating raw or semi-cooked pork. The incidence of congenital toxoplasmosis was estimated at 1.3/1000 (95% CI 0.9–1.8) live-born children in 2017. As the seroprevalence of T. gondii in the Netherlands did not decrease over the last decade, an increase in public health awareness is needed and prevention measures may need to be taken to achieve a further reduction in T. gondii infections in the Netherlands.

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables visualization of protein complexes within their native cellular environment at molecular resolution. Most cells and all tissues, however, are too thick to be imaged directly by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Overcoming this limitation requires the production of thin biological sections called lamellae. The procedure to obtain lamellae of cells, either seeded or grown directly on electron microscopy grids, requires cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) milling to thin the samples. This method faces an additional challenge when dealing with tissues and multicellular organisms, as these samples must be high-pressure frozen, which embeds the sample in a thick layer of ice. Nonetheless, lamellae can still be prepared from such samples by extracting a small volume and transferring it to a receiver grid for lamella preparation, a process called lift-out. Here, we describe the available workflows to produce lamellae by lift-out at cryogenic conditions and recent developments in gas injection system (GIS)-free approaches to the lift-out transfer. These advances expand the applications of cryo-ET, enabling the investigation of tissues and whole organisms in situ at molecular resolution.

In this paper the Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy program at the University of Adelaide is described. VHE gamma rays with energies above ~5 × 1011eV are observed using the atmospheric Cerenkov technique. Results from the first three years observations at Woomera and the current upgrading of the telecope are described. The CANGAROO project, a collaboration between the University of Adelaide and a number of Japanese institutions, is also introduced.

Protective immunity of homologous challenge infection was examined in jirds after drug-abbreviated infection with Brugia pahangi. Mebendazole (MBZ) treatment at the early prepatent (5–7 weeks of post infection) or the late prepatent (7–9 weeks of post infection) period was highly effective in causing almost complete eradication of the primary infection. After challenge infection, the worm burden was significantly reduced 19% (31·1 in average) and 77% (9·5) to that of the controls (38·8 and 41·7), respectively. The magnitude of eosinophil response paralleled the degree of protection. No or only a few microfilariae were seen after challenge infection in jirds treated during the prepatent periods. They were also resistant to intravenous challenge with the microfilariae of B. pahangi. MBZ treatment at the patent period was, on the contrary, incomplete against primarily infected adult worms, and was not able to induce either significant protection (30·1 vs 33·1 in control) or eosinophil response to the challenge infection.

On the basis of coupled neutronic/hydrodynamic calculations, we examine the neutron heating effects on the ignition and burn propagation in laser-imploded D-T pellets. The fusionproduced neutrons deposit their energy all over the pellet region since the mean-free-path of the neutron is long. The fraction of neutron energies deposited to the central spark region during the ignition phase is too small to reduce the threshold energy of the laser for ignition. In the burn phase, the neutron heating decreases the maximum compression ratio and accelerates the plasma expansion. The inclusion of neutron heating hence decreases the pellet gain from the value in the case without neutron heating. Calculations neglecting the transport of neutron recoils overestimate the neutron heating rate in the reactor-grade pellets.

We obtained steady solutions of optically thin two-temperature magnetized accretion disks around a black hole. We included relativistic bremsstrahlung cooling, synchrotron cooling and inverse Compton effects and assumed that the disk is threaded by toroidal magnetic field. We found that a magnetic pressure dominated new branch, which we call a ‘low-β branch’, appears in the thermal equilibrium curves. The luminosity of the optically thin, magnetically supported disk can exceed 10% of the Eddington luminosity (0.1 LEdd).

The low ‘environmental-load’ CdS/CdTe solar cells for reducing consumption of Cd compounds have been investigated employing the CdS layers fabricated at various substrate temperatures, TCdS, and a conversion efficiency of 14.1% has been achieved. The nanostructure of CdS crystallites made at different TCdS are compared to the crystallinity of CdS, and CdTe deposited on CdS as well as sulfur fraction in CdTe1-xSx mixed crystal layer unintentionally formed at CdS/CdTe(S) interface. The photovoltaic performances, especially obtained relative high open circuit voltages, are discussed in conjunction with the structural properties as well as electrical properties of the solar cells. The solar cells show a relative high Voc due to the large CdTe grains as well as the narrow depletion layer width. Besides, preventing deterioration of the CdS/CdTe(S) interface is found to be quite effective for achieving high open circuit voltages and fill factors.

Nippon Steel Corporation started the operation of a dust recycling plant based on technologies of the rotary hearth furnace. The Kimitsu plant has a large 180,000 ton-per-year capacity. New technologies of pellet making, zinc recovery, iron oxide reduction, DRI pellet sintering, etc. are developed and adopted. The dust and sludge are reduced and transformed in almost zinc-free DRI pellets that are strong enough for the BF charge. This plant has solved the problem of the increase in zinc load of the BF when charging dust and sludge.

The Collaboration of Australia and Nippon for a GAmma Ray Observatory in the Outback operates two large telescopes at Woomera (South Australia), which detect the Čerenkov light images produced in the atmosphere by electronpositron cascades initiated by very high energy (~1 TeV or 1012 eV) gamma rays. These gamma rays arise from a different mechanism than at EGRET energies: inverse Compton (IC) emission from relativistic electrons.

The spoke-like images are recorded by a multi-pixel camera which facilitates the rejection of the large numbers of oblique and ragged cosmic ray images. A field of view ~3.5° is required. The Australian team operates a triple 4 m diameter mirror telescope, BIGRAT, with a 37 photomultiplier tube camera and energy threshold 600 GeV. The Japanese operate a single, highly accurate 3.8 m diameter f/1 telescope and high resolution 256 photomultipler tube camera. In 1998 a new 7 m telescope is planned for Woomera with a design threshold ~;200GeV.

Palladium solubility was measured in a dilute aqueous solution at room temperature in the pH range from 3 to 13 under anaerobic conditions. Crystalline Pd metal was clearly visible and the concentration of palladium in solution decreased gradually with aging time. The palladium concentrations in solution were less than 9.4×10-10M in the pH range from 4 to 10 and increased to 10-7M in the pH range greater than 10. This study suggests that palladium concentrations in certain high-level waste repository environments may be limited by Pd metal and may be less than 10-9M.

Implantation of Mg+ and C+ ions is carried out in bulk InP substrates using single or several energies up to 400 keV. The net carrier concentration profile at 300K is measured by capacitance-voltage (C-V) method. The ground and excited states binding energies of Mg and C acceptors are determined by low-temperature selective excitation of photoluminescence (PL). Additional sharp exciton-Iike emissions are detected after annealing of the samples. Their intensity is found to decrease with increasing Mg+ or C+ dose. Annealing-induced activation and/or formation of complex defect are the likely candidate mechanisms for the involved defect.

Systematic studies have been made on preparation of Si thin films from SiF4 under control over the flow of atomic hydrogens. The gas phase reactions taking place in the mixture of fragments (SiFn) resulting from plasma-induced dissociation and atomic hydrogens were widely investigated by a mass spectroscopy. Chemically active species,i.e., SiF2H and SiH2F were found as those related to the growth of films. The growth in the vicinity of substrates involves either endothermic or radical-enhanced reaction for the propagation of the three dimensional Si networks, accompaning release of terminators such as H and F. Accordingly, Si thin films with structures from amorphous to crystalline were obtained by controlling the flow of atomic hydrogen. A marked improvement in the hole-transport was established in the Si films containing hydrogen less than 5–6 at % due to the reduction in the tail states near the valence band.

High photoconductive a-Si:H(F) and St-based alloys were prepared from “precursors” made by oxidation of silane with F2 or reduction of SiFn (n=1,2,) with atomic hydrogen. Both crystalline and amorphous silicon were prepared at will, in the latter case, by controlling the flow of hydrogen. A marked reduction in the localized states in the vicinity of valence band was eatablished in the a-Si:H(F) prepared under optimal condition. A novel photoconductive film with high photoconductive gain for near-tr light was successfully made by multiplying a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H(F) periodically by a new preparation technique without a rise in the dark conductivity.

1. Sheep offered a roughage diet for 4 h daily were injected intravenously with glucose before and at various times after feeding. The insulin secretory response to glucose and the rate of disappearance of injected glucose were determined.

2. While the basal concentration of plasma insulin was unchanged, the base-line plasma glucose concentration tended to decrease during the meal.

3. The glucose load brought about an increase in the plasma insulin concentration at each injection, but the insulin response to glucose and the rate of glucose disposal were increased during the meal.

4. On varying the time of feeding between 08.00 and 16.00 hours, the increase in the insulin response to glucose and in the rate of glucose disposal always appeared to be related to the giving of food, independent of the time food was offered.

5. It is concluded that feeding increases the insulin response to an intravenous glucose load even when the increase in the basal level of plasma insulin on feeding is very modest in sheep given a roughage diet. The increased insulin response and glucose disposal rate following feeding did not appear to be related to diurnal rhythms in insulin secretory activity or glucose metabolism.

Seventy-nine pairs of same-sex twins were examined at the age of three years at a municipal clinic and their mothers were interviewed to assess the twins' current and past behaviours. The zygosity was determined after the interview by fingerprints and/or bloodtyping in the majority of cases. The following significant differences in concordance between monozygotic and dizygotic twins were found: 1) fear of strangers during observation at the clinic; 2) marked fear of strangers in the first year of life; 3) whether or not the child was startled by sudden noises during infancy; 4) whether or not the child was able to sleep alone at three years without a parent sitting nearby; 5) susceptibility to motion sickness; 6) nocturnal enuresis; 7) short attention span or restlessness during the test.

Studies of the stellar distribution in the inner region of our Galaxy have been seriously hampered at optical wavelengths by strong interstellar extinction. The extinction decreases considerably at infrared wavelengths, allowing us to look deep into the Galaxy. Motivated by this, we have tried to observe the near infrared brightness distribution of the central region of the Galaxy (Okuda et al., 1977, Maihara et al., 1978, Oda et al., 1978). Similar observations have been carried out by Hayakawa et al., (1976), Ito et al., (1977), and Hofmann et al., (1977). These observations have provided valuable information on the distributions of stars and dust in the inner Galaxy (Hayakawa et al., 1977, Maihara et al., 1978, Oda et al., 1978).