In June 2020, a large-scale food poisoning outbreak involving about 3000 elementary and junior high school students occurred in Yashio, Saitama, Japan. A school lunch was the only food stuff ingested by all of the patients. Escherichia coli serotype O7:H4 carrying the astA gene for enteroaggregative E. coli (EAggEC) heat-stable enterotoxin 1 (EAST1) was detected in faecal specimens from the patients, and sample inspection revealed its presence in a seaweed salad and red seaweed (Gigartina tenella) as one of the raw materials. Analysis of the antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates revealed resistance to ampicillin and cefotaxime. All isolates were confirmed to be of the same origin by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis after digestion with the restriction enzyme XbaI, and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis using whole genome sequencing. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a large-scale food poisoning caused by E. coli O7:H4, which lacks well-characterized virulence genes other than astA.

Since January 2006, the use of antibiotics for domestic animals as feed additives has been banned within the European Union, influenced by the consumers’ demands for products free of antimicrobial residues. As an alternative, probiotics in animal nutrition have attracted attention for their potential roles as growth promoters as well as antibiotics. Recently, much research data has been gathered and suggests a potential role for probiotics from fungi as natural growth promoters in broiler nutrition. One such fungi, Aspergillus awamori, has been shown to improve the growth performance and meat quality of broiler chickens. This review examines the current scientific data on the use of A. awamori as a probiotic in broiler nutrition. From the available literature, it can be concluded that A. awamori may provide an effective alternative to antibiotics in the production of broilers.

Control of the polarity of GaN films deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition was achieved by substrate nitridation and subsequent annealing of a buffer layer. The surface morphology and optical properties of 1.2μm GaN films were influenced by the different growth mode due to the polar direction. Coaxial impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy revealed that the polarity composition of a buffer layer on nitrided sapphire varied by annealing in a H2 atmosphere. It was considered that the systematic variation of the surface morphology was caused by the polarity composition of the buffer layer.

Control of the polarity of GaN films deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition was achieved by substrate nitridation and subsequent annealing of a buffer layer. The surface morphology and optical properties of 1.2μm GaN films were influenced by the different growth mode due to the polar direction. Coaxial impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy revealed that the polarity composition of a buffer layer on nitrided sapphire varied by annealing in a H2 atmosphere. It was considered that the systematic variation of the surface morphology was caused by the polarity composition of the buffer layer.

The present experiments4 were undertaken to investigate the effects of environmental temperatures on growth, abdominal fat content, rate of muscle protein turnover, and heat production in tube-fed intact male broiler chickens. Plasma concentrations of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), and corticosterone (CTC) were also examined. Chicks (15d old) were kept at different environmental temperatures (16,19,22,25,28,31, and 34°) and given the experimental diet (200g crude protein/kg, 13·;57M/kg metabolizable energy) by tube three times daily throughout the 12d experimental period. In the hot conditions, except for 34°, body-weight gain was significantly higher than in the cold conditions. Thus, food conversion ratios (food: gain ratios) were lower when the birds were exposed to the hot conditions other than 34°. Likewise, abdominal fat content was significantly increased, and heat production was lower in the groups kept under the hot conditions other than 34°. The rate of skeletal muscle protein turnover and plasma concentration of CTC were decreased when the birds were exposed to hot conditions other than 34°. suggesting a role of CTC in the regulation of muscle protein turnover. Plasma concentrations of T4 and T3 were significantly decreased as environmental temperature increased. These results clearly show that plasma concentrations of thyroid hormones and CTC are associated with accelerated muscle protein turnover and heat production.

Acoustic emission (AE) signals generated during the martensitic transformation in an Fe-24at%Pt alloy with various ordering treatments have been measured, and the AE parameters have been correlated with phase transformation events. AE events are generated during cooling of specimens, which is the first detection of the AE events associated with the martensitic transformation in Fe-Pt alloys. In all specimens, AE events were observed at higher temperature than the Ms temperatures determined by electrical resistivity measurement. AE events started to increase abruptly for the weakly ordered specimen with decreasing temperature. In contrast, AE events increased gradually for the highly ordered specimen with decreasing temperature. This is consistent with the nature of the transformation behavior in this alloy. The critical defect size of weakly ordered and highly ordered specimens were calculated using Ms temperature determined by AE technique. Results obtained in this investigation strongly suggests that the AE technique is useful for analysis of transformation kinetics in this alloy.

Effects of high magnetic field and tensile stress on martensitic transformation behavior and microstructure at 4 K have been studied in Fe-31Ni-0.4C and Fe-27Ni-0.8C shape memory alloys. It was found that the critical magnetic field to induce martensitic transformation is between 7.5 T and 10 T. In the case of Fe-27Ni-0.8C, martensitic transformation is stress-induced at lower level of stress in magnetic field than in the case when no magnetic Field is applied. The amount of martensite formed by increasing the magnetic field under constant stress is larger than that formed by increasing the stress in the constant magnetic field.

The probable association of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock with the η Lyrid meteor stream is suggested, and the possible relation of the radio meteor shower on 1983 May 10 is also discussed.

AlAs/Si heterostructures grown by atomic layer epitaxy have been evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. The hetero-interface is found to be extremely abrupt as compared with the case of GaAs/Si heterostructures grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. It is also noted that atomic steps are clearly observed at the interface and that no amorphous or alloyed regions are found. At the very initial stage of growth, a three dimensional island growth mode is dominant. However, two-dimensional growth takes place after depositing only 36 atomic layers of AlAs. Two types of defects are observed in the AlAs layer: stacking faults and microtwins. Although the density of these defects is high, they tend to self-annihilate at the interface between the AlAs layer and the upper GaAs thick layer. These results lead us to conclude that using an AlAs layer grown by atomic layer epitaxy as a buffer layer is very promising for achieving high quality GaAs/Si heterostructures with low defect density.