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The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between baseline Lipiodol uptake in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with early tumor recurrence, and to identify a threshold baseline uptake value predicting tumor response.

To narrow down the candidates of the alloying element powders for Ti-5Al-1Fe products manufactured with BE/PM, two master alloy powders, atomized spherical 5Al-1Fe and crushed-andground polyhedron 5Al-1Fe-4Ti ternary powders, were investigated with emphasizing on homogeneity of alloying elements, Al and Fe, in sintered Ti-5Al-1Fe. Intense Al segregation is recognized in the sintered specimen manufactured using 5Al-1Fe atomized powders, while strong segregation is not observed in the specimen manufactured using 5Al-1Fe-4Ti crushed-and-ground powders. Density of sintered specimen manufactured using 5Al-1Fe atomized powders is lower than that manufactured using 5Al-1Fe-4Ti crushed-and-ground powders. Al segregation and lower sintered density are probably caused by lower density of the powder substance, high flowability of spherical powders and phase constitutions some of which have low melting points. Those factors have to be taken into account to manufacture sintered titanium alloys with high homogeneity by BE/PM.

To challenge the significant reduction of manufacturing cost of Ti thin sheet or foil in the future, manufacturing of Ti foil by electrodeposition route was studied with emphasizing on factors affecting quality of the foil and separability from Mo cathode. Current density was one of the strong factors affecting soundness of deposited Ti foil and its separability from the cathode. Electrolyte bath temperature also affected soundness and separability of deposited Ti foil. Separability was closely related to interdiffusion distance of Ti and Mo, that is, shorter diffusion distance, which was brought by low temperature and low current density, led to good separability as well as good surface quality. By reflecting above knowledge, post card size Ti foil of around 0.1 mm in thickness was successfully obtained. It had good quality and could be separated from the cathode by hand. O and Fe contents were drastically decreased by this process.

To respond to the requirements for porous Ti sheet with the balanced properties of high porosity and good mechanical properties, and to optimize the manufacturing conditions of the simple powder-filling plus sintering process, effects of sintering temperatures on density and bending strength in porous Ti sheet were investigated. The optimum sintering condition was 900-950 °C for 1h to obtain porous Ti sheet with the balanced density ratio (around 40%) and high bending strength. The polyhedron shape of HDH powders contributed to those balanced properties, in which localized sintering raised bending strength with keeping high porosity (low density). Using the optimum manufacturing conditions, large sized porous Ti sheet of 400 × 800 × 0.5 mm was successfully manufactured.

Abstract Background Bacteria release a wide variety of small molecules including cell-to-cell signaling compounds. Gram-negative bacteria use a variety of self-produced autoinducers such as acylated homoserine lactones (acyl-HSLs) as signal compounds for quorum sensing (QS) within and between bacterial species. QS plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and in beneficial symbiosis by responding to acyl-HSLs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is considered that the selection of bacterial languages is necessary to regulate gene expression and thus it leads to the regulation of virulence and provides a growth advantage in several environments. In this study, we hypothesized that RND-type efflux pump system MexAB-OprM of P. aeruginosa might function in the selection of acyl-HSLs, and we provide evidence to support this hypothesis. Results Loss of MexAB-OprM due to deletion of mexB caused increases in QS responses, as shown by the expression of gfp located downstream of the lasB promoter and LasB elastase activity, which is regulated by a LasR-3-oxo-C12-HSL complex. Either complementation with a plasmid containing wild-type mexB or the addition of a LasR-specific inhibitor, patulin, repressed these high responses to 3-oxo-acyl-HSLs. Furthermore, it was shown that the acyl-HSLs-dependent response of P. aeruginosa was affected by the inhibition of MexB transport activity and the mexB mutant. The P. aeruginosa MexAB-OprM deletion mutant showed a strong QS response to 3-oxo-C10-HSL produced by Vibrio anguillarum in a bacterial cross-talk experiment. Conclusion This work demonstrated that MexAB-OprM does not control the binding of LasR to 3-oxo-Cn-HSLs but rather accessibility of non-cognate acyl-HSLs to LasR in P. aeruginosa. MexAB-OprM not only influences multidrug resistance, but also selects acyl-HSLs and regulates QS in P. aeruginosa. The results demonstrate a new QS regulation mechanism via the efflux system MexAB-OprM in P. aeruginosa.