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In this study, photochemical degradation of two emerging pharmaceutical chemicals, mefenamic acid (MF) and triclosan (TCS), was investigated to clarify the role of treated wastewater effluent matrices on their environmental photolysis. Target compounds were individually exposed to simulated sunlight in different media: ultrapure buffered water and synthetic field water with treated municipal wastewater effluent. The results in ultrapure buffered water showed that the direct photolysis processes in aquatic environments are not relevant to the elimination of MF. However, in samples containing treated wastewater effluent, photochemical degradation of MF was clearly enhanced. Our results indicate that MF undergoes indirect photolysis by reactive intermediates produced in an effluent matrix. Further quenching experiments suggested that photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals and excited triplet state dissolved organic matter drive the degradation of MF. In contrast to MF, TCS photochemical degradation proceeds through rapid direct photolysis. TCS was quickly degraded in ultrapure buffered water but it is considerably hampered in samples containing wastewater effluent. The declined degradation of TCS in the synthetic field water was discussed in terms of underlying optical filter effects by coexisting chromophoric substances. Results emphasize the importance of taking local water chemistry into consideration when predicting natural attenuation of pharmaceutical chemicals in receiving areas.

Magnetostrictive behaviors of Fe100− x B x (001), $x=0$ , 5, and 13 at. %, single-crystal films are studied in comparison with those of poly-crystal Fe–B films under rotating magnetic fields. The output waveform of poly-crystal Fe–B film is sinusoidal and the saturation magnetostriction, $\lambda _{s}$ , varies from negative to positive with increasing the B composition, $x$ , from 0 to 13 at. %. On the other hand, the output waveform of single-crystal Fe–B film is bathtub-like when measured along the easy magnetization axis of bcc[100], while it changes to triangular when measured along the hard magnetization axis of bcc[110]. The output waveform is strongly influenced by the magnetocrystalline anisotropy under a magnetic field of 1 kOe which is larger than the anisotropy field of the material. Variations of $\lambda _{{\mathbf {100}}}$ and $\lambda _{{\mathbf {111}}}$ values are estimated as a function of B content. $\lambda _{{\mathbf {100}}}$ of Fe–B film shows a positive value and increases with increasing the B content from 0 to 13 at. %, while the value of $\lambda _{{\mathbf {111}}}$ changes from negative to positive with increasing the B concentration. The B content dependence of $\lambda _{s}$ for poly-crystalline Fe–B samples is explained by considering the B content dependence of $\lambda _{{\mathbf {100}}}$ and $\lambda _{{\mathbf {111}}}$ determined with single-crystal film samples.

Fe, Fe 94 Si 6 , Fe 98 C 2 , and Fe 95 B 5 (at. %) single-crystal thin films of bcc(001) orientation are prepared on MgO(001) substrates using an ultrahigh-vacuum magnetron sputtering system. The influence of magnetic anisotropy on the magnetostriction under rotating magnetic field is investigated. Fe, Fe 94 Si 6 , and Fe 98 C 2 films show four-fold symmetries in in-plane magnetic anisotropy, where easy and hard magnetization directions are, respectively, observed along bcc[100] and bcc[110]. Higher saturation fields measured along bcc[110] are recognized in the order of Fe (6 kOe) > Fe 98 C 2 (5 kOe) > Fe 94 Si 6 (4 kOe). Triangle output waveforms of magnetostriction appear when these films are measured under low-rotating fields. The behavior is related with the motion of 90° magnetic domain walls in magnetically unsaturated film. With increasing the rotating field, the films approach to magnetic saturations and the waveform gradually shifts to usual sinusoidal shape. Larger threshold rotating field is observed in the order of Fe > Fe 98 C 2 > Fe 94 Si 6 , which is related to the saturation field. On the contrary, Fe 95 B 5 film possesses an almost isotropic property in in-plane measurement and shows sinusoidal waveforms even when the film is magnetically unsaturated. The waveform is affected by the symmetry and the strength of magnetic anisotropy.

The clinical application of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as treatment for intractable diseases or traumatic tissue damage has attracted attention. To address the ability of reactivating injured ovaries, we prepared a rat model with damaged ovaries by using an anticancer agent, cyclophosphamide (CTX). We then investigated the restorative effects on ovarian function and the safety of adipose-derived MSCs (A-MSCs). MSCs were shown to be capable of inducing angiogenesis and restoring the number of ovarian follicles and corpus lutea in ovaries. No deformities, tumor formation or deaths were observed in F1 and F2 rats, indicating that the local injection of MSCs into the ovary did not have any obvious side effects. In addition, the localization of the Y chromosome was investigated using the fluorescent in situ hybridization method by injecting male A-MSCs into the ovaries; as a result, the Y chromosomes were localized not in the follicles, but in the thecal layers. ELISA revealed that A-MSCs secreted higher levels of vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) than tail fibroblast cells. Quantitative real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry showed that higher expression levels of VEGF, IGF-1 and HGF were observed in CTX-treated ovaries after A-MSC transplantation. These findings suggest that MSCs may have a role in restoring damaged ovarian function and could be useful for regenerative medicine.

Aim: It is difficult to induce ovulation in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) resistant to clomiphene citrate (CC) because of the narrow safety margin of human menopausal gonadotropin preparations. In the present study, patients diagnosed as having PCOS according to the Japanese diagnostic criteria were divided into two groups (Groups H and N). Testosterone level was used as a cut-off value between Groups H and N to examine the usefulness of laparoscopic ovarian drilling (LOD) to induce ovulation. Methods: Thirty-two women with PCOS resistant to CC who underwent LOD were evaluated. The patients were divided into a high and a normal androgen group (Groups H and N with 19 and 13 patients, respectively) based on the level of testosterone measured 1 week before surgery using a cut-off value of 50 ng/dL. LOD was performed with microlaparoscopy under intravenous anesthesia. Results: After LOD, spontaneous ovulation occurred in 16 (84.2%) and nine (69.2%) patients in Groups H and N, respectively. Additional treatment with CC was given to 12 (63.2%) and 11 (84.6%) patients, respectively. No significant difference was noted with regard to the spontaneous ovulation rate after LOD. Eighteen pregnancies were established in 17 patients (53.1%). The pregnancy rate after LOD was not significantly different between Groups H and N: 42.1% (8 patients) and 76.9% (10 patients), respectively. Conclusion: Patients with PCOS as diagnosed based on the Japanese diagnostic criteria include those with increased and normal androgen levels. LOD is considered an effective ovulation induction method for both types of patients with PCOS.

In oocytes, cytoplasmic 3' polyadenylation regulates translational activation of dormant mRNA during meiotic maturation. Thus exogenous proteins are hardly expressed after injection of conventional RNA. To circumvent this, we synthesized a long polyadenylated (approximately 250 A) tail to encode RNA with an enhanced yellow fluorescent protein targeted to mitochondria (EYFP-mito), and injected it into mouse oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage. From this transcript, EYFP-mito was clearly expressed in approximately 80% of oocytes, while scarce expression from a transcript with only 30 A was observed. In strongly expressing oocytes, fluorescence was detected within 1-3 h after RNA injection, increased linearly up to 12 h, and reached a maximum at 12-15 h. The distribution of EYFP-mito matched the staining of mitochondria in these oocytes. About 80% of these oocytes underwent GV breakdown and 60% matured in vitro, comparable to non-expressing or non-RNA-injected oocytes. Some of the oocytes which strongly expressed EYFP-mito remained at the GV stage. Thus, the expression was not always accompanied by meiotic maturation, nor did it suppress the maturation process. Mature oocytes expressing EYFP-mito possessed normal fertilizability associated with intracellular Ca(2+) oscillations, and developed into 2-cell embryos. Thus, polyadenylated RNA is a useful tool applicable to the expression of EYFP-fused functional proteins or of indicator protein probes for studies of mammalian fertilization.

Magnetostrictive behaviors under rotating magnetic fields are investigated for bcc(001) single-crystal films of Fe100−x-Six(x = 0, 6, 10 at. %). The magnetostriction observation directions are along bcc[100] and bcc[110] of the films. The magnetostriction waveform varies greatly depending on the observation direction. For the observation along [100], the magnetostriction waveform of all the films is bathtub-like and the amplitude stays at almost constant even when the magnetic field is increased up to the anisotropy field. On the other hand, the waveform along [110] is triangular and the amplitude increases with increasing magnetic field up to the anisotropy field and then saturates. In addition, the waveform of Fe90Si10 film is distorted triangular when the applied magnetic fields are less than its anisotropy field. These magnetostrictive behaviors under rotating magnetic fields are well explained by employing a proposed modified coherent rotation model where the anisotropy field and the magnetization re...

Natural speech typically contains various phenomena deviated from the formal mode such as read speech. It is well known that those paralinguistic phenomena have an important role to give the human emotions and the state of the speakers in speech communication. This study attempts to extract the deviation as an acoustic ‘‘vagueness,’’ defined by temporal and dynamical acoustic features of speech. Especially the change of the vagueness during a certain period of speech, such as a 10‐minute presentation, is focused. As the acoustic features, it used (i) modulation spectrum and (ii) syllable speed, which may have relations to the speech clarity and the tempo. For the experiments, 70 academic presentation speech data in the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese (CSJ) are used. As the experimental results, significant properties in the patterns of the modulation spectrum and the syllable speed are obtained as a difference of the beginning and the ending periods of the presentation. This result will contribute to a hum...