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When a large tsunami occurs at night, greater casualties can be expected than might occur during a similar daytime event. In this study, we investigated illuminated route signs for tsunami evacuation by examining noticeability under different installation conditions. We began by installing prototype route signs in a coastal town where tsunami damages have been predicted. Then, we conducted an evacuation behavior experiment of assumed tourists. The results showed that the route signs had noticeability problems for people who were unfamiliar with the area. Accordingly, in an effort to improve noticeability, we verified various route sign types based on subjective evaluations using computer graphics (CG) images. As a result, route sign noticeability increased as the display panel became larger, and that the addition of an 800 lm flash light to the sign improved its noticeability. Additionally, our investigation showed that noticeability trends were similar to those for the wayfinding effect. Finally, we fabricated a number of actual route signs and analyzed their noticeability through experimental observations. As a result, 90% of the test subjects noticed the route sign, which had a 1600 lm flash light, a 360 (w) ×720 (h) mm display panel, and the setting height of 4.5 m.

In this paper, green wireless local area networks (WLANs), where idle access points (APs) are put into sleep and activated upon the request of mobile nodes, are realized by exploiting WLAN signals to convey wake-up messages. Specifically, wake-up messages, sent by nodes, are modulated onto frame lengths (physical transmission time) of successive WLAN signals and detected by non-WLAN low-cost receivers equipped at APs. This method, however, is susceptible to serious 1) false negative events due to low signal quality or collisions with background WLAN frames and 2) false positive events where background WLAN frames happen to have the same frame lengths as those of wake-up messages. In the proposed scheme, WLAN frames forming a wake-up message are transmitted in a burst and interpreted as an equivalent message. On this basis, false probability is reduced from two aspects: 1) Modulation constellations of frame lengths are optimized to maximize the Hamming distance between equivalent messages, and 2) preamble frame and envelope smoothing are used to mitigate false events. In addition to theoretical analysis and simulation, a prototype test bed is built and experimented on. Extensive evaluations confirm that the proposed scheme helps to greatly improve the reliability of wake-up control compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Versatile procedures for fluorocyclization of various tryptamine and tryptophol derivatives to obtain the corresponding 3a-fluoropyrrolo[2.3- b ]indoles and 3a-fluorofuro[2.3- b ]indoles, respectively were developed employing N -fluoro-2,4,6-trimethylpyridinium triflate (FP-T300) or Selectfluor™ as the electrophilic fluorinating agent. The use of NaHCO 3 for fluorocyclization was effective in improving the yield of acid-labile fluoropyrrolo(furo)indoles. Our procedures are especially useful for the synthesis of fluoropyrrolo(furo)indoles bearing a free NH indole group.

Apart from certain studies on Macrocystis pyrifera (Linnaeus) C. Agardh, very few in situ experimental studies on production have been carried out to verify that “bottom–up effects” (relating to nutrient supply) are more important than “top–down” effects (relating to herbivory) in temperate kelp forests. The effects of nutrient supply on recruitment and production of hatchery-raised gametophytes of Saccharina japonica, cultivated on a rope, and wild Saccharina religiosa, cultivated on a rope and on new concrete reefs placed at the sea bottom, were examined at an experimental site with artificial nutrient addition continuously from October 2008 to May 2009 and compared to kelp that was cultivated from October 2008 to May 2009 without nutrient supply, at a natural site in Tomari (Sea of Japan, southwestern Hokkaido, Japan). At both sites, sea urchins were removed for exclusion of top–down effect. At the natural site, no hatchery-raised S. japonica and wild S. religiosa grew on the rope. No wild S. religiosa grew on the porous-concrete reefs and rocks. At the nutrient-enhanced site, S. japonica and S. religiosa grew rapidly on the rope, at rates of 47.7 and 33.3 plants/10 cm length rope, respectively. S. religiosa grew on the concrete reefs at a concentration of 9.7 plants/0.3 m2. At the nutrient-enhanced site, the concentrations of NH4-N, NO3-N, NO2-N, and PO4-P ranged from 35.2–173.2, 2.1–10.9, 0.3–1.5, and 0.8–2.6 μmol L−1, respectively, being markedly higher than those at the natural site, where these nutrient concentrations were almost equal to the averages off Tomari. These results indicate that the production of Saccharina kelp is restricted by bottom–up effects (at a low nutrient concentration) in the Sea of Japan, southwestern Hokkaido. Nutrient supply would be essential for growth enhancement of Saccharina kelp production in a marine environment around Japan where, in recent times, water temperatures have increased by ca. 0.5 °C and nutrient concentrations have decreased.

Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a relapse-prevention program for methamphetamine (MAP)-dependent inmates in a prison. Methods Participants were 251 male inmates with MAP-abuse problems. We compared scores on the Self-efficacy Scale for Drug Dependence (SSDD) and the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES) before and after intervention with a self-teaching workbook and group therapy. Results For all participants, only SSDD scores increased during the pre-intervention period. SOCRATES-8D scores increased after the start of the intervention using the self-teaching workbook, and both SSDD and SOCRATES-8D scores increased when group therapy was implemented. Changes in scores in participants with moderate and high MAP dependence were considerably different from the scores of those with low dependence during the pre-intervention and the self-teaching workbook periods. Conclusion Intervention using a self-teaching workbook and group therapy in prisons might be effective for inmates with more than moderate severity of MAP abuse.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS; Streptococcus agalactiae ) is a leading cause of serious neonatal infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends GBS screening for all pregnant women during the 35th to 37th weeks of gestation. Although GBS screening has been performed mainly by the culture-based method, it takes several days to obtain a reliable result. In this study, we developed a rapid immunochromatographic test (ICT) for the detection of GBS-specific surface immunogenic protein in 15 min using an overnight enrichment culture. The ICT was prepared using two anti-Sip monoclonal antibodies. This ICT was able to detect recombinant Sip levels of 0.5 ng/ml, or about 10 6 CFU/ml of GBS cells, in tests with 9 GBS strains of different serotypes. The cross-reactivity test using 26 species of microorganism showed no detectable false-positive result. Reactivity of the ICT with 229 GBS strains showed one false-negative result that was attributable to the production of truncated Sip. Among 260 enrichment cultures of vaginal swabs, 17 produced red to orange pigments in Granada medium, and they were all GBS and Sip positive. Among 219 pigment-negative cultures, 12 were GBS positive and 10 were Sip positive. Two Sip-negative cultures contained GBS cells below the limit of detection by the ICT. Among 207 GBS-negative cultures, only one was Sip positive, which was attributable to GBS cell debris. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity of the ICT appeared to be 93.1% and 99.6%, respectively. The newly developed ICT is readily applicable to clinical use in the detection of GBS.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate flow velocity characteristics in saphenous vein graft for coronary artery bypass grafting, especially in the graftnative vessel anastomotic site. The flow velocity was measured in 13 patients with saphenous vein graft (Group I) using a Doppler guidewire, and values were compared with those in patients who had severe (≧75%, Group II, n=31) or intermediate (

A practical procedure for the synthesis of 3-fluorooxindole derivatives having basic amine moieties was developed, which involves Selectfluor™-mediated oxidative fluorination of N , N -dialkyltryptamines in the presence of Lewis acid. This procedure was applied to an antimigraine drug, rizatriptan, to afford the corresponding 3-fluorooxindole, which is a potential fluorine-containing drug candidate.

In connection with study of chiral derivatizing agents (CDAs) for NMR determination of absolute configuration of organic compounds, factors controlling the conformational preference between syn- and anti-forms in α-substituted α-fluorophenylacetic acid methyl ester (FC(X)(Ph)COOMe) model systems were theoretically investigated. Substituents X at the stereogenic carbon atom were X = H, CCH and CH3, the electronic and steric properties of which were significantly different from each other. The model system with X = CCH and that with X = CH3 were found to be possible candidates for fluorine-containing CDAs. The syn conformation is stable compared with the anti one by 0.7 kcal mol−1 for the ester with X = CCH. On the other hand, the anti conformation is stable compared with the syn one by 0.5 kcal mol−1 for the ester with X = CH3. Both natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis and deletion of selected orbitals based on the donor–acceptor NBO scheme were adopted for semi-quantitative estimation of factors responsible for the conformational preference as well as a qualitative inspection of occupied canonical molecular orbitals (MOs). It was shown that [σ–(σ* + π*)(CO)] and [σ–σ*(Ph) and π(Ph)–σ*] hyperconjugations are the main factors controlling the conformational preferences between the syn and anti conformations. Other types of effects such as electrostatic effects were also investigated. The role of the fluorine atom was also clarified. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Oxidative fluorination of several protected tryptophans 8b–g with Selectfluor™ proceeded smoothly in aqueous media to give a diastereomeric mixture of the corresponding 3-fluorooxindoles 9b–g. Attempted deprotection of the 3-fluorooxindoles 9b–g under various conditions did not afford 3-(3-fluorooxindol-3-yl)-l-alanine (6). Reaction of the suitably protected tryptophan derivative 16 with Selectfluor™ produced the fluorinated product 17. Simultaneous cleavage of all protective groups of 17 under acidic conditions successfully gave the target compound 6 in excellent yield.

We designed chiral 2-nitroimidazole derivatives containing a 2-aminomethylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety as antiangiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizers. Based on results of molecular orbital calculations, the 2-aminomethylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety is expected to show high electrophilicity comparable to that of the 2-methylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety included in TX-1123 and tyrphostin AG17. We evaluated the antiangiogenic and radiosensitizing effects of the new compounds, along with other biological properties including their activities as hypoxic cytotoxicities and protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitory activities. Among the compounds tested, 5 (TX-2036) proved to be the strongest antiangiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizer. All the other chiral 2-nitroimidazole derivatives having 2-aminomethylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety tested were also antiangiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizers. The PTK inhibitory activity of 5 (TX-2036) showed this to be a promising and potent EGFR kinase inhibitor, having an IC(50) value of lower than 2microM. This compound also was an Flt-1 kinase inhibitor having an IC(50) value of lower than 20microM. Our results show that these chiral 2-nitroimidazole derivatives that contain the 2-aminomethylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety as a potent antiangiogenic pharmacophoric descriptor are promising lead candidates for the development of antiangiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizers.

Applications of the CFTA method, a new and reliable procedure for the determination of the absolute configuration of chiral primary amines, are described in detail. In addition to the very high reactivity of CFTA chloride, the stable anti-periplanar conformers of CFTA amides, associated with the chiral structure of fluorine atom on a stereogenic center, are the key factors that make the technique of using 1 H NMR analysis of the CFTA diastereomers very reliable. In particular, this method is useful for the determination of the absolute stereochemistry of isotopically multi-labeled amino acid derivatives.

During a study on the relationship between the (19)F chemical shift difference for the diastereomeric alpha-cyano-alpha-fluoro-p-tolylacetic acid (CFTA) esters of chiral secondary alcohols and the absolute configurations of the alcohols, an unusually large 19F chemical shift difference has been observed for the CFTA esters of 3',4',5,7-tetra-O-methylepicatechin. This large chemical shift difference has been reproduced by ab initio calculations of molecular geometry and GIAO calculations of 19F chemical shifts on the stable conformations of the diastereomeric alpha-cyano-alpha-fluorophenylacetic acid (CFPA) esters of cis-flavan-3-ol as model systems. The origin of the large chemical shift difference has been further investigated using NBO analysis. This revealed that the interaction between pi(C=C) of the aryl group in the chiral auxiliary and sigma*(C--F) is a very important determinant of the 19F chemical shifts and this interaction depends on the torsion angle between the plane of aryl group and the C--F bond.

The origin of conformational preference in alpha-cyano-alpha-fluorophenylacetic acid (CFPA) methyl ester that is a model system of alpha-cyano-alpha-fluoro-p-tolylacetic acid (CFTA) esters was theoretically investigated by means of DFT and MP2 calculations. Two stable conformations having the C-F bond syn and anti to the C=O bond, respectively, were obtained for CFPA methyl ester. A small energy difference (0.9 kcal mol-1 at the MP2(fc)/6-31++G(d,p)) was found between the two conformations. From the molecular orbital analysis based on the Natural Bond Orbital analysis and supported by calculations using the Orbital Deletion Procedure technique, we found that sigma-(sigma*+pi*)(C=O) and sigma-sigma*(Ph) and pi(Ph)-sigma* hyperconjugations are the main factors responsible for the conformational preference. The role of the fluorine atom on the stereogenic center was also clarified.

An in depth ab initio investigation into the factors governing the conformational behaviour of α-methoxy-α-trifluoromethyl-α-phenylacetic acid (MTPA) esters, extensively utilized to determine the absolute stereochemistry of secondary alcohols and amides, discloses the hyperconjugative interactions responsible for the important syn - and anti -periplanar conformational rigidity and the predominance of the former over the latter. The first flavonoid–Mosher ester crystal structure is reported.

We confirmed by both canonical molecular orbital analysis and the orbital deletion procedure (ODP) that a hyperconjugative electron-delocalization mechanism is the main factor controlling the conformational preference for cis and trans conformations of fluoroacetaldehyde (FAA) and methyl fluoroacetate (MFA). The quantitative analysis based on the ODP approach shows that the effects of hyperconjugation are more important in the cis conformation than in trans conformation.

The chemistry of compounds containing a carbon atom bearing three or four different labile functional groups has received little attention. These compounds should be of considerable significance in theoretical and synthetic organic chemistry. Among the compounds with multifunctional structures, those having both carbonyl and halogen groups in addition to other heteroatom groups seem especially valuable from a synthetic viewpoint. Their potential use as probes in pure and applied synthetic chemistry has not been exploited, presumably because of structural instability and a paucity of synthetic approaches. Keeping this background in mind, we focused on the synthesis of a new class of multifunctional carbon compounds in which ester carbonyl, halogen, and other heteroatom-derived functional groups are directly attached to the central carbon atom. Fluorine was chosen as the halogen because of the inherent stability of the C F bond and because of the fundamental chemical and biological interest in fluorine-containing compounds. The synthesis, reactions, and some applications of various fluorine-containing multifunctional carbon compounds are described.

Recent studies suggest that the disease isoform of prion protein (PrPSc) is non-neurotoxic in the absence of cellular isoform of prion protein (PrPC), indicating that PrPC may participate directly in the neurodegenerative damage by itself. Meanwhile, transgenic mice harboring a high-copy-number of wild-type mouse (Mo) PrPC develop a spontaneous neurological dysfunction in an age-dependent manner, even without inoculation of PrPSc and thus, investigations of these aged transgenic mice may lead to the understanding how PrPC participate in the neurotoxic property of PrP. Here we demonstrate mitochondria-mediated neuronal apoptosis in aged transgenic mice overexpressing wild-type MoPrPC (Tg(MoPrP)4053/FVB). The aged mice exhibited an aberrant mitochondrial localization of PrPC concomitant with decreased proteasomal activity, while younger littermates did not. Such aberrant mitochondrial localization was accompanied by decreased mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) activity, cytochrome c release into the cytosol, caspase-3 activation, and DNA fragmentation, most predominantly in hippocampal neuronal cells. Following cell culture studies confirmed that decrease in the proteasomal activity is fundamental for the PrPC-related, mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Hence, the neurotoxic property of PrPC could be explained by the mitochondria-mediated neuronal apoptosis, at least in part.

Surprisingly stable synperiplanar conformers of CFTA esters have led us to develop a new and very reliable method for assigning absolute configurations of even secondary alcohols having minimal structural differences, such as chiral benzhydrols and alpha-monodeuterated benzyl alcohols.

(R)- and (S)-Epichlorohydrins were used to prepare the enantiomers of sterically diverse haloacetylcarbamoyl-2-nitroimidazoles that function as hypoxic cell radiosensitizers. The synthetic design allowed for introduction of a side chain of varying bulk that permitted an examination of the steric effects on enantio-discrimination in biological assay systems. The single stereocenter also connected the two pharmacophores––a 2-nitroimidazole moiety critical to hypoxic cell radiosensitization, and a haloacetylcarbamoyl group to function as an anti-angiogenesis pharmacophore. In the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, the R-enantiomers possessing the bulky p-tert-butylphenyl group showed higher anti-angiogenic activity than the corresponding S-enantiomers, while there were no differences in the activity between the enantiomers containing the less bulky methyl and tert-butyl groups. Among the compounds we report, R-p-tert-butylphenyl-bromoacetylcarbamoyl-2-nitroimidazole, TX-1898, was found to be the most promising candidate for further development of as anti-angiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizer.

Development of a new, efficient resolution method of α-cyano-α-fluoro- p -tolylacetic acid (CFTA) 2a has been successfully achieved, which has been troublesome to obtain by conventional methods, in spite of its outstanding ability as an NMR chiral derivatizing agent. Fractional recrystallization of a mixture of the diastereomeric CFTA esters prepared from racemic CFTA chloride and (1 R ,2 S )- N -carbobenzyloxy- cis -1-amino-2-indanol (−)- B afforded the less-soluble diastereomer, which was hydrolyzed to give ( S )- 2a . It has also been demonstrated that optically active N -acetyl- cis -1-amino-2-indanol is effective for the chromatographic resolution of α-arylacetic acids including ibuprofen and naproxen.