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Introduction The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood oxidative stress biomarkers and antibody response to vaccination in calves. Material and methods Thirty-four clinically healthy 2 week old Japanese Black calves were randomly assigned to two groups. Seventeen calves formed the VC group which received 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily from 2 to 8 weeks of age, and the other 17 calves of the control group did not receive supplementation. All calves received an inactivated Histophilus somni vaccine at 4 and 8 weeks of age. Blood samples were taken at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of age. Results The concentration of the serum reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs), and the oxidative stress index (OSI), which is calculated from the d-ROMs and biological antioxidant potential, were significantly lower at 8 weeks of age in the VC group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The antibody titres to H. somni in the VC group were significantly higher than those in the control group at 12 weeks of age after the second vaccination (P < 0.05). Conclusion Vitamin C supplementation to calves may reduce oxidative stress and enhance the antibody production after vaccination with H. somni.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of beta-carotene supplementation to Japanese Black calves on the peripheral blood leukocyte population. Twenty-two Japanese Black calves were alternately assigned to two groups. Eleven calves received 20 mg/d of beta-carotene orally from 2 to 8 wk of age (BC group), and the other 11 calves did not receive (control group). The serum beta-carotene concentration in the BC group at 4, 8 and 12 wk of age were significantly higher than those in the control group (p

Recent studies on posterior malleolar fractures mainly focus on the reduction quality and fixation of the posterior fragment since it contributes to ankle stability and articular congruency. However, the association of pre-and postoperative factors considering the whole ankle joint in postoperative functional outcomes remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association between pre-and postoperative variables for postoperative functional outcomes in patients with posterior malleolar fragments (classified as Haraguchi type I or II) and considered the association between reduction and fixation for small posterior malleolar fragments of less than 25% of the intra-articular surface.This multicenter retrospective cohort study included 110 adult patients who underwent internal fixation for ankle fractures with posterior malleolar fragments. The primary outcome was the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score 12-months postoperatively. As pre-and postoperative variables, the preoperative demographic data, radiographic findings, operative method, postoperative radiographic findings, and complications were evaluated. In addition, univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between pre-and postoperative variables and AOFAS scores.Twenty-four (21.8%) cases had postoperative complications. Univariate analysis showed that age was significantly according to AOFAS score-stratified groups in patients with Haraguchi type II fractures. Multivariable logistic regression analysis using bootstrapping in the Haraguchi type II group showed that postoperative complications were significantly associated with low AOFAS scores, indicating poor functionality. In both fracture types, postoperative complications had the highest odds ratio among the explanatory variables. In patients with small posterior malleolar fragments, fragment reduction, fixation, and ankle stability were not associated with AOFAS scores.Our results suggest that postoperative complications were associated with AOFAS scores at postoperative 12 months in patients with ankle fractures with posterior malleolar fragments. In patients with small posterior malleolar fragments, reduction and fixation were not associated with AOFAS scores. Therefore, clinical decisions for posterior fragment fixation should be made based on the possible risk of complications related to the surgical procedures in addition to the posterior malleolar fragment size.

We made direct measurements of temperature-dependent refractive indices of undoped and MgO-doped stoichiometric LiTaO3 to obtain the Sellmeier equations. The thermo-optic coefficients are much larger than those reported by indirect measurements.

Discretizing a distribution function in a phase space for an efficient quantum dynamics simulation is a non-trivial challenge, in particular for a case that a system is further coupled to environmental degrees of freedom. Such open quantum dynamics is described by a reduced equation of motion (REOM) most notably by a quantum Fokker-Planck equation (QFPE) for a Wigner distribution function (WDF). To develop a discretization scheme that is stable for numerical simulations from the REOM approach, we employ a two-dimensional (2D) periodically invariant system-bath (PISB) model with two heat baths. This model is an ideal platform not only for a periodic system but also for a non-periodic system confined by a potential. We then derive the numerically ''exact'' hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) for a discrete WDF in terms of periodically invariant operators in both coordinate and momentum spaces. The obtained equations can treat non-Markovian heat-bath in a non-perturbative manner at finite temperatures regardless of the mesh size. As demonstrations, we numerically integrate the discrete QFPE for a 2D free rotor and harmonic potential systems in a high-temperature Markovian case using a coarse mesh with initial conditions that involve singularity., 20 pages 5 figures

Introduction : Proximal peri-implant femoral fractures occur following intramedullary nailing (IMN) fixation for trochanteric, femoral shaft, and distal femoral fractures. However, analyses of secondary hip fractures (SHFs) using large clinical samples are lacking. Therefore, we aimed to report the incidence and clinical outcomes of SHF after nailing fixation (IMN or cephalomedullary nailing [CMN]) for overall femoral fractures. In addition, we focused on IMN for femoral shaft fractures and investigated the risk factors for SHF. Methods : This multicenter, retrospective, cohort study included 2,293 patients aged > 60 years who underwent nailing fixation for femoral fractures. The primary outcome was the incidence of SHF. In the assessment of clinical outcomes, we evaluated reoperation and the regaining of walking ability following SHF management. In addition, we conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses to examine the association between risk factors and SHF. Results : Seventeen (0.7%) patients had SHFs, including 12 femoral neck fractures and 5 trochanteric fractures. Antegrade IMN was the most common type of nailing fixation. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that the absence of femoral head fixation was significantly associated with the incidence of SHF following IMN for femoral shaft fractures (odds ratio, 17.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.9–2265.7; p=0.006). In the assessment of clinical outcomes, there were two reoperations (16.7%) in the secondary femoral neck fracture group. Patients with secondary trochanteric fractures tended to have a lower probability of regaining walking ability than those with secondary femoral neck fractures (20% vs. 50%). Conclusions : In this multicenter study, the incidence of SHF after nail fixation for femoral fractures was 0.7%. The absence of femoral head fixation was significantly associated with SHF, and the clinical outcomes were poor. Therefore, femoral head fixation at the initial IMN fixation for femoral fractures may be a fixation option for surgeons to consider as an SHF prevention measure.

To evaluate the preventive effects of combined vaccination for Pasteurella multocida, Mannheimia haemolytica and Histophilus somni on respiratory diseases in Japanese Black calves, 295 calves at one farm were alternately assigned to two groups; 147 calves received the vaccine at 4 and 8 weeks of age (vaccination group), and the other 148 calves did not receive vaccine (control group). The incidences of respiratory diseases were 25.9 and 70.9% in the vaccination and control groups, respectively, and the odds ratio for comparison between the two groups was 0.143 (95% confidence interval: 0.086-0.238). Administration of the multiple vaccine to Japanese black calves might be one of effective factor for prevention of respiratory diseases.

This paper addresses the design, fabrication and preliminary experimental results of our newly developed morphologically changeable soft tactile sensing system aiming at detecting the location of a sliding movement. The proposed system consists of a silicon rubber base with a chamber and a thin silicone rubber skin covering the chamber. A three-axis accelerometer is embedded in the skin. By pressurizing the chamber, the skin inflates, changing its sensitivity to sliding movements on the surface of the skin. We fabricated a sensing system and conducted preliminary experiments to assess its ability. First, we measured the height of the inflated skin and by comparing it with the output of accelerometer, we confirmed that the skin height has a linear relationship with the output of the accelerometer. We then let the sensor system move so that an indenter slides on the surface of the skin. From the obtained data of the accelerometer, we concluded that we can judge the location of the sliding movement of the indenter and that the sensing system potentially has the ability to detect the direction of the movements.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vaccination and beta-carotene supplementation on blood oxidative stress and antibody response in calves. Thirty Japanese Black calves were randomly assigned to two groups. Fifteen calves received 20 mg of beta-carotene supplemented into their daily provided rations from 2 to 8 weeks of age (BC group), and the other 15 calves did not receive the daily beta-carotene supplement (control group). All calves received a commercially available modified live bovine respiratory syncytial (RS) virus vaccine at 4 and 8 weeks of age. Blood samples were taken at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of age. At 4 weeks of age, the concentration of reactive oxygen metabolites within serum were significantly lower in the BC group than the concentrations measured in the control group. Also at 4 weeks of age, the concentration of biological antioxidant capacity within serum was significantly higher in the BC group than the concentrations measured in the control group. Both groups showed a gradual decrease of antibody titers to live bovine RS virus in the samples taken from 2 to 12 weeks of age. These results confirmed that beta-carotene supplementation decreased oxidative stress. However, beta-carotene supplementation did not affect the antibody response to live bovine RS virus vaccination, perhaps due to the presence of the maternal antibody.

We consider a two-dimensional rigid rotator system coupled to a two-dimensional heat bath. The Caldeira-Leggett (Brownian) model for the rotator and the spin-Boson model have been used to describe such systems, but they do not possess rotational symmetry, they cannot describe the discretized rotational bands in absorption and emission spectra that have been found experimentally. Here, to address this problem, we introduce a rotationally invariant system-bath (RISB) model that is described by two sets of harmonic-oscillator baths independently coupled to the rigid rotator as sine and cosine functions of the rotator angle. Due to a difference in the energy discretization of the total Hamiltonian, the dynamics described by the RISB model differ significantly from those described by the rotational Caldeira-Legget (RCL) model, while both models reduce to the Langevin equation for a rotator in the classical limit. To demonstrate this point, we compute the rotational absorption spectrum defined by the linear response function of a rotator dipole. For this purpose, we derive a quantum master equation for the RISB model in the high-temperature Markovian case. We find that the spectral profiles of the calculated signals exhibit a transition from quantized rotational bands to a single peak after spectrum collapse. This is a significant finding, because previous approaches cannot describe such phenomena in a unified manner., 20 pages 1 figure

We consider a rotationally invariant system-bath (RISB) model in three-dimensional space that is described by a linear-rigid rotor independently coupled to three sets of harmonic-oscillator baths as functions of the Euler angle. While this model has been developed to study a dielectric relaxation of a dipolar molecule in solvation as a problem of classical Debye relaxation, here we investigate it as a problem of open quantum dynamics as an extension of our previous work [J. Chem. Phys, 149, 084110 (2018)], in which we studied a two-dimensional (2D) RISB model, to a three-dimensional (3D) RISB model. As in the 2D case, due to a difference in the energy discretization of the total Hamiltonian, the dynamics described by the 3D RISB model differ significantly from those described by the rotational Caldeira-Legget (RCL) model. To illustrate characteristic features of the quantum 3D rotor system described by angular momentum and magnetic quantum numbers, we derive a quantum master equation (QME) and hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) for the 3D RISB model in the high-temperature case. Using the QME, we compute linear and two-dimensional (2D) rotational spectra, defined by the linear and nonlinear response functions of the rotor dipole, respectively. The quantum transitions between the angular momentum states and magnetic states arising from polarized Stark fields as well as the system-bath interactions are clearly observed in 2D rotational spectroscopy., Comment: 19 pages 5 figures

本論文では，エージェントが使用するメモリを削減するための鎖型状態行動学習を提案する．実環境においては，細やかで精密な学習と状態数と行動数にさくメモリ数，学習時間との間にトレードオフの関係が存在する．この問題を解決するために，強化学習の学習プロセスの中で，推定価値を “良い” と “良くない” の２パターンと大まかにとらえ， “良い” 状態行動対を一直線状に並べる方法へと変更する．さらに，列の順番それ自体を優先順位として与える．いくつかの単純なシミュレーションを行い，この手法の影響を観察した．それらのシミュレーション結果から，低メモリ環境での提案手法が多量のメモリを必要とする従来法と同等な学習能力を確認することができた．

Optical resolution with membranes derived from marine polymersNovel polyion-lipid complexes were prepared from quaterinized chitosan (QCh), which was a derivative of marine (natural) polymer, and three types of anionic amphiphile, such as sodium 1-dodecanesulfate (C12SNa), sodium 1-tetradecanesulfate (C14SNa), and sodium 1-hexadecanesulfate (C16SNa). Those complexes gave durable self-standing membranes. The QCh-lipid complex membranes prepared in the present study showed chiral separation ability; in other words, they selectively transported L-Lys from racemic mixture of Lys adopting a concentration gradient as a driving force for membrane transport. Permselectivity of QCh-C12S membrane toward L-Lys was determined to be 3.31 under the concentration difference of 1.0 × 10−3 mol dm−3. From transport experiments and adsorption studies, it was revealed that the permselectivity was dominantly determined by diffusivity selectivity. It is expected that the present study would open a door to novel materials.

Novel polyion complex membranes were prepared from DNA-Na and poly(4-vinylbenzyl)trimethylammonium chloride (PVBTMAC). The newly prepared DNA-PVBTMA polyion complex membranes showed a chiral separation ability toward racemic lysine (Lys) mixtures. The membranes transported D-Lys in preference to the corresponding L-isomer of Lys. The permselectivity toward the D-isomer reached 1.26. From transport experiments and adsorption studies, it was revealed that the permselectivity was mainly determined by diffusivity selectivity.

Novel polyion complex membrane was prepared from DNA-Na and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMAC). The newly prepared DNA-PDADMA polyion complex membrane showed a chiral separation ability, which was measured by using various racemic amino acids as model racemic mixtures. The membrane transported the L-isomer of Trp or Phe in preference to the corresponding D-isomer and permselectivities toward the L-isomer were determined to be 1.26 for L-Trp and 1.25 for L-Phe, respectively. From adsorption experiments, it was revealed that the permselectivity was mainly governed by adsorption selectivity.

In recent years a number of serious accidents due to human errors have occurred in public transportation. Preventative safety technology is therefore the most urgent issue, and human monitoring technique becomes the centre of attention. Physiological responses to external stimuli have been vigorously investigated and physiological indices such as 'eheart rate variability' were established to estimate the activities of one's autonomic nervous system. The purpose of this research is to study the feasibility of measuring heartbeat and respiration by using strain gauge. The proposed method has several advantages of possibility of simultaneous measurement of heartbeat and respiration with no electrode and with minimum invasiveness. This paper deals with the application of this new technique to man and dog.

In the absence of visual information, humans cannot maintain a straight walking path. We examined the hypothesis that step frequency during walking affects the magnitude of veering in healthy adults. Subject walked at a preferred (1.77 +/- 0.18 Hz), low (0.8 x preferred, 1.41 +/- 0.15 Hz), and high (1.2 x preferred, 2.13 +/- 0.20 Hz) step frequency with and without a blindfold. We compared the absolute differences between estimated and measured points of crossing a target line after 16 m of forward walking at the three step frequencies. There was no significant difference in veering when subjects walked at the different frequencies without a blindfold. However, the magnitude of veering was the smallest at the preferred (mean +/- SE = 91.6 +/- 33.6 cm) compared with the low (204.3 +/- 43.0 cm) and high (112.7 +/- 34.0 cm) frequency gaits with a blindfold. Thus, walking at a preferred step frequency minimizes veering, which occurs in the absence of visual information. This phenomenon may be associated with the previously reported minimization of movement variability, energy cost, and attentional demand while walking at a preferred step frequency. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Permitted by publisher to link to journal article only., Functional protein-protein interactions between UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT)1A isoforms and cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A4 were studied. To this end, UGT1A-catalyzed glucuronidation was assayed in Sf-9 cells that simultaneously expressed UGT and CYP3A4. In the kinetics of UGT1A6-catalyzed glucuronidation of serotonin, both Michaelis constant (Km) and maximal velocity (Vmax) were increased by CYP3A4. When CYP3A4 was coexpressed with either UGT1A1 or 1A7, the Vmax for the glucuronidation of the irinotecan metabolite (SN-38) was significantly increased. S50 and Km both which are the substrate concentration giving 0.5 Vmax were little affected by simultaneous expression of CYP3A4. This study also examined the catalytic properties of the allelic variants of UGT1A1 and 1A7 and their effects on the interaction with CYP3A4. Although the UGT1A1-catalyzing activity of 4-methylumbelliferone glucuronidation was reduced in its variant, UGT1A1*6, the coexpression of CYP3A4 restored the impaired function to a level comparable with the wild type. Similarly, simultaneous expression of CYP3A4 increased the Vmax of UGT1A7*1 (wild type) and *2 (N129K and R131K), whereas the same was not observed in UGT1A7*3 (N129K, R131K, and W208R). In the kinetics involving different concentrations of UDP-glucuronic acid (UDP-GlcUA), the Km for UDP-GlcUA was significantly higher for UGT1A7*2 and *3 than *1. The Km of UGT1A7*1 and *3 was increased by CYP3A4, whereas *2 did not exhibit any such change. These results suggest that (1) CYP3A4 changes the catalytic function of the UGT1A subfamily in a UGT isoform-specific manner and (2) nonsynonymous mutations in UGT1A7*3 reduce not only the ability of UGT to use UDP-GlcUA but also CYP3A4-mediated enhancement of catalytic activity, whereas CYP3A4 is able to restore the UGT1A1*6 function., Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

The xylulose-5-phosphate/fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase gene from Bifidobacterium breve was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity and crystallized by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method. Crystals were obtained at 293 K using 0.05 mM thiamine diphosphate, 0.25 mM MgCl2, 24%(w/v) PEG 6000 and 0.1 M Bicine pH 9.0. The crystals belonged to the tetragonal space group I422, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 174.8, c = 163.8 A, and diffracted to beyond 1.7 A resolution.

Low relative humidity (RH) and high temperature operation possibly gives a large impact on cost reduction of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems for automobile applications. However, these severe operating conditions causes lower proton conductivity in the membrane, resulting in intensive deterioration of the cell performance. Perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes have been used in PEMFCs to their higher proton conductivity and durability. More recently, hydrocarbon (HC) membranes have been developed as targeted to further cost reduction of the membrane, but their proton conductivity is still insufficient especially in low RH condition. Higher proton conductivity in proton exchange membranes used in PEMFCs is generally regarded as a result of effective proton-hopping process via formation of hydrogen bonding network of water molecules in hydrated membranes [1]. It has been demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool to investigate watermolecule network (water cluster) in a Nation® membrane [2,3]. Density function theory (DFT) analysis confirmed that lower frequency shift of OH vibration peaks in Raman spectra corresponded to formation of watermolecule network. In this study, we applied Raman spectroscopy to investigate water-molecule network in both PFSA and HC membranes under different RH conditions in order to obtain a fundamental insight in formation of watermolecule network that was possibly affected by polymer structure. We also performed measurement of Raman spectra on PFSA membrane in which two different cations, Sodium ion (Na) or potassium ion (K), was impregnated to examine an influence of physicochemical properties of cations on formation of water-molecule network in the membrane. Figure 1 and 2 show Raman spectra of a PFSA membrane and a HC membrane at different relative humidity. In all measurements, we used an in-house flow cell designed for Raman measurement [2, 3] to control relative humidity surrounding a membrane. We used a Nafion115 membrane as a PFSA membrane and a HC membrane. As reported in our previous study, OH vibration peak intensity (3000 to 3800 cm) increased with relative humidity in both membranes. At RH=30% and 60%, OH vibration peaks (A’, B’ and C’) in the HC membrane was separately identified. This suggests that water-molecule network in the HC membrane under lower RH condition was not well established, but was more isolated than those in the PFSA membrane in which the OH vibration peaks (A, B and C) was likely to overlap each other. With increase in RH up to 95% and more, the HC membrane showed broad OH vibration peaks as observed in the PFSA membrane. We also confirmed that under these RH conditions, the HC membrane showed better proton conductivity in the same level as the PFSA membrane. This suggests that formation of water-molecule network is correlated with proton conductivity and that poor formation of watermolecule network in the HC membrane at low RH condition results in less proton conductivity. We also examined effect of cation on watermolecule network in the PFSA membrane. Figure 3 showed Raman spectra in H-, Kand Na-form PFSA membrane under the same hydration. Kand Na-form PFSA membranes were prepared by soaking the membrane with 1M aqueous solution. The K-form and the Na-form membrane showed less formation of watermolecule network than the H-form. This indicates that dissociation of cation from sulfonic acid in the Na-form and the K-form membrane was deteriorated, because sodium and potassium are more interacted with the sulfonic acid. It was also observed that Na-form membrane showed less water-molecule network than the K-form. This is possibly related with ionic radius of cations where ionic radius of sodium ion is slightly different with hydronium ion and thus hindered hydrogen bonding network in the membrane. References [1] K.D. Kreuer, S.J. Paddison, E. Spohr, M. Schuster, Chem. Rev. 104 (2004) 4637. [2] Y. Tabuchi et al., J.Power Sources,196(2011),652. [3] Y. Tabuchi et al., ECS Trans., 33(2010), 1045.

This paper deals with the design, fabrication and preliminary experimental results of a novel soft tactile sensing system for large surfaces, aiming at detecting the location of the contact points on the surface of the sensor. The sensor is composed by soft material with an IMU embedded on a deformable silicon-based surface. Using the data provided from the IMU during morphological variations of the soft sensor, the aim of the sensing system is to recognize different locations of single contact points and linear regions of contact points resembling the contacts with soft linear objects. In order to achieve this behaviour, an artificial neural network has been used, and evaluated trough experiments. The reported results show that the sensing system is able to discriminate between a grid of single contact locations, and among different linear regions of contact points, with a mean accuracy superior than 80%, and peak accuracy of 97.97% (for the single single point contact locations) and 97.54% (for the linear regions of contact points.)