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Increased blood pressure (BP) variability predicts cardiovascular disease, but lack of operational thresholds limits its use in clinical practice. Our aim was to define outcome-driven thresholds for increased day-to-day home BP variability. We studied a population-based sample of 6238 individuals (mean age 60.0±12.9, 56.4% women) from Japan, Greece, and Finland. All participants self-measured their home BP on ≥3 days. We defined home BP variability as the coefficient of variation of the first morning BPs on 3 to 7 days. We assessed the association between systolic/diastolic BP variability (as a continuous variable and in deciles of coefficient of variation) and cardiovascular outcomes using Cox regression models adjusted for cohort and classical cardiovascular risk factors, including BP. During a follow-up of 9.3±3.6 years, 304 cardiovascular deaths and 715 cardiovascular events occurred. A 1 SD increase in systolic/diastolic home BP variability was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio, 1.17/1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.30/1.11-1.34; P=0.003/11.0/12.8). Increased home BP variability predicts cardiovascular outcomes in the general population. Individuals with a systolic/diastolic coefficient of variation of day-to-day home BP >11.0/12.8 may have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. These findings could help physicians identify individuals who are at an increased cardiovascular disease risk. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

This study assesses the response of phytoplankton assemblages to recent climate change, especially with regard to the shrinking of sea ice in the northern Chukchi Sea of the western Arctic Ocean. Distribution patterns of phytoplankton groups in the late summers of 2008–2010 were analyzed based on HPLC pigment signatures and, the following four major algal groups were inferred via multiple regression and cluster analyses: prasinophytes, diatoms, haptophytes and dinoflagellates. A remarkable interannual difference in the distribution pattern of the groups was found in the northern basin area. Haptophytes dominated and dispersed widely in warm surface waters in 2008, whereas prasinophytes dominated in cold water in 2009 and 2010. A difference in the onset date of sea ice retreat was evident among years – the sea ice retreat in 2008 was 1–2 months earlier than in 2009 and 2010. The spatial distribution of early sea ice retreat matched the areas in which a shift in algal community composition was observed. Steel-Dwass's multiple comparison tests were used to assess the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the four clusters. We found a statistically significant difference in temperature between the haptophyte-dominated cluster and the other clusters, suggesting that the change in the phytoplankton communities was related to the earlier sea ice retreat in 2008 and the corollary increase in sea surface temperatures. Longer periods of open water during the summer, which are expected in the future, may affect food webs and biogeochemical cycles in the western Arctic due to shifts in phytoplankton community structure.

Recent developments in high-temperature superconductors have facilitated the production of high critical current and large-area films by the PLD method or MOD method. Nondestructive measurement techniques for high quality films are of great importance to estimate superconducting properties, such as the critical current density, J C . The inductive method using the third-harmonic voltage component, V 3 , is a promising technique for the measurement of the properties of J C . On inductive determination of J C for high- J C thin films and thicker films (thickness d ⩾ 0.1 mm), the drive coil must generate a magnetic field sufficiently large to break the complete field shielding of the film. Therefore, we investigated a mutual inductance technique using a drive coil with a sharp ferromagnetic core for investigation of the J C of the PLD–YBCO film. As a result, an abrupt nonlinear increase in the voltage across the pick-up coil was detected after magnetic full penetration of the film, and the threshold of the drive current I th was suppressed to 0.23–0.28 times as compared with that measured by the inductive method using the third-harmonic voltage, V 3 . FEM analysis indicated the diameter of the excitation field region to be 0.6 mm in the case of a 0.4 mm ϕ iron core. The E – J characters measured by the mutual inductive method as a function of frequency agreed well with those measured by the inductive method using V 3 .

The absence of an outcome-driven reference frame for self-measured pulse pressure (PP) limits its clinical applicability. In an attempt to derive an operational threshold for self-measured PP, we analyzed 6470 participants (mean age 59.3 years; 56.9% women; 22.5% on antihypertensive treatment) from 5 general population cohorts included in the International Database on HOme blood pressure in relation to Cardiovascular Outcome. During 8.3 years of follow-up (median), 294 cardiovascular deaths, 393 strokes and 336 cardiac events occurred. In 3285 younger subjects (

A new method is described that uses the fluorochrome primuline and epifluorescence microscopy for precise enumeration of dinoflagellate cysts in natural sediments. Alexandrium tamarense (Lebour) Balech resting cysts obtained in laboratory culture were fixed with glutaraldehyde and treated with methanol. The cysts were stained using nine fluorochromes under identical procedures to find those suitable for enumerating cysts. Four fiuorochromes, acriflavine, calcofluor white M2R, nile red and primuline, were found to provide satisfactory results in terms of high stainability and fluorescence intensity. Methanol treatment after fixation was necessary for high stainability. The four fluorochromes were then examined for their applicability to enumerate naturally occurring cysts in Hiroshima Bay sediments. Primuline proved to be superior to all other dyes examined, providing higher counts of cysts. Primuline-stained cysts exhibited an intense yellow-green fluorescence under blue-light excitation which hi...

The relative contents of DNA in nuclei were determined in Chattonella antiqua (Hada) Ono and C.marina (Subrahmanyan) Hara et Chihara (Raphidophyceae). Different stages of the life history were obta...

Algicidal bacteria offer a promising tool for the preventionof red tides, because they are able to play a key role in terminating blooms in coastal areas. This study details the detection of vast numbers of algicidal bacteria attached to the surface of seaweeds such as Ulvasp. and Gelidium sp. (of the order of 106 cells g–1 wet weight in some cases). Algicidal bacteria were isolated from Ulva sp. and Gelidium sp. from the coast of Osaka Bay from April to September 1999, and their algicidal properties were assessed using the prey microalgae Karenia mikimotoi, Heterosigma akashiwo, Fibrocapsa japonica and Chattonella antiqua. K. mikimotoi was the red tide species most susceptible to the algicidal bacteria isolated from seaweeds. Sequence analyses ofthe 16S rDNA gene revealed that these algicidal bacteria belonged to the genera Alteromonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Vibrio, Cytophaga, Cellulophaga and Octadecabacter, and the family Rhodobacteraceae. Algicidal properties of five of 10 strains of bacteria isolated from seaweeds, belonging to the genera Alteromonas, Pseudoalteromonas and Cytophaga, have beenpreviously reported in coastal red tide areas. It is therefore possible that seaweed beds play a significant role as providers of algicidal bacteria in preventing red tides to coastal waters.

A marine gliding bacterium Cytophaga sp. (strain J18/M01) was isolated from Harima-Nada, eastern Seto Inland Sea, Japan in 1990. This bacterium preys upon various species of marine phytoplankton. All of the five raphidophycean flagellates, all of the four diatoms, and one of the two dinoflagellates examined were killed within a few days when cultured with the bacterium. The bacterium presumably achieves this by direct attack, because the culture filtrate in which host organisms were totally destroyed had no significant effects on the growth of the same host organism (Chattonella antiqua). If one or a few bacterial cells were inoculated into C. antiqua culture, all of the host organisms were killed. The bacterium proliferated in filter-sterilized seawater, suggesting its ubiquitous existence in the coastal sea. The killing of phytoplankton by bacteria such as Cytophaga sp. J18/M01 may be a significant factor influencing the population dynamics of phytoplankton in nature and may contribute to the sudden disappearance of red tides in the coastal sea. Bacterial destruction of phytoplankton may also be a factor that regulates primary productivity in marine ecosystems.

Virtual metrology for a plasma particle in plasma etching equipment is described in this paper for the first time. No direct measurement of plasma particles is carried out by an inspection tool but the generation of plasma particles can be predicted by detecting plasma density change indirectly measured using an equipment monitoring tool. It is found that the plasma density change can be detected by several equipment parameters like self-bias voltage using PLS analysis. The correlation coefficient of 0.75 is obtained between measured number of particles and predicted number of particles by a virtual parameter. It is demonstrated that the virtual parameter generated several parameters is useful as virtual metrology for a plasma particle.

Some members of the classes Prymnesiophyceae and Raphidophyceae may form blooms resulting in fish kills and great economic losses. Harmful prymnesiophytes are found in the genera Prymnesium, Chrysochromulina and Phaeocystis, and harmful raphidophytes in the genera Chattonella, Heterosigma and Fibrocapsa. The aim of this chapter is to review the ecology and toxicity of harmful species within these genera.

Authenticated key exchange (AKE) protocols are designed to allow mutual authentication and generation of a cryptographically-secure session key. We revisit the conventional AKE protocols employed in IEEE 802.1x for wireless security considering the following situation: (1) a user has some insecure devices with built-in memory capacity; (2) the counterpart server is not perfectly secure; (3) neither PKI (public key infrastructure) nor TRM (tamper-resistant module) is available. In addition, the paper introduces a new kind of AKE protocol, which is secure against an active attacker in the above-mentioned situation, in order to enhance the overall security level and usability of passwords. For authenticity, the user's password is combined with an additional secret stored on insecure mobile devices. Nevertheless, the user remembers only one relatively short password while maintaining its connections with a variety of different servers.

Iron (Fe) is a crucially essential element for the growth of phytoplankton. Various mechanisms for the biological acquisition of iron require that the dissolved inorganic or free ion species [Fe(II) and Fe(III)] are ultimate iron species taken up by phytoplankton. But, iron mostly dissolves as complexes with the organic ligands and the concentration of dissolved iron is extremely low in natural seawater. The growths of 3 species of red tide causative phytoplankton (Chattonella antiqua, Heterosigma akashiwo and Heterocapsa circularisquama) were examined using a newly developed artificial synthetic medium in the presence of different iron species complexed with organic ligands. Our study demonstrated that the organic iron of different ligands was bioavailable to red tide phytoplankton. In iron salicylate and citrate chelates media, the growths were confirmed for the raphidophyte H. akashiwo and the dinoflagellate H. circularisquama. And all red tide species examined could grow in iron ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) chelates medium. These results suggest that bioavailable Fe depends not only on dissolved inorganic iron (soluble and colloidal phase) but also on chelates with organic ligands. And further, the natural orga nic matter such as salicylic acid and citric acid may play an important role in forming red tides in coastal area as well as siderophore-like organic compounds and regeneration of iron through bacterial activity.

Supporting rapid response to changing customer requirements, reduction in both time and cost of manufacturing process, and integration within a heterogeneous wide area networked enterprise are necessary to increase worldwide competitiveness in manufacturing. We propose a CORBA based architecture to realize that manufacturing environment. We have developed an ORB for PLC to realize that architecture. And we have developed two prototypes of a remote monitoring system for factory automation, which are a manufacturing line monitoring system and a remote PLC monitoring system which uses a Web browser, to examine feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed architecture. According to experiments with these prototypes, we show the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed CORBA based architecture.

Intravenous preparations combining aminophylline and a steroid are used frequently in the treatment of bronchial asthma attacks. However, anaphylactoid reactions to such preparations have been rarely observed. We report the case of a 31-year-old man with aminophylline and steroid allergy. Aminophylline is the ethylenediamine salt of theophylline. In our patient, aminophylline, ethylenediamine and various steroids were found to be positive in the intradermal test. The challenge test with intravenous aminophylline was positive, while that with oral theophylline was negative. Ethylenediamine is used in everyday products such as shellacs and rubber products. In the case of our patient, his asthma worsened following the remodelling of his restaurant. Occupational asthma due to exposure to ethylenediamine is also discussed.

The nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) regulates cytokine gene expression in T cells through cis-acting elements located in the promoters of several cytokine genes. NFATx1, which is preferentially expressed in the thymus and peripheral blood leukocytes, is one of four members of the NFAT family of transcription factors. We have performed domain analysis of NFATx1 by examining the effects of deletion mutations. We found that NFATx1 DNA binding activity and interaction with AP-1 polypeptides were dependent on its central Rel similarity region and that transcriptional activation was reduced by deletions of either its N-terminal domain or its C-terminal domain, suggesting the presence of intrinsic transcriptional activation motifs in both regions. We also identified a potent inhibitory sequence within its N-terminal domain. We show that the inactivation of the inhibition was dependent on the activity of calcineurin, a calcium-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase. We also show that calcineurin associated with the N-terminal domain of NFATx1 at multiple docking sites and caused a reduction of size, indicative of dephosphorylation, in NFATx1. We have mapped the inhibitory activity to less than 60 residues, containing motifs that are conserved in all NFAT proteins. Finally, we demonstrate that deletion in NFATx1 of the mapped 60 residues leads to its nuclear translocation independent of calcium signaling. Our results support the model proposing that the N-terminal domain confers calcium-signaling dependence on NFATx1 transactivation activity by regulating its intracellular localization through a protein module that associates with calcineurin and is a target of its phosphatase activity.

Noradrenaline (NA) stimulated the release of arachidonic acid (AA) from the [3H]AA-labelled rabbit platelets via alpha 2-adrenergic receptors, since the effect of NA was inhibited by yohimbine. The stimulatory effect of NA in digitonin-permeabilized platelets was completely dependent on the simultaneous presence of GTP and Ca2+. The NA- and thrombin-stimulated releases of AA were markedly decreased by the prior ADP-ribosylation of the permeabilized platelets with pertussis toxin. Antiserum directed against the pig brain Go (a GTP-binding protein of unknown function), recognizing both alpha 39 and beta 35,36 subunits, but not alpha 41, of pig brain, reacted with 41 kDa and 40 kDa bands, with not one of 39 kDa, in rabbit platelet membranes. Anti-Go antiserum inhibited guanosine 5′-[gamma-thio]triphosphate-, A1F4(-)-, NA- and thrombin-stimulated AA releases in the membranes. Although the effect of thrombin was inhibited by low concentrations of anti-Go antiserum, high concentrations of the antiserum was needed for inhibition of the NA effect. Antiserum directed against the pig brain G1 (inhibitory G-protein), recognizing both alpha 41 and beta 35,36 subunits, but not alpha 39, of pig brain, reacted with the 41 kDa band in platelets. Anti-G1 antiserum inhibited only the effect of NA. Reconstitution of the platelet membranes ADP-ribosylated by pertussis toxin with Go, not Gi, purified from pig brain restored the thrombin-stimulated release of AA. In contrast, reconstitution of those membranes with Gi, not Go, restored the NA-stimulated release of AA. These results indicate that different GTP-binding proteins, Gi- and Go-like proteins, may be involved in the mechanism of signal transduction from alpha 2-adrenergic receptors and thrombin receptors to phospholipase A2 in rabbit platelets.

Cyst formation of the noxious red tide flagellate Chattonella marina (Raphidophyceae), cultured from a cyst in sediments of Suo-nada, Japan in 1986, was investigated by culture experiments. Nitrogen limitation was effective in inducing cyst formation. After incubation in N-limited medium at 25°C with 10000 lux on a 14 h light, 10 h dark photo-cycle, cultures were subjected to six different light intensities (0 ∼ 10000 lux) in order to determine effects of light intensity on cyst formation. Cysts were formed under light intensities of 1000 lux or below, but not at 10000 lux. Cysts formed in culture displayed morphological characteristics quite similar to those natural cysts observed in sediments collected from the Inland Sea of Japan. Observations on nucleus, using diaminidinophenylindole (DAPI)-staining and epifluorescence microscopy, indicated that the majority of cysts formed in culture were uninucleate, a few were binucleate. Germination of cysts was observed under adequate conditions for germination (22°C, 3500 lux with a 14 h light, 10 h dark photo-cycle) even after storage at 11°C in the dark for more than 4 mo.

SUMMARY Thyroid function studies, performed after iodide administration to five patients with neurological endemic cretinism, were indicative of hypothyroidism. All five subjects had either a low serum thyroxine (T4) or a high basal thyrotrophin (TSH) level and a clearly exaggerated TSH response to thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH). These findings are in sharp contrast with those we have previously described in goitrous patients without cretinism from the same geographical area. One interpretation of our observations is that there is an underlying mild defect in thyroid hormone synthesis in endemic cretinism predisposing to iodine induced hypothyroidism.

The tranmission spectra and the wavelength-modulated transmission spectra of ZrS 2 and HfS 2 were measured simultaneously over the temperature range from 1.9 to 300K, and structures in the spectra due to the indirect allowed transitions including excitonic effects were clearly observed. Comparing with the band structure calculations, these correspond to Γ − 2 a L + 1 and Γ − 2 a M + 1 transitions.

Single crystals of SnS 2 have been grown by the iodine vapour transport technique. The optical absorption coefficients near the band gap have been measured over the temperature range 4.2–400 K. An analysis of the absorption coefficients measured indicates that the absorption edge for E ⊥ c arises from indirect forbidden transitions across an energy gap of E ′ g (⊥) = 2.25 eV at 300 K and for E ∥ c indirect allowed transitions across the energy gap of E ′ g (∥) = 2.14 eV at 300 K. It was found that two phonons were involved in these indirect transitions. Assignment of these optical transitions in view of the band structure are discussed.

Effects of storage temperature on the dormancy and maturation of dormant cells of Chattonella spp. were investigated by the extinction dilution method using sediment samples collected in 1984 after the blooming in Harima-Nada. Seasonality of germinability in fresh sediments was also studied in 1985. A storage period of more than 4 months with a low temperature (11°C) was essential for the maturation to induce the germination capacity of dormant cells. The optimal temperature for germination (22°C) had no effects on the maturation. Using fresh Suo-Nada sediments, a marked seasonality of germinability was confirmed. It was weak from autumn to early winter, then strengthened gradually up to a high level, which was maintained between spring and early summer, and again decreased rapidly during summer. The annual life cycle of Chattonella spp., including vetetative and dormant phases, was summarized as follows: (1) vegetative cells in early summer originate from germination of dormant cells in sediments; (2) they form overwintering dormant cells during the summer season; (3) dormant cells spend a period of spontaneous dormancy until next spring; (4) the duration of post dormancy, an enforced one due to low temperatures, follows until early summer. The life cycle of Chattonella spp. is therefore well adapted to the temperature regime in temperate seas such as the Seto Inland Sea of Japan.

A new tension control system for the hot finishing mill, a “looperless” system, was developed. This system detects inter-stand tensions by applying measured data for the rolling process to a newly developed tension equation. The rotation speed of the roll-drive motors is controlled to achieve a desired tension. Experiment on a hot finishing line showed the tension could be controlled within 0.1 kg/mm 2 . Operation was very stable in the rolling of more than 100 strips.

The Influences of Silicone Oil treatment on shell eggs under storage temperatures within the range for 4°C, 15°C and 25°C were studied. The storage periods in this study were 90 days. The results obtained are as follows:1. Decrease of Egg-weight: There were significant differences between the weight of the egg sprayed with Silicone Oil and that of non treated egg under storage temperatuers of 25°C, 15°C and 4°C for 90 days.2. Haugh Unit of Egg white: The Haugh units of eggs (Silicone Oil treatment) were higher than that of non treated egg under storage temperatures of 25°C, 15°C and 4°C. There was significant difference between the Haugh unit of the egg sprayed with Silicone Oil and that of non treated egg under 4°C storage temperatures for 90 days.3. Quality of Yolk: The Yolk Index of the egg sprayed with Silicone Oil were higher than that of non treated egg under storage temperatures of 25°C, 15°C and 4°C for 30 days.4. Albumen pH: Albumen pH were inclined to increase under storage temperatures 15°C and 25°C, but that was inclined to decrease under storage temperature 4°C.

Supercooled waterclouds often contain minute snowcrystals, 10100μ in size, which are-considered to be the incipient stages of crystal growth. The author collected about 200 photomicrographs of such crystals at the observatories of Mt. Fuji (3776) and Mt. Ibuki (1370), and investigated the relation between their crystal forms and the air temperatures at the time when observed.The columnar forms were always observed at temperatures above-10°C, and the tabular forms below-9°C. The observed temperature ranges of various crystal forms are shown in the table.These results are nearly consistent with the case of artificial snow.The author concludes that all snow crystals are, at first stage of its formation, perfect crystals of about 10μ in size, which undergo different skeletal growth corresponding to the temperature, i.e. in the direction of principal axis above-10°C, and in the directions of secondary axes below-10°C. The temperature range of the most rapid growth parallel to the secondary axes is-12.5-15°C, which is by 12°C, higher than that of dendritic artificial snow.

When dealing with the problem of diffraction of waves, certain special functions appear which are defined by ordinary differential equations of the second order; for example, Bessel functions, Legendre functions, and Mathieu functions appear for the case of a circular cylinder, a sphere, and an elliptic cylinder, respectively. Exact solutions are obtained in the form of infinite series of such functions, which are, in general, poorly convergent when the wavelength is comparable with or smaller than the dimension of the body. In such a case the series can be transformed into contour integrals and then evaluated by the method of steepest descents or by forming the residue series. For this purpose asymptotic expressions for the special functions are needed. A similar situation arises also in the problem of propagation of short radio waves in a horizontally stratified atmosphere. In this paper a refinement of the WKB method is presented which enables one to obtain very accurate and compact expressions for such functions, which are particularly suited for the evaluation of zeros. The application of the method is illustrated for the case of Bessel functions, parabolic cylinder functions, Coulomb wave functions, etc.

The optical absorption spectra of evaporated films of PbI2 in the region of 200–700 mμ were measured in the temperature range 298-37°K, using a Cary spectrophotometer, and at 4-2°K, using a spectrophotograph. Even at 4.2°K, the first band at 500 mμ shows rather smooth intensity distribution and does not split into hydrogen-like series lines. The general behaviour of the spectrum in PbI2 was found to have similar characteristics to those of the Ag and Tl halides. The tail part of the longer wavelength side of the first band was measured in detail, using thicker samples, in which Urbach's rule is approximately valid. Our analysis of the spectrum of PbI2 indicates that the exciton in PbI2 does not resemble that of Cu2O but is quite similar to that of the silver and thallous halides.

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