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Surface states of topological materials provide extreme electronic states for unconventional superconducting states. CaAg1−xPdxP is an ideal candidate for a nodal-line Dirac semimetal with drumhead surface states and no additional bulk bands. Here, we report that CaAg1−xPdxP has surface states that exhibit unconventional superconductivity (SC) around 1.5 K. Extremely sharp magnetoresistance, tuned by surface-sensitive gating, determines the surface origin of the ultrahigh-mobility “electrons.” The Pd-doping elevates the Fermi level towards the surface states, and as a result, the critical temperature (Tc) is increased up to 1.7 K from 1.2 K for undoped CaAgP. Furthermore, a soft point-contact study at the surface of Pd-doped CaAgP proved the emergence of unconventional SC on the surface. We observed the bell-shaped conductance spectra, a hallmark of the unconventional SC. Ultrahigh mobility carriers derived from the surface flat bands generate a new class of unconventional SC.

Anorexia nervosa not only results in severe malnutrition but also carries a high risk of sudden death. Although fatal arrhythmias are the most common cause of sudden death, it is often unclear what exactly causes them. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports of cerebellar tonsillar herniations in patients with anorexia nervosa.A 17-year-old girl with anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum disorder was admitted to the pediatric ward for extreme weight loss. Since she refused to take oral nutrition or tube feeding, we started continuous intravenous fluids. Eight hours after admission, she suddenly went into cardiopulmonary arrest and died despite resuscitation. A postmortem autopsy revealed the unexpected findings of generalized severe cerebral edema and cerebellar tonsillar herniation.Intracranial hypertension may need to be considered when the condition of patients with anorexia nervosa suddenly worsens during refeeding periods. Postmortem autopsy and autopsy imaging are recommended to determine the exact cause of sudden death.Level IV: Evidence obtained from multiple time series analysis such as case studies. (NB: Dramatic results in uncontrolled trials might also be regarded as this type of evidence).

BACKGROUND Adolescent health promotion is important in preventing risk behaviors and improving mental health. Health promotion during adolescence has been shown to contribute to the prevention of late onset of the mental health disease. However, scalable interventions have not been established yet. OBJECTIVE This study was designed to test the efficacy of two adolescent health promotion interventions: a well-care visit (WCV) with a risk assessment interview and counseling and self-monitoring with a smartphone cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) app. Our hypothesis was that participants who had received both WCV and the CBT app would have better outcomes than those who had received only WCV or those who had not received any intervention. We conducted a prospective multi-institutional randomized controlled trial. METHODS Participants were 217 adolescents aged 13-18 years. They were randomly divided into two intervention groups (WCV group and WCV with CBT app group) and a nonintervention group. WCV comprised a standardized physical examination along with a structured interview and counseling for youth risk assessment, which was designed with reference to the Guideline for Health Supervision of Adolescents of Bright Futures. A smartphone-based CBT program was developed based on the CBT approach. The CBT app comprised a 1-week psychoeducation component and a 1-week self-monitoring component. During the CBT program, participants created several self-monitoring sheets based on the CBT model with five window panels: event, thoughts, feelings, body response, and actions. The primary outcome was the change in scores for depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes included changes in scores for self-esteem, quality of life, self-monitoring, and an adolescent health promotion scale. These outcomes were evaluated at baseline and at 1, 2, and 4 months after baseline. The exploratory outcome was the presence of suicidal ideation during the observation period. Intervention effects were estimated using mixed effect models. RESULTS In total, 94% (204/217) of the participants completed the 4-month evaluation. Both intervention groups showed a significant effect in the form of reduced scores for depressive symptoms at 1 month in high school students; however, these effects were not observed at 2 and 4 months. The intervention effect was significantly more predominant in those scoring above cutoff for depressive symptoms. There was significantly less suicidal ideation in the intervention groups. As for secondary outcomes, there was significant increase in health promotion scale scores at the 4-month follow-up among junior high school students in the WCV group. Moreover, the CBT app was significantly effective in terms of obtaining self-monitoring skills and reducing depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Although adolescent health promotion interventions may have short-term benefits, the frequency of WCV and further revision of the CBT app should be considered to evaluate long-term effectiveness. CLINICALTRIAL University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry UMIN 000036343; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000041246

Background Cronobacter sakazakii (C. sakazakii) is a bacterium known to cause severe neonatal infections in premature infants with the consumption of contaminated powdered milk formula. Adult infections are rare, and there have been no reports of pyosalpinx due to C. sakazakii to date. Case presentation We report a case of left pyosalpinx due to C. sakazakii in a sexually inactive postmenopausal woman. A 70-year-old woman presented to our hospital with left lower abdominal pain and fever. Abdominal computed tomography disclosed a cystic mass continuous with the left edge of the uterus. Urgent laparotomy revealed a ruptured left pyosalpinx with pus-like content. Left salpingo-oophorectomy, resection of the right tube, and washing of the abdominal cavity with saline were performed. Pathological examination of the left adnexa showed tubal tissue with acute inflammation and inflammatory exudate, which were compatible with pyosalpinx, and pus culture yielded C. sakazakii. Conclusions This is the first case report of pyosalpinx due to C. sakazakii. Cronobacter sakazakii infections in adult women might occur in the elderly, whose immunity has weakened. Further accumulation of cases of C. sakazakii infection is needed to clarify the etiology and behavior of C. sakazakii in adults.

One of the primary objectives in chemistry research is to observe atomic motions during reactions in real time. Although X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have facilitated the capture of reaction intermediates using time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX), only a few natural photoactive proteins have been investigated using this method, mostly due to the lack of suitable phototriggers. Here we report the genetic encoding of a xanthone amino acid (FXO), as an efficient phototrigger, into a rationally designed human liver fatty-acid binding protein mutant (termed XOM), which undergoes photo-induced C-H bond transformation with high selectivity and quantum efficiency. We solved the structures of XOM before and 10-300 ns after flash illumination, at 1.55-1.70 Å resolutions, and captured the elusive excited-state intermediates responsible for precise C-H bond activation. We expect that most redox enzymes can now be investigated by TR-SFX, using our method, to reveal reaction intermediates key for their efficiency and selectivity.

In this study, creep damage in a biaxially creep-damaged Mod.9Cr–1Mo component has been examined via uniaxial miniature creep testing. Using cruciform specimens, biaxial tension creep tests were conducted at principal stress ratios (λ) of λ = 0.0 and 1.0 at 923 K. The principal stress ratio is the ratio of the y-directional principal stress ( σ y ) to the x-directional principal stress ( σ x ) in a cruciform specimen ( λ = σ y / σ x ). The equi-biaxial creep test was interrupted at a half lifetime, and two miniature specimens were machined from the damaged cruciform specimen in the x- and y-direction. The applicability of the linear cumulative creep damage rule was assessed using the results of the miniature lifetimes. The linear cumulative creep damage rule gave an unconservative estimate to the remaining life of a biaxially damaged cruciform specimen. Using the hyperbolic constitutive relationship, the unconservative estimate according to the damage accumulation was explained.

In order to improve thermal stability of poly( l -lactide) (PLLA), the terminal hydroxy groups of PLLAs were converted to cinnamate esters by the treatment with cinnamoyl chloride. The resulting end-group modified PLLAs exhibited much higher thermal degradation temperature at 10% weight loss ( T d10 ) at around 320 °C than those of the starting hydroxy-terminated PLLAs (ca. 240 °C). The amounts of the residual Sn in the PLLAs were estimated by ICP measurements before and after modification, which indicated the modified PLLAs were still contaminated with ca. 600 ppm of Sn. This suggested that the end-group modification is effective for improving thermal stability of PLLA even in the presence of Sn. The end-group modification was also applicable to the stabilization of stereocomplex poly(lactide)s, whose thermal stability is important due to their high processing temperature.

Chest X-rays are used for mass screening for the early detection of lung cancer. However, lung nodules are often overlooked because of bones overlapping the lung fields. Bone suppression techniques based on artificial intelligence have been developed to solve this problem. However, bone suppression accuracy needs improvement. In this study, we propose a convolutional neural filter (CNF) for bone suppression based on a convolutional neural network which is frequently used in the medical field and has excellent performance in image processing. CNF outputs a value for the bone component of the target pixel by inputting pixel values in the neighborhood of the target pixel. By processing all positions in the input image, a bone-extracted image is generated. Finally, bone-suppressed image is obtained by subtracting the bone-extracted image from the original chest X-ray image. Bone suppression was most accurate when using CNF with six convolutional layers, yielding bone suppression of 89.2%. In addition, abnormalities, if present, were effectively imaged by suppressing only bone components and maintaining soft-tissue. These results suggest that the chances of missing abnormalities may be reduced by using the proposed method. The proposed method is useful for bone suppression in chest X-ray images.

Alkyltitanium reagents, generated in situ from Grignard reagents and ClTi(OiPr)3, can be employed without further manipulation in the enantioselective alkylation of aldehyde by the catalysis of a chiral titanium complex derived from DTBP-H8-BINOL. The reaction is performed with good stoichiometry [1.5 equiv each of Grignard reagents and ClTi(OiPr)3] at a low catalyst loading (2 mol %), affording a variety of chiral secondary alcohols in high enantioselectivity and yields and, hence, realizing an asymmetric version of the Grignard reaction in an indirect manner.

We describe the development and in situ testing results of an underwater atomic force microscope (UAFM) system. The UAFM system is compact, mobile, and mountable on underwater vehicles or submersible seafloor platforms, and intended for in situ observation of microorganisms and microparticulates with a nanometer-scale spatial resolution, especially near deep-sea hydrothermal features. First, we tested the UAFM system in shallow water and achieved AFM imaging in sea water by operating the AFM head remotely from a pier. We then mounted the UAFM on a remotely operated vehicle, and operated the approach and imaging procedures at a water depth of 1600 m. As a result, we successfully achieved in situ imaging of underwater samples with nanometer-scale resolution. This system can provide significant information regarding oceanic ecosystems and material circulation by monitoring and analyzing the spatial distribution of these micrometer-scale particles and their interactions with other parameters (e.g., seawater temperature and dissolved components).

In this study we synthesized two acid-/base-controllable [2]rotaxanes featuring aminodiazobenzene and aminocoumarin units, respectively, as chromophores and dibenzo[24]crown-8 and dibenzo[25]crown-8 units, respectively, as their macrocyclic components. Each [2]rotaxane contained N-alkylarylamine (ammonium) and N,N-dialkylamine (ammonium) centers as binding sites for their crown ether components. The absorption patterns of the chromophores were dependent on the position of the encircling macrocyclic component and the degree of protonation, with three distinct states (under acidic, neutral, and basic conditions) evident for each [2]rotaxane. The mixed [2]rotaxane system displayed stepwise and independent molecular shuttling behavior based on the degree of protonation of the amino groups in response to both the amount and strength of added acids or bases; as such, the system provided five different absorption signals as outputs that could be read using UV/Vis spectroscopy.

We developed and tested an Underwater Atomic Force Microscope (UAFM) system and conducted in situ measurements in a deep sea environment. The developed UAFM is compact, mobile, and mountable on underwater vehicles or submersible seafloor platforms. It is intended for in situ observation of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) and microparticles (e.g., mineral components) with a nanometer-scale spatial resolution in various ocean environments and particularly near hydrothermal features in the deep sea. We developed two unique instrumental mechanisms that allow the UAFM system to be remotely operated from a research vessel. The first is a self-sensitive cantilever, obviating the manual alignment of optics that is needed when using an optically based deflection sensor. To allow the self-sensitive cantilever to be used in electrolytic solutions such as deep sea water, the surface of the cantilever was coated with a thin layer of Parylene. The second innovation is that the observation specimens are remotely introduced into the main UAFM unit and fixed on the sample stage using a filter-integrated sample scanner. The UAFM is operated by a control system on a single-board computer, running over a specially written program. This system can be used to collect information on oceanic ecosystems and material circulation patterns by monitoring the spatial distribution of the micrometer-scale particles and analyzing their interactions with other physical and chemical parameters.

The purpose of this paper is made to clarify that the relationship between the human physiological and psychological responses and the enhanced conduction-corrected modified effective temperature ETFe as the outdoor thermal environment evaluation index upon the human body. Environmental factors and human physiological and psychological responses were measured. It was made clear that the variables by which summer outdoor environmental factors influence the thermal sensation vote are heat conduction, humidity and short-wave solar radiation. The variables that affect the thermal comfort vote are air velocity, heat conduction and humidity. ETFe, into which the environmental factors that are the variables for human response are incorporated, showed good correspondence with the thermal sensation vote. Similarly, ETFe has a good correspondence with thermal comfort vote. The usage of ETFe as a thermal environment evaluation index for summer outdoor spaces is valid. The threshold for the human body with regards to thermal environment stimuli in an outdoor space is higher than the thermal environment stimuli in a summer indoor space.

In living spaces, people sit or lie on the floor and adopt a posture in which much of the surface of the body is in contact with the floor. When the temperature of the spatial structure or the surface temperature of an object in contact with the human body is not equivalent to the air temperature, these effects are non-negligible. Most research examining the physiological and psychological responses of the human body has involved subjects sitting in chairs. Research that takes into account body heat balance and assessments of thermal conduction into the environment is uncommon. Thus, in this study, conduction-corrected modified effective temperature (ETF), which is a new thermal environmental index incorporating heat conduction, is defined in order to make possible the evaluation of thermal environments that take into account different postures. This sensational temperature index converts the effects of the following parameters into a temperature equivalent: air velocity, thermal radiation, contact material surface temperature and humidity. This index has the features of a summation formula. Through the use of these parameters, it is possible to represent and quantify their composite influence on bodily sensation and the effects of discrete meteorological elements through an evaluation on an identical axis.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate elements of kitchen space from the viewpoint of a barrier-free environment for the elderly. There are two aspects in barrier-free design, physical and sensory aspects. Although there has been a lot of research from the viewpoint of freedom from physical barriers, there has been little research on freedom from sensory barriers. We conducted a questionnaire survey of elderly and middle-aged subjects. The results can be summarized as follows: 1 In terms of a barrier-free kitchen space, satisfaction with the thermal environment rates is worst out of several sensory factors for the elderly. 2 Satisfaction with the thermal environment of summer is lower than winter. 3 To achieve barrier-free kitchen design for the elderly, it is necessary to seriously consider to prevent heatillness in summer.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of several visual factors on human comfort by the image projecting experiment on human reflection.The results are as followings. The window area expansion and the movement of curtain ameliorate human comfort. Especially when the planting is visible through the window, the tendency is more obvious.

The occupants' thermal sensation of the houses was investigated with the three different scales during winter. This paper discussed influence of the thermal sensation scale on the votes. The main results are as follows; 1) eighty eight percent of the occupants responded “acceptable”, despite 70% of the temperature data were out of the comfort range of ASHRAE Standard55, 2) there was a difference in distribution of the votes on each thermal sensation scale, 3) the neutral temperature was 16.3°C (ET*) by one 7-point thermal sensation scale, 9.9°C (ET*) by another scale and 21.2°C (ET*) by linear thermal sensation scale.

We conducted a questionnaire survey to clarify the regional difference of residents' heating methods and their opinions about heating. The people who answered our questionnaire were residents of detached houses prefabricated by a major housing company. The results or our analysis are as follows. Warmer the region, narrower is the heating space and shorter is the heating time. Such differences in the heating practices are also reflected in the behavior of residents, resulting in regional disparities in methods used for controlling the room temperature and efforts for energy conservation. Since it is a common practice in cold regions to adequately heat the room using a heater, measures used for protection against cold, other than heating and seasonal changes in the lifestyle, are fewer when compared to warm regions. Regional differences in the satisfaction levels of residents about the indoor conditions in winter were small. Satisfaction levels were high across all the regions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients of the human body, while focusing on the convective heat transfer area of the human body. Thermal sensors directly measuring the total heat flux and radiative heat flux were employed. The mannequin was placed in seven postures as follows: standing (exposed to the atmosphere, floor contact); chair sitting (exposed to the atmosphere, contact with seat, chair back, and floor); cross-legged sitting (floor contact); legs-out sitting (floor contact); and supine (floor contact). The radiative heat transfer coefficient was determined for each posture, and empirical formulas were proposed for the convective heat transfer coefficient of the entire human body under natural convection, driven by the difference between the air temperature and mean skin temperature corrected using the convective heat transfer area.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the heat transfer areas of the human body and to examine the effect of posture on these values, which is necessary data for calculating heat exchange between the human body and its environment. The total surface area of a subject's body was measured directly. Then, the convective heat transfer area, radiative heat transfer area and conductive heat transfer area were measured for the same subject in 9 postures: standing, chair sitting, seiza sitting, cross-legged sitting, sideways sitting, both-knees-erect sitting, legs-out sitting, lateral position and supine. The ratios of the radiative heat transfer area, convective heat transfer area ratio and conductive heat transfer area to body surface area were as follows: Standing, 0.942, 0.773, 0.013; chair sitting, 0.910, 0.732, 0.008; seiza sitting, 0.853, 0.621, 0.013; cross-legged sitting, 0.843, 0.606, 0.029; sideways sitting, 0.877, 0.634, 0.030; both-knees-erect sitting, 0.865, 0.609, 0.023; legs-out sitting, 0.878, 0.686, 0.038; lateral position, 0.879, 0.712, 0.039; and supine, 0.811, 0.708, 0.100. Posture was shown to have a noticeable effect on the heat transfer areas of the human body.

The effective radiation area and configuration factors for the human body are essential data to estimate the influence of thermal radiation upon the person in living environment. In this paper, the area and the factors between the man and rectangular planes, as the wall, ceilings or floors, for a male subject in his wheelchair were measured by the photographic method. The results showed that; (i) the effective radiation area of the human body was 0.82m2 for the nude-condition, and 0.98m2 for the clothing-condition, when his total body surface area was 1.75m2; (ii) the effective radiation area factor was 0.47 for nude, and 0.56 for clothing; (iii) the effective radiation area of the wheelchair was 0.42m2; (iv) diagrams of configuration factors between the human body and rectangular plane were represented; (v) diagrams of configuration factors between the wheelchair and rectangular plane were represented.

We conducted a survey on the occupants.. behavior, consciousness and lifestyle related to air-conditioning (AC) in apartment houses in Kyoto, Japan. The main results are as follows: 1) The necessity to shut the windows to avid rain was one of the reasons to increase the number of occupants who started using AC in rainy season. 2) The occupants who started using AC earlier were sensitive to heat. The occupants who started using AC later could stand heat and did not like to use AC. 3) The amount of time that occupants who started using AC earlier used AC and the period when they used AC were long. And the amount of time that occupants who started using air-conditioning later used electric fan were long.The custom to use electric fan might to make the using period of AC short. 4) The occupants who started using air-conditioning earlier prioritized thermal comfort. And the occupants who started using air-conditioning later prioritized economical life.

Regression analysis was applied to the experimental data obtained from the different environmental conditions and procedures to investigate the difference of scales; the dependent variables were thermal sensation vote (specific scale), the impression of hot-cold(unspecific scale) and the independent variable was temperature. The results showed that the slope of regression line of unspecific scale was small in comparison with specific scale in an arbitrary condition, and point of intersection of two regression lines were different according to the environmental factors. The effect of attention was suggested.

Discovery of the natural killer (NK) T cell-specific ligand, alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) has enabled us to investigate the functional regulation of NKT cells. However, the detailed mechanism of cytokine production by NKT cells remains to be elucidated. Here we evaluated the role of interleukin (IL)-4 in the production of interferon (IFN)-gamma from NKT cells using IL-4-deficient C57BL/6 mice (IL-4(-/-) mice). Administration of alpha-GalCer into wild-type C57BL/6 mice caused the production of both IFN-gamma and IL-4 in serum or cytoplasm within 4 h of the injection. Unexpectedly, however, IL-4(-/-) mice-derived NKT cells did not produce any IFN-gamma at early phase after primary stimulation with alpha-GalCer. Because NKT cells from IL-4(-/-) mice produced IFN-gamma when they were stimulated secondarily with alpha-GalCer in vitro for 72 h, NKT cells from IL-4(-/-) mice were not completely genetically deficient for IFN-gamma production. To elucidate which cells, NKT cells or dendritic cells (DC), were responsible for the deficiency in IFN-gamma production in IL-4(-/-) mice, we carried out an add-back experiment using purified NKT cells and DC, which were prepared from either wild-type mice or IL-4(-/-) mice. NKT cells from wild-type mice produced IFN-gamma when they were cocultured with DC prepared from either wild-type or IL-4(-/-) mice, whereas NKT cells from IL-4(-/-) mice did not produce IFN-gamma by coculturing with DC from either wild-type or IL-4(-/-) mice. These results indicate that NKT cells, not DC, were responsible for the deficiency in IFN-gamma production in IL-4(-/-) mice. Thus, IL-4 is required for the activation of NKT cells to produce IFN-gamma in response to alpha-GalCer.