Antibacterial metal implant with a TiO2‐conferred photocatalytic bactericidal effect against Staphylococcus aureus

Photocatalysis with anatase Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) under ultraviolet A (UVA) has a well recognized bactericidal effect. There have been a few reports, however, on the effects of photocatalysis on bio‐implant‐related infections. The purpose of present study was to evaluate the photocatalytic bactericidal effects of anatase TiO₂ on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) associated with surgical site infections. TiO₂ films were synthesized on commercially pure titanium substrates and SUS316 stainless steel using a plasma source ion implantation method followed by annealing. The chemical composition of the surface layers was determined using GXRD and XPS. The disks were seeded with cultured S. aureus and exposed to UVA illumination from black light. The bactericidal effect of the TiO₂ films was evaluated by counting the survived colonies statistically. A structural gradient anatase type TiO₂ layer formed on all substrates. The viability of the bacteria on the photocatalytic TiO₂ film coated on titanium was suppressed to 7.0% at 30 minutes and 5.5% at 45 minutes, whereas that on a similarly coated stainless steel was suppressed to 45.8% at 30 minute and 28.6% at 45 minutes (ANOVA: p < 0.05). Complete bacterial inactivation was achieved after 90 minutes on titanium and after 60 minutes on stainless steel. The photocatalytic bactericidal effect of TiO₂ is useful for sterilizing the contaminated surfaces of bioimplants. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Waveform control for magnetic testers using a quasi-Newton method

A nonlinear iterative learning algorithm is proposed to make a voltage waveform in the secondary coil sinusoidal in this paper. The algorithm employs a globally convergent Jacobian-free quasi-Newton type solver that has a BFGS-like structure. This method functions well, and it is demonstrated using typical soft magnetic materials.     

Non-separating even cycles in highly connected graphs

We prove that every k-connected graph (k ≥ 5) has an even cycle C such that G-V (C) is still (k-4)-connected. The connectivity bound is best possible.     

Investigation of chlorophylls as a scavenger of manganese(II) and zinc(II) using a radiotracer technique

Uptake of manganese(II) and zinc(II) by chlorophylla (Chl) was investigated using a radiotracer technique in order to elucidate its ability of scavenging metals released into the soil environment. Two possibilities were considered for the metal uptake: (1) substitutional complexation with Chl and (2) inclusion of the metals into Chl aggregates. It was found that manganese(II) was not trapped appreciably by both Chl itself and its aggregates. Magnesium of Chl was exchanged with zinc(II) in aqueous phase giving Zn−Chl at pH values higher than 7. Zinc(II) was found to be trapped by Chl aggregates depending on the pH of the aqueous phase.     

Depth-adaptive regularized reconstruction for reflection diffuse optical tomography

We study reflection diffuse optical tomography using two-dimensional (2D) continuous-wave source-detector arrays on the surface of semi-infinite medium, aiming at imaging the perfusion and the hemoglobin oxygen saturation variation of human cerebral cortex with brain activation. We had previously formulated the inverse problem with Moore-Penrose inversion. When we use simple regularization in this inverse problem, the reconstruction sensitivity decreases markedly with the depth so that the signal in the deep range may be masked by an unwanted signal in the shallow range. In this paper, we propose a depth-adaptive regularized reconstruction, in which we assign a smaller regularization parameter with the depth. We demonstrate improvement of the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction uniformity using the proposed scheme.     

Detection of multiple anions by thin-layer chromatography

A novel detection method for 21 different anions by thin-layer chromatography is presented. Anions on the target plate form salts with amine in a developing solvent and are visualized after staining with citric acid-acetic anhydride reagent as white spots contrasting against a pale red-pink background. This method has particularly high sensitivity for anions of chlorate, sulfate, phosphate, chromate and dichromate (0.02-0.05 microg). The method is demonstrated to efficiently detect toxic arsenite in curry sauce as an example application. The proposed method offers highly efficient indirect detection for a wide range of anions, and serves as a purification procedure for the preparation of anionic sample solutions for other analytical methods.     

Chemoselective transfer hydrodechlorination of aryl chlorides catalyzed by Cp*Rh complexes

An effective Cp*Rh catalyzed transfer hydrodechlorination of aryl chlorides was achieved with high tolerance towards a variety of functional groups using 2-butanol as a hydrogen source.     

Surface modification without desorption: recycling of Cl on Si(100)-(2 x 1)

We demonstrate chlorine-induced modification of Si(100)-(2 x 1) under conditions where Cl is recycled rather than desorbed as SiCl2. A dimer with 2 Cl atoms, 2SiCl, converts to SiCl2+Si, allowing the bare Si atom to escape onto the terrace. At temperatures below the desorption threshold, the SiCl2 unit decays through Cl diffusion, allowing the second Si atom to escape. The result is a dimer vacancy, terrace regrowth structures, and Cl that is able to participate in another pitting event. Access to this unexpected roughening pathway is controlled by the Cl concentration and temperature. This previously overlooked process represents an important component of Si(100) surface processing.