A new level at 192.5 keV in Ge

In the experiments on ⁷⁴Ge(d, pγ)⁷⁵Ge, a 52.5±0.1 keV γ-ray was found in ⁷⁵Ge with a half-life of 216±5 ns. From the analysis of the γ-ray spectra the conversion coefficient of the 52.5 keV γ-ray was determined. Then, a new level of is confirmed to exist at 192.5 keV. The reduced transition probabilities of the 52.5 keV transition are deduced to be (6.9^+5.6 _−2.1) × 10⁻⁵ for B(M1) and 31⁺³ ₋₂ for B(E2) in Weisskopf units.     

Enhancement effect of high-frequency noise of injection lasers with reflected waves due to direct modulation

It is found experimentally that the high-frequency noise of an injection laser associated with wave injection due to external reflection is significantly increased when the direct modulation is applied. It is clarified that the noise enhancement effect is caused by the increasing of the quantum shot noise of the injection laser due to the current modulation. The high- frequency noise of the narrow stripe laser is smaller than that of the wide stripe laser.     

Three-variable reversible Gray-Scott model

Even though the field of nonequilibrium thermodynamics has been popular and its importance has been suggested by Demirel and Sandler [J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 31 (2004)], there are only a few investigations of reaction-diffusion systems from the aspect of thermodynamics. A possible reason is that model equations are complicated and difficult to analyze because the corresponding chemical reactions need to be reversible for thermodynamical calculations. Here, we introduce a simple model for calculation of entropy production rate: a three-variable reversible Gray-Scott model. The rate of entropy production in self-replicating pattern formation is calculated, and the results are compared with those reported based on the Brusselator model in the context of biological cell division.     

Distribution of cyclic species in network formation: Microscopic theory of branching process in Ag-R-B f−g model

The distribution of cyclic species is explored for an irreversible A_g-R-B_f-g model on the basis of the concept of the “m tree” which was introduced in a preceding report by the authors. On the assumption of equal reactivity, the explicit solution is derived; i.e., for a sufficiently concentrated solution the concentration of cyclicj-mers can be expressed as \(\left[ {R_j } \right] = \left( {k_{Rj} /k_L } \right)\left[ {\left( {f - g} \right)D_B } \right]^j \omega _j /j\) , wherek _Rj andk _L are the rate constants of cyclicj-mer formation and interconnection, respectively, and $$\omega _j = \sum\limits_{k = 0}^{[j/2]} {\left( {_{2k}^j } \right)} \alpha ^k $$ where α=(g ? 1)(f ? g ? 1)/g(f ? g) and [j/2] is the Gauss' symbol. Forg → 1, ω_j → 1, so that the solution reduces to the A-R-B_f?1 case. At a critical point one observes the strong divergence of the chances ∑ φ_j of cyclization.     

Hypoxia-sensitive fluorescent probes for in vivo real-time fluorescence imaging of acute ischemia

Based on the findings that the azo functional group has excellent properties as the hypoxia-sensor moiety, we developed hypoxia-sensitive near-infrared fluorescent probes in which a large fluorescence increase is triggered by the cleavage of an azo bond. The probes were used for fluorescence imaging of hypoxic cells and real-time monitoring of ischemia in the liver and kidney of live mice.     

Semi-quantitative analyses of metabolic systems of human colon cancer metastatic xenografts in livers of superimmunodeficient NOG mice

Analyses of energy metabolism in human cancer have been difficult because of rapid turnover of the metabolites and difficulties in reducing time for collecting clinical samples under surgical procedures. Utilization of xenograft transplantation of human-derived colon cancer HCT116 cells in spleens of superimmunodeficient NOD/SCID/IL-2Rγ^null (NOG) mice led us to establish an experimental model of hepatic micrometastasis of the solid tumor, whereby analyses of the tissue sections collected by snap-frozen procedures through newly developed microscopic imaging mass spectrometry (MIMS) revealed distinct spatial distribution of a variety of metabolites. To perform intergroup comparison of the signal intensities of metabolites among different tissue sections collected from mice in fed states, we combined matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI–TOF-IMS) and capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry (CE–MS), to determine the apparent contents of individual metabolites in serial tissue sections. The results indicated significant elevation of ATP and energy charge in both metastases and the parenchyma of the tumor-bearing livers. To note were significant increases in UDP-N-acetyl hexosamines, and reduced and oxidized forms of glutathione in the metastatic foci versus the liver parenchyma. These findings thus provided a potentially important method for characterizing the properties of metabolic systems of human-derived cancer and the host tissues in vivo.     

VISUALIZATION OF ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT-INDUCED THYMINE DIMERS IN DNA BY IMMUNOELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Abstract— To see the damage of DNA due to ultravoilet-B more distinctly, immunoelectron microscopic studies using a monoclonal antibody against cyclobutane-type thymine dimers were performed. As a result, we could detect the existence of thymine dimers on human genomic DNA and _pUC18 plasmid DNA visually. This technique can be useful to locate the photoproducts formed on DNA.     

Estimation of Critical Point in Branching Reactions: Further Examination of Gel Point Formula

The theory of gel point in real polymer solutions is examined with the empirical correlation between the reciprocal of the percolation threshold and the coordination number given by the percolation theory. Applying a larger value of the relative frequency of cyclization, an excellent agreement is obtained between the present theory and the percolation result. This suggest that while the ring distribution on lattices is similar to that in real systems, ring production is more frequent in the lattice model than in real systems. To confirm this conjecture, we derive the ring distribution function of the lattice model as a limiting case of d→∞, and show that the solution is in fact identical to the asymptotic formula of C→∞ in real systems except for the coefficient C, which has a maximum at d = 5, in support of the above conjecture. To examine the validity of the asymptotic solution for the lattice model, we apply it to the critical point problem of the percolation theory, showing that the solution works well in high dimensions greater than six.