POPULATION-BASED QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY ON HEALTH EFFECTS OF AIRCRAFT NOISE ON RESIDENTS LIVING AROUND U.S. AIRFIELDS IN THE RYUKYUS—PART I: AN ANALYSIS OF 12 SCALE SCORES

A questionnaire survey was made of health effects of aircraft noise on residents living around Kadena and Futenma airfields using the Todai Health Index. Aircraft noise exposure expressed by L_dnranged from under 55 to over 70 in the surveyed area. The number of valid answers was 7095, including 848 among the control group. Twelve scale scores were converted to dichotomous variables based on scale scores of the 90 percentile value or the 10 percentile value in the control group. Multiple logistic regression analysis was done taking 12 scale scores converted into the dependent variable andL_dn , age (six levels), sex, occupation (four categories) and the interaction of age and sex as the independent variables. Significant dose-response relationships were found in the scale scores for vague complaints, respiratory, digestive, mental instability, depression and nervousness. The results suggest that the residents living around Kadena and Futenma airfields may suffer both physical and mental effects as a result of exposure to military aircraft noise and that such responses increase with the level of noise exposure (L_dn).     

Stability of Inverse Problems for Ultrahyperbolic Equations

In this paper, the authors consider inverse problems of determining a coefficient or a source term in an ultrahyperbolic equation by some lateral boundary data. The authors prove Hlder estimates which are global and local and the key tool is Carleman estimate.     

Second-Harmonic Generation in Domain-Inverted Grating Induced by Focused Ion Beam

The fabrication of a periodic domain inversion in LiTaO₃ and LiNbO₃ using direct ion-beam writing is presented. The polarization of these materials can be reversed at room temperature by irradiating Si²⁺ ions into +c faces. A first-order periodic domain inversion with a 50% duty cycle, a depth of 300μ, and an interaction length of 1 mm was realized in LiTaO₃. Using this structure, 300μW of blue light was generated for a conversion efficiency of 0.25%/W.     

An Inverse Problem for Maxwell’s Equations in Anisotropic Media

The authors consider Maxwell's equations for an isomagnctic anisotropic and inhomogeneous medium in two dimensions, and discuss an inverse problem of determining the permittivity tensor (ε1ε2ε2ε3) and the permeabilityμin the constitutive relations from a finite number of lateral boundary measurements. Applying a Carlcman estimate, the authors prove an estimate of the Lipschitz type for stability, provided thatε1,ε2,ε3,μsatisfy some a priori conditions.     

UNIQUE CONTINUATION ON A HYPERPLANE FOR WAVE EQUATION

51.IntroductionTheuniquecontinuationisthat,ifasolutionofapartialdifferentialequationvanishesinanopenset,thenitmustvanishontheconnectedcomponentwhichcontainsthisopenset.Itiswellunderstoodforellipticoperatorsofthesecondorder.In1939,Carleman[2]showedauniquecontinuationtheoremforsystemsofpartialdifferentia1equationsinthetwodimensionalcasewhosecoefficientsarenotanalytic.Thepowerfu1techniquewhichheproposediscal1edaCaJrlemanestimateandhasplayedacentralroleinthedevelopmentofuIilquecontinuationaJrgum…     

Carleman Estimates for Parabolic Equations with Nonhomogeneous Boundary Conditions

The authors prove a new Carleman estimate for general linear second order parabolic equation with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. On the basis of this estimate, improved Carleman estimates for the Stokes system and for a system of parabolic equations with a penalty term are obtained. This system can be viewed as an approximation of the Stokes system.     

Intracellular lectins are involved in quality control of glycoproteins

Glycoprotein quality control is categorized into three kinds of reactions; the folding of nascent glycoproteins, ER-associated degradation of misfolded or unassembled glycoproteins, and transport and sorting of correctly folded glycoproteins. In all three processes, N-glycans on the glycoproteins are used as tags that are recognized by intracellular lectins. We analyzed the functions of these intracellular lectins and their sugar-binding specificities. The results clearly showed that the A, B, and C-arms of high mannose-type glycans participate in the folding, transport and sorting, and degradation, respectively, of newly synthesized peptides. After correctly folded glycoproteins are transported to the Golgi apparatus, N-glycans are trimmed into Man₃GlcNAc₂ and then rebuilt into various complex-type glycans in the Golgi, resulting in the addition of diverse sugar structures that allow glycoproteins to play various roles outside of the cells.     

MECHANISM OF PHOTOSENSITIZATION BY PHEOPHORBIDE a STUDIED BY PHOTOHEMOLYSIS OF ERYTHROCYTES AND ELECTRON spIN RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract Phcophorbide a (PPa), a causal substance of food intoxication, when excited by exposure to light wavelengths of over 600 nm, caused the photohemolysis of goat erythrocytes in proportion to the incubation time of the cells. The addition of N-₃, an effective scavenger of ¹O₂, to the medium markedly inhibited the hemolysis of erythrocytes in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, inhibitors of O^-₂ and H₂O₂ generation, respectively, to the medium had little effect on it.
Methods for converting ¹O₂ to a nitroxide radical by 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidone (TMPD) and for trapping O^-₂ and OH by 5,5-dimethyl-l-pyrroline-A'-oxide (DMPO) were employed to observe directly these activated oxygens by electron spin resonance (ESR). The methods provided evidence that only ¹O₂, was produced by PPa, which was excited by light wavelengths of over 600 nm. Both the addition of N₃ to the solution and the removal of oxygen from the solution inhibited the generation of ¹O₂.
These results led us to conclude that ¹O₂ was mainly responsible for the hemolysis of erythrocytes by photoexcited PPa.     

PHOTOREVERSIBLE PROTON DISSOCIATION AND ASSOCIATION IN PEA PHYTOCHROME AND ITS CHROMOPEPTIDES

Abstract— Effect of red-light irradiation on the medium pH at 10d?C was measured and compared among unbuffered solutions of the 121-kDa native pea (Pisum sativum cv. Alaska) phytochrome and its 114- and 62-kDa fragments in a red-light-absorbing form (P_r), all of which converted to far-red-light-absorbing form (Pf_r) on red-light irradiation. Red-light irradiation induced alkalinization in the solutions of the phytochrome and the fragments in the pH range 6.6-7.2 and 6.2-7.8, respectively. The amount of protons taken up by the 121-kDa phytochrome was less than one half of that of the 114-kDa fragment. Red-light irradiation induced acidification in the solutions of the 114- and the 62-kDa fragments above pH 7.8. In the solutions of the 121-kDa phytochrome, however, the irradiation induced no pH change at pH 7.2-8.2, and only a slight acidification at pH 8.2-8.7, which may be ascribed to a small amount of contamination from the 114-kDa fragment. All these red-light-induced pH changes were reversible following exposure to far-red light. The 7-kDa polypeptide(s) of the native 121-kDa phytochrome, which is lacking in the 114-kDa fragment, thus, prohibited proton transfer between phytochrome and the medium. A red-light-induced pH change was also measured in unbuffered solutions of the 39-kDa fragment of the phytochrome and of the 114-kDa fragment in the presence of 0.8 mM soyasaponin I. The 39-kDa fragment showed partially photoreversible conversion between a spectral form having an absorption maximum at 659 nm (P₆₅₉) and a bleached form, P_***. The 114-kDa fragment in the presence of the saponin showed a photoreversible conversion between P65V and Pb,. Exposure of P₆₅₉ from the 39-kDa fragment and from the 114-kDa fragment in the presence of the saponin to red light, caused acidification of the medium in the pH range 6.8-8.8 and 7.2-9.0, respectively, but no change at pH 6.2-6.8 and 6.4-7.2, respectively. The acidification of the latter was reversible following a far-red-light irradiation, but that of the former was only partially photoreversible. Proton uptake of phytochrome was inhibited by tryptic degradation to the 39-kDa fragment and also by the presence of the saponin. Only proton release was observed during the photoconversion from P₆₅₉ and P_***hl. It is suggested that a phytochrome molecule has possible site(s) for both proton release and for uptake and that the proton release reaction may be correlated to the photoconversion process(es) prior to the bleached intermediate (I_***) of phytochrome.     

A comparative study on p-doping behavior of polythiophenes with CH_3SO_3H

Four kinds of polythiophenes have been doped with CH3SO3H in CHCl3 under air,oxygen,and nitrogen. In the doping of two types of poly(3-hexylthiophene)s,P3HexTh(Zn/Ni)and P3HexTh(Fe)with different contents of a head-to-tail unit,the p-doping occurs at a similar rate.The reaction between poly(3-dodecylthiophene),P3DodTh,and the acid takes place more rapidly.P3OBuTh with a butoxy substituent undergoes more facile p-doping and receives photochemical reaction with CHCl3,and this reaction obeys a pseudo-first-order rate law with a rate constant kobs of 1.42×10-5s-1at room tempera- ture.