Carbon accounting for Japanese petrochemicals

This paper discusses two bottom-up models for the estimation of carbon storage and CO₂ emissions related to the nonenergy use of fossil energy carriers. The models show how material flow accounting can be applied to policy making. The nonenergy use emission accounting tables model is a static model, while the chemical industry environmental strategy assessment program (CHEAP) model is a dynamic model of the flows of synthetic organic materials. Both models provide detailed and more accurate estimates of carbon storage in materials than the accounting method that is currently used in the framework of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC) guidelines. The results for both models suggest that carbon storage in synthetic organic materials has been overestimated, and consequently CO₂ emissions have been underestimated. Japanese CO₂ emissions in 1996 were at least 1.9% higher than reported previously. The CHEAP model results indicate that the net carbon storage (storage − emissions in waste incineration) will decrease during the next few decades. This decrease is mainly driven by changing waste management practice. Received: December 8, 2000 / Accepted: August 15, 2001     

e-JIKEI Network using e-JIKEI Cameras: Community security using considerable number of cheap stand-alone cameras

The e-JIKEI Network, a concept for realizing a safer and more comfortable community, and the e-JIKEI Camera, a stand-alone camera developed for the e-JIKEI Network, are reviewed. The concept of the e-JIKEI Network is that residents view their surroundings using cheap cameras, which act as their eyes, and home computers, which act as their brains, using the free software provided by us through the Internet. For the complete protection of the privacy of ordinary citizens, we propose a second concept supporting the concept of the e-JIKEI Network; in this concept, those who own and manage images (owners) and those who have the right to view these images (viewers) are separated by means of image encryption. Since 2004, the “Dairi-EYE” series, a free software for a personal computer (PC)-based system, has been distributed through our website. However, the use of PCs is not very user-friendly. Therefore, an all-in-one device called the “e-JIKEI Camera” has been developed. A social experiment of the e-JIKEI Network using e-JIKEI Cameras has been carried out.     

Aerosol concentrations observed at Mt. Haruna,Japan, in relation to long-range transport of Asian mineral dust aerosols

As a part of the effort to understand the structure of long-range transported aerosol plumes and local pollution, aerosol observations monitored the mass concentrations and number-size distributions during the period August 2006 to July 2009 near the top of Mt. Haruna (1365 m), an isolated mountain in the Kanto Plain in Japan. The mass concentrations observed at Mt. Haruna and plain sites showed a seasonal variation with a maximum in spring and summer, respectively. The spring peaks in aerosols at Mt. Haruna were probably caused by long-range transport of mineral dust and anthropogenic particles from the Asian continent. The summer peaks at the plain sites was attributed to local pollution from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Three examples of 2007 Asian dust events were investigated to show that aerosols may be dispersed in a complicated three-dimensional structure and that delayed arrivals of the dust plumes at plain sites compared to Mt. Haruna were not a rare case. Because of the boundary layer being stable at night, the dust layer was advected eastward without the vertical mixing before sunrise. This study suggests that after thermal convection activated by sunlight during daytime Asian dust transported in the free troposphere may be brought down into the atmospheric boundary layer, increasing the dust concentration there.     

Temporal Trends of Non-sea Salt Sulfate and Nitrate in Wet Deposition in Japan

Temporal trends of non-sea salt (nss-) sulfate and nitrate were analyzed from nationwide precipitation chemistry measurements provided by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for the 1988–2002 fiscal years (April–March). The concentrations and deposition of nss-sulfate were found to be decreasing, and those of nitrate were stable or slightly increasing at most sites. These deposition trends were discussed from the viewpoint of emissions of SO₂ and NO_X during the period of interest. Because monitoring techniques have changed in the number of active sites, samplers, and analytical methods during the operation period, the median of all annual depositions measured in Japan in a specific year was selected as the annual representative. The contribution of specific emission sources was also calculated for 1990 on the basis of the nss-sulfate and nitrate deposition in Japan obtained with a model simulation in which the model did not include volcanic emissions from Mt. Oyama, Miyakejima Island, which began to erupt suddenly and violently in 2000. For nss-sulfate, the calculated deposition agrees well with the intensity and trends of the median up to 1999. After 2000, a higher deposition than calculated in the preceding years was evident, which is attributable to the volcanic SO₂ from Mt. Oyama. For nitrate, both the calculated and observed depositions were slightly increasing; however, the calculation was found to exceed the observation.     

室内环境与高龄者血压的关联性——以大连市供暖季为例

对中国大连市供暖季住宅室内环境与高龄者血压的关联性进行了调查研究，具体包括住宅热湿环境（温度、相对湿度）、化学污染（CO₂、CO、甲醛和TVOC）、物理污染（PM_2.5）和生物污染（附着真菌）与高龄者血压的关联性.研究表明，城市和农村住宅供热方式不同是导致住宅室内热环境舒适度差异的主要原因.在大连农村，处于室外的厕所与室内形成的大温差使得农村高龄者患心血管疾病的诱发风险比城市更高.城市高龄者的平均血压比农村低且波动小.城市住宅室内温湿度与血压均存在关联（P<0.01），农村室内温湿度对血压的影响程度不如城市明显.另外，室内空气质量参数并未发现与血压存在显著关联.     

High seagrass diversity and canopy-height increase associated fish diversity and abundance

Seagrass species function as typical foundation species that unifies most ecosystem processes. This ecosystem role depends largely on the morphological characteristics and structural complexity of seagrass beds, including their ecological importance for fish species. This study examined relationships between seagrass bed characteristics and associated fish communities in mixed seagrass beds. Correspondence analysis (CA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCoA) were performed to estimate relationships for individual seagrass bed characteristics. The CCoA results revealed that species richness and three-dimensional structure of seagrass had great effect on the biomass and richness of the associated fish community. The CA results revealed that the relative importance of seagrass bed characteristics differed among fish functional groups including fishes appearing on the surface of, inside, and on the bottom of seagrass beds. The fishes found on the surface of the beds preferred beds with low seagrass biomass and high three-dimensional structure, those inside the beds preferred beds with high seagrass biomass and high three-dimensional structure, and those on the bottom of the beds preferred locations with low seagrass biomass and low three-dimensional structure. The results of this study provide compelling evidence that seagrass beds with high species diversity and high three-dimensional structure, but intermediate biomass, may provide the great benefit to the associated fish community. Such niche complementarity among fishes may be a process facilitated by seagrass diversity for secondary production as an ecosystem functioning.     

Comparison of feeding habits of myctophid fishes and juvenile small epipelagic fishes in the western North Pacific

To examine the potential trophic competition between myctophids and small epipelagic fishes in the nursery grounds in spring, we compared the stomach contents of dominant myctophids (Symbolophorus californiensis, Ceratoscopelus warmingii and Myctophum asperum; n = 179) and juvenile epipelagic fishes (Japanese sardine, Sardinops melanostictus, Japanese anchovy, Engraulis japonicus, chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus, and spotted mackerel, S. australasicus; n = 78) that were simultaneously collected at nighttime with a midwater trawl net around the Kuroshio-Oyashio transition zone in the western North Pacific. It was clear that the neritic copepod Paracalanus parvus s.l. was the most abundant species in NORPAC samples (0.335 mm mesh size) taken at the same stations. Diets of dominant myctophid fishes differed from those of the juvenile epipelagic fishes; Japanese sardine and anchovy mostly preyed upon P. parvus s.l. (23.6% of stomach contents in volume) and Corycaeus affinis (16.1%), respectively. Both chub and spotted mackerels mainly preyed upon the seasonal vertical migrant copepod, Neocalanus cristatus (15.9 and 14.7%, respectively). On the contrary, myctophid fishes probably do not specifically select the abundant neritic copepods. Namely, S. californiensis mostly preyed upon a diel vertical migrating copepod, Pleuromamma piseki (22.7 and 30.6% in stomach of juvenile and adult, respectively), while C. warmingii and M. asperum preyed on Doliolida (43.0% in stomach of juvenile C. warmingii), appendicularians (11.0% in stomach of juvenile M. asperum), and Ostracoda (6.3% in stomach of adult C. warmingii). Feeding habits of myctophid fishes seem adapted to their prey animals; low rate of digested material (less than 30% in volume) in stomachs of S. californiensis may be linked to the movement of P. piseki, hence S. californiensis can easily consume this copepod at night since they are more concentrated at night than daytime. High rate of digested material (over 40%) of M. asperum and adult C. warmingii suggest that they feed not only at night but also during the daytime in the midwater layer. Thus, myctophid fishes actually fed in the surface layer but less actively than the small epipelagic fishes. These results suggest that the potential for direct food competition between myctophids and small epipelagic fishes is low in the nursery ground, but there remains a possibility of indirect effects through their prey items, since the above gelatinous animals feed on common prey items as juveniles of Japanese sardine and anchovy.     

Geochemical provenance and spatial distribution of fluoride in groundwater of Mayo Tsanaga River Basin, Far North Region, Cameroon: implications for incidence of fluorosis and optimal consumption dose

The 500,000 inhabitants of Mayo Tsanaga River Basin are vulnerable to a “silent” fluorosis from groundwater consumption. For the first time, the groundwater is investigated for the purpose of identifying the provenance of fluoride and estimating an optimal dose of fluoride in the study area. Based on the fluoride content of groundwater, fluorine and major oxides abundances in rocks from the study area, mean annual atmospheric temperature, and on-site diagnosis of fluorosis in children, the following results and conclusions are obtained: Fluoride concentration in groundwater ranges from 0.19 to 15.2 mg/l. Samples with fluoride content of <1.5 mg/l show Ca–HCO₃ signatures, while those with fluoride >1.5 mg/l show a tendency towards Na-HCO₃ type. Fluor-apatite and micas in the granites were identified as the main provenance of fluoride in the groundwater through water-rock interactions in an alkaline medium. The optimal fluoride dose in drinking water of the study area should be 0.7 mg/l, and could be adjusted downward to a level of 0.6 mg/l due to the high consumption rate of groundwater, especially during drier periods.     

Pharmacogenomics of the human ABC transporter ABCG2: from functional evaluation to drug molecular design

In the post-genome-sequencing era, emerging genomic technologies are shifting the paradigm for drug discovery and development. Nevertheless, drug discovery and development still remain high-risk and high-stakes ventures with long and costly timelines. Indeed, the attrition of drug candidates in preclinical and development stages is a major problem in drug design. For at least 30% of the candidates, this attrition is due to poor pharmacokinetics and toxicity. Thus, pharmaceutical companies have begun to seriously re-evaluate their current strategies of drug discovery and development. In that light, we propose that a transport mechanism-based design might help to create new, pharmacokinetically advantageous drugs, and as such should be considered an important component of drug design strategy. Performing enzyme- and/or cell-based drug transporter, interaction tests may greatly facilitate drug development and allow the prediction of drug–drug interactions. We recently developed methods for high-speed functional screening and quantitative structure–activity relationship analysis to study the substrate specificity of ABC transporters and to evaluate the effect of genetic polymorphisms on their function. These methods would provide a practical tool to screen synthetic and natural compounds, and these data can be applied to the molecular design of new drugs. In this review article, we present an overview on the genetic polymorphisms of human ABC transporter ABCG2 and new camptothecin analogues that can circumvent AGCG2-associated multidrug resistance of cancer.     

Impact of FEBRA (fermented brown rice with Aspergillus oryzae) intake and concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in blood of humans from Japan

Impact of FEBRA (fermented brown rice with Aspergillus oryzae, a rich dietary fiber) intake on the concentrations of polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs), -dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DLPCBs), -dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and -dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in blood of nine married Japanese were studied for 2 years. Concentrations of total PCBs (average+/-standard deviation) were greater 326,000+/-263,000 and 207,000+/-89,000 in FEBRA-intake and non-FEBRA-intake groups, respectively, on pg/g lipid (from now onwards data expressed on pg/g lipid). DLPCBs were second major contaminants 94,000+/-77,000 and 60,000+/-28,000, orderly in FEBRA-intake and non-FEBRA-intake groups. The concentrations of PCDD/DFs were several orders of magnitude lower than those of PCBs, whereas PCDDs were greater (433+/-233 and 512+/-511, in FEBRA-intake and non-FEBRA-intake groups, respectively) than PCDFs (56+/-50 and 43+/-35). Calculated toxic equivalency (TEQ) concentrations were 34+/-24 and 23+/-10 in FEBRA-intake and non-FEBRA-intake groups, respectively. In order to corroborate the impact of FEBRA, the changes of PCDD/DFs and PCB concentrations for 0.5-year, 1-year, 1.5-year, and 2-year samples were estimated from average concentration of 1-day before study commences and 1-week study samples. The results explicit FEBRA-intake group eliminated 7%, 33%, 45%, 36%, and 26% and non-FEBRA-intake group eliminated 8%, 28%, 36%, 31%, and 20% of DLPCBs, PCDDs, PCDFs, PCDD/DF TEQ and total TEQ, respectively. This study is the first of its kind showing the possible elimination of PCDDs, PCDFs and their TEQ in humans from Japan after the consumption of FEBRA.