Washout rate in rat brain irradiated by a (11)C beam after acetazolamide loading using a small single-ring OpenPET prototype.

In dose verification techniques of particle therapies based on in-beam positron emission tomography (PET), the causes of washout of positron emitters by physiological effects should be clarified to correct washout for accurate verification. As well, the quantitative washout rate has a potential usefulness as a diagnostic index which should be explored. Therefore, we measured washout rates of rat brain after vasodilator acetazolamide loading to investigate the possible effects of blood flow on washout.

Development of a small single-ring OpenPET prototype with a novel transformable architecture.

The single-ring OpenPET (SROP), for which the detector arrangement has a cylinder shape cut by two parallel planes at a slant angle to form an open space, is our original proposal for in-beam PET. In this study, we developed a small prototype of an axial-shift type SROP (AS-SROP) with a novel transformable architecture for a proof-of-concept. In the AS-SROP, detectors originally forming a cylindrical PET are axially shifted little by little.

Differential detection of Wheat yellow mosaic virus, Japanese soil-borne wheat mosaic virus and Chinese wheat mosaic virus by reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification reaction.

A differential detection method for three wheat viruses: Wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV), Japanese soil-borne mosaic virus (JSBWMV) and Chinese wheat mosaic virus (CWMV) using reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) reaction was developed. All three primer sets, which were designed from the genome sequences of WYMV, JSBWMV and CWMV respectively, worked most efficiently at 65 °C and could detect each virus RNA within 10 min by fluorescence monitoring using an isothermal DNA amplification and fluorescence detection device. Furthermore, these primer sets showed unique annealing curves.

Development of a small prototype for a proof-of-concept of OpenPET imaging.

The OpenPET geometry is our new idea to visualize a physically opened space between two detector rings. In this paper, we developed the first small prototype to show a proof-of-concept of OpenPET imaging. Two detector rings of 110 mm diameter and 42 mm axial length were placed with a gap of 42 mm.

Molecular characterization of T4-type bacteriophages in a rice field.

Bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria, are the most abundant biological entities in the biosphere and play a key role in global biogeochemical cycling. All T4-type bacteriophage isolates tested so far have a conserved genetic module that encodes the virion components including gene 23 (g23), the major capsid protein. Molecular analysis of the g23 sequence revealed a remarkable level of diversity of T4-type bacteriophages isolated from rice straw and surface soil in a Japanese rice field.