In the shipping industry, "slow steaming" (reduced vessel speed) improves fuel efficiency and reduces CO2 emissions. But ships are often navigated at full speed to reduce the occurrence of late arrival due to weather and sea conditions. This project will help ship's make eco-friendly voyages at optimum speeds. It will develop and integrate a shipping schedule system for slow steaming, with a system that provides just-in-time voyage planning, taking weather conditions into consideration. The project involves a practical experiment using 40 vessels, including cement carriers, oil tankers and roll-on/roll-off ships, which account for the bulk of Japanese coastal transportation. It will verify the effectiveness of the system with a newly-developed Measurement/Reporting/Verification methodology (MRV) for CO2 emission reductions. The paper describes the MRV for CO2 emission reductions in practical use and also shows a case of applying the methodology to cement tankers involves field tests for an example.

To minimize the risk of delays, the Eco-Shipping Support System developed in this study is based on forecasts of wind, waves, and current, and unique, high-accuracy methods of estimating the propulsive performance of the vessel in an actual sea. This provides a quantitative understanding of the effects of weather and sea conditions on the propulsive performance of the vessel, and in conjunction with mathematical processing, an optimum voyage plan is proposed, onto which the route, vessel speed plan, and information on weather and sea conditions is then superimposed electronically using on-board electronic chart to provide the crew with a visual and easily understood system. The present study is also conducted to implement investigation of Monitoring, Report and Verification (MRV) methodology of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction effect for the optimum voyage plan. MRV methodology is referred circular the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of International Maritime Organization and Modified Energy Efficiency Indicator.

An application result of a fleet schedule optimization system to a Japanese coastal oil tanker fleet is reported. The applied system is originally designed for general type of fleet and the applicability to oil tanker fleet is verified in this paper. In addition, representations of some requirement patterns, which are newly implemented to the system and are expected to be useful to general fleet, are presented. As an application result, it is appeared that about 6% of cost will maximally be reduced, which is almost same amount to other fleets the system applied previously.

Oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) observed in remote areas is believed to comprise aged secondary organic aerosol (SOA); however, the reaction processes relevant to SOA chemical aging have hitherto been unclear. We recently measured the mass spectra of SOA formed from the photooxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons using an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and reported that SOA aging is slowed with increasing number of alkyl groups in the precursor molecule. In this study, we selected benzene and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB) as precursors to analyze SOA formed from the photooxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons in the presence of NOx using high-resolution time-of-flight AMS (H-ToF-AMS) and liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOF-MS). A van Krevelen diagram was studied using the O/C and H/C ratios obtained by H-ToF-AMS for organics present in SOA. The results showed these organics to be rich in carboxylic acids or hydroxycarbonyls and the O/C ratio of SOA formed by the reaction of 1,3,5-TMB to be lower than that for benzene. Analytical results from LC/TOF-MS showed the particulate products formed by the reaction of 1,3,5-TMB to be richer in ketocarboxylic acids than for benzene. These results indicate that SOA aging proceeds mainly by formation of carboxylic acids and that the rate of SOA aging in laboratory chambers is limited by the oxidation of ketone groups. SOA formed in laboratory chamber experiments is less oxidized than for ambient OOA, not only because the experimental duration is insufficient or the SOA mass loading in the chamber is higher than that of the atmosphere. The laboratory chamber experiments under dry conditions are not able to simulate ketocarboxylic acid photochemical oxidation in the aqueous phase. The fractions of organic peroxides to the total SOA mass were determined by iodometric spectrophotometry to be 12 ± 8% (1,3,5-TMB) and <39% (benzene). Further, it was newly found that, unlike the reaction of benzene, only very small amounts of nitrophenols are produced by the reaction of 1,3,5-TMB.

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate which factors influence the outcome of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), focusing on the choice of treatments.Methods: Sixty-three GBS patients were retrospectively studied and the following factors were evaluated: sex, age, days from onset of disease to the start, of treatment, severity of symptoms, prior infection, autonomic dysfunction, bulbar palsy, anti-ganglioside antibody, and disease form, as well as the choice of treatment. Plasma adsorption (PA, n = 39), plasma exchange (PE, n = 14), or immunoglobulin treatment (IVIg, n = 10) were performed in this study. Outcomes were evaluated using the functional grading scale (FGS) of Hughes.Results: The number of days needed for one functional grade improvement was significantly longer in the elderly, the severe symptom group, and patients with acute motor axonal form, and days needed for two functional grade improvement was significantly longer in the elderly, patients with autonomic dysfunction, and acute motor axonal form. The choice of treatments (PA, PE, or IVIg) did not significantly influence the outcome as determined by both univariate and multivariate analysis.Conclusion: Although patient age, symptoms, and disease form influenced the outcome, treatment methods did not significantly influence the outcome. Since PA does not result in a risk of unknown infection, choosing a PA treatment may be justified, especially for patients (or doctors) who may be anxious about a possibility of unknown infection. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Arteriopathy of the central nervous system (CNS) complicated with ulcerative colitis is a rare condition, moreover the involvement of extracranial arteries has not been documented. An 18-year-old female complained of a severe pulsatile headache and nausea. She had been diagnosed and treated for ulcerative colitis for four years. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed normal results; however, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) revealed severe irregularity of the intracerebral arteries. After treatment with prednisolone, the patient fully recovered and the irregularity of the intracerebral arteries was dramatically improved. Vasculitis was strongly suggested as the cause of arteriopathy of the CNS in the present case. Involvement of extracranial arteries such as the carotid artery was also incidentally discovered by duplex ultrasonography and the HLA typing suggested genetic susceptibility to Takayasu's arteritis. Findings from our patient suggest that extracranial arterial involvement should be considered in the case of arteriopathy of the CNS associated with ulcerative colitis.

A lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for two-phase nonideal fluid flows is proposed based on a particle velocity-dependent forcing scheme. The resulting macroscopic dynamics via the Chapman-Enskog expansion recover,the full set of thermohydrodynamic equations for nonideal fluids. Numerical verification of fundamental properties of thermal fluids, including viscosity, thermal conductivity, and surface tension, agrees well with theoretical predictions. Direct numerical simulations of two-phase phenomena, including phase-transition, bubble deformation and droplet falling and bubble rising under gravity are carried out, demonstrating the applicability of the model.

A lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for two-phase nonideal fluid flows is proposed based on a particle velocity-dependent forcing scheme. The resulting macroscopic dynamics via the Chapman-Enskog expansion recover the full set of thermohydrodynamic equations for nonideal fluids. Numerical verification of fundamental properties of thermal fluids, including thermal conductivity and surface tension, agrees well with theoretical predictions. Direct numerical simulations of two-phase phenomena, including phase-transition, bubble deformation and droplet falling and bubble rising under gravity are carried out, demonstrating the applicability of the model.

A 48-year-old woman with transient thyrotoxicosis, having a slightly high thyroidal 99mTc uptake (3.9% at 20 m) or radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) (17.3% at 4 hour) and subacute thyroiditis (SAT)-like symptoms, signs and histological diagnosis (extensive cellular destruction and granulomatous inflammatory change), showed positive TRAb (59.9%) and TSAb (194%) activity. The high levels of TRAb and slightly high RAIU were still observed after one month of prednisolone treatment. Nine months later, the TRAb and TSAb levels finally normalized and her thyroid function has remained normal since then. We suspect that the slightly high RAIU were due to the presence of both the TRAb and the TSAb and the course of this case might mimic neonatal Graves' disease.

An unenveloped single-stranded virus, which might be a causative agent for posttransfusion non-A–G hepatitis, was recently found and named ‘TT virus’ (TTV). There is still controversy over the role of TTV in chronic hepatitis. Therefore, we have examined the prevalence of TTV in various types of chronic hepatitis in Japan. TTV DNA was detected in 11 of 40 patients (27.5%) with non-B, non-C chronic hepatitis, 13 of 46 patients (28.3%) with type B chronic hepatitis, 21 of 55 patients (38.2%) with type C chronic hepatitis, and 41 of 131 subjects (31.3%) with normal liver function tests. The positivity rate for TTV DNA tended to increase with age. The detection rate did not differ statistically between non-B, non-C chronic hepatitis and type B or type C chronic hepatitis, or normal subjects. The distribution of TTV genotypes was not significantly different among them. Clinical characteristics of the chronic illness were similar for patients with or without TTV in all hepatitis groups. The etiologic role of TTV in chronic hepatitis is not confirmed from the statistical and clinical standpoint.

The effect of JTP-2942, a novel thyrotropin-releasing hormone analogue on neurological examination, local cerebral blood flow (l-CBF) and local cerebral glucose utilization (l-CGU) were examined when JTP-2942 was administered for 4 weeks after 1 week reperfusion following ischemia in a rat middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. Left middle cerebral artery ischemia was induced for 90 min followed by reperfusion. JTP-2942 (0.03 or 0.003 mg/kg) or saline (vehicle) were administered for 4 weeks after 1 week ischemia, and then the drug was withdrawn. Neurological symptoms and motor disturbance based on inclined plane test were measured once a week after 1 week ischemia. l-CBF and l-CGU were measured by quantitative autoradiographic technique after 6 weeks ischemia. The adjacent sections subjected to l-CBF or l-CGU measurement were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin, and the infarction volume was measured. JTP-2942 (0.03 mg/kg) significantly ameliorated neurological symptoms and motor disturbance at 5 weeks after ischemia as compared with vehicle, and then after completion of drug administration, amelioration effect continued. JTP-2942 (0.03 mg/kg) also significantly ameliorated the reduced l-CBF and l-CGU in the peri-infarcted areas such as the frontal cortex, motor cortex and medial caudate-putamen. No significant differences were noted in the infarction volume among MCA occlusion rats. This indicates that activating reduced metabolic turnover associated with synaptic connection changes or the activation of compensation mechanisms may result in improvement of neurological symptoms and motor disturbances. It is therefore expected that JTP-2942 may be a possible therapeutic agent for motor disturbance during the subacute or chronic cerebral infarction.

Lamivudine is an effective antiviral agent for the treatment of chronic type B hepatitis. Recent studies have shown the appearance of lamivudine resistant viruses with mutations at the tyrosine-methionine-aspartate-aspartate (YMDD) motif of the viral polymerase in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected patients who received orthotopic liver transplantation. In order to confirm the appearance of such mutant HBV in immunocompetent patients, the HBV sequences in and around the YMDD motif of HBV DNA polymerase were examined in the sera from 16 lamivudine treated and 10 untreated control patients. Approximately 200 bases including the YMDD motif of HBV DNA polymerase were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced directly by an automated sequencer. Of the 16 patients receiving lamivudine, mutant viruses with mutations in the YMDD motif were found in 3 of 8 patients treated with lamivudine for 52 weeks. However, this mutation was not found in any of the 8 patients treated for 32 weeks or a shorter period. Mutant viruses appeared after 40 weeks of treatment and were undetectable within 12 weeks after the cessation of the treatment. Such mutant viruses were not detected in any of the 10 untreated patients. This study confirms the emergence of YMDD mutant viruses during long-term lamivudine treatment in immunocompetent type B hepatitis patients. The results from this study suggest the need for combination therapies to reduce the levels of such mutant viruses in some patients.

A finite difference lattice Boltzmann method (FDLBM) for two-phase flows pertinent to isothermal non-ideal fluids is proposed. This FDLBM introduces pseudo-potential and recovers a full set of hydrodynamic equations for non-ideal fluid throgh the Chapman-Enskog expansion procedure. Numerical measurement of surface tension agrees well with theoretical predictions. Simulations of two-phase phenomena, including phase-transition and droplets collision are carried out, showing applicability of the model for two-phase flows. Finite difference Lattice Boltzmann method ensures numerical stability of the scheme. This LB model retains advantages of conventional LB methods such as a linear advection in the kinetic equation and parallel nature in computing.

Recently, transfusion-transmitted virus (TTV) was discovered to be a potential causative agent for non-A-E hepatitis. Little is known about the relation between TTV and the clinical courses of various types of acute viral hepatitis. One hundred twenty-five patients with acute viral hepatitis who were admitted to the Chiba University Hospital between 1984 and 1998 and 100 persons with normal liver function tests were tested for the presence of TTV in their sera. Serum samples were tested for TTV DNA and genotype by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). TTV DNA was detected in 15 of 35 patients (43%) with non-A-E hepatitis, 14 of 33 patients (42%) with hepatitis C, 8 of 28 patients (29%) with hepatitis A, 7 of 29 patients (24%) with hepatitis B, and 37 of 100 subjects with normal liver function tests (37%). The detection rate did not differ statistically between non-A-E hepatitis and hepatitis A, B, C, or controls. The distribution of TTV genotypes was similar in non-A-E, A, B, C types, and controls. The clinical characteristics of the acute illnesses were similar for patients with or without TTV in hepatitis non-A-E, A, B, or C. Although TTV was detected frequently in non-A-E acute hepatitis, no etiologic role for TTV could be established.