Acrylate-selective transesterification of methacrylate/acrylate copolymers with alcohols was developed for a site-selective postfunctionalization technique of polymers without using specific monomers. Importantly, a common methyl acrylate efficiently works as a selective modification unit via transesterification coupled with a titanium alkoxide catalyst. The acrylate-selective transesterification is achieved owing to less steric hindrance of the carbonyl groups that are attached to the main chain without an α-methyl group. Typically, the acrylate pendants of dodecyl methacrylate/methyl acrylate (MA) random copolymers were selectively transesterified with benzyl alcohol (BzOH). The conversion of the pendent esters into benzyl esters proportionally increased with MA contents. Additionally, various alcohols were applicable to this MAselective transesterification system.

Previous studies have shown that evaluation results of shear wave elastography were unstable due to factors such as liver structure and complexity of physical properties. The present study attempts to verify the influence of liver microstructure (fat droplets and fibrous tissue) on the shear wave and shear wave velocity (SWV) evaluation using a shear wave propagation simulation by the elastic finite-difference time-domain method. It was found that disruption of the shear wave causes variations in the SWV of the liver around fat droplets, and the SWV of the fibrous tissue depends on the shear wave propagation direction and the tissue shape. In a nonalcoholic steatohepatitis liver, which contains fat and fiber, the influences of these two tissues are synergistically reflected in the SWV evaluation.

Asbestos exposure is considered a social burden by causing mesothelioma. Despite the use of synthetic materials, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are similar in dimension to asbestos and produce mesothelioma in animals. The role of inflammatory cells in mesothelial carcinogenesis remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the differences in inflammatory cell responses following exposure to these fibrous materials using a luminometer and L-012 (8-amino-5-chloro-7-phenylpyrido[3,4-d]pyridazine-1,4-(2H,3H) dione) to detect reactive oxygen species (ROS). Rat peripheral blood or RAW264.7 cells were used to assess the effects on neutrophils and macrophages, respectively. Crocidolite and amosite induced significant ROS generation by neutrophils with a peak at 10 min, whereas that of chrysotile was ~25% of the crocidolite/amosite response. MWCNTs with different diameters (~15, 50, 115 and 145 nm) and different carcinogenicity did not induce significant ROS in peripheral blood. However, the MWCNTs induced a comparable amount of ROS in RAW264.7 cells to that following asbestos treatment. The peaks for MWCNTs (0.5–1.5 h) were observed earlier than those for asbestos (1–5 h). Apocynin and superoxide dismutase significantly inhibited ROS generation for each fiber, suggesting an involvement of NADPH oxidase and superoxide. Thus, asbestos and MWCNTs induce different oxidative responses in inflammatory cells, indicating the importance of mesothelial cell evaluation for carcinogenesis.

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Leaf iron (Fe) contents in Fe-deficiency-tolerant plants are not necessarily higher than that in Fe-deficiency-susceptible ones, suggesting an unknown mechanism involved in saving and allowing the efficient use of minimal Fe. To quantitatively evaluate the difference in Fe economy for photosynthesis, we compared the ratio of CO2 assimilation rate to Fe content in newly developed leaves as a novel index of photosynthetic iron-use efficiency (PIUE) among 23 different barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties. Notably, varieties originating from areas with alkaline soil increased PIUE in response to Fe-deficiency, suggesting that PIUE enhancement is a crucial and genetically inherent trait for acclimation to Fe-deficient environments. Multivariate analyses revealed that the ability to increase PIUE was correlated with photochemical quenching (qP), which is a coefficient of light energy used in photosynthesis. Nevertheless, the maximal quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry, non-photochemical quenching, and quantum yield of carbon assimilation showed a relatively low correlation with PIUE. This result suggests that the ability of Fe-deficiency-tolerant varieties of barley to increase PIUE is related to optimizing the electron flow downstream of PSII, including cytochrome b6f and photosystem I.

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