Abstract. A series of accidents at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 resulted in the release of radioactive materials to the ocean by two major pathways: direct release from the accident site and atmospheric deposition. A 1 yr, regional-scale simulation of 137Cs activity in the ocean offshore of Fukushima was carried out, the sources of radioactivity being direct release, atmospheric deposition, and the inflow of 137Cs deposited into the ocean by atmospheric deposition outside the domain of the model. Direct releases of 137Cs were estimated for 1 yr after the accident by comparing simulated results and measured activities adjacent to the accident site. The contributions of each source were estimated by analysis of 131I/137Cs and 134Cs/137Cs activity ratios and comparisons between simulated results and measured activities of 137Cs. The estimated total amounts of directly released 131I, 137Cs, and 137Cs were 11.1 ± 2.2 PBq, 3.5 ± 0.7 PBq, and 3.6 ± 0.7 PBq, respectively. Simulated 137Cs activities attributable to direct release were in good agreement with measured 137Cs activities not only adjacent to the accident site, but also in a wide area in the model domain, therefore this implies that the estimated direct release rate was reasonable. Employment of improved nudging data by JCOPE2 improved both the offshore transport result and the reproducibility of 137Cs activities 30 km offshore. On the other hand, simulated 137Cs activities attributable to atmospheric deposition were low compared to measured activities. The rate of atmospheric deposition into the ocean was underestimated because of a lack of measurements of deposition into the ocean when atmospheric deposition rates were being estimated. Simulated 137Cs activities attributable to the inflow of 137Cs deposited into the ocean outside the domain of the model were in good agreement with measured activities in the open ocean within the model domain after June 2012. The consideration of inflow is important to simulate the 137Cs activity in this model region in the later period of the simulation. The contribution of inflow increased with time and was dominant (more than 99%) by the end of February 2012. The activity of directly released 137Cs, however, decreased exponentially with time and was detectable only in the coastal zone by the end of February 2012.
The Japanese surveillance committee conducted the first nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of uropathogens responsible for female acute uncomplicated cystitis at 43 hospitals throughout Japan from April 2009 to November 2010. In this study, the causative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus saprophyticus) and their susceptibility to various antimicrobial agents were investigated by isolation and culturing of bacteria from urine samples. In total, 387 strains were isolated from 461 patients, including E. coli (n = 301, 77.8 %), S. saprophyticus (n = 20, 5.2 %), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 13, 3.4 %), and Enterococcus faecalis (n = 11, 2.8 %). S. saprophyticus was significantly more common in premenopausal women (P = 0.00095). The minimum inhibitory concentrations of 19 antibacterial agents used for these strains were determined according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute manual. At least 87 % of E. coli isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, and 100 % of S. saprophyticus isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. The proportions of fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli strains and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli strains were 13.3 % and 4.7 %, respectively. It is important to confirm the susceptibility of causative bacteria for optimal antimicrobial therapy, and empiric antimicrobial agents should be selected by considering patient characteristics and other factors. However, the number of isolates of fluoroquinolone-resistant or ESBL-producing strains in gram-negative bacilli may be increasing in patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Japan. Therefore, these data present important information for the proper treatment of UTIs and will serve as a useful reference for future surveillance studies.
A 15-year record (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) of the ratio of nitrate to non-sea-salt sulfate in precipitation over East Asia
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