Kaetsu University

大気から吸収されて木材にストックされていた炭素が，森で伐採されてから紙になり，使用され，リサイクルされ，廃棄されるまでの，どの段階でCO2として放出されたと見なされるか。そして，燃焼させた場合はどこでCO2放出としてカウントされるのかを，国際的なルールでどう決められているかを解説した。

Tofacitinib is one of the Janus kinase inhibitors approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The major adverse event of this drug is herpes zoster, which can lead to death in severe cases. The risk of herpes zoster has been studied at 10 mg/day of tofacitinib; however, 5 mg/day, which is recommended in patients with chronic kidney disease, is unclear. To investigate whether 5 mg/day of tofacitinib reduced the risk of herpes zoster compared with 10 mg/day in rheumatoid arthritis patients. We analyzed the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report Data (JADER) database and compared the frequency of herpes zoster in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tofacitinib 5 mg/day and 10 mg/day. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for herpes zoster in tofacitinib users. A total of 812 tofacitinib users with rheumatoid arthritis were identified, including 131 with herpes zoster. Disproportionality for herpes zoster was observed between 5 mg/day and 10 mg/day (reporting odds ratio (OR): 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47-0.98, P = 0.045). Multivariable logistic regression analysisshowed that the risk of herpes zoster was significantly increased in female patients (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.12-3.12, P = 0.016) and methotrexate users (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.12-2.54, P = 0.013) and significantly decreased with tofacitinib 5 mg/day compared with 10 mg/day (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.40-0.96, P = 0.032). We suggest that tofacitinib 5 mg/day may decrease the risk of herpes zoster compared with 10 mg/day in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

quena )

当工場のバイオマスボイラーの主な燃料は主に建築廃材由来の木質燃料，石炭，そして工場内で発生するペーパースラッジと廃プラスチックである。燃料の制御についてはDCSによる自動制御が行われているが、主蒸気圧力の変動が大きくボイラーの燃焼効率が低下していた。そこで今回、石炭ボイラーで実績があるボイラー燃焼制御最適化システム（ULTY-V plus）を導入した。ULTY-V plusはAI（人工頭脳）が搭載されており、制御を繰り返すことで燃料制御がより効率化されるという特徴があった。今回このボイラー燃焼制御最適化システムの導入によって、導入試験時には約1.07％の燃料削減効果を確認した。また、各月毎においても0.5％以上の燃料削減効果を確認している。今後、AIの継続的な学習により制御がさらに最適化され、燃料削減効果が上がることが期待される。本稿ではボイラー燃焼制御最適化システムの導入事例について紹介する。

越コーポレーション株式会社新潟工場では，バイオマスエネルギーである黒液を使用する大型回収ボイラーの安定操業に注力している。弊社は全社レベルにおいて，CO2排出量実質ゼロへの挑戦や，労働安全衛生の国際規格であるISO45001の認証取得を行い，環境負荷の低い，安全・安心の職場づくりを目指している。そういった点からも，新潟工場のメインボイラーである回収ボイラーの安定操業が果たす役割は大きい。

The breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is a key drug transporter found in the liver, kidney, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal tract. Due to the wide expression of BCRP, interactions of other drugs with methotrexate (MTX) may differ in oral and intravenous MTX users, and understanding of these interactions may be useful in preventing severe adverse events. Febuxostat, a urate-lowering drug, inhibits BCRP. The objective of this study was to clarify the differences in the drug-drug interaction profiles of oral and intravenous methotrexate, associated with BCRP. We analyzed the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database and compared the frequency of hematologic events in patients taking oral and intravenous MTX, with or without the concomitant use of febuxostat or allopurinol. Hematologic events were defined as pancytopenia and neutropenia. Multiple logistic regression analysis was then used to identify the risk factors for hematologic events in oral and intravenous MTX users. We identified 8 453 oral and 810 intravenous MTX users with 546 and 126 cases of hematologic events, respectively. Compared with those not using febuxostat, a disproportionate number of hematologic events was observed in intravenous MTX users concomitantly using febuxostat (P < 0.01). The multivariate logistic analysis of intravenous MTX users showed that hematologic events were significantly associated with febuxostat use (P < 0.01) and age ≥ 60 years (P < 0.01). Our findings suggest that patients being treated with intravenous MTX who concomitantly use febuxostat may be at an increased risk of hematologic events, presumably due to BCRP-mediated drug-drug interaction.

This study focuses on improving the performance of a newly developed submerged impulse turbine suitable for small hydropower generation in drinking water pipelines. The turbine performance becomes lower for submerged operation due to disk friction on the runner surface and mixing loss by runner blades. Previous research revealed that a pair of a disk placed on both sides of the runner can suppress these losses. But, the turbine performance with torque loss suppression disks is not clarified. Therefore, the authors proposed a nozzle disk that integrates a disk and nozzles and examined the disk's effect on turbine performance. The nozzle disk is placed on the runner inlet side and supplies a jet to the runner. The disk shows a higher torque loss reduction for smaller clearance between the runner and disk. Moreover, the disk can generate multiple water jets with less velocity decay and keep an appropriate jet angle. As a result, the turbine with the nozzle disk shows higher efficiency than the previous research on the submerged impulse turbine.