Although re-expansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is rare (incidence rate <1%), it is associated with a mortality rate of >20%; therefore, early diagnosis and treatment are important. We report a case of RPE following chest tube insertion in a patient with spontaneous pneumothorax. We have specifically focused on the mechanism underlying RPE and the possible etiology. An 82-year-old man with a history of chronic anemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension was referred to the emergency department for management of recurrent right-sided pneumothorax. We performed emergency closed thoracostomy for suspected tension pneumothorax, which led to stabilization of the patient’s vital signs; however, he coughed up frothy pink sputum accompanied by severe right-sided chest pain 30 min postoperatively. The patient showed new-onset right pulmonary consolidation on chest radiography, as well as desaturation, tachycardia, and tachypnea and was diagnosed with RPE. He was transferred to the intensive care unit for mechanical ventilation and supportive treatment using diuretics, ionotropic agents, and prophylactic antibiotics. RPE gradually resolved, and the patient was extubated 3 days after admission. He has not experienced recurrent pneumothorax or pulmonary disease for 4 months. We emphasize the importance of RPE prevention and that aggressive ventilator care and supportive treatment can effectively treat RPE following an accurate understanding of the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms and risk factors.

Insect-resistant Agb0101 rice was recently developed by modifying the cry1ac1 gene by changing codon usage changes relative to the native truncated cry1ac1 gene. To assess the toxicity of genetically modified Agb0101 rice, we conducted bioinfomational comparisons of the amino acid sequences that are not similar to known toxic proteins. Sufficient quantities of mCry1Ac1 protein were produced in Escherichia coli for in vitro evaluation and animal study. We compared the amino acid sequences and molecular mass. There have the same amino acid sequences and molecular masses after purifying the modified Cry1Ac1 (mCry1Ac1) protein from highly expressed bacteria and genetically modified rice were identical. We also investigated the acute and 90-days oral toxicities. No adverse effects were observed in mice following acute oral exposure to 2,000 mg/ kg body weight mCry1Ac1 protein of body weight and 90 days oral exposure to Agb0101. These results indicate that mCry1Ac1 proteins and Agb0101 rice demonstrate no adverse effects in these tests when applied via gavage and feed, respectively.

A study is presented of improved road light design for drivers and pedestrians with the use of a ray-or reverse raytracing method. Many existing road lights are unsuitable for drivers and pedestrians because of serious problems such as glare effect or randomicity of illuminated areas. This situation has arisen because in customary design methods the emphasis has been on simple factors such as luminance or electrical power. However a high luminance or electrical power consumption, alone, do not guarantee bright and good road lighting. So we have applied a ray-tracing method to the design of a road light reflector with the goals of ensuring that illuminated objects on the road can be seen more clearly and that the illuminating light is more comfortable for the eyes of drivers and pedestrians. We have set design targets for factors such as the uniformity of lighting on the road area per road light, the shading angles and the continuous luminance uniformity on long lengths of road. For set heights of the eyes of drivers and pedestrians eyes we have calculated a design guideline for the achievement of the above design targets. Then we designed a road light reflector using the reverse ray-tracing approach. Also we have achieved the same luminance on the road with almost half the power consumption, through the reduction of lighty loss. In an ideal design optimum parameters are suggested to be a shading angle of 75 degrees and a luminance uniformity of 0.5 on the road area. This reflector performance is achievable with a 250 watt power consumption ceramic discharge metal light source.