We found that CSL suppressed FOL in lettuce via its antifungal and biostimulatory effects. We suggest that activation of beneficial microorganisms present in CSL may be used to decrease lettuce root rot disease and contribute to lettuce root growth.

We investigated the dependence of the thermal boundary resistance of the W/Al2O3 interface in W/Al2O3/W three-layered thin films on the interface morphology. The layered structures, Al2O3 thin layers with thicknesses from 1 to 50 nm covered by top and bottom W layers with a thickness of 100 nm, were fabricated by magnetron sputtering using a W target (99.99%) and an Al2O3 target (99.99%). The fabrication of polycrystalline W and amorphous Al2O3 films was confirmed by structural analysis. The morphology of the bottom W layer/Al2O3 layer and Al2O3 layer/top W layer interfaces showed a wavelike structure with a roughness of about 1 nm. Thermophysical properties and thermal boundary resistance were measured by a pulsed light heating thermoreflectance technique. The thermal boundary resistance of the W/Al2O3 interface was 1.9×10-9 m2 K W-1, which corresponds to the thermal resistance of a 3.7-nm-thick Al2O3 film or a 120-nm-thick W film.

Sucralfate is effective for the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers owing to its protective gel-forming ability. However, the mechanism by which sucralfate protects the oesophageal mucosa against reflux oesophagitis has not been clarified. We aimed to investigate the mechanisms of action of sucralfate and sucrose octasulfate (SOS), a component of sucralfate. SOS and sucralfate were administered to oesophagitis-induced rats, and the ulcer lesion size was macroscopically examined and scored. Effective pepsin activity in the gastric juices obtained from the animal model was evaluated by a casein digestion test. Sucralfate and SOS improved the pathology scores in a dose-dependent manner, whereas gastric juice pepsin activity was not impaired by therapeutic doses of SOS. As SOS lacks the ability to form a thick gel layer by polymerisation, we examined the distribution of SOS in the mucosal lumen by imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) to determine whether SOS directly adheres to the mucosal surface. A clear homogeneous thin-layer SOS film (>100 μm thick) was visualized on the oesophageal mucosal surface. Moreover, this SOS film formation was enhanced at ulcer lesion sites. Taken together, SOS appears to protect oesophageal mucosa against reflux oesophagitis via thin-layer formation on the mucosal surface.