Effect of Humidity on Vibrational Properties of Chemically Modified Wood

Changes in vibrational properties of wood can be used to determine changes in the wood cell wall resulting from chemical modification. The dynamic Young's modulus to specific gravity ratio (E'/γ) and internal friction (tan δ) for chemically modified wood compared to those for untreated wood showed major differences in cell-wall modification and lumen filling modification. Increasing the moisture content of the cell wall also has a major effect on the vibrational properties of chemically modified wood. In general, treatments that resulted in lowering the moisture content of the cell wall also lowered internal friction within the cell wall. Vapor phase reactions with formaldehyde had the greatest effect in stabilizing the cell wall against changes in dynamic mechanical properties with increasing moisture content

Optimization of the proliferation and persistency of CAR T cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells

CARシグナルを補完する遺伝子改変により *iCAR-T細胞の固形がん治療効果が改善される. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-12-13.Genetic modifications boosting CAR signaling improve the therapeutic efficacy of iPSC-derived CAR-T cells against solid tumors. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-12-13.The effectiveness of chimaeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapies against solid tumours relies on the accumulation, proliferation and persistency of T cells at the tumour site. Here we show that the proliferation of CD8αβ cytotoxic CAR T cells in solid tumours can be enhanced by deriving and expanding them from a single human induced-pluripotent-stem-cell clone bearing a CAR selected for efficient differentiation. We also show that the proliferation and persistency of the effector cells in the tumours can be further enhanced by genetically knocking out diacylglycerol kinase, which inhibits antigen-receptor signalling, and by transducing the cells with genes encoding for membrane-bound interleukin-15 (IL-15) and its receptor subunit IL-15Rα. In multiple tumour-bearing animal models, the engineered hiPSC-derived CAR T cells led to therapeutic outcomes similar to those of primary CD8 T cells bearing the same CAR. The optimization of effector CAR T cells derived from pluripotent stem cells may aid the development of long-lasting antigen-specific T-cell immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumours

<Preliminary>Modelling the Action of Water on Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Wood

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。The influence of moisture on the acoustical properties of wood was analyzed by a rheological analogy. Matrix molecular mobility was quantified by eliminating the swelling contribution to longitudinal dynamic specific modulus (E'/γ) and loss tangent (tan δ)

<Original>Permanent Fixation of Bending Deformation in Wood by Heat Treatment

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。This article deals with the effect of heat on the fixation of bending set in wood. The wet specimen irradiated with microwave was bent around a form by using a metal strap. The bent specimen was oven-dried under restraint to fix its deformation, then heat-treated. The recovery tests by wetting, ovendrying and boiling for the bent specimens were conducted. With increasing heating temperature and time, the recovery of bending set diminished. There was an excellent linear relationship between the recovery of radius of curvature and the recovery of strain in the concave face. Almost complete fixation of set was achieved by the heat treatment above 30 hr. at 160℃ and at around 12 hr. at 180℃

Application of Infrared Free-Electron Laser Irradiation of Protein Complexes Binding to Salen-Type Schiff Base Zn(II) Complexes Using Secondary Conformational Changes in the Proteins for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease causes the destruction of cranial nerve cells and is said to be caused by neuronal cell death due to the accumulation of amyloid-β protein. One method for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is to reduce the toxicity of the amyloid beta protein. Among the possibilities is to reduce toxicity by changing the secondary structure of the protein. In this study, the secondary structure of the protein was verified by binding a zinc complex to the protein and irradiating it with an infrared free-electron laser (IR-FEL). By binding Salen-Type zinc complexes to human serum albumin (HSA) and irradiating it with IR-FEL, structural changes were observed in the α-helix and β-sheet, the secondary structure of HSA. In addition to researching the possibility of binding zinc complexes to small proteins, docking simulations were examined. GOLD docking simulations showed that it is possible to bind zinc complexes to lysozyme (Lyz), a small protein. These results suggest that binding zinc complexes to amyloid-β and inducing a secondary conformational change through IR-FEL irradiation could be used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease by making the complexes lose their toxicity