Effect of Using Additives at Ensiling on the Fermentation Quality of Common Reed (\u3cem\u3ePhragmites communis\u3c/em\u3e Trin.) Silage

The common reed (Phragmites communis Trin.) is a wild grass species widely distributed throughout Japan and the world, growing in thousands of abandoned paddy fields and riverside sites. Most of the common reed in Japan is burned or left to become a weed that grows thickly in canals and reclaimed lands, becoming breeding places for diseases and pests (Holm et al. 1977). The biodiversity of plants can be disrupted by an expanding community of common reed whose sward height is 1.5–4.0 m (Ailstock et al. 2001). The common reed should be controlled and made use of if possible, and a role for common reed as feed may solve a number of issues regarding this species. The common reed grown in marsh can be harvested as round baled silage using a chopping whole crop harvester (WB1030DX, Takakita Co., Mie, Japan) and a self-propelled bale wrapper (SW1110W, Takakita Co., Mie, Japan). However, few studies have been conducted on methods of preparing high-quality silage out of common reed. Here we conducted several trials using a small-scale system to determine the effects of adding glucose, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acremonium cellulase at ensiling on the fermentation quality of common reed silage

Association between Optic Nerve Head Microcirculation and Macular Ganglion Cell Complex Thickness in Eyes with Untreated Normal Tension Glaucoma and a Hemifield Defect

Purpose. We evaluated the association between optic nerve head (ONH) microcirculation and macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC) thickness in patients with untreated normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and a hemifield defect. Methods. The medical records of 47 patients with untreated NTG were retrospectively reviewed. Laser speckle flowgraphy was used to obtain mean blur rate (MBR), a relative measure of blood flow. Average total deviation (TD), mGCC, and the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) thickness were also analyzed. Results. All parameters corresponding to the defective hemifield were significantly lower than those corresponding to the normal hemifield. In the defective hemifield, MBR was correlated with TD, mGCC, and cpRNFL thickness. In the normal hemifield, MBR was only correlated with mGCC thickness, and multiple regression analysis showed that mGCC thickness was a significant contributing factor of the MBR. Conclusion. MBR was well correlated with mGCC thickness in eyes with untreated NTG and a hemifield defect. In the normal hemifield, mGCC thickness was a contributing factor of the MBR indicating that ONH circulatory dysfunction may be associated with retinal structural changes in the early stages of glaucoma. A reduction in ONH microcirculation may be an early indicator of the presence and progression of glaucoma

Making Peer Relationship in the Play Session of 5-year-old Children : A Preliminary Study

In this study, 32 5-year-olds were observed during controlled play sessions, where four same-sex children unfamiliar to each other played together with two adults guiding their play. Sessions were first begun with parents of children, and included separation from parents, Japanese traditional play, two-times unattended free play, and interviews immediately after play. There children were measured and rated by observers in extent they participated in the play. On separation, children coded if they accepted dismissal of their parents. In Japanese traditional play, children were rated their achievement for taking two different roles, a leading role, and a herd-like role. Additionally they were measured in their amounts of locomotion during the unattended play. The results showed several tendencies about children’s participation to play. First, their locomotion during the unattended play generally increased from the first unattended play to the second, suggesting that they adjusted their behavior during the session. Moreover, their increment was related to the descriptions on the groups by an adult who had guided their play; groups whose increment of locomotion was relatively large had the description that the group consisted of one leading child and children who followed him or her, and the other groups did not. Secondly, their achievement for the leading role in the traditional play was correlated with positive impressions of that play stated by children on interviews, but the herd role was not, although those two different types of roles were correlated. These results are discussed in terms of the possibility to measure children's attendance at groups quantitatively and objectively

科学分析はじめてガイド: サンプリングから解釈まで

金沢大学人間社会研究域歴史言語文化学系本書では， 科学分析の対象となるいくつもの遺物の中から， 有機物の「デンプン粒」， 「漆」， 無機物の「赤色顔料」， 「土器胎土」， 「石材・玉器」について，分析の概要を紹介します。本書前半では， それぞれの遺物分析の目的をまとめました。後半では， 分析前の試料（サンプル） をどう取り扱い， 保管しておくべきか， また実際にどのようにサンプルを処理し， どんな機器・装置を使って分析をし，どのような情報（データ） を取り出しているのか，を解説しています。科学研究費助成事業学術変革領域研究 (A)「考古遺物の材料分析と産地推定」(領域番号 20H05817)活動成果物、2022年8月31日発行)出典：(研究代表者) 神谷 嘉美, 研究課題「考古遺物の材料分析と産地推定」研究課題/領域番号20H05817（KAKEN：科学研究費助成事業データベース（国立情報学研究所）） （https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKENHI-PLANNED-20H05817/）を加工して作成.研究課題/領域番号: 20H05817, 研究期間 (年度): 2020-11-19 – 2025-03-31本文データは、著者版活動成果物。関連研究：(研究代表者) 中村 慎一「中国文明起源解明の新・考古学イニシアティブ」(研究課題/領域番号)20H05815（KAKEN：科学研究費助成事業データベース（国立情報学研究所）） （https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKENHI-ORGANIZER-20H05815/

A novel transgenic chimaeric mouse system for the rapid functional evaluation of genes encoding secreted proteins

A major challenge of the post-genomic era is the functional characterization of anonymous open reading frames (ORFs) identified by the Human Genome Project. In this context, there is a strong requirement for the development of technologies that enhance our ability to analyze gene functions at the level of the whole organism. Here, we describe a rapid and efficient procedure to generate transgenic chimaeric mice that continuously secrete a foreign protein into the systemic circulation. The transgene units were inserted into the genomic site adjacent to the endogenous immunoglobulin (Ig) κ locus by homologous recombination, using a modified mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell line that exhibits a high frequency of homologous recombination at the Igκ region. The resultant ES clones were injected into embryos derived from a B-cell-deficient host strain, thus producing chimaerism-independent, B-cell-specific transgene expression. This feature of the system eliminates the time-consuming breeding typically implemented in standard transgenic strategies and allows for evaluating the effect of ectopic transgene expression directly in the resulting chimaeric mice. To demonstrate the utility of this system we showed high-level protein expression in the sera and severe phenotypes in human EPO (hEPO) and murine thrombopoietin (mTPO) transgenic chimaeras

Heterologous expression and characterization of CpI, OcpA, and novel serine-type carboxypeptidase OcpB from Aspergillus oryzae

In the genome of Aspergillus oryzae, 12 genes have been predicted to encode serine-type carboxypeptidases. However, the carboxypeptidase activities of the proteins encoded by these genes have not yet been confirmed experimentally. In this study, we have constructed three of these 12 genes overexpressing strains using Aspergillus nidulans and characterized their overproduced recombinant proteins. Of these three genes, one was previously named cpI; the other two have not been reported yet, and hence, we named them ocpA and ocpB. The recombinant proteins released amino acid residues from the C terminus of peptides, and the activity of the enzymes was inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, indicating the enzymes to be serine-type carboxypeptidases. Recombinant OcpA, OcpB, and CpI were stable at 45°C, 55°C, and 55°C, respectively, at a low pH. The enzymatic properties of recombinant OcpB were different from those of any reported serine-type carboxypeptidase. On the other hand, recombinant OcpA had similar enzymatic properties to A. oryzae carboxypeptidases O1 and O2. The DNA and N-terminal amino acid sequences of carboxypeptidases O1 and O2 from A. oryzae IAM2640 were similar to those of OcpA. Result of transcriptional analysis of ocpA, ocpB, and cpI suggest differences in transcriptional regulation between these genes

スチームコンベクションオーブン調理と真空調理による水溶性ビタミンの調理損失の比較：かぼちゃおよび大根の煮物について

The purpose of this study is to compare and study water-soluble vitamin losses before and after cooking pumpkin and Japanese radish (daikon) with a steam convection oven (SC cooking) and a vacuum-packed pouch (V-P P cooking). Pumpkin was cut into 2.5 cm cubes and daikon into 2.0 cm cubes. For SC cooking, pumpkin was heated for 15 minutes and daikon for 60 minutes with liquid seasoning. For V-P P cooking, pumpkin and daikon were vacuum-packed with liquid seasoning and heated under the same conditions as SC cooking. For pumpkin, percentages of niacin, folic acid and pantothenic acid in uncooked samples, as well as those cooked by SC cooking and V-P P cooking were compared. For daikon, percentages of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C, niacin, folic acid and pantothenic acid in uncooked samples, as well as those cooked by SC cooking and V-P P cooking were compared. Setting the percentages of vitamins remained in uncooked samples as 100 %, those in SC and V-P P cooked samples of pumpkin were calculated as follows: niacin 93.1 %, 85.4 %; folic acid 84.0 %, 74.4 %; and pantothenic acid 97.9 %, 89.1 %, respectively. Percentages of vitamins in SCand V-P P cooked samples of daikon were as follows: vitamin B1 97.4 %, 94.0 %; vitamin B2 not detected, not detected; vitamin B6 66.6 %, 65.2 %; vitamin C 43.3 %, 52.2 %; niacin 80.0 %, 66.7 %; folic acid 37.7 %, 37.7 %; and pantothenic acid 72.0 %, 65.4 %, respectively.These results indicated that vitamin losses measured in this study were attributable to the cooking process, suggesting that the degree of vitamin losses due to the cooking process varied according to the characteristics of vitamins and cooking methods.論

Use of the index of pulmonary vascular disease for predicting long-term outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease

AimsLimited data exist on risk factors for the long-term outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD-PAH). We focused on the index of pulmonary vascular disease (IPVD), an assessment system for pulmonary artery pathology specimens. The IPVD classifies pulmonary vascular lesions into four categories based on severity: (1) no intimal thickening, (2) cellular thickening of the intima, (3) fibrous thickening of the intima, and (4) destruction of the tunica media, with the overall grade expressed as an additive mean of these scores. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IPVD and the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH.MethodsThis retrospective study examined lung pathology images of 764 patients with CHD-PAH aged <20 years whose lung specimens were submitted to the Japanese Research Institute of Pulmonary Vasculature for pulmonary pathological review between 2001 and 2020. Clinical information was collected retrospectively by each attending physician. The primary endpoint was cardiovascular death.ResultsThe 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year cardiovascular death-free survival rates for all patients were 92.0%, 90.4%, 87.3%, and 86.1%, respectively. The group with an IPVD of ≥2.0 had significantly poorer survival than the group with an IPVD <2.0 (P = .037). The Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for the presence of congenital anomaly syndromes associated with pulmonary hypertension, and age at lung biopsy showed similar results (hazard ratio 4.46; 95% confidence interval: 1.45–13.73; P = .009).ConclusionsThe IPVD scoring system is useful for predicting the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH. For patients with an IPVD of ≥2.0, treatment strategies, including choosing palliative procedures such as pulmonary artery banding to restrict pulmonary blood flow and postponement of intracardiac repair, should be more carefully considered