Cold-Soak Testing Method -Based Evaluation of Thermal Performance of A Typical Residential Dwelling

Thermal characteristics of two identical British-style residential houses were evaluated and compared to each other in this paper. The two houses were built in Scotland under the Scottish building regulation 2011. Thermal characteristic evaluation of the houses was accomplished by determining their heat loss coefficient and thermal mass potential. A practical heating measurement method was applied to evaluate heat loss coefficient before a thermal mass storage evaluation was carried out using a cold soak testing method. This cold-soak testing method is based on evaluation approach under the absence of effect of solar radiation that eliminates solar heat gain during the assessment period. Because of this, the uncertainty of analytical result could be reduced and the accuracy of evaluation result would be improved. The evaluation result indicated that heat loss coefficient of the two identical houses was almost the same while their thermal mass storage potential was quite similar with a small difference of 5.5% that is thought to be caused by a different number of heating systems installed in each house as well as small differences in either variability in materials or variability in the batch of material that the houses were made

Uptake of biodegradable poly(γ-glutamic acid) nanoparticles and antigen presentation by dendritic cells in vivo

AbstractPoly(γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA) nanoparticles (NPs) carrying antigens have been shown to induce potent antigen-specific immune responses. However, in vivo delivery of γ-PGA NPs to dendritic cells (DCs), a key regulator of immune responses, still remains unclear. In this study, γ-PGA NPs were examined for their uptake by DCs and subsequent migration from the skin to the regional lymph nodes (LNs) in mice. After subcutaneous injection of fluorescein 5-isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled NPs or FITC-ovalbumin (OVA)-carrying NPs (FITC-OVA-NPs), DCs migrated from the skin to the LNs and maturated, resulting in the upregulation of the costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86 and the chemokine receptor CCR7. However, the migrated DCs were not detected in the spleen. FITC-OVA-NPs were found to be taken up by skin-derived CD103+ DCs, and the processed antigen peptides were cross-presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule of DCs. Furthermore, significant activation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells was observed in mice immunized with OVA-carrying NPs (OVA-NPs) but not with OVA alone or OVA with an aluminum adjuvant. The antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were induced within 7 days after immunization with OVA-NPs. Thus, γ-PGA NPs carrying various antigens may have great potential as an antigen-delivery system and vaccine adjuvant in vivo

Late-onset spastic ataxia phenotype in a patient with a homozygous DDHD2 mutation

Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias and autosomal recessive hereditary spastic paraplegias (ARHSPs) are clinically and genetically heterogeneous neurological disorders. Herein we describe Japanese siblings with a midlife-onset, slowly progressive type of cerebellar ataxia and spastic paraplegia, without intellectual disability. Using whole exome sequencing, we identified a homozygous missense mutation in DDHD2, whose mutations were recently identified as the cause of early-onset ARHSP with intellectual disability. Brain MRI of the patient showed a thin corpus callosum. Cerebral proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed an abnormal lipid peak in the basal ganglia, which has been reported as the hallmark of DDHD2-related ARHSP (SPG 54). The mutation caused a marked reduction of phospholipase A(1) activity, supporting that this mutation is the cause of SPG54. Our cases indicate that the possibility of SPG54 should also be considered when patients show a combination of adult-onset spastic ataxia and a thin corpus callosum. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy may be helpful in the differential diagnosis of patients with spastic ataxia phenotype.ArticleSCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 4:7132 (2014)journal articl

VSOP Data Archive System

Abstract We present the new VSOP data archive system installed on the Data ARchive and Transmission System (DARTS) at ISAS. The current test archive for VSOP visibility data started in June 2002, and about 50 datasets are available now (http://www.darts.isas.ac.jp)

The AAA-ATPase VPS4 Regulates Extracellular Secretion and Lysosomal Targeting of α-Synuclein

Many neurodegenerative diseases share a common pathological feature: the deposition of amyloid-like fibrils composed of misfolded proteins. Emerging evidence suggests that these proteins may spread from cell-to-cell and encourage the propagation of neurodegeneration in a prion-like manner. Here, we demonstrated that α-synuclein (αSYN), a principal culprit for Lewy pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD), was present in endosomal compartments and detectably secreted into the extracellular milieu. Unlike prion protein, extracellular αSYN was mainly recovered in the supernatant fraction rather than in exosome-containing pellets from the neuronal culture medium and cerebrospinal fluid. Surprisingly, impaired biogenesis of multivesicular body (MVB), an organelle from which exosomes are derived, by dominant-negative mutant vacuolar protein sorting 4 (VPS4) not only interfered with lysosomal targeting of αSYN but facilitated αSYN secretion. The hypersecretion of αSYN in VPS4-defective cells was efficiently restored by the functional disruption of recycling endosome regulator Rab11a. Furthermore, both brainstem and cortical Lewy bodies in PD were found to be immunoreactive for VPS4. Thus, VPS4, a master regulator of MVB sorting, may serve as a determinant of lysosomal targeting or extracellular secretion of αSYN and thereby contribute to the intercellular propagation of Lewy pathology in PD