Appearance of Opsin-containing Vesicles as Rhabdomeric Precursors and Their Incorporation into the Rhabdom around Dusk in the Compound Eye of the Crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus

This paper presents immunocytochemical, freeze-fracture, and fine-structural evidence for the hypothesis that the precursors of the rhabdomeric membranes are vesicles in the photoreceptors of the crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus. The number of vesicles starts to increase in the photoreceptor cell body at midday and peaks at approximately one hour before light-off. The vesicles move toward the rhabdom: they almost disappear from the cell body within the first hour after light-off. As they move, the rhabdom area increases. Electron microscopic immunocytochemistry and freeze-fracture EM revealed that the vesicles contain the visual pigment opsin as an integral membrane protein. Based on detailed observation at the microvillar base by conventional electron microscopy, we present a model of how the vesicles are incorporated into the rhabdom to elongate the rhabdomeric microvilli

1994 Multi-site Broadband Seismic Observation at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan

Broadband observation of volcanic earthquakes has been recently conducted at many volcanoes. At the Sakurajima Volcano in Japan, one of the most active volcanoes all over the world, we conducted two broadband seismic observations successfully in last three years. However, they left some problems in terms of the number of observation sites and recording systems. This paper reports the outline of our third observation using three broadband seismometers (Streckeisen STS-II) with continuous recording at the Sakurajima Volcano from February 18 to March 28, 1994. This observation is distinguished from the previous two by the three stations operating continuously over the entire period. Although the Sakurajima Volcano had very low seismic activities during this observation period, we observed some kinds of volcanic earthquake, A-type and B-type earthquakes and volcanic tremors, particularly one series of interesting clone events

Interferon-alpha-induced mTOR activation is an anti-hepatitis C virus signal via the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt-independent pathway.

OBJECT: The interferon-induced Jak-STAT signal alone is not sufficient to explain all the biological effects of IFN. The PI3-K pathways have emerged as a critical additional component of IFN-induced signaling. This study attempted to clarify that relationship between IFN-induced PI3-K-Akt-mTOR activity and anti-viral action. RESULT: When the human normal hepatocyte derived cell line was treated with rapamycin (rapa) before accretion of IFN-alpha, tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT-1 was diminished. Pretreatment of rapa had an inhibitory effect on the IFN-alpha-induced expression of PKR and p48 in a dose dependent manner. Rapa inhibited the IFN-alpha inducible IFN-stimulated regulatory element luciferase activity in a dose-dependent manner. However, wortmannin, LY294002 and Akt inhibitor did not influence IFN-alpha inducible luciferase activity. To examine the effect of PI3-K-Akt-mTOR on the anti-HCV action of IFN-alpha, the full-length HCV replication system, OR6 cells were used. The pretreatment of rapa attenuated its anti-HCV replication effect in comparison to IFN-alpha alone, whereas the pretreatment with PI3-K inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002 and Akt inhibitor did not influence IFN-induced anti-HCV replication. CONCLUSION: IFN-induced mTOR activity, independent of PI3K and Akt, is the critical factor for its anti-HCV activity. Jak independent mTOR activity involved STAT-1 phosphorylation and nuclear location, and then PKR is expressed in hepatocytes

Differences in Flicker Fusion Frequencies of the Five Spectral Photoreceptor Types in the Swallowtail Buttertly\u27s Compound Eye

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