Geodesy reference points within Syowa Station, Antarctica, and their local geodetic ties

In order to study geodynamics in relation to atmospheric, oceanographic and glaciological interactions on a global scale, adequate distribution of precise geodesy stations over the Earth is important. Syowa Station (69.0°S , 39.6°E ), Antarctica, serves as one of the observatories in the Southern Hemisphere. This report briefly summarizes the location coordinates of the geodetic sensors, and chronology of related activity as of 2005, based on standardized format sheets for each sensor monument. Exchange of these formatted sheets among Antarctic stations will give us a data base for reviewing and archiving geodetic activity in Antarctica. Local geodetic ties among their monument marks are updated from the results given by M. Kanao et al. (J. Geod. Soc. Jpn., 41, 357, 1995), including later surveying with improved accuracy

The first year of Antarctic VLBI observations

We are undertaking a series of geodetic VLBI observations between the Syowa Station 11-m antenna in Antarctica, and the 26-m antennas in Hobart Tasmania and Hartebeesthoek South Africa. These observations are the beginning of our campaign to monitor the motion and stability of the Antarctic plate. We describe here the results of the first year\u27s observations made during the southern summer and winter of 1998. Two mutually incompatible recording systems, K4 and S2, are used. The Mitaka FX Correlator was used to correlate these data. By using software called CALC3/MSOLV, the mean position of the antenna\u27s geodetic reference point was found to be X=1766194.152±0.006m, Y=1460410.923±0.005m and Z=- 5932273.329±0.015m at the epoch of 1998.9 in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000 (ITRF2000) system. From a comparison with measurements made with other space geodetic techniques we estimate that our results have typical uncertainties of no more than 2 to 3cm in each coordinate

Newly Identified CYP2C93 Is a Functional Enzyme in Rhesus Monkey, but Not in Cynomolgus Monkey

Cynomolgus monkey and rhesus monkey are used in drug metabolism studies due to their evolutionary closeness and physiological resemblance to human. In cynomolgus monkey, we previously identified cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP) 2C76 that does not have a human ortholog and is partly responsible for species differences in drug metabolism between cynomolgus monkey and human. In this study, we report characterization of CYP2C93 cDNA newly identified in cynomolgus monkey and rhesus monkey. The CYP2C93 cDNA contained an open reading frame of 490 amino acids approximately 84–86% identical to human CYP2Cs. CYP2C93 was located in the genomic region, which corresponded to the intergenic region in the human genome, indicating that CYP2C93 does not correspond to any human genes. CYP2C93 mRNA was expressed predominantly in the liver among 10 tissues analyzed. The CYP2C93 proteins heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli metabolized human CYP2C substrates, diclofenac, flurbiprofen, paclitaxel, S-mephenytoin, and tolbutamide. In addition to a normal transcript (SV1), an aberrantly spliced transcript (SV2) lacking exon 2 was identified, which did not give rise to a functional protein due to frameshift and a premature termination codon. Mini gene assay revealed that the genetic variant IVS2-1G>T at the splice site of intron 1, at least partly, accounted for the exon-2 skipping; therefore, this genotype would influence CYP2C93-mediated drug metabolism. SV1 was expressed in 6 of 11 rhesus monkeys and 1 of 8 cynomolgus monkeys, but the SV1 in the cynomolgus monkey was nonfunctional due to a rare null genotype (c.102T>del). These results suggest that CYP2C93 can play roles as a drug-metabolizing enzyme in rhesus monkeys (not in cynomolgus monkeys), although its relative contribution to drug metabolism has yet to be validated

The result of VLBI observations carried out at Syowa Station

第3回極域科学シンポジウム/第32回極域地学シンポジウム 11月29日（木） 統計数理研究所 ３階セミナー

Development of a new device for artificial insemination in cynomolgus macaques

In cynomolgus macaques, an important animal species for biomedical research, efficient reproduction has been hampered partly due to the difficulties of artificial insemination (AI) using straw tubes developed for humans or farm animals, because cynomolgus macaques have a complex cervical canal structure. In this study, taking into consideration the unique structure of the macaque cervical canal, we developed a novel device for AI, comprised of a syringe and an outer cylinder. At 24 and 48 h after using this device to inject semen into one female, viable sperm were observed in the oviduct where the sperm meets the oocytes. We then attempted AI using this new device on 10 females that were at pre-ovulation, and pregnancy was successful in three animals (30% pregnancy rate). These results show that the newly developed device can be used for AI in cynomolgus macaques