Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island since 1933 observed with surface photographs

Change of several glaciers in Spitsbergen Island was investigated using surface photographs taken in 1933 and afterward. All glaciers investigated decreased their thickness and area at their terminal parts in the period from 1933 to 2004

Cattle Breeds and Demand for Milk in Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu valley contains three of the major cities of Nepal, that is, Kathmandu, Patan and Bhadgaun. The demand for milk in Kathmandu valley has recently been increasing because of the increase in population, increase in the number of tourists, income increases, and spread of health and nutritional education. In Kathmandu valley, the breeds of cows and buffaloes are very limited. Jersey, Local Siri and Swamp buffalo are most dominant species, and the number of Swamp buffalo is increasing due to her superiority in milk production. Milk produced is collected and distributed directly to consumers by milkmen or to a milk plant in Kathmandu city which is conducted by the Dairy Development Cooperation (D. D. C.). At present, the amount of milk dealed by milkmen is overwhelmingly large. The development of dairy industry in Nepal has ranked high in importance. In this respect, D. D. C. is the support and driving force of dairy industry in the future Nepal.Article信州大学農学部紀要 17(1): 33-42(1980)departmental bulletin pape

Variety and Manufacturing Methods of Native Milk Products in Nepal

Nepal is a small land of great diversity. There exist a lot of identifiable ethnic groups. Due to the diversity of ethnic group, there are also great diversities in foods and food habits. Therefore, eating habits of milk and milk products or manufacturing methods of milk products are also different among the ethnic groups. Generally speaking, the Nepalese milk products have a long history and many varieties. These milk products are principally classified into two groups-namely, fermented milk products and non-fermented milk products. Among the fermented milk products, dahi, ghee and churpi are the most representative ones in Nepal. On the other side, the most representative nonfermented milk product is khoa. In this report, details of the manufacturing methods of these native milk products in Nepal were described.Article信州大学農学部紀要 17(2): 117-128(1980)departmental bulletin pape

Relationship between Response to Interferon Therapy and Detection of Hepatitis C Virus RNA by Differential Flotation Centrifugation

We purified an apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease from mouse ascites sarcoma (SR-C3H/He) cells. The enzyme showed nicking activity on acid-depurinated DNA but not on untreated, intact DNA. It also showed priming activity for DNA polymerase on both acid-depurinated and bleomycin-damaged DNA. The priming activity on bleomycin-damaged DNA was two times higher than that on an acid-depurinated DNA. The enzymatic properties indicate that the enzyme is a class II AP endonuclease having DNA 3' repair diesterase activity. The purified enzyme has a molecular weight of 39,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The optimal pH for AP endonuclease activity was 8.0 in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer. The AP endonuclease activity depended on divalent cation such as Mg2+ and Co2+ ions, and was inhibited by 2 mM EDTA with no addition of the divalent cation. An appropriate concentration of sodium or potassium salt stimulated the activity. Partial digestion of the AP endonuclease with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease produced 4 major peptide fragments which may be used for protein sequencing.</p

Solitary Cranial Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis : Two case reports

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a proliferation of Langerhans cells intermixed with inflammatory cells, in particular eosinophils, that may manifest as a unisystem (unifocal or multifocal) or multisystem disease. We describe the clinical and histologic spectrum of LCH of the orbit and skull in our two cases. Both cases had unifocal erosive skull lesions with a history of trauma. Typical histologic features included numerous histiocytes with varying degrees of giant cell formation and scattered eosinophilic granulocytes. The presence of Langerhans cells was confirmed by CD1a and S100 immunohistochemistry. LCH has an excellent prognosis when treated with surgical resection, steroids and radiotherapy or chemotherapy. One of our patients is disease free at 7 year follow-up and one patient had regression of lesion on follow-up

Cytokine biomarkers to predict antitumor responses to nivolumab suggested in a phase 2 study for advanced melanoma

Promising antitumor activities of nivolumab, a fully humanized IgG4 inhibitor antibody against the programmed death-1 protein, were suggested in previous phase 1 studies. The present phase 2, single-arm study (JAPIC-CTI #111681) evaluated the antitumor activities of nivolumab and explored its predictive correlates in advanced melanoma patients at 11 sites in Japan. Intravenous nivolumab 2 mg/kg was given repeatedly at 3-week intervals to 35 of 37 patients enrolled from December 2011 to May 2012 until they experienced unacceptable toxicity, disease progression, or complete response. Primary endpoint was objective response rate. Serum levels of immune modulators were assessed at multiple time points. As of 21 October 2014, median response duration, median progression-free survival, and median overall survival were 463 days, 169 days, and 18.0 months, respectively. The overall response rate and 1- and 2-year survival rates were 28.6%, 54.3%, and 42.9%, respectively. Thirteen patients remained alive at the end of the observation period and no deaths were drug related. Grade 3–4 drug-related adverse events were observed in 31.4% of patients. Pretreatment serum interferon-γ, and interleukin-6 and -10 levels were significantly higher in the patients with objective tumor responses than in those with tumor progression. In conclusion, giving repeated i.v. nivolumab had potent and durable antitumor effects and a manageable safety profile in advanced melanoma patients, strongly suggesting the usefulness of nivolumab for advanced melanoma and the usefulness of pretreatment serum cytokine profiles as correlates for predicting treatment efficacy