Periodicities of palaeo-climatic records extracted from the Dome Fuji deep core

The Antarctic ice sheet preserves palaeo-climate information in the form of physical and chemical stratigraphy. A deep ice core was continuously drilled down to a depth of 2503m at Dome Fuji Station, East Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, during the 1993-97 JARE inland operations. A time scale for the Dome Fuji core is calculated from past accumulation rates and an ice flow model. A depth-age profile was obtained for the past 320kyr back in time. The obtained palaeo-temperature profile shows the past three glacial and interglacial periods. The power spectrum for oxygen isotope variation for 320kyr shows three dominant cycles of 107kyr, 40kyr and 21kyr. Each of these three cycles is similar to Milankovitch cycles. Moving-window spectrum analysis, using a 130kyr window stepped by 10kyr over the past 320kyr, found these main cycles in every age. Variations of other chemical concentrations were also recovered from the Dome Fuji ice core, and are inversely correlated to the temperature profile. Concentrations of terrestrial and marine origin substances are high in glacial periods, and low in interglacial periods. Over the past 320kyr, the dominant periodicities of temperature were also detected in almost all chemical records

Cold preservation of the human colon and ileum with University of Wisconsin solution

The inclusion of the colon in the intestinal graft resulted in worsening patient and graft outcome and increased the incidence of infection and rejection. In this study, we examine the role of ischemia on the barrier function of the epithelium during cold ischemia. Samples were collected from 15 harvested and transplanted human donor grafts (colon, 10; ileum, 6), which were immersed in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution. Ischemia (6, 12, 24, and 45 h) and reoxygenation were performed to evaluate the mucosal electrical status using the Ussing chamber technique. The functions of enterocytes and crypt cells were tested by glucose and theophylline challenge. Modified Park's classification was applied to evaluate the severity of mucosal damage under light microscopy. The colon had higher levels of baseline potential difference, short-circuit current, and resistance than the ileum during 6-48 h of ischemia. Colonic epithelial cells responded well to theophylline stimulation at 24 h of ischemia, while there was no ileal response. The colonic mucosa was histopathologically well preserved in UW solution for 48 h, and mucosal damage induced by reoxygenation was less than in the ileum. In conclusion, electrophysiologically and histopathologically, the colon is less susceptible to cold preservation damage than the ileum during storage with UW solution

General tendencies of stable isotopes and major chemical constituents of the Dome Fuji deep ice core (scientific paper)

Stable isotope compositions of water and major chemical constituents of the Dome Fuji ice core are analyzed and the data sets over the entire depth of the 2503-m core are presented in appropriate time resolution as consecutive series of average value in definite terms. These results based on the first stage analyses allow a temporal climatic dividing of the three glacial-interglacial cycles present in the records. A Comparison of the climatic and environmental characteristics of these climate stages is presented

Structural health monitoring and damage detection using an intelligent parameter varying (IPV) technique

Most structural health monitoring and damage detection strategies utilize dynamic response information to identify the existence, location, and magnitude of damage. Traditional model-based techniques seek to identify parametric changes in a linear dynamic model, while non-model-based techniques focus on changes in the temporal and frequency characteristics of the system response. Because restoring forces in base-excited structures can exhibit highly non-linear characteristics, non-linear model-based approaches may be better suited for reliable health monitoring and damage detection. This paper presents the application of a novel intelligent parameter varying (IPV) modeling and system identification technique, developed by the authors, to detect damage in base-excited structures. This IPV technique overcomes specific limitations of traditional model-based and non-model-based approaches, as demonstrated through comparative simulations with wavelet analysis methods. These simulations confirm the effectiveness of the IPV technique, and show that performance is not compromised by the introduction of realistic structural non-linearities and ground excitation characteristics

Poly[[dodeca­aqua­(μ4-benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ato)(μ2-4,4′-bipyridine-κ2 N:N′)dicerium(III)] bis­(benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate)]

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, {[Ce2(C8H4O4)(C10H8N2)(H2O)12](C8H4O4)2}n, consists of half a CeIII cation, a quarter of a coordinated benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate (bdc2−) dianion, a quarter of a 4,4′-bipyridine (bpy) mol­ecule, three water mol­ecules and a half of an uncoordinated benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate dianion. The CeIII ion is located on a twofold rotation axis and exhibits a distorted trigonal prism square-face tricapped coordination geometry. The coordinated and uncoordinated bdc2− ions and the bpy mol­ecule lie about special positions of site symmetries 2/m, m and 2/m, respectively. The CeIII ions are bridged by the bdc2− and bpy ligands, giving a sheet structure parallel to the ac plane. The uncoordinated bdc2− dianion exists between the sheets and links the sheets by inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the uncoordinated bdc2− and coordinated water mol­ecules. A π–π stacking inter­action between the uncoordinated bdc2− dianion and the bpy ligand [centroid–centroid distance = 3.750 (4) Å] is also observed

Chemical structure-guided design of dynapyrazoles, potent cell-permeable dynein inhibitors with a unique mode of action

Cytoplasmic dyneins are motor proteins in the AAA+ superfamily that transport cellular cargos toward microtubule minus-ends. Recently, ciliobrevins were reported as selective cell-permeable inhibitors of cytoplasmic dyneins. As is often true for first-in-class inhibitors, the use of ciliobrevins has in part been limited by low potency. Moreover, suboptimal chemical properties, such as the potential to isomerize, have hindered efforts to improve ciliobrevins. Here, we characterized the structure of ciliobrevins and designed conformationally constrained isosteres. These studies identified dynapyrazoles, inhibitors more potent than ciliobrevins. At single-digit micromolar concentrations dynapyrazoles block intraflagellar transport in the cilium and lysosome motility in the cytoplasm, processes that depend on cytoplasmic dyneins. Further, we find that while ciliobrevins inhibit both dynein's microtubule-stimulated and basal ATPase activity, dynapyrazoles strongly block only microtubule-stimulated activity. Together, our studies suggest that chemical-structure-based analyses can lead to inhibitors with improved properties and distinct modes of inhibition

Crucial roles of exosomes secreted from ganglioside GD3/GD2-positive glioma cells in enhancement of the malignant phenotypes and signals of GD3/GD2-negative glioma cells

Neuroectoderm-derived tumors characteristically express gangliosides such as GD3 and GD2. Many studies have reported that gangliosides GD3/GD2 enhance malignant phenotypes of cancers. Recently, we reported that human gliomas expressing GD3/GD2 exhibited enhanced malignant phenotypes. Here, we investigated the function of GD3/GD2 in glioma cells and GD3/GD2-expressing glioma-derived exosomes. As reported previously, transfectant cells of human glioma U251 MG expressing GD3/GD2 showed enhanced cancer phenotypes compared with GD3/GD2-negative controls. When GD3/GD2-negative cells were treated with exosomes secreted from GD3/GD2-positive cells, clearly increased malignant properties were observed. Furthermore, increased phosphorylation of signaling molecules was detected after 5–15 min of exosome treatment, ie, higher tyrosine phosphorylation of platelet-derived growth factor receptor, focal adhesion kinase, and paxillin was found in treated cells than in controls. Phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 was also enhanced. Consequently, it is suggested that exosomes secreted from GD3/GD2-positive gliomas play important roles in enhancement of the malignant properties of glioma cells, leading to total aggravation of heterogenous cancer tissues, and also in the regulation of tumor microenvironments.This study was supported by JST-CREST (Grant Number: JPMJCR17H2).departmental bulletin pape

Molecular Network Associated with MITF in Skin Melanoma Development and Progression

Various environmental and genetic factors affect the development and progression of skin cancers including melanoma. Melanoma development is initially triggered by environmental factors including ultraviolet (UV) light, and then genetic/epigenetic alterations occur in skin melanocytes. These first triggers alter the conditions of numerous genes and proteins, and they induce and/or reduce gene expression and activate and/or repress protein stability and activity, resulting in melanoma progression. Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a master regulator gene of melanocyte development and differentiation and is also associated with melanoma development and progression. To find better approaches to molecular-based therapies for patients, understanding MITF function in skin melanoma development and progression is important. Here, we review the molecular networks associated with MITF in skin melanoma development and progression

Adrenomedullin is not Related to Acute Hypoxic Pulmonary Vascular Response in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disease

In the present study, acute hypoxia was induced in 19 patients with chronic respiratory disease to evaluate the corre lation between pulmonary circulation kinetics and adrenomedullin (AM) levels. Using radioimmunoassay (RIA), pulmonary circulation kinetics were evaluated before and after hypoxic loading (13% oxygen for 15 minutes) by determining AM levels in plasma obtained from the pulmonary artery (PA) and the right femoral artery (FA). There were no significant differences in pre-hypoxia plasma AM levels between samples obtained from the PA and FA, and plasma AM levels did not change after hypoxic loading. Subjects were classified into two groups [responders (R) and non-responders (NR) ] to evaluate changes in the mean pulmonary arterial pressure(笆ｳMPAP). There were no changes in AM levels between these two groups in either the PA or FA after hypoxic loading. These results suggest that AM do not appear to be related to hypoxic pulmonary vascular response to acute hypoxic loading in patients with chronic respiratory disease