細胞内エネルギー代謝における代謝修復経路とその破綻

京都府立医科大学大学院医学研究科　神経発生生物学京都府立医科大学医学部医学科細胞内エネルギー代謝は、正常な細胞の働きを支持するためのエネルギーを産生する過程である。このエネルギーを産生する過程では様々な’余計な’産物が生じることが知られている。細胞はこういった産物を修復・除去するための様々な機構を備えているが、本稿では特に副産物の修復・除去を担う酵素に着目し、論述する。また、その一部を担う酵素遺伝子について発達期のマウス脳における発現解析を行ったので、併せて報告する

Silkworm Cocoon Waste Revitalization: Regenerated Fibers Using Higher-Molecular-Weight Fibroin Achieve High Strength and Toughness

Silkworm cocoons are removed in the industrial process when the cocoons are stained or reeled as dupion. Furthermore, a tremendous amount of used silk clothes is discarded worldwide. An artificial spinning of regenerated silk fibroin solution is a candidate to recycle silk waste. However, the mechanical strength of the regenerated silk fiber has often been lower than that of the natural counterpart, limiting the industrial use of regenerated silk fibers. Silkworm silk fibroin consists of heavy chains, light chains, and glycoproteins. The molecular weight of the heavy chain is more than 10 times higher than that of the light chain and glycoprotein. In this study, we extracted the heavy chain from the silkworm cocoon waste and applied artificial silk spinning to produce regenerated silk fibers with few structural defects with the aim of obtaining high tensile strength. The regenerated silk fibers revealed tensile strength comparable to the natural silk fibers. Furthermore, the modulus of elasticity in tension was 1.7-fold higher than that of the native counterpart. The present study will contribute not only to recycling silk waste but also to designing high-strength protein-based structural materials along with the context of sustainable development goals

Are simple verbal instructions sufficient to ensure that bladder volume does not deteriorate prostate position reproducibility during spot scanning proton therapy?

Objectives:The purpose of this study is to investigate whether verbal instructions are sufficient for bladder volume (BV) control not to deteriorate prostate position reproducibility in image-guided spot scanning proton therapy (SSPT) for localized prostate cancer.Methods:A total of 268 treatment sessions in 12 consecutive prostate cancer patients who were treated with image-guided SSPT with fiducial markers were retrospectively analyzed. In addition to strict rectal volume control procedures, simple verbal instructions to void urine one hour before the treatment were used here. The BV was measured by a Bladder Scan just before the treatment, and the prostate motion was measured by intraprostatic fiducial markers and two sets of X-ray fluoroscopy images. The correlation between the BV change and prostate motion was assessed by linear mixed-effects models and systematic and random errors according to the reproducibility of the BV.Results:The mean absolute BV change during treatment was from ?98.7 to 86.3 ml (median 7.1 ml). The mean absolute prostate motion of the patients in the left-right direction was ?1.46 to 1.85 mm; in the cranial-caudal direction it was ?6.10 to 3.65 mm, and in the anteroposterior direction ?1.90 to 5.23 mm. There was no significant relationship between the BV change and prostate motion during SSPT. The early and late genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity was minimal with a minimum follow up of 4.57 years.Conclusions:Simple verbal instructions about urination was suggested to be sufficient to control the BV not to impact on the prostate motion and clinical outcomes in image-guided SSPT. Careful attention to BV change is still needed when the seminal vesicle is to be treated.Advances in knowledge:Our data demonstrated that there was no apparent relationship between BV changes and prostate position reproducibility and simple verbal instruction about urination could be sufficient for image-guided SSP

Year-round dynamics of amplicon sequence variant communities differ among eukaryotes, Imitervirales , and prokaryotes in a coastal ecosystem

International audienceAbstract Coastal microbial communities are affected by seasonal environmental change, biotic interactions, and fluctuating nutrient availability. We investigated the seasonal dynamics of communities of eukaryotes, a major group of double-stranded DNA viruses that infect eukaryotes (order Imitervirales; phylum Nucleocytoviricota), and prokaryotes in the Uranouchi Inlet, Kochi, Japan. We performed metabarcoding using ribosomal RNA genes and viral polB genes as markers in 43 seawater samples collected over 20 months. Eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and Imitervirales communities characterized by the compositions of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) showed synchronic seasonal cycles. However, the community dynamics showed intriguing differences in several aspects, such as the recovery rate after a year. We also showed that the differences in community dynamics were at least partially explained by differences in recurrence/persistence levels of individual ASVs among eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and Imitervirales. Prokaryotic ASVs were the most persistent, followed by eukaryotic ASVs and Imitervirales ASVs, which were the least persistent. We argue that the differences in the specificity of interactions (virus–eukaryote vs. prokaryote–eukaryote) as well as the niche breadth of community members were at the origin of the distinct community dynamics among eukaryotes, their viruses, and prokaryotes

An Optimized Metabarcoding Method for Mimiviridae

International audienceMimiviridae is a group of viruses with large genomes and virions. Ecological relevance of Mimiviridae in marine environments has been increasingly recognized through the discoveries of novel isolates and metagenomic studies. To facilitate ecological profiling of Mimiviridae, we previously proposed a meta-barcoding approach based on 82 degenerate primer pairs (i.e., MEGAPRIMER) targeting the DNA polymerase gene of Mimiviridae. The method detected a larger number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in environmental samples than previous methods. However, it required large quantities of DNA and was laborious due to the use of individual primer pairs. Here, we examined coastal seawater samples using varying PCR conditions and purification protocols to streamline the MEGAPRIMER method. Mixing primer pairs in "cocktails" reduced the required amount of environmental DNA by 90%, while reproducing the results obtained by the original protocol. We compared the results obtained by the meta-barcoding approach with quantifications using qPCR for selected OTUs. This revealed possible amplification biases among different OTUs, but the frequency profiles for individual OTUs across multiple samples were similar to those obtained by qPCR. We anticipate that the newly developed MEGAPRIMER protocols will be useful for ecological investigation of Mimiviridae in a larger set of environmental samples

A Study for Automatic Inspection of leg length and undercut in the T-shaped joint Using Deep Learning

The development of an automatic weld visual inspection system applicable to weld bead visual inspection in shipyards is expected to reduce costs through man-hour reduction, improve weld quality, and shorten the repair process. Although many studies[1-3] have been conducted on the automation of weld bead visual inspection, most of them were based on image analysis. However, in order to apply image analysis, it is necessary to remove residual slag from the bead surface after welding before taking images, which is not desirable considering the production process in shipyards. The author's research group has been studying a method to predict weld bead appearance by deep learning using welder log data (current, voltage, and welding wire feed rate) and fixed welding conditions (torch angle, etc.) as inputs. In this study, several improvements were made to the prediction of the leg length and undercut depth of the T-shaped joint. These improvements significantly improved the adjusted coefficient of determination, a measure of prediction accuracy, to 0.96 for leg length prediction and 0.93 for undercut depth prediction, resulting in improved prediction accuracy for leg length and undercut depth

深層学習を用いた溶接ビード外観自動検査手法構築に向けた学習データの窓大きさと窓移動量に関する一検討

1.緒言 / 2. すみ肉溶接施工試験並びに溶接外観欠陥情報の抽出 / 3. 溶接機出力ログを用いた溶接脚長およびアンダカット深さの推定 / 4. 窓大きさと窓移動量 / 5. 学習データの窓大きさと窓移動量に対する溶接欠陥特徴量の推定精度 / 6. 結論論文番号 2022S-GS1-