Estradiol, Progesterone, and Transforming Growth Factor α Regulate Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 (IGFBP3) Expression in Mouse Endometrial Cells

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) Is Involved in the proliferation of mouse and rat endometrial cells in a paracrine or autocrine manner. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP3) modulates actions of IGFs directly or indirectly. The present study aimed to determine whether IGFBP3 is Involved In the regulation of proliferation of mouse endometrial cells. Mouse endometrial epithelial cells and stromal cells were isolated, and cultured In a serum free medium. IGF1 stimulated DNA synthesis by endometrial epithelial and stromal cells, and IGFBP3 Inhibited IGF1-induced DNA synthesis. Estradiol-17 beta (E2) decreased the Igfbp3 mRNA level in endometrial stromal cells, whereas It Increased the Igf1 mRNA level. Transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) significantly decreased IGFBP3 expression at both the mRNA and secreted protein levels in endometrial stromal cells. Progesterone (134) did not affect the E2-induced down-regulation of Igfbp3 mRNA expression in endometrial stromal cells, although P4 alone increased Igfbp3 mRNA levels. The present findings suggest that in mouse endometrial stromal cells E2 enhances IGF1 action through enhancement of IGF1 synthesis and reduction of IGFBP3 synthesis, and that TGF alpha affects IGF1 actions through modulation of IGFBP3 levels

Transport properties in network models with perfectly conducting channels

We study the transport properties of disordered electron systems that contain perfectly conducting channels. Two quantum network models that belong to different universality classes, unitary and symplectic, are simulated numerically. The perfectly conducting channel in the unitary class can be realized in zigzag graphene nano-ribbons and that in the symplectic class is known to appear in metallic carbon nanotubes. The existence of a perfectly conducting channel leads to novel conductance distribution functions and a shortening of the conductance decay length.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of LT2

Conductance distributions in disordered quantum spin-Hall systems

We study numerically the charge conductance distributions of disordered quantum spin-Hall (QSH) systems using a quantum network model. We have found that the conductance distribution at the metal-QSH insulator transition is clearly different from that at the metal-ordinary insulator transition. Thus the critical conductance distribution is sensitive not only to the boundary condition but also to the presence of edge states in the adjacent insulating phase. We have also calculated the point-contact conductance. Even when the two-terminal conductance is approximately quantized, we find large fluctuations in the point-contact conductance. Furthermore, we have found a semi-circular relation between the average of the point-contact conductance and its fluctuation.Comment: 9 pages, 17 figures, published versio

Evolution of dispersal in a spatially heterogeneous population with finite patch sizes

Dispersal is one of the fundamental life-history strategies of organisms, so understanding the selective forces shaping the dispersal traits is important. In the Wright’s island model, dispersal evolves due to kin competition even when dispersal is costly, and it has traditionally been assumed that the living conditions are the same everywhere. To study the effect of spatial heterogeneity, we extend the model so that patches may receive different amounts of immigrants, foster different numbers of individuals, and give different reproduction efficiency to individuals therein. We obtain an analytical expression for the fitness gradient, which shows that directional selection consists of three components: As in the homogeneous case, the direct cost of dispersal selects against dispersal and kin competition promotes dispersal. The additional component, spatial heterogeneity, more precisely the variance of so-called relative reproductive potential, tends to select against dispersal. We also obtain an expression for the second derivative of fitness, which can be used to determine whether there is disruptive selection: Unlike the homogeneous case, we found that divergence of traits through evolutionary branching is possible in the heterogeneous case. Our numerical explorations suggest that evolutionary branching is promoted more by differences in patch size than by reproduction efficiency. Our results show the importance of the existing spatial heterogeneity in the real world as a key determinant in dispersal evolution

A Survey on Indirect Reciprocity

This survey deals with indirect reciprocity, i.e., with the possibility that altruistic acts are returned, not by the recipient, but by a third party. After briefly sketching how this problem is dealt with in classical game theory, we describe recent work on the assessment on interactions, and the evolutionary stability of strategies for indirect reciprocation. All stable strategies ( the 'leading eight') distinguish between justified and non-justified defections, and therefore are based on non-costly punishment. Next we consider the replicator dynamics of populations consisting of defectors, discriminators and undiscriminating altruists. We stress that errors can destabilise cooperation for strategies not distinguishing justified from unjustified defections, but that a fixed number of rounds, or the assumption of an individual's social network growing with age, can lead to cooperation based on a stable mixture of undiscriminating altruists and of discriminators who do not distinguish between justified and unjustified defection. We describe previous work using agent-based simulations for 'binary-score' and 'full score' models. Finally, we survey the recent results on experiments with the indirect reciprocation game

The effect of fecundity derivatives on the condition of evolutionary branching in spatial models

By investigating metapopulation fitness, we present analytical expressions for the selection gradient and conditions for convergence stability and evolutionary stability in Wright's island model in terms of fecundity function. Coefficients of each derivative of fecundity function appearing in these conditions have fixed signs. This illustrates which kind of interaction promotes or inhibits evolutionary branching in spatial models. We observe that Taylor's cancellation result holds for any fecundity function: Not only singular strategies but also their convergence stability is identical to that in the corresponding well-mixed model. We show that evolutionary branching never occurs when the dispersal rate is close to zero. Furthermore, for a wide class of fecundity functions (including those determined by any pairwise game), evolutionary branching is impossible for any dispersal rate if branching does not occur in the corresponding well-mixed model. Spatial structure thus often inhibits evolutionary branching, although we can construct a fecundity function for which evolutionary branching only occurs for intermediate dispersal rates

Anderson transitions in three-dimensional disordered systems with randomly varying magnetic flux

The Anderson transition in three dimensions in a randomly varying magnetic flux is investigated in detail by means of the transfer matrix method with high accuracy. Both, systems with and without an additional random scalar potential are considered. We find a critical exponent of $\nu=1.45\pm0.09$ with random scalar potential. Without it, $\nu$ is smaller but increases with the system size and extrapolates within the error bars to a value close to the above. The present results support the conventional classification of universality classes due to symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

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Bremsstrahlung in α Decay of 210Po: Do α Particles Emit Photons in Tunneling?(http://hdl.handle.net/10097/35812)(Comment