277 research outputs found
Self Running Droplet: Emergence of Regular Motion from Nonequilibrium Noise
Spontaneous motion of an oil droplet driven by chemical nonequilibricity is
reported. It is shown that the droplet undergoes regular rhythmic motion under
appropriately designed boundary conditions, whereas it exhibits random motion
in an isotropic environment. This study is a novel manifestation on the direct
energy transformation of chemical energy into regular spatial-motion under
isothermal conditions. A simple mathematical equation including noise
reproduces the essential feature of the transition from irregularity into
periodic regular motion. Our results will inspire the theoretical study on the
mechanism of molecular motors in living matter, working under significant
influence of thermal fluctuation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The UV (GALEX) and FIR (ASTRO-F) All Sky Surveys: the measure of the dust extinction in the local universe
Before the end of 2002 will be launched the GALEX satellite (a NASA/SMEX
project) which will observe all the sky in Ultraviolet (UV) through filters at
1500 and 2300 A down to m(AB) 21. In 2004 will be launched the ASTRO-F
satellite which will perform an all sky survey at Far-Infrared (FIR)
wavelengths.
The cross-correlation of both surveys will lead to very large samples of
galaxies for which FIR and UV fluxes will be available. Using the FIR to UV
flux ratio as a quantitative tracer of the dust extinction we will be able to
measure the extinction in the nearby universe (z<0.2) and to perform a
statistically significant analysis of the extinction as a function of galactic
properties. Of particular interest is the construction of pure FIR and UV
selected samples for which the extinction will be measured as templates for the
observation of high redshift galaxies
Ferromagnetism and giant magnetoresistance in the rare earth fullerides Eu6-xSrxC60
We have studied crystal structure, magnetism and electric transport
properties of a europium fulleride Eu6C60 and its Sr-substituted compounds,
Eu6-xSrxC60. They have a bcc structure, which is an isostructure of other M6C60
(M represents an alkali atom or an alkaline earth atom). Magnetic measurements
revealed that magnetic moment is ascribed to the divalent europium atom with S
= 7/2 spin, and a ferromagnetic transition was observed at TC = 10 - 14 K. In
Eu6C60, we also confirm the ferromagnetic transition by heat capacity
measurement. The striking feature in Eu6-xSrxC60} is very large negative
magnetoresistance at low temperature; the resistivity ratio \rho(H = 9
T)/\rho(H = 0 T) reaches almost 10^{-3} at 1 K in Eu6C60. Such large
magnetoresistance is the manifestation of a strong pi-f interaction between
conduction carriers on C60 and 4f electrons of Eu.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Protein crystallization in a 100 nl solution with new stirring equipment
To investigate quantitatively the effects of stirring on protein crystallization, a new stirring system which can agitate a protein solution, ∼100 nl, by providing Hagen–Poiseuille flow has been successfully developed
Numerical Galaxy Catalog -I. A Semi-analytic Model of Galaxy Formation with N-body simulations
We construct the Numerical Galaxy Catalog (GC), based on a semi-analytic
model of galaxy formation combined with high-resolution N-body simulations in a
-dominated flat cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological model.
The model includes several essential ingredients for galaxy formation, such as
merging histories of dark halos directly taken from N-body simulations,
radiative gas cooling, star formation, heating by supernova explosions
(supernova feedback), mergers of galaxies, population synthesis, and extinction
by internal dust and intervening HI clouds. As the first paper in a series
using this model, we focus on basic photometric, structural and kinematical
properties of galaxies at present and high redshifts. Two sets of model
parameters are examined, strong and weak supernova feedback models, which are
in good agreement with observational luminosity functions of local galaxies in
a range of observational uncertainty. Both models agree well with many
observations such as cold gas mass-to-stellar luminosity ratios of spiral
galaxies, HI mass functions, galaxy sizes, faint galaxy number counts and
photometric redshift distributions in optical pass-bands, isophotal angular
sizes, and cosmic star formation rates. In particular, the strong supernova
feedback model is in much better agreement with near-infrared (K'-band) faint
galaxy number counts and redshift distribution than the weak feedback model and
our previous semi-analytic models based on the extended Press-Schechter
formalism. (Abridged)Comment: 26 pages including 27 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ,
full-resolution version is available at
http://grape.astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~yahagi/nugc
GWAS of bipolar disorder
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified several susceptibility loci for bipolar disorder (BD) and shown that the genetic architecture of BD can be explained by polygenicity, with numerous variants contributing to BD. In the present GWAS (Phase I/II), which included 2964 BD and 61 887 control subjects from the Japanese population, we detected a novel susceptibility locus at 11q12.2 (rs28456, P=6.4 × 10−9), a region known to contain regulatory genes for plasma lipid levels (FADS1/2/3). A subsequent meta-analysis of Phase I/II and the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium for BD (PGC-BD) identified another novel BD gene, NFIX (P best=5.8 × 10−10), and supported three regions previously implicated in BD susceptibility: MAD1L1 (P best=1.9 × 10−9), TRANK1 (P best=2.1 × 10−9) and ODZ4 (P best=3.3 × 10−9). Polygenicity of BD within Japanese and trans-European-Japanese populations was assessed with risk profile score analysis. We detected higher scores in BD cases both within (Phase I/II) and across populations (Phase I/II and PGC-BD). These were defined by (1) Phase II as discovery and Phase I as target, or vice versa (for ‘within Japanese comparisons’, Pbest~10−29, R2~2%), and (2) European PGC-BD as discovery and Japanese BD (Phase I/II) as target (for ‘trans-European-Japanese comparison,’ Pbest~10−13, R2~0.27%). This ‘trans population’ effect was supported by estimation of the genetic correlation using the effect size based on each population (liability estimates~0.7). These results indicate that (1) two novel and three previously implicated loci are significantly associated with BD and that (2) BD ‘risk’ effect are shared between Japanese and European populations
Anti-obesity effects of chikusetsusaponins isolated from Panax japonicus rhizomes
BACKGROUND: The rhizomes of Panax japonicus are used as a folk medicine for treatment of life-style related diseases such as arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus as a substitute for ginseng roots in China and Japan. Obesity is closely associated with life-style-related diseases. This study was performed to clarify whether chikusetsusaponins prevent obesity induced in mice by a high-fat diet for 9 weeks. METHODS: We performed two in vivo experiments. In one, female ICR mice were fed a high-fat diet with or without 1 or 3% chikusetsusaponins isolated from P. japonicus rhizomes for 9 weeks. In the other, lipid emulsion with or without chikusetsusaponins was administered orally to male Wistar rats, and then the plasma triacylglycerol level was measured 0.5 to 5 h after the orally administered lipid emulsion. For in vitro experiments, the inhibitory effects of total chikusetsusaponins and various purified chikusetsusaponins on pancreatic lipase activity were determined by measuring the rate of release of oleic acid from triolein in an assay system using triolein emulsified with lecithin. RESULTS: Total chikusetsusaponins prevented the increases in body weight and parametrial adipose tissue weight induced by a high-fat diet. Furthermore, consumption of a high-fat diet containing 1 or 3% total chikusetsusaponins significantly increased the fecal content and triacylglycerol level at day 3 compared with the high-fat diet groups. Total chikusetsusaponins inhibited the elevation of the plasma triacylglycerol level 2 h after the oral administration of the lipid emulsion. Total chikusetsusaponins, chikusetsusaponin III, 28-deglucosyl-chikusetsusaponin IV and 28-deglucosyl-chikusetsusaponin V inhibited the pancreatic lipase activity. CONCLUSION: The anti-obesity effects of chikusetsusaponins isolated from P. japonicus rhizomes in mice fed a high-fat diet may be partly mediated through delaying the intestinal absorption of dietary fat by inhibiting pancreatic lipase activity. The present study clearly indicated that the saponin fractions of P. japonicus rhizomes had a significant anti-obesity action and supports the traditional usage as a substitute drug for ginseng roots
MAGE-A protein and MAGE-A10 gene expressions in liver metastasis in patients with stomach cancer
Tumour samples from 71 patients with stomach cancer, 41 patients with liver metastasis (group A) and 15 patients each in stages II–IV (group B) and stage I (group C) without liver metastasis were analysed. MAGE-A protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry using a 6C1 monoclonal antibody and MAGE-A10 mRNA expression was detected by highly sensitive in situ hybridisation using a cRNA probe. Expressions of MAGE-A protein and MAGE-A10 mRNA in group A were detected in 65.9 and 80.5%, respectively. Both protein and gene showed significantly higher expression in group A than those in groups B (6.7, 26.7%) and C (0, 0%) (P=0.0003, P=<0.0001, respectively). MAGE-A10 mRNA expression in liver metastasis was found in eight (88.9%) out of nine patients. The concordant rate between MAGE-A family protein expression and MAGE-A10 mRNA expression in the primary sites was 81.7% (P<0.0001). MAGE-A10 gene expression was associated with reduced survival duration. The results of this study suggest that MAGE-A10 is a possible target in active immunotherapy for advanced stomach cancer
- …