COMPARISON IN LOWER LIMB KINEMATICS AFFECTING RUNNING ECONOMY OF TRAINED AND UNTRAINED RUNNERS

This study compared trained and untrained runners to explore factors affecting running economy(RE). Trained male and untrained male distance runners participated in this study. The trained participants ran for 4 min at 6 different constant speeds, while the untrained participants ran at 4 different constant speeds on a level treadmill. During the test, respiratory variables associated with RE were continuously measured using an expiration gas analysis system. Stride parameters such as step length and frequency, as well as phase time and joint kinematics such as joint angles, range of motion, and joint angular velocity of the lower limb joints were calculated from marker coordinates. There was a significant difference in RE between trained and untrained runners. Some stride characteristics significantly affected both training and RE

Intracellular stability of 2′-OMe-4′-thioribonucleoside modified siRNA leads to long-term RNAi effect

Chemically modified siRNAs are expected to have resistance toward nuclease degradation and good thermal stability in duplex formation for in vivo applications. We have recently found that 2′-OMe-4′-thioRNA, a hybrid chemical modification based on 2′-OMeRNA and 4′-thioRNA, has high hybridization affinity for complementary RNA and significant resistance toward degradation in human plasma. These results prompted us to develop chemically modified siRNAs using 2′-OMe-4′-thioribonucleosides for therapeutic application. Effective modification patterns were screened with a luciferase reporter assay. The best modification pattern of siRNA, which conferred duration of the gene-silencing effect without loss of RNAi activity, was identified. Quantification of the remaining siRNA in HeLa-luc cells using a Heat-in-Triton (HIT) qRT–PCR revealed that the intracellular stability of the siRNA modified with 2′-OMe-4′-thioribonucleosides contributed significantly to the duration of its RNAi activity

The feature of the self-actualization of infancy A longitudinal study about development of a self-actualization tendency

This study examined the developmental feature of the self-actualization of infancy in a longitudinal study. One hundred one 6 years-old children were participated in this study. The preschool teachers accessed self-actualization tendency on each child twice a year and recorded their impressive episode. It was found that 70 percent of the children increased the score for self-actualization tendency. Although, as for the child whose self-actualization score was low at the 1st time raised the scores, the child whose score was high did not have a remarkable change. The improvement in a score was mainly found by the item of the contents about social development among 15 items which constitute a self-actualization measure. Also in preschool teachers, the child with a high self-actualization tendency had much episode about social adaptation, the child with a low self-actualization tendency did not. These facts suggests that there is individual difference of development speed in the dynamism that the self-actualization tendency improves, and social development is the core of development of the self-actualization of infancy

内視鏡超音波ガイド下穿刺吸引の液状検体の残余を用いたK-ras 遺伝子検査は正診率を高める

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) technology is widely used for the diagnosis of pancreatic masses. However, in some cases, inadequate tissue volume or difficulty of morphological diagnosis are constraining factors for adequate cytopathological evaluation. K-ras mutation is the most frequently acquired genetic abnormality, occurring in approximately 90% of all patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). In the present study, the clinical utility of residual liquid-based cytology (LBC) specimens obtained using EUS-FNA for K-ras mutation analysis was evaluated. Methods: In this study, 81 patients with pancreatic lesions were examined. The cell block (CB) specimens separated from EUS-FNA samples were morphologically evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Final diagnoses were confirmed by CB specimens, surgical resection specimens, diagnostic imaging, and clinical follow-up. Genomic DNA of residual LBC specimens stored at 4°C for several months were extracted and assessed for K-ras mutations using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based preferential homoduplex formation assay. Results: K-ras mutation analysis using residual LBC samples was successful in all cases. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CB examination alone were 77.4%, 100%, and 81.3%, respectively, and those of the combination of CB examination and K-ras mutation analysis were 90.3%, 92.3%, and 90.7%, respectively. Furthermore, K-ras mutations were detected in 8 (57.1%) of 14 PDAC samples for which the CB results were inconclusive. Conclusion: These findings suggest that K-ras mutation analysis using residual LBC specimens improves the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA.博士（医学）・乙第1492号・令和2年12月24日Copyright: © 2018 Sekita-Hatakeyama et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Does Metabolism of (S)-N-[1-(3-Morpholin-4-ylphenyl)ethyl]-3-phenylacrylamide Occur at the Morpholine Ring? Quantum Mechanical and Molecular Dynamics Studies

The mechanism of Cytochrome P450 3A4 mediated metabolism of (S)-N- [1-(3-morpholin-4ylphenyl)ethyl]-3-phenylacrylamide and its difluoro analogue have been investigated by density functional QM calculations aided with molecular mechanics/molecular dynamics simulations. In this article, we mainly focus on the metabolism of the morpholine ring of substrates 1 and 2. The reaction proceeds via a hydrogen atom abstraction from the morpholine ring by Compound I on a doublet potential energy surface. A transition state was observed at an O-H distance of 1.46 Å for 1 while 1.38 Å for 2. Transition state for the rebound mechanism was not observed. The energy barrier for the hydrogen atom abstraction from 1 was found to be 7.01 kcal/mol in gas phase while 19.53 kcal/mol when the protein environment was emulated by COSMO. Similarly the energy barrier for substrate 2 was found to be 11.07 kcal/mol in gas phase while it was reduced to 12.99 kcal/mol in protein environment. Our previous study reported energy barriers for phenyl hydroxylation of 7.4 kcal/mol. Large energy barriers for morpholine hydroxylation indicates that hydroxylation at the phenyl ring may be preferred over morpholine. MD simulations in protein environment indicated that hydrogen atom at C4 position of phenyl ring remains in closer proximity to oxyferryl oxygen of the heme moiety as compared to morpholine hydrogen and hence greater chance to metabolize at phenyl ring

Neutrophil elastase in amniotic fluid as a predictor of preterm birth after emergent cervical cerclage

Introduction. The aim of this study was to investigate neutrophil elastase (NE) in amniotic fluid as a potential marker for predicting pregnancy continuation. Material and methods. We enrolled 34 pregnant women with bulging fetal membrane during the second trimester who underwent emergent cerclage after confirming the absence of intrauterine infection (amniotic fluid glucose >= 15 mg/dL). Amniotic fluid NE levels were compared between women who completed and did not complete 30, 34, and 36 weeks of gestation, and the optimal cut-off value for predicting pregnancy continuation was estimated. Moreover, the differences in the duration of continued pregnancy were compared between women with NE levels above and below the optimal cut-off value. Results. The optimal cut-off value for NE in amniotic fluid that predicted pregnancy continuation beyond 30, 34, and 36 weeks of gestation was 180 ng/mL; this cut-off value had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 84.0, 77.8, 91.3, and 63.7% beyond 30 weeks of gestation; 87.5, 80.0, 91.5, and 72.3% beyond 34 weeks of gestation; and 85.0, 71.4, 80.9, and 76.9% beyond 36 weeks of gestation, respectively. The duration of continued pregnancy from emergent cerclage to delivery was significantly longer in women with amniotic fluid NE = 180 ng/mL (44.8 +/- 14.3 days). Conclusion. The NE levels in amniotic fluid may serve as a useful marker for predicting the duration of continued pregnancy after cervical cerclage

Monoamines, Insulin and the Roles They Play in Associative Learning in Pond Snails

Molluscan gastropods have long been used for studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. One such gastropod, the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, exhibits long-term memory (LTM) following both classical and operant conditioning. Using Lymnaea, we have successfully elucidated cellular mechanisms of learning and memory utilizing an aversive classical conditioning procedure, conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Here, we present the behavioral changes following CTA training and show that the memory score depends on the duration of food deprivation. Then, we describe the relationship between the memory scores and the monoamine contents of the central nervous system (CNS). A comparison of learning capability in two different strains of Lymnaea, as well as the filial 1 (F1) cross from the two strains, presents how the memory scores are correlated in these populations with monoamine contents. Overall, when the memory scores are better, the monoamine contents of the CNS are lower. We also found that as the insulin content of the CNS decreases so does the monoamine contents which are correlated with higher memory scores. The present review deepens the relationship between monoamine and insulin contents with the memory score

Difference in interleukin-8 transcriptional activity induced in THP-G8 cells by particulate matter collected in winter and summer in western Japan

Background : Airborne particulate matter (PM) may stimulate production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and thus exposure to PM affects pulmonary diseases. However, the effects of PM on pulmonary diseases have differed among studies. Methods : PM was collected from February 2 to 28 (winter) and June 1 to 17 (summer) in 2013 in Yurihama, Japan, using filters to separate particles with different aerodynamic diameters (1.1 to< 2.2 μm, 2.2 to< 3.3 μm, 3.3 to< 7.0 μm, and 7.0 to< 10 μm). Interleukin (IL)-8 transcriptional activity in THP-G8 cells was examined in response to winter and summer PM with different diameters. Results : IL-8 transcriptional activity induced by winter PM was significantly higher than that with summer PM for each diameter. For winter PM, IL-8 activity increased with an increased diameter, whereas this activity did not differ between a solvent control and each summer PM diameter. This indicates that summer PM does not stimulate production of IL-8 in THP-G8 cells. Conclusion : The effects of PM on production of pro-inflammatory cytokines differ with the season and PM diameter. This suggests that the compositions of PM differ on season, and the evaluation of compositions of PM is important in understanding the association of health with short-term exposure to PM