Comparative Study of Human Hematopoietic Cell Engraftment into Balb/c and C57BL/6 Strain of Rag-2/Jak3 Double-Deficient Mice

Immunodeficient mice are becoming invaluable tools in human stem cell and tumor research. In this study, we generated Rag-2/Jak3 double-deficient (Rag-2−/−Jak3−/−) mice with a C57/BL6 and Balb/c genetic background and compared the human lymphohematopoietic cell engraftment rate. Human cord blood-derived CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells were successfully engrafted into Balb/c Rag-2−/−Jak3−/− mice; however, the engraftment rate was far lower in C57/BL6 Rag-2−/−Jak3−/− mice. Transplantation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells resulted in the same tendency. Thus, a Balb/c background offers superior engraftment capacity than a C57/BL6 background and provides an attractive model for human hematopoietic cell engraftment

Reduced endogenous secretory RAGE in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is associated with poor prognosis in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Background The endogenous secretory receptor for advanced glycation end products (esRAGE) is a soluble isoform produced by alternative splicing of the RAGE gene. The isoform has anti-inflammatory properties due to its inhibition of the RAGE/ligand interaction and is reduced in the lung tissue of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This study aimed to investigate the association of esRAGE serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) levels with progression of IPF. Methods This study included 79 IPF patients and 90 healthy controls. IPF and control serum esRAGE levels were compared, and the correlation between serum and BALF esRAGE levels was analyzed in 57 IPF patient samples. We also investigated the relationship of esRAGE serum and BALF levels with prognoses and lung function parameters in patients with IPF. Results Serum esRAGE levels in IPF patients were significantly lower than those in healthy controls (162.0 +/- 102.4 ng/ml and 200.7 +/- 107.3 ng/ml,p = 0.009), although the baseline characteristics of age and smoking history were not matched. Serum levels of esRAGE were correlated with BALF esRAGE levels (r(s) = 0.317). The BALF esRAGE levels were also correlated with diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (r(s) = 0.406). A Kaplan-Meier curve analysis and univariate/multivariate Cox hazard proportion analysis revealed that lower levels of esRAGE in blood and BALF were significantly associated with poorer prognoses in patients with IPF. Conclusions Decreased esRAGE levels in BALF and blood were associated with poor prognoses in patients with IPF. These results suggest that esRAGE could be related to the pathophysiology of IPF and serum esRAGE could be a potential prognostic marker of IPF.Peer reviewe

Exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, provides neuroprotection in mice transient focal cerebral ischemia

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an incretin hormone known to stimulate glucose-dependent insulin secretion. The GLP-1 receptor agonist, exendin-4, has similar properties to GLP-1 and is currently in clinical use for type 2 diabetes mellitus. As GLP-1 and exendin-4 confer cardioprotection after myocardial infarction, this study was designed to assess the neuroprotective effects of exendin-4 against cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury. Mice received a transvenous injection of exendin-4, after a 60-minute focal cerebral ischemia. Exendin-4-treated vehicle and sham groups were evaluated for infarct volume, neurologic deficit score, various physiologic parameters, and immunohistochemical analyses at several time points after ischemia. Exendin-4 treatment significantly reduced infarct volume and improved functional deficit. It also significantly suppressed oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and cell death after reperfusion. Furthermore, intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels were slightly higher in the exendin-4 group than in the vehicle group. No serial changes were noted in insulin and glucose levels in both groups. This study suggested that exendin-4 provides neuroprotection against ischemic injury and that this action is probably mediated through increased intracellular cAMP levels. Exendin-4 is potentially useful in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Photoinduced swing of a diarylethene thin broad sword shaped crystal:a study on the detailed mechanism

We report a swinging motion of photochromic thin broad sword shaped crystals upon continuous irradiation with UV light. By contrast in thick crystals, photosalient phenomena were observed. The bending and swinging mechanisms are in fact due to molecular size changes as well as phase transitions. The first slight bending away from the light source is due to photocyclization-induced surface expansion, and the second dramatic bending toward UV incidence is due to single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) phase transition from the original phase I to phase IIUV. Upon visible light irradiation, the crystal returned to phase I. A similar SCSC phase transition with a similar volume decrease occurred by lowering the temperature (phase IIItemp). For both photoinduced and thermal SCSC phase transitions, the symmetry of the unit cell is lowered; in phase IIUV the twisting angle of disordered phenyl groups is different between two adjacent molecules, while in phase IIItemp, the population of the phenyl rotamer is different between adjacent molecules. In the case of phase IIUV, we found thickness dependent photosalient phenomena. The thin broad sword shaped crystals with a 3 mu m thickness showed no photosalient phenomena, whereas photoinduced SCSC phase transition occurred. In contrast, large crystals of several tens of mu m thickness showed photosalient phenomena on the irradiated surface where SCSC phase transition occurred. The results indicated that the accumulated strain, between isomerized and non-isomerized layers, gave rise to the photosalient phenomenon

MUC1 in lung adenocarcinoma: cross-sectional genetic and serological study

[Background]Mucin 1 (MUC1) contributes to the growth and metastasis of various cancers, including lung cancer, and MUC1 gene length polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to lung cancer and its prognosis. In contrast, the association between rs4072037, a single nucleotide polymorphism in MUC1, and lung cancer has not been well studied. [Methods]In the present study, we determined the rs4072037 genotype and measured serum KL-6 levels to evaluate the association between lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) and rs4072037 or serum KL-6 levels. DNA samples were available for 172 patients and these were included in the genomic analyses. In addition, 304 patients were included in the serum analyses. Furthermore, 276 healthy volunteers were included in both genomic and serum analyses. [Results]The rs4072037 genotype was not associated with susceptibility to lung ADC or its prognosis. Interestingly, serum KL-6 levels significantly differed according to rs4072037 genotype in those with T1 or T2 (P < 0.001), N0 or N1 (P = 0.002) and M0 (P < 0.001), but not in those with T3 or T4 (P = 0.882), N2 or N3 (P = 0.616) and M1a or M1b (P = 0.501). Serum KL-6 levels were significantly associated with the presence of lung ADC, as well as with its progression and prognosis, indicating the crucial involvement of KL-6/MUC1 in the development of lung cancer and its progression. [Conclusion]Based on these findings, we conclude that rs4072037 does not have a significant impact on the pathogenesis or prognosis of lung ADC, whereas serum KL-6 levels, which might reflecting the molecular length of MUC1, are significantly associated with lung ADC.This work was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The funders had no role in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript

Reduced marine biogenic sulphate flux in East Antarctica during glacial periods - Based on ion chemistry records from Dome Fuji ice core -

The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OM] Polar Meteorology and Glaciology, Wed. 4 Dec. / 2F Auditorium, National Institute of Polar Researc

Development of an atmospheric Cherenkov imaging camera for the CANGAROO-III experiment

A Cherenkov imaging camera for the CANGAROO-III experiment has been developed for observations of gamma-ray induced air-showers at energies from 10$^{11}$ to 10$^{14}$ eV. The camera consists of 427 pixels, arranged in a hexagonal shape at 0.17$^\circ$ intervals, each of which is a 3/4-inch diameter photomultiplier module with a Winston-cone--shaped light guide. The camera was designed to have a large dynamic range of signal linearity, a wider field of view, and an improvement in photon collection efficiency compared with the CANGAROO-II camera. The camera, and a number of the calibration experiments made to test its performance, are described in detail in this paper.Comment: 25 pages, 29 figures, elsart.cls, to appear in NIM-

An evaluation of charging power balance of EV battery for household distributed power system

The control of CO2 emission is a global urgent issue, and the decarbonizing is being promoted in various fields. Also at residences, the electricity consumption is increasing instead of fossil fuels because of the electrification of heat source, shifting from gasoline car to EV and so on, therefore the reduction of the increasing burden of commercial power generation caused by the increase of electricity consumption at residence is extremely important task. Distributed power systems for households that can supply necessary electricity by renewable energy to each house is considered to be an effective solution. In order that the distributed power system which is desirable to be able to use various renewable energy become widely used for households, independent and autonomous operation of each power source is an important factor. This paper presents the behaviour of the power control in parallel operation of dc-dc converters directly connected to the dc bus with battery and the power behaviour of whole system. As a result, it was found that when multiple conditioners are connected to the dc bus in a renewable energy system for household, it is possible to realize autonomous charging with good balance even without the current balance control. It is important to expand use of the combination of dc bus and autonomous converters to utilize various renewable energy sources in the EV society coming in the near future