Livestock Transactions as Coping Strategies in Zambia:New Evidence from High-Frequency Panel Data

This study re-examines the buffer stock hypothesis regarding livestock by taking into account differences in wealth level, asset types, and periods after a shock. This paper takes advantage of a unique panel data set of agricultural households in Southern Province, Zambia. The data were collected by weekly interviews of 48 sample households from November 2007 to December 2009, covering two crop years in which an unusually heavy rainfall event took place. If we consider delayed responses to the heavy rain shock, our econometric analyses support the buffer stock hypothesis for cattle as well as small livestock. Overall, this paper suggests that conventional annual data sets used by existing literature may miss the period-dependent transactions of assets after a shock.Asset smoothing, Buffer stock, Weather risk, Livestock, Sub-Saharan Africa

Livestock Transactions as Coping Strategies in Zambia: New Evidence from High-Frequency Panel Data

This study re-examines the buffer stock hypothesis regarding livestock by taking into account differences in wealth level, asset types, and periods after a shock. This paper takes advantage of a unique panel data set of agricultural households in Southern Province, Zambia. The data were collected by weekly interviews of 48 sample households from November 2007 to December 2009, covering two crop years in which an unusually heavy rainfall event took place. If we consider delayed responses to the heavy rain shock, our econometric analyses support the buffer stock hypothesis for cattle as well as small livestock. Overall, this paper suggests that conventional annual data sets used by existing literature may miss the period-dependent transactions of assets after a shock.Asset Smoothing, Buffer Stock, Weather Risk, Livestock, Sub-Saharan Africa

Changepoint detection in base-resolution methylome data reveals a robust signature of methylated domain landscape

ABSTRACTLotta Dalenius Hahlin (2010) Mentorskap utifrån ett lösningsinriktat fokus. (Mentorship based on a solution-oriented focus. Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärarutbildningen halvfart/distans, Malmö HögskolaMånga elever hoppar av sin gymnasieutbildning pga. av olika orsaker. En av orsakerna kan vara att eleven inte har tillräckligt stöd i sin mentor på skolan. En mentor skall ju inte bara ta hand om elevens studiemässiga resultat utan får även ta hand om de många sociala frågor som ofta uppstår runt eleven. Kan det vara så att mentorn behöver en ram och metod att arbeta utifrån för att kunna stödja eleverna på bästa sätt?Syftet med arbetet är att beskriva den metodik som ligger bakom ett lösningsinriktat mentorskap,och att skapa ett kompendium av användbara verktyg utifrån lösningsinriktad pedagogik. Detta kompendium kan mentorn använda som mall/ram i sin arbetsuppgift som mentor.Forskningen tyder på att lyckade och bra samtal bygger på bra förberedelse, på öppna frågor och på ömsesidig respekt för varandra och att man använder sig av ett visst förhållningssätt gentemot varandra. Vidare pekar litteraturstudien på att mentorssamtalet bör ha tydliga mål och en gemensam uppfattning om vad man vill komma fram till för att eleven skall nå ökat ansvar, större självinsikt och önskat läge.Arbetet tar upp de olika verktyg som man främst använder inom lösningsinriktade metoder, och är utifrån litteraturen kommenterat för att ge en grundläggande kunskap och förförståelse för läsaren.Genom att som resultat skapa ett kompendium som mentorer kan använda i sitt arbete med det dagliga samtalet med eleverna, vill uppsatsen beskriva och ge grundläggande kunskap om de verktyg som finns i den lösningsinriktade verktygslådan. Syftet nås även med en enkätundersökning där mentorer som fått pröva på metoden plockat ut fördelar och nackdelar med metoden.Uppsatsen visar att regelbunden användning och övning krävs för att kunna tillgodogöra sig metoden, och även att mentorn genomgår en grundläggande utbildning. Den kommer också att visa att vinsterna och fördelarna med metoden överstiger de eventuella nackdelar som kan uppstå när man som mentor börjar arbeta med metoden

Molecular dynamics simulation of enhanced oxygen ion diffusion in strained yttria-stabilized zirconia

科研費報告書収録論文(課題番号:09355030・基盤研究(A)(2)・H9～H11/研究代表者:宮本, 明/次世代エレクトロニクス材料としての酸化物人口超格子の原子レベル設計と開発

Mapping of histone-binding sites in histone replacement-completed spermatozoa

The majority of histones are replaced by protamines during spermatogenesis, but small amounts are retained in mammalian spermatozoa. Since nucleosomes in spermatozoa influence epigenetic inheritance, it is important to know how histones are distributed in the sperm genome. Conflicting data, which may result from different conditions used for micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion, have been reported: retention of nucleosomes at either gene promoter regions or within distal gene-poor regions. Here, we find that the swim-up sperm used in many studies contain about 10% population of sperm which have not yet completed the histone-to-protamine replacement. We develop a method to purify histone replacement-completed sperm (HRCS) and to completely solubilize histones from cross-linked HRCS without MNase digestion. Our results indicate that histones are retained at specific promoter regions in HRCS. This method allows the study of epigenetic status in mature sperm

Effect of mediastinal lymph nodes sampling in patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer

Objective : Systematic nodal dissection has been recommended for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer because of its staging accuracy. However, in patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer whether systematic nodal dissection provides more benefits than mediastinal lymph node sampling or not is controversial. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the effect of mediastinal lymph node sampling in patients with clinical stage I NSCLC. Methods : One hundred and nineteen consecutive patients with clinical stage I NSCLC, who underwent curative operation between January 1994 and December 2000, were retrospectively reviewed (dissection group = 58 : sampling group= 61). Systematic nodal dissection was defined as complete removal of mediastinal lymph node, and mediastinal lymph node sampling was defined as removal of lymph node levels 3, 4, and 7 for right-sided tumors and levels 5, 6, and 7 for left-sided tumors. Results : The total number of removed mediastinal lymph nodes in patients who underwent systematic nodal dissection was 22.1±9.7, which was significantly higher than that in patients who underwent mediastinal lymph node sampling of 11.4±7.0 (p<0.001). Postoperatively N2 disease was detected in 8 patients (13.8%) in the dissection group and 7 (11.5%) in the sampling group. After the median follow up of 79 months, the cancer specific survival rate at 5 year was 78.0% in the dissection group and 76.2% in the sampling group (p = 0.60). Conclusions : Mediastinal lymph node sampling showed the similar effect to systematic nodal dissection in patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer

Novel method for immunofluorescence staining of mammalian eggs using non-contact alternating-current electric-field mixing of microdroplets

Recently, a new technique was developed for non-catalytically mixing microdroplets. In this method, an alternating-current (AC) electric field is used to promote the antigen-antibody reaction within the microdroplet. Previously, this technique has only been applied to histological examinations of flat structures, such as surgical specimens. In this study, we applied this technique for the first time to immunofluorescence staining of three-dimensional structures, specifically, mammalian eggs. We diluted an antibody against microtubules from 1:1,000 to 1:16,000, and compared the chromatic degree and extent of fading across dilutions. In addition, we varied the frequency of AC electricfield mixing from 5 Hz to 46 Hz and evaluated the effect on microtubule staining. Microtubules were more strongly stained after AC electric-field mixing for only 5 minutes, even when the concentration of primary antibody was 10 times lower than in conventional methods. AC electric-field mixing also alleviated microtubule fading. At all frequencies tested, AC electric-field mixing resulted in stronger microtubule staining than in controls. There was no clear difference in a microtubule staining between frequencies. These results suggest that the novel method could reduce antibody consumption and shorten immunofluorescence staining time

The location of 8-shaped hatching influences inner cell mass formation in mouse blastocysts

The hatching of a blastocyst where the blastocyst portions on the inside and the outside of the zona pellucida feature a figure-of-eight shape is termed 8-shaped hatching; this type of hatching has been reported to affect the proper presentation of the inner cell mass (ICM) in both human and mouse embryos. Here, our aim was to investigate the factors that affect ICM presentation during 8-shaped hatching. We performed IVF by using B6D2F1 female mice and ICR male mice, and used the 104 captured blastocysts. Embryos were maintained in KSOM at 37 degrees C in a 5% CO2, 5% O-2, and 90% N-2 environment, and their growth behavior was monitored individually and continuously using time-lapse cinematography. At 120 h after insemination, embryos were immunostained and examined under a confocal microscope. We used the hatching form to identify 8-shaped hatching, and we classified the 8 shaped- hatching blastocysts into two groups, one in which the hatching site was near the ICM center, and the other in which the hatching site was far from the ICM center. We measured each group for ICM size and the number of Oct3/4-positive cells. Of the 95 hatching or hatched embryos, 74 were 8-shaped-hatching blastocysts, and in these embryos, the ICM was significantly wider when the hatching site was near the ICM than when the hatching site was far from the ICM (P = 0.0091). Moreover, in the 8-shaped-hatching blastocysts in which the ICM was included in the blastocyst portion outside the zona pellucida. the portion defined as the outside blastocyst. after the collapse of this outside blastocyst, the ICM adhered to the trophectoderm of the outside blastocyst, opposite the hatching site. Our results indicate that in 8-shaped-hatching blastocysts, the hatching site and the collapse of outside blastocyst affect ICM formation. Thus, the assessment of 8-shaped hatching behaviors could yield indices for accurately evaluating embryo quality

Cell-free DNA in spent culture medium effectively reflects the chromosomal status of embryos following culturing beyond implantation compared to trophectoderm biopsy

This prospective study evaluated the accuracy of non-invasive preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (niPGT-A) using cell-free DNA in spent culture medium, as well as that of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) using trophectoderm (TE) biopsy after culturing beyond implantation. Twenty frozen blastocysts donated by 12 patients who underwent IVF at our institution were investigated. Of these, 10 were frozen on day 5 and 10 on day 6. Spent culture medium and TE cells were collected from each blastocyst after thawing, and the embryos were cultured in vitro for up to 10 days. The outgrowths after culturing beyond implantation were sampled and subjected to chromosome analysis using next-generation sequencing. Chromosomal concordance rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), false-positive rate (FPR), and false-negative rate (FNR) of niPGT-A and PGT-A against each outgrowth were analyzed. The concordance rate between the niPGT-A and outgrowth samples was 9/16 (56.3%), and the concordance rate between the PGT-A and outgrowth samples was 7/16 (43.8%). NiPGT-A exhibited 100% sensitivity, 87.5% specificity, 88.9% PPV, 100% NPV, 12.5% FPR, and 0% FNR. PGT-A exhibited 87.5% sensitivity, 77.8% specificity, 87.5% PPV, 75% NPV, 14.3% FPR, and 22.2% FNR. NiPGT-A may be more accurate than PGT-A in terms of ploidy diagnostic accuracy in outgrowths

Live visualisation of electrolytes during mouse embryonic development using electrolyte indicators

Studies have shown that some electrolytes, including Na+ and K+, play important roles in embryonic development. However, these studies evaluated these electrolytes by using inhibitors or knockout mice, with no mention on the changes in the intracellular electrolyte concentrations during embryogenesis. In this study, we used the electrolyte indicators CoroNa Green AM and ION Potassium Green-2 AM to directly visualise intracellular concentrations of Na+ and K+, respectively, at each embryonic developmental stage in mouse embryos. We directly observed intracellular electrolyte concentrations at the morula, blastocyst, and hatching stages. Our results revealed dynamic changes in intracellular electrolyte concentrations; we found that the intracellular Na+ concentration decreased, while K+ concentration increased during blastocoel formation. The degree of change in intensity in response to ouabain, an inhibitor of Na+/K+ ATPase, was considered to correspond to the degree of Na+/K+ ATPase activity at each developmental stage. Additionally, after the blastocyst stage, trophectoderm cells in direct contact with the blastocoel showed higher K+ concentrations than in direct contact with inner cell mass, indicating that Na+/K+ ATPase activity differs depending on the location in the trophectoderm. This is the first study to use CoroNa Green AM and ION Potassium Green-2 AM in mouse embryos and visualise electrolytes during embryonic development. The changes in electrolyte concentration observed in this study were consistent with the activity of Na+/K+ ATPase reported previously, and it was possible to image more detailed electrolyte behaviour in embryo cells. This method can be used to improve the understanding of cell physiology and is useful for future embryonic development studies