Effects of root temperature on growth regulation substances in root exudate of Delaware grapes

i.デラウエア樹液中の生長促進物質の検索を試み,IAA類似物質およびジベレリン類似物質の存在を認めた. ii.これらの生長促進物質の濃度は,地温によっていちじるしく,かつすみやかに影響を受けた. 地温処理開始直後には,一時的に温度が高いほどこれらの物質の濃度は高くなったが,その後35℃区では急激に低下し,以後は28℃区で高い濃度が保たれた. iii.樹体の生長に対する好適地温と,これらの生長促進物質が高濃度に保たれた地質はよく一致し,両者の間になんらかの意味で密接な関係のあることが推察された

Methemoglobinemia induced by chlorphenamidine

A 76-year old farmer ingested 100 g of chlorphenamidine (Galectron), a plant acaricle, for the purpose of suicide. Gastric lavage was performed and the patient survived. Methemoglobinemia was noted after emergency treatment and was still present at 20 hours after ingestion of the compound. The patient was lethargic for at least 50 hours. Moderate neutrophilic leukocytosis and kidney injury were observed.</p

The EZH2 inhibitor tazemetostat upregulates the expression of CCL17/TARC in B‐cell lymphoma and enhances T‐cell recruitment

An inhibitor of the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2), tazemetostat, has been developed for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma, but its mechanisms of action are not fully elucidated. We screened for genes targeted by tazemetostat in eleven B-cell lymphoma cell lines and found that tazemetostat significantly increased the expression of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 17 (CCL17)/thymus- and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) in all, which codes for a chemokine that is a hallmark of Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (H/RS) cells in Hodgkin lymphoma. Notably, gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between the genes upregulated by tazemetostat in five follicular lymphoma (FL) cell lines and those reported to be overexpressed in H/RS cells. The CCL17 promoter region was enriched in repressive histone modification H3K27me3, and tazemetostat induced H3K27 demethylation and activated gene transcription. CCL17 protein secretion was also induced by EZH2 inhibition, which was further enhanced by concurrent CpG stimulation. In vitro transwell migration assay demonstrated that CCL17 produced by tazemetostat-treated B cells enhanced the recruitment of T cells, which had the potential to exert antilymphoma response. Analysis of publicly available human lymphoma databases showed that CCL17 gene expression was inversely correlated with the EZH2 activation signature and significantly paralleled the CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell–rich signature in FL and germinal center B-cell–like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Our findings indicate that tazemetostat can potentially activate antilymphoma response by upregulating CCL17 expression in B-cell lymphoma cells and promote T-cell recruitment, which provides a rationale for its combination with immunotherapy

Age-dependent motor dysfunction due to neuron-specific disruption of stress-activated protein kinase MKK7.

c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family and controls various physiological processes including apoptosis. A specific upstream activator of JNKs is the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7 (MKK7). It has been reported that MKK7-JNK signaling plays an important regulatory role in neural development, however, post-developmental functions in the nervous system have not been elucidated. In this study, we generated neuron-specific Mkk7 knockout mice (MKK7 cKO), which impaired constitutive activation of JNK in the nervous system. MKK7 cKO mice displayed impaired circadian behavioral rhythms and decreased locomotor activity. MKK7 cKO mice at 8 months showed motor dysfunctions such as weakness of hind-limb and gait abnormality in an age-dependent manner. Axonal degeneration in the spinal cord and muscle atrophy were also observed, along with accumulation of the axonal transport proteins JNK-interacting protein 1 and amyloid beta precursor protein in the brains and spinal cords of MKK7 cKO mice. Thus, the MKK7-JNK signaling pathway plays important roles in regulating circadian rhythms and neuronal maintenance in the adult nervous system

Central administration of melanocortin agonist increased insulin sensitivity in diet-induced obese rats

AbstractIn this study, we examined the effects of intracerebroventricular administration of melanotan II (MTII), a melanocortin agonist, on insulin sensitivity in diet-induced obese (DIO) rats. Although MTII treatment significantly decreased food intake and body weight for 10 days, there was no significant difference in body weight between MTII and pair-fed groups. The insulin tolerance test showed that insulin sensitivity was significantly improved in the MTII group compared to the pair-fed group. Furthermore, MTII treatment increased the number of small-sized adipocytes in epididymal white adipose tissues, suggesting that MTII increased insulin sensitivity through action on the white adipose tissues in DIO rats

Developing the Audience Awareness Scale of Report Writing

Many first-grade undergraduate classes give instructions on report writing to improve students' ability to output the material that is learned. Previous studies on expository writing have suggested that informing the writers about the potential readers could improve the legibility of written texts. What kind of readers should writers assume in order to produce a report that is easiest to understand? We constructed a scale for assessing the audience awareness of writers when writing reports. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on evaluations of undergraduates (N = 156). Results indicated that the scale consisted of seven factors: "No audience awareness", "Experts", "People setting the topic of the report", "General readers", "Evaluators", "Teachers", and "Busy people". Confirmatory factor analysis of the factors indicated acceptable values. Then, participants were classified into high and low score groups based on the frequency of writing reports and on their feelings regarding report writing self-efficacy. The mean evaluations for each factor were compared between the two groups. Dividing by frequency indicated that the low group showed significantly higher values than the high group for No audience awareness and General readers, whereas the high group showed significantly higher values for People setting the topic of the report, Teachers, and Experts. Moreover, dividing by feelings of efficacy indicated that the low group showed higher values than the high group for No audience awareness and Evaluators

The attitudes of university students in a teacher training course on ICT utilization

The current study sought to investigate the attitudes of university students undertaking a teacher training course on information and communications technology (ICT) utilization. The relationship between confidence in using ICT equipment in educational situations, the frequency of using ICT equipment, the experience of taking lectures on the use of ICT, and the experience of utilizing ICT in classes were examined. The results indicated that students who routinely used personal computers (PCs) had high confidence in preparing lessons, evaluating children, and teaching information-related ethics using ICT. In addition, it was suggested that the experience of taking lectures on how to utilize ICT had a positive effect on confidence in utilizing ICT. Furthermore, classification of responses in a free description task revealed that university students in the teacher training course had a somewhat conservative opinion on the use of ICT in educational institutions. Based on these results, potential improvements in the educational curriculum for the utilization of ICT in the teacher training course were discussed

Uniaxial negative thermal expansion in an orthorhombic superconductor CoZr3

We investigated the temperature evolution of crystal structure of orthorhombic CoZr3, which is a superconductor with a transition temperature of 4.3 K, by synchrotron and laboratory (CuK{\alpha}) X-ray diffraction. Uniaxial negative thermal expansion along the c-axis, which is similar to that observed in tetragonal CoZr2, has been observed at a wide temperature range of T = 90-800 K in CoZr3, while a-and b-axis exhibit positive thermal expansion.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, supplemental material

Association study of the vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) gene with schizophrenia in a Japanese population

BACKGROUND: Vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) mediate accumulation of monoamines such as serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline from the cytoplasm into storage organelles. The VMAT1 (alternatively solute carrier family 18: SLC18A1) regulates such biogenic amines in neuroendocrine systems. The VMAT1 gene maps to chromosome 8p21.3, a locus with strong evidence of linkage with schizophrenia. A recent study reported that a non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the gene (Pro4Thr) was associated with schizophrenia. METHODS: We attempted to replicate this finding in a Japanese sample of 354 schizophrenics and 365 controls. In addition, we examined 3 other non-synonymous SNPs (Thr98Ser, Thr136Ile, and Val392Leu). Genotyping was performed by the TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in genotype or allele distribution of the three SNPs of Pro4Thr, Thr136Ile, or Val392Leu between patients and controls. There was, however, a significant difference in genotype and allele distributions for the Thr98Ser polymorphism between the two groups (P = 0.01 for genotype and allele). When sexes were examined separately, significant differences were observed in females (P = 0.006 for genotype, P = 0.003 for allele), but not in males. The Thr98 allele was more common in female patients than in female controls (odds ratio 1.69, 95% CI 1.19–2.40, P = 0.003). Haplotype-based analyses also provided evidence for a significant association in females. CONCLUSION: We failed to replicate the previously reported association of Pro4Thr of the VMAT1 gene with schizophrenia. However, we obtained evidence for a possible role of the Thr98Ser in giving susceptibility to schizophrenia in women