Analysis of Flexural Behavior and Lateral Buckling of Inelastic Steel Beams under Cyclic Loads

Inelastic steel beams are analyzed with emphasis on their transient flexural behavior and lateral buckling under cyclic loads. The constraint and load conditions are chosen so that they simulate inelastic beams, of a frame structure subjected to a horizontal seismic motion. An analytical model of inelastic beams is proposed that accounts for basic transient behaviors of mild steel. On this basis, a detailed discussion is made on the mechanism of transient behaviors including those of the plasic hinge, loaddeflection relation, lateral buckling load, etc. A physical interpretation is given as regards the transient flexural behavior and the deformation capacity for the lateral buckling of steel beams under monotonic and cyclic loadings

Pentraxin 3: A Novel Biomarker for Inflammatory Cardiovascular Disease

Numerous studies have recently examined the role of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in clinical situations. The pentraxin family includes C-reactive protein (CRP); however, unlike CRP, PTX3 is expressed predominantly in atherosclerotic lesions that involve macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, or smooth muscle cells. Interestingly, PTX3 gene expression in human endothelial cells is suppressed to a greater extent by pitavastatin than the expression of 6,000 other human genes that have been examined, suggesting that PTX3 may be a novel biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease. The expression and involvement of PTX3 in cardiovascular diseases are discussed in this paper, along with the characteristics of PTX3 that make it a suitable biomarker; namely, that the physiological concentration is known and it is independent of other risk factors. The results discussed in this paper suggest that further investigations into the potential novel use of PTX3 as a biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease should be undertaken

Impact on permeability due to axial stress disturbances for cretaceous sandy shale

Seismic waves generated from earthquakes and artificial surface vibration might alter the water level in the wells and oil or gas production. These transient stress disturbances prospectively caused the permeability change due to new pathway occurring or existing pathway being cleared. The permeability change might encourage enhancing gas recovery, inducing small earthquakes preventing future large earthquakes, and de-routing underground water flow for various purposes. The prospective permeability increase by axial stress disturbances of Cretaceous sandy shale may effectively expand the capacity of methane gas recovery of Kushiro Coal Mine. The paper observes the permeability change of intact or triaxially fractured Kushiro Cretaceous sandy shale by axial stress disturbances. It will be shown that increasing and decreasing factors might work together on permeability.MMIJ Fall Meeting 2017, Sept. 26-28 2017, Sapporo, Japan （資源・素材2017（札幌）: 平成29年度資源・素材関係学協会合同秋季大会, 2017年9月26日～28日, 北海道大学, 札幌市

Metabolic fates of isovaleric acid and isovalthine in rats

1. Isovaleric acid-1-C14, -4-C14, or C14-CaC03 with or without non-isotopic isovaleric acid was orally administered to rats and the incorporation of these isotopes into liver cholesterol, fatty acid, or urinary isovalthine was examined. 2. Isopropyl group of isovaleric acid was more efficiently utilized for cholesterol synthesis than carboxyl group, and also for cholesterol synthesis than for fatty acid. These results indicate that isovaleric acid is cleaved into two fragments before it is utilized for cholesterol synthesis. 3. Carbon dioxide was used for the synthesis of liver cholesterol and of liver fatty acid. Isovaleric acid seems to enhance the incorporation of carbon dioxide into cholesterol. 4. All the experimental rats received isotopic or non-isotopic isovaleric acid excreted isovalthine, but no radioactivity was found in it. Thus, isovaleric acid residue of urinary isovalthine molecule is not derived from isovaleric acid administered, and carbon dioxide is not the carbon source of urinary isovalthine. 5. Suspicious metabolism of isovaleric acid or of carbon dioxide was discussed. 6. Isotopic isovalthine which was synthesized from (± ) &#945;-bromoisovaleric acid-4-C14 is administered to rat and it was found that the isotope did not incorporate into cholesterol or fatty acid of liver and of brain. About 15% of isotopic isovalthine was recovered in urine up to the next day after injection. The large part of isovalthine was missing.</p

Sulfur Amino Acid Levels and Related Enzyme Activities in Various Brain Regions (and Other Tissues) in Normal Mice and Rolling Mice Nagoya

The contents of the sulfur amino acids, and the activities of cystathionine beta-synthase and cystathionine gamma-lyase were measured in various regions of the brain and several other tissues in both normal mice and rolling mice Nagoya. The cystathionine content and cystathionine beta-synthase activity were found to be unevenly distributed in various regions of the brain in both normal mice and rolling mice Nagoya, being highest in the cerebellum. Except for the mesencephalon and thalamus plus hypothalamus, the cystathionine content and cystathionine beta-synthase activity in the brain regions of rolling mice Nagoya were much higher than those of the normal mice. The cystathionine content after D,L-propargylglycine treatment was also found to be unevenly distributed in various brain regions in both normal mice and rolling mice Nagoya. The concentrations of cystine and methionine were also higher in all regions of the brain of rolling mice Nagoya than those of normal mice, while the concentration of taurine in the various regions of the brain was almost the same in normal mice and rolling mice Nagoya. Cystathionine beta-synthase and cystathionine gamma-lyase activities in the liver, kidney, and pancreas were almost the same in both the normal mice and rolling mice Nagoya.</p

Nonlinear Evolution of Cosmic Magnetic Fields and Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies

In this work we investigate the effects of the primordial magnetic fields on cosmic microwave background anisotropies (CMB). Based on cosmological magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations we calculate the CMB anisotropy spectra and polarization induced by fluid fluctuations (Alfv\'en modes) generated by primordial magnetic fields. The strongest effect on the CMB spectra comes from the transition epoch from a turbulent regime to a viscous regime. The balance between magnetic and kinetic energy until the onset of the viscous regime provides a one to one relation between the comoving coherence length $L$ and the comoving magnetic field strength $B$, such as $L \sim 30 (B/10^{-9}{\rm G})^3 \rm pc$. The resulting CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies are somewhat different from the ones previously obtained by using linear perturbation theory. Our calculation gives a constraint on the magnetic field strength in the intermediate scale of CMB observations. Upper limits are set by WMAP and BOOMERANG results for comoving magnetic field strength of $B < 28 \rm nG$ with a comoving coherence length of $L > 0.7 \rm Mpc$ for the most extreme case, or $B 0.8 \rm Mpc$ for the most conservative case.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Immunohistochemical analysis of P-glycoprotein expression in diverse histological types of epithelial ovarian tumors.

P-glycoprotein is a transmembrane protein which acts as an energy-dependent drug efflux pump for a variety of anti-cancer drugs. The mdr-1 gene which encodes P-glycoprotein was successfully cloned in 1986. To investigate P-glycoprotein expression in diverse ovarian tumors, including benign, low malignant potential and malignant, immunohistochemical study was done using a monoclonal antibody (C 219). Overall, 8 out of the 59 epithelial ovarian tumors (13.6%) expressed P-glycoprotein. It was noted that 5 of the 12 mucinous tumors were found to express P-glycoprotein, while none of the 31 serous tumors were immunohistochemically positive. In 10 malignant ovarian tumors, P-glycoprotein immunostaining was examined both prior to and after chemotherapy. Nine of them did not express any P-glycoprotein before or after chemotherapy. However, one tumor expressed P-glycoprotein after six courses of multidrug resistance-related drug administration. These findings indicate that P-glycoprotein expression is not so common in ovarian tumors, regardless of their malignant potential. Nevertheless, the results suggest a strong association between P-glycoprotein expression and certain histological cell types in epithelial ovarian tumors. It is also possible that P-glycoprotein appears as a result of chemotherapy, but such a phenomenon can not occur unless chemotherapy is administered at high doses for a long period of time.</p