Corporate Decision Making with Self-Organizing Patent Maps Labeled by Technical Terms and AHP

In this paper, we propose an approach for corporate decision making with self-organizing patent maps labeled by technical terms and AHP. First, we select the patent area of interest and collect pertinent patent documents in text format. Second, we extract keywords by text mining to transform patent documents into feature vectors of the companies. Third, we input the feature matrix of technical terms and company names into self-organizing maps to create patent maps labeled by the technical terms. Then, we consider several corporate strategies utilizing the patent maps and make a decision with AHP. We apply our approach to two patent areas (information home appliance and 3D image) to show examples of corporate decision making

Induction of podoplanin by transforming growth factor-β in human fibrosarcoma

AbstractPodoplanin/aggrus is increased in tumors and its expression was associated with tumor malignancy. Podoplanin on cancer cells serves as a platelet-aggregating factor, which is associated with the metastatic potential. However, regulators of podoplanin remain to be determined. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) regulates many physiological events, including tumorigenesis. Here, we found that TGF-β induced podoplanin in human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells and enhanced the platelet-aggregating-ability of HT1080. TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor (SB431542) and short hairpin RNAs for Smad4 inhibited the podoplanin induction by TGF-β. These results suggest that TGF-β is a physiological regulator of podoplanin in tumor cells

Differences in the Composition of Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) Reagents Affect Clot Waveform Analysis

Background Clot waveform analysis (CWA) based on activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) is a useful assay for hemostasis. However, the effects of activators and phospholipid conditions on CWA have not been adequately investigated. Therefore, we characterized CWA using four different APTT reagents. Methods: We used 39 archived plasma samples from patients with hemophilia A (HA), 16 samples from patients with HA under emicizumab treatment, and 10 samples from healthy individuals for CWA with four different types of APTT reagents (reagents A, B, C, and D). We then compared Ad|min1|, Ad|min2|, and Ad|max2| from the CWA, which reflect the maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, and maximum deceleration, respectively, among the four reagents. Results: Similar clot waveform shapes were observed for each reagent in the healthy donor group, HA group, and HA under emicizumab group, and the waveform was different for each target group. Significant changes were found in clotting time (CT) (s), Ad|min1| (%/s), Ad|min2| (%/s2), and Ad|max2| (%/s2). The waveform pattern for the coagulation reaction by reagent D, comprising silica and synthetic phospholipids, was the fastest among the reagents examined. Further, the difference in Ad|min1| (%/s) and Ad|min2| (%/s2) was larger than that in CT depending on the reagent used(s), indicating that the measured value of CWA was affected by the reagent composition. Conclusion: Our results showed a significant difference among reagents with varying composition and concentration; this was found to affect the parameters obtained from CWA. Thus, the differences between reagents hinder standardization of quantitative evaluation using these parameters; further, this highlights the necessity of understanding the characteristics of APTT reagents and determining the reference range in individual facilities

Benzalkonium Chloride Accelerates the Formation of the Amyloid Fibrils of Corneal Dystrophy-associated Peptides

This research was originally published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Yusuke Kato, Hisashi Yagi, Yuichi Kaji, Tetsuro Oshika and Yuji Goto. Benzalkonium Chloride Accelerates the Formation of the Amyloid Fibrils of Corneal Dystrophy-associated Peptides. J. Biol. Chem. 2013; 288, 25109-25118. © the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biolog

Green Process of Three-Component Prostaglandin Synthesis and Rapid ¹¹C Labelings for Short-Lived PET Tracers: Highly Polished C-Couplings Revolutionizing Advances in Bio- and Medical Sciences

General synthesis of prostaglandins (PGs) has been accomplished based on a one-pot three-component coupling using a combination of organocopper or organozincate conjugate addition to 4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenone followed by trapping of resulting enolate with an organic halide. Based on the use of this synthetic methodology, biologically significant PG derivatives including ent-Δ7-PGA1, 15SAPNIC ([3H]APNIC), and 15R–TIC have also been synthesized. Ultimately, organozincate conjugate addition combined with the enolate trapping by an organic triflate results in practical green three-component coupling comprising the use of stoichiometric amounts of three components (enone, α- and ω-side chains in a nearly 1:1:1 ratio) without using HMPA and heavy metals. General methodology for introducing short-lived 11C and 18F radionuclides into carbon frameworks has been established by developing rapid C-[11C]methylation and C-[18F]fluoromethylation using Pd0-mediated rapid cross-coupling between [11C]methyl iodide and an organotributylstannane or organoboronate; or [18F]fluoromethyl bromide and organoboronate, respectively, allowing the synthesis of a wide variety of biologically significant and disease-oriented PET probes such as 15R-[11C]TIC. Moreover, PdII-mediated rapid C-[11C]carbonylation using [11C]CO and organoboronate at ambient temperature under atmospheric pressure using conventional helium carrier gas has been explored. Further, C-[11C]carboxylation has been promoted using [11C]CO2 and organoboronate with RhI catalyst under atmospheric pressure

The role of histidine-114 of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase in chain-length determination

AbstractSulfolobus acidocaldarius geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase yields (all-E)-C20 prenyl diphosphate as a final product. The three-dimensional model of the enzyme suggested that removing two bulky residues at 77 and 114 would allow additional prenyl-chain elongation. To test this, we examined several mutants with substitutions at 77 and/or 114. As a result, the mutants, F77G, F77G and H114A, F77G and H114G, H114A, and H114G gave C30, C45, C50, C30 and C40 as the main long product, respectively. These observations indicate that histidine-114 plays a crucial role in chain-length determination along with phenylalanine-77