Serine racemases from barley, Hordeum vulgare L., and other plant species represent a distinct eukaryotic group: gene cloning and recombinant protein characterization

Several D-amino acids have been identified in plants. However, the biosynthetic pathway to them is unclear. In this study, we cloned and sequenced a cDNA encoding a serine racemase from barley which contained an open reading frame encoding 337 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence showed significant identity to plant and mammalian serine racemases and contained conserved pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP)-binding lysine and PLP–interacting amino acid residues. The purified gene product catalyzed not only racemization of serine but also dehydration of serine to pyruvate. The enzyme requires PLP and divalent cations such as Ca2+, Mg2+, or Mn2+, but not ATP, whereas mammalian serine racemase activity is increased by ATP. In addition to the results regarding the effect of ATP on enzyme activity and the phylogenetic analysis of eukaryotic serine racemases, the antiserum against Arabidopsis serine racemase did not form a precipitate with barley and rice serine racemases. This suggests that plant serine racemases represent a distinct group in the eukaryotic serine racemase family and can be clustered into monocot and dicot types.</p

An Analysis Of Bottleneck Technology By Using Experiments And CAE -Example Of The Automotive Transaxle Oil Seal Leakage-

This research aims to clarify the technological mechanism by using experiment and CAE (Computer Aided Engineering). Concretely, we take up the automotive transaxle oil seal leakage. To clarify an unknown mechanism, the dynamic behavior on the surface of the seal lip in the drive shaft high-speed rotation was observed with the visualization device. The authors thus achieved the desired results

Engineering a BCR-ABL–Activated Caspase for the Selective Elimination of Leukemic Cells

Increased understanding of the precise molecular mechanisms involved in cell survival and cell death signaling pathways offers the promise of harnessing these molecules to eliminate cancer cells without damaging normal cells. Tyrosine kinase oncoproteins promote the genesis of leukemias through both increased cell proliferation and inhibition of apoptotic cell death. Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as the BCR-ABL inhibitor imatinib, have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in the clinic, drug-resistant leukemias emerge in some patients because of either the acquisition of point mutations or amplification of the tyrosine kinase, resulting in a poor long-term prognosis. Here, we exploit the molecular mechanisms of caspase activation and tyrosine kinase/adaptor protein signaling to forge a unique approach for selectively killing leukemic cells through the forcible induction of apoptosis. We have engineered caspase variants that can directly be activated in response to BCR-ABL. Because we harness, rather than inhibit, the activity of leukemogenic kinases to kill transformed cells, this approach selectively eliminates leukemic cells regardless of drug-resistant mutations

救急隊員が実施する蘇生処置に対する受益者の支払意思額 : 仮想市場調査法を用いた調査

Background: Japanese emergency medical services (EMS) can be used by anyone for free. Recently, EMS usage has increased; the increased costs and the prolonged time for ambulance transport have become recent social problems. Objective: We surveyed the willingness to pay (WTP) for resuscitation provided by EMS. Methods: In November 2011, men and women (3160) aged 20 - 59 years were asked to assume that they were experiencing a cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA), and their WTP for EMS services was assessed in the following three situations: Case A, ambulance transport alone; Case B, chest compression in addition to ambulance transport; and Case C, artificial ventilation through chest compression and intratracheal intubation, in addition to ambulance transport. We calculated the mean WTP for each case. Results: The WTP for Case A, B, and C were ¥6,696 ($65.0), ¥16,081 ($156.1), and ¥27,505 ($267.0), respectively. The WTP for Case B was significantly higher in respondents aged 40 - 59 years compared to those aged 20 - 39 years. The WTP for case B and C were significantly higher in males compared to females. WTP was significantly lower in students than it was in private employees. Although women’s intention to pay was higher than that of men, their WTP was lower than that of men. Public employees’ and students’ intention to pay was significantly lower than that of private employees. Conclusions: Our study provides information about the optimal fee for EMS, which will be useful for discussions on the feasibility of introducing a fee for EMS in Japan.博士（医学）・甲第678号・平成30年3月15日Copyright © 2017 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Stress and crack monitoring during plasma spraying of TBC

Two types of process monitoring techniques are compared and discussed in this presentation. The first one is in-situ curvature monitoring, by which it was possible to evaluate the stress evolution during plasma spraying and separately identify the sources of stresses, i.e., the quenching stress and thermal stress as shown in Fig.1 (a). By changing the spraying parameters, it was possible to prepare specimens at largely different deposition temperatures, which resulted in significantly different levels of residual stresses. Also, it was found that the mechanical properties of the obtained YSZ coatings such as the elastic modulus are strongly dependent on the deposition temperature as shown in Fig.1 (b). Four-point bending test was conducted to these coatings, which clearly showed that the compressive residual stress effectively offset the applied tensile stress to initiate cracking in the YSZ coatings. Another method is based on acoustic emission (AE). Non-contacting laser AE sensors as shown in Fig.2 were used to detect cracking in YSZ coatings during spraying. Due to the intensive noise from the plasma spraying environment, extensive signal processing techniques have been developed to eliminate the noise in the frequency and time domains by using digital filtering and multi-threshold techniques. The obtained results so far indicate that the through thickness temperature gradient during spraying plays a major role in the formation of deep vertically segmentation cracks