miRNA-based rapid differentiation of purified neurons from hPSCs advancestowards quick screening for neuronal disease phenotypes in vitro

Obtaining differentiated cells with high physiological functions by an efficient, but simple and rapid differentiation method is crucial for modeling neuronal diseases in vitro using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Currently, methods involving the transient expression of one or a couple of transcription factors have been established as techniques for inducing neuronal differentiation in a rapid, single step. It has also been reported that microRNAs can function as reprogramming effectors for directly reprogramming human dermal fibroblasts to neurons. In this study, we tested the effect of adding neuronal microRNAs, miRNA-9/9*, and miR-124 (miR-9/9*-124), for the neuronal induction method of hPSCs using Tet-On-driven expression of the Neurogenin2 gene

Global Oxygen Detection in Water Using Luminescent Probe on Anodized Aluminum

We have developed anodized-aluminum pressure-sensitive paint (AA-PSP) as a global oxygen sensor in water. Platinum (II) meso-tetra(pentafluorophenyl)porphine is selected as a luminophore based on a dipping deposition study. The developed AA-PSP is characterized using water calibration setup by controlling dissolved oxygen concentration. It is shown that AA-PSP yields 4.0% change in luminescence per 1 mg/L of oxygen concentration at 23°C. Other characteristics, such as temperature dependency, photo-degradation, and physical stability, are discussed in this paper. This AA-PSP is used to demonstrate its capability of global oxygen detection in water using the impingement of oxygen rich water (20 mg/L). Even though the difference in water is only the concentration of oxygen, we can obtain global oxygen information of the jet impingement using a fast frame rate camera. Oxygen maps as well as cross-sectional distributions are shown every 0.1 s

Characterization and Optimization of Polymer-Ceramic Pressure-Sensitive Paint by Controlling Polymer Content

A pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) with fast response characteristics that can be sprayed on a test article is studied. This PSP consists of a polymer for spraying and a porous particle for providing the fast response. We controlled the polymer content (%) from 10 to 90% to study its effects on PSP characteristics: the signal level, pressure sensitivity, temperature dependency, and time response. The signal level and temperature dependency shows a peak in the polymer content around 50 to 70%. The pressure sensitivity was fairly constant in the range between 0.8 and 0.9 %/kPa. The time response is improved by lowering the polymer content. The variation of the time response is shown to be on the order of milliseconds to ten seconds. A weight coefficient is introduced to optimize the resultant PSPs. By setting the weight coefficient, we can optimize the PSP for sensing purposes

Surface Modification of Fluorocarbon Polymer Film by High Density Microwave Plasma

金沢大学理工研究域サステナブルエネルギー研究センタ

Joint effect of longevity-associated mitochondrial DNA 5178 C/A polymorphism and alcohol consumption on risk of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia in middle-aged Japanese men

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Combined effects between mitochondrial DNA 5178 (Mt5178) C/A polymorphism and alcohol consumption on the risk of hypertension or hyperuricemia have been reported. The objective of this study was to investigate whether Mt5178 C/A polymorphism modulates the effects of alcohol consumption on the risk of dyslipidemia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 394 male subjects were selected from among individuals visiting the hospital for regular medical check-ups. After Mt5178 C/A genotyping, a cross-sectional study assessing the combined effect of Mt5178 polymorphism and alcohol consumption on the risk of dyslipidemia was conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For men with Mt5178C, alcohol consumption was significantly and negatively associated with the risk of hyper-low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterolemia (serum LDL cholesterol ≥ 140 mg/dl) (<it>P </it>for trend = 0.015). After adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), habitual smoking, coffee consumption and use of antihypertensive medicine, the odds ratio (OR) for hyper-LDL cholesterolemia was significantly lower in daily drinkers with Mt5178C than non-drinkers with Mt5178C (OR = 0.360, 95% confidence intervals: 0.153-0.847). A significant and negative association between alcohol consumption and serum LDL cholesterol levels was also observed in Mt5178C genotypic men (<it>P </it>for trend < 0.01). On the other hand, the association between Mt5178A genotype and risk of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia does not appear to depend on alcohol consumption.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>For Mt5178C genotypic men, alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia.</p

The MAXI Mission on the ISS: Science and Instruments for Monitoring All Sky X-Ray Images

The MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image) mission is the first astronomical payload to be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) on the ISS. It is scheduled for launch in the middle of 2009 to monitor all-sky X-ray objects on every ISS orbit. MAXI will be more powerful than any previous X-ray All Sky Monitor (ASM) payloads, being able to monitor hundreds of AGN. MAXI will provide all sky images of X-ray sources of about 20 mCrab in the energy band of 2-30 keV from observation on one ISS orbit (90 min), about 4.5 mCrab for one day, and about 1 mCrab for one month. A final detectability of MAXI could be 0.2 mCrab for 2 year observations.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Increased fatty acyl saturation of phosphatidylinositol phosphates in prostate cancer progression

Phosphoinositides (PIPs) participate in many cellular processes, including cancer progression; however, the metabolic features of PIPs associated with prostate cancer (PCa) are unknown. We investigated PIPs profiles in PTEN-deficient prostate cancer cell lines, human prostate tissues obtained from patients with PCa and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) specimens using mass spectrometry. In immortalized normal human prostate PNT1B cells, PTEN deficiency increased phosphatidylinositol tris-phosphate (PIP3) and decreased phosphatidylinositol mono- and bis-phosphate (PIP1 and PIN2 consistent with PTEN\u27s functional role as a PI(3,4,5)P-3 3-phosphatase. In human prostate tissues, levels of total (sum of all acyl variants) phosphatidylinositol (PI) and PIP1 in PCa were significantly higher than in BPH, whereas PIP2 and PIP3 contents were significantly lower than in BPH. PCa patients had significantly higher proportion of PI, PIP1, and PIP2 with 0-2 double bonds in acyl chains than BPH patients. In subgroup analyses based on PCa aggressiveness, mean total levels of PI with 0-2 double bonds in acyl chains were significantly higher in patients with pathological stage T3 than in those with pathological stage T2. These data indicate that alteration of PIPs level and the saturation of acyl chains may be associated with the development and aggressiveness of prostate cancer, although it is unknown whether this alteration is causative

The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO

DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry– Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre- DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024

DECIGO pathfinder

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article