The Biogeography of Green Algae Associated with Red Snow in Japan

第3回極域科学シンポジウム/第34回極域生物シンポジウム 11月27日（火） 国立極地研究所 ３階ラウン

Radiographic Analysis of Preoperative and Postoperative 3DCT Images of Trochanteric Femoral Fractures

The present study compared a 3-dimensional computed tomography (3DCT) classification (Nakano classification) with conventional x-ray classifications (Jensen classification and AO classification) in 44 patients with trochanteric femoral fractures, and evaluated the patterns of fracture lines using 3DCT images. The concordance rate between the Jensen and 3DCT classification, and between the AO and 3DCT classification was 65.9% and 75.0%, respectively. 3DCT scans enabled the creation of detailed images of fracture lines. The anterior fracture line was found to run along the intertrochanteric crest in 90.9% of patients, while the location of the posterior fracture line was in the same approximate position in all patients, including those with comminuted fractures (34.1%). Posterior destruction along lateral fracture lines was present in 63.6% of patients. Furthermore, the preoperative and postoperative CT images of 33 patients with fractures treated via insertion of short femoral nails demonstrated that there was difficulty reducing greater trochanteric fractures. This included reducing fracture sites separated by nail insertion (42.4%) and greater trochanteric fracture sites displaced after surgery (54.5%), suggesting that the use of short femoral nails is limited

Expression of a fungal laccase fused with a bacterial cellulose-binding module improves the enzymatic saccharification efficiency of lignocellulose biomass in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

Delignification is effective for improving the saccharification efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass materials. We previously identified that the expression of a fungal laccase (Lac) fused with a bacterial cellulose-binding module domain (CBD) improved the enzymatic saccharification efficiency of rice plants. In this work, to evaluate the ability of the Lac-CBD fused chimeric enzyme to improve saccharification efficiency in a dicot plant, we introduced the chimeric gene into a dicot model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. Transgenic plants expressing the Lac-CBD chimeric gene showed normal morphology and growth, and showed a significant increase of enzymatic saccharification efficiency compared to control plants. The transgenic plants with the largest improvement of enzymatic saccharification efficiency also showed an increase of crystalline cellulose in their cell wall fractions. These results indicated that expression of the Lac-CBD chimeric protein in dicotyledonous plants improved the enzymatic saccharification of plant biomass by increasing the crystallinity of cellulose in the cell wall

Sexual Experience Induces the Expression of Gastrin-Releasing Peptide and Oxytocin Receptors in the Spinal Ejaculation Generator in Rats

Male sexual function in mammals is controlled by the brain neural circuits and the spinal cord centers located in the lamina X of the lumbar spinal cord (L3-L4). Recently, we reported that hypothalamic oxytocin neurons project to the lumbar spinal cord to activate the neurons located in the dorsal lamina X of the lumbar spinal cord (dXL) via oxytocin receptors, thereby facilitating male sexual activity. Sexual experiences can influence male sexual activity in rats. However, how this experience affects the brain-spinal cord neural circuits underlying male sexual activity remains unknown. Focusing on dXL neurons that are innervated by hypothalamic oxytocinergic neurons controlling male sexual function, we examined whether sexual experience affects such neural circuits. We found that >50% of dXL neurons were activated in the first ejaculation group and similar to 30% in the control and intromission groups in sexually naive males. In contrast, in sexually experienced males, similar to 50% of dXL neurons were activated in both the intromission and ejaculation groups, compared to similar to 30% in the control group. Furthermore, sexual experience induced expressions of gastrin-releasing peptide and oxytocin receptors in the lumbar spinal cord. This is the first demonstration of the effects of sexual experience on molecular expressions in the neural circuits controlling male sexual activity in the spinal cord

Phylogeography of Juniperus Species (Cupressaceae) with a Disjunct Distribution in the Island Areas of Japan

departmental bulletin pape

Dual-Matrix Domain-Wall: A Novel Technique for Generating Permutations by QUBO and Ising Models with Quadratic Sizes

The Ising model is defined by an objective function using a quadratic formula of qubit variables. The problem of an Ising model aims to determine the qubit values of the variables that minimize the objective function, and many optimization problems can be reduced to this problem. In this paper, we focus on optimization problems related to permutations, where the goal is to find the optimal permutation out of the $n!$ possible permutations of $n$ elements. To represent these problems as Ising models, a commonly employed approach is to use a kernel that utilizes one-hot encoding to find any one of the $n!$ permutations as the optimal solution. However, this kernel contains a large number of quadratic terms and high absolute coefficient values. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a novel permutation encoding technique called dual-matrix domain-wall, which significantly reduces the number of quadratic terms and the maximum absolute coefficient values in the kernel. Surprisingly, our dual-matrix domain-wall encoding reduces the quadratic term count and maximum absolute coefficient values from $n^3-n^2$ and $2n-4$ to $6n^2-12n+4$ and $2$, respectively. We also demonstrate the applicability of our encoding technique to partial permutations and Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) models. Furthermore, we discuss a family of permutation problems that can be efficiently implemented using Ising/QUBO models with our dual-matrix domain-wall encoding.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure

Cnm of Streptococcus mutans is important for cell surface structure and membrane permeability

Streptococcus mutans, a Gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacterium, is a major pathogen of dental caries. The protein Cnm of S. mutans is involved in collagen binding, but its other biological functions are unknown. In this study, a Cnm-deficient isogenic mutant and a complementation strain were generated from a Cnm-positive S. mutans strain to help determine the properties of Cnm. Initially, comparison of the cell surface structure was performed by electron microscopy, which demonstrated that Cnm appears to be localized on the cell surface and associated with a protruding cell surface structure. Deep RNA sequencing of the strains revealed that the defect in Cnm caused upregulated expression of many genes related to ABC transporters and cell-surface proteins, while a few genes were downregulated. The amount of biofilm formed by the Cnm-defective strain increased compared with the parental and complemented strains, but the biofilm structure was thinner because of elevated expression of genes encoding glucan synthesis enzymes, leading to increased production of extracellular polysaccharides. Particular antibiotics, including bacitracin and chloramphenicol, had a lower minimum inhibitory concentration for the Cnm-defective strain than particular antibiotics, including bacitracin and chloramphenicol, compared with the parental and complemented strains. Our results suggest that S. mutans Cnm is located on the cell surface, gives rise to the observed protruding cell surface, and is associated with several biological properties related to membrane permeability