Approaches to Evaluating Trunk Muscle Power Balance

The purpose of the study was to evaluate trunk muscle power balance. Subjects is 7 university students(5 male: height 178.5±3.6cm, weight 74.0±8.5kg, 2female : height 157.0±8.4, weight 55.0±0) in this study. Trunk muscle power balance was evaluated using the Sling exercise therapy machine. F1 was weighted the upper part of their body with the scales. F2 was weighted the lower half of the body with the tension scales. The waist torque by change for position of Sling Point(SP) was increased about 1.3 times therefore SP was moved their toe. As to bilateral difference of trunk muscle power balance have a strong tendency to rotate left side motion the effect occurring most often right-handed

Characteristics of Highly Polymorphic Segmental Copy-Number Variations Observed in Japanese by BAC-Array-CGH

Segmental copy-number variations (CNVs) may contribute to genetic variation in humans. Reports of the existence and characteristics of CNVs in a large Japanese cohort are quite limited. We report the data from a large Japanese population. We conducted population screening for 213 unrelated Japanese individuals using comparative genomic hybridization based on a bacterial artificial chromosome microarray (BAC-aCGH). We summarize the data by focusing on highly polymorphic CNVs in ≥5.0% of the individual, since they may be informative for demonstrating the relationships between genotypes and their phenotypes. We found a total of 680 CNVs at 16 different BAC-regions in the genome. The majority of the polymorphic CNVs presented on BAC-clones that overlapped with regions of segmental duplication, and the majority of the polymorphic CNVs observed in this population had been previously reported in other publications. Some of the CNVs contained genes which might be related to phenotypic heterogeneity among individuals

Nutritional Status and Competitive Ability in Wheelechair Basketball Players

本研究では、障害者スポーツの中でも最も人気が高く、競技人口の多い競技のうちの１つである車椅子バスケットボール選手を対象にアンケート調査を実施し、競技力向上の手がかりと食生活に関する調査を行い、障害者スポーツ選手のサポート・食生活のあり方について検討することを目的とした。その結果、1)車椅子バスケットボール実施者、競技水準が上がるにつれて年齢は下がっている傾向がみられた、2)車椅子バスケットボール実施理由を「競技志向」、「健康志向」、「きっかけづくり」と3因子に分類したとき「競技志向」と競技水準には有意な相関がみられた、3)「栄養・食生活に関するサポート」と競技水準とについて有意な相関がみられ、競技水準の高いものが栄養・食生活に関する意識が高い傾向がみられた

Footedness for scratching itchy eyes in rodents

The neural bases of itchy eye transmission remain unclear compared with those involved in body itch. Here, we show in rodents that the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) of the trigeminal sensory system is involved in the transmission of itchy eyes. Interestingly, we further demonstrate a difference in scratching behaviour between the left and right hindfeet in rodents; histamine instillation into the conjunctival sac of both eyes revealed right-foot biased laterality in the scratching movements. Unilateral histamine instillation specifically induced neural activation in the ipsilateral sensory pathway, with no significant difference between the activations following left- and right-eye instillations. Thus, the behavioural laterality is presumably due to right-foot preference in rodents. Genetically modified rats with specific depletion of Grpr-expressing neurons in the trigeminal sensory nucleus caudalis of the medulla oblongata exhibited fewer and shorter histamine-induced scratching movements than controls and eliminated the footedness. These results taken together indicate that the Grp-expressing neurons are required for the transmission of itch sensation from the eyes, but that foot preference is generated centrally. These findings could open up a new field of research on the mechanisms of the laterality in vertebrates and also offer new potential therapeutic approaches to refractory pruritic eye disorders

Removal of nitrogen by Antarctic yeast cells at low temperature

Nitrate removal in a medium (at 5°C ) and the effect of culture temperature on the fatty acid composition were investigated using Candida sp. which was isolated from the upper layer of Lake Vanda in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. The strain was cultured at 5°C aerobically, on a synthetic medium containing potassium nitrate (NO_3-N, 100 mgl^) as a nitrogen source, and examined the effects of pH and chlorine on growth and NO_3-N removal in the medium. Within the pH of 3 to 7 the yeast cells exhibited a similar removal of nitrate level. The strain grew well and also removed nitrate at chlorine concentrations of 5 and 10 mgl^ but did not grow at chlorine concentration of 20 mgl^. Decreasing the growth temperature induced an increase in the content of linolenic acid (18:3) in the yeast cells