カエル味覚器内の副交感性神経終末の存在について

An investigation was made of the precise origin of the efferent nerve terminals in the fungiform papillae of the bullfrog\u27s tongue. Some axonal enlargements originate from the parasympathetic postganglionic neurons in the glossopharyngeal nerve. Axonal enlargements containing large dense-cored vesicles (100-120 nm in diameter) and small, clear synaptic vesicles (50-60 nm in diameter) were in close contact with the supporting cell in the taste disk. These results seem to provide morphological evidence for the existence of an efferent control system in the taste disk of the bullfrog

湖底堆積物の理化学的，鉱物学的および地球科学的特性より推定されるトルコ共和国コンヤ盆地の気候変動

Physicochemical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of 279 highly calcareous lacustrine sediment samples obtained from the upper 30 m of a 60.85 m drilling core in the western part of the Great Konya Basin, Turkey, were studied. The sediments have a predominance of silt and clay fractions with a median diameter of 3-5 μm. Vertical changes of the amounts of water soluble components, such as gypsum, carbonates, and non-salt minerals such as quartz, feldspars, and layer silicates in the sediments, suggest that there were climatic changes in the Konya Basin. The dominant clay mineral is smectite followed by kaolinite, illite, and palygorskite. The oxygen isotopic (δ18O) ratios of six quartz samples from the Konya sediments, a terra rossa soil beside Lake Beyşehir Gölü and paleosols at the foot of Mt. Erciyes Dağ ranged from +18.1 to +20.6‰. The dominant clay minerals and δ18O ratios suggest that part of the quartz and coexisting layer silicates is of long-range transported and/or local aeolian dust origin from arid and semi-arid regions such as North Africa, Israel, and surrounding regions. The relatively high deposition rate might be due to aeolian dust input and/or the sediment input introduced by rivers such as the Çarşamba River from the Toros (taurus) Mountains. The vertical distributions of electroconductivity, amounts of water soluble and non-salt components, and the gypsum content of the sediments suggest that gypsum-rich layers were formed under shallow, saline waters, possibly associated with warm to hot and dry environments such as the Last Interfacial epoch and the Early Holocene. The sediments characterized by relatively high amounts of non-salt sediments, in which gypsum did not accumulate, could be deeper water phases formed under the cold and/or wet environments such as the Glacial epochs. Our data suggest that climatic changes in the Mediterranean area can be partly estimated from physicochemical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of the lacustrine sediments of the Konya Basin

Effective Epilepsy Surgery for Post-Traumatic West Syndrome Following Abusive Head Trauma

West syndrome, an infantile developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with a deleterious impact on long-term development, requires early treatment to minimize developmental abnormality; in such cases, epilepsy surgery should be considered a powerful therapeutic option. We describe a 10-month-old female admitted with West syndrome associated with a hemispheric lesion following abusive head trauma. Her seizures were suppressed by hemispherotomy at 12 months of age, leading to developmental improvement. Surgical treatment of West syndrome following traumatic brain injury has not been reported previously but is worth considering as a treatment option, depending on patient age and brain plasticity

Early patency rate and fate of reattached intercostal arteries after repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms

ObjectivesThe present study analyzes the early patency of intercostal artery reconstruction, using graft interposition and aortic patch anastomosis, and determines the fate of reattached intercostal arteries after repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms.MethodsWe selected 115 patients (mean age, 63 ± 15 years; range, 19-83 years; male, n = 83) treated by thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair with 1 or more reconstructed intercostal arteries at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine between October 1999 and December 2012. The intercostal arteries were reconstructed using graft interposition (n = 66), aortic patch anastomosis (n = 42), or both (n = 7).ResultsThe hospital mortality rate was 7.8% (n = 9). Eleven patients (9.6%) developed spinal cord ischemic injury (permanent, n = 6, transient, n = 5). The average number of reconstructed intercostal arteries per patient was 3.0 ± 1.5 (1-7), and 345 intercostal arteries were reattached. The overall patency rate was 74.2% (256/345) and that of aortic patch anastomosis was significantly better than that of graft interposition (90.8% [109/120] vs 65.3% [147/225], P < .01), but significantly worse for patients with than without spinal cord ischemic injury (51.9% [14/27] vs 76.1% [242/318], P = .01). There was no patch aneurysm in graft interposition during a mean of 49 ± 38 (range, 2-147) postoperative months, but aortic patch anastomosis including 4 intercostal arteries became dilated in 2 patients.ConclusionsAortic patch anastomosis might offer better patency rates and prevent spinal cord ischemic injury compared with graft interposition. Although aneurysmal changes in intercostal artery reconstructions are rare, large blocks of aortic wall reconstruction should be closely monitored

Double knockdown of α1,6-fucosyltransferase (FUT8) and GDP-mannose 4,6-dehydratase (GMD) in antibody-producing cells: a new strategy for generating fully non-fucosylated therapeutic antibodies with enhanced ADCC

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) is greatly enhanced by the absence of the core fucose of oligosaccharides attached to the Fc, and is closely related to the clinical efficacy of anticancer activity in humans <it>in vivo</it>. Unfortunately, all licensed therapeutic antibodies and almost all currently-developed therapeutic antibodies are heavily fucosylated and fail to optimize ADCC, which leads to a large dose requirement at a very high cost for the administration of antibody therapy to cancer patients. In this study, we explored the possibility of converting already-established antibody-producing cells to cells that produce antibodies fully lacking core fucosylation in order to facilitate the rapid development of next-generation therapeutic antibodies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Firstly, loss-of-function analyses using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against the three key genes involved in oligosaccharide fucose modification, i.e. α1,6-fucosyltransferase (<it>FUT8</it>), GDP-mannose 4,6-dehydratase (<it>GMD</it>), and GDP-fucose transporter (<it>GFT</it>), revealed that single-gene knockdown of each target was insufficient to completely defucosylate the products in antibody-producing cells, even though the most effective siRNA (>90% depression of the target mRNA) was employed. Interestingly, beyond our expectations, synergistic effects of <it>FUT8 </it>and <it>GMD </it>siRNAs on the reduction in fucosylation were observed, but not when these were used in combination with <it>GFT </it>siRNA. Secondly, we successfully developed an effective short hairpin siRNA tandem expression vector that facilitated the double knockdown of <it>FUT8 </it>and <it>GMD</it>, and we converted antibody-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to fully non-fucosylated antibody producers within two months, and with high converting frequency. Finally, the stable manufacture of fully non-fucosylated antibodies with enhanced ADCC was confirmed using the converted cells in serum-free fed-batch culture.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that FUT8 and GMD collaborate synergistically in the process of intracellular oligosaccharide fucosylation. We also demonstrated that double knockdown of <it>FUT8 </it>and <it>GMD </it>in antibody-producing cells could serve as a new strategy for producing next-generation therapeutic antibodies fully lacking core fucosylation and with enhanced ADCC. This approach offers tremendous cost- and time-sparing advantages for the development of next-generation therapeutic antibodies.</p

セファロX線規格写真を用いた日本人小児頭蓋骨の性別判定

Facial reconstruction is a technique that allows human skeletal remains to be used to build a facial image of the target individual during life. This technique is based on databases of facial soft tissue thickness. However, application of this technique is facilitated by accurate information such as age, sex and ancestry. Little information is available from the skull alone for building face reconstructions, particularly for skulls from juveniles. This study estimated sex differences from the cranial bases of juvenile skulls and observed significant differences between male and female in the S-N plane for Japanese children at 6-to 18-years-old

Pattern Recognition of EEG Signal during Motor Imagery by Using SOM

Electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings during right and left hand motor imagery can be used to move a cursor to a target on a computer screen. Such an EEGbased brain-computer interface (BCI) can provide a new communication channel to replace an impaired motor function. It can be used by e.g., handicap users with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The conventional method purposes the recognition of right hand and left hand motor imagery. In this work, feature extraction method based on Self Organizing Maps (SOM) using auto-regressive (AR) spectrum was introduced to discriminate the EEG signals recorded during right hand, left hand and foot motor imagery. Map structure is investigated in order to develop a BCI system which extracts physically meaningful information directly relevant to motor imagery. The analysis methods of EEG signals are discussed through the experimental studies