Toxicity and Molecular Identification of Green Toadfish Lagocephalus lunaris Collected from Kyushu Coast, Japan

Green toadfish Lagocephalus lunaris inhabits tropical and subtropical seas and contains high tetrodotoxin (TTX) levels in the muscle as well as liver and gonad. In 2008 to 2009, food poisoning due to ingesting L. lunais occurred in Western Japan. Five specimens of green toadfish caught in Kyushu coast, Japan, were analyzed for toxicity, toxins, and species identification. All five specimens were toxic by bioassay. Comparing the maximum toxicity in tissues, ovary contained the most toxin (1810 mouse unit [MU]/g), followed by liver (341 MU/g), muscle (135 MU/g), skin (79 MU/g), and intestine (72 MU/g). Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis revealed that TTX was the major toxin. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene fragment of muscle mitochondrial DNA indicated that partial sequences of PCR products of four specimens were identical with that of L. lunaris. The sequence of one specimen was indistinguishable from that of the brown-backed toadfish Lagocephalus wheeleri, a nontoxic species

Fractional Vortices and Lumps

We study what might be called fractional vortices, vortex configurations with the minimum winding from the viewpoint of their topological stability, but which are characterized by various notable substructures in the transverse energy distribution. The fractional vortices occur in diverse Abelian or non-Abelian generalizations of the Higgs model. The global and local features characterizing these are studied, and we identify the two crucial ingredients for their occurrence - the vacuum degeneracy leading to non-trivial vacuum moduli M, and the BPS nature of the vortices. Fractional vortices are further classified into two kinds. The first type of such vortices appear when M has orbifold Z_n singularities; the second type occurs in systems in which the vacuum moduli space M possesses either a deformed geometry or some singularity. These general features are illustrated with several concrete models.Comment: LaTeX, 46 pages, 12 figures. V2: minor changes, footnote adde

Multiple Layer Structure of Non-Abelian Vortex

Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) vortices in U(N) gauge theories have two layers corresponding to non-Abelian and Abelian fluxes, whose widths depend nontrivially on the ratio of U(1) and SU(N) gauge couplings. We find numerically and analytically that the widths differ significantly from the Compton lengths of lightest massive particles with the appropriate quantum number.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Dynamics of Strings between Walls

Configurations of vortex-strings stretched between or ending on domain walls were previously found to be 1/4 Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield(BPS) states in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in 3+1 dimensions. Among zero modes of string positions, the center of mass of strings in each region between two adjacent domain walls is shown to be non-normalizable whereas the rests are normalizable. We study dynamics of vortex-strings stretched between separated domain walls by using two methods, the moduli space (geodesic) approximation of full 1/4 BPS states and the charged particle approximation for string endpoints in the wall effective action. In the first method we explicitly obtain the effective Lagrangian, in terms of hypergeometric functions, and find the 90 degree scattering for head-on collision. In the second method the domain wall effective action is assumed to be U(1)^N gauge theory, and we find a good agreement between two methods for well separated strings.Comment: 48 pages, 9 figure

Striatal TRPV1 activation by acetaminophen ameliorates dopamine D2 receptor antagonists-induced orofacial dyskinesia

ジスキネジア新治療法の発見 --副作用を減らす併用薬から新しい創薬標的へ--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-04-16.Antipsychotics often cause tardive dyskinesia, an adverse symptom of involuntary hyperkinetic movements. Analysis of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System and JMDC insurance claims revealed that acetaminophen prevents the dyskinesia induced by dopamine D₂ receptor antagonists. In vivo experiments further showed that a 21-day treatment with haloperidol increased the number of vacuous chewing movements (VCMs) in rats, an effect that was inhibited by oral acetaminophen treatment or intracerebroventricular injection of N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-arachidonylamide (AM404), an acetaminophen metabolite that acts as an activator of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). In mice, haloperidol-induced VCMs were also mitigated by treatment with AM404 applied to the dorsal striatum, but not in TRPV1-deficient mice. Acetaminophen prevented the haloperidol-induced decrease in the number of c-Fos⁺/preproenkephalin⁺ striatal neurons in wild-type mice but not in TRPV1-deficient mice. Finally, chemogenetic stimulation of indirect-pathway medium spiny neurons in the dorsal striatum decreased haloperidol-induced VCMs. These results suggest that acetaminophen activates the indirect pathway neurons by activating TRPV1 channels via AM404

Radial Transport Characteristics of Fast Ions Due to Energetic-Particle Modes inside the Last Closed-Flux Surface in the Compact Helical System

The internal behavior of fast ions interacting with magnetohydrodynamic bursts excited by energetic ions has been experimentally investigated in the compact helical system. The resonant convective oscillation of fast ions was identified inside the last closed-flux surface during an energetic-particle mode (EPM) burst. The phase difference between the fast-ion oscillation and the EPM, indicating the coupling strength between them, remains a certain value during the EPM burst and drives an anomalous transport of fast ions

Endometrial receptivity and implantation require uterine BMP signaling through an ACVR2A-SMAD1/SMAD5 axis.

During early pregnancy in the mouse, nidatory estrogen (E2) stimulates endometrial receptivity by activating a network of signaling pathways that is not yet fully characterized. Here, we report that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) control endometrial receptivity via a conserved activin receptor type 2 A (ACVR2A) and SMAD1/5 signaling pathway. Mice were generated to contain single or double conditional deletion of SMAD1/5 and ACVR2A/ACVR2B receptors using progesterone receptor (PR)-cre. Female mice with SMAD1/5 deletion display endometrial defects that result in the development of cystic endometrial glands, a hyperproliferative endometrial epithelium during the window of implantation, and impaired apicobasal transformation that prevents embryo implantation and leads to infertility. Analysis of Acvr2a-PRcre and Acvr2b-PRcre pregnant mice determined that BMP signaling occurs via ACVR2A and that ACVR2B is dispensable during embryo implantation. Therefore, BMPs signal through a conserved endometrial ACVR2A/SMAD1/5 pathway that promotes endometrial receptivity during embryo implantation

Effect of Cetraxate, a Mucosal Protective Agent, on Gastric Mucosal Blood Flow and Gastric Clarithromycin Concentration in Nicotine-treated Rats

Our previous study demonstrated that combination treatment with cetraxate plus omeprazole, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin is effective for the eradication of Helicobacter pylon in smokers. To evaluate the effect of cetraxate on gastric mucosal blood flow (GMBF) and the gastric concentration of clarithromycin in nicotine-treated rats, 10 rats were divided into two groups given nicotine with or without cetraxate, and GMBF was measured by laser Doppler blood flowmetry. Another 36 rats were divided into three groups (control, nicotine, and nicotine + cetraxate). Clarithromycin was administered intraduodenally and nicotine was administered after 30 minutes, with cetraxate being given 30 minutes later. The gastric mucosal clarithromycin concentration was measured. After cetraxate administration, GMBF increased significantly in the nicotine + cetraxate group compared with the nicotine group (p<0.05). The mucosal clarithromycin concentration increased in the nicotine + cetraxate group compared with the nicotine group, but the difference was not significant. Our results indicate that cetraxate increased GMBF in nicotine-treated rats