Distribución espacial y solapamiento de dietas entre la anchoa japonesa Engraulis japonicus y la medusa Aurelia aurita en el Mar Interior de Seto, Japón

Biological and physical surveys were conducted in order to investigate the relationship between environmental conditions and the distribution of ichthyoplankton and jellyfish, and dietary overlap between the ichthyoplankton and jellyfish in the Seto Inland Sea (SIS), Japan. Ichthyoplankton, copepods, and jellyfish were collected during two cruises in July 2005 in the Sea of Hiuchi and in July 2006 in Hiroshima Bay within the SIS. Sea surface temperature (˚C), salinity, bottom-layer dissolved oxygen (mg l-1) and the abundance (no. m-2) of fish eggs and larvae were significantly higher in the Sea of Hiuchi. Japanese anchovy was most dominant (69.3% in number of eggs and 52.3% in number of larvae) among the ichthyoplankton. Mean jellyfish biomass (g m-2) in Hiroshima Bay was significantly higher (50-folds) than that in the Sea of Hiuchi. Moon jellyfish was the most dominant among the jellyfish collected, accounting for 85.6% in wet weight. Surface temperature had a significant effect on fish egg and larval distribution: abundance of fish eggs and larvae increased with increasing temperature. Jellyfish abundance was negatively correlated with the bottom-layer oxygen concentration. Stable isotope analysis indicated dietary overlap between the Japanese anchovy and the moon jellyfish in Hiroshima Bay.Se realizaron campañas físico-biológicas a fin de investigar la relación entre las condiciones ambientales y la distribución del ictioplancton y las medusas, y el solapamiento de sus dietas en el Mar Interior de Seto (SIS), Japón. Durante dos campañas, en julio de 2005 en el mar de Hiuchi y en julio de 2006 en la bahía de Hiroshima (SIS), se recolectaron ictioplancton, copépodos y medusas. La temperatura superficial (°C), la salinidad, el oxígeno disuelto en el fondo (mg l-1) y la abundancia de los huevos y larvas de peces (no. m-2) fueron significativamente mayores en el Mar de Hiuchi. La anchoa japonesa dominó el ictioplancton (69.3% en número de huevos y 52.3% de larvas). La biomasa media de medusas (g m-2) en la bahía de Hiroshima fue significativamente mayor (50 veces) que en el Mar de Hiuchi. La medusa Aurelia aurita fue la dominante entre las medusas recogidas, lo que representó el 85.6% en peso húmedo. La temperatura superficial tuvo un efecto significativo sobre la distribución de huevos y larvas de peces: su abundancia aumentó al aumentar la temperatura. La abundancia de medusas se correlacionó negativamente con la concentración de oxígeno en la capa del fondo. Los análisis de isótopos estables indicaron una superposición en la dieta de la anchoa japonesa y la medusa Aurelia aurita en la bahía de Hiroshima

Identification of individual tree crowns from satellite image and image-to-map rectification

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科知能情報・数理In forest area, there are few landmarks to be ground control points (GCPs) used for registration of satellite images or maps. Additionally, geographic information from the Global Positioning System (GPS) in field measurement survey is insufficient accuracy to identify individual tree crowns from satellite image. In this study, we propose the method of identifying individual tree crowns from satellite image using field measured data. First, in order to obtain the field measured data, we collected several information of individual trees in the test site. These are the tree stand locations, the distances between the tree trunk and outermost branch in eight directions, the diameter at breast height, and tree species. This survey was carried out on 20 September 2006. The area of this site is 160 meter by 80 meter, and there are about 60 canopy trees. Then, using the field measured data, we created the projected on-ground crown map which has the location and shape of individual trees. The each shape of tree crown is octagonal. Next, we detected the regions of tree crown from satellite image. In this study, we used an IKONOS panchromatic satellite image. The spatial resolution of analysis image is 1 meter per pixel. It can be recognized and identified an individual tree crown whose radius is more than 2 or 3 meter. Watershed algorithm was used for image segmentation, based on mathematical morphology considers gray-scale images to be sets of points in a three-dimensional space, the third dimension being the gray level. A gray scale landscape may be segmented according to the watersheds of the image. The segmented regions were classified to discriminate tree crown using the feature of spectral signature. Finally, we found out individual tree crowns related with field measured data from satellite image. Using a GCP by GPS equipment, we performed roughly registration of the satellite image to the projected onground crown map. For each tree crown in the map, we found out the same tree, which has the highest corresponding possibility to the tree crown in the map, among segmented regions obtained from satellite image. This tree-to-tree matching algorithm was performed using the fitness value of the location and octagonal shape of both tree crowns in image and map. We could obtain the optimum registration by affine transformation of highest fitness value without ground control points. Consequently, we could identify individual tree crowns from satellite image by imageto-map rectification. © 2007 IEEE

Inhibition of RAGE signaling through the intracellular delivery of inhibitor peptides by PEI cationization

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a multi-ligand cell surface receptor and a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. RAGE is involved in a wide range of inflammatory, degenerative and hyper-proliferative disorders which span over different organs by engaging diverse ligands, including advanced glycation end products, S100 family proteins, high-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) and amyloid beta. We previously demonstrated that the cytoplasmic domain of RAGE is phosphorylated upon the binding of ligands, enabling the recruitment of two distinct pairs of adaptor proteins, Toll-interleukin 1 receptor domain-containing adaptor protein (TIRAP) and myeloid differentiation protein 88 (MyD88). This engagement allows the activation of downstream effector molecules, and thereby mediates a wide variety of cellular processes, such as inflammatory responses, apoptotic cell death, migration and cell growth. Therefore, inhibition of the binding of TIRAP to RAGE may abrogate intracellular signaling from ligand-activated RAGE. In the present study, we developed inhibitor peptides for RAGE signaling (RAGE-I) by mimicking the phosphorylatable cytosolic domain of RAGE. RAGE-I was efficiently delivered into the cells by polyethylenimine (PEI) cationization. We demonstrated that RAGE-I specifically bound to TIRAP and abrogated the activation of Cdc42 induced by ligand-activated RAGE. Furthermore, we were able to reduce neuronal cell death induced by an excess amount of S100B and to inhibit the migration and invasion of glioma cells in vitro. Our results indicate that RAGE-I provides a powerful tool for therapeutics to block RAGE-mediated multiple signaling

Dengue virus type 2 unresponsive to the current PCR primer; : construction of a new PCR primer to detect all strains of Dengue virus type 2.

We found that one strain of dengue virus (Trinidad 1751; TR) did not respond to the PCR primer for Jamaica/83. We investigated such property with other 10 strains of dengue virus type 2 and found 2 more unresponsive strains. All 3 strains were isolated from the central America. To detect the envelope gene of those 3 strains by PCR, we synthesized primers based on TR strain as the reference sequence. Using these primers, we could detect the 3 strains by PCR at the usual annealing temperature. We recommed the new primer for diagnosis of DEN 2

Clinical response in Japanese metastatic melanoma patients treated with peptide cocktail-pulsed dendritic cells

BACKGROUND: Metastatic, chemotherapy-resistant melanoma is an intractable cancer with a very poor prognosis. As to immunotherapy targeting metastatic melanoma, HLA-A2(+ )patients were mainly enrolled in the study in Western countries. However, HLA-A24(+ )melanoma patients-oriented immunotherapy has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we investigated the effect of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy on metastatic melanoma patients with HLA-A2 or A24 genotype. METHODS: Nine cases of metastatic melanoma were enrolled into a phase I study of monocyte-derived dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy. HLA-genotype analysis revealed 4 cases of HLA-A*0201, 1 of A*0206 and 4 of A*2402. Enriched monocytes were obtained using OptiPrep™ from leukapheresis products, and then incubated with GM-CSF and IL-4 in a closed serum-free system. After pulsing with a cocktail of 5 melanoma-associated synthetic peptides (gp100, tyrosinase, MAGE-2, MAGE-3 and MART-1 or MAGE-1) restricted to HLA-A2 or A24 and KLH, cells were cryopreserved until used. Finally, thawed DCs were washed and injected subcutaneously (s.c.) into the inguinal region in a dose-escalation manner. RESULTS: The mean percentage of DCs rated as lin(-)HLA-DR(+ )in melanoma patients was 46.4 ± 15.6 %. Most of DCs expressed high level of co-stimulatory molecules and type1 phenotype (CD11c(+)HLA-DR(+)), while a moderate number of mature DCs with CD83 and CCR7 positive were contained in DC products. DC injections were well tolerated except for transient liver dysfunction (elevation of transaminases, Grade I-II). All 6 evaluable cases except for early PD showed positive immunological responses to more than 2 melanoma peptides in an ELISPOT assay. Two representative responders demonstrated strong HLA-class I protein expression in the tumor and very high scores of ELISPOT that might correlate to the regression of metastatic tumors. Clinical response through DC injections was as follows : 1CR, 1 PR, 1SD and 6 PD. All 59 DC injections in the phase I study were tolerable in terms of safety, however, the maximal tolerable dose of DCs was not determined. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that peptide cocktail-treated DC-based immunotherapy had the potential for utilizing as one of therapeutic tools against metastatic melanoma in Japan

Genome-wide association studies identify polygenic effects for completed suicide in the Japanese population

Suicide is a significant public health problem worldwide, and several Asian countries including Japan have relatively high suicide rates on a world scale. Twin, family, and adoption studies have suggested high heritability for suicide, but genetics lags behind due to difficulty in obtaining samples from individuals who died by suicide, especially in non-European populations. In this study, we carried out genome-wide association studies combining two independent datasets totaling 746 suicides and 14,049 non-suicide controls in the Japanese population. Although we identified no genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we demonstrated significant SNP-based heritability (35–48%; P < 0.001) for completed suicide by genomic restricted maximum-likelihood analysis and a shared genetic risk between two datasets (P best = 2.7 × 10−13) by polygenic risk score analysis. This study is the first genome-wide association study for suicidal behavior in an East Asian population, and our results provided the evidence of polygenic architecture underlying completed suicide

The Molecule Role Ontology: An Ontology for Annotation of Signal Transduction Pathway Molecules in the Scientific Literature

In general, it is not easy to specify a single sequence identity for each molecule name that appears in a pathway in the scientific literature. A molecule name may stand for concepts of various granularities, from concrete objects such as H-Ras and ERK1 to abstract concepts or categories such as Ras and MAPK. Typically, the relations among molecule names derive a hierarchical structure; without a proper way to handle this knowledge, it becomes ever more difficult to develop a reliable pathway database. This paper describes an ontology that is designed to annotate molecules in the scientific literature on signal transduction pathways

Early gastric cancer detection in high-risk patients: a multicentre randomised controlled trial on the effect of second-generation narrow band imaging

Objective: Early detection of gastric cancer has been the topic of major efforts in high prevalence areas. Whether advanced imaging methods, such as second-generation narrow band imaging (2G-NBI) can improve early detection, is unknown. Design: This open-label, randomised, controlled tandem trial was conducted in 13 hospitals. Patients at increased risk for gastric cancer were randomly assigned to primary white light imaging (WLI) followed by secondary 2G-NBI (WLI group: n=2258) and primary 2G-NBI followed by secondary WLI (2G-NBI group: n=2265) performed by the same examiner. Suspected early gastric cancer (EGC) lesions in both groups were biopsied. Primary endpoint was the rate of EGC patients in the primary examination. The main secondary endpoint was the positive predictive value (PPV) for EGC in suspicious lesions detected (primary examination). Results: The overall sensitivity of primary endoscopy for the detection of EGC in high-risk patients was only 75% and should be improved. 2G-NBI did not increase EGC detection rate over conventional WLI. The impact of a slightly better PPV of 2G-NBI has to be evaluated further. Trial registration number: UMIN000014503

マウスにおいて短期間の食餌性リン制限は回腸fibroblast growth factor 15遺伝子発現量を増加させる

Members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 19 subfamily, including FGF23, FGF15/19, and FGF21, have a role as endocrine factors which influence the metabolism of inorganic phosphate (Pi) and vitamin D, bile acid, and energy. It has been reported that dietary Pi regulates circulating FGF23. In this study, the short-term effects of dietary Pi restriction on the expression of FGF19 subfamily members in mice were analyzed. An initial analysis confirmed plasma FGF23 levels positively correlated with the amount of dietary Pi. On the other hand, ileal Fgf15 gene expression, but not hepatic Fgf21 gene expression, was up-regulated by dietary Pi restriction. In addition, we observed the increase of plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] levels by dietary Pi restriction, and the up-regulation of ileal Fgf15 mRNA expression by 1,25(OH)2D3 and vitamin D receptor (VDR). Importantly, dietary Pi restriction-induced Fgf15 gene expression was prevented in VDR-knockout mice. Furthermore, diurnal variations of plasma triglyceride concentrations and hepatic mRNA expression of the bile acid synthesis enzyme Cyp7a1 as one of Fgf15 negative target genes was influenced by dietary Pi restriction. These results suggest that dietary Pi restriction up-regulates ileal Fgf15 gene expression through 1,25(OH)2D3 and VDR, and may affect hepatic bile acid homeostasis

Neuroplastinβ-mediated upregulation of solute carrier family 22 member 18 antisense (SLC22A18AS) plays a crucial role in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, leading to lung cancer cells' enhanced motility

Our recent study revealed an important role of the neuroplastin (NPTN)β downstream signal in lung cancer dissemination in the lung. The molecular mechanism of the signal pathway downstream of NPTNβ is a serial activation of the key molecules we identified: tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2) adaptor, nuclear factor (NF)IA/NFIB heterodimer transcription factor, and SAM pointed-domain containing ETS transcription factor (SPDEF). The question of how dissemination is controlled by SPDEF under the activated NPTNβ has not been answered. Here, we show that the NPTNβ-SPDEF-mediated induction of solute carrier family 22 member 18 antisense (SLC22A18AS) is definitely required for the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through the NPTNβ pathway in lung cancer cells. In vitro, the induced EMT is linked to the acquisition of active cellular motility but not growth, and this is correlated with highly disseminative tumor progression in vivo. The publicly available data also show the poor survival of SLC22A18AS-overexpressing lung cancer patients. Taken together, these data highlight a crucial role of SLC22A18AS in lung cancer dissemination, which provides novel input of this molecule to the signal cascade of NPTNβ. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of NPTNβ-mediated lung cancer metastasis