Disruption of Drosophila melanogaster Lipid Metabolism Genes Causes Tissue Overgrowth Associated with Altered Developmental Signaling.

Developmental patterning requires the precise interplay of numerous intercellular signaling pathways to ensure that cells are properly specified during tissue formation and organogenesis. The spatiotemporal function of many developmental pathways is strongly influenced by the biosynthesis and intracellular trafficking of signaling components. Receptors and ligands must be trafficked to the cell surface where they interact, and their subsequent endocytic internalization and endosomal trafficking is critical for both signal propagation and its down-modulation. In a forward genetic screen for mutations that alter intracellular Notch receptor trafficking in Drosophila melanogaster, we recovered mutants that disrupt genes encoding serine palmitoyltransferase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Both mutants cause Notch, Wingless, the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EFGR), and Patched to accumulate abnormally in endosomal compartments. In mosaic animals, mutant tissues exhibit an unusual non-cell-autonomous effect whereby mutant cells are functionally rescued by secreted activities emanating from adjacent wildtype tissue. Strikingly, both mutants display prominent tissue overgrowth phenotypes that are partially attributable to altered Notch and Wnt signaling. Our analysis of the mutants demonstrates genetic links between abnormal lipid metabolism, perturbations in developmental signaling, and aberrant cell proliferation

Participatory Radiation Information Monitoring with SNS after Fukushima

ABSTRACT We developed a series of inexpensive but accurate mobile radiation detectors, which we named Pocket Geiger (POKEGA), to address the urgent desire of ordinary people to measure and share radiation levels in their milieus and to discuss the results of the Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima, Japan. This action research reports on a new style of pragmatic model of radiation monitoring, which employs the features of Participatory Design and Participatory Sensing and adopts modern communication platforms such as crowd-funding, open source development, and Facebook. This paper proposes an interaction model between the project management body, and other inclusive corroborators, e.g., ordinary users and experts, and focuses on three development phases of the project: start-up phase, evaluation phase, and operation phase. This paper also considers a reliability assurance model on disaster information sharing between the citizen layer and the official layer by data sharing and discussion activities in the POKEGA community

Inclination of houses induced by liquefaction in the 2018 Hokkaido Iburi-tobu earthquake, Japan

金沢大学理工研究域地球社会基盤学系BackgroundOn September 6th, 2018, at 3:07 local time, a strong earthquake of magnitude Mw = 6.6 struck the east Iburi region in Hokkaido, Japan. Many serious damages such as landslide, liquefaction and collapse of houses occurred from this earthquake. Liquefaction caused road deformation and inclination of houses in Sapporo city, Hokkaido. In order to understand the damage caused by the earthquake, and find a solution to mitigate the liquefaction-induced damage in Sapporo city, a preliminary investigation of the 2018 Hokkaido Iburi-tobu earthquake was conducted from 18 to 20 September 2018.ResultsThe damages to the houses at Satozuka town and Utsukushigaoka town in Sapporo city are focused on. The damage at Satozuka was so enormous that the residents could not continue to live in their houses. Although the inclination of houses can be seen by visual inspection at Satozuka, there were few houses where the inclination can be judged visually at Utsukushigaoka. Therefore we did a field survey of inclined houses by using a digital angle meter at Utsukushigaoka.ConclusionsThe inclination of 57 houses at Utsukushigaoka was measured, and the maximum value and direction of inclination are shown on the map. The houses located at the reclaimed land of the former river and former valley plain were inclined. Therefore, the old terrain greatly affected to the inclination of houses. These liquefaction-induced damage occurred in the same area where liquefaction occurred during the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake

Discrete Integrable Systems and Hodograph Transformations Arising from Motions of Discrete Plane Curves

We consider integrable discretizations of some soliton equations associated with the motions of plane curves: the Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa elastic beam equation, the complex Dym equation, and the short pulse equation. They are related to the modified KdV or the sine-Gordon equations by the hodograph transformations. Based on the observation that the hodograph transformations are regarded as the Euler-Lagrange transformations of the curve motions, we construct the discrete analogues of the hodograph transformations, which yield integrable discretizations of those soliton equations.Comment: 19 page

Three minute, but not one minute, ischemia and nicorandil have a preconditioning effect in patients with coronary artery disease

AbstractOBJECTIVESThis study focused on 1) the determination of the optimal preconditioning (PC) duration, and 2) the protective effect of nicorandil (NC), a hybrid nitrate with a Katpchannel opening effect, during a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) model in humans.BACKGROUNDThe ischemic PC effect is induced in 180 s ischemia, but not in 120 s ischemia in rabbit hearts. However, the duration of ischemia that induces PC effect and the role of the Katpchannel in the PC effect in humans are still unclear.METHODSForty-six patients with stable angina were randomly allocated to four groups: the duration of the first inflation as PC ischemia was 60 s in the PC60 group (n = 12), and 180 s in the PC180 group (n = 12). In the other groups, NC (80 μg/kg) was intravenously given for 1 min in the NC group (n = 12), and isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) (40 μg/kg) was given in the ISDN group (n = 10). Five minutes after first inflation or drug administration, a second inflation was conducted for 120 s in each group. In the ECG, the lead with the largest shift in ST segment (deltaST max), and the sum of elevated ST levels in all leads (sigmaST) were determined.RESULTSIn the PC60 group, no significant difference was observed in either deltaST max or sigmaST between the first and second inflation. However, the second inflation in the PC180 group showed significantly lower levels of deltaST max and sigmaST compared with those of the first inflation. In the NC group, both deltaST max and sigmaST measured at 30 s and 60 s after balloon inflation were significantly lower than those of the first inflation in the PC60 and PC180 control groups. In the ISDN group, no significant difference was observed in deltaST max or sigmaST.CONCLUSIONIn human PTCA models, a PC effect is observed in 180 s ischemia, but not in 60 s ischemia. A pharmacological PC effect is induced by NC, a Katpchannel opener with a nitrate-like effect but not ISDN. This suggests that the opening of Katpchannels plays an important role in the protecting effect of NC

Drosophila Carrying Pex3 or Pex16 Mutations Are Models of Zellweger Syndrome That Reflect Its Symptoms Associated with the Absence of Peroxisomes

The peroxisome biogenesis disorders (PBDs) are currently difficult-to-treat multiple-organ dysfunction disorders that result from the defective biogenesis of peroxisomes. Genes encoding Peroxins, which are required for peroxisome biogenesis or functions, are known causative genes of PBDs. The human peroxin genes PEX3 or PEX16 are required for peroxisomal membrane protein targeting, and their mutations cause Zellweger syndrome, a class of PBDs. Lack of understanding about the pathogenesis of Zellweger syndrome has hindered the development of effective treatments. Here, we developed potential Drosophila models for Zellweger syndrome, in which the Drosophila pex3 or pex16 gene was disrupted. As found in Zellweger syndrome patients, peroxisomes were not observed in the homozygous Drosophila pex3 mutant, which was larval lethal. However, the pex16 homozygote lacking its maternal contribution was viable and still maintained a small number of peroxisome-like granules, even though PEX16 is essential for the biosynthesis of peroxisomes in humans. These results suggest that the requirements for pex3 and pex16 in peroxisome biosynthesis in Drosophila are different, and the role of PEX16 orthologs may have diverged between mammals and Drosophila. The phenotypes of our Zellweger syndrome model flies, such as larval lethality in pex3, and reduced size, shortened longevity, locomotion defects, and abnormal lipid metabolisms in pex16, were reminiscent of symptoms of this disorder, although the Drosophila pex16 mutant does not recapitulate the infant death of Zellweger syndrome. Furthermore, pex16 mutants showed male-specific sterility that resulted from the arrest of spermatocyte maturation. pex16 expressed in somatic cyst cells but not germline cells had an essential role in the maturation of male germline cells, suggesting that peroxisome-dependent signals in somatic cyst cells could contribute to the progression of male germ-cell maturation. These potential Drosophila models for Zellweger syndrome should contribute to our understanding of its pathology

Hawking Radiation and Tunneling Mechanism for a New Class of Black Holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity

We study the Hawking radiation in a new class of black hole solutions in the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory. The black hole has been argued to have vanishing mass and entropy, but finite Hawking temperature. To check if it really emits radiation, we analyse the Hawking radiation using the original method of quantization of scalar field in the black hole background and the quantum tunneling method, and confirm that it emits radiation at the Hawking temperature. A general formula is derived for the Hawking temperature and backreaction in the tunneling approach. Physical implications of these results are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, v2: Title slightly changed. Motivation and discussions are elaborated, v3: typos corrected to match the published versio

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 variant

SARS-CoV-2オミクロンBA.2.75株（通称ケンタウロス）のウイルス学的性状の解明. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-10-12.The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 variant emerged in May 2022. BA.2.75 is a BA.2 descendant but is phylogenetically distinct from BA.5, the currently predominant BA.2 descendant. Here, we show that BA.2.75 has a greater effective reproduction number and different immunogenicity profile than BA.5. We determined the sensitivity of BA.2.75 to vaccinee and convalescent sera as well as a panel of clinically available antiviral drugs and antibodies. Antiviral drugs largely retained potency but antibody sensitivity varied depending on several key BA.2.75-specific substitutions. The BA.2.75 spike exhibited a profoundly higher affinity for its human receptor, ACE2. Additionally, the fusogenicity, growth efficiency in human alveolar epithelial cells, and intrinsic pathogenicity in hamsters of BA.2.75 were greater than those of BA.2. Our multilevel investigations suggest that BA.2.75 acquired virological properties independent of BA.5, and the potential risk of BA.2.75 to global health is greater than that of BA.5