Spermatogenic Dysfunction in Azoospermic Japanese Men Caused by Y Chromosome Microdeletions

Genetic factors are responsible for approximately 15％ of male infertility. The azoospermia factors AZFa, AZFb（P5/proximal P1）, and AZFc（b2/b4） present on Yq are most important for spermatogenesis. Here,we evaluated frequencies of microdeletions of AZFa, AZFb, AZFc in azoospermia due to spermatogenicdysfunction in the Japanese population. The overall prevalence of Y chromosome microdeletions in infertilemen was 8.1％（79/980）. The prevalence of Y chromosome microdeletions in AZFa, AZFb, AZFabc, AZFbc （P5/distal P1 or P4/distal P1） and AZFc was 0.1％ , 0.8％ , 0.7％ , 2.0％ and 4.4％ , respectively. Microdissection for testicular sperm extraction failed in all patients with microdeletion in AZFa, AZFb, AZFabc, and AZFbc, although sperm could be retrieved in 28/43 patients with AZFc deletions（62.2％）. The presence of an AZFc deletion was associated with significantly better sperm retrieval than the 33.0％ retrieval rate in idiopathic non-deleted azoospermic men undergoing microdissection for testicular spermextraction at our institution during the study period. We conclude that Y chromosome microdeletion testing is essential for genetic and preoperative counseling in these patients

Development of the ARICA-2 Satellite Using Spresense as an Onboard Computer

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are transient astronomical phenomena that emit enormous amounts of energy in electromagnetic waves, mainly in the gamma-ray range, for several seconds to tens of seconds. GRB observations are challenging because of the difficulty in predicting the location and time of occurrence and its extremely short duration. Therefore, it is necessary to notify about the discovery in space and to conduct follow-up observations by researchers. The AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system-2 (ARICA-2) has been developed to demonstrate a new alert system using commercial satellite network services. ARICA-2 uses SONY’s Spresense as its onboard computer (OBC). We manufactured the special board to attach two Spresenses as a redundancy of the OBC system. We will present the system development of ARICA-2 using Spresense

Power System Development of the AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert System -2 – ARICA-2

We present the power system development of the 2U CubeSat, AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system -2(ARICA-2). The main goal of the ARICA-2 project is to demonstrate the real-time alert system of transient astronomical sources using commercial satellite network devices. 1U CubeSat ARICA was launched in November 2021. However, we have not been able to send and receive the data at this point. Therefore, we started developing 2U CubeSat ARICA-2, which is an improved version of ARICA, in April 2022. One of the possible causes of the communication problem of ARICA is the power system, such as a negative power budget or a failure in the installation of the inhibit switches. ARICA-2 is upsized from 1U to 2U to ensure a sufficient power generation and is equipped with improved inhibit switches. The calculation of power consumption and simulation of power supply on orbit have been finished. We confirmed the performance of our Electric Power System (EPS) and the health of the installed batteries. We are currently in the EM development phase with the goal of launching in Japanese fiscal year 2024

Chum-RNA allows preparation of a high-quality cDNA library from a single-cell quantity of mRNA without PCR amplification

Linear RNA amplification using T7 RNA polymerase is useful in genome-wide analysis of gene expression using DNA microarrays, but exponential amplification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is still required for cDNA library preparation from single-cell quantities of RNA. We have designed a small RNA molecule called chum-RNA that has enabled us to prepare a single-cell cDNA library after four rounds of T7-based linear amplification, without using PCR amplification. Chum-RNA drove cDNA synthesis from only 0.49 femtograms of mRNA (730 mRNA molecules) as a substrate, a quantity that corresponds to a minor population of mRNA molecules in a single mammalian cell. Analysis of the independent cDNA clone of this library (6.6 × 105 cfu) suggests that 30-fold RNA amplification occurred in each round of the amplification process. The size distribution and representation of mRNAs in the resulting one-cell cDNA library retained its similarity to that of the million-cell cDNA library. The use of chum-RNA might also facilitate reactions involving other DNA/RNA modifying enzymes whose Michaelis constant (Km) values are around 1 mM, allowing them to be activated in the presence of only small quantities of substrate

Remarkable Dependence of the Final Charge Separation Efficiency on the Donor–Acceptor Interaction in Photoinduced Electron Transfer

The unprecedented dependence of final charge separation efficiency as a function of donor–acceptor interaction in covalently-linked molecules with a rectilinear rigid oligo-p-xylene bridge has been observed. Optimization of the donor–acceptor electronic coupling remarkably inhibits the undesirable rapid decay of the singlet charge-separated state to the ground state, yielding the final long-lived, triplet charge-separated state with circa 100% efficiency. This finding is extremely useful for the rational design of artificial photosynthesis and organic photovoltaic cells toward efficient solar energy conversion

Isolation and characterization of the TIGA genes, whose transcripts are induced by growth arrest

We report here the isolation of 44 genes that are upregulated after serum starvation and/or contact inhibition. These genes have been termed TIGA, after Transcript Induced by Growth Arrest. We found that there are two kinds of G0 phases caused by serum starvation, namely, the shallow G0 (or G0/G1) and the deep G0 phases. The shallow G0 is induced by only a few hours of serum starvation, while deep G0 is generated after 3 days of serum starvation. We propose that mammalian cells enter deep G0 through a G0 gate, which is only opened on the third day of serum starvation. TIGA1, one of the uncharacterized TIGA genes, encodes a homolog of cyanate permease of bacteria and localizes in mitochondria. This suggests that Tiga1 is involved in the inorganic ion transport and metabolism needed to maintain the deep G0 phase. Ectopic expression of TIGA1 inhibited not only tumor cell proliferation but also anchorage-independent growth of cancer cell lines. A microsatellite marker, ENDL-1, allowed us to detect loss of heterozygosity around the TIGA1 gene region (5q21–22). Further analysis of the TIGA genes we have identified here may help us to better understand the mechanisms that regulate the G0 phase

‘Protected DNA Probes’ capable of strong hybridization without removal of base protecting groups

We propose a new strategy called the ‘Protected DNA Probes (PDP) method’ in which appropriately protected bases selectively bind to the complementary bases without the removal of their base protecting groups. Previously, we reported that 4-N-acetylcytosine oligonucleotides (ac4C) exhibited a higher hybridization affinity for ssDNA than the unmodified oligonucleotides. For the PDP strategy, we created a modified adenine base and synthesized an N-acylated deoxyadenosine mimic having 6-N-acetyl-8-aza-7-deazaadenine (ac6az8c7A). It was found that PDP containing ac4C and ac6az8c7A exhibited higher affinity for the complementary ssDNA than the corresponding unmodified DNA probes and showed similar base recognition ability. Moreover, it should be noted that this PDP strategy could guarantee highly efficient synthesis of DNA probes on controlled pore glass (CPG) with high purity and thereby could eliminate the time-consuming procedures for isolating DNA probes. This strategy could also avoid undesired base-mediated elimination of DNA probes from CPG under basic conditions such as concentrated ammonia solution prescribed for removal of base protecting groups in the previous standard approach. Here, several successful applications of this strategy to single nucleotide polymorphism detection are also described in detail using PDPs immobilized on glass plates and those prepared on CPG plates, suggesting its potential usefulness

ジョセイ コツバン ゾウキ ダツ カンジャ ニ タイスル Tension-free Vaginal Mesh シュジュツ ノ ハイニョウ キノウ ト Quality of Life ニ アタエル カイゼン コウカ ノ ケントウ

骨盤臓器脱にTVM 手術を施行した51 症例を対象としてUFM, 残尿量,P-QOL,ICIQ-SF 及びIPSSを調査することによりTVM 手術の下部尿路症状,排尿機能とQOL に与える改善効果を評価した.周術期成績と解剖学的改善度は良好であり,IPSS による下部尿路症状の評価では夜間頻尿以外のすべての項目で有意に改善した.またP-QOL を用いたQOL 評価でも有意な改善を示した.本研究では骨盤臓器脱に対してTVM 手術が下部尿路症状,排尿機能,QOL を短期間の評価ながら改善する事を示した.今後は解剖学的治療効果のみでなく,排尿や性機能を含めて長期間評価することが必要と考えられた.The aim of this paper is to describe the perioperativemedical outcome, complications and the improvement ofvoiding function and their quality of life( QOL) in 51 casesof tension-free vaginal mesh (TVM) for the treatment ofpelvic organ prolapse( POP) at our institute. Perioperativemedical outcome and anatomical restoration were good atsix months after the operation. Lower urinary tract symptomand QOL of the patients were statistically much improvedbased on the results of IPSS and prolapse quality oflife questionnaire( P-QOL), except for nocturia. This studyshowed improvement of voiding function and QOL for thefemale POP.Further studies will be needed for a long period not onlythe anatomical restoration but also the voiding and sexualfunction