Regulation of gonadotropin secretion and puberty onset by neuromedin U

AbstractNeuromedin U (NMU), an anorexigenic peptide, was originally isolated from porcine spinal cord in 1985. As NMU is abundant in the anterior pituitary gland, we investigated the effects of NMU on gonadotropin secretion. Both NMU and its receptors, NMUR1 and NMUR2, were expressed in the pituitary gland. NMU suppressed LH and FSH releases from rat anterior pituitary cells. Moreover, NMU-deficient mice exhibit an early onset of vaginal opening. The LHβ/FSHβ ratio, which is an index of puberty onset, is high in young NMU-deficient mice. These results indicate that NMU suppresses gonadotropin secretion and regulates the onset of puberty

Effects of the Protein Phosphatase Inhibitors, Okadaic Acid and Vanadate, on Localization of Occludin in Primary Cultures of Rat Hepatocytes

To elucidate whether protein phosphorylation is associated with the loca-lization of the tight junction protein occludin, we determined the changes of occludin protein expression in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes after treat-ment with the protein phosphatase inhibitors okadaic acid and vanadate. After 2 h of treatment with 1myu M okadaic acid or 5 mM vanadate, occludin immunoreactivity showing continuous lines in non-treated cells changed to a few spots on the plasma membrane. In western blots, broad bands above the occludin protein (65 kD) became conspicuous after treatment with okadaic acid and vanadate. We treated the same samples with alkaline phosphatase to examine whether the broad bands depended on the changes in the phos-phorylation states of occludin protein. The broad bands disappeared and the occludin was observed as a narrow band corresponding to 65 kD. Neither a significant change in the mRNA of occludin nor a change in the immunoreac-tivity of the tight junction associated protein, ZO-1, was observed after treatment with okadaic acid or vanadate. These results suggested that the phosphorylation of occludin is closely associated with localization of the protein in cultured hepatocytes and that protein phosphatase inhibitors affect the loca-lization of occludin but not ZO-1 on the plasma membrane

Development of fast-response PPAC with strip-readout for heavy-ion beams

A strip-readout parallel-plate avalanche counter (SR-PPAC) has been developed aiming at the high detection efficiency and good position resolution in high-intensity heavy-ion measurements. The performance was evaluated using 115 MeV/u $^{132}$Xe, 300 MeV/u $^{132}$Sn, and 300 MeV/u $^{48}$Ca beams. A detection efficiency beyond 99% for these beams is achieved even at an incident beam intensity of 0.7 billion particles per second. The best position resolution achieved is 235 um (FWHM).Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, 2 table

Smooth sectioning of biological samples by FIB-TOF-SIMS

Spheroids, which are three-dimensionally cultured cells that resemble actual living organisms, have been attracting attention. FIB-TOF-SIMS (Focused Ion Beam Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry) is capable of simultaneous mass imaging of multiple elements without the need for labeling. FIB-TOF-SIMS is expected to process the spheroid and image the cross-sectional components. However, FIB processing of spheroids larger than 100μm often results in uneven cross sections due to the so-called curtain effect. The unevenness of the cross-section affects the sputtering and hinders component imaging. In this experiment, we considered the processing of spheroids by FIB from multiple directions to suppress the curtain effect. The curtain effect was evaluated by comparing the processing from one direction and from multiple directions

美しい歩き方に関する研究―歩き方と文化―

Since Edo era, walking style of Japanese people has been significantly changed along with cultural transitions. This article compiles a research on features of Japanese traditional walking style,such as"Nanba"and"Suriashi", then discusses issues of today\u27s walking style

美しい歩き方に関する研究―高齢者の健康への取り組み―

This study tried to develop a method of analyzing a style of walking. As a result, it was found that the analysis could be made using data collected by an accelerometer. We also propose a style of walking which is suitable for the elderly in this paper

美しい歩き方に関する研究―加速度計による評価法―

This paper presents the measurement of the walking that uses the potable acceleration device and the estimation method of walking. By measuring the walking which uses the potable accelerometer device,the walking action was able to be grasped. In addition, the measured data of the walking made the walking evaluation on progressing direction, the deflection of the body in right and left, up and down movement possible