Laser materials for the 0.67-microns to 2.5-microns range

Basic requirements for obtaining injection laser action in III-V semiconductors are discussed briefly. A detailed review is presented of materials suitable for lasers emitting at 0.67, 1.44, 1.93, and 2.5 microns. A general approach to the problem is presented, based on curves of materials properties published by Sasaki et al. It is also shown that these curves, although useful, may need correction in certain ranges. It is deduced that certain materials combinations, either proposed in the literature or actually tried, are not appropriate for double heterostructure lasers, because the refractive index of the cladding material is higher than the index of the active material, thus resulting in no waveguiding, and high threshold currents. Recommendations are made about the most promising approach to the achievement of laser action in the four wavelengths mentioned above

Preventive Effects of Health-Food Drinks on the Obesity and DNA Damage of Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet under a Mild Stress

The body weight gain of mice fed an obesity-inducing diet is suppressed by a mild restraint stress, but at the same time, as previously reported, the stress induces DNA damage in the cells of multiple organs. In the present study, we attempted to prevent not only the obesity but also the DNA damage of mice fed an obesity-inducing diet under a mild restraint with commercially available health-food drinks such as fruit and vegetable juices, soymilks, vinegars and lactic acid bacteria drinks, which are rich in antioxidants. The body weight gain of young female mice fed a high-fat diet containing 20% fat for 4 weeks was considerably inhibited by restraint for 15 min per day in weeks 2 to 4 of 4-week period. The inhibition was further promoted with the concomitant administration of health-food drinks noted above, and was accompanied by a decrease of periovular fat, a major abdominal fat in the female mice. The definite loss of energy intake in the mice given health-food drinks was approximately compensated by the energy of the drink administered. On the other hand, the increase of DNA damage generated by restraint in the cells of five organs – the liver, pancreas, spleen, heart and bone marrow – was markedly suppressed with the administration of these drinks. The results suggest that a combination of mild stress and intake of suitable health-food containing some antioxidants may inhibit lifestyle-related diseases including hyperlipidemia and obesity, which may contribute to the inhibition of metabolic syndrome and childhood obesity

Sarcotaces sp. (Copepoda: Philichthyidae), a parasite of a blacktip grouper, Epinephelus fasciatus, from off the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan

Specimens of the philichthyid copepod Sarcotaces sp. were collected from gall-like cysts formed in the trunk and peduncle muscles under the skin of a blacktip grouper, Epinephelus fasciatus (Forsskål, 1775), from off Amami-oshima Island, the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan. This finding constitutes the first record of copepod of Sarcotaces from the Ryukyu Islands. As many as eight cysts, each containing a large adult female, a dwaf adult male, and many eggs and nauplii of Sarcotaces sp., were observed in this fish

Nucleocytoplasmic transport of Alp7/TACC organizes spatiotemporal microtubule formation in fission yeast

Ran GTPase activates several target molecules to induce microtubule formation around the chromosomes and centrosomes. In fission yeast, in which the nuclear envelope does not break down during mitosis, Ran targets the centrosomal transforming acidic coiled-coil (TACC) protein Alp7 for spindle formation. Alp7 accumulates in the nucleus only during mitosis, although its underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we investigate the behaviour of Alp7 and its binding partner, Alp14/TOG, throughout the cell cycle. Interestingly, Alp7 enters the nucleus during interphase but is subsequently exported to the cytoplasm by the Exportin-dependent nuclear export machinery. The continuous nuclear export of Alp7 during interphase is essential for maintaining the array-like cytoplasmic microtubule structure. The mitosis-specific nuclear accumulation of Alp7 seems to be under the control of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK). These results indicate that the spatiotemporal regulation of microtubule formation is established by the Alp7/TACC–Alp14/TOG complex through the coordinated interplay of Ran and CDK

Molecular Cloning of the Japanese Quail α A Globin cDNA

Double stranded cDNA was synthesized using the poly (A) + RNA of the Japanese quail reticulocytes and ligated into the EcoRI site ofλgt 10 phage DNA. A recombinant phage,λQαG1 was selected by plaque hybridization using a 30mer synthetic oligonucleotide probe specific to the α globin gene. The size of the cDNA insert in the recombinant phage DNA was 0.53 kb and the restriction map was similar to that of the chicken α A globin gene. Nucleotide sequencing of the cDNA insert indicated that it contained the entire coding information for the α A globin

Armored eyes of the whale shark

This report elaborates on adaptations of the eyes of the whale shark Rhincodon typus (Elasmobranchii, Rhincodontidae), including the discovery that they are covered with dermal denticles, which is a novel mechanism of eye protection in vertebrates. The eye denticle differs in morphology from that of the dermal denticles distributed over the rest of the body, consistent with a different function (abrasion resistance). We also demonstrate that the whale shark has a strong ability to retract the eyeball into the eye socket. The retraction distance was calculated to be approximately half the diameter of the eye, which is comparable to those of other vertebrates that are known to have highly retractable eyes. These highly protective features of the whale shark eye seem to emphasize the importance of vision for environmental perception, which contradicts the general, though poorly established, notion of low reliance on vision in this species

The Gravitation of the Moon Plays Pivotal Roles in the Occurrence of the Acute Myocardial Infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a social burden. However, being able to predict AMI could lead to prevention. A previous study showed only the relation between the lunar phase and the occurrence of AMI, but the period it takes for the moon to orbit around the earth and the period of the lunar phase differ. This study investigated the effect of the gravitation of the moon on AMI. Data was comprised of 1369 consecutive patients with first AMI at 5 hospitals from October, 1984 to December, 1997. The universal gravitation of the moon was calculated and compared to the earth onset time of AMI. Universal gravitation of the moon was derived by G*m/d2 (G: universal gravitation constant, m: the mass of the moon, d: the distance between the center of the moon and the center of the earth). The relationship between m/d2 and the cases of AMI was determined. There was an increase in cases, when there is a distance of more than 399864 km from the center of the earth to the center of the moon. The gravitation of more than 399864 km was determined to be weaker gravitation. It is confirmed that the number of AMI patients significantly increases at weaker gravitation periods in this multicenter trial. In conclusion, these results suggest that the gravitation of the moon may have an influence on the occurrence of AMI

p53 Point Mutations in Fine-Needle Aspirated Breast Cancer Cells and Their DNA Ploidy Patterns

Breast cancer cells can be obtained derectly from the patient with minimal damage by fine-needle sampling. The method of aspiration biopsy cytology (ABC) by fine-needle aspiration was developed that enabled us to prepare cancer cell nuclei for detection of p53 gene mutation by PCR-SSCP. Fine-needle sam-pling was successfully performed on 49 patients with breast tumor. Thirty-one aspirated specimens (63.3%) produced enough malignant material for assess-ment ; 18 were diagnosed as being cytologically benign. In 49 patients, surgical specimens from the same tumors were examined for DNA aneuploid and S-phase fraction using flow cytometry. Twenty-four of the 31 breast cancer specimens (77.4%) were classified as aneuploid pattern. p53 gene mutations were detected in 15 patients (48.4%) ; all showed point mutations. In this series, no significant correlation was found with respect to the factors such as aneuploidy, p53 muta-tion, and ER in various tumor size or menopausal status. On the contrary, there was a significant relationship between aneuploidy pattern and p53 mutation ; fifteen p53 mutated cancer cell samples showed all aneuploid patterns. Further-more, these 2 factors showed a tendency of high incidence in advanced clinical stage, histologic grade, and tumor size. Thus, taking ABC into consideration, a combined examination of p53 mutation and DNA histograms derived from flow cytometry in fresh tissue samples could be a valuable tool in clinical use for biological evaluation of breast cancer

Detection of p53 Gene Mutations and Their Protein Overexpression in Fine-needle Biopsy Specimens with False-negative Diagnoses in Breast Cancer

To achieve a more accurate diagnosis in the first aspiration biopsy from breast tumor, p53 gene mutations were detected by PCR-SSCP analysis in aspira-tion biopsy specimens taken from 26 patients with breast tumors. Of 26 aspirat-ed cell specimens from breast tumors that were all initially diagnosed as being cytologically benign, 2 point mutations of the p53 gene were detected and were subsequently proved to be cancer cells. Further, the p53 protein expression was also examined in the initial aspirated specimens and in the resected tumors that were rediagnosed as being malignant as a result of the second biopsy. Conse-quently, these p53 gene mutations did not appear to correlate with their protein overexpression in the aspiration biopsy specimens (all cases were negative), how-ever, the specimens from 2 resected tumors that showed p53 gene mutations were positive. In addition, a positive ER level and DNA aneuploidy status were also found only in these two p53 gene mutation cases. Therefore, detection of p53 mutations in aspiration biopsy specimens may prove to be a useful method for detecting breast cancers

Non-missense variants of KCNH2 show better outcomes in type 2 long QT syndrome

AIMS: More than one-third of type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2) patients carry KCNH2 non-missense variants that can result in haploinsufficiency (HI), leading to mechanistic loss-of-function. However, their clinical phenotypes have not been fully investigated. The remaining two-thirds of patients harbour missense variants, and past studies uncovered that most of these variants cause trafficking deficiency, resulting in different functional changes: either HI or dominant-negative (DN) effects. In this study, we examined the impact of altered molecular mechanisms on clinical outcomes in LQT2 patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 429 LQT2 patients (234 probands) carrying a rare KCNH2 variant from our patient cohort undergoing genetic testing. Non-missense variants showed shorter corrected QT (QTc) and less arrhythmic events (AEs) than missense variants. We found that 40% of missense variants in this study were previously reported as HI or DN. Non-missense and HI-groups had similar phenotypes, while both exhibited shorter QTc and less AEs than the DN-group. Based on previous work, we predicted the functional change of the unreported variants-whether they cause HI or DN via altered functional domains-and stratified them as predicted HI (pHI)- or pDN-group. The pHI-group including non-missense variants exhibited milder phenotypes compared to the pDN-group. Multivariable Cox model showed that the functional change was an independent risk of AEs (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Stratification based on molecular biological studies enables us to better predict clinical outcomes in the patients with LQT2