Development of an imager specialized in an observation of noctilucent clouds in high latitude regions

The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Special session: [S] Future plan of Antarctic research: Towards phase X of the Japanese Antarctic Research Project (2022-2028) and beyond, Tue. 3 Dec. / Entrance Hall (1st floor) at National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR

Relationship between Gender and Code Reading Speed in Software Development

Recently, workforce shortage has become a popular issue in information technology (IT). One solution to increasing the workforce supply is to increase the number of female IT professionals. This is because there is gender imbalance in information technology area. To accomplish this, it is important to suppress the influence of biases, such as the belief that men are more suited for careers in science and technology than women, and to increase the choice of careers available to female professionals. To help suppress the influence of gender bias, we analyzed the relationship between gender and code reading speed in the field of software development. Certain source codes require developers to use substantial memory to properly understand them, such as those with many variables that frequently change values. Several studies have indicated that the performance of memory differs in males and females. To test the veracity of this claim, we analyzed the influence of gender on code-reading speed through an experiment. Pursuant to this, we prepared four programs that required varied amounts of memory to properly understand them. Then, we measured the time required by each of the 17 male and 16 female subjects (33 subjects in total) to comprehend the different programs. The results suggest that there is no explicit difference between male and female subjects in this regard, even in the case of programs that require high memory capacities for proper understanding.Comment: Japanese letter version is available at: https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=j104-d_5_521&category=D&year=2021&lang=J&abst

PTH-related protein and cancer

The clinical significance of parathyroid hormone-related protein in humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy was investigated by determining the serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentrations in 167 normal subjects, 56 patients with hematologic malignancy and 144 patients with solid tumor. Serum parathyroid hormone-related protein was measured with a radioimmunoassay kit that recognizes the C-terminal portion of the molecule. The serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentrations were 20.2–50.8 pmol/l (mean±2 SD) in normal subjects, and were elevated in 80% of the patients with malignancies with hypercalcemia, including squamous cell carcinoma and adult T cell leukemia. Moreover, two cases of B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with hypercalcemia had high serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentrations, which varied in parallel with the tumor size during the clinical course. Of 136 patients with solid tumors with normocalcemia, the serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration was slightly elevated in only 5.1%, all of whom were at an advanced stage. These data indicate that determination of the serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration is useful for differential diagnosis of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy and prediction of its development

Entropic stabilization of the tryptophan synthase α-subunit from a hyperthermophile, Pyrococcus furiosus : X-ray analysis and calorimetry

This research was originally published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. Yuriko Yamagata, Kyoko Ogasahara, Yusaku Hioki, Soo Jae Lee, Atsushi Nakagawa, Haruki Nakamura, Masami Ishida, Seiki Kuramitsui, and Katsuhide Yutani. Entropic stabilization of the tryptophan synthase α-subunit from a hyperthermophile, Pyrococcus furiosus : X-ray analysis and calorimetry. J. Biol. Chem. 2001; 276, 11062-11071. © the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Increased Susceptibility to LPS-induced Endotoxin Shock in Secretory Leukoprotease Inhibitor (SLPI)-deficient Mice

Secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) protects tissue against the destructive action of neutrophil elastase at the site of inflammation. Recent studies on new functions of SLPI have demonstrated that SLPI may play a larger role in innate immunity than merely as a protease inhibitor. To clarify the functions of SLPI in bacterial infections, we generated SLPI-deficient mice (SLPI−/− mice) and analyzed their response to experimental endotoxin shock induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). SLPI−/− mice showed a higher mortality from endotoxin shock than did wild type mice. This may be explained in part by our observation that SLPI−/− macro-phages show higher interleukin 6 and high-mobility group (HMG)-1 production and nuclear factor κB activities after LPS treatment than do SLPI+/+ macrophages. SLPI also affects B cell function. SLPI−/− B cells show more proliferation and IgM production after LPS treatment than SLPI+/+ B cells. Our results suggest that SLPI attenuates excessive inflammatory responses and thus assures balanced functioning of innate immunity