Calcium ionophore, A23187 alters the mode of cAMP formation in wild-type S49 murine lymphoma cells

AbstractWe examined the change in the adenylyl cyclase activity of S49 cells occurring after exposure to calcium ionophore A23187. MnCL2-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity in membrane preparations increased by 67 ± 3% (after 24 h treatment with 0.3 μM A23187) while no significant change was found in the basal activity or NaF- isoproterenol- or forskolin-stimulated activities. An activity sensitive to CaCl2/calmodulin which could not be detected in membranes from untreated cells was found in membranes from A23187-treated cells. These changes took place after treatment with 0.1–0.3 μM A23187 for a period longer than 16 h. A brief treatment of S49 cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) enhances the activity of adenylyl cyclase (Bell J.D. et al. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260 2625–2628) but exposure of cells to PMA at the end of A23187-treatment did not affect the induction of the MnCl2-or CaCl2/calmodulin-sensitive activity. The results indicate that long-term treatment of S49 cells with calcium ionophore A23187 induces adenylyl cyclase activity of a novel type which is probably caused by an abnormal increase in free intracellular calcium

Distributed Environment Control Using Wireless Sensor/Actuator Networks for Lighting Applications

We propose a decentralized algorithm to calculate the control signals for lights in wireless sensor/actuator networks. This algorithm uses an appropriate step size in the iterative process used for quickly computing the control signals. We demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach compared with the penalty method by using Mote-based mesh sensor networks. The estimation error of the new approach is one-eighth as large as that of the penalty method with one-fifth of its computation time. In addition, we describe our sensor/actuator node for distributed lighting control based on the decentralized algorithm and demonstrate its practical efficacy

Long-term survival after an aggressive surgical resection and chemotherapy for stage IV pulmonary giant cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary giant cell carcinoma is one of the rare histological subtypes with pleomorphic, sarcomatoid or sarcomatous elements. The prognosis of patients with this tumor tends to be poor, because surgery, irradiation and chemotherapy are not usually effective. CASE PRESENTATION: We herein report a patient with pulmonary giant cell carcinoma with stage IV disease in whom aggressive multi-modality therapy resulted in a long-term survival. A 51-year-old male underwent an emergent operation with a partial resection of small intestinal metastases due to bleeding from the tumor. The patient also underwent a left pneumonectomy due to hemothorax as a result of the rapid growth of the primary tumor. Thereafter, two different regimens of chemotherapy and a partial resection for other site of small intestinal metastases and a splenectomy for splenic metastases were performed. The patient is presently doing well without any evidence of recurrence for 3 years after the initial operation. CONCLUSION: This is a first report of a rare case with stage IV pulmonary giant cell carcinoma who has survived long-term after undergoing aggressive surgical treatment and chemotherapy

High-entropy effect at rare-earth site in DyNi

We report the structural and magnetic properties of RNi (R=Dy, Tb$_{1/3}$Dy$_{1/3}$Ho$_{1/3}$, and Gd$_{1/5}$Tb$_{1/5}$Dy$_{1/5}$Ho$_{1/5}$Er$_{1/5}$) to investigate the high-entropy effect at the rare-earth site. The lattice parameters are almost unchanged by the increase of configurational entropy, which is due to the successive partial substitution of Dy by pair of rare earth elements located on both sides of Dy in the periodic table. All compounds exhibit ferromagnetic ground states. The replacement of Dy with Tb+Ho, which does not have magnetic interactions in competition with Dy, does not affect the magnetic ordering temperature. Although (Gd$_{1/5}$Tb$_{1/5}$Dy$_{1/5}$Ho$_{1/5}$Er$_{1/5}$)Ni shows the Curie temperature close to that of DyNi, an additional magnetic anomaly, which would be a spin reorientation, is observed probably due to the introduction of competing magnetic interactions between R=Gd and Er compounds and R=Tb, Dy, and Ho ones. We have also assessed the magnetocaloric effect, and the configurational entropy dependence of the magnetic entropy change reflects that of the temperature derivative of the magnetic susceptibility. Our analysis suggests the possibility of enhancing magnetocaloric properties by designing the anisotropy of rare-earth magnetic moments in the high-entropy state.Comment: to be published in AIP Advance

Activities of bone morphogenetic proteins in prolactin regulation by somatostatin analogs in rat pituitary GH3 cells

Involvement of the pituitary BMP system in the modulation of prolactin (PRL) secretion regulated by somatostatin analogs, including octreotide (OCT) and pasireotide (SOM230), and a dopamine agonist, bromocriptine (BRC), was examined in GH3 cells. GH3 cells are rat pituitary somato-lactotrope tumor cells that express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) and BMP system molecules including BMP-4 and -6. Treatment with BMP-4 and -6 increased PRL and cAMP secretion by GH3 cells. The BMP-4 effects were neutralized by adding a BMP-binding protein Noggin. These findings suggest the activity of endogenous BMPs in augmenting PRL secretion by GH3 cells. BRC and SOM230 reduced PRL secretion, but OCT failed to reduce the PRL level. In GH3 cells activated by forskolin, BRC suppressed forskolin-induced PRL secretion with reduction in cAMP levels. OCT did not affect forskolin-induced PRL level, while SOM230 reduced PRL secretion and PRL mRNA expression induced by forskolin. BMP-4 treatment enhanced the reducing effect of SOM230 on forskolin-induced PRL level while BMP-4 did not affect the effects of OCT or BRC. Noggin treatment had no significant effect on the BRC actions reducing PRL levels by GH3 cells. However, in the presence of Noggin, OCT elicited an inhibitory effect on forskolin-induced PRL secretion and PRL mRNA expression, whereas the SOM230 effect on PRL reduction was in turn impaired. It was further found that BMP-4 and -6 suppressed SSTR-2 but increased SSTR-5 mRNA expression of GH3 cells. These findings indicate that Noggin rescues SSTR-2 but downregulates SSTR-5 by neutralizing endogenous BMP actions, leading to an increase in OCT sensitivity and a decrease in SOM230 sensitivity of GH3 cells. In addition, BMP signaling was facilitated in GH3 cells treated with forskolin. Collectively, these findings suggest that BMPs elicit differential actions in the regulation of PRL release dependent on cellular cAMP-PKA activity. BMPs may play a key role in the modulation of SSTR sensitivity of somato-lactotrope cells in an autocrine/paracrine manner

Black String Perturbations in RS1 Model

We present a general formalism for black string perturbations in Randall-Sundrum 1 model (RS1). First, we derive the master equation for the electric part of the Weyl tensor $E_{\mu\nu}$. Solving the master equation using the gradient expansion method, we give the effective Teukolsky equation on the brane at low energy. It is useful to estimate gravitational waves emitted by perturbed rotating black strings. We also argue the effect of the Gregory-Laflamme instability on the brane using our formalism.Comment: 14 pages, Based on a talk presented at ACRGR4, the 4th Australasian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation, Monash University, Melbourne, January 2004. To appear in the proceedings, in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Collaborative Processing of Wearable and Ambient Sensor System for Blood Pressure Monitoring

This paper describes wireless wearable and ambient sensors that cooperate to monitor a person’s vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure during daily activities. Each wearable sensor is attached on different parts of the body. The wearable sensors require a high sampling rate and time synchronization to provide a precise analysis of the received signals. The trigger signal for synchronization is provided by the ambient sensors, which detect the user’s presence. The Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless technologies are used for real-time sensing and time synchronization. Thus, this wearable health-monitoring sensor response is closely related to the context in which it is being used. Experimental results indicate that the system simultaneously provides information about the user’s location and vital signs, and the synchronized wearable sensors successfully measures vital signs with a 1 ms resolution

Quantitative activation-induced manganese-enhanced MRI reveals severity of Parkinson’s disease in mice

We demonstrate that activation-induced manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with quantitative determination of the longitudinal relaxation time (qAIM-MRI) reveals the severity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in mice. We first show that manganese ion-accumulation depends on neuronal activity. A highly active region was then observed by qAIM-MRI in the caudate-putamen in PD-model mice that was significantly correlated to the severity of PD, suggesting its involvement in the expression of PD symptoms

Obesity and Perioperative management – Review –

　Obesity is a contributing factor to life-style related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia, as well as being a cause of metabolic syndromes. It has been predicted that more than half of the adult population in the world might be obese within the next twenty years. Once a person is diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia may remain mild even while visceral fat obesity slowly advances arterial sclerosis. Eventually, severe clinical conditions such as heart diseases and stroke can result. In recent years, there are more and more patients diagnosed with morbid obesity both inside and outside of Japan. This case report will discuss some concerns and tasks in treating patients with obesity and morbid obesity

Transplantation of Bone Marrow-Derived Mononuclear Cells Improves Mechanical Hyperalgesia, Cold Allodynia and Nerve Function in Diabetic Neuropathy

Relief from painful diabetic neuropathy is an important clinical issue. We have previously shown that the transplantation of cultured endothelial progenitor cells or mesenchymal stem cells ameliorated diabetic neuropathy in rats. In this study, we investigated whether transplantation of freshly isolated bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) alleviates neuropathic pain in the early stage of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Two weeks after STZ injection, BM-MNCs or vehicle saline were injected into the unilateral hind limb muscles. Mechanical hyperalgesia and cold allodynia in SD rats were measured as the number of foot withdrawals to von Frey hair stimulation and acetone application, respectively. Two weeks after the BM-MNC transplantation, sciatic motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV), sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV), sciatic nerve blood flow (SNBF), mRNA expressions and histology were assessed. The BM-MNC transplantation significantly ameliorated mechanical hyperalgesia and cold allodynia in the BM-MNC-injected side. Furthermore, the slowed MNCV/SNCV and decreased SNBF in diabetic rats were improved in the BM-MNC-injected side. BM-MNC transplantation improved the decreased mRNA expression of NT-3 and number of microvessels in the hind limb muscles. There was no distinct effect of BM-MNC transplantation on the intraepidermal nerve fiber density. These results suggest that autologous transplantation of BM-MNCs could be a novel strategy for the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy