Measurement of Methane Concentration in a Rice Paddy Field with a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectrometry

A prototype device based on the tunable diode laser absorption spectrometry was constructed and the atmospheric methane concentration near the terrain in a rice paddy field was measured. An open optical path of 50 m length was employed along with a PbSnTe diode laser. Diurnal change of methane density with 30 seconds temporal resolution was recorded associated with meteorological parameters. A feasibility was proven for a practical application for in situ study of atmospheric methane

Second Harmonic Detection of Atmospheric Trace Gases with a Train-Pulse Driven Lead-Salt Tunable Diode Laser for an Operation at Peltier Cooling Temperature

Is proposed a tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer system which employs a pulsed current to drive the diode laser still implementing a second-harmonic detection methods enhancing a signal to noise up to 104 times that the case without it. This system affords the lead-salt diode laser a higher operating temperature which allows a more compact deep cooling system. A principle is based on employing a gated integrator between the preamplifier and the lock-in amplifier. Investigations are made on the optimum selection of the gating aperture time interval as determined by response time of the infrared detector and the pulse width of the laser driving current

Application of the Adjoint Spectrum to the Frequency Tracking in Spectrometry with Tunable Diode Lasers Suffering from Temperature Drift

A numerical technique called as "adjoint spectrum" has been proposed by the authors in a previous work. Two applications of it are presented here. It is demonstrated that by generalizing the aspect of adjoint spectrum it becomes possible to measure densities of mixed gases simultaneously. An experimental proof of this has been carried on and simultaneous measurement of densities of both methane and dinitrogen oxide was realized. On the other hand, it is also reported that frequency shifting of spectra, which is a cause of error in spectrometric measurements, can be corrected by exploiting the adjoint spectrum technique in connection with the Taylor expansion. Numerical examples showing the success of this method are reported as well

Contribution of histone N-terminal tails to the structure and stability of nucleosomes

AbstractHistones are the protein components of the nucleosome, which forms the basic architecture of eukaryotic chromatin. Histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 are composed of two common regions, the “histone fold” and the “histone tail”. Many efforts have been focused on the mechanisms by which the post-translational modifications of histone tails regulate the higher-order chromatin architecture. On the other hand, previous biochemical studies have suggested that histone tails also affect the structure and stability of the nucleosome core particle itself. However, the precise contributions of each histone tail are unclear. In the present study, we determined the crystal structures of four mutant nucleosomes, in which one of the four histones, H2A, H2B, H3, or H4, lacked the N-terminal tail. We found that the deletion of the H2B or H3 N-terminal tail affected histone–DNA interactions and substantially decreased nucleosome stability. These findings provide important information for understanding the complex roles of histone tails in regulating chromatin structure

cDNA cloning of rat proteasome subunit RC1, a homologue of RING10 located in the human MHC class II region

AbstractThe nucleotide sequence of a cDNA that encodes a new subunit, named RC1, of rat proteasomes (multicatalytic proteinase complexes) has been determined. The polypeptide predicted from the open reading frame consisted of 208 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 23,130, which is consistent with the size obtained by electrophoretic analysis of purified RC1. The partial amino acid sequences of several fragments of RC1, obtained by protein chemical analyses, were found to be in excellent accordance with those deduced from the cDNA sequence. Surprisingly, the overall structure of RC1 was found to be almost identical to that of recently isolated RING10, whose gene is located in the class II region of the human MHC gene cluster. This finding suggests that RC1 is a homologue of human RING10, supporting the proposal that proteasomes are involved in the antigen processing pathway

Successful voriconazole treatment of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a patient with acute biphenotypic leukemia

A 23-year old woman with acute biphenotypic leukemia (ABL) complained of chest pain with cough, high fever and hemoptysis during induction chemotherapy, although she had been treated with anti-biotics and micafungin. We made a clinical diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) based on a consolidation in the right upper lung field on a chest radiograph as well as a high level of serum beta-D-glucan (with no evidence of tuberculosis and candidiasis). We changed her treatment from micafungin to voriconazole. Later, we discovered an air-crescent sign by CT scan that supported the diagnosis of IPA. Following voriconazole treatment, clinical symptoms ceased and abnormal chest shadows improved gradually and concurrently with a recovery of neutrophils. IPA must be considered in immunocompromised patients with pulmonary infiltrates who do not respond to broad-spectrum antibiotics. Serological tests and CT findings can aid in early diagnosis of IPA, which, along with treatment for IPA, will improve clinical outcomes.</p

Fibrocytes activate fibroblasts by PDGF.

Fibrocytes, which are bone marrow-derived collagen-producing cells, were reported to play a role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. However, their function in pulmonary fibrosis is unclear. We analyzed their function compared with that of monocytes and localization in fibrotic tissues in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We compared the gene expression profile of monocyte-derived fibrocytes with that of monocytes by microarray analysis. Proliferation and differentiation into myofibroblasts were examined by 3H-thymidine incorporation assay and Western blotting. We measured the level of growth factors in the culture supernatant of fibrocytes by ELISA. The localization of fibrocytes in lung tissues of patients with IPF was determined by immunofluorescence staining. Compared with monocytes, fibrocytes had higher expression of extracellular matrix- and growth factor-encoding genes, including PDGF-B, FGF-2 and VEGF-B. Although fibrocytes did not proliferate in response to PDGF, co-culture of fibrocytes stimulated the growth of lung fibroblasts through the production of PDGF-BB. In the lung of IPF patients, CD45+Collagen-I+FSP-1+ cells, which have a similar phenotype to fibrocytes, were detected and co-stained with anti-PDGF antibody. This study suggested that fibrocytes function in pulmonary fibrosis partly by producing PDGF in the lungs of IPF patients

ショウガッコウ コウガクネン ジドウ ノ ジソン カンジョウ ト タイイク ジュギョウ ニオケル カチカン オヨビ ウンドウ ユウノウカン トノ カンレン

A purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between Self-esteem of higher grade children in primary school and Values, Motor Competence in physical education class. In ordre to achieve this purpose, four kinds of questionnaires were administered to the 2549 higher grade children in primary school. The questionnaires were composed of following scales; Self-esteem, Reflective Self-esteem, Values in physical education, Sense of attainment in physical education and Motor competence. The scale of Values and the scale of Motor competence were devided into four sub-scales, respectively. The name of these subscales were as follows; Effort and Challenge, Observance of rules, Consideration and Investigation, Self-superiority (the foregoings were in Values scale), Cognition of physical competence, Sense of control, Sense of acceptance (the foregoings were in Motor Competence scale). As a result of correlation analysis, the significant correlation coefficients between the self-esteem acale and the other scales were indicated (p unstable high self-esteem > unstable low self-esteem > stable low self-esteem. From these results, it was suggested that the following points were important for teachers in physical education class. The first point was to make children to feel motor competence, and the second point was to praise children for their rule observance behaviors. And through these attentions of teachers, the self-recognition of unstable low self-esteem children could be improved.国立情報学研究所『研究紀要公開支援事業』により電子化

Super-responder to pirfenidone therapy in IPF

Background : Pirfenidone (PFD), an anti-fibrosis drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), suppresses disease progression and delays decline of forced vital capacity. However, this drug rarely makes marked improvement of pulmonary function, chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings and hypoxia. Case presentation : A 59 year-old-man, who was a former smoker and had a history of alcoholic liver cirrhosis, developed exertional dyspnea and was referred to our hospital. HRCT showed honeycomb changes with surrounding ground-glass opacity (GGO) in a predominantly basal and subpleural distribution. He was diagnosed with IPF and the treatment with PFD was started. At 16 months after the start of treatment, the predicted forced vital capacity value markedly improved from 82.9% to 98.6%. His resting-state partial pressure of arterial oxygen while breathing room air increased from a minimum of 54.7 mmHg (at 2 months treatment) to 72.5 mmHg. The GGO observed at diagnosis disappeared in HRCT. But after 32 months of treatment, his general condition got worse gradually, and he died from chronic progression of IPF after 48 months of treatment. Conclusion : Our case suggests that a complication of chronic liver disease and the existence of GGO may be characteristics of super-responder to PFD treatment for IPF patients