送粉生態、宿主種および集団遺伝構造から迫る小笠原諸島固有寄生植物シマウツボ(ハマウツボ科）の進化

京都大学新制・課程博士博士(理学)甲第25144号理博第5051号京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻(主査)准教授 高山 浩司, 教授 田村 実, 教授 石田 厚学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of ScienceKyoto UniversityDGA

Detecting a Taxi from a Video for Visually Handicapped People

This paper proposes a method of detecting a specific moving object, a taxi in particular, on a road from a video provided from a camera attached to a user. In order to raise the quality of life of visually handicapped people, a computer vision system which works in place of their eyes and a brain may be useful. As one of such systems, this study focuses its attention on finding a taxi on a road which is a convenient vehicle to such people as a means of transfer outdoors. The novel idea of this study is that a camera and a PC system for finding a taxi is carried by a user, a visually handicapped person, for example. The proposed method employs the HOG features to represent a vehicle, and finds a taxi by Real AdaBoost and color information with the detected vehicle. The performance of the proposed method is shown experimentally.The 34th Chinese Control Conference and SICE Annual Conference 2015, July 28-30, 2015, Hangzhou, Chin

Salubrinal acts as a Dusp2 inhibitor and suppresses inflammation in anti-collagen antibody-induced arthritis

Dual-specificity phosphatase 2 (Dusp2; also called phosphatase of activated cells 1, PAC1) is highly expressed in activated immune cells. We examined whether a potential inhibitor of Dusp2, salubrinal, prevents inflammatory cytokine expression in immune cells and arthritic responses in a mouse model of anti-collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA). Salubrinal is a synthetic chemical that inhibits de-phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2α). In this study, we examined the effects of salubrinal on expression of inflammation linked genes as well as a family of DUSP genes using genome-wide microarrays, qPCR, and RNA interference. We also evaluated the effects of salubrinal on arthritic responses in CAIA mice using clinical and histological scores. The results revealed that salubrinal decreased inflammatory gene expression in macrophages, T lymphocytes, and mast cells. Dusp2 was suppressed by salubrinal in LPS-activated macrophages as well as PMA/ionomycin-activated T lymphocytes and mast cells. Furthermore, a partial silencing of Dusp2 downregulated IL1β and Cox2, and the inflammatory signs of CAIA mice were significantly suppressed by salubrinal. Collectively, this study presents a novel therapeutic possibility of salubrinal for inflammatory arthritis such as RA through inhibition of Dusp2

Predicting and validating the pathway of Wnt3a-driven suppression of osteoclastogenesis

Wnt signaling plays a major role in bone homeostasis and mechanotransduction, but its role and regulatory mechanism in osteoclast development are not fully understood. Through genome-wide in silico analysis, we examined Wnt3a-driven regulation of osteoclast development. Mouse bone marrow-derived cells were incubated with RANKL in the presence and absence of Wnt3a. Using microarray mRNA expression data, we conducted principal component analysis and predicted transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) that were potentially involved in the responses to RANKL and Wnt3a. The principal component analysis predicted potential Wnt3a responsive regulators that would reverse osteoclast development, and a TFBS prediction algorithm indicated that the AP1 binding site would be linked to Wnt3a-driven suppression. Since c-Fos was upregulated by RANKL and downregulated by Wnt3a in a dose-dependent manner, we examined its role using RNA interference. The partial silencing of c-Fos suppressed RANKL-driven osteoclastogenesis by downregulating NFATc1, a master transcription factor of osteoclast development. Although the involvement of c-Myc was predicted and partially silencing c-Myc slightly reduced the level of TRAP, c-Myc silencing did not alter the expression of NFATc1. Collectively, the presented systems-biology approach demonstrates that Wnt3a attenuates RANKL-driven osteoclastogenesis by blocking c-Fos expression and suggests that mechanotransduction of bone alters the development of not only osteoblasts but also osteoclasts through Wnt signaling

Time-course transcriptome analysis of human cellular reprogramming from multiple cell types reveals the drastic change occurs between the mid phase and the late phase

BackgroundHuman induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have been attempted for clinical application with diverse iPSCs sources derived from various cell types. This proposes that there would be a shared reprogramming route regardless of different starting cell types. However, the insights of reprogramming process are mostly restricted to only fibroblasts of both human and mouse. To understand molecular mechanisms of cellular reprogramming, the investigation of the conserved reprogramming routes from various cell types is needed. Particularly, the maturation, belonging to the mid phase of reprogramming, was reported as the main roadblock of reprogramming from human dermal fibroblasts to hiPSCs. Therefore, we investigated first whether the shared reprogramming routes exists across various human cell types and second whether the maturation is also a major blockage of reprogramming in various cell types.ResultsWe selected 3615 genes with dynamic expressions during reprogramming from five human starting cell types by using time-course microarray dataset. Then, we analyzed transcriptomic variances, which were clustered into 3 distinct transcriptomic phases (early, mid and late phase); and greatest difference lied in the late phase. Moreover, functional annotation of gene clusters classified by gene expression patterns showed the mesenchymal-epithelial transition from day 0 to 3, transient upregulation of epidermis related genes from day 7 to 15, and upregulation of pluripotent genes from day 20, which were partially similar to the reprogramming process of mouse embryonic fibroblasts. We lastly illustrated variations of transcription factor activity at each time point of the reprogramming process and a major differential transition of transcriptome in between day 15 to 20 regardless of cell types. Therefore, the results implied that the maturation would be a major roadblock across multiple cell types in the human reprogramming process.ConclusionsHuman cellular reprogramming process could be traced into three different phases across various cell types. As the late phase exhibited the greatest dissimilarity, the maturation step could be suggested as the common major roadblock during human cellular reprogramming. To understand further molecular mechanisms of the maturation would enhance reprogramming efficiency by overcoming the roadblock during hiPSCs generation

Field Projection Device of Atomic Bomb Dome by Augmented Reality

We developed a projection device with Head Mounted Display through which visitors to Atomic Bomb Dome can see the 3D image of what the dome used to be before the dropping of the bomb. This wearable device, based on the technology of augmented reality (AR), enables wearers to have a clear understanding of the effect of the bomb by showing the difference before and after the catastrophe, because the 3D image of Hiroshima prefectural products museum is projected exactly where Atomic Bomb Dome is seen in the wearer's field of view. This development was carried out in the wake of our field interview for foreign visitors. Many hoped that they would learn about Hiroshima prefectural products museum and some suggested that we build its life-size replica just beside the dome. Since building it physically is out of the question, we struck on the idea of building it virtually utilizing AR technology. Technically, our device is composed of a Head Mounted Display available on the market and an original application we programed. The difficulty of the development lay in the way of programing and installing the original software because its built-in installer could install only a few official applications for the hardware and therefore it might not execute any other original applications. Even if it could, controlling built-in hardware devices, a camera in this particular case, was not guaranteed. Through trial and error we found a way to install our software and execute it. Controlling the camera was also successful

Integrated examination and comparison of prospection methods at japanese historical Kiln sites

Magnetic prospection in Japan has been used widely for surveying archaeological sites with thermoremanent magnetism. Kiln sites are a good target and much data has already been accumulated over a long period of time. Magnetic anomalies are two-dimensional, however, while many archaeologists today require three-dimensional data in order to be able to plan for the excavation and preservation of a kiln site. Our group has therefore examined in detail how kiln type can be assessed by archaeologic..

The environment-induced cracking of as-annealed Ni3(Si,Ti) and Ni3(Si,Ti) with 2Mo in sodium chloride solutions

Accepted manuscript version. The final publication is available at Springer via http://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-015-0046-7.Background The environment-induced cracking (EIC) of as-annealed Ni3(Si,Ti) and Ni3(Si,Ti) with 2Mo has been researched as functions of applied stress, chloride ion concentration, test temperature, and pH. Methods The investigation of EIC was carried out by applying a constant method in NaCl solutions. Results The EIC susceptibility of both intermetallic compounds increased with increasing test temperature and Cl− ion concentration and increased with decreasing pH. The fracture surface morphologies of Ni3(Si,Ti) was intergranular while Ni3(Si,Ti) with 2Mo was a mixture of intergranular and transgranular, and the relationship between log t f (time to failure) and log l ss (steady-state elongation rate) became the identical straight line irrespective of applied stress, chloride ion concentration, test temperature, and pH, which means that l ss becomes a relevant parameter for predicting t f. The EIC susceptibility of Ni3(Si,Ti) with 2Mo was lower than that of Ni3(Si,Ti), which showed the advantageous effect of Mo. Conclusions From the results acquired, EIC of both the compounds was indicated to take place by hydrogen embrittlement (HE)

On the Characteristic Difference of Neoclassical Bootstrap Current and Its Effects on MHD Equilibria between CHS Heliotron/Torsatron and CHS-qa Quasi-Axisymmetric Stellarator

The characteristic difference of neoclassical bootstrap current and its effects on MHD equilibria are described for the CHS heliotron/torsatron and the CHS-qa quasi-axisymmetric stellarator. The direction of bootstrap current strongly depends on collisionality in CHS, whereas it does not in CHS-qa because of quasi-axisymmetry. In the CHS configuration, it appears that enhanced bumpy (Bs1) and sideband components of helical ripple (By1) play an important role in reducing the magnetic geometrical factor, which is a key factor in evaluating the value of bootstrap cuffent, and determining its polarity. The bootstrap current in CHS-qa is theoretically predicted to be larger than that in CHS and produces significant effects on the resulting rotational transform and magnetic shear. In the finite B plasmas, the magnetic well becomes deeper in both CHS and CHS-qa and its region is expanded in CHS. The existence of co-flowing bootstrap current makes the magnetic well shallow in comparison with that in currentless equilibrium