Impact of the Coronary Flow Reduction at Rest on Myocardial Perfusion and Functional Indices Derived from Myocardial Contrast and Strain Echocardiography

Background: The severity of the coronary flow reduction that corresponds to myocardial perfusion and functional abnormalities remains unclear. We estimated the impact of various severities of flow-limiting coronary stenosis at rest on myocardial perfusion and functional indices from myocardial contrast echocardiography and tissue strain imaging and characterized the relationship between both the indices. Methods: Four levels of flow-limiting stenoses (slight, mild, moderate, severe) of the left circumflex coronary artery were examined in 10 open-chest dogs. In the left circumflex coronary artery area, plateau videointensity and time to plateau (TP) of the replenishment curve from myocardial contrast echocardiography were calculated for perfusion analysis, and peak systolic strain and postsystolic strain index (PSI) from tissue strain imaging were measured for functional analysis. Results: Plateau videointensity and peak systolic strain tended to decrease with increased severity of stenosis, although these differences did not reach the level of statistical significance. TP and PSI were significantly increased in the context of moderate (≥30-<50%) and severe (≥50%) flow reduction when compared to baseline values (TP, moderate 1.69 ± 0.20 and severe 1.77 ± 0.25 vs baseline 0.93 ± 0.17, P < .01, respectively; PSI, moderate 0.96 ± 0.15 and severe 1.28 ± 0.32 vs baseline 0.59 ± 0.18, P < .05 and P < .01, respectively). Further, TP and PSI were positively correlated with flow reduction (r = 0.81 and r = 0.84, P < .0001, respectively), and PSI was positively correlated with TP (r = 0.72, P < .0001). Conclusions: In contrast to conventional indices, such as plateau videointensity and peak systolic strain, novel indices, such as TP and PSI, were both able to detect 30% or greater coronary flow reduction at rest. © 2006 American Society of Echocardiography.Okuda K, Asanuma T, Hirano T, Masuda K, Otani K, Ishikura F, Beppu S. Impact of the coronary flow reduction at rest on myocardial perfusion and functional indices derived from myocardial contrast and strain echocardiography. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2006 Jun;19(6):781-7. doi: 10.1016/j.echo.2005.10.016

A preliminary study on application of a balance sport slackline to FYS

本稿では、バランス・スポーツ“スラックライン”を初年次教育の題材として用いた事例的研究について報告する。スラックラインとは、綱渡りを競技として発展させたものであり、現在、スポーツやレジャー、身体教育や健康促進、リハビリテーションの一環としてなど、様々な分野・用途で応用されている。本研究では、誰でも気軽に楽しめ、省スペースで実施でき、コミュニケーションのツールともなるスラックラインを、初年次教育における仮説検証学習の題材として応用し、学生らが自らの身体を使って体験的に学ぶことで、学習が促進されるかどうかについて検討した。授業後のアンケートの結果、スラックラインを取り入れた授業によって、自身や他者についての理解や気づきが促され、コミュニケーションが活性化し、楽しい学習の場が提供できたことが示唆された。これらの結果は、スラックラインが初年次教育の題材として有効である可能性を部分的に示している。論

Production of ricinoleic acid-containing monoestolide triacylglycerides in an oleaginous diatom, Chaetoceros gracilis.

実用珪藻ツノケイソウによるリシノール酸の生産に成功. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2016-11-14.Ricinoleic acid (RA), a hydroxyl fatty acid, is suitable for medical and industrial uses and is produced in high-oil-accumulating organisms such as castor bean and the ergot fungus Claviceps. We report here the efficient production of RA in a transgenic diatom Chaetoceros gracilis expressing the fatty acid hydroxylase gene (CpFAH) from Claviceps purpurea. In transgenic C. gracilis, RA content increased at low temperatures, reaching 2.2 pg/cell when cultured for 7 d at 15 °C, without affecting cell growth, and was enhanced (3.3 pg/cell) by the co-expression of a palmitic acid-specific elongase gene. Most of the accumulated RA was linked with monoestolide triacylglycerol (ME TAG), in which one RA molecule was esterified to the α position of the glycerol backbone and was further esterified at its hydroxy group with a fatty acid or second RA moiety, or 1-OH TAG, in which RA was esterified to the glycerol backbone. Overall, 80% of RA was accumulated as ME TAGs. Furthermore, exogenous RA-methyl ester suppressed the growth of wild-type diatoms in a dose-dependent manner and was rapidly converted to ME TAG. These results suggest that C. gracilis masks the hydroxyl group and accumulates RA as the less-toxic ME TAG

Exercise on the Structure and Circulation of Choroid

Aims To determine the effects of dynamic exercise on the circulation and the luminal and stromal areas of the choroid in normal eyes. Methods This was a prospective interventional study of 38 eyes of 38 normal subjects enrolled by invitation. The systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, intraocularpressure, mean ocular perfusion pressure (MOPP), choroidal blood velocity, and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomographic (EDI-OCT) images were recorded before, and immediately after mild dynamic exercise. The same measurements were recorded after 10 min of rest. The choroidal blood velocity was measured bylaser speckle flowgraphy, and the mean blur rate was used for the evaluations. The horizontal EDI-OCT images of the subfoveal choroid were converted to binary images. The central choroidal thickness (CCT), total cross sectional choroidal area, luminal areas, stromal areas, and the ratio of luminal area to total choroidal area (L/C ratio) were determined from these images. Results The systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, MOPP, and the mean blur rate were significantly increased immediately after the exercise and significantly decreased 10 minutes after the exercise. There wereno significant changes in the mean CCT, the mean total choroidal area, the mean luminal and stromal areas, and the mean L/C ratio after the exercise. Conclusions Our results suggest that a rest period is needed before measurements of blood flow velocity but not necessary for the EDI-OCT imaging to determine the choroidal thickness and area

Paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic records through Marine Isotope Stage 19 at the Chiba composite section, central Japan: A key reference for the EarlyeMiddle Pleistocene Subseries boundary

Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 19 is an important analogue for the present interglacial because of its similar orbital configuration, especially the phasing of the obliquity maximum to precession minimum. However, sedimentary records suitable for capturing both terrestrial and marine environmental changes are limited, and thus the climatic forcing mechanisms for MIS 19 are still largely unknown. The Chiba composite section, east-central Japanese archipelago, is a continuous and expanded marine sedimentary succession well suited to capture terrestrial and marine environmental changes through MIS 19. In this study, a detailed oxygen isotope chronology is established from late MIS 20 to early MIS 18, supported by a U-Pb zircon age and the presence of the Matuyama–Brunhes boundary. New pollen, marine microfossil, and planktonic foraminiferal δ18O and Mg/Ca paleotemperature records reveal the complex interplay of climatic influences. Our pollen data suggest that the duration of full interglacial conditions during MIS 19 extends from 785.0 to 775.1 ka (9.9 kyr), which offers an important natural baseline in predicting the duration of the present interglacial. A Younger Dryas-type cooling event is present during Termination IX, suggesting that such events are linked to this orbital configuration. Millennial- to multi-millennial-scale variations in our δ18O and Mg/Ca records imply that the Subarctic Front fluctuated in the northwestern Pacific Ocean during late MIS 19, probably in response to East Asian winter monsoon variability. The climatic setting at this time appears to be related to less severe summer insolation minima at 65˚N and/or high winter insolation at 50˚N. Our records do not support a recently hypothesized direct coupling between variations in the geomagnetic field intensity and global/regional climate change. Our highly resolved paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic records, coupled with a well-defined Matuyama–Brunhes boundary (772.9 ka; duration 1.9 kyr), establish the Chiba composite section as an exceptional climatic and chronological reference section for the Early–Middle Pleistocene boundary.ArticleQuaternary Science Reviews 191: 406-430(2018)journal articl

OryzaExpress: An Integrated Database of Gene Expression Networks and Omics Annotations in Rice

Similarity of gene expression profiles provides important clues for understanding the biological functions of genes, biological processes and metabolic pathways related to genes. A gene expression network (GEN) is an ideal choice to grasp such expression profile similarities among genes simultaneously. For GEN construction, the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) has been widely used as an index to evaluate the similarities of expression profiles for gene pairs. However, calculation of PCCs for all gene pairs requires large amounts of both time and computer resources. Based on correspondence analysis, we developed a new method for GEN construction, which takes minimal time even for large-scale expression data with general computational circumstances. Moreover, our method requires no prior parameters to remove sample redundancies in the data set. Using the new method, we constructed rice GENs from large-scale microarray data stored in a public database. We then collected and integrated various principal rice omics annotations in public and distinct databases. The integrated information contains annotations of genome, transcriptome and metabolic pathways. We thus developed the integrated database OryzaExpress for browsing GENs with an interactive and graphical viewer and principal omics annotations (http://riceball.lab.nig.ac.jp/oryzaexpress/). With integration of Arabidopsis GEN data from ATTED-II, OryzaExpress also allows us to compare GENs between rice and Arabidopsis. Thus, OryzaExpress is a comprehensive rice database that exploits powerful omics approaches from all perspectives in plant science and leads to systems biology