Evolution of two-step structural phase transition in Fe1+dTe detected by low-temperature x-ray diffraction

The low-temperature crystal structure of Fe1.13Te, which exhibits an anomalous two-step magnetic transition, was clarified by the systematic x-ray diffraction measurements. It was found that two-step structural phase transition, tetragonal-orthorhombic-monoclinic, occurred correspondingly to the two-step magnetic transition. The detailed analysis of the profile at 5 K indicated the coexistence of the minor orthorhombic area inside the major monoclinic lattice, which could explain the lower-shift (suppression) of the antiferromagnetic transition temperature in Fe1.13Te and suggest a possibility of superconductivity at the domain boundary.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Current status of delirium assessment tools in the intensive care unit: a prospective multicenter observational survey

Delirium is a critical challenge in the intensive care unit (ICU) or high care unit (HCU) setting and is associated with poor outcomes. There is not much literature on how many patients in this setting are assessed for delirium and what tools are used. This study investigated the status of delirium assessment tools of patients in the ICU/HCU. We conducted a multicenter prospective observational study among 20 institutions. Data for patients who were admitted to and discharged from the ICU/HCU during a 1-month study period were collected from each institution using a survey sheet. The primary outcome was the usage rate of delirium assessment tools on an institution- and patient-basis. Secondary outcomes were the delirium prevalence assessed by each institution's assessment tool, comparison of delirium prevalence between delirium assessment tools, delirium prevalence at the end of ICH/HCU stay, and the relationship between potential factors related to delirium and the development of delirium. Result showed that 95% of institutions used the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) or the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) to assess delirium in their ICU/HCU, and the remaining one used another assessment scale. The usage rate (at least once during the ICU/HCU stay) of the ICDSC and the CAM-ICU among individual patients were 64.5% and 25.1%, and only 8.2% of enrolled patients were not assessed by any delirium assessment tool. The prevalence of delirium during ICU/HCU stay was 17.9%, and the prevalence of delirium at the end of the ICU/HCU stay was 5.9%. In conclusion, all institutions used delirium assessment tools in the ICU/HCU, and most patients received delirium assessment. The prevalence of delirium was 17.9%, and two-thirds of patients had recovered at discharge from ICU/HCU

Expression of the endoplasmic reticulum molecular chaperone (ORP150) rescues hippocampal neurons from glutamate toxicity

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系A series of events initiated by glutamate-receptor interaction perturbs cellular homeostasis resulting in elevation of intracellular free calcium and cell death. Cells subject to such environmental change express stress proteins, which contribute importantly to maintenance of metabolic homeostasis and viability. We show that an inducible chaperone present in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the 150-kDa oxygen-regulated protein (ORP150), is expressed both in the human brain after seizure attack and in mouse hippocampus after kainate administration. Using mice heterozygous for ORP150 deficiency, exposure to excitatory stimuli caused hippocampal neurons to display exaggerated elevation of cytosolic calcium accompanied by activation of μ-calpain and cathepsin B, as well as increased vulnerability to glutamate-induced cell death in vitro and decreased survival to kainate in vivo. In contrast, targeted neuronal overexpression of ORP150 suppressed each of these events and enhanced neuronal and animal survival in parallel with diminished seizure intensity. Studies using cultured hippocampal neurons showed that ORP150 regulates cytosolic free calcium and activation of proteolytic pathways causing cell death in neurons subject to excitatory stress. Our data underscore a possible role for ER stress in glutamate toxicity and pinpoint a key ER chaperone, ORP150, which contributes to the stress response critical for neuronal survival

Large-scale analysis of full-length cDNAs from the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivar Micro-Tom, a reference system for the Solanaceae genomics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Solanaceae family includes several economically important vegetable crops. The tomato (<it>Solanum lycopersicum</it>) is regarded as a model plant of the Solanaceae family. Recently, a number of tomato resources have been developed in parallel with the ongoing tomato genome sequencing project. In particular, a miniature cultivar, Micro-Tom, is regarded as a model system in tomato genomics, and a number of genomics resources in the Micro-Tom-background, such as ESTs and mutagenized lines, have been established by an international alliance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To accelerate the progress in tomato genomics, we developed a collection of fully-sequenced 13,227 Micro-Tom full-length cDNAs. By checking redundant sequences, coding sequences, and chimeric sequences, a set of 11,502 non-redundant full-length cDNAs (nrFLcDNAs) was generated. Analysis of untranslated regions demonstrated that tomato has longer 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions than most other plants but rice. Classification of functions of proteins predicted from the coding sequences demonstrated that nrFLcDNAs covered a broad range of functions. A comparison of nrFLcDNAs with genes of sixteen plants facilitated the identification of tomato genes that are not found in other plants, most of which did not have known protein domains. Mapping of the nrFLcDNAs onto currently available tomato genome sequences facilitated prediction of exon-intron structure. Introns of tomato genes were longer than those of Arabidopsis and rice. According to a comparison of exon sequences between the nrFLcDNAs and the tomato genome sequences, the frequency of nucleotide mismatch in exons between Micro-Tom and the genome-sequencing cultivar (Heinz 1706) was estimated to be 0.061%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The collection of Micro-Tom nrFLcDNAs generated in this study will serve as a valuable genomic tool for plant biologists to bridge the gap between basic and applied studies. The nrFLcDNA sequences will help annotation of the tomato whole-genome sequence and aid in tomato functional genomics and molecular breeding. Full-length cDNA sequences and their annotations are provided in the database KaFTom <url>http://www.pgb.kazusa.or.jp/kaftom/</url> via the website of the National Bioresource Project Tomato <url>http://tomato.nbrp.jp</url>.</p

各地の深海底に存在する褐色変色域での微生物調査

BE11-P72ポスター要旨 / ブルーアース2011（2011年3月7日～8日, 東京海洋大学品川キャンパス）http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt05-18/ehttp://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt10-06_leg2/ehttp://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt10-13_leg2/ehttp://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/yokosuka/yk10-10/

温熱環境と泌乳牛の体表温度との関係からみた暑熱環境の評価

To evaluate skin surface temperature measured by a two dimensional radiant thermometer as an indicator of heat stress, a total of 347 surface temperature measurements on the udder and belly were made in Hokkaido and Taiwan dairy herds. The air temperature and temperature-humidity index (THI) in the barns ranged between 9.2 to 32.7 ℃ and 53.6 to 83.5, respectively. The highest surface temperatures on the udder and belly increased with increasing air temperature in the barns (p<0.01). However, in barn temperatures below 25 ℃, the variation of the highest surface temperature on the udder and belly of individual cows at the same barn temperature was relatively greater than when the barn temperature was above 25 ℃, and the variance between above and below 25 ℃ was significantly different (p<0.01). Similarly, the average values, the individual variations, and the variances of the highest surface temperature were different between THI values above and below 70. These results suggested that most lactating dairy cows in the environment above 25 ℃ or 70 THI have to make an effort to accelerate heat emission from their surface, and are considered to be suffering from mild heat stress in the environment above 25 ℃ or 70 THI. 熱環境下では乳牛の体表面からの熱放散が活発化し、体表温は上昇するはずである。この現象を利用して暑熱環境を評価することが目的である。北海道と台湾南部の泌乳牛延べ347頭の乳房と腹部の体表面温度を二次元放射温度計にて計測した。測定時の牛舎内の気温は9.2〜32℃、相対湿度は35.0〜89.0%の範囲であった。乳牛個体の乳房と腹部の体表温の最高温度をプロットすると、牛舎内気温の上昇またはTHI値の上昇につれて乳房および腹部の体表温の最高温度は高くなり、有意な相関が認められた (p<0.01)。しかし、体表温の分布は気温25℃あるいはTHI値70を境に、それ以上と以下において異なり、それぞれの領域における相関係数は小さくなった。乳房と腹部の体表温の最高温度の個体差は、25℃以上の気温あるいはTHI値70以上の暑熱環境においては、25℃以下あるいはTHI値 70以下におけるより小さく、それぞれの分散は有意に異なった(p<0.01)。これは、25℃以上あるいはTHI値70以上の暑熱環境の下では泌乳牛の大部分は体表面からの放熱を高水準に維持する必要があり、体表温は高い値で斉一となることを示し、泌乳牛は上記の境界において軽度の暑熱ストレスに曝されるものと考えられた

Efficacy of films of uncapped gold nanoparticle as electrodes for direct electron transfer to redox proteins

Electrochemical manipulation of enzymes is expected to enable the rapid detection of marker molecules and the efficient production of valuable materials. We have fabricated an Au nanoparticle (AuNP) thin film electrode in our previous study, which enables more enhanced heterogeneous electron transfer reactions than a conventional planner Au electrode. In this study, electrochemical evaluation of cytochrome c was performed using the AuNP thin film electrodes with and without self-assembled monolayer (SAM) modification to assess its practicality for protein electrochemistry. The 4-pyridinethiol- and 7-carboxy-1-heptanethiol-modified AuNP thin film electrodes showed much larger faradaic current values attributed to redox reactions compared to those of the Au electrodes. The results indicate that the nanostructural effects of the AuNP thin film electrode are beneficial. Importantly, even when the non-modified (bare) AuNP thin film electrode was applied, it exhibited the clear electrochemical response of cyt c, while the bare Au electrode showed no such a response. This study provides evidence that the AuNP thin film electrode functions as a potent bioelectrocatalysts due to the nanostructure-specific properties

Isolation and Functional Analysis of a Gene, tcsB, Encoding a Transmembrane Hybrid-Type Histidine Kinase from Aspergillus nidulans

We cloned and characterized a novel Aspergillus nidulans histidine kinase gene, tcsB, encoding a membrane-type two-component signaling protein homologous to the yeast osmosensor synthetic lethal N-end rule protein 1 (SLN1), which transmits signals through the high-osmolarity glycerol response 1 (HOG1) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade in yeast cells in response to environmental osmotic stimuli. From an A. nidulans cDNA library, we isolated a positive clone containing a 3,210-bp open reading frame that encoded a putative protein consisting of 1,070 amino acids. The predicted tcsB protein (TcsB) has two probable transmembrane regions in its N-terminal half and has a high degree of structural similarity to yeast Sln1p, a transmembrane hybrid-type histidine kinase. Overexpression of the tcsB cDNA suppressed the lethality of a temperature-sensitive osmosensing-defective sln1-ts yeast mutant. However, tcsB cDNAs in which the conserved phosphorylation site His(552) residue or the phosphorelay site Asp(989) residue had been replaced failed to complement the sln1-ts mutant. In addition, introduction of the tcsB cDNA into an sln1Δ sho1Δ yeast double mutant, which lacked two osmosensors, suppressed lethality in high-salinity media and activated the HOG1 MAPK. These results imply that TcsB functions as an osmosensor histidine kinase. We constructed an A. nidulans strain lacking the tcsB gene (tcsBΔ) and examined its phenotype. However, unexpectedly, the tcsBΔ strain did not exhibit a detectable phenotype for either hyphal development or morphology on standard or stress media. Our results suggest that A. nidulans has more complex and robust osmoregulatory systems than the yeast SLN1-HOG1 MAPK cascade