Riemann-Finsler surfaces

This paper study the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for Finsler surfaces with smooth boundary. This is a natural generalization of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for Riemannian surfaces with smooth boundary as well as an extension of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for boundaryless Finsler surfaces. The paper starts with an introduction in the Finsler geometry of surfaces with emphasis on the Berwald and Landsberg surfaces

PLANNING OF FLEXIBLE TRANSPORT SERVICES FOR RURAL AREA CONSIDERING OPERATION COST

This paper focuses on the potential role of Flexible Transport Service (FTS) in low and dispersed demand area. In Japan, after the deregulation in 2002, some mass transit companies left from bus services in local areas. This causes problems to some older people and disabled people with difficulties on traveling in rural areas. To meet these needs, the term demand responsive transit (DRT) has been increasingly applied because it can provide passengers with alternative options on route, schedule, at a lower operating cost compared to the infrequent fixed route local public bus services. DRT needs, however, a quite large subsidy for the low density area and is not so popular for elderly people because of it’s level of service. On the other hand, Taxi Subsidy Scheme (TSS) that subsidizes on the taxi fare is being carried out widely by local authorities in Japan to support the special groups’ transport needs. In this research, we aimed to examine the role of taxi subsidy system from the relation with on demand ride-sharing taxi in depopulated area

Increased excretion of urinary cyclic GMP in primary hepatoma and preneoplastic liver.

Urinary excretion of cyclic GMP (cGMP) and the plasma level of cyclic AMP (cAMP) were determined in patients with liver diseases. The urinary excretion of cGMP, expressed on the basis of creatinine excreted per day, was at significantly higher levels not only in primary hepatoma but also in liver cirrhosis, while the plasma level of cAMP was higher only in liver cirrhosis. Thus, the ratio of urinary cGMP excretion to plasma cAMP level in primary hepatoma was significantly higher than that in liver cirrhosis. In cirrhotic patients studied by catheterization, the level of cGMP in the hepatic vein was significantly lower than that in the superior mesenteric or portal vein, indicating the uptake of cGMP by the liver. Since cGMP excretion correlated with KICG both in liver cirrhosis and primary hepatoma, the increased cGMP excretion appeared to be explained by a reduced uptake of cGMP by the liver.</p

Substrate binding induces structural changes in cytochrome P450cam

X-ray structures of ferric cytochrome P450cam partially complexed with the substrate (+)-camphor to two different extents were determined at 1.30–1.35 Å resolution, revealing the protein structures of the substrate-free and substrate-bound forms

Segmental isotopic labeling of a 140 kDa dimeric multi-domain protein CheA from Escherichia coli by expressed protein ligation and protein trans-splicing

Segmental isotopic labeling is a powerful labeling tool to facilitate NMR studies of larger proteins by not only alleviating the signal overlap problem but also retaining features of uniform isotopic labeling. Although two approaches, expressed protein ligation (EPL) and protein trans-splicing (PTS), have been mainly used for segmental isotopic labeling, there has been no single example in which both approaches have been directly used with an identical protein. Here we applied both EPL and PTS methods to a 140 kDa dimeric multi-domain protein E. coli CheA, and successfully produced the ligated CheA dimer by both approaches. In EPL approach, extensive optimization of the ligation sites and the conditions were required to obtain sufficient amount for an NMR sample of CheA, because CheA contains a dimer forming domain and it was not possible to achieve high reactant concentrations (1–5 mM) of CheA fragments for the ideal EPL condition, thereby resulting in the low yield of segmentally labelled CheA dimer. PTS approach sufficiently produced segmentally labeled ligated CheA in vivo as well as in vitro without extensive optimizations. This is presumably because CheA has self-contained domains connected with long linkers, accommodating a seven-residue mutation without loss of the function, which was introduced by PTS to achieve the high yield. PTS approach was less laborious than EPL approach for the routine preparation of segmentally-isotope labeled CheA dimer. Both approaches remain to be further developed for facilitating preparations of segmental isotope-labelled samples without extensive optimizations for ligation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10858-012-9628-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A Proposal of a Practical and Optimal Prophylactic Strategy for Peritoneal Recurrence

Peritoneal metastasis, which often arises in patients with advanced gastric cancer, is well known as a miserable and ill-fated disease. Once peritoneal metastasis is formed, it is extremely difficult to defeat. We advocated EIPL (extensive intraoperative peritoneal lavage) as a useful and practical adjuvant surgical technique for those gastric cancer patients who are likely to suffer from peritoneal recurrence. In this paper, we review the effect of EIPL therapy on prevention of peritoneal recurrence on patients with peritoneal free cancer cells without overt peritoneal metastasis (CY+/P−) through the prospective randomized study, and we verified its potential as an optimal and standard prophylactic therapeutic strategy for peritoneal recurrence