Enforced Granulocyte/Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor Signals Do Not Support Lymphopoiesis, but Instruct Lymphoid to Myelomonocytic Lineage Conversion

We evaluated the effects of ectopic granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) signals on hematopoietic commitment and differentiation. Lineage-restricted progenitors purified from mice with the ubiquitous transgenic human GM-CSF receptor (hGM-CSFR) were used for the analysis. In cultures with hGM-CSF alone, hGM-CSFR–expressing (hGM-CSFR+) granulocyte/monocyte progenitors (GMPs) and megakaryocyte/erythrocyte progenitors (MEPs) exclusively gave rise to granulocyte/monocyte (GM) and megakaryocyte/erythroid (MegE) colonies, respectively, providing formal proof that GM-CSF signals support the GM and MegE lineage differentiation without affecting the physiological myeloid fate. hGM-CSFR transgenic mice were crossed with mice deficient in interleukin (IL)-7, an essential cytokine for T and B cell development. Administration of hGM-CSF in these mice could not restore T or B lymphopoiesis, indicating that enforced GM-CSF signals cannot substitute for IL-7 to promote lymphopoiesis. Strikingly, >50% hGM-CSFR+ common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) and >20% hGM-CSFR+ pro-T cells gave rise to granulocyte, monocyte, and/or myeloid dendritic cells, but not MegE lineage cells in the presence of hGM-CSF. Injection of hGM-CSF into mice transplanted with hGM-CSFR+ CLPs blocked their lymphoid differentiation, but induced development of GM cells in vivo. Thus, hGM-CSF transduces permissive signals for myeloerythroid differentiation, whereas it transmits potent instructive signals for the GM differentiation to CLPs and early T cell progenitors. These data suggest that a majority of CLPs and a fraction of pro-T cells possess plasticity for myelomonocytic differentiation that can be activated by ectopic GM-CSF signals, supporting the hypothesis that the down-regulation of GM-CSFR is a critical event in producing cells with a lymphoid-restricted lineage potential

Isolation of Nebulin from Rabbit Skeletal Muscle and Its Interaction with Actin

Nebulin is about 800 kDa filamentous protein that binds the entire thin filament of vertebrate skeletal muscle sarcomeres. Nebulin cannot be isolated from muscle except in a completely denatured form by direct solubilization of myofibrils with SDS because nebulin is hardly soluble under salt conditions. In the present study, nebulin was solubilized by a salt solution containing 1 M urea and purified by DEAE-Toyopearl column chromatography via 4 M urea elution. Rotary-shadowed images of nebulin showed entangled knit-like particles, about 20 nm in diameter. The purified nebulin bound to actin filaments to form loose bundles. Nebulin was confirmed to bind actin, α-actinin, β-actinin, and tropomodulin, but not troponin or tropomyosin. The data shows that full-length nebulin can be also obtained in a functional and presumably native form, verified by data from experiments using recombinant subfragments

Association between Serum Soluble Klotho Levels and Mortality in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

Klotho is a single-pass transmembrane protein predominantly expressed in the kidney. The extracellular domain of Klotho is subject to ectodomain shedding and is released into the circulation as a soluble form. Soluble Klotho is also generated from alternative splicing of the Klotho gene. In mice, defects in Klotho expression lead to complex phenotypes resembling those observed in dialysis patients. However, the relationship between the level of serum soluble Klotho and overall survival in hemodialysis patients, who exhibit a state of Klotho deficiency, remains to be delineated. Here we prospectively followed a cohort of 63 patients with a mean duration of chronic hemodialysis of 6.7±5.4 years for a median of 65 months. Serum soluble Klotho was detectable in all patients (median 371 pg/mL, interquartile range 309–449). Patients with serum soluble Klotho levels below the lower quartile (<309 pg/mL) had significantly higher cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates. Furthermore, the higher all-cause mortality persisted even after adjustment for confounders (hazard ratio 4.14, confidence interval 1.29–13.48). We conclude that there may be a threshold for the serum soluble Klotho level associated with a higher risk of mortality

Effect of Salivation by Facial Somatosensory Stimuli of Facial Massage and Vibrotactile Apparatus

We studied the effects of salivary promotion of fluid secretion after hand massage, and the apparatus of vibrotactile stimulation (89 Hz frequency, 15 min) in normal humans. Personal massage cannot be performed on handicap and stroke patients, and then giving hand massage to them for 5 min massage gives a tired feeling. So, we focused 3 min stranger massage. Salivary glands can discharge the accumulated saliva by extrusion from the acinus glands’ massages as described in the recent Japanese textbook. We think that this method may not produce realistic recovery. Our aim ideas are to relieve stress and increase temperature with lightly touch massage of the skin and for a 1 cycle of 1 s. We recorded RR interval of ECG, total salivation, facial skin temperature, OxyHb of fNIRS on the frontal cortex, and amylase activity for the autonomic changes. In increased 2°C of the facial skin temperature, the hand massage had a need for 3 min and the vibrotactile stimulation for 15 min. Increase from 700 to 1000 ms of RR intervals had a need for 3 min in the hand massage and had 15 min in the vibrotactile stimulation. Although vibrotactile stimulation needs long time of 4–7 years as effective recovery, hand massage may have more effect with a repetition of day after day

介助磨きに対する子どもの行動

Clarification of the normal developmental stages with regard to recumbent-position brushing is considered important for the purpose of giving appropriate guidance in teeth cleaning infants. In order to identify the ages at which children may accept recumbent-position brushing, we had a number of mothers perform recumbent-position brushing upon normal preschool children (ages 0-6 years), and observed the children\u27s behavior. 79 children (79.0%), classified as the adaptive group, were seen to have no negative reaction or behavior whatsoever to recumber-position brushing. However, 21 children (21.0%) composed an unadaptive group in which some rejective behavior was observed. As a result of analyses by AIC, the calender age which thus distinguishes the adaptive group from the unadaptive group was 2 years and 6 months. It was concluded that children 2 years and 6 months or older are adaptive to recumbent-position brushing while those less than 2 years and 6 months are unadaptive

女子大学生の健康認識についての一考察 : 専攻別による比較検討

We have had a hypothesis that there must be the different concern with their health among the students majoring "Yogo Teacher", that is, School Nurse Teacher, the students majoring medical treatments & cares, and other studies. Thus, we surveyed their concern with health by showing the questionnaires to 1340 students. The findings were follows; 1) About 80% of students replied that they were in good health in general and there were no significant differences among the students majoring Yogo Teacher, the students majoring medical treatments & cares, and other studies. But the students majoring Yogo Teacher felt less healthy than the others in depth. 2) The physical functions limited the students\u27 activities by their health conditions affected mostly the students majoring other studies, and then the students majoring medical treatments & cares, and less affected the students majoring Yogo Teacher. 3) The students majoring medical treatments & cares, and Yogo Teacher had much more bodily pains than the students majoring other studies. 4) The students majoring Yogo Teacher had been less frustrated than the students majoring medical treatments & cares and other studies. 5) As a whole, the students majoring medical treatments & cares had been much healthier than the students majoring Yogo Teacher, and the students majoring other studies had been less healthy than the formers

調理における汁物の塩分濃度

Appropriate content of salt and seasonings in soups of mass feeding (MF) were studied and the following results were obtained. 1) The salt content in soups of MF was varied with the kind of souplmiso soup, consomme soup, Chinese soup and sumashijiru. The difference of salt centent caused by the addifion of seasonings; miso, soysouce, salt and instant powdered consomme. 2) The salt content of MF soups; misosoup, consomme soup, Chinese soup and sumashijiru were 1.0%, 0.8%, 0.7% and 0.8% respectively. 3) In quantities of food service , serving for many persons, over 600, MF soups were keeping warm with heating weakly about 60 minutes, in this process, salt content was increasing. 4) The salt content of MF soups showed low compared with that of caliculated and small feeding soup. The slow heating rate of MF influenced the condition of low salt content of MF soup. Reaults of this study is useful for preparation of the adequate of salt and seasonings in soups of mass feeding, and ivestigated the standardization of the condition for MF soups

Smyd3 Is Required for the Development of Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle in Zebrafish

Modifications of histone tails are involved in the regulation of a wide range of biological processes including cell cycle, cell survival, cell division, and cell differentiation. Among the modifications, histone methylation plays a critical role in cardiac and skeletal muscle differentiation. In our earlier studies, we found that SMYD3 has methyltransferase activity to histone H3 lysine 4, and that its up-regulation is involved in the tumorigenesis of human colon, liver, and breast. To clarify the role of Smyd3 in development, we have studied its expression patterns in zebrafish embryos and the effect of its suppression on development using Smyd3-specific antisense morpholino-oligonucleotides. We here show that transcripts of smyd3 were expressed in zebrafish embryos at all developmental stages examined and that knockdown of smyd3 in embryos resulted in pericardial edema and defects in the trunk structure. In addition, these phenotypes were associated with abnormal expression of three heart-chamber markers including cmlc2, amhc and vmhc, and abnormal expression of myogenic regulatory factors including myod and myog. These data suggest that Smyd3 plays an important role in the development of heart and skeletal muscle