Anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering analyses on hierarchical structures of rubber-filler systems

The hierarchical structures of poly(styrene-ran-butadiene) (SBR) rubber/carbon black (CB) systems vulcanized with sulfur and ZnO have been clarified using anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) near the Zn absorption edge. In the case of SBR/CB systems vulcanized with peroxide, it has been found previously that the hierarchical structures formed by CB consist of aggregates of primary particles and agglomerates of those aggregates with mass-fractal dimensions. However, to date the hierarchical structures in SBR/CB systems vulcanized with sulfur and ZnO have not been well investigated, despite being commonly used. This is because the strong scattering contrast of Zn prevents the quantitative analyses of the hierarchical structures of CB using X-ray scattering. In this study, the effects of Zn on the scattering intensity were eliminated and the structure factors of CB in SBR/CB systems were obtained using the ASAXS method. By extrapolating to the zero volume fraction of CB, the particle structure factor of the CB aggregates was estimated and it was found that the CB aggregates consist of closely packed CB primary particles. The presence of large particles of ZnO and particles of ZnS on the order of 10 nm in size is confirmed

Chromosome Arm Locations of Barley Sucrose Transporter Gene in Transgenic Winter Wheat Lines

Three transgenic HOSUT lines of winter wheat, HOSUT12, HOSUT20, and HOSUT24, each harbor a single copy of the cDNA for the barley sucrose transporter gene HvSUT1 (SUT), which was fused to the barley endosperm-specific Hordein B1 promoter (HO; the HOSUT transgene). Previously, flow cytometry combined with PCR analysis demonstrated that the HOSUT transgene had been integrated into different wheat chromosomes: 7A, 5D, and 4A in HOSUT12, HOSUT20, and HOSUT24, respectively. In order to confirm the chromosomal location of the HOSUT transgene by a cytological approach using wheat aneuploid stocks, we crossed corresponding nullisomic-tetrasomic lines with the three HOSUT lines, namely nullisomic 7A-tetrasomic 7B with HOSUT12, nullisomic 5D-tetrasomic 5B with HOSUT20, and nullisomic 4A-tetrasomic 4B with HOSUT24. We examined the resulting chromosomal constitutions and the presence of the HOSUT transgene in the F2 progeny by means of chromosome banding and PCR. The chromosome banding patterns of the critical chromosomes in the original HOSUT lines showed no difference from those of the corresponding wild type chromosomes. The presence or absence of the critical chromosomes completely corresponded to the presence or absence of the HOSUT transgene in the F2 plants. Investigating telocentric chromosomes occurred in the F2 progeny, which were derived from the respective critical HOSUT chromosomes, we found that the HOSUT transgene was individually integrated on the long arms of chromosomes 4A, 7A, and 5D in the three HOSUT lines. Thus, in this study we verified the chromosomal locations of the transgene, which had previously been determined by flow cytometry, and moreover revealed the chromosome-arm locations of the HOSUT transgene in the HOSUT lines

Effects of Green Tea Fractions on Oxygen-Induced Retinal Neovascularization in the Neonatal Rat

This study aimed to investigate the preventive effects of green tea fractions (GTFs) on rat model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR). Neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to daily cycles of 80% oxygen (20.5 h), ambient air (0.5 h), and progressive return to 80% oxygen (3 h) until postnatal day 12 (P12), then the rats were placed in ambient air until P18. The green tea was fractionated by DM-A50, DM-W, M-B, and M-W. The rats were treated once daily from P6 to P17 by gastric gavage of GTFs (0.05 or 0.01 g/ml) or distilled water (DW) at 50 µl/10 g body weight. On P18, the rats were sacrificed and the retinal samples were collected. The retinal neovascularization (NV) was scored and avascular areas (AVAs) were measured as a % of total retinal area (%AVAs) in ADPase stained retinas. The NV scores in 0.01 g/ml M-W were significantly lower than those in DW. The %AVAs in 0.05 g/ml DM-A50 and in 0.05 g/ml and 0.01 g/ml M-W were significantly lower than those in DW. There were less catechins, and less caffeine in M-W fraction compared with other GTFs, suggesting components of green tea except for catechins and caffeine might suppress the neovascularization in rat model of OIR

A nationwide, multi-center, retrospective study of symptomatic small bowel stricture in patients with Crohn\u27s disease.

BACKGROUND:Small bowel stricture is one of the most common complications in patients with Crohn\u27s disease (CD). Endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) is a minimally invasive treatment intended to avoid surgery; however, whether EBD prevents subsequent surgery remains unclear. We aimed to reveal the factors contributing to surgery in patients with small bowel stricture and the factors associated with subsequent surgery after initial EBD.METHODS:Data were retrospectively collected from surgically untreated CD patients who developed symptomatic small bowel stricture after 2008 when the use of balloon-assisted enteroscopy and maintenance therapy with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) became available.RESULTS:A total of 305 cases from 32 tertiary referral centers were enrolled. Cumulative surgery-free survival was 74.0% at 1 year, 54.4% at 5 years, and 44.3% at 10 years. The factors associated with avoiding surgery were non-stricturing, non-penetrating disease at onset, mild severity of symptoms, successful EBD, stricture length < 2 cm, and immunomodulator or anti-TNF added after onset of obstructive symptoms. In 95 cases with successful initial EBD, longer EBD interval was associated with lower risk of surgery. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that an EBD interval of ≤ 446 days predicted subsequent surgery, and the proportion of smokers was significantly high in patients who required frequent dilatation.CONCLUSIONS:In CD patients with symptomatic small bowel stricture, addition of immunomodulator or anti-TNF and smoking cessation may improve the outcome of symptomatic small bowel stricture, by avoiding frequent EBD and subsequent surgery after initial EBD

Evolution of tetraploid wheat based on variations in 5′ UTR regions of Ppd-A1: evidence of gene flow between emmer and timopheevi wheat

Previous study showed that tetraploid wheat was divided into two groups (Type AI and Type AII) based on sequences around Ppd-A1 gene (Takenaka and Kawahara in Theor Appl Genet 125(5):999–1014, 2012). That study focused on domesticated emmer wheat and used only 19 wild emmer wheats, so could not be clear the evolutional relationship between Type AI and Type AII. Here, a total of 669 accessions comprising 65 einkorn wheats, 185 wild emmer wheats, 107 hulled emmer wheats, 204 free-threshing (FT) emmer wheats, and 108 timopheevii wheats were studied by PCR assay and DNA sequencing for Type AI/AII. Type AII was an older type than Type AI because all einkorn accessions had Type AII. In wild emmer, Type AI was distributed in the northeast regions of its distribution and Type AII was found to be centered on Israel. A total of 37.4 % of hulled emmer accessions were Type AI, while 92.2 % of FT emmer accessions were Type AI. Differences in the proportion of Type AI/AII in domesticated emmer suggested a strong bottle-neck effect. We also found two MITE-like sequence deletion patterns from a part of Type AII accessions (dic-del and ara-del). Dic-del was found from only Israeli wild emmer accessions and ara-del was found from almost all timopheevii wheat accessions. Only three timopheevii accessions did not have ara-del, and one wild emmer accession and ten hulled emmer accessions had ara-del. These accessions suggested gene flow between emmer and timopheevii wheat

Ppd-1遺伝子の新規ハプロタイプとその周辺領域の塩基配列情報に基づくエンマーコムギおよび近縁種の遺伝的多様性と進化関係

京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(農学)甲第17611号農博第1973号新制||農||1008(附属図書館)学位論文||H25||N4732(農学部図書室)30377京都大学大学院農学研究科応用生物科学専攻(主査)准教授 河原 太八, 教授 遠藤 隆, 教授 奥野 哲郎学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of Agricultural ScienceKyoto UniversityDA

Computer simulation study on the shear-induced phase separation in semi-dilute polymer solutions by using Ianniruberto–Marrucci model

In our previous study, a computer simulation scheme based on Doi–Onuki theory is proposed to simulate the dynamics of the shear-induced phase separation in semi-dilute polymer solutions [KOBUNSHI RONBUNSHU 2007, 64, 324]. The scheme employs Ianniruberto–Marrucci model as a constitutive equation to express the viscoelastic behavior of the solution explicitly. The scheme enables us to simulate the time-evolution of stress as well as that of shear-induced structure upon shear-jump. In this study, we focus on the conformation of polymer chains. The dynamics of the polymer chains agrees with those in the “solvent squeeze” model which interprets the shear-induced phase separation phenomena in semi-dilute polymer solutions by Saito et al. [Macromolecules 1999, 32, 4879]