Sexual immaturity to maturity : studies on the telomere and telomerase in paramecium caudatum

Thesis (Ph. D. in Agriculture)--University of Tsukuba, (A), no. 2815, 2002.3.25Includes bibliographical reference

Development of a method to rapidly assess resistance/susceptibility of Micro-Tom tomatoes to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus via agroinoculation of cotyledons

Objective: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the pathogens severely damaging tomato crops. Therefore, methods to treat or prevent TYLCV infection need to be developed. For this purpose, a method to conveniently and quickly assess infection of tomatoes by TYLCV is desired. In the present study, we established a quick method to evaluate TYLCV infection using cotyledons of Micro-Tom, a miniature tomato cultivar. Results: First, we constructed a binary plasmid harboring 1.5 copies of the TYLCV genome and transformed Agrobacterium with the plasmid. By injecting agroinoculum from the resulting transformant into the branches of Micro-Tom, we confirmed the susceptibility of Micro-Tom to TYLCV. To shorten the evaluation process of TYLCV infection further, we agroinoculated cotyledons of Micro-Tom 10 days after sowing seeds. We consistently observed typical symptoms of TYLCV infection on true leaves 10 days after agroinoculation. Molecular analysis detected TYLCV progeny DNA in all leaves demonstrating symptoms 6 days after agroinoculation. Therefore, our new protocol enabled assessment of TYLCV infection within 20 days after sowing seeds. Thus, agroinoculation of Micro-Tom cotyledons will accelerate the process of screening TYLCV-resistant Micro-Toms and enable screening of larger numbers of plants more quickly, contributing to the development of TYLCV-resistant tomatoes

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban air particulate matter in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

SECONDARY GENERATION OF GASEOUS HONO AND ITS EFFECT ON OUR HEALTH

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Proceeding of The International Seminar on Chemistry

Abstract Currently, most of the biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and methanol in the presence of base catalysts using mechanical stirring method at temperature 50-65 o C. This method consumes much energy because oils and methanol must be heated up to desired temperature, and also requires rather long reaction time. Ultrasound-assisted reaction can reduce the reaction time much shorter than mechanical stirring and the reaction can be carried out at room temperature, so energy can be saved. In the pilot scale the trans-esterification was performed by circulation process under low frequency ultrasound (20 kHz) with the input capacity of 1 kW. Effect of various process parameters such as the amount of KOH, molar ratio of oil to methanol and also reaction time were investigated. The optimal conditions for the process were: oil/methanol molar ratio 1:5, the amount of KOH to oil 0.7 % w/w. Under these conditions, conversion of triglycerides to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) was 96.3% within the reaction time 60 minutes . Glycerin, catalyst and excess methanol were separated easily from FAMEs phase. Crude biodiesel was purified by washing with tap water and drying at 65 o C under reduced pressure at 520torr

An Active C-Terminally Truncated Form of Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Phosphatase-N (CaMKP-N/PPM1E)

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase phosphatase (CaMKP/PPM1F) and its nuclear homolog CaMKP-N (PPM1E) are Ser/Thr protein phosphatases that belong to the PPM family. CaMKP-N is expressed in the brain and undergoes proteolytic processing to yield a C-terminally truncated form. The physiological significance of this processing, however, is not fully understood. Using a wheat-embryo cell-free protein expression system, we prepared human CaMKP-N (hCaMKP-N(WT)) and the truncated form, hCaMKP-N(1–559), to compare their enzymatic properties using a phosphopeptide substrate. The hCaMKP-N(1–559) exhibited a much higher value than the hCaMKP-N(WT) did, suggesting that the processing may be a regulatory mechanism to generate a more active species. The active form, hCaMKP-N(1–559), showed Mn2+ or Mg2+-dependent phosphatase activity with a strong preference for phospho-Thr residues and was severely inhibited by NaF, but not by okadaic acid, calyculin A, or 1-amino-8-naphthol-2,4-disulfonic acid, a specific inhibitor of CaMKP. It could bind to postsynaptic density and dephosphorylate the autophosphorylated Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Furthermore, it was inactivated by H2O2 treatment, and the inactivation was completely reversed by treatment with DTT, implying that this process is reversibly regulated by oxidation/reduction. The truncated CaMKP-N may play an important physiological role in neuronal cells.This work was supported, in part, by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (21590334) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan and by a grant from the Japan Foundation for Applied Enzymology

The Suggestion of Leaning Support in Japanese Higher Education Based on the Foreign Research books

本稿では、学習支援をテーマとした特に優れた海外文献を選択し、学習支援や学生スタッフの育成の動向について北米の状況を紹介するとともに、海外文献の知見をもとに、今後の日本における学習支援が目指すべき方向性について提案することを目的とする。その結果、北米の知見からは、チュータリングやチューター研修において、理論と実践の往還を重視した取り組みが実施されていること、またそこにはチュータリングの質を保証するための資格制度が影響していることを提示した。今後は日本の状況に合わせて北米の知見から学びつつ独自の視点を組み込んでいく必要性、ならびに、チューターを評価するための評価活動も問われることになることを指摘した。さらにICTを活用した学習支援を行うことで、これまで蓄積された相談のデータを分析し、支援内容に活用することの必要性を示した。文部科学省科学研究補助金・基盤研究(C)（研究課題番号16K01143），平成28年度関西大学教育研究高度化促進費「アカデミック・ライティング力を育むための教育システム開発とデザイン原則の導出」の一部である