ON ALMOST N-SIMPLE-PROJECTIVES

The concept of almost N-projectivity is defined in [5] by M. Harada and A. Tozaki to translate the concept "lifting module" in terms of homomorphisms. In [6, Theorem 1] M. Harada defined a little weaker condition "almost N-simple-projecive" and gave the following relationship between them: For a semiperfect ring R and R-modules M and N of finite length, M is almost N-projective if and only if M is almost N-simple-projective. We remove the assumption "of finite length" and give the result in Theorem 5 as follows: For a semiperfect ring R, a finitely generated right R-module M and an indecomposable right R-module N of finite Loewy length, M is almost N-projective if and only if M is almost N-simple-projective. We also see that, for a semiperfect ring R, a finitely generated R-module M and an R-module N of finite Loewy length, M is N-simple-projective if and only if M is N-projective

Development of Semi-Real-Time Tsunami Monitoring and Calculation System on Ocean-Bottom Stations off the Kii Peninsula, Southwest Japan

We developed a semi-real-time calculation and data monitoring system that measures pressure perturbations at ocean-bottom pressure-gauge stations deployed off the Kii peninsula in southwest Japan in order to identify tsunami signals associated with earthquakes. The system automatically calculates geodetic deformations and tsunami propagation immediately after getting seismic source information on hypocenter, magnitude, and mechanism. The calculation results for transoceanic tsunamis can be available in approximately 20 s after getting source information to output waveform data by executing the optimized parallel calculation code on our computer server SGI UV2000 with a 32-core processor unit. The system also provides tide-removed and filtered waveform data at ocean-bottom stations, enabling the calculation results to be compared with actual tsunami arrivals. System operations began in July 2015 and have been applied to tsunamigenic earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean. The system is effective in identifying tsunami signals and automatically predicting tsunami propagation in offshore areas, which may be useful for further data analyses on tsunami propagation

PKA-catalyzed phosphorylation of tomosyn and its implication in Ca2+-dependent exocytosis of neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter is released from nerve terminals by Ca2+-dependent exocytosis through many steps. SNARE proteins are key components at the priming and fusion steps, and the priming step is modulated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), which causes synaptic plasticity. We show that the SNARE regulatory protein tomosyn is directly phosphorylated by PKA, which reduces its interaction with syntaxin-1 (a component of SNAREs) and enhances the formation of the SNARE complex. Electrophysiological studies using cultured superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons revealed that this enhanced formation of the SNARE complex by the PKA-catalyzed phosphorylation of tomosyn increased the fusion-competent readily releasable pool of synaptic vesicles and, thereby, enhanced neurotransmitter release. This mechanism was indeed involved in the facilitation of neurotransmitter release that was induced by a potent biological mediator, the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, in SCG neurons. We describe the roles and modes of action of PKA and tomosyn in Ca2+-dependent neurotransmitter release

Preliminary Report of the Waseda University Excavations at Dahshur North:Tenth Season,2004-2005

Articl

"In vivo cryotechnique" for paradigm shift to "living morphology" of animal organs

The morphological study has been one of the major approaches in medical and biological fields. For the last century, the conventional chemical fixation and alcohol dehydration were commonly used as an easy preparation method, but it was frequently pointed out that they usually yield many structural artifacts during their preparation processes. Although both conventional quick-freezing and high-pressure freezing methods, by which animal tissues are resected and frozen for physical fixation,can reduce such structural artifacts, the tissues have to be removed from living animal organs for the freezing. Therefore, such specimens are inevitably exposed to noxious stresses of anoxia and ischemia, exhibiting only dead morphological states of animal tissues without blood circulation. To the contrary, our "in vivo cryotechnique", by which all cells and tissues in animal bodies are cryofixed in vivo, can prevent such artifacts of resected specimens. By means of the cryotechnique, it is now possible to reveal the in vivo morphology of cells and tissues in living animal organs. Actually, it has been already applied to several animal organs, such as kidney, liver, intestine, cerebellum, eye ball, blood vessel, and joint cartilage, and brought new morphological findings, reflecting their physiological significance, which had been difficult to demonstrate by the conventional preparation methods. Moreover, its application to immunohistochemistry has also revealed more precise immunolocalizations of dynamically changing molecules in living animal organs, easily translocated by ischemic stresses and anoxia caused during the tissue resection. The "in vivo cryotechnique" allows us to perform novel morphological investigations of "living" morphological states, and develops new medical and biological fields with "living morphology" during this 21st century.Biomedical Reviews 2004; 15: 1-19

Coevolutionary GA with schema extraction by machine learning techniques and its application to knapsack problems

The authors introduce a novel coevolutionary genetic algorithm with schema extraction by machine learning techniques. Our CGA consists of two GA populations: the first GA (H-GA) searches for the solutions in the given problems and the second GA (P-GA) searches for effective schemata of the H-GA. We aim to improve the search ability of our CGA by extracting more efficiently useful schemata from the H-GA population, and then incorporating those extracted schemata in a natural manner into the P-GA. Several computational simulations on multidimensional knapsack problems confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method</p

Facilitatory effect of insulin treatment on hepatocellular carcinoma development in diabetes

Background: To evaluate the effect of insulin treatment on the incidence and/or severity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a mouse model of HCC based on diabetes. Methods: We recently reported that neonatal streptozotocin (STZ) treatment causes type 1 diabetes and subsequent HCC in ddY, Institute for Animal Reproduction (DIAR) mice. Newborn male DIAR mice were divided into three groups based on STZ and insulin (INS) treatment. STZ was subcutaneously injected (60 mg/g) into the STZ-treated group (DIAR-nSTZ mice, N = 13) and the STZ/insulin-treated group (DIAR-nSTZ/INS mice, N = 20). A physiologic solution was injected into the control group (DIAR-control mice, N = 8) 1.5 days after birth. Insulin was subcutaneously injected into the DIAR-nSTZ/INS mice according to the following protocol: 2 IU/day at 4–5 weeks of age, 3 IU/day at 5–7 weeks of age, and 4 IU/day at 7–12 weeks of age. All mice were fed a normal diet and were subjected to physiological and histopathological assessments at 12 weeks of age. Results: DIAR-nSTZ mice had significantly lower body weight and higher blood glucose levels than DIAR-control mice, whereas no significant differences were observed between DIAR-nSTZ/INS mice and control mice. At 12 weeks of age, lower weight of paratesticular fat and higher levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and free fatty acids were observed in DIAR-nSTZ mice compared to DIAR-control mice, whereas there were no significant differences between DIAR-nSTZ/INS mice and DIAR-control mice. In the livers of DIAR-nSTZ mice, HCC was observed in 15% of cases, and dysplastic nodules were observed in 77% of cases. In the livers of DIAR-nSTZ/INS mice, HCC was observed in 39% of cases and dysplastic nodules were observed in 61% of cases (p = 0.011). Moreover, the average tumor size was significantly larger in STZ/INS-treated mice than in STZ-treated mice. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the expression of ERK1/2, downstream substrates of insulin signaling that activate cell proliferation, was significantly higher in STZ/INS-treated mice compared to STZ-treated mice. Conclusions: Insulin treatment promoted, rather than inhibited, the progression of liver carcinogenesis in DIAR-nSTZ mice. Hyperinsulinemia rather than hyperglycemia can accelerate the progression of HCC via insulin signaling