Passive immunisation of goldfish with the serum of those surviving a Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 infection after high temperature water treatment

Herpesviral haematopoietic necrosis of goldfish caused by cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) can be controlled by raising water temperature to a virus non-permissive temperature of 34℃. Consequently, the goldfish can survive and acquire resistance to the disease; the underlying mechanism of acquired resistance, however, remains unclear. In this study, we investigated serological changes in the surviving goldfish, with a focus on their humoral immunity, and examined whether sera of the surviving goldfish conferred passive immunity to naive goldfish. Levels of the anti-CyHV-2 antibodies in 8 of the 9 survivors measured via ELISA were higher than those in control fish. Neutralising antibodies were detected in the sera of 2 survivors, but no direct correlation was observed between ELISA optical density value and neutralising antibody titer. Passive immunisation tests showed that recipients injected with the serum containing neutralising antibodies showed higher survival rates than the control group. The sera from 6 other survivors showed no effect on the recipient\u27s mortality regardless of anti-CyHV-2 antibody levels. These results suggest that neutralising antibodies can contribute to acquired immunity in survivors, and other protective factors, including cell-mediated immunity, may work in the survivors that show no detectable neutralising antibodies

Non-mutagenicity of Fe3+-NTA and NTA in the Ames Salmonella Test

The mutagenic effects of ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe3+-NTA) and nitrilotriacetate (NTA) were evaluated on 8 Salmonella typhimurium strains (TA97, TA98, TA102, TA1535, TA1537, TA100 1,8-DNP6 and TA100NR). Neither Fe3+-NTA nor NTA significantly increased the frequency of revertant colonies in any of the different experimental conditions adopted

Ccrk-Mak/Ick signaling is a ciliary transport regulator essential for retinal photoreceptor survival

Chaya T., Maeda Y., Tsutsumi R., et al. Ccrk-Mak/Ick signaling is a ciliary transport regulator essential for retinal photoreceptor survival. Life science alliance 7, (2024); https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202402880.Primary cilia are microtubule-based sensory organelles whose dysfunction causes ciliopathies in humans. The formation, function, and maintenance of primary cilia depend crucially on intraflagellar transport (IFT); however, the regulatory mechanisms of IFT at ciliary tips are poorly understood. Here, we identified that the ciliopathy kinase Mak is a ciliary tip-localized IFT regulator that cooperatively acts with the ciliopathy kinase Ick, an IFT regulator. Simultaneous disruption of Mak and Ick resulted in loss of photoreceptor ciliary axonemes and severe retinal degeneration. Gene delivery of Ick and pharmacological inhibition of FGF receptors, Ick negative regulators, ameliorated retinal degeneration in Mak-/- mice. We also identified that Ccrk kinase is an upstream activator of Mak and Ick in retinal photoreceptor cells. Furthermore, the overexpression of Mak, Ick, and Ccrk and pharmacological inhibition of FGF receptors suppressed ciliopathy-related phenotypes caused by cytoplasmic dynein inhibition in cultured cells. Collectively, our results show that the Ccrk-Mak/Ick axis is an IFT regulator essential for retinal photoreceptor maintenance and present activation of Ick as a potential therapeutic approach for retinitis pigmentosa caused by MAK mutations

Relevance of Some Damage Factors to Structures Damage in the 1995 Kobe Earthquake

The 1995 Kobe Earthquake (Hyogoken-nanbu Earthquake) caused a severe damage to various kinds of structures. As damage factors of these structures, the characteristics of seismic motion, distance from the earthquake source fault, ground conditions, liquefaction, and strength of structures can be considered. In this paper, paying attention to the distance from the earthquake source fault and ground conditions among them, the relevance to structures damage in wooden houses (on-ground structure) and water supply pipelines (under-ground structure) in Nishinomiya-City area was examined. As the results, the relationship between wooden houses damage and the distance from the fault can be approximately represented as a unique exponential function. In liquefied areas, however, the rate of completely collapsed wooden houses decreases 5 to 20% from the average value. This might be because the damping of earthquake motion brought the decrease of the damage rate. While, the relationship between water supply pipelines damage and the distance from the fault completely differs from the above-mentioned for wooden houses. A characteristic value Tg estimated from the distribution of N value at each location can be used for the ground classification in earthquake-proof design. The damage rate of water supply pipelines increases as increasing Tg , while that of wooden houses decreases as increasing Tg

Study on laser assisted milling of ferrous based consolidated material

金沢大学理工研究域機械工学系This study deals with the laser beam assisted milling to improve the machinability of a consolidated structure formed by layered manufacturing processes. The laser beam used is a continuous CO2 laser with a maximum output power of 100 W. The metal powder for layered manufacturing is a ferrous-based mixture. To investigate the influence of laser conditions on the machinability, specific cutting force, tool wear and tool temperature of the flank face are measured. The results showed that the specific cutting force of the consolidated structure was decreased by the effect of energy input on the structure surface. The progress of wear on the flank face assisted by the laser beam was 20% slower due to the softening of the consolidated structure and the melting of the powder which remained on the structure surface. The dimensional accuracy and surface finishing of the consolidated structure were influenced by the rise of the tool temperature on the flank face. © KSME & Springer 2010

Analysis and Modeling of Human Impedance Properties for Designing a Human-Machine Control System

Abstract — A human can control dynamic properties of his/her own body naturally and effectively according to tasks by utilizing the perceived information of environmental character-istics. If dynamic properties of human movements depending on environmental characteristics can be described quantitatively, there would be expected to design and develop a novel human-machine system in which an operator can manipulate more comfortably. This paper discusses a design methodology of human-machine systems integrating human motor character-istics. A vehicle interface system manipulated by the foot is focused on, and mechanical impedance properties of human lower extremities during maintained leg posture are investigated according to the leg posture and the foot force. I

Lis1 and doublecortin function with dynein to mediate coupling of the nucleus to the centrosome in neuronal migration

Humans with mutations in either DCX or LIS1 display nearly identical neuronal migration defects, known as lissencephaly. To define subcellular mechanisms, we have combined in vitro neuronal migration assays with retroviral transduction. Overexpression of wild-type Dcx or Lis1, but not patient-related mutant versions, increased migration rates. Dcx overexpression rescued the migration defect in Lis1 (+/−) neurons. Lis1 localized predominantly to the centrosome, and after disruption of microtubules, redistributed to the perinuclear region. Dcx outlined microtubules extending from the perinuclear “cage” to the centrosome. Lis1 (+/−) neurons displayed increased and more variable separation between the nucleus and the preceding centrosome during migration. Dynein inhibition resulted in similar defects in both nucleus–centrosome (N-C) coupling and neuronal migration. These N-C coupling defects were rescued by Dcx overexpression, and Dcx was found to complex with dynein. These data indicate Lis1 and Dcx function with dynein to mediate N-C coupling during migration, and suggest defects in this coupling may contribute to migration defects in lissencephaly

Cerium features in kilonova near-infrared spectra: implication from a chemically peculiar star

Observations of the kilonova from a neutron star merger event GW170817 opened a way to directly study r-process nucleosynthesis by neutron star mergers. It is, however, challenging to identify the individual elements in the kilonova spectra due to lack of complete atomic data, in particular, at near-infrared wavelengths. In this paper, we demonstrate that spectra of chemically peculiar stars with enhanced heavy element abundances can provide us with an excellent astrophysical laboratory for kilonova spectra. We show that the photosphere of a late B-type chemically peculiar star HR 465 has similar lanthanide abundances and ionization degrees with those in the line forming region in a kilonova at $\sim 2.5$ days after the merger. The near-infrared spectrum of HR 465 taken with Subaru/IRD indicates that Ce III lines give the strongest absorption features around 16,000 A and there are no other comparably strong transitions around these lines. The Ce III lines nicely match with the broad absorption features at 14,500 A observed in GW170817 with a blueshift of v=0.1c, which supports recent identification of this feature as Ce III by Domoto et al. (2022).Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Three Small Planets Transiting a Hyades Star

We present the discovery of three small planets transiting K2-136 (LP 358 348, EPIC 247589423), a late K dwarf in the Hyades. The planets have orbital periods of $7.9757 \pm 0.0011$, $17.30681^{+0.00034}_{-0.00036}$, and $25.5715^{+0.0038}_{-0.0040}$ days, and radii of $1.05 \pm 0.16$, $3.14 \pm 0.36$, and $1.55^{+0.24}_{-0.21}$ $R_\oplus$, respectively. With an age of 600-800 Myr, these planets are some of the smallest and youngest transiting planets known. Due to the relatively bright (J=9.1) host star, the planets are compelling targets for future characterization via radial velocity mass measurements and transmission spectroscopy. As the first known star with multiple transiting planets in a cluster, the system should be helpful for testing theories of planet formation and migration.Comment: Accepted to The Astronomical Journa