The real reason why Nakagin Capsule Tower was never metabolized

The first part of this two-part essay is about the Nakagin Capsule Tower restoration and preservation project and discusses the low awareness of the current situation of the building. In part two Showcase Tokyo Architecture tours share survey responses from enthusiastic capsule tower fans on the future of the building

DNA methylation dynamics in mouse preimplantation embryos revealed by mass spectrometry

Following fertilization in mammals, paternal genomic 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine (5 mC) content is thought to decrease via oxidation to 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxycytidine (5 hmC). This reciprocal model of demethylation and hydroxymethylation is inferred from indirect, non-quantitative methods. We here report direct quantification of genomic 5 mC and 5 hmC in mouse embryos by small scale liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometry (SMM). Profiles of absolute 5 mC levels in embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were almost identical. By 10 h after fertilization, 5 mC levels had declined by ∼40%, consistent with active genomic DNA demethylation. Levels of 5 mC in androgenotes (containing only a paternal genome) and parthenogenotes (containing only a maternal genome) underwent active 5 mC loss in the first 6 h, showing that both parental genomes can undergo demethylation independently. We found no evidence for net loss of 5 mC 10-48 h after fertilization, implying that any passive â€'demethylation' following DNA replication was balanced by active 5 mC maintenance methylation. However, levels of 5 mC declined during development after 48 h, to 1% (measured as a fraction of G-residues) in blastocysts (∼96 h). 5 hmC levels were consistently low (<0. 2% of G-residues) throughout development in normal diploid embryos. This work directly quantifies the dynamics of global genomic DNA modification in mouse preimplantation embryos, suggesting that SMM will be applicable to other biomedical situations with limiting sample sizes

Behavioral Responses of Chicks to a Saccharin-Quinine Mixture

To date, few reports have been published on the sensitivity of birds to sweet tastes. Therefore, in this study, the behavioral responses of White Leghorn chicks to the sweet taste of saccharin and the bitter taste of quinine were assessed. Three chicks were provided with a solution of 3.0 mM quinine and a mixture of 3.0 mM quinine mixed with 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, or 10.0 mM saccharin in a two-bottle choice test for 48 h. It was found that the chicks consumed more of the 0.5 mM saccharin/3.0 mM quinine mixture but significantly less of the 10.0 mM saccharin/3.0 mM quinine mixtures than the quinine solution alone (P&lt;0.05). The aversive behavior of 3.0 mM quinine solution was eased when mixed with 0.5 mM saccharin, indicating that chicks are detecting the sweetness associated with the 0.5 mM saccharin. The aversion to the 1.0 and 10.0 mM saccharin solutions might be stronger than to the 3.0 mM quinine solution alone. These findings suggest that chicks are able to detect this artificial sweetener

The Needle Bore Diameter for In Ovo Amino Acid Injection Has no Effect on Hatching Performance in Broiler Breeder Eggs

The objective of this study was to determine if the bore diameter of needles used for in ovo injection of amino acids (AA) would affect subsequent chick hatchability. In Experiment 1, needles of different bore diameter were inserted into the egg. In Experiment 2, needles of different bore diameter were used to administer an AA solution that is identical to the AA pattern of the whole egg protein. In both experiments, 27, 24, 22, 20, and 18 gauge needles were tested. Needles were inserted to a depth of 13 mm in both experiments. Non-injected eggs were served as control in each experiment. Needle bore diameter did not affect (P&lt;0.05) hatchability or body weight (BW) of hatched chicks in either experiment

Novel Assay System Favorable for the Study of Cell-to-Cell Transmission of HIV-1 and Its Application to the Evaluation of Anti-HIV Drugs

The cell-to-cell transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) was studied using MOLT-4 cells chronically infected with a variant strain of HIV-1SF-2 (MOLT-4/HIV-1SF-2H) and CD4+ human lymphoid MT-4 cells. MOLT-4/HIV-1SF-2H cells produced less than 1 TCID50 infectious particles per 105 cells per day as determined by the cytopathogenicity in MT-4 cells. However, the expression of envelope glycoproteins gp120 and gp41 on the MOLT-4/HIV-1SF-2H cell membrane was satisfactory for syncytium formation with the uninfected MOLT-4 cells. When MOLT-4/HIV-1SF-2H and MT-4 cells were co-cultured, severe cytopathogenicity was observed in MT-4 cells without being accompanied by the formation of multi-nucleated cells. Thus, the system consisting of MOLT-4/HIV-1SF-2H and MT-4 cells is convenient for exclusive study of the mechanism of cell-to-cell transmission of HIV-1. Using various compounds, it was confirmed that cell-to-cell transmission required both gp120/gp41-CD4 binding and de novo DNA synthesis

Effect of Transfer Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) into Chick Gonad

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) of white leghorn Maria line hens embryos as a donor were transferred white leghorn Laura line hens embryos as a recipient. During stage 12 to 15 of incubating fertilized eggs, donor PGCs which were taken out from blood vessels of donor embryos, were transferred into blood vessels of recipient embryos at the same stage. At 15 days of incubation, survival rate of the treated embryos was 35.7% when the PGCs were transferred into the same sex of donor and recipient embryos (homo-sexual) and 38.8% into antagonistic sex ones (hetero-sexual) respectively. Although the gonad of embryos which were transferred PCGs homo-sexually were developed normally, morphological and histological abnormalities were formed in the gonad derived with hetero-sexually transfer. The abnormalities of gonad were observed in 8 out of 33 samples transferred PCGs from male to female and 12 out of 49 from female to male respectively. Size of male right gonad was degenerated and flat sexual cords were observed. The gonads of germ line chimric chicken was detected donor derived DNA polymorphism to genetic diagnosis by LEI92 of microsatellite marker. These results suggest that hetero-sexual transfer of PGCs may influence gonadal development early-stage embryos