Significant Improvement in Survival of Tabby Jimpy Mutant Mice by Providing Folded-paper Nest Boxes

There is little scientific evidence that environmental enrichment meets the physiological needs for laboratory  animals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the provision of nest boxes improved the lifespan  of Tabby jimpy (Ta-jp) mutant mice carrying a lethal gene. Nest boxes tested in this study were small  folded-paper trapezoid-shaped houses. The Nest box group was reared in cages with the nest boxes and  the Control group was raised in only standard cages. Weaning results and survival rates in Ta-jp mice were  compared between both groups. By the weaning stage, all of the Ta-jp mice survived in the Nest box group.  There was a significant difference in weaning rates between both groups. The body weight of weanlings  demonstrated a significant difference between both groups. The survival analysis indicated that the Nest  box group (29.9 days) significantly had a longer lifespan than the Control group (25.7 days). The Nest box  group developed few abnormal jumping behaviours. The nest boxes served as shelters from environmental  stimuli. In conclusion, we confirmed that folded-paper nest boxes had a beneficial effect on weaning rates  of Ta-jp mice. Our results revealed that there was significant improvement in survival of Ta-jp mice using  the nest boxes.

A Study of Three-Roll Bending Process and Its Control

A three-roll bending process for a workpiece with a U-shaped cross section is studied. The relationship between the position of the rolls and the curvature of the workpiece is approximately obtained by several methods. An automatic control system based on the relation is then applied to the process. A learning control is also employed to the control system to treat the errors occurring in the process. The experimental results show that the control system is very effective

THE OPHTHALMIC ARTERY ARISING FROM THE MIDDLE MENINGEAL ARTERY

The present report describes a case of variation of the ophthalmic artery observed in a 91-year-old Japanese woman at dissection in 1992. It was found that on one side, the ophthalmic artery originate from the middle meningeal artery, and the ophthalmic artery from the internal carotid artery was absent

bcl-x Prevents Apoptotic Cell Death of Both Primitive and Definitive Erythrocytes at the End of Maturation

bcl-x is a member of the bcl-2 gene family, which regulates apoptotic cell death in various cell lineages. There is circumstantial evidence suggesting that bcl-x might play a role in the apoptosis of erythroid lineage cells, although there is no direct evidence. In this study, we used Bcl-X null mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, and showed that Bcl-X is indispensable for the production of both embryonic primitive erythrocytes (EryP) and adult definitive erythrocytes (EryD) at the end of their maturation. In vivo, bcl-x−/− ES cells did not contribute to circulating EryD in adult chimeric mice that were produced by blastocyst microinjection of the bcl-x−/− ES cells. bcl-x−/− EryP and EryD were produced by in vitro differentiation induction of ES cells on macrophage colony-stimulating factor–deficient stromal cell line OP9, and further analysis was carried out. The emergence of immature EryP and EryD from bcl-x−/− ES cells was similar to that from bcl-x+/+ ES cells. However, prominent cell death of bcl-x−/− EryP and EryD occurred when the cells matured. The data show that the antiapoptotic function of bcl-x acts at the very end of erythroid maturation

Electrical transport properties of small diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes aligned on ST-cut quartz substrates

A method is introduced to isolate and measure the electrical transport properties of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) aligned on an ST-cut quartz, from room temperature down to 2 K. The diameter and chirality of the measured SWNTs are accurately defined from Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A significant up-shift in the G-band of the resonance Raman spectra of the SWNTs is observed, which increases with increasing SWNTs diameter, and indicates a strong interaction with the quartz substrate. A semiconducting SWNT, with diameter 0.84 nm, shows Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid and Coulomb blockade behaviors at low temperatures. Another semiconducting SWNT, with a thinner diameter of 0.68 nm, exhibits a transition from the semiconducting state to an insulating state at low temperatures. These results elucidate some of the electrical properties of SWNTs in this unique configuration and help pave the way towards prospective device applications