Resonant interaction of Rossby waves in two-dimensional flow on a β plane

An incompressible two-dimensional flow on a β plane is considered. The β plane is a tangent plane of a sphere to approximately describe fluid motion on a rotating sphere assuming that the Coriolis parameter is a linear function of the latitude. Rossby waves are expected to dominate the β plane dynamics, and here in this paper, a mathematical support for the crucial role of the resonant pairs of the Rossby waves is given

高齢者における年齢、食物輸送時の粘性および二相性食物の咀嚼時の呼吸―嚥下機能の相互関係への影響

When eating food containing both liquid and solid phases (two-phase food), the liquid component frequently enters the hypopharynx before swallowing, which may increase the risk of aspiration. The aim of this study was to test whether the initial viscosity of two-phase food would alter pre-swallow food transport and breathing-swallowing coordination in elderly persons. Fiberoptic endoscopy was recorded while 18 healthy young and 19 elderly subjects ate 5 g of steamed rice with 3 ml of blue-dye water. Liquid viscosity was set at three levels by adding a thickening agent (0, 2, and 4 wt%, respectively). We measured the timing of swallow initiation and the respiratory phase at swallow initiation. For thin twophase food, the timing of swallow initiation was not significantly different between young and elderly subjects, but swallows more initiated during inspiration in elderly subjects. For thicker two-phase foods, in contrast, the timing of swallow initiation was delayed in elderly subjects, but swallows usually initiated during expiration in both groups. In elderly individuals, for thin two-phase, swallow initiation is reserved but breathing swallowing coupling was declined. For higher viscosities, swallow initiation is delayed during eating food, but breathing swallowing coordination is not perturbed probably due to slow bolus flow into the hypopharynx. Coordination between swallowing and breathing pattern during eating of food would decrease with aging, which may expose a risk of pre-swallow aspiration.2015博士（臨床歯学）松本歯科大

An effective and practical method of net settings in rearing tank to suppress hypermelanosis in Japanese flounder

In Japanese flounder aquaculture, hypermelanosis occurs widely on the blind side. Rearing flounders in a net-lined tank was recently reported to prevent hypermelanosis. To effectively apply this method to larger tanks for aquaculture farming, the net setting method was examined. Juvenile flounders without darkened areas on the blind side [total length (TL) 13 cm] were selected, and reared for 6 months (TL 32 cm). In the control tank without a net, the median value of darkened area ratio (darkened area to blind side area) was 46%. By only covering the tank bottom with slack net, the darkened area ratio was suppressed to 8%, less than 1/5 of that in the control tank. At the end of experiment, bottom coverage ratios of 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, and 100% revealed a negative correlation between bottom net coverage and darkened area ratio. In this experiment, the darkening area in the tank with 50% bottom net coverage decreased to 1/3 of the control. Although the occurrence of hypermelanosis differs depending on the production lot, these results are expected to serve as a reference for selecting the suitable net size to meet the level of clearness of the blind side

デプスろ過膜を用いた抗体医薬品の完全フロースルー精製に関する研究

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(薬学)Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciencedoctora

Functional expression of choline transporter-like protein 1 (CTL1) in small cell lung carcinoma cells: A target molecule for lung cancer therapy

AbstractCholine is essential for the synthesis of the major membrane phospholipid phosphatidylcholine and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh). Elevated levels of choline and up-regulated choline kinase activity have been detected in cancer cells. Thus, the intracellular accumulation of choline through choline transporters is the rate-limiting step in phospholipid metabolism and a prerequisite for cancer cell proliferation. However, the uptake system for choline and the functional expression of choline transporters in lung cancer cells are poorly understood. We examined the molecular and functional characterization of choline uptake in the small cell lung carcinoma cell line NCI-H69. Choline uptake was saturable and mediated by a single transport system. Interestingly, removal of Na+ from the uptake buffer strongly enhanced choline uptake. This increase in choline uptake under the Na+-free conditions was inhibited by dimethylamiloride (DMA), a Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) inhibitor. Various organic cations and the choline analog hemicholinium-3 (HC-3) inhibited the choline uptake and cell viability. A correlation analysis of the potencies of organic cations for the inhibition of choline uptake and cell viability showed a strong correlation (R=0.8077). RT-PCR revealed that choline transporter-like protein 1 (CTL1) mRNA and NHE1 are mainly expressed. HC-3 and CTL1 siRNA inhibited choline uptake and cell viability, and increased caspase-3/7 activity. The conversion of choline to ACh was confirmed, and this conversion was enhanced under Na+-free conditions, which in turn was sensitive to HC-3. These results indicate that choline uptake through CTL1 is used for ACh synthesis. Both an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (eserine) and a butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor (ethopropazine) increased cell proliferation, and these effects were inhibited by 4-DAMP, a mAChR3 antagonist. We conclude that NCI-H69 cells express the choline transporter CTL1 which uses a directed H+ gradient as a driving force, and its transport functions in co-operation with NHE1. This system primarily supplies choline for the synthesis of ACh and secretes ACh to act as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor, and the functional inhibition of CTL1 could promote apoptotic cell death. Identification of this new CTL1-mediated choline transport system provides a potential new target for therapeutic intervention

Titer estimation for quality control (TEQC) method: A practical approach for optimal production of protein complexes using the baculovirus expression vector system

The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is becoming the method of choice for expression of many eukaryotic proteins and protein complexes for biochemical, structural and pharmaceutical studies. Significant technological advancement has made generation of recombinant baculoviruses easy, efficient and user-friendly. However, there is a tremendous variability in the amount of proteins made using the BEVS, including different batches of virus made to express the same proteins. Yet, what influences the overall production of proteins or protein complexes remains largely unclear. Many downstream applications, particularly protein structure determination, require purification of large quantities of proteins in a repetitive manner, calling for a reliable experimental set-up to obtain proteins or protein complexes of interest consistently. During our investigation of optimizing the expression of the Mediator Head module, we discovered that the 'initial infectivity' was an excellent indicator of overall production of protein complexes. Further, we show that this initial infectivity can be mathematically described as a function of multiplicity of infection (MOI), correlating recombinant protein yield and virus titer. All these findings led us to develop the Titer Estimation for Quality Control (TEQC) method, which enables researchers to estimate initial infectivity, titer/MOI values in a simple and affordable way, and to use these values to quantitatively optimize protein expressions utilizing BEVS in a highly reproducible fashion