Costume in the Clay Images

The historical evidence for the arrival of these influences on forms of clothing has come down from the clay images (Haniwa). These forms of the kinu-hakama and the kinu-mo, and their relationships to the modern day era are discussed in this article. The cloth used during this period involved a wide variety of different types that included coarsely woven materials and also very finely woven materials with all kinds of weaving techniques being used. This implies an effort to dress in various different ways. In addition, there were often geometric designs woven into the materials. These designs were often small, intricate and very beautiful

Effect of temperature on achene germination in five Mutisieae understory herbaceous species（Asteraceae）

We measured the final germination rates of achenes, the number of days needed to accomplish 50% of the final germination（T50）, and mortalities under various temperatures in the range 5 to 25℃for five understory peren-nial herbs（four species with large achenes of ca. 10 mg weight : Pertya robusta, P . triloba, P . rigidula and Ain-sliaea acerifolia var. subapoda, and one species with small achenes（1mg）: A. apiculata）to investigate variation of these traits. Achenes were collected in Ogawa and Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture, and in Iwakuni in Fukui Prefec-ture. T50 ranged from 35 to 76 days at 5℃and became shorter with increasing temperature. The final germina-tion rates of most samples were over 95%. Ainsliaea acerifolia had the longest T50（76 days）and the lowest final germination rate（86.1%）at 5℃, showing a dormant ability to some extent. Moreover, A. apiculata possessing small achenes showed a lower final germination rate（83%）at 25℃, and dormancy at higher temperatures. Fun-gal attack was thought to cause the death of achenes during the germination period, and mortalities increased with increasing temperature. However, there were no significant differences in final germination rates and T50s between two populations of P . robusta from Ogawa and Mito, though the Ogawa population had a higher mor-tality than the Mito population（27% vs. 18% at 25℃）. Mortalities were higher in P . triloba and P . rigidula than in the other species. There were intra- and interspecific variations of temperature dependency of achene mortal-ity during germination, and these variations may be one of the factors limiting the distribution of each species

脱脂米糠抽出物のヒト由来食細胞に対する免疫賦活性の検討

The present report describes the effect of the three kinds of degreasing rice bran extracts (rice bran (Rb), rice bran extract E (RbE), and rice bran heat water extract (RbhS) on the immune response of human cells. Samples of Rb and RbE were processed by fermentation with Enterococcus sp. and Pichia sp. at 37°C for 3 to 5 days, subsequently, RbE samples were treated with hemicellulose enzyme. While RbhS samples were heattreated and used as the control. We studied the effect of inactive Staphylococcus aureus cells coated with the three kinds of rice bran extracts on phagocytosis and phagosome-lysosome fusion by human leukocytes in vitro. Rice bran extracts increased phagocytic activity and phagosome-lysosome fusion in neutrophils and monocytes in a doseresponse manner. The rate of phagocytosis of RbE-coated S. aureus by neutrophils was significantly higher, by approximately 3.6 times, than that of uncoated S. aureus. The rate of phagocytosis of RbE-coated S. aureus by monocytes was about 1.6 times higher than that of the control. The phagosome-lysosome fusion index (FI) for RbE-coated bacteria by neutrophils was higher, by approximately 6 times, than that of the control. The ratio of the FI to the phagocytic index (PI) in human neutrophils showed that 83% of phagocytosed cells were digested the fused phagolysosomes when the S. aureus coated with RbE at a concentration of 25 μg/ml. These results show that RbE has immune-enhancing activity. Although degreasing rice bran is traditionally discarded, if processed with Enterococcus sp., Pichia sp. and hemicellulose enzyme, it becomes consumable and can be used as a health food material to enhance immune activity in humans3種類の方法で調製した脱脂米糠抽出物について免疫賦活性(貧食活性と食胞融合性)の視点から,未利用資源としての活用可能性を検討した。　(1)ライフペップ(Rb)は乳酸菌・酵母処理(37℃ ・3～5日)。　(2)ライフペップE(RbE)は乳酸菌・酵母処理後　酵素(ヘミセルラーゼ)処理。　(3)熱水抽出物(RbhS)はオートクレープ処理。　何れの処理サンプルも,凍結乾燥後試験に供した。その結果,ヒト好中球に対する貧食活性は,3試料とも,濃度に依存して貧食作用が上昇した。RbEでは5μg/mlプラトーに達し,コントロールに比べ3.6倍(p<0.001)の活性を示した。また,単球に対する貧食活性では,RbEが1.6倍(p<0.001)活性を示した。RbEは,脱脂米糠の熱水抽出物(RbhS)とRbより高い活性を示した。　最も貧食活性の強かったRbEの食胞融合能は,コントロールに対して6倍の食胞融合性を示し,25μg/mlの濃度で貧食された菌のうち約8割が殺菌されることが確認できた。この結果,脱脂米糠を乳酸菌・酵母処理後酵素(ヘミセルラーゼ)処理すると,貧食活性を促進できることがわかり,免疫賦活作用を示す利用資源として役に立つことが明確となった

High Resolution Simultaneous Measurements of Airborne Radionuclides at Sub-regional Sampling Points by Ultra Low Background Gamma Spectrometry

金沢大学環日本海域環境研究センター地球環境計測研究部門Promoting Environmental Pesearch in Pan-Japan Sea Area : Young Researchers\u27 Network, Schedule: March 8-10,2006,Kanazawa Excel Hotel Tokyu, Japan, Organized by: Kanazawa University 21st-Century COE Program, Environmental Monitoring and Prediction of Long- & Short- Term Dynamics of Pan-Japan Sea Area ; IICRC(Ishikawa International Cooperation Research Centre), Sponsors : Japan Sea Research ; UNU-IAS(United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies)+Ishikawa Prefecture Government ; City of Kanazaw

High resolution simultaneous measurements of airborne radionuclides

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科場所：金沢大学自然科学研究科図書館棟1階，講演会場：図書館棟1階　大会議室，ポスター会場：図書館棟1階12会議室,主催・共催：文部科学省２１世紀COE「環日本海域の環境計測と長期・短期変動予測」， 大気環境学会， 金沢大学工学

High resolution simultaneous measurements of airborne radionuclides

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科場所：東京大学弥生講堂，共催：文部科学省２１世紀COE「環日本海域の環境計測と長期・短期変動予測」，大気環境学

Sesamin catechol glucuronides exert anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing IFN-β and iNOS expression through the deconjugation in macrophage-like J774.1 cells

Sesamin, a representative sesame lignan, has health-promoting activities. Sesamin is converted into catechol derivatives and further into their glucuronides or sulfates in vivo, whereas the biological activities of sesamin metabolites remain unclear. We examined the inhibitory effects of sesamin metabolites on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NO production in mouse macrophage-like J774.1 cells and found that a mono-catechol derivative SC1, (7α,7'α,8α,8'α)-3,4-dihydroxy-3',4'-methylenedioxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxylignane, has a much higher activity than sesamin and other metabolites. The inhibitory effects of SC1 glucuronides were time-dependently enhanced, associated with the intracellular accumulation of SC1 and the methylated form. SC1 glucuronides and SC1 attenuated the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and upstream interferon-β (IFN-β) in the LPS-stimulated macrophages. The inhibitory effects of SC1 glucuronides against NO production were canceled by the β-glucuronidase inhibitor and enhanced by the catechol- O-methyltransferase inhibitor. Our results suggest that SC1 glucuronides exert the anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the IFN-β/iNOS signaling through macrophage-mediated deconjugation

Improvement of orthoptic students’ self-evaluation through repeated practice with rubric-based assessments

The discipline of orthoptics covers a wide range of ophthalmological examinations and generates supports for visually disabled persons; consequently, orthoptic educators are continually trying to improve practical training. One problem is students’ inadequate abilities to self-evaluate and consistency among teacher evaluations. In the United States of America, rubric assessments have been used widely, from elementary through higher educational levels, since the late 1970’s. Because a rubric contains the explicit and descriptive criteria for scoring, assessments with rubric can help students and instructors consistently assess student performance. In a previous study, rubric assessments for off-campus clinical orthoptic internships were found useful in standardizing evaluations among multiple instructors. However, there have been no empirical studies on the long-term effects of orthoptic training with rubrics. While writing accurate reports on the practice is important for acquisition of clinical skills through practical course, students cannot obtain report-writing skills without accurate self-evaluation of their own reports. In this study, to investigate the long-term effects of rubric-based training, we repeated practice-assessment-feedback cycles for nine weeks using rubrics, and analyzed the observed disparities between self- and teacher-generated scores over time. All study procedures were performed in-house. We found that, over time, the disparities between the students’ and teachers’ scores decreased significantly, suggesting that students’ self-evaluation accuracy improved through repeated use of rubric. The improvement was category-dependent and larger in students with lower performance. These results indicate the advantages of repeating rubric-based formative assessments in orthoptic practices

Strict De Novo Methylation of the 35S Enhancer Sequence in Gentian

A novel transgene silencing phenomenon was found in the ornamental plant, gentian (Gentiana triflora × G. scabra), in which the introduced Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter region was strictly methylated, irrespective of the transgene copy number and integrated loci. Transgenic tobacco having the same vector did not show the silencing behavior. Not only unmodified, but also modified 35S promoters containing a 35S enhancer sequence were found to be highly methylated in the single copy transgenic gentian lines. The 35S core promoter (−90)-introduced transgenic lines showed a small degree of methylation, implying that the 35S enhancer sequence was involved in the methylation machinery. The rigorous silencing phenomenon enabled us to analyze methylation in a number of the transgenic lines in parallel, which led to the discovery of a consensus target region for de novo methylation, which comprised an asymmetric cytosine (CpHpH; H is A, C or T) sequence. Consequently, distinct footprints of de novo methylation were detected in each (modified) 35S promoter sequence, and the enhancer region (−148 to −85) was identified as a crucial target for de novo methylation. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) showed that complexes formed in gentian nuclear extract with the −149 to −124 and −107 to −83 region probes were distinct from those of tobacco nuclear extracts, suggesting that the complexes might contribute to de novo methylation. Our results provide insights into the phenomenon of sequence- and species- specific gene silencing in higher plants

Familial pancreatic cancer with PALB2 and NBN pathogenic variants: a case report

Background Family history is one of the risk factors for pancreatic cancer. It is suggested that patients with pancreatic cancer who have a familial history harbor germline pathogenic variants of BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2), PALB2, or ATM. Recently, some germline variants of familial pancreatic cancers (FPCs), including PALB2, have been detected. Several countries, including Japan, perform screening workups and genetic analysis for pancreatic cancers. We have been carrying out active surveillance for FPC through epidemiological surveys, imaging analyses, and genetic analysis. Case presentation Here, we present the case of a female patient harboring pathogenic variants of PALB2 and NBN, with a family history of multiple pancreatic cancer in her younger brother, her aunt, and her father. Moreover, her father harbored a PALB2 pathogenic variant and her daughter harbored the same NBN pathogenic variant. Given the PALB2 and NBN variants, we designed surveillance strategies for the pancreas, breast, and ovary. Conclusions Further studies are required to develop strategies for managing FPCs to facilitate prompt diagnosis before their progression