Collagen V-induced nasal tolerance downregulates pulmonary collagen mRNA gene and TGF-beta expression in experimental systemic sclerosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to evaluate collagen deposition, mRNA collagen synthesis and TGF-beta expression in the lung tissue in an experimental model of scleroderma after collagen V-induced nasal tolerance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Female New Zealand rabbits (N = 12) were immunized with 1 mg/ml of collagen V in Freund's adjuvant (IM). After 150 days, six immunized animals were tolerated by nasal administration of collagen V (25 μg/day) (IM-TOL) daily for 60 days. The collagen content was determined by morphometry, and mRNA expressions of types I, III and V collagen were determined by Real-time PCR. The TGF-beta expression was evaluated by immunostaining and quantified by point counting methods. To statistic analysis ANOVA with Bonferroni test were employed for multiple comparison when appropriate and the level of significance was determined to be <it>p </it>< 0.05.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IM-TOL, when compared to IM, showed significant reduction in total collagen content around the vessels (0.371 ± 0.118 vs. 0.874 ± 0.282, <it>p </it>< 0.001), bronchioles (0.294 ± 0.139 vs. 0.646 ± 0.172, <it>p </it>< 0.001) and in the septal interstitium (0.027 ± 0.014 vs. 0.067 ± 0.039, <it>p </it>= 0.026). The lung tissue of IM-TOL, when compared to IM, showed decreased immunostaining of types I, III and V collagen, reduced mRNA expression of types I (0.10 ± 0.07 vs. 1.0 ± 0.528, p = 0.002) and V (1.12 ± 0.42 vs. 4.74 ± 2.25, p = 0.009) collagen, in addition to decreased TGF-beta expression (p < 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collagen V-induced nasal tolerance in the experimental model of SSc regulated the pulmonary remodeling process, inhibiting collagen deposition and collagen I and V mRNA synthesis. Additionally, it decreased TGF-beta expression, suggesting a promising therapeutic option for scleroderma treatment.</p

Seismic exploration at Fuji volcano with active sources : The outline of the experiment and the arrival time data

Fuji volcano (altitude 3,776m) is the largest basaltic stratovolcano in Japan. In late August and early September 2003, seismic exploration was conducted around Fuji volcano by the detonation of 500 kg charges of dynamite to investigate the seismic structure of that area. Seismographs with an eigenfrequency of 2 Hz were used for observation, positioned along a WSW-ENE line passing through the summit of the mountain. A total of 469 seismic stations were installed at intervals of 250-500 m. The data were stored in memory on-site using data loggers. The sampling interval was 4 ms. Charges were detonated at 5 points, one at each end of the observation line and 3 along its length. The first arrival times and the later-phase arrival times at each station for each detonation were recorded as data. P-wave velocities in the surface layer were estimated from the travel time curves near the explosion points, with results of 2.5 km/s obtained for the vicinity of Fuji volcano and 4.0 km5/s elsewhere

Research and Design of a Routing Protocol in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

无线传感器网络，作为全球未来十大技术之一，集成了传感器技术、嵌入式计算技术、分布式信息处理和自组织网技术，可实时感知、采集、处理、传输网络分布区域内的各种信息数据，在军事国防、生物医疗、环境监测、抢险救灾、防恐反恐、危险区域远程控制等领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。 本文研究分析了无线传感器网络的已有路由协议，并针对大规模的无线传感器网络设计了一种树状路由协议，它根据节点地址信息来形成路由，从而简化了复杂繁冗的路由表查找和维护，节省了不必要的开销，提高了路由效率，实现了快速有效的数据传输。 为支持此路由协议本文提出了一种自适应动态地址分配算——ADAR（AdaptiveDynamicAddre...As one of the ten high technologies in the future, wireless sensor network, which is the integration of micro-sensors, embedded computing, modern network and Ad Hoc technologies, can apperceive, collect, process and transmit various information data within the region. It can be used in military defense, biomedical, environmental monitoring, disaster relief, counter-terrorism, remote control of haz...学位：工学硕士院系专业：信息科学与技术学院通信工程系_通信与信息系统学号：2332007115216

Capillaria hepatica (Calodium hepaticum) infection in a horse: a case report

Abstract Background Capillaria hepatica is a zoonotic parasite in humans and animals and has a worldwide distribution. However, infections in mammals apart from rodents, which are natural hosts of the parasite, have rarely been reported. This report describes the first known case of C. hepatica infection in a horse in Japan. Case presentation A 3-year-old filly without clinical signs was presented at a slaughterhouse in Japan. Gross examination revealed white to tan nodules 0.5 to 1.5 cm in diameter in the parenchyma of the liver. Histologically, the nodules had mature fibrous capsules and consisted of multifocal to coalescing granulomatous inflammations with numerous nematode eggs. The eggs were barrel shaped with an opercular plug on each end and double-layered shells; these findings are consistent with the features of C. hepatica eggs. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first case of C. hepatica infection in a horse in Japan. The pathological findings confirmed the presence of this pathogen in this part of the world, and they highlight the importance of this nematode in the differential diagnosis of hepatic granulomatous lesions in horses

Signal changes in standing magnetic resonance imaging of septic pedal osteitis in a Thoroughbred racehorse

Septic pedal osteitis refers to bacterial infection within the distal phalanx, which requires effective surgical intervention. A 3-year-old Thoroughbred colt underwent standing magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) on the 10th day after admission (day 10), which revealed hyperintensity beneath the inner hoof wall in sagittal T2*-weighted and transverse T2-weighted sequence, suggesting abscess formation. On day 25, the second sMRI indicated development of osteitis, in which the lesion extended into the distal phalanx. This lesion was imaged as hyperintensity on T1-weighted, T2*-weighted and T2-weighted images. On day 59, laminitic changes were evident on T1-weighted and T2*-weighted images. Our case report suggests that sMRI could allow better understanding of the disease process than other conventional imaging modalities, and guide early surgical intervention

A Model-based Interpretation of Phantom Pain -Conservative Body Schema and Flexible Somatotopy-

Some patients with amputations are known to still experience presence of the amputated limb (phantom limb). Phantom limb is found to be accompanied by reorganizations of somatotopic representations at cortical and subcortical levels due to deafferentation, which also discloses presence of body schema, i.e., integrated image of body. In addition, phantom limb is often recognized with painful sensation, i.e., phantom pain, which is suggested to be caused by abnormally high activations in thalamocortical neurons in the deafferentated area. In this paper, simulations using a self-organizing neural network model were performed to clarify contribution of axonal sprouting and body schema to reorganization of cortical representation, and to explore a possible mechanism underlying abnormally high thalamocortical activation. The results showed that axonal sprouting could cause reorganization of cortical mapping with an aid of facilitatory inputs referring to the conserved body schema even after deafferentation. In addition, removing thalamic recurrent inhibitions was shown to induce high and sustained activations in thalamocortical neurons in the deafferentated area. Consequently, this study suggested that discordance between the recognized cortical representation and physiological process referring to the body schema could give rise to phantom pain. Phantom pain is a clue disclosing how body schema is constructed and maintained, which might be an important subject also for robotics dealing with an artificial body