Integrative and theoretical research on the architecture of a biological system and its disorder

Uchida S., Asai Y., Kariya Y., et al. Integrative and theoretical research on the architecture of a biological system and its disorder. Journal of Physiological Sciences , (2019); https://doi.org/10.1007/s12576-019-00667-8.An organism stems from assemblies of a variety of cells and proteins. This complex system serves as a unit, and it exhibits highly sophisticated functions in response to exogenous stimuli that change over time. The complete sequencing of the entire human genome has allowed researchers to address the enigmas of life and disease at the gene- or molecular-based level. The consequence of such studies is the rapid accumulation of a multitude of data at multiple levels, ranging from molecules to the whole body, that has necessitated the development of entirely new concepts, tools, and methodologies to analyze and integrate these data. This necessity has given birth to systems biology, an advanced theoretical and practical research framework that has totally changed the directions of not only basic life science but also medicine. During the symposium of the 95th Annual Meeting of The Physiological Society of Japan 2018, five researchers reported on their respective studies on systems biology. The topics included reactions of drugs, ion-transport architecture in an epithelial system, multi-omics in renal disease, cardiac electrophysiological systems, and a software platform for computer simulation. In this review article these authors have summarized recent achievements in the field and discuss next-generation studies on health and disease

Behaviour of liquid nitrogen between electrodes in a microgravity environment

The motion of boiling liquid nitrogen (LN2) between electrodes and its surface profile in a microgravity environment just after release from terrestrial gravity are observed. The dynamic behaviour is analysed considering the following forces: the Maxwell stress, surface tension and viscosity, and is explained consistently by theory including these forces. The velocity of the liquid driven by the Maxwell stress and the capillary force (surface tension) is compared with that driven by the capillary force only. The growth dynamics of bubbles produced on the surface of electrodes is discussed

Periodontal repair following implantation of beta-tricalcium phosphate with different pore structures in class III furcation defects in dogs

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the pore characteristics of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) on periodontal healing in class III furcation defects in dogs. Two types of β-TCP were prepared for grafting; 1) a tunnel pipe structure with an inner diameter of 300 μm, and 2) continuous pore structure with interconnected macropores. The furcations of thirty mandibular premolar teeth were implanted with each type of β-TCP or were left untreated as control. The dogs were sacrificed 8 weeks post-surgery, and healing was evaluated histologically. Downgrowth of junctional epithelium in the tunnel structure group was significantly less than that in the other two groups (p<0.01). There was significantly more new bone formation and new cementum formation in the tunnel structure group than that in the other two groups (p<0.01). These findings suggested that β-TCP with a tunnel pipe structure promotes periodontal healing in class III furcation defects

A patient with epileptic psychosis who had rare acute episodic symptoms

This is a case report of a 38-year-old woman with temporal lobe epilepsy and epileptic psychoses. The psychoses consisted of three rare symptoms that were “a distortion in the sense of time,” “what should be there disappears,” and “the next scene is supposed to be in a particular way.” There have been few reports that included these symptoms; therefore, we report the course of this patient in detail