High time resolved electron temperature measurements by using the multi-pass Thomson scattering system in GAMMA 10/PDX

High time resolved electron temperature measurements are useful for fluctuation study. A multi-pass Thomson scattering (MPTS) system is proposed for the improvement of both increasing the TS signal intensity and time resolution. The MPTS system in GAMMA 10/PDX has been constructed for enhancing the Thomson scattered signals for the improvement of measurement accuracy. The MPTS system has a polarization-based configuration with an image relaying system. We optimized the image relaying optics for improving the multi-pass laser confinement and obtaining the stable MPTS signals over ten passing TS signals. The integrated MPTS signals increased about five times larger than that in the single pass system. Finally, time dependent electron temperatures were obtained in MHz sampling

Sildenafil ameliorates right ventricular early molecular derangement during left ventricular pressure overload.

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction following left ventricular (LV) failure is associated with poor prognosis. RV remodeling is thought initiated by the increase in the afterload of RV due to secondary pulmonary hypertension (PH) to impaired LV function; however, RV molecular changes might occur in earlier stages of the disease. cGMP (cyclic guanosine monophosphate)-phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, widely used to treat PH through their pulmonary vasorelaxation properties, have shown direct cardiac benefits, but their impacts on the RV in LV diseases are not fully determined. Here we show that RV molecular alterations occur early in the absence of RV hemodynamic changes during LV pressure-overload and are ameliorated by PDE5 inhibition. Two-day moderate LV pressure-overload (transverse aortic constriction) neither altered RV pressure/ function nor RV weight in mice, while it induced only mild LV hypertrophy. Importantly, pathological molecular features were already induced in the RV free wall myocardium, including up-regulation of gene markers for hypertrophy and inflammation, and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and calcineurin. Concomitant PDE5 inhibition (sildenafil) prevented induction of such pathological genes and activation of ERK and calcineurin in the RV as well as in the LV. Importantly, dexamethasone also prevented these RV molecular changes, similarly to sildenafil treatment. These results suggest the contributory role of inflammation to the early pathological interventricular interaction between RV and LV. The current study provides the first evidence for the novel early molecular cross-talk between RV and LV, preceding RV hemodynamic changes in LV disease, and supports the therapeutic strategy of enhancing cGMP signaling pathway to treat heart diseases

Restricted Expression of Shiga Toxin Binding Sites on Mucosal Epithelium of Mouse Distal Colon

Shiga toxins (Stx) are some of the major virulence factors of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains such as serotype O157:H7. To explore how Stx might initially gain access to the bloodstream from sites of infection, frozen sections of mouse colon were immunohistochemically examined for binding sites for recombinant binding subunits (Stx1B). Binding sites were selectively expressed on the epithelium in the distal half of the mouse colon, whereas the proximal half did not exhibit any binding sites. In agreement with this observation, we also demonstrated the distal-part-restricted distribution of glycolipids that bind to Stx1B in the mouse colon. For comparison, the binding sites of several control lectins were also examined. Selective binding to the distal part of the colon was not seen with any other control lectins, including Griffonia simplicifolia lectin-I isolectin B4 (GS-I-B4), which shares α-galactose specificity with Stx1B. Partial overlapping of the specificities of Stx1B and GS-I-B4 was seen by assay with globotriose-conjugated multivalent ligands. The results indicate that Stx1B is stricter in the recognition of carbohydrate determinants than GS-I-B4 when examined with biological ligands

SMILES observations of mesospheric ozone during the solar eclipse

日食を利用して太陽光が大気中のオゾンへ与える影響を調査. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2015-06-16.The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) successfully observed vertical distributions of ozone (O[3]) concentration in the middle atmosphere during the annular solar eclipse that occurred on 15 January 2010. In the mesosphere, where the photochemical lifetime of O[3] is relatively short (approximately 100 s), altitude-dependent changes in O[3] concentration under reduced solar radiation and their temporal variations were clearly observed as a function of the eclipse obscuration. This study reports the vertical distributions of mesospheric O[3] during a solar eclipse event and analyzes theoretically the eclipse-induced changes. We show that simple analytical expressions for O[3] concentration, which assume that O[3] and O are in a photochemically steady state, can be used to describe the O[3] concentration under reduced solar radiation. The SMILES data obtained during the eclipse provide a unique opportunity to test our current understanding of mesospheric O[3] photochemistry

Invasive hemodynamic studies revealed two-day transverse aortic constriction affect neither right ventricular pressure nor function.

<p>(A) Peak systolic left ventricular pressure (LVP sys) and mean right ventricular pressure (RVP mean). Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) for two days increased systolic LV pressure, but had no effects on RV pressure. Sildenafil did not affect either pressure. (B) Peak rate of ventricular pressure rise (dP/dt_max), peak rate of ventricular decline (dP/dt_min), and relaxation time constant (tau). LV tau was prolonged by two-day TAC, which was normalized by sildenafil. Results are expressed as mean ± s.e.m. (n = 3). TAC 2d Veh, TAC for 2 days with vehicle treatment; TAC 2d Sil, TAC for 2days with sildenafil treatment. n.s., not significant by one-way analysis of variance; *, p < 0.05 versus sham group; §, p = 0.05 versus sham group; ‡, p = 0.07 versus TAC 2d Veh group.</p