The hepatic sympathetic nerve plays a critical role in preventing Fas induced liver injury in mice

Background: Although previous studies have shown that the hepatic sympathetic nerve controls various physiological functions in the liver, the role of this nerve in liver injury has yet to be clarified.Aims: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of this nerve, based on our newly developed technique for selectively removing the activities of the hepatic sympathetic nerve.Subjects and methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were operated on for hepatic sympathetic denervation. Thereafter, mice were intravenously administered 0.25 or 0.35 mg/g weight of the Fas agonist antibody, Jo-2, after which mortality by fulminant hepatitis was evaluated. Apoptosis in the liver was also examined by both terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labelling and caspase-3 assay.Results: Mortality in sympathectomised mice was significantly higher than that in sham operated mice following administration of Jo-2. This result was also supported by apoptosis data in which sympathectomised livers exhibited a significant elevation in the number of apoptotic hepatocytes and caspase-3 activity after Jo-2 treatment compared with sham operated livers. Moreover, pretreatment with norepinephrine dose dependently inhibited the hepatic sympathectomy induced increase in mortality after Jo-2 injection. Antiapoptotic protein levels of FLICE inhibitory protein, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-2 in the liver were significantly lower in sympathectomised mice at one and two hours following Jo-2 treatment than in sham operated animals. In addition, interleukin 6 supplementation dose dependently suppressed the hepatic sympathectomy induced increase in mortality after Jo-2 treatment.Conclusions: These results suggest that norepinephrine released from the hepatic sympathetic nerve plays a critical role in protecting the liver from Fas mediated fulminant hepatitis, possibly via mechanisms including antiapoptotic proteins and interleukin 6

Tracer-encapsulated pellet injector for plasma diagnostics

An injector for making solid hydrogen pellets around impurity cores has been developed for plasma transport study in large helical device. A technique has been employed for automatic loading carbon or polystyrene cores of 0.2 mm diameter from a gun magazine to a light-gas gun barrel. The injector is equipped with a cryocooler and is able to form a 3.2 mm long and 3 mm diameter cylindrical solid hydrogen pellet at 7 8 K with an impurity core in its center within 6 min and to inject it in the light-gas gun up to 1 km/s

Technical Note: Feeding Rate as a Consideration Factor for Successful Termite Wood Preference Tests

The percent weight loss (%WL) of a wood sample and termite mortality are indicators of termite wood preference. WL is apparently affected by wood density, even though the same WL values for wood of different densities provide different amounts of wood mass loss. Feeding rate is also a factor for interpreting the results of termite wood preference tests. The wood species used for this study were sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria), pulai (Peronema sp.), and mindi (Melia azedarach), which had densities of 273, 302, and 434 kg·m-3, respectively. Samples of wood from each species were tested against the subterranean termite (Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren) according to the Indonesian standard SNI 01-7207-2006. The WL for sengon, pulai, and mindi were 37.3, 36.4, and 10.3%, respectively; termite mortality was 24.2, 18.8, and 61.3%, respectively; and the daily feeding rates were 270, 132, and 42 μg per termite, respectively. The resistance class relative to the Indonesian standard was V for sengon and pulai and III for mindi. Higher wood density among these three species tended to be more resistant to subterranean termite attack, as indicated by a lower wood WL, higher termite mortality, and lower termite feeding rate

Chondroprotective effects of Salubrinal in a mouse model of osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVES: Salubrinal is a synthetic agent that elevates phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2α) and alleviates stress to the endoplasmic reticulum. Previously, we reported that in chondrocytes, Salubrinal attenuates expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) through downregulating nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) signalling. We herein examine whether Salubrinal prevents the degradation of articular cartilage in a mouse model of osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: OA was surgically induced in the left knee of female mice. Animal groups included age-matched sham control, OA placebo, and OA treated with Salubrinal or Guanabenz. Three weeks after the induction of OA, immunoblotting was performed for NFκB p65 and p-NFκB p65. At three and six weeks, the femora and tibiae were isolated and the sagittal sections were stained with Safranin O. RESULTS: Salubrinal suppressed the progression of OA by downregulating p-NFκB p65 and MMP13. Although Guanabenz elevates the phosphorylation level of eIF2α, it did not suppress the progression of OA. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of Salubrinal has chondroprotective effects in arthritic joints. Salubrinal can be considered as a potential therapeutic agent for alleviating symptoms of OA. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2015;4:84-92

Dynamical Mean Field Theory of the Antiferromagnetic Metal to Antiferromagnetic Insulator Transition

We study the antiferromagnetic metal to antiferromagnetic insulator using dynamical mean field theory and exact diagonalization methods. We find two qualitatively different behaviors depending on the degree of magnetic correlations. For strong correlations combined with magnetic frustration, the transition can be described in terms of a renormalized slater theory, with a continuous gap closure driven by the magnetism but strongly renormalized by correlations. For weak magnetic correlations, the transition is weakly first order.Comment: 4 pages, uses epsfig,4 figures,notational errors rectifie

Magnetic Phase Diagram and Metal-Insulator Transition of NiS2-xSex

Magnetic phase diagram of NiS2-xSex has been reexamined by systematic studies of electrical resistivity, uniform magnetic susceptibility and neutron diffraction using single crystals grown by a chemical transport method. The electrical resistivity and the uniform magnetic susceptibility exhibit the same feature of temperature dependence over a wide Se concentration. A distinct first order metal-insulator (M-I) transition accompanied by a volume change was observed only in the antiferromagnetic ordered phase for 0.50<x<0.59. In this region, the M-I transition makes substantial effects to the thermal evolution of staggered moments. In the paramagnetic phase, the M-I transition becomes broad; both the electrical resistivity and the uniform magnetic susceptibility exhibit a broad maximum around the temperatures on the M-I transition-line extrapolated to the paramagnetic phase.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, corrected EPS fil