Configuration of the active Mg-ATP complex in protein kinase C reaction

AbstractTo probe the active site structure of protein kinase C stereochemical studies were carried out by using ATPβs. The enzyme utilizes either one of the diastereomers (Sp and Rp) of ATPβs almost equally well as a substrate. This result contrasts with that for cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, suggesting that the topography of the nucleotide-binding site is significantly different between the two kinases

Non-financial social determinants of diabetes among public assistance recipients in Japan: A cohort study

Aims/Introduction: Poverty is an important social determinant of diabetes. Poverty is a multidimensional concept including non-financial difficulties, such as social isolation and exclusion from communities. Many countries provide financial social assistance programs for those in need. This study aimed to explore non-financial social determinants of diabetes among public assistance recipients in Japan, by using linkage data of two municipal public assistance databases and medical assistance claim data. Materials and Methods: We carried out a retrospective cohort study. Public assistance is provided to households below the poverty line to ensure their income security. We extracted recipients’ sociodemographic factors of January 2016 (household number and employment status as non-financial social determinants of diabetes) and identified the incidence of diabetes diagnosis until December 2016 as the outcome. Results: We included the data of 2, 698 younger individuals (aged 65 years). A multivariable Poisson regression, with a robust standard error estimator, showed that among 2, 144 younger recipients at risk, unemployment and living alone were slightly associated with 1-year cumulative incidence of diabetes diagnosis (adjusted incidence ratio 1.20, 95% confidence interval 0.93–1.54 and adjusted incidence ratio 1.15, 95% confidence interval 0.89–1.48, respectively). Among 2, 181 older recipients at risk, there was no strong association between their sociodemographic factors and incidence of diabetes diagnosis. Conclusions: Unemployment and living alone might be additional risk factors for diabetes among younger public assistance recipients. Multidimensional supports assuring financial and non-financial securities are required to prevent diabetes among people living in poverty

Functional disability trajectories at the end of life among Japanese older adults: findings from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES)

BACKGROUND: this study aimed to identify distinct subgroups of trajectories of disability over time before 3 years of death and examine the factors associated with trajectory group membership probabilities among community-dwelling Japanese older adults aged 65 years and above. METHODS: participants included 4, 875 decedents from among community-dwelling Japanese older adults, aged ≥ 65 years at baseline (men: 3, 020; women: 1, 855). The certified long-term care levels of the national long-term care insurance (LTCI) system were used as an index of functional disability. We combined data from the 2010 Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study and data from the 2010 to 2016 LTCI system. Group-based mixture models and multinominal logistic regression models were used for data analysis. RESULTS: five distinct trajectories of functional disability in the last 3 years of life were identified: 'persistently severe disability' (10.3%), 'persistently mild disability' (13.0%), 'accelerated disability' (12.6%), 'catastrophic disability' (18.8%) and 'minimum disability' (45.2%). Multinominal logistic regression analysis found several factors associated with trajectory membership; self-rated health was a common predictor regardless of age and gender. The analysis also showed a paradoxical association; higher education was associated with trajectory group membership probabilities of more severe functional decline in men over 85 years at death. CONCLUSIONS: individual perception of health was a strong predictor of trajectories, independent of demographic factors and socio-economic status. Our findings contribute to the development of policies for the long-term care system, particularly for end-of-life care, in Asian countries

ニホンゴ ガクシュウ ノ アラスジ ノ ダンワ ワカリヤスサ ワカリニクサ ノ ヨウイン ニ カンスル チョウサ ト ブンセキ

日本語学習者の談話におけるわかりにくさの要因としては、先行研究で、視点のシフトや接続表現の使い方の問題(渡邊1996; 柳町 2000)、指示語の使い方や言いよどみ/言い直しの問題(伊豆原・嶽1991)等が指摘されている。しかし、これらの研究は日本語教師/研究者の視点から行なわれたもので、一般の日本人が学習者の談話を聞いた時に、何がわかりやすく、何がわかりにくいのかには言及していない。そこで、本研究では、ACTFL Oral Profi-ciencyガイドラインの超級レベル2名、上級レベル2名と日本語母語話者2名の計6名がOPIで話した映画のあらすじの談話を用い、一般の日本人にとって、何がわかりやすく、何がわかりにくいのかをアンケート調査した(回答者79名)。調査の結果、発音の悪さ、言いよどみの多さ、文と文のつながりの悪さ等、学習者に特有の問題点があらすじの理解度に大きな影響を与えていることが明らかになった。日本語教師にとって気になることが多い、言葉の使い方や文法の使い方の不適切さは、一般の人がわかりにくいと感じた理由としては低い割合であった。この結果に基づき、「発音」、「言いよどみ」、「文と文のつながり」の三項目について、わかりやすいあらすじとわかりにくいあらすじとではどんな点が異なるのかを、比較、分析した。わかりにくさの要因となりうるものとしては、次の三点が考えられた。1)～て、～から等、文と文のつながりを示す言葉を含むPause-bounded Phrasal Units(PPU)boundaryにおける強調の欠如2)Language production-basedフィラー(意味のないフィラー)の多用3) 主語の過剰な省略や代名詞の使用等、話の登場人物に対するあいまいな指示語の多用これらの結果は、通常の授業ではあまり時間を割くことのできない、発音、言いよどみ、文と文のつながりの指導の必要性を示唆していると思われる。また、独り話、特にあらすじの指導においては、登場人物に対する指示語の使い方を指導していくことも必要である。For language learners, the development of productive skills to narrate and describe in connected discourse is critical in order to advance language proficiency. In Japanese discourse studies, the main focus has been on the cohesion between sentences and the overall structure in written discourse. Some recent studies (e.g. Izuhara and Dake 1991, Watanabe 1996) discuss possible causes of low comprehensibility, pointing out various features that appear in Japanese learners’ narratives, such as inappropriate viewpoint shift and sentence linkage. However, these studies deal with coherence solely from the point of view of the Japanese language teacher. It is thus imperative that we investigate whether these linguistic features indeed cause problems with native interlocutors’ understanding of learners’ speech. The present study shows what kind of factors affect comprehensibility, and offers an analysis of low- and high-comprehensible narratives in order to locate the specific features that learners need to be aware of to make themselves more easily understood. Seventy-nine judges listened to narratives of four learners (two superior and two advanced speakers, based on ACTFL Oral Proficiency Guidelines) and two native speakers and were then asked to assess the narratives in terms of flow of discourse and comprehensibility. Assessment of the narratives revealed that in addition to insufficient content, problems with pronunciation, sentence connections, and filler use may cause difficulty in understanding learners’ narratives. Also, close analysis of highand low-rated narratives revealed potential problematic factors associated with low comprehensibility in learners’ narratives: lack of stress in PPU (Pause-bounded Phrasal Units) boundaries, overuse of language production-based fillers, and ambiguous references to story characters. Though further research is needed to confirm the findings, the present study provides useful pedagogical insights into teaching Japanese language skills, especially story-telling narrative production

Study of glycosylation of prostate-specific antigen secreted by cancer tissue-originated spheroids reveals new candidates for prostate cancer detection

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the most frequently used biomarker for the screening of prostate cancer. Understanding the structure of cancer-specific glycans can help us improve PSA assay. In the present study, we analysed the glycans of PSA obtained from culture medium containing cancer tissue-originated spheroids (CTOS) which have similar characteristics as that of the parent tumour to explore the new candidates for cancer-related glycoforms of PSA. The glycan profile of PSA from CTOS was determined by comparing with PSA from normal seminal plasma and cancer cell lines (LNCaP and 22Rv1) using lectin chromatography and mass spectrometry. PSA from CTOS was mostly sialylated and the content of Wisteria floribunda agglutinin reactive glycan (LacdiNAc) was similar to that of PSA derived from seminal plasma and 22Rv1. Conversely, concanavalin A (Con A)-unbound PSA was definitely detected from the three cancer origins but was almost negligible in seminal PSA. Two novel types of PSA were elucidated in the Con A-unbound fraction: one is a high molecular weight PSA with highly branched N-glycans, and the other is a low molecular weight PSA without N-glycans. Furthermore, the existence of Lewis X antigen group on PSA was indicated. These PSAs will be candidates for new cancer-related markers

The anxiety which students have during the demonstration.

We researched the anxiety which students had during the demonstration of taking blood samples. We assesed the anxiety of both the role of nurse and the role of patient. And we concluded as follows; 1 Students have this anxiety of both roles. However, the anxiety is greater when they take blood samples. 2 There is no correlation in their anxiety between the role of nurse and the role of patient. 3 The student who feels less uneasy can more effectively perform this procedure

Effect of annealing and hydrogen on properties of electrodeposited platinum electrode and lead-zirconate-titanate films for ferroelectric random access memory applications

The selection of capacitor electrode materials for the nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory is one of the most important issues because capacitor electrical characteristics are strongly influenced by the electrode materials. The lower Pt electrode was electrodeposited on the Ti seed/Pt seed layer. Two different thicknesses of Ti seed layer (5 and 15 nm) were adopted, and lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) was deposited on the electrodeposited Pt. The Pt crystal orientation with a 5 nm Ti seed layer is much better than that with a 15 nm Ti seed layer, and the deposited PZT shows much better crystal orientation. Due to better crystal orientation of the PZT layer in the case of a 5 nm Ti seed layer, a Pt/PZT/Pt capacitor well-saturated D-V hysteresis loop was obtained whereas little current was observed in the large electric field. With the 15 nm Ti seed layer, numerous several-mu m-sized voids formed on the lower Pt electrode surface. With the 5 nm Ti seed layer, fewer voids formed on the lower Pt electrode surface. Glow discharge spectrometry measurement with a 15 nm Ti seed layer shows much higher H intensity than that with a 5 nm Ti seed layer, and the H peak coincides with the Ti peak. The H existing in the Ti seed layer must have transmitted into the PZT layer and deteriorated the PZT crystal orientation. (c) 2005 The Electrochemical Society. </p

Regulated interaction between polypeptide chain elongation factor-1 complex with the 26S proteasome during Xenopus oocyte maturation

BACKGROUND: During Xenopus oocyte maturation, the amount of a 48 kDa protein detected in the 26S proteasome fraction (p48) decreased markedly during oocyte maturation to the low levels seen in unfertilized eggs. The results indicate that the interaction of at least one protein with the 26S proteasome changes during oocyte maturation and early development. An alteration in proteasome function may be important for the regulation of developmental events, such as the rapid cell cycle, in the early embryo. In this study, we identified p48. RESULTS: p48 was purified by conventional column chromatography. The resulting purified fraction contained two other proteins with molecular masses of 30 (p30) and 37 (p37) kDa. cDNAs encode elongation factor-1γ and δ were obtained by an immuno-screening method using polyclonal antibodies against purified p48 complex, which recognized p48 and p37. N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of p30 revealed that it was identical to EF-1β. To identify the p48 complex bound to the 26S proteasome as EF-1βγδ, antibodies were raised against the components of purified p48 complex. Recombinant EF-1 β,γ and δ were expressed in Escherichia coli, and an antibody was raised against purified recombinant EF-1γ. Cross-reactivity of the antibodies toward the p48 complex and recombinant proteins showed it to be specific for each component. These results indicate that the p48 complex bound to the 26S proteasome is the EF-1 complex. MPF phosphorylated EF-1γ was shown to bind to the 26S proteasome. When EF-1γ is phosphorylated by MPF, the association is stabilized. CONCLUSION: p48 bound to the 26S proteasome is identified as the EF-1γ. EF-1 complex is associated with the 26S proteasome in Xenopus oocytes and the interaction is stabilized by MPF-mediated phosphorylation