55 research outputs found
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Enabling Secured Traceability of Fishery Products Using 2D Code and Digital Encryption
Technologies that enable traceability for fishery products are increasing their demands. Recently proposed technologies are mainly based on disposal RF(IC) tags which are able to record information directly onto them. However, the current systems based on RF tags have problems of expensive price of tags, and weakness of reading information if applied onto surface of products containing much water, which prevents to construct practically feasible systems using the RF tags. To provide a traceability system that uses much inexpensive media and that assures as high security as the RF tags, we propose a system based on a combination of printed 2D codes and internet connection, with security control similar to on-line electronic transactions. The proposed system identifies a fishery product by giving it a unique serial ID, which is issued by a database server, and printed in 2D code onto a paper or a plastic plate, which is directly put on the product. All the trace information sent from client (producer, transporters, and retailer) via internet is associated to the ID and stored to the server. Since 2D code is able to be read by such as mobile phones with built-in camera, a consumer is able to get history of the product with a single scanning operation. For the weakness of printed codes against duplication by copying, we propose a method to identify its validity by digital encryption, along with identification by weight information. The system is assured its usability by a series of experiments conducted for the distribution of cultured flounder in Hakodate, Japan.Keywords: Mobile Phone, Fisheries Economics, Falsification, Brand Fish, 2D Code, Fish Processing, Marketing, And Consumption, TraceabilityKeywords: Mobile Phone, Fisheries Economics, Falsification, Brand Fish, 2D Code, Fish Processing, Marketing, And Consumption, Traceabilit
Altered distribution of plasma PAF-AH between HDLs and other lipoproteins in hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus
Platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) is a phospholipase A2 associated with lipoproteins that hydrolyzes platelet-activating factor (PAF) and oxidized phospholipids. We have developed an ELISA for PAF-AH that is more sensitive than previous methods, and have quantified HDL-associated and non-HDL-associated PAF-AH in healthy, hyperlipidemic, and diabetic subjects. In healthy subjects, plasma total PAF-AH concentration was positively correlated with PAF-AH activity and with plasma total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B (apoB) concentrations (all P < 0.01). HDL-associated PAF-AH concentration was correlated positively with plasma apoA-I and HDL cholesterol. Subjects with hyperlipidemia (n = 73) and diabetes mellitus (n = 87) had higher HDL-associated PAF-AH concentrations than did controls (P < 0.01). Non-HDL-associated PAF-AH concentration was lower in diabetic subjects than in controls (P < 0.01). Both hyperlipidemic and diabetic subjects had lower ratios of PAF-AH to apoB (P < 0.01) and higher ratios of PAF-AH to apoA-I (P < 0.01) than did controls. Our results show that the distribution of PAF-AH mass between HDLs and LDLs is determined partly by the concentrations of the lipoproteins and partly by the mass of enzyme per lipoprotein particle, which is disturbed in hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus
Anti-Tumor Effect against Human Cancer Xenografts by a Fully Human Monoclonal Antibody to a Variant 8-Epitope of CD44R1 Expressed on Cancer Stem Cells
BACKGROUND: CD44 is a major cellular receptor for hyaluronic acids. The stem structure of CD44 encoded by ten normal exons can be enlarged by ten variant exons (v1-v10) by alternative splicing. We have succeeded in preparing MV5 fully human IgM and its class-switched GV5 IgG monoclonal antibody (mAb) recognizing the extracellular domain of a CD44R1 isoform that contains the inserted region coded by variant (v8, v9 and v10) exons and is expressed on the surface of various human epithelial cancer cells. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We demonstrated the growth inhibition of human cancer xenografts by a GV5 IgG mAb reshaped from an MV5 IgM. The epitope recognized by MV5 and GV5 was identified to a v8-coding region by the analysis of mAb binding to various recombinant CD44 proteins by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. GV5 showed preferential reactivity against various malignant human cells versus normal human cells assessed by flow cytometry and immunohistological analysis. When ME180 human uterine cervix carcinoma cells were subcutaneously inoculated to athymic mice with GV5, significant inhibition of tumor formation was observed. Furthermore, intraperitoneal injections of GV5markedly inhibited the growth of visible established tumors from HSC-3 human larynx carcinoma cells that had been subcutaneously transplanted one week before the first treatment with GV5. From in vitro experiments, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and internalization of CD44R1 seemed to be possible mechanisms for in vivo anti-tumor activity by GV5. CONCLUSIONS: CD44R1 is an excellent molecular target for mAb therapy of cancer, possibly superior to molecules targeted by existing therapeutic mAb, such as Trastuzumab and Cetuximab recognizing human epidermal growth factor receptor family
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