New methods for the histochemical and cytochemical demonstrtion of cytochrome c oxidase and of cytochrome c- cytochrome oxidase system

New histochemical and cytochemical methods for the demonstration of cytochrome c oxidase and of cytochrome c-cytochrome oxidase system are described, using neotetrazolium chloride in the presence of p phenylenediamine with or without additional cytochrome c. These enable the cytochemical visualization of the sites of enzyme activity at the intracellular level in fresh cell suspensions and in fresh tissue blocks under aerobic conditions, and permit the histochemical visualization of the distribution of the enzyme activity in various tissues in frozen tissue sections. The colorimetric estimation of the enzyme activity is also possible in the combination of the methods previously described.</p

New colorimetic methods for the estimation of cytochrome c oxidase and of cytochrome c-cyto-chrome oxidase system

New colorimetric methods for the estimation of the activities of cytochrome c oxidase and of cytochrome c-cytochrome oxidase system in tissue homogenates are described, using neotetrazolium chloride in the presence of p-phenylenediamine with or without additional cytochrome c. Optimal time of incubation, optimal concentration of the incubation medium and amounts of tissue, and simple method for the extraction of the reduced neotetrazolium chloride were determined. The reduction of neotetrazolium chloride was proportional to the amount of enzyme. Using this method, colorimetric estimations of cytochrome c-cytochrome oxidase system activity in the kidney, heart, liver, brains, and skeletal muscle were made. The procedures of these methods are very simple, and they are considered to be feasible in the combination with histochemical demonstrations of these enzyme activities.</p

Improving Interactivity in Instructional Design by Developing an ICT-based Social Studies Plan: Case Study of Smart Agriculture in the National Strategic Special Zone of Hyogo Prefecture’s Yabu City

This research aimed at designing a lesson plan in elementary social studies that enhances interactivity by utilizing information and communications technology (ICT). Taking into consideration that lessons created along with students and ICT-based elementary social studies classes enhance students’ learning, and based on the features of iPad, applications, and Zoom, a lesson for the fifth grade—called “Agriculture in Japan-Smart Agriculture in Yabu City, National Strategic Special Zone”—was designed. To clarify the actual situation pertaining to ICT utilization in the classroom, the lesson plan was examined from the perspectives of “information gathering,” “information examination/thinking,” and “reflection.” Information gathering enabled searching the Web for supplementary/additional materials using learning content-related keywords, and also helped share information and enhance teaching materials. Information examination/thinking enabled the use of map-based applications to improve reading skills. Zoom also enabled interaction with persons mentioned in the learning and teaching materials. This way, students could apply their learning beyond the classroom to the real world. LoiLoNote, a class-support application, helped organize thoughts on cards. Like a portfolio, students were able to build a learning history on their own. All these made instant sharing of classmates’ learning possible. Thus, utilizing ICT contributed to upgrading teaching and learning style and designing elementary school social-studies lessons to enhance interactivity

Analytical Studies on the Colorimetric Estimation of the Activity of Succinic Dehydrogenase System with Neotetrazolium Chloride

Despite the excellence in bringing about reactions, there are still many difficulties and discrepancies in the use of neotetrazolium chloride for measuring the activity of succinic dehydrogenase system of tissue homogenate. Therefore, with the purpose to find out a measuring method simpler and more accurate, the authors performed some experimets, first on the enzymic reactions of tissue homogenate and then after stopping these reactions by using various agents, tested the ease with which reduction products are extracted with various solvents, and finally compared the absorption spectra of these liquid extracts with those of the products reduced chemically by sodium hydrosulfite. As the results, the extraction of the reduction products with acetone-ether (mixed in equal proprtion v/v) after stopping the reaction with 10 per cent formalin solution was found to be the simplest and best method, and moreover, the absorption spectra of extracts of the products obtained by enzymatical or chemical reduction proved to he uniform and the both of which showed the maximum absorption at the wave length of 520 mμ. In addition, the concentrations of sodium succinate and neotetrazolium chloride, the content and kinds of tissues, pH values and concentration of phosphate buffer solutions, the duration of reaction, aerobic or anaerobic conditions, various factors either enhancing or in hibitory to reaction, were all regulated absolutely or relatively; and by drawing absorption curves of the reduction products, these enzymatic reactions were analyzed and scrutinyzed Then the authors established a method which is general, simple and accurate in measuring the enzymatic activities of a small quantity of fresh tissues in contrast with those of hist chemically stained specimens

Forelimb force direction and magnitude independently controlled by spinal modules in the macaque

腕の自由自在な動きをつくりだす多機能な神経細胞群の発見 --運動の方向と大きさを同時にコントロールする神経メカニズムの解明--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-14.Primates aren't quite frogs. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-19.Modular organization of the spinal motor system is thought to reduce the cognitive complexity of simultaneously controlling the large number of muscles and joints in the human body. Although modular organization has been confirmed in the hindlimb control system of several animal species, it has yet to be established in the forelimb motor system or in primates. Expanding upon experiments originally performed in the frog lumbar spinal cord, we examined whether costimulation of two sites in the macaque monkey cervical spinal cord results in motor activity that is a simple linear sum of the responses evoked by stimulating each site individually. Similar to previous observations in the frog and rodent hindlimb, our analysis revealed that in most cases (77% of all pairs) the directions of the force fields elicited by costimulation were highly similar to those predicted by the simple linear sum of those elicited by stimulating each site individually. A comparable simple summation of electromyography (EMG) output, especially in the proximal muscles, suggested that this linear summation of force field direction was produced by a spinal neural mechanism whereby the forelimb motor output recruited by costimulation was also summed linearly. We further found that the force field magnitudes exhibited supralinear (amplified) summation, which was also observed in the EMG output of distal forelimb muscles, implying a novel feature of primate forelimb control. Overall, our observations support the idea that complex movements in the primate forelimb control system are made possible by flexibly combined spinal motor modules

人間共存型ロボット用の剛性を機械的に変化できる柔軟関節機構に関する研究

金沢大学理工研究域人間と共存するロボット用として、板ばねの曲げ方向による剛性の違いを利用し、作業に応じて柔らかさを調節できる機械的な柔軟関節の開発を試みた。モータを制御する方法よりも、衝撃等に対する応答性に優れ、安全で信頼性が高い。次のような項目について、提案する柔軟関節機構が有効であることを確認した。1.柔軟関節の剛性の解析と設計方法の確立柔軟関節の構造は、アームを回転させる関節のモータを直接アームに接続するのではなく、板ばねを挟んで接続し、その板ばねは曲げ方向を変化できるように、関節軸に垂直に回転できる仕組みにした。関節の剛性は板ばねの回転角によって変わるためその特性を解析した。板ばねの強度や板ばねを回転させるのに必要なトルク等に関する解析も行った。2.1自由度の柔軟関節機構の試作と特性測定板ばねやモータを組みこんだ1自由度のコンパクトな関節を設計し、実際に試作して特性を評価した。非線形ではあるが、板ばねを回転させることで関節の剛性が変えられることが確認できた。その剛性と板バネの角度の関係は理論値とは少々ずれがあるものの、1つの式でほぼ近似できることも確認された。また、板バネの曲げと関節の回転のずれを逃がすために直動軸受を入れると特性が改善できた。3.1つのモータで関節駆動と剛性調節を切り替えて行う機構の開発関節を駆動するモータ1個のみで、関節駆動と板ばねの回転を切り替えて行える機構を差動歯車を配して設計した。4.剛性を変えられる柔軟関節を用いた3自由度アームの開発柔軟関節を3個直列に配し平面スカラー型の3自由度アームを製作した。関節部が入れ子になってガタが生じるのを防ぐため、関節軸に垂直にあけた穴に板バネを通すなどの設計の工夫を行った5.3自由度柔軟アームによる接触作業実験製作した3自由度アームを用いて各種の接触作業や拘束運動を行わせて、作業がスムーズに行えることを確認した。研究課題/領域番号:12750115, 研究期間(年度):2000-2001出典：「人間共存型ロボット用の剛性を機械的に変化できる柔軟関節機構に関する研究」研究成果報告書　課題番号 12750115（KAKEN：科学研究費助成事業データベース（国立情報学研究所））（https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-12750115/)を加工して作