Effects of Medium Shape, Fertilization Methods and Plant Density on the Growth of Pansy Grown in Medium Hardened by Heat Fusion Polyester Fiber without Polyethylene Pot

To develop bedding plant production system without polyethylene pots (PP), problems that may be encountered with compacted medium hardened by heat fusion polyester fiber were investigated. Effects of medium shape, fertilization methods and plant density on the growth of pansy in medium without PP were investigated. To improve water usage on compacted medium, a watering space (6×6×depth 3cm) was made on the upper part of the compacted medium (9×9×depth 9cm). In the early stages of the experiment the amount of water supplied per pot (weight after irrigation-weight before irrigation) of medium with water space was 10–25% greater than that of medium without a water space. However, from the mid to late stages of the experiment, the difference gradually declined. The amount of water supplied per pot was similar between with and without water space especially on cloudy or rainy days. The growth of pansies on medium without PP was remarkably greater with water space than without water space. On 10g/liter basal fertilizer treatment, pansies had severe symptoms of fertilizer damage. The growth of pansy on 10g/liter basal fertilizer was inhibited compared to that of 5g/liter basal fertilizer. Spacing treatment was conducted whenever plant density was half. Height of pansy grown with spacing treatment was significantly lower than that without spacing treatment. PP had no effects on growth when pansy was grown without spacing treatment. However, when pansy was grown with spacing treatment, pansy grown without PP had significantly greater growth than with PP. Algal growth on the medium increased with increasing irrigation rate or nutrient rate. Combination of spacing treatment and medium without PP decreased the rate of algal growth on medium.固化培地を利用したポリポットを用いないポットレス栽培において，潅水効率の上昇，施肥の簡易化，藻の発生抑制のため，培地の形状，施肥方法および栽植密度がパンジーの生育に及ぼす影響について検討した．9㎝角のポット型培地に6×6×深さ3㎝のくぼみ（ウォータースペース）を培地上部に作成すると，栽培前期の水供給量（灌水後の重量―灌水前の重量）が約10～25% に多くなった．しかし，栽培中期から後期にかけてはその違いは次第に小さくなり，特に曇雨天時には水供給量に差はみられなくなった．ウォータースペースの有無にかかわらず，ポリポットがあると生育に違いは認めらなかったが，ポットレス区ではウォータースペースによって生育が改善された．元肥量10ｇ/liter 区では生育初期に高濃度障害と思われる症状が見られ，5ｇ/liter 区より生育が抑制された．栽植密度を半分にしたスペーシングによって，草丈はかなり抑制された．スペーシングなしの場合にはポットの有無による差は小さかったが，ポットレス栽培の生育がスペーシング栽培でかなり改善された．ポットレス・スペーシング有・灌水量120ml区の生育が最も旺盛であった．養分量が多いほど灌水量が多いほど，藻の発生が大であったが，スペーシングとポットレスを組み合わせると藻の発生が改善された

A Unique Gene-Silencing Approach, Using an Intelligent RNA Expression Device (iRed), Results in Minimal Immune Stimulation When Given by Local Intrapleural Injection in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Background: We have recently introduced an intelligent RNA expression device (iRed), comprising the minimum essential components needed to transcribe short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in cells. Use of iRed efficiently produced shRNA molecules after transfection into cells and alleviated the innate immune stimulation following intravenous injection. Methods: To study the usefulness of iRed for local injection, the engineered iRed encoding luciferase shRNA (Luc iRed), complexed with cationic liposomes (Luc iRed/liposome-complexes), was intrapleurally injected into an orthotopic mesothelioma mouse model. Results: Luc iRed/liposome-complexes markedly suppressed the expression of a luciferase marker gene in pleurally disseminated mesothelioma cells. The suppressive efficiency was correlated with the expression level of shRNA within the mesothelioma cells. In addition, intrapleural injection of iRed/liposome-complexes did not induce IL-6 production in the pleural space and consequently in the blood compartment, although plasmid DNA (pDNA) or dsDNA (the natural construct for iRed) in the formulation did. Conclusion: Local delivery of iRed could augment the in vivo gene silencing effect without eliciting pronounced innate immune stimulation. Our results might hold promise for widespread utilization of iRed as an RNAi-based therapeutic for intracelial malignant cancers

Effect of Combination of Overhead Irrigation and Subirrigation on the Growth of Bedding Plants Grown in Polyester Fiber Medium Hardened by Heat Fusion, without use of Polyethylene Pots

The effects of irrigation methods on several bedding plants without polyethylene pots using compacted polyester fiber medium hardened by heat fusion were investigated. The characteristics of overhead irrigation with a tray collecting runoff water (combination of overhead irrigation and subirrigation) were investigated at the same time. Irrigation usage (the amount of water supplied per pot / amount of irrigation water) with a combination of overhead irrigation and subirrigation was improved compared to overhead irrigation alone. The growth of garden type Cyclamen grown under a combination of both overhead irrigation and subirrigation was significantly greater than that grown in either wick irrigation, ebb & flow irrigation or overhead irrigation. Notably, smaller growth was achiered in garden type cyclamen grown with overhead irrigation. The growth of Vinca grown in a combination of overhead irrigation and subirrigation was significantly greater than that grown with overhead irrigation alone. The irrigation amount had no effect on the growth of Vinca regardless of irrigation method. The growth of Petunia was greater with increased amounts of irrigation water. However, the growth of Pansy grown under overhead irrigation was significantly greater than that grown in a combination of overhead irrigation and subirrigation. These results suggest that a combination of overhead irrigation and subirrigation method in bedding plant production without polyethylene pots is generally suitable since the plants grow without drought stress. However, it may be suggested that the amount of irrigation water should be as low as possible in the winter season or with sensitive species in order to prevent waterlogging injury.熱融着性ポリエステル繊維固化培地を利用したポットレス花壇苗生産における灌水方法として，水受けトレイを用いた頭上灌水（頭上底面灌水）の実用性を検討した．頭上灌水と比較して頭上底面灌水では灌水効率（培地に吸収された灌水量／灌水量）が大幅に改善できた．ガーデンシクラメンの生育は頭上底面灌水区で最もよく，次いでひも灌水，底面灌水の順であり，頭上灌水区で最も生育が抑制された．ニチニチソウでは頭上灌水より頭上底面灌水区で生育が改善されたが，灌水量には差はほとんどみられなかった．ペチュニアでは灌水量が多いほど，専用トレイに溜める水量が多いほど生育が旺盛になった．しかし，パンジーでは頭上底面灌水によって生育が抑制された．ポットレス花壇苗生産では頭上底面灌水が最も適切であったが，蒸発散の少ない冬期や過湿に弱い種においては灌水量をできるだけ少なくすべきと考えられた

Nano-honeycomb electrode based QCM sensor and its application for PPI detection

An anodic aluminon oxide (AAO)-based nano honeycomb electrode was coated on a quartz crystal for use as a sensing device in a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to monitor the protein-protein interactions (PPIs). As examples, we detected PPIs of anti-Bcl-2 and Bcl-2, and Bcl-2 and Bax in real time. A sensor with a flat Au electrode showed a tiny frequency shift upon sample injection. However, our fabricated device could detect 10 μg/mL of Bcl-2 and Bax in sequence.2016年度関西大学研究拠点形成支援経

Effects of HLA-DRB1 alleles on susceptibility and clinical manifestations in Japanese patients with adult onset Still’s disease

BackgroundHLA-DRB1 alleles are major determinants of genetic predisposition to rheumatic diseases. We assessed whether DRB1 alleles are associated with susceptibility to particular clinical features of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) in a Japanese population by determining the DRB1 allele distributions.MethodsDRB1 genotyping of 96 patients with AOSD and 1,026 healthy controls was performed. Genomic DNA samples from the AOSD patients were also genotyped for MEFV exons 1, 2, 3, and 10 by direct sequencing.ResultsIn Japanese patients with AOSD, we observed a predisposing association of DRB1*15:01 (p = 8.60 × 10−6, corrected p (Pc) = 0.0002, odds ratio (OR) = 3.04, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.91–4.84) and DR5 serological group (p = 0.0006, OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.49–3.83) and a protective association of DRB1*09:01 (p = 0.0004, Pc = 0.0110, OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.18–0.66) with AOSD, and amino acid residues 86 and 98 of the DRβ chain were protectively associated with AOSD. MEFV variants were identified in 49 patients with AOSD (56.3%). The predisposing effect of DR5 was confirmed only in patients with AOSD who had MEFV variants and not in those without MEFV variants. Additionally, DR5 in patients with AOSD are associated with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and steroid pulse therapy.ConclusionThe DRB1*15:01 and DR5 are both associated with AOSD susceptibility in Japanese subjects. A protective association between the DRB1*09:01 allele and AOSD was also observed in these patients. Our data also highlight the effects of DRB1 alleles in susceptibility to AOSD

SAHG, a comprehensive database of predicted structures of all human proteins

Most proteins from higher organisms are known to be multi-domain proteins and contain substantial numbers of intrinsically disordered (ID) regions. To analyse such protein sequences, those from human for instance, we developed a special protein-structure-prediction pipeline and accumulated the products in the Structure Atlas of Human Genome (SAHG) database at http://bird.cbrc.jp/sahg. With the pipeline, human proteins were examined by local alignment methods (BLAST, PSI-BLAST and Smith–Waterman profile–profile alignment), global–local alignment methods (FORTE) and prediction tools for ID regions (POODLE-S) and homology modeling (MODELLER). Conformational changes of protein models upon ligand-binding were predicted by simultaneous modeling using templates of apo and holo forms. When there were no suitable templates for holo forms and the apo models were accurate, we prepared holo models using prediction methods for ligand-binding (eF-seek) and conformational change (the elastic network model and the linear response theory). Models are displayed as animated images. As of July 2010, SAHG contains 42 581 protein-domain models in approximately 24 900 unique human protein sequences from the RefSeq database. Annotation of models with functional information and links to other databases such as EzCatDB, InterPro or HPRD are also provided to facilitate understanding the protein structure-function relationships