Reducing effect of feeding powdered nacre of Pinctada maxima on the visceral fat of rats

An abdominal fat accumulation complicated by high blood triglycerides is regarded as a risk factor of metabolic syndrome. Feeding powdered nacre, mother of pearl, from Pinctada maxima, resulted in reduced body weight, visceral fat amount, and blood triglyceride level without influencing the food intake, body length, or amount of muscular tissue, suggesting that nacre powder specifically could decrease visceral fat.     

Discovery of novel aminobenzisoxazole derivatives as orally available factor IXa inhibitors

Using structure based drug design, novel aminobenzisoxazoles as coagulation factor IXa inhibitors were designed and synthesized. Highly selective inhibition of FIXa over FXa was demonstrated. Anticoagulation profile of selected compounds was evaluated by aPTT and PT tests. In vitro ADMET and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles were also evaluated.     

水稻雌性不育材料FS－1胚囊败育的细胞学观察

以水稻雌性不育材料FS－1为试验材料,采用石蜡连续切片技术对FS－1及其亲本藤坂5号幼穗发育中期的胚囊进行观察。结果表明：（1）亲本的胚囊都能正常发育分化,成为功能健全的雌配子体,而FS－1的胚囊却普通发生败育,在胚囊原来的区域充满了胚囊残迹和解体的珠心细胞。（2）败育基本上发生在功能大孢子发生期,近合点端的大孢子和珠孔端的三个大孢子都发生解体,实验中未发现二核,四核或八核的败育胚囊,我们初步认为,FS－1胚囊败育发生在功能大孢发生期。     

New Type of Puzzle-Task Finger Maze Learning in Macaca fascicularis

In order to easily estimate the global cognitive ability of nonhuman primates, we developed a 4-step noncorrection-method-type finger maze (4FM) based on the standard puzzle feeder. We tested 7 experimentally naïve long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to assess the validity of the apparatus and the testing procedure. The most notable difference between the 4FM and the standard puzzle feeder is the presence of an error box. There is a hole at both ends of each step. One hole of each step is connected to the lower step or feeding box. The other hole of each step is connected to an error box. The monkey had to move the reward into the feeding box without dropping it into the error box and to retrieve the reward from the feeding box. Task difficulties could be controlled by deciding on which step to place the food reward at the beginning of the trial. All the monkeys could complete the tasks without food/water deprivation and pretraining. The results suggest that the 4FM is a suitable device to assess the cognitive ability of the monkeys simply, easily, and objectively.     

Relationships between successional situation and production of miscanthus sinensis communities at Kirigamine Heights,Central Japan

Summary In the Miscanthus sinensis type grasslands of the Kirigamine Heights situated in a high altitude area (1,600 m) of Central Japan, the biomass in various successional phases was measured and the degree of succession (DS) was calculated. The maximum biomass during the growing season was used to compare the productivity of different grassland communities.The range and maximum point of DS in the DS-biomass curve of Miscanthus grasslands at Kirigamine was small compared with that of other Miscanthus grasslands in Japan.Between successional phases and production in the Miscanthus type grassland we found, that the total biomass increases, as succession proceeds to the maximum point. The of DS, and decreases after the maximum point. The biomass of Miscanthus sinensis changes as a normal curve against the axis of DS.Accordingly, in this Miscanthus type grassland, the production of the community decreases temporarily when the dominants of seral stages change. These results confirm Numata's (1966) model.Nomenclature followsA Handbook for Plant Collectors by H. Okuyama (1974).     

New delphinidin glycosides isolated fromVinca major flowers

Four kinds of delphinidin glycoside were found in the bluish-purple flowers ofVinca major. Among them, two glycosides were isolated in a crystalline state by application of Sephadex and Avicel columns. The names of vincanin A and vincanin B were tentatively assigned to those new glycosides. They were respectively identified as delphinidin 3-robinobiosido-5-rhamnoside and delphinidin 3-robinobioside on the basis of chemical, spectral and paper chromatographic analyses. The identity of two other glycosides could not be fully confirmed because of the smallness of the amount.     

Rheological properties and conformational states of β-conglycinin gels at acidic pH

The heat-induced gelation of β-conglycinin was investigated by dynamic viscoelastic measurements as a function of pH. At pH values below 5.5–6.0, the storage modulus G′ rapidly increased with decreasing pH. The conformational states of both sols and gels of β-conglycinin were investigated by Fourier transform ir (FTIR) and by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The degree of protonation of the carboxyl groups of β-conglycinin, when examined by FTIR indicated that, as would be expected, the degree of protonation increased with decreasing pH below pH 6.0. DSC measurements suggest that β-conglycinin tends toward thermal denaturation with decreasing pH (below pH 6.0). Second-derivative FTIR spectra for β-conglycinin gels show that a band at 1620 cm^?1 (associated with exposed β-strands) develops with decreasing pH. The results suggest that β-conglycinin undergoes denaturation with increasing protonation of its carboxyl groups, resulting in an increase in the amount of exposed β-strands. The exposed β-strands then intermolecularly bond to form gel networks. This process is promoted with decreasing pH, and as a result, rigid gels form at acidic pH values. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Mammalian Oxa1 protein is useful for assessment of submitochondrial protein localization and mitochondrial membrane integrity

Taking advantage of the unique topology of oxidase assembly 1 (Oxa1) protein, a mitochondrial inner membrane protein with N (intermembrane space)-C (matrix) orientation, we explored the usefulness of the protein as a marker for submitochondrial protein localization. Mammalian Oxa1 protein exhibited different proteolytic patterns depending on mitochondrial membrane integrity, and in mitochondria with a disrupted outer membrane and outer and inner membranes, the proteolytic patterns of Oxa1 protein were consistent with those of mitochondrial intermembrane space and matrix marker proteins, respectively, suggesting that Oxa1 protein, a single molecule, can serve as a versatile submitochondrial localization marker that doubles as a membrane integrity marker.     

Involvement of position-147 for HLA-E expression

HLA-E functions as an inhibitory signaling molecule of natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytolysis. However, the cell surface expression of HLA-E molecules is quite restricted because of the limited repertoire of binding peptide sequences, such as signal peptides of other HLA molecules, especially on xenogeneic cells. In this study, we successfully determined that position-147 is an important amino acid position for cell surface expression by producing point substitutions. For further studies concerning transplantation therapy, the point substitution, Ser147Cys, that resulted in a single atom change, oxygen to sulfur, designated as HLA-Ev(147), led to a much higher expression on the human and pig cell surface and a greater inhibitory function against human NK cells than wild type HLA-E in an in vitro model system of pig to human xenotransplantation. Consequently, HLA-Ev(147) might be a promising alternative gene tool for future transplantation therapy such as xenotransplantation.     

The reinforcement of gellan gel network by the immersion into salt solution

The effect of immersion into salt solutions on rheological properties of gellan gels was investigated. The storage Young's modulus of gellan gels increased with time during the immersion into salt solutions. The increase of the storage Young's modulus can not be explained solely by change in the concentration of gellan. The ellipticity at 202 nm decreased by the immersion, suggesting the formation and aggregation of gellan helices. It was considered that during immersion cations penetrated into gellan gels to induce the formation and aggregation of gellan helices in gels, resulting in reinforcement of the gel network.