Qualitative variation in roadside weed vegetation along an urban–rural road gradient

Information on mechanisms of differentiation or homogenization of urban floras is deficient, despite their importance for urban nature conservation and urban land management. Roads, as a major human promoter of urbanization, can be an initial habitat for plants dispersed by transportations. We assumed that variation in weed vegetation along urban–rural roadside gradients is small, particularly in curbside cracks. We classified vegetation occurring in curbside cracks along the National Route 3 in southern Japan and compared the characteristics of the vegetation types recognized. Species in curbside cracks were recorded on 40 plots. Three vegetation types were classified, in part related to surrounding land-use types. Although the Shannon–Wiener diversity index and the number of native species clearly differed among the vegetation types in the curbside cracks, no significant differences between the three floristic vegetation types were found in the number of non-natives and invasive alien species. This may result from the small specificity and complexity of landscape structures, due to the continuity and connectivity of paved-road networks. Of the 122 species, 44 were non-natives or invasive alien species. The vegetation types generally involved the same plant families, with large numbers of species from the Asteraceae and Poaceae, regardless of vegetation types, but frequency of occurrence of the two families clearly differed between natives and non-natives and invasive alien species. Ephemeral non-natives and invasive alien species, particularly Asteraceae and Poaceae, seem to have advantageous dispersal strategies or low habitat dependency facilitating their occurrence in curbside cracks, regardless of adjacent land uses and the urban–rural landscape gradient. Expansion of these species may cause a homogenization of regional floras along roads.     

Constitutive plasmacytoid dendritic cell migration to the splenic white pulp is cooperatively regulated by CCR7- and CXCR4-mediated signaling

Although the spleen plays an important role in host defense against infection, the mechanism underlying the migration of the innate immune cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), into the spleen remains ill defined. In this article, we report that pDCs constitutively migrate into the splenic white pulp (WP) in a manner dependent on the chemokine receptors CCR7 and CXCR4. In CCR7-deficient mice and CCR7 ligand-deficient mice, compared with wild-type (WT) mice, substantially fewer pDCs were found in the periarteriolar lymphoid sheath of the splenic WP under steady-state conditions. In addition, the migration of adoptively transferred CCR7-deficient pDCs into the WP was significantly worse than that of WT pDCs, supporting the idea that pDC trafficking to the splenic WP requires CCR7 signaling. WT pDCs responded to a CCR7 ligand with modest chemotaxis and ICAM-1 binding in vitro, and priming with the CCR7 ligand enabled the pDCs to migrate efficiently toward low concentrations of CXCL12 in a CXCR4-dependent manner, raising the possibility that CCR7 signaling enhances CXCR4-mediated pDC migration. In agreement with this hypothesis, CCL21 and CXCL12 were colocalized on fibroblastic reticular cells in the T cell zone and in the marginal zone bridging channels, through which pDCs appeared to enter the WP. Furthermore, functional blockage of CCR7 and CXCR4 abrogated pDC trafficking into the WP. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that pDCs employ both CCR7 and CXCR4 as critical chemokine receptors to migrate into the WP under steady-state conditions.     

Factors Influencing Collaborative Activities between Non-Professional Disaster Volunteers and Victims of Earthquake Disasters

Background

Assistance from non-professional disaster volunteers (hereinafter, volunteers) is essential for disaster victims to recover physically and rebuild their lives; however, disaster victims in some areas are reluctant to accept assistance from volunteers. This study explored factors that may influence collaborative activities between volunteers and victims of earthquake disasters.

Methods

From July to September 2008, a self-reporting questionnaire survey was conducted with all 302 leaders of neighborhood associations in a city within Niigata Prefecture at the time of the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007. Each factor was determined based on the Health Belief Model. Multiple regression analysis was conducted, using collaborative activities as the objective variable.

Results

From 261 valid responses received (response rate 86.4%), 41.3% of leaders collaborated with volunteers, and 60.2% of associations had residents who collaborated with volunteers. Collaboration with volunteers was significantly and positively related to perceived severity of an earthquake disaster (standardized partial regression coefficient β = 0.224, p<0.001) and neighborhood association activities during the earthquake disaster (β = 0.539, p<0.001). A positive and marginally significant relation was found between such collaboration and sense of coherence within a community (β = 0.137, p = 0.06), social capital (β = 0.119, p = 0.08), and perceived benefits (β = 0.116, p = 0.09).

Conclusion

Collaboration between disaster victims and volunteers during the response to an earthquake may require the preemptive estimation of damage by residents during normal times and the enhancement of neighborhood association activities during a disaster. For residents to have such estimation abilities, public institutions should provide information related to anticipated disaster damage and appropriate disaster prevention training and education. In addition, residents should create a disaster prevention map with other residents. Lastly, promoting neighborhood association activities may require the participation of many residents in disaster drills and education as well as a preemptive discussion of neighborhood activities during a disaster.     

Enzymatic production of N-acetyl- -glucosamine from chitin. Degradation study of N-acetylchitooligosaccharide and the effect of mixing of crude enzymes

N-Acetyl- -glucosamine (GlcNAc) was produced from chitin by use of crude enzyme preparations. The efficient production of GlcNAc by cellulases derived from Trichoderma viride (T) and Acremonium cellulolyticus (A) was observed by HPLC analysis compared to lipase, hemicellulase, and pectinase. β-Chitin showed higher degradability than α-chitin when using cellulase T. The optimum pH of cellulase T was 4.0 on the hydrolysis of β-chitin. The yield of GlcNAc was enhanced by mixing of cellulase T and A.     

Influence of a dosing-time on toxicities induced by docetaxel,cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma; a cross-over pilot study

Docetaxel, cisplatin plus fluorouracil (DCF) regimen is a useful chemotherapy, but is sometimes withdrawn due to severe adverse effects (AE). In this study, we examined whether the chronotherapy of DCF regimen could reduce the drugs-induced toxicities in clinical practice. Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma were enrolled. Chemotherapy started at 10:30 (Morning-dosing) or 18:30 (Evening-dosing) for 5 days by a cross-over design. AE were assessed for 14 days after an initiation of each dosing. The grades of nausea, vomiting and neutropenia were smaller during Evening-dosing than during Morning-dosing. These data suggest that the chrono-chemotherapy might provide a merit for reducing the DCF regimen-related severe AE.     

Locations of crossover breakpoints within the CMT1A-REP repeat in Japanese patients with CMT1A and HNPP

We have used human β2 and β4 cDNA probes to map the genes encoding two isoforms of the regulatory β subunit of voltage-activated Ca²⁺ channels, viz. CACNB2 (β2) and CACNB4 (β4), to human chromosomes 10p12 and 2q22-q23, respectively, by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The gene encoding the β2 protein, first described as a Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) antigen in humans, is found close to a region that undergoes chromosome rearrangements in small cell lung cancer, which occurs in association with LEMS. CACNB2 (β2) and CACNB4 (β4) genes are members of the ion-channel gene superfamily and it should now be possible to examine their loci by linkage analysis of ion-channel-related disorders. To date, no such disease-related gene has been assigned to 10p12 and 2q22-q23. Received: 5 February 1997 / Accepted: 4 April 1997     

Genome-wide identification of chromatin-enriched RNA reveals that unspliced dentin matrix protein-1 mRNA regulates cell proliferation in squamous cell carcinoma

Chromatin-enriched noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have emerged as key molecules in epigenetic processes by interacting with chromatin-associated proteins. Recently, protein-coding mRNA genes have been reported to be chromatin-tethered, similar with ncRNA. However, very little is known about whether chromatin-enriched mRNA is involved in the chromatin modification process. Here, we comprehensively examined chromatin-enriched RNA in squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) cells by RNA subcellular localization analysis, which was a combination of RNA fractionation and RNA-seq. We identified 11 mRNAs as highly chromatin-enriched RNAs. Among these, we focused on the dentin matrix protein-1 (DMP-1) gene because its expression in SQCC cells has not been reported. Furthermore, we clarified that DMP-1 mRNA was retained in chromatin in its unspliced form in SQCC in vitro and in vivo. As the inhibition of the unspliced DMP-1 mRNA (unspDMP-1) expression resulted in decreased cellular proliferation in SQCC cells, we performed ChIP-qPCR to identify cell cycle-related genes whose expression was epigenetically modified by unspDMP-1, and found that the CDKN1B promoter became active in SQCC cells by inhibiting unspDMP-1 expression. This result was further validated by the increased CDKN1B gene expression in the cells treated with siRNA for unspDMP-1 and by restoration of the decreased cellular proliferation rate by simultaneously inhibiting CDKN1B expression in SQCC cells. Further, to examine whether unspDMP-1 was able to associate with the CDKN1B promoter region, SQCC cells stably expressing PP7-mCherry fusion protein were transiently transfected with the unspDMP-1 fused to 24 repeats of the PP7 RNA stem loop (unspDMP-1-24xPP7) and we found that unspDMP-1-24xPP7 was efficiently precipitated with the antibody against mCherry and was significantly enriched in the CDKN1B promoter region. Thus, unspDMP-1 is a novel chromatin-enriched RNA that epigenetically regulates cellular proliferation of SQCC.     

A novel mutation of the doublecortin gene in Japanese patients with X-linked lissencephaly and subcortical band heterotopia

The doublecortin (DCX) gene was recently found to be involved in patients with X-linked lissencephaly and subcortical band heterotopia or double cortex syndrome. We have studied the coding regions of the DCX gene in 11 Japanese patients with cortical dysplasia and have identified three different mutations (R186C in exon 3, R272X and R303X in exon 5) in four sporadic female cases. R272X, which has been detected in two unrelated cases, is a novel mutation. Although the number of cases studied remains limited, exon 5 may be a common mutational site in Japanese patients in contrast to many previus reports concerning exons 2 and 3. Received: 28 October 1998 / Accepted: 26 February 1999