Induction of reactive oxygen species from isolated rat glomeruli by protein kinase C activation and TNF-alpha stimulation, and effects of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor

Diabetic nephropathy is a major complication of diabetes leading to end-stage renal disease, which requires hemodialysis. Although the mechanism by which it progresses is largely unknown, the role of hyperglycemia-derived oxidative stress has recently been the focus of attention as the cause of diabetic complications. Constituent cells of the renal glomeruli have the capacity to release reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon stimulation of NADPH oxidase activated by protein kinase C (PKC). Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in the diabetic state are often associated with activation of PKC and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, respectively. The aim of this study is to clarify the signaling pathway leading to ROS production by PKC and TNF-alpha in rat glomeruli. Isolated rat glomeruli were stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and TNF-alpha, and the amount of ROS was measured using a chemiluminescence method. Stimulation with PMA (10 ng/ml) generated ROS with a peak value of 136+/-1.2 cpm/mg protein (mean+/-SEM). The PKC inhibitor H-7, the NADPH oxidase inhibitor diphenylene iodonium and the phosphatidylinositol-3 (PI-3) kinase inhibitor wortmannin inhibited PMA-induced ROS production by 100%, 100% and 80%, respectively. In addition, TNF-alpha stimulated ROS production (283+/-5.8/mg protein/20 min). The phosphodiesterase inhibitor cilostazol activates protein kinase A and is reported to improve albuminuria in diabetic rats. Cilostazol (100 microg/ml) inhibited PMA, and TNF-alpha-induced ROS production by 78+/-1.8, and 19+/-2.7%, respectively. The effects of cilostazol were not additive with wortmannin. Cilostazol arrests oxidative stress induced by PKC activation by inhibiting the PI-3 kinase-dependent pathway, and may thus prevent the development of diabetic nephropathy.     

Short Communication: The effect of age on young sheep biometric identification

Biometric identification provides an important tool for precision livestock farming. This study investigates the effect of weight gain and sheep maturation on recognition performance. Sheep facial identification was implemented using two convolutional neural network (CNN) called Faster R-CNN, and ResNet50V2, equipped with the state-of-art Additive Angular Margin (ArcFace) loss function. The identification model was tested on 47 young sheep at different stages, during a 3-month growth period, when they were between 2 and 5 months old, throughout which the sheep gained approximately 30 kilograms in weight. Results revealed that when the model was trained and tested on images of sheep aged 2 months, the average accuracy of the group was 95.4%, compared with 91.3% when trained on images of sheep aged 2 months but tested on images of sheep aged 5 months.     

Effects of the amino-carbonyl reaction of ribose and glycine on the formation of the 2(or 5)-ethyl-5(or 2)-methyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone aroma component specific to miso by halo-tolerant yeast

The formation of HEMF[2(or 5)-ethyl-5(or 2)-methyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone], the aroma component specific to miso and soy sauce, was promoted by cultivating the halo-tolerant yeast, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, in a medium including the amino-carbonyl reaction products based on ribose and glycine. The glucose concentration in the medium influenced the HEMF formation by Z. rouxii.     

云南秋海棠属植物叶片横切面比较解剖研究

报道30种主产于云南的秋海棠属植物叶片的横切面解剖构造特征。采用常规石蜡切片法切片观察,结果表明:云南秋海棠属植物叶片薄、横切面均为异面叶、呈典型的阴叶结构,叶肉组织虽有栅栏组织和海绵组织的分化,但栅栏组织不发达,占叶肉组织的比例较小。表皮多为单表皮,极稀复表皮,表皮毛均由多细胞组成。气孔集中于下表皮,孔下室或下陷气孔特大、通气组织极发达;角质层形状多样,呈均匀增厚、瘤状和片状突起;叶绿体椭球形、数多、个体大,主要分布于叶肉组织,集中于栅栏组织。解剖构造特征在各分类组内呈现不完全一致性,而在相同茎的形态类型中有些较一致的特征,在不同种间解剖特征各有差别;根状茎和直立茎类型种类的横切面组织结构表现为表皮细胞壁外的角质层薄、栅栏组织与叶肉组织厚度比例较小等弱光照、湿生等适应性较弱的特征。球茎类型的种类表现为角质层较厚、栅栏叶肉组织厚度比例较大等适应略为干燥和较强光照的特征。     

Alkyl chain moieties of polyamidoamine dendron-bearing lipids influence their function as a nonviral gene vector

We recently developed a novel family of cationic lipids consisting of a polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendron and two dodecyl chains. Their transfection activity increases with increasing generation of the dendron moiety [Takahashi et al. (2003) Bioconjugate Chem. 14, 764-773]. In the present study, to elucidate the effect of hydrophobic tail moieties of the dendron-bearing lipids, two kinds of PAMAM G3 dendron-bearing lipids were synthesized with different alkyl lengths, DL-G3-2C18 and DL-G3-2C12. Their functions as gene vectors were compared. Irrespective of their different alkyl chain lengths, these dendron-bearing lipids formed complexes with plasmid DNA with similar efficiency. However, their complex sizes differed markedly: DL-G3-2C18 lipoplexes exhibited much smaller diameters than DL-G3-2C12 lipoplexes. Interaction of the lipoplexes with heparin revealed that the DL-G3-2C18 lipoplexes required more heparin than DL-G3-2C12 lipoplexes to cause dissociation of plasmid DNA from the lipoplexes. Although the DL-G3-2C12 lipoplexes and DL-G3-2C18 lipoplexes transfected CV1 cells with similar efficiency in the absence of serum, only the latter retained high transfection activity in the presence of serum. These results indicate that hydrophobic interaction of alkyl chain moieties plays an important role in the increment of stability and the serum-resistant transfection activity for dendron-bearing lipid lipoplexes.     

Effect of hygroscopic fabrics on wear comfort in the fluctuating microclimate of clothing

1. 1. A new type of simulator for clothing microclimate was designed and constructed.

2. 2. The simulator was designed to simulate the humidity fluctuation of clothing microclimate as observed under light working conditions and to measure the surface temperature of sample fabrics against the skin by means of a radiation thermometer.

3. 3. Knitted fabrics of cotton and polyester, and polyethylene films were used as specimens with different hygroscopicities.

4. 4. The quick rise and fall in the surface temperature of cotton fabric was observed under rapid fluctuations of the microclimate humidity.

5. 5. Under the same humidity fluctuations, the temperature of polyester fabric rose and fell more moderately than that of cotton fabrics, and the temperature of the polyethylene film did not change. When the rate of change in stimulus temperature is higher, the threshold temperature of warm sensation of the skin comes closer to a given adaption temperature.

6. 6. Therefore, the rapid and large changes in the fabric temperature against the skin, which were observed especially for hygroscopic cotton fabric, must affect the thermal comfort of clothing.

Observation of wind-induced two-layer dynamics in Lake Nakaumi, a coastal lagoon in Japan

A response in movement of a two-layered water body in Lake Nakaumi to a strong wind, which suddenly rose and continued for 15 h with nearly constant speed and direction, was observed using the current and salinity meters situated at two points in the lake. At the initial stage of water movement, large fluctuations in current velocity in reverse directions were observed in the upper and lower layers, accompanied by mixing between the two layers. At the stationary stage following the initial stage, current velocities in the upper and lower layers were kept constant, as was salinity. It was considered that a slab-type flow, which enhanced mixing between the two layers, occurred at the initial stage in water movement, then changed into a steady circulation flow at the stationary stage with completion of the set up in the two-layered structure. Received: July 3, 2000 / Accepted: February 8, 2001     

A machine vision system to predict individual cow feed intake of different feeds in a cowshed

Data on individual feed intake of dairy cows, an important variable for farm management, are currently unavailable in commercial dairies. A real-time machine vision system including models that are able to adapt to multiple types of feed was developed to predict individual feed intake of dairy cows. Using a Red-Green-Blue-Depth (RGBD) camera, images of feed piles of two different feed types (lactating cows' feed and heifers' feed) were acquired in a research dairy farm, for a range of feed weights under varied configurations and illuminations. Several models were developed to predict individual feed intake: two Transfer Learning (TL) models based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), one CNN model trained on both feed types, and one Multilayer Perceptron and Convolutional Neural Network model trained on both feed types, along with categorical data. We also implemented a statistical method to compare these four models using a Linear Mixed Model and a Generalised Linear Mixed Model, showing that all models are significantly different. The TL models performed best and were trained on both feeds with TL methods. These models achieved Mean Absolute Errors (MAEs) of 0.12 and 0.13 kg per meal with RMSE of 0.18 and 0.17 kg per meal for the two different feeds, when tested on varied data collected manually in a cowshed. Testing the model with actual cows’ meals data automatically collected by the system in the cowshed resulted in a MAE of 0.14 kg per meal and RMSE of 0.19 kg per meal. These results suggest the potential of measuring individual feed intake of dairy cows in a cowshed using RGBD cameras and Deep Learning models that can be applied and tuned to different types of feed.