Effects of Ca2+ and Mg2+ on motility of sea urchin spermatozoa

Summary Swimming speed of sea urchin spermatozoa, measured by a light scattering technique, did not change with 0-20 mM Ca²⁺ in the medium. The speed was maximum at the normal concentration of Mg²⁺ (49 mM) in sea water.Supported by grants-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan, and a grant from the Ford Foundation.     

Free fatty acids regulate insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells through GPR40

Diabetes, a disease in which carbohydrate and lipid metabolism are regulated improperly by insulin, is a serious worldwide health issue. Insulin is secreted from pancreatic beta cells in response to elevated plasma glucose, with various factors modifying its secretion. Free fatty acids (FFAs) provide an important energy source as nutrients, and they also act as signalling molecules in various cellular processes, including insulin secretion. Although FFAs are thought to promote insulin secretion in an acute phase, this mechanism is not clearly understood. Here we show that a G-protein-coupled receptor, GPR40, which is abundantly expressed in the pancreas, functions as a receptor for long-chain FFAs. Furthermore, we show that long-chain FFAs amplify glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells by activating GPR40. Our results indicate that GPR40 agonists and/or antagonists show potential for the development of new anti-diabetic drugs.     

Extracting multiple layers from data having graph structures

Much data such as geometric image data and drawings have graph structures. Such data are called graph structured data. In order to manage efficiently such graph structured data, we need to analyze and abstract graph structures of such data. The purpose of this paper is to find knowledge representations which indicate plural abstractions of graph structured data. Firstly, we introduce a term graph as a graph pattern having structural variables,and a substitution over term graphs which is graph rewriting system. Next,for a graph G,we define a multiple layer (g,（θ1, …,θk)) of G as a pair of a term graph g and a list of 4 substitutionsθ1, …,θk such that G can be obtained from g by applying substitutions θ1, …,θk to g. In the same way,for a set S of graphs, we also define a multiple layer for Sas a pair (D,@) of a set 5 of term graphs and a list 6 of substitutions. Secondly,for a graph G and a set S of graphs,we present effective algorithms for extracting minimal multiple layers of G and S which give us stratifying abstractions of G and S,respectively. Finally,we report experimental results obtained by applying our algorithms to both artificial data and drawings of power plants which are real world data.     

Haploinsufficiency of NSD1 causes Sotos syndrome

We isolated NSD1 from the 5q35 breakpoint in an individual with Sotos syndrome harboring a chromosomal translocation. We identified 1 nonsense, 3 frameshift and 20 submicroscopic deletion mutations of NSD1 among 42 individuals with sporadic cases of Sotos syndrome. The results indicate that haploinsufficiency of NSD1 is the major cause of Sotos syndrome.     

Extracting multiple layers from data having graph structures

Much data such as geometric image data and drawings have graph structures.Such data are called graph structured data. In order to manage efficiently such graph structured data, we need to analyze and abstract graph structures of such data. The purpose of this paper is to find knowledge representations which indicate plural abstractions of graph structured data. Firstly, we introduce a term graph as a graph pattern having structural variables, and a substitution over term graphs which is graph we also define a multiple layer for S as a pair (D,O) of a set D of term graphs and a list of substitutions. Secondly, for a graph G and a set S of graphs, we present effective algorithms for extracting minimal multiple layers of G and S which give us stratifying abstractions of G and S, respectively. Finally, we report experimental results obtained by applying our algorithms to both artificial data and drawings of power plants which are real world data.     

Measurement of blood flow by heated thermocouple with feedback controlled current

Zusammenfassung Eine neue Messmethode für Durchblutungsmessungen besteht darin, dass selbstgeregelter Strom mit Hilfe des Rückkopplungsregelungssystems für die Heizung gebraucht wird. Mit dieser Methode wird der Temperaturunterschied zwischen den geheizten und den gekühlten Kontaktplatten ganz gering und konstant gehalten, so dass der Effekt der lokalen Wärmeakkumulation, der bei Heizung mit konstantem Strom entsteht, am geprüften Gewebe wegfällt. Diese Methode hat eine höhere Linearität und bessere Anwendungsfähigkeit über weitere Durchblutungsgebiete, und sie spricht auch schneller an als die frühere Methode der Heizung mit konstantem Strom.     

Novel and sensitive noncompetitive enzyme immunoassay for kassinin in rat plasma

Summary A novel and sensitive noncompetitive enzyme immunoassay for kassinin is described. Kassinin was biotinylated using sulfosuccinimidyl-6-(biotinamido)hexanoate. The biotinylated kassinin was trapped on antikassinin IgG-coated polystyrene balls and, after washing to eliminate other biotinylated substances, was eluted with HCl. The biotinylated kassinin eluted was reacted with anti-kassinin Fab'-peroxidase conjugate and trapped onto streptavidin-coated polystyrene balls. Peroxidase activity bound to the polystyrene balls was assayed by fluorimetry. The detection limit of kassinin was 0.13 pg (0.1 fmol)/tube or 0.065 g/l of rat plasma, which was 750-fold or 15-fold lower than that for competitive radioimmunoassay.