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Endogenous Androgens Diminish Food Intake and Activation of Orexin A Neurons in Response to Reduced Glucose Availability in Male Rats
No full textSex steroids modify feeding behavior and body weight regulation, and androgen reportedly augments food intake and body weight gain. To elucidate the role of endogenous androgens in the feeding regulation induced by reduced glucose availability, we examined the effect of gonadectomy (orchiectomy) on food intake and orexin A neuron’s activity in the lateral hypothalamic/perifornical area (LH/PFA) in response to reduced glucose availability (glucoprivation) induced by 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2DG) administration in male rats. Rats (7W) were bilaterally orchiectomized (ORX group) or sham operated (Sham group). Seventeen days after the surgery, food intake response to 2DG (400 mg/kg, i.v.) was measured for 4 h after the infusion. The same experiment was performed for the immunohistochemical examination of c-Fos-expressing orexin A neurons in the LH/PFA and c-Fos expression in the arcuate nucleus (Arc). Food intake induced by glucoprivation was greater in the ORX group than the Sham group, and the glucoprivation-induced food intake was inversely correlated with plasma testosterone concentration. Glucoprivation stimulated c-Fos expression of the orexin A neurons at the LH/PFA and c-Fos expression in the dorsomedial Arc. The number and percentage of c-Fos-expressing orexin A neurons in the LH/PFA and c-Fos expression in the dorsomedial Arc were significantly higher in the ORX group than the Sham group. This indicates that endogenous androgen, possibly testosterone, diminishes the food intake induced by reduced glucose availability, possibly via the attenuated activity of orexin A neuron in the LH/PFA and neurons in the dorsomedial Arc.journal articl
Evolutionary game of life-cycle types in marine benthic invertebrates: Feeding larvae versus nonfeeding larvae versus direct development
No full textMany marine invertebrates have a benthic adult life with planktonic long feeding larval stages (planktotrophy). In other species, planktonic larvae do not eat, and after a rather short period, they settle and initiate their benthic stages (lecithotrophy). Still other species skip planktonic larval stages altogether, and adults produce benthic offspring (direct development). In this paper, we develop an evolutionary game among different life-cycle types and examine the conditions for each life-cycle type to win in a seasonal environment. The growth rate and mortality of benthic individuals are the same among all three life-cycle types, the local habitat (patches) for benthic individuals have a finite longevity, and adults may engage in a limited dispersal just before breeding. Planktotrophy evolves if the planktonic stages are more efficient in terms of biomass gain than benthic life. Otherwise, lecithotrophy or direct development should evolve. Among them, direct development is more advantageous than lecithotrophy if the cost of having planktonic larvae is large, the habitat for benthic individuals is stable, and adults engage in some dispersal.journal articl
Promising role of D-amino acids in irritable bowel syndrome
No full textIrritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an important health care concern. Alterations in the microbiota of the gut-brain axis may be linked to the pathophysiology of IBS. Some dietary intake could contribute to produce various metabolites including D-amino acids by the fermentation by the gut microbiota. D-amino acids are the enantiomeric counterparts of L-amino acids, in general, which could play key roles in cellular physiological processes against various oxidative stresses. Therefore, the presence of D-amino acids has been shown to be linked to the protection of several organs in the body. In particular, the gut microbiota could play significant roles in the stability of emotion via the action of D-amino acids. Here, we would like to shed light on the roles of D-amino acids, which could be used for the treatment of IBS.journal articl
Secretome-microRNA and anti-proliferative APRO family proteins as cancer prevention and stem cell research strategies
No full textStemness of cancer cells contains limitless self-renewal proliferation. For the purpose of proliferation, secretome might exert its effects via the paracrine signaling. Specific microRNAs enclosed in the secretome of cancer stem cells could regulate the expression of anti-proliferative APRO family proteins. The biological functions of APRO family proteins seems to be quite intricate, however, which might be a key modulator of microRNAs, then could regulate the proliferation of cancer cells. In addition to affecting proliferation/differentiation during cellular development, APRO family proteins might also play an imperious role on keeping homeostasis in healthy stem cells under a physiological condition. Therefore, relationship between the microRNAs and the APRO family proteins has attracted much attention in the field of cancer research and regenerative medicine. Here, we have described the molecular mechanism behind this interplay that have a potential role in the future promising tools with targeting APRO family proteins for the medical applications.journal articl
Subminimal inhibitory concentrations of ampicillin and mechanical stimuli cooperatively promote cell-to-cell plasmid transformation in Escherichia coli
No full textHorizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a bacterial evolution tool for improved survival. Although several environmental stimuli induce or promote HGT, the diversity and complexity of the environmental factors have not been sufficiently elucidated. In this study, we showed that the biofilm culture of Escherichia coli at the air–solid interface in the presence of a subminimal inhibitory concentration (sub-MIC) of ampicillin (∼0.5–4 µg/mL) and subsequent mechanical stimulation (rolling small glass balls, ø = 5–8 mm) cooperatively promoted horizontal plasmid transfer without the usual competence-inducing conditions. Either of the two treatments promoted plasmid transfer at a lower frequency than when the treatments were combined. The effect of several parameters on the two treatments was tested and then optimized, achieving a high frequency of plasmid transfer (up to 10−6 per cell) under optimal conditions. Plasmid transfer was DNase-sensitive for both treatments, demonstrating its mechanism of transformation. Plasmid transfer occurred using various E. coli strains, plasmids, ball materials, shaking conditions, and even the mechanical stimulation of brushing the biofilm with a toothbrush, indicating the conditional flexibility of this phenomenon. This is the first demonstration of the promoting effect of the combination of a sub-MIC antibiotic and mechanical stimulation on horizontal plasmid transfer between E. coli cells via transformation. Regarding environmental bacterial physiology, the aggregations or biofilms of bacterial cells may encounter both sub-MIC antibiotics and mechanical stimuli in some specific environments, therefore, this type of HGT could also occur naturally.journal articl
Supercritical carbon dioxide-assisted platinum metallization of polyethylene terephthalate textile toward wearable device
No full textPlatinum metallization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile is realized by a supercritical carbon dioxide catalyzation process using palladium (II) hexafluoroacetylacetonate as the source of Pd catalyst, and ε-caprolactam as an additive. A commercially available Pt electroless plating solution is used to deposit Pt on the catalyzed PET textile. Surface morphology of the Pt metallized PET textile changes from granular particle to plate-like morphology when the Pt deposition time increases from 1 to 40 min. The Pt layer thickness reaches 270 nm, 580 nm, and 780 nm after 20 min, 60 min and 240 min, respectively, of the Pt deposition time. The Pt metallized PET textile prepared with 240 min of the Pt deposition time shows the lowest electrical resistance at 0.4 Ω, and the electrical resistance merely increases to 0.7 Ω and 1.0 Ω after one and two times, respectively, of a tape adhesion test.journal articl
綜絖枠数の制約下での織物組織図の近似
No full text経糸（たて糸）と緯糸（よこ糸）を絡み合わせて制作する布は織物と呼ばれ，糸の交差は織物組織図として表現される．複雑な模様を織機で制作する際には多くの綜絖枠が必要となることがあるが，織機によっては使用可能な綜絖枠数が限られるため制作できないという課題がある．綜絖枠数が限られた織機での制作に向けて，本稿では綜絖枠数の制約下で織物組織図を近似する手法を提案する．織物組織図の行列表現に基づく目的関数を逐次的な再割当てを通じて最小化するという枠組みのもとで，交互最適化を通じて織物組織図を近似するアルゴリズムを提案する．提案法をR言語で実装し，アルゴリズムの評価と織物の実制作を通じて有効性を検証した．A textile is woven using warp and weft, and their relationship is represented as a weave diagram. When the number of head frames in a loom is limited, it is difficult to produce complex woven fabric. This paper proposes a method for approximating the specified weave diagram under heald frame constraint. For an objective function based on the matrix representation of weave diagram, an alternating optimization algorithm is proposed to generate an approximated weave diagram. The proposed method is implemented using R language, and is validated in terms of its performance and several woven fabric.journal articl
今の目標に集中するにはどうすれば良いのか : 焦点目標のコミットメントと難しさが代替目標の抑制に及ぼす効果
No full textGuided by the Goal Shielding theory, this study examined the effect of the commitment and difficulty of a focal goal on the suppres sion of alternative goals, controlling for the quality of goals. One hundred and thirty-eight undergraduates (all females, age average = 19.53, SD = 1.2) participated in this experiment. The participants were randomly assigned to two conditions (high or low commitment) and asked to choose one focal goal with high or low commitment from the 15-goal list. They were asked to rate the importance and difficulty of the focal goal. Then, they were asked to choose alternative goals they intended to pursue from the goal list and indicate the importance and intention to pursue them. Consistent with the Goal Shielding theory, the result of ANCOVA indicated that the participants in the high commitment condition had fewer alternative goals and lower intentions to pursue them. In addition, this study newly found that the perceived difficulty of a focal goal was negatively correlated with the number of alternative goals and the intention to pursue them. The implications and limitations of this study were discussed.journal articl
B-flavor tagging at Belle II
No full textWe report on new flavor tagging algorithms developed to determine the quark-flavor content of bottom (B) mesons at Belle II. The algorithms provide essential inputs for measurements of quark-flavor mixing and charge-parity violation. We validate and evaluate the performance of the algorithms using hadronic B decays with flavor-specific final states reconstructed in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62.8fb−1 , collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKBcollider. We measure the total effective tagging
efficiency to be
εeff = 30.0 ±1.2(stat) ± 0.4(syst)%
for a category-based algorithm and
εeff = 28.8 ±1.2(stat) ± 0.4(syst)%
for a deep-learning-based algorithm.journal articl
