Possible Roles of Calreticulin in Uterine Decidualization and Receptivity in Rats and Humans

Previous in vitro studies have suggested that calreticulin (CALR), which is responsible for the folding and quality control of glycoproteins, may be associated with decidualization. However, its precise role in regulating decidualization has not been explored in vivo. Here, we used pregnant rat models to examine endometrial CALR expression during the peri-implantation period. We also examined whether polypectomy, a procedure that could ameliorate infertility, alters the endometrial expression levels of CALR and several implantation factors in women diagnosed as infertile. In rats, uterine CALR was expressed at a high level at the implantation site, and a marked increase in CALR expression was observed in decidual cells of normal pregnancy. In addition, endometrial CALR expression was enhanced by either administration of estradiol-17β in the delayed implantation rat model or the artificial induction of decidualization in the pseudopregnant rat. In cultured stromal cells, siRNA-mediated silencing of CALR inhibited the decidual stimulus-induced expression of prolactin, decidual/trophoblast prolactin-related protein, and connexin 43. In humans, the endometrial expression levels of the mRNAs encoding CALR and the implantation-related factor insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-7 tended to increase after polypectomy. The strongest positive correlation between expression levels before polypectomy was observed for IGFBP-7 and CALR, and the strength of this correlation increased after the surgery. Thus, endometrial CALR may play a role in the formation of decidua, and the polypectomy of infertile patients may result in the co-operative expression of endometrial factors, including CALR, that could enhance endometrial receptivity.     

Influences of gas density depletion on high‐pressure,pulsed‐glow discharge

High‐pressure, pulsed glow discharge has been studied for the excitation discharge in TEA gas lasers. Various instabilities occur in the subsequent discharge, which induce the arc and collapse for the highly repetitive operation. In this paper, the influences of the gas density depletion on the high‐pressure, pulsed glow discharge have been investigated, eliminating the other instabilities such as shock waves, residual ions, discharge products, and electrode heating. The gas density depletion was produced by utilizing a subsonic flow between the curved electrodes. The comparison has been made on the discharge occurring in the presence of the gas density depletion with that by the double‐pulse experiment in a stable gas. The big gas density nonuniformity tends to cause the arc without the shocks, ions, discharge products, and electrode heating. The transition from glow to arc discharge discontinuously occurs with respect to the gas density depletion. On the other hand, the second discharge in the double‐pulse experiment becomes an arc in much smaller gas density nonuniformity, and the transition from glow to arc occurs gradually. The arc discharge might be driven by some factors other than the gas density depletion. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(4): 9–16, 2000     

Development of Nb-Ti cable with ultrafine filament and high-resistivity matrix for ac use

Superconducting ac machines such as transformers and reactors are expected to have an important role in future electric power transport lines. In these machines, superconducting coils are wound with superconducting cables that have low ac loss, stable ac quenching current, and high normal resistivity. We have developed Nb-Ti superconducting cables with ultrafine filaments and high-resistivity matrix for these coils. One such cable is a double-stranded round structure using 0.2-mm strands with 0.14-μm filaments and Cu-30wt%Ni as a matrix material. The 50-Hz quenching current without external magnetic field exceeds 1400 Arms. The ac loss is 15 kW/m³ at a transverse external magnetic field of 0.5 T, 50 Hz, and the normal resistivity is 0.21 Ω/m at 0 T, 10 K. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(2): 8–18, 1997     

Video Scene Annotation Based on Web Social Activities

This article describes a mechanism to acquire the semantics of video content from the activities of Web communities that use a bulletin-board system and weblog tools to discuss video scenes.     

An immuno-wall microdevice exhibits rapid and sensitive detection of IDH1-R132H mutation specific to grade II and III gliomas

World Health Organization grade II and III gliomas most frequently occur in the central nervous system (CNS) in adults. Gliomas are not circumscribed; tumor edges are irregular and consist of tumor cells, normal brain tissue, and hyperplastic reactive glial cells. Therefore, the tumors are not fully resectable, resulting in recurrence, malignant progression, and eventual death. Approximately 69–80% of grade II and III gliomas harbor mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 gene (IDH1), of which 83–90% are found to be the IDH1-R132H mutation. Detection of the IDH1-R132H mutation should help in the differential diagnosis of grade II and III gliomas from other types of CNS tumors and help determine the boundary between the tumor and normal brain tissue. In this study, we established a highly sensitive antibody-based device, referred to as the immuno-wall, to detect the IDH1-R132H mutation in gliomas. The immuno-wall causes an immunoreaction in microchannels fabricated using a photo-polymerizing polymer. This microdevice enables the analysis of the IDH1 status with a small sample within 15 min with substantially high sensitivity. Our results suggested that 10% content of the IDH1-R132H mutation in a sample of 0.33 μl volume, with 500 ng protein, or from 500 cells is theoretically sufficient for the analysis. The immuno-wall device will enable the rapid and highly sensitive detection of the IDH1-R132H mutation in routine clinical practice.     

Effect of platelet-activating factor on lipoprotein lipase and blood lipids

We investigated the effect of platelet-activating factor (PAF) and of the PAF specific antagonist CV-6209 on plasma lipid metabolism, and particularly on post-heparin plasma lipolytic activity in male Wistar rats. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity was enhanced by intravenous injection of PAF before intravenous injection of heparin when the PAF dose was low (0.2 μg/kg). PAF activated hepatic triacylglycerol lipase (HTGL) activity dose-dependently. Plasma triacylglycerols (TG) significantly decreased with the activation of LPL and/or HTGL. Plasma total cholesterol (TC) and phospholipid (PL) levels decreased at a low dose of PAF (0.2 μg/kg), but increased when higher doses were used. The PAF antagonist CV-6209 partially reversed the PAF induced effects on HTGL, TC and PL. Based on a paper presented at the Third International Conference on Platelet-Activating Factor and Structurally Related Alkyl Ether Lipids, Tokyo, Japan, May 1989.     

Isolation and structure determination of cassumunarins A,B, and C: New anti-inflammatory antioxidants from a tropical ginger,Zingiber cassumunar

New antioxidants, cassumunarins A, B, and C, were isolated from the rhizomes ofZingiber cassumunar, and the structures were determined by spectroscopic methods to be complex curcuminoids. The antixidant efficiency of cassumunarins was determined by inhibitory activity of autoxidation of linoleic acid in a buffer-ethanol system. The anti-inflammatory effect was measured by inhibition of edema formation on mouse ear induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. Both types of activities were stronger for the cassumunarins than for the curcumin. Visiting scholar at University of Texas (October 1992–September 1993).     

Homo- and copolymerizations of 3-(N-carbazolyl)-1-propyne and its homologues by Mo and W catalysts

Summary 3-(N-Carbazolyl)-1-propyne polymerized with MoCl₅- and WCl₆-based catalysts to produce a polymer in high yields. The MoCl₅ and MoCl₅-n-Bu₄Sn catalysts were the most effective (the systems solidified immediately after initiation of polymerization with these catalysts). The product polymer was a yellow solid insoluble in any solvent. Copolymerization of the present monomer with tert-butylacetylene by MoCl₅-n-Bu₄Sn produced a copolymer; it had a high molecular weight (M _w 350,000), completely dissolved in toluene, CHCl₃ etc, and formed a free-standing film by solution casting. -N-Carbazolyl-1-hexyne and-1-octyne produced toluene-insoluble polymers with WCl₆-Ph₄Sn.