Protective effect of a prostaglandin I2 analog, TEI-7165, on ischemic neuronal damage in gerbils

In this study we have analyzed short- and long-term changes in extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1 and 2 activity during 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA)-induced differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells. Immunoprecipitation of HL-60 cellular extracts with an ERK antibody followed by in vitro myelin basic protein phosphorylation demonstrated a rapid reduction in total ERK activity by 70%. Mitogen-activated protein kinase substrate peptide phosphorylation also demonstrated that this reduction was sustained during differentiation. Immunoblot analysis revealed that ERK1 and ERK2 are the predominant ERK isoforms present in HL-60 cells and that over a 96-h period ERK1 protein was gradually reduced by 60% while ERK2 protein showed only a small, insignificant reduction. Therefore, the large, rapid decrease in total ERK activity could not be attributed to the gradual reductions in ERK1 or ERK2 amounts. Immunoblot analysis with two different phosphotyrosine antibodies revealed a rapid decrease in ERK1 phosphotyrosine and a concurrent transient increase in ERK2 phosphotyrosine. These contrasting changes in phosphorylated ERKs were paralleled by respective shifts in mobility during SDS-PAGE analysis. Together these results indicate that the rapid reduction in total ERK activity is due to rapid tyrosine and possible threonine dephosphorylation of ERK1 but not of ERK2. These results also indicate that ERK1 and ERK2 are regulated by distinct mechanisms during TPA-induced HL-60 differentiation, suggesting that their biological roles are nonredundant.     

Measurements of electron density profile characteristics in various kinds of plasma configurations in the TS‐3 plasma merging device

Measurements and a comparative study have been performed on electron density profiles, focusing on the electron density gradient near the magnetic separatrix in various kinds of plasma confinements such as the ST, spheromak, and RFP in the TS‐3 device. A CO₂ laser interferometer using a glass tube to clear the path for the laser was introduced in order to measure the electron density profile with time resolution. It was shown that ST with a high q value at the plasma edge (q: safety factor) has a larger electron density gradient than low‐q plasma confinements such as the spheromak and RFP. In particular, the ST with edge q value greater than about 2 showed a large electron density gradient at the edge. The idea that the j × B force profile of the higher‐q ST could sustain the higher thermal pressure supports these results. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 145(2): 35–41, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10158     

Construction of bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) recombinants which express pseudorabies virus (PRV) glycoproteins gB, gC, gD, and gE

1. This was a randomized, double-blind comparison of the efficacy and safety of venlafaxine and fluoxetine in outpatients with major depression. 2. Three hundred fourteen patients were randomly assigned to either venlafaxine 37.5 mg twice daily or fluoxetine 20 mg once daily for a maximum of 8 weeks. 3. If the response was inadequate after two weeks of treatment, the dosage of venlafaxine could be increased to 75 mg twice daily. 4. A clinical response, defined as at least a 50% decrease from baseline in the total HAM-D score, was attained at week 6 in 72% of patients on venlafaxine and 60% of patients on fluoxetine (p = 0.023). 5. Among patients who increased their dose at 2 weeks, venlafaxine was significantly (p < 0.05) superior from week 3 onward on the HAM-D. 6. Venlafaxine 75 mg daily is comparable to fluoxetine, but at 150 mg daily, it may be superior to fluoxetine in outpatients with major depression who do not respond early to treatment.     

Occurrence of ateliosis in Japanese Black calves and their secretory function of growth hormone

Unthrifty calves occurred sporadically in Japanese Black (beef cattle) in an area in northeastern Japan. The states of unthrifty development, pedigree, clinico-biochemistry and the secretory function of bovine growth hormone (bGH) in pituitary were investigated. The total cholesterol concentration and CK, AST and LDH activities in the serum showed higher values than those of control calves. Basal bGH concentrations in the serum and bGH secretory reactivity in the insulin tolerance test (ITT) were showed to be significantly lower than those of the control calves. Furthermore, sperm donated from a specific bull had been used for these unthrifty calves. This study suggested that the present occurrence of unthrifty calves represented ateliosis possibly caused by congenital hypopituitarism which decreased of bGH secretory function.     

Far infrared and millimeter wave studies of impurity scattering within electron-hole liquid in semiconductors

Despite the experimental evidence in far-infrared that impurities are ionized within the electron-hole liquid in silicon and germanium, combination of luminescence data with millimeter wave cyclotron resonance and far-infrared magneto-optics tells us that the impurity-assisted intervalley electron scattering within EHL in silicon can apparently be interpreted on the basis of neutral impurity scattering. Justification of simulating the impurity center within EHL as “neutral” is grounded for the electron scattering problem, making use of the atomic scattering theory in contrast with a simple ionized impurity model calculation with proper screening.     

Constructing predicate mappings for goal-dependent abstraction

In theorem proving with abstraction, it is required for system designers to provide a useful abstraction. However, such a task is so difficult that it would be worth studying an automatic construction of abstraction. In this paper, we propose a new framework of Goal-Dependent Abstraction in which an appropriate abstraction is selected according to each goal to be proved. Towards Goal-Dependent Abstraction, we present an algorithm for constructing an appropriate abstraction for a given goal. The appropriateness is defined in terms of Upward-Property and Downward-Property. Since our abstraction is based on predicate mapping, the algorithm in fact computes predicate mappings based on which appropriate abstractions can be constructed. Given a goal, candidate predicate mappings are generated and then tested for their appropriateness for the goal. In order to find appropriate mappings efficiently, we present a property to prune useless candidate generations. The numbers of pruned candidates are evaluated in the best and worst cases. Furthermore some experimental results show that many useless candidates can be pruned with the property and the obtained appropriate predicate mappings (abstractions) fit our intuition. From the experimental results, we could expect our study in this paper to contribute to the fields of analogical reasoning and case-based reasoning as well as theorem-proving. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Advances in brain research and the future of artificially assisted neural functions

In this paper, I give a brief explanation of how the brain works, and present my ideas about how experts on artificial life and robotics can contribute to brain science.