Establishment of a simple method for measurement of chronic blood flow in uterine artery of pregnant cows

Blood flow to the gravid uterine horn of seven multiparous Holstein cows (mean +/- SD, BW = 625.5 +/- 82.4 kg; age = 4.7 +/- 1.7 yr; parity = 2.9 +/- 1.1 yr) was measured from d 225 of gestation to parturition using transit-time ultrasonic blood flow probes placed around the middle uterine artery. Surgery was conducted on d 215 of gestation. The cows were sedated with xylazine and local anesthesia (procaine or bupivacain hydrochloride) during surgery. The surgical operations were conducted at the flank of standing cows. A transit time ultrasonic flow probe ("S" series, diameter 12 or 14 mm, Transonic Systems Inc., Ithaca, NY) was fitted surgically around the uterine artery of each cow. Surgery was completed within 2 h of anesthesia, and the animals recovered rapidly following surgery. Uterine blood flow (UBF, L/min) was recorded at 10-s intervals for 1395 min; these values were averaged to determine UBF. Cows exhibited normal gestation lengths (279.1 +/- 7.4 d), gave birth to normal healthy calves (birth weight = 40.6 +/- 6.6 kg), and had no retained placentas. The UBF increased significantly (P < 0.01) from d 225 (6.67 +/- 2.47) to d 249 (8.23 +/- 2.89) of gestation, but the latter UBF was similar to that of d 266 (8.38 +/- 2.70). The increased UBF after d 225 indicates increased demand of nutrients of fetus with the progress of gestation. The range of mean UBF varied widely among individual cows from 4.1 L/min to 12.2 L/min. Our method is useful for chronic measurement of UBF in cows for nutritional or physiological studies and does not require sophisticated facilities or special surgical technique.     

Counter‐ion‐specific helix formation of poly(γ‐methyl L‐glutamate) derivatives containing sulfonate group in aqueous alcohols

Charged polypeptides containing sulfonate groups were prepared by transesterification of poly(γ‐methyl L ‐glutamate) with isethionic acid. The coil–helix transition of the sulfonated polypeptides was investigated in aqueous alcohols. Marked counter‐ion specificity was observed for helix formation: Li⁺ < Na⁺ < Cs⁺ ≦ Rb⁺ ≦ K⁺; this was different to that for poly(L ‐glutamate) (PLG): Cs⁺ ? K⁺ < Li⁺ < Na⁺. Specific helix stabilization by counter‐ion mixing, which has been found for the PLG system, was not observed for the sulfonated polypeptides. The counter‐ion‐ and solvent‐specific helix formation is discussed and compared with that in PLG. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

ISHIGAKI Retrieval System Using 3D Shape Matching and Combinatorial Optimization

International Journal of Computer Vision - In April 2016, a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Kumamoto region, Japan, causing major devastation. One of the structures that were...     

Boson peak and structural heterogeneity in ternary SiO2-Al2O3-B2O3 glasses

We use low-temperature heat capacity, low-frequency Raman scattering, and THz time domain spectroscopy in order to scale the vibrational density of states and the Boson peak in SiO₂-Al₂O₃-B₂O₃ Yb-laser host glasses. When substituting B₂O₃ for SiO₂ at constant Al₂O₃ dopant level, we find an optimal value for the ratio of B/Al in terms of mixture stability, at which the excess in the electron donor capability of Al₂O₃ (relative to the SiO₂ backbone) is compensated by the more acidic B₂O₃. At this composition, Al₂O₃ plays a mediating role in the structure of aluminoborosilicate glasses, facilitating dissolution of Yb₂O₃ and admixture of B₂O₃ into the SiO₂ network.     

Composition Regulation by Flow Copolymerization of Methyl Methacrylate and Glycidyl Methacrylate with Free Radical Method

It is important to match the feeding ratio of comonomers to the composition ratio in the resulting copolymers as closely as possible in industrial production, where the goal is often to produce more a homogeneous composition in copolymers. In this study, a flow copolymerization system with a conventionally initiated free radical method, together with randomly selected polymerization conditions is investigated. It is succeeded in achieving a closer match between the composition ratio and feeding ratio than previously reported in the copolymerization of styrene with methyl methacrylate and of glycidyl methacrylate with methyl methacrylate, which will widen the range of applications, by precisely controlling the mixing and heating in a flow polymerization apparatus. This is confirmed by the fact that the estimated values of reactivity ratios, r₁ and r₂, which are used in the reaction kinetics of copolymerization, are close to 1.     

Single-fluorophore imaging with an unmodified epifluorescence microscope and conventional video camera

Single fluorophores in aqueous solution were imaged in real time with a conventional silicon-intensified target video camera connected to an unmodified commercial microscope (IX70, Olympus) with epifluorescence excitation with a high-pressure mercury lamp. Neither a powerful laser nor an extremely sensitive video camera was required. Three experimental systems were used to demonstrate quantitatively that individual, moving or stationary Cy3 fluorophores could be imaged with the microscope: Cy3-gelsolin attached to an actin filament sliding over heavy meromyosin, sliding actin filaments sparsely labelled with Cy3, and heavy meromyosin labelled with one or two Cy3 fluorophores. The results should encourage many laboratories to attempt 'single-molecule physiology' in which the functions and mechanisms of molecular machines are studied at the single-molecule level in an environment where the biological machines are fully active.     

Generation of high-quality higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams using liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulators

We report on the high-quality holographic generation of higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams using a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator. The effects of the input beam pattern on the output LG beam quality are investigated in detail through theoretical discussions and experiments. Correlation analyses between observed beam patterns and theoretical mode profiles reveal that higher beam quality is achieved for output LG beams generated from a top-hat input beam than from a Gaussian input beam.     

Residential gas-fired absorption heat pump based on R 22-DEGDME pair. Part 1 thermodynamic properties of the R 22-DEGDME pairLa pompe à chaleur à absorption à brûleur à gaz pour les locaux résidentiels utilisant le couple R 22-DEGDME. 1e partie. Propriétés thermodynamiques du couple R 22-DEGDME

R 22-DEGDME is chosen as the prime working fluid pair for residential gas-fired absorption heat pumps.The vapour pressures and the heat capacities of mixtures are measured for various concentrations and temperatures and are correlated by a Rankine equation and a polynomial, respectively. The heats of mixing are measured at 10°C, and are correlated by a Redlich-Kister type polynomial.Based on these data, the pressure-temperature-concentration diagram and the enthalpy-concentration diagram are drawn, which make analysis of the absorption cycles possible.     

Effects of glycine betaine on bone marrow death and intestinal damage by gamma rays and carbon ions

In this study, we investigated the effects of glycine betaine (GB) on bone marrow death and intestinal damage by gamma rays or carbon ions. C(3)H/He female mice received an i.p.-injection of GB before or after whole-body irradiation with gamma rays or 50 keV microm(-1) carbon ions. The irradiated mice were observed to determine the mortality for 30 days after exposure. Mice were also killed at 3.5 days after the exposure to determine the intestinal damage. The numbers of crypts per transverse circumference were counted using a microscope. For the bone marrow death, GB (93 mg GB per mouse) significantly (p < 0.05) increased the percentage survival for both radiations. For the intestinal damage, GB (93 mg GB per mouse) significantly (p < 0.05) increased the crypt survival for gamma rays, but not for carbon ions. GB might be a potential protector against normal tissue damage as a side effect in radiotherapy.