Mucin 1 Gene (MUC1) and Gastric-Cancer Susceptibility

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the major malignant diseases worldwide, especially in Asia. It is classified into intestinal and diffuse types. While the intestinal-type GC (IGC) is almost certainly caused by Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, its role in the diffuse-type GC (DGC) appears limited. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on Japanese and Chinese populations identified chromosome 1q22 as a GC susceptibility locus which harbors mucin 1 gene (MUC1) encoding a cell membrane-bound mucin protein. MUC1 has been known as an oncogene with an anti-apoptotic function in cancer cells; however, in normal gastric mucosa, it is anticipated that the mucin 1 protein has a role in protecting gastric epithelial cells from a variety of external insults which cause inflammation and carcinogenesis. HP infection is the most definite insult leading to GC, and a protective function of mucin 1 protein has been suggested by studies on Muc1 knocked-out mice.     

Attribute-based quality classification of academic papers

Investigating the relevant literature is very important for research activities. However, it is difficult to select the most appropriate and important academic papers from the enormous number of papers published annually. Researchers search paper databases by combining keywords, and then select papers to read using some evaluation measure—often, citation count. However, the citation count of recently published papers tends to be very small because citation count measures accumulated importance. This paper focuses on the possibility of classifying high-quality papers superficially using attributes such as publication year, publisher, and words in the abstract. To examine this idea, we construct classifiers by applying machine-learning algorithms and evaluate these classifiers using cross-validation. The results show that our approach effectively finds high-quality papers.     

Visual image of neighbors to elicit wandering behavior in the soldier crab

The soldier crab appears in great numbers and feeds while wandering during daytime low tide. When they see an approaching object, they screw themselves into the sand. The mechanism of formation of mass wandering has not been clarified. In this study, to investigate if the soldier crabs use visual images of neighbors as a stimulus for wandering, dummy crabs were presented to crabs. In the experiments, one, two, four, or eight dummies were placed in a circle on a sand arena. Each crab was placed in the center of the arena and observed whether it burrowed into the sand or wandered. The proportions of wandering individuals in each experimental treatment were compared with the expected value. Significantly more crabs were wanderers when only two and four dummies were present. This result suggests that soldier crabs chose burrowing or wandering depending on visual image of the distribution of the neighbors.     

Application of the Antibody-Inducing Activity of Glycosphingolipids to Human Diseases

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are composed of a mono-, di-, or oligosaccharide and a ceramide and function as constituents of cell membranes. Various molecular species of GSLs have been identified in mammalian cells due to differences in the structures of oligosaccharides. The oligosaccharide structure can vary depending on cell lineage, differentiation stage, and pathology; this property can be used as a cell identification marker. Furthermore, GSLs are involved in various aspects of the immune response, such as cytokine production, immune signaling, migration of immune cells, and antibody production. GSLs containing certain structures exhibit strong immunogenicity in immunized animals and promote the production of anti-GSL antibodies. By exploiting this property, it is possible to generate antibodies that recognize the fine oligosaccharide structure of specific GSLs or glycoproteins. In our study using artificially synthesized GSLs (artGSLs), we found that several structural features are correlated with the antibody-inducing activity of GSLs. Based on these findings, we designed artGSLs that efficiently induce the production of antibodies accompanied by class switching and developed several antibodies that recognize not only certain glycan structures of GSLs but also those of glycoproteins. This review comprehensively introduces the immune activities of GSLs and their application as pharmaceuticals.     

Thermodynamics on the Bi-Fe-Ti System and the Gibbs Energy of Bi<Subscript>9</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>8</Subscript>

Partial isothermal sections of the Bi-Fe-Ti system at 700 °C and 900 °C were constructed to investigate the reactivity of Fe with Bi-Ti liquid alloy. In the ternary system, three-phase equilibria such as liquid-Fe-Fe₂Ti, liquid-Fe₂Ti-Bi₂FeTi₄, and liquid-Bi₉Ti₈-Bi₂FeTi₄ were confirmed at both temperatures. The solubility of Fe in liquid Bi at these temperatures is negligibly small. On the other hand, it is notable that the solubility of Fe in liquid Bi containing Ti at 900 °C is much larger and reaches 2.3 mol pct. Then, we measured the electromotive force (emf) between Bi-20 mol pct Ti alloy and pure Ti at 700 °C in equimolar NaCl-KCl where 1 mol pct TiCl₂ was added. From the result, the interaction parameter of the liquid phase in the Bi-Ti system and the standard molar Gibbs energies of formation of Bi₉Ti₈ and Bi₂FeTi₄ at 700 °C were estimated.     

Scavenging Elemental Sb Through Addition of NbSb2 to Mm0.9Fe3.5Co0.5Sb12 Skutterudites

Our previous work identified thermal instability of p-type skutterudite as a primary cause of degradation during thermoelectric generator operation at 650°C. Residual Sb in the microstructure was believed to be the cause of diminished thermal stability, especially above the melting point of Sb (631°C). This work investigated addition of Nb to p-type skutterudite to from NbSb₂, thus scavenging elemental Sb. The results of this work are reported, along with comprehensive thermoelectric property characterization of the p-type skutterudite?+?NbSb₂ composites.     

Magnetovolume effects in manganese nitrides with antiperovskite structure

Magnetostructural correlations in antiperovskite manganese nitrides were investigated systematically for stoichiometric and solid solution Mn₃Cu_1?xA_xN (A = Co, Ni, Zn, Ga, Ge, Rh, Pd, Ag, In, Sn or Sb). This class of nitrides is attracting great attention because of their giant negative thermal expansion, which is achieved by doping Ge or Sn into the A site as a relaxant of the sharp volume contraction on heating (spontaneous volume magnetostriction ω_s) because of the magnetovolume effects. The physical background of large ω_s and mechanism of how the volume contraction becomes gradual with temperature are central concerns for the physics and applications of these nitrides. An entire dataset of thermal expansion, crystal structure and magnetization demonstrates that the cubic triangular antiferromagnetic state is crucial for large ω_s. The intimate relationship between ω_s and the magnetic structure is discussed in terms of geometrical frustration related to the Mn₆N octahedron and magnetic stress concept. The results presented herein also show that ω_s depends on the number of d electrons in the A atom, suggesting the important role of the d orbitals of the A atom. Not all the dopants in the A site, but the elements that disturb the cubic triangular antiferromagnetic state, are effective in broadening the volume change. This fact suggests that instability neighboring the phase boundary is related to the broadening. The relation between the gradual volume change and the local structure anomaly is suggested by recent microprobe studies.     

Effect of the atmosphere on chemical composition and electrochemical properties of solid electrolyte interface on electrodeposited Li metal

Many efforts have been paid to realize the superior anodes for future Li batteries in either the dry Ar atmosphere or the dry air atmosphere. In this work, in order to clarify the effects of such atmospheres, the most reactive anodes of Li were freshly electrodeposited under the dry Ar or under the dry air condition. The Solid Electrolyte Interface (SEI) formed during the electrodeposition of Li anodes is revealed to have a different chemical composition and protective feature. The Li deposited under the dry air was revealed to have longer cycle life in the electrolyte than that deposited in Ar, even in the electrolyte containing ionic liquid. From the XPS results, the SEI formed in dry air is proved to be different from that formed in Ar gas atmospheres, that is, the SEI formed in dry air consists of Li₂CO₃ and Li nitride. In order to improve the performance of the anodes, the atmosphere for the initial preparation of the anode/electrolyte interface should be tuned.     

Correlations of Hepatic Hemodynamics,Liver Function,and Fibrosis Markers in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Comparison with Chronic Hepatitis Related to Hepatitis C Virus

The progression of chronic liver disease differs by etiology. The aim of this study was to elucidate the difference in disease progression between chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by means of fibrosis markers, liver function, and hepatic tissue blood flow (TBF). Xenon computed tomography (Xe-CT) was performed in 139 patients with NAFLD and 152 patients with CHC (including liver cirrhosis (LC)). The cutoff values for fibrosis markers were compared between NAFLD and CHC, and correlations between hepatic TBF and liver function tests were examined at each fibrosis stage. The cutoff values for detection of the advanced fibrosis stage were lower in NAFLD than in CHC. Although portal venous TBF (PVTBF) correlated with liver function tests, PVTBF in initial LC caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH-LC) was significantly lower than that in hepatitis C virus (C-LC) (p = 0.014). Conversely, the liver function tests in NASH-LC were higher than those in C-LC (p < 0.05). It is important to recognize the difference between NAFLD and CHC. We concluded that changes in hepatic blood flow occurred during the earliest stage of hepatic fibrosis in patients with NAFLD; therefore, patients with NAFLD need to be followed carefully.     

Connected word recognition using a cascaded neuro-computational model

We propose a novel framework for processing a continuous speech stream that contains a varying number of words, as well as non-speech periods. Speech samples are segmented into word-tokens and non-speech periods. An augmented version of an earlier-proposed, cascaded neuro-computational model is used for recognising individual words within the stream. Simulation studies using both a multi-speaker-dependent and speaker-independent digit string database show that the proposed method yields a recognition performance comparable to that obtained by a benchmark approach using hidden Markov models with embedded training.