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Many morphological and developmental studies have demonstrated the characteristics of tight junctions (TJs) between odontoblasts. However, detailed localization of TJ-associated proteins in odontoblasts and their functions has not yet been clarified. To elucidate the relationship between the establishment of TJ structures and the differentiation of odontoblasts during early dentinogenesis, we studied the expression and localization of constituent proteins of TJs (claudin-1, occludin, ZO-1 and ZO-2) between odontoblasts in rat lower incisors using Western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. When the expression of claudin-1 increases at the distal portion of mature odontoblasts, the TJs form complex networks of strands, and odontoblasts differentiated by developing distal membrane domains and by secreting specific molecules for mineralization. We conclude that the TJs of odontoblasts may play an important role in the differentiation of odontoblasts in rat lower incisors during early dentinogenesis.

This study examined whether international terrorism could be differentiated into different behavioural themes related to the way of using force. The sample consisted of 217 international terrorist organisations that had perpetrated five or more terrorist incidents. A non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that all of the terrorist incidents could be assigned to one of three themes reflecting different styles of the use of force: ‘attack as threat’, ‘attack as means’, and ‘attack as violence’. In the current sample, 189 of the terrorist organisations repeated one theme in more than 50% of their series of incidents, suggesting their preference for one of the three themes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background: Bronchial asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, notably because of eosinophils and T cells. Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) is known to selectively attract Th2 cells, and is increased in response to interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, which share a common receptor, IL-4 receptor alpha (IL-4Ra). While corticosteroids have proven, very effective in modifying airway inflammation, the effect of corticosteroids on TARC in asthmatics has been little studied. Objective: We examined the effects of inhaled budesonide (BUD) on the expression of TARC and the number of inflammatory cells in bronchial biopsy specimens taken from asthma patients. Methods: Inhaled BUD 800 lg daily, or placebo was administered for 3 months in a double-blind, parallel-group study, and bronchial biopsies were performed before and after treatment. Biopsy specimens were examined by immunocytochemistry. Results: We observed a significant decrease in the epithelial expression of TARC (P < 0.01) in the BUD group compared with the placebo group. This was accompanied by decreases in the number of eosinophils (P < 0.01), CD3 + T cells (P < 0.05), and CD4 + T cells (P < 0.01). A significant correlation was found between changes in epithelial TARC and in IL-4Ra immunoreactivity (rs ¼ 0.66, P < 0.01). Conclusions: These findings suggest that corticosteroid asthma treatment can reduce infiltration of the airway by inflammatory cells, an effect modulated by down-regulation of bronchial epithelial TARC expression.

The total synthesis of diarylheptanoids isolated from the male flowers of Alnus sieboldiana, yashabushiketol, yashabushiketodiol A, yashabushiketodiol B, and yashabushitriol, has been achieved in short steps by employing the organoselenium-mediated reduction of epoxy ketone as key steps.

A highly stereoselective construction of the eight contiguous chiral centers of ansa-chains of rifamycins has been accomplished by the iterative use of the stereospecific methylation of γ,δ-epoxy acrylates by trimethylaluminum which was recently developed by us. The present work demonstrates the synthetic potential of the method for the synthesis of polypropionate antibiotics including ansamycins and macrolides.

2-Nitrobenzoyl chlorde was reacted with superoxide in acetonitrile to form 1 2-nitrobenzoylperoxy radical intermediate which showed a stronger oxidizing ability than that from superoxide, as confirmed by ESR spin trapping studies.

The application of NMR for natural organic compounds has been carried out from the early history of NMR. But they reported on the liquid state NMR and the samples were limited to the materials which dissolved in proper solvents. It has been possible to measure the samples in the solid state in 1970s and is widely used as a familiar analytical method in 1980s. Whereas some of the data is inadequate, concerning cellulose derivatives, in particular, only nitrate and acetate were reported by Patterson1 and Doyle,2 respectively. In this paper, the 13C CP/MAS solid state NMR spectra of several cellulose derivatives are shown and the relationship between the structure and spectrum is discussed.

— Flash photolysis studies of dimeric and monomeric chlorophyll a were carried out at 77 K. The triplet-triplet absorption spectrum of the dimeric chlorophyll a in 3-methylpentane at 77 K is interpreted as a sum of the spectra of chlorophyll a in the ground and triplet states. The dimeric chlorophyll a in the triplet state is considered to have the half-excited structure at 77 K without photodisaggregation owing to high viscosity of the solvent.

The reactive species generated from (PhSe)2 with NaBH4 in ethanol has been demonstrated to be a sodium phenylseleno(triethoxy)borate complex, Na+[PhSeB(OEt)3]−, as evidenced in the reduction of α,β-epoxy ketones leading to β-hydroxy ketones.

α, β-Epoxy esters were reduced to β-hydroxy esters with an organoselenium reagent, Na+[PhSeB(OEt)3]−, via α-substitution process.