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It is essential to accurately diagnose and classify histological subtypes into adenocarcinoma (ADC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) for the appropriate treatment of lung cancer patients. However, improving the accuracy and stability of diagnosis is challenging, especially for non-small cell carcinomas. The purpose of this study was to compare multiple deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) technique with subsequent additional classifiers in terms of accuracy and characteristics in each histology.Lung cancer cytological images were classified into ADC, SCC, and SCLC with four fine-tuned DCNN models consisting of AlexNet, GoogLeNet (Inception V3), VGG16 and ResNet50 pretrained by natural images in ImageNet database. For more precise classification, the figures of 3 histological probabilities were further applied to subsequent machine learning classifiers using Naïve Bayes (NB), Support vector machine (SVM), Random forest (RF), and Neural network (NN).The classification accuracies of the AlexNet, GoogLeNet, VGG16 and ResNet50 were 74.0%, 66.8%, 76.8% and 74.0%, respectively. Well differentiated typical morphologies were tended to be correctly judged by all four architectures. However, poorly differentiated non-small cell carcinomas lacking typical structures were inclined to be misrecognized in some DCNNs. Regarding the histological types, ADC were best judged by AlexNet and SCC by VGG16. Subsequent machine learning classifiers of NB, SVV, RF, and NN improved overall accuracies to 75.1%, 77.5%, 78.2%, and 78.9%, respectively.Fine-tuning DCNNs in combination with additional classifiers improved classification of cytological diagnosis of lung cancer, although classification bias could be indicated among DCNN architectures.

The presence of monoclonal antibody (mAb) fragments in pharmaceutical mAb products is a critical quality attribute and should be controlled for safety. Several mAb fragments derived from clip formation in the complementarity determining regions (CDRs), as well as from cleavage in the hinge region, have been reported. However, the properties of CDR-clipped variants are not fully understood because of difficulties in separating them from intact mAbs under non-denaturing conditions due to similarities in size. We have established a method for separating CDR-clipped variants under non-denaturing conditions using an appropriate size exclusion chromatography column.

The aim of the present study was to analyse the content of posts on Instagram about cervical cancer.It was conducted a qualitative analysis using the 50 most popular publicly available Portuguese-language Instagram posts, containing the hashtags #cervicalcancer, #papsmear, #hpv, #papillomavirus, and #hpvvac-cine, during the Brazilian national cervical cancer prevention campaign in March 2018.Posts recruited using #cervicalcancer provided 60% of posts with contents related to secondary prevention; the #papsmear provided 46% of posts with irrelevant contents; the #hpv and #papillomavirus provided 50% and 64% of posts with informative content, respectively; and the #hpvvaccine provided 58% of posts with content related to primary prevention. The posts that received the highest number of likes were those from the hashtags #hpv and #papillomavirus with 151.33 and 78.00 likes/post, respectively. The majority of posts presented less than 05 comments/post, except for the #hpv, which had 64.76 comments/post. According to the users' profiles, the majority of the posts, regardless of the hashtag used, were made by health professionals.The focus of Instagram posts about cervical cancer is on secondary prevention, which can contribute to the promotion of health behaviours not directed to aspects of primary prevention of the disease.

Recent evidence has documented the potential roles of histone-modifying enzymes in autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Aberrant histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) dimethylation resulting from genetic variants in histone methyltransferases is known for neurodevelopmental and behavioral anomalies. However, a systematic examination of H3K9 methylation dynamics in ASD is lacking. Here we resequenced nine genes for histone methyltransferases and demethylases involved in H3K9 methylation in individuals with ASD and healthy controls using targeted next-generation sequencing. We identified a novel rare variant (A211S) in the SUV39H2, which was predicted to be deleterious. The variant showed strongly reduced histone methyltransferase activity in vitro. In silico analysis showed that the variant destabilizes the hydrophobic core and allosterically affects the enzyme activity. The Suv39h2-KO mice displayed hyperactivity and reduced behavioral flexibility in learning the tasks that required complex behavioral adaptation, which is relevant for ASD. The Suv39h2 deficit evoked an elevated expression of a subset of protocadherin β (Pcdhb) cluster genes in the embryonic brain, which is attributable to the loss of H3K9 trimethylation (me3) at the gene promoters. Reduced H3K9me3 persisted in the cerebellum of Suv39h2-deficient mice to an adult stage. Congruently, reduced expression of SUV39H1 and SUV39H2 in the postmortem brain samples of ASD individuals was observed, underscoring the role of H3K9me3 deficiency in ASD etiology. The present study provides direct evidence for the role of SUV39H2 in ASD and suggests a molecular cascade of SUV39H2 dysfunction leading to H3K9me3 deficiency followed by an untimely, elevated expression of Pcdhb cluster genes during early neurodevelopment.

Highlights • Patients with Stanford type A acute aortic dissection with perfused false lumen. • We created and randomized 10 cross-sectional images of each phase for 20 patients. • We scored these images depending on the degree of flap stoppage. • Image scores were significantly better in the 65 %–100 % R-R interval group., Objective To determine the phase that facilitates flap observation of the ascending aorta in Stanford type A acute aortic dissection with perfused false lumen. Methods We reconstructed retrospective Electrocardiogram-gated Computed Tomography Angiography images of the ascending aorta of all 20 patients to 20 phases of curved-multiplanar reconstruction in 5% increment. One radiologist created and randomized 10 cross-sectional images of each phase for every patient and two radiologists scored these images on a 5-point scale depending on the degree of flap stoppage. We calculated the average score for each phase of each case and compared them among the three groups. Results Image scores were significantly better in the 65 %–100 % R-R interval group than those in the 5%–30 % (p < 2e-16) and 35 %–60 % R-R interval groups(p = 7.2e-10). Similar scores were observed in the Heart Rate > 70 group (p = 0.00039, 2.2e-14). Moreover a similar tendency was observed in the arrhythmia group (p = 0.0035, 0.294). No difference was found in the degree of flap stoppage in the 65 %–100 % R-R interval group between the Heart Rate > 70 and Heart Rate ≤ 70 groups (p = 0.466) and between the arrhythmia and non-arrhythmia groups (p = 0.1240). Conclusion In observing the ascending aorta, We obtained a good image at 65 %–100 % R-R interval and similar tendency was observed in the patients with arrhythmia.

In pathological diagnosis, the cutting position of pathological materials is subjectively determined by pathologists. This leads to a low cutting accuracy, which in turn may lead to incorrect diagnoses. In this study, we developed a system that supports the determination of the cutting position by visualizing and analyzing the internal structure of pathological material using micro-computed tomography (CT) before cutting. This system consists of a dedicated micro-CT and cutting support software. The micro-CT system has a fixture for fixing the target, enabling the scanning of easily deformable pathological materials. In the cutting support software, a function that interactively selects the extraction plane while displaying the volume rendering image and outputs a pseudo-histological image was implemented. Our results confirmed that the pseudo-histological image showed the fine structure inside the organ and that the latter image was highly consistent with the pathological image.

The classification of pulmonary nodules using computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET)/CT is often a hard task for physicians. To this end, in our previous study, we developed an automated classification method using PET/CT images. In actual clinical practice, in addition to images, patient information (e.g., laboratory test results) is available and may be useful for automated classification. Here, we developed a hybrid scheme for automated classification of pulmonary nodules using these images and patient information. We collected 36 conventional CT images and PET/CT images of patients who underwent lung biopsy following bronchoscopy. Patient information was also collected. For classification, 25 shape and functional features were first extracted from the images. Benign and malignant nodules were identified using machine learning algorithms along with the images&rsquo, features and 17 patient-information-related features. In the leave-one-out cross-validation of our hybrid scheme, 94.4% of malignant nodules were identified correctly, and 77.7% of benign nodules were diagnosed correctly. The hybrid scheme performed better than that of our previous method that used only image features. These results indicate that the proposed hybrid scheme may improve the accuracy of malignancy analysis.

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-inducible transcription factor belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily, and is a target molecule for development of drugs to treat prostate cancer. However, AR antagonists in clinical use, such as flutamide (3a) and bicalutamide (4), encounter resistance after several years of hormone therapy, predominantly due to mutations of AR. Thus, although some new-generation AR antagonists have been developed, novel types of AR antagonists are still required to treat drug-resistant prostate cancer. We previously reported a novel (benzoylaminophenoxy)phenol derivative 10a, which is structurally distinct from conventional AR antagonists. Here, we systematically examined the structure-activity relationship of (benzoylaminophenoxy)phenol derivatives on the inhibitory activity on the prostate cancer cell proliferations. We found that the 4-[4-(benzoylamino)phenoxy]phenol backbone is important for anti-prostate cancer activity. Introduction of a small substituent at the 2 position of the central benzene ring (B ring) increases the activity. Among the synthesized compounds, 19a and 19b exhibited the most potent inhibitory activity toward dihydrotestosterone-induced proliferation of several androgen-dependent cell lines, SC-3 (wild-type AR), LNCaP (T877A AR), and 22Rv1 (H874Y AR), but interestingly also inhibited proliferation of AR-independent PC-3 cells. These compounds, which have a different pharmacophore from conventional AR antagonists, are promising drug candidates for the treatment of prostate cancer.

N-Benzyl-N-(4-phenoxyphenyl)benzenesulfonamide derivatives were developed as a novel class of nonsteroidal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) modulators, which are promising drug candidates for treating immune-related disorders. Focusing on the similarity of the GR and progesterone receptor (PR) ligand-binding domain (LBD) structures, we adopted our recently developed PR antagonist 10 as a lead compound and synthesized a series of derivatives. We found that the N-(4-phenoxyphenyl)benzenesulfonamide skeleton serves as a versatile scaffold for GR antagonists. Among them, 4-cyano derivative 14m was the most potent, with an IC50 value of 1.43 μM for GR. This compound showed good selectivity for GR; it retained relatively weak antagonistic activity toward PR (IC50 for PR: 8.00 μM; 250-fold less potent than 10), but showed no activity toward AR, ERα or ERβ. Interestingly, the 4-amino derivative 15a exhibited transrepression activity toward NF-κB in addition to GR-antagonistic activity, whereas 14m did not. The structure-activity relationship for transrepression was different from that for GR-antagonistic activity. Computational docking simulations suggested that 15a might bind to the ligand-binding pocket of GR in a different manner from 14m. These findings open up new possibilities for developing novel nonsteroidal GR modulators with distinctive activity profiles.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer among men and the third most common among women in the world. Many diagnostic techniques have been introduced to diagnose lung cancer. Positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) examination is an image diagnostic method that performs automatic detection and distinction of lung lesions. In addition, pathological examination by biopsy is performed for lesions that are suspected of being malignant, and appropriate treatment methods are applied according to the diagnosis results. Currently, lung cancer diagnosis is performed through coordination between respiratory, radiation, and pathological diagnosis experts, but there are some tasks, such as image diagnosis, that require a large amount of time and effort to complete. Therefore, we developed a decision support system using PET/CT and microscopic images at the time of image diagnosis, which leads to appropriate treatment. In this chapter, we introduce the proposed system using deep learning and radiomic techniques.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer among men and the third most common among women in the world. Many diagnostic techniques have been introduced to diagnose lung cancer. Positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) examination is an image diagnostic method that performs automatic detection and distinction of lung lesions. In addition, pathological examination by biopsy is performed for lesions that are suspected of being malignant, and appropriate treatment methods are applied according to the diagnosis results. Currently, lung cancer diagnosis is performed through coordination between respiratory, radiation, and pathological diagnosis experts, but there are some tasks, such as image diagnosis, that require a large amount of time and effort to complete. Therefore, we developed a decision support system using PET/CT and microscopic images at the time of image diagnosis, which leads to appropriate treatment. In this chapter, we introduce the proposed system using deep learning and radiomic techniques.

O Projeto de Extensão Luto e Prevenção do Suicídio objetiva realizar, de forma dialógica, ações educativas, formativas bem como instrumentos terapêuticos e pesquisas para a abordagem e tratamento do sofrimento psíquico relacionado aos estados de luto e comportamentos suicidas, sejam da comunidade acadêmica ou externa à UFPR. A metodologia de trabalho envolve diversos setores da atuação e visa desenvolver eventos e atividades formativas de extensão e ensino (disciplinas na graduação e pós graduação) sobre o tema do luto, suicídio e sofrimento psíquico, de acordo com as demandas apresentadas pelos públicos-alvo: educadores, profissionais da saúde, comunidade interna e usuários dos serviços de atendimento da rede pública e da UFPR ; oferecer atendimentos psicológicos às pessoas que apresentarem demandas, a ser realizado pelos alunos do quarto e quinto anos e do Mestrado em Psicologia, participantes do Projeto e supervisionados pelas coordenadoras; desenvolver pesquisas de iniciação científica, mestrado e doutorado, pelos alunos envolvidos no Projeto e desenvolver estratégias de educação à distância como mediadora do processo de ensino e aprendizagem sobre o tema do suicídio e seus enfrentamentos. Os resultados serão avaliados pelo número absoluto de pessoas presentes nas atividades de extensão, bem como encaminhadas para acompanhamento terapêutico e tratamento. Além disso, o índice válido de avaliação levará em conta o depoimento livre e registrado dos participantes quanto à qualidade de vida após participação no Projeto e quanto à percepção de melhoria da capacidade em abordar e enfrentar o tema, dos atores envolvidos.

We report here development of N-(4-phenoxyphenyl)benzenesulfonamide derivatives as a novel class of nonsteroidal progesterone receptor (PR) antagonists. PR plays key roles in various physiological systems, including the female reproductive system, and PR antagonists are candidates for clinical treatment of multiple diseases, including uterine leiomyoma, endometriosis, breast cancer, and some psychiatric disorders. We found that the benzenesulfonanilide skeleton functions as a novel scaffold for PR antagonists, and we adopted 3-chlorobenzenesulfonyl derivative 20a as a lead compound for structural development. Among the synthesized compounds, 3-trifluoromethyl derivative 32 exhibited the most potent PR-antagonistic activity, with high binding affinity for PR and selectivity over androgen receptor (AR). It is structurally distinct from other nonsteroidal PR antagonists, including cyanopyrrole derivatives, and further modification is expected to afford novel selective PR modulators.

Many drugs are oxidized by membrane protein cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes during their metabolism process. CYPs are located mainly in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes. Recent studies have suggested that CYP substrate drugs first bind the lipid bilayers of ER membranes and then the drugs reach the active site of CYP by way of an access channel. The entrance of the channel is located in the hydrophobic regions of the lipid bilayers. One of the features of the ER membrane is a cholesterol content that is lower than those of other biomembranes. In this study, the cholesterol concentration dependence of the interaction of a CYP substrate drug, chlorzoxazone (CZX), with model membranes composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and cholesterol was examined via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), UV-visible spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Experimental results indicated that CZX can bind to pure PC bilayers in the absence of cholesterol and that, by contrast, a high cholesterol concentration (30-50 mol %) tends to prevent CZX from binding to PC bilayers. Interestingly, the effect of cholesterol on the binding and insertion of CZX was biphasic. In the case of palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) bilayers containing 5-10 mol % cholesterol, the CZX's binding and penetration into the bilayer were found to be greater than those with pure POPC bilayers. The concentration of 5-10 mol % nearly corresponds to the cholesterol concentration of ER membranes. The low cholesterol contents (12-20 mol %) of ER membranes might be the most suitable for the CYP drug metabolism process in ER membranes.

Venturia nashicola, causing scab disease on Japanese and Chinese pears, is one of the most devastating pathogens of these crops. Previous studies suggested the potential role of endopolygalacturonase (endoPG) during the invasion stage and sequence variations of the endoPG gene were thought to be effective for pathological race identification. To reveal the role of endoPG during the infection stage, the expression profiles of the endoPG gene of V. nashicola were examined in susceptible and resistant pear cultivars. In the susceptible cv. Kousui, although the biomass of V. nashicola race 1 isolate increased after inoculation, the relative level of endoPG expression decreased obviously. By contrast, in the race-specific resistant pear strain Mamenashi 12, the expression of endoPG increased significantly until 3 dpi though the biomass fluctuated transiently after inoculation. These results indicated that endoPG may not be a crucial factor in the pathogenicity of V. nashicola race 1 isolates when infecting cv. Kousui. For the second purpose, sequence variations of the endoPG gene from different pathological races were not race-specific, and these sequence variations could not be used for race identification. However, endoPG phylogeny supported the separation of V. nashicola from V. pirina, the cause of scab on European pear.

Against the backdrop of heated debates within and outside Japan regarding Japan’s push for the right to exercise collective self-defense (CSD), the Japanese mass media have reported a series of polls on Japan’s exercise of its right to CSD, with significantly disparate results. In this article, we present one natural experiment and one controlled experiment that show that the disparate outcomes are due to the different ways the options are segmented. We conducted a comparative analysis of two questionnaires, one presenting two options of ‘approve’ and ‘disapprove’ and the other with three options, splitting the option of ‘approve’ into two answers presenting different means of approving the use of the right to CSD. As a result, more respondents chose ‘approve’ when the option was split into two. The result shows that option-splitting expands the respondents’ range of perception and psychological availability, which in turn raises the selection rate. This research implies that inducing the poll results through option-splitting is possible, which might eventually affect the policy-making process in democratic societies where public opinion polls affect policy.

Kleefstra syndrome (KS) (9q34 deletion syndrome) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by intellectual disability, frequently coupled with a spectrum of complex physical and clinical manifestations. As the euchromatic histone methyltransferase-1 gene (EHMT1, GLP, or KMT1D) within the 9q34 region is deleted or mutated in most of the individuals with KS, its absence or defect in one allele is speculated to cause the major symptoms of the syndrome. Most of the EHMT1 mutations are frameshift or nonsense mutations, but two individuals with KS were reported to possess EHMT1 missense mutations. These two mutations have been predicted to cause a defective enzymatic function, but precise biochemical validation was not conducted. Therefore, we validated these two mutations by performing in vitro histone methyltransferase (HMT) activity assay and found that C1073Y and R1197W mutations severely affected the HMT activity. Additionally, the same amino-acid substitutions in mouse GLP induced impairment of in vivo GLP function. Furthermore, these two EHMT1 mutants showed defective heterocomplex formation with G9a (partner HMT) which is essential for their in vivo HMT function. Conclusively, our biochemical characterization clearly demonstrates that the previously reported two missense mutations of EHMT1 deteriorate HMT activity and GLP function, which presumably cause KS.

Linear skull fracture, following head trauma, may reach major blood vessels, such as the middle meningeal artery or sinus venosus, and may cause epidural hematoma. However, hematoma is likely to be missed in the initial interpretation because it spreads only gradually. In addition, the fracture lines that run along the scan slice plane are often missed during initial interpretation. In this study, we develop a novel method for automated detection of the linear skull fracture using head computed tomography (CT) images and conduct a basic evaluation using digital phantom and head phantom that enclose genuine human bones. In the proposed method, the bone region is first extracted using morphological processing of the head CT images. Then, the cranial vault is determined from the CT scout view image. The skull has low-density cancellous bone between the hard two-layer high-density compact bones. Because the fracture lines of compact bones are more clearly recognized as compared to cancellous bones, the bone surface is then extracted by performing three-dimensional (3D) Laplacian filtering. Finally, linear structures are extracted by applying the black-hat transform to the bone surface image. In the experiments, we evaluated the proposed method using digital phantom and CT images of the head phantom. From the experiments using digital phantom, we were able to detect a crack line with a width of 0.35 mm. In the experiments using head phantom, we were able to clearly detect the crack lines in the phantom. These results indicate that our proposed method will be useful for the automated detection of skull fracture in CT images.

This experiment examined if the analysis of beverage taste changes the favorite drink of a taster. Participants blind-tasted two brands of cola, Coke and Pepsi. Those who were not asked to verbalize their reactions to each tended to prefer Coke over Pepsi; those who expressed them were more likely to favor Pepsi; and those who indicated an aversion to both showed no clear preference. Participants found it easier to describe their predilection for Pepsi than for Coke but experienced equal difficulty in verbalizing their negative reactions to both colas. These findings suggest that when people taste carefully they tend to focus on the attributes of drinks that they find salient and that seem relevant to their preferences, leading them to choose the one with these attributes as their favorite.

The swallowtail butterfly,Papilio xuthus, selectively uses a limited number of plants in the Rutaceae family. The butterfly detects oviposition stimulants in leaves through foreleg chemosensilla and requires a specific combination of multiple oviposition stimulants to lay eggs on the leaf of its host plants. In this study, we sought to elucidate the mechanism underlying the regulation of oviposition behavior by multiple oviposition stimulants. We classified chemosensilla on the tarsomere of the foreleg into three types (L1, L2, and S) according to their size and response to oviposition stimulants and general tastants. The L1 was more abundant in females than in males and responded preferentially to oviposition stimulants. Both L2 and S were common to both sexes and responded to general tastants. We found that five oviposition stimulants (synephrine, stachydrine, 5-hydroxy-Nω-methyltryptamine, narirutin, andchiro-inositol) elicited spikes from three specific gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) within L1 sensilla. These three GRNs responded to a mixture of the five stimulants at concentrations equivalent to those found in the whole-leaf extract of citrus, and the mixture induced oviposition at levels comparable to whole-leaf extract. We propose that oviposition is triggered by the firing of three specific GRNs in L1 sensilla that encode the chemical signatures of multiple oviposition stimulants.

Previous studies have indicated cross cultural differences in conscious processes, such that Asians have a global preference and Westerners a more analytical one. We investigated whether these biases also apply to unconscious knowledge. In Experiment 1, Japanese and UK participants memorized strings of large (global) letters made out of small (local) letters. The strings constituted one sequence of letters at a global level and a different sequence at a local level. Implicit learning occurred at the global and not the local level for the Japanese but equally at both levels for the English. In Experiment 2, the Japanese preference for global over local processing persisted even when structure existed only at the local but not global level. In Experiment 3, Japanese and UK participants were asked to attend to just one of the levels, global or local. Now the cultural groups performed similarly, indicating that the bias largely reflects preference rather than ability (although the data left room for residual ability differences). In Experiment 4, the greater global advantage of Japanese rather English was confirmed for strings made of Japanese kana rather than Roman letters. That is, the cultural difference is not due to familiarity of the sequence elements. In sum, we show for the first time that cultural biases strongly affect the type of unconscious knowledge people acquire.

Genes encoding endopolygalacturonase (endoPG) were isolated from pathogens of the Asian pear scab, Venturia nashicola races 1, 2, 3, and 4, and European pear scab, V. pirina. The Vnpgr1 gene of the V. nashicola race 1 consists of a 1,116-bp open reading frame, encoding a protein of 372 amino acids with an estimated molecular mass of 37.5 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.56. The sequences of Vnpg genes from different races and Vppg gene from V. pirina showed high identities (95-100%). The deduced amino acid sequence of the V. nashicola race 1 endoPG showed 63-68% identity to the endoPG sequences of Penicillium olsonii, Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, Cryphonectria parasitica, Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Alternaria citri. The deduced amino acid sequence of the race 1 endoPG was identical to the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the previously purified endoPG enzyme from the mycelia of this race. The results of a southern blot analysis indicated that V. nashicola race 1 (isolate JS-115) had a single copy of the Vnpgr1. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products of the endoPG gene digested with HincII, BspEI, and BsrGI was performed; thereafter, agarose gel electrophoresis yielded race-specific RFLP patterns.

This study tested the prediction that preferences induced by hidden factors would be justified and even accelerated by other factors that seem to be plausible determinants as causes but, in fact, do not have any influence on the preferences. Participants were repeatedly exposed to a variety of product logos of detergents and then asked to choose one from a pair of detergents with different logos. For half of the participants, information on product quality was available at choice; for the other half, only logos were available. The participants showed a tendency to prefer detergents with the logos that were more frequently exhibited, and this tendency was stronger when information was available about the product quality. The participants seemed to believe that they based their decisions on the relative superiority of quality between the pairs as well as their logos. Provided with convincing, but incorrect, reasons to make a choice, the participants were encouraged to select the detergents whose attractiveness had actually been manipulated by exposing the participants to their logos.

Two experiments examined whether appreciating art verbally would aesthetically confuse viewers. Participants were asked to verbalize why they either liked or disliked two different kinds of paintings; one piece was representational, the other piece was abstract. Those who verbalized their reasons for liking the artworks were more likely to prefer the representational painting, whereas those who verbalized their reasons for disliking the paintings were also more likely to dislike the representational painting. While it was easy to describe reasons for both liking and disliking representational art, the same proved difficult for abstract art. The findings suggest that due to its figurative qualities people will be encouraged to generate reasons to describe representational art, rather than abstract art, and that these reasons could potentially be biased and cause them to change their preferences in line with these reasons.

A previously developed current swimming pool for mice has been used to evaluate many food components that enhance endurance exercise performance. In this article, to improve reproducibility, reliability and sensitivity of this assay system, we improved the spout part to generate a uniform current and divided the pool into six lanes to avoid physical interference between swimming mice. The stability of the current flow was assessed by measuring the surface current speed and water volume from the spout part. Maximum swimming times of ddY and BALB/c mice were measured to assess the reproducibility of the maximum swimming time. The improvement in sensitivity compared to the original equipment was estimated under three physiological conditions: low carbohydrate diet feeding, low blood hemoglobin level, and carbohydrate supplementation during exercise. The new spout part improved uniformity and quick adjustment of surface current, yielding an increase of workload in a stepwise manner during swimming. Exercise workload was increased in proportion to surface current speed, as evidenced by cadence of kicks and serum lactic acid levels. The improved swimming pool showed higher reproducibility of swimming time until fatigue (p

Chemoreception is a key feature for selection of host plants by phytophagous insects. Female swallowtail butterflies recognize their host plants using chemosensilla present on foreleg tarsi. We constructed a cDNA library of female tarsi and a genome library of Papilio xuthus. We identified 11 chemosensory protein (CSP) genes and three odorant binding proteins (OBP) genes from the cDNA library and eight additional CSP genes from the genome library using the ESTs as probes. A sequence similarity tree of insect CSPs showed that lepidopteran CSPs constructed big branches of the order. Small numbers of CSPs have been identified from the whole genomes of several insect orders which belong to branches separated from those of Lepidoptera. The CSP gene family of Lepidoptera may have diverged in at least two steps, the first on a small scale and the second on a large scale before and after the diversification of insect orders, respectively. Seventeen of 19 CSP genes of P. xuthus clustered in a specific region of the genome, suggesting that they were diversified by gene duplication from a common ancestral gene.

We tested whether maternal effects have led to the adaptive divergence of strains of the natural hybrid Potamogeton anguillanus, whose putative parents show contrastingly divergent ecologies. To examine the correlation between phenotypic characters and maternal types, we conducted drought experiments and DNA typing using nuclear and chloroplast genes. In the field, we investigated the distribution of the maternal type along the depth and the inshore-offshore gradient. Hybrids of P. malaianus mothers (M-hybrids) and those of P. perfoliatus mothers (P-hybrids) could not be distinguished morphologically under submerged conditions, but differed in drought tolerance. M-hybrids and P. malaianus formed more terrestrial shoots and exhibited higher survival than P-hybrids and P. perfoliatus in drought experiments. The distribution survey clarified that M-hybrids were dominant in shallow and inshore areas, whereas they were almost absent in deeper and offshore areas. These results indicate that the natural hybrid P. anguillanus differs in adaptive values depending on the maternal type. Bidirectional hybridization and heritable maternal effects may have played important roles in its phenotypic adaptation to local environmental conditions.

Summary Background Vertebrate oocytes are arrested in metaphase II of meiosis prior to fertilization by cytostatic factor (CSF). CSF enforces a cell-cycle arrest by inhibiting the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), an E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets Cyclin B for degradation. Although Cyclin B synthesis is ongoing during CSF arrest, constant Cyclin B levels are maintained. To achieve this, oocytes allow continuous slow Cyclin B degradation, without eliminating the bulk of Cyclin B, which would induce release from CSF arrest. However, the mechanism that controls this continuous degradation is not understood. Results We report here the molecular details of a negative feedback loop wherein Cyclin B promotes its own destruction through Cdc2/Cyclin B-mediated phosphorylation and inhibition of the APC inhibitor Emi2. Emi2 bound to the core APC, and this binding was disrupted by Cdc2/Cyclin B, without affecting Emi2 protein stability. Cdc2-mediated phosphorylation of Emi2 was antagonized by PP2A, which could bind to Emi2 and promote Emi2-APC interactions. Conclusions Constant Cyclin B levels are maintained during a CSF arrest through the regulation of Emi2 activity. A balance between Cdc2 and PP2A controls Emi2 phosphorylation, which in turn controls the ability of Emi2 to bind to and inhibit the APC. This balance allows proper maintenance of Cyclin B levels and Cdc2 kinase activity during CSF arrest.

This study investigated ploidy levels of endosperm and embryos in seeds of the hexaploid (2n = 6x = 90) Diospyros kaki ‘Fujiwaragosho’ to determine the possible origin of unusual ploidy levels observed in seedlings of this cultivar. Female flowers of ‘Fujiwaragosho’ were pollinated with sorted reduced (3x) and unreduced (6x) pollen grains of ‘Zenjimaru’ in 2004 and 2005. Embryo rescue culture was conducted with normally developing seeds that were excised from immature fruit harvested in August. Ploidy levels of the endosperm and plantlets from the embryos in the seeds were determined by flow cytometry. In some cases, chromosomes of root tip cells of the plantlets were also counted to determine ploidy levels of the embryos. It appeared that seeds obtained with reduced pollen pollination contained a normal hexaploid embryo and nonaploid (9x) endosperm, while those obtained with unreduced pollen pollination mostly contained a dodecaploid (12x) embryo and octadecaploid (18x) endosperm. These results indicated unreduced embryo sac formation in ‘Fujiwaragosho’. We discuss the possible cause of the occurrence of only nonaploid and octadecaploid endosperm, respectively, with reduced and unreduced pollen pollinations.

G2/M checkpoints prevent mitotic entry upon DNA damage or replication inhibition by targeting the Cdc2 regulators Cdc25 and Wee1. Although Wee1 protein stability is regulated by DNA-responsive checkpoints, the vertebrate pathways controlling Wee1 degradation have not been elucidated. In budding yeast, stability of the Wee1 homologue, Swe1, is controlled by a regulatory module consisting of the proteins Hsl1 and Hsl7 (histone synthetic lethal 1 and 7), which are targeted by the morphogenesis checkpoint to prevent Swe1 degradation when budding is inhibited. We report here the identification of Xenopus Hsl7 as a positive regulator of mitosis that is controlled, instead, by an entirely distinct checkpoint, the DNA replication checkpoint. Although inhibiting Hsl7 delayed mitosis, Hsl7 overexpression overrode the replication checkpoint, accelerating Wee1 destruction. Replication checkpoint activation disrupted Hsl7–Wee1 interactions, but binding was restored by active polo-like kinase. These data establish Hsl7 as a component of the replication checkpoint and reveal that similar cell cycle control modules can be co-opted for use by distinct checkpoints in different organsims.

This study investigated the effects of repeated exposures to male and female targets on trait impressions and the role of stereotyped knowledge for the target's social category in impression formation process. The participants were repeatedly exposed to slides of male and female faces for subliminal durations. For each of 12 pairs containing both previously presented slide and newly presented slide, the participants made forced-choice liking judgments (Experiment 1), trait judgments (Experiment 2) and recognition judgments (Experiments 1 and 2). It was found that participants' attitude toward the targets became more positive, even though target recognition was not significantly greater than the chance level. Yet, when the dimension of judgment was stereotypically associated with the target's social category, exposure effects were obtained for the targets whose social category and its dimension were inferentially matched, but not obtained for the targets whose social category and its dimension were not inferentially matched. Some theoretical implications of the role of social category information in the mere exposure phenomenon are discussed.