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This study aimed to develop a proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching system using a low-speed, high-torque motor and to investigate the acute response in hip flexion range of motion by applying PNF stretching using this system. The PNF stretching system consisted of a low-speed, high-torque motor with a rotational torque of 157 Nm, a braking torque of 1470 Nm, and a rotational speed of 6 degrees/s, a lever arm attached to the motor and its rotating shaft, and a pedestal mounted on the lever arm. The system, which targets hamstrings, enabled the subjects to raise the leg in a supine straight leg raise position and perform passive muscle lengthening and isometric muscle contractions by operating an electric motor. The study included 21 healthy male students aged between 18 and 21 years. The hold-relax (HR) technique was employed, in which the target muscle was lengthened step by step by performing three 10 s isometric contractions. The hip joint flexion anglesweremeasured at the limit of leg raising without discomfort before and after HR (pre-HR and post-HR)and compared using Wilcoxon signed-ranksum test. The results showed that the hip flexion angle at post-HR (81.4 ± 18.0 degrees) was significantly greater than that at pre-HR (63.9 ± 15.2 degrees) (P < 0.05, effect size = 0.88). In conclusion, the PNF stretching system, which uses a low-speed, high-torque motor, effectively leads to an immediate improvement in hamstring flexibility.

type:Journal Article

Measurements of sea ice thickness were obtained from drill holes, an ice-based electromagnetic induction instrument (IEM) and a ship-borne electromagnetic induction instrument (SEM) during the early melt season in the southern Chukchi Sea in 2002 and 2004, and in late summer 2003 at the time of minimum ice extent in the northern Chukchi Sea. An ice roughness criterion was applied to distinguish between level and rough or ridged ice. Ice thickness modes in the probability density functions (PDFs) derived from drill-hole and IEM measurements agreed well, with modes at 1.5-1.6 m and 1.8-1.9 m for all data from level ice. The PDFs derived from SEM measurements show that the primary modes are at 0.1 and 1.1 m in 2003 and 0.7 m in 2004. In 2002 and 2004, significant fractions (between one third and one half) of level ice were found to consist of rafted ice segments. Snow depth varied significantly between years, with 2004 data showing more than half the snow cover on level ice to be at or below 0.05 m depth in late spring. Ice growth simulations and examination of ice drift and deformation history indicate that impacts of atmospheric and oceanic warming on level ice thickness in the region over the past few decades are masked to a large extent by variability in snow depth and the contribution of deformation processes. In comparison with submarine sonar ice thickness data from previous decades, a reduction in ice thickness by about 0.5 to 1 m is in part explained by the replacement of multi-year with first-year ice over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves.

Measurements of sea ice thickness were obtained from drill holes, an ice-based electromagnetic induction instrument (IEM) and a ship-borne electromagnetic induction instrument (SEM) during the early melt season in the southern Chukchi Sea in 2002 and 2004, and in late summer 2003 at the time of minimum ice extent in the northern Chukchi Sea. An ice roughness criterion was applied to distinguish between level and rough or ridged ice. Ice thickness modes in the probability density functions (PDFs) derived from drill-hole and IEM measurements agreed well, with modes at 1.5-1.6 m and 1.8-1.9 m for all data from level ice. The PDFs derived from SEM measurements show that the primary modes are at 0.1 and 1.1 m in 2003 and 0.7 m in 2004. In 2002 and 2004, significant fractions (between one third and one half) of level ice were found to consist of rafted ice segments. Snow depth varied significantly between years, with 2004 data showing more than half the snow cover on level ice to be at or below 0.05 m depth in late spring. Ice growth simulations and examination of ice drift and deformation history indicate that impacts of atmospheric and oceanic warming on level ice thickness in the region over the past few decades are masked to a large extent by variability in snow depth and the contribution of deformation processes. In comparison with submarine sonar ice thickness data from previous decades, a reduction in ice thickness by about 0.5 to 1 m is in part explained by the replacement of multi-year with first-year ice over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves.

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is ∼32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene.

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is ~32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene.

Measurements of ice thickness were carried out by a ship-borne electromagnetic induction instrument mounted on the R/V Xuelong during the Second Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-2003) in summer 2003 in the Chukchi Sea. A 1-D multi-layer model, consisting of three layers of snow, ice and seawater, was used to calculate the total thickness of snow and sea ice. The time series of total thickness from 24 August to 7 September 2003 indicates that deformed and second-/multi-year ice floes appear frequently in very close pack ice farther from the ice edge, while thinner ice floes less than 1 m are frequently found in open pack ice. The probability density function of total thickness shows that a major peak appears at around 1.5 m thickness in very close pack ice, presumably corresponding to second-year or deformed ice. Also shown is a peak at around 0.3 m thickness, corresponding to typical level ice in open pack ice.

The 18th IAHR International Symposium on Ice. 28 August - 1 September 2006. Sapporo, Japan., Ice in natural waters grows and decays as forced by the fluxes through the upper and lower boundaries. In particular, the flux at the lower boundary -- i.e. the heat flux from the liquid water body into the bottom of the ice sheet -- is not very well known quantity. This question is approached by measurements and mathematical modelling. The data are from Saroma-ko lagoon, a saline lake on the northern coast of Hokkaido, and Lake Pääjärvi, a fresh water basin in southern Finland. Three-dimensional current velocity, temperature and salinity were measured at a fixed depth, and the resulting heat flux was normally 5-10 W/m2 in both basins, a bit more in Saroma. But even in Lake Pääjävi, which is a rather quiet water body in wintertime (total ice coverage with very weak currents) the heat flux from the water is important in the heat budget of the ice sheet. A three-layer (snow/snow-ice/congelation ice) model is used to examine the evolution of ice thickness and temperature.

The thickness of coastal landfast ice in the Sea of Okhotsk has been examined based on field data and thermodynamic modelling. The study sites were Saroma-ko Lagoon, Hokkaido and Kleye Strait, Sakhalin. The ice sheet has a two-layer structure: a granular snow-ice layer on top and a columnar ice layer below. In Saroma-ko Lagoon the ice grows to 40-50 cm, with snow-ice portion of 10-100%. In Kleye Strait the ice grows to about 100 cm, with a remarkable addition (on average 24 cm) during mid-March to mid-April due to snow-ice formation. A one-dimensional thermodynamic ice-snow model was calibrated with observed data and used to examine the thickness climatology; the snow component takes into account snow compaction, slush formation due to flooding, melting or rain, and snow-ice growth. The model outcome showed reasonably good agreement for both sites. In Saroma-ko Lagoon the calibration was based on four winters. The maximum annual ice thickness was in the model on average 3 cm below the observed one, 16 cm in the worst case; the model snow thickness was within 10 cm from the observed ones in February; and the date of ice breakup was on average biased late by 5 days and 11 days in the worst case. The model simulations predicted formation of slush layers and their persistency for 1-4 weeks in different winters. Climatological simulation resulted in mean maximum annual ice thickness of 32 cm, of which 15 cm was snow-ice. In Kleye Strait the calibration was based on one ice season. The maximum annual ice thickness was 7 cm biased down, and the model snow thickness was within 10 cm from the observed level. Climatological simulation resulted in mean maximum annual ice thickness of 108 cm, of which 70 cm was congelation ice and 38 cm was snow-ice, and the ice season lasted from 5 November to 5 June. Thus slush formation and its freezing are crucial in the study basin.

Austral summer sea-ice processes were investigated in January 1999 during a cruise of the R.V. Nathaniel B. Palmer in the central and eastern Ross Sea, Antarctica. The crystal texture, 18O/ 16O ratios, density and salinity of ice cores and of ice blocks 'perched' on slush at the ice surface were studied. The perched ice blocks had a distinctive polygonal granular (PG) crystal texture and very negative isotope signature that were also characteristic of layers at the top of first-year floes and of layers 'buried' below the surface in multi-year floes. The PG ice is superimposed ice that results from melting in the snow cover and refreezing at the slush surface and directly on top of ice floes. If PG ice is buried after the ice surface floods and the resultant slush freezes, then snow ice forms above the PG ice. The contribution of superimposed ice to floe surface mass balance and some implications with respect to weather and climate are discussed., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Sea ice thickness data and sea ice samples were analyzed to examine the characteristics of the ice thickness distribution and ice texture, and to understand ice growth processes in the southern Sea of Okhotsk. Ice thickness data and samples were obtained aboard the icebreaker Soya in early February, the ice growth season. Ice thickness data, which were obtained with a video monitoring system installed on the side deck of the ship each winter from 1991 to 2000 except 1995, show that the average thickness ranges from 19±7 to 55±23 cm and that it matches the characteristics of a Poisson distribution. Ice structure analysis reveals that granular texture occupies about three quarters of the total ice thickness and that the ice exhibits a layered structure with unit thickness averaging 5 to 10 cm. Stratigraphy and stable isotopic composition of the ice indicate that snow ice accounts for 10% and frazil ice accounts for 64% of the total ice thickness. This suggests that dynamic ice thickening processes such as frazil ice growth and piling up are more significant than congelation growth. On the basis of these characteristics, which resemble more those of Antarctic than Arctic sea ice, we propose a conceptual model for the ice thickening process in this region. It is shown that this model can explain the shape of the ice thickness distribution well, and is analogous with the concept of the “pancake cycle” and multiple rafting of Antarctic sea ice growth and thickening., An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2004, American Geophysical Union, "Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans", Vol.109

We established three transgenic medaka fish lines overexpressing the medaka estrogen receptor under the constitutive medaka beta-actin promoter. The transgenic embryos became hypersensitive to estrogens (17beta-estradiol and 17alpha-ethinylestradiol), and failed to develop yolk veins while blood clots formed in the blood island within 3 days after exposure to the estrogens. The embryos developed normally if exposed to estrogen after an early neurula stage, suggesting that the sensitive stage is before neurulation. The developmental defects were recovered by incubation with an anti-estrogen, tamoxifen. These results indicate that activation of estrogen receptor caused the estrogen-induced, developmental defects. Our results show that the transgenic embryos can be used to assay the blood clotting activity of estrogenic compounds in vivo.