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The role of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in the regulation of efflux transporters in the liver and kidney remains unclear, although it has been reported that HMGB1 can increase P‑glycoprotein (P‑gp) expression in the brain. The present study aimed to clarify the involvement of HMGB1 in the regulation of P‑gp expression in the liver and kidney of mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‑induced inflammation. Mice were treated with LPS or LPS + glycyrrhizin (GL); GL is as an HMGB1 inhibitor. Subsequently, the expression levels of transporters, such as P‑gp, and HMGB1 receptors, such as toll‑like receptor (TLR)4 and receptor for advanced glycation end‑products (RAGE), were determined by quantitative PCR and LC‑MS/MS‑based targeted proteomics. For the

Swim bladder tumors were detected in three out of 28 wavy medakas aged about 2 years old, all of which displayed abnormal swimming patterns caused by their spinal curvature. The tumors were located in the dorsal abdominal cavity. The swim bladder lumen was not detected in the region where it was originally assumed to be located, and that region was replaced with adipose tissue. The tumors were non-invasive, expansile, and encapsulated solid masses composed of a homogenous population of well-differentiated, densely packed, gas glandular epithelium-like cells. The tumor masses were connected to the rete mirabile, but the tumor cells did not infiltrate into them. Histopathologically, these tumors were diagnosed as adenomas originating from the gas glandular epithelium of the swim bladder. Spontaneous swim bladder tumors are rare in medaka, with an incidence of 0.02%; however, in the present study of wavy medaka, the incidence was much higher (10.7%). The long-term physical effects on the gas gland caused by swim bladder deformation considered to be a secondary effect of the spinal curvature may be an important factor in the proliferation of the gas glandular epithelium in the wavy medaka, resulting in the higher incidence of swim bladder tumors.

We performed a medaka bioassay for the carcinogenicity of methylazoxymethaol acetate (MAM-Ac) to examine the sequential histological changes in the liver from 3 days after exposure until tumor development. The medaka were exposed to MAM-Ac at a concentration of 2 ppm for 24 hours, and were necropsied at 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 60, and 91 days after exposure. MAM-Ac induced four cases of hepatocellular adenoma and one case of hepatocellular carcinoma in 8 fish after 60 or 91 days of exposure. Histological changes in the liver until tumor development were divided into three phases. In the cytotoxic phase (1-10 days), MAM-Ac-exposed hepatocytes showed vacuolar degeneration and underwent necrosis and apoptosis, resulting in multiple foci of hepatocyte loss. In the repopulation phase (14-35 days), the areas of hepatocyte loss were filled with hepatic cysts and the remaining hepatocytes were surrounded by hepatic stellate-like cells (or spindle cells) and gradually disappeared. In the proliferation phase (42-91 days), the original hepatic parenchyma was regenerated and progressively replaced by regenerative hyperplastic nodules and/or liver neoplasms. The medaka retained a strong hepatocyte regenerative ability in response to liver injury. It is considered that this ability promotes the proliferation of initiated hepatocytes in multistep carcinogenesis and influences the development of liver tumor over a short period in medaka.

This study sought to clarify the involvement of HMGB1 in the regulation of P-glycoprotein expression in the liver and kidney of mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation. Mice were treated with LPS or LPS + glycyrrhizin (GL) as an HMGB1 inhibitor. Further, the expression of transporters, such as P-glycoprotein, and HMGB1 receptors, such as TLR4 and RAGE, were determined. For the in vitro study, we used HepG2, KMRC-1, and a co-culture of KMRC-1 with differentiated THP-1 cells. The mRNA and protein levels of Mdr1a and Tlr4 in the kidneys of LPS + GL-treated mice were significantly decreased compared to those of LPS mice. HMGB1 had little effects on the expression of Mdr1a and Tlr4 in the liver. However, for MDR1 mRNA levels, KMRC-1 was more responsive to LPS than HepG2 cells. In differentiated THP-1 cells after LPS treatment, the levels of TLR4 mRNA were decreased, but were restored to control levels by HMGB1. In conclusion, HMGB1 in the plasma and TLR4 in macrophages are involved in the regulation of P-gp expression in the kidneys of inflamed mice.

These days, computerization of our living environment is progressing, and the home appliances are becoming more intelligent and function-rich. On the other hand, the increase of their functions makes their operation complicated. For such appliances frequently used in everyday life, intuitive operation is desirable for users. Gestures, which we use frequently and intuitively in our everyday communication, can be one of such human-machine interfaces. Until now, many studies which recognize gestures from a sequence of images have been reported (V. I. Pavlovic et al., 1997). A shortage of many of the gesture recognition studies is that the place where gestures can be recognized is limited and thus they are not suitable for practical applications. There is a trend of studies to make a room or some space itself intelligent (A. Pentland, 2000), (M. Coen, 1999), (Brumitt, B. et al., 2000), (T. Mori & T. Sato, 1999), (J. H. Lee & H. Hashimoto, 2002). This approach is effective for realizing natural human-machine interface. Gesture recognition is one of the important technologies for such an intelligent room or space. We are also constructing an intelligent room in which an operator can control home appliances such as a TV set with intuitive gestures (K. Irie et al., 2004). Characteristics of our intelligent room are that, it focuses on operation of home appliances, it allows users to operate without restriction to the place and without having any instrument, and it uses pan-tilt-zoom cameras only as sensor information. In this paper, we discuss three dimensional (3D) measurement of the intelligent room using a distributed camera system, especially 3D measurement of hand waving and finger pointing.

Uptake transporters in brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) are involved in the penetration of basic (cationic) drugs such as diphenhydramine (DPHM) into the brain. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation alters the expression levels and activities of uptake transporters, which change the penetration of DPHM into the brain. A brain microdialysis study showed that the unbound brain-to-plasma partition coefficient (Kp,uu,brain) for DPHM in LPS rats was approximately two times higher than that in control rats. The transcellular transport of DPHM to BMECs was increased when BMECs were cultured with serum from LPS rats. Compared with control rats or BMECs, the brain uptake of DPHM in LPS rats was increased and the intracellular accumulation of DPHM was increased under a high intracellular pH in BMECs from LPS rats, respectively. Treatment of BMECs with transporter inhibitors or inflammatory cytokines had little impact on the intracellular accumulation of DPHM in BMECs. This study suggests that LPS-induced inflammation promotes unidentified proton-coupled organic cation (H+/OC) antiporters that improve the penetration of DPHM into rat brain via the blood-brain barrier., Highlights • The unbound brain-to-plasma partition coefficient for diphenhydramine (DPHM) was increased in lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in rats. • The uptake of DPHM to brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) was promoted by treatments of serum from rats with inflammation. • Treatment of BMECs with transporter inhibitors or inflammatory cytokines had little impact on the intracellular accumulation of DPHM in BMECs. • LPS-induced inflammation promotes unidentified proton-coupled organic cation antiporters that improve the brain penetration of DPHM.

Wavy medakas are medakas that exhibit spinal curvature characterized by dorsoventrally curved vertebrae. We found a spontaneous wavy medaka in our experimental stock and subjected it to a histopathological examination. Macroscopically, the wavy medaka’s spine formed an M shape, and its vertebrae displayed a dorsoventral curvature that started at the third vertebral bone. Microscopically, the vertebral cavities were filled with fibrous tissue, which was similar to that seen in the central parts of the intervertebral discs of a normal medaka. The vertebral joints were composed of vacuolated notochord cells without intervertebral disc formation. These changes were also observed in the caudal region, which exhibited less curvature. In the normal medaka, the intervertebral discs form via the regression of the notochord that plays a key role in the development of vertebrae and disc formation. We concluded that notochordal subinvolution had induced intervertebral disc dysplasia, leading to lordokyphosis, in the wavy medaka.

This paper proposes a method of stereo rectification for stereo camera using two fisheye cameras. Rectification parameters are estimated from feature points obtained from an image of an arbitrary environment. Errors due to deviation of the position and rotation of the left and right cameras are removed by stereo rectification. The performance of the fisheye stereo camera using equirectangular images is evaluated by simulation and experiments. It is shown that accuracy of range measurement is improved by the proposed rectification.

Background data during the gestation period were obtained from 128 Wistar Hannover GALAS rats and 26 Crl:CD(SD) pregnant rats in the control groups of our previous toxicity studies. The body weights of dams in the Wistar Hannover GALAS rats were significantly lower throughout the gestation period than those in the Crl:CD(SD) rats. In contrast, the time-dependent change in the body weight gain (%) of dams showed very similar trends in both strains. The mean number of live embryos/fetuses in the Wistar Hannover GALAS rats was 12.0, and was lower than that (14.5) in the Crl:CD(SD) rats. The placental weights gradually increased with pregnancy progression and reached a plateau on gestation day (GD) 19, although the embryo/fetal weights rapidly increased from GD 17 to GD 21. The embryo/fetal weights in the Wistar Hannover GALAS rats were significantly lower on only GD 21 than those in the Crl:CD(SD) rats. It is considered that this fetal weight difference between the strains develops during the fetal period, but not during the organogenesis period. In contrast, there were no differences in the placental weights between the two strains. Microscopically, the thickness of the labyrinth zone in the Wistar Hannover GALAS rats was thicker throughout the gestation period than that in the Crl:CD(SD) rats.

This paper proposes making a stereo camera using two fisheye cameras. The measurement range of the stereo camera is increased by using fisheye cameras. Fisheye images are deformed by using an equirectangular projection to simplify the stereo correspondence search in the images. Perspective transformation is applied to images so that feature points of far objects coincide in the images of the two cameras in order to remove mismatches due to the errors of intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. The corresponding points are calculated by using stereo matching in the deformed image, and the distance is measured from the disparity. The accuracy of the constructed stereo camera's distance measuring is evaluated by experiments. The performance of the constructed stereo camera is evaluated by indoor and outdoor experiments.

This paper proposes skin color registration using the recognition of waving hands. In order to recognize hand gestures from images, skin colors are useful information. The proposed method can register skin colors simply and quickly because it uses just a few waves of the hand. The method consists of 2 steps. First, the regions of the waving hands are extracted from low-resolution images without using color information. Second, the color values of the extracted regions are classified into background colors and hand colors depending on time series of color images. The color information classified as hand colors is registered as skin colors. The proposed method is robust against lighting conditions and individual differences in skin color, because the skin color is registered as an adapted skin color in each case. Several experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this paper, we propose a method to recognize periodic gestures from images. The proposed method uses a amplitude spectrum and a phase spectrum that are obtained by applying Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to a time series of intensity images. FFT is applied to each pixel of low-resolution images. The method consists of 2 steps. First, the method detects periodic motion regions from the amplitude spectrum. Secondly, the method uses the phase spectrum in the detected periodic motion region to classify the gestures. The proposed method is robust to lighting conditions and individual differences in skin color because it does not rely on color information. Additionally, the proposed method is possible to recognize periodic gestures when multiple target regions, for example, two or more individuals are observed. Several experiments are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper proposes an intelligent room in which a person can operate home appliances naturally by gestures. Cameras with pan-tilt and zoom functions are set in the room, and the system is realized by using image information. Intention of operation and 3D position of the operator are recognized by detecting his/her hand waving, and the cameras are zoomed and focused on the operator's waved hand and the skin color is registered. The hand and finger regions are extracted by using the color information and gestures with the hand and fingers are recognized. This method is robust for the change of skin color because color information is not necessary at the stage of detecting hand waving and the skin color at the moment is used. A target appliance is chosen by recognition of pointing direction by the hand and operations of the appliances such as switching on/off, turning up/down of volume and changing channels are realized by recognizing the number of fingers and the hand's motion.

This paper proposes a method of detecting waving hands from images as a key technology for man-machine interface. FFT is applied to time series of intensity images. The images are converted to low-resolution ones, and FFT is applied to each pixel of the low-resolution images. The proposed method is robust to lighting condition and individual difference of skin color, because it doesn't use color information at all. Experiments show the stability and robustness of the proposed method. Additionally, the method is applied to an omnidirectional vision images and an infrared camera, so as to show the wide applicability of the method.

In this paper, we propose a method to recognize periodic gestures from images. The proposed method uses a amplitude spectrum and a phase spectrum that are obtained by applying Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to a time series of intensity images. FFT is applied to each pixel of low-resolution images. The method consists of 2 steps. First, the method detects p eriodic motion regions from the amplitude spectrum. Secondly, the method uses the phase spectrum in the detected periodic motion region to classify the gestures. The proposed method is robust to lighting conditions and individual differences in skin color because it does not rely on color information. Several experiments are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This study aims at developing a practical stereo camera that is suitable for applications such as surveillance, in which detection of anomalies or measurement of moving people are required. In such surveillance cases, targets to measure usually move. In this paper, "Subtraction stereo" is proposed that focuses on motion information to increase the robustness of the stereo matching. It realizes robust measurement of range images by detecting moving regions with each camera and then applying stereo matching for the detected moving regions. Measurement of three-dimensional position, height and width of a target object using the subtraction stereo is discussed. The basic algorithm is implemented on a commercially available stereo camera, and the effectiveness of the subtraction stereo is verified by several experiments using the stereo camera.

We demonstrate ldquosubtraction stereordquo, a simple and robust stereo vision algorithm that is suitable for surveillance applications such as detection of pedestrians.

We are constructing an intelligent room in which an operator can control home appliances such as a TV set with intuitive gestures. In this paper, we discuss three dimensional (3D) measurement of the intelligent room using a distributed camera system. The room carries CCD cameras with pan, tilt, and zoom functions. An operator makes hand waving and the room detects it. 3D position of the waving hand is measured using the cameras, and then pan, tilt and zooming-up of the cameras are carried out with the 3D information. A hand region is extracted using the color information, and the operator's gestures are recognized. 3D Finger pointing to select an appliance is measured using the cameras. Experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed 3D measurement methods.

We examined the sequential histopathological changes in the placentas from rats exposed to chlorpromazine. Chlorpromazine was intraperitoneally administered on GD 14 at 50 and 100 mg/kg and the placentas were sampled on GDs 14.5, 15, 17 and 21. The incidence of dams with complete fetal resorption was increased from GD 17 up to 20% at 50 mg/kg and 44.4% at 100 mg/kg. The embryo/fetal weights reduced on GDs 15 and 17 at 50 mg/kg and during GDs 15–21 at 100 mg/kg. The placental weights reduced on GD 17 at 50 mg/kg and during GDs 14.5–21 at 100 mg/kg. Histopathologically, in the labyrinth zone, apoptotic cells were scattered in the trophoblastic septa without inhibition of cell proliferation on GDs 14.5 and 15 at 50 and 100 mg/kg in a dose-dependent manner. A decrease in trophoblasts led to labyrinth zone hypoplasia. In the basal zone, apoptotic cells were scattered on GDs 14.5 and 15 at 100 mg/kg, and most of them appeared to be glycogen cells. A decrease in glycogen cells induced the delayed development of glycogen cell islands and the subsequent remaining glycogen cell islands, and led to the cystic degeneration of glycogen cells. In addition, failure of development of the glycogen cell islands led to the impaired interstitial invasion of the glycogen cells, and then metrial gland hypoplasia occurred.