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Interaction between odor and taste information creates flavor perception. There are many possible determinants of the interaction between odor and taste, one of which may be the somatic sensations associated with breathing. We assumed that a smell stimulus accompanied by inhaling or exhaling enhances taste intensity if the order is congruent with natural drinking. To present an olfactory stimulus from the identical location during inhalation and exhalation, we blocked the gap between the tube presenting the olfactory stimulus and the nostril. Participants breathed and ingested the solution according to the instructions on the screen and evaluated the solution’s taste intensity. Vanilla odor enhanced the sweet taste in both retronasal and orthonasal conditions when the order of stimuli was congruent with natural drinking, but it did not do so in either condition when they were incongruent. The results suggest that breathing is a determinant of odor–taste interaction. The methods of presenting olfactory stimuli used in this study were compared and discussed in relation to those used in previous studies. Odor-induced taste enhancement depends on the time order of smell with breathing and taste congruency in natural drinking. Taste enhancement was induced by odor in both conditions by minimizing differences in odor presentation between them.

Ships have two major roles, namely navigation in oceans and cargo handling in ports. Various factors must be considered to maintain the safety of ships in all situations, from oceans to ports. The case of ferry ports was already presented by the authors. However, some important factors are still unknown, and thus, a nationwide survey is conducted to clarify them. The first survey is a questionnaire, in which responders point out various problems that prevent the maintenance of safety in ports. In particular, there are many ports with insufficient facilities because of the financial deficit. There are also differences in awareness on how to improve the current situation between the shipping companies (users) and local governments (port managers). The second survey, interviews during visits, is conducted in three ports. Detailed situations regarding mooring difficulties are detected. Those points are summarized with the aim to improve safety considering the standards of port planning under a financial deficit situation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of lexical entrainment while communicating with a conversational agent. We consider two types of cognitive information processing:top-down processing, which depends on prior knowledge, and bottom-up processing, which depends on one's partners' behavior. Each works mutually complementarily in interpersonal cognition. It was hypothesized that we will separate each method of processing because of the agent's behavior. We designed a word choice task where participants and the agent described pictures and selected them alternately and held two factors constant:First, the expectation about the agent's intelligence by the experimenter's instruction as top-down processing; second, the agent's behavior, manipulating the degree of intellectual impression, as bottom-up processing. The results show that people select words differently because of the diversity of expressed behavior and thus supported our hypothesis. The findings obtained in this study could bring about new guidelines for a human-to-agent language interface.

To solve an insight problem, a problem solver needs to relax mental constraints that prevent solving the problem, and to shift a search in an incorrect problem space into a search in a correct problem space. In this paper, we investigate how a tracking stimulus that guides problem solvers' eye movements affects the formation and relaxation of constraints in insight problem solving. We conducted two experiments using an insight task and an eye-tracking task in which participants' eye movements were expected to inhibit the fixation constraints in the insight task. Participants engaged in the tracking task before the constraints were formed in Experiment 1 and after the constraints were formed in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, participants who performed the tracking task were inhibited in forming the constraints more than those in the control condition. In both Experiments 1 and 2, the tracking task affects the participants' hypothesis formation in the insight problem solving processes. In particular, participants who were presented the tracking stimulus found a target rule faster after beginning to relax the constraints than those in the control condition.

Eight yeast strains were isolated from samples collected in Hokkaido after enrichment culture with a high concentration of sucrose. Among them, strain AK 46, which was derived from dough containing fermented cherry fruits was identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The nucleotide sequence of the rDNA spacer region from this strain was identical to those from yeasts used for the production of whisky, wine, and bread. Strain S. cerevisiae AK 46 carried only only SUC2, which is one of multiple genes that encodes invertase, in contrast to the other baking strains, and its sequences were diverged from those of the corresponding gene found in the other strains. In a comparison of six baking strains, strain AK 46 showed lower leavening ability in dough with and without the addition of 5% sucrose by weight of flour but showed high leavening ability in sweet dough containing 30% sucrose. The activities of enzymes α-glucosidase and invertase, which are related to dough fermentation, were lower than those in the other strains. A baking test showed that strain AK 46 was suitable for breadmaking by various methods. Cells of strain AK 46 were propagated industrially and used for the commercial production of dry yeast called “Tokachino”, which is named for the region from which it was isolated.

The effects of dietary plant and yeast cerebroside (glucosylceramide), a major sphingolipid in plants and yeast, on atopic dermatitis (AD) like symptoms were investigated in a mouse model. After 7 wk of feeding with a diet containing maize glucosylceramide, plasma IgE levels became significantly lower and in contrast, the levels of interleukin (IL)-12, which induces cellular immunity, became significantly higher in the AD mice than in the controls. However, the sphingolipid constituents of the skin fraction in the maize glucosylceramide fed group did not contain sphingoid bases of plant origin, such as 8-unsaturated sphingoid bases. The results of the present study indicated that dietary plant glucosylceramide prevented AD-like symptoms in AD model mice via regulation of Th1/Th2 balance. Practical applications: Dietary plant and yeast glucosylceramides have been shown to suppress AD-like symptoms in AD model mice via regulation of helper T-cell Th1/Th2 balance. Glucosylceramide are capable of preventing AD and may be useful in skincare products.

The yeast Lachancea thermotolerans, formerly Kluyveromyces thermotolerans, was tested for the ethanol fermentation of raffinose-rich molasses. Two melibiose-fermenting strains, NBRC 10066 and NBRC 10067, produced more ethanol than eight other strains. The concentration of ethanol synthesized by NBRC 10066 was slightly higher than that by NBRC 10067, probably on the basis of the expression of α-galactosidase. The regions corresponding to the α-galactosidase MEL1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were amplified. The nucleotide sequences of the two genes designated as MELth1 and MELth2 revealed single open reading frames of 1,416 bp encoding 472 amino acids but differed from each other in one base that converted the amino acid composition. The sequences of the 5′-upstream region from −1 to −515 of the two genes are identical except for one base.

The results of our previous study indicated the presence of cerebroside in Saccharomyces kluyveri and related species. The present study was performed to determine to distribution and content of ceramide, cerebroside and acidic sphingolipids in S. kluyveri. Ceramide, cerebroside, inositolphosphorylceramide (IPC), mannosylinositolphosphorylceramide (MIPC) and mannosyl-diinositolphosphoryl ceramide [M(IP)2C] as acidic sphingolipids were all clearly shown to be present in S. kluyveri. Sphingoid bases were recovered at a rate of 74% from the acidic sphingolipid fraction, while recoveries of ceramide and cerebroside, were only 10 and 16%, respectively. The major fatty acid and sphingoid bases in ceramide and acidic sphingolipid of S. kluyveri were C26 2-hydroxy fatty acid (>70%) and trihydroxy sphingoid bases (4-hydroxysphinganine and 4-hydroxyicosasphinganine, >90%), respectively. These results indicated that S. kluyveri has acidic sphingolipids as most sphingolipid classes and major constituents were essentially the same with that of S. cerevisiae.

For clarification of physiological effects of dietary maize and yeast sphingolipids on colon cancer in vivo, we investigated the effects of dietary maize and yeast cerebrosides on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) -induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) formation in mouse large intestine. After 10 weeks of maize and yeast cerebroside feeding and DMH administration, DMH-induced ACF formation was significantly suppressed in all large intestines of these mice. When lipids in the feces of mice fed maize and yeast cerebrosides were analyzed, maize and yeast cerebrosides decomposed by intestinal enzyme and/or microflora were observed. The present study demonstrated that DMH-induced ACF formation could be inhibited in mouse large intestine by maize and yeast cerebrosides. Daily ingestion of these compounds may serve to suppress colon carcinoma in humans.

We have investigated the effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) administration on the leukemogenic potential of L-103 murine leukemic cells. Leukemogenic potential was assessed by comparing the regression lines drawn between the number of inoculated leukemic spleen cells and the mean survival time (MST) of the syngeneic recipients. rhG-CSF injected 2.5 μg daily for 14 days reduced the leukemogenic potential of spleen cells of the leukemic mice to 1/200 of the control. This phenomenon was not observed with the leukemic spleen cells treated with r-murine granulocyte-macrophage (rmGM)-CSF in vivo. Cytochemical study indicated that morphologically identifiable blast cells were fewer in the rhG-CSF-treated leukemic spleen. Furthermore, leukemic cells in the rhG-CSF-treated spleen were less proliferative than the control in spite of having more clonogenic cells in the leukemic cell preparation. Cytogenetical analysis showed that chromosome abnormalities found in the original leukemic cells were not altered by rhG-CSF administrations. It also showed that the frequency of the abnormal karyotype was reduced in rhG-CSF-treated leukemic spleen ( 4 17 ) as compared with the control ( 8 8 ), indicating that the mitotic fraction was smaller in the rhG-CSF-treated leukemic cells. These findings indicate that in addition to the reduced number of leukemic cells in the spleen cell preparation, a reduction of the proliferative capacity of the original leukemic cells is involved in the reduction of leukemogenic potential of leukemic cells treated with rhG-CSF in vivo.

Summary We have studied the effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rG-CSF) on granulopoiesis and neutrophil functions in aged rats and aged mice. We subcutaneously injected rG-CSF or control vehicle into aged rats (22 months old and 25 months old) for 7 consecutive days. counted the peripheral neutrophils and evaluated the functions of neutrophils isolated from venous blood. The peripheral neutrophil count in aged rats tended to be increased as compared with that in young rats (11 weeks old). However, the neutrophils in aged rats exhibited a decline of superoxide anion (O2--) release and phagocytic activity as compared with young rats. The peripheral neutrophil count in aged rats was significantly increased 5–6-fold as many as the control value by rG-CSF treatment, which was accompanied by a significant enhancement of O2-release and of phagocytic activity being restored to normal levels or better. In another series of experiments, we subcutaneously injected rG-CSF or control vehicle into aged mice (24–28 months old) or young mice (8 weeks old) for 7 consecutive days, and evaluated the functions of neutrophils isolated from peritoneal cavity. The peritoneal exudate neutrophils from the aged mice exhibited a decline of phagocytic and chemo-tactic activity as compared with the young mice. These functions in both young and aged mice were significantly enhanced by rG-CSF-treatment, and these functions in rG-CSF-treated aged mice were restored to a level higher than the level in control young mice. These findings demonstrate that rG-CSF is capable of enhancing granulopoiesis and restoring the age-related decline of neutrophil functions.

We have investigated the effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rG-CSF) on hemopoietic reconstitution after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) following lethal irradiation in mice. Mice received a daily administration of 10 micrograms/kg rG-CSF or control vehicle one through 21 days after BMT. Spleen colony-forming units (CFU-S), granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (CFU-GM), megakaryocyte colony-forming units (CFU-Meg), and erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E) increased in both bone marrow and spleen of the rG-CSF-treated mice as compared with the control. This increase was evident during the administration period. In spite of the increase in the progenitor cells in bone marrow and spleen, only a recovery of neutrophils was accelerated in peripheral blood. Thus rG-CSF accelerated granulopoietic recovery in the BMT mice, with an enhanced recovery of the stem cells and the progenitors for erythrocytes and megakaryocytes. These results indicate the potential clinical usefulness of rG-CSF in the treatment of patients undergoing BMT.

Administration of human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (hG-CSF) to mice with cyclophosphamide (CPA)-induced neutropenia for 4 consecutive days from the day after the CPA dosing (100 mg/kg) resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the peripheral blood neutrophil count 6 hours after the final hG-CSF injection. Within the hG-CSF dose range of 0.1 to 10 micrograms per mouse per day, there was a strong linear relationship (r greater than .9) between the logarithm of the dose and the peripheral blood neutrophil count in the treated mice. Using the same hG-CSF preparation, 38 experiments indicated that the regression lines are highly reproducible. Such an association never occurred with intact mice, and 100 mg/kg of CPA induced the highest response to hG- CSF. This linear relationship between the two variables allows us to determine the biologic potency of a test hG-CSF preparation relative to a reference standard using a parallel line assay, with a coefficient of precision of around .2. When assayed by this bioassay procedure, which we have termed CPA-mouse assay, natural hG-CSF and recombinant hG-CSF (produced by Chinese hamster ovary cells) were nearly equipotent in specific biologic activity. These results confirm the CPA-mouse assay as an especially useful assay method for quantifying the in vivo activity of hG-CSF.

We examined whether the conditioned media of 64 kinds of cell lines, which have been maintained by a protein-free culture system, could produce megakaryocyte potentiating (Meg-POT) activity. In these cell lines, HPC-Y5, established from human pancreatic cancer, was shown to have the highest level of activity. The megakaryocyte potentiating factor (MPF) was purified from its conditioned medium by a combination of ion-exchange chromatography, gel filtration and reversed-phase HPLC. The purified MPF showed Meg-POT activity almost equal to human (Hu) interleukin 6 (IL-6) in the presence of murine IL-3 in a colony-forming assay with mouse bone marrow cells. The molecular weight of MPF was estimated to be 33 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Glycopeptidase F digestion and amino sugar analysis of the factor demonstrated that MPF is a glycoprotein carrying at least one N-linked sugar chain. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of MPF was determined to be Leu-Ala-Gly-Glu-Thr-Gly-Gln-Glu-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-Asp-Gly-Val-Leu-Ala-Asn. The same or homologous amino acid sequence has not been found in known proteins, demonstrating that MPF may be a novel cytokine which has Meg-POT activity. Then, we isolated HuMPF cDNA from an HPC-Y5 cDNA library using polymerase chain reaction and plaque hybridization methods. The HuMPF cDNA encodes a polypeptide consisting of 622 amino acids, including a signal peptide of 33 amino acids, and with a deduced molecular weight of 68 kDa, although HPC-Y5 cells secrete a 33 kDa form of HuMPF. HuMPF cDNA does not show any significant homology with other known sequences. The cDNA was expressed in COS-7 and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, and Meg-POT activity was detected in their culture supernatant. The COS-7 cells secreted only a 33 kDa recombinant (r)HuMPF, however, an additional 30 kDa form was detected in the culture medium of CHO cells. The 33 kDa rHuMPF from CHO cells showed Meg-POT activity, but not the purified 30 kDa rHuMPF. The difference in structure and activity between the 33 and 30 kDa forms of HuMPF was ascribed to the existence in the 33 kDa form of the C-terminal 25 amino acid residues. The expression of MPF mRNA was examined by Northern blot analysis using labeled MPF cDNA as a probe. MPF mRNA was detected in HPC-Y5 cells, with an approximate molecular size of 2.4 kb. We also examined the expression of the MPF gene in various human tissues, and the 2.4 kb band was detected only in lung. Then, the immunohistocytochemical analysis and in situ hybridization revealed that MPF-producing cells were identified as lung macrophages. MPF may exhibit other biological activities such as regeneration of the lung tissues.

The human megakaryocyte potentiating factor (hMPF) has been previously purified from a culture supernatant of human pancreatic cancer cells HPC-Y5 (Yamaguchi, N., Hattori, K., Oh-eda, M., Kojima, T., Imai, N., and Ochi, N. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 805-808). We have now isolated hMPF cDNA from a HPC-Y5 cDNA library using polymerase chain reaction and plaque hybridization methods. The hMPF cDNA encodes a polypeptide consisting of 622 amino acids, including a signal peptide of 33 amino acids, and with a deduced molecular mass of 68 kDa, although HPC-Y5 cells secrete a 33-kDa form of hMPF. Human MPF does not show any significant homology with other previously described sequences. The cDNA was expressed in COS-7 and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, and megakaryocyte potentiating activity was detected in their culture supernatant. The COS-7 cells secreted only a 33-kDa recombinant hMPF, whereas an additional 30-kDa form was detected in the culture medium of CHO cells. The 33-kDa rhMPF purified from CHO cells showed megakaryocyte potentiating activity, but not the purified 30-kDa rhMPF. The difference in structure and activity between the 33- and 30-kDa forms of hMPF was ascribed to the existence in the 33-kDa form of the C-terminal 25 amino acid residues.

This paper presents a numerical analysis for the scattering of horizontally polarized waves incident on a conducting rectangular cylinder (cross-section = 2a × 2b) by using the point matching method (PMM). the order of simultaneous equations in the analysis has been reduced to one-fourth by using the four-phase symmetrical coordinate method. This has led to a high accuracy of the analysis even for large values of kp0 (k: wavenumber, p0 = √a2 + b2. This paper presents also the numerical results of scattering electromagnetic fields by a conducting rectangular cylinder lying on a flat ground (x-z plane) which are derived from the two components of four-phase symmetrical coordinate analysis satisfying the boundary conditions on the x-z plane. to obtain our numerical results, we did the following: (1) made comparison with the results and discussions of others on similarities and discrepancies among those results, which have led to the justification of PMM, (2) presentation of high-precision results by PMM for the problems which were analyzed with poor accuracy by other researchers; (3) presentation of scattered far-field patterns by the skyscraper “Sunshine-60” in Tokyo as an example for a large value of kp0 = 84.73, comparing vertical polarization. Lastly, a simple method is proposed to calculate approximate scattering fields for large values of kp0 the applicability limit if shown for this approximation method by comparing those results with the accurate results by PMM.

We studied the effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) on leukemia development and survival of mice with leukemia by using a radiation-induced myeloid leukemia cell line (C2M) with A-type phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) as marker isoenzyme. C3H/He mice with B-type PGK were inoculated with 2 × 106 C2M cells through the tail vein. From the next day, they received a daily subcutaneous injection of 1 μg rhG-CSF or control solution. The survival of rhG-CSF-treated recipients of C2M was significantly longer than control-solution-treated recipients. In rhG-CSF-treated recipients, not only spleen weight but also the number of blasts in hemopoietic organs was less than those in control recipients. While there was a remarkable decrease in bone marrow content of CFU-GM in control recipients, the content in rhG-CSF-treated recipients was comparable to that in normal mice. A reduced bone marrow and spleen content of leukemic colony-forming cells (L-CFU) was observed in rhG-CSF-treated recipients in comparison with control recipients. The electrophoretic analysis of PGK phenotypes of hemopoietic organs indicated the delayed appearance of A-type PGK from C2M cells in rhG-CSF-treated recipients. From these findings, we concluded that the injection of rhG-CSF delayed the onset of leukemia and improved the survival and several hematological parameters by suppressing C2M cells in recipient mice.

The piezoelectric constant of a uniaxially stretched and polarized poly(vinylidene fluoride) film decreases monotonically with increasing temperature in the range from 65 to 165 °C. After a specimen is cooled under open‐circuit conditions, the thermally stimulated current reverses in sign and exhibits a peak at around the glass‐transition temperature Tg. Reversible changes in infrared spectra before and after the poling process suggest that the dipoles in the β crystals of poly(vinylidene fluoride) can be aligned along the direction of an applied electric field. The alignment is strongly influenced by the amorphous region; the coercive field in P‐E hysteresis curve observed at 50 Hz increases rapidly at around Tg. Under a high electric field, the uniaxially stretched poly(vinylidene fluoride) film behaves above Tg in the same way as ferroelectric ceramics.

Hysteresis characteristics, which are similar to those observed in ferroelectric crystals, are found in uniaxially stretched poly(vinylidene fluoride) under a high electric field above 300 kV/cm at room temperature. Various transducers such as stereophonic headphones, tweeters, microphones and phonograph cartridges have been developed with polarized poly(vinylidene fluoride) films. These transducers have quite simple structures because the diaphragms are piezoelectric films and involve transducing function in themselves.

A colony-stimulating factor (CSF) has been purified to homogeneity from the serum-free medium conditioned by one of the human CSF-producing tumor cell lines, CHU-2. The molecule was a hydrophobic glycoprotein (mol. wt 19,000, pI = 6.1 as asialo form) with possible O-linked glycosides. Amino acid sequence determination of the molecule gave a single NH2-terminal sequence which had no homology to the corresponding sequence of the other CSFs previously reported. The biological activity was apparently specific for a neutrophilic granulocyte-lineage of both human and mouse bone marrow cells with a specific activity of 2.7 X 10(8) colonies/10(5) non-adherent human bone marrow cells/mg protein. The purified CSF can be regarded as a G-CSF of human origin and will become a useful material for investigation of regulatory mechanisms of human granulopoiesis.

Mice were subcutaneously (sc) injected once a day for up to 15 days with a purified human native G-CSF sample at a dose of 2.5 μg/injection or with control samples with or without added endotoxin. In the G-CSF-treated mice, blood neutrophil counts began to rise as early as 2 hours after the first injection, reached a level 8 times above the preinjection level after 15 days of injections with marked elevation of all progenitor cell levels in spleen, and returned to normal within 48 hours after cessation of the injections. Such neutrophilia was observed even when endotoxin-resistant C3H HeJ mice were used, but not in control mice. It is possible that repeated G-CSF injections after administration of cyclophosphamide (CY) in mice could accelerate recovery of granulopoiesis with a rather transient rise in blood neutrophil counts.

A purified human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (hG-CSF) was studied for its protective effect on the induction of neutropenia and enhanced susceptibility to microbial infections in mice receiving cyclophosphamide (CPA). A severe reduction in peripheral blood neutrophils was induced 4 days after injection with 200 mg of CPA per kg although the level normalized rapidly thereafter. When mice were injected subcutaneously once a day with 2.5 micrograms of hG-CSF beginning on the day after CPA injection, the reduction was prevented markedly, even 4 days later. On the other hand, in mice receiving CPA 4 days prior to infection, a weakened resistance to intraperitoneal challenge with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was induced. This weakened resistance was dose-dependently restored to normal by four daily injections with hG-CSF. A daily dose of 1.0 microgram was required for complete restoration, although hG-CSF did not directly inhibit bacterial growth in vitro. In hG-CSF-treated mice, morphologically mature neutrophils migrated rapidly into the peritoneal cavities where bacteria were inoculated, followed by a rapid elimination of bacteria from the locality as compared with controls. In addition, the same treatment with hG-CSF was able to protect significantly against systemic infections caused by Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. These data show the possibility that prophylactic therapy with hG-CSF may augment the resistance of immunocompromised patients to infections.

Recently, piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity of polymer materials have attracted attention to the possibility of their application as new transducer materials. The first study of the application of piezoelectric biological polymer materials, such as whale bones and tendons, was done by Fukada in phonograph cartridges. Later, synthetic polymer films, poly(γ‐methyl L‐gultamate), were used as transducing elements of experimental microphones and headphones: however, these transducers were not commercialized, because of their low sensitivity. In 1969, Kawai had found large piezoelectric effects in stretched and polarized poly(vinylidene fluoride) films. The stretched poly(vinylidene fluoride) films exhibit hysteresis characteristics similar to those of ferroelectric crystals under high alternating electric fields of 50 Hz. After being subjected to a polarizing static field of about 600 kV/cm at 100°C for 40–60 min, the film possesses large piezoelectric and pyroelectric constants; for example, in the case of...