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BACKGROUND Studies on the acute management of extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants reveal a high incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in infants with high-grade internal cerebral vein perfusion waveform fluctuations. In this prospective observational study we investigated the Doppler perfusion waveform fluctuations in the great cerebral vein, straight sinus, and internal cerebral veins of ELBW infants. METHODS We evaluated perfusion waveforms after birth every 12 h until 120 h in 73 ELBW infants (

Higher concentrations of acetone are typically detected in the air exhaled by patients suffering from diabetes; therefore, the breath acetone concentration could be expected to act as a non-invasive biomarker for diabetes. Here, an analytical chip was developed for the detection of gaseous acetone. This chip was composed of porous glass impregnated with 4-nitrophenylhydrazine (4-NPH). After exposure to an acetone atmosphere, the chip exhibited specific absorption peaks at 256 and 390 nm that were attributed to the 4-NPH acetone derivative (Acetone-4-NPH). Additionally, it was found that the absorbances at 256 and 390 nm increased upon increasing both the acetone concentration and the exposure time. The chip worked cumulatively and could detect gaseous acetone using the absorbance at either 256 or 390 nm, in addition to the exposure time. It was also found that the chip turned yellow after exposure to an acetone atmosphere. Colorimetric analysis using the RGB values obtained from photographic images of the chip showed a negative correlation between the absorbance at 390 nm and the B/G value. This allowed us to estimate gaseous acetone concentrations using color variations in the analytical chip.

BACKGROUND There is a high incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage in extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) infants of low gestational age with high-grade fluctuations in the perfusion waveform of the internal cerebral vein. This study investigated changes in the hemodynamic status of ELBW infants during initial strong fluctuations in the perfusion waveform of the internal cerebral vein. METHODS We evaluated the perfusion waveform of the internal cerebral vein in 192 ELBW infants from birth, every 8 h for a total of 120 h. Sixty-seven infants had high-grade fluctuations. On the basis of the presence of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), patients were subdivided into PDA(-) (n = 32) and PDA(+) (n = 35) groups. RESULTS During the first high-grade fluctuation, the PDA(-) group had significant increases in systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure (P

This prospective observational study aimed to investigate the association between changes in the Doppler perfusion waveform of the internal cerebral vein and risk of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW) infants. We evaluated the perfusion waveform of the internal cerebral vein every 8 h from immediately after birth to 144 h post-birth in 80 ELBW infants (

Background and Objective: Recent studies have shown that bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) stimulates mineralization and osteoclast differentiation. Osteoclastic resorption by BMP-2 application may play an important role in the regulation of new cementum-like tissue formation on the dentin surfaces. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of BMP-2 application on dentin resorption and cementum-like tissue formation at the dentin surfaces. Material and Methods: Seventy-two flat dentin blocks were prepared from rat roots and treated with 24% EDTA. Each block was assigned to group 0, group 100, or group 400, and immersed correspondingly in 0, 100, or 400 µg/ml BMP-2. The dentin blocks were then implanted into palatal connective tissue of rats, and specimens were prepared 2, 4 and 8 wk after surgery for histologic and histomorphometric analyses. Results: BMP-2 caused a dose-dependent increase in dentin resorption by osteoclastic cells. New cementum-like tissue was randomly formed on parts of the nonresorbed and resorbed dentin surfaces in groups 100 and 400. Dentin resorption in groups 100 and 400 was significantly greater than group 0 (p

A tylosin-producer, Streptomyces fradiae, was transformed with plasmids carrying genes from Streptomyces thermotolerans that are involved in acyl modification of macrolide antibiotics. A transformant with pMAB3, in which macrolide 4"-O-acyltransferase gene (acyB1) and its regulatory gene (acyB2) are subcloned, produced several types of 4"-O-acyltylosins. A transformant with pAB11 delta EH containing macrolide 3-O-acyltransferase gene (acyA) in addition to the above two genes produced 3-O-acetyltylosin and 3-O-acetyl-4"-O-acyltylosins. Among the products of the latter transformant, 3-O-acetyl-4"-O-isovaleryltylosin (AIV) was detected as a minor component. When L-leucine, a precursor of isovaleryl-CoA, was added to the medium at the late stage of the fermentation, AIV content among the total macrolides increased ten-fold and AIV became a main product. This fact suggests that a high level of endogenous isovaleryl-CoA may be essential for the selective production of AIV by S. fradiae carrying pAB11 delta EH.

The biosynthesis of pyralomicin la (1) was studied by feeding of 13 C and 15 N labeled compounds to the culture of Microtetraspora spiralis MI178-34F18. The result indicated that the benzopyranopyrrole unit of 1 was derived from two units of acetate, one unit of propionate and one unit of proline, and that the cyclitol unit of 1 was derived from glucose metabolites. And 4'-O-CH 3 was derived from the S-CH 3 group of methionine.

We studied complexes composed of C1q and beta 2-microglobulin (C1q.beta 2M) or serum amyloid P-component (C1q.SAP) in the sera of 38 patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) and 20 healthy control subjects using an enzyme-linked immunoassay. We also compared complex levels in HD patients with and without symptoms of HD-associated amyloidosis (HA). Serum C1q-beta 2M levels were significantly higher in HD patients without HA than in healthy control subjects and significantly higher in HD patients with HA than in HD patients without HA. Serum C1q.SAP levels were significantly lower in patients with HA than in those without HA. These results suggest that C1q.beta 2M may contribute to HA.

A gene encoding the macrolide modification enzyme 3-O-acyltransferase (acyA) was cloned by chromosome walking onto the carbomycin biosynthetic region in Streptomyces thermotolerans TH475, with the 3' region of the gene encoding the macrolide modification enzyme 4"-O-acyltransferase (acyB1) as a probe. A shortened fragment (1.8 kb) containing acyA was subcloned with pIJ350. A high-level tylosin producer, Streptomyces fradiae MBBF, transformed with the plasmid could produce a hybrid macrolide, 3-O-acetyltylosin, most efficiently.

A DNA fragment responsible for the 4''-O-acylation of macrolide antibiotics was cloned from a mutant strain of the carbomycin producer Streptomyces thermotolerans. The gene encoding the macrolide 4''-O-acyltransferase was within a 2.7-kb region of the cloned fragment (15-kb). Streptomyces lividans carrying the region converted exogenously added tylosin to 4''-O-acyltylosins. Nucleotide sequencing of the region showed two open reading frames (ORFs). Expression assay using deleted plasmids showed that both ORFs were essential for optimal expression of the acyltransferase activity. One of them (acyB1) was identical with carE reported previously as a gene encoding 4''-mycarosyl isovaleryl-CoA transferase. The other (acyB2) was assumed to encode a novel regulatory protein that could active acyB1 expression. acyB1 and acyB2 were highly conserved among streptomycetes with macrolide 4''-O-acyl transferase activity.

正常血清に種々の濃度で熱変性IgG (HAG)を添加して37°Cでインキュベーションし, C1q固相法と抗C1q抗体法で免疫複合体(IC)を測定すると同時に, C1活性化の指標となる(C〓-C〓) C〓inhibitor2 complexの変動を観察した.C1q固相法によるIC値は, HAG添加後経時的に低下し,抗C1q抗体法によるIC値と(C〓-C〓) C〓inhibitor2 complex値はHAG添加後経時的に増加した. C1q固相法と抗C1q抗体法によって測定されるIC値は, C1活性化の面において明らかな相違があり, C1とHAGの結合に続いてC1の活性化が起きたことが明確に示された.この実験結果から免疫複合体疾患において,両測定法でIC値を測定することにより, ICと疾患の活動性や病因とのかかわりがより明確に理解されると思われた.抗C1q抗体法によるICのみが持続的に陽性のITP症例では,ステロイド治療によりIC値と(C〓-C〓) C〓inhibitor2 complex値および血小板表面IgGが低下し,血小板数とCH50が回復する経過が観察された.

Stresgenin B was isolated as an inhibitor of heat-induced heat shock protein (HSP) gene expression from a culture broth of Streptomyces sp. AS-9 by silica gel chromatography and HPLC. The molecular formula of the novel compound was determined as C11H13NO5 by high resolution FAB-MS analysis, and the structure was determined by UV, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY spectra. Stresgenin B inhibited heat-induced luciferase reporter-gene expression directed by the human hsp70B promoter in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells at concentrations lower than the concentrations for inhibition of dexamethasone-induced luciferase reporter-gene expression directed by the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-LTR promoter. The inhibition of heat-induced reporter gene expression was evident even when cells were exposed to stresgenin B only during heat stress treatment. Moreover, the compound inhibited heat-induced syntheses of hsp72/73, hsp90, and hsp110 and thereby suppressed the induction of thermotolerance. Stresgenin B showed moderate cytotoxic activities against several neoplastic cell lines and also showed antibacterial activities against Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus strains.

Deficiency of Fas-mediated apoptosis is one of the mechanisms involved in the immune evasion by tumors. Thus, it might be a practical approach for cancer treatment that Fas-mediated apoptosis in tumor cells is modified by drugs. In the course of screening, we have isolated two new naphthoquinones, f13102A and B, from the culture broth of fungus strain F-13102. Coumpound f13102A sensitizes Fas-resistant human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells to apoptosis.

Seven new macrolides having a 12-membered ring, which we termed pladienolides, were isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces platensis Mer-11107. Six of the seven pladienolides inhibited hypoxia-induced reporter gene expression controlled by human VEGF promoter with IC50 values of 0.0018-2.89 microM. They also demonstrated growth-inhibitory activity against U251 human glioma cells in vitro. Pladienolides are highly potent inhibitors of both hypoxia signals and cancer cell proliferation, and thus may be useful as antitumor agents.

In the course of our screening using fermented broth from soil microorganisms, novel metabolites (pladienolides), possessing inhibitory activity against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and cancer cell proliferation, were isolated from Streptomyces platensis Mer-11107. Pladienolides A (1), B (2), C (3), D (4), E (5), F (6), and G (7) were found to be novel 12-membered macrolides by spectroscopic studies including 1H, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, and NOE experiments. Pladienolides are unusual 12-membered macrolides having a long side chain at the carbon that bears a lactone oxygen.

Stresgenin B was isolated as an inhibitor of heat-induced heat shock protein (HSP) gene expression from a culture broth of Streptomyces sp. AS-9 by silica gel chromatography and HPLC. The molecular formula of the novel compound was determined as C11H13NO5 by high resolution FAB-MS analysis, and the structure was determined by UV, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY spectra. Stresgenin B inhibited heat-induced luciferase reporter-gene expression directed by the human hsp70B promoter in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells at concentrations lower than the concentrations for inhibition of dexamethasone-induced luciferase reporter-gene expression directed by the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-LTR promoter. The inhibition of heat-induced reporter gene expression was evident even when cells were exposed to stresgenin B only during heat stress treatment. Moreover, the compound inhibited heat-induced syntheses of hsp72/73, hsp90, and hsp110 and thereby suppressed the induction of thermotolerance. Stresgenin B showed moderate cytotoxic activities against several neoplastic cell lines and also showed antibacterial activities against Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus strains.

In case of encoding a multi-alphabet source, the multi-alphabet symbol sequence can b encoded directly by a multi-alphabet arithmetic encoder, or the sequence can be first converted into several binary sequences and then each binarysequence is encoded by binary arithmetic encoder, such as the L-R arithmetic coder. Arithmetic coding, however, requiresarithmetic operations for each symbol and is computationally heavy. In this paper, a binary representation method usingHuffman tree is introduced to reduce the number of arithmetic operations, and a new probability approximation for L-Rarithmetic coding is further proposed to improve the coding efficiency when the probability of LPS(Least Probable Symbol)is near 0.5. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme has high coding efficiency and can reduce the number ofcoding symbols.Keywords: Source coding, Arithmetic coding, Binary representation

電子衝撃による陰イオン質量スペクトルについて検討した.陰イオン強度はきわめて弱いのでイオン源にはGiese型,イオン電流の測定には2次電子増倍管を用いた.電子加速電圧140eVでガスだめの中の試料圧が約50μHg以下の場合,イオン強度は試料圧に比例した.このような条件下で,無機ガス類,炭化水素類,アルコール類,エステル類,アミン類,メルカプタン類などの陰イオン質量スペクトルを測定した.この結果,電気陰性度の強い原子を含むフラグメントイオンは,ほかのイオンより感度が高く,特徴のある質量を示すからその存在の確認および識別は容易であった.反面同じ官能基をもつ有機化合物のスペクトルは互いによく似ているので,個々の化合物の同定は困難であった.陰イオン質量スペクトルによる混合ガスの分析は陽イオン質量スペクトルの場合と同様になしうることがわかった.

都市ガス,天然ガスなどの無機有機混合ガスのガスクロマトグラフィーに関する報文は多数あるが,いずれも2種以上のカラムを必要としていた.そこで著者らは,昇温法を用いた1種のカラムによる全成分の一斉分離について,その可能性を検討した.昇温法として,ステンレス製カラムに直接電流を流して加熱昇温する段階昇温法を用いた.カラムは活性アルミナーカーボワックス20M(2%,2m×4mmφ)およびPorapak-Q(2m×3mmφ)が適当で,n-ブタンまで15分以内に分離溶出させることができた.定圧法を用いた段階昇温法の再現性,直線性は良好であった.

In general, Laser Beam Printer based on electrophotography is known as a high speed and a high quality output printer. We have developed a new Color Laser Printing System, which consists of 400dpi Color Scanner, Image Processing Unit, and a high quality 400dpi printer. Color Scanner scannes an original image and get 8- bits Red, Green and Blue color image data by CCD sensors. Image Processing Unit processes and converts the RGB data to YMC binary image data to output a laser electrophotographic image by the Printer . The new image processing technology reproduces high quality image output for several kinds of images such as text, halftone dot and photographic images. The algorithm of this image restoration forces edge enhancement only in the region of text and line - art, and forces low - pass filtering in halftone dot region in accordance with the information of image characteristics detecting both edge area and halftone area. We have obtained high quality binary color images by this system. Some print samples processed by the system are compared with those by conventional method.