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Our aim was to investigate whether hyperthermia before exercise protects against exercise-induced skeletal muscle damage. Two hyperthermia protocols were evaluated. In the first, male ICR mice were exposed to 30 min of whole-body heat in an environmental chamber at an ambient temperature of 42 °C. Heat-exposed and non-heat-exposed mice subsequently completed 60 min of downhill running on a treadmill, 24 h after exposure. Heat exposure significantly increased HSP70 and HSP25 content in the soleus muscle compared to controls. Plasma creatine kinase, muscle β-glucuronidase, and histochemical (hematoxylin and eosin stain) analysis demonstrated that muscle damage was lower in the heat-exposed mice than in the non-heat-exposed mice. In the second, the effect of regional heating of the legs, by microwave diathermy, on the prevention of exercise-induced muscle damage was evaluated in male Wistar rats. Microwave-treated and non-microwave-treated rats again completed the running protocol 24 h after exposure. Microwave diathermy increased the muscle temperature to 40 °C, significantly increased HSP70 and HSP25 content in the soleus muscle, and significantly attenuated exercise-induced muscle damage. Therefore, hyperthermia before exercise increases skeletal muscle HSPs and attenuates the risk of exercise-induced muscle injury.

In recent years, the number of old bridges has remarkably increased in Japan. A periodic monitoring of them is necessary in order to confirm their security. This monitoring can lead to early warnings and prediction of potential problems and help in the planning of the necessary maintenance interventions and enables the damage assessment after earthquakes. Deterioration of shoes of bridges becomes remarkable recently. The shoes are a part absorbing the expansion and contraction of the bridges by the temperature change. When the shoes do not function, various problems appear on supporting beams and floor. In this paper, we describe about the shoe measurement results at the actual field.

Uric acid is the end-product of purine nucleotide metabolism and an increase in uric acid concentration in the body results in hyperuricemia, ultimately leading to gout. However, uric acid is a potent antioxidant and interacts with reactive oxygen species (ROS) to be non-enzymatically converted to allantoin. Uric acid accounts for approximately 60 % of antioxidant capacity in the plasma; however, its contribution to tissue antioxidant capacity is unknown. In this study, the contribution of uric acid to tissue antioxidant capacity and its conversion to allantoin by scavenging ROS in tissue were examined. The results showed that a decrease in hepatic uric acid content via allopurinol administration significantly reduced hepatic total-radical trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP) content in protein-free cytosol. Additionally, treating protein-free cytosol with uricase led to a further reduction of hepatic TRAP content. Allantoin was also detected in the solution containing protein-free cytosol that reacted with ROS. These findings suggest that in the absence of protein, uric acid contributes greatly to antioxidant capacity in the liver, where uric acid is converted to allantoin by scavenging ROS.

GAMMA10/PDX のDモジュール内のプラズマに，水素とともに少量の窒素などの不純物ガスを入射し，それらの非接触プラズマ形成に与える影響を調べた．水素と窒素を同時に入射した場合には，電子密度とイオン束の明らかな減少が観測された．他方，ネオンやアルゴンなどの希ガスを水素とともに入射した場合には，電子密度とイオン束の減少は明らかではなかった．この結果は窒素分子が介在した再結合過程が重要であることを示唆している．

In animals, chronic stress leads to the development of depression-like behavior and decreases neurogenesis and blood vessel density in hippocampus, whereas antidepressants increase adult neurogenesis in hippocampus. Regular exercise training also has antidepressant action and increases hippocampal neurogenesis; however, whether exercise-induced antidepressant action is related to hippocampal microvasculature is unclear. To address this issue, we compared depression-like behavior, blood vessel density, and neurogenesis in hippocampal dentate gyrus between stressed and exercised mice with or without administration of inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor. Chronic stress led to the development of depression-like behavior, decreased blood vessel density, and neurogenesis in hippocampus. Regular exercise training improved depression-like behavior, the decrease of hippocampal blood vessel density, and neurogenesis in the stress state, whereas the combination of regular exercise and administration of SU1498, VEGF receptor Flk-1 inhibitor, canceled the exercise-induced antidepressant effect. These findings suggested that the improvement of hippocampal blood vessel and adult neurogenesis via VEGF signaling pathway is necessary for exercise-induced antidepressant effect.

有茎性大腸ポリープのポリペクトミーにともなう後出血のリスクは, 栄養動脈径に相関することが予想される. 研究の目的は, 有茎性大腸ポリープの形状変数と栄養動脈径の相関を調べ, 出血のリスクファクターを決定することである. 大腸癌手術標本に見られた有茎性ポリープ47病変 (腺腫40例, 腺腫内癌4例, 過形成ポリープ3例) を用いた. ポリープ頭部の横径5.9±2.8mm, 縦径4.8±1.9mmであった. ポリープ茎部の長さ5.8±3.2mm, 直径は2.0±0.5mmであった. 茎部における動脈の最大径は95.7±33.0μmであった. 動脈数は1.4±0.5本であった. 動脈の直径は茎部直径と正相関 (r=0.36, p 0.05). 有茎性大腸ポリープは, 茎が太くなると栄養血管も太くなることが予測され, ポリペクトミー後の出血のリスクファクターの要因のひとつと考えられた.

In recent years, the number of old concrete bridges has remarkably increased in Japan. A periodic monitoring of them is necessary in order to confirm their security. This monitoring can lead to early warnings and prediction of potential problems and helps in the planning of the necessary maintenance interventions and enables the damage assessment after earthquakes. In many concrete bridges, the deformations are the most relevant parameter to be monitored in both short and long-terms. A degradation of the building materials has an influence on both the static and dynamic behaviours of the bridges and can be detected by deformation sensors. Conventional strain gages give only local information about the material behaviour. A complete understanding of the structure’s behaviour requires the measurement of deformation based on long-gage sensors. Therefore, a long-gage-length fiber optic sensor system, SOFO is suitable for health monitoring of the large-scale structures such as bridges.In this paper, we describe about the element test results. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/32

In this study, we have analyzed the temporal oscillations of precipitation in meso-scale zones of Sri Lanka to examine potential existence of periodic oscillatory behavior in rainfall. Only a few statistically significant cycles were identified: a 3.5-year cycle in most of central Sri Lanka during the January–March rainfall regime and a cycle of the same length in southwestern Sri Lanka during the October regime. A 2.1-year cycle marks the northeastern parts of Sri Lanka during the December/April contrast rainfall regime. This cycle is shown to be strongly related to Quasi-Biennial Oscillation. October and November rainfall are found to be coupled with ENSO fluctuations, and on average, more than 900 mm more rainfall is observed per month over all stations during El Nino than during La Nina years. Analysis of relationships between the observed meso-scale rainfall regions and the Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) in the Indian Ocean north of the Equator showed that the northern Indian Ocean can be divided into three particular regions based on similarity in the SST fluctuations: (a) a region with cool upwelling water, (b) non upwelling water, and (c) the Indian Ocean Warm Pool. We found that there are no statistically significant relationships between the observed SST regions in the Indian Ocean and the meso-scale precipitation patterns in Sri Lanka.

Background and Objective: The gingival epithelium is the physiologically important interface between the bacterially colonized gingival sulcus and periodontal soft and mineralized connective tissues, requiring protection from exposure to bacteria and their products. However, of the three epithelia comprising the gingival epithelium, the junctional epithelium has much wider intercellular spaces than the sulcular epithelium and oral gingival epithelium. Hence, the aim of the present study was to characterize the cell adhesion structure in the junctional epithelium compared with the other two epithelia. Material and Methods: Gingival epithelia excised at therapeutic flap surgery from patients with periodontitis were examined for expression of adhesion molecules by immunofluorescence. Results: In the oral gingival epithelium and sulcular epithelium, but not in the junctional epithelium, desmoglein 1 and 2 in cell–cell contact sites were more abundant in the upper than the suprabasal layers. E-cadherin, the main transmembranous molecule of adherens junctions, was present in spinous layers of the oral gingival epithelium and sulcular epithelium, but was scarce in the junctional epithelium. In contrast, desmoglein 3 and P-cadherin were present in all layers of the junctional epithelium as well as the oral gingival epithelium and sulcular epithelium. Connexin 43 was clearly localized to spinous layers of the oral gingival epithelium, sulcular epithelium and parts of the junctional epithelium. Claudin-1 and occludin were expressed in the cell membranes of a few superficial layers of the oral gingival epithelium. Conclusion: These findings indicated that the junctional epithelium contains only a few desmosomes, composed of only desmoglein 3; adherens junctions are probably absent because of defective E-cadherin. Thus, the anchoring junctions connecting junctional epithelium cells are lax, causing widened intercellular spaces. In contrast, the oral gingival epithelium, which has a few tight junctions, functions as a barrier.

We have deposited diamond-like carbon (DLC) films by reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using hydrogen gas, and have investigated structure, chemical bonding, surface morphology and adhesion strength of the films. The film properties have been characterized by visible Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy and scratch test. It has been clarified that the fraction of sp3 bonds in the deposited films, as estimated from C1s XPS peaks, increases with an increase in hydrogen-gas flow rate. The Raman spectra show the G and D peaks near 1580 and 1370 cm− 1, respectively, and the intensity of the D peak decreases with an increase in hydrogen-gas flow rate, which indicates disordering of the amorphous-carbon films. The influence of hydrogen on the structural and mechanical properties has been discussed.

Microstructural changes during the formation of White Etching Area (WEA) were investigated using a rolling/sliding contact fatigue test machine. In particular, interfaces between WEA and retained austenite or spherodized carbide in a high carbon chromium bearing steel have been observed. Fatigue tests were carried out by means of a disk on roller-type equipment. It was found that acicular structures are formed at an initial stage of the WEA formation process. Plastic deformations of spherodized carbides were caused by shear stress in the initial stage of this process as well. Additionally, micro voids were found near the interfaces. Furthermore, amorphous-like structures were found in the WEA. It was suggested that WEA formation is caused by the local plastic deformation of the material. The shear stress was caused by slipping between the roller and the disk. As a result, it was suggested that martensite forms an amorphous-like phase and then changes into a WEA. Cracks developed in the amorphous-like structure/the granular area interface in the WEA and in the Matrix/WEA interface.

We studied the effect of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) on the replication of an isolate of human echovirus 9 (EV9) and the apoptosis induced by it in GMK cells. One hundred microM BSO markedly inhibited the cytopathic effect (CPE) induced by EV9. BSO also significantly inhibited apoptosis induced by EV9. BSO did not influence replication of EV9 genome, but inhibited virion formation. These results suggest that the inhibition by BSO of CPE and apoptosis induced by EV9 may be associated with the impairment of virion formation. Moreover, apoptosis induced by infections of human poliovirus 3, human coxsackievirus B5, A10 and A16, which, like EV9, belong to the genus Enterovirus, was markedly abolished by BSO. This finding suggests that enteroviral infections cause apoptosis through the activation of a common pathway that can be inhibited by BSO.

Effects of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitor (7-nitroindazole), nonselective NOS inhibitor (NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester; L-NAME), and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (pargyline) were studied on 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated mice. The mice received four intraperitoneal injections of MPTP at 1-h intervals. A significant depletion in dopamine and DOPAC concentration was observed in the striatum from 1 day after MPTP treatment. The pretreatment of 7-nitroindazole and pargyline, but not L-NAME, dose-dependently protected against MPTP-induced depletion in dopamine content 3 days after MPTP treatment. Our histochemical study also showed that 7-nitroindazole and pargyline can prevent a marked decrease in the nigral cells and a marked increase in astrocytes in striatum 7 days after MPTP treatment. The protective effect of 7-nitroindazole against MPTP-induced dopamine and DOPAC depletion in the striatum was not attenuated by intraperitoneal pretreatment with L-arginine. Furthermore, the posttreatment of 7-nitroindazole or pargyline protected against MPTP-induced depletion of dopamine content. These results demonstrate that the protective mechanism by which 7-nitroindazole counteracts MPTP neurotoxicity in mice may be due not only to inhibition of nNOS, but also to MAO-B inhibition. Furthermore, our study suggests that the posttreatment of 7-nitroindazole and pargyline can prevent a significant decrease in dopamine levels in the striatum of MPTP-treated mice. These findings have important implications for the therapeutic time window and choice of nNOS or MAO inhibitors in patients with Parkinson's disease.

The effect of both biaxial and uniaxial lateral confinement on fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) plates under transverse impact loading was investigated. It was found that confinement had a major effect on the failure patterns as well as on the mechanical properties of both plain and fibre reinforced concretes. With different types and degrees of confinement, the failure changed from a flexural mode to a punching shear mode or a combined flexural-shear mode. With confinement, the apparent strength of concrete increased by up to two or three times and the inertial load decreased to a small enough fraction of the measured impact load that it could be ignored in the analysis. The ability of the FRC to absorb energy also increased with increasing confinement.

Towards possible fabrication of organic solid-state lasing, enhancement of light-emission in molecular thin films was considered in terms of polarization control by epitaxial orientation of linear π-conjugating molecules, introduction of low-dimensional confinement structures and planar waveguiding in dye-doped sol-gel films. Epitaxially grown needle crystals of vapor-deposited p-phenylene oligomers on a KCl substrate exhibited a polarized blue light-emission, which was self-waveguided along the needle axis, due to the uniaxial molecular alignment. Dotlike and disklike structures of vapor-deposited p-phenylene molecules were expected to be an effective in-plane emitter due to standing orientation of their transition dipoles. Sol-gel glassy films of SiO 2 /TiO 2 doped with fluorescent dyes demonstrated optically pumped lasing based on the asymmetric planar weveguide under multiple inward reflection conditions by controlling their refractive indices of the matrix films.

Excitation and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of both nominally undoped and Ce 3+ -activated SrGa 2 S 4 thin films have been measured at various temperatures between 10 and 300 K. The undoped film shows a complex emission band which appears to involve emission from different defect states. Each defect center effects the recombination kinetics and luminescence spectra in a different temperature region. At 77 K, recombination is dominated by the highly associated defect centers producing an intense red emission band. At higher temperatures, thermalization effects reduce the net capture rates at the competitive defect centers, and recombination through the defect centers at room temperature produces a broad emission band with the peak in the blue spectral region. Evidence of the interaction and energy exchange between defect centers and Ce 3+ activator states is inferred from the rise and decay time measurements of PL emission in SrGa 2 S 4 :Ce thin films. As a result of thermalization, the efficiency of energy transfer to Ce 3+ ions increases at room temperature but at the expense of introducing a long afterglow into the activator decay. Measurements of temperature dependence of PL intensity suggest that the kinetic model for energy transfer in SrGa 2 S 4 :Ce combines aspects of long-range resonance transfer and indirect thermalization from defect states with subsequent retrapping at the activator sites. In addition, possible mechanisms are discussed which may explain the observed concentration dependence of the Ce 3+ fluorescence decay time. Preliminary results are reported for a thin-film electroluminescent device with a SrGa 2 S 4 :Ce, Li phosphor layer prepared by the low-temperature deposition from binary vapors process.

Magnetic properties on thermally sensitized austenitic stainless steels with different chemical composition were investigated. Ferromagnetic martensite phase appeared along grain boundary (GB) by thermal sensitization. As value of Ni equivalent increased and carbon content decreased, the ferromagnetic martensite decreased. The former phenomenon is related to structural stability of austenitic phase, while the latter to shortage of carbon for carbide formation. These behaviors can be explained consistently by considering the change of martensitic transition temperature due to Cr depletion at the GB.

The thermal diffusivity α and conductivity x of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ sintered crystals with oxygen deficiencies δ 0.10 (90 K-phase) and δ 0.35 (60 K-phase) have been quasi-simultaneously measured between 15 and 170 K. The phonon and electron components of α and x are separated and analyzed from viewpoints of both the d- and s-wave superconducting energy gap models. It is found that the enhancement of x below T c , which is commonly observed for 90 K- and 60 K-phase YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ , is consistent only with the phonon origin model under d-wave energy gap anisotropy with the maximum gap 2Δ max /k B T c 5. The phonon scattering mechanisms are synthetically analyzed for both 90 K- and 60 K-phase YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ and the oxygen vacancy is found to be one of the dominant phonon scattering centers in this system.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Infection with Helicobacter pylori strains possessing the cagA gene is associated with increased risk of gastric cancer of the intestinal type. The aims of this study were to investigate whether CagA seropositivity is associated with increasing risk of gastric cancer in a Japanese population that has a much higher incidence of gastric cancer than western populations. METHODS: Eighty one gastric cancer patients and 81 sex and age matched endoscopically evaluated controls were studied. Histologically, 62 cancers were of the intestinal type and 76 were early gastric cancer. Serum CagA IgG antibodies were assayed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified recombinant CagA protein as antigen. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for cagA in H pylori isolates (n = 80) showed that the CagA ELISA had a sensitivity of 83.3% (controls) and 72.5% (cancers). RESULTS: CagA seropositivity was 60% (49 of 81) in cancer patients and 44% (36 of 81) in controls. The odds ratio for the risk of cancer if CagA seropositive was 1.93 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01 to 3.68; p < 0.05). In the 57 H pylori positive cancer patients and their matched H pylori positive controls, the odds ratio for the risk of cancer if CagA seropositive was 2.2 (95% CI 1.04 to 4.65; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that CagA seropositivity is associated with increased risk of gastric cancer in Japanese populations.

Pancreatic islets from DBA/2 mice infected with the D variant of encephalomyocarditis (EMC-D) virus revealed lymphocytic infiltration with moderate to severe destruction of pancreatic beta cells. Our previous studies showed that the major population of infiltrating cells at the early stages of infection is macrophages. The inactivation of macrophages prior to viral infection resulted in the prevention of diabetes, whereas activation of macrophages prior to viral infection resulted in the enhancement of beta-cell destruction. This investigation was initiated to determine whether macrophage-produced soluble mediators play a role in the destruction of pancreatic beta cells in mice infected with a low dose of EMC-D virus. When we examined the expression of the soluble mediators interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the pancreatic islets, we found that these mediators were clearly expressed at an early stage of insulitis and that this expression was evident until the development of diabetes. We confirmed the expression of these mediators by in situ hybridization with digoxigenin-labelled RNA probes or immunohistochemistry in the pancreatic islets. Mice treated with antibody against IL-1beta or TNF-alpha or with the iNOS inhibitor aminoguanidine exhibited a significant decrease in the incidence of diabetes. Mice treated with a combination of anti-IL-1beta antibody, anti-TNF-alpha antibody, and aminoguanidine exhibited a greater decrease in the incidence of disease than did mice treated with one of the antibodies or aminoguanidine. On the basis of these observations, we conclude that macrophage-produced soluble mediators play an important role in the destruction of pancreatic beta cells, resulting in the development of diabetes in mice infected with a low dose of EMC-D virus.

Hyphal cells of Candida albicans bound to human hemoglobin, but not the yeast cells. The amount of hemoglobin receptor was significantly higher on the hyphal cells than on the yeast cells. Only the hyphal cells of C. albicans used hemoglobin as a source of iron. The hemolytic factor was detected in the culture supernatant of the hyphal cell of C. albicans.

A dynamical system with two stable equilibrium points will show a flip-flop motion between the neighborhoods of the two points when it is perturbed by small random noises. A typical example is the stochastic disk dynamo model where the two equilibrium points correspond to the two polarities of the earth's magnetic field. We prove what has been suggested by a computer simulation, that the counting process of the flips or the reversals of the earth's field converges to a standard Poisson process if the time is suitably scaled.

The metabolism of 3 alpha,7 alpha-dihydroxy-25,26-bishomo-5 beta-cholane-26-sulfonate (bishomoCDC-sul), the sulfonate analogue of bishomochenodeoxycholic acid, and its effect on biliary bile acid composition were studied during chronic administration in the hamster. After oral administration of radiolabeled bishomoCDC-sul, more than 80% of the radioactivity was excreted into the feces within 7 days, both as the unchanged sulfonate (38.5%) and two more polar metabolites (50.0% and 11.5%). The half time of the fecal excretion was 1.6 days. In gallbladder bile, the unchanged sulfonate and its major metabolite accounted for 19.1% and 19.8% of total bile acids, respectively. In another experiment, hamsters were fed bishomoCDC-sul with antibiotics to evaluate the site of biotransformation. Even when the number of intestinal microorganisms was greatly reduced, the same three metabolites were found in the feces: bishomoCDC-sul (44.0%) and the two polar metabolites (30.8% and 25.1%). The major metabolite was isolated from feces of the hamsters fed bishomoCDC-sul without antibiotics. Its chemical structure was identified by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as the 15 alpha-hydroxylated derivative, namely sodium 3 alpha,7 alpha,15 alpha-trihydroxy-25,26-bishomo-5 beta-cholane-26-sulfonate. These results indicate that after oral administration, the sulfonate analogue of bishomochenodeoxycholic acid underwent enterohepatic circulation like a natural bile acid and was transformed, in part, into the 15 alpha-hydroxylated derivative and another more polar metabolite in the liver of hamsters. There was no evidence that bishomoCDC-sul was dehydroxylated to a lithocholic acid analogue during enterohepatic cycling.