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Macaques are useful animal models for studying the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the development of anti‐rheumatic drugs. The purpose of this study was to identify the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphisms associated with the pathology of collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) and anti‐collagen IgG induction in a cynomolgus macaque model, as MHC polymorphisms affect the onset of CIA in other animal models. Nine female Filipino cynomolgus macaques were immunized with bovine type II collagen (b‐CII) to induce CIA, which was diagnosed clinically by scoring the symptoms of joint swelling over 9 weeks. MHC polymorphisms and anti‐b‐CII antibody titers were compared between symptomatic and asymptomatic macaques. Four of 9 (44%) macaques were defined as the CIA‐affected group. Anti‐b‐CII IgG in the affected group increased in titer approximately 3 weeks earlier compared with the asymptomatic group. The mean plasma IgG1 titer in the CIA‐affected group was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the asymptomatic group. Furthermore, the cynomolgus macaque MHC (Mafa)‐DRB1*10:05 or Mafa‐DRB1*10:07 alleles, which contain the well‐documented RA‐susceptibility five amino acid sequence known as the shared epitope (SE) in positions 70 to 74, with valine at position 11 (Val11, V11) and phenylalanine at position 13 (Phe13, F13), were detected in the affected group. In contrast, no MHC polymorphisms specific to the asymptomatic group were identified. In conclusion, the presence of V11 and F13 along with SE in the MHC‐DRB1 alleles seems essential for the production of IgG1 and the rapid induction of severe CIA in female Filipino cynomolgus macaques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A self-consistent and 3-dimensional (3-D) quantum simulator is described for Si-nanowire transistors based on the Wigner function model and multidimensional Schrodinger-Poisson algorithm. The studies have shown that the source-drain tunneling is a major phenomenon related to a scaling limit of nanowire devices, and the semiclassical simulation has measurably underestimated a minimum gate length.

A comparative computational study on the strain effects in Si nanostructures including bulk, thin film and nanowire configurations is described. First principles calculation is used for identifying the bandstructure parameters such as band splitting energy and transport effective mass and it is shown that bulk Si and Si thin films have similar strain effects on the bandstructure parameters under uniaxial strain.

The effect of elastic and inelastic phonon scattering on the drive current of Si MOSFETs under quasi-ballistic transport is examined. The studies have shown that source-end potential engineering to electrically reduce the bottleneck barrier length has resulted in a ballistic current even in longer channel devices.

The tradeoff characteristics between resistivity and reliability for scale-down Cu-based interconnects are examined. The metal-cap interconnect has shown high reliability along with outstanding efficiency with regard to the suppression of resistance increase due to impurity doping.

The effects of Al doping on electromigration in damascene Cu interconnects is reported. It is suggested that the doped Al affects the electromigration-induced Cu diffusion but does not affect the driving force.

A quasi-Ballistic transport in nanoscale Si-MOSFETs based on a quantum-corrected Monte Carlo simulation is studied to explore an ultimate device performance. It is found that, when a channel length becomes shorter than 30 nm, an average electron velocity at the source-end of the channel increases due to ballistic transport effects, and then, it approaches a ballistic limit in a sub-10-nm regime.

The stem cell properties of gonocytes and prospermatogonia at prepubertal stages are still largely unknown: it is not clear whether gonocytes and prospermatogonia are a special cell type or similar to adult undifferentiated spermatogonia. To characterize these cells, we have established transgenic mice carrying EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein) cDNA under control of an Oct4 18-kb genomic fragment containing the minimal promoter and proximal and distal enhancers; Oct4 is reported to be expressed in undifferentiated spermatogonia at prepubertal stages. Generation of transgenic mice enabled us to purify gonocytes and prospermatogonia from the somatic cells of the testis. Transplantation studies of testicular cells so far have been done with a mixture of germ cells and somatic cells. This is the first report that establishes how to purify germ cells from total testicular cells, enabling evaluation of cell-autonomous repopulating activity of a subpopulation of prospermatogonia. We show that prospermatogonia differ markedly from adult spermatogonia in both the size of the KIT-negative population and cell cycle characteristics. The GF[P.sup.+] KI[T.sup.-]fraction of prospermatogonia has much higher repopulating activity than does the GF[P.sup.+]KI[T.sup.+] population in the adult environment. Interestingly, the GF[P.sup+]KI[T.sup.+] population still exhibits repopulating activity, unlike adult KIT-positive spermatogonia. We also show that ALCAM, activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule, is expressed transiently in gonocytes. Sertoli cells and myoid cells also express ALCAM at the same stage, suggesting that ALCAM may contribute to gonocyte-Sertoli cell adhesion and migration of gonoyctes toward the basement membrane. Keywords: Oct4; Prospermatogonia; Prespermatogenesis; KIT; Transgenic mice; GFP; Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule

Quantum phenomena in semiconductor nanostructures was investigated using particle Monte Carlo simulations.

The epiblast (EPI) is the origin of all somatic and germ cells in mammals, and of pluripotent stem cells in vitro. To explore the ontogeny of human and primate pluripotency, here we perform comprehensive single-cell RNA sequencing for pre- and post-implantation EPI development in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). We show that after specification in the blastocysts, EPI from cynomolgus monkeys (cyEPI) undergoes major transcriptome changes on implantation. Thereafter, while generating gastrulating cells, cyEPI stably maintains its transcriptome over a week, retains a unique set of pluripotency genes and acquires properties for neuron differentiation. Human and monkey pluripotent stem cells show the highest similarity to post-implantation late cyEPI, which, despite co-existing with gastrulating cells, bears characteristics of pre-gastrulating mouse EPI and epiblast-like cells in vitro. These findings not only reveal the divergence and coherence of EPI development, but also identify a developmental coordinate of the spectrum of pluripotency among key species, providing a basis for better regulation of human pluripotency in vitro., Author(s): Tomonori Nakamura [1, 2]; Ikuhiro Okamoto [1, 2]; Kotaro Sasaki [1, 2]; Yukihiro Yabuta [1, 2]; Chizuru Iwatani [3]; Hideaki Tsuchiya [3]; Yasunari Seita [3]; Shinichiro Nakamura [3]; Takuya [...]

Research ws conducted to characterize a quantum kinetic equation for the Wagner distribution function based on the nonequilibriuim Green's function technique, and its application to high-temperature quantum transport in nanostructure devices. The Wigner distribution function was defined as the frequency-integral of the nonequilibrium Green's function. Moreover, scattering term in the quantum transport equation was determined by the spectral function associated with collisional broadening effects.

A quantum mechanical model based on the Wigner function explains carrier transport in separate confinement hetero-quantum well laser. The injected electrons and holes in the single quantum-well active layer have unequal concentrations. Heavy-hole density profiles are simulated for the two wells. Solutions are obtained for the quantum Liouville equations associated with the Wigner functions for electron, heavy-hole and light-hole.