Search

＜目的＞現在、メントールを含有した飲料であるミントティーが多く市販されている。食品添加物でもあるメントールを含むミントティーの継続的な摂取が生理反応や感覚に及ぼす影響を調べた研究は少ない。また、女子学生は学生生活の中で冷えや暑さを感じることが多い。そこで本研究では女子学生を対象に、メントールを含むハーブ（ミント）の継続摂取による効果や安全性を明らかにすることを目的とした。＜方法＞この研究は、専門学校および大学の女子学生を対象とした。対象者は、メントール含有ペパーミント飲料（以下、ミントティー）を１日３回１週間連続摂取した。我々は、ミントティー摂取前と１週間継続摂取後、および２週間後に身体計測（身長、体重、BMI、基礎代謝、体温、血圧、脈拍）温冷感覚アンケート、クレペリン検査を実施し、ミントティーの温冷感覚への影響および安全性について検討した。さらに、クレペリン検査後に、主観的感覚アンケートを行った。統計解析は、15名の時間経過による変化および、ミントティー摂取前の温冷感覚アンケートの結果をもとに、感覚冷感群（以下、冷感群）、感覚暑感群（以下、暑感群）の２群に分類して分析した。＜結果および考察＞データ解析対象者は15名であった。15名全体では、生理応答、クレペリン検査に時間経過による有意な変化は見られなかったが、主観的アンケートでは、「疲れ感」に有意な変化がみられ、飲用前（以下、０週）に比べて飲用１週間後（以下、１週）に有意に低下した（ｐ=0.020）。冷感群と暑感群の比較においては、ミントティー摂取による収縮期血圧は、暑感群では０週に比べて１週、摂取完了１週間後（以下、２週）とも低下し（ｐ=0.003）、冷感群では１週に比べて２週で低下した（ｐ=0.023）が、拡張期血圧は両群とも有意な変化はみられなかった。主観的感覚のうち、「疲れ感」は、冷感群で０週に比べ１週、２週とも低下した（ｐ＜0.001）。クレペリン検査による作業量は、両群とも０週に比べ１週、２週とも増加したが、変化量では、暑感群に比べ冷感群が有意に高かった（ｐ=0.006）。本研究での女子学生は、ミントティー摂取による安全性への影響はなく、冷感群、暑感群で生理的応答と主観的感覚が異なることが示唆された。なお、本研究では、ミントティーの摂取期間中および摂取完了後１週間の身体計測等の基礎健康調査および問診での気分の悪化や頭痛、嘔吐、下痢などの症状に異常はなかった。

We calculate the gravitational wave (GW) background spectra from kink propagation and kink-kink collisions on infinite cosmic superstrings. We take into account two characteristics of the cosmic superstring network: a small reconnection probability and Y-junctions. First, a small reconnection probability increases the number of infinite strings inside the horizon and enhances the kink production, which leads a larger amplitude of the GW background. Second, a kink going through a Y-junction transforms into three daughter kinks. In this way, the existence of Y-junctions also increases the number of kinks on cosmic superstrings. However, at the same time, it smooths out the sharpness of kinks rapidly and reduces the number of sharp kinks, which are responsible for the emissions of strong GW bursts. We compute the number distribution of kinks as a function of the sharpness by taking into account the above two effects, and translate it to the amplitude of the GW background spectra. We first investigate the case of the string network with equal string tensions, and find that the effect of Y-junctions to smooth out kink sharpness dominates that of the enhancement of the kink number by a small reconnection probability, and the GW amplitude turns out to be smaller than the ordinary cosmic string case. On the other hand, for non-equal string tensions, we find that there is a parameter space where the GW amplitude is slightly enhanced by the effect of a small reconnection probability., Comment: 26 pages, 36 figures

We calculate the power spectrum of the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background expected from kink-kink collisions on infinite cosmic strings. Intersections in the cosmic string network continuously generate kinks, which emit GW bursts by their propagation on curved strings as well as by their collisions. First, we show that the GW background from kink-kink collisions is much larger than the one from propagating kinks at high frequencies because of the higher event rate. We then propose a method to take into account the energy loss of the string network by GW emission as well as the decrease of kink number due to the GW backreaction. We find that, even though these effects reduce the amplitude of the GW background, we can obtain a constraint on the string tension $G\mu\lesssim 2 \times 10^{-7}$ using the current upper bound on the GW background by Advanced-LIGO, which is as competitive as the constraint from cusps on string loops., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

Gravitational wave observations provide unique opportunities to search for cosmic strings. One of the strongest sources of gravitational waves is discontinuities of cosmic strings, called kinks, which are generated at points of intersection. Kinks on infinite strings are known to generate a gravitational wave background over a wide range of frequencies. In this paper, we calculate the spectrum of the gravitational wave background by numerically solving the evolution equation for the distribution function of the kink sharpness. We find that the number of kinks for small sharpness is larger than the analytical estimate used in a previous work, which makes a difference in the spectral shape. Our numerical approach also helps to avoid the use of analytic approximations, and enables us to make a more precise prediction on the spectral amplitude for future gravitational wave experiments., Comment: 15pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted for Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

In view of reports of occasional leakage of insulin following injection by patients,we investigated the frequency of such insulin leakage and the amounts of leakage.To do this,we conducted a questionnaire survey and estimated the amount of insulin leakage based on the results of an insulin dropping test.We also investigated different needle tip angles to gauge the effect on insulin drops.In the results of the survey,71.0% of patients answered that insulin“always”or“sometimes”leaked from the needlepoint after injection and that an average of 2.1 drops of insulin per injection did not enter the body.The insulin dropping test indicated that greater needle internal diameters increased the weight of a drop of insulin dripping from the needlepoint.Drop weight also varied depending on whether there was a silicon coating or not.However,it was not affected by different needle tip angles.

Infectious disease caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) often develops in compromised hosts in whom a single administration of vancomycin is usually not effective. We assessed the combined antimicrobial effects of vancomycin and imipenem against MRSA growth in vitro as well as in vivo using a neutropenic mouse thigh infection model. Synergic and additive effects of the two drugs were observed for 34 and two, respectively, of the 36 clinical isolates of MRSA, as determined by the chequerboard method. For MRSA strain N, postantibiotic effect (PAE) values obtained in vitro were 1.9-2.6 h for vancomycin and 2.6-3.5 h for imipenem, while higher values of 2.7-4.4 h were obtained for the combination of vancomycin and imipenem. In vivo, a single administration of vancomycin at 1 or 2 mg/kg or of imipenem/cilastatin at 5 mg/kg produced growth curves similar to those in controls, with a suppressive time of 0 h. Imipenem/cilastatin at 10 mg/kg demonstrated a suppressive time of 3.1 h. Combinations of vancomycin 1 mg/kg plus imipenem/cilastatin 5 mg/kg, vancomycin 1 mg/kg plus imipenem/cilastatin 10 mg/k and vancomycin 2 mg/kg plus imipenem/cilastatin 10 mg/kg demonstrated suppressive times of 2.9, 3.9 and 5.2 h, respectively, indicating that combined administration was effective. Simultaneous administration of the two drugs was more effective than sequential administration. Thus, combined administration of vancomycin and imipenem/cilastatin proved effective for MRSA in vivo. The combined effects seemed to be synergic, since a single administration of either drug did not show anti-MRSA effects at the doses used in the combined regimen.

Phototropin, a blue-light receptor protein of plants, triggers phototropic responses, chloroplast relocation, and opening of stomata to maximize the efficiency of photosynthesis. Phototropin is composed of two light-oxygen-voltage sensing domains (LOV1 and LOV2) that absorb blue light and a serine/theroine kinase domain responsible for light-dependent autophosphorylation leading to cellular signaling cascades. Although the light-activated LOV2 domain is primarily responsible for subsequent activation of the kinase domain, it is unclear how conformational changes in the former transmit to the latter. To understand this molecular mechanism in Arabidopsis phototropin 2, we performed small-angle X-ray scattering analysis on a fragment composed of the LOV2 and kinase domains, which contained an Asp720Asn mutation that led to an absence of ATP binding activity. The scattering data were collected up to a resolution of 25 Å. The apparent molecular weight of the fragment estimated from scattering intensities demonstrated that the fragment existed in a monomeric form in solution. The fragment exhibited photoreversible changes in the scattering profiles, and the radii of gyration under dark and blue-light irradiation conditions were 32.4 and 34.8 Å, respectively. In the dark, the molecular shape restored from the scattering profile appeared as an elongated shape of 110 Å in length and 45 Å in width. The homology modeled LOV2 and kinase domains could be fitted to the molecular shape and appeared to make slight contact. However, under blue-light irradiation, a more extended molecular shape was observed. The changes in the molecular shape and radius of gyration were interpreted as a light-dependent positional shift of the LOV2 domain of approximately 13 Å from the kinase domain. Because the region connecting the LOV2 and kinase domains was categorized as a naturally unfolded polypeptide, we propose that the light-activated LOV2 domain triggers conformational changes in the linker region to separate the LOV2 and kinase domains.

Measurement of myocardial strain by echocardiogram is a novel approach in quantitatively assessing regional ventricular function. We investigated the relationship between left ventricular radial strain and traditional visual assessment of regional wall motion abnormalities.We obtained midesophageal short-axis view of the left ventricle at the level of papillary muscles with a transesophageal echocardiography in 32 patients before and after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. Off-line analysis of echocardiogram was performed by the two independent observers. A total of 241 segments were divided into 5 grades (normal, mild hypokinesis, severe hypokinesis, akinesis, dyskinesis) according to the grading scale of ASE/SCA recommendations. A peak systolic radial strain was determined for each segment with a two-dimensional tissue-tracking method.The average peak systolic strain was significantly different among normal (38.4 +/- 16.1%), mild hypokinetic (30.8 +/- 14%), and severe hypokinetic (17 +/- 13.1%) segments, while no significant difference was observed between severe hypokinetic and akinetic segments.Our results suggest that intraoperative strain measurement by transesophageal echocardiography has a good reproducibility and allows quantitative assessment of regional ventricular function during cardiac surgery. However, the peak systolic radial strain may is less capable of differentiating segments with severely impaired wall motion.

Purpose: To investigate the cleavage stage embryo quality by the correlation between the morphological features and blastocyst development rate to develop a new embryo grading system. Methods: A retrospective analysis, including 216 cycles of cleavage stage embryo transfer and 251 cycles of blastocyst transfer. The correlation with blastocyst development of the embryo cleavage stage, fragmentation and uniformity of blastomeres was evaluated. Results: There were significant differences in the blastocyst development rate between ≥7 cells and ≤6 cells (68.8% vs. 30.7%)

Texture of material for imitation crab leg was characterized by creep/recovery behavior, and the relationship between sensory response and rheological property was discussed psycho-rheologically. The creep/recovery measurements were carried out on compression type parallel-plate viscoelastometer. The constant stress was applied for 300s to determine the creep, and the stress was removed to determine the recovery for additional 300s. The creep data were fitted to creep equation by regression analysis, and the theoretical recovery curve was predicted from the creep response. The requisites to material for imitation crab leg were great jelly strength in plunger penetrafion test and large strain in creep measurement. Material for imitation crab leg (high grade) exhibited small Young's modulus of Hookean body, small Young's moduli of Voigt body, and small viscosities of Voigt body. It also exhibited medium (moderate) retardation times and moderately large viscosity of Newtonian body. Since the strain was extremely large in creep behavior, perfect creep recovery was not observed due to the slight destruction of network struc-ture. In sensory evaluation, the requisites to material for imitation crab leg were large sense intensity of jelly strength and high degree of softness. There was reasonable agreement between sensory evaluation result and instrumental/rheological data.

The rheological properties of fish muscles of five species were characterized in terms of the creep compliance. A slight increase of the strain with time was observed in all species even without any load applied. The size of the linear region, where the stress increases in proportion to the strain, decreased when the loading time was prolonged. After 300s loading, the largest strain value of the linear region for each fish was, 9.5% in channel rock fish, 9.0% in plaice, 8.6% in flying fish, 8.5% in common horse mackerel, and lower than 2% in skipjack, respectively. On analysis of the creep compliance curves, a six-element model was found to represent each fish muscle, while three more elements, two ratchets and a spring, were needed to fit the creep recovery curves. The instantaneous modulus values of the creep compliance of flying fish and skipjack were larger than those of plaice and channel rock fish. Common horse mackerel gave an intermediate value. With the permanent viscosity modulus, plaice gave the largest value followed by flying fish, channel rock fish, common horse mackerel and then skipjack in a decreasing order. These results appeared to differ from the series obtained on our eating experience. It was suggested that our mouthfeel about “firmness” is not based on the difference in the elastic modulus of the muscles but on the ease of biting which is related to the collagen content as proved in our previous report.