Low-load Slow Movement Squat Training Increases Muscle Size and Strength but Not Power.

We tested a hypothesis that low-load squat training with slow movement and tonic force generation (LST) would increase muscle size and strength but not necessarily power. Healthy young men were assigned to LST [50% one-repetition maximum (1-RM) load, 3 s for lowering/lifting without pause: n=9] or low-load normal speed (LN: 50% 1-RM load, 1 s for lowering/lifting with 1-s pause; n=7) groups. Both groups underwent an 8-week squat training program (10 repetitions/set, 3 sets/day, and 3 days/week) using the assigned methods. Before and after the intervention, quadriceps femoris muscle thickness, maximal torque during isometric hip extension and knee extension, 1-RM squat, lifting power from squatting position and rate of electromyography rise (RER) in knee extensors during the task, leg extension power and vertical jump height were measured. After the intervention, the LN group showed no changes in all the variables. The LST group significantly (P<0.05) increased muscle thickness (6-10%), isometric hip extension torque (18%) and 1-RM squat (10%), but not isometric knee extension torque, lifting power and RER, leg extension power and vertical jump height. These results suggest that LST can increase muscle size and task-related strength, but has little effect on power production during dynamic explosive movements.

[Thoracoscopic surgery combined with a supraclavicular approach for removing left superior mediastinal neurogenic tumor].

The patient was a 41-year-old female and had been pointed out an abnormal shadow at the left lung apex on the chest X-ray film. Chest computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a left upper mediastinal mass at the Th1 to Th2 level, measuring 30 mm in size, which was suspected to be a neurogenic tumor. Surgical removal of the tumor using thoracoscopic procedure through 3 chest ports combined with a supraclavicular approach was successfully performed. She was discharged from the hospital on the 7th postoperative day. A pathological examination revealed the tumor to be benign neurilemmoma.

Electrical double-layer interaction between oppositely charged dissimilar oxide surfaces with charge regulation and Stern-Grahame layers.

The force of double-layer interaction between dissimilar flat oxide surfaces charged oppositely at infinite separation and with Stern-Grahame layers was calculated as a function of the surface separation under the conditions of charge regulation. The interaction force showed a monotonic attraction with respect to the surface separation, lying between constant surface potential and constant surface charge conditions. The variations of surface potentials and surface charge densities of respective double layers were also presented as functions of the surface separation. When the negative diffuse-layer potential at infinite separation changed its sign to positive as a result of specific adsorption of cations on the negatively changed surface, the double-layer interaction force showed a repulsive force barrier followed by an attraction at some particular separation.

Keyword extraction, ranking, and organization for the neuroinformatics platform.

Brain-related researches encompass many fields of studies and usually involve worldwide collaborations. Recognizing the value of these international collaborations for efficient use of resources and improving the quality of brain research, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) started to coordinate the effort of establishing neuroinformatics (NI) centers and portal sites among the different participating countries. These NI centers and portal sites will serve as the conduit for the interchange of information and brain-related resources among different countries. In Japan, several NI platforms under the support of NIJC (NI Japan Center) are being developed with one platform called, Visiome, already operating and publicly accessible at "http://www.platform.visiome.org". Each of these platforms requires their own set of keywords that represent important terms covering their respective fields of study. One important function of this predefined keyword list is to help contributors classify the contents of their contributions and group related resources. It is vital, therefore, that this predefined list should be properly chosen to cover the necessary areas. Currently, the process of identifying these appropriate keywords relies on the availability of human experts which does not scale well considering that different areas are rapidly evolving. This problem prompted us to develop a tool to automatically filter the most likely terms preferred by human experts. We tested the effectiveness of the proposed approach using the abstracts of the Vision Research Journal (VR) and Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science Journal (IOVS) as source files.

Electrical double layer interactions between dissimilar oxide surfaces with charge regulation and Stern-Grahame layers.

Models of surfaces with intrinsic ionisable amphoteric surface sites governed by the dissociation of acid-base potential determining ion species together with the capacity for the adsorption of anion and cations of the supporting electrolyte are required to describe both the results of electrokinetic and titration measurements of inorganic oxides. The Gouy-Chapman-Stern-Grahame (CGSG) model is one such model that has been widely used in the literature. The electrical double layer interaction between two dissimilar CGSG surfaces has been studied by Usui recently [S. Usui, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 280 (2004) 113] where erroneous discontinuities in the slope of the pressure-separation relation were observed. We revisit this calculation and provide a simple general methodology to analyse the electrical double layer interaction between dissimilar ionisable surfaces with ion adsorption.

Effect of PS-K, a protein polysaccharide, on pulmonary metastases of a C3H mouse squamous cell carcinoma.

We studied the effects of PS-K, a protein polysaccaride isolated from a basidiomycete, on the formation of blood-borne metastases. Experimental tumors were fifth-generation isotransplants of a spontaneous C3Hf mouse squamous cell carcinoma that was weakly antigenic. A single-cell suspension from fourth generation tumors was transplanted, and the tumor-bearing legs of the mice were amputated when transplants reached a certain diameter. Daily administrations of PS-K followed immediately, and both lungs were excised on the 21st postamputation day. The number of lung colonies formed on the surfaces of both lungs was counted and total volumes of metastatic colonies were estimated. PS-K, if administered alone, did not inhibit the lung colony formation. Marked reduction in this formation was observed when five daily doses of PS-K were administered simultaneously with cyclophosphamide. These observations indicate that PS-K may be a potent agent in the therapy of cancer if used as an adjuvant to a chemotherapeutic agent.

Induction of epithelial differentiation and DNA demethylation in hamster malignant oral keratinocyte by ornithine decarboxylase antizyme.

The hamster ornithine decarboxylase antizyme (ODC-Az) cDNA was transfected into the hamster malignant oral keratinocyte cell line, HCPC-1. Ectopic expression of ODC-Az resulted in the reversion of malignant phenotypes and alteration of DNA methylation status of CCGG sites. The phenotypes examined include ODC enzymatic activity, doubling time, morphological change, anchorage dependent growth, tumorigenicity in nude mice, induction of epithelial differentiation marker protein (involucrin), and change of cell cycle position. Comparison of CCGG DNA methylation status of the ODC-Az and control vector transfectants revealed a significant increase in demethylation of 5-methyl cytosines (m5C) of CCGG sites in the ODC-Az transfectants. Ectopic expression of ODC-Az gene in hamster malignant oral keratinocytes led to reduce ODC activity and the subsequent demethylation of 5-methyl cytosines, presumably via the ODC/ polyamines/ decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine (dc-AdoMet) pathways. Our data suggest that ODC-Az shared the same pathway of polyamines/ dc-AdoMet/DNA methyltransferase (DNA MTase). We propose that ODC-Az mediates a novel mechanism in tumor suppression by DNA demethylation and presumably re-activation of key cellular genes silenced by DNA hypermethylation during cancer development. Oncogene (2001) 20, 24 - 33.

Purification and properties of isopenicillin N epimerase from Streptomyces clavuligerus.

Isopenicillin N epimerase, which catalyzes conversion of isopenicillin N to penicillin N, has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from the cell-free extract of Streptomyces clavuligerus by a procedure involving ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatographies with DE-52, DEAE Affi-gel blue, Sephadex G-200, calcium phosphate-cellulose, and Mono Q. The purified epimerase is monomeric with a molecular weight of 47,000 or 50,000 as estimated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or gel filtration, respectively. The enzyme contains 1 mol of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate per mol of protein, and shows absorption maxima at 280 and 420 nm. The epimerase catalyzes the complete 'racemization' on both the L-alpha-aminoadipyl side-chain of isopenicillin N and the D-alpha-aminoadipyl side-chain of penicillin N, so that an approximately equimolar mixture of the two penicillins is produced. The mixture is not truly racemic, since these penicillins are diastereomers rather than optical isomers. The chemical modification of primary amino groups of the epimerase by fluorescamine results in a great loss of the enzyme activity. The activity of purified enzyme is partially stimulated by the addition of sulfhydryl compounds. The activity is strongly inhibited by sulfhydryl group modifiers such as p-chloromercuribenzoate and N-ethylmaleimide.

Immunological identification of soluble carbonyl reductase with testosterone 17 beta-dehydrogenase (NADP+) in guinea pig liver and kidney.

Antiserum was produced against one of two carbonyl reductases purified from guinea pig liver cytosol to identify the enzymes as testosterone 17 beta-dehydrogenase isozymes. Immunoelectrophoresis and immunoprecipitation with the antiserum indicated that the two reductases had common antigenic sites. The antiserum inhibited most of both carbonyl reductase and testosterone 17 beta-dehydrogenase activities in the purified reductases and in cytosols of liver and kidney.

Effect of probucol in lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase-deficient mice: inhibition of 2 independent cellular cholesterol-releasing pathways in vivo.

Cellular cholesterol release takes place by at least 2 distinct mechanisms: the lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT)-driven net efflux by cholesterol diffusion and the generation of high density lipoprotein (HDL) with cellular cholesterol and phospholipid on the cell-apolipoprotein interaction. Therefore, LCAT deficiency impairs the former pathway, and the latter can be inhibited by probucol, which interferes with the apolipoprotein-cell interaction. Hence, probucol was given to the LCAT-deficient mice in the attempt to suppress both of these pathways. The mice were fed low (0.2%) and high (1.2%) cholesterol diets containing 0.5% probucol for 2 weeks. LCAT deficiency and probucol markedly decreased plasma HDL, and the effects were synergistic. Tissue cholesterol content was lower in the adrenal glands and ovaries in the LCAT-deficient mice and in the probucol-treated mice, suggesting that HDL is a main cholesterol provider for these organs. It was also moderately decreased in the spleen of the low cholesterol-fed female mice and in the thyroid gland of the low cholesterol-fed male mice. On the other hand, the esterified cholesterol content in the liver was substantially increased by the probucol treatment with a high cholesterol diet in the LCAT-deficient mice but not in the wild-type mice. Among the groups, there was no significant difference in the tissue cholesterol levels in other organs, such as the liver, spleen, thymus, brain, erythrocytes, thyroid gland, testis, and aorta, resulting from either LCAT deficiency or probucol. Thus, the apolipoprotein-mediated mechanism plays a significant role in the export of cellular cholesterol in the liver, indicating that the liver is a major site of the HDL assembly. Otherwise, tissue cholesterol homeostasis can largely be maintained in mice even when the assembly of new HDL is inhibited by probucol in the absence of LCAT. Nonspecific diffusion of cholesterol perhaps adequately maintains the homeostasis in the experimental condition.

Robustness, evolvability, and optimality of evolutionary neural networks.

In a typical optimization problem, the main goal is to search for the appropriate values of the variables that provide the optimal solution of the given function. In artificial neural networks (ANN), this translates to the minimization of the error surface during training such that misclassification is minimized during generalization. However, since optimal training performance does not necessarily imply optimal generalization due to the possibility of overfitting or underfitting, we developed SEPA (Structure Evolution and Parameter Adaptation) which addressed these issues by simultaneously evolving ANN structure and weights. Since SEPA primarily relies on the perturbation function to bring variation in its population, this follow-up study aims to find out SEPAs evolvability, optimality, and robustness in other perturbation functions. Our findings indicate that SEPAs optimal generalization performances are stable and robust from the effect of the different perturbation functions. This is due to the feedback loop between its architecture evolution and weight adaptation such that any shortcoming of the former is compensated by the latter, and vice versa. Our results strongly suggest that proper ANN design requires simultaneous adaptation of ANN structure and weights to avoid one-sided or bias convergence to either the weight or architecture space.

Chemical robot for enzymatic reactions and extraction processes of DNA in DNA sequence analysis.

A chemical robot capable of performing enzymatic reactions and extraction processes of DNA has been developed. The basic functions of this robot include handling of plastic tubes with caps, micropipetting, mixing, microcentrifuging and incubating. As a result, almost all of the pre-electrophoresis steps can be carried out. In addition, because these processes are automated, the working time of each process can be reduced. The reproducibility of the automated operation is equivalent to that of a skilled operator.

Retinal changes after retinal translocation surgery with scleral imbrication in dog eyes.

PURPOSE: To examine retinal changes induced by scleral imbrication during retinal translocation surgery in dog eyes. METHODS: Fifteen dogs were anesthetized and underwent retinal translocation surgery. After lensectomy and vitrectomy, an intentional retinal detachment was created, and the upper temporal sclera around the equator was imbricated with five mattress sutures. Translocated distances were calculated by pre- and postoperative photographs. At 1, 2, and 4 weeks after the surgery, the retina was studied by TdT-dNTP terminal nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and immunohistochemistry of peanut agglutinin (PNA) lectin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). RESULTS: The retina was translocated by a mean distance of 0.53 +/- 0.30 disc diameters or 959 +/- 543 micrometer. Retinal folds were created around the optic disc in all eyes. Histologic examination of the retinal folds 1 week after the surgery showed many TUNEL-positive cells in the outer nuclear layer, loss of photoreceptor cells, and shortening of the outer and inner segments. A strong immunoreactivity to GFAP was detected in the folds of the retina. CONCLUSIONS: . The results demonstrated that retinal translocation surgery by scleral imbrication inevitably caused retinal folds as a postoperative complication, and the retina within the folds showed extensive loss of photoreceptor cells. It is recommended that the foveal translocation surgery be planned to avoid involving the fovea in the retinal folds.

Microsomal reductase for aromatic aldehydes and ketones in guinea pig liver. Purification, characterization, and functional relationship to hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

An NADPH-specific aromatic aldehyde-ketone reductase located in guinea pig liver microsomes can be effectively solubilized with nonionic detergents, but not with bile salts and hydrolytic enzymes. Destruction of microsomal membranes by nonionic detergents or acetone treatment leads to significant activation of the reductase, indicating that the enzyme is partly latent in intact microsomes. After solubilization with Triton X-100, the reductase has been highly purified. The purified enzyme catalyzes the NADPH-linked reduction of xenobiotic aromatic aldehydes and ketones as well as 3-ketosteroids, notably 5 alpha- and 5 beta-dihydrotestosterones. The reductase activities for xenobiotic carbonyl compounds and for 3-ketosteroids are each inhibited by addition of the other type of substrate and show the same pH optimum, cofactor requirement, and heat stability, indicating the same enzyme is responsible for the reduction of the two types of substrates. Hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, purified from guinea pig liver microsomes, acts as a more effective NADPH generator for the reductase than yeast and guinea pig liver cytosolic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Evidence has been obtained that hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase undergoes a functional interaction with the reductase, facilitating the provision of NADPH to the reductase activity both in the reconstituted system and in microsomes.

Decreases of metallothionein and aminopeptidase N in renal cancer tissues.

Good molecular markers for investigating the biochemical differences between renal cancer and surrounding tissues have not yet been developed. Sixteen kidney samples (clear cell RCC) were investigated to determine the differences in the protein components between renal cancer and surrounding tissues, using HPLC analysis. The metallothionein (MT) and zinc levels were consistently lower in renal cancer tissues compared with in surrounding tissues. The mean concentration of MT in normal tissues surrounding renal tumors was about 15 times higher than that in cancer tissues. An immunohistochemical study confirmed that the expression of MT in renal cancer tissues was lower than that in adjacent normal tissues. The activities of aminopeptidases (APs) were significantly decreased in renal cancer tissues compared with in adjacent normal tissues. An immunohistochemical study and Western blot analysis confirmed that the expression of AP-N in renal cancer tissues was also lower than in adjacent normal tissues. These results suggest that the immunohistochemical detection of MT and AP-N could provide useful information as a pathological diagnostic tool for classifying renal cancer and surrounding tissues.

The carboxyl terminal sequence of nucleolar protein B23.1 is important in its DNA polymerase alpha-stimulatory activity.

The protein B23 is a major nucleolar phosphoprotein comprising two isoforms, B23.1 and B23.2, which differ only in their carboxyl-terminal short sequences, the N-terminal 255 residues being identical in both forms. Both B23.1 and B23.2 stimulated immunoaffinity-purified calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha in a dose-dependent manner. The stimulatory effect of protein B23.1, the longer isoform, was found to be 2-fold greater than that of B23.2. Purified DNA polymerase alpha bound tightly to a protein B23.1-immobilized column, while it bound weakly to a protein B23.2-immobilized column. Surface plasmon resonance studies by BIAcore further showed that protein B23.1 bound to the DNA polymerase alpha-(dA).(dT) complex more tightly than did protein B23.2. The protein B23 isoforms appear to interact directly with the DNA polymerase alpha protein and not through the bound nucleic acid. These observations indicated that protein B23 physically bound to the DNA polymerase alpha and stimulated the enzyme activity. Product analyses showed that protein B23 greatly enhanced the reaction both in amount and length of product DNA, whereas it did not significantly alter the processivity of polymerization. In contrast, protein B23 effectively protected DNA polymerase alpha from heat inactivation. These results suggest that protein B23 stabilizes DNA polymerase alpha that is detached from product DNA, allowing the enzyme to be recruited for further elongation. Moreover, experiments using various C-terminal deletion mutants of protein B23 indicated that 12 amino acids at the C-terminal end of B23.1, which are absent in B23.2, may be essential for the full stimulation of the DNA polymerase alpha.