Isotropy of Cosmic Rays beyond 10

We report an estimation of the injected mass composition of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies higher than 10 EeV. The composition is inferred from an energy-dependent sky distribution of UHECR events observed by the Telescope Array surface detector by comparing it to the Large Scale Structure of the local Universe. In the case of negligible extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMFs), the results are consistent with a relatively heavy injected composition at E∼10 EeV that becomes lighter up to E∼100 EeV, while the composition at E>100 EeV is very heavy. The latter is true even in the presence of highest experimentally allowed extragalactic magnetic fields, while the composition at lower energies can be light if a strong EGMF is present. The effect of the uncertainty in the galactic magnetic field on these results is subdominant.

An extremely energetic cosmic ray observed by a surface detector array.

Cosmic rays are energetic charged particles from extraterrestrial sources, with the highest-energy events thought to come from extragalactic sources. Their arrival is infrequent, so detection requires instruments with large collecting areas. In this work, we report the detection of an extremely energetic particle recorded by the surface detector array of the Telescope Array experiment. We calculate the particle's energy as [Formula: see text] (~40 joules). Its arrival direction points back to a void in the large-scale structure of the Universe. Possible explanations include a large deflection by the foreground magnetic field, an unidentified source in the local extragalactic neighborhood, or an incomplete knowledge of particle physics.

The "vesicle in a basket". A morphological study of the coated vesicle isolated from the nerve endings of the guinea pig brain, with special reference to the mechanism of membrane movements.

Five points are discussed regarding the vesicular structure isolated by fractionation techniques from the brain and liver of the guinea pig. 1. One type of vesicle, fixed by OsO(4) and shown in thin sections, is identified with the coated vesicle that has been observed in many varieties of tissues. 2. The vesicle contained in a spherical polygonal "basketwork" shown by the negative-staining techniques is identical with the coated vesicle shown in sections. 3. Despite minute observation of this basketwork we could not confirm the existence of "hairlike projections" extending from the convex cytoplasmic surface of the vesicle. We are inclined to believe, therefore, that the hairlike projections are actually the superimposed visual images of the regular hexagons and pentagons of the network composing the basketwork. 4. We repeat the hypothesis originally advanced by Roth and Porter (1) that the "coating" of the coated vesicle plays a role in the mechanism of the infolding and fission of the membrane; we suggest that these events are caused by the transformation of the regular hexagons (of the coating) into regular pentagons. 5. Finally, we make a suggestion as to the nature of those vesicles which have on their surface subparticles which look like "elementary particles (2)."

Isolation of coated vesicles, plain synaptic vesicles, and flocculent material from a crude synaptosome fraction of guinea pig whole brain.

Two vesicular fractions and one nonvesicular fraction were prepared from crude synaptosomes by differential centrifugation and salting out with ammonium sulfate. Fraction 1 contained a mixture of coated vesicles, material thought to be derived from breakdown of the coats (shell fragments), and plain synaptic vesicles. Fraction 2 contained a mixture of plain synaptic vesicles and flocculent material. Fraction 3 contained flocculent material only. Fractions 1 and 3 were partially purified by passage through a Sephadex column. Fraction 3 contained no shell fragments but contained finer flocculent material which, it is suggested, is composed of unit particles either occurring singly or linked together into chainlike or amorphous aggregates. Each unit particle appears to have four subunits and is here referred to as a tetrasome. Tetrasomes sometimes appear to be attached to the surfaces of the plain synaptic vesicles. Also, it is possible that aggregates of tetrasomes form part of the structure of the presynaptic dense projections.

Coated-vesicle shells, particle/chain material, and tubulin in brain synaptosomes. An electron microscope and biochemical study.

Coated vesicles (CVs), plain synaptic vesicles (PSVs), and nonvesicular flocculent material were isolated from synaptosomes and examined with goniometry and high-resolution electron microscopy after either negative staining or various biochemical procedures. The flocculent material (i.e. the presynaptic matrix material except CV shells) is largely composed of particulate or elongated (chainlike) structures; some of this material (here referred to as particle/chain material) is attached to PSVs. The results obtained were: (a) the proteinaceous properties of the CV coat (also referred to as CV shell) and the particle/chain material were demonstrated with chymotrypsin; (b) the CV shell, studied with various negative-staining techniques, differs from the particle/chain material since it has no 3-4-nm globular subunits and reacts differently to alkaline pH; (c) the particle/chain material consists of aggregates of 3-4-nm globular subunits, four of which yield 8-10-nm fine particles; and these particles can be further aggregated into chains 8-10 nm wide and up to 30-60 nm long showing a "hollow" core; (d) vinblastine sulfate induced ringlike or helical crystalloid precipitates closely resembling the vinblastine-induced microtubule crystals reported in the literature, but vinblastine had no effect on either the CV shell material or the particle/chain material.

Generalized hyperkeratosis caused by Scopulariopsis brevicaulis in a Japanese Black calf.

A 6-month-old Japanese Black female calf became gradually emaciated over a 40-day period and was humanely killed. At necropsy, hyperkeratotic nodules were seen to have spread over almost the entire body surface. Scopulariopsis brevicaulis was isolated from the skin and identified morphologically and by gene sequence analysis of the D1/D2 domain of large subunit ribosomal RNA. Numerous periodic acid-Schiff-positive, lemon-shaped conidia were detected histologically in the keratinized layer and the hair follicles. The distribution of the fungal elements in the skin corresponded to that of the hyperkeratotic lesions. This is the first report of a disease caused by S. brevicaulis in animals. Previously reported human infections have not included generalized hyperkeratosis.

Epithelioid variant of pleomorphic liposarcoma in a heifer.

A case of epithelioid variant of liposarcoma in a 31-month-old Japanese Black heifer is described. The tumour mass, which formed in the subcutis of the left cheek, was excised surgically, but this was followed by recurrence and metastasis to lymph nodes. The primary tumour was composed of sheets of lipid-laden cells, and anaplastic larger cells with eosinophilic or amphophilic cytoplasm were occasionally seen. In addition to vimentin and S-100 protein expression in the majority of tumour cells, squamous and non-squamous cytokeratins (CKs) were present, mainly in the larger cells, which predominated in the metastatic lesions. The expression of CKs was considered to be evidence of epithelioid differentiation.

Adenosquamous carcinoma with cilium formation, mucin production and keratinization in the nasal cavity of a red fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki).

A diagnosis of adenosquamous carcinoma was made in an 11-year-old red fox. The animal showed emaciation and purulent nasal discharge. Necropsy revealed diffuse thickening of the nasal mucosa and tumours on the soft palate, and there was an oronasal fistula contiguous with the tumours. The nasal and oral lesions were composed of adenocarcinomatous cells and squamous cells, the latter predominating in the oral lesions. The marrow of the palatine bone also contained neoplastic tissue, which consisted of cysts and keratin masses surrounded by well-differentiated squamous cells. Although inconspicuous in the oral cavity and marrow, ciliated cells with or without mucin were observed in the adenocarcinomatous and cystic elements. Neoplastic basal cells and less-differentiated adenocarcinoma cells, which were identifiable by immunolabelling for cytokeratin 5 (CK5) and CK18, were considered to be pluripotential. These cells, which lined tubular structures, were distinct from intermediate cells in mucoepidermoid carcinoma, which can differentiate into squamous and mucin-producing cells but have a nondescript appearance.

Circulating CD34-Positive Cells Are Associated with Handgrip Strength in Japanese Older Men: The Nagasaki Islands Study.

BACKGROUND: Handgrip strength is a simple measurement of overall muscular strength and is used to detect sarcopenia. It also predicts adverse events in later life. Many mechanisms of sarcopenia development have been reported. A hypertensive status impairs endothelial dysfunction, which might deteriorate skeletal muscle if vascular angiogenesis is not maintained. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated muscle strength and circulating CD34-positive cells as a marker of vascular angiogenesis. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: 262 male Japanese community dwellers aged 60 to 69 years. MEASUREMENTS: The participants' handgrip strength, medical history, and blood samples were taken. We stratified the participants by hypertensive status to investigate the association between handgrip strength and circulating CD34-positive cells according to hypertensive status. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were used. RESULTS: In the Pearson correlation analysis, handgrip strength and the logarithm of circulating CD34-positive cells were significantly associated in hypertensive participants (r=0.22, p=0.021), but not in non-hypertensive participants (r=-0.01, p=0.943). This relationship was only significant in hypertensive participants (ß=1.94, p=0.021) in the simple linear regression analysis, and it remained significant after adjusting for classic cardiovascular risk factors (ß=1.92, p=0.020). The relationship was not significant in non-hypertensive participants (ß=-0.09, p=0.903). CONCLUSIONS: We found a positive association between handgrip strength and circulating CD34-positive cells in hypertensive men. Vascular maintenance attributed by circulating CD34-positive cells is thought to be a background mechanism of this association after hypertension-induced vascular injury in skeletal muscle.

Natural killer-like T-cell lymphoma in a calf.

A case of natural killer (NK)-like T-cell lymphoma in a 9-month-old female Holstein calf is described. The liver, spleen and lymph nodes were affected with lymphoma. The neoplastic cells showed not only epitheliotropism in the biliary epithelium and hepatic cords but also preferential homing to follicular centres of the lymph nodes. In the cytoplasm, there were eosinophilic granules of various sizes, which were positive with phosphotungstic acid haematoxylin and naphthol AS-D chloroacetate esterase. Erythrophagia by lymphoma cells was rarely detected. Immunohistochemically, the neoplastic cells expressed surface CD3, surface CD5 and CD57, and perforin expression was present in the cytoplasmic granules. The lymphoma described resembled feline NK-like T-cell lymphoma in epitheliotropism in the liver and phagocytic activity but differed in respect of follicular involvement and marked variation in granule size.

Protein kinase and its endogenous substrates in coated vesicles.

Coated vesicles prepared from bovine brains contained a protein kinase activity which catalyzed the phosphorylation of endogenous structural proteins, Mr 150 000, 120 000, 48 000 and 32 000. An endogenous protein, Mr 48 000 was most strongly phosphorylated by this kinase. This protein kinase also phosphorylated exogenous proteins, phosvitin intensely and casein slightly but not histone or protamine. The enzyme activity was independent of cyclic nucleotides or Ca2+/calmodulin. Mg2+ stimulated the kinase activity. Some divalent cations were substituted for Mg2+; the potency decreased in the order Mn2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Ca2+, Zn2+. Two separate subfractions, the outer coat and the inner vesicle (core), were prepared from coated vesicles by a urea treatment followed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation and dialysis. The kinase activity was found predominantly in the coat subfraction.

Purification and properties of aldose 1-epimerase from Aspergillus niger.

Aspergillus niger ATCC 6274 was selected as an aldose 1-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.3) producer from 45 stock cultures of A. niger. The aldose 1-epimerase was purified 115-fold to apparent homogeneity from cell extracts with a yield of 2.6%. The molecular weight was calculated to be 260,000 and that of the subunit to be 130,000. The enzyme preparation was active at pH 5-7. The Km value was 50 mM and the V value was 1200 units/mg toward alpha-D-glucose. This enzyme catalyzed mutarotation of the following substrates; alpha-D-glucose, beta-D-fructose, beta-L-arabinose and beta-D-galactose. The time required for glucose determination with a glucose oxidase reagent was significantly shortened by the addition of aldose 1-epimerase.

Stress thallium-201 transaxial emission computed tomography: quantitative versus qualitative analysis for evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Stress thallium-201 myocardial distribution was quantitatively evaluated by emission transaxial tomography in 104 patients who underwent coronary arteriography. The initial uptake and percent washout of thallium were assessed by the circumferential profile curves of the three short-axis sections and one middle right anterior oblique long-axis section. This quantitative tomographic analysis showed abnormal distribution in all but two patients (98%) with coronary artery disease, whereas qualitative analysis showed abnormality in 76 of the patients (93%). Quantitative analysis showed better sensitivity (91%) for detecting involved coronary vessels than qualitative analysis (80%, p less than 0.01), especially in three vessel disease (82 versus 67%, p less than 0.05). For localization of individual vessel involvement, quantitative analysis showed high sensitivity (right coronary artery: 96%, left anterior descending artery: 90% and left circumflex artery: 88%) as compared with qualitative analysis (88, 83 and 63%, respectively, p less than 0.05), while similar specificity was observed (92% for quantitative and 93% for qualitative analyses). Furthermore, in the study of patients without infarction, myocardial segments supplied by coronary vessels with moderate stenosis (51 to 75%) revealed abnormality more often with quantitative (81%) than with qualitative (56%) analysis. Thus, quantitative analysis of stress thallium emission tomography provides improved sensitivity for the detection of diseased coronary vessels in patients with three vessel disease and those with moderate stenosis. It is a valuable technique for the evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Effects of coronary artery reperfusion on relation between creatine kinase-MB release and infarct size estimated by myocardial emission tomography with thallium-201 in man.

The quantitative relations between serum creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) release and the final infarct size estimated by myocardial emission computed tomography with thallium-201 was assessed in 37 patients with a first acute transmural myocardial infarction who underwent intracoronary thrombolysis using urokinase 4.6 +/- 1.9 hours after the onset of symptoms. Serial CK-MB determinations were used to calculate the accumulated release of CK-MB (sigma CK-MB). Myocardial emission tomography with thallium-201 was performed 4 weeks after the onset, and infarct volume was measured from reconstructed tomographic images by computerized planimetry. The results are presented for two groups of patients: 11 patients with unsuccessful thrombolysis (group A) and 26 patients with successful thrombolysis (group B). An excellent linear relation was found for group A (sigma CK-MB = 6.4 X infarct volume + 47.7, r = 0.91), whereas a different linear relation was observed for group B (sigma CK-MB = 10.5 X infarct volume + 89.1, r = 0.80). Moreover, serum CK-MB activity reached a peak at 21.1 +/- 2.2 hours after the onset in group A and reached an earlier peak at 12.5 +/- 2.9 hours in group B (p less than 0.001). These data suggest that acute coronary recanalization alters the kinetics of CK-MB release, resulting in greater CK-MB release into the serum for equivalent infarct volume estimated by myocardial emission tomography with thallium-201. Thus, serum CK-MB time-activity curves after acute myocardial infarction may be influenced considerably by acute reperfusion, which is an important factor that should be incorporated in the interpretation of enzymatic estimates of infarct size in human patients.

Gastroinvasive Helicobacter infection in an Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis).

Highly invasive Helicobacter-like organisms were found in a 19-year-old female ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) with multiple ulcers in the fundic region of the stomach. The bacteria, resembling Helicobacter heilmannii, were located largely within canaliculi or in the cytosol of parietal cells. Except in the ulcerative lesions, parietal cells were hyperplastic, while chief cells and neck mucous cells were reduced in number. The term "gastroinvasive Helicobacter-like organism" was applied. It seems probable that this organism differs from other Helicobacter organisms in pathogenicity, and possible that its behaviour in vitro would help it to evade antibacterial treatment.

Synthesis of magnesium ZIF-8 from Mg(BH4)2.

Porous Mg(2-methyl imidazolate)2 (Mg-ZIF-8) was synthesised from Mg(BH4)2 as a precursor under an Ar atmosphere. It possesses an uncommon tetrahedral Mg(2+)-N coordination geometry that is stabilised by the formation of a framework, and it exhibits a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area greater than 1800 m(2) g(-1).

Preprocessing implementation for microarray (PRIM): an efficient method for processing cDNA microarray data.

cDNA microarray technology is useful for systematically analyzing the expression profiles of thousands of genes at once. Although many useful results inferred by using this technology and a hierarchical clustering method for statistical analysis have been confirmed using other methods, there are still questions about the reproducibility of the data. We have therefore developed a data processing method that very efficiently extracts reproducible data from the result of duplicate experiments. It is designed to automatically filter the raw results obtained from cDNA microarray image-analysis software. We optimize the threshold value for filtering the data by using the product of N and R, where N is the ratio of the number of spots that passed the filtering vs. the total number of spots, and R is the correlation coefficient for results obtained in the duplicate experiments. Using this method to process mouse tissue expression profile data that contain 1,881,600 points of analysis, we obtained clustered results more reasonable than those obtained using previously reported filtering methods.

Expression of dopamine transporter at the tips of growing neurites of PC12 cells.

The four kinds of oligopeptides specific in amino acid sequence to a rat dopamine transporter (DAT), peptide-1-peptide-4, were chemically synthethized. An attempt to produce antipeptide antibodies against these oligopeptides was made with an in vitro immunization method. Two monoclonal antibodies, MAbs H-1a and H-1b, were produced against one of the oligopeptides, peptide-1. Western blot analysis confirmed that the two antibodies recognized an approximately 85,000 Da protein in a synaptosomal fraction prepared from the rat striatum but none in the fraction from the cerebellum. The specificity of the antibody to DAT was also confirmed by an antibody absorption test using two synthetic oligopeptides, one of which is specific only to DAT. These results have confirmed the specificity of the present antibody to DAT. The expression and subcellular localization of DAT were immunohistochemically examined with MAbs H-1a and H-1b in PC12 cells treated with nerve growth factor (NGF). The antibody labeled the surface of PC12 cells. When the cells were treated with NGF, the expression of DAT was significantly emphasized, first in the area mainly including the Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum and then on the surface of growth cones from the beginning of neurite outgrowth. DAT was detected by Western blot analysis in a microsomal fraction prepared from PC12 cells. The activity of DAT in the PC12 cells was pharmacologically confirmed by the uptake of [3H]-dopamine and blockade by uptake inhibitors. The NGF treatment doubled the dopamine uptake activity. GBR12909, a specific inhibitor of DAT, blocked the [3H]-dopamine at a concentration of 10(-7) M. The expression of DAT and norepinephrine transporter (NET) mRNA in the PC12 cells was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). DAT mRNA significantly increased in the NGF-treated cells after 7 days of incubation, whereas NET mRNA markedly decreased.

Myocardial uptake of technetium-99m stannous pyrophosphate in experimental viral myopericarditis.

Distribution of technetium-99m stannous pyrophosphate was studied in mice with experimentally induced viral myopericarditis. Myocardial and bone uptakes of Tc-PPi were compared in 55 mice inoculated with coxsackievirus B3 (Nancy strain). The myocardium-to-bone uptake ratio in 33 mice with myopericarditis was increased to a greater extent than that seen in 22 mice without myopericarditis (p less than 0.001). In the severely involved heart, the uptake per gram exceeded that in the bone. Myocardial uptake in myopericarditis can be visualized on a whole-body image using a pinhole collimator and a left lateral view. Our experimental studies suggest the potential clinical usefulness of myocardial scintigraphy in viral myopericarditis.