The action on mitochondria of 3 peptide antibiotics, hypelcin-A, hypelcin-B, and alamethicin, was examined. The results showed that they are unique uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation, with the ...same mechanism of action.
We administered streptozotocin (STZ) and alloxan (AL) to the musk shrew (
Suncus murinus, Insectivore) to determine the effective diabetogenic dose of the two toxins for this species. A single ...intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 75 mg/kgBW or the consecutive 5-day s injection of 25 mg/kgBW of STZ to nonfasted shrews, effectively (100%) induced hyperglycemia (
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= 300 mg/dl) with hypoinsulinaemia (< 30% of control level) in male shrews at 10 days after administration. Morphological studies showed cytologjcal changes of B cells in the pancreatic islets of diabetic shrews. Hyperglycémic shrews induced by STZ were thus in IDDM (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus), and showed high susceptibility to the diabetogenic effect of STZ as compared with rodents. Shrews showed a sex difference in the diabetogenic susceptibility to STZ as do mice (male > female). They also showed a species specific resistance to the diabetogenic effect of AL. Of the eight shrews (with 8-hr fasting) that has been treated with a single injection of 200 mg/kgBW of AL, seven (88%) survived at least 10 days, showing no signs of hyperglycemia. All shrews died within 3 days after injection of 250 or 300 mg/kgBW. These results indicated that the STZ-induced diabetic shrew is a unique animal model and may be useful for IDDM research. On the other hand, the musk shrew was highly resistant to the diabetogenic effects of AL.
A fundamental study was performed on the nuclear medicine imaging of cholinergic innervation in the brain. In a cholinergic denervation model prepared by producing an unilateral basal forebrain ...lesion in the rat, which is reported to be one of animal models of Alzheimer's disease, quantitative determination of acetylcholine in parietal cortices revealed statistically significant 31% decrease on an average in the ipsilateral side relative to the contralateral side to the lesion. In vitro receptor autoradiography showed no significant differences in total, M1 and M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors between the ipsilateral and contralateral cortices to the lesion. Simultaneous mapping of presynaptic cholinergic innervation using 3H-2-(4-phenylpiperidino) cyclohexanol (AH5183) demonstrated significant 14% decrease of AH5183 binding on an average in the ipsilateral relative to the contralateral fronto-parieto-temporal cortices to the lesion. These results suggest that AH5183 is a promising ligand for mapping cholinergic innervation in nuclear medicine imaging.
The authors have been developing a superpipelined data-driven processor and its development environment, a high-level language and its language processing system. The high-level language for the ...data-driven processor and its language processing system, implemented on an engineering workstation, are described. Compatibility with the C language was maintained. The language has several features suitable for parallel processing and signal processing other than compatibility with C, such as parallel execution statements, a data transfer mechanism between executions of a program with multiple input data-sets, and delay and history classes.< >
We have investigated the optical and near-infrared colors of K′-selected galaxies in clusters at z ∼ 1.2 near to the radio galaxy 3C 324 using images obtained with the Subaru telescope and archival ...HST data. The distribution of colors of the galaxies in the cluster region is found to be fairly broad, and it may imply significant scatter in their star-formation histories, although the effect of contamination of field galaxies is uncertain. The red sequence of galaxies whose R – K colors are consistent with passive evolution models for old galaxies is found to be truncated at K′ ∼ 20 mag, and there are few fainter galaxies with similar red colors in the cluster region. We find that the bulge-dominated galaxies selected by quantitative morphological classification form a broad sequence in the color-magnitude diagram, whose slope is much steeper than that expected from metallicity variations within a passively evolving coeval galaxy population. We argue that the observed color-magnitude sequence can be explained by metallicity and age variations, and the fainter galaxies with K′ > 20 mag may be 1–2 Gyr younger than the brighter galaxies. Some spatial segregation of the color and K′-band luminosity is seen in the sky distribution; the redder and the brighter objects tend to be located near 3C 324.
The purpose of this study was to detect disturbances in pulmonary circulation in collagen disease patients by means of a non-invasive technique.
Ventilation/perfusion scans with 133Xe gas and ...99mTc-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) were performed in 109 patients with various collagen diseases. Functional images of V, Vol, Q and V/Q ratio were obtained at total lung capacity. Wash-out time was calculated from the wash-out curve. Whole body scans were performed in 65 patients to evaluate intra-pulmonary shunts.
Increased V/Q areas were observed in 74 patients (67.9%), suggesting some impairment of pulmonary perfusion. Decreased perfusion, probably due to vasculitis or intravascular microcoagulation, was observed often, even in patients without pulmonary fibrosis. Shunt ratios over 10% were observed in 8 of the 65 patients (12.3%), indicating formation of PA-PV shunts secondary to peripheral vascular impairment. Wash-out time was prolonged in 37 patients (33.9%), shortened in 18 (16.5%), and within the normal range in 54 (49.6%). The prolonged and normal wash-out times in the patients with pulmonary fibrosis may represent obstructive changes in the small airways superimposed on the fibrosis.
Ventilation/perfusion scans are a very useful tool for evaluating collagen lung diseases, and they might contribute to treatment decisions for the patients.
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