A method for determining the modulation transfer function from thick microwire profiles measured with x-ray microcomputed tomography.

Purpose: This study describes a model-dependent method to determine the modulation transfer function (MTF) in the transversal plane, obtained by a microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) system from profiles of a thick wire phantom instead of a thin wire phantom, and the study evaluates the feasibility of the proposed method in the MTF determination of micro-CT systems.

Methods: The MTF is generally calculated as the absolute value of the normalized Fourier transform from the point spread function obtained by scanning a thin wire phantom. Since the wire is not a point source, the raw MTF is corrected for the finite size of the wire phantom; a wire with too large a diameter introduces inaccuracies in the MTF values.

Glycated albumin is lower in infants than in adults and correlated with both age and serum albumin.

Background: Glycated albumin (GA) reflects glycemic control in patients with neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM). However, GA in NDM patients is apparently low in relation to glycemia.

Objective: To establish the reference intervals for GA in healthy infants.

Efficient secreted production of (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid from living Halomonas sp. KM-1 under successive aerobic and microaerobic conditions.

Production of (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid [(R)-3-HB] by strain Halomonas sp. KM-1 under successive aeration conditions was investigated. The first aerobic condition allowed both cell growth and intracellular storage of poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB).

Draft genome sequence of Halomonas sp. strain KM-1, a moderately halophilic bacterium that produces the bioplastic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate).

We report the draft genome sequence of Halomonas sp. strain KM-1, which was isolated in Ikeda City, Osaka, Japan, and which produces the bioplastic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate). The total length of the assembled genome is 4,992,811 bp, and 4,220 coding sequences were predicted within the genome.

Dynamic and high-resolution live cell imaging by direct electron beam excitation.

We propose a direct electron-beam excitation assisted optical microscope with a resolution of a few tens of nanometers and it can be applied for observation of dynamic movements of nanoparticles in liquid. The technique is also useful for live cell imaging under physiological conditions as well as observation of colloidal solution, microcrystal growth in solutions, etc. In the microscope, fluorescent materials are directly excited with a focused electron beam.

Acute treatment with candesartan cilexetil, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, improves insulin sensitivity in high-fructose-diet-fed rats.

We aimed to determine whether acute treatment with candesartan cilexetil (CV-11974), an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker (ARB) can improve insulin sensitivity in high-fructose-diet (HFD)-fed rats. In vivo glucose utilization was measured by applying the euglycemic clamp technique and the expression levels of insulin-signaling molecules in skeletal muscles were examined by western blotting. A bolus injection of CV-11974 improved the glucose infusion rate (GIR) of HFD-fed rats to the level of the control rats.

Quantitative classification based on CT histogram analysis of non-small cell lung cancer: correlation with histopathological characteristics and recurrence-free survival.

Purpose: Quantification of the CT appearance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is of interest in a number of clinical and investigational applications. The purpose of this work is to present a quantitative five-category (α, β, γ, δ, and ɛ) classification method based on CT histogram analysis of NSCLC and to determine the prognostic value of this quantitative classification.

Methods: Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained at the National Cancer Center Hospital.

Mind reading through the eyes: an fMRI study.

Mind reading is the ability to understand another person's thoughts, intentions, and feelings (Whiten, 1991). The purpose of this study was to clarify which part of the brain is evoked while mind reading in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments, using a mind reading task, the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RME: Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) with four choices (mental state words).

Relationship between state anxiety and success rate in game performance, coach's evaluation among Japanese university volleyball players.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between state anxiety and individual athletic game performance. The subjects were 54 male players of 4 teams (The average age was 20.5 (SD=1.

Varied effects of Pyrococcus furiosus prefoldin and P. furiosus chaperonin on the refolding reactions of substrate proteins.

Prefoldin is a molecular chaperone found in the archaeal and eukaryotic cytosol. Prefoldin can stabilize tentatively nascent polypeptide chains or non-native forms of mainly cytoskeletal proteins, which are subsequently delivered to group II chaperonin to accomplish their precise folding. However, the detailed mechanism is not well known, especially with regard to endogenous substrate proteins.

Taxonomic characterization and metabolic analysis of the Halomonas sp. KM-1, a highly bioplastic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-producing bacterium.

In a brief previous report, the gram-negative moderately halophilic bacterium, Halomonas sp. KM-1, that was isolated in our laboratory was shown to produce the bioplastic, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), using biodiesel waste glycerol (Kawata and Aiba, Biosci. Biotechnol.

Probing the functional mechanism of Escherichia coli GroEL using circular permutation.

Background: The Escherichia coli chaperonin GroEL subunit consists of three domains linked via two hinge regions, and each domain is responsible for a specific role in the functional mechanism. Here, we have used circular permutation to study the structural and functional characteristics of the GroEL subunit.

Methodology/principal Findings: Three soluble, partially active mutants with polypeptide ends relocated into various positions of the apical domain of GroEL were isolated and studied.

Optical compensation of hologram distortion avoiding interpage crosstalk on reconstructed image in angle-multiplexed holograms.

We are studying a form of holographic data storage with phase conjugation, and we compensated for hologram distortion due to shrinkage of photopolymer materials in the holographic medium by controlling the wavefront of the reference beam. When a high NA lens and narrow angle interval of angle multiplexing are employed to obtain a high data recording density, some wavefronts cause interpage crosstalk on the reconstructed image. We tried to determine the moving range of actuators in a deformable mirror for controlling the wavefront.

Post-translational modifications of pro-opiomelanocrtin related hormones in medaka pituitary based on mass spectrometric analyses.

Direct tissue matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization with time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis provides a selective detection of mass profile for the peptides contained into cell secretory granules. By this mass spectrometry with slice of pituitary, two novel molecular forms of pro-opimelanocrtin related hormone were found in the orange-red strain medaka (Oryzias latipes var.).

Prevention of cytarabine-induced kerato-conjunctivitis by eye rinse in patients receiving high-dose cytarabine and total body irradiation as a conditioning for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

We previously reported a high incidence of kerato-conjunctivitis in patients receiving high-dose cytarabine following total body irradiation (TBI) as a conditioning for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) even on prophylaxis with topical corticosteroid. This study aimed to evaluate whether addition of eye rinse, which was designed to remove cytarabine from ocular surface, further reduces the incidence of kerato-conjunctivitis in the same setting. Seventy-six patients receiving cytarabine at a dose of 3 g/m(2) every 12 h for 4 days after receiving TBI (12 Gy) as conditioning for HSCT were evaluated.

Covalent structural changes in unfolded GroES that lead to amyloid fibril formation detected by NMR: insight into intrinsically disordered proteins.

Co-chaperonin GroES from Escherichia coli works with chaperonin GroEL to mediate the folding reactions of various proteins. However, under specific conditions, i.e.

Evaluation of Aβ fibrillization inhibitory effect by a PEG-peptide conjugate based on an Aβ peptide fragment with intramolecular FRET.

A PEG-peptide conjugate based on an amyloid β peptide fragment was synthesized. The formed amyloid protofibril-like aggregates induced intramolecular FRET. It proved to be useful as a bioprobe to evaluate the inhibitory effect of organic molecules toward amyloid fibrillization.

Influence of slice thickness on diagnoses of pulmonary nodules using low-dose CT: potential dependence of detection and diagnostic agreement on features and location of nodule.

Rationale And Objectives: The aims of this study were to assess the influence of slice thickness on the ability of radiologists to detect or not detect nodules and to agree or disagree on the diagnosis and also to investigate the potential dependence of these relations on the sizes, average computed tomographic (CT) values, and locations of the nodules.

Materials And Methods: Six radiologists performed qualitative diagnostic readings of multislice CT images with a slice thickness of 2 or 10 mm obtained from 360 subjects. The nodules were diagnosed as nodules for further examination (NFEs), inactive nodules for no further examination (INNFEs), or no abnormality.

Crystal structure of the cambialistic superoxide dismutase from Aeropyrum pernix K1--insights into the enzyme mechanism and stability.

Aeropyrum pernix K1, an aerobic hyperthermophilic archaeon, produces a cambialistic superoxide dismutase that is active in the presence of either of Mn or Fe. The crystal structures of the superoxide dismutase from A. pernix in the apo, Mn-bound and Fe-bound forms were determined at resolutions of 1.

Long-term follow-up high-resolution CT findings in non-specific interstitial pneumonia.

Background: The aims of this study were to retrospectively assess the change in findings on follow-up CT scans of patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP; median, 72 months; range, 3-216 months) and to clarify the correlation between the baseline CT findings and mortality.

Methods: The study included 50 patients with a histologic diagnosis of NSIP. Two observers evaluated the high-resolution CT (HRCT) findings independently and classified each case into one of the following three categories: (1) compatible with NSIP, (2) compatible with UIP or (3) suggestive of alternative diagnosis.

Combined effects of short-term calorie restriction and exercise on insulin action in normal rats.

The present study examined the effect of combination of short-term calorie restriction (CR) and moderate exercise on insulin action in normal rats. Rats were divided randomly into 4 groups: ad libitum, sedentary (A-Sed); calorie restriction, sedentary (CR-Sed); ad libitum, exercise (A-Ex); and calorie restriction, exercise (CR-Ex). Rats in the exercise groups were run on a rodent treadmill.

Automated segmentation method of white matter and gray matter regions with multiple sclerosis lesions in MR images.

Our purpose in this study was to develop an automated method for segmentation of white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) regions with multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions in magnetic resonance (MR) images. The brain parenchymal (BP) region was derived from a histogram analysis for a T1-weighted image. The WM regions were segmented by addition of MS candidate regions, which were detected by our computer-aided detection system for the MS lesions, and subtraction of a basal ganglia and thalamus template from "tentative" WM regions.

Isolation of short peptide fragments from alpha-synuclein fibril core identifies a residue important for fibril nucleation: a possible implication for diagnostic applications.

alpha-Synuclein is one of the causative proteins of the neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson's disease. Deposits of alpha-synuclein called Lewy bodies are a hallmark of this disorder, which is implicated in its progression. In order to understand the mechanism of amyloid fibril formation of alpha-synuclein in more detail, in this study we have isolated a specific, ~20 residue peptide region of the alpha-synuclein fibril core, using a combination of Edman degradation and mass-spectroscopy analyses of protease-resistant samples.