Detection of spatio-temporal gait parameters by using wearable motion sensors.

This paper presents a method to detect the spatio-temporal parameters of gait by using wearable motion sensors with a gyro, accelerometer, and magnetic sensor. The detected gait parameters are as follows: stance (ST), double support (DS), and gait cycle (GC) time as temporal parameters, and the stride length (SL) as spatial parameter. Four motion sensors are attached on both thighs and shanks of users, and the sensor data are collected in a portable PC.

Octaarginine-modified multifunctional envelope-type nanoparticles for gene delivery.

This study describes a multifunctional envelope-type nano device (MEND) that mimics an envelope-type virus based on a novel packaging strategy. MEND particles contain a DNA core packaged into a lipid envelope modified with an octaarginine peptide. The peptide mediates internalization via macropinocytosis, which avoids lysosomal degradation.

Isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from open ocean and comparison with freshwater, clinical, and animal isolates.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for morbidity and mortality in humans, animals, and plants. This bacterium has been regarded to be widely present in terrestrial and freshwater environments, but not in open ocean environments. Our purpose was to clarify its presence in open ocean, and their genotypic and physiological characteristics were compared with those of isolates from clinical, animal, and freshwater sources.

Nursing spoken corpora for understanding nursing assignments.

We have built Spoken Corpora using voice data that were obtained by monitored and recorded daily nursing assignments in hospitals. The devices, we have developed are able to monitor daily nursing assignments and record multimedia data, such as video, voice, pedometer, acceleration, and. so on.

Features of standardized nursing terminology sets in Japan.

Unlabelled: This paper reports the features and relationships between standardizes nursing terminology sets used in Japan. First, we analyzed the common parts in five standardized nursing terminology sets: the Japan Nursing Practice Standard Master (JNPSM) that includes the names of nursing activities and is built by the Medical Information Center Development Center (MEDIS-DC); the labels of the Japan Classification of Nursing Practice (JCNP), built by the term advisory committee in the Japan Academy of Nursing Science; the labels of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) translated to Japanese; the labels, domain names, and class names of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) Nursing Diagnoses 2003-2004 translated to Japanese; and the terms included in the labels of Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) translated to Japanese. Then we compared them with terms in a thesaurus dictionary, the Bunrui Goihyo, that contains general Japanese words and is built by the National Institute for Japanese Language.

The proposal of measurement of RNs at acute care setting cognitive process when they make cognitive error.

This paper presents the proposal for the design of a measurement of cognitive process of nurses at acute care setting when they make cognitive error. nurses especially at acute care setting perform their numerous nursing tasks simultaneously in time-stressed, information-rich situation. To cope with these severe cognitive demands expertise nurses develop simplification strategies not to consume their mental resources so much.

Surgical pitfalls of an ultrasonic bone curette (SONOPET) in spinal surgery.

Objective: We report our experience with the SONOPET ultrasonic bone curette.

Methods: Between September 2001 and July 2005, 546 patients underwent microscopic spinal surgeries using a high-speed drill and the SONOPET instrument.

Results: We encountered operative complications thought to be attributable to the use of the SONOPET in six patients (1.

Development of a novel systemic gene delivery system for cancer therapy with a tumor-specific cleavable PEG-lipid.

For successful cancer gene therapy via intravenous (i.v.) administration, it is essential to optimize the stability of carriers in the systemic circulation and the cellular association after the accumulation of the carrier in tumor tissue.

LuxA gene of light organ symbionts of the bioluminescent fish Acropoma japonicum (Acropomatidae) and Siphamia versicolor (Apogonidae) forms a lineage closely related to that of Photobacterium leiognathi ssp. mandapamensis.

A molecular phylogenetic analysis of luxA gene sequences of light organ symbionts of the fish Acropoma japonicum (Acropomatidae) and Siphamia versicolor (Apogonidae) revealed that the sequences were related to those of Photobacterium leiognathi ssp. mandapamensis, which is not known to occur as a light organ symbiont among bioluminescent P. leiognathi clades.

Cellular uptake and subsequent intracellular trafficking of R8-liposomes introduced at low temperature.

Intracellular trafficking is a determining factor in the transgene expression efficiency of gene vectors. In the present study, the mechanism of the cellular uptake of octaarginine (R8)-modified liposomes, when introduced at 37 degrees C and 4 degrees C, was investigated in living cells. Compared with 37 degrees C, the uptake of R8-liposomes was only slightly reduced at 4 degrees C.

Delivery of condensed DNA by liposomal non-viral gene delivery system into nucleus of dendritic cells.

In this study, we developed novel double-membranous non-viral gene delivery system modified with SV-40 T antigen-derived nuclear localization signal (NLS-DMEND) for delivery of luciferase plasmid DNA to nucleus of non-dividing mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDC). Intracellular trafficking and gene expression of NLS-DMEND in the BMDC were evaluated. Condensed DNA was observed in the nucleus by confocal laser scanning microscopy, and the NLS-DMEND induced significant luciferase activity in the BMDC.

Significant and prolonged antisense effect of a multifunctional envelope-type nano device encapsulating antisense oligodeoxynucleotide.

A multifunctional envelope-type nano device (MEND) was developed for use as an efficient non-viral system for the delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA) using octaarginine (R8) as an internalizing ligand. Three types of R8-MENDs were prepared, co-encapsulating luciferase-encoding pDNA and anti-luciferase oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) condensed by three polycations, stearyl octaarginine (STRR8), poly-L-lysine (PLL) and protamine, and the antisense effects of the ODN-encapsulated R8-MENDs (ODN-MEND) were analysed in-vitro. The ODN-MEND packaged using protamine as a condenser showed a 90% antisense effect 16 h after the transfection, and a persistent antisense effect of over 75% for up to 48 h, which was much more effective than that of LipofectAmine2000.

Biocleavable polyrotaxane-plasmid DNA polyplex for enhanced gene delivery.

A biocleavable polyrotaxane, having a necklace-like structure consisting of many cationic alpha-cyclodextrins (alpha-CDs) and a disulfide-introduced poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), was synthesized and examined as a nonviral gene carrier. The polyrotaxane formed a stable polyplex having positively charged surface even at low charge ratio. This is likely to be due to structural factors of the polyrotaxane, such as the mobile motion of alpha-CDs in the necklace-like structure.

Cytotoxicity of alpha-tocopheryl succinate, malonate and oxalate in normal and cancer cells in vitro and their anti-cancer effects on mouse melanoma in vivo.

alpha-Tocopheryl succinate (TS), which is known to induce apoptosis selectively in cancer cells, has attracted attention as a chemotherapeutic agent. Recently, we found that alpha-tocopheryl malonate (TM) and alpha-tocopheryl oxalate (TO), among the alpha-tocopheryl esters tested, have high apoptogenic activity as well as TS. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of their cytotoxicity on normal cells and cancer cells in vitro, and their anti-cancer effects on mice inoculated with melanoma B16-F1 cells in vivo.

Uptake pathways and subsequent intracellular trafficking in nonviral gene delivery.

The successful delivery of therapeutic genes to the designated target cells and their availability at the intracellular site of action are crucial requirements for successful gene therapy. Nonviral gene delivery is currently a subject of increasing attention because of its relative safety and simplicity of use; however, its use is still far from being ideal because of its comparatively low efficiency. Most of the currently available nonviral gene vectors rely on two main components, cationic lipids and cationic polymers, and a variety of functional devices can be added to further optimize the systems.

Rapid identification of marine bioluminescent bacteria by amplified 16S ribosomal RNA gene restriction analysis.

To rapidly identify natural isolates of marine bioluminescent bacteria, we developed amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) methods. ARDRA, which is based on the restriction patterns of 16S rRNA gene digested with five enzymes (EcoRI, DdeI, HhaI, HinfI, RsaI), clearly distinguished the 14 species of marine bioluminescent bacteria currently known, which belong to the genera Vibrio, Photobacterium, and Shewanella. When we applied ARDRA to 129 natural isolates from two cruises in Sagami Bay, Japan, 127 were grouped into six ARDRA types with distinctive restriction patterns; these isolates represented the bioluminescent species, P.

[Envelope-type nano device for gene delivery].

We introduced a new concept "Programmed Packaging" for the rational development of non viral gene delivery system. There are many non-viral gene delivery system, however, their utility is limited in the in vitro experiments. The major reason is considered that it is difficult to package many functional devices into a nanoparticle.

Bacterial motility: links to the environment and a driving force for microbial physics.

Bacterial motility was recognized 300 years ago. Throughout this history, research into motility has led to advances in microbiology and physics. Thirty years ago, this union helped to make run and tumble chemotaxis the paradigm for bacterial movement.

Improved cell viability of linear polyethylenimine through gamma-cyclodextrin inclusion for effective gene delivery.

A polypseudorotaxane consisting of a linear polyethylenimine with Mn of 22,000 (LPEI22k) and gamma-cyclodextrins (gamma-CDs; LPEI22k/gamma-CD) has been examined as a gene carrier. The polyplex formation with luciferase-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA), intracellular trafficking of polyplex, cytotoxicity, and transfection efficiency were evaluated by various characteristic methods. LPEI22k/gamma-CD formed a pDNA polyplex at higher N/P ratios than LPEI22k; this suggests that the gamma-CD threading sterically interfered with the polyplex formation.

Non-linear pharmacodynamics in a non-viral gene delivery system: positive non-linear relationship between dose and transfection efficiency.

A remarkable non-linearity was found between dose and transfection activities of non-viral gene delivery systems, such as a Lipofectamine/DNA complex and an octaarginine-modified multifunctional envelope-type nano device (R8-MEND). We measured the nuclear delivery of pDNA to distinguish the non-linearity in intracellular pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics after transfection with R8-MEND at different doses. A remarkable positive non-linearity was found in the pharmacodynamics when the dose was increased.

Separation of active and inactive fractions from starved culture of Vibrio parahaemolyticus by density dependent cell sorting.

The co-existence of physiologically different cells in bacterial cultures is a general phenomenon. We have examined the applicability of the density dependent cell sorting (DDCS) method to separate subpopulations from a long-term starvation culture of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The cells were subjected to Percoll density gradient and separated into 12 fractions of different buoyant densities, followed by measuring the cell numbers, culturability, respiratory activity and leucine incorporation activity.

High density of octaarginine stimulates macropinocytosis leading to efficient intracellular trafficking for gene expression.

The mechanism of the arginine-rich peptide-mediated cellular uptake is currently a controversial issue. Several factors, including the type of peptide, the nature of the cargo, and the linker between them, appear to affect uptake. One of the less studied factors, which may affect the uptake mechanism, is the effect of peptide density on the surface of the cargo.