[Development of a One-minute Educational Video for Eye-drop Instillation and Changes in Instillation Behavior after Watching the Video].

We created a one-minute video titled "a simple method of eye-drop instillation" (video) for online instillation guidance, to compare the instillation method before and after study participants watch the video and verify the usefulness of watching the video. Moreover, we prepared a document questionnaire to investigate instillation habits and clarify instillation behavior. Study participants were randomly recruited from among students and faculty members via a poster posted at Tokushima Bunri University.

Difference in Ca2+ oscillation-inducing activity and nuclear translocation ability of PLCZ1, an egg-activating sperm factor candidate, between mouse, rat, human, and medaka fish.

Mouse phospholipase C, zeta 1 (PLCZ1), a strong candidate of egg-activating sperm factor, induces Ca(2+) oscillations and accumulates into formed pronucleus (PN) when expressed by cRNA injection. These activities were compared among mouse and human PLCZ1, newly cloned rat Plcz1, and medaka fish plcz1. The PLCZ1 proteins of the four species have an approximately homologous sequence of nuclear localization signal.

Roles for Potassium and Calcium Channels in the Initiation of Sperm Motility in Rainbow Trout.: (K /Ca /channel/sperm motility/rainbow trout).

It is well known that the motility of spermatozoa in rainbow trout is suppressed by K . We showed here that although trout sperm are completely immotile in medium containing 5 mM K , motility was initiated by the subsequent addition of several mM Ca , suggesting that both K and Ca are related to the process of the initiation of sperm motility. It was further found that K channel blockers tetraethylammonium, nonyltriethylammonium, Ba and Cs , as well as the Ca channel blocker verapamil, inhibited the initiation of sperm motility at doses at which these reagents inhibit chnnel-related functions in other cells.

Changes in Osmotic Pressure and Swelling in Horseshoe Crab Embryos During Development: (horseshoe crab embryo/swelling/water influx/perivitelline fluid/osmotic pressure).

Water influx accompanying the swelling of embryos during normal development of horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus and Tachypleus tridentatus, following a rupture of the chorion, was analyzed. The increase in volume of perivitelline fluid during deveopment was about 90 percent of the increase in total embryo weight. Considerable water discharge was observed on drying the embryos in air and a reversible water influx occurred with a second immersion in sea water, even though the embryos died as a result of this treatment.