The aim of this study was to investigate what components of porcine epididymal fluid (pEF) influences the nuclear maturation of porcine germinal vesicle oocytes. Porcine cumulus-oocytes complexes from follicles were cultured in TCM 199 containing pEF. After 48 h cultures, oocytes were examined for evidence of GV breakdown, metaphase I, anaphase-telophase I, and metaphase II. Maturation rate of oocytes was significantly increased in media supplemented with 10% pEF during in vitro maturation (IVM) than in those without pEF. When lipid component of pEF was removed by treating n-heptane, no significant difference was observed in maturation of oocytes between n-heptane treatrment and intact pEF group. However, the proportion of oocytes reaching at metaphase II (M II) was significantly (p<0.05) decreased in the oocytes cultured in media containing trypsin-treated pEF compared to those in media with intact pEF. When porcine GV oocytes were matured in the medium supplemented with intact pEF or pEF heated at 56'C and 97'C, rates of oocytes remained at GV stage were 11.7%, 29.4% and 42.0%, respectively. However, there were no difference in proportion of oocytes reaching at MII stage among intact pEF group and 56'C group. Present study suggests that 1) pEF contains an enhancing component(s) for nuclear maturation in vitro of oocytes, 2) protein(s) of pEF may be capable to promote nuclear maturation in vitro, and 3) enhancing component for nuclear maturation may consist of two factors, which are responsible for germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and promotion of MII stage.

Inhibition of proteasome activity may reduce many types of cancer, so it's pathway is effective in cancer as well as in clinical fields. Here the author has carried out experiment targeting on the elevation of apoptosis in oral cancer cells by combination of proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin, and DNA replication inhibitor, etoposide. The growth of KB cells was measured by MTT methods and apoptosis was analyzed by DNA fragmentation and Hochest nucleus staining. The proteasome activity was analyzed by fluorescent tagged peptide and cellular protein expression was detected by Western hybridization. Though lactacystin and etoposide inhibited KB cell growth alone, but low combined doses inhibited cell growth more strongly and induced apoptosis. The proteasome activity was also seriously inhibited by the combination of both chemicals. Tumor suppressor proteins and apoptosis inducing proteins were highly increased under the combination of both chemicals. From above studies we can conclude that proteasome inhibitors may be used for the treatment of oral cancer and proteasome inhibitors with DNA replication inhibitors may be effective in clinical trials of oral cancer.

We carried out a set of simulations to reproduce the performance of wide-field NEO surveys based on the revised population model of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) constructed by Morbidelli (2006). This is the first time where the new model is carefully compared with discovery statistics, and with the exception of population model, the simulation is identical to the procedure described in Moon et al. (2008). Our simulations show rather large discrepancy between the number of NEO discoveries made by the actual and the simulated surveys. First of all, unlike Bottke et al. (2002)'s, Morbidelli (2006)'s population model overestimates the number of NEOs. However, the latter reproduces orbit distributions of the actual population better. Our analysis suggests that both models significantly underestimate Amors, while overestimating the number of Apollos. Our simulation result implies that substantial modifications of both models are needed for more accurate reproduction of survey observations. We also identify Hungaria region (HU) to be one of the most convincing candidates that supply a large fraction of asteroids to the inner Solar System.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy and is a major cause of worldwide cancer mortality. The proto-oncogene c-myb plays an important role in regulation of cell growth and differentiation, and it is expressed at high levels in hematopoietic cells and many other types of cancers. However, the function of c-myb is not well known in OSCC. The present study aimed to reveal the function of c-myb and to test the alternation of cell growth and signaling by c-myb in OSCC. In this study, c-myb and dominant-negatibe myb(DNmyb) were expressed in an adenovirus-mediated gene delivery system to KB cells. The over-expressed c-myb brought increased cellular proliferation compared with control cells. However, DN-myb infected KB cells showed significant reduction of cell growth and enhanced induction of apoptosis to activate PARP and caspase 9. c-myb induced increase of IGF-I, -II and IGF-IR expressions while DN-myb down-regulated these expression. Activation of ERK and Akt/PKB pathway was shown only in c-myb transduced cells. These findings suggest that the role of c-myb in cell growth of oral cancer cells is partially mediated through the modulation of IGFs, ERK and Akt/PKB. From this results, DN-myb is strongly recommended as a curable gene for the treatment of c-myb dependent malignancies such as OSCC.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of serratus anterior strengthening exercises on scapular position and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain measurements taken at the resting position in young adults with adducted scapular. The exercise program included stretching of the scapular retractor and strengthening of the serratus anterior muscle. We measured the distance from the midline of the thorax to the vertebral border of the scapular with a tape line (Superior Kibler), and the distance from the 7th cervical spinous process to the acromial angle with 3-dimension motion analysis system, to compare the resting scapular position before and after exercise. Fifteen subjects with adducted scapular were recruited to compare the resting scapular position and VAS. The distance from 7th cervical spine process to acromial angle of the scapular and VAS decreased significantly (p<.01) after exercise, while the distance from the midline of the thorax to vertebral border of the scapular increased (p<.05). The conclusion is that the serratus anterior exercise program altered the resting scapular position and decreased VAS.

The purposes of this study were to compare core muscle activities with and without the use of Pilates resistive equipment during bridging exercises and to investigate the efficacy of a Pilates device. Fourteen healthy individuals (6 males, 8 females) between 20 to 26 years of age were examined. They were engaged in a bridging exercise with and without a magic circle. Three consecutive repetitions of each exercise were performed. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to measure the electrical activities of the right side internal oblique, the adductor longus, the multifidus, and the gluteus maximus muscles. Normalized EMG activities were compared using a paired t-test and the level of significance was set at =.05. The results showed that the EMG activities of the internal oblique (p=.0078), the adductor longus (p=.0007), and the gluteus maximus (p=.0001) muscles were significantly higher when using the magic circle during the Pilates bridging exercise. Also, statistically significant change existed in the multifidus muscle (p=.0106). The bridging exercise, combined with hip adduction using the magic circle, may enhance core stabilization. Therefore, using a magic circle during hip adduction combined with bridging exercise may be recommended usefully for individuals wanting to strength the core muscles. Further research is needed to access the nature of motor control of the Pilates mat exercises and to deliver exercise intervention for lower back pain patients.

To design an efficient and acceptable indoor air environment in a badminton gymnasium, it is important to study the velocity and temperature field in the conditioned room. For diverse airflow patterns, the k- c models with wall function near solid boundaries are adopted to simulate airflow distribution in the gymnasium. The simulated result is analyzed in this paper, and it provides the important reference for the design of air condition system and optimization of the project. CFD is effective design tool for air flow in large space, for it can give the velocity and temperature values at any point quantitatively.