Effect of food amount and temperature on growth rate and aerobic scope of juvenile chum salmon

Offshore migration of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. is partly triggered by increasing body size and high motility in the early stages of life. The survival of juvenile salmon may depend on their growth rate during the first few months in the sea, and this factor partly regulates the dynamics of adult populations. Here, we assessed the effects of water temperature and food availability on the growth of juvenile chum salmon O. keta. In addition, by combining the measurements of metabolic performance for growth and activity (Absolute Aerobic Scope: AAS) with a bioenergetics model, we estimated the energy allocation for different activities in the juveniles. Under high temperatures (14 °C), juveniles reared at low food levels (1% body weight) allocated less than half their energy for growth than those reared at high food levels (4% body weight). These findings suggest that high temperature and low food level constrain the growth of juveniles, providing an insight into the effect of the recent increase in warm and low-nutrient water masses on survival of juveniles and catches of adult chum salmon on the Pacific side of Honshu Island, Japan.

     

Gigantic photoresponse in 1/4-filled-band organic salt (EDO-TTF)2PF6

We report that the organic salt (EDO-TTF)2PF6 with 3/4-filled-band (1/4-filled in terms of holes), which forms an organic metal with strong electron and lattice correlation, shows a highly sensitive response to photoexcitation. An ultrafast, photoinduced phase transition from the insulator phase to the metal phase can be induced with very weak excitation intensity at near room temperature. This response makes the material attractive for applications in switching devices with room-temperature operation. The observed photo-induced spectroscopic change shows that this photoinduced phase transition process is caused by the cooperative melting of charge ordering assisted by coherent phonon generation.     

Amino acid composition of proteins as a product of molecular evolution

The average amino acid composition of proteins is determined by the genetic code and by random base changes in evolution. Small but significant deviations from expected composition can be explained by selective constraint on amino acid substitutions. In particular, the deficiency of arginine in proteins has been caused by constraint, during evolution, on fixation of mutations substituting arginine for other amino acids.     

Development of green onion and cabbage certified reference materials for quantification of organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides

Green onion and cabbage certified reference materials for the analysis of pesticide residues were issued by the National Metrology Institute of Japan, part of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Green onion and cabbage samples were grown so as to contain several kinds of organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides, and those were collected from a field in the Kochi Prefecture in Japan. The certification was carried out by using multiple analytical methods to ensure the reliability of analytical results; the values of target pesticides (diazinon, fenitrothion, cypermethrin, etofenprox, and permethrin for green onion and chlorpyrifos, fenitrothion, and permethrin for cabbage) were obtained by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Certified values of target pesticides were 0.96-13.9 and 2.41-6.9 mg/kg for green onion and cabbage, respectively. These are the first green onion and cabbage powder certified reference materials in which organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides are determined.     

Potassium Jarosite for fertilizer

Japan has scarcely any potassic resource in her country. Therefore, the shortage was severe in the second world war. In this time I had investigated the fertilizer utilization of many potassic minerals, such as liparite, alunite, glauconite and vermiculite in this country. The potassium jarosite was discovered for the first time at Gumma limonite mine by Katayama and Saito in 1947n. Since then, the many deposites were found out at such places as Suwa Mine in Nagano prefecture, Mitsui-Aso Mine in Kumamoto prefecture and several mines in the Hokkaido district.     

Properties and classification of selected volcanic ash soils from Abashiri,Northern Japan—transition of Andisols to Mollisols

Abstract

Properties and classification of four selected volcanic ash soils from Abashiri, Hokkaido were studied and the transition of Andisols to Mollisols was discussed. Two of the four pedons (Brown Andosol and Cumulic Andosol)¹ showed morphological, clay mineralogical, physical, and chemical properties common to most Andisols in Japan. However, the properties of the other two pedons (Acid Brown Forest soil and Brown Forest soil)¹ were considerably different from those of common Andisols in Japan. It was found that the changes in the andic soil properties or transition of Andisols to Mollisols was closely related to the progression of clay weathering, mainly the transformation of noncrystalline clay materials to halloysite. One of the four pedons (Brown Forest soil)¹had the clay fraction dominated by halloysite from the uppermost horizon down to the bottom of the profile and satisfied both andic and mollic requirements. Thus we concluded that the pedon is a transitional soil between Andisols and Mollisols and that the transition is closely related to the duration of surface weathering under relatively weak leaching conditions. The four pedons were classified according to the Andisol Proposal (Leamy et al. 1988, New Zealand Soil Bureau) as follows:

Pedon 1: Medial, amorphic (allophane/imogolite), frigid Typic Hapludand (Brown Andosol).¹ Pedon 2: Medial, amorphic (allophane/imogolite), frigid Typic Melanudand (Cumulic Andosol).¹ Pedon 3: Medial, amorphic (allophane/ imogolite), over kandic, frigid Typic Melanudand (Acid Brown Forest soil).¹ Pedon 4: Medial, kandic, frigid Typic Hapludand (Brown Forest soil).¹     

Characterization of the major components in bark from five Japanese tree species for chemical utilization

Summary Characterization of the major components in bark from five Japanese tree species, Pinus densiflora, Larix leptolepis, Cryptomeria japonica, Fagus crenata, Quercus mongolica, was performed from a viewpoint of chemical utilization. Relatively high yields of formaldehyde-condensable polyphenols were obtained from the bark of P. densiflora (22.5%) and L. leptolepis (20.8%) by 1% NaOH extraction. The alkali insoluble residue contained large amounts of neutral sugars (26.1%–40.7%) in comparison with untreated bark. Glucose was generally the dominant sugar in the residue, although the major neutral sugar content in F. crenata was xylose. By successive treatment with 1% NaOH and acid chlorite, a marked decrease in lignin content was observed in P. densiflora. In the other tree species, bark lignin was resistant to acid chlorite treatment to a certain extent. Received 20 December 1996     

New strategies of boar sperm cryopreservation: Development of novel freezing and thawing methods with a focus on the roles of seminal plasma

Cryopreservation of boar spermatozoa offers an effective means of long‐term storage of important genetic material. Many researchers have investigated how to improve reproductive performance by artificial insemination (AI) using cryopreserved boar spermatozoa. Recently, we and other groups reported that high conception rates (70–80%) can be achieved by AI with frozen‐thawed boar spermatozoa using a modified temperature program during freezing, or a novel cryopreservation extender to improve sperm quality (including sperm survivability, motility, membrane status and fertilization ability) after thawing, or a novel sperm infusion method, deep intra uterine insemination. However, these techniques have not yet been used for commercial pig production. The variation in sperm freezability among boars or among ejaculations in an identical boar is one of the main reasons for this problem. In our previous study, it was revealed that some components of seminal plasma have a negative effect on the freezability of boar sperm. One of these factors is bacteria‐released endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide: LPS). LPS binds to Toll‐like receptor‐4 (TLR‐4) expressed on the sperm surface, resulting in induction of apoptosis. On the other hand, seminal plasma suppresses cryo‐capacitation induced by thawing stress. On the basis of these findings, we designed a novel protocol of AI using frozen‐thawed boar sperm.     

Impaired postnatal development in C/EBPbeta-deficient mice

Tail DNA genotyping of fetal and neonatal mice from C/EBPbeta heterozygous parents was performed to determine whether the decreased number of surviving C/EBPbeta mutants was caused by prenatal or postnatal death. Eighty-four 3-week-old mice born of heterozygous parents had significantly lower numbers of C/EBPbeta-deficient offspring than the expected Mendelian ratio (29.8%+/+, 65.5%+/-, 4.76%-/-, P<0.05). The genotypes of 72 fetal mice from intercrossed heterozygotes showed approximately the expected 1:2:1 Mendelian ratio (18.1% +/+, 52.8% +/-, 29.2% -/-, P>0.05). No difference in the proportions by sex could be detected in these perinates. This data indicates that C/EBPbeta-deficient mice have unknown lethal problems between the embryonic stage and weaning.