Quantitative structure-activity study of herbicidal N-aryl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalimides and related cyclic imides

The quantitative relationship between structure and inhibitory activity against the root growth of sawa millet of 30 N-aryl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalimides and 88 related N-aryl cyclic imide compounds (3-aryl-1,5-tetramethylenehydantoins, 4-aryl-1,2-tetramethylenetriazolidine-3,5-diones, and their thiocarbonyl analogs) was analyzed by means of physicochemical parameters of the aryl substituents and regression analysis. The results showed that, in each series of these classes of compounds, the position-specific steric effects of aromatic substituents, as represented by Verloop's STERIMOL values, are highly important in determining the inhibitory potency of the compound.     

Clay minerals of soils from olivine basalt in Kyushu

Soil scientists have been encouraged to investigate soils for clay minerals by very fact that soil characteristics fundamentally depend upon the nature of their clay. It is generally recognized that clays of different species develop under different conditions such as drainage, temperature weathering age, and parent rocks. On Kyushu Island, heavy, reddish soils derived from olivine basalt cover a considerably large area of its northeastern part, and a numbar of small islands belonging to Kyushu. Koga ^* Hiroshi Koga, Clay minerals of Oura basaltic soil, 1954 (unpublished). of this laboratory found a basaltic soil of clay consisting of hydrated halloysite, halloysite, hematite, and gibbsite at the eastern foot of Mt. Tara, by examining its clay separates by X-ray, thermal, chemical, and electron microscopical techniques. Kanno et al⁵ reported that in a basaltic soil at Oura, Saga prefecture, hydrated halloysite developed from plagioclase and ferro-magnesian minerals with gibbsite and hematite which was more abundant than in other Red and Yellow Soils. They also found some illite present in the soil derived from unknown minerals, and halloysite dehydrated in upper layers.     

iTRAQ-Based Proteomics Investigation of Critical Response Proteins in Embryo and Coleoptile During Rice Anaerobic Germination

Direct-seeding of rice has become popular in recent years due to its low cost and convenience, however, hypoxic condition limits seedling establishment. In this study, weedy rice WR04-6 with high germination ability under anaerobic conditions was used as a gene donor, and we successfully improved the seedling establishment rate of rice cultivar Qishanzhan (QSZ) based on selection of a new rice line R42 from the recombinant inbred line population. R42 inherited high anaerobic germination (AG) ability, and was used for isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based comparative proteomic studies with QSZ to further explore the molecular mechanism of AG. A total of 719 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) were shared by R42 and QSZ responded to AG, and thus defined as common response DAPs. A total of 300 DAPs that responded to AG were only identified from R42, which were defined as tolerance-specific DAPs. The common response and tolerance-specific DAPs had similar biochemical reaction processes and metabolic pathways in response to anoxic stress, however, they involved different proteins. The tolerance-specific DAPs were involved in amino acid metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle pathway, ethylene synthesis pathway, cell wall-associated proteins and activity of active oxygen scavenging enzyme. The in silico protein-protein interactions for the top 60 DAPs indicated that tolerance-specific DAPs had relatively independent protein interaction networks in response to an anoxic environment compared with common response DAPs. The results of physiological indicators showed that α-amylase and superoxide dismutase activities of R42 were significantly increased under anoxic conditions compared with aerobic conditions. Multiple lines of evidence from western blot, physiological analysis and quantitative real-time PCR jointly supported the reliability of proteomics data. In summary, our findings deepened the understanding of the molecular mechanism for the rice response to AG.     

Exchange acidity of montmorillonite and halloysite

In the previous article (1), montmorillonitic soils were disclosed to have the ratio of total exchange acidity to y¹ less than 3.0 and no ralation of the degree of base saturation to the ratio, although the relation was suggested by AMONINE and WATANABE (2).     

Progress on larval and juvenile nutrition to improve the quality and health of seawater fish: a review

In seedling production of seawater fish, providing appropriate nutrition is a necessity for successful production of quality larvae and juveniles. Mass-produced live prey organisms, such as the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis species complex and brine shrimp Artemia spp., alone do not provide sufficient nutrition to the larvae and juveniles of seawater animals. This inadequacy has led to various problems related to fish quality and health, including increased incidence of morphological and behavioral abnormalities and mass mortalities. It is, therefore, important to identify the factors associated with these problems to improve seedling production techniques. This review collates the efforts made during the past two decades in larval nutrition–focusing on advances made in the use of certain nutrients, such as docosahexaenoic acid, vitamin A derivatives, and taurine that are important for the mass production of seawater fish larvae and juveniles–with an aim to improve the quality and health of fish.     

Changes in plasma prolactin and growth hormone concentrations during freshwater adaptation of juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) reared in seawater for a prolonged period

Freshwater adaptability of chum salmon was examined in juvenile fish reared in seawater for 4 months. The fish, weighing about 40g, were transferred directly to fresh water in October, when their cohorts are migrating in the North Pacific Ocean. Plasma sodium concentration decreased from 167 mM in seawater to about 130 mM during the first 24h, and increased gradually during 2–7 days after the transfer. No immunoreactive prolactin (PRL) was detected in the plasma of the seawater-adapted fish nor during the first 24h in fresh water. Significant levels of PRL were detected after 2–3 days. The maximal level (2.6 ng/ml) was observed after 5 days and became undetectable again after 7 days; no significant correlation was seen between the changes in plasma sodium and PRL levels during the transfer. Plasma growth hormone levels were relatively constant, except for a significant decrease 12h after the transfer. Although plasma thyroxine levels were highly variable during the experiment, a significant decrease and an increase were observed 12h and 5 days after the transfer, respectively. The present study indicates that juvenile chum salmon retain hyperosmoregulatory ability even after prolonged rearing in seawater. Examination of turnover rates, rather than changes in plasma levels, seems to be essential to clarify the osmoregulatory roles of the hormones.