Akita Prefectural University

About: Akita Prefectural University is a education organization based out in Akita, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Magnetic field & Starch. The organization has 1631 authors who have published 3107 publications receiving 45764 citations. The organization is also known as: Akita kenritsu daigaku.

A Mathematical Model for Converting Conveyor Assembly Line to Cellular Manufacturing

Abstract: This paper proposes a mathematical model for converting conveyor assembly line to cellular manu- facturing in complex production environments. Complex production environments refer to the situations with multi-products, variant demand, different batch sizes and the worker abilities varying with work stations and products respectively. The model proposed in this paper aims to determine (1) how many cells should be formatted; (2) how many workers should be assigned in each cell; (3) and how many workers should be rested in shortened conveyor line when a conveyor assembly line should be converted, in order to optimize system performances which are defined as the total throughput time and total labor power. We refer the model to a new production system. Such model can be used as an evaluation tool in the cases of (i) when a company wants to change its production system (usually a belt conveyor line) to a new one (including cell manufacturing); (ii) when a company wants to evaluate the performance of its converted system. Simulation experiments based on the data collected from the previous documents are used to estimate the marginal impact that each factor change has had on the estimated performance improvement resulting from the conversion.

Natural borneol is a novel chemosensitizer that enhances temozolomide-induced anticancer efficiency against human glioma by triggering mitochondrial dysfunction and reactive oxide species-mediated oxidative damage

Abstract: Background Temozolomide (TMZ)-based chemotherapy represents an effective way for treating human glioma However, its clinical application is limited because of its side effects and resistance to standard chemotherapy Hence, the search for novel chemosensitizers to augment their anticancer efficiency has attracted much attention Natural borneol (NB) has been identified as a potential chemosensitizer in treating human cancers However, the synergistic effect and mechanism of NB and TMZ in human glioma have not been investigated yet Materials and methods U251 human glioma cells were cultured, and the cytotoxicity and apoptosis of NB and/or TMZ were examined by MTT assay, flow cytometric analysis and Western blot Nude mice tumor model was also employed to evaluate the in vivo anticancer effect and mechanism Results The results showed that the combined treatment of NB and TMZ more effectively inhibited human glioma growth via triggering mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in vitro, accompanied by the caspase activation Combined treatment of NB and TMZ also caused mitochondrial dysfunction through disturbing Bcl-2 family expression Further investigation revealed that NB enhanced TMZ-induced DNA damage through inducing reactive oxide species (ROS) overproduction Moreover, glioma tumor xenograft growth in vivo was more effectively inhibited by the combined treatment with NB and TMZ through triggering apoptosis and anti-angiogenesis Conclusion Taken together, our findings validated that the strategy of using NB and TMZ could be a highly efficient way to achieve anticancer synergism

Reduction of polar auxin transport in tobacco by the tumorigenic Agrobacterium tumefaciens AK-6b gene

Abstract: The plant-tumorigenic 6b (AK-6b) gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain AKE10 induces morphological alterations to tobacco plants, Nicotiana tabacum. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes, we generated transgenic tobacco harboring the AK-6b gene under the control of a dexamethazone-inducible promoter. Upon induction, transgenic tobacco seedlings exhibited distinct classes of aberrant morphologies, most notably adventitious outgrowths and stunted epicotyls. Histological analysis revealed massive proliferation and altered venation in the newly established outgrowths. Prominent vascular development suggested that auxin metabolism or signaling had been altered. Indeed, basipetal auxin transport in the hypocotyls of the transgenic seedlings was reduced by 50–80%, whereas intracellular auxin contents were only slightly reduced. Analysis of cell extracts by HPLC revealed a large accumulation of phenolic compounds, including the flavonoid kaempferol-3-rutinoside, in transgenic plants compared with wild-type seedlings. As some naturally occurring flavonoids have been shown to affect auxin transport, we suggest that the AK-6b gene expression impairs auxin transport via modulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism, and ultimately results in the observed morphological alterations.