Utsunomiya University

About: Utsunomiya University is a education organization based out in Utsunomiya, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Holography. The organization has 4139 authors who have published 6812 publications receiving 91975 citations. The organization is also known as: Utsunomiya daigaku.

Hydrogen at the surface and interface of metals on Si(111)

Abstract: The depth-resolved measurement of hydrogen using the resonant nuclear reaction of ${}^{1}{\mathrm{H}(}^{15}{\mathrm{N},\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\gamma}})}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ in the formation of (Pb, Ag, and Cu)/Si(111) interfaces is reported. It was found that Pb deposition on $\mathrm{Si}(111)1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{H}$ at 110 and 360 K leads to the formation of the Pb/H/Si(111) interface. Upon deposition of Ag at 110 K, however, it was found that a quarter of the monolayer of H migrates to the surface of Ag with the rest of H remaining at the Ag/Si(111) interface. The preadsorbed H atom was desorbed from the surface by deposition of Ag and Cu at 360 K, suggesting that (Ag, Cu)/H/Si(111) is a metastable structure. The relative stability of the interface H is discussed.

Overexpression of the vascular brassinosteroid receptor BRL3 confers drought resistance without penalizing plant growth

Abstract: Drought represents a major threat to food security. Mechanistic data describing plant responses to drought have been studied extensively and genes conferring drought resistance have been introduced into crop plants. However, plants with enhanced drought resistance usually display lower growth, highlighting the need for strategies to uncouple drought resistance from growth. Here, we show that overexpression of BRL3, a vascular-enriched member of the brassinosteroid receptor family, can confer drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Whereas loss-of-function mutations in the ubiquitously expressed BRI1 receptor leads to drought resistance at the expense of growth, overexpression of BRL3 receptor confers drought tolerance without penalizing overall growth. Systematic analyses reveal that upon drought stress, increased BRL3 triggers the accumulation of osmoprotectant metabolites including proline and sugars. Transcriptomic analysis suggests that this results from differential expression of genes in the vascular tissues. Altogether, this data suggests that manipulating BRL3 expression could be used to engineer drought tolerant crops.

Voltammetric Assay of Naproxen in Pharmaceutical Formulations Using Boron-Doped Diamond Electrode

Abstract: The electrooxidation of naproxen was studied, for the first time, using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry (CV and DPV) in nonaqueous solvent supporting electrolyte system. The results were also compared with glassy carbon electrode (GC) under the same conditions. Naproxen undergoes one electron transfer resulting in the formation of cation radical for the first electrooxidation step, which follows other chemical and electrochemical steps such as deprotonation, removal of another electron and the attack of nucleophile (ECEC mechanism). BDD electrode provided higher signal to background ratio, well resolved and highly reproducible cyclic voltammograms than the GC electrode. With a scan rate of 50 mV s � 1 and pulse height of 50 ms, respectively, the DPV technique was able to determine the naproxen concentrations in the range of 0.5 to 50 mM with a detection limit of 30 nM. The influence of interference compounds namely 2-acetyl-6-methoxy naphthalene (AMN) on naproxen oxidation can also be followed successfully. Moreover, the percentage of AMN present in the standard chemical form of a mixture containing naproxen can be found accurately. Rapidity, precise and good selectivity were also found for the determination of naproxen in pharmaceutical formulations.

A New Lead Chemical for Strigolactone Biosynthesis Inhibitors

Abstract: Several triazole-containing chemicals have previously been shown to act as efficient inhibitors of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. To discover a strigolactone biosynthesis inhibitor, we screened a chemical library of triazole derivatives to find chemicals that induce tiller bud outgrowth of rice seedlings. We discovered a triazole-type chemical, TIS13 [2,2-dimethyl-7-phenoxy-4-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)heptan-3-ol], which induced outgrowth of second tiller buds of wild-type seedlings, as observed for non-treated strigolactone-deficient d10 mutant seedlings. TIS13 treatment reduced strigolactone levels in both roots and root exudates in a concentration-dependent manner. Co-application of GR24, a synthetic strigolactone, with TIS13 canceled the TIS13-induced tiller bud outgrowth. Taken together, these results indicate that TIS13 inhibits strigolactone biosynthesis in rice seedlings. We propose that TIS13 is a new lead compound for the development of specific strigolactone biosynthesis inhibitors.