Development of high-performance and rapid immunoassay for model food allergen lysozyme using antibody-conjugated bacterial magenetic particles and fully automated system

A high-performance and rapid chemiluminescence immunoassay for model food allergen lysozyme, one of the major allergenic components in egg white, using antibody-conjugated bacterial magnetic particles and a fully automated system was developed. This system contians a reaction station, tip rack, and an eight-tip pipettor that is alble to attach and detach a strong magnet to the tip surface. The immunoreaction time was shortened to 5 min, and the assay was completed within 20 min. The lower detection limit for lysozyme was 10 ng/mL. This system can be used to perform 24 samples in 60 min within 10% coefficient of variation.     

Simultaneous imaging of multiple fluorescent probes in bio-cells.

In order to obtain the full spectrum from 400 to 800 nm of each pixel of a microscopic image, a unique spectro-imaging system was developed using an image slicer. The image slicer is composed of 100 photo fibers which are arranged in a matrix of 10 x 10 at the entrance and 100 x 1 at the exit. A line of this 100 signals is passed through a glism and projected onto a CCD. This system was applied to the fluorescent imaging of bio-cells. One of the demonstrative examples was simultaneous measurements of the Ca2+ concentration and the pH using of respective fluorescent probes. An electric signal was applied to BY-2 protoplasts and the fluorescent spectrum from 500 nm to 800 nm was measured every 5 s. The spectrum of the BY-2 protoplasts changed in response to the electric signal and the Ca2+ concentration, and the pH changes could be monitored. The wavelength resolution was satisfactory, but the space resolution was still rough in comparison with the usual microscopic systems. Notwithstanding these conditions, we could obtain discrete data from more than several tens of sites in a single-cell or a chain of several cells.     

Sets of rigged paths with Virasoro characters

Let {M _r,s ^(p,p′)}_{1≤r≤p−1,1≤s≤p′−1} be the irreducible Virasoro modules in the (p,p′)-minimal series. In our previous paper, we have constructed a monomial basis of ⊕ _r=1 ^p−1 M _r,s ^(p,p′) in the case 1<p′/p<2. By ‘monomials’ we mean vectors of the form , where φ _−n ^(r′,r):M _r,s ^(p,p′)→M _r′,s ^(p,p′) are the Fourier components of the (2,1)-primary field and |r ₀,s〉 is the highest weight vector of . In this article, we introduce for all p<p′ with p≥3 and s=1 a subset of such monomials as a conjectural basis of ⊕ _r=1 ^p−1 M _r,1^(p,p′). We prove that the character of the combinatorial set labeling these monomials coincides with the character of the corresponding Virasoro module. We also verify the conjecture in the case p=3.      

Photo-induced magnetic polarons in semiconductors

Exciton magnetic polarons observed in dilute magnetic semiconductors were investigated by steady-state and pico-second time-resolved photoluminescence measurements and have shown characteristic behavior of exciton localization processes in bulk-Cd_1-x Mn _x Te and also in the quantum structures composed of the dilute magnetic semiconductors. For the quantum structures spin-dependent coherent polarizations associated with excitons and biexcitons were studied by degenerate four-wave mixing experiment. Also investigated for different chalcogenide spinel ferromagnetic semiconductors was photo-induced enhancement of exchange interaction between magnetic ions by direct magnetic flux detection in the vicinity of the Curie temperatures.     

Quadratic relations for a q-analogue of multiple zeta values

We obtain a class of quadratic relations for a q-analogue of multiple zeta values (qMZV’s). In the limit q→1, it turns into Kawashima’s relation for multiple zeta values. As a corollary we find that qMZV’s satisfy the linear relation contained in Kawashima’s relation. In the proof we make use of a q-analogue of Newton series and Bradley’s duality formula for finite multiple harmonic q-series.     

Formation of ultra-thin films consisting of proteins or polysaccharides and syndiotactic-rich poly-vinyl alcohol mixtures adsorbed at air-solution interface

Ultra-thin films of syndiotactic-rich poly-vinyl alcohol (s-PVA) with several proteins and polysaccharides were prepared by the bubble and frame methods using a mixed dilute aqueous solution (1.5g/dL).The mixed amount of-cyclodextrin (-CD) was the largest among these proteins and polysaccharides giving a weight ratio (-CD/s-PVA) of 1. The ratios of silk fibroin(SF), lysozyme, pepsin, and pectin tos- PVA were 0.58, 0.40, 0.35, and 0.35, respectively. For the-CD/s-PVA and SF/s-PVA blend thin films, the phase separation was observed.