The Core Fucose on an IgG Antibody is an Endogenous Ligand of Dectin‐1

The core fucose, a major modification of N‐glycans, is implicated in immune regulation, such as the attenuation of the antibody‐dependent cell‐mediated cytotoxicity of antibody drugs and the inhibition of anti‐tumor responses via the promotion of PD‐1 expression on T cells. Although the core fucose regulates many biological processes, no core fucose recognition molecule has been identified in mammals. Herein, we report that Dectin‐1, a known anti‐β‐glucan lectin, recognizes the core fucose on IgG antibodies. A combination of biophysical experiments further suggested that Dectin‐1 recognizes aromatic amino acids adjacent to the N‐terminal asparagine at the glycosylation site as well as the core fucose. Thus, Dectin‐1 appears to be the first lectin‐like molecule involved in the heterovalent and specific recognition of characteristic N‐glycans on antibodies.     

The polynomial invariants of twisted links

A twisted link is a generalization of a virtual link, which is related to a link diagram on a closed, possibly non-orientable surface. In this paper we generalize the Miyazawa polynomial invariant of a virtual link to an invariant of a twisted link in two formulae one of which is introduced by A. Ishii and the other by the author.     

Noncovalent wrapping of chemically modified graphene with π-conjugated disk-like molecules

A facile and scalable preparation of dispersion of isolated graphene in various organic solvents has been developed by combining between covalent and noncovalent functionalizations of the graphene surface. Covalently functionalized graphene (FRG) was prepared by the reaction of partially reduced graphene oxide with aryl diazonium salts, followed by the graphene oxide being completely reduced with hydrazine. The resulting FRG disperse readily in organic solvents such as N,N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone and the functionalization of graphene was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric thermogram, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The hydrophobic surface of FRG was noncovalently wrapped with aromatic hexakis-dodecylhexa-peri-benzocorone (HBC) by simply mixing of dispersion of FRG in DMF with toluene solution of HBC. The complexation of FRG and HBC was monitored by viewing the absorption and fluorescence spectral changes. Atomic force microscopic images confirmed that graphene was covalently and noncovalently functionalized, while keeping a two-dimensional sheet shape.     

New method to evaluate the mobility of ions in the nanochannels of polymer electrolyte membranes

The behavior of excited PyS⁻ with the quencher NO₂⁻ in an ionomer solution of anion-conductive resin and in the nanochannels of an anion-conductive membrane was investigated by luminescence quenching measurements. Compared with the behavior of an excited Ru(bpy)₃²⁺-MV²⁺ system in the presence of Nafion, the mobility of ions in the nanochannels of an ion-conductive resin is proved to depend on ion size, structure of nanochannel and channel medium.     

The Miyazawa polynomial for long virtual knots

We introduce a two-variable polynomial invariant of a long virtual knot, which dominates the Kauffman f-polynomial and the Miyazawa polynomial of the closure. Our invariant satisfies a product formula for the concatenation product of long virtual knots. It describes a formula of the Miyazawa polynomial of a ‘connected sum’ of two virtual knots. It also gives lower bounds for the real crossing number and the virtual crossing number of a long virtual knot.     

Spatial coherence of bending magnet radiation and application limit of the van Cittert-Zernike theorem

In this paper we discuss how the first-order spatial coherence of bending magnet radiation is determined. We present an analytical representation of the coherence and compare it with the numerical calculations based on the first principles. It is shown that if the electron-beam size is so large that some conditions are satisfied, the van Cittert-Zernike theorem can be used without any modification in the vertical and horizontal directions. The formalism presented will be useful in judging whether or not the electron-beam size in the storage ring can be estimated directly from the van Cittert-Zernike theorem using the synchrotron radiation interferometer.     

Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of antimony(III) based on induced oxidation of tris(1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II) by chromium(VI)

The method involves the measurement of the extent of the induced reaction, which ceases a few seconds after initiation. Antimony(III) can be determined in the range 0.4–10 μg ml^-1. The standard deviation is ±0.25 μg. The method is applied to marine sediments.