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Crop models have suggested high sensitivity of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] to day length and the resultant extension of the growth period as a concept to overcome yield loss due to climate warming. However, experimental validation of this concept is incomplete. The E3 and E4 loci encode phytochrome A isoforms and enhance sensitivity to day length. Our previous study showed that the dominant E4 allele can mitigate yield loss due to warming. In this study, we similarly tested the hypothesis that the dominant E3 allele can reduce yield loss caused by warming. One of the leading Japanese cultivars Enrei (e3/E4) and near‐isogenic lines (NIL‐e3e4, NIL‐E3e4, and NIL‐E3E4) in the Enrei genetic background were grown at near ambient temperature or either 2.0°C or 4.7°C above ambient temperature in temperature‐gradient chambers (TGCs) in a cool region in Japan. The number of days from sowing to beginning of flowering (R1) decreased with increasing temperature, regardless of genotype. However, increasing temperature extended the period from R1 to beginning of pod filling (R3) and increased pod number per plant and seed yield per plant in all genotypes except NIL‐e3e4. Combined data from the TGC experiment and from field trials across three different latitudes showed that the decreased developmental rate during the R1–R3 period can be attributed to longer days, rather than by supra‐optimal temperatures. We conclude that E3, in addition to E4, could potentially increase seed yield in cool regions under future warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes a cost‐effective experimental method for determining an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) region in a given protein sample. In this area, the most popular (and conventional) means is using the amide (1HN) NMR signal chemical shift distributed in the range of 7.5–8.5 ppm. For this study, we applied an additional step: analysis of 1HN chemical shift temperature coefficients (1HN‐CSTCs) of the signals. We measured 1H–15N two‐dimensional NMR spectra of model IDP samples and ordered samples at four temperatures (288, 293, 298, and 303 K). We derived the 1HN‐CSTC threshold deviation, which gives the best correlation of ordered and disordered regions among the proteins examined (below −3.6 ppb/K). By combining these criteria with the newly optimized chemical shift range (7.8–8.5 ppm), the ratios of both true positive and true negative were improved by approximately 19% (62–81%) compared with the conventional "chemical shift‐only" method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case of an 8-year-old girl patient with Moyamoya disease, who was diagnosed using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The disease is characterized by the progressive obstruction of the internal carotid artery and the proximal cerebral arteries. The patient was treated by a form of revascular surgery called encephalo-duro-aerterio-myo-synangiosis (EDAMS). It offers information on the vascular change and cerebral metabolites in the patient before and after EDAMS.

Abstract Advances in techniques of image diagnosis have enabled the detection of minute or small cancer lesions in the stomach. Patients with such cancer, in principle, were treated surgically, but accumulated histopathological data on surgical cancer specimens revealed that many of these patients did not have any metastatic lesions. For those localized cancers, local treatment of primary lesions by endoscopy gives curative results. It has been demonstrated that endoscopic therapy is curative in mucosal well-differentiated adenocarcinoma not more than 20 mm in diameter without ulceration. Efforts to cure early gastric cancer without surgery yielded fruitful results and a new treatment concept was established. Even if there is a recurrence of the residual or metachronous lesions, they can be treated by further endoscopic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction of an interleaving method in packet voice communications, called packet interleaving, is proposed as a means to reduce speech quality deterioration caused by packet losses. This interleaving method and methods of substituting for missing samples, are evaluated by subjective tests. The results show that the packet interleaving can reduce speech quality degradation significantly if the values of samples which are missing are replaced with the mean values of their adjacent samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the goals of studies on human interface is to make operating procedures of various systems easier to acquire. From past studies it is known that construction of appropriate mental models in the user's mind is effective in acquiring operating procedures. Furthermore, as a technique to construct easily and quickly appropriate mental models, metaphor and direct manipulation are being studied. However, it has not been clarified how effective these techniques are in acquiring operating procedures. For electronic mailing systems that enable key operations and drawing figures by touching the screen by a magnetic pen, experiments were conducted to clarify the effect on acquiring the operating procedures, regarding the procedure for sending electronic nails as "the one for sending letters by nail." Subjects are grouped into threes and are taught the procedures for sending mails in different ways for the groups. They operate experimental systems on the first day, the third day, and three months later. Then the time required for each operation is measured and the percentage of those who performed misoperations is calculated. As the result, it is found that if users are taught that the procedure for sending mails is regarded as the one for sending letters, they acquire it easily and remember it well. Thus, it is shown that utilization of metaphor is effective. Also, from the results of the operating time, it is found that the percentage of acquisition of operating procedures can be estimated roughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]