In this paper I reported Diels-Alder reaction of 2(1H)-pyridone derivatives which are the aromatic heterocyclic compounds. Diels-Alder reaction of 2(1H)-pyridones acting as diene gave the isoquinuclidine derivatives. The isoquinuclidine skeltone is a core in structure of iboga alkaloids. Further, Diels-Alder reactions of 2(1H)-pyridones having the electron-withdrawing group acting as dienophiles afforded the isoquinolines or the quinolines chemoselectively.

Extension of healthy life span is a serious concern shared by industrialized countries where the percentage of elderly people has been steadily increasing. To cope with this situation investigations on biological aging should be valued in the long run because development of diseases in elderly people is more or less based upon biological changes in a body associated with aging. I describe age-related changes of proteins and protein turnover as a mechanism of biological aging with special reference to oxidative stress that is an inevitable consequence of life maintenance processes. Oxidatively modified proteins were demonstrated to increase with advancing age and the half-life of proteins was extended in old animals. I also show experimental evidence for beneficial effects of dietary restriction and regular physical exercise in old age. Dietary restriction shortened the half-life of proteins, reducing the level of the altered proteins in old animals. Regular exercise reduced the oxidatively modified proteins in the brain with improved cognitive functions. It atenuated oxidative stress in the liver. These findings suggest that regular exercise has systemic efects in reducing oxidative stress contrary to what has been believed. Thus, life-styles such as diet and exercise may be superior to so called anti-aging medicine that often uses chemicals such as antioxiants and hormones with potentially adverse consequences.

The sodium pump is a plasma membrane protein, which is essential for maintaining the sodium and potassium ion gradient across the cell membrane. The pump consists of α and β subunits. The α2 subunit expresses tissue specifically, such as brain. We have developed mice that are defective of this gene and examined specific roles of α2 subunit. The homozygotes survived until birth, but they died immediately after birth due to the failure of respiration. We found that the lack of α2 subunit caused the imbalance of intracellular ion homeostasis critical for generation of the respiratory neuron activities in perinatal period. We propose a model for functional coupling between the α2 subunit and KCC2, the latter excludes Cl^- from the cytosol in respiratory center neurons. We also found that the α2 subunit plays a critical role in regulating neural activity in the developing amygdala and piriform cortex. Further supporting a role of the α2 subunit in the function of the amygdala, heterozygous adult mice showed augmented fear/anxiety behaviors and enhanced neuronal activity in the amygdala after conditioned fear stimuli. Interestingly, the adult heterozygotes developed obesity after middle age due to hyper-food intake in the light phase.

In order to understand how pigment cells participate in the color pattern formation, we examined the distribution of pigment cells in the skin of the zebrafish having alternate stripes of deep blue and white. In the skin of deep blue stripe areas, iridophores assuming blue coloration are distributed over the melanophore layer, while in the brownish dorsal skin, melanophores and xanthophores overlie iridophores. Within such iridophores, very thin light-reflecting platelets are stacked regularly at an equal distance from one another, and the platelets are inclined at a constant angle. Probably, the iridophores manifest blue color through multilayered thin-film interference of non-ideal type. In the skin of deep blue stripe regions, another type of iridophores, in which the reflecting platelets lie parallel to the dermis, was also observed below melanophores. It is likely that thin-film interference of ideal-type is responsible for the silvery tones generated by the iridophores. In the skin of white stripe regions, iridophores exist densely in 3 or 4 layers, and xanthophores overlie the iridophore layers. Thus, it has been shown that the difference in pigment cell organization in each region is involved in the color pattern formation in the zebrafish.

Since June in 2002 Aoimori Science BBL, on the basis of understanding that lifelong education is lacking in science education, has tried opening science seminars pleasant and instructive for both the adult and the young, which make natural observation to be an introduction, and elevate their science literacy without compulsory consciousness. Report on the activities during the period and precedent ones was made in November, 2003. The conclusion at that stage was that antipathy of science was attributed to the antipathy of science among the adult, and both the adult and the young should be targets of activities for science education. Here will be reported activities during two years after November in 2003 performed by Aoimori Science BBL as an institution connected to the College for Inhabitants of Prefecture.

This paper introduces the preparation and applications of self-assembled particle structures as an essay contributed in celebration of receiving the SJWS Promising Scientist Award in 2005. The author has worked on the self-organized structures of submicron-sized particles and made their widespread applications. Those structures were investigated as a model structure for the theoretical study of photonic crystals (a photonic crystal is a periodic structure in optical wavelength scale. They can control photons as a semiconductor does on electrons), and a template or a mask to prepare other functional structures. As the results, a photoelectrochemical micro-beaker, a diamond electron emitter, and a dye-sensitized photonic-crystal solar cell had been prepared.

The Rokkasho Reading Circle started in 1995 when the Rokkasho Culture Association was established in the Rokkasho Village Office. Since then the members of the circle have been continuing literary activities and reached the tenth anniversary of the circle on 23, September 2005. The author, who is a member of this circle, was given an opportunity providing a keynote address on this occasion. The intention of the keynote address by the author was to realize actual condition of the gender equality and to revisit the originator and her ideal of the reading circle.