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Hybrid lethality is a type of reproductive isolation in which hybrids die before maturation, due to the interaction between the two causative genes derived from each of the hybrid parents. The interspecific hybrid of Nicotiana suaveolens × Nicotiana tabacum is a model plant used in studies on hybrid lethality. While most of the progeny produced from such a cross die, some individuals grow normally and mature. Separately, a technique for producing mature hybrids by artificial culture has been developed. However, the mechanism by which hybrids overcome lethality, either spontaneously or by artificial culture, remains unclear. In the present study, we found that some hybrids that overcome lethality, either spontaneously or by artificial culture, lack the distal part of the Q chromosome, a region that includes the gene responsible for lethality. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction results suggested that the distal deletion of the Q chromosome, detected in some hybrid seedlings that overcome lethality, is caused by reciprocal translocations between homoeologous chromosomes. The results showed that chromosomal instability during meiosis in amphidiploid N. tabacum as well as during artificial culturing of hybrid seedlings is involved in overcoming hybrid lethality in interspecific crosses of the genus Nicotiana.

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Many companies need to know how to appeal to consumers in favor of their products and services by broadcasting commercial messages (CMs) through TV. CMs are expected to create and nurture the best image of the company and the products among consumers, and to promote the purchasing activities of consumers through consumer viewing. However, these effects are difficult to produce without strategies. CMs should be designed with the appropriate concept and content. Therefore, there is a need to recognize what stimulates the psychological change in consumers leading to purchase activity: that is, the physical change of recognizing the item and buying the item. Subsequently, and the element(s) of the physical change should be analyzed to shed light on the appropriate target consumers for designing CMs. In this study, we focus on a popular yogurt brand in Japan called "Meiji's Purobio yogurt R-1", analyzing the psychological change in consumers attributed to CMs on TV based on the attributes of 3,000 consumers' data and their TV browsing history. For grasping the psychological state of consumers, we apply the attention, interest, desire, action, satisfaction model and define the consumers' five psychological states based on questionnaire data. The factors of CMs with effects on consumers in each psychological state are clarified using two clustering approaches.

An asymmetric nitrogen-containing dimer, leiocarpanine A, was isolated from the aerial part of Mercurialis leiocarpa as a new compound. The new generation process of leiocarpanine A was estimated and a concise synthesis of leiocarpanine A could be detailed based on mimicking the generation process through the radical intermediates. In general, a lot of reaction step and organic reagents are required for the synthesis of asymmetric nitrogen-containing dimers. However, our new synthesis method enables a concise synthesis of asymmetric nitrogen-containing dimers through radical intermediates by only liquid-separation. This synthetic method provides a rapid and concise pathway to construct a library of nitrogen-containing dimers that might be useful for drug discovery. In addition, it is useful to elucidate the generation process of leiocarpanine A.

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Abstract:Recently, a parametric estimation method for principal points for a multivariate binary distribution using a log-linear model has been proposed, and Akaike information criterion (AIC) has been applied to model selection for log-linear model. This paper compares three model selection methods based on AIC, Bayesian information criterion (BIC), and the likelihood ratio test (LRT) for estimating principal points for a multivariate binary distribution. The performances of the model selection methods are shown through numerical simulation studies