Abstract: An air blower includes: a panel (3); a frame member (5) arranged to surround the panel (3) and having a blowout port (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 13e, 13f, 13g) of air formed therein; and a fan (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, 11e, 11f, 30) that sends air to the blowout port (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 13e, 13f, 13g). The frame member (5) produces airflows that are blown out from at least three directions and collide with each other, thereby producing an air current going forward to the panel (3).

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently obtaining mammalian embryos having high conception rates. A first aspect of the present invention is a method for selecting a mammalian embryo prepared by in vitro culture from a fertilized egg, comprising a step of selecting an embryo using two or more of the following indicators: the time from fertilization to the completion of first cleavage; the morphology at a stage after first cleavage and before second cleavage; the morphology at a stage after third cleavage and before fourth cleavage; and the amount of oxygen consumed at the early blastocyst stage, the blastocyst stage, or the expanded blastocyst stage.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a means for efficiently obtaining mammalian embryos having high conception rates. A first aspect of the present invention is a method for selecting a mammalian embryo prepared by in vitro culture from a fertilized egg, comprising a step of selecting an embryo using two or more of the following indicators: the time from fertilization to the completion of first cleavage; the morphology at a stage after first cleavage and before second cleavage; the morphology at a stage after third cleavage and before fourth cleavage; and the amount of oxygen consumed at the early blastocyst stage, the blastocyst stage, or the expanded blastocyst stage.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a means for efficiently obtaining mammalian embryos having high conception rates. A first aspect of the present invention is a method for selecting a mammalian embryo prepared by in vitro culture from a fertilized egg, comprising a step of selecting an embryo using two or more of the following indicators: the time from fertilization to the completion of first cleavage; the morphology at a stage after first cleavage and before second cleavage; the morphology at a stage after third cleavage and before fourth cleavage; and the amount of oxygen consumed at the early blastocyst stage, the blastocyst stage, or the expanded blastocyst stage.

Abstract: An embryo quality evaluation assistance system including an image pickup unit for picking up an image of the embryo, and a computer that communicates data with the embryo observing apparatus to assist quality evaluation of the embryo. The computer includes a time-series image storing unit that stores a time-series image picked up by the embryo observing apparatus, an embryo image extracting unit that extracts an embryo image from the time-series image, and an active site extracting unit that compares an embryo image based on a first time-series image with an embryo image based on a second time-series image picked up before or after a predetermined time from a pickup time of the first time-series image, and extracts as an active site a set of pixels when the difference between pixel values of corresponding pixels of the first and second time-series images is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a means for efficiently obtaining mammalian embryos having high conception rates. A first aspect of the present invention is a method for selecting a mammalian embryo prepared by in vitro culture from a fertilized egg, comprising a step of selecting an embryo using two or more of the following indicators: the time from fertilization to the completion of first cleavage; the morphology at a stage after first cleavage and before second cleavage; the morphology at a stage after third cleavage and before fourth cleavage; and the amount of oxygen consumed at the early blastocyst stage, the blastocyst stage, or the expanded blastocyst stage.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a culture dish appropriate for automatically identifying cultured cells. The present invention relates to a culture dish for culturing cells that require separate control, which has a bottom wall and a side wall, wherein cell-holding parts having wells are arranged on the bottom wall, 4 or more wells are adjacent to each other, the wall surface of each well has a concave surface that slopes upward from the lowest position to the outer edge of the well, and the pitch between adjacent wells is 1 mm or less.

Abstract: An embryo quality evaluation assistance system including an image pickup unit for picking up an image of the embryo, and a computer that communicates data with the embryo observing apparatus to assist quality evaluation of the embryo. The computer includes a time-series image storing unit that stores a time-series image picked up by the embryo observing apparatus, an embryo image extracting unit that extracts an embryo image from the time-series image, and an active site extracting unit that compares an embryo image based on a first time-series image with an embryo image based on a second time-series image picked up before or after a predetermined time from a pickup time of the first time-series image, and extracts as an active site a set of pixels when the difference between pixel values of corresponding pixels of the first and second time-series images is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

Abstract: There is provided an optical pickup apparatus whereby the phase of a grating can be adjusted sufficiently even while further reducing the number of parts. A plate spring portion 12b formed in a bent manner is provided in the front part of a cover 12. The plate spring portion is composed of an annular plate-like portion 12ba having an outside diameter approximately the same as the diameter of a grating 3 and formed with a through hole “h” for passage of laser beams through the center axis and a connecting portion 12bb for connecting the edge portion of the plate-like portion 12ba and the front end of the cover 12. Therefore, the connecting portion 12bb is to be deformed elastically by loading in the axial direction with respect to the plate-like portion 12ba to serve as a so-called plate spring.

Abstract: A fitting structure for fitting a laser holder holding a semiconductor laser to a base member in an optical pickup device includes a support member of a metal plate that supports the laser holder. The support member integrally has: a base part having a laser passage hole that is formed in the center thereof for permitting laser light from the semiconductor laser to pass therethrough; an upper projecting part and a lower projecting part that respectively project from the upper and the lower edges of the base part so as to oppose each other and that support the laser holder so that the laser holder can swing about the vertical axis; and a bending part that is elastically deformable and that first projects from the upper edge of the base part toward a side opposite to a side toward which the upper projecting part projects and then is bent downward and also inward toward the base part.

Abstract: There is provided a carrier for co-culturing a fertilized ovum of an animal by which behavior of the fertilized ovum of an animal can be easily observed in a culture system and by which adhesion and three-dimensional growth of the fertilized ovum become possible at first, as well as there is provided a method of culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal using the co-culturing carrier. There is provided a carrier for co-culturing a fertilized ovum of an animal composed of a cell incorporated type three-dimensionally reconstructed tissue for co-culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal to induce adhesion and three-dimensional growth, of the fertilized ovum as well as there is provided a method of culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal characterized in that the co-culturing carrier is introduced into a culture vessel to culture the fertilized ovum of an animal.

Abstract: Provided are a cell culture carrier for animal cells, for which is used a tissue section alone or a tissue section stuck to a support or stuck thereto while stretched; and a method of using the carrier for culture and tranplantation of cells. The cell culture carrier provides a culture environment that is more similar to that in living tissue, or that is, it provides such a culture environment that involves the intended, site and time-dependent information on living tissue. Culturing animal cells on the tissue-derived culture carrier makes it possible to analyze the properties and the characteristics of the cultured cells on the basis of the interaction between the cells and the site and time-dependent information on the tissue of the carrier, to analyze the function of genes on the basis of the interaction there between, to reconstruct a novel engineered tissue by utilizing the carrier tissue as a template, and to transplant the reconstructed tissue.

Abstract: There is provided a carrier for co-culturing a fertilized ovum of an animal by which behavior of the fertilized ovum of an animal can be easily observed in a culture system and by which adhesion and three-dimensional growth of the fertilized ovum become possible at first, as well as there is provided a method of culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal using the co-culturing carrier. There is provided a carrier for co-culturing a fertilized ovum of an animal composed of a cell incorporated type three-dimensionally reconstructed tissue for co-culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal to induce adhesion and three-dimensional growth, of the fertilized ovum as well as there is provided a method of culturing the fertilized ovum of an animal characterized in that the co-culturing carrier is introduced into a culture vessel to culture the fertilized ovum of an animal.