We would like to thank Dr. Ryotaro Yoshida for helpfut advice and support during the course of this study and Dr. Toru Oku for stasisticala nalysesb y Probit and Van der Warden tests. This work was supportedi n part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas and for Scientific Research (Cl (04670170f)r om the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture of Japan, and by grantsf rom Ono Medical Research Foundation, Yamanouchi Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders, and the Naito Foundation.
