Effects of diet containing astaxanthin on visual function in healthy individuals: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study.

Visual display terminal work has increased rapidly in recent years. Loss of visual acuity is an unfortunate associated effect. Here, we performed a randomized, placebo-controlled study in 60 healthy adults. Participants received a diet containing astaxanthin (9 mg/day) or placebo for 6 weeks. Visual acuity, functional visual acuity, and pupil constriction rate were measured before and after visual display terminal work. In participants aged ≥40 years, corrected visual acuity of the dominant eye after visual display terminal work at 6 weeks after intake demonstrated a higher protective effect of astaxanthin in the astaxanthin group vs the control group (p<0.05). In participants aged <40 years, no significant difference was seen between the astaxanthin and control groups. Moreover, no significant difference was found in functional visual acuity and pupil constriction rate between the astaxanthin and control groups. These results suggest astaxanthin reduces oxidative stress caused by visual display terminal work. Age-related reduction in ciliary muscle strength is likely the main detractor of visual acuity. Correspondingly, astaxanthin reduced visual display terminal work-induced visual stress in the middle-aged and elderly. This study was registered in the UMIN-CTR database (UMIN000043089).

Effects of anthocyanin, astaxanthin, and lutein on eye functions: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

We examined the effects of a test food containing anthocyanin, astaxanthin, and lutein on the eye function in healthy Japanese adults with eye fatigue after operating visual display terminals. Forty-four subjects were randomly but equally assigned to the active or placebo group. Two active or placebo capsules were taken once daily for 6 weeks. Accommodative function, tear film break-up time, visual acuity, the value of Schirmer's test, macular pigment optical density level, muscle hardness, and a questionnaire were evaluated before and after a 6-week intervention. Each group included 20 subjects in the efficacy analysis. The active group showed a significant improvement in the percentage of pupillary response of an average of both eyes and dominant eye pre- and post-visual display terminal operation at 6 weeks compared with the placebo group. Moreover, the active group showed a significant improvement in the scores of "A sensation of trouble in focusing the eyes" and "Difficulty in seeing objects in one's hand and nearby, or fine print" compared with the placebo group between before and after ingestion. Therefore, 6-weeks consumption of the test food inhibited a decrease in the accommodative function caused by visual display terminal operation (UMIN000036989).

Cognitive function improvement with astaxanthin and tocotrienol intake: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

We examined the effects of the mixed ingestion of astaxanthin derived from Haematococcus pluvialis and tocotrienols on the cognitive function of healthy Japanese adults who feel a memory decline. Forty-four subjects were randomly but equally assigned to the astaxanthin-tocotrienols or placebo group. An astaxanthin-tocotrienols or placebo capsule was taken once daily before or after breakfast for a 12-week intervention period. The primary outcome was composite memory from the Cognitrax cognitive test, and the secondary outcomes were other cognitive functions and subjective symptoms for memory. Each group included 18 subjects in the efficacy analysis (astaxanthin-tocotrienols group, 55.4 ± 7.9 years; placebo group, 54.6 ± 6.9 years). The astaxanthin-tocotrienols group showed a significant improvement in composite memory and verbal memory in Cognitrax at Δ12 weeks compared with the placebo group. Additionally, the astaxanthin-tocotrienols group showed a significant improvement in the subjective symptom of "During the last week, have you had trouble remembering people's names or the names of things?" compared with the placebo group after 12 weeks. No adverse events were observed in this study. The results demonstrated that taking an astaxanthin-tocotrienols combination improves the composite memory and verbal memory of Japanese adults who feel a memory decline (UMIN 000031758).

Effects of introducing energy recovery processes to the municipal solid waste management system in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Currently, most developing countries have not set up municipal solid waste management systems with a view of recovering energy from waste or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, we have studied the possible effects of introducing three energy recovery processes either as a single or combination approach, refuse derived fuel production, incineration and waste power generation, and methane gas recovery from landfill and power generation in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as a case study. We concluded that incineration process is the most suitable as first introduction of energy recovery. To operate it efficiently, 3Rs strategies need to be promoted. And then, RDF production which is made of waste papers and plastics in high level of sorting may be considered as the second step of energy recovery. However, safety control and marketability of RDF will be required at that moment.

A simple method for extracting DNA from Cryptosporidium oocysts using the anionic surfactant LSS.

Detection of low amounts of Cryptosporidium oocysts in raw water sources is considered an important component in the management, prevention and control of Cryptosporidium in drinking water supplies as Cryptosporidium causes massive waterborne outbreaks worldwide. As Cryptosporidium has a robust oocyst that is extremely resistant to chlorine and other drinking water disinfectants, both the freeze-thaw method and DNA extraction kits have been commonly used for extracting and purifying DNA from the oocyst. However, the DNA extraction procedures are time consuming and costly. Therefore, a simple and low-cost method to extract and purify DNA from the robust oocyst has been required. In this study, we discussed a simple method for detecting Cryptosporidium DNA with the anionic surfactant, n-lauroylsarcosine sodium salt (LSS) using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to eliminate the need for the freeze-thaw method and the DNA extraction kits. As a result, Bst DNA polymerase was inhibited by 0.1% LSS but not 0.01% LSS and 5% Triton X-100 or Tween 20. Although DNA was extracted from the oocysts by incubating with 0.1% LSS at 90°C for 15 min, Bst DNA polymerase was inhibited by 0.1% LSS. The inhibition by 0.1% LSS was suppressed by adding 5% of the nonionic surfactants, Triton X-100 or Tween 20. The concentration of LSS in a LAMP tube was 0.01% while that in an incubation tube was 0.1%, because LSS in an incubation tube was diluted by a factor of 10 at the DNA amplification process. Therefore, we found that ten oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum could be detected by incubation with 0.1% LSS, without removing LSS or adding the nonionic surfactants in the LAMP method.