Lake water phosphate reduction with advanced wastewater treatment in watershed, at Lake Hamana, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, from 1995 to 2016.

Lake Hamana is a semi-enclosed brackish lake amid agricultural and residential land. Monthly vertical profiles of nutrients, total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN) at twelve sampling stations in the lake were obtained from 1995 to 2016. Freshwater samples were also obtained from five stations in the river flowing into the lake. Significant decreases were seen in phosphate, TP, and TN concentrations at most lake and all river stations. Decrease in phosphate concentration reflects reduced organic matter and nutrient load into the lake due to increased sewage coverage. Nitrate concentration significantly increased at four stations, whereas ammonium and TN concentrations significantly decreased. This could be due to inefficient nitrification/denitrification of wastewater. At all stations, the nitrogen to phosphate ratio in surface water was higher than 16 and increased significantly. Therefore, phosphate limitation could be strengthened by the decrease in phosphate and increase in nitrate concentrations in the lake.

Hand-Foot Syndrome and Post-Progression Treatment Are the Good Predictors of Better Survival in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Sorafenib: A Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between treatment outcomes and hand-foot syndrome (HFS), and the relationship between survival rate and post-progression treatment after sorafenib therapy. METHODS: The study assessed 314 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with sorafenib at 5 general hospitals in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. RESULTS: At the start of sorafenib therapy, 23.6% of the patients had HCC of a Child-Pugh class other than A. The initial sorafenib dose was 800 mg in 9.2% of the patients and 400 mg in 64.3%. Time to progression was 129 days (95% CI: 87.3-170.7) and the median overall survival (OS) was 392 days (95% CI: 316.0-468.0). The OS of the patients with Child-Pugh class A HCC was significantly better than that of the patients with Child-Pugh class B HCC (p < 0.0001). The survival curves for Child-Pugh class A-5 points and class A-6 points were significantly different, with that for class A-5 points being better (p < 0.0001). A significant difference was observed between the patients who exhibited HFS and those who did not, with the former exhibiting a better survival rate (p < 0.001). In addition, the survival rate of the patients who received post-progression treatment after sorafenib therapy was significantly better than that of the patients who did not (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In sorafenib therapy, patients with HFS and those who received post-progression treatment exhibited good OS.

Dietary Starfish Oil Prevents Hepatic Steatosis and Hyperlipidemia in C57BL/6N Mice Fed High-fat Diet.

Starfish oil (SO) is characterized by functional lipids, including n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (both in the form of triacylglycerol and in the form of phospholipid), and carotenoids, which may exert beneficial effects on metabolic disorders in obesity-associated diseases. In the present study, the effect of SO on dysregulation of lipid metabolism was examined using C57BL/6N mice treated with high-fat (HF) diet. Mice were fed HF, HF with 2% SO, or HF with 5% SO diet for 8 weeks. Weight gain, blood glucose, serum and hepatic lipid contents, and hepatic fatty acid composition were measured. Fatty acid ß-oxidation activity was monitored by measuring the catabolic rate of 13C-labeled fatty acid, assessed as 13CO2/12CO2 ratio using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IR-MS). Although there were no differences in body weight or white adipose tissue weight among the test groups, dietary SO reduced blood glucose, and dose-dependently improved hyperlipidemia and decreased hepatic lipid accumulation. Analysis of hepatic fatty acid composition revealed a significant decrease in the ratio of monounsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid, which is attributed to stearoyl-CoA desaturase activity. IR-MS analysis suggested that ß-oxidation activity was enhanced in the mice treated with 5% SO. These results demonstrate that dietary SO improves lipid metabolism measures in HF diet-induced obese mice, suggesting that SO holds promise as an agent for the prevention and treatment of lipid metabolism disorders in the liver.

Systematic analysis of embryonic expression profiles of zinc finger genes in Ciona intestinalis.

The recent decoding of a number of animal genomes has provided unprecedented information regarding evolution and gene structures, but this information must be supplemented with precise gene annotations and the temporal and spatial expression patterns of individual genes. In the present study, we systematically identified and characterized 566 zinc finger genes in the genome of Ciona intestinalis, an emerging model system for genome-wide studies of development and evolution. Of these genes, 356 genes encoded a potential transcription factor based on putative nucleic acid binding activity or domains of unknown function. We further examined the expression patterns of 225 genes during embryogenesis, and, when considered with a previous study [Imai, K.S., Hino, K., Yagi, K., Satoh, N., Satou, Y., 2004. Gene expression profiles of transcription factors and signaling molecules in the ascidian embryo: towards a comprehensive understanding of gene networks. Development 131, 4047-4058], we have characterized the developmental expression patterns of nearly 85% of the potential zinc finger-containing transcription factors. Overall, zinc finger genes are preferentially maternally expressed with little larval expression during development. The present study provides a valuable reference for genome-wide studies in this species and for future studies wishing to examine zinc finger gene expression patterns in other animals.