Novel polymorphisms and genetic studies of the shadow of prion protein gene (SPRN) in pheasants.

Background: Prion diseases in mammals are caused by the structural conversion of the natural prion protein (PrPC) to a pathogenic isoform, the "scrapie form of prion protein (PrPSc)." Several studies reported that the shadow of prion protein (Sho), encoded by the shadow of prion protein gene (SPRN), is involved in prion disease development by accelerating the conformational conversion of PrPC to PrPSc. Until now, genetic polymorphisms of the SPRN gene and the protein structure of Sho related to fragility to prion disease have not been investigated in pheasants, which are a species of poultry. Methods: Here, we identified the SPRN gene sequence by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compared the SPRN gene and Sho protein sequences among various prion disease-susceptible and -resistant species to identify the distinctive genetic features of pheasant Sho using Clustal Omega. In addition, we investigated genetic polymorphisms of the SPRN gene in pheasants and analyzed genotype, allele, and haplotype frequencies, as well as linkage disequilibrium among the genetic polymorphisms. Furthermore, we used in silico programs, namely Mutpred2, MUpro and AMYCO, to investigate the effect of non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Finally, the predicted secondary and tertiary structures of Sho proteins from various species were analyzed by Alphafold2. Results: In the present study, we reported pheasant SPRN gene sequences for the first time and identified a total of 14 novel SNPs, including 7 non-synonymous and 4 synonymous SNPs. In addition, the pheasant Sho protein sequence showed 100% identity with the chicken Sho protein sequence. Furthermore, amino acid substitutions were predicted to affect the hydrogen bond distribution in the 3D structure of the pheasant Sho protein. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the genetic and structural features of the pheasant SPRN gene.

Panoramic dental tomosynthesis imaging by use of CBCT projection data.

Dental CBCT and panoramic images are important imaging modalities used in dental diagnosis and treatment planning. In order to acquire a panoramic image without an additional panoramic scan, in this study, we proposed a method of reconstructing a panoramic image by extracting panoramic projection data from dental CBCT projection data. After specifying the patient's dental arch from the patient's CBCT image, panoramic projection data are extracted from the CBCT projection data along the appropriate panoramic scan trajectory that fits the dental arch. A total of 40 clinical human datasets and one head phantom dataset were used to test the proposed method. The clinical human dataset used in this study includes cases in which it is difficult to reconstruct panoramic images from CBCT images, such as data with severe metal artifacts or data without teeth. As a result of applying the panoramic image reconstruction method proposed in this study, we were able to successfully acquire panoramic images from the CBCT projection data of various patients. The proposed method acquires a universally applicable panoramic image that is less affected by CBCT image quality and metal artifacts by extracting panoramic projection data from dental CBCT data and reconstructing a panoramic image.

Keratinocytes-Derived Reactive Oxygen Species Play an Active Role to Induce Type 2 Inflammation of the Skin: A Pathogenic Role of Reactive Oxygen Species at the Early Phase of Atopic Dermatitis.

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is characterized by chronic, relapsing skin inflammation (eczema) with itchy sensation. Keratinocytes, which are located at the outermost part of our body, are supposed to play important roles at the early phase of type 2 inflammation including AD pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether keratinocytes-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) could be produced by the allergens or non-allergens, and the keratinocytes-derived ROS could modulate a set of biomarkers for type 2 inflammation of the skin. METHODS: Normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs) were treated with an allergen of house dust mites (HDM) or a non-allergen of compound 48/80 (C48/80). Then, biomarkers for type 2 inflammation of the skin including those for neurogenic inflammation were checked by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and western immunoblot experiments. RESULTS: HDM or C48/80 was found to upregulate expression levels of our tested biomarkers, including type 2 T helper-driving pathway (KLK5, PAR2, and NFκB), epithelial-cell-derived cytokines (thymic stromal lymphopoietin, interleukin [IL]-25, IL-33), and neurogenic inflammation (NGF, CGRP). The HDM- or C-48/80-induced expression levels of the biomarkers could be blocked by an antioxidant treatment with 5 mM N-acetyl-cysteine. In contrast, pro-oxidant treatment with 1 mM H2O2 could upregulate expression levels of the tested biomarkers in NHEKs. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that keratinocytes-derived ROS, irrespective to their origins from allergens or non-allergens, have a potential to induce type 2 inflammation of AD skin.

Galuteolin, identified in the extract of thymus quinquecostatus flowers, is involved in inhibiting melanin biosynthesis in B16/F10 melanoma cells.

To enhance the skin whitening effect, tyrosinase activity and melanin biosynthesis needs to be suppressed in the skin. To achieve this goal, we examined the extract of Thymus quinquecostatus flowers, and identified a functional ingredient, galuteolin. Galuteolin effectively inhibited melanin biosynthesis in B16/F10 cells, partially suppressing tyrosinase activity. Therefore, this study suggests that galuteolin can be used as a cosmetic ingredient for skin whitening.

An additional tilted-scan-based CT metal-artifact-reduction method for radiation therapy planning.

PURPOSE: As computed tomography (CT) imaging is the most commonly used modality for treatment planning in radiation therapy, metal artifacts in the planning CT images may complicate the target delineation and reduce the dose calculation accuracy. Although current CT scanners do provide certain correction steps, it is a common understanding that there is not a universal solution yet to the metal artifact reduction (MAR) in general. Particularly noting the importance of MAR for radiation treatment planning, we propose a novel MAR method in this work that recruits an additional tilted CT scan and synthesizes nearly metal-artifact-free CT images. METHODS: The proposed method is based on the facts that the most pronounced metal artifacts in CT images show up along the x-ray beam direction traversing multiple metallic objects and that a tilted CT scan can provide complementary information free of such metal artifacts in the earlier scan. Although the tilted CT scan would contain its own metal artifacts in the images, the artifacts may manifest in a different fashion leaving a chance to concatenate the two CT images with the metal artifacts much suppressed. We developed an image processing technique that uses the structural similarity (SSIM) for suppressing the metal artifacts. On top of the additional scan, we proposed to use an existing MAR method for each scan if necessary to further suppress the metal artifacts. RESULTS: The proposed method was validated by a simulation study using the pelvic region of an XCAT numerical phantom and also by an experimental study using the head part of the Rando phantom. The proposed method was found to effectively reduce the metal artifacts. Quantitative analyses revealed that the proposed method reduced the mean absolute percentages of the error by up to 86% and 89% in the simulation and experimental studies, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It was confirmed that the proposed method, using complementary information acquired from an additional tilted CT scan, can provide nearly metal-artifact-free images for the treatment planning.

Ethanol Extract of Peanut Sprout Exhibits a Potent Anti-Inflammatory Activity in Both an Oxazolone-Induced Contact Dermatitis Mouse Model and Compound 48/80-Treated HaCaT Cells.

BACKGROUND: We developed an ethanol extract of peanut sprouts (EPS), a peanut sprout-derived natural product, which contains a high level of trans-resveratrol (176.75 µg/ml) and was shown to have potent antioxidant activity. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the potential anti-inflammatory activity of EPS by measuring its antioxidant potential in skin. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory activity of EPS was tested using two models of skin inflammation: oxazolone (OX)-induced contact dermatitis in mice and compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells. As biomarkers of skin inflammation, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and nerve growth factor (NGF) levels were measured. RESULTS: OX-induced contact dermatitis was suppressed markedly in mice that were treated with an ointment containing 5% EPS as evidenced by a decrease in the extent of scaling and thickening (p<0.05) and supported by a histological study. COX-2 (messenger RNA [mRNA] and protein) and NGF (mRNA) levels, which were upregulated in the skin of OX-treated mice, were suppressed markedly in the skin of OX+EPS-treated mice. Consistent with this, compound 48/80-induced expression of COX-2 (mRNA and protein) and NGF (mRNA) in HaCaT cells were suppressed by EPS treatment in a dose-dependent manner. As an inhibitor of NF-κB, IκB protein levels were dose-dependently upregulated by EPS. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis revealed that EPS scavenged compound 48/80-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HaCaT cells. CONCLUSION: EPS exerts a potent anti-inflammatory activity via its anti-oxidant activity in both mouse skin and compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells in vitro. Compound 48/80-treated HaCaT cells are a useful new in vitro model of skin inflammation.

Methyl-ß-cyclodextrin up-regulates collagen I expression in chronologically-aged skin via its anti-caveolin-1 activity.

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is one of the key molecules to modulate collagen metabolism in the skin. This study aimed to unravel the relationship between Cav-1 and collagen levels in the aged skin, and also to evaluate a new role of anti-Cav-1 agent as a collagen-modulating agent. A negative correlation between Cav-1 and collagen I (COL I) was detected in chronologically aged skin of humans and mice, which was further confirmed by Cav-1 knock-down or knock-out experiments. Next, we tested whether methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (MßCD) as a chemical Cav-1 inhibitor could be developed as a collagen-modulating agent in the skin. Testing different conditions of MßCD injection via the intra-dermal route revealed that 2.5% MßCD administered twice per week for two months showed a potent COL I-up-regulating activity, leading to the increase of skin thickness (P < 0.05) without adverse reactions such as skin fibrosis. In human dermal fibroblasts, MßCD treatment induced up-regulated COL I and down-regulated Cav-1, supporting the results of mouse experiments. Collectively, MßCD has a COL I-enhancing activity in chronologically-aged skin, where Cav-1 acts as a brake in COL I expression, suggesting its potential role for an anti-aging agent.

Ethanol extract of peanut sprout induces Nrf2 activation and expression of antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes in human dermal fibroblasts: implication for its protection against UVB-irradiated oxidative stress.

A peanut sprout is known to contain a significant level of resveratrol, which was reported to have beneficial effects in our body due to its antioxidant activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytoprotective activity of ethanol extract of peanut sprout (EPS) from ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced oxidative stress in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF). EPS was revealed to contain 54.2 µg g(-1) of trans-resveratrol. The DCF-DA-positive reactive oxygen species level was increased by 50 mJ cm(-2) of UVB irradiation (2150 ± 450% of nonirradiated control), which was markedly suppressed by EPS treatment (180 ± 42% of control). Annexin V-positive apoptotic cell death induced by UVB irradiation (16.4 ± 4.5%) was also significantly inhibited by EPS treatment (6.7 ± 2.5%). EPS induced up-regulation and nuclear translocation of Nrf2, a transcription factor for antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes, in HDF as a dose-dependent manner. UVB irradiation up-regulated Nrf2-dependent enzymes of heme oxygenase-1, NAD(P)H:quinine oxidoreductase-1 and glutathione-S-transferase pi, and they were further stimulated by EPS treatment. Taken together, EPS is an efficient cytoprotective agent against UVB-induced oxidative stress by activation of Nrf2 and upregulation of Nrf2-relating antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes in HDF.