Follow the time course of inflammation caused by intraperitoneal administration of multi-wall carbon nanotubes in mice.

OBJECTIVE: Understand the progress of inflammation over time caused by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). METHODS: Two types of MWCNTs were administered to C57BL/6N mice via intraperitoneal administration at low and high doses (0.05 and 1.0 mg/mouse, respectively). Inflammation was evaluated until 6 months after administration based on cytokine levels and pathological observations. The abdominal cavity lavage fluid was collected and analyzed 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 month(s) after administration. IL-6 expression markedly increased 3 months after the administration of high-dose MWCNT-7. RESULTS: Notable inflammation was observed in the groups administered with one of the MWCNT, MWCNT-7. On the other hand, inflammation in another MWCNT-treated group was milder than that in the MWCNT-7-treated group. MWCNT-7 induced pronounced inflammation but did not induce tumor formation during the experimental period. Inflammation reaction is one of the most important biological responses to MWCNT. CONCLUSION: Three months post-exposure becomes a turning point for the harmful effects of the intraperitoneally administered MWCNT-7.

Clinical Outcomes and Prevalence of Sarcopenia in Patients with Moderate to Severe COVID-19.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of inpatient rehabilitation for patients with severe COVID-19 in Japan. Methods: Patients with severe COVID-19 who underwent rehabilitation during hospitalization were included. The Medical Research Council (MRC) score and short physical performance battery (SPPB), such as physical function assessment and the intensive care unit (ICU) mobility scale, the functional status score for the ICU, and Barthel index as activities of daily living (ADLs) were evaluated at admission and discharge or transfer from the hospital. The correlation between SPPB at discharge and each factor at admission were also analyzed. Furthermore, the prevalence of sarcopenia was evaluated by defining SPPB of <9 points at discharge as sarcopenia. Results: The median age of the total of 23 patients was 59 years (interquartile range (IQR): 47−67), 73.9% were male, and the median PaO2/FiO2 at admission was 172.0 (IQR: 123.0−209.0). All physical function and ADL parameters were significantly improved from the time of admission to discharge (p = 0.014 for the MRC score and p < 0.001 for all others). Moreover, SPPB at discharge significantly correlated with WBC (Spearman's rho = −0.473, p = 0.041), C-reactive protein (Spearman's rho = −0.468, p = 0.044), and exhibited a significant trend with PaO2/FiO2 (Spearman's rho = 0.429, p = 0.067) and age (Spearman's rho = 0.409, p = 0.083). Although the median Barthel index at discharge was 90 points, 47% of patients had sarcopenia as defined by an SPPB of <9 points. Conclusions: Early rehabilitation for patients with severe COVID-19 improved physical function and ADLs during hospitalization. However, 47% of patients had the same level of sarcopenia at discharge.

Variations in fungal and bacterial microbiome and chemical composition among fermenting Kishu-Narezushi batches.

Kishu-Narezushi is a spontaneously fermented food comprising fish, rice, and salt. During spontaneous fermentation, the microbiome may differ among batches, even when manufactured in the same way. In addition, analyses of changes in the chemical composition of the product are important for clarifying flavor characteristics. We collected basic information on the microbiome and chemical composition of Kishu-Narezushi using multiple batches of fermentation and evaluated whether the microbiome was homogeneous. The fungal microbiome of Kishu-Narezushi was dominated by Saccharomycetales and Trichosporonales. The bacterial microbiome was diverse, although seven specific genera of lactic acid bacteria were identified. Glutamic acid, histidine, and serine levels decreased after ∼10 days of fermentation. Succinic acid, characteristic of Kishu-Narezushi, accumulated upon the consumption of glutamic acid. Though the microbiome was diverse, the chemical composition was similar among the batches.

Molecular networking-based lipid profiling and multi-omics approaches reveal new contributions of functional vanilloids to gut microbiota and lipometabolism changes.

Obesity is now recognized as an epidemic, requiring rapid intervention. We previously demonstrated that vanilloids from the African spice known as Grains of Paradise (GOP) exhibit strong anti-obesity effects. Here, the molecular mechanism behind the obesity prevention property of the GOP extract was investigated by employing molecular networking-based lipid profiling and 16S rRNA sequencing. Administration of either GOP extract or two of its components, 6-paradol and 6-gingerol, reversed the unbalanced gut microbiota composition induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) with a decrease in Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes ratio and increase in genera Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia. Moreover, GOP extract ameliorated abnormal fatty acid metabolism in gut bacteria. Furthermore, lipid molecular networking revealed differences in lipid composition, such as triglycerides and bile acids, in the feces. These results suggest that 6-paradol and 6-gingerol can restore an unhealthy gut environment and prevent lipid absorption, a possible consequence of the reconstruction of the gut microbiota.

Diversity of Lactic Acid Bacteria Involved in the Fermentation of Awa-bancha.

The lactic acid bacteria involved in fermentation and components in the tea leaves of Awa-bancha, a post-fermented tea produced in Naka, Kamikatsu, and Miyoshi, Tokushima, were investigated in the present study. Lactic acid bacteria were isolated from tea leaves after anaerobic fermentation and identified by multiplex PCR targeting of the recA gene and 16S ribosomal RNA gene homology. Lactiplantibacillus pentosus was the most frequently isolated species in Naka and Kamikatsu and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum in Miyoshi. In the phylogenetic tree based on the dnaK gene, L. pentosus isolated from Awa-bancha was roughly grouped by the production area and producer. The bacterial flora after anaerobic fermentation was dominated by Lactiplantibacillus spp. for most producers, and the compositions of samples from each producer varied. Organic acids, free amino acids, and catechins were analyzed as components related to the flavor of Awa-bancha. These components were unique to each producer. The present results revealed diversity in the lactic acid bacteria and flavor of Awa-bancha that depended on the producer.

Controlling the microbial composition during the fermentation of Ishizuchi-kurocha.

Ishizuchi-kurocha is a popular postfermented tea in Japan. It is performed by domestic and natural fermentation relied on microorganisms derived from tea leaves or the environment of the manufacturing. Ishizuchi-kurocha undergoes aerobic fermentation of fungi first, then second fermented by anaerobic fermentation of lactic acid bacteria during natural fermentation processing. Aspergillus niger that produces mycotoxin is included in natural fermentation. This research aimed to build a novel fermentation method of Ishizuchi-kurocha by adding industrial koji fungi products and laboratory-cultivated Lactobacillus plantarum (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum) artificially. Thus, safety and quality of tea products could be controlled simply. We found artificial fermentation of Ishizuchi-kurocha could get high lactic acid production within 8 days. Final products only consisted of genus Aspergillus and genus Lactobacillus, while harmful Aspergillus niger was not found. However, artificial fermentation methods also decreased the content of polyphenols when compared with commercial tea.

Recycling salmon meat by decontamination under mild conditions using high-pressure carbon dioxide.

The 2011-2016 reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has stated that annual food loss and waste occurs on a massive scale in fisheries and aquaculture. This study aimed to explore advanced technologies to recycle wasted salmon as an industrial resource with high commercial value by applying enzymatic hydrolysis under HPCD. Our results showed that HPCD treatment at 50 °C and 1 MPa for 16 h effectively prevents salmon from microbial contamination. Real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that HPCD was also able to inhibit an increase in bacteria at moderate temperatures. Based on NGS analysis, there was a very low abundance of Bacillus and some histamine producers, such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, and Klebsiella, detected in samples treated using HPCD at 50 °C and 1 MPa for 16 h. Hydrolysate analysis showed that HPCD treatment at 1 MPa did not affect the hydrolysates from salmon. It is anticipated that the results from this study will support the application of HPCD in industrial enzymatic hydrolysis and increase the sustainability of bio-based materials.

Clouds and Convective Self-Aggregation in a Multimodel Ensemble of Radiative-Convective Equilibrium Simulations.

The Radiative-Convective Equilibrium Model Intercomparison Project (RCEMIP) is an intercomparison of multiple types of numerical models configured in radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE). RCE is an idealization of the tropical atmosphere that has long been used to study basic questions in climate science. Here, we employ RCE to investigate the role that clouds and convective activity play in determining cloud feedbacks, climate sensitivity, the state of convective aggregation, and the equilibrium climate. RCEMIP is unique among intercomparisons in its inclusion of a wide range of model types, including atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs), single column models (SCMs), cloud-resolving models (CRMs), large eddy simulations (LES), and global cloud-resolving models (GCRMs). The first results are presented from the RCEMIP ensemble of more than 30 models. While there are large differences across the RCEMIP ensemble in the representation of mean profiles of temperature, humidity, and cloudiness, in a majority of models anvil clouds rise, warm, and decrease in area coverage in response to an increase in sea surface temperature (SST). Nearly all models exhibit self-aggregation in large domains and agree that self-aggregation acts to dry and warm the troposphere, reduce high cloudiness, and increase cooling to space. The degree of self-aggregation exhibits no clear tendency with warming. There is a wide range of climate sensitivities, but models with parameterized convection tend to have lower climate sensitivities than models with explicit convection. In models with parameterized convection, aggregated simulations have lower climate sensitivities than unaggregated simulations.

Harvesting Far-Red Light by Chlorophyll f in Photosystems I and II of Unicellular Cyanobacterium strain KC1.

Cells of a unicellular cyanobacterium strain KC1, which were collected from Japanese fresh water Lake Biwa, formed chlorophyll (Chl) f at 6.7%, Chl a' at 2.0% and pheophytin a at 0.96% with respect to Chl a after growth under 740 nm light. The far-red-acclimated cells (Fr cells) formed extra absorption bands of Chl f at 715 nm in addition to the major Chl a band. Fluorescence lifetimes were measured. The 405-nm laser flash, which excites mainly Chl a in photosystem I (PSI), induced a fast energy transfer to multiple fluorescence bands at 720-760 and 805 nm of Chl f at 77 K in Fr cells with almost no PSI-red-Chl a band. The 630-nm laser flash, which mainly excited photosystem II (PSII) through phycocyanin, revealed fast energy transfer to another set of Chl f bands at 720-770 and 810 nm as well as to the 694-nm Chl a fluorescence band. The 694-nm band did not transfer excitation energy to Chl f. Therefore, Chl a in PSI, and phycocyanin in PSII of Fr cells transferred excitation energy to different sets of Chl f molecules. Multiple Chl f forms, thus, seem to work as the far-red antenna both in PSI and PSII. A variety of cyanobacterial species, phylogenically distant from each other, seems to use a Chl f antenna in far-red environments, such as under dense biomats, in colonies, or under far-red LED light.

Development of a novel transgenic rice with hypocholesterolemic activity via high-level accumulation of the α' subunit of soybean ß-conglycinin.

Soybean 7S globulin, known as ß-conglycinin, has been shown to regulate human plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Furthermore, the α' subunit of ß-conglycinin has specifically been shown to possess low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol-lowering activity. Therefore, accumulation of the α' subunit of ß-conglycinin in rice seeds could lead to the production of new functional rice that could promote human health. Herein, we used the low-glutelin rice mutant 'Koshihikari' (var. a123) and suppressed its glutelins and prolamins, the major seed storage proteins of rice, by RNA interference. The accumulation levels of the α' subunit in the lines with suppressed glutelin and prolamin levels were >20 mg in 1 g of rice seeds, which is considerably higher than those in previous studies. Oral administration of the transgenic rice containing the α' subunit exhibited a hypocholesterolemic activity in rats; the serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels were significantly reduced when compared to those of the control rice (var. a123). The cholesterol-lowering action by transgenic rice accumulating the α' subunit induces a significant increase in fecal bile acid excretion and a tendency to increase in fecal cholesterol excretion. This is the first report that transgenic rice exhibits a hypocholesterolemic activity in rats in vivo by using the ß-conglycinin α' subunit.

The hypocholesterolemic activity of transgenic rice seed accumulating lactostatin, a bioactive peptide derived from bovine milk ß-lactoglobulin.

Lactostatin is a novel pentapeptide (IIAEK) derived from bovine milk ß-lactoglobulin with greater hypocholesterolemic activity than ß-sitosterol, the drug commonly used to treat hypercholesterolemia. We developed transgenic rice expressing lactostatin as a fusion protein with seed storage protein (SSP) glutelins under the control of three different endosperm-specific promoters. Lactostatin accumulated in transgenic rice seed at approximately 1.6 mg/g seeds (dry seeds) without any apparent influence on seed traits such as endogenous SSP expression levels or alterations in the intracellular structures of endosperm cells. Short-term (three day) oral administration of the glutelin fraction containing lactostatin (namely three times of 300 mg/kg body weight/day) extracted from transgenic rice seeds resulted in hypocholesterolemic activity in rats; namely, the serum low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level was significantly reduced accompanied by a significant increase in beneficial serum high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

Study of surface plasmon chirality induced by Archimedes' spiral grooves.

A chirality of surface plasmons excited on a silver film with Archimedes' spiral grooves during incidence of a circularly polarized light is analytically and numerically studied by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling method. We found that the surface of a plasmon has selective chirality, which is given by the sum of the chiralities of the incident light and the spiral structure. The surface plasmons with the chirality lead to zero-order, first-order, and high-order evanescent Bessel beams with electric charge distributions on the film. This selectivity could be widely applied for chiral detection of the incident light and chiral excitation of several optical modes in nanophotonics.