Neurobehavioral effects of the exposure to mercury vapor and methylmercury during postnatal period on mice.

In this study, we investigated the neurobehavioral alterations and modifications of gene expression in the brains of female mice exposed to low-level mercury vapor and/or methylmercury during postnatal development. The mice were exposed to low-level mercury vapor at a mean concentration of 0.094 mg/m3 and supplied with tap water containing 5 ppm methylmercury from postnatal day 11 to 12 weeks of age. Behavioral analyses were performed at 17 weeks of age. Total locomotor activity in the open field test and the retention trial performance in the passive avoidance test were significantly reduced in the combined exposure group compared with those in the control group. The differences in locomotor activity and performance in the retention trial at 17 weeks were no longer detected at 45 weeks. These results suggest that the effect of aging on the behavioral abnormalities resulting from postnatal exposure to mercury complexes are not significant. In the microarray analysis of brains in the combined exposure group, the gene expression levels of Ano2 and Sgk1 were decreased. Real-time RT-PCR analysis confirmed these changes caused by combined mercury exposure, showing significant downregulation of Ano2 and Sgk1 in the cerebrum. These genes play key roles in the brain as a calcium-activated chloride channel and as a kinase that responds to cellular stress, respectively. Our findings provide insight into the neurobehavioral changes caused by combined mercury exposure.

Cell-Sized Confinements Alter Molecular Diffusion in Concentrated Polymer Solutions Due to Length-Dependent Wetting of Polymers.

Living cells are characterized by the micrometric confinement of various macromolecules at high concentrations. Using droplets containing binary polymer blends as artificial cells, we previously showed that cell-sized confinement causes phase separation of the binary polymer solutions because of the length-dependent wetting of the polymers. Here, we demonstrate that the confinement-induced heterogeneity of polymers also emerges in single-component polymer solutions. The resulting structural heterogeneity also leads to a slower transport of small molecules at the center of cell-sized droplets than that in bulk solutions. Coarse-grained molecular simulations support this confinement-induced heterogeneous distribution by polymer length and demonstrate that the effective wetting of the shorter chains at the droplet surface originates from the length-dependent conformational entropy. Our results suggest that cell-sized confinement functions as a structural regulator for polydisperse polymer solutions that specifically manipulates the diffusion of molecules, particularly those with sizes close to the correlation length of the polymer chains.

Phase-Separated Giant Liposomes for Stable Elevation of α-Hemolysin Concentration in Lipid Membranes.

Staphylococcus aureus α-hemolysin (αHL) is one of the most popular proteins in nanopore experiments within lipid membranes. Higher concentrations of αHL within the lipid membrane are desirable to enhance the mass transport capacity through nanopores. However, the reconstitution of αHL at high concentrations is associated with the problem of membrane lytic disruption. In this study, we present a method that effectively increases αHL concentration while maintaining membrane stability. This method is achieved by using phase-separated giant liposomes, where coexisting liquid-disordered (Ld) and liquid-ordered phases (Lo) are enriched in unsaturated lipids and saturated lipids with cholesterol (Chol), respectively. Fluorescence observation of αHL in liposomes revealed that the presence of Chol facilitates αHL insertion into the membrane. Despite the preferential localization of αHL in the Ld phase rather than the Lo phase, the coexistence of both Lo and Ld phases prevents membrane disruption in the presence of concentrated αHL. We have explained this stabilization mechanism considering the lower membrane tension exhibited by phase-separated liposomes compared to homogeneous liposomes. Under hypertonic conditions, we have successfully increased the local concentration of αHL by invagination of the lipid-only region in the Ld phase, leaving αHL behind. This method exhibits potential for the reconstitution of various nanochannels and membrane proteins that prefer the Ld phase over the Lo phase, thus enabling the production of giant liposomes at high concentrations and the replication of the membrane-crowding condition observed in cells.

An urgent need for COP27: confronting converging crises.

The last 12 months have provided further evidence of the potential for cascading ecological and socio-political crises that were warned of 12 months ago. Then a consensus statement from the Regional Action on Climate Change Symposium warned: "the Earth's climatic, ecological, and human systems are converging towards a crisis that threatens to engulf global civilization within the lifetimes of children now living." Since then, the consequences of a broad set of extreme climate events (notably droughts, floods, and fires) have been compounded by interaction with impacts from multiple pandemics (including COVID-19 and cholera) and the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, new connections are becoming visible between climate change and human health, large vulnerable populations are experiencing food crises, climate refugees are on the move, and the risks of water, food, and climate disruption have been visibly converging and compounding. Many vulnerable populations now face serious challenges to adapt. In light of these trends, this year, RACC identifies a range of measures to be taken at global and regional levels to bolster the resilience of these populations in the face of such emerging crises. In particular, at all scales, there is a need for globally available local data, reliable analytic techniques, community capacity to plan adaptation strategies, and the resources (scientific, technical, cultural, and economic) to implement them. To date, the rate of growth of the support for climate change resilience lags behind the rapid growth of cascading and converging risks. As an urgent message to COP27, it is proposed that the time is now right to devote much greater emphasis, global funding, and support to the increasing adaptation needs of vulnerable populations.

Case report: Long-term management of occlusion after surgical-orthodontic treatment for a patient with drug-induced open bite developed after the onset of schizophrenia.

Background: Schizophrenia is a major mental disorder, with an estimated incidence of 1%. Since they are sensitive to sensory changes, orthodontic treatment to move teeth should be avoided as aggressively as possible in these patients because of strong concerns about the possibility of causing adverse psychological effects, thus there are few reports on orthodontic treatment for schizophrenia patients. We report a case of severe open bite caused by medication after the onset of schizophrenia, even though the patient's occlusion had been stable for a long time after surgical orthodontic treatment. Medication control and the use of a minimally invasive orthodontic appliance improved the occlusion without adversely affecting the patient's mental health. Case: A 22-year-old woman presented to the clinic with a chief complaint of an anterior open bite. Intraoral findings showed an overbite (vertical overlap of the incisor teeth) of -3.0 mm and an overjet (horizontal overlap of the incisor teeth) of -0.5 mm. The preoperative orthodontic treatment included bilateral extraction of the maxillary first premolars. Subsequently, orthognathic surgery was performed to achieve a harmonized skeletal relationship and occlusion. Occlusion was stable for 3 years after surgery. However, 10 years after surgery, the patient returned to the clinic complaining of an anterior open bite (overbite = -4.0 mm). Six years prior to the return, the patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia. We thought that ignoring the patient's strong desire to treat her open bite might also cause psychological problems; therefore, in addition to medication control, we treated her using a minimally invasive removable orthodontic appliance (retainer with tongue crib). Her anterior open bite improved (overbite, +1.0 mm) to within the normal range. Conclusion: In this case, medication control was thought to be essential to improve her drug-induced open bite. However, minimally invasive orthodontic treatment, such as the use of a removable appliance, might be helpful in promoting her mental stability as well as for improving occlusion. Careful support is required to obtain information about the patient's mental state and medications through close cooperation with psychiatrists.

Stress-dependent cell stiffening by tardigrade tolerance proteins that reversibly form a filamentous network and gel.

Tardigrades are able to tolerate almost complete dehydration by entering a reversible ametabolic state called anhydrobiosis and resume their animation upon rehydration. Dehydrated tardigrades are exceptionally stable and withstand various physical extremes. Although trehalose and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been extensively studied as potent protectants against dehydration in other anhydrobiotic organisms, tardigrades produce high amounts of tardigrade-unique protective proteins. Cytoplasmic-abundant heat-soluble (CAHS) proteins are uniquely invented in the lineage of eutardigrades, a major class of the phylum Tardigrada and are essential for their anhydrobiotic survival. However, the precise mechanisms of their action in this protective role are not fully understood. In the present study, we first postulated the presence of tolerance proteins that form protective condensates via phase separation in a stress-dependent manner and searched for tardigrade proteins that reversibly form condensates upon dehydration-like stress. Through a comprehensive search using a desolvating agent, trifluoroethanol (TFE), we identified 336 proteins, collectively dubbed "TFE-Dependent ReversiblY condensing Proteins (T-DRYPs)." Unexpectedly, we rediscovered CAHS proteins as highly enriched in T-DRYPs, 3 of which were major components of T-DRYPs. We revealed that these CAHS proteins reversibly polymerize into many cytoskeleton-like filaments depending on hyperosmotic stress in cultured cells and undergo reversible gel-transition in vitro. Furthermore, CAHS proteins increased cell stiffness in a hyperosmotic stress-dependent manner and counteract the cell shrinkage caused by osmotic pressure, and even improved the survival against hyperosmotic stress. The conserved putative helical C-terminal region is necessary and sufficient for filament formation by CAHS proteins, and mutations disrupting the secondary structure of this region impaired both the filament formation and the gel transition. On the basis of these results, we propose that CAHS proteins are novel cytoskeleton-like proteins that form filamentous networks and undergo gel-transition in a stress-dependent manner to provide on-demand physical stabilization of cell integrity against deformative forces during dehydration and could contribute to the exceptional physical stability in a dehydrated state.

Cell-Size Space Regulates the Behavior of Confined Polymers: From Nano- and Micromaterials Science to Biology.

Polymer micromaterials in a liquid or gel phase covered with a surfactant membrane are widely used materials in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and foods. In particular, cell-sized micromaterials of biopolymer solutions covered with a lipid membrane have been studied as artificial cells to understand cells from a physicochemical perspective. The characteristics and phase transitions of polymers confined to a microscopic space often differ from those in bulk systems. The effect that causes this difference is referred to as the cell-size space effect (CSE), but the specific physicochemical factors remain unclear. This study introduces the analysis of CSE on molecular diffusion, nanostructure transition, and phase separation and presents their main factors, i.e., short- and long-range interactions with the membrane surface and small volume (finite element nature). This serves as a guide for determining the dominant factors of CSE. Furthermore, we also introduce other factors of CSE such as spatial closure and the relationships among space size, the characteristic length of periodicity, the structure size, and many others produced by biomolecular assemblies through the analysis of protein reaction-diffusion systems and biochemical reactions.

Dynamic ordering caused by a source-sink relation between two droplets.

Two droplets composed of different chemicals, 1-decanol and liquid paraffin, floating on the water surface show characteristic co-responsive behavior. The presence of two different types of droplets in the system imposes an asymmetry that would not be possible with single droplets alone. The self-propulsion and interactions between droplets appear because surface active 1-decanol molecules provided by the source are absorbed by the paraffin sink thus generating an asymmetric surface tension gradient. This source-sink relation between droplets stabilizes and enhances the self-propulsion, and leads to a variety of dynamic structures including oscillations in the inter-droplet distance. We found that the character of time evolution also depends on the concentration of dye, Sudan Black B, initially used just to stain the decanol droplet. A simple mathematical model explains the transition between the stationary state and the oscillations as a Hopf bifurcation.

PepYLCIV and PepYLCAV resistance gene Pepy-2 encodes DFDGD-Class RNA-dependent RNA polymerase in Capsicum.

KEY MESSAGE: A begomovirus resistance gene Pepy-2 encoding the DFDGD-Class RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3a was identified in pepper (C. annuum) through the forward and reverse genetic analyses. In several countries throughout the world, the whitefly-transmitted begomovirus causes massive yield losses in pepper (Capsicum spp.) production. Although introgression of the genetic resistance against begomovirus to commercial cultivars is strongly required, the recently discovered recessive resistance gene pepy-1, which encodes the messenger RNA surveillance factor Pelota, is the only begomovirus resistance gene identified in Capsicum so far. In this study, we fine-mapped another begomovirus resistance gene from PG1-1 (C. annuum), which is resistant to pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus (PepYLCIV) and pepper yellow leaf curl Aceh virus (PepYLCAV), to further speed up the marker-assisted breeding of begomovirus resistance in peppers. A single dominant locus, Pepy-2, conferring resistance against PepYLCIV in PG1-1 was identified on chromosome 7 by screening recombinants from the F2 and F3 segregating populations derived from a cross between PG1-1 and begomovirus susceptible SCM334. In the target region spanning 722 kb, a strong candidate gene, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3a (CaRDR3a), was identified. The whole-genome and transcriptome sequences of PG1-1 and SCM334 revealed a single Guanine (G) deletion in CaRDR3a first exon, causing a frameshift resulting in loss-of-function in SCM334. In addition, multiple loss-of-function alleles of CaRDR3a were identified in the reference sequences of C. annuum, C. chinense, and C. baccatum in the public database. Furthermore, virus-induced gene silencing of CaRDR3a in PG1-1 resulted in the loss of resistance against PepYLCIV. PG1-1 and the DNA marker developed in this study will be useful to breeders using Pepy-2 in their breeding programs.

Acute effects of ambient temperature on lung function of a panel of school children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

INTRODUCTION: Short-term exposure to ambient temperature plays a significant role in human health. However, studies examining ambient temperature and lung function are scarce in locations with a tropical environment. To address this research gap, the current study investigated the effects of short-term ambient temperature on lung function in children and seasonal variation in this association in Dhaka, Bangladesh. METHODS: The study was conducted in three schools located in three cities inside and around Dhaka. Repeated lung function measurements were obtained from a panel of 315 school children (including 86 asthmatic children) aged 9-16 years in 2013. Linear mixed-effects models adjusted for potential confounders were used to examine the effect of ambient temperature on lung function. RESULTS: Short-term exposure to low ambient temperature was associated with a significant decrement in children's lung function. For each 1 °C decrease in daily mean temperature at cumulative lag of the current and previous day, lung function parameter values were -3.02% (95% CI, -1.69 to -4.35) for peak expiratory flow (PEF), and -1.48% (95% CI, -0.75 to -2.22) for forced expiratory volume within 1 s (FEV1). A significant seasonal variation was also observed in these associations, as the estimated adverse effects of decrease in daily mean temperature on lung function measures were primarily evident in winter. DISCUSSION: This study suggests that short-term ambient exposure to decrease in temperature adversely affect lung function. A significant seasonal modification in the association between temperature and lung function was also observed for these children living in an environment with a tropical climatic condition as the adverse effect of decrease in ambient temperature was primarily observed in winter than in summer.

Evaporation Patterns of Dextran-Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Droplets with Changes in Wettability and Compatibility.

The dextran−PEG system is one of the most famous systems exhibiting phase separation. Various phase behaviors, including the evaporation process of the dextran−PEG system, have been studied in order to understand the physicochemical mechanism of intracellular phase separation and the effect of condensation on the origin of life. However, there have been few studies in dilute regime. In this study, we focused on such regimes and analyzed the pattern formation by evaporation. The specificity of this regime is the slow onset of phase separation due to low initial concentration, and the separated phases can have contrasting wettability to the substrate as evaporation progresses. When the polymer concentration is rather low (<5 wt%), the dextran−PEG droplets form a phase-separated pattern, consisting of PEG at the center and dextran ring of multiple strings pulling from the ring. This pattern formation is explained from the difference in wettability and compatibility between dextran and PEG upon condensation. At the initial dilute stage, the dextran-rich phase with higher wettability accumulates at the contact line of the droplet to form a ring pattern, and then forms multiple domains due to density fluctuation. The less wettable PEG phase recedes and pulls the dextran domains, causing them to deform into strings. Further condensation leads to phase separation, and the condensed PEG with improved wettability stops receding and prevents a formed circular pattern. These findings suggest that evaporation patterns of polymer blend droplets can be manipulated through changes in wettability and compatibility between polymers due to condensation, thus providing the basis to explore origins of life that are unique to the process of condensate formation from dilute systems.

Can social support buffer the association between loneliness and hypertension? a cross-sectional study in rural China.

OBJECTIVES: Hypertension has reached epidemic levels in rural China, where loneliness has been a major problem among community dwellers as a consequence of rural-to-urban migration among younger generations. The objective of the study is to investigate the association between loneliness and hypertension, and whether social support can buffer the association (i.e., stress buffering theory), using cross-sectional data from 765 adults (mean age: 59.1 years) in rural Fujian, China. METHODS: Social support was measured as the reciprocal instrumental social support from/to neighbors and the reciprocal emotional support (i.e., the number of close friends that the respondent could turn to for help immediately when they are in trouble). A mixed-effect Poisson regression model with a robust variance estimator was used to investigate the association between loneliness, social support, and hypertension. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that those who were lonely had a higher prevalence ratio for hypertension (prevalence ratio = 1.12, 95% confidence interval 0.99-1.26) compared to those who reported not being lonely. There was an interaction between social support and loneliness in relation to hypertension. Specifically, contrary to the stress buffering theory, the positive association between loneliness and hypertension was more pronounced among those who reported higher social support compared to those who reported lower support (p for interaction <0.001 for instrumental support). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that being lonely despite high levels of social support poses the greatest risk for hypertension. This study did not confirm a buffering effect of social support on the association between loneliness and hypertension.

Associations between urinary heavy metal concentrations and blood pressure in residents of Asian countries.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that exposures to heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, and selenium) may be associated with differences in blood pressure. However, the findings of these studies have been inconsistent. This study was performed to examine the associations between urinary heavy metal concentrations and blood pressure among residents of four Asian countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam). METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined 1899 adults in four Asian countries. Urinary concentrations of heavy metals were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A questionnaire survey was administered regarding individual characteristics. Anthropometric measurements (height and weight) were performed. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured after a short rest. Multiple linear regression models were applied to investigate associations between urinary heavy metal concentrations and blood pressure after adjustments for age, sex, and body mass index. RESULTS: The geometric means of the urinary concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and selenium were 84.6, 0.885, 2.09, and 16.5 µg/g creatinine, respectively. The urinary arsenic concentrations were slightly higher than those typically reported in non-polluted populations, while urinary cadmium, lead, and selenium concentrations were equivalent or slightly lower. The urinary lead concentrations were positively associated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but urinary selenium concentrations were negatively associated with them. CONCLUSIONS: Variations in the urinary concentrations of lead and selenium were associated with blood pressure at low levels of exposure/intake.

Perpendicular alignment of the phase-separated boundary in adhered polymer droplets.

We investigated the effect of the adhered interface on the phase separation pattern using two or three adhered droplets containing a binary solution of poly(ethylene glycol) and gelatin. Under the experimental conditions, single domains of the gelatin-rich phase exhibited partial wetting to the droplet adhered interface (DAI) and nonadhered droplet surface. In the case of isolated spherical droplets, the location of the phase separation interface (PSI) of the domains was completely random owing to spatial symmetry. In the adhered droplets, the random orientation of the PSI was observed when the PSI did not contact the DAI. On the other hand, when the PSI contacted the DAI, the PSI was aligned perpendicular to the DAI. Frequency analysis showed that whether the PSI contacts the DAI is purely stochastic. However, the PSI alignment perpendicular to the DAI increases significantly with three adhered droplets, suggesting that the probability increases with increasing DAI area ratio. We explain this perpendicular pattern by the minimization of the interfacial energy and kinetics with a change in the wetting contact angle. These findings will facilitate the research on the phase separation of polymer solutions inside nonspherical micrometric spaces.

Effect of Ambient Temperature on Daily Nebulized Asthma Hospital Visits in a Tropical City of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The acute effect of temperature on asthma morbidity in Bangladesh is not well understood. As climate varies extensively in different parts of the world, the relation between temperature and asthma might also differ. We investigated the association between temperature and asthma-related hospital visits in the tropical city of Dhaka. We analyzed information from a total of 5989 asthma patients who received ambulatory care in the form of nebulized medication at the National Asthma Center in Mohakhali, Dhaka from February to November 2013. A time-stratified case-crossover study was conducted to estimate the effect of daily temperature, with consideration of delayed effects and possible confounders such as relative humidity and political strikes. An inverse association was observed between temperature and the number of hospital visits. The effect was delayed for approximately a week. A degree centigrade decrease in mean temperature (averaged across lags 0-6) was associated with an increase of approximately 4.5% (95% CI 1.5, 7.5) in all asthma visits. The association was evident in adult males but marginal in elderly males. A positive association (lag 0) was observed among adult females, whereas no association was observed among children. Strikes significantly modified the effect among the elderly. Findings suggest temperature declines affect asthma outcomes in a warm climate, and this effect can be delayed and vary by sex and age group.

Chronic stress and age-related pattern of blood pressure: A cross-sectional study in rural China.

OBJECTIVE: Chronic stress is a risk factor for hypertension in adults. However, there is conflicting evidence for older adults. We hypothesized that age-related arterial stiffening, which leads to a lower blood pressure (especially diastolic blood pressure [DBP]), is more pronounced among older adults with high vs low stress. The objectives of this study were (a) to investigate age-related trends in systolic and DBPs among adults in rural Fujian, China, and (b) to examine differences in age-related blood pressure trends according to levels of stress by using Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibody titer as a marker of chronic stress status. METHODS: We collected cross-sectional data from 764 rural community-dwelling adults in rural Fujian, China (mean age = 59.4). Participants were categorized into high and low stress groups by median split of EBV antibody titer. A least-squares regression analysis was used to investigate the association between age and blood pressures. RESULTS: We observed an inverted U-shaped association between age and DBP, while there was a linear association between age and systolic blood pressure in the overall sample. When stratified by stress, the inverted U-shaped associations with age (both systolic and DBPs) were seen only among those with high stress; DBP peaked at the age of ~68 years, and the declining trend later in life was more clearly observed among those with high chronic stress. DISCUSSION: Decrease of DBP was more pronounced among older adults with high vs low chronic stress in rural China.

Amyloid-ß Interactions with Lipid Rafts in Biomimetic Systems: A Review of Laboratory Methods.

Biomimetic lipid bilayer systems are a useful tool for modeling specific properties of cellular membranes in order to answer key questions about their structure and functions. This approach has prompted scientists from all over the world to create more and more sophisticated model systems in order to decipher the complex lateral and transverse organization of cellular plasma membranes. Among a variety of existing biomembrane domains, lipid rafts are defined as small, dynamic, and ordered assemblies of lipids and proteins, enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids. Lipid rafts appear to be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by affecting the aggregation of the amyloid-ß (Aß) peptide at neuronal membranes thereby forming toxic oligomeric species. In this review, we summarize the laboratory methods which allow to study the interaction of Aß with lipid rafts. We describe step by step protocols to form giant (GUVs) and large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) containing raft-mimicking domains surrounded by membrane nonraft regions. Using fluorescence microscopy GUV imaging protocols, one can design experiments to visualize micron-scale raft-like domains, to determine the micron-scale demixing temperature of a given lipid mixture, construct phase diagram, and photogenerate domains in order to assess the dynamics of raft formation and raft size distribution. LUV fluorescence spectroscopy protocols with proper data analysis can be used to measure molecular packing of raft/nonraft regions of the membrane, to report on nanoscale raft formation and determine nanoscale demixing temperature. Because handling of the Aß requires dedicated laboratory experience, we present illustrated protocols for Aß-stock aliquoting, Aß aqueous solubilization, oligomer preparation, determination of the Aß concentration before and after filtration. Thioflavin binding, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy protocols are described as complementary methods to detect Aß aggregation kinetics, aggregate sizes, and morphologies of observed aggregates.

Beyond 2020: converging crises demand integrated responses: Statement by the RACC International Advisory Committee following the RACC-12 International Forum.

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates how the impacts of climate change are beginning to converge with other developing challenges with a likely peak with global population, requiring more integrated responses locally, regionally and globally.

Membrane Surface Modulates Slow Diffusion in Small Crowded Droplets.

Membranes are ubiquitous structures in cells. The effects of membranes on various functional molecules have been reported, but their behaviors under macromolecular crowding and cell-sized confinement have not fully been understood. In this study, we model an intracellular environment by crowding micrometer-sized droplets and investigate the effects of membrane properties on molecular diffusion. The molecular diffusion inside small droplets covered with a lipid layer of phosphatidylcholine (PC) becomes slower compared with that of the corresponding bulk solutions under a crowding condition of polysaccharide dextran but not of its monomer unit, glucose. The addition of a poly(ethylene glycol) conjugated lipid (PEGylated lipid) to the PC membrane significantly alters the degree of slow diffusion observed inside small droplets of concentrated dextran. Interestingly, the change is not monotonic against dextran concentration; that is, the PEGylated membrane increases and decreases the degree of slow diffusion with increasing dextran concentration. We explain the nonmonotonic alternation from the increase in effective dextran concentration and the hindered temporal adsorption of dextran to the membrane. Because diffusion alteration by adding PEGylated lipid is observed for condensed small droplets of linear polymer PEG and hydrophilic protein bovine serum albumin, the phenomenon is general for other polymer systems as well. Furthermore, our findings may facilitate the understanding of intracellular molecular behaviors based on membrane effects as well as the development of numerous applications using polymer droplets.