Association between Dairy Product intake and Risk of Osteoporotic Fractures in Postmenopausal Japanese Women: Secondary Analysis of 15-Year Follow-Up data from the Japanese Population-Based Osteoporosis (JPOS) Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES: Few prospective cohort studies have evaluated the relationship between dairy product intake frequency and risk of osteoporotic fractures in Asians. This study aimed to investigate the association between habitual dairy product intake and risk of osteoporotic fractures. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of prospective cohort study. SETTING: Five municipalities of Japan. PARTICIPANTS: This study included 1,429 postmenopausal Japanese women (age ≥45 years at baseline). MEASUREMENTS: Baseline milk-intake frequency was obtained using nurse-administered questionnaires. Intakes of yogurt and cheese, and estimated calcium intake, were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Osteoporotic fracture was defined as a clinical fracture diagnosed using radiography. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up period of 15.1 years (interquartile range [IQR], 10.1-15.4 years; total, 18,118 person-years), 172 women sustained at least one osteoporotic fracture. The proportions of participants with milk intakes <1, 1, and ≥2 cups/d were 34.4%, 48.0%, and 17.6%, respectively. After adjustment for age, frequency of yogurt intake, frequency of cheese intake, body mass index, history of osteoporotic fractures, and frequency of natto intake, the HRs compared with that for milk intake <1 cup/d were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.51-0.98) and 0.57 (95% CI: 0.35-0.92) for 1 cup/d and ≥2 cups/d, respectively. After adjustment for bone mineral density, HR significance for milk intakes ≥2 cups/d remained significant. Yogurt and cheese intakes were not related to the risk of osteoporotic fractures. CONCLUSION: High habitual milk intake, but not a habitual yogurt or cheese intake is associated with a decreased risk of osteoporotic fractures, independent of bone mineral density, in postmenopausal Japanese women.

Predictive ability of novel volumetric and geometric indices derived from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometric images of the proximal femur for hip fracture compared with conventional areal bone mineral density: the Japanese Population-based Osteoporosis (JPOS) Cohort Study.

Areal BMD (aBMD) from DXA is not a sufficiently accurate predictor of fracture. Novel volumetric BMD derived from 3D modeling of the hip from DXA images significantly improved the predictive ability for hip fracture relative to aBMD at the femoral neck, but not aBMD at the total hip. INTRODUCTION: To clarify whether volumetric and geometric indices derived from novel three-dimensional (3D) modeling of the hip using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometric (DXA) images improve hip fracture prediction relative to areal bone mineral density (aBMD). METHODS: We examined 1331 women who had completed the baseline survey and at least one follow-up survey over 20 years (age 40-79 years at baseline). Each survey included aBMD measurement at the hip by DXA. Volumetric and geometric indices of the hip at baseline and the 10-year follow-up were estimated from DXA images using a 3D modeling algorithm. Incident hip fractures during the 20-year follow-up period were identified through self-report. Cox proportional hazards regression models allowing for repeated measurements of predictors and outcomes were constructed, and their predictive ability for hip fracture was evaluated using areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) and net reclassification improvement (NRI) over aBMD at the femoral neck (FN) and total hip (TH) as references. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 19.8 years, 68 incident hip fractures were identified (2.22/1000 person-years). A significantly larger AUC of trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD) at the total hip (AUC = 0.741), femoral neck (AUC = 0.748), and intertrochanter (AUC = 0.738) and significant NRI (0.177, 0.149, and 0.195, respectively) were observed compared with FN-aBMD (AUC = 0.701), but not TH-aBMD. CONCLUSIONS: vBMD obtained from 3D modeling using routinely obtained hip DXA images significantly improved hip fracture risk prediction over conventional FN-aBMD, but not TH-aBMD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Japanese Population-Based Osteoporosis (JPOS) Cohort Study was retrospectively registered as UMIN000032869 in the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry on July 1, 2018.

Emission of coherent THz radiation from superconductors.

Compact solid-state sources of terahertz (THz) radiation are being sought for sensing, imaging, and spectroscopy applications across the physical and biological sciences. We demonstrate that coherent continuous-wave THz radiation of sizable power can be extracted from intrinsic Josephson junctions in the layered high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. In analogy to a laser cavity, the excitation of an electromagnetic cavity resonance inside the sample generates a macroscopic coherent state in which a large number of junctions are synchronized to oscillate in phase. The emission power is found to increase as the square of the number of junctions reaching values of 0.5 microwatt at frequencies up to 0.85 THz, and persists up to approximately 50 kelvin. These results should stimulate the development of superconducting compact sources of THz radiation.

Treatment of hypersaline-containing wastewater with salt-tolerant microorganisms.

Two salt-tolerant bacteria were isolated from soil samples to treat a high-salt-content wastewater from a pickled plum production plant. The strains, which were identified as Staphylococcus sp. and Bacillus cereus, grew well in a medium containing 0 to 15% NaCl. When wastewater in a flask was treated with the strains for 72 h, the COD removal was about 70%, and this was increased to about 90% when they were used in a pilot plant (working volume 1 m3) in a batch culture carried out for 7 d. The Staphylococcus sp. and Bacillus cereus strains occupied almost all of the pilot plant, in which they were present in a ratio of 3:1 (at 23-27 degrees C).

Characteristics and efficiency of glutamine production by coupling of a bacterial glutamine synthetase reaction with the alcoholic fermentation system of baker's yeast.

Glutamine production with bacterial glutamine synthetase (GS) and the sugar-fermenting system of baker's yeast for ATP regeneration was investigated by determining the product yield obtained with the energy source for ATP regeneration (i.e., glucose) for yeast fermentation. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate was accumulated temporarily prior to the formation of glutamine in mixtures which consisted of dried yeast cells, GS, their substrate (glucose and glutamate and ammonia), inorganic phosphate, and cofactors. By an increase in the amounts of GS and inorganic phosphate, the amounts of glutamine formed increased to 19 to 54 g/liter, with a yield increase of 69 to 72% based on the energy source (glucose) for ATP regeneration. The analyses of sugar fermentation of the yeast in the glutamine-producing mixtures suggested that the apparent hydrolysis of ATP by a futile cycle(s) at the early stage of glycolysis in the yeast cells reduces the efficiency of ATP utilization. Inorganic phosphate inhibits phosphatase(s) and thus improves glutamine yield. However, the analyses of GS activity in the glutamine-producing mixtures suggested that the higher concentration of inorganic phosphate as well as the limited amount of ATP-ADP caused the low reactivity of GS in the glutamine-producing mixtures. A result suggestive of improved glutamine yield under the conditions with lower concentrations of inorganic phosphate was obtained by using a yeast mutant strain that had low assimilating ability for glycerol and ethanol. In the mutant, the activity of the enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis, especially fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase, was lower than that in the wild-type strain.

Extracellular dextran-induced p-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-glucoside-hydrolyzing enzyme of Bacillus circulans KA-304: a producer of Schizophyllum commune-lytic enzyme.

p-NP-alpha-D-Glucoside-hydrolyzing activity in the culture filtrate of Bacillus circulans KA-304, a producer of Schizophyllum commune cell-wall lytic enzyme, increased remarkably when the bacterium was grown on dextran as a carbon source. It was suggested that the increase of the activity was caused by increases of two major species, alpha-D-glucosidase I and alpha-D-glucosidase II. alpha-D-Glucosidase I, which showed a certain reactivity toward dextran, was isolated from the filtrate (MW 70 kDa, 35-fold, 10% recovery). The enzyme was stable around pH 6.5-7.5 and showed its highest activity at pH 6.5. The enzyme preparation inactivated with p-chloromerucuribenzoic acid recovered its activity by incubating with ditiothereitol. Its substrate specificity suggested that the enzyme was an exo-type enzyme with certain affinity toward alpha-1,6-glucosidic linkage.

Purification and Some Properties of p-Nitrophenyl-ß-D-glucoside-hydrolyzing Enzymes in Culture Filtrate of Bacillus circulans KA-304 Grown on Cell-wall Preparation of Schizophyllum commune.

Hydrolyzing activities toward p-nitrophenyl (p-NP)-ß-D-glucoside and laminarin in a culture filtrate of Bacillus circulans KA-304, which has been observed to form protoplasts from Schizophyllum commune mycelia, increased when the bacterium was grown on a cell-wall preparation (CWP) of S. commune or laminarin as a carbon source. An analysis of the filtrate with the CWP suggested occurrence of two major p-NP-ß-D-glucoside-hydrolyzing enzymes (ß-D-glucosidases I and II) and a laminarin-hydrolyzing enzyme. After separation by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, ß-D-glucosidases I and II were isolated (ß-D-glucosidase I: 13-fold purification with 34% yield; ß-D-glucosidase II: 26-fold with 8%). The enzymes resembled each other in their properties except for their molecular weight, subunit structure (ß-D-glucosidase I: 200,000, tetramer; II: 100,000, dimer), and susceptibility to such substances as p-chloromercuribenzoic acid and Ag(+) ion. ß-D-Glucosidases I and II hydrolyzed gentiobiose (ß-1,6 glucosidic linkage; Km=3.6 mM, ß-D-glucosidase I; 4.6 mM, ß-D-glucosidase II) and laminaribiose (ß-1,3 glucosidic linkage; Km=6.1 mM, ß-D-glucosidase I; 6.7 mD ß-D-glucosidase II), and showed a certain reactivity toward laminarin as well.

γ-Glutamyl Transfer Reactions by Glutaminase from Pseudomonas nitroreducens IFO 12694 and Their Application for the Syntheses of Theanine and γ-Glutamylmethylamide.

In a mixture containing γ-glutamyl donor (donor) and γ-glutamyl acceptor (acceptor), the glutaminase of Pseudomonas nitroreducens IFO 12694 simultaneously catalyzed a γ-glutamyl transfer reaction and hydrolysis of the donor. The variation of the activities responding to the concentration of glutathione and glycylglycine indicated that the enzyme might be classified in a group of glutaminases that shows hydrolysis prior to transfer reaction. On the other hand, the results with glutamine and ethylamine or methylamine indicated that the enzyme was active in the transfer reaction with suppressed hydrolysis of glutamine, and suggested the possibility of using the reaction for producing γ-glutamylethylamide (theanine) or γ-glutamylmethylamide (γ-GMA). In fact, in a mixture containing high concentrations of substrates (0.7 M glutamine, 1.5 M ethylamine or methylamine) and 0.5 unit/ml glutaminase (borate buffer pH 11), 270 mM (47 g/L) theanine or 250 mM (38 g/L) γ-GMA was formed in 7 h of incubation at 30°C.

Production and localization of enzymes on soft gel cultivation.

Production and localization of glutaminase and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) in soft gel cultivation were compared with those in koji and liquid cultivations. The enzymes were detected only in the whole-mycelial-mat fraction by soft gel cultivation, but in both intracellular and extracellular fractions by the other two methods. The enzyme species of glutaminase and LAP in soft gel cultivation were analyzed by ion exchange and gel filtration column chromatographies. Three species of glutaminase and four (or five) species of LAP were formed in the whole-mycelial-mat fraction. The intracellular and extracellular fractions of the koji and liquid cultivations contained different species of enzymes.

A rapid assay method for ammonia using glutamine synthetase from glutamate-producing bacteria.

A rapid enzymatic assay method for ammonia was developed by using glutamine synthetase from glutamate-producing bacteria together with pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and NADH. The time required for determination of 25 nmol of ammonia was 5 min with 1 unit of glutamine synthetase, as opposed to 14-30 min with 1 unit of glutamate dehydrogenases from various sources. The present method was used to determine ammonia in serum, microbiol-culture broth, and waste water. The method can be modified for spectrophotometry in the visible region by substituting pyruvate oxidase, peroxidase, and appropriate chromogens for lactate dehydrogenase and NADH. With 4-aminoantipyrine (4AA) and phenol, and with 4AA and N-ethyl-N-2-hydroxyethyl-m-toluidine as chromogens, the sensitivity of ammonia determination was 0.65 and 1.7 times that with glutamate dehydrogenase, respectively. The present method was also applicable to the continuous detection of the activity of some ammonia-forming enzymes such as guanase, adenosine deaminase, and urease and to the determination of 0.5-30 microM ATP-ADP after some modification of the mixture.

[Experimental study on the optimal potassium and magnesium concentrations in the cardioplegic solution].

Minimum concentration of potassium and magnesium in cardioplegic solution to get cardiac arrest was studied. The isolated rat hearts were perfused by Langendorf perfusion with Modified Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer solution, and their heart rates were measured. The perfusion of infusate of 15 mM per liter of K-aspartate stopped the heart beat completely, and as the same way it was necessary 25 mM per liter of MgCl2 to get cardiac arrest. By their combination, however, heart was arrested with infusate of 10 mM per liter of K-aspartate and 15 mM per liter of MgCl2, which were lower concentration than K-aspartate or MgCl2 alone. In order to determine the optimal concentration of potassium and magnesium in cardioplegic solution, the isolated rat hearts were preserved in relatively disadvantageous condition; such as 37 degrees C of infusates, non-oxygenation, continuous perfusion and perfusion pressure 50 cmH2O during 120 minutes. Sixty isolated rat hearts were divided into eleven groups. Each group received a different proper combination of KCl (5.9, 15, 25, 40, 60 mM/L) and MgCl2 (1.2, 13, 25, 33, 50 mM/L) in cardioplegic solution. Using the isolated working rat heart apparatus, hemodynamic indices after 120 minutes preservation were compared with control values of the same hearts, and their percent recoveries were compared with one another. In conclusion it appears that in the isolated working heart model combination of KCl 40 mM/L and MgCl2 13 mM/L in Basic-Modified-Krebs-Solution might offer the best myocardial protection of all combinations tested.