Verification of Thermal Comfort of Combined Convection-Radiation Air Conditioning System using Building Structure

Combined Convection-Radiation Air Conditioning System using Building Structure combines the advantages of TABS and convection air conditioning. In ordinary TABS, pipes are buried in the frame, but here pipes are laid on the lower (ceiling) surface of the floor slab. Also, jets from a Convection-enhancing Spot fan are sprayed toward the ceiling surface, promoting convection on the frame surface. This airflow promotes timely heat dissipation stored in the frame, and a micro-airflow environment can be formed in the living area. This paper aimed to verify thermal comfort and proper operation. Subjects were given simulated work of low to high metabolic rate, and were asked to report the thermal sensation and comfort in a micro-airflow environment. It was confirmed that comfort could be maintained even at a temperature higher than the general air-conditioning temperature, and an appropriate operating method according to the metabolic rate was elucidated.publishedVersio

Bifidobacteria upregulate expression of toll-like receptor negative regulators counteracting enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli mediated inflammation in bovine intestinal epitheliocytes

We previously established a bovine intestinal epithelial cell line (BIE cells) and showed that BIE cells are useful in vitro model system for the study of interactions between pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms and bovine intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). In the present study we aimed to select potential immunomodulatory bifidobacteria that may be used to beneficially modulate the inflammatory response in bovine IECs. We also aimed to gain insight in the molecular mechanisms involved in the anti-inflammatory effect of bifidobacteria by evaluating the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and TLR negative regulators in the regulation of proinflamatory cytokines production and MAPK, NF-κB and PI3K pathways activation in BIE cells. Five bifidobacteria strains were evaluated in this study and according to their capacity to modulate inflammatory response of BIE cells. Despite the unique effect of each strain, four common points were found when comparing the effect of the high and moderate anti-inflammatory strains: 1) Upregulation of TLR negative regulators and the intensity of that upregulation was related to the different immunomodulatory capacity of each bifidobacteria strain. 2) The balance between MAPK activation and MKP-1 upregulation affected the an- ti-inflammatory effect of bifidobacteria in BIE cells. 3) The inhibition of PI3K pathway was related to the an- ti-inflammatory effect of bifidobacteria. 4) The immunoregulatory effect of bifidobacteria in BIE cells is partially de- pendent on TLR2. This study shows that BIE cells can be used for the selection of immunoregulatory bifidobacteria and for studying the mechanisms involved in the protective activity of immunobiotics against TLR4-induced inflammatory damage. In addition, we have demonstrated that the anti-inflammatory effect of bifidobacteria was achieved by a com- plex interaction of multiple TLRs negative regulators as well as the inhibition/activation of multiple signaling pathways.Fil: Murata, Kozue. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Villena, Julio Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (i); Argentina; Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Tomosada, Yohsuke. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Risa, Hara. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Chiba, Eriko. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Shimazu, Tomoyuki. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Genetics; Japón;Fil: Aso, Hisashi. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Cell Biology Laboratory; Japón;Fil: Suda, Yoshihito. Miyagi University. Department of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science; Japón;Fil: Iwabuchi, Noriyuki. Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd. Food Science and Technology Institute; Japón;Fil: Xiao, Jin-zhong. Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd. Food Science and Technology Institute; Japón;Fil: Saito, Tadao. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón;Fil: Kitazawa, Haruki. Tohoku University. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Food and Feed Immunology Group; Japón

Immunobiotic lactic acid bacteria beneficially regulate immune response triggered by poly(I:C) in porcine intestinal epithelial cells

This study analyzed the functional expression of TLR3 in various gastrointestinal tissues from adult swine and shows that TLR3 is expressed preferentially in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), CD172a+CD11R1high and CD4+ cells from ileal Peyer's patches. We characterized the inflammatory immune response triggered by TLR3 activation in a clonal porcine intestinal epitheliocyte cell line (PIE cells) and in PIE-immune cell co-cultures, and demonstrated that these systems are valuable tools to study in vitro the immune response triggered by TLR3 on IEC and the interaction between IEC and immune cells. In addition, we selected an immunobiotic lactic acid bacteria strain, Lactobacillus casei MEP221106, able to beneficially regulate the anti-viral immune response triggered by poly(I:C) stimulation in PIE cells. Moreover, we deepened our understanding of the possible mechanisms of immunobiotic action by demonstrating that L. casei MEP221106 modulates the interaction between IEC and immune cells during the generation of a TLR3-mediated immune response

Advanced application of bovine intestinal epithelial cell line for evaluating regulatory effect of lactobacilli against heat-killed enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli-mediated inflammation

Background: Previously, a bovine intestinal epithelial cell line (BIE cells) was successfully established. This work hypothesized that BIE cells are useful in vitro model system for the study of interactions of microbial- or pathogenassociated molecular patterns (MAMPs or PAMPs) with bovine intestinal epithelial cells and for the selection of immunoregulatory lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Results: All toll-like receptor (TLR) genes were expressed in BIE cells, being TLR4 one of the most strongly expressed. We demonstrated that heat-stable PAMPs of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) significantly enhanced the production of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1! and MCP-1 in BIE cells by activating both NF-"B and MAPK pathways. We evaluated the capacity of several lactobacilli strains to modulate heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-mediated inflammatory response in BIE cells. Among these strains evaluated, Lactobacillus casei OLL2768 attenuated heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced pro-inflammatory response by inhibiting NF-"B and p38 signaling pathways in BIE cells. Moreover, L. casei OLL2768 negatively regulated TLR4 signaling in BIE cells by up-regulating Toll interacting protein (Tollip) and B-cell lymphoma 3-encoded protein (Bcl-3). Conclusions: BIE cells are suitable for the selection of immunoregulatory LAB and for studying the mechanisms involved in the protective activity of immunobiotics against pathogen-induced inflammatory damage. In addition, we showed that L. casei OLL2768 functionally modulate the bovine intestinal epithelium by attenuating heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced inflammation. Therefore L. casei OLL2768 is a good candidate for in vivo studying the protective effect of LAB against intestinal inflammatory damage induced by ETEC infection or heat-stable ETEC PAMPs challenge in the bovine host.Fil: Takanashi, Naoya. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tomosada, Yohsuke. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Villena, Julio Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - CONICET - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos (i); Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Murata, Kozue. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Takahashi, Takuya. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Chiba, Eriko. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tohno, Masanori. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan; National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science; Japan.;Fil: Tomoyuki Shimazu. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan; Laboratory of Animal Breading and Genetics. Graduate School of Agricultural Science; Japan.;Fil: Aso, Hisashi. Cell Biology Laboratory, Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan.;Fil: Suda, Yoshihito. Department of Food, Agriculture and Environment. Miyagi University; Japan.;Fil: Ikegami, Shuji. Division of Research and Development. Food Science Institut. Meiji Dairies CoOdawara; Japan;Fil: Itoh, Hiroyuki. Division of Research and Development. Food Science Institut. Meiji Dairies CoOdawara; Japan;Fil: Kawai, Yasushi. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tadao Saito. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Alvarez, Gladis Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (i); Argentina;Fil: Kitazawa, Haruki. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan

Delta degrees of freedom in antisymmetrized molecular dynamics and (p,p') reactions in the delta region

Delta degrees of freedom are introduced into antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD). This is done by increasing the number of basic states in the AMD wave function, introducing a Skyrme-type delta-nucleon potential, and including $NN\leftrightarrow N\Delta$ reactions in the collision description. As a test of the delta dynamics, the extended AMD is applied to (p,p$'$) recations at $E_{\rm lab}=800$ MeV for a $^{12}$C target. It is found that the ratio and the absolute values for delta peak and quasielastic peak (QEP) in the $^{12}$C(p,p$'$) reaction are reproduced for angles \Theta_{\rm lab} \agt 40^\circ, pointing to a correct treatment of the delta dynamics in the extended AMD. For forward angles the QEP is overestimated. The results of the AMD calculations are compared to one-step Monte Carlo (OSMC) calculations and a detailed analysis of multi-step and delta potential effects is given. As important side results we present a way to apply a Gallilei invariant theory for (N,N$'$) reactions up to $E_{\rm lab} \approx 800$ MeV which ensures approximate Lorentz invariance and we discuss how to fix the width parameter $\nu$ of the single particle momentum distribution for outgoing nucleons in the AMD calculation.Comment: 28 pages, revtex, 12 figures included, figures are also available upon request as postscript files from the authors (e-mail: [email protected]), submitted to Phys. Rev.

Amplified EPOR/JAK2 Genes Define a Unique Subtype of Acute Erythroid Leukemia

ゲノム解析から急性赤白血病の変異プロファイルと治療標的を解明 --特定の遺伝子変異群の組み合わせと、特徴となる遺伝子の増幅が鍵--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-05.Acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) is a unique subtype of acute myeloid leukemia characterized by prominent erythroid proliferation whose molecular basis is poorly understood. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of erythroid proliferation, we analyzed 121 AEL using whole-genome/exome and/or targeted-capture sequencing, together with transcriptome analysis of 21 AEL samples. Combining publicly available sequencing data, we found a high frequency of gains/amplifications involving EPOR/JAK2 in TP53-mutated cases, particularly those having >80% erythroblasts designated as pure erythroid leukemia (10/13). These cases were frequently accompanied by gains/amplifications of ERG/ETS2 and associated with a very poor prognosis, even compared with other TP53-mutated AEL. In addition to activation of the STAT5 pathway, a common feature across all AEL cases, these AEL cases exhibited enhanced cell proliferation and heme metabolism and often showed high sensitivity to ruxolitinib in vitro and in xenograft models, highlighting a potential role of JAK2 inhibition in therapeutics of AEL

The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO

DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry– Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre- DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024

DECIGO pathfinder

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article

Postazacitidine clone size predicts long-term outcome of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and related myeloid neoplasms

Azacitidine is a mainstay of therapy for MDS-related diseases. The purpose of our study is to elucidate the effect of gene mutations on hematological response and overall survival (OS), particularly focusing on their post-treatment clone size. We enrolled a total of 449 patients with MDS or related myeloid neoplasms. They were analyzed for gene mutations in pre- (n=449) and post- (n=289) treatment bone marrow samples using targeted-capture sequencing to assess the impact of gene mutations and their post-treatment clone size on treatment outcomes. In Cox proportional hazard modeling, multi-hit TP53 mutation (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.42-2.91; P<.001), EZH2 mutation (HR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.14-2.54; P=.009), and DDX41 mutations (HR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.17-0.62; P<.001), together with age, high-risk karyotypes, low platelet, and high blast counts, independently predicted OS. Post-treatment clone size accounting for all drivers significantly correlated with International Working Group (IWG)-response (P<.001, trend test), except for that of DDX41-mutated clones, which did not predict IWG-response. Combined, IWG-response and post-treatment clone size further improved the prediction of the original model and even that of a recently proposed molecular prediction model, IPSS-M (c-index, 0.653 vs 0.688; P<.001, likelihood ratio test). In conclusion, evaluation of post-treatment clone size, together with pre-treatment mutational profile as well as IWG-response have a role in better prognostication of azacitidine-treated myelodysplasia patients