Compositional Development of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus Microbiota Is Linked with Crying and Fussing in Early Infancy

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to establish whether there is an interconnection between the compositional development of the gut microbiota and the amount of fussing and crying in early infancy. METHODS: Behavioral patterns of 89 infants during the 7(th) and 12(th) week of life were recorded in parental diaries. Total distress was defined as the sum of daily amounts of crying and fussing. Infants' gut microbiota profiles were investigated by several molecular assays during the first six months of life. RESULTS: The median (range) duration of total distress among the infants was 106 (0-478) minutes a day during the 7(th) and 58 (0-448) minutes a day during the 12(th) week. The proportion of Bifidobacterium counts to total bacterial counts was inversely associated with the amount of crying and fussing during the first 3 months of life (p = 0.03), although the number of Bifidobacterium breve was positively associated with total distress (p = 0.02). The frequency of Lactobacillus spp. at the age of 3 weeks was inversely associated with total infant distress during the 7(th) week of life (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus appear to protect against crying and fussing. Identification of specific strains with optimal protective properties would benefit at-risk infants

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis of the dihydroflavonol-4-reductase-B (DFR-B) locus in the Japanese morning glory Ipomoea (Pharbitis) nil

CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a versatile tool for targeted mutagenesis in many organisms, including plants. However, this technique has not been applied to the Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea [Pharbitis] nil), a traditional garden plant chosen for the National BioResource Project in Japan. We selected dihydroflavonol-4-reductase-B (DFR-B) of I. nil, encoding an anthocyanin biosynthesis enzyme, as the target gene, and changes in the stem colour were observed during the early stages of plant tissue culture by Rhizobium [Agrobacterium]-mediated transformation. Twenty-four of the 32 (75%) transgenic plants bore anthocyanin-less white flowers with bi-allelic mutations at the Cas9 cleavage site in DFR-B, exhibiting a single base insertion or deletions of more than two bases. Thus, these results demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9 technology enables the exploration of gene functions in this model horticultural plant. To our knowledge, this report is the first concerning flower colour changes in higher plants using CRISPR/Cas9 technology

DESENVOLVIMENTO DE FORMULAÇÃO DERMOCOSMÉTICA COM COFFEA CANEPHORA VERDE: POTENCIAL PROPRIEDADE COMO ANTIENVELHECIMENTO CUTÂNEO.

O envelhecimento cutâneo é um processo que ocorre de forma natural, lenta e contínua sendo inerente a todos os seres humanos. O processo de envelhecimento é complexo e combina fatores endógenos, como: genética, metabolismo celular, hormônios e processos metabólicos e exógenos como exposição a luz solar, poluição, toxinas, radiação ionizante, entre outros. A glicação é outro mecanismo envolvido neste processo, contudo, essa pode ocorrer tanto em pessoas com idade avançada, quanto em pessoas mais jovens. Coffea canephora, conhecida como café robusta ou café conilon se destaca já que possui uma maior concentração de bioativos que possuem atividade antioxidante propiciando uma maior atividade antiglicante, e consequentemente de antienvelhecimento na formulação. Os objetivos do trabalho foram desenvolver e caracterizar extratos de café, criar formulações com eles, caracterizá-las e avaliar se possuem atividade de fotoproteção e antiglicante e se têm capacidade de atuarem como produtos antienvelhecimento cutâneo. O extrato liofilizado de café verde (ECV) da espécie Coffea canephora foi desenvolvido pela Companhia Iguaçu de Café Solúvel (Cornélio Procópio, Paraná, Brasil) a partir dos grãos do café.  Foram desenvolvidas cinco formulações do tipo sérum para uso tópico, e dentre elas, a formulação FT3, que contém 1,5% (p/p) de ECV, apresentou os resultados mais satisfatórios nos parâmetros analisados durante este estudo, tais como: espalhabilidade, capacidade antiglicante e fotoprotetora

Norovirus in Captive Lion Cub (Panthera leo)

African lions (Panthera leo) are susceptible to viral diseases of domestic carnivores, including feline calicivirus infection. We report the identification of a novel enteric calicivirus, genetically related to human noroviruses of genogroup IV, in a lion cub that died of severe hemorrhagic enteritis

Thrombin promotes diet-induced obesity through fibrin-driven inflammation

Obesity promotes a chronic inflammatory and hypercoagulable state that drives cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and several cancers. Elevated thrombin activity underlies obesity-linked thromboembolic events, but the mechanistic links between the thrombin/fibrin(ogen) axis and obesity-associated pathologies are incompletely understood. In this work, immunohistochemical studies identified extravascular fibrin deposits within white adipose tissue and liver as distinct features of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) as well as obese patients. Fibγ390–396A mice carrying a mutant form of fibrinogen incapable of binding leukocyte αMβ2-integrin were protected from HFD-induced weight gain and elevated adiposity. Fibγ390–396A mice had markedly diminished systemic, adipose, and hepatic inflammation with reduced macrophage counts within white adipose tissue, as well as near-complete protection from development of fatty liver disease and glucose dysmetabolism. Homozygous thrombomodulin-mutant ThbdPro mice, which have elevated thrombin procoagulant function, gained more weight and developed exacerbated fatty liver disease when fed a HFD compared with WT mice. In contrast, treatment with dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor, limited HFD-induced obesity development and suppressed progression of sequelae in mice with established obesity. Collectively, these data provide proof of concept that targeting thrombin or fibrin(ogen) may limit pathologies in obese patients

経皮静脈サンプリングで責任腫瘍を同定した腫瘍性骨軟化症の一例

We report a case of 57-year-old-female with progressive bone pain and proximal dominant muscle weakness. Laboratory test revealed hypophosphatemia with decreased TmP/GFR, high bone-type ALP and elevated levels of FGF23. Radiograph and CT examination revealed multiple fracture with decreased levels of bone mineral density. She also had 2 cm of subcutaneous elastic soft tumor which located on the base of left big toe. Moreover, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy revealed increase uptake in the tumor with high suspicion of the culprit tumor of tumor-induced osteomalacia （TIO）. To verify that the tumor generates FGF23, we performed percutaneous venous blood sampling. The FGF23 level in the left dorsal vein of foot was highest those in other veins. These results strongly suggested that the tumor produced FGF23 and was the culprit tumor for the disorder. The patient underwent resection of the tumor. One day after surgery, the serum FGF23 level in a peripheral vein decreased to less than the measurement sensitivity, while serum phosphate improved to normal range. Two months of following surgery, clinical and biochemical examinations confirmed the successful of operation. Although it is sometimes difficult to detect the culprit tumors in TIO cases, a combination of localization studies may improve diagnostic accuracy of the culprit tumors. Furthermore, percutaneous peripheral venous sampling would be clinically useful for cases who have the responsible tumor located on limbs, hands and feet

Experimental probing of the interplay between ferromagnetism and localisation in (Ga,Mn)As

The question whether the Anderson-Mott localisation enhances or reduces magnetic correlations is central to the physics of magnetic alloys. Particularly intriguing is the case of (Ga,Mn)As and related magnetic semiconductors, for which diverging theoretical scenarios have been proposed. Here, by direct magnetisation measurements we demonstrate how magnetism evolves when the density of carriers mediating the spin-spin coupling is diminished by the gate electric field in metal/insulator/semiconductor structures of (Ga,Mn)As. Our findings show that the channel depletion results in a monotonic decrease of the Curie temperature, with no evidence for the maximum expected within the impurity-band models. We find that the transition from the ferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state proceeds via the emergence of a superparamagnetic-like spin arrangement. This implies that carrier localisation leads to a phase separation into ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic regions, which we attribute to critical fluctuations in the local density of states, specific to the Anderson-Mott quantum transition.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Identification of Novel Pax8 Targets in FRTL-5 Thyroid Cells by Gene Silencing and Expression Microarray Analysis

The differentiation program of thyroid follicular cells (TFCs), by far the most abundant cell population of the thyroid gland, relies on the interplay between sequence-specific transcription factors and transcriptional coregulators with the basal transcriptional machinery of the cell. However, the molecular mechanisms leading to the fully differentiated thyrocyte are still the object of intense study. The transcription factor Pax8, a member of the Paired-box gene family, has been demonstrated to be a critical regulator required for proper development and differentiation of thyroid follicular cells. Despite being Pax8 well-characterized with respect to its role in regulating genes involved in thyroid differentiation, genomics approaches aiming at the identification of additional Pax8 targets are lacking and the biological pathways controlled by this transcription factor are largely unknown.To identify unique downstream targets of Pax8, we investigated the genome-wide effect of Pax8 silencing comparing the transcriptome of silenced versus normal differentiated FRTL-5 thyroid cells. In total, 2815 genes were found modulated 72 h after Pax8 RNAi, induced or repressed. Genes previously reported to be regulated by Pax8 in FRTL-5 cells were confirmed. In addition, novel targets genes involved in functional processes such as DNA replication, anion transport, kinase activity, apoptosis and cellular processes were newly identified. Transcriptome analysis highlighted that Pax8 is a key molecule for thyroid morphogenesis and differentiation.This is the first large-scale study aimed at the identification of new genes regulated by Pax8, a master regulator of thyroid development and differentiation. The biological pathways and target genes controlled by Pax8 will have considerable importance to understand thyroid disease progression as well as to set up novel therapeutic strategies