単音節の有効持続時間と感音難聴者の語音明瞭度との関係

Among the temporal elements in the autocorrelation function, the effective duration (τe) is a useful indicator of speech recognition for patients with sensorineural hearing impairment. We assessed the influence of speech recognition performance on the relationship between the percentage of accurately perceived articulation and the median τe (τe-med) and the relationship between monosyllabic confusion and the τe-med. Significant correlations were observed between the articulation percentage and the average τe-med in groups with high, middle, and low speech recognition scores (SRSs). Two-factor mixed analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for the condition (presentation/response). There was no significant main effect for group (high-, middle-, or low-SRS) scores and no significant interaction between the groups. The average τe-med of the response was significantly longer than that of the presentation in all three groups. Monosyllables with short τe-med values tended to be misheard as monosyllables with a long τe-med when confusion occurred. The τe-med was useful for estimating monosyllables that patients with sensorineural hearing impairment find easy to listen to, independent of speech recognition performance.権利情報：© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Extensively Hydrated but Folded: A Novel State of Globular Proteins Stabilized at High Pressure and Low Temperature

AbstractWe studied conformational fluctuations of the transcription factor c-Myb R2 subdomain (52 residues with three Trp) at high pressure and low temperature (5°C) using two different spectroscopic methods, Trp fluorescence and 1H NMR, on its chemically stable mutant C130I (pseudo-wild-type (WTS)), which has a large internal cavity. As pressure was increased from 3 to 300 MPa, the Trp fluorescence λmax of WTS shifted from 342 to ∼355 nm, clearly showing that the three Trp rings become fully exposed to the polar environment, which usually is taken to indicate that the protein underwent unfolding. In contrast, as pressure was increased from 3 to 300 MPa, the high-field-shifted 1H NMR signals characteristic of the folded state showed a still higher-field shift, but no significant changes in their intensity. The last result unequivocally shows that the protein remains largely folded at 300 MPa. The apparent discrepancy between the two predictions would only be solved if one were to postulate the existence of an extensively hydrated but folded state in WTS. Intriguingly, such a state was not found in a cavity-filling mutant of WTS, C130I/V103L, suggesting that this state is mediated by cavity hydration. The generality and significance of this state in proteins are discussed

Chemokine and Free Fatty Acid Levels in Insulin-Resistant State of Successful Pregnancy: A Preliminary Observation

Increased insulin resistance and inflammatory action are observed in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), but similar insulin resistance is observed also in successful pregnancy. To estimate insulin resistance and inflammatory activity in normal pregnancy and PIH, serum concentrations of free fatty acids (FFA; corrected with albumin to estimate unbound FFA), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, and high-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured in severe PIH patients with a BMI less than 25 kg/m2 and were measured 3 times during the course of pregnancy in women with normal pregnancies. FFA/albumin, MCP-1, and HMW adiponectin concentrations were significantly higher in PIH patients than in women with normal pregnancies. The 3 measurements of FFA/albumin showed a significant increase through the course of uncomplicated pregnancies. In contrast, MCP-1 and HMW adiponectin were significantly decreased during the course of pregnancy. These results suggest that the reduced MCP-1 concentration in normal pregnancy may be a pathway to inhibit the induction of pathological features from physiological insulin resistance and homeostatic inflammation

Glycemic Control and Insulin Improve Muscle Mass and Gait Speed in Type 2 Diabetes: The MUSCLES-DM Study

Ken Sugimoto, Hiroshi Ikegami, Yasunori Takata, Tomohiro Katsuya, Masahiro Fukuda, Hiroshi Akasaka, Yasuharu Tabara, Haruhiko Osawa, Yoshihisa Hiromine, Hiromi Rakugi, Glycemic Control and Insulin Improve Muscle Mass and Gait Speed in Type 2 Diabetes: The MUSCLES-DM Study, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.11.003