Application of Hectorite-Coated Silica Gel Particles as a Packing Material for Chromatographic Resolution

A new type of clay column particles was prepared, in which a hectorite layer (similar to 0.1 mu m thickness) covered uniformly the surface of amorphous silica particles with an average radius of 5 mu m (ref. Okada et al., The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 116, 21864-21869 (2012)). The hectorite layer was fully ion-exchanged with Delta-[Ru(phen)(3)](2+) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) ions by being immersed in a methanol solution of Delta-[Ru(phen)(3)](ClO4)(2) (1 mM). The modified silica gel particles thus prepared were packed into a stainless steel tube (4 mm (i.d.) x 25 cm) as a high-performance liquid chromatography column. Optical resolution was achieved when the racemic mixtures of several metal complexes or organic molecules were eluted with methanol. In the case of tris(acetylacetonato) ruthenium(III) ([Ru(acac)(3)]), for example, the Lambda- and Delta-enantiomers gave an elution volume of 2.6 and 3.0 mL, respectively, with the separation factor of 1.2. The total elution volume (5 mL) was nearly one-tenth for the previously reported column of the same size (RU-1 (Shiseido Co., Ltd.)) packed with the spray-dried particles of synthetic hectorite (average radius 5 mu m) ion-exchanged by the same Ru(II) complexes.ArticleJOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC SCIENCE. 54(7): 1238-1243 (2016)journal articl

Nonprofit Business Plan Development: From Vision, Mission and Values to Implementation

Describes steps for nonprofit planning, with sections that cover organizational assessment, vision and mission statements, goal-setting, and plan implementation

パブリックスペースに関するフィールドワーク報告 : 新潟県十日町市におけるサイト・リノベーション

This series reports on collaborative field works of Sugiura\u27s laboratory on renovation of public spaces. The laboratory has carried out architectural studies and field works for joining human beings and space together. We aim at transforming dead spaces into living spaces with \u27installations\u27 which is a sort of contemporary art. This shows our artwork exhibited in \u27Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2006\u27, held from July 23 through September 10 in Niigata prefecture. We used the very same site where we installed pieces of white netting at the prior festival in 2003. It was a creation of passages where eaves of some neighboring houses were connected with the white netting creating a cocoon for communication. But the site was damaged by the earthquake in 2004. Some houses were destroyed and an elderly resident killed. Naturally our work in 2006 had a consolatory meaning to both the dead and bereft people. The crochet work of 10,000 white motifs sewn together turned into white see-through walls in the air around which many people got together and renewed their souls

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Petrology and phase equilibrium modeling of sapphirine + quartz assemblage from the Napier Complex, East Antarctica: Diagnostic evidence for Neoarchean ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism

A synthesis of the petrological characters of granulite facies rocks that contain equilibrium sapphirine + quartz assemblage from two localities (Tonagh Island (TI) and Priestley Peak (PP)) in the Napier Complex, East Antarctica, provides unequivocal evidence for extreme crustal metamorphism possibly associated with the collisional orogeny during Neoarchean. The reaction microstructures associated with sapphirine + quartz vary among the samples, probably suggesting different tectonic conditions during the metamorphic evolution. Sapphirine and quartz in TI sample were probably in equilibrium at the peak stage, but now separated by corona of Grt + Sil + Opx suggesting near isobaric cooling after the peak metamorphism, whereas the Spr + Qtz + Sil + Crd + Spl assemblage replaces garnet in PP sample suggesting post-peak decompression. The application of mineral equilibrium modeling in NCKFMASHTO system demonstrated that Spr + Qtz stability is lowered down to 930 °C due to small Fe3+ contents in the rocks (mole Fe2O3/(FeO + Fe2O3) = 0.02). The TI sample yields a peak p-T range of 950–1100 °C and 7.5–11 kbar, followed by cooling toward a retrograde stage of 800–950 °C and 8–10 kbar, possibly along a counterclockwise p-T path. In contrast, the peak condition of the PP sample shows 1000–1050 °C and >12 kbar, which was followed by the formation of Spr + Qtz corona around garnet at 930–970 °C and 6.7–7.7 kbar, suggesting decompression possibly along a clockwise p-T trajectory. Such contrasting p-T paths are consistent with a recent model on the structural framework of the Napier Complex that correlates the two areas to different crustal blocks. The different p-T paths obtained from the two localities might reflect the difference in the tectonic framework of these rocks within a complex Neoarchean subduction/collision belt

A case of pericarditis in a middle‐aged woman with COVID‐19

Abstract The frequency of pericarditis as a complication in COVID‐19 patients without underlying disease is not well known. We report a case of COVID‐19 presenting with pericarditis without myocarditis or severe respiratory symptoms in a middle‐aged woman, who had neither underlying disease nor previous diagnosis of COVID‐19

Dupilumab Leads to Clinical Improvements including the Acquisition of Tolerance to Causative Foods in Non-Eosinophilic Esophagitis Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders

A recent report showed that most pediatric cases of non-eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) (non-EoE EGIDs) are persistent and severe compared with those of EoE, thus requiring further effective therapeutic approaches. In this study, we present the first case based on a systematic search of non-EoE EGID for which tolerance to causative foods and histological and symptomatic improvements were achieved following dupilumab administration, after elimination diets and omalizumab and mepolizumab treatments. Driven by this case, we investigated the efficacies of biological treatments in non-EoE EGID cases based on the patient studied herein, and other patients identified in the conducted systematic review. Seven articles, including five different biologics, were reviewed. Both clinical efficacies and impact differences among the targeted molecules are demonstrated in this study. Our findings show that dupilumab may affect mechanisms that can suppress symptoms induced by offending foods that are different from those induced by other biologics as identified in the conducted systematic review. Additional studies are required to address the unmet needs of non-EoE EGID treatments