IgG Abnormality in Narcolepsy and Idiopathic Hypersomnia

BACKGROUND: A close association between narcolepsy and the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-DQB1*0602 allele suggests the involvement of the immune system, or possibly an autoimmune process. We investigated serum IgG levels in narcolepsy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We measured the serum total IgG levels in 159 Japanese narcolepsy-cataplexy patients positive for the HLA-DQB1*0602 allele, 28 idiopathic hypersomnia patients with long sleep time, and 123 healthy controls (the HLA-DQB1*0602 allele present in 45 subjects). The serum levels of each IgG subclass were subsequently measured. The distribution of serum IgG was significantly different among healthy controls negative for the HLA-DQB1*0602 allele (11.66+/-3.55 mg/ml), healthy controls positive for the HLA-DQB1*0602 allele (11.45+/-3.43), narcolepsy patients (9.67+/-3.38), and idiopathic hypersomnia patients (13.81+/-3.80). None of the following clinical variables, age, disease duration, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, smoking habit and BMI at the time of blood sampling, were associated with IgG levels in narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia. Furthermore we found the decrease in IgG1 and IgG2 levels, stable expression of IgG3, and the increase in the proportion of IgG4 in narcolepsy patients with abnormally low IgG levels. The increase in the proportion of IgG4 levels was also found in narcolepsy patients with normal serum total IgG levels. Idiopathic hypersomnia patients showed a different pattern of IgG subclass distribution with high IgG3 and IgG4 level, low IgG2 level, and IgG1/IgG2 imbalance. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study is the first to determine IgG abnormalities in narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia by measuring the serum IgG levels in a large number of hypersomnia patients. The observed IgG abnormalities indicate humoral immune alterations in narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. Different IgG profiles suggest immunological differences between narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia

In vitro production of L-cysteine using thermophilic enzymes

L-Cysteine (L-Cys) is a commercially important amino acid and widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Commercial production of L-Cys has long been done by an acid-hydrolysis of human hair and animal feather, leading to the generation of a large quantity of hazardous wastes. Although several biotechnology companies have recently launched a fermentative production of L-Cys using engineered bacteria, these processes suffer from the low product titer mainly due to the cytotoxic effect of L-Cys. To provide an alternative approach for the commercial production of L-Cys, we aimed at the development of a non-fermentative, in vitro manufacturing system using thermophilic enzymes. In this system, enzymes from (hyper)thermophilic bacteria and archaea were assembled to construct an in vitro synthetic pathway for the one-pot conversion of glucose to L-Cys (Figure 1). By using experimentally optimized concentrations of enzymes, L-Cys could be produced at a rate of 0.9 g/L/h with a molar conversion yield of 25%. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

On the Bio-Rearrangement into Fully Saturated Fatty Acids-Containing Triglyceride in Aurantiochytrium sp

AbstractA strain of Aurantiochytrium sp. was grown in media with various concentrations of glucose to monitor triglyceride production as a potential source of oil for biodiesel. The fatty acid composition of triglyceride in the strain was unique, because the fatty acids consisted of only 6 molecular species, and the major species were myristic, pentadecanoic, palmitic, heptadecanoic, docosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids. When cells were cultured in glucose-rich (over 9%) medium for 4 days, the triglyceride yields were 0.5-1.0g/L. After culture for 4 days, the fatty acid composition of triglyceride was nearly identical in all cells grown in media containing various concentrations of glucose. However, when cells were grown in medium containing 12% glucose for 12 days, unique triglyceride containing only saturated fatty acids accumulated. This bio-rearrangement into fully-saturated fatty acids-containing triglyceride may be utilized for the preparation of biodiesel oil

Amino acid sequence of heat-stable enterotoxin produced by Vibrio cholerae non-01

AbstractThe amino acid sequence of heat-stable enterotoxin, produced by Vibrio cholerae non-01 and isolated from its culture supernatant, was determined by both Edman degradation of native and reductively carboxy-methylated enterotoxin and also a combination of fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and carboxy-peptidase Y digestion of native enterotoxin to be as follows: Ile-Asp-Cys-Cys-Glu-Ile-Cys-Cys-Asn-Pro-Ala-Cys-Phe-Gly-Cys-Leu-Asn. This sequence is very similar, but not identical, to those of heat-stable enterotoxins produced by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Yersinia enterocolitica

Serum Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) Concentration as a Marker of Left Ventricular Mass Index (LVMI) and Atherosclerosis in Hemodialysis Patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality among patients on hemodialysis (HD). Increasing evidence suggests that paraoxonase (PON) 1 is an important risk factor for CVD. In this study, we evaluated the correlations between PON1 protein concentration and cardiac function and atherosclerosis in patients on HD. A cohort of 119 patients (59 males) on maintenance HD participated in the study in which we measured common clinical parameters and serum PON1 concentrations. We also evaluated cardiac function by echocardiography after maintenance dialysis sessions. The median serum PON1 concentration was 40.8μg/mL (range, 11.8-81.1μg/mL) in patients on HD and is significantly associated with a history of CVD and peripheral artery disease. The serum PON1 level is positively correlated with the concentration of albumin (r = 0.26, P < 0.01), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL, r = 0.19, P < 0.05), calcium (r = 0.23, P < 0.05), urea nitrogen (r = 0.20, P < 0.05) and creatinine (r = 0.22, P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with pulse pressure (r = -0.20, P < 0.05). Among the echocardiographic parameters, the PON1 concentration is significantly and negatively correlated with left atrial dimension (LAD, r = -0.31, P < 0.05) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI, r = -0.35, P < 0.005). Stepwise multivariate regression analysis showed that PON1 is an independent predictor of LVMI (adjusted r2 = 0.34). Therefore the serum PON1 concentration could contribute to the development of LVH and it could be an independent predictor of CVD in patients on maintenance HD

Thermal-infrared adaptive optics imaging- and spectro-polarimetry with the infrared camera and spectrograph (IRCS) for the Subaru Telescope

A thermal-infrared polarimetric capability of the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) for the Subaru Telescope is described. A new half-wave retarder for the thermal-infrared band in 2–5 µm is introduced into the Waveplate Unit of the Nasmyth platform on the infrared side of the telescope to realize imaging- and low resolution spectro-polarimetry in that wavelength region. Through day-time calibrations using a wire-grid polarizer, the peak efficiency of the polarization is found to be 90-98% consistently in both imaging- and spectro- polarimetry in the thermal-infrared bands. In 2016 May and 2017 June, two engineering observing runs have been carried out to verify the on-sky performance