Biodegradation of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons using the filamentous fungus Penicillium sp. CHY-2 and characterization of its manganese peroxidase activity

The aim of this work was to study the potential of the non-lignolytic filamentous fungus Penicillium sp. CHY-2, isolated from Antarctic soil, for the biodegradation of eight different aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons such as octane, decane, dodecane, ethylbenzene, butylbenzene, naphthalene, acenaphthene, and benzo[a]pyrene. Among all the compounds, CHY-2 showed the highest level of degradation for decane (49.0%), followed by butylbenzene (42.0%) and dodecane (33.0%), and lower levels of degradation for naphthalene (15.0%), acenaphthene (10.0%), octane (8.0%), ethylbenzene (4.0%), and benzo[a]pyrene (2.0%) at 20 °C. The addition of carbon sources such as glucose (5 g L−1) and Tween-80 (5 g L−1) enhanced decane degradation by about 1.8-fold and 1.61-fold respectively at 20 °C. The metabolites produced during the degradation of decane were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Furthermore, the enzyme manganese peroxidase (MnP) from CHY-2 was purified. MnP was found to consist of monomers with a molecular mass of 36 kDa. The purified MnP had an optimum pH of 5.0 and temperature of 30 °C. The Km and Vmax values of MnP towards Mn2+ were 1.31 μM and 185.19 μM min−1 respectively. These results indicated that the strain CHY-2 can be used for the degradation of hydrocarbons and could have promising applications in treatment of hydrocarbon contaminated sites

Genotypic Analysis of Human Cytomegalovirus Resistance to Ganciclovir Using Aqueous Humor of Immunocompetent Patients with Cytomegalovirus Anterior Uveitis

学位記番号：医博甲168

政治コミュニケーション研究における「補強効果」の再検討

早大学位記番号:新7218早稲田大

A Multilingual Chat System with Image Presentation for Detecting Mistranslation

We have designed and developed a multilingual chat system, MCHI (Multilingual Chat with Hint Images), which is based on machine translation and equipped with a presentation function of images related to the contents of the messages by utterers so that listeners are able to notice mistranslation. MCHI accepts English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese languages. It uses the Google API to retrieve related images from the image posting site Flickr. As a result of evaluation experiment, we have observed that participants detected the mismatch of a translated message with its related image. According to the answers of participants for a questionnaire, it turned out that the usability of the MCHI system is good enough though the related images are not satisfactory

Location of Thalamic Neurons Mediating Vestibulo-Cortical Pathways in Cats

This study was aimed at examining vestibulo-thalamo-cortical pathways in anesthetized cats. Thirty-six neurons, which were activated by pitch rotation and contralateral labyrinth stimulation, were recorded in the following areas: the ventral posterolateral nucleus, the ventral posteromedial nucleus, the lateroposterior nucleus and the magnocellular nucleus of the medial geniculate body (MGmc) of the thalamus. Thirteen of these neurons were antidromically activated from the anterior suprasylvian sulcus or postcruciate dimple of the cortex. These results suggest that the ventrobasal complex and MGmc convey inputs from the vestibular apparatus to the vestibular cortex in cats

Prompt improvement of a pressure ulcer by the administration of high viscosity semi-solid nutrition via a nasogastric tube in a man with tuberculosis: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity has the advantage of reducing gastroesophageal reflux and diarrhea and shortens the duration of administration compared with liquid nutrition. This is the first report describing the administration of semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity via a nasogastric tube, which achieved a remarkable improvement in the patient's nutritional state. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year-old man (mongoloid race, Japanese) with tuberculosis, a pressure ulcer and malnutrition was admitted to our hospital. He also had right hemiplegia, dysphagia and aphasia as sequelae of a cerebral hemorrhage. Before his admission, he had been treated at another hospital with 600 kcal/day of liquid nutrition via a nasogastric tube, which was insufficient and induced severe malnutrition. After he was admitted to our hospital, we increased the quantity of his liquid nutrition without success because of complications, specifically diarrhea and gastroesophageal reflux. As it was difficult to confirm whether or not he would accept gastrostomy feeding, we administered semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity (20,000 mPa x s) via a large-bore nasogastric tube (18 French). Soon after he was started on semi-solid nutrition, his pressure ulcer and malnutrition improved without diarrhea or complications accompanying the large-bore nasogastric tube. CONCLUSION: When patients have problems with liquid nutrition, such as diarrhea or gastroesophageal reflux, semi-solid nutrition via a nasogastric tube is a useful method of achieving improvements in nutritional state in a short period of time

CMV infection of trabecular meshwork cells

Purpose: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections can cause endotheliitis which is associated with an elevation of the intraocular pressure (IOP). However, the mechanism of the IOP elevation has not been determined. The purpose of this study was to determine whether HCMV strains which are capable of infecting corneal endothelial cells can also replicate, induce anti-viral responses, and can reorganize the actin cytoskeleton in trabecular meshwork cells. Study design: Experimental study design Methods: Cultured primary human trabecular meshwork cells (HTMCs) were infected with the Towne or TB40/E strains of HCMV. TB40/E is trophic for vascular endothelial and corneal endothelial cells. Real-time PCR, western blot, and fluorescent immunostaining have been used to determine whether HCMV-infected HTMCs will support the expression of viral mRNA and protein, allow viral replication, and elicit anti-viral host responses. We also determined whether lytic replication was present after an HCMV infection. Results: HCMV infection led to the expression of viral mRNA and proteins of IE1, glycoprotein B(gB), and pp65. TB40/E infection induced interferon-β, a sign of host anti-viral immune response and MCP-1. Together with the induction of the regulators of actin cytoskeleton, myosin phosphatase Rho interacting protein (MPRIP) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), TB40/E induced a high level of expression of viral proteins, including IE1, gB, and pp65 as well as actin stress fiber formation, and achieved pathogenically high viral titers. Conclusions: Human trabecular meshwork cells support the replication of endotheliotropic TB40/E strain of HCMV which indicates that this strain may have high virulence for trabecular meshwork