Density fluctuations and confinement in the Nagoya Bumpy Torus (NBT-1M)

The stabilization of low-frequency density fluctuations is evidenced in the Nagoya Bumpy Torus (NBT-1M) [Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research (IAEA, Vienna, 1985), Vol. 2, p. 551] in the presence of microwave-heated hot-electron rings. Flute-type fluctuations, which are considered to be stabilized by the charge-uncovering effect of the rings, are found to cause large plasma losses, and to affect radial density profiles in the way that the lower fluctuation level yields the steeper density gradient. The particle confinement is, therefore, improved by the hot-electron rings to some extent, but is mainly determined by the plasma convection, which is expected from the discrepancy between density and potential profiles. It is also found that fluctuations in a toroidal plasma inside the ring grow when a weak negative ambipolar potential and a steep density gradient are formed, and are reduced to a low level when a deep potential well is achieved

Supersaturated state of diazepam injection following dilution with infusion fluid

BackgroundSignificant precipitation produced by the dilution of diazepam (DZP) injection with an infusion fluid is a great concern for the clinical practice. In this study, the precipitation behavior under different conditions was investigated.MethodFor the sample preparation, DZP injections (Horizon injection and Cercine injection) were diluted with various infusion fluids (Saline, 5% glucose infusion fluid and Soldem 3A) at designated dilution ratios ranging from 1× to 40× (5 mg/mL to 0.125 mg/mL). In addition, to measure the solubility of DZP in the samples, the saturated solutions of DZP were prepared. The DZP concentrations in the samples were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This study also investigated the precipitate using various analytical methods: infrared microscopy, 1H-NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, and powder X-ray deflection.ResultsFirst, the compatibility of injection with infusion fluids was investigated. Significant precipitation occurred at dilution ratios ranging from 2× to 20×. No significant effects of formulations and infusion fluids on the compatibility were observed. The solubility of DZP was then further investigated. The concentration of DZP dissolved in the admixtures was higher than the solubility. This indicated that DZP existed in a supersaturated state in the infusion fluid admixtures. In the next phase of this study, the precipitate was investigated using various analytical methods. Results showed that the precipitate in infusion fluid admixtures was mostly composed of DZP, but also contained small amounts of the ingredients of DZP injection, such as benzoic acid and benzyl alcohol.ConclusionsThis study clarified details of the precipitation occurring after dilution of DZP injection with infusion fluids. It is worth noting that DZP in an infusion admixture existed in a supersaturated state. These findings offer important insight into the clinical practice of DZP injection

Quest for a potent antimalarial drug lead: synthesis and evaluation of 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines

Quinazolines have long been known to exert varied pharmacologic activities that make them suitable for use in treating hypertension, viral infections, tumors, and malaria. Since 2014, we have synthesized approximately 150 different 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines and evaluated their antimalarial activity via structure-activity relationship studies. Here, we summarize the results and report the discovery of 6,7-dimethoxy-N(4)-(1-phenylethyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)quinazolin-4-amine (20, SSJ-717), which exhibits high antimalarial activity as a promising antimalarial drug lead

Immunobiotic lactic acid bacteria beneficially regulate immune response triggered by poly(I:C) in porcine intestinal epithelial cells

This study analyzed the functional expression of TLR3 in various gastrointestinal tissues from adult swine and shows that TLR3 is expressed preferentially in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), CD172a+CD11R1high and CD4+ cells from ileal Peyer's patches. We characterized the inflammatory immune response triggered by TLR3 activation in a clonal porcine intestinal epitheliocyte cell line (PIE cells) and in PIE-immune cell co-cultures, and demonstrated that these systems are valuable tools to study in vitro the immune response triggered by TLR3 on IEC and the interaction between IEC and immune cells. In addition, we selected an immunobiotic lactic acid bacteria strain, Lactobacillus casei MEP221106, able to beneficially regulate the anti-viral immune response triggered by poly(I:C) stimulation in PIE cells. Moreover, we deepened our understanding of the possible mechanisms of immunobiotic action by demonstrating that L. casei MEP221106 modulates the interaction between IEC and immune cells during the generation of a TLR3-mediated immune response

Advanced application of bovine intestinal epithelial cell line for evaluating regulatory effect of lactobacilli against heat-killed enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli-mediated inflammation

Background: Previously, a bovine intestinal epithelial cell line (BIE cells) was successfully established. This work hypothesized that BIE cells are useful in vitro model system for the study of interactions of microbial- or pathogenassociated molecular patterns (MAMPs or PAMPs) with bovine intestinal epithelial cells and for the selection of immunoregulatory lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Results: All toll-like receptor (TLR) genes were expressed in BIE cells, being TLR4 one of the most strongly expressed. We demonstrated that heat-stable PAMPs of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) significantly enhanced the production of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1! and MCP-1 in BIE cells by activating both NF-"B and MAPK pathways. We evaluated the capacity of several lactobacilli strains to modulate heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-mediated inflammatory response in BIE cells. Among these strains evaluated, Lactobacillus casei OLL2768 attenuated heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced pro-inflammatory response by inhibiting NF-"B and p38 signaling pathways in BIE cells. Moreover, L. casei OLL2768 negatively regulated TLR4 signaling in BIE cells by up-regulating Toll interacting protein (Tollip) and B-cell lymphoma 3-encoded protein (Bcl-3). Conclusions: BIE cells are suitable for the selection of immunoregulatory LAB and for studying the mechanisms involved in the protective activity of immunobiotics against pathogen-induced inflammatory damage. In addition, we showed that L. casei OLL2768 functionally modulate the bovine intestinal epithelium by attenuating heat-stable ETEC PAMPs-induced inflammation. Therefore L. casei OLL2768 is a good candidate for in vivo studying the protective effect of LAB against intestinal inflammatory damage induced by ETEC infection or heat-stable ETEC PAMPs challenge in the bovine host.Fil: Takanashi, Naoya. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tomosada, Yohsuke. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Villena, Julio Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - CONICET - Tucuman. Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos (i); Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Murata, Kozue. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Takahashi, Takuya. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Chiba, Eriko. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tohno, Masanori. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan; National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science; Japan.;Fil: Tomoyuki Shimazu. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan; Laboratory of Animal Breading and Genetics. Graduate School of Agricultural Science; Japan.;Fil: Aso, Hisashi. Cell Biology Laboratory, Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan.;Fil: Suda, Yoshihito. Department of Food, Agriculture and Environment. Miyagi University; Japan.;Fil: Ikegami, Shuji. Division of Research and Development. Food Science Institut. Meiji Dairies CoOdawara; Japan;Fil: Itoh, Hiroyuki. Division of Research and Development. Food Science Institut. Meiji Dairies CoOdawara; Japan;Fil: Kawai, Yasushi. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Tadao Saito. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan;Fil: Alvarez, Gladis Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (i); Argentina;Fil: Kitazawa, Haruki. Food and Feed Immunology Group. Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University; Japan

From biomedicine to natural history research: EST resources for ambystomatid salamanders

BACKGROUND: Establishing genomic resources for closely related species will provide comparative insights that are crucial for understanding diversity and variability at multiple levels of biological organization. We developed ESTs for Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) and Eastern tiger salamander (A. tigrinum tigrinum), species with deep and diverse research histories. RESULTS: Approximately 40,000 quality cDNA sequences were isolated for these species from various tissues, including regenerating limb and tail. These sequences and an existing set of 16,030 cDNA sequences for A. mexicanum were processed to yield 35,413 and 20,599 high quality ESTs for A. mexicanum and A. t. tigrinum, respectively. Because the A. t. tigrinum ESTs were obtained primarily from a normalized library, an approximately equal number of contigs were obtained for each species, with 21,091 unique contigs identified overall. The 10,592 contigs that showed significant similarity to sequences from the human RefSeq database reflected a diverse array of molecular functions and biological processes, with many corresponding to genes expressed during spinal cord injury in rat and fin regeneration in zebrafish. To demonstrate the utility of these EST resources, we searched databases to identify probes for regeneration research, characterized intra- and interspecific nucleotide polymorphism, saturated a human – Ambystoma synteny group with marker loci, and extended PCR primer sets designed for A. mexicanum / A. t. tigrinum orthologues to a related tiger salamander species. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the value of developing resources in traditional model systems where the likelihood of information transfer to multiple, closely related taxa is high, thus simultaneously enabling both laboratory and natural history research

Perturbation of hyaluronan metabolism predisposes patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus to atherosclerosis

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Cardiovascular disease contributes to mortality in type 1 diabetes mellitus, but the specific pathophysiological mechanisms remain to be established. We recently showed that the endothelial glycocalyx, a protective layer of proteoglycans covering the endothelium, is severely perturbed in type 1 diabetes, with concomitantly increased plasma levels of hyaluronan and hyaluronidase. In the present study, we evaluated the relationship between hyaluronan and hyaluronidase with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), an established surrogate marker for cardiovascular disease. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Non-smoking type 1 diabetes patients without micro- or macrovascular complications and matched controls were recruited and cIMT of both carotid arteries was measured. To evaluate the relationship between cIMT and hyaluronan and hyaluronidase as well as other parameters, uni- or multivariate regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: We included 99 type 1 diabetes patients (age 10-72 years) and 99 age- and sex-matched controls. Mean cIMT, HbA(1c), high sensitivity C-reactive protein, hyaluronan and hyaluronidase were significantly increased in type 1 diabetes vs controls. Plasma hyaluronan and hyaluronidase were correlated in type 1 diabetes. In univariate regression analyses, mean IMT was associated with plasma hyaluronan, age and male sex, whereas after multivariate analysis only age and sex remained statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We conclude that type 1 diabetes patients show structural changes of the arterial wall associated with increased hyaluronan metabolism. These data may lend further support to altered glycosaminoglycan metabolism in type 1 diabetes as a potential mechanism involved in accelerated atherogenesi

Endothelial Surface Layer Degradation by Chronic Hyaluronidase Infusion Induces Proteinuria in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice

Functional studies show that disruption of endothelial surface layer (ESL) is accompanied by enhanced sensitivity of the vasculature towards atherogenic stimuli. However, relevance of ESL disruption as causal mechanism for vascular dysfunction remains to be demonstrated. We examined if loss of ESL through enzymatic degradation would affect vascular barrier properties in an atherogenic model. Eight week old male apolipoprotein E deficient mice on Western-type diet for 10 weeks received continuous active or heat-inactivated hyaluronidase (10 U/hr, i.v.) through an osmotic minipump during 4 weeks. Blood chemistry and anatomic changes in both macrovasculature and kidneys were examined. Infusion with active hyaluronidase resulted in decreased ESL (0.32±0.22 mL) and plasma volume (1.03±0.18 mL) compared to inactivated hyaluronidase (0.52±0.29 mL and 1.28±0.08 mL, p<0.05 respectively).Active hyaluronidase increased proteinuria compared to inactive hyaluronidase (0.27±0.02 vs. 0.15±0.01 µg/µg protein/creatinin, p<0.05) without changes in glomerular morphology or development of tubulo-interstitial inflammation. Atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic branches showed increased matrix production (collagen, 32±5 vs. 18±3%; glycosaminoglycans, 11±5 vs. 0.1±0.01%, active vs. inactive hyaluronidase, p<0.05). ESL degradation in apoE deficient mice contributes to reduced increased urinary protein excretion without significant changes in renal morphology. Second, the induction of compositional changes in atherogenic plaques by hyaluronidase point towards increased plaque vulnerability. These findings support further efforts to evaluate whether ESL restoration is a valuable target to prevent (micro) vascular disease progressio

Effect of sulodexide on endothelial glycocalyx and vascular permeability in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Endothelial glycocalyx perturbation contributes to increased vascular permeability. In the present study we set out to evaluate whether: (1) glycocalyx is perturbed in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and (2) oral glycocalyx precursor treatment improves glycocalyx properties. Male participants with type 2 diabetes (n = 10) and controls (n = 10) were evaluated before and after 2 months of sulodexide administration (200 mg/day). The glycocalyx dimension was estimated in two different vascular beds using sidestream dark field imaging and combined fluorescein/indocyanine green angiography for sublingual and retinal vessels, respectively. Transcapillary escape rate of albumin (TER(alb)) and hyaluronan catabolism were assessed as measures of vascular permeability. Both sublingual dimensions (0.64 [0.57-0.75] μm vs 0.78 [0.71-0.85] μm, p <0.05, medians [interquartile range]) and retinal glycocalyx dimensions (5.38 [4.88-6.59] μm vs 8.89 [4.74-11.84] μm, p <0.05) were reduced in the type 2 diabetes group compared with the controls whereas TER(alb) was increased (5.6 ± 2.3% vs 3.7 ± 1.7% in the controls, p <0.05). In line with these findings, markers of hyaluronan catabolism were increased with diabetes (hyaluronan 137 ± 29 vs 81 ± 8 ng/ml and hyaluronidase 78 ± 4 vs 67 ± 2 U/ml, both p <0.05). Sulodexide increased both the sublingual and retinal glycocalyx dimensions in participants with diabetes (to 0.93 [0.83-0.99] μm and to 5.88 [5.33-6.26] μm, respectively, p <0.05). In line, a trend towards TER(alb) normalisation (to 4.0 ± 2.3%) and decreases in plasma hyaluronidase (to 72 ± 2 U/ml, p <0.05) were observed in the diabetes group. Type 2 diabetes is associated with glycocalyx perturbation and increased vascular permeability, which are partially restored following sulodexide administration. Further studies are warranted to determine whether long-term treatment with sulodexide has a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk. www.trialregister.nl NTR780/ http://isrctn.org ISRCTN82695186 An unrestricted Novartis Foundation for Cardiovascular Excellence grant (2006) to M. Nieuwdorp/E. S. G. Stroes, Dutch Heart Foundation (grant number 2005T037