12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate Induces Epstein–Barr Virus Reactivation via NF-κB and AP-1 as Regulated by Protein Kinase C and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase

AbstractSignaling pathway components mediating Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) reactivation by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) were characterized in terms of induction and modification of specific transacting factors. The consequences of protein kinase C (PKC) activation by TPA in inhibiting inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression were analyzed in the EBV-infected gastric epithelial cell line GT38. Spontaneous expression of the EBV BZLF1 gene product ZEBRA became undetectable upon long-term culturing of GT38 cells, while iNOS mRNA expression increased. In such cells the PKC inhibitors 1-(5-isoquinolinesulphonyl)-2,5-dimethylpiperazine (H7) and staurosporine inhibited TPA-induced expression of BZLF1 and BRLF1 and reversed TPA-mediated inhibition of iNOS gene expression. The mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor PD98059 inhibited TPA-induced BZLF1 expression. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1 were also activated by TPA in a time-dependent manner. The TPA-induced NF-κB activation was inhibited by prior treatment of the cells with the NF-κB inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC). TPA-induced BZLF1 expression was also inhibited by the treatment with PDTC. Northern blot analyses characterized changes in levels of the c-jun and junB expressions of the AP-1 family. These results show that TPA induces EBV reactivation via NF-κB and AP-1 and that PKC is an important mediator in regulating gene expression leading to EBV reactivation after TPA treatment of GT38 cells

Increased Activity of 2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

The aim of this study was to measure the activity of 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (2',5'AS) which is mainly induced by interferon (IFN)-α and -β in patients with major depression and evaluate its relationship to the disease. 2',5'AS activity of 23 patients (male = 11, female = 12) with major depression and of 29 normal control subjects (male = 15, female = 14) was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by radioassay. The mean 2',5'AS activity in the PBMCs of the patients and that of the control subjects were 1.10 ± 0.69% and 0.72 ± 0.51%, respectively. The activity in the patients was statistically higher than that of the control subjects (P = 0.03). These results imply some abnormality in the IFN-2',5'AS system of patients with major depression

Resting CD4+ T Cells with CD38+CD62L+ Produce Interleukin-4 Which Contributes to Enhanced Replication of T-Tropic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

AbstractA significant increase in the CD38+ population among T lymphocytes has been observed in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected carriers. We previously reported a higher replication rate of T-tropic HIV-1 in the CD4+CD38+CD62L+ than CD38− subset under conditions of mitogen stimulation after infection. Here, we revealed a similarly high susceptibility in the CD38+ subset on culture with conditioned medium containing Th2 cytokine, interleukin (IL)-4 that was produced endogenously from this subset on stimulation with mitogen or anti-CD3 antibody for 3 days. The contribution of IL-4 to the upregulated production of virus in the CD38+ subset was confirmed by culture of this subset with recombinant human IL-4. In contrast, the rate of replication in the CD38− subset was not augmented in the conditioned medium from either subset or with IL-4. However, there were no differences in the surface expression of IL-4 receptor or HIV-1 receptors CD4 and CXCR4 between the two subsets. Thus, the CD4+CD38+CD62L+ subset comprises a specific cell population secreting endogenous Th2 cytokine that contributes to the efficient production of T-tropic HIV-1 through upregulation at a certain stage of the viral life cycle, probably after the adsorption step

タンイツコク ケンシュウ ニ オケル カイガイ センター ト コクナイ ノ レンケイ -タイ チュウトウ ガッコウ ニホンゴ キョウシ ケンシュウ ノ バアイ -

本稿は国際交流基金日本語国際センターにおいて1996年度から2005年度まで9回にわたって行なわれた「タイ中等学校日本語教師研修」の実践報告である。本研修は、タイ国教育省と国際交流基金バンコク日本語センター(現・バンコク日本文化センター日本語部)の共同事業として実施された「中等学校現職教員日本語教師養成講座」のプログラムの中の一部分を構成するもとして位置づけられている。本研修は、海外センターで一定期間実施した日本語集中コースのメンバーをそのまま受け入れて行なう研修である点がこれまでの日本語国際センターでの研修と大きく異なる点であり特徴でもある。このような特徴をもつ研修を実施する場合、その特徴を生かした研修内容の策定を行なうのがより大きい研修成果を約束させるであろう。その特徴と研修プログラムの実践について分析、評価を行ない、今後の連携プログラムへの応用を期して提言を行う。This is a practice report on the series of training programs for Thai secondary-school teachers of the Japanese language, which took place 9times in total between fiscal 1996 and 2005. This program is part of a co-developed project with the JF Bangkok office that aims to increase the number of Thai teachers of the Japanese language by providing teachers of other subjects with pedagogy and proficiency in the Japanese language. The feature of this visiting program to Japan, which differs largely from the other training programs at Urawa, is that all the participants have already taken an intensive Japanese-language course in Bangkok. In order to enhance the effect of this kind of training program, we will discuss the applicability of this cooperative program to the future projects between Urawa and overseas offices, by analyzing and evaluating the Thai case

Charge density wave origin of cuprate checkerboard visualized by scanning tunneling microscopy

One of the main challenges in understanding high TC superconductivity is to disentangle the rich variety of states of matter that may coexist, cooperate, or compete with d-wave superconductivity. At center stage is the pseudogap phase, which occupies a large portion of the cuprate phase diagram surrounding the superconducting dome [1]. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we find that a static, non-dispersive, "checkerboard"-like electronic modulation exists in a broad regime of the cuprate phase diagram and exhibits strong doping dependence. The continuous increase of checkerboard periodicity with hole density strongly suggests that the checkerboard originates from charge density wave formation in the anti-nodal region of the cuprate Fermi surface. These results reveal a coherent picture for static electronic orderings in the cuprates and shed important new light on the nature of the pseudogap phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Using the Acropora digitifera genome to understand coral responses to environmental change

Despite the enormous ecological and economic importance of coral reefs, the keystone organisms in their establishment, the scleractinian corals, increasingly face a range of anthropogenic challenges including ocean acidification and seawater temperature rise1, 2, 3, 4. To understand better the molecular mechanisms underlying coral biology, here we decoded the approximately 420-megabase genome of Acropora digitifera using next-generation sequencing technology. This genome contains approximately 23,700 gene models. Molecular phylogenetics indicate that the coral and the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis diverged approximately 500 million years ago, considerably earlier than the time over which modern corals are represented in the fossil record (~240 million years ago)5. Despite the long evolutionary history of the endosymbiosis, no evidence was found for horizontal transfer of genes from symbiont to host. However, unlike several other corals, Acropora seems to lack an enzyme essential for cysteine biosynthesis, implying dependency of this coral on its symbionts for this amino acid. Corals inhabit environments where they are frequently exposed to high levels of solar radiation, and analysis of the Acropora genome data indicates that the coral host can independently carry out de novo synthesis of mycosporine-like amino acids, which are potent ultraviolet-protective compounds. In addition, the coral innate immunity repertoire is notably more complex than that of the sea anemone, indicating that some of these genes may have roles in symbiosis or coloniality. A number of genes with putative roles in calcification were identified, and several of these are restricted to corals. The coral genome provides a platform for understanding the molecular basis of symbiosis and responses to environmental changes

In-situ ESEM and EELS observation of water uptake and ice formation in multilayer graphene oxide

Graphene oxide (GO) is hydrophilic and swells significantly when in contact with water. Here, we investigate the change in thickness of multilayer graphene oxide membranes due to intercalation of water, via humidity-controlled observation in an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). The thickness increases reproducibly with increasing relative humidity. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) reveals the existence of water ice under cryogenic conditions, even in high vacuum environment. Additionally, we demonstrate that freezing then thawing water trapped in the multilayer graphene oxide membrane leads to the opening up of micron-scale inter-lamellar voids due to the expansion of ice crystals

Visualization of the interplay between high-temperature superconductivity, the pseudogap and impurity resonances

In conventional superconductors, the superconducting gap in the electronic excitation spectrum prevents scattering of low-energy electrons. In high-temperature superconductors (HTSs), an extra gap, the pseudogap 1 , develops well above the superconducting transition temperature T C . Here, we present a new avenue of investigating the pseudogap state, using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) of resonances generated by single-atom scatterers. Previous studies on the superconducting state of HTSs 2 have led to a fairly consistent picture in which potential scatterers, such as Zn, strongly suppress superconductivity in an atomic-scale region, while generating low-energy excitations with a spatial distribution-as imaged by STM 3,4 -indicative of the d-wave nature of the superconducting gap. Surprisingly, we find that similar native impurity resonances coexist spatially with the superconducting gap at low temperatures and survive virtually unchanged on warming through T C . These findings demonstrate that properties of impurity resonances in HTSs are not determined by the nature of the superconducting state, as previously suggested, but instead provide new insights into the pseudogap state. In d-wave superconductors, such as the high-temperature superconductors (HTSs), impurities act as pair breakers, giving rise to virtual bound states, or resonances, within the gap. For strong scatterers, these resonances lie close to the Fermi energy, and significantly modify bulk superconducting properties Here, we report on temperature-dependent STM studies of native impurities in overdoped (T C = 15 K) Bi 2−y Pb y Sr 2 CuO 6+x (Bi-2201). In addition to enabling comparison to previous studies in Bi-2212, Bi-2201 has the benefit of having a relatively low T C , thus enabling us to study impurity resonances below and above T C without the resonance being obscured by thermal broadening. To carry out the temperature-dependent measurements discussed here we have constructed an ultrahigh-vacuum STM with the ability to track atomically resolved regions-here surrounding individual impurities-over a wide range of temperatures. We begin our study at low temperatures, using an experimental methodology similar to that used in previous STM impurity studies After locating an impurity resonance, we zoom in and take a high spatial and energy resolution spectral survey to pinpoint the impurity's location, spectral shape and peak resonance energy. A high-resolution topograph and simultaneously acquired low-energy slice G(r, E = −2 meV) from such a survey are shown in After identifying the centre and shape of the impurity, we place the tip at specific locations and take energy-dependent differential conductance spectra. The edge of this gap may also be seen as small peaks in the central and next-nearest-neighbour spectra. The most obvious feature in these spectra, however, is a low-energy peak (centred at Ω = −2.75 meV). It is this peak's spatial dependence that is mapped i

Chikungunya virus was isolated in Thailand, 2010

Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is an acute febrile illness caused by a mosquito-borne alphavirus, chikungunya virus (CHIKV). This disease re-emerged in Kenya in 2004, and spread to the countries in and around the Indian Ocean. The re-emerging epidemics rapidly spread to regions like India and Southeast Asia, and it was subsequently identified in Europe in 2007, probably as a result of importation of chikungunya cases. On the one hand, chikungunya is one of the neglected diseases and has only attracted strong attention during large outbreaks. In 2008–2009, there was a major outbreak of chikungunya fever in Thailand, resulting in the highest number of infections in any country in the region. However, no update of CHIKV circulating in Thailand has been published since 2009. In this study, we examined the viral growth kinetics and sequences of the structural genes derived from CHIKV clinical isolates obtained from the serum specimens of CHIKF-suspected patients in Central Thailand in 2010. We identified the CHIKV harboring two mutations E1-A226V and E2-I211T, indicating that the East, Central, and South African lineage of CHIKV was continuously circulating as an indigenous population in Thailand. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11262-014-1105-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Imaging the Two Gaps of the High-TC Superconductor Pb-Bi2Sr2CuO6+x

The nature of the pseudogap state, observed above the superconducting transition temperature TC in many high temperature superconductors, is the center of much debate. Recently, this discussion has focused on the number of energy gaps in these materials. Some experiments indicate a single energy gap, implying that the pseudogap is a precursor state. Others indicate two, suggesting that it is a competing or coexisting phase. Here we report on temperature dependent scanning tunneling spectroscopy of Pb-Bi2Sr2CuO6+x. We have found a new, narrow, homogeneous gap that vanishes near TC, superimposed on the typically observed, inhomogeneous, broad gap, which is only weakly temperature dependent. These results not only support the two gap picture, but also explain previously troubling differences between scanning tunneling microscopy and other experimental measurements.Comment: 6 page