Quadrature conductivity: A quantitative indicator of bacterial abundance in porous media

The abundance and growth stages of bacteria in subsurface porous media affect the concentrations and distributions of charged species within the solid-solution interfaces. Therefore, spectral induced polarization (SIP) measurements can be used to monitor changes in bacterial biomass and growth stage. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of the SIP response of bacteria present in a porous material. Bacterial cell surfaces possess an electric double layer and therefore become polarized in an electric field. We performed SIP measurements over the frequency range of 0.1–1 kHz on cell suspensions alone and cell suspensions mixed with sand at four pore water conductivities. We used Zymomonas mobilis at four different cell densities (including the background). The quadrature conductivity spectra exhibited two peaks, one around 0.05–0.10 Hz and the other around 1–10 Hz. Because SIP measurements on bacterial suspensions are typically made at frequencies greater than 1 Hz, these peaks have not been previously reported. In the bacterial suspensions in growth medium, the quadrature conductivity at peak I was linearly proportional to the density of the bacteria. For the case of the suspensions mixed with sands, we observed that peak II presented a smaller increase in the quadrature conductivity with the cell density. A comparison of the experiments with and without sand grains illustrated the effect of the porous medium on the overall quadrature conductivity response (decrease in the amplitude and shift of the peaks to the lower frequencies). Our results indicate that for a given porous medium, time-lapse SIP has potential for monitoring changes in bacterial abundance within porous media

Breast spindle cell carcinoma

Spindle cell carcinoma (SpCC) of the breast is quite a rare modality classified to the metaplastic carcinoma of the breast. Regarding its biological behavior and the prognosis of the patients with this rare tumor, it has been remaining controversial. We herein report an 88 year-old woman who had a huge bleeding tumor on the right breast. She was a high-aged woman with low activities of daily life, even with some suspicion of distant organ metastasis. While the tumor proved to drastically bleed due to the tumor disintegration, a right simple mastectomy was performed. According to the histopathologic examinations, sarcomatoid spindle cells with severe atypia were observed. By an immunohistochemical examination, the tumor had proved to express neither estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor nor HER2 receptor. Moreover an immunohistochemical expression of AE1/3 and CAM5.2, defining an epithelial neoplasm were observed in addition to an expression of vimentin. From these findings, this bleeding tumor was diagnosed as spindle cell carcinoma of the breast

Parotid acinar cells transiently change to duct-like cells during epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Hyposecretion of saliva and consequent dry mouth lead to severe caries and periodontal disease. Therapeutic radiation for head and neck cancer and sialadenitis result in atrophy and fibrosis of salivary glands, but the mechanism is not clear. As a model for dysfunction of salivary glands, we examined the change of gene expression patterns in primary cultured parotid acinar cells. The expression levels of acinar markers such as amylase and aquaporin-5 rapidly decreased during culture. At the same time, ductal markers began to be expressed although their expression was transient. In the late phase of culture, markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition began to be expressed and increased. Inhibitor for Src or p38MAP kinase suppressed these changes. These results suggest that parotid acinar cells transiently change to duct-like cells during epithelialmesenchymal transition and that these changes are induced by signal transduction via Src-p38 MAP kinase pathway. There is a possibility that parotid acinar cells retain a plasticity of differentiation

Separation of immature granules containing color dye from the rat parotid gland

Parotid acinar cell contains many secretory granules. Most of granules are mature, but only little immature granules are included. These immature granules are not enough for investigation of granule maturation. In this study, we show an easy method of separation of immature granules from the rat parotid gland. In addition, we succeeded in detection of color dye in the granules. These results suggest that secretory granules can be visualized through endocytosis

Role of protein kinase C-δ in isoproterenol-induced amylase release in rat parotid acinar cells

In parotid acinar cells, β-adrenergic receptor activation results in accumulation of intracellular cAMP. Subsequently, cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is activated and consequently amylase release is provoked. In this paper, we investigated involvement of protein kinase C-δ(PKCδ), a novel isoform of PKC, in amylase release induced by β-adrenergic receptor stimulation. Amylase release stimulated with the β-agonsit isoproterenol (IPR) was inhibited by rottlerin, an inhibitor of PKCδ. IPR activated PKCδ and the effect of IPR were inhibited by a PKA inhibitor, H89. Myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS), a major cellular substrate for PKC, was detected in rat parotid acinar cells, and a MARCKS inhibitor, MARCKS-related peptide, inhibited the IPR-induced amylase release. IPR stimulated MARCKS phosphorylation, which was found to be inhibited by H89 and rottlerin. These observations suggest that PKCδ activation is a downstream pathway of PKA activation and is involved in amylase release via MARCKS phosphorylation in rat parotid acinar cells stimulated with β-adrenergic agonist

Influence of LINE-Assisted Provision of Information about Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer Prevention on HPV Vaccine Intention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

We conducted a prospective, randomized two-arm, parallel group, and open label trial to investigate whether the use of LINE would increase HPV vaccine intention among not completely vaccinated university students. In June 2020, we recruited students aged between 18 and 35 years from four universities in Japan. Among the 357 enrollees (female, 53%), 178 and 179 participants were randomized into the LINE and Mail groups, respectively. At baseline, within three years, vaccine intention was observed in 40% vs. 42% of participants, respectively. At the first intervention, which provided similar PDF leaflets about HPV vaccine and cervical cancer prevention, there was no significant difference in vaccine intention between the two groups. However, at the second intervention of LINE-assisted knowledge intervention for 5 days per week for 7 weeks, the LINE group had a higher proportion of vaccine intention than the no intervention group (66% vs. 44%, OR: 2.62, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.59-4.35) in per-protocol analysis. The significance remained in the intention-to-treat analysis of multiply imputed datasets. Although LINE did not directly increase HPV vaccine intention compared to conventional posts, the LINE-assisted provision of information was effective in improving HPV vaccine intention among Japanese university and college students

Distribution and toxicity evaluation of ZnO dispersion nanoparticles in single intravenously exposed mice

ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in various commercial products. Application of ZnO NPs is expected to apply to cancer diagnosis and therapy, used as drug delivery carriers. In the present study, the lethal dose 50 (LD50) of intravenously administered ZnO NPs (0.3 mg/kg) was calculated in mice. Blood kinetics and tissue distribution of a toxic dose of ZnO NPs (0.2 mg/kg, 0.05 mg/kg) were investigated after intravenous exposure. In addition, 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was evaluated. Following the injection, ZnO NPs were rapidly removed from the blood and distributed to organs. Pulmonary emphysema was observed pathologically study in mice at 3 days after the 0.2 mg/kg dose and at 6 days after the 0.05 mg/kg dose. ZnO NPs were mainly accumulated in the lung and spleen within 60 min. From the long-term tissue distribution study, the liver showed peak concentration at 6 days, and spleen peaked at 1 day. The lungs kept high levels until 6 days. Tissue distribution and pathological study showed that the spleen, liver, and lungs are target organs for ZnO NPs. Accumulation in the liver and spleen may be due to the phagocytosis by macrophages. A dose-dependent increase in 8-OHdG was observed in mice treated with ZnO NPs. This study is the first to show information on kinetics and target organs following intravenous ZnO injection