Isolation and characterization of aerobic microorganisms with cellulolytic activity in the gut of endogeic earthworms

The ability of earthworms to decompose lignocellulose involves the assistance of microorganisms in their digestive system. While many studies have revealed a diverse microbiota in the earthworm gut, including aerobic and anaerobicmicroorganisms, it remains unclear which of these species contribute to lignocellulose digestion. In this study, aerobicmicroorganisms with cellulolytic activity isolated from the gut of two endogeic earthworms, Amynthas heteropoda (Megascolecidae) and Eisenia fetida (Lumbricidae) were isolated by solid culture of gut homogenates using filter paper as acarbon source. A total of 48 strains, including four bacterial and four fungal genera, were isolated from two earthworm species. Characterization of these strains using enzyme assays showed that the most representative ones had exocellulase andxylanase activities, while some had weak laccase activity. These findings suggest that earthworms digest lignocellulose byexploiting microbial exocellulase and xylanase besides their own endocellulase. Phylogenetic analysis showed that among thecellulolytic isolates in both earthworm species Burkholderia and Chaetomium were the dominant bacterial and fungal members.[Int Microbiol 2012; 15(3):121-130

Toward Understanding of Regional Climate in East Asia around the Last Glacial Maximum with Attention to the Seasonal Cycle and Daily Meteorological Systems

Regional climate system in East Asia shows the characteristic seasonal cycle affected by the Asian monsoon with various types of its sub-systems. The seasonal cycle there is also related greatly to behaviors of the frontal zones which are the boundaries of these sub-systems. Since the variation of global-scale environment such as the global warming influences on each monsoon sub-system in rather different manner, it is necessary to understand the joint effects of these subsystems, in order to predict the regional climate change in East Asia in the global warming. In such research, it would be also useful to examine the features in the ice age, as an opposite extreme situation against the global warming. Thus the present paper will discuss some viewpoints in investigating the regional climate in the Last Glacial Maximum with attention to the seasonal cycle and daily meteorological systems

Upper limb neuropathy such as carpal tunnel syndrome as an initial manifestation of ATTR Val30Met familial amyloid polyneuropathy

This is an electronic version of an article published in Amyloid 2010, Vol. 17, No. 1 : Pages 32-35. Amyloid is available online at: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/13506121003619369We report here two patients with amyloidogenic transthyretin (ATTR) Val30Met familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) who developed numbness in both hands and were diagnosed as having bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). In both patients systemic TTR amyloidosis consisting of polyneuropathy affecting both upper and lower limbs and/or autonomic dysfunction gradually appeared after surgery for CTS. Although CTS associated with TTR amyloidosis has been known as an initial symptom in some patients with ATTR non-Val30Met FAP and those with senile systemic amyloidosis, this is the first report of ATTR Val30Met FAP patients starting with upper limb neuropathy including CTS-like symptoms. It is also notable that both patients had no genealogical relationship with two Japanese endemic foci of this disease.ArticleAMYLOID. 17(1):32-35 (2010)journal articl

A Young Man with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis following Guillain-Barré Syndrome

A 19-year-old man developed rapidly progressive muscle weakness and dysesthesia in the extremities, and dyspnea after a flu-like episode. Nerve conduction studies showed reduced motor nerve conduction velocities with conduction block, and sensory nerve action potentials could not be evoked. The patient was diagnosed as having Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and was treated with 2 cycles of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy and was assisted by mechanical ventilation. During the recovery course of the illness, he experienced several attacks of psychomotor agitation from the 37th hospital day, and generalized tonic convulsive seizures suddenly developed on the 42nd hospital day. Brain MRI showed high-intensity lesions in the bilateral thalamus and medial temporal lobes. The convulsions were controlled by continuous thiopental infusion (until the 50th hospital day) and mechanical ventilation (until the 84th hospital day). Intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy (1,000 mg/day) for 3 days followed by dexamethasone (16 mg/day) was added. After relief of convulsive seizures, prominent orolingual dyskinesia appeared, and on MRI marked atrophy of the bilateral medial temporal lobes was seen. Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid were positive on the 92nd hospital day. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis usually affects young females but a small number of male cases with this disease have been reported. Our male patient was unique in having GBS, a post-infectious autoimmune disease, as a preceding disease, suggesting that anti-NMDAR encephalitis itself is caused by a parainfectious autoimmune mechanism

High prevalence of wild-type transthyretin deposition in patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome: a common cause of carpal tunnel syndrome in the elderly

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common type of entrapment neuropathy. However, the cause of carpal tunnel syndrome remains unclear in most cases. Senile systemic amyloidosis, induced by wild-type transthyretin deposition, is a prevalent aging-related disorder and often accompanied by carpal tunnel syndrome. In this study, we measured the frequency of unrecognized wild-type transthyretin deposition in patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. One hundred twenty-three patients with carnal tunnel syndrome, including 100 idiopathic patients, treated by carpal tunnel release surgery were analyzed. Tenosynovial tissues obtained at surgery were analyzed by Congo red and immunohistochemical staining. If staining for transthyretin was positive, the entire transthyretin gene was analyzed by direct DNA sequencing. We also analyzed tenosynovial tissues from 32 autopsy cases as controls. Thirty-four patients (34.0%) with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome showed amyloid deposition in the tenosynovial tissue, and all amyloid showed specific immunolabeling with antitransthyretin antibody. Direct DNA sequencing of the entire transthyretin gene did not reveal any mutations, indicating that all amyloid deposits were derived form wild-type transthyretin. Statistical analysis using logistic regression showed that the prevalence of transthyretin deposition in the idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome group was significantly higher than that in controls (odds ratio, 15.8; 95% confidence interval, 3.3-75.7), and age and male sex were independent risk factors for transthyretin amyloid deposition. Our results demonstrate that wild-type transthyretin deposition is a common cause of carpal tunnel syndrome in elderly men. It is likely that many patients develop carpal tunnel syndrome as an initial symptom of senile systemic amyloidosis.ArticleHUMAN PATHOLOGY. 42(11):1785-1791 (2011)journal articl

Residual Attention Guidance in Blindsight Monkeys Watching Complex Natural Scenes

SummaryPatients with damage to primary visual cortex (V1) demonstrate residual performance on laboratory visual tasks despite denial of conscious seeing (blindsight) [1]. After a period of recovery, which suggests a role for plasticity [2], visual sensitivity higher than chance is observed in humans and monkeys for simple luminance-defined stimuli, grating stimuli, moving gratings, and other stimuli [3–7]. Some residual cognitive processes including bottom-up attention and spatial memory have also been demonstrated [8–10]. To date, little is known about blindsight with natural stimuli and spontaneous visual behavior. In particular, is orienting attention toward salient stimuli during free viewing still possible? We used a computational saliency map model to analyze spontaneous eye movements of monkeys with blindsight from unilateral ablation of V1. Despite general deficits in gaze allocation, monkeys were significantly attracted to salient stimuli. The contribution of orientation features to salience was nearly abolished, whereas contributions of motion, intensity, and color features were preserved. Control experiments employing laboratory stimuli confirmed the free-viewing finding that lesioned monkeys retained color sensitivity. Our results show that attention guidance over complex natural scenes is preserved in the absence of V1, thereby directly challenging theories and models that crucially depend on V1 to compute the low-level visual features that guide attention

Impact of Gestational Age at Delivery on Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring During the Second Stage of Labor

Objective: To clarify whether gestational age at delivery affects the interpretation level of fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings in the second stage of labor in primiparous and singleton pregnancies.Methods: The database at one tertiary hospital in Japan was retrospectively reviewed for women with singleton fetuses in cephalic presentation and vaginal labor at ≥37+0 gestational weeks between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2013. Continuous FHR tracings in the second stage of labor were subdivided into 10-minute intervals, each of which we called a window, from the beginning through delivery, and were assessed according to the five-tier classification proposed by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in which level 1 is normal, level 2 is subnormal, and levels 3-5 are abnormal patterns. Subjects were divided into two groups, including early term (37 0/7 to 38 6/7 weeks) and full term (39 0/7 to 41 6/7 weeks), according to the delivery age.Results: In total, 914 parturient women were eligible for the study protocol, including 228 and 686 women in early and full term, respectively. Vacuum extraction was more often observed in full term than in early term (P=0.007). Although the maximal level, number of level-5 windows, number of level-4 windows, and number of level-3 and level-4 windows were similar between the groups, the summation of level-4 windows ≥3 was significantly higher in full term than in early term (P=0.004).Conclusion: Full term delivery has a higher risk than does early term delivery from the standpoint of FHR monitoring

EEG resting-state networks in Alzheimer’s disease associated with clinical symptoms

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neuropsychiatric disease affecting many elderly people and is characterized by progressive cognitive impairment of memory, visuospatial, and executive functions. As the elderly population is growing, the number of AD patients is increasing considerably. There is currently growing interest in determining AD’s cognitive dysfunction markers. We used exact low-resolution-brain-electromagnetic-tomography independent-component-analysis (eLORETA-ICA) to assess activities of five electroencephalography resting-state-networks (EEG-RSNs) in 90 drug-free AD patients and 11 drug-free patients with mild-cognitive-impairment due to AD (ADMCI). Compared to 147 healthy subjects, the AD/ADMCI patients showed significantly decreased activities in the memory network and occipital alpha activity, where the age difference between the AD/ADMCI and healthy groups was corrected by linear regression analysis. Furthermore, the age-corrected EEG-RSN activities showed correlations with cognitive function test scores in AD/ADMCI. In particular, decreased memory network activity showed correlations with worse total cognitive scores for both Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE) and Alzheimer’s Disease-Assessment-Scale-cognitive-component-Japanese version (ADAS-J cog) including worse sub-scores for orientation, registration, repetition, word recognition and ideational praxis. Our results indicate that AD affects specific EEG-RSNs and deteriorated network activity causes symptoms. Overall, eLORETA-ICA is a useful, non-invasive tool for assessing EEG-functional-network activities and provides better understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the disease

Elicitin-responsive lectin-like receptor kinase genes in BY-2 cells

The inhibition of elicitor-induced plant defense responses by the protein kinase inhibitors K252a and staurosporine indicates that defense responses require protein phosphorylation. We isolated a cDNA clone encoding Nicotiana tabacum lectin-like receptor protein kinase 1 ( NtlecRK1), an elicitor-responsive gene; in tobacco bright yellow ( BY-2) cells by a differential display method. NtlecRK forms a gene family with at least three members in tobacco. All three NtlecRK genes potentially encode the N-terminal legume lectin domain, transmembrane domain and C-terminal Ser/Thr-type protein kinase domain. Green fluorescent protein ( GFP) fusion showed that the NtlecRK1 protein was located on the plasma membrane. In addition, NtlecRK1 and 3 were responsive to INF1 elicitin and the bacterial elicitor harpin. These results indicate that NtlecRKs are membrane-located protein kinases that are induced during defense responses in BY-2 cells.</p