Mg/Ca micro-distribution in foraminiferal test: implication of laboratory culture experiments

Abstrac

Diversity of rDNA in Chilostomella: molecular differentiation patterns and putative hermit types

Abstrac

Living benthic foraminifera in methane- and sulfide-enriched sediments at cold seeps and hydrothermal vents

Abstrac

Molecular characterization of bacteria and kleptoplast within Virgulinella fragilis

Abstrac

In Search of a Sustainable Global Agri-Food System

The potential to meet global food demand fully exists through global development of the high-technology (HT), high-intensity type of agriculture and food processing system prevailing in developed countries. This system unfortunately is also responsible for much natural resource degradation, environmental damage and ecological imbalance. Meantime the Earth's human population continues to grow, placing ever-increasing demand on global natural resources, not only for food but also for living and recreational space. A more sustainable agri-food system must evolve. Sustainability is complex, and ought to be approached from a multidisciplinary perspective and compromise sought in resolving the obvious conflicts amongst biological, environmental, ecological, socio-economic, and other individual disciplines and competing philosophies. These form the basis for comparing three different agricultural production systems: high technology (HT); reduced input (RI), and organic (ORG). The three systems are compared empirically using primary data from farms in each group in southern Ontario, Canada. HT systems prevalent in Canada is highly productive, but its sustainability is questionable. It was concluded that the HT system should not be the model for the future. The ORG system is the least inimical to the environment, ecology, and human operators. It was concluded that the ORG system is sustainable except for its requirement for extensive use of land. The RI system causes minimal environmental and ecological damage. It is most profitable and is supportive of rural farm community viability. It was concluded that the RI system holds the best potential for meeting overall sustainability for the global agri-food system.Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

New species of bone-eating worm Osedax from the abyssal South Atlantic Ocean (Annelida, Siboglinidae)

A new species of bone-eating annelid, Osedax braziliensis sp. n., found in a sunken whale carcass at a depth of 4,204 m at the base of the São Paulo Ridge in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast is described. The organism was retrieved using the human-occupied vehicle Shinkai 6500 during the QUELLE 2013 expedition. This is the 26th species of the genus and the first discovery from the South Atlantic Ocean, representing the deepest record of Osedax worldwide to date. This species morphologically resembles Osedax frankpressi but is distinguished by the presence of a yellow bump or patch behind the prostomium and its trunk length. Molecular phylogenetic analysis using three genetic markers (COI, 16S, and 18S) showed that O. braziliensis sp. n. is distinct from all other Osedax worms reported and is a sister species of O. frankpressi

Up-Titration Strategy After DPP-4 Inhibitor-Based Oral Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes : A Randomized Controlled Trial Shifting to a Single-Dose GLP-1 Enhancer Versus Adding a Variable Basal Insulin Algorithm

Introduction: It is unclear whether adding basal insulin or enhancing incretin signaling with a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) is more effective as an up-titration strategy after dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i)-based oral antidiabetic drug (OAD) therapy. GLP-1RAs can be injected without dose adjustment, unlike basal insulin. Our objective was to examine the efficacy of changing patients inadequately controlled with oral DPP-4i-based OAD therapy to injectable GLP-1RA and discontinuing the DPP4i versus adding basal insulin glargine (IGlar) with the continuation of the oral DPP4i. Methods: Sixty patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) between 7.0% and 10.0% on DPP-4i-based OAD therapy were randomized to either adding IGlar and remaining on the DPP-4i or liraglutide and discontinuing the DPP-4i for 24 weeks. Patients in the IGlar group started with 0.1 unit/kg and were titrated according to the algorithm. In the liraglutide group, the DPP-4i was replaced with liraglutide 0.9 mg/day, the maximum dose in Japan. We evaluated HbA1c, glycated albumin (GA), and anthropometrics. Results: HbA1c was significantly lower at week 24 (− 1.0 ± 0.9% in the IGlar group and − 0.6 ± 0.8% in the liraglutide group), but the difference between groups was not significant. Changes in GA were similar (− 2.9 ± 3.2% vs. − 2.6 ± 3.2%) in both groups. Body weight (BW) was significantly lower only in the liraglutide group (+ 0.5 ± 2.6 kg vs. − 2.2 ± 2.0 kg). The rate of minor hypoglycemic episodes was similar for both groups. Conclusion: For poorly controlled T2DM on DPP-4i-based OAD therapy, switching to single-dose liraglutide to enhance incretin signaling is as effective as dose-titrated basal IGlar, but significant BW reduction was only seen in the liraglutide group. These results suggest that enhancing incretin signaling with a single-dose injectable GLP-1 RA might be an alternative to dose-titrated basal insulin therapy in patients with T2DM poorly controlled with DPP-4i-based OAD therapy. These findings should be confirmed in a longer and larger trial

Benthic foraminiferal Mn / Ca ratios reflect microhabitat preferences

The Mn / Ca of calcium carbonate tests of living (rose-Bengal-stained) benthic foraminifera (Elphidium batialis, Uvigerina spp., Bolivina spissa, Nonionellina labradorica and Chilostomellina fimbriata) were determined in relation to pore water manganese (Mn) concentrations for the first time along a bottom water oxygen gradient across the continental slope along the NE Japan margin (western Pacific). The local bottom water oxygen (BWO) gradient differs from previous field study sites focusing on foraminiferal Mn / Ca and redox chemistry, therefore allowing further resolution of previously observed trends. The Mn / Ca ratios were analysed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), allowing single-chamber determination of Mn / Ca. The incorporation of Mn into the carbonate tests reflects environmental conditions and is not influenced by ontogeny. The inter-species variability in Mn / Ca reflected foraminiferal in-sediment habitat preferences and associated pore water chemistry but also showed large interspecific differences in Mn partitioning. At each station, Mn / Ca ratios were always lower in the shallow infaunal E. batialis, occupying relatively oxygenated sediments, compared to intermediate infaunal species, Uvigerina spp. and B. spissa, which were typically found at greater depth, under more reducing conditions. The highest Mn / Ca was always recorded by the deep infaunal species N. labradorica and C. fimbriata. Our results suggest that although partitioning differs, Mn / Ca ratios in the intermediate infaunal taxa are promising tools for palaeoceanographic reconstructions as their microhabitat exposes them to higher variability in pore water Mn, thereby making them relatively sensitive recorders of redox conditions and/or bottom water oxygenation.Peer reviewe

脳梗塞モデルラットにおける虚血後の時期依存的な抗炎症性M2マクロファージ活性化変調の役割

Cerebral ischemia triggers inflammatory changes, and early complications and unfavorable outcomes of endovascular thrombectomy for brain occlusion promote the recruitment of various cell types to the ischemic area. Although anti-inflammatory M2-type macrophages are thought to exert protective effects against cerebral ischemia, little has been clarified regarding the significance of post-ischemic phase-dependent modulation of M2-type macrophages. To test our hypothesis that post-ischemic phase-dependent modulation of macrophages represents a potential therapy against ischemic brain damage, the effects on rats of an M2-type macrophage-specific activator, Gc-protein macrophage-activating factor (GcMAF), were compared with vehicle-treated control rats in the acute (day 0–6) or subacute (day 7–13) phase after ischemia induction. Acute-phase GcMAF treatment augmented both anti-inflammatory CD163+M2-type- and pro-inflammatory CD16+ M1-type macrophages, resulting in no beneficial effects. Conversely, subacute-phase GcMAF injection increased only CD163+ M2-type macrophages accompanied by elevated mRNA levels of arginase-1 and interleukin-4. M2-type macrophages co-localized with CD36+ phagocytic cells led to clearance of the infarct area, which were abrogated by clodronate-liposomes. Expression of survival-related molecules on day 28 at the infarct border was augmented by GcMAF. These data provide new and important insights into the significance of M2-type macrophage-specific activation as post-ischemic phase-dependent therapy