Administration of isoferulic acid improved the survival rate of lethal influenza virus pneumonia in mice.

BACKGROUND: Isoferulic acid (IFA) is a main active ingredient of the rhizoma of Cimicifuga beracleifolia, which is used frequently in Japanese traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory drug. It has been revealed that IFA inhibits the production of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2), which is a murine counterpart of the chemokine family that may contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases through the chemotactic activity for inflammatory and immune effector cells. AIM OF THE STUDY: In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of IFA on the progression of lethal influenza virus pneumonia in mice by comparison with that of dexamethasone (DX), a potent inhibitor for various inflammatory cytokines including MIP-2. METHODS: Mice were infected by intranasal inoculation of influenza virus under ether anesthesia. The IFA or DX was given by oral administration once daily for 4 days after infection. After infection, the survival rate and the change in body weight were daily monitored. RESULTS: IFA administration markedly improved the survival rate and body weight loss of influenza virus-infected mice in a suitable dose range (0.5 mg/day). However, DX administration did not show a beneficial effect at any dose. CONCLUSION: These data suggested that IFA is a novel tool not only for the intervention therapy, but also for the studies on the pathogenesis of influenza virus-induced pneumonia

Inhibitory effect of ferulic acid and isoferulic acid on the production of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 in response to respiratory syncytial virus infection in RAW264.7 cells.

We investigated the effect of ferulic acid (FA) and isoferulic acid (IFA), which are the main active components of the rhizoma of Cimicifuga heracleifolia (CH), an anti-inflammatory drug used frequently in Japanese traditional medicine, on the production of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIR-2) in a murine macrophage cell line, RAW264.7, in response to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. Following the exposure of cells to RSV for 20h, the MIP-2 level in condition medium was increased to about 20 ng/ml, although this level in mock-infected cells was negligible. In the presence of either FA or IFA, RSV-infected cells reduced MIP-2 production in a dose-dependent manner. These data suggest that FA and IFA might be responsible, at least in part, for the anti-inflammatory drug effect of CH extract through the inhibition of MIP-2 production

Out-of-plane dielectric constant and insulator-superconductor transition in Bi_2Sr_2Dy_{1-x}Er_xCu_2O_8 single crystals

The out-of-plane dielectric constant of the parent insulator of the high-temperature superconductor Bi_2Sr_2(Dy,Er)Cu_2O_8 was measured and analysed from 80 to 300 K in the frequency range of 10^6-10^9 Hz. All the samples were found to show a fairly large value of 10-60, implying some kind of charge inhomogeneity in the CuO_2 plane. Considering that the superconducting sample Bi_2Sr_2(Ca,Pr)Cu_2O_8 also shows a similar dielectric constant, the charge inhomogeneity plays an important role in the insulator-superconductor transition.Comment: RevTex4 format, 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Condens. Ma

Facilitated Recovery of Protein Synthesis following Ischemia in the Brain with Induced Ischemic Tolerance

開始ページ、終了ページ: 冊子体のページ付

Disturbed Ca2+ Homeostasis in the Gerbil Hippocampus Following Brief Transient Ischemia

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Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

Circulating Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Particles Carry Hepatocellular microRNAs

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) produces high quantities of subviral surface antigen particles (HBsAg) which circulate in the blood outnumbering virions of about 1\103–6 times. In individuals coinfected with the defective hepatitis Delta virus (HDV) the small HDV-RNA-genome and Delta antigen circulate as ribonucleoprotein complexes within HBsAg subviral particles. We addressed the question whether subviral HBsAg particles may carry in the same way cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) which are released into the bloodstream within different subcellular forms such as exosomes and microvescicles. Circulating HBsAg particles were isolated from sera of 11 HBsAg carriers by selective immunoprecipitation with monoclonal anti-HBs-IgG, total RNA was extracted and human miRNAs were screened by TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR Arrays. Thirty-nine human miRNAs were found to be significantly associated with the immunoprecipitated HBsAg, as determined by both comparative DDCT analysis and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney, p<0.05) with respect to controls. Moreover immunoprecipitated HBsAg particles contained Ago2 protein that could be revealed in ELISA only after 0.5% NP40. HBsAg associated miRNAs were liver-specific (most frequent = miR-27a, miR-30b, miR-122, miR-126 and miR-145) as well as immune regulatory (most frequent = miR-106b and miR-223). Computationally predicted target genes of HBsAg-associated miRNAs highlighted molecular pathways dealing with host-pathoge

Direct Observation of Dimerization between Different CREB1 Isoforms in a Living Cell

Cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein 1 (CREB1) plays multiple functions as a transcription factor in gene regulation. CREB1 proteins are also known to be expressed in several spliced isoforms that act as transcriptional activators or repressors. The activator isoforms, possessing the functional domains for kinase induction and for interaction with other transcriptional regulators, act as transcriptional activators. On the other hand, some isoforms, lacking those functional domains, are reported to be repressors that make heterodimers with activator isoforms. The complex and ingenious function for CREB1 arises in part from the variation in their spliced isoforms, which allows them to interact with each other. To date, however, the dimerization between the activator and repressor isoforms has not yet been proved directly in living cells. In this study, we applied fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) to demonstrate direct observation of dimerization between CREB1 activator and repressor. The FCCS is a well established spectroscopic method to determine the interaction between the different fluorescent molecules in the aqueous condition. Using differently labeled CREB1 isoforms, we successfully observed the interaction of CREB1 activator and repressor via dimerization in the nuclei of cultured cells. As a result, we confirmed the formation of heterodimer between CREB1 activator and repressor isoforms in living cells

Presence of genes for type III secretion system 2 in Vibrio mimicus strains

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vibrios, which include more than 100 species, are ubiquitous in marine and estuarine environments, and several of them e.g. <it>Vibrio cholerae</it>, <it>V. parahaemolyticus</it>, <it>V. vulnificus </it>and <it>V. mimicus</it>, are pathogens for humans. Pathogenic <it>V. parahaemolyticus </it>strains possess two sets of genes for type III secretion system (T3SS), T3SS1 and T3SS2. The latter are critical for virulence of the organism and be classified into two distinct phylogroups, T3SS2α and T3SS2β, which are reportedly also found in pathogenic <it>V. cholerae </it>non-O1/non-O139 serogroup strains. However, whether T3SS2-related genes are present in other <it>Vibrio </it>species remains unclear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We therefore examined the distribution of the genes for T3SS2 in vibrios other than <it>V. parahaemolyticus </it>by using a PCR assay targeting both T3SS2α and T3SS2β genes. Among the 32 <it>Vibrio </it>species tested in our study, several T3SS2-related genes were detected in three species, <it>V. cholerae</it>, <it>V. mimicus </it>and <it>V. hollisae</it>, and most of the essential genes for type III secretion were present in T3SS2-positive <it>V. cholerae </it>and <it>V. mimicus </it>strains. Moreover, both <it>V. mimicus </it>strains possessing T3SS2α and T3SS2β were identified. The gene organization of the T3SS2 gene clusters in <it>V. mimicus </it>strains was fundamentally similar to that of <it>V. parahaemolyticus </it>and <it>V. cholerae </it>in both T3SS2α- and T3SS2β-possessing strains.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study is the first reported evidence of the presence of T3SS2 gene clusters in <it>V. mimicus </it>strains. This finding thus provides a new insight into the pathogenicity of the <it>V. mimicus </it>species.</p

Atomically-thin micas as proton conducting membranes

Monolayers of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are highly permeable to thermal protons. For thicker two-dimensional (2D) materials, proton conductivity diminishes exponentially so that, for example, monolayer MoS2 that is just three atoms thick is completely impermeable to protons. This seemed to suggest that only one-atom-thick crystals could be used as proton conducting membranes. Here we show that few-layer micas that are rather thick on the atomic scale become excellent proton conductors if native cations are ion-exchanged for protons. Their areal conductivity exceeds that of graphene and hBN by one-two orders of magnitude. Importantly, ion-exchanged 2D micas exhibit this high conductivity inside the infamous gap for proton-conducting materials, which extends from 100 C to 500 C. Areal conductivity of proton-exchanged monolayer micas can reach above 100 S cm-2 at 500 C, well above the current requirements for the industry roadmap. We attribute the fast proton permeation to 5 A-wide tubular channels that perforate micas' crystal structure which, after ion exchange, contain only hydroxyl groups inside. Our work indicates that there could be other 2D crystals with similar nm-scale channels, which could help close the materials gap in proton-conducting applications