Expression levels of novel cytokine IL-32 in periodontitis and its role in the suppression of IL-8 production by human gingival fibroblasts stimulated with Porphyromonas gingivalis

Background:IL-32 was recently found to be elevated in the tissue of rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by polymicrobial infections that result in soft tissue destruction and alveolar bone loss. Although IL-32 is also thought to be associated with periodontal disease, its expression and possible role in periodontal tissue remain unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the expression patterns of IL-32 in healthy and periodontally diseased gingival tissue. The expression of IL-32 in cultured human gingival fibroblasts (HGF) as well as effects of autocrine IL-32 on IL-8 production from HGF were also examined.Methods:Periodontal tissue was collected from both healthy volunteers and periodontitis patients, and immunofluorescent staining was performed in order to determine the production of IL-32. Using real-time PCR and ELISA, mRNA expression and protein production of IL-32 in HGF, stimulated by Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), were also investigated.Results:Contrary to our expectation, the production of IL-32 in the periodontitis patients was significantly lower than in the healthy volunteers. According to immunofluorescent microscopy, positive staining for IL-32 was detected in prickle and basal cell layers in the epithelium as well as fibroblastic cells in connective tissue. Addition of fixed Pg in vitro was found to suppress the otherwise constitutive expression of IL-32 mRNA and protein in HGF. However, recombinant IL-32 in vitro inhibited the expression of IL-8 mRNA by HGF stimulated with Pg. Interestingly, anti-IL-32 neutralizing antibody upregulated the IL-8 mRNA expression in non-stimulated HGF, indicating that constitutive expression of IL-32 in HGF suppressed IL-8 mRNA expression in the absence of bacterial stimulation.Conclusion:These results indicate that IL-32 is constitutively produced by HGF which can be suppressed by Pg and may play a role in the downregulation of inflammatory responses, such as IL-8 production, in periodontal tissue

Efficacy of i-Scan Imaging for the Detection and Diagnosis of Early Gastric Carcinomas

We determined comparative efficacy of i-Scan for detection and diagnosis of gastric cancer. Ten patients diagnosed with early gastric cancer based on histopathological findings were analyzed. White light and i-Scan moving images recorded from these patients in twin mode were separated into white light and i-Scan. Twelve endoscopists (three different skill levels) blinded to patient information evaluated the images. Correlation between demarcation accuracy and lesion brightness on still images was investigated. No significant differences were found in diagnostic accuracy between white light and i-Scan moving images for tumor detection rate (91.7% versus 90.8%, P = 0.777). Diagnostic accuracy of tumor size was comparable between novice and experienced endoscopists for i-Scan moving images (65.7% versus 71.1%, P = 0.528), whereas it was significantly lower for white light moving images (41.2% versus 79.5%, P = 0.019). Tumor demarcation accuracy was significantly better with white light than i-Scan still images (71.0% versus 65.8%, P = 0.033). Correlations between demarcation accuracy and brightness reached highs of 0.75 for white light and 0.89 for i-Scan imaging. Efficacy of i-Scan over that of white light imaging for detecting and diagnosing gastric cancer was not shown; however, the diagnostic capability of i-Scan can be improved if imaging conditions are optimized

Reduced High-Dose Radiation-Induced Residual Genotoxic Damage by Induction of Radioadaptive Response and Prophylactic Mild Dietary Restriction in Mice

Radioadaptive response (RAR) describes a phenomenon in a variety of in vitro and in vivo systems that a low-dose of priming ionizing radiation (IR) reduces detrimental effects of a subsequent challenge IR at higher doses. Among in vivo investigations, studies using the mouse RAR model (Yonezawa Effect) showed that RAR could significantly extenuate high-dose IR-induced detrimental effects such as decrease of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells, acute radiation hematopoietic syndrome, genotoxicity and genomic instability. Meanwhile, it has been demonstrated that diet intervention has a great impact on health, and dietary restriction shows beneficial effects on numerous diseases in animal models. In this work, by using the mouse RAR model and mild dietary restriction (MDR), we confirmed that combination of RAR and MDR could more efficiently reduce radiogenotoxic damage without significant change of the RAR phenotype. These findings suggested that MDR may share some common pathways with RAR to activate mechanisms consequently resulting in suppression of genotoxicity. As MDR could also increase resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in normal cells, we propose that combination of MDR, RAR, and other cancer treatments (i.e., chemotherapy and radiotherapy) represent a potential strategy to increase the treatment efficacy and prevent IR risk in humans

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 using qRT-PCR in saliva obtained from asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 patients, comparative analysis with matched nasopharyngeal samples

Objectives: The accurate detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is essential for the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared the quantitative RT-PCR results between nasopharyngeal swabs and saliva specimens.Methods: A COVID-19 outbreak occurred on a cruise ship at Nagasaki port, Japan. We obtained 123 nasopharyngeal swabs and saliva each from asymptomatic or mild patients in the late phase of infection.Results: The intervals from the diagnosis to the sampling were 25.5 days for nasopharyngeal swabs and 28.9 days for saliva. The positive rate was 19.5% (24/123) for nasopharyngeal swabs and 38.2% (47/123) for saliva (P = 0.48). The quantified viral copies (mean ± SEM copies/5 μl) were 9.3±2.6 in nasopharyngeal swabs and 920±850 in saliva (P = 0.0006).Conclusions: The advantages of saliva specimens include positive rate improvement and accurate viral load detection. Saliva may be used as a reliable sample for SARS-CoV-2 detection

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector

Development and Evaluation of Quantitative Immunoglobulin G Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for the Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Using Truncated Recombinant Nucleocapsid Protein as Assay Antigen

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Real-time RT-PCR is the most commonly used method for COVID-19 diagnosis. However, serological assays are urgently needed as complementary tools to RT-PCR. Hachim et al. 2020 and Burbelo et al. 2020 demonstrated that anti-nucleocapsid(N) SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are higher and appear earlier than the spike antibodies. Additionally, cross-reactive antibodies against N protein are more prevalent than those against spike protein. We developed a less cross-reactive immunoglobulin G (IgG) indirect ELISA by using a truncated recombinant SARS-CoV-2 N protein as assay antigen. A highly conserved region of coronaviruses N protein was deleted and the protein was prepared using an E. coli protein expression system. A total of 177 samples collected from COVID-19 suspected cases and 155 negative control sera collected during the pre-COVID-19 period were applied to evaluate the assay’s performance, with the plaque reduction neutralization test and the commercial SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG ELISA as gold standards. The SARS-CoV-2 N truncated protein-based ELISA showed similar sensitivity (91.1% vs. 91.9%) and specificity (93.8% vs. 93.8%) between the PRNT and spike IgG ELISA, as well as also higher specificity compared to the full-length N protein (93.8% vs. 89.9%). Our ELISA can be used for the diagnosis and surveillance of COVID-19

Evaluation of a Triage Checklist for Mild COVID-19 Outpatients in Predicting Subsequent Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalization during the Isolation Period: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Managing mild illness in COVID-19 and predicting progression to severe disease are concerning issues. Here, we investigated the outcomes of Japanese patients with mild COVID-19, and identified triage risk factors for further hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits at a single tertiary hospital. A triage checklist with 30 factors was used. Patients recommended for isolation were followed up for 10 days for subsequent ED visits or hospital admission. Overall, 338 patients (median age, 44.0; 45% women) visited the clinic 5.0 days (median) after symptom onset. Thirty-six patients were immediately hospitalized following triage; others were isolated. In total, 72 non-hospitalized patients visited the ED during their isolation, and 30 were hospitalized after evaluation for oxygen desaturation. The median ED visit and hospitalization durations after symptom onset were 5.0 and 8.0 days, respectively. The checklist factors associated with hospitalization during isolation were age > 50 years, body mass index > 25 kg/m2, hypertension, tachycardia with pulse rate > 100/min or blood pressure > 135 mmHg at triage, and >3-day delay in hospital visit after symptom onset. No patients died. Altogether, 80% of patients with mild COVID-19 could be safely isolated at home. Age, BMI, underlying hypertension, date after symptom onset, tachycardia, and systolic blood pressure at triage might be related to later hospitalization