Increased Ratio of Non-mercaptalbumin-1 Among Total Plasma Albumin Demonstrates Potential Protein Undernutrition in Adult Rats

The redox state of plasma albumin shifts in response to dietary protein intake in growing rats, and the shift is more sensitive than that of plasma albumin level, a classical marker of protein nutritional status. While it has been suggested that plasma albumin redox state could be useful as a novel marker of protein nutritional status, the above animal model is highly sensitive to dietary protein intake and the observation may not be extrapolated widely to humans. This study aimed to investigate whether albumin redox state also reflects protein nutritional status in adult rats, which have a lower dietary protein requirement and are less responsive to protein intake. Male adult rats were placed on AIN-93M diet (14% casein), or AIN-93M-based low protein diets (10 or 5% casein) ad libitum for 24 weeks. Whereas there was no significant difference in body weight between the groups at the end of the experimental period, the 5% casein diet group had the smallest gastrocnemius muscle weight among the groups, which was significantly lower than that of the 10% casein diet group. Plasma albumin level was also lower in the 5% casein diet group compared with the other groups, but the differences were limited and inconsistent during the experimental period. Among the albumin redox isoforms such as mercaptalbumin, non-mercaptalbumin-1, and non-mercaptalbumin-2, the ratio of non-mercaptalbumin-1 among total albumin was significantly higher in the 5% casein diet group, and the increase remained constant throughout the experimental period. Increased non-mercaptalbumin-1 ratio would thus demonstrate the presence of potential protein undernutrition in adult rats, as manifested only by a decreased gain in a specific type of skeletal muscle; non-mercaptalbumin-1 among total albumin ratio could be useful as a robust marker of protein nutritional status, contributing to prevention of protein undernutrition-related diseases such as frailty and sarcopenia

Waon therapy improves the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure

Summary Background: We developed a Waon therapy (soothing warm therapy) and have previously reported that repeated Waon therapy improves hemodynamics, peripheral vascular function, arrhythmias, and clinical symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Waon therapy on the prognosis of CHF patients. Patients and methods: We studied 129 patients with CHF in NYHA functional class III or IV who were admitted to our hospital between January 1999 and March 2001. In the Waon therapy group, 64 patients were treated with a far infrared-ray dry sauna at 60 • C for 15 min and then kept on bed rest with a blanket for 30 min. The patients were treated daily for 5 days during admission, and then at least twice a week after discharge. In the control group, 65 patients, matched for age, gender, and NYHA functional class, were treated with traditional CHF therapy. The follow-up time was scheduled for 5 years. Results: Recent, complete follow-up data on each patient were obtained. The overall survival rate was 84.5% (Kaplan-Meier estimate). Twelve patients died in the control group and 8 patients died in the Waon therapy group at 60 months of follow-up

Virus Detection using Second Harmonics of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Virus detection based on the nonlinear magnetic response of magnetic nanoparticles have been investigated, and magnetic detection methods using third harmonic have been widely applied because of high sensitivity, short measurement-time, and low cost. In this letter, we propose a virus detection method using the second harmonic signal to improve the signal intensity. Our results show that the signal to noise ratio, SNR, of the second harmonic is approximately three times higher than that of the third harmonic. A comparison of the ratio of the second harmonic to the fourth harmonic R24 and the ratio of the third harmonic to the fifth harmonic R35 shows that R24 is more sensitive in identifying changes in virus concentration. Our method has the potential to be used for rapid screening on virus detection

Development of magnetometer with nitrogen-vacancy center in a bulk diamond for detecting magnetic nanoparticles in biomedical applications

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been widely employed in biomedical applications, such as diagnosis and therapy of various diseases [1]. Advanced clinical studies have demonstrated the feasibility of the detection of MNPs using the magnetometer, as a promising technique alternative to harmful radioactive particles, to diagnose cancer metastasis in breast cancer patients [2,3]. To further expand the applicable clinical regime, there is a need to develop highly sensitive magnetic detection.The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) color center in a diamond provide immensely a remarkable quantum magnetic sensing, which enables us to detect sub-pico-Tesla at room temperature [4,5]. In this study, we have developed the novel magnetometer with NV- center in a bulk diamond for detecting MNPs (Fig. 1). The optical fiber-based system is employed to fabricate the compact probe system compared with a confocal-based optical system, and the alternating current (AC) magnetic fields (~1 mT) of the excitation coil system to magnetize MNPs yields the highly sensitive detection of MNPs. Figure 2(a) shows the magnetic sensitivity of the developed probe in the Lock-in detection system. The minimum detectable AC magnetic field is approximately 60 nT. The sensitivity of the MNPs detection with the developed probe strongly depends on the remnant excitation fields. We thus produced the magnetic null point at the NV- center location by using an additional cancellation coil for eliminating the remnant fields, and achieved the detectable distances with respect to MNPs of 40 and 5 uL are 9 and 5 mm, respectively, as shown in Fig. 2(b). These results indicate the developed probe can detect the tiny amount of MNPs. We will pursue the further highly sensitive detection by the enhancement of a light collecting efficiency and optimization of the excitation coil system.The 64th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM

Diamond NV Magnetometer for Detecting Magnetic Nanoparticles in Rat Lymph Nodes

IntroductionQuantum sensing, utilizing the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV–) color center in a diamond, has potentially yielded highly sensitive magnetic sensing [1]. In our previous study, the developed magnetometer using the NV centers in the bulk diamond (100) has demonstrated the detection of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) phantoms; the minimum detection amount of few micrograms of the MNPs at the few mm distance [2]. In this paper, we report the detection of the MNPs in the lymph node of the rat animal as one of the biomedical applications.MethodThe MNPs were injected into the rear footpad and accumulated into the lymph nodes via the lymphatics system. The node was excised one day after the injection, and the detection of MNPs accumulated in the node was performed at the front of the magnetometer head.Results & Discussion The magnetometer composes of an excitation coil, a cancel coil, and a permanent magnet (Fig. 1(a)); the excitation coil generates the magnetic fields to magnetize the MNPs, the cancel coil removed the magnetic field at the NV centers to reduce noise signals, the magnet produces the eight dip in optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). The detection of magnetic fields originated from the MNPs is based on the lock-in detection. Figure 1(b) shows the lock-in signal in the ODMR spectrum. The lock-in signal originated from the magnetized MNPs increased with increasing the microwave (MW) power as shown in Fig. 1(c). We succeeded to detect the MNPs containing in the rat lymph node. We will present the detailed, such as the amount of MNPs in the lymph nodes, the numerical evaluation to validate the experimental results, and the detection distance.The 2nd International Forum on Quantum Metrology and Sensing への出

Magnetometer with nitrogen-vacancy center in a bulk diamond for detecting magnetic nanoparticles in biomedical applications

We developed a novel magnetometer that employs negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV–) centers in diamond, to detect the magnetic field generated by magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for biomedical applications. The compact probe system is integrated into a fiber-optics platform allowing for a compact design. To detect signals from the MNPs effectively, we demonstrated, for the first time, the application of an alternating current (AC) magnetic field generated by the excitation coil of several hundred microteslas for the magnetization of MNPs in diamond quantum sensing. In the lock-in detection system, the minimum detectable AC magnetic field (at a frequency of 1.025 kHz) was approximately 57.6 nT for one second measurement time. We were able to detect the micromolar concentration of MNPs at distances of a few millimeters. These results indicate that the magnetometer with the NV- centers can detect the tiny amounts of MNPs, thereby offering potential for future biomedical applications

Magnetic field generation system of the magnetic probe with diamond quantum sensor and ferromagnetic materials for the detection of sentinel lymph nodes with magnetic nanoparticles

We have developed the magnetic probe with a diamond quantum sensor and electromagnetic coils to detect sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), as the medical application of diamond quantum sensing. The probe magnetizes magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) accumulated in SLNs and detect the magnetic fields of magnetized MNPs. In this study. We designed a ferromagnetic core that has a unique shape and optimized the magnetic field generation system for improving the detection performance, such as the magnetic sensitivity and detectable distance. The proposed magnetic core enhances an excitation magnetic field strength at a longer distance and suppresses a bias field strength at a location of the diamond quantum sensor. The increment of the excitation field is approximately 370% and the decrement of the bias field is approximately 45%. In addition to the proposed magnetic core, even applying a cancellation coil, the excitation field strength is ten-fold compared with the coil only structure, suggesting the larger magnetization of MNPs generates the large magnetic field for longer detectable distance

Optimization of Magnetic Field Generation System in Magnetometer with Nitrogen-Vacancy Center for Intraoperative Detection of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) are lymph nodes where cancer metastasizes first. In the diagnosis of breast cancer, SLN biopsy is performed to decide the treatment for cancer. For this biopsy, the detection of SLNs is needed. The detection of SLNs using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is a promising technique (FIG. 1) [1]. In this technique, MNPs are injected as tracers, and a magnetic probe detects them accumulated in SLNs.In this study, we develop a highly sensitive magnetic probe using a diamond quantum sensor for the magnetic detection of SLNs. This magnetic probe is composed of magnetic field generation system like coils to magnetize MNPs and detection system to detect magnetic field from magnetized MNPs. For a long-distance detection such as detecting SLNs deep to the skin, we optimized the magnetic field generation system to apply a strong magnetic field to MNPs inside the body.The 2nd International Forum on Quantum Metrology and Sensing への出

マイクロレンズを利用したYAG高調波による微細加工

金沢大学理工研究域機械工学系レーザ加工において困難である金属への種々形状微細除去加工を，本研究では種々形状のマイクロレンズを製作，利用することによって可能としている．アクリル樹脂にEr:YAGレーザを走査させることによりマイクロレンズを製作し，このレンズを用いてNd:YAGレーザ第２高調波を試料表面に集光させて加工を行う．さらに，ヘリンボーンと呼ばれる微細構造をクロム鋼表面に加工した後，摩擦特性へ与える影響について検討する.出版者照会後に全文公