Isolation and Characterization of Phthalic Acid Utilizing Bacteria

集積培養法によって土壌からフタル酸,イソ－およびテレ－フタル酸を唯一の炭素源として生育する14株が得られた。これらの菌株はフタル酸異性体の利用性の相違に基づき,7群に分けられた。このうちで,フタル酸に最も良く生育したNa3－31株を用いて実験を行なった。 フタル酸酸化活性の高い菌体を得るには,培地の窒素源は硝酸アンモニウムが良く,鉄イオン濃度はFeSO4・7H2Oとして0.5㎎/100ml程度が良かった。重金属により本菌株の生育およびフタル酸酸化活性が完全に阻害された。 本菌株のフタル酸代謝系は誘導的であり,培地中にフタル酸が無くなると,その代謝活性は急激に減少した。高活性の菌体を多量に得るには,集菌1時間前に0.05%程度のフタル酸を再添加して集菌すれば良い。 本菌株は生育基質として種々の芳香族化合物を利用したが,フタル酸生育菌体は,フタル酸,カテコールおよびその誘導体のみを利用した。プロトカテキン酸を利用できないので従来提示されているプロトカテキン酸を経る代謝系とは異なる経路で本菌株はフタル酸を代謝分解していると推測された。Fourteen strains capable of growing on phthalic acid, iso- and/or tere- phtalic acids as a sole carbon source respectively, were isolated from soil with enrichment culture method. Strain No. 3-31 with an ability to grow on phthalic acid abundantly was selected for further experiments. Ammonium nitrate and ferrous sulfate enhanced the production of cells with high phthalic acid oxidizing activity. Enzymes to metabolise phthalic acid in this strain was inducible. It was required to add 0.05 % phthalic acid before harvest to obtain the large amount of cells with high activity to oxidize phthalic acid. Since cells grown on phthalic acid could not oxidize protocatechuic acid, a new pathway to metabolise phthalic acid was estimated

Evaluation of Right Ventricular overload by ^<123>I-MIBG, ^<123>I-BMIPP , and ^<99m>Tc-MIBI

It is important to evaluate the severity of right ventricular (RV) overload in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases or pulmonary thromboembolism because their prognosis depend on the severity of RV overload. Various examination methods have been used to non-invasively evaluate the severity of RV overload. We evaluated the usefulness of recently developed novel radiopharmaceuticals 123I-MIBG, 123I-BMIPP, and 99mTc-MIBI) in patients with chronic respiratory diseases or pulmonary thromboembolism. Myocardial scintigraphy using 1231-MIBG revealed that the ratio of scintillation counts in the interventricular septum (IVS) to those in the left ventricle (LV) correlated negatively with the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (MPAP), suggesting the presence of sympathetic neuropathy due to RV overload. Myocardial scintigraphy using 123I-BMIPP revealed that the ratio of scintillation counts in the RV to those in LV (RV/LV uptake ratio) correlated with MPAP. There was a negative correlation between RV metabolic index [RVMI = (RV/LV ratio of 123I-BMIPP uptake)(RV/LV ratio of 201T1 uptake)] and MPAP. These findings suggested the presence of RV overload-induced fatty acid metabolic disorder. 99iTc-MIBI allows the simultaneous performance of both cardiac pool scintigraphy and myocardial single photon emission computed tomography. RV/LV ratio of 99Tc-MIBI uptake correlated with MPAP. Moreover, RV ejection fraction (RVEF) obtained by right cardiac pool scintigraphy correlated with the RVEF determined by the thermodilution method, suggesting the usefulness of 99mTc-MIBI. Our findings suggest that these radiopharmaceuticals are useful for evaluating the severity of RV overload in patients with chronic respiratory diseases or pulmonary thromboembolism, as well as for evaluating RV overloadinduced metabolic disorders

Adrenomedullin is not Related to Acute Hypoxic Pulmonary Vascular Response in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disease

In the present study, acute hypoxia was induced in 19 patients with chronic respiratory disease to evaluate the corre lation between pulmonary circulation kinetics and adrenomedullin (AM) levels. Using radioimmunoassay (RIA), pulmonary circulation kinetics were evaluated before and after hypoxic loading (13% oxygen for 15 minutes) by determining AM levels in plasma obtained from the pulmonary artery (PA) and the right femoral artery (FA). There were no significant differences in pre-hypoxia plasma AM levels between samples obtained from the PA and FA, and plasma AM levels did not change after hypoxic loading. Subjects were classified into two groups [responders (R) and non-responders (NR) ] to evaluate changes in the mean pulmonary arterial pressure(笆ｳMPAP). There were no changes in AM levels between these two groups in either the PA or FA after hypoxic loading. These results suggest that AM do not appear to be related to hypoxic pulmonary vascular response to acute hypoxic loading in patients with chronic respiratory disease

Identification of 45 New Neutron-Rich Isotopes Produced by In-Flight Fission of a 238U Beam at 345 MeV/nucleon

A search for new isotopes using in-flight fission of a 345 MeV/nucleon 238U beam has been carried out at the RI Beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center. Fission fragments were analyzed and identified by using the superconducting in-flight separator BigRIPS. We observed 45 new neutron-rich isotopes: 71Mn, 73,74Fe, 76Co, 79Ni, 81,82Cu, 84,85Zn, 87Ga, 90Ge, 95Se, 98Br, 101Kr, 103Rb, 106,107Sr, 108,109Y, 111,112Zr, 114,115Nb, 115,116,117Mo, 119,120Tc, 121,122,123,124Ru, 123,124,125,126Rh, 127,128Pd, 133Cd, 138Sn, 140Sb, 143Te, 145I, 148Xe, and 152Ba

Risk stratification for the prognosis of patients with chemoresistant urothelial cancer treated with pembrolizumab

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat urothelial carcinoma (UC) is increasing rapidly without clear guidance for validated risk stratification. This multicenter retrospective study collected clinicopathological information on 463 patients, and 11 predefined variables were analyzed to develop a multivariate model predicting overall survival (OS). The model was validated using an independent dataset of 292 patients. Patient characteristics and outcomes were well balanced between the discovery and validation cohorts, which had median OS times of 10.2 and 12.5 mo, respectively. The final validated multivariate model was defined by risk scores based on the hazard ratios (HRs) of independent prognostic factors including performance status, site of metastasis, hemoglobin levels, and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. The median OS times (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups (discovery cohort) were not yet reached (NYR) (NYR–19.1), 6.8 mo (5.8-8.9), and 2.3 mo (1.2-2.6), respectively. The HRs (95% CI) for OS in the low- and intermediate-risk groups vs the high-risk group were 0.07 (0.04-0.11) and 0.23 (0.15-0.37), respectively. The objective response rates for in the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups were 48.3%, 28.8%, and 10.5%, respectively. These differential outcomes were well reproduced in the validation cohort and in patients who received pembrolizumab after perioperative or first-line chemotherapy (N = 584). In conclusion, the present study developed and validated a simple prognostic model predicting the oncological outcomes of pembrolizumab-treated patients with chemoresistant UC. The model provides useful information for external validation, patient counseling, and clinical trial design

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July