Identification of an antiviral component from the venom of the scorpion Liocheles australasiae using transcriptomic and mass spectrometric analyses

Scorpion venom contains a variety of biologically active peptides. Among them, neurotoxins are major components in the venom, but it also contains peptides that show antimicrobial activity. Previously, we identified three insecticidal peptides from the venom of the Liocheles australasiae scorpion, but activities and structures of other venom components remained unknown. In this study, we performed a transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of the scorpion L. australasiae to gain a comprehensive understanding of its venom components. The result shows that potassium channel toxin-like peptides were the most diverse, whereas only a limited number of sodium channel toxin-like peptides were observed. In addition to these neurotoxin-like peptides, many non-disulfide-bridged peptides were identified, suggesting that these components have some critical roles in the L. australasiae venom. In this study, we also isolated a component with antiviral activity against hepatitis C virus using a bioassay-guided fractionation approach. By integrating mass spectrometric and transcriptomic data, we successfully identified LaPLA₂-1 as an anti-HCV component. LaPLA₂-1 is a phospholipase A₂ having a heterodimeric structure that is N-glycosylated at the N-terminal region. Since the antiviral activity of LaPLA₂-1 was inhibited by a PLA₂ inhibitor, the enzymatic activity of LaPLA₂-1 is likely to be involved in its antiviral activity

Influence of Indentation on the Critical Current of Nb3Sn Strands

AbstractThe Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is procuring Central Solenoid (CS) conductorsfor all modules forITER. The superconducting properties of the Nb3Sn CS conductors will have to sustain 60,000 electromagnetic (EM) cycles. The current sharing temperatures (Tcs) were stable with EM cycles in short twist pitch conductors.However, the short twist pitch and tight cabling increases indented strands at the contact point between strands before heat treatment. The results of Ic measurement on artificially indented Nb3Sn strands indicate that Ic was almost constant within a critical depth of the indentations

Surface Active Buffered Hydrogen Fluoride Having Excellent Wettability for ULSI Processing

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Biological Differences Between. Polypoid and Nonpolypoid Growth Types of Colorectal Cancer

Background- Two distinct morphologic types of colorectal cancer have been described in recent studies: polypoid growth type (PG-type) and nonpolypoid growth type (NPG-type). Materials and Methods- We investigated possible biological and clinical differences between 37 PG-type and 156 NPGtype cancers using both univariate and multivariate analyses (logistic and Cox regression models). Results- Unlike NPG-type cancers, PG-type cancers had a high proportion of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma cells, a high likelihood of being early colorectal cancers (carcinoma in situ and cancer invades submucosa), and a low frequency of lymph node metastasis. On average, such PG-type cancers also carried a better prognosis than NPG-type cancers (P=0.01). In particular, PG-type cancer patients with stage IV tumors had a better prognosis than NPG-type cancer patients (P=0.02). In fact, after performing a Cox regression analysis, we found that colorectal cancer growth type is an independent prognostic variable, separate from histologic type or stage. Conclusions- PG-type colorectal cancer is less aggressive and has a favorable prognosis compared to NPG-type cancer

Prognostic Value of Circulating CA 19-9 in Colorectal Cancer Patients

Aims: We examined the preoperative serum levels of sialyl Lewisa (CA19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in 262 colorectal cancer patients, in order to clarify whether or not the prognostic value of CA19-9 after curative surgery is superior to that of CEA. Patients and Methods: The patients were divided into two groups: low or high antigen groups (higher or lower than a selected diagnostic-based cut-off value). For evaluation of the prognostic value of CA19-9 and CEA, the disease-free interval was studied. Results: The disease-free interval of patients with a high serum levels of CA19-9 or CEA was significantly shorter than for those patients with a low serum level of the particular antigen (P<0.0001 and P=0.0009, respectively). The disease-free interval of patients with stage I/II tumors who had a high CA19-9 level was significantly shorter than in those patients with stage I/II tumors with low CA19-9 levels (P=0.0020). In contrast, the disease-free interval of patients with stage I/II tumors who had a low or high CEA level did not differ. Cox s regression analysis revealed that a high serum level of CA19-9 or CEA was an independent predictor for short disease-free interval after curative surgery, separate from stage (Hazard ratio=2.65 or 1.68, respectively, versus a low serum level of each respective antigen) . Conclusions: These data suggest that the preoperative serum level of CA19-9 was a stronger prognostic factor after curative surgery than CEA. Furthermore, in contrast to CEA, CA19-9 provides more prognostic information than that obtained by conventional staging methods in patients with stage I/II tumors