Ki-Energy (Life-Energy) Protects Isolated Rat Liver Mitochondria from Oxidative Injury

We investigated whether ‘Ki-energy’ (life-energy) has beneficial effects on mitochondria. The paradigm we developed was to keep isolated rat liver mitochondria in conditions in which they undergo heat deterioration (39°C for 10 min). After the heat treatment, the respiration of the mitochondria was measured using a Clarke-type oxygen electrode. Then, the respiratory control ratio (RC ratio; the ratio between State-3 and State-4 respiration, which is known to represent the integrity and intactness of isolated mitochondria) was calculated. Without the heat treatment, the RC ratio was >5 for NADH-linked respiration (with glutamate plus malate as substrates). The RC ratio decreased to 1.86–4.36 by the incubation at 39°C for 10 min. However, when Ki-energy was applied by a Japanese Ki-expert during the heat treatment, the ratio was improved to 2.24–5.23. We used five preparations from five different rats, and the significance of the differences of each experiment was either P < 0.05 or P < 0.01 (n = 3–5). We analyzed the degree of lipid peroxidation in the mitochondria by measuring the amount of TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances). The amount of TBARS in heat-treated, no Ki-exposed mitochondria was greater than that of the control (no heat-treated, no Ki-exposed). However, the amount was reduced in the heat-treated, Ki-exposed mitochondria (two experiments; both P < 0.05) suggesting that Ki-energy protected mitochondria from oxidative stress. Calcium ions may play an important role in the protection by Ki-energy. Data also suggest that the observed Ki-effect involves, at least, near-infrared radiation (0.8–2.7 μm) from the human body

Growth Inhibition of Cultured Human Liver Carcinoma Cells by Ki-energy (Life-energy): Scientific Evidence for Ki-effects on Cancer Cells

‘Ki-energy’ (life-energy) is believed to increase the immune activity of its practitioners. It has also been shown to cause neuropsychological effects. We undertook this study to obtain objective and scientific evidence as to whether or not a ‘Ki-effect’ could inhibit the growth of cultured cancer cells. Cultured human liver carcinoma cells, HepG2, were used. A Japanese Ki-expert held his fingers toward the cells in culture dishes for 5 or 10 min. After culturing for 24 h, we measured cell numbers, protein concentration per cell, certain mRNA expressions and the synthesis of regucalcin. The results were compared with those for control cells (non-treated cells). We found that the number of cells in the Ki-exposed groups were less than those in the controls by 30.3 and 40.6% with 5 and 10 min Ki-exposure, respectively. The protein content per cell in the Ki-exposed groups (5 and 10 min) was higher than that in the control groups by 38.8 and 62.9%, respectively. These results were statistically significant. Using RT–PCR, we found that the mRNA expression for c-myc, a tumor stimulator gene, was decreased, while that for regucalcin, which suppresses DNA synthesis, was increased. Our molecular biological studies and mathematical model analysis demonstrated that Ki-energy inhibited cancer cell division. The data also indicate that the Ki-effects involve some form of infrared radiation from the human body. This study suggests the possibility that Ki-energy may be beneficial for cancer patients because it suppresses cancer cell growth, and at the same time, it stimulates immune functions of the patients

Ki-energy (Life-energy) Stimulates Osteoblastic Cells and Inhibits the Formation of Osteoclast-like Cells in Bone Cell Culture Models

Some practitioners of the Nishino Breathing Method (NBM) were found to have a higher bone density than the average values of age- and gender-matched non-practitioners. Using bone cell culture models, we investigated a possible mechanism behind this observation. For the study of bone mineralization, we performed the following two experiments using cultured osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells: (i) Kozo Nishino, a Japanese Ki expert, sent Ki-energy to the cells once for 5 or 10 min after they were seeded in culture dishes in the presence of 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). They were incubated for 72 h and the cells were counted. The number in the dish with 10-min Ki-exposure was significantly greater than that in the control (P < 0.01 with n = 8). We performed a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) study using these cells, but the mRNA expressions did not change significantly. (ii) After cells were incubated for 72 h without Ki-exposure (in the presence of FBS), they were further cultured for 48 h (in the absence of FBS) to promote differentiation. At the beginning of the second culture stage, Ki was applied once for 10 min. After 48 h, RT–PCR was performed. The mRNA expressions which are related to bone mineralization, such as Runx2, α1(I) collagen, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin, increased significantly (P < 0.05 and n = 4 for all). For the bone resorption study, we used mouse marrow cultures, which can form osteoclast-like cells in the presence of (1–34) parathyroid hormone (PTH), and stimulate resorption. We exposed these cells to Ki-energy twice for the duration of 5 or 10 min on day 0 and day 4. On day 7, the cells were counted. The number of osteoclast-like cells in dishes with Ki exposure was significantly smaller than those in control dishes (P < 0.05 with n = 5). The difference between 5-min exposure and 10-min exposure was not statistically significant. All of our data suggest that the Ki-effect on osteoporosis should be further explored

Inhibition of microRNA-33b in humanized mice ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

マイクロRNA-33bの阻害は非アルコール性脂肪肝炎を改善する --核酸医薬による治療応用へ--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-06-13.Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in their advanced stages; however, there are currently no approved therapies. Here, we show that microRNA (miR)-33b in hepatocytes is critical for the development of NASH. miR-33b is located in the intron of sterol regulatory element–binding transcription factor 1 and is abundantly expressed in humans, but absent in rodents. miR-33b knock-in (KI) mice, which have a miR-33b sequence in the same intron of sterol regulatory element–binding transcription factor 1 as humans and express miR-33b similar to humans, exhibit NASH under high-fat diet feeding. This condition is ameliorated by hepatocyte-specific miR-33b deficiency but unaffected by macrophage-specific miR-33b deficiency. Anti-miR-33b oligonucleotide improves the phenotype of NASH in miR-33b KI mice fed a Gubra Amylin NASH diet, which induces miR-33b and worsens NASH more than a high-fat diet. Anti-miR-33b treatment reduces hepatic free cholesterol and triglyceride accumulation through up-regulation of the lipid metabolism–related target genes. Furthermore, it decreases the expression of fibrosis marker genes in cultured hepatic stellate cells. Thus, inhibition of miR-33b using nucleic acid medicine is a promising treatment for NASH

Supramarginal activity in interoceptive attention tasks

AbstractInteroceptive (feelings from inside organs) attention/awareness (IAA) is a body-related aspect of cognition that pursues homeostasis by detecting afferent signals, and there are practices aimed at focusing one’s attention and awareness towards such feelings inside one’s own body. There is a claim that these practices improve health which is one reason that neural correlates of such practices and IAA in general have been investigated in previous imaging studies. In several of these studies which used subjects with no or limited experience in IAA practices there was a report of supramarginal (SM) activity during IAA tasks, but the role of SM in IAA remain unclear. We first investigated if we could find similar results in novices, and if this activity is sensitive to the designated body part in the IAA task. We further investigated if these regions would be similarly recruited in subjects with extensive experience of IAA tasks while comparing results with a group of age and gender matched novices. Results in the novices replicated that of previous studies, and we showed this is the same for IAA tasks regarding two different parts of the body. Group comparison results showed opposite profiles of SM activation for the two groups; novices showed activation and the experts showed deactivation of the SM. The results suggest that novices recruit SM during IAA possibly due to lack of experience in those tasks but this could be alleviated for performing IAA as illustrated by activation profile in experts