Decomposition of Gasoline Hydrocarbons by Natural Microorganisms in Japanese Soils

Characterizing the mechanisms by which natural microorganisms in soil decompose gasoline hydrocarbons is of fundamental importance for a better understanding of natural attenuation and/or for predicting contaminant transport and fate in soils. To examine whether and how gasoline hydrocarbons can be decomposed under general environmental conditions, the decomposition of 10 major components generally contained in commercially available gasoline was analyzed in three arbitrarily selected Japanese soil samples. Gasoline hydrocarbons, especially aromatic hydrocarbons, are easily adsorbed by the tested Japanese soils, with straight chain hydrocarbons decomposing faster than branched hydrocarbons. Saturated monocyclic hydrocarbons were less easily decomposed than unsaturated monocyclic hydrocarbons. Enhancement of microbial decomposition of gasoline hydrocarbons requires a continuous supply of oxygen together with nutrients for the microorganisms

The improvement of soil fertility by the mixing of the rice straw into the paddy field after the stripping top soil off decontamination

研究成果の概要（和文）：本研究は、稲わらによる有機物補給機能を重視した、新たな地力増進手法を開発することを目的とした。2011年の原発事故後、原発より40km北西に位置する農業の盛んであった福島県飯舘村の農地では、削り取り除染や客土が行われた。そのため、以前に蓄積された肥沃な土壌や土壌有機物含量が低減する恐れがあった。継続的な土壌および水稲中の放射性セシウム濃度の観測結果より、飯舘村の除染後水田において、国の流通基準を大幅に下回るコメを栽培できることが確認された。また、生育調査および収量調査結果より、削り取り除染直後の水田においては、有機物、特に稲わらの施用施用が生産量回復に有効であることが示唆された。 研究成果の概要（英文）：The agricultural fields were contaminated by the radionuclides after the Nuclear Power Plant accident in Iitate Village. Since 2011, decontamination work such as stripping-off the top soil had been ongoing. Although decontamination is essential, the soil fertility could be decreased. Here, we examined the use of organic matter to quickly recover the fertility of the agricultural top soil. We transplanted rice crops into three paddy plots: mixed with rice straw, with cattle manure, and without anything as a control after decontamination. The rice yield from the rice straw plot was higher than others in first year. After that, there were no differences depend on the treatments. Radioactive Cs concentrations in the new rice from all plots had been lower than the maximum Japanese governmental allowed level through this research. These results revealed that treating soil with rice straw might have great potential to aid a paddy field recovery just after the decontamination

Olive polyphenols attenuate TNF-α-stimulated M-CSF and IL-6 synthesis in osteoblasts: Suppression of Akt and p44/p42 MAP kinase signaling pathways

Background: Olive oil polyphenols, which possess cytoprotective activities like anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, could modulate osteoblast functions. The aim of this study is to elucidate the effects and the underlying mechanisms of hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein on the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) synthesis in osteoblasts. Methods: Osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells were pretreated with hydroxytyrosol, oleuropein, deguelin, PD98059 or wedelolactone, and then stimulated by TNF-α. The levels of M-CSF and IL-6 in the conditioned medium were determined with ELISA. The mRNA expression levels of M-CSF or IL-6 were determined with real-time RT-PCR. The phosphorylation levels of Akt, p44/p42 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase or NF-κB in the cell lysates were determined with Western blot analysis. Results: Hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein attenuated the TNF-α-stimulated M-CSF release. Deguelin, an inhibitor of Akt, significantly suppressed the TNF-α-stimulated M-CSF release, which failed to be affected by the MEK1/2 inhibitor PD98059 or the IκB inhibitor wedelolactone. Hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein suppressed the TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of Akt and p44/p42 MAP kinase. Hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein attenuated the TNF-α-stimulated IL-6 release. Hydroxytyrosol suppressed the TNF-α-induced mRNA expressions of M-CSF and IL-6. Hydroxytyrosol or oleuropein failed to affect the cell viability. Conclusion: Our present findings strongly suggest that olive oil polyphenols hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein down-regulates TNF-α signaling at the points upstream of Akt and p44/p42 MAP kinase in osteoblasts, leading to the attenuation of M-CSF and IL-6 synthesis

Development of a Stereo-Vision Based High-Throughput Robotic System for Mouse Tail Vein Injection

In this paper, we present a robotic device for mouse tail vein injection. We propose a mouse holding mechanism to realize vein injection without anesthetizing the mouse, which consists of a tourniquet, vacuum port, and adaptive tail-end fixture. The position of the target vein in 3D space is reconstructed from a high-resolution stereo vision. The vein is detected by a simple but robust vein line detector. Thanks to the proposed two-staged calibration process, the total time for the injection process is limited to 1.5 minutes, despite that the position of needle and tail vein varies for each trial. We performed an injection experiment targeting 40 mice and succeeded to inject saline to 37 of them, resulting 92.5% success ratio.Comment: accepted to ICRA2022 (7 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables