Isolation of Cellulolytic Microfungi Involved in Wood-Waste Decomposition: Prospects for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulosic Wastes

Wood-wastes from dump-sites at Okobaba Saw-mills on the western part of the Lagos lagoon were examined for cellulolytic microorganisms. Cellulolytic microfungi were isolated from the wastes using minimal salt agar medium containing 0.2% (w/v) crystalline cellulose, sugarcane pulp, corn cob or saw-dust as sole carbon/energy source. The colonies of cellulolytic microfungi which appeared on the plates increased in size and number as the incubation period (days) increased. Among the fungal isolates were two pathogenic Aspergilli (A flavus and A fumigatus), three different black Aspergilli (herein designated as A.niger I, A.niger II and A.niger III), Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium species and Penicillium species. Cell-free filtrates of 7 – day cultures of A.flavus, A.niger I, A.niger II, B. cinerea and P.species grown on the minimal salt broth supplemented with crystalline cellulose as sole carbon/energy source showed very significant CM–cellulase activity. P. species gave a very high value that was over 4 times the value for the closest organism, A.niger II. There is a good propect for cellulase production using the virgin strain of P. species isolated from the wood-wastes

Ferromagnetic relaxation by magnon-induced currents

A theory for calculating spin wave relaxation times based on the magnon-electron interaction is developed. The theory incorporates a thin film geometry and is valid for a large range of magnon frequencies and wave vectors. For high conductivity metals such as permalloy, the wave vector dependent damping constant approaches values as high as 0.2, showing the large magnitude of the effect, and can dominate experimentally observed relaxation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Effect of carbon sources on cellulase (EC 3. 2. 1. 4) production by Penicillium chrysogenum PCL501

The effects of glucose, crystalline cellulose and sawdust of Mitragyna cilata on the growth and cellulase production, inferred from cellulase (EC 3. 2. 1. 4) activity, of Penicillium chrysogenum PCL501 was determined. Glucose-containing media gave the highest mycelia weight of 1.78 mg mL-1 in 120 h of incubation. This is about 3.5 – 4.5 times the maximum weights of 0.51 and 0.40 mg mL-1 respectively obtained from the cultures containing cellulose and sawdust. The cultures containing crystalline cellulose and sawdust produced extracellular protein with cellulase (EC 3. 2. 1. 4) activity whereas glucose-containing cultures yielded very low protein and no significant cellulase activity. Maximum protein content of 0.02, 0.13 and 0.46 mg mL-1 respectively were obtained from the cultures containing glucose, cellulose and sawdust. Peak cellulase activity values of 100.0 and 92.2 Units L-1 respectively were obtained for the cultures containing cellulose and sawdust. There is a correlation between the protein released and cellulase activity of the culture filtrates. P. chrysogenum PCL501 produces extracellular proteins with significant cellulase activity in media containing cellulose and sawdust but not in glucose-containing medium. Sawdust is indicated as a good inducer of cellulase activity in the organism. The waste cellulosic material can be used as low-cost carbon source for commercial cellulase production

Spectroscopy of eta'-nucleus bound states at GSI-SIS

The eta' meson mass may be reduced due to partial restoration of chiral symmetry. If this is the case, an eta'-nucleus system may form a nuclear bound state. We plan to carry out a missing-mass spectroscopy with the 12C(p,d) reaction at GSI-SIS. Peak structures corresponding to such a bound state may be observed even in an inclusive measurement, if the decay width is narrow enough.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of MESON2012 (12th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction), Krakow, Polan

A Novel Unsupervised Method to Identify Genes Important in the Anti-viral Response: Application to Interferon/Ribavirin in Hepatitis C Patients

Background: Treating hepatitis C with interferon/ribavirin results in a varied response in terms of decrease in viral titer and ultimate outcome. Marked responders have a sharp decline in viral titer within a few days of treatment initiation, whereas in other patients there is no effect on the virus (poor responders). Previous studies have shown that combination therapy modifies expression of hundreds of genes in vitro and in vivo. However, identifying which, if any, of these genes have a role in viral clearance remains challenging. Aims: The goal of this paper is to link viral levels with gene expression and thereby identify genes that may be responsible for early decrease in viral titer. Methods: Microarrays were performed on RNA isolated from PBMC of patients undergoing interferon/ribavirin therapy. Samples were collected at pre-treatment (day 0), and 1, 2, 7, 14 and 28 days after initiating treatment. A novel method was applied to identify genes that are linked to a decrease in viral titer during interferon/ribavirin treatment. The method uses the relationship between inter-patient gene expression based proximities and inter-patient viral titer based proximities to define the association between microarray gene expression measurements of each gene and viral-titer measurements. Results: We detected 36 unique genes whose expressions provide a clustering of patients that resembles viral titer based clustering of patients. These genes include IRF7, MX1, OASL and OAS2, viperin and many ISG's of unknown function. Conclusion: The genes identified by this method appear to play a major role in the reduction of hepatitis C virus during the early phase of treatment. The method has broad utility and can be used to analyze response to any group of factors influencing biological outcome such as antiviral drugs or anti-cancer agents where microarray data are available. © 2007 Brodsky et al

Serum chemokine profile in patients with bullous pemphigoid

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科血管分子科学Background: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease causing blister formation at the dermoepidermal junction. Cutaneous infiltration of activated CD4+ T cells and eosinophils is an early event in blister formation during the disease process, suggesting that the trafficking of circulating leucocytes through the sites of inflammation is crucial in the pathogenesis of the disease. While the accumulated evidence suggests that some cytokines are involved in the pathogenesis, there have been few reports about serum chemokine profiles in patients with BP. Objectives: To determine serum profiles of various chemokines and their clinical association in patients with BP. Methods: Concentrations of 10 chemokines - interferon (IFN)-γ- inducible protein-10 (IP-10), monokine induced by IFN-γ (MIG), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α, MIP-1β, RANTES, eotaxin, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, MCP-2, MCP-3 and growth-regulated oncogene-α- were measured in serum samples from 38 patients with BP, 16 with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and 17 normal controls using a sandwich immunoassay-based multiplex protein array system. Results: While there was no significant increase in any serum chemokine levels in patients with PV, serum levels of IP-10 and MCP-1 were significantly increased in patients with BP compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, serum levels of IP-10, MIG, MCP-1 and eotaxin in patients with BP increased significantly with disease severity as determined by the area affected. Conclusions: These observations suggest that an elaborately orchestrated network of chemokines, especially MCP-1 and IP-10, contributes to the pathomechanism of BP. © 2007 The Authors

Increased serum levels of a proliferation-inducing ligand in patients with bullous pemphigoid

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科血管分子科学Background: B cells have been demonstrated to have critical roles in developing autoimmune bullous diseases. Recently identified tumor necrosis factor-like molecules, B cell-activating factor of the TNF family (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) are essential molecules for B cell development, survival, and proliferation. Although the functions of APRIL have not been fully evaluated, recent studies suggest that circulating levels of APRIL are increased in various autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Objectives: To determine serum APRIL levels in patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and bullous pemphigoid (BP), and compare those with clinical findings and laboratory findings. Patients/Methods: Sera from 15 PV patients, 43 BP patients, and 15 normal controls were subjected to ELISA assays to measure serum APRIL, BAFF, Dsg3, and BP180 levels. Results and conclusions: Circulating APRIL levels were significantly elevated in BP patients but not in PV patients, and correlated with serum BAFF levels. Our study revealed that serum APRIL levels tended to be increased in the quite early stage of disease. In conclusion, circulating APRIL levels may be a useful marker for early activation of autoimmune diathesis, and furthermore, an effective therapeutic target molecule in patients with BP. © 2007 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology

Longitudinal MRI follow-up of rheumatoid arthritis in the temporomandibular joint: importance of synovial proliferation as an early-stage sign

This article describes longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) observations in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis of the temporomandibular joint. The characteristic findings included marked synovial proliferation, which was observed before the onset of severe bone destruction. MRI is considered to provide valuable information for the early detection of rheumatoid arthritis of the temporomandibular joint

Synthetic biology and biomass conversion: a match made in heaven?

To move our economy onto a sustainable basis, it is essential that we find a replacement for fossil carbon as a source of liquid fuels and chemical industry feedstocks. Lignocellulosic biomass, available in enormous quantities, is the only feasible replacement. Many micro-organisms are capable of rapid and efficient degradation of biomass, employing a battery of specialized enzymes, but do not produce useful products. Attempts to transfer biomass-degrading capability to industrially useful organisms by heterologous expression of one or a few biomass-degrading enzymes have met with limited success. It seems probable that an effective biomass-degradation system requires the synergistic action of a large number of enzymes, the individual and collective actions of which are poorly understood. By offering the ability to combine any number of transgenes in a modular, combinatorial way, synthetic biology offers a new approach to elucidating the synergistic action of combinations of biomass-degrading enzymes in vivo and may ultimately lead to a transferable biomass-degradation system. Also, synthetic biology offers the potential for assembly of novel product-formation pathways, as well as mechanisms for increased solvent tolerance. Thus, synthetic biology may finally lead to cheap and effective processes for conversion of biomass to useful products

Establishment of the milk-borne transmission as a key factor for the peculiar endemicity of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1): the ATL Prevention Program Nagasaki

In late 2010, the nation-wide screening of pregnant women for human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection was implemented in Japan to prevent milk-borne transmission of HTLV-1. In the late 1970s, recognition of the adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) cluster in Kyushu, Japan, led to the discovery of the first human retrovirus, HTLV-1. In 1980, we started to investigate mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) for explaining the peculiar endemicity of HTLV-1. Retrospective and prospective epidemiological data revealed the MTCT rate at ∼20%. Cell-mediated transmission of HTLV-1 without prenatal infection suggested a possibility of milk-borne transmission. Common marmosets were successfully infected by oral inoculation of HTLV-1 harboring cells. A prefecture-wide intervention study to refrain from breast-feeding by carrier mothers, the ATL Prevention Program Nagasaki, was commenced in July 1987. It revealed a marked reduction of HTLV-1 MTCT by complete bottle-feeding from 20.3% to 2.5%, and a significantly higher risk of short-term breast-feeding (<6 months) than bottle-feeding (7.4% vs. 2.5%, P < 0.001)