Difructose anhydride III promotes iron absorption in the rat large intestine

Objectives: We examined the intestinal segment responsible for and the mechanisms involved in the nondigestible disaccharide difructose anhydride III (DFA) III-mediated enhancement of iron absorption. Methods: Net iron and calcium absorption (%) were observed in male SD rats fed an AIN93G-based diet with or without DFAIII (30 g/kg diet) for 2 weeks after cecectomy or laparotomy (Exp. 1). The absorption rates of calcium and iron from ligated jejunal loops (Exp. 2) or ligated cecal sacs (Exp. 3) in anesthetized rats fed a control or DFA diet were observed with or without the addition of DFAIII to the instilled mucosal fluid. Levels of the major iron transporter DMT-1 mRNA per 28S rRNA were evaluated by real-time PCR in the intestinal mucosa. Results: Net absorption (%) of iron and calcium was higher in the DFA group than in the DFA-free group in laparotomized rats. The enhancement of iron absorption was almost and calcium absorption was partly abolished by cecectomy. The absorption rate of calcium, but not iron, from the jejunal loops was increased by the addition of DFAIII (100 mmol/L). Iron absorption was clearly higher in the ligated cecal sacs of the DFAIII-fed group than in the DFA-free group with or without the mucosal addition of DFAIII. DMT-1 mRNA level per 28S rRNA was maintained in the cecal mucosa through large increases in cecal size due to DFAIII feeding. Conclusion: DFAIII-induced increases in iron absorption are the result of increased cecal iron absorptive capacity through expansion of the cecal mucosa maintaining DMT-1 mRNA expression

Nuclease Tolerant FRET Probe Based on DNA-Quantum Dot Conjugation

We have developed a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probe based on the conjugation of a quantum dot (QD) with dye (YOYO-3) intercalated DNA. The FRET-inducing electrostatic coupling of DNA and the QD made structural changes to the QD-DNA conjugates, which significantly prevented an enzymatic reaction between the DNA and a conventional restriction endonuclease (EcoRI)

Survivability from a Managerial Economic Perspective: Dairy Farming and Rice Farming in Japan

Special Issue: Works from "Future Leaders Global Workshop on Social Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment"Over the past few years, Japanese agricultural holdings have been facing challenging conditions in terms of fluctuating food demand as well as a decline in food prices. This paper clarifies managerial survivability from two standpoints: temporary and permanent, applying two analytical methods. First, we employ ‘Expense-income analysis' to investigate temporary managerial survivability (TMS), which is realised when an agricultural holding's gross income is above or equal to operating expense. Second, we employ Minimum Required Operating Scale (MROS) analysis to investigate permanent managerial survivability (PMS), which is realised when a holding can afford one additional unit of the scarcest resource. We analyse the dairy and rice farming sectors in Japan. Our findings reveal that it is not only imperative for holdings to enlarge their farming scale, but also to more essentially take into account improvements in managerial environments

Multifunctional Magnetic CuS/Gd2O3 Nanoparticles for Fluorescence/MR Bimodal Imaging-guided Photothermal-intensified Chemodynamic Synergetic Therapy of Targeted Tumors

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and causes oxidative damage to tumor cells shows tremendous promise for advanced cancer treatment. Herein, we report a multifunctional nanoprobe (BCGCR) integrating bimodal imaging and photothermal-enhanced CDT of targeted tumor, which is produced by covalent conjugation of bovine serum albumin-stabilized CuS/Gd2O3 nanoparticles with Cy5.5 fluorophore and tumor-targeting ligand RGD. It was used for both sensitive fluorescence imaging and high-spatial-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of tumor in vivo. Moreover, owing to the strong NIR absorbance from internal CuS NPs, BCGCR can generate localized heat under 980 nm laser irradiation, which enables photothermal therapy (PTT) and further intensifies ROS generation for enhanced CDT. This synergetic effect takes on such an excellent therapeutic efficacy that it can ablate xenografted tumors in vivo.第16回日本分子イメージング学会総会・学術集

Multifunctional Magnetic CuS/Gd2O3 Nanoparticles for Fluorescence/MR Bimodal Imaging-guided Photothermal-intensified Chemodynamic Synergetic Therapy of Targeted Tumors

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and causes oxidative damage to tumor cells shows tremendous promise for　advanced cancer treatment. Herein, we report a multifunctional nanoprobe (BCGCR) integrating bimodal imaging and photothermalenhanced CDT of　targeted tumor, which is produced by covalent conjugation of bovine serum 　albumin-stabilized CuS/Gd2O3 nanoparticles with Cy5.5 fluorophore and tumor-targeting ligand RGD. It was used for both sensitive fluorescence imaging and high-spatial-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of tumor in vivo. Moreover, owing to the strong NIR absorbance from internal CuS NPs, BCGCR can generate localized heat under 980 nm laser irradiation, which enables photothermal therapy (PTT) and further intensifies ROS generation for enhanced CDT. This synergetic effect takes on such an excellent therapeutic efficacy that it can ablate xenografted tumors in vivo.量子生命科学会第4回大