Contribution of lactobacillus casei to the recovery from chemically induced skeletal muscle damage under chronic stress

Background: Regeneration of damaged skeletal muscle requires sufficient supply of nutrients. Fully functional intestine and colon assure sufficient supply of nutrients. Gut commensal bacteria are known to support intestinal function. Previously lactobacillus treatment of elite athletes was shown to be effective in attenuating fatigue and impaired performance. We hypothesized that Lactobacillus casei (L.casei) administration may facilitate recovery of damaged skeletal muscle when the gut function is suppressed under chronic stress in which muscle regeneration is compromised. Objective: To investigate contribution of L.casei under chronic stress to the recovery of damaged skeletal muscle in young and older adult mice. Methods: L.casei was given orally at a dose of 10-8 /day for 7days to 10 weeks old (young) and 45-55 weeks old (older adult) male C57BL/6J mice. Vehicle control mice received an equivalent volume of water for 7 days. On the eighth day, cardiotoxin (CTX) was injected to gatrocnemius muscle to induce muscle damage. Both groups were assigned 2 hours repeated-restraint stress everyday (chronic stress). On days 3, 5, 7, 10, 14 and 20 after CTX injection, mice were sacrificed. Excised gastrocnemius muscle was subjected to weight measurement and immunohistochemical analyses. Results: There were significant differences in both the recovery of muscle weight and the regeneration process of gastrocnemius muscle examined immunohistochemically between control and L.casei treated young and older adult groups. Especially, the expression of developmental MHC (dMHC), a marker of premature regeneration, was positive up to 3 days in older adult groups. The delay in the recovery of muscle weight was obvious in older adult mice regardless of the treatment. However, while the expression of dMHC was prolonged up to day 7 in the vehicle control, dMHC expression was notable only up to day 3 or day 5 in the L.casei treated. Therefore, in older adult mice L.casei treatment under chronic stress may have facilitated the maturation process of regenerating skeletal muscle. Conclusion: Our results suggests that L.casei favor under chronic stress favors the recovery of skeletal muscle from muscle damage. The maintenance of gut function by L. casei treatment may have facilitated the maturation process of regenerating skeletal muscle

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of CO2 Reduction in the Automobile Sector

Various problems relating to energy and the environment clearly exist, such as global warming and a steep rise in the price fossil fuels, and resources. These problems should be addressed in the medium term or long run. As for the abatement of greenhouse gas emission, active discussions have been held on the stage of world politics to achieve the long-term goal. Although various approaches have been proposed by several research institutions and countries, sufficient studies have not yet been conducted on the roles of individual countries and sectors. Specifically, in the automotive transportation sector wherein oil demand and CO2 emissions are estimated to rise in the future with the marked progress of motorization in developing countries, it is increasingly important to study these subjects. We focused on the automotive transportation sector and studied the CO2 abatement potential and its cost performance in this sector. This article reports the results of the study.energy and the environment, Climate change, automotive transportation

Demand-side decarbonization and electrification: EMF 35 JMIP study

Japan’s long-term strategy submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change emphasizes the importance of improving the electrification rates to reducing GHG emissions. Using the five models participating in Energy Modeling Forum 35 Japan Model Intercomparison project (JMIP), we focused on the demand-side decarbonization and analyzed the final energy composition required to achieve 80% reductions in GHGs by 2050 in Japan. The model results show that the electricity share in final energy use (electrification rate) needs to reach 37–66% in 2050 (26% in 2010) to achieve the emissions reduction of 80%. The electrification rate increases mainly due to switching from fossil fuel end-use technologies (i.e. oil water heater, oil stove and combustion-engine vehicles) to electricity end-use technologies (i.e. heat pump water heater and electric vehicles). The electricity consumption in 2050 other than AIM/Hub ranged between 840 and 1260 TWh (AIM/Hub: 1950TWh), which is comparable to the level seen in the last 10 years (950–1035 TWh). The pace at which electrification rate must be increased is a challenge. The model results suggest to increase the electrification pace to 0.46–1.58%/yr from 2030 to 2050. Neither the past electrification pace (0.30%/year from 1990 to 2010) nor the outlook of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (0.15%/year from 2010 to 2030) is enough to reach the suggested electrification rates in 2050. Therefore, more concrete measures to accelerate dissemination of electricity end-use technologies across all sectors need to be established

Paclitaxel-Based Chemotherapy for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer after Gemcitabine-Based Therapy Failure: A Case Series of 5 Patients

Background/Objectives: Gemcitabine (GEM) is a gold-standard chemotherapy agent for advanced pancreatic cancer. Because of the malignant character of the disease, nearly all patients show disease progression despite treatment with GEM-based chemotherapy; therefore, second-line chemotherapy may be beneficial for these patients. We report a retrospective analysis of 5 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, treated with a paclitaxel-containing regimen as second-, third- or fourth-line chemotherapy after various therapies, such as a GEM-based regimen, S-1 regimen, and chemoradiation. We retrospectively analyzed the efficacy and adverse events, and evaluated the paclitaxel-containing regimens. A review of the literature is also discussed. Results: The median overall survival from the start of salvage therapy was 10.7 months. The disease control rate of the paclitaxel-containing regimen according to RECIST criteria was 60%, including complete response in 0 patients, partial response in 3, and stable disease in 2. Two patients had malignant ascites at the start of this salvage therapy, and in both of them the ascites and clinical complaints improved. Grade 3 and 4 hematological adverse events were observed in 2 patients and 1 patient, respectively. Conclusion: Salvage paclitaxel-based therapy could be beneficial to advanced pancreatic cancer patients who maintain good performance status after several chemotherapy failures

PRIMARY MALIGNANT LYMPHOMA OF THE BREAST A Case Report and Review of the Japanese Literature

A 26-year-old pregnant woman was admitted to Nagasaki University Hospital complaining rapid enlargement of masses in the bilateral breasts and the right axilla. Biopsy of the right breast revealed malignant lymphoma. Simple mastectomy plus axillary node dissection on the right side (Br+Ax) and excision of the tumor in the left breast were performed. Histologically, the tumor was a diffuse lymphoma of the medium-size cell type according to the LSG classification, originated from B cells. After operation, Vincristine, Adriamycin, and Cyclophosphamide were administrered, but chemotherapy was terminated because of marked leukopenia. The patient has remained asymptomatic for 7 years without any treatment, and there is no evidence of recurrence. We have collected 79 cases of malignant lymphoma of the breast reported in the Japanese literature, including the present case, and examined factors that might affect the prognosis of patients. However, age, size of tumor, axillary lymph node involvement, histological findings, and type of therapy did not exert a significant influence. The most critical factor in a poor prognosis was the extramammary involvement of malignant lymphoma

Amyloid Oligomer Conformation in a Group of Natively Folded Proteins

Recent in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that destabilized proteins with defective folding induce aggregation and toxicity in protein-misfolding diseases. One such unstable protein state is called amyloid oligomer, a precursor of fully aggregated forms of amyloid. Detection of various amyloid oligomers with A11, an anti-amyloid oligomer conformation-specific antibody, revealed that the amyloid oligomer represents a generic conformation and suggested that toxic β-aggregation processes possess a common mechanism. By using A11 antibody as a probe in combination with mass spectrometric analysis, we identified GroEL in bacterial lysates as a protein that may potentially have an amyloid oligomer conformation. Surprisingly, A11 reacted not only with purified GroEL but also with several purified heat shock proteins, including human Hsp27, 40, 70, 90; yeast Hsp104; and bovine Hsc70. The native folds of A11-reactive proteins in purified samples were characterized by their anti-β-aggregation activity in terms of both functionality and in contrast to the β-aggregation promoting activity of misfolded pathogenic amyloid oligomers. The conformation-dependent binding of A11 with natively folded Hsp27 was supported by the concurrent loss of A11 reactivity and anti-β-aggregation activity of heat-treated Hsp27 samples. Moreover, we observed consistent anti-β-aggregation activity not only by chaperones containing an amyloid oligomer conformation but also by several A11-immunoreactive non-chaperone proteins. From these results, we suggest that the amyloid oligomer conformation is present in a group of natively folded proteins. The inhibitory effects of A11 antibody on both GroEL/ES-assisted luciferase refolding and Hsp70-mediated decelerated nucleation of Aβ aggregation suggested that the A11-binding sites on these chaperones might be functionally important. Finally, we employed a computational approach to uncover possible A11-binding sites on these targets. Since the β-sheet edge was a common structural motif having the most similar physicochemical properties in the A11-reactive proteins we analyzed, we propose that the β-sheet edge in some natively folded amyloid oligomers is designed positively to prevent β aggregation