Effect of Aso limonite on anaerobic digestion of waste sewage sludge

The effect of Aso volcanic limonite was explored in anaerobic digestion using waste sewage sludge (WSS). In this study, methane and hydrogen sulfide were remarkably inhibited when Aso limonite was mixed with WSS as well as a significant reduction of ammonia. Although pH was lowered after adding Aso limonite, methane was still inhibited in neutralized pH condition at 7.0. Hydrolysis stage was not influenced by Aso limonite as supported by the result that a high protease activity was still detected in the presence of the material. However, acidogenesis stage was affected by Aso limonite as indicated by the different productions of organic acids. Acetic acid, was accumulated in the presence of Aso limonite due to the inhibition of methane production, except in the highest concentration of Aso limonite which the production of acetate may be inhibited. Besides, the production of propionate and butyrate reduced in accordance to the increased concentration of Aso limonite. In addition, Archaeal activity (methanogens) in WSS with Aso limonite was low in agreement with the low methane production. Thus, these results indicate that Aso limonite influences the acidogenesis and methanogenesis processes, by which the productions of methane and ammonia were inhibited. On the other hand, in the contactless of Aso limonite during the anaerobic digestion of WSS (Aso limonite was placed in the area of headspace in the vial), Aso limonite had the adsorptive ability for hydrogen sulfide from WSS, but not for methane. This contactless system of Aso limonite may be a practical means to remove hydrogen sulfide without inhibiting methane production as an important bioenergy source

A Study of the Effect of the Action Research Type Training in a Master's Course Stage : focusing on the alteration trend of knowledge and teaching skills in the health and physical education trainee

The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of the action research type training in a master's course stage, especially focusing on two knowledge: "teacher's practical knowledge" and "teacher knowledge about pedagogy". As a result, two points were made clear. 1. Throughout the action research type training, simplex knowledge about "teacher's practical knowledge" was greatly seen in the graduate students in a master's course, similar to the prior research. Plus, "Teacher knowledge about pedagogy" was also seen in the action research type training. 2. Throughout the action research type training, graduate students in a master's course changed its' multiple "teacher's practical knowledge" and "teacher knowledge about pedagogy" by receiving mentoring from a faculty member, supervisor, and mentor.本研究の成果の一部は,平成24～26年度科学研究費補助金(若手研究B)「実践的指導力」を育成する学部・大学院一貫の体育教員養カリキュラムの開発と実践(課題番号24700624)の補助によ

Phytophthora porri FOISTER の厚膜胞子形成(農学部門)

本論文はユリ科植物の白色疫病を原因するPhytophthora porri FOISTERの厚膜胞子の形成について述べたものである。供試菌はチューリップ, ラッキョウ, タマネギの白色疫病罹病株からそれぞれ分離したものである。本病菌は各種培地上で菌糸に膨み(Swelling)を形成しやすいが, 厚膜胞子の形成は非常に少なく, しかも形成にやや時日を要することと, 膨みと厚膜胞子との区別がやや困難であるために観察しにくい。球形で菌糸に間生しばしば連生するものがあり, また頂生する。好適な環境状態の下で任意の部位から発芽管を出す。大きさは平均20.8μないし平均30.0μの直径を有し, 環境要因による大きさの変異が大きい。PDA培地の菌叢上に水を注ぎ, 浸水状態にするとともに, 培養温度を20℃から以下の低い温度に変温すると, 厚膜胞子の形成が良好である。液体培養した菌叢を水培養に移したものは, 厚膜胞子の形成があまり良好でなく, 形成にかなり時間がかかる。また厚膜胞子の形成は, 液体培地よりも固体培地の方がよい。General pattern of chlamydospore formation in Phytophthora porri Foister was elucidated with three isolates of the fungus, isolated respectively from tulip, scallion, and onion. The fungus, irrespective of isolates used, forms many swelling of mycelium but quite restricted number of chlamydospores when cultured on various kinds of culture media. The chlamydopores are formed after a prolonged incubation and they are spherical or ovoid in shape, formed single or crowded, terminal or intercalary, and are capable of germinating with a germ tube under the favorable environmental condition. The average size of chlamydospores was in the range of 20.8μ to 30.0μ in diameter depending on the isolate and environmental conditions employed. The chlamydospores are formed many when the colony on PDA plate was submerged in a small volume of water and incubated at the temperature below 20℃, while the same treatment of mycelial mat cultured in a liquid medium did not efficiently induce the chlamydospore formation. The use of agar medium is consequently recommended for the study of chlamydospore formation

Drug retention of biologics and Janus kinase inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the ANSWER cohort study

OBJECTIVES: This multicentre retrospective study in Japan aimed to assess the retention of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi), and to clarify the factors affecting their retention in a real-world cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: The study included 6666 treatment courses (bDMARD-naïve or JAKi-naïve cases, 55.4%; tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) = 3577; anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibodies (aIL-6R) = 1497; cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4-Ig (CTLA4-Ig) = 1139; JAKi=453 cases). The reasons for discontinuation were divided into four categories (ineffectiveness, toxic adverse events, non-toxic reasons and remission); multivariate Cox proportional hazards modelling by potential confounders was used to analyse the HRs of treatment discontinuation. RESULTS: TNFi (HR=1.93, 95% CI: 1.69 to 2.19), CTLA4-Ig (HR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.67) and JAKi (HR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.63) showed a higher discontinuation rate due to ineffectiveness than aIL-6R. TNFi (HR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.56) and aIL-6R (HR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.57) showed a higher discontinuation rate due to toxic adverse events than CTLA4-Ig. Concomitant use of oral glucocorticoids (GCs) at baseline was associated with higher discontinuation rate due to ineffectiveness in TNFi (HR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.41), as well as toxic adverse events in JAKi (HR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.23 to 4.28) and TNFi (HR=1.29, 95%CI: 1.07 to 1.55). CONCLUSIONS: TNFi (HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.37 to 1.68) and CTLA4-Ig (HR=1.14, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.30) showed a higher overall drug discontinuation rate, excluding non-toxicity and remission, than aIL-6R.Ebina K., Etani Y., Maeda Y., et al. Drug retention of biologics and Janus kinase inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the ANSWER cohort study. RMD open 9, (2023); https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2023-003160

Evaluation of PRNP Expression Based on Genotypes and Alleles of Two Indel Loci in the Medulla Oblongata of Japanese Black and Japanese Brown Cattle

BACKGROUND: Prion protein (PrP) level plays the central role in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) susceptibility. Increasing the level of PrP decreases incubation period for this disease. Therefore, studying the expression of the cellular PrP or at least the messenger RNA might be used in selection for preventing the propagation of BSE and other prion diseases. Two insertion/deletion (indel) variations have been tentatively associated with susceptibility/resistance of cattle to classical BSE. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied the expression of each genotype at the two indel sites in Japanese Black (JB) and Japanese Brown (JBr) cattle breeds by a standard curve method of real-time PCR. Five diplotypes subdivided into two categories were selected from each breed. The two cattle breeds were considered differently. Expression of PRNP was significantly (p<0.0001) greater in the homozygous deletion genotype at the 23-bp locus in JB breed. Compared to the homozygous genotypes, the expression of PRNP was significantly greater in the heterozygous genotype at the 12-bp locus in JB (p<0.0001) and in JBr (p = 0.0394) breeds. In addition, there was a statistical significance in the PRNP levels between the insertion and the deletion alleles of the 23-bp locus in JB (p = 0.0003) as well as in JBr (p = 0.0032). There was no significance in relation to sex, age, geographical location or due to their interactions (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the del/del genotype or at least its del allele may modulate the expression of PRNP at the 23-bp locus in the medulla oblongata of these cattle breeds

Lubiprostone Decreases the Small Bowel Transit Time by Capsule Endoscopy: An Exploratory, Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled 3-Way Crossover Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of lubiprostone for bowel preparation and as a propulsive agent in small bowel endoscopy. Six healthy male volunteers participated in this randomized, 3-way crossover study. The subjects received a 24 μg tablet of lubiprostone 60 minutes prior to the capsule ingestion for capsule endoscopy (CE) and a placebo tablet 30 minutes before the capsule ingestion (L-P regimen), a placebo tablet 60 minutes prior to CE and a 24 μg tablet of lubiprostone 30 minutes prior to CE (P-L regimen), or a placebo tablet 60 minutes prior to r CE and a placebo tablet again 30 minutes prior to CE (P-P regimen). The quality of the capsule endoscopic images and the amount of water in the small bowel were assessed on 5-point scale. The median SBTT was 178.5 (117–407) minutes in the P-P regimen, 122.5 (27–282) minutes in the L-P regimen, and 110.5 (11–331) minutes in the P-L regimen (P=0.042). This study showed that the use of lubiprostone significantly decreased the SBTT. We also confirmed that lubiprostone was effective for inducing water secretion into the small bowel during CE

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Fungus Aspergillus oryzae Cultured Under Different Conditions

We performed random sequencing of cDNAs from nine biologically or industrially important cultures of the industrially valuable fungus Aspergillus oryzae to obtain expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Consequently, 21 446 raw ESTs were accumulated and subsequently assembled to 7589 non-redundant consensus sequences (contigs). Among all contigs, 5491 (72.4%) were derived from only a particular culture. These included 4735 (62.4%) singletons, i.e. lone ESTs overlapping with no others. These data showed that consideration of culture grown under various conditions as cDNA sources enabled efficient collection of ESTs. BLAST searches against the public databases showed that 2953 (38.9%) of the EST contigs showed significant similarities to deposited sequences with known functions, 793 (10.5%) were similar to hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 3843 (50.6%) showed no significant similarity to sequences in the databases. Culture-specific contigs were extracted on the basis of the EST frequency normalized by the total number for each culture condition. In addition, contig sequences were compared with sequence sets in eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs), and classified into the KOG functional categories

Resistance against two lytic phage variants attenuates virulence and antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BackgroundBacteriophage therapy is becoming part of mainstream Western medicine since antibiotics of clinical use tend to fail. It involves applying lytic bacteriophages that self-replicate and induce cell lysis, thus killing their hosts. Nevertheless, bacterial killing promotes the selection of resistant clones which sometimes may exhibit a decrease in bacterial virulence or antibiotic resistance.MethodsIn this work, we studied the Pseudomonas aeruginosa lytic phage φDCL-PA6 and its variant φDCL-PA6α. Additionally, we characterized and evaluated the production of virulence factors and the virulence in a Galleria mellonella model of resistant mutants against each phage for PA14 and two clinical strains.ResultsPhage φDCL-PA6α differs from the original by only two amino acids: one in the baseplate wedge subunit and another in the tail fiber protein. According to genomic data and cross-resistance experiments, these changes may promote the change of the phage receptor from the O-antigen to the core lipopolysaccharide. Interestingly, the host range of the two phages differs as determined against the Pseudomonas aeruginosa reference strains PA14 and PAO1 and against nine multidrug-resistant isolates from ventilator associated pneumonia.ConclusionsWe show as well that phage resistance impacts virulence factor production. Specifically, phage resistance led to decreased biofilm formation, swarming, and type III secretion; therefore, the virulence towards Galleria mellonella was dramatically attenuated. Furthermore, antibiotic resistance decreased for one clinical strain. Our study highlights important potential advantages of phage therapy’s evolutionary impact that may be exploited to generate robust therapy schemes

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection