Versatile Psychophysiological Potencies of Essential Oils, when Seen as a Function of Behavioral Task Assigned to the Participants after Inhalation

To elucidate the psychophysiological effect of inhaling essential oils, in this paper, we sought to assess the following 12 essential oils: basil, bergamot, cardamom, cinnamon, juniper, lemon, orange, palmarosa, peppermint, sandalwood, spearmint, and ylang ylang. As these being target odors, we focused on the verbal (semantic) and non-verbal (skin temperature) endpoints of the stimuli. In our experimental design, we managed to assign different behavioral tasks to the participants. The Uchida-Kraepelin test was used as a mental arithmetic task and listening to environmental (natural) sounds as an auditory task. In the verbal study, for an example, we conducted the sensory test twice, once before and once after the task. As a measure of the perceived odor quality in participants after inhalation of a given aroma, we employed a sensory evaluation spectrum. It is a bar graph in which the mean of the difference in score between pre- and post-task inquiry (post minus pre) was plotted against the impression descriptors. Taking into account of the obtained skin temperature changes between pre- and post-task inhalations, the subtle nuances between verbal and non-verbal expressions seen as a function of the two behavioral tasks assigned to the participant suggested that essential oils may have versatile psychophysiological potencies by the nature

Use of Human Senses as Sensors

This paper is an overview of our recent findings obtained by the use of human senses as sensors, suggesting that human senses might be indispensable sensors, not only for practical uses but also for gaining a deeper understanding of humans. From this point of view, two kinds of studies, both based on semantic responses of participants, deserve emphasis. One study assessed the efficacy of the photocatalytic elimination of stains or bio-aerosols from an air environment using TiO2 as well as the photocatalytic deodorizing efficacy of a TiO2-type deodorizer; the other study evaluated the changes in perception of a given aroma while inhaling the fragrance of essential oils. In the latter study, we employed a sensory test for evaluating changes in perception of a given aroma. Sensory tests were conducted twice, when participants were undergoing the Kraepelin mental performance test (mental arithmetic) or an auditory task (listening to environmental natural sounds), once before the task (pre-task) and once after the task (post-task). The perception of fragrance was assessed by 13 contrasting pairs of adjectives as a function of the task assigned to participants. The obtained findings illustrate subtle nuances regarding how essential oils manifest their potency and how olfactory discrimination and responses occur in humans

SL(2,R)/U(1) Supercoset and Elliptic Genera of Non-compact Calabi-Yau Manifolds

We first discuss the relationship between the SL(2;R)/U(1) supercoset and N=2 Liouville theory and make a precise correspondence between their representations. We shall show that the discrete unitary representations of SL(2;R)/U(1) theory correspond exactly to those massless representations of N=2 Liouville theory which are closed under modular transformations and studied in our previous work hep-th/0311141. It is known that toroidal partition functions of SL(2;R)/U(1) theory (2D Black Hole) contain two parts, continuous and discrete representations. The contribution of continuous representations is proportional to the space-time volume and is divergent in the infinite-volume limit while the part of discrete representations is volume-independent. In order to see clearly the contribution of discrete representations we consider elliptic genus which projects out the contributions of continuous representations: making use of the SL(2;R)/U(1), we compute elliptic genera for various non-compact space-times such as the conifold, ALE spaces, Calabi-Yau 3-folds with A_n singularities etc. We find that these elliptic genera in general have a complex modular property and are not Jacobi forms as opposed to the cases of compact Calabi-Yau manifolds.Comment: 39 pages, no figure; v2 references added, minor corrections; v3 typos corrected, to appear in JHEP; v4 typos corrected in eqs. (3.22) and (3.44

Non-holomorphic Modular Forms and SL(2,R)/U(1) Superconformal Field Theory

We study the torus partition function of the SL(2,R)/U(1) SUSY gauged WZW model coupled to N=2 U(1) current. Starting from the path-integral formulation of the theory, we introduce an infra-red regularization which preserves good modular properties and discuss the decomposition of the partition function in terms of the N=2 characters of discrete (BPS) and continuous (non-BPS) representations. Contrary to our naive expectation, we find a non-holomorphic dependence (dependence on \bar{\tau}) in the expansion coefficients of continuous representations. This non-holomorphicity appears in such a way that the anomalous modular behaviors of the discrete (BPS) characters are compensated by the transformation law of the non-holomorphic coefficients of the continuous (non-BPS) characters. Discrete characters together with the non-holomorphic continuous characters combine into real analytic Jacobi forms and these combinations exactly agree with the "modular completion" of discrete characters known in the theory of Mock theta functions \cite{Zwegers}. We consider this to be a general phenomenon: we expect to encounter "holomorphic anomaly" (\bar{\tau}-dependence) in string partition function on non-compact target manifolds. The anomaly occurs due to the incompatibility of holomorphy and modular invariance of the theory. Appearance of non-holomorphicity in SL(2,R)/U(1) elliptic genus has recently been observed by Troost \cite{Troost}.Comment: 39+1 pages, no figure; v2 a reference added, some points are clarified, typos corrected, version to appear in JHE

Fucoxanthin Attenuates Rifampin-Induced Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and Multiple Drug Resistance 1 (MDR1) Gene Expression Through Pregnane X Receptor (PXR)-Mediated Pathways in Human Hepatoma HepG2 and Colon Adenocarcinoma LS174T Cells

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) has been reported to regulate the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes, such as the cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) family and transporters, such as multiple drug resistance 1 (MDR1). Fucoxanthin, the major carotenoid in brown sea algae, is a putative chemopreventive agent. In this study, we determined whether fucoxanthin could overcome drug resistance through attenuation of rifampin-induced CYP3A4 and MDR1 gene expression by PXR-mediated pathways in HepG2 hepatoma cells. We found that fucoxanthin (1–10 μM) significantly attenuated rifampin (20 μM)-induced CYP3A4, MDR1 mRNA and CYP3A4 protein expression at 24 h of incubation. Mechanistically, fucoxanthin strongly attenuated the PXR-mediated CYP3A4 promoter activity in HepG2 cells. In addition, fucoxanthin attenuated constitutive androstane receptor (CAR)- and rPXR-mediated CYP3A4 promoter activity in this cell line. Using the mammalian two-hybrid assay, we found that fucoxanthin significantly decreased the interaction between PXR and SRC-1, a PXR co-activator. Thus, fucoxanthin can decrease rifampin-induced CYP3A4 and MDR1 expression through attenuation of PXR-mediated CYP3A4 promoter activation and interaction between PXR and co-activator. These findings could lead to potentially important new therapeutic and dietary approaches to reduce the frequency of adverse drug reactions

2016～2017年度 関西大学研究拠点形成支援経費研究成果報告書

目次 ・研究成果の概要 ・第一論文 「信頼の革新、間メディア・クラックおよびリアルな共同の萌芽」（与謝野有紀） ・第二論文 「絵画鑑賞の社会・心理学的要因に関する計量的検討」（林直保子・与謝野有紀） ・第三論文 「全天球映像と球面ディスプレイを用いたインタラクティブコンテンツの開発 － 古墳をテーマとした地域連携事業への展開－ 」（林武文・堀雅洋・井浦崇・平尾修悟） ・第四論文 「展示解説におけるストーリー性が来館動機に及ぼす影響について－ 古代史系博物館での学習支援を目指して－ 」（井上卓也・田中孝治・池田満・堀雅洋） ・第五論文 「吹田の人形芝居・出口座の公演音声・映像資料について― 解題と考察」（菅原慶乃） ・第六論文 「長澤蘆雪と大坂画壇」（中谷伸生） ・第七論文 「『忠臣規矩順従録』小攷」（山本卓） ・第八論文 「古今和歌集の「誹諧」と「俳諧」」（山本登朗） ・謝辞 【付録】 「『隣女和歌集』巻一の基礎的考察」（坂本美樹） 「新出資料・林原美術館所蔵『隣女和歌集』(巻一)三本の紹介」（坂本美樹） 第一論文は、当該書籍に収録された論文の最終稿を東京大学出版会の許可を得て掲載しています。 第三論文は、著作権の関係により非公開としております。 第四論文は、知識共創フォーラムの許可を得て掲載しています。 第八論文は、当該資料に収録された論文の最終稿を臨川書店の許可を得て掲載しています

Relationship between Mood Change, Odour and Its Physiological Effects in Humans While Inhaling the Fragrances of Essential Oils as well as Linalool and Its Enantiomers

molecule

Characterization of Class IB Terpene Synthase: The First Crystal Structure Bound with a Substrate Surrogate

Terpene synthases (TS) are classified into two broad types, Class I and II, based on the chemical strategy for initial carbocation formation and motif sequences of the catalytic site. We have recently identified a new class of enzymes, Class IB, showing the acceptability of long (C₂₀–C₃₅) prenyl-diphosphates as substrates and no amino acid sequence homology with known TS. Conversion of long prenyl-diphosphates such as heptaprenyl-diphosphate (C₃₅) is unusual and has never been reported for Class I and II enzymes. Therefore, the characterization of Class IB enzymes is crucial to understand the reaction mechanism of the extensive terpene synthesis. Here, we report the crystal structure bound with a substrate surrogate and biochemical analysis of a Class IB TS, using the enzyme from Bacillus alcalophilus (BalTS). The structure analysis revealed that the diphosphate part of the substrate is located around the two characteristic Asp-rich motifs, and the hydrophobic tail is accommodated in a unique hydrophobic long tunnel, where the C₃₅ prenyl-diphosphate, the longest substrate of BalTS, can be accepted. Biochemical analyses of BalTS showed that the enzymatic property, such as Mg^2⁺ dependency, is similar to those of Class I enzymes. In addition, a new cyclic terpene was identified from BalTS reaction products. Mutational analysis revealed that five of the six Asp residues in the Asp-rich motifs and two His residues are essential for the formation of the cyclic skeleton. These results provided a clue to consider the application of the unusual large terpene synthesis by Class IB enzymes