Probiotics into outer space: feasibility assessments of encapsulated freeze-dried probiotics during 1 month’s storage on the International Space Station

Suppression of immune function during long spaceflights is an issue that needs to be overcome. The well-established probiotic Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) could be a promising countermeasure, and we have launched a project to investigate the efficacy of its use on the International Space Station (ISS). As a first step, we developed a specialist probiotic product for space experiments, containing freeze-dried LcS in capsule form (Probiotics Package), and tested its stability through 1 month of storage on the ISS. The temperature inside the ISS ranged from 20.0 to 24.5 °C. The absorbed dose rate of the flight sample was 0.26 mGy/day and the dose equivalent rate was 0.52 mSv/day. The number of live LcS was 1.05 × 1011 colony-forming units/g powder (49.5% of the initial value) 6 months after the start of the study; this value was comparable to those in the two ground controls. Profiles of randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, sequence variant frequency, carbohydrate fermentation, reactivity to LcS-specific antibody, and the cytokine-inducing ability of LcS in the flight sample did not differ from those of the ground controls. We can therefore maintain the viability and basic probiotic properties of LcS stored as a Probiotics Package on the ISS

Electronic and optical properties of families of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a systematic (time-dependent) density functional theory study

Homologous classes of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in their crystalline state are among the most promising materials for organic opto-electronics. Following previous works on oligoacenes we present a systematic comparative study of the electronic, optical, and transport properties of oligoacenes, phenacenes, circumacenes, and oligorylenes. Using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT we computed: (i) electron affinities and first ionization energies; (ii) quasiparticle correction to the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap; (iii) molecular reorganization energies; (iv) electronic absorption spectra of neutral and $\pm1$ charged systems. The excitonic effects are estimated by comparing the optical gap and the quasiparticle corrected HOMO-LUMO energy gap. For each molecular property computed, general trends as a function of molecular size and charge state are discussed. Overall, we find that circumacenes have the best transport properties, displaying a steeper decrease of the molecular reorganization energy at increasing sizes, while oligorylenes are much more efficient in absorbing low-energy photons in comparison to the other classes.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for pubblication in Chemical Physics (14/04/2011

Time-dependent density functional study of the electronic spectra of oligoacenes in the charge states -1, 0, +1, and +2

We present a systematic theoretical study of the five smallest oligoacenes (naphthalene, anthracene, tetracene, pentacene, and hexacene) in their anionic,neutral, cationic, and dicationic charge states. We used density functional theory (DFT) to obtain the ground-state optimised geometries, and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) to evaluate the electronic absorption spectra. Total-energy differences enabled us to evaluate the electron affinities and first and second ionisation energies, the quasiparticle correction to the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and an estimate of the excitonic effects in the neutral molecules. Electronic absorption spectra have been computed by combining two different implementations of TD-DFT: the frequency-space method to study general trends as a function of charge-state and molecular size for the lowest-lying in-plane long-polarised and short-polarised $\pi\to\pi^\star$ electronic transitions, and the real-time propagation scheme to obtain the whole photo-absorption cross-section up to the far-UV. Doubly-ionised PAHs are found to display strong electronic transitions of $\pi\to\pi^\star$ character in the near-IR, visible, and near-UV spectral ranges, like their singly-charged counterparts. While, as expected, the broad plasmon-like structure with its maximum at about 17-18 eV is relatively insensitive to the charge-state of the molecule, a systematic decrease with increasing positive charge of the absorption cross-section between about 6 and about 12 eV is observed for each member of the class.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in Chemical Physic

Augmentation of Cellular Immunity and Reduction of Influenza Virus Titer in Aged Mice Fed Lactobacillus casei Strain Shirota

We investigated whether oral administration of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota activates the cellular immune system and ameliorates influenza virus (IFV) titer in the nasal site in upper respiratory IFV infection by using aged mice. Natural killer activity of splenocytes and lung cells of aged mice fed an L. casei strain Shirota diet (L.casei strain Shirota group) was significantly (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05) increased compared to those fed a control diet (control group). The increases were 1.5- and 2.5-fold, respectively. In aged mice fed an XL.casei strain Shirota diet, potent induction of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), which play a very important role in excluding IFV, was evident in nasal lymphocytes. IFN-γ and TNF-α production increased 12- and 3.5-fold, respectively. In this model of upper respiratory IFV infection, the titer of IFV in the nasal washings of aged mice fed an L.casei strain Shirota diet was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than that in aged mice fed a control diet (10(1.6 ± 0.6) and 10(2.2 ± 0.5), respectively). These findings suggest that oral administration of L.casei strain Shirota activates not only systemic cellular immunity but also local cellular immunity and that it ameliorates IFV infection

Predicting perioperative venous thromboembolism in Japanese gynecological patients.

To develop a convenient screening method that can predict perioperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) and identify patients at risk of fatal perioperative pulmonary embolism (PE).Patients hospitalized for gynecological abdominal surgery (n = 183) underwent hematology tests and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) to detect VTE. All statistical analyses were carried out using the SPSS software program (PASWV19.0J).The following risk factors for VTE were identified by univariate analysis: plasmin-alpha2-plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC), thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), and prolonged immobility (all p<0.001); age, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), malignancy, hypertension, past history of VTE, and hormone therapy (all p<0.01); and hemoglobin, transverse tumor diameter, ovarian disease, and menopause (all p<0.05). Multivariate analysis using these factors revealed that PIC, age, and transverse tumor diameter were significant independent determinants of the risk of VTE. We then calculated the incidence rate of perioperative VTE using PIC and transverse tumor diameter in patient groups stratified by age. In patients aged ≤40 years, PIC ≥1.3 µg/mL and a transverse tumor diameter ≥10 cm identified the high-risk group for VTE with an accuracy of 93.6%. For patients in their 50 s, PIC ≥1.3 µg/mL identified a high risk of VTE with an accuracy of 78.2%. In patients aged ≥60 years, a transverse tumor diameter ≥15 cm (irrespective of PIC) or PIC ≥1.3 µg/mL identified the high-risk group with an accuracy of 82.4%.We propose new screening criteria for VTE risk that are based on PIC, transverse tumor diameter, and age. Our findings suggest the usefulness of these criteria for predicting the risk of perioperative VTE and for identifying patients with a high risk of fatal perioperative PE