Exploring the Impact of Food on the Gut Ecosystem Based on the Combination of Machine Learning and Network Visualization

Prebiotics and probiotics strongly impact the gut ecosystem by changing the composition and/or metabolism of the microbiota to improve the health of the host. However, the composition of the microbiota constantly changes due to the intake of daily diet. This shift in the microbiota composition has a considerable impact; however, non-pre/probiotic foods that have a low impact are ignored because of the lack of a highly sensitive evaluation method. We performed comprehensive acquisition of data using existing measurements (nuclear magnetic resonance, next-generation DNA sequencing, and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy) and analyses based on a combination of machine learning and network visualization, which extracted important factors by the Random Forest approach, and applied these factors to a network module. We used two pteridophytes, Pteridium aquilinum and Matteuccia struthiopteris, for the representative daily diet. This novel analytical method could detect the impact of a small but significant shift associated with Matteuccia struthiopteris but not Pteridium aquilinum intake, using the functional network module. In this study, we proposed a novel method that is useful to explore a new valuable food to improve the health of the host as pre/probiotics

Relation of Dietary Fatty Acids and Vitamin D to the Prevalence of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction in Japanese Adults: The Hirado–Takushima Study

Intervention studies have shown that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation is effective for the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Ointment containing an analog of vitamin D has also been found to improve symptoms and signs of MGD. We have now evaluated the relation of MGD prevalence to dietary intake of fatty acids (FAs) and vitamin D among a Japanese population. Subjects comprised 300 adults aged 20 to 92 years residing on Takushima Island. MGD was diagnosed on the basis of subjective symptoms, lid margin abnormalities, and meibomian gland obstruction. Dietary FA and vitamin D intake was estimated with a brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire. MGD prevalence was 35.3%. Multivariate adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) between extreme quintiles of intake for MGD prevalence were 0.40 (0.16–0.97) for total fat, 0.40 (0.17–0.97) for saturated FAs, 0.40 (0.17–0.97) for oleic acid, 0.52 (0.23–1.18) for n-3 PUFAs, 0.63 (0.27–1.49) for n-6 PUFAs, 1.32 (0.59–2.95) for the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio, and 0.38 (0.17–0.87) for vitamin D. Total fat, saturated FA, oleic acid, and vitamin D intake may thus be negatively associated with MGD prevalence in the Japanese

Topotactic Synthesis of Mesoporous 12CaO·7Al₂O₃ Mesocrystalline Microcubes toward Catalytic Ammonia Synthesis

Topotactic Synthesis of Mesoporous 12CaO·7Al₂O₃ Mesocrystalline Microcubes toward Catalytic Ammonia Synthesi

Combined Pre-Supernova Alert System with Kamland and Super-Kamiokande

International audiencePreceding a core-collapse supernova, various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova neutrinos are observed, an early warning of the upcoming core-collapse supernova can be provided. In light of this, KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande have been monitoring pre-supernova neutrinos since 2015 and 2021, respectively. Recently, we performed a joint study between KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande on pre-supernova neutrino detection. A pre-supernova alert system combining the KamLAND detector and the Super-Kamiokande detector is developed and put into operation, which can provide a supernova alert to the astrophysics community. Fully leveraging the complementary properties of these two detectors, the combined alert is expected to resolve a pre-supernova neutrino signal from a 15 M$_{\odot}$ star within 510 pc of the Earth, at a significance level corresponding to a false alarm rate of no more than 1 per century. For a Betelgeuse-like model with optimistic parameters, it can provide early warnings up to 12 hours in advance

Combined Pre-Supernova Alert System with Kamland and Super-Kamiokande

International audiencePreceding a core-collapse supernova, various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova neutrinos are observed, an early warning of the upcoming core-collapse supernova can be provided. In light of this, KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande have been monitoring pre-supernova neutrinos since 2015 and 2021, respectively. Recently, we performed a joint study between KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande on pre-supernova neutrino detection. A pre-supernova alert system combining the KamLAND detector and the Super-Kamiokande detector is developed and put into operation, which can provide a supernova alert to the astrophysics community. Fully leveraging the complementary properties of these two detectors, the combined alert is expected to resolve a pre-supernova neutrino signal from a 15 M$_{\odot}$ star within 510 pc of the Earth, at a significance level corresponding to a false alarm rate of no more than 1 per century. For a Betelgeuse-like model with optimistic parameters, it can provide early warnings up to 12 hours in advance