Recycling Studies for Swine Manure Slurry Using Multi Process of Aerobic Digestion (MPAD)

This study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of Multi Process of Aerobic Digestion (MPAD) for recycling of swine manure slurry as fertilizer. MPAD consisted of three kinds of difference process which are thermophilic aerobic oxidation (TAO) system, lime solidification system, and reverse osmosis (R/O) membrane system. TAO system was studied well previously for decade. The chemical composition of the lime-treated solid fertilizer was as like that organic matter 17.4%, moisture 34.1%, N 0.9%, P 1.7%, K 0.3%, Ca 12.7%, and which was expected to be useful as acid soil amendment material. The concentrated liquid material produced by R/O membrane system was also expected as a good fertilizer for crops production and soil fertility improvement.OtherShinshu University International Symposium 2010 : Sustainable Agriculture and Environment : Asian Networks II 　信州大学国際シンポジウム2010 : 持続的農業と環境 : アジアネットワークII ― アジアネットワークの発展をめざして―. 信州大学農学部, 2010, 71-77conference pape

Identification of Domains Directing Specificity of Coupling to G-proteins for the Melanocortin MC3 and MC4 Receptors

The melanocortin receptors, MC3R and MC4R, are G protein-coupled receptors that are involved in regulating energy homeostasis. Using a luciferase reporter gene under the transcriptional control of a cAMP-responsive element (CRE), the coupling efficiency of the MC4R and MC3R to G-proteins was previously shown to be different. MC4R exhibited only 30-50% of the maximum activity induced by MC3R. To assess the role of the different MC3R and MC4R domains in G-protein coupling, several chimeric MC3R/MC4R receptors were constructed. The relative luciferase activities, which were assessed after transfecting the chimeric receptors into HEK 293T cells, showed that the i3 (3rd intracellular) loop domain has an essential role in the differential signaling of MC3R and MC4R. To reveal which amino acid residue was involved in the MC4R-specific signaling in the i3 loop, a series of mutant MC4Rs was constructed. Reporter gene analysis showed that single mutations of Arg220 to Ala and Thr232 to either Val or Ala increased the relative luciferase activities, which suggests that these specific amino acids, Arg220 and Thr232, in the i3 loop of MC4R play crucial roles in G-protein coupling and the subtype-specific signaling pathways. An examination of the inositol phosphate (IP) levels in the cells transfected with either MC3R or MC4R after being exposed to the melanocortin peptides revealed significant stimulation of IP production by MC3R but no detectable increase in IP production was observed by MC4R. Furthermore, none of the MC4R mutants displayed melanocortin peptide-stimulated IP production. Overall, this study demonstrated that MC3R and MC4R have distinct signaling in either the cAMP- or the inositol phospholipid-mediated pathway with different conformational requirements

Cardiovascular risk factors of early atherosclerosis in school-aged children after Kawasaki disease

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine whether school-aged children with Kawasaki disease (KD) have an increased risk for early atherosclerosis.MethodsThe study included 98 children. The children were divided into the following groups: group A (n=19), KD with coronary arterial lesions that persisted or regressed; group B (n=49), KD without coronary arterial lesions; and group C (n=30), healthy children. Anthropometric variables and the levels of biochemical markers, including total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoprotein A, apolipoprotein B, homocysteine, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and brachial artery stiffness using pulse wave velocity were compared among the three groups.ResultsThere were no significant differences in blood pressure and body index among the three groups. Additionally, there was no sex-specific difference. Moreover, the levels of triglyceride, HDL-C, apolipoprotein A, and hs-CRP did not differ among the three groups. However, the levels of total cholesterol (P=0.018), LDL-C (P=0.0003), and apolipoprotein B (P=0.029) were significantly higher in group A than in group C. Further, the level of homocysteine and the aortic pulse wave velocity were significantly higher in groups A and B than in group C (P=0.0001).ConclusionSchool-aged children after KD have high lipid profiles and arterial stiffness indicating an increased risk for early atherosclerosis

Relevance of the Core 70 and IL-28B polymorphism and response-guided therapy of peginterferon alfa-2a ± ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C of Genotype 1b: a multicenter randomized trial, ReGIT-J study

BACKGROUND: We conducted a multicenter randomized clinical trial to determine the optimal treatment strategy against chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) with genotype 1b and a high viral load (G1b/high). METHODS: The study subjects included 153 patients with G1b/high. Patients were initially treated with PEG-IFNα-2a alone and then randomly assigned to receive different treatment regimens. Ribavirin (RBV) was administered to all patients with HCV RNA at week 4. Patients negative for HCV RNA at week 4 were randomly assigned to receive PEG-IFNα-2a (group A) or PEG-IFNα-2a/RBV (group B). Patients who showed HCV RNA at week 4 but were negative at week 12 were randomly assigned to receive weekly PEG-IFNα-2a (group C) or biweekly therapy (group D). Patients who showed HCV RNA at week 12 but were negative at week 24 were randomly assigned to receive PEG-IFNα-2a/RBV (group E) or PEG-IFNα-2a/RBV/fluvastatin (group F). RESULTS: Overall, the rate of sustained virological response (SVR) was 46 % (70/153). The total SVR rate in the group (A, D, and F) of response-guided therapy was significantly higher than that in the group (B, C, and E) of conventional therapy [70 % (38/54) versus 52 % (32/61), p = 0.049]. Although IL28-B polymorphism and Core 70 mutation were significantly associated with efficacy, patients with rapid virological response (RVR) and complete early virological response (cEVR) achieved high SVR rates regardless of their status of IL-28B polymorphism and Core 70 mutation. CONCLUSION: In addition to knowing the IL-28B polymorphism and Core 70 mutation status, understanding the likelihood of virological response during treatment is critical in determining the appropriate treatment strategy

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides (ZA) has been used as folk medicines in East Asian and recently reported to have several bioactivity; however, the studies of ZA on the regulation of triacylglycerol (TG) biosynthesis have not been elucidated yet. In this study, we examined whether the methanol extract of ZA (ZA-M) could reduce oleic acid- (OA-) induced intracellular lipid accumulation and confirmed its mode of action in HepG2 cells. ZA-M was shown to promote the phosphorylation of AMPK and its upstream LKB1, followed by reduction of lipogenic gene expressions. As a result, treatment of ZA-M blocked de novo TG biosynthesis and subsequently mitigated intracellular neutral lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells. ZA-M also inhibited OA-induced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and TNF-α, suggesting that ZA-M possess the anti-inflammatory feature in fatty acid over accumulated condition. Taken together, these results suggest that ZA-M attenuates OA-induced lipid accumulation and inflammation through the activation of LKB1/AMPK signaling pathway in HepG2 cells

Effects of Hanwoo (Korean cattle) manure as organic fertilizer on plant growth, feed quality, and soil bacterial community

IntroductionThe development of organic manure from livestock excreta is a useful source for sustainable crop production in environment-friendly agriculture. Organic manure increases soil microbial activity and organic matter (OM) supply. The excessive use of chemical fertilizers (CFs) leads to air and water pollution caused by toxic chemicals and gases, and soil quality degradation via nutrient imbalance due to supplying specific chemical components. Thus, the use of organic manure will serve as a long-term supply of various nutrients in soil via OM decomposition reaction as well as the maintenance of environment.MethodsIn this study, we aimed to analyze the diverse effects of Hanwoo manure (HM) on plant growth, feed quality, and soil bacterial communities in comparison with CFs, commercial poultry manure (CM), and the combined use of chemical fertilizer and Hanwoo manure (HM+CF). We analyzed the contents of crude matter (protein, fat, fiber, and ash), P, acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) through feed quality analysis, and the contents or activities of total phenol, total flavonoid, ABTS, nitrite scavenging, and reducing power via the antioxidant assay. Furthermore, the soil microbial communities were determined using 16S rRNA sequencing. We compared the soil bacteria among different soil samples by using amplicon sequence variant (ASV) analysis.Results and discussionWe observed increased OM in the soil of the HM group compared to that of the CF and non-treated groups over a period of two years. Moreover, HM+CF treatment enormously improved plant growth. Organic manure, especially HM, caused an increase in the content of crude ash and phosphorus in plants. There were no significant differences in total polyphenol, total flavonoid, ABTS, nitrite scavenging, and reducing power in plants between HM and CF groups. Finally, we detected 13 soil bacteria (Acidibacter, Algisphaera, Cystobacter, Microvirga, Ohtaekwangia, Panacagrimonas, Pseudarthrobacter, Reryanella, Rhodoligotrophos, Solirubrobacter, Stenotrophobacter, Tellurimicrobium, and Thermomarinilinea) that were considerably correlated with OM and available phosphorus, and three considerably correlated bacteria were specifically distributed in CF or organic manure. The results suggest that HM is a valuable source of organic manure that can replace CF for sustainable crop production