A Quantitative Immunochromatography Assay of Whole Blood Samples for Antigen-specific IgE—A New Method for Point of Care Testing for Allergens—

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe development of an inexpensive point-of-care testing system for antigen-specific IgE is greatly needed. We, therefore, tried to develop a quantitative enzyme immunochromatography assay system for antigen-specific IgE in fresh whole blood.MethodsWhole blood sample was mixed with a reagent containing detergent to lyse red blood cells, and the mixture was applied to an immunochromatography strip. The lysate was observed to migrate in the strip and was washed away by the substrate buffer. When the sample contained the specific IgE, the antigen-specific IgE line was clearly observed on the strip macroscopically.ResultsResults were obtained 20 minutes after the application of hemolysed blood sample to immunochromatography, and these results showed positive correlation with those obtained by the AlaSTAT system, which is one of the popular assay kits for specific IgE. The results were not affected significantly by the hematocrit value of the blood sample, by the kind of anticoagulant in the blood collection tube, or by the concentration of the total IgE, provided it was lower than 20000IU/ml.ConclusionsThese results indicate that our system is applicable for point-of-care testing for antigen-specific IgE

In situ7Li nuclear magnetic resonance study of the relaxation effect in practical lithium ion batteries

Lithium ion cells comprising actual components of positive electrodes (LiCoO2, LiNixCoyAlz, and LiMn2O4) and negative electrodes (graphite and hard carbon) were assembled for in situ7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. The 7Li NMR measurements of the cells revealed a “relaxation effect” after overcharging: a decrease of the signal assigned to Li metal deposited on the negative electrode surface by overcharging. The reduction of the Li metal signal was inversely proportional to the increase of the signal of lithium stored in carbon. Therefore, the effect was ascribed to absorption of deposited lithium into the carbon of negative electrodes. The effect, which occurred rapidly in a few hours, reached an equilibrium state at 8–15 h. The slight shift of deposited metal suggests that dendritic Li easily re-dissolved, although larger Li particles remained. A hard carbon electrode has a greater effect of Li metal relaxation than graphite electrodes do, which is explainable by the bufferable structure of the carbon. Results are expected to be important for the discussion of the state of lithium, and for safer battery design

Recycling concrete rubbles with reactive aggregates from ASR-affected bridge pier

金沢大学理工研究域環境デザイン学系A large number of bridge piers on the Noto highway are now suffering from serious damages caused by alkali-silica reaction (ASR). The Kashima Bridge with a 2-span steel girder structure was constructed in 1978. However, in the inspection carried out in 2004, it was found that half of stirrup steel bars in the pillow beam fractured at the bending corner of steel bar due to the excessive ASR expansion of concrete. For this reason, the pillow beam of the Kashima Bridge was completely reconstructed by removing all the concrete in 2005. In the first part of the paper, the execution procedure of reconstruction of pillow beam and the strengthening of column in ASR-affected RC pier were introduced. In the second part of the paper, in order to recycle concrete rubbles from the Kashima Bridge, the possibility of recycled aggregates for residual ASR reactivity and its some countermeasures were also discussed. © 2008 Taylor & Francis Group.全文公開20090

The incidence and risk factors of venous thromboembolism in Japanese inpatients with inflammatory bowel disease: a retrospective cohort study

Background/AimsVenous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major extraintestinal manifestation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), regarded as an independent risk factor for VTE according to reports from Western countries. However, the incidence and risk factors of VTE in Asian IBD patients are not fully understood. We aimed to reveal the incidence and risk factors of VTE in Japanese IBD inpatients.MethodsThe incidence of VTE in inpatients with IBD (n=340), gastrointestinal cancers (n=557), and other gastrointestinal diseases (n=569) treated at our hospital from 2009 to 2013 was retrospectively investigated. The characteristics and laboratory data of IBD inpatients with and without VTE were compared in univariate and multivariate analyses. Clinical courses of VTE in IBD were surveyed.ResultsVTE was detected in 7.1% of IBD inpatients, significantly higher than in gastrointestinal cancer inpatients (2.5%) and inpatients with other gastrointestinal diseases (0.88%). The incidence of VTE in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients (16.7%) was much higher than that in those with Crohn's disease (3.6%). In the univariate analysis, the risk factors were an older age, central venous catheter, prednisolone, surgery, low serum albumin, high serum C-reactive protein and D-dimer. According to a multivariate analysis, >50 years of age and surgery were the only risk factors. The in-hospital mortality rate of IBD inpatients with VTE was 4.2%.ConclusionsThe incidence of VTE with IBD, especially UC, was found to be high compared with other digestive disease, which was almost equivalent to that of Western countries. The efficacy of prophylaxis needs to be investigated in Asian IBD patients

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ラット,ブタ,ヒトの肝臓からカルボキシルェステラーゼを精製し,その基質特異性などの諸性質を検討した。ラットからはcarboxylesterase pI 6.0とcarboxylesterase pI 6.2,ブタからはインドメタシン水解酵素,ヒトからはcarboxylesterase pI 5.3とcarboxylesterase pI 4.5を得た。これらの酵素のうちラット由来のcarboxylesterase pI 6.2のみがプランルカストに対して水解活性を示し,この基質特異性の差がヒトとラットでのプランルカストの代謝経路の違いの原因であると考えられた。プタ由来のインドメタシン水解酵素は,カルボキシルエステラーゼの一般的な基質であるα-naphthyl acetate に対して水解活性を示さず,アミノ酸配列の解析から新規の酵素であると考えられた。ヒト由来の2種類のカルボキシルエステラーゼの基質特異性は大きく異なっていた。これらの結果は,カルボキシルエステラーゼの種差および基質特異性の情報はエステル型およびアミド型薬物の代謝を理解する上で重要であることを示している。なお,本研究では基質特異性の検討を簡便かつ短時間に行うためにHPLCでの移動相の簡便な選択法の開発を行った。Carboxylesterases designated as carboxylesterase pI 6.0 and pI 6.2,indomethacin hydrolyzing enzyme, and carboxylesterase pI 5.3 and pI 4.5 from the livers of rat, pig, and human, respectively, were purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by several stages of column chromatography. Some properties, especially the substrate specificity, of these esterases were clarified. Pranlukast was effectively hydrolyzed by carboxylesterase pI 6.2 from rat but not by another esterases, suggesting that the substrate specificity of carboxylesterases from rat and human reflects the difference in pranlukast metabolism between the two species. Indomethacin hydrolyzing enzyme from pig exhibited no catalytic activity for α-naphthylacetate, which is a typical substrate of carboxylesterases. Amino acid sequence analysis of this hydrolyzing enzyme revealed it to be a novel esterase. The substrate specificity of carboxylesterase pI 5.3 and pI 4.5 from human was observed to be quite different. These results imply that the differences in the substrate specificity of carboxylesterases between specics is helpful to understand the metabolism of ester- and amide-type drugs. In this study, a convenient method was developed to select the mobile phase to separate drugs commonly used in clinical therapy, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) , and applied to assay for the substrate specificity of carboxylesterases. Using this method, the time required for not only the setting of HPLC conditions, but also the analysis was shortened