Improvement of glucose variability by continuation of Low-Carbo meal

Background: For years, there have been various discussion of Calorie Restriction (CR) and low carbohydrate diet (LCD). We have continued clinical research of CR and LCD so far. Patient and Method: The patient was 72-year-old female with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). At first visit, she showed BMI 29.5, postprandial 120 min of blood glucose 548 mg/dl, HbA1c 18.0%, Hb 11.4 g/dL, GOT 29 IU/mL, r-GTP 36 IU/mL, Cre 1.0 mg/dL, TG 194 mg/dL, LDL 161 mg/dL. Serum C-peptide radioimmunoactivity (CPR) 5.4 ng/mL, urinary protein 24 mg/dL. Results: We have treated her by standard LCD meal, including 26% of carbohydrate with 1400kcal per day. She could continue LCD successfully and showed the decreased data as follows: HbA1c 18.0% to 7.8%, blood glucose 548 mg/dL to 154 mg/dL, proteinuria 24 mg/dL to 3 mg/dL, weight 72 kg to 65 kg for some months. Discussion and Conclusion: LCD showed clinical efficacy in several biomarkers. Patient applied standard-LCD method, including 26% of carbohydrate with 1400 kcal per day, which would bring decreased HbA1c, glucose, proteinuria and weight to the actual degree. These data would become basal reference and would bring further research development in the future

聴解授業のためのニュース番組の分析：リード文と本文の関係及び文末表現の特徴

中上級の日本語学習者にとって聞き取れるようになりたいという目標の一つがニュースである。しかし実際に放送されているニュースには未習語が多く、聞き取ることが難しいと感じている学習者も多い。そこで聴解クラスでテレビニュースを聞き取りの教材として扱うために、その構成や文末表現の特徴を分析した。その結果、ニュースはリード文と本文という二つの構成に分けられ、その内容は重複しており、リード文で使われた語彙や表現がニュース全体の理解のために非常に重要であることがわかった。この知見を活用することで学習者が未習語を類推できる可能性を探った。また、ニュース報道文には文末表現に特徴があり、単語の共起関係や使用頻度に傾向が見られた。これらの特徴を事前に学習者に説明しておくことで、ニュースを聞き取る際の助けになることが考えられる。本研究ではこれらの特徴を踏まえ、中上級の学習者が聴解授業で使用するための教材の作成を試み、どのような手立てがニュース聴解のために必要であるかを考察した

In Silico Study of Rett Syndrome Treatment-Related Genes, MECP2, CDKL5, and FOXG1, by Evolutionary Classification and Disordered Region Assessment

Rett syndrome (RTT), a neurodevelopmental disorder, is mainly caused by mutations in methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), which has multiple functions such as binding to methylated DNA or interacting with a transcriptional co-repressor complex. It has been established that alterations in cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) or forkhead box protein G1 (FOXG1) correspond to distinct neurodevelopmental disorders, given that a series of studies have indicated that RTT is also caused by alterations in either one of these genes. We investigated the evolution and molecular features of MeCP2, CDKL5, and FOXG1 and their binding partners using phylogenetic profiling to gain a better understanding of their similarities. We also predicted the structural order–disorder propensity and assessed the evolutionary rates per site of MeCP2, CDKL5, and FOXG1 to investigate the relationships between disordered structure and other related properties with RTT. Here, we provide insight to the structural characteristics, evolution and interaction landscapes of those three proteins. We also uncovered the disordered structure properties and evolution of those proteins which may provide valuable information for the development of therapeutic strategies of RTT

Attenuated Efficacy of Dulaglutide in Elder Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) Cases

Acute increase of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a serious medical problem. Recently, an agent known as Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) was developed for T2DM which has remarkable efficacy and safety profile. In this article, we reported 2 T2DM cases with dulaglutide treatment, showing interesting clinical course. Case 1 is an 88-year-old man with hypertension, arteriosclerosis and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) without difficulties of Quality of Life (QOL)/Activities in Daily living (ADL) in daily life. He has been rather stable on liraglutide with HbA1c 7.2%. After switching from liraglutide to dulaglutide, HbA1c decreased to 6.7% in 2 months, but later increased to 11.3% in 3 months. C-peptide index (CPI) decreased from 2.5 to 0.8. Case 2 is an 83-year-old man and was treated by degludec with CPI 1.35. After switching to dulaglutide, HbA1c decreased to 7.6% in 2 months, but later increased to 10.3% in 2 months. These two cases revealed similar clinical course. Some possibilities might be speculated, including antibody production, differences of GLP-1 RAs from man-origin or lizard-origin, changes in body weight, a possible complication of renal, hepatic inflammatory influences and the subacute decreased ability of insulin secretion in the β cells. The current report would be useful for treatment of GLP-1 RAs in the future

Construction of microbial platform for an energy-requiring bioprocess: practical 2′-deoxyribonucleoside production involving a C−C coupling reaction with high energy substrates

BACKGROUND: Reproduction and sustainability are important for future society, and bioprocesses are one technology that can be used to realize these concepts. However, there is still limited variation in bioprocesses and there are several challenges, especially in the operation of energy-requiring bioprocesses. As an example of a microbial platform for an energy-requiring bioprocess, we established a process that efficiently and enzymatically synthesizes 2′-deoxyribonucleoside from glucose, acetaldehyde, and a nucleobase. This method consists of the coupling reactions of the reversible nucleoside degradation pathway and energy generation through the yeast glycolytic pathway. RESULTS: Using E. coli that co-express deoxyriboaldolase and phosphopentomutase, a high amount of 2′-deoxyribonucleoside was produced with efficient energy transfer under phosphate-limiting reaction conditions. Keeping the nucleobase concentration low and the mixture at a low reaction temperature increased the yield of 2′-deoxyribonucleoside relative to the amount of added nucleobase, indicating that energy was efficiently generated from glucose via the yeast glycolytic pathway under these reaction conditions. Using a one-pot reaction in which small amounts of adenine, adenosine, and acetone-dried yeast were fed into the reaction, 75 mM of 2′-deoxyinosine, the deaminated product of 2′-deoxyadenosine, was produced from glucose (600 mM), acetaldehyde (250 mM), adenine (70 mM), and adenosine (20 mM) with a high yield relative to the total base moiety input (83%). Moreover, a variety of natural dNSs were further synthesized by introducing a base-exchange reaction into the process. CONCLUSION: A critical common issue in energy-requiring bioprocess is fine control of phosphate concentration. We tried to resolve this problem, and provide the convenient recipe for establishment of energy-requiring bioprocesses. It is anticipated that the commercial demand for dNSs, which are primary metabolites that accumulate at very low levels in the metabolic pool, will grow. The development of an efficient production method for these compounds will have a great impact in both fields of applied microbiology and industry and will also serve as a good example of a microbial platform for energy-requiring bioprocesses

Effects of a novel method of anesthesia combining propofol and volatile anesthesia on the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic gynecological surgery

AbstractBackgroundWe investigated the effects of a novel method of anesthesia combining propofol and volatile anesthesia on the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic gynecological surgery.MethodsPatients were randomly divided into three groups: those maintained with sevoflurane (Group S, n=42), propofol (Group P, n=42), or combined propofol and sevoflurane (Group PS, n=42). We assessed complete response (no postoperative nausea and vomiting and no rescue antiemetic use), incidence of nausea and vomiting, nausea severity score, vomiting frequency, rescue antiemetic use, and postoperative pain at 2 and 24h after surgery.ResultsThe number of patients who exhibited a complete response was greater in Groups P and PS than in Group S at 0–2h (74%, 76% and 43%, respectively, p=0.001) and 0–24h (71%, 76% and 38%, respectively, p<0.0005). The incidence of nausea at 0–2h (Group S=57%, Group P=26% and Group PS=21%, p=0.001) and 0–24h (Group S=62%, Group P=29% and Group PS=21%, p<0.0005) was also significantly different among groups. However, there were no significant differences among groups in the incidence or frequency of vomiting or rescue antiemetic use at 0–24h.ConclusionCombined propofol and volatile anesthesia during laparoscopic gynecological surgery effectively decreases the incidence of postoperative nausea. We term this novel method of anesthesia “combined intravenous-volatile anesthesia (CIVA)”

Identification of endogenous small peptides involved in rice immunity through transcriptomics- and proteomics-based screening

Small signalling peptides, generated from larger protein precursors, are important components to orchestrate various plant processes such as development and immune responses. However, small signalling peptides involved in plant immunity remain largely unknown. Here, we developed a pipeline using transcriptomics- and proteomics-based screening to identify putative precursors of small signalling peptides: small secreted proteins (SSPs) in rice, induced by rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and its elicitor, chitin. We identified 236 SSPs including members of two known small signalling peptide families, namely rapid alkalinization factors and phytosulfokines, as well as many other protein families that are known to be involved in immunity, such as proteinase inhibitors and pathogenesis-related protein families. We also isolated 52 unannotated SSPs and among them, we found one gene which we named immune response peptide (IRP) that appeared to encode the precursor of a small signalling peptide regulating rice immunity. In rice suspension cells, the expression of IRP was induced by bacterial peptidoglycan and fungal chitin. Overexpression of IRP enhanced the expression of a defence gene, PAL1 and induced the activation of the MAPKs in rice suspension cells. Moreover, the IRP protein level increased in suspension cell medium after chitin treatment. Collectively, we established a simple and efficient pipeline to discover SSP candidates that probably play important roles in rice immunity and identified 52 unannotated SSPs that may be useful for further elucidation of rice immunity. Our method can be applied to identify SSPs that are involved not only in immunity but also in other plant functions

An NLR paralog Pit2 generated from tandem duplication of Pit1 fine-tunes Pit1 localization and function

NLR family proteins act as intracellular receptors. Gene duplication amplifies the number of NLR genes, and subsequent mutations occasionally provide modifications to the second gene that benefits immunity. However, evolutionary processes after gene duplication and functional relationships between duplicated NLRs remain largely unclear. Here, we report that the rice NLR protein Pit1 is associated with its paralogue Pit2. The two are required for the resistance to rice blast fungus but have different functions: Pit1 induces cell death, while Pit2 competitively suppresses Pit1-mediated cell death. During evolution, the suppression of Pit1 by Pit2 was probably generated through positive selection on two fate-determining residues in the NB-ARC domain of Pit2, which account for functional differences between Pit1 and Pit2. Consequently, Pit2 lost its plasma membrane localization but acquired a new function to interfere with Pit1 in the cytosol. These findings illuminate the evolutionary trajectory of tandemly duplicated NLR genes after gene duplication