Spawning performance of striped knifejaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus fed graded levels of ascorbyl-2-monophosphate Mg2+ as vitamin C source [2008]

This study aimed to improve spawning performance of striped knifejaw using ascorbyl-2-monophosphate Mg salt (APM) as a dietary ascorbic acid (AsA) source. Five experimental diets, a control diet 1 without APM and four test diets 2-5 with 500, 1,000, 3,000 and 6,000 mg AsA/kg diet in an equivalent basis of APM, respectively, were prepared using a semi purified fish meal basal diet. Each diet was fed to duplicate broodfish groups consisting of 4 females and 2 males, having mean body weight of 587 and 595 g, respectively, once a day for 21 weeks, from April 2006. Dietary APM promoted earlier onset of spawning and induced a tendency of improving egg quality; diet 2 had higher tendencies in egg production, buoyancy, hatching rate and larval survival activity index. Dietary APM significantly correlated to AsA levels in eggs. Groups fed diets 4 and 5 tended to induce higher abnormal larvae than groups fed diets 1-3. These results revealed that the broodfish of striped knifejaw effectively utilized APM as a dietary AsA source and promoted the early onset of spawning and performance; but high dietary APM might cause ill effects on egg quality

Mercury emission profile for the torrefaction of sewage sludge at a full-scale plant and application of polymer sorbent

We evaluated mercury (Hg) behavior in a full-scale sewage sludge torrefaction plant with a capacity of 150 wet tons/day, which operates under a nitrogen atmosphere at a temperature range of 250–350 °C. Thermodynamic calculations and monitoring results show that elemental Hg (Hg⁰) was the dominant species in both the pyrolysis gas during the torrefaction stage and in the flue gas from downstream air pollution control devices. A wet scrubber (WS) effectively removed oxidized Hg from the flue gas and moved Hg to wastewater, and an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) removed significant particulate-bound Hg but showed a limited capacity for overall Hg removal. Hg bound to total suspended solids had a much higher concentration than that of dissolved Hg in wastewater. Total suspended solid removal from wastewater is therefore recommended to reduce Hg discharge. Existing air pollution control devices, which consist of a cyclone, WS, and ESP, are not sufficient for Hg removal due to the poor Hg⁰ removal performance of the WS and ESP; a further Hg0 removal unit is necessary. A commercial packed tower with sorbent polymer catalyst composite material was effective in removing Hg (83.3%) during sludge torrefaction

Application of artificial sunlight for the elderly as a possible environmental nursing practice

Aging and aged societies have arrived in many countries where significant development of medicine and the economy has been achieved. Japan is a highly aged society with a shortage of carers both at home and in long-term care settings. In fact, more persons of advanced age who do not need intensive care in hospitals strongly desire health care to be delivered in their own home with their family. Environmental nursing practice, which means that nurses improve the environment of patients or the elderly properly in accordance with healthcare considerations, is currently playing a more important role, not only to prevent the elderly from contracting various diseases, but also to provide a facility for supporting an aged person to live a fulfilling life, preferably one that includes independence. This approach will lead to a reduction in medical expenditure by increasing the number of aged people with healthy longevity without the need for hospitalization or intensive care. This short communication focuses on healthy lighting for the elderly based on our research and experience regarding the beneficial effects of artificial sunlight on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), asthma and food allergy, and ulcerative colitis in experimental animal models and clinical settings. Then, we review other studies and discuss how artificial sunlight would be useful for the elderly as one of the environmental nursing practices

A Clinical Trial Evaluating the Usefulness of Tailored Antimicrobial Prophylaxis Using Rectal-culture Screening Media Prior to Transrectal Prostate Biopsy: A Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial

The aim of this report is to introduce an on-going, multicenter, randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether tailored antimicrobial prophylaxis guided by rectal culture screening prevents acute bacterial prostatitis following transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPB). Patients will be randomized into an intervention or non-intervention group; tazobactam-piperacillin or levofloxacin will be prophylactically administered according to the results of rectal culture prior to TRPB in the intervention group whereas levofloxacin will be routinely given in the non-intervention group. The primary endpoint is the occurrence rate of acute bacterial prostatitis after TRPB. Recruitment begins in April, 2021 and the target total sample size is 5,100 participants

Current Status and Future Potential of Robotic Surgery for Gastrointestinal Cancer

　Robotic surgery has built on innovations in areas such as medical engineering and optical technology. Laparoscopic surgery has been successfully adapted for gastric, colon, and rectal cancer surgeries over the past two decades with numerous clinical trials showing oncological results comparable to those of open surgery. These trials have also shown that the laparoscopic approach shortens postoperative recovery time and decreases complication rates. Another advantage of minimally invasive techniques for the resection of gastric, colon, and rectal cancers is improved visualization of the surgical field. Despite the near absence of tactile feedback, robotic surgery has overcome many of the challenges inherent in laparoscopic surgery through features such as 3D vision, stable magnification, EndoWrist instruments, physiological tremor filtering, and motion scaling. Robotic surgery is not yet widely used in esophageal cancer surgery or in a pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer due to anatomical difficulties and the lack of a suitable approach.　Comparative studies of robotic and laparoscopic surgery have shown similar results in terms of perioperative management, oncologic evaluation, and functional outcomes. However, it is also true that the high cost and lack of tactile feedback in robotic surgery are major limitations in terms of current robotic technology becoming the worldwide standard for minimally invasive surgery. The future of robotic surgery will require cost reduction, the development of new platforms and technologies, the creation and validation of curricula and virtual simulators, and confirmation through appropriate randomized controlled clinical trials

Appendiceal mucinous neoplasm: a review of eleven surgical cases in our institution

　虫垂原発粘液産生腫瘍は WHO 分類に基づき低異型度虫垂粘液性腫瘍（Low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm，以下 LAMN）と粘液癌に分類される．当科にて2010年４月〜2018年11月までに外科的切除された11症例を集積検討した．　11症例の内訳は年齢が27～88歳（中央値61歳）で男女比は男７人，女４人であった．主訴は腹痛が６人で無症状が５人であった．病理診断での腫瘍最大径は３〜12 cm（平均5.9 cm）であった．術前より LAMN と疑われた症例は７例で，虫垂腺癌の術前診断に至った症例は１例であった．虫垂腫瘍との術前診断に至らなかった３症例のうち，虫垂炎の術前診断で虫垂切除術施行後に病理診断で判明したものが２例，十二指腸潰瘍穿孔で緊急手術を行った際に合併切除した虫垂組織より偶然発見されたものが１例であった．術式は虫垂切除のみが３例，回盲部切除が５例，右半結腸切除が３例であった．予定手術は６例で緊急手術が５例であった．最終病理診断（大腸癌取り扱い規約第９版に準拠）は LAMN が７例で虫垂腺癌が２例，粘液嚢胞が２例であった．術後入院期間は2〜47日（中央値12日）で，虫垂腫瘍切除に関連する術後合併症はなかった．LAMN は比較的稀な疾患であるが，腫瘍破裂により粘液が漏出することで腹膜偽粘液腫をきたす可能性がある．そのため，再発を引き起こさないためには①画像検査などでの術前診断（術中診断を含む），②術中に粘液漏出させない術式選択，③術後病理診断で判明した場合の追加治療の適否，についてその都度慎重に判断する必要がある．　LAMN は低悪性度腫瘍にも関わらず再発の危険性があるため，画像検査で疑った場合は再発防止を念頭においた術前評価と治療方針の策定が必要であり，切除後の厳重フォローも重要である．　Appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (AMN) is composed of mucinous adenocarcinoma and low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) according to the fifth edition World Health Organization classification. Although AMN is relatively rare in clinical practice, we had eleven surgical cases of AMN from April 2010 to November 2018 and retrospectively review them in this report. The eleven cases consisted of seven men and four women, ages 27 - 88 years old (average: 65.5 y.o.). Six patients had abdominal pain upon their initial visit. Preoperative examinations made a presumptive diagnosis of LAMN in 7 cases and cancer of the appendix in 2 cases. In the other two cases, one was diagnosed after surgery for acute appendicitis, and the other was coincidently found in the appendiceal tissue that was resected during an emergent laparotomy for a perforated duodenal ulcer. Emergency operations were performed for 5 cases, whereas laparoscopic surgery was done in 4 of the cases. The following operative procedures were performed; 5 ileocecal resections, 3 right hemicolectomies, and 3 simple appendectomies. Pathological examinations concluded that 7 cases were LAMN, 2 were appendiceal adenocarcinoma, and the remaining 2 were hyperplastic mucocele. The length of hospital stay after surgery varied from 2 to 47 days (median: 12 days), with no apparent complications related to surgery in any cases. The most critical features of AMN are the potential to recur as pseudomyxoma peritonei, when the tumor is ruptured during surgery, or in case of tumor cells remaining at the resection stump. Since LAMN is specifically recognized to be low-grade malignant, several steps should be taken to minimize recurrence in addition to the standard postoperative follow-up on regular basis. These steps include assessing each preoperative state of disease adequately, selecting the most suitable procedure to reduce the risk of mucus leakage, and cautiously reviewing the necessity of additional resection based upon pathological determinations

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Light-induced structural changes and the site of O=O bond formation in PSII caught by XFEL

Photosystem II (PSII) is a huge membrane-protein complex consisting of 20 different subunits with a total molecular mass of 350 kDa for a monomer. It catalyses light-driven water oxidation at its catalytic centre, the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). The structure of PSII has been analysed at 1.9 Å resolution by synchrotron radiation X-rays, which revealed that the OEC is a Mn4CaO5 cluster organized in an asymmetric, 'distorted-chair' form. This structure was further analysed with femtosecond X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), providing the 'radiation damage-free' structure. The mechanism of O=O bond formation, however, remains obscure owing to the lack of intermediate-state structures. Here we describe the structural changes in PSII induced by two-flash illumination at room temperature at a resolution of 2.35 Å using time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography with an XFEL provided by the SPring-8 ångström compact free-electron laser. An isomorphous difference Fourier map between the two-flash and dark-adapted states revealed two areas of apparent changes: around the QB/non-haem iron and the Mn4CaO5 cluster. The changes around the QB/non-haem iron region reflected the electron and proton transfers induced by the two-flash illumination. In the region around the OEC, a water molecule located 3.5 Å from the Mn4CaO5 cluster disappeared from the map upon two-flash illumination. This reduced the distance between another water molecule and the oxygen atom O4, suggesting that proton transfer also occurred. Importantly, the two-flash-minus-dark isomorphous difference Fourier map showed an apparent positive peak around O5, a unique μ4-oxo-bridge located in the quasi-centre of Mn1 and Mn4 (refs 4,5). This suggests the insertion of a new oxygen atom (O6) close to O5, providing an O=O distance of 1.5 Å between these two oxygen atoms. This provides a mechanism for the O=O bond formation consistent with that proposed previousl