Jellyfish mucin may have potential disease-modifying effects on osteoarthritis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to study the effects of intra-articular injection of jellyfish mucin (qniumucin) on articular cartilage degeneration in a model of osteoarthritis (OA) created in rabbit knees by resection of the anterior cruciate ligament. Qniumucin was extracted from <it>Aurelia aurita </it>(moon jellyfish) and <it>Stomolophus nomurai </it>(Nomura's jellyfish) and purified by ion exchange chromatography. The OA model used 36 knees in 18 Japanese white rabbits. Purified qniumucin extracts from <it>S. nomurai </it>or <it>A. aurita </it>were used at 1 mg/ml. Rabbits were divided into four groups: a control (C) group injected with saline; a hyaluronic acid (HA)-only group (H group); two qniumucin-only groups (M groups); and two qniumucin + HA groups (MH groups). One milligram of each solution was injected intra-articularly once a week for 5 consecutive weeks, starting from 4 weeks after surgery. Ten weeks after surgery, the articular cartilage was evaluated macroscopically and histologically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the C and M groups, macroscopic cartilage defects extended to the subchondral bone medially and laterally. When the H and both MH groups were compared, only minor cartilage degeneration was observed in groups treated with qniumucin in contrast to the group without qniumucin. Histologically, densely safranin-O-stained cartilage layers were observed in the H and two MH groups, but cartilage was strongly maintained in both MH groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>At the concentrations of qniumucin used in this study, injection together with HA inhibited articular cartilage degeneration in this model of OA.</p

GJETC report 2018 : intensified German-Japanese cooperation in energy research ; key results and policy recommendations

The challenges and also potentials of the energy transition are tremendous in Germany, as well as in Japan. Sometimes, structures of the old energy world need "creative destruction" to clear the way for innovations for a decarbonized, low-risk energy system. In these times of disruptive changes, a constructive and sometimes controversial dialog within leading industrial nation as Japan and Germany over the energy transition is even more important. The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) released a summarizing report for the first project phase 2016-2018. It includes jointly formulated recommendations for politics as well as a controversial dialogue part. The Council jointly states and recommends that: Ambitious long-term targets and strategies for a low-carbon energy system must be defined and ambitiously implemented; Germany and Japan as high technology countries need to take the leadership. Both countries will have to restructure their energy systems substantially until 2050 while maintaining their competitiveness and securing energy supply. Highest priority is given to the forced implementation of efficiency technologies and renewable energies, despite different views on nuclear energy. In both countries all relevant stakeholders - but above all the decision-makers on all levels of energy policy - need to increase their efforts for a successful implementation of the energy transition. Design of the electricity market needs more incentives for flexibility options and for the extensive expansion of variable power generation, alongside with strategies for cost reduction for electricity from photovoltaic and wind energy. The implementation gap of the energy efficiency needs to be closed by an innovative energy policy package to promote the principle of "Energy Efficiency First". Synergies and co-benefits of an enhanced energy and resource efficiency policy need to be realized. Co-existence of central infrastructure and the growing diversity of the activities for decentralization (citizens funding, energy cooperatives, establishment of public utility companies) should be supported. Scientific cooperation can be intensified by a joint working group for scenarios and by the establishment of an academic exchange program

The disabling effects of enabling social policies on organisations’ human capital development practices for women

Paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are social policies designed to enhance parents' labour force participation. These policies influence not only men's and women's decisions regarding their labour market activity but also organisational decision makers' (ODMs) expectations about their employees' availability to work and thus, their willingness to invest in their employees' human capital. Using a sample of over 13,000 individuals from 19 countries, we investigate the interaction between gender and social policies on human capital development practices. In line with statistical discrimination theory, which suggests that ODMs hold different expectations about female and male productivity, we find that paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are negatively associated with the provision of human capital development for women but not for men

Dynapenia and AGEs in type 2 diabetes

Aims/Introduction: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which are a major cause of diabetic vascular complications, accumulate in various tissues under chronic hyperglycemic conditions, as well as with aging in patients with diabetes. The loss of muscle mass and strength, so-called sarcopenia and dynapenia, has recently been recognized as a diabetic complication. However, the influence of accumulated AGEs on muscle mass and strength remains unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of sarcopenia and dynapenia with accumulated AGEs in patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: We recruited 166 patients with type 2 diabetes aged ≥30 years (mean age 63.2 ± 12.3 years; body mass index 26.3 ± 4.9 kg/m2; glycated hemoglobin 7.1 ± 1.1%). Skin autofluorescence as a marker of AGEs, limb skeletal muscle mass index, grip strength, knee extension strength and gait speed were assessed. Results: Sarcopenia and dynapenia were observed in 7.2 and 13.9% of participants, respectively. Skin autofluorescence was significantly higher in patients with sarcopenia and dynapenia. Skin autofluorescence was the independent determinant for skeletal muscle mass index, grip strength, knee extension strength, sarcopenia and dynapenia. Conclusions: Accumulated AGEs could contribute to reduced muscle mass and strength, leading to sarcopenia and dynapenia in patients with type 2 diabetes

Careers in context: An international study of career goals as mesostructure between societies’ career-related human potential and proactive career behavior

Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organisational‐level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviours are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalise societal context using the career‐related human potential composite and aim to understand if and why career goals and behaviours vary between countries. Drawing on a model of career structuration and using multilevel mediation modelling, we draw on a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters, and national statistical data to examine the relationship between societal context (macrostructure building the career‐opportunity structure) and actors' career goals (career mesostructure) and career behaviour (actions). We show that societal context in terms of societies' career‐related human potential composite is negatively associated with the importance given to financial achievements as a specific career mesostructure in a society that is positively related to individuals' proactive career behaviour. Our career mesostructure fully mediates the relationship between societal context and individuals' proactive career behaviour. In this way, we expand career theory's scope beyond occupation‐ and organisation‐related factors