Anti-Aggregation Effects of Phenolic Compounds on α-Synuclein

The aggregation and deposition of α-synuclein (αS) are major pathologic features of Parkinson\u27s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and other α-synucleinopathies. The propagation of αS pathology in the brain plays a key role in the onset and progression of clinical phenotypes. Thus, there is increasing interest in developing strategies that attenuate αS aggregation and propagation. Based on cumulative evidence that αS oligomers are neurotoxic and critical species in the pathogenesis of α-synucleinopathies, we and other groups reported that phenolic compounds inhibit αS aggregation including oligomerization, thereby ameliorating αS oligomer-induced cellular and synaptic toxicities. Heterogeneity in gut microbiota may influence the efficacy of dietary polyphenol metabolism. Our recent studies on the brain-penetrating polyphenolic acids 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (3-HBA), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-diHBA), and 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (3-HPPA), which are derived from gut microbiota-based metabolism of dietary polyphenols, demonstrated an in vitro ability to inhibit αS oligomerization and mediate aggregated αS-induced neurotoxicity. Additionally, 3-HPPA, 3,4-diHBA, 3-HBA, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid significantly attenuated intracellular αS seeding aggregation in a cell-based system. This review focuses on recent research developments regarding neuroprotective properties, especially anti-αS aggregation effects, of phenolic compounds and their metabolites by the gut microbiome, including our findings in the pathogenesis of α-synucleinopathies

ジコ カクリツ エノ キキュウ ト ザセツ : Work Suspended ノ John Plan ガ カカエル ショモンダイ

John Plant in Work Suspended is emotionally in bondage to his father. Plant lives in seclusion and remains aloof from other people, which shows not shyness but bloodlessness and immaturity in his personality. His father\u27s death seems to have liberated him from his father. To overcome his problems concerning with his immaturity, he should not shrink from involvements with other people. There are two characters who would affect Plant\u27s personality: Lucy Simmonds and Arthur Atwater. Lucy, who is serious and innocent, could have led him to his self-realization. However, her being the wife of his friend and with child prevent her from serving as a guide for his fulfillment. Plant gives up confronting and conflicting with Atwater, who has killed his father, and who is his double in some ways. Thus his chance to become a mature person is lost and gone forever

Decline and FallとNicholas Nickleby : Charles Dickensから読み解くEvelyn Waugh

Decline and Fall owes to Nicholas Nickleby in the plots and the characters. Both are picaresque novels, where young protagonists have various kinds of experiences. By comparing and contrasting Decline and Fall with Nicholas Nickleby, therefore, we can see clearly what makes two protagonists different from each other, and what the differences meant to Waugh. Paul Pennyfeather, a theological student at Oxford, enjoys a Victorian ordered life achieved by industry. Then, innocent as he is, he is sent down and plunged into an anarchic world, where he encounters a lot of eccentric people. The world has no ethical order, and there men are ridiculously eager to appear to be gentlemen. The difference between Paul and Nicholas, who is also a poor orphan, is that Nicholas has met good and reliable substitute fathers who lead him up into a better world, while all the men Paul meets are irresponsible. Paul, after he has been tossed back and forth in a series of bizarre adventures, just returns where he started. The fruitless circularity of his experiences leaves Paul unaffected. Paul is happy with his unchanged life, for he safely restores his old peaceful Victorian way of life. His Victorian middle class faith echoes Waugh\u27s

Strategies to compensate for cultural background knowledge deficiency in L2 reading

第二言語のリーディングでは言語以外の要因、例えば学習者の動機、興味、国籍、学習方法の好み、母語での読解力など様々な要因が学習者のテキスト理解に影響を与えている。ある程度年齢の高い、あるいは第二言語の運用がある程度出来る学習者にとっては目標言語の文化的背景の知識不足がテキストを読み理解する上での妨げになる可能性が大きい。年齢の高い学習者がこの知識不足を補うためにはメタ認知的ストラテジーを用いることが効果的である。In L2 reading there are various kinds of non-linguistic factors such as readers\u27 motivation, interest, nationalities, learning preferences, L1 reading proficiency, etc., that affect readers\u27comprehension. With older or more proficient readers the lack of knowledge of cultural background could be what mostly hinders their ability to comprehend L2 texts. In order to compensate older learners for this deficiency, strategies that raise metacognitive awareness are effective