410 research outputs found
Effects of nicotianamine on iron in the small intestine
Iron is an essential metal for all living organisms that is absorbed in the intestinal cells as a heme-chelated or free form. It is unclear how important plant-derived chelators, such as nicotianamine (NA), an organic small molecule that is ubiquitous in crops, vegetables, and various other foods, contribute to iron bioavailability in mammals. We performed electrophysiological assays with Xenopus laevis oocytes and radioactive tracer experiments with Caco-2 cells. The findings revealed that the proton-coupled amino acid transporter SLC36A1 (PAT1) transports iron in the form of NA-Fe (II) complex in vitro. Decreased expression of hPAT1 by RNA interference in Caco-2 cells reduced the uptake of NA-59Fe (II) complex. The uptake of inorganic 59Fe (II) was relatively unaffected. These results imply that PAT1 transports iron as a NA-Fe (II) complex. The rate of 59Fe absorption in the spleen, liver, and kidney was higher when mice were orally administered NA-59Fe (II) compared with free 59Fe (II). The profile of site-specific PAT1 expression in the mouse intestine coincided with those of NA and iron contents, which were the highest in the proximal jejunum. Orally administered NA-59Fe (II) complex in mice was detected in the proximal jejunum by thin layer chromatography. In contrast, much less 59Fe (or NA) was detected in the duodenum, where the divalent metal transporter SLC11A2 (DMT1) absorbs free Fe (II). The collective results revealed the role of PAT1 in NA-Fe (II) absorption in the intestine and potential implication of NA in iron uptake in mammals
Total synthesis of palau’amine
Palau’amine has received a great deal of attention in the past two decades as an attractive synthetic target by virtue of its intriguing molecular architecture and significant immunosuppressive activity. Here we report the total synthesis of palau’amine characterized by the construction of an ABDE tetracyclic ring core including a trans-bicylo[3.3.0]octane skeleton at a middle stage of total synthesis. The ABDE tetracyclic ring core is constructed by a cascade reaction of a cleavage of the N–N bond, including simultaneous formation of imine, the addition of amide anion to the resulting imine (D-ring formation) and the condensation of pyrrole with methyl ester (B-ring formation) in a single step. The synthetic palau’amine is confirmed to exhibit excellent immunosuppressive activity. The present synthetic route has the potential to help elucidate a pharmacophore as well as the mechanistic details of immunosuppressive activity
STM/STS study on electronic superstructures in the superconducting state of high-T-c cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta
We report STM/STS measurements at 8 K in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta crystals (T-c = 76 K and hole-doping level p similar to 0.12) whose energy spectra around the Fermi level are characterized by a two-gap structure consisting of spatially inhomogeneous pseudogap (PG) and comparatively homogeneous superconducting gap (SCG). Two electronic superstructures, checkerboard modulation (CBM) and Cu-O-Cu bond-centered modulation (BCM), are observed with mapping spectral weights at low energies within the SCG and the ratio of spectral weights at +/-Delta(PG) (PG energy), respectively. On the basis of the present findings, we suggest that the lower-energy scale CBM is an intrinsic property of Cu-O planes and can coexist with the BCM whose characteristic energy is similar to Delta(PG) in identical regions in real space
Histidine-rich glycoprotein as a prognostic biomarker for sepsis
Various biomarkers have been proposed for sepsis; however, only a few become the standard. We previously reported that plasma histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) levels decreased in septic mice, and supplemental infusion of HRG improved survival in mice model of sepsis. Moreover, our previous clinical study demonstrated that HRG levels in septic patients were lower than those in noninfective systemic inflammatory response syndrome patients, and it could be a biomarker for sepsis. In this study, we focused on septic patients and assessed the differences in HRG levels between the non-survivors and survivors. We studied ICU patients newly diagnosed with sepsis. Blood samples were collected within 24 h of ICU admission, and HRG levels were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Ninety-nine septic patients from 11 institutes in Japan were included. HRG levels were significantly lower in non-survivors (n=16) than in survivors (n=83) (median, 15.1 [interquartile ranges, 12.7-16.6] vs. 30.6 [22.1-39.6] mu g/ml; p<0.01). Survival analysis revealed that HRG levels were associated with mortality (hazard ratio 0.79, p<0.01), and the Harrell C-index (predictive power) for HRG was 0.90. These results suggested that HRG could be a novel prognostic biomarker for sepsis
A new therapeutic strategy with istradefylline for postural deformities in Parkinson’s disease
Aim of the study. Postural deformities are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Several treatment options have been reported, but responses to these treatments appear unpredictable. Istradefylline is a novel drug for PD. Cases of PD patients whose postural deformities were improved after withdrawal of dopamine agonists and initiation of istradefylline are presented. Materials and Methods. Four consecutive patients with postural deformities including antecollis, Pisa syndrome, and camptocormia were recruited and treated with istradefylline in combination with withdrawal of dopamine agonists, which are possible causes of postural deformities. Results. The dopamine agonists were discontinued an average of 26 months after the development of the postural deformities, and istradefylline was initiated an average of 1.3 months after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Three patients with preserved paraspinal muscle volume showed good responses to the treatment regimen at least two months after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Conclusions and clinical Implications. Postural deformities caused by dopamine agonists generally improve less than two weeks after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Given the response time in the present study, the response was unlikely to be caused solely by dopamine agonist withdrawal. Istradefylline can be a potential therapeutic option; however, appropriate selection of patients for treatment with istradefylline is warranted
Single-channel 15.3 Tbit/s, 64 QAM coherent Nyquist pulse transmission over 150 km with a spectral efficiency of 8.3 bit/s/Hz
Direct Synthesis of Polycyclic Tropinones via Condensation-(4+3) Cycloaddition Cascade Reaction
A concise method of constructing polycyclic tropinone frameworks was developed. The single-step synthesis of polycyclic tropinone consists of an intramolecular (4+3) cycloaddition reaction of N-nosyl-pyrrole with oxyallyl cation that was generated in situ by an intermolecular condensation reaction of the nucleophilic functional groups on a tethered pyrrole with the aldehyde of 2-(silyloxy)-acrolein. This cascade reaction afforded various polycyclic tropinones including tri-, tetra-, and pentacyclic systems in high yields as single diastereomers
Total Synthesis and Structural Revision of Cyclotetrapeptide Asperterrestide A
The structural revision
of cyclotetrapeptide asperterrestide A
has been achieved based on total synthesis and molecular modeling.
For these studies, (2R,3S)-MePhe(3-OH)
and (2S,3S)-MePhe(3-OH) suitably
protected for peptide synthesis were prepared via a stereoselective
reduction of a ketone precursor derived from L- or d-serine,
using L-selectride or DIBAL-H. The synthesis of the proposed structure
of asperterrestide A (1a) was accomplished by solution-phase
synthesis of a linear precursor followed by macrolactamization. The
NMR spectra of our synthetic 1a were not identical to
those reported for the natural compound. Molecular modeling studies
suggested that the correct structure 1b was the one in
which the stereochemistry at the α-positions of the Ala and
MePhe(3-OH) residues is the opposite to that of the proposed structure.
This was confirmed by the total synthesis of 1b and its
subsequent structural characterization
A comprehensive survey on quantum computer usage: How many qubits are employed for what purposes?
Quantum computers (QCs), which work based on the law of quantum mechanics,
are expected to be faster than classical computers in several computational
tasks such as prime factoring and simulation of quantum many-body systems. In
the last decade, research and development of QCs have rapidly advanced. Now
hundreds of physical qubits are at our disposal, and one can find several
remarkable experiments actually outperforming the classical computer in a
specific computational task. On the other hand, it is unclear what the typical
usages of the QCs are. Here we conduct an extensive survey on the papers that
are posted in the quant-ph section in arXiv and claim to have used QCs in their
abstracts. To understand the current situation of the research and development
of the QCs, we evaluated the descriptive statistics about the papers, including
the number of qubits employed, QPU vendors, application domains and so on. Our
survey shows that the annual number of publications is increasing, and the
typical number of qubits employed is about six to ten, growing along with the
increase in the quantum volume (QV). Most of the preprints are devoted to
applications such as quantum machine learning, condensed matter physics, and
quantum chemistry, while quantum error correction and quantum noise mitigation
use more qubits than the other topics. These imply that the increase in QV is
fundamentally relevant, and more experiments for quantum error correction, and
noise mitigation using shallow circuits with more qubits will take place.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, figures regenerate
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