Isolation of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio vulnificus from Estuarine Waters, and Genotyping of V. vulnificus Isolates Using Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification

Bacteria in the genus Vibrio are ubiquitous in estuarine and coastal waters. Some species (including Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio vulnificus) are known human pathogens causing ailments like cholera, diarrhea, or septicemia. Notably, V. vulnificus can also cause a severe systemic infection (known as vibriosis) in eels raised in aquaculture facilities. Water samples were periodically collected from the estuary of the Asahi River, located in the southern part of Okayama City, Japan. These samples were directly plated onto CHROMagar Vibrio plates, and colonies displaying turquoise-blue coloration were selected. Thereafter, polymerase chain reaction was used to identify V. cholerae and V. vulnificus. A total of 30 V. cholerae strains and 194 V. vulnificus strains were isolated during the warm season when the water temperature (WT) was higher than 20 degrees C. Concurrently, an increase in coliforms was observed during this period. Notably, V. vulnificus has two genotypes, designated as genotype 1 and genotype 2. Genotype 1 is pathogenic to humans, while genotype 2 is pathogenic to both humans and eels. The loop-mediated isothermal amplification method was developed to rapidly determine genotypes at a low cost. Of the 194 strains isolated, 80 (41.2%) were identified as genotype 1 strains. Among the 41 strains isolated when the WTs were higher than 28 degrees C, 25 strains (61.0%) belonged to genotype 1. In contrast, of the 32 strains isolated when the WTs were lower than 24 degrees C, 27 strains (84.4%) belonged to genotype 2. These results suggest that the distribution of the two genotypes was influenced by WT

Mammalian Lgl Forms a Protein Complex with PAR-6 and aPKC Independently of PAR-3 to Regulate Epithelial Cell Polarity

AbstractBackground: Epithelial cells have apicobasal polarity and an asymmetric junctional complex that provides the bases for development and tissue maintenance. In both vertebrates and invertebrates, the evolutionarily conserved protein complex, PAR-6/aPKC/PAR-3, localizes to the subapical region and plays critical roles in the establishment of a junctional complex and cell polarity. In Drosophila, another set of proteins called tumor suppressors, such as Lgl, which localize separately to the basolateral membrane domain but genetically interact with the subapical proteins, also contribute to the establishment of cell polarity. However, how physically separated proteins interact remains to be clarified.Results: We show that mammalian Lgl competes for PAR-3 in forming an independent complex with PAR-6/aPKC. During cell polarization, mLgl initially colocalizes with PAR-6/aPKC at the cell-cell contact region and is phosphorylated by aPKC, followed by segregation from apical PAR-6/aPKC to the basolateral membrane after cells are polarized. Overexpression studies establish that increased amounts of the mLgl/PAR-6/aPKC complex suppress the formation of epithelial junctions; this contrasts with the previous observation that the complex containing PAR-3 promotes it.Conclusions: These results indicate that PAR-6/aPKC selectively interacts with either mLgl or PAR-3 under the control of aPKC activity to regulate epithelial cell polarity

Neutron capture cross section measurements of 120

Preliminary neutron capture cross section of 120Sn, 122Sn and 124Sn were obtained in the energy range from 20 meV to 4 keV with the array of germanium detectors in ANNRI at MLF,J-PARC. The results of 120Sn, 122Sn and 124Sn were obtained by normalizing the relative cross sections to the data in JENDL-4.0 at the largest 426.7-, 107.0- and 62.05-eV resonances, respectively. The 67.32- and 150-eV resonances for 120Sn and the 579- and 950-eV resonances for 124Sn which are listed in JENDL-4.0 and/or ENDF/B VII.1 were not observed

Precursor Epithelial Subtypes of Adenocarcinoma Arising from Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms (A-IPMN): Clinicopathological Features, Recurrence and Response to Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Background: The clinico-oncological outcomes of precursor epithelial subtypes of adenocarcinoma arising from intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (A-IPMN) are limited to small cohort studies. Differences in recurrence patterns and response to adjuvant chemotherapy between A-IPMN subtypes are unknown. Methods: Clincopathological features, recurrence patterns and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing pancreatic resection (2010–2020) for A-IPMN were reported from 18 academic pancreatic centres worldwide. Precursor epithelial subtype groups were compared using uni- and multivariate analysis. Results: In total, 297 patients were included (median age, 70 years; male, 78.9%), including 54 (18.2%) gastric, 111 (37.3%) pancreatobiliary, 80 (26.9%) intestinal and 52 (17.5%) mixed subtypes. Gastric, pancreaticobiliary and mixed subtypes had comparable clinicopathological features, yet the outcomes were significantly less favourable than the intestinal subtype. The median time to recurrence in gastric, pancreatobiliary, intestinal and mixed subtypes were 32, 30, 61 and 33 months. Gastric and pancreatobiliary subtypes had worse overall recurrence (p = 0.048 and p = 0.049, respectively) compared with the intestinal subtype but gastric and pancreatobiliary subtypes had comparable outcomes. Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved survival in the pancreatobiliary subtype (p = 0.049) but not gastric (p = 0.992), intestinal (p = 0.852) or mixed subtypes (p = 0.723). In multivariate survival analysis, adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a lower likelihood of death in pancreatobiliary subtype, albeit with borderline significance [hazard ratio (HR) 0.56; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31–1.01; p = 0.058]. Conclusions: Gastric, pancreatobiliary and mixed subtypes have comparable recurrence and survival outcomes, which are inferior to the more indolent intestinal subtype. Pancreatobiliary subtype may respond to adjuvant chemotherapy and further research is warranted to determine the most appropriate adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for each subtype

Selective oxidation of pyrogallol-type catechins with unripe fruit homogenate of Citrus unshiu and structural revision of oolongtheanins

In our previous chemical study of the production mechanism of black tea polyphenols, we demonstrated that Japanese pear fruit homogenate oxidizes green tea catechins bearing pyrogallol-type and catechol-type B-rings to produce theaflavins and dehydrotheasinensins. In contrast, unripe fruit homogenate of Citrus unshiu selectively oxidizes pyrogallol-type catechins to yield only dehydrotheasinensins. The difference in the selectivity of the two homogenates is probably related to the lower redox potential of pyrogallol-type catechins. The oxidation of epigallocatechin with C. unshiu homogenate gave two new compounds, including an ethanol adduct of an oolongtheanin precursor and epigallocatechin 4′-O-rutinoside, together with theasinensin C, dehydrotheasinensin E, and desgalloyl oolongtheanin. The structure of desgalloyl oolongtheanin should be revised based on the spectroscopic and computational data collected in the current study, and a mechanism responsible for the production of oolongtheanins is also proposed

Red-cell aplasia due to persistent human parvovirus B19 infection three years after umbilical cord blood transplantation-a case study

　造血幹細胞移植後に生じる貧血は，骨髄の造血能低下やウイルス感染症等の様々な背景が原因となることがあり，診断が困難であることが多い．ヒトパルボウイルス B19（human parvovirus B19：PVB19）は伝染性紅斑の原因ウイルスであり，遺伝性球状赤血球症等の赤血球寿命が短縮している溶血性貧血患者では，急性赤芽球癆を呈することが知られている．PVB19は移植患者を含む免疫不全状態の患者で慢性貧血を引き起こすことがあり，腎移植患者などでの報告例は多く存在するが，臍帯血移植後における PVB19感染による後天性赤芽球癆の症例の報告はほとんどない．今回我々は，臍帯血移植が成功したのち３年を経て発症した PVB19が４か月以上持続感染している症例を経験したので報告する．　Onset of anemia after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be caused by various background factors such as reduced hematopoiesis of the bone marrow and viral infection. Therefore, diagnosis is often difficult. Human parvovirus B19 (PVB19) due to acquired pure red-cell aplasia is the causative virus of erythema infectiosum, and it is well known that patients with hemolytic anemia with a short erythrocyte life span such as in the case of hereditary spherocytosis present with acute red-cell aplasia. PVB19 can cause chronic anemia in immunocompromised patients, including transplantation patients, and while there are many reported cases in kidney transplant patients, etc., there are few reported cases of cord blood transplantation. Here, we report a case of onset of PVB19 that occurred three years after successful umbilical cord blood transplantation and caused persistent infection for over a period of four months

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements