Indigo-Mediated Semi-Microbial Biofuel Cell Using an Indigo-Dye Fermenting Suspension

Aizome (Japanese indigo dyeing) is a unique dyeing method using microbial activity under anaerobic alkaline conditions. In indigo-dye fermenting suspensions; microorganisms reduce indigo into leuco-indigo with acetaldehyde as a reductant. In this study; we constructed a semi-microbial biofuel cell using an indigo-dye fermenting suspension. Carbon fiber and Pt mesh were used as the anode and cathode materials, respectively. The open-circuit voltage (OCV) was 0.6 V, and the maximum output power was 32 µW cm−2 (320 mW m−2). In addition, the continuous stability was evaluated under given conditions starting with the highest power density; the power density rapidly decreased in 0.5 h due to the degradation of the anode. Conversely, at the OCV, the anode potential exhibited high stability for two days. However, the OCV decreased by approximately 80 mV after 2 d compared with the initial value, which was attributed to the performance degradation of the gas-diffusion-cathode system caused by the evaporation of the dispersion solution. This is the first study to construct a semi-microbial biofuel cell using an indigo-dye fermenting suspension

Genomic dissection of the Vibrio cholerae O-serogroup global reference strains: reassessing our view of diversity and plasticity between two chromosomes

Approximately 200 O-serogroups of Vibrio cholerae have already been identified; however, only 2 serogroups, O1 and O139, are strongly related to pandemic cholera. The study of non-O1 and non-O139 strains has hitherto been limited. Nevertheless, there are other clinically and epidemiologically important serogroups causing outbreaks with cholera-like disease. Here, we report a comprehensive genome analysis of the whole set of V. cholerae O-serogroup reference strains to provide an overview of this important bacterial pathogen. It revealed structural diversity of the O-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters located at specific loci on chromosome 1 and 16 pairs of strains with almost identical O-antigen biosynthetic gene clusters but differing in serological patterns. This might be due to the presence of O-antigen biosynthesis-related genes at secondary loci on chromosome 2

Molecular genetic analysis of X-linked recessive myotubular myopathy

The purposes of this study are to establish the effective and efficient screening protocol identifying the gene mutation, and to clarify the relationship between genotype and phenotype of Xlinked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) using the molecular genetic method. Five male patients in five families with XLMTM based on clinical features and muscle biopsy were analyzed according to the screening protocol. Three types of abnormal band were identified by SSCP and HD analysis using genomic DNA from patients. In the direct sequence analysis, two frameshift mutations in exon 4 and 10 and one nonsense mutation in exon 3 were found. Frameshift mutation in exon 10 was a novel mutation. RT-PCR method was performed to the other patients who showed no abnormal bands by SSCP and HD. In the direct sequence analysis, one missense mutation was found in exon 9. This mutation was a novel mutation. The relationship between phenotype and genotype was not clarified. The screening protocol employed in this study detected the three mutations in genomic DNA and the one mutation in cDNA. The patient whom the mutation was not found was supposed to have the mutation in non-coding region of MTM1 gene. Present protocol is considered to be suitable to detect the mutations in XLMTM. 本研究は遺伝性筋疾患であるX-linked myotubular myopathy（XLMTM）における遺伝子解析において、遺伝子変異を検出する効果的かつ効率的なスクリーニング方法を規定すること、および本疾患の表現型と遺伝子型の関連を明らかにすることを目的とした。対象は臨床症状および筋生検によって重症のXLMTMと診断された５家系５名の男児とし、スクリーニングプロトコルにしたがって解析を行った。その結果、ゲノムDNAを用いたSSCPおよびHD解析において５名の患者のうち、３名について泳動変異を検出した。これらの直接塩基配列決定の結果、２名のフレームシフト変異（エクソン４および10）と１名のナンセンス変異（エクソン３）が確認された。エクソン10におけるフレームシフト変異はこれまで報告例のない新しい変異であった。ゲノムDNAを用いたスクリーニングで泳動変異が観察されなかった２名の患者に対してはRT?PCR法を用いたcDNAの直接塩基配列決定を行った。その結果、１名のミスセンス変異（エクソン９）を同定し、これまで報告例のない新しい変異であることを確認した。残り１名については変異が確認できなかった。表現型と遺伝子型の関係については、すべての患者が重症例であったこと、症例数が少なかったことから明らかにできなかった。本研究ではゲノムDNAで３名、cDNAで１名の遺伝子変異を確認したが、変異を確認できなかった患者は非翻訳領域に変異が存在する可能性が考えられた。これらの結果から、本研究で実施したスクリーニングプロトコルはXLMTMにおける遺伝子変異検出に対し十分適切であることが考えられる

Clinical utility of the Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System for muscle-invasive bladder cancer between radiologists and urologists based on multiparametric MRI including 3D FSE T2-weighted acquisitions

Objectives: To investigate the clinical utility of the Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System (VI-RADS) by comparing its diagnostic performance for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) between radiologists and urologists based on multiparametric MRI, including three-dimensional (3D) fast spin-echo (FSE) T2-weighted acquisitions. Methods: This study included 66 treatment-naïve patients (60 men, 6 women; mean age 74.0 years) with pathologically proven bladder cancer who underwent multiparametric MRI, including 3D FSE T2-weighted imaging, before transurethral bladder tumour resection between January 2010 and November 2018. The MRI scans were categorised according to the five-point VI-RADS score by four independent readers (two board-certified radiologists and board-certified urologists each), blinded to the histopathological findings. The VI-RADS scores were compared with the postoperative histopathological diagnosis. Interobserver agreement was assessed using weighted kappa coefficients. ROC analysis and generalised estimating equations were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance. Results: Forty-nine (74.2%) and 17 (25.8%) tumours were confirmed to be non-MIBC and MIBC, respectively, based on pathological examination. The interobserver agreement was good-to-excellent between all pairs of readers (range, 0.73–0.91). The urologists’ sensitivity/specificity values for DCE-MRI VI-RADS scores were significantly lower than those of radiologists. No significant differences were observed for the overall VI-RADS score. The AUC for the overall VI-RADS score was 0.94, 0.92, 0.89, and 0.87 for radiologists 1 and 2 and urologists 1 and 2, respectively. Conclusions: The VI-RADS score, based on multiparametric MRI including 3D FSE T2-weighted acquisitions, can be useful for radiologists and urologists to determine the bladder cancer muscle invasion status preoperatively. Key Points: • VI-RADS (using multiparametric MRI including 3D FSE T2-weighted acquisitions) achieves good to excellent interobserver agreement and has similar diagnostic performance for detecting muscle invasion by both radiologists and urologists. • The diagnostic performance of the overall VI-RADS score is high for both radiologists and urologists, particularly due to the dominant effect of diffusion-weighted imaging on the overall VI-RADS score. • The sensitivity and specificity values of the T2WI VI-RADS scores for four readers in our study (using 3D FSE T2-weighted acquisitions) were similar (with slightly higher specificity values) to previously published results (using 2D FSE T2-weighted acquisitions)

Diagnostic Value of the Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System in Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma with Variant Histology

The value of the Vesicle Imaging-Reporting and Data System (VI-RADS) in the diagnosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) for urothelial carcinoma with variant histology (VUC) remains unknown. We retrospectively evaluated 360 consecutive patients with bladder cancer (255 pure urothelial carcinoma [PUC] and 69 VUC) who underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging between 2011 and 2019. VI-RADS scores assigned by four readers were significantly higher for the VUC group than for the PUC group (p &lt; 0.05). In the cohort of 122 pair-matched patients, there was no significant difference in VI-RADS score distribution between the PUC and VUC groups for all readers (p &gt; 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for MIBC diagnosis via overall VI-RADS score was 0.93-0.94 for PUC and 0.89-0.92 for VUC, with no significant difference between the PUC and VUC groups (p = 0.32-0.60). These data suggests that VI-RADS scores achieved high diagnostic performance for detection of muscle invasion in both PUC and VUC. PATIENT SUMMARY: The Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System (VI-RADS) is a standardized system for reporting on detection of muscle-invasive bladder cancer via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Our study shows that VI-RADS is also highly accurate for diagnosis for different variants of muscle-invasive bladder cancer, with good inter-reader agreement.</p