A convenient assay for soluble Dectin-1 lectin domain binding to insoluble β-glucans.

β-Glucan is a homopolymer with a backbone of β-1,3-linked glucose residues. The solubility and biological activity of β-glucan can be influenced by the length of the backbone and the length/interval of the β-1,6 branches. Dectin-1 is crucial in innate immunity through its binding to exogenous β-glucans.

Deep learning-based identification of sinoatrial node-like pacemaker cells from SHOX2/HCN4 double-positive cells differentiated from human iPS cells.

Background: Cardiomyocytes derived from human iPS cells (hiPSCs) include cells showing SAN- and non-SAN-type spontaneous APs.

Objectives: To examine whether the deep learning technology could identify hiPSC-derived SAN-like cells showing SAN-type-APs by their shape.

Methods: We acquired phase-contrast images for hiPSC-derived SHOX2/HCN4 double-positive SAN-like and non-SAN-like cells and made a VGG16-based CNN model to classify an input image as SAN-like or non-SAN-like cell, compared to human discriminability.

Effects of paramylon-rich EOD-1 powder on visceral fat obesity in moderately obese Japanese adults: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial.

To investigate whether supplementation of paramylon (PM)-rich EOD-1 powder (EOD-1) reduces visceral fat obesity in moderately obese Japanese subjects. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study was conducted involving 36 Japanese adults with a body mass index (BMI) ≥25 and <30 kg/m. Subjects were randomly assigned into two groups to consume EOD-1 capsules (EOD-1 group, 2.

Paramylon extracted from EOD-1 augmented the expression of SIRT1.

, a type of microalgae, contains several nutrients and accumulates paramylon, a β-1,3-glucan. In recent studies, paramylon has shown to exhibit various activities including immunomoduratory and hepatoprotective effects. In the present study, using an in vitro cell culture system, we aimed to determine whether paramylon derived from the EOD-1 strain, which produces large amounts of paramylon, can augment SIRT1 expression in epidermal cells via activating gut-skin interactions.