Size-classified aerosol-bound heavy metals and their effects on human health risks in industrial and remote areas in Japan.

Airborne aerosols were collected in six size classes (PM, PM, PM, PM, PM and PM) to investigate aerosol health risks in remote and industrial areas in Japan. We focused on heavy metals and their water-dispersed fractions. The average concentration of heavy metals was 18 ± 25-86 ± 48 ngm for PM, 46 ± 19-154 ± 80 for PM ngm, 98 ± 49-422 ± 186 ngm for PM, 321 ± 305-1288 ± 727 ngm for PM and 65 ± 52-914 ± 339 ngm or PM, and these concentrations were higher in industrial areas.

Reversible adsorption of iridium in lyophilized cells of the unicellular red alga .

Iridium (Ir) is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust and is valuable in industry due to its high corrosion resistance. In this study, we used lyophilized cells of a unicellular red alga, for the selective recovery of small amounts of Ir from hydrochloric acid (HCl) solutions. The Ir recovery efficiency of the lyophilized cells was higher than that of activated carbon and comparable to that of an ion-exchange resin in up to 0.

The range of the required anterolateral cortex osteotomy distance varied widely in biplanar open wedge high tibial osteotomy.

Background: To evaluate the anterolateral cortex distance between the lateral edge of the flange and hinge point in surgical simulations of biplanar open wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) using computed tomography (CT) images.

Methods: A total of 110 knees treated with OWHTO for medial knee osteoarthritis with varus malalignment were enrolled. Surgical simulations of biplanar OWHTO, including the transverse and ascending cuts, were performed in the standard manner using preoperative CT images.

Polymyxin B and low-dose hydrocortisone treatment in a patient with uroseptic shock in a rural health unit.

Sepsis has a high mortality rate; thus, in the intensive care unit, early diagnosis and adjunctive treatments are crucial. However, generally, most patients with sepsis from rural area initially visit the emergency department at a rural hospital and are managed in general medical wards in Japan. Here we report on an 81-year-old Japanese female manifesting septic shock caused by the upper urinary tract infection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing secondary to the left ureter obstruction by the urothelial carcinoma.

Suppression of amyloid-β secretion from neurons by cis-9, trans-11-octadecadienoic acid, an isomer of conjugated linoleic acid.

Two common conjugated linoleic acids (LAs), cis-9, trans-11 CLA (c9,t11 CLA) and trans-10, cis-12 CLA (t10,c12 CLA), exert various biological activities. However, the effect of CLA on the generation of neurotoxic amyloid-β (Aβ) protein remains unclear. We found that c9,t11 CLA significantly suppressed the generation of Aβ in mouse neurons.

Dietary cis-9, trans-11-conjugated linoleic acid reduces amyloid β-protein accumulation and upregulates anti-inflammatory cytokines in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model.

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is an isomer of linoleic acid (LA). The predominant dietary CLA is cis-9, trans-11-CLA (c-9, t-11-CLA), which constitutes up to ~ 90% of total CLA and is thought to be responsible for the positive health benefits associated with CLA. However, the effects of c-9, t-11-CLA on Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain to be elucidated.

Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance represents the depolarizing and repolarizing electrically damaged foci causing malignant ventricular arrhythmia in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: The presence of a myocardial scar detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has been described as a predictor of all-cause mortality in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, the detailed spatial relationship between LGE site and electrical abnormality is unclear in high-risk HCM with malignant arrhythmia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the detailed relationship between the site on CMR imaging and the electrically damaged site, a potential origin of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with HCM.

Stable isotope-assisted NMR characterization of interaction between lipid A and sarcotoxin IA, a cecropin-type antibacterial peptide.

Sarcotoxin IA is a 39-residue cecropin-type peptide from Sarcophaga peregrina. This peptide exhibits antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria through its interaction with lipid A, a core component of lipopolysaccharides. To acquire detailed structural information on this specific interaction, we performed NMR analysis using bacterially expressed sarcotoxin IA analogs with (13)C- and (15)N-labeling along with lipid A-embedding micelles composed of dodecylphosphocholine.

Site of transmural late gadolinium enhancement on the cardiac MRI coincides with the ECG leads exhibiting terminal QRS distortion in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarctions.

Large infarcts are associated with a terminal QRS-distortion in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on the cardiac MRI (CMR) can depict an infarct distribution. However, less is known about the relationship between the LGE findings and QRS-distortion on admission, including the best ECG-lead location to reveal the QRS-distortion (DIS-lead) in STEMI patients.

Phasic reward responses in the monkey striatum as detected by voltammetry with diamond microelectrodes.

Reward-induced burst firing of dopaminergic neurons has mainly been studied in the primate midbrain. Voltammetry allows high-speed detection of dopamine release in the projection area. Although voltammetry has revealed presynaptic modulation of dopamine release in the striatum, to date, reward-induced release in awakened brains has been recorded only in rodents.

Acute effects of bilateral subthalamic stimulation on decision-making in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Pathological gambling can develop in Parkinson's disease (PD), and impairment of decision-making may play an important role in the mechanism. To assess acute effects of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on decision-making, patients with PD who were eligible for STN-DBS were evaluated using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).

Methods: The study participants were 16 patients with PD who underwent bilateral STN-DBS, and 16 age-matched control patients with PD.

Molecules participating in insect immunity of Sarcophaga peregrina.

Pricking the body wall of Sarcophaga peregrina (flesh fly) larvae with a needle activated the immune system of this insect and induced various immune molecules, including antibacterial proteins, in the hemolymph. In this review, I summarize and discuss the functions of these immune molecules, with particular emphasis on the dual roles of some of these molecules in defense and development.

Tissue and developmental expression of SRAM, an unconventional Rel-family protein.

Previously we have reported the purification and cDNA cloning of a novel Rel/Ankyrin-family protein named SRAM from the flesh fly, Sarcophaga peregrina. Rel proteins generally translocate into the nucleus upon immune stimuli by dissociating from an inhibitory ankyrin domain, while SRAM is unique in terms of its constitutive nuclear localization with its internal ankyrin domain accompanied, at least in a Sarcophaga cell line and fat body cells. Although SRAM had been originally identified as a sole factor that binds to the κB motif of the inducible Sarcophaga lectin gene promoter, its transcriptional activity remained controversial.

Impaired in vivo dopamine release in parkin knockout mice.

parkin is the most frequent causative gene among familial Parkinson's disease (PD). Although parkin deficiency induces autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (AR-JP, PARK2) in humans, parkin knockout (PKO) mice consistently show few signs of dopaminergic degeneration. We aimed to directly measure evoked extracellular dopamine (DA) overflow in the striatum with in vivo voltammetry.

Effect of 5-S-GAD on UV-B-induced cataracts in rats.

Purpose: 5-S-Glutathionyl-N-beta-alanyl-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (5-S-GAD) is a novel antibacterial substance purified from Sarcophaga peregrina (flesh fly) that has both a radical scavenging activity and antioxidative activity. This is a report of an investigation of the effect of 5-S-GAD (eyedrops) on UVB-induced cataracts in rats.

Methods: Brown Norway male rats (n = 32; 7 weeks old) were treated with either 5-S-GAD 0.

Subsecond reward-related dopamine release in the mouse dorsal striatum.

Reward presentation is known to induce transient bursts of midbrain dopamine neurons in monkeys and rats, and the reward-induced dopamine overflow has been detected in the rat ventral striatum. To detect reward-related dopamine release in the dorsal striatum of behaving mice (C57BL/6), we used voltammetry with carbon-fiber microelectrodes implanted into the dorsal striatum. Dopamine signals increased transiently after food delivery with a peak at 0.

Prevention of death in bacterium-infected mice by a synthetic antimicrobial peptide, L5, through activation of host immunity.

In our previous study, we found that the antibacterial peptide KLKLLLLLKLK-NH(2) (L5) and its d-enantiomer (DL5) activate neutrophils to produce superoxide anions (O(2)(-)) and prevent death due to infection by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, suggesting that these peptides may elicit in vivo antimicrobial activities through host inflammatory responses mediated by neutrophils. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms behind in vivo antimicrobial prophylaxis by the use of L5 for the treatment of bacterial infection introduced via intra-abdominal implantation. We found that the intraperitoneal treatment with L5 before bacterial infection markedly reduced rates of death due to infection.

Suppression of the ecdysteroid-triggered growth arrest by a novel Drosophila membrane steroid binding protein.

Ecdysteroid is a crucial steroid hormone in insects, especially during metamorphosis. Here, we show that the Drosophila membrane steroid binding protein (Dm_MSBP) is a novel structural homolog of the vertebrate membrane-bound receptor component for progesterone. Dm_MSBP exhibited binding affinity to ecdysone when expressed on the cell surface of Drosophila S2 cells.

5-S-GAD, a novel radical scavenging compound, prevents lens opacity development.

The ability of N-beta-alanyl-5-S-glutathionyl-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (5-S-GAD)-a novel catechol derivative isolated from an insect as an antibacterial substance-to scavenge free radicals and prevent cataract progression was examined. 5-S-GAD scavenged 1,1-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide anions (O(2)(*)(-)), and inhibited lipid peroxidation. It also significantly inhibited the onset of glucocorticoid-induced lens opacification in chick embryos.

Differential activation of the lectin and antimicrobial peptide genes in Sarcophaga peregrina (the flesh fly).

Sarcophaga lectin is an immune defense protein which is transcriptionally induced upon immune challenge in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga peregrina. So far, we have revealed that the Sarcophaga lectin gene has multiple NF-kappaB -binding motifs in its promoter. Here we showed that the nuclear extracts from Sarcophaga-derived culture cells, NIH-Sape-4, and larval fat bodies have binding activity to the multiple kappaB motifs in the lectin gene promoter, some of which were responsive to immune stimuli.

Relation of aortic wall thickness and distensibility to cardiovascular risk factors (from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis [MESA]).

To determine the relation between aortic wall thickness (WT) and aortic distensibility (AD) with traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort, 1,053 participants in MESA who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were consecutively selected for the measurement of aortic WT and AD. Double inversion-recovery fast spin-echo images of the thoracic aorta were obtained to measure average and maximum WT. AD was measured at the same level using a gradient-echo cine sequence.

Functional flexibility of the honey bee hypopharyngeal gland in a dequeened colony.

The role of the worker honey bee Apis mellifera L. changes depending on age after eclosion (age polyethism): young workers (nurse bees) take care of their brood by synthesizing and secreting brood food (royal jelly), while older workers (foragers) forage for nectar and process it into honey. Previously, we showed that the major proteins synthesized in the hypopharyngeal gland of the worker change from brood food proteins to alpha-glucosidase at the single secretory cell level in parallel with this age polyethism [Kubo et al.