Publications by authors named "Taniguchi I"

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Ypt) is a gram-negative bacterium that infects both humans and animals primarily through fecal‒oral transmission. While Ypt causes acute gastroenteritis in humans, an association with Kawasaki disease (KD), a disease that primarily affects infants and young children and causes multisystemic vasculitis, has also been suspected. Although KD represents a significant health concern worldwide, the highest annual incidence rate is reported in Japan.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, suppresses the immune system and harms cell function, with its ORF6 protein playing a key role in these effects.
  • ORF6 inhibits the export of various RNA types by interfering with the RNA export factor RAE1 and its interactions with nuclear export receptors.
  • The study reveals that ORF6 binds to RNA and forms oligomers, providing valuable insights for developing antiviral drugs aimed at targeting this protein to combat SARS-CoV-2 effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nanostructured LiCoPO (LCP) microspheres were successfully synthesized by one-step spray pyrolysis, adding an appropriate amount of diammonium hydrogen citrate (DHC) additive to the precursor solution. Comprehensive physical characterization confirmed that the obtained LCPs exhibited a desirable orthorhombic olivine structure with nanostructured morphology and a significant increase in specific surface area. This enhancement was attributed to the dispersion effect due to the carboxyl group and the evolution of the ammonium group of DHC during the pyrolysis process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) causes severe gastrointestinal issues, particularly linked to Stx2, which poses greater risks than Stx1.
  • A study of 71 strains in the O145:H28 lineage reveals the dynamic nature of Stx phages, including their acquisition, transfer, and variations affecting Stx2 production levels.
  • Short-tailed Stx2 phages are associated with higher production levels of Stx2 than long-tailed variants, highlighting genetic differences that influence these levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There is an increasing interest in developing intelligent sensor nodes which enable intelligent processing for Internet of Things (IoT) surveillance, remote sensing, and smart city applications [...

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

RNA helicases are involved in RNA metabolism in an ATP-dependent manner. Although many RNA helicases unwind the RNA structure and/or remove proteins from the RNA, some can load their interacting proteins onto RNAs. Here, we developed an in vitro strategy to identify the ATP-dependent factors involved in spliceosomal uridine-rich small nuclear RNA (U snRNA) export.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Compressive sensing (CS) is recognized for its adeptness at compressing signals, making it a pivotal technology in the context of sensor data acquisition. With the proliferation of image data in Internet of Things (IoT) systems, CS is expected to reduce the transmission cost of signals captured by various sensor devices. However, the quality of CS-reconstructed signals inevitably degrades as the sampling rate decreases, which poses a challenge in terms of the inference accuracy in downstream computer vision (CV) tasks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although thin-film composite membranes have achieved great success in CO separation, further improvements in the CO permeance are required to reduce the size and cost of the CO separation process. Herein, we report the fabrication of composite membranes with high CO permeability using a laser-patterned porous membrane as the support membrane. High-aspect-ratio micropatterns with well-defined micropores on their surface were carved on microporous polymer supports by a direct laser writing process using a short-pulsed laser.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Baroplastic diblock copolymers exhibit order-disorder transitions and melt upon compression at low temperatures, in some cases even at ambient temperatures. Their unique low-temperature processability makes them promising candidates for sustainable polymeric materials. Despite their potential, however, the molecular mechanisms governing the pressure-induced phase transitions of these copolymers remain largely unexplored.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Microbiota composed of fungi and bacteria significantly influences the physiological functions of larvae, though the specific species and their impacts are not well understood.
  • The study found that a specific yeast is crucial for larval growth in the early fermentation stages, while a particular bacterium takes over as the primary growth supporter in later stages, needing the coexistence of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria for stability.
  • The microbiota enhances larval nutrition and promotes gene activity related to cell growth and metabolism, highlighting the important role of these microbial species during developmental transitions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Plasmids contribute significantly to the genetic diversity of bacteria, as evidenced by the study analyzing 142 closed genomes, which identified 132 plasmids in various strains, highlighting their role in genome evolution.
  • The research found that while there was no significant difference in plasmid numbers between clinical and non-clinical strains, certain hospital-adapted lineages (like clade 2) contained more plasmids, with a notable proportion being associated with antimicrobial and heavy metal resistance.
  • Clustering analysis revealed distinct groups of plasmids with varied GC content and highlighted their potential for interclade transmission and wider host-range capabilities, suggesting a complex ecological relationship among strains in different environments. *
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ocean constitutes approximately 70% of Earth's surface. Its average depth is 3688 m, of which depths beyond 200 m are classified as the deep sea. The deep sea is distinct from the surface of the ocean in terms of pressure, temperature, and sunlight.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CFTR gene and is more common in Caucasians than in East Asians; this study investigated CF characteristics in Japanese patients.
  • The analysis of 132 CF patients revealed prevalent symptoms such as chronic lung disease (85.6%) and pancreatic insufficiency (66.7%), with a median survival age of just 25 years.
  • The study found distinct CFTR variant patterns in Japanese patients compared to European ones, with specific variants like CFTR-dele16-17a-17b being more common in Japan and the F508del variant appearing in European alleles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Shiga toxin (Stx), produced by Stx-producing E. coli (STEC), is crucial for the bacteria's virulence and is encoded by bacteriophages known as Stx phages.
  • A study focusing on the O26:H11 STEC lineage (specifically ST21) revealed significant genetic diversity among Stx1a phages, indicating various evolutionary changes, including the replacement of phages.
  • Additionally, the research showed notable differences in Stx1 toxin production linked to variations in Stx1 phages and host factors, emphasizing the complexity of phage-host interactions in toxin production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), particularly on the O165:H25 strain and its relationship to closely related strains, defining them all as clonal complex 119 (CC119).
  • Researchers conducted whole-genome sequencing of 202 strains to analyze their genetic similarities and differences, focusing on the presence and behavior of specific phages and virulence genes.
  • The findings revealed that the CC119 lineage retains certain genetic traits that enhance virulence, but also shows notable variations in toxin production and lacks genes typical for tellurite resistance, indicating potential vulnerabilities in these strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * The study involved genome sequencing of 510 strains, including 147 from Japan, and analyzed variations in Stx2 production levels, which are associated with disease severity.
  • * Results showed distinct genetic diversity in Stx2a phages among the lineages, particularly that SG8_30 strains produced more Stx2 and caused more severe illnesses compared to SG8_32 strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To determine the mechanisms by which Weizmannia coagulans SANK70258 (WC) supplementation improved growth performance and coccidial symptoms, we assessed the gene expressions and the microbiota compositions in the small intestinal tissues and digestas of coccidium-infected broilers previously given WC or lasalocid-A sodium (AM). WC supplementation significantly upregulated the gene expressions related to intestinal immunity and barrier functions, such as IL17A, IL17F, IL10, cathelicidin-2 and pIgR. Body weights, and Claudin-1 and IL10 expressions were positively correlated (r = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In eukaryotic cells, various classes of RNAs are exported to the cytoplasm by class-specific factors. Accumulating evidence has shown that export factors affect the fate of RNA, demonstrating the importance of proper RNA classification upon export. We previously reported that RNA polymerase II transcripts were classified after synthesis depending on their length, and identified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) C as the key classification factor.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To determine whether it could also improve the production performance of -infected broilers, strain SANK70258 (WC) supplementation was compared with coccidiostat lasalocid-A sodium (AM) administration. First, to determine the optimum WC dose, newly hatched broiler chick groups = 10) were untreated or consecutively given WC (0.005%, 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Lactose utilization in Escherichia coli is generally detected on lactose-containing media, but some Shiga toxin-producing strains (O121:H19) exhibit a delayed lactose utilization (DLU) phenotype, requiring 48 hours for detection instead of the usual 24 hours.
  • The DLU phenotype is linked to an insertion sequence (IS) disrupting the lactose utilization gene, and its effects can only be observed after exposure to lactose.
  • Research revealed that the IS can be excised, allowing the reactivation of the lactose utilization gene, and showed that most circulating O121:H19 strains harbor this IS insertion, explaining the prevalence of the DLU phenotype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Our computational reaction analysis shows that 2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethanol (AEEA) has superior performance to monoethanolamine for CO separation, in terms of its ability to sorb CO by its primary amine and desorb CO by its secondary amine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Impacts by small solar system bodies (meteoroids, asteroids, comets and transitional objects) are characterized by a combination of energy dynamics and chemical modification on both terrestrial and small solar system bodies. In this context, the discovery of glycine amino acid in meteorites and comets has led to a hypothesis that impacts by astronomical bodies could contribute to delivery and polymerization of amino acids in the early Earth to generate proteins as essential molecules for life. Besides the possibility of abiotic polymerization of glycine, its decomposition by impacts could generate reactive groups to form other essential organic biomolecules.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The text discusses a significant nosocomial pathogen responsible for opportunistic infections and emphasizes the threat posed by emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains to global health.
  • A large-scale genome analysis of this pathogen and its closely related species was conducted, identifying 14 distinct clades based on genomic characteristics.
  • Clades 1 and 2 contained most hospital-related isolates with high antimicrobial resistance, suggesting they are adapted to clinical environments, while new genomic insights may lead to a reevaluation of the pathogen's classification and understanding of its evolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The nucleoprotein (NP) of Marburg virus (MARV), a close relative of Ebola virus (EBOV), encapsidates the single-stranded, negative-sense viral genomic RNA (vRNA) to form the helical NP-RNA complex. The NP-RNA complex constitutes the core structure for the assembly of the nucleocapsid that is responsible for viral RNA synthesis. Although appropriate interactions among NPs and RNA are required for the formation of nucleocapsid, the structural basis of the helical assembly remains largely elusive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

HCO secretion in distal airways is critical for airway mucosal defense. HCO/H transport across the apical membrane of airway surface epithelial cells was studied by measuring intracellular pH in luminally microperfused freshly dissected mice bronchioles. Functional studies demonstrated that CFTR, ENaC, Cl-HCO exchange, Na-H exchange, and Na-HCO cotransport are involved in apical HCO/H transport.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF