Publications by authors named "Yohei Mizuno"

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of several contact lens (CL) care solutions on the removal of proteins and lipids, and how deposit removal impacts bacterial adhesion and solution disinfection.

Methods: Lysozyme and lipid deposition on three ortho-k (rigid) and two soft CL materials were evaluated using an ELISA kit and gas chromatography respectively. Bacterial adhesion to a fluorosilicone acrylate material using Pseudomonas aeruginosa with various compositions of artificial tear solutions (ATS), including with denatured proteins, was also investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Karrikins are smoke-derived butenolides that induce seed germination and photomorphogenesis in a wide range of plants. KARRIKIN INSENSITIVE2 (KAI2), a paralog of a strigolactone receptor, perceives karrikins or their metabolized products in Arabidopsis thaliana. Furthermore, KAI2 is thought to perceive an unidentified plant hormone, called KAI2 ligand (KL).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In vegetative reproduction of Marchantia polymorpha (M. polymorpha), propagules, called gemmae, are formed in gemma cups. Despite its significance for survival, control of gemma and gemma cup formation by environmental cues is not well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In flowering plants, strigolactones (SLs) have dual functions as hormones that regulate growth and development, and as rhizosphere signaling molecules that induce symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Here, we report the identification of bryosymbiol (BSB), an SL from the bryophyte Marchantia paleacea. BSB is also found in vascular plants, indicating its origin in the common ancestor of land plants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

KARRIKIN INSENSITIVE2 (KAI2) was first identified as a receptor of karrikins, smoke-derived germination stimulants. KAI2 is also considered a receptor of an unidentified endogenous molecule called the KAI2 ligand. Upon KAI2 activation, signals are transmitted through the degradation of D53/SMXL proteins via MAX2-dependent ubiquitination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To determine the antimicrobial efficacy of a povidone-iodine system (PVP-I; cleadew, OPHTECS Corporation, Kobe, Japan), a peroxide system (AOSEPT Plus with HydraGlyde, Alcon, Fort Worth, TX), and a chemical multipurpose system (renu fresh, Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY) on contact lens case surfaces that are both in contact and not in contact with the solutions during lens disinfection.

Methods: The surfaces of the inner walls, underside of the lid, and lens holder (if applicable) of the cases were inoculated with P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: During use, contact lens disinfecting solutions are exposed to tears and clinical microbial isolates. The current study was designed to test the performance of several disinfecting solution in the presence of organic soils or clinical isolates.

Methods: Standard and clinical isolates were exposed to the disinfecting solutions in the presence or absence of different organic soils.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

C 3-Substituted cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) derivatives were considered suitable candidates for recognition compounds due to their unique structures. In this study, a C3-substituted CTV derivative with three fluorogenic 8-quinolinyl groups (1) was designed and prepared as a fluorescent probe. The synthesized CTV derivative 1 exhibited a selective response of fluorescence enhancement toward Cu2+ ions among the examined cations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Livestock spermatozoa possess more tenacious suppressors of cAMP-triggered events-including capacitation-associated changes-than laboratory animal spermatozoa, leading to flagellar hyperactivation. In order to identify the suppressors, we examined effects of an inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatases (calyculin A) on cAMP-triggered changes in the protein phosphorylation state, and subsequent occurrence of hyperactivation and acrosome reaction in ejaculated bull spermatozoa. Ejaculated spermatozoa were incubated in cAMP-supplemented medium, then assessed for motility, acrosome morphology, and phosphorylated protein localization.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The characterization and quantitative analyses of the key transcription factors for spermiogenesis are necessary in the identification of causal factors for the production of the seemingly normal sperm with dysfunctions in Japanese Black bulls and further elucidation of whole aspect of molecular mechanisms for spermiogenesis in livestock. The objective of this study was to obtain the information regarding the characterization and individual changes of an activator cAMP-responsive element modulator (CREM), which is necessary to the normal progress of spermiogenesis and is required for the transcriptional activity of genes coding essential factors for the sperm fertilization ability in rodents, using testes from 21 Japanese Black bulls with the ability to produce sperm indicating the normal motility and morphology. The bull CREM ταγ (one of activator variants) was detected in testes more strongly than livers by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Northern blotting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF