Effects of a heat- and steam-generating sheet on relieving symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea in young women.

Aim: To test the efficacy of heat- and steam-generating (HSG) sheets for the relief of symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea in young women.

Materials & Methods: Thirty-four female university students were enrolled in this study. HSG sheets generate moist heat to keep the attached body area at 38.

Ecological dynamics of the toxic bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and its cyanophages in freshwater.

The abundance of potentially Microcystis aeruginosa-infectious cyanophages in freshwater was studied using g91 real-time PCR. A clear increase in cyanophage abundance was observed when M. aeruginosa numbers declined, showing that these factors were significantly negatively correlated.

Ma-LMM01 infecting toxic Microcystis aeruginosa illuminates diverse cyanophage genome strategies.

Cyanobacteria and their phages are significant microbial components of the freshwater and marine environments. We identified a lytic phage, Ma-LMM01, infecting Microcystis aeruginosa, a cyanobacterium that forms toxic blooms on the surfaces of freshwater lakes. Here, we describe the first sequenced freshwater cyanomyovirus genome of Ma-LMM01.

Dynamics of microcystin-producing and non-microcystin-producing Microcystis populations is correlated with nitrate concentration in a Japanese lake.

Temporal changes in hepatotoxin microcystin-producing and non-microcystin-producing Microcystis aeruginosa populations were examined in Lake Mikata, Japan. To monitor the densities of the total M. aeruginosa population and the potential microcystin-producing subpopulation, we used a quantitative real-time PCR assay targeting the phycocyanin intergenic spacer and the microcystin synthetase gene (mcyA), respectively.

Isolation and characterization of a cyanophage infecting the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa.

We isolated a cyanophage (Ma-LMM01) that specifically infects a toxic strain of the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the virion is composed of anisometric head and a tail complex consisting of a central tube and a contractile sheath with helical symmetry. The morphological features and the host specificity suggest that Ma-LMM01 is a member of the cyanomyovirus group.

Genetic diversity of the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis in Lake Mikata.

The aim of the present study was to clarify the bloom dynamics and community composition of hepatotoxin microcystin-producing and non-microcystin-producing Microcystis genotypes in the environment. In Lake Mikata (Fukui, Japan) from April 2003 to January 2004, seasonal variation in the number of cells with microcystin (mcy) genotypes and the genetic diversity of the total population were investigated using quantitative competitive PCR and a 16S rDNA clone library, respectively. Using competitive PCR, cells with mcyA genotypes were quantified in August and October, and the ratio of the number of these mcyA genotypes to colony-forming Microcystis cells was 0.