1,106 results match your criteria: "Aichi 464-8601; and Food Science & Technology Institute[Affiliation]"

Objective: In treating obesity, energy intake control is essential to avoid exceeding energy expenditure. However, excessive restriction of energy intake often leads to resting energy expenditure (REE) reduction, increasing hunger and making weight loss difficult. This study aimed to investigate whether providing nutritional guidance that considers energy expenditure based on the regular evaluation of REE and physical activity could effectively reduce body weight (BW) in patients with obesity.

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Building upon an earlier study of heme-nitrosyl complexes (. , , 20496-20505), we examined a wide range of nonheme {FeNO} complexes (the superscript represents the Enemark-Feltham count) and two dinitrosyl iron complexes using DMRG-CASSCF calculations. Analysis of the wave functions in terms of resonance forms with different [π*(NO)] occupancies (where = 0-4 for mononitrosyl complexes) identified the dominant electronic configurations of {FeNO} and {FeNO} complexes as Fe-NO and Fe-NO, respectively, mirroring our previous findings on heme-nitrosyl complexes.

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Enhancing nitrogen (N) fixation in rice plants can reduce N fertilizer application and contribute to sustainable rice production, particularly under low-N conditions. However, detailed microbial and metabolic characterization of N fixation in rice stems, unlike in the well-studied roots, has not been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the active N-fixing sites, their diazotroph communities, and the usability of possible carbon sources in stems compared with roots.

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Alkali antimonide semiconductor photocathodes are promising candidates for high-brightness electron sources for advanced accelerators, including free-electron lasers (FEL), due to their high quantum efficiency (QE), low emittance, and high temporal resolution. Two challenges with these photocathodes are (1) the lack of a universal deposition recipe to achieve crystal stoichiometries and (2) their high susceptibility to vacuum contamination, which restricts their operation pressure to ultrahigh vacuums and leads to a short lifetime and low extraction charge. To resolve these issues, it is essential to understand the elemental compositions of deposited photocathodes and correlate them to robustness.

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O-GlcNAc glycans in the mammalian extracellular environment.

Carbohydr Res

March 2025

Department of Molecular Biochemistry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-Cho, Showa-Ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan; Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE), Nagoya University, Furo-Cho, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan. Electronic address:

Extracellular O-GlcNAc is a unique post-translational modification that occurs in the epidermal growth factor-like (EGF) domain of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen. The EGF domain-specific O-GlcNAc transferase (EOGT), catalyzes the transfer of O-GlcNAc to serine/threonine residues of the C-terminal EGF domain. Thus, EOGT-dependent O-GlcNAc modifications are mainly found in selective proteins that are localized in the extracellular spaces or extracellular regions of membrane proteins.

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generation of dual-target compounds using artificial intelligence.

iScience

January 2025

Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 680-4 Kawazu, Iizuka, Fukuoka 820-8502, Japan.

Drugs that interact with multiple therapeutic targets are potential high-value products in polypharmacology-based drug discovery, but the rational design remains a formidable challenge. Here, we present artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods to design the chemical structures of compounds that interact with multiple therapeutic target proteins. The molecular structure generation is performed by a fragment-based approach using a genetic algorithm with chemical substructures and a deep learning approach using reinforcement learning with stochastic policy gradients in the framework of generative adversarial networks.

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Ever since de Saussure [Course in General Lingustics (Columbia University Press, 1916)], theorists of language have assumed that the relation between form and meaning of words is arbitrary. However, recently, a body of empirical research has established that language is embodied and contains iconicity. Sound symbolism, an intrinsic link language users perceive between word sound and properties of referents, is a representative example of iconicity in language and has offered profound insights into theories of language pertaining to language processing, language acquisition, and evolution.

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Soybean (Glycine max) is a leguminous crop cultivated worldwide that accumulates high levels of isoflavones. Although previous research has often focused on increasing the soybean isoflavone content because of the estrogen-like activity of dietary soy in humans, the rapidly increasing demand for soybean as a plant-based meat substitute has raised concerns about excessive isoflavone intake. Therefore, the production of isoflavone-free soybean has been anticipated.

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Multi-layered Apoplastic Barrier Underlying the Ability Of Na+ Exclusion In Vigna Marina.

Plant Cell Physiol

January 2025

Research Center of Genetic Resources, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-2 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan.

Soil salinization and ground water depletion are increasingly constraining crop production. Identifying useful mechanisms of salt tolerance is an important step towards development of salt-tolerant crops. Of particular interest are mechanisms that are present in wild crop relatives, as they may have greater stress tolerance than crop species.

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Despite numerous studies on the rise and fall of terrestrial megafauna in the late Quaternary, knowledge about marine megafauna from this period remains limited. In this study, we performed radiocarbon dating and partial mitochondrial DNA sequencing from the skeletal remains of three species of small odontocetes (Pacific white-sided dolphins, Dall's porpoises and harbour porpoises) excavated from prehistoric archaeological sites around the Japanese shore dating back to 8500-1000 years ago (ya). Pacific white-sided dolphins that habituated the eastern coast of Hokkaido around 2000 ya belonged to different maternal groups than those from over 5000 ya and today.

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Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a drastic and important cellular process by which epithelial cells acquire a mesenchymal phenotype. Herein, we evaluated EMT-induced membrane variations using scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), which allows noninvasive nanoscale visualization. The results showed that the number and size of ruffles on the living cell surface decreased as the EMT progressed.

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Social parasites employ diverse strategies to deceive and infiltrate their hosts in order to benefit from stable resources. Although escape behaviours are considered an important part of these multipronged strategies, little is known about the repertoire of potential escape behaviours and how they facilitate integration into the host colony. Here, we investigated the escape strategies of the parasitic ant cricket Myrmecophilus tetramorii Ichikawa (Orthoptera: Myrmecophilidae) toward its host and non-host ant workers.

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: the purpose of this study was to determine the contributions of mechanical, neural, morphological, and muscle quality factors on individual differences in the maximal ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM). : A sample of 41 university students performed passive-dorsiflexion and morphological measurements. In the passive-dorsiflexion measurement, while the ankle was passively dorsiflexed, maximal dorsiflexion ROM was measured in addition to passive torque at a given angle and muscle-tendon junction (MTJ) displacement during the last 13° as mechanical factors, and stretch tolerance and muscle activation were measured as neural factors.

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Neurons migrate in a saltatory manner by repeating two distinct steps: extension of the leading process and translocation of the cell body. The former step is critical for determining the migratory route in response to extracellular guidance cues. In the latter step, neurons must generate robust forces that translocate the bulky soma against mechanical barriers of the surrounding three-dimensional environment.

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The light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) in green plants exhibits highly efficient excitation energy transfer (EET). A comprehensive understanding of the EET mechanism in LHCII requires quantum chemical, molecular dynamics (MD), and statistical mechanics calculations that can adequately describe pigment molecules in heterogeneous environments. Herein, we develop MD simulation parameters that accurately reproduce the quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical energies of both the ground and excited states of all chlorophyll (Chl) molecules in membrane embedded LHCII.

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Reputation concern influences perceived leadership.

BMC Res Notes

December 2024

School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Furō-chō, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan.

Objective: Having a positive reputation generally yields more social benefits than a negative one. While individuals typically strive for a good reputation, their concern for it varies. This pre-registered study investigates how reputation concerns influence others' social evaluations of a protagonist, particularly in the context of leadership.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play important roles in intercellular communication in various biological events. In particular, EVs released from cancer cells have attracted special attention. Although it has been reported that cancer-associated glycosphingolipids play important roles in the enhancement of malignant properties of cancer cells, the presence, behavior, and roles of glycosphingolipids in EVs have not been elucidated.

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To understand the biological and pathological functions of protein glycosylation, the glycan heterogeneities for each glycosite in a single glycoprotein need to be elucidated depending on the type and status of cells. For this aim, a reliable strategy is needed to compare site-specific glycoforms of multiple glycoprotein samples in a comprehensive manner. To analyze this "inter-heterogeneity" of samples, we previously introduced an MS1-based glycopeptide detection method, "Glyco-RIDGE.

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Uranium extraction from seawater (UES) is crucial for ensuring the sustainable development of nuclear power and has seen significant advancements in recent years. However, natural seawater is a highly complex biogeochemical system, characterized by an extremely low uranium (U) concentration (≈3.3 µg L), abundant competitive ions, and significant marine biological pollution, making UES a formidable challenge.

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Occurrence of free glycans in salmonid serum.

Biochem Biophys Res Commun

January 2025

Glycometabolic Biochemistry Laboratory, RIKEN-Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. Electronic address:

Free N-glycans (FNGs) are oligosaccharides that are structurally related to N-linked glycans, and are widely found in nature. The mechanisms responsible for the formation and degradation of intracellular FNGs are well characterized in mammalian cells. More recent analysis in mammalian sera shows that there are various types of extracellular free glycans, including FNGs.

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To determine crystal structures from a powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern containing multiple unknown phases, a data-assimilated crystal growth (DACG) simulation method has been developed. The PXRD penalty function selectively stabilizes the structures in the experimental data, promoting their grain growth during simulated annealing. Since the PXRD pattern is calculated as the Fourier transform of the pair distribution function, the DACG simulation can be performed without prior determination of the lattice parameters.

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The session "Data Science for Integrated Dynamic Structural Biology" was a notable success at the joint congress of the 21st IUPAB and the 62nd BSJ (Biophysics Society of Japan). This session included four invited talks and one contributed talk, which together delved into recent advancements in computational methods integrating physics, experimental data, and bioinformatics to study the structure and dynamic properties of molecular assemblies and their interactions.

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Background: The accumulation of ascites is a major symptom of ovarian cancer. The volume of ascites is a pathophysiological indicator of the peritoneal environment, such as inflammation and fibrosis; however, the relationship between the volume of ascites and oncological outcomes remains unclear. We herein retrospectively examined the effects of the volume of ascites on the prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer in a multi-institutional large cohort using the stratification of clinical characteristics and statistical adjustment methods.

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ALS-linked mutant TDP-43 in oligodendrocytes induces oligodendrocyte damage and exacerbates motor dysfunction in mice.

Acta Neuropathol Commun

November 2024

Department of Neuroscience and Pathobiology, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan.

Nuclear clearance and cytoplasmic aggregation of TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43) are pathological hallmarks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and its pathogenic mechanism is mediated by both loss-of-function and gain-of-toxicity of TDP-43. However, the role of TDP-43 gain-of-toxicity in oligodendrocytes remains unclear. To investigate the impact of excess TDP-43 on oligodendrocytes, we established transgenic mice overexpressing the ALS-linked mutant TDP-43 in oligodendrocytes through crossbreeding with Mbp-Cre mice.

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Article Synopsis
  • Alzheimer's disease is marked by the buildup of amyloid β and tau proteins, leading to neuroinflammation primarily driven by activated glial cells, which worsens the condition.
  • Researchers found that the cannabinoid receptor type II (Cnr2/Cb2) is upregulated in both mouse models of Alzheimer's and in human brain tissue affected by the disease, suggesting a potential therapeutic role.
  • Administering JWH 133, a specific CB2 agonist, improved cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's symptoms by reducing neuroinflammation and harmful astrocyte responses, indicating that targeting the CB2 receptor could be a promising strategy for treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
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