Minimization of the Bacillus subtilis divisome suggests FtsZ and SepF can form an active Z-ring, and reveals the amino acid transporter BraB as a new cell division influencing factor.

Bacterial cytokinesis begins with polymerization of the tubulin homologue FtsZ into a ring-like structure at midcell, the Z-ring, which recruits the late cell division proteins that synthesize the division septum. Assembly of FtsZ is carefully regulated and supported by a dozen conserved cell division proteins. Generally, these proteins are not essential, but removing more than one is in many cases lethal.

[Residential areas, travel burdens, and children with cancer: Analysis of mobility and mortality ratios using data from Japan's national population-based cancer registry].

Objectives　Although childhood cancer treatment has recently become centralized at specialized hospitals worldwide, the relationship between mortality ratios and living in rural areas or traveling long distances for treatment remains controversial. In the present study, we examined whether regional differences in patient mobility and mortality ratios exist in Japan.Methods　We investigated 10,713 patients with cancer aged ≤18 years, diagnosed between 2016 and 2019, registered in the national cancer registry data.

Small molecules and heat treatments reverse vernalization via epigenetic modification in Arabidopsis.

Monocarpic plants flower only once and then produce seeds. Many monocarpic plants require a cold treatment known as vernalization before they flower. This requirement delays flowering until the plant senses warm temperatures in the spring.

Impact of Attached File Formats on the Performance of ChatGPT-4 on the Japanese National Nursing Examination: Evaluation Study.

This research letter discusses the impact of different file formats on ChatGPT-4's performance on the Japanese National Nursing Examination, highlighting the need for standardized reporting protocols to enhance the integration of artificial intelligence in nursing education and practice.

Granulomatous inflammatory responses are elicited in the liver of PD-1 knockout mice by genome mutagenesis.

Introduction: Programmed death-1 (PD-1) is a negative regulator of immune responses. Upon deletion of PD-1 in mice, symptoms of autoimmunity developed only after they got old. In a model experiment in cancer immunotherapy, PD-1 was shown to prevent cytotoxic T lymphocytes from attacking cancer cells that expressed neoantigens derived from genome mutations.

Volume and quality of the gluteal muscles are associated with early physical function after total hip arthroplasty.

Purpose: Identifying muscles linked to postoperative physical function can guide protocols to enhance early recovery following total hip arthroplasty (THA). This study aimed to evaluate the association of preoperative pelvic and thigh muscle volume and quality with early physical function after THA in patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis (HOA).

Methods: Preoperative Computed tomography (CT) images of 61 patients (eight males and 53 females) with HOA were analyzed.

The transmembrane protein TMEM196 controls cell proliferation and determines the floor plate cell lineage.

The neural tube, the embryonic precursor to the vertebrate central nervous system, comprises distinct progenitor and neuronal domains, each with specific proliferation programs. In this study, we identified TMEM196, a novel transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role in regulating cell proliferation in the floor plate in chick embryos. TMEM196 is expressed in the floor plate, and its overexpression leads to reduced cell proliferation without affecting the pattern formation of the neural tube.

Evaluating and Enhancing Japanese Large Language Models for Genetic Counseling Support: Comparative Study of Domain Adaptation and the Development of an Expert-Evaluated Dataset.

Background: Advances in genetics have underscored a strong association between genetic factors and health outcomes, leading to an increased demand for genetic counseling services. However, a shortage of qualified genetic counselors poses a significant challenge. Large language models (LLMs) have emerged as a potential solution for augmenting support in genetic counseling tasks.

Proteomic Profiling Reveals Alterations in Metabolic and Cellular Pathways in Severe Obesity and Following Metabolic Bariatric Surgery.

In this study, we investigated the impact of bariatric surgery on the adipose proteome to better understand the metabolic and cellular mechanisms underlying weight loss following the procedure. A total of 46 patients with severe obesity were included, with samples collected both before and after bariatric surgery. Additionally, 15 healthy, non-obese individuals who did not undergo surgery served as controls and were studied once.

Analysis of Social Performance and Action Units During Social Skills Training: Focus Group Study of Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Background: Social communication is a crucial factor influencing human social life. Quantifying the degree of difficulty faced in social communication is necessary for understanding developmental and neurological disorders and for creating systems used in automatic symptom screening and assistive methods such as social skills training (SST). SST by a human trainer is a well-established method.

AFM observation of protein translocation mediated by one unit of SecYEG-SecA complex.

Protein translocation across cellular membranes is an essential and nano-scale dynamic process. In the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, the core proteins in this process are a membrane protein complex, SecYEG, corresponding to the eukaryotic Sec61 complex, and a cytoplasmic protein, SecA ATPase. Despite more than three decades of extensive research on Sec proteins, from genetic experiments to cutting-edge single-molecule analyses, no study has visually demonstrated protein translocation.

Orderly Arranged Cubic Quantum Dots along Supramolecular Templates of Naphthalenediimide Aggregates.

Precise control of assembled structures of quantum dots (QDs) is crucial for realizing the desired photophysical properties, but this remains challenging. Especially, the one-dimensional (1D) control is rare due to the nearly isotropic nature of QDs. Herein, we propose a novel strategy for controlling the 1D-arrangement range of cubic perovskite QDs in solution based on the morphological modification of a supramolecular polymer (SP) template.

The Yeast F-Box Protein Met30 Regulates Proline Utilization Independently of Transceptor Can1 Under Nutrient-Rich Conditions.

Proline is the most abundant amino acid in wine and beer, largely due to the limited utilization of proline by the yeast during fermentation. Previous studies have shown that the arginine transporter Can1 plays a role in regulating proline utilization by acting as a transceptor, combining the functions of both a transporter and a receptor for basic amino acids. However, the -disrupted strains have exhibited the inhibition of proline utilization under nutrient-rich conditions, indicating that additional factors beyond basic amino acids contribute to the inhibition of proline utilization.

Exploring the Trade-Off in the Variational Information Bottleneck for Regression with a Single Training Run.

An information bottleneck (IB) enables the acquisition of useful representations from data by retaining necessary information while reducing unnecessary information. In its objective function, the Lagrange multiplier β controls the trade-off between retention and reduction. This study analyzes the Variational Information Bottleneck (VIB), a standard IB method in deep learning, in the settings of regression problems and derives its optimal solution.

Synthesis and Reactivity of an Olefin Metathesis-Catalyzing Ruthenium Complex with a Selenoether Moiety in the Benzylidene Ligand.

A Hoveyda-Grubbs (HG)-type olefin metathesis complex with a selenoether moiety at the terminus of phenoxy moiety was synthesized. The complex showed direct selenium-atom coordination to the ruthenium center, resulting in higher thermodynamic stability compared with the parent HG catalyst. The selenium atom binding enhanced the tolerance to protic solvent molecules in ring-closing metathesis of -tosyldiallylamide and diethyl diallylmalonate, and also in the cross metathesis between 3-butenylbenzoate and methyl acrylate.

Giant Seebeck Effect of Dibenzo[g,p]chrysene and its Derivatives: Deuteration and Substituent Effects and Relationship with Interlayer Distance.

Thermoelectric properties of undoped crystals of dibenzo[g,p]chrysene (DBC), deuterated DBC (DBC-d16), and 2,10-dimethyl-DBC (DBC-Me2) have been studied to obtain some insights into the relationship between the structural parameters of materials and the giant Seebeck effect. X-ray crystallography showed one-dimensional columnar packing with the interlayer distances (d) for DBC-d16, DBC, and DBC-Me2 were 3.78 Å, 3.

Discovering natural products as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins.

The ongoing global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has demanded the urgent search for effective therapeutic interventions. In response, our research aimed at identifying natural products (NPs) with potential inhibitory effects on the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein into host cells. Utilizing the Protein Data Bank Japan (PDBJ) and BindingDB databases, we isolated 204 S-glycoprotein sequences and conducted a clustering analysis to identify similarities and differences among them.

Mechanical signaling through membrane tension induces somal translocation during neuronal migration.

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.

Blastocyst complementation-based rat-derived heart generation reveals cardiac anomaly barriers to interspecies chimera development.

The use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) to generate functional organs via blastocyst complementation is a cutting-edge strategy in regenerative medicine. However, existing models that use this method for heart generation do not meet expectations owing to the complexity of heart development. Here, we investigated a Mesp1/2 deficient mouse model, which is characterized by abnormalities in the cardiac mesodermal cells.

Experimental and Computational Studies on Domain-Swapped Structure Stabilization of an Antibody Light Chain by Disulfide Bond Introduction.

Development of different platforms would be useful for designing functional antibodies to improve the efficiency of antibody-based drugs. Three-dimensional domain swapping (3D-DS) may occur in the variable region of antibody light chain #4C214A, and a pair of domain-swapped dimers may interact with each other to form a tetramer. In this study, to stabilize the 3D-DS dimer structure in #4C214A, Val2 in strand A (swapping region) and Thr97 in strand G were replaced with Cys residues, generating #4 V2C/T97C/C214A with a Cys2-Cys97 disulfide bond that cross-links strands A and G of different protomers.

The Combination of Sorafenib and PGV-1 Inhibits the Proliferation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Through c-Myc Suppression in an Additive Manner: In Vitro Studies.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most aggressive types of liver cancer, and it is frequently associated with upregulated c-Myc expression. Sorafenib (Sor) is commonly used to treat HCC, but many patients experienced mild to severe side effects due to prolonged Sor treatment during therapy. It has been known that Pentagamavunone-1 (PGV-1) exhibits a remarkable antiproliferative effect on several cancer cells, yet limited studies have reported its cellular activities in HCC.

A land plant-specific VPS13 mediates polarized vesicle trafficking in germinating pollen.

Pollen has an extraordinary ability to convert from a dry state to an extremely rapidly growing state. During pollination, pollen receives water and Ca from the contacting pistil, which will be a directional cue for pollen tube germination. The subsequent rapid activation of directional vesicular transport must support the pollen tube growth, but the molecular mechanism leading to this process is largely unknown.